001e e e pleas we have the pledge allegiance to the flag we' better a one up there fish you want to Le us off e e e Happ thank you moving along anything special for Christmas break family all hanging out opening presents all right the best good answers we have fun uh the minutes uh we a motion to approve the minutes the minutes will be approved for November 19th and we have another meeting December 3rd like a vote to approve both of those meetings pleas motion can I bring something up like the financials of the last one um oh no we can do it under the business okay this is just for the minutes to fine Mr T box yes M FIS yes M dler yes Mr Mia yes Mr ha yes cash balance report
002Mr okay we have two cash balances report for tonight one for October another one for uh November we go through the October one right now cash balance uh as of September 30th was 3,417 3842 we have deposits for the month 7,354 51545 transferred out a million dollars to our mmdt account we had uh the payroll amounts that you see on OCT toal 10th and 24th and warrants number seven and eight uh leaving us with a Geo balance uh at the end of the month of 4,291 14280 our mmdt account we started with 7,417 5266 uh transfer in of a million dollars you'll see that um that's a m of the 45 and the 35 interest for the month was 65 uh and then it uh a GL balance on the mmdt of 8,450 88026 a
003total operating cash balance of 12, 02306 pretty healthy balance for October I'll go on to November and then vote okay so November um count balance is 4,291 14280 we had deposits for the month 5,664 46814 we transfers out transferred out 500,000 to the MMD CT account less uh payroll on November 7th from 21st and warrant number 9 and 10 uh leaving us with the GL balance uh at the end of the month at 4,559 445 24 in our mmdt account we have 8,450 88026 transfer in of 500,000 um not out of the two interest of 39,42 leaves us with the GL balance at the end um uh mmdt jail balance of 8,989 9447 and a total operating cash balance of 43971 thank you very much any to vote on that can I get a motion
004to accept the uh cash balance report is presented motion to accept second second discussion I'll tell you what I we get to the business po you're on the you're on the line items right Mrs F yes under business Mr toox oh yes M Harris yes M TLA yes Mr Mahia yes yes Consolidated cash is a report a packet you have the packet the revolving fund report you have the packet on that the budget is a packet budget report is a packet anybody have any questions on those Mrs FIS okay I just and and I probably know that I can't do anything about it but I just want to you know highlight of make known that there are a couple of things on here on Transportation first of all this nxs Luxury Transportation for 288,000 I
005don't know what that is I've later now learned that it's homeless students um but I see other other ones in here where it's mentioned that it's homeless Transportation as well I think I mean we're talking not bringing students from one place to another I mean we're bringing them two miles down the road probably that's one thing the second is this raone Transportation um group that bringing students after doc students from and of a high school for 12 days to the tune of $2,400 $200 a day to bring in two miles a mile 1.3 I mean are we even do we even care or no I mean I don't I don't know I'm just trying to be a little bit responsible here so the um the late buses are put up to bid on our regular
006transportation contract but we do have trouble getting those buses but it does cost us about $100 a run on regular buses as well so it's a fun but those are the rates it's it's a similar rate with what we go out to B and then the the mix the homeless and the Foster those students we have someon W as far as W ringham they're they're not right next door so they they're traveling quite a distance but again those those vendors are also hard to to secure for the students there's no other Avenue that can be like we try a little different things we have a evening custodian that does like has a 7D license so he'll drive he drives some of the kids home to Framingham and wam that save us a lot of money
007we pay him by the hours so we say an enormous amount of money on that so where we can but we've also tried to get some of our custodians uh try to get them to get a 7D license uh which then we could use them for possibly some of this Transportation as well but when you it's very hard to find anybody to even do the transportation it's not like you can like we can put an RFP or put out a quote look for a quot or anything and we'll get nobody to tell we have to actually go out and see people and ask comp if they're willing to do it for us uh like that the at the dark bus uh the our bus company won't do it and so then we went to a
008privately the only other private bus company out there went to um Ramone to try to get a price in order the kids from the hand over here if I had like I said if I had like custodians or something I even put out anybody that's interested in getting a 7 license we paid for them to get the license and we had no takers uh so if we did we can send out our own F hand over bring over we don't even have anyone to do that believe so the trans full transportation is very very frustrating in terms of its cost in terms of trying to find people um like I'll give you an example we have a young man that goes to it's Framingham that now wrestles we have to have a bus we have
009to have someone drive that student just that one student home after wrestling to Framingham so I think is Sean so Sean the custodian is doing that for us uh in order to save us money he drives him to frame him but he typically was going home at we could bring two kids at the same time but now he's doing wrestling so now bring one to Wal in then he comes back works for a while and brings the other one framing hand yeah okay I guess I'm like like ignorance in this area um why are we like dealing with why do we have students that live in those areas yeah yeah some because vocation Works in between here and there yeah so um for the homeless students they fall into what's called mckin vento and schools
010are obligated um to to allow them to continue to stay in their school of origin and with DCF um they do like typically if a student goes outside the district they have what called the best interest determination in the whole team so the DCF worker the sing District vocational school this whole team gets together sometimes there's an ad Advocate to talk about like what's in the best interest of the student and they they tend to have um you know a guideline if it's like I don't I don't know exactly it might be like if it's more than an hour and a half away um one way then they say that you know that's not really reasonable um and they don't really take into consideration traffic and how long it can actually take so it really
011it has to be that team decision um based on the best interest determination right I I get them mckenny I I never realized that it could be that distance when you have vocational schools from in between here and there I mean what makes I mean I don't understand why this school fulfills that need of the student and say like a great doesn't uh you know they started here if they start here you can't TR and they want to stay here and they can stay here then you can't force them to transfer up local or anywhere closer that's determined by the team that looks at it and determines what's the best interest for that student that student is doing well and wants to stay here then you know we can't say no you can't stay here
012you get because it's closer the other thing is sometimes it's a temporary situation it might be emergency housing or if it's a DCF placement um they typically don't say oh you know it's going to be this set amount of time um they you know they might have you know a hearing in a few months or something like that so they don't want to keep moving the kid around um not knowing how longterm the situation is um because they have you know a lot of disruption in their lives so to try to keep as much familiarity as they can um for that student they try to keep them um in the same place when they can especially when they don't know how long the situation will be taken in some cases the community pays half so
013the student living in off then we pay half the cost and pay half the cost byw they requ but just the Transportation I mean it's not an easy route to go and I mean that would cause I mean me a lot more anxiety than being homeless I mean spending an hour and a half in a car going back and forth two times a day that's crazy and the state is okay with this they're the ones that require I know that's why you're not get any back from so I'm I mean it's purely information I mean for me no it's very expensive and you don't own bud you don't know how many students you can have in that situation in any given year so you impacts our budget I guess I've never just never not that
014involv that okay I feel bad for get for the extra time and I'm very upset at myself that I didn't think of this myself I I love to drive that Ramon here is doing very well for himself yeah yeah are we responsible for uh Cory's for yes Transportation people okay anything further on the budget donations I don't see any donations articles the kids touch base on the article for manufacturing program uh building the uh pieces that are going up in the space um International Space Station it's fantastic whoos to Mr wette he's a homegrown boy too Mr L boy anything you want to say on that that Pro a lot of sucess in that program the high quality of the work that the students do you have to meet extremely high standards in order to
015be able to be part of the Space Center Program there's only5 schools in the country that that qualify to make Parts uh so our kids are doing very well with that and you know real um all those staff members that are in machine shop should be recognized right from the 10th grade and Ninth Grade on up because that doesn't happen overnight so kids that are developing and making these parts are typically uh end of the year Junior and senior so because they're training in their skill is a kudos to our staff teachers who actually we read ccul to yeah I mean those stand so those are and as a result of that I would say just by any student that wants a job gets a job out that program they get very jobs we're just
016putting together a a new agreement with proor proor gamble that's will be bned over they be hiring two of our machine shop students very soon uh and they plan on hire many many more once they're totally moov here to hand over but it's really a high demand program that's been extremely successful um du the um well we have uh really high technology very outstanding equipment as well that's recognized in the industry mat equ would find it any manufacturing planning industry so training as well so good great program yeah please no I I mean I just want to say look kudos to you to school for creating the environment there in the shop and to miss ulette I I honestly think that I mean without his influence encouragement um motivation connections I don't think all of
017this would have been possible and I do think I don't know how I'm going to I don't know how I'm going to get that done and I do think that some kind of commendation should be afforded him yeah um no I don't disagree with you um that program has had really four out instructors including Mr Chris waterworth has also been an exceptional instructor who's been in that Pro was the first one we hired since his Inception also has his degree in engineering worked at n for us for a while there so that no I'm not minimizing all the others together as a team they've been just Absol absolutely amazing any any school in the country would love to have them or any Corporation would love to have them but I will say that U Mr
018wette definitely has uh been um proactive in making building these relationships and making sure that the kids have had these opportunities so he cares about kids and that whole program is like that if you walk in there you you feel it you know it no you see kids always open so um they're a perfect example of you know what we' like to see in all programs and we have other programs like that as well I know but not every program is um recognized nationally no that's true yes and that's what sets it apart from the rest of the programs here which is not to take away from any of the programs because I mean they're all they're all great and you have some great teachers in each of those areas but this one stands out
019and not only stands out it's it's prominent it's it's a national recognition and um again I think some kind ofation is sure yeah anybody else public participation I don't see any budget priorities M Richardson you're going to tell us about budget priorities I don't have a paper on it you just talk right yes so this is just kind of a high level um view of what's driving the next year's budget so I'm just going to go over an overview of the priorities and our goals so all of the priorities are aligned with our school Improvement plan so we're the second year of a twoe uh plan so the overarching goal is to prioritize teaching and learning strategies that support students academic growth in both vocational and academic disciplines and our objective is to allocate resources
020effectively to enhance the quality of our education system the first priority is uh continuing to develop and Implement mtss multi-tiered systems of support you've heard a lot about that um so this includes first of all a focus on tier one supports in the classrooms in our schoolwide curric ulum instruction and assess assessment practices and when you look at you know our student data um how many of our students um struggle in different areas um you know if you look at our evaluations and where we are um you know that it's important to to um invest in the tier one curriculum because it's not just a very small number of students needing tier tier two and tier three so first and foremost tier one is a priority um we'll be looking to continue to enhance tier
021two two and tier three intervention so what this mean is a continued focus on reading intervention programs uh like read 180 and specialized reading curriculum for students with disabilities particularly students who are identified with a reading disability we'll be addressing student performance gaps um that are highlighted by recent testing that we um conducted and we're in the process of finishing that now it's called I ready testing and this helps us to assess our students um grade level in terms of their literacy and also helps us to focus in on what specific areas they need support in whether it's comprehension um um fonex or all different types of um criteria and this this assessment breaks that down and what we found is that we do have a significant number of students reading two to three grade
022levels below their actual grade again this goes back to the importance of the tier one instruction so we'll continue the acquisition and implement ation of hqm so high quality instructional materials in ela and math and right now our science and history departments are also just starting to explore what that looks like potentially in the future uh for their subject areas we'll also be offering more professional development and more highquality targeted professional development for what each department needs um this means more opportunities for teachers to develop and Implement their new curriculum and use those high quality instructional materials effectively our second priority is uh Staffing and teacher support so we're looking to reduce student to teer ratio by hiring some new academic teachers across all subject areas um to improve student engagement and learning outcomes this
023will also help us to enhance the master schedule so we're trying to optimize the amount of instructional time uh that students receive in their academics particularly for students in grade n and 10 in ela and math we're going to look to hire some additional instructional coaches um who will help to support curriculum development particularly in the CTE areas and also hiring uh additional CTE teachers um as we add new programs and students move up to the upper grade level we need to hire more CTE teachers to meet those needs as we expand those programs and they naturally grow third priority is technology and student support so we're looking to upgrade some of our technology resources so that includes both hardware and software applications throughout the school um also increasing some funding for student Support Services
024to address student social and emotional needs more effectively and the last priority that's aligned with the school Improvement plan is our focus on dbei which is diversity belonging equity and inclusion so we're looking to provide additional resources Prof for professional development focused on researching and implementing effective practices and creating a positive influence on staff students and our overall School culture so that's just kind of a high level view of how the priorities connect with the school Improvement plan any questions for that thank you missions I'm sorry so for personel you said new CTE teachers so when you refer to CTE teachers do you just mean all across is the priority all across the shops or is it the specific number of them yeah not all shops I think the the programs for example Aviation Mr
025Leo can speak to so the ones that are incoming right shops that are not at all four grade levels yet those programs with they're be adding another grade level program because I know I know for this year or last year you were looking for Aviation instructors I don't know where that's at now I don't know if you have existing people so I don't know what that would mean we're talking you're talking about expanding yeah just that program as an example right now we have uh we are we're intending to run a ninth B program so we have a ninth grade Aviation to us that's been working on curriculum has done some exploratory work but it's not working with full grade level yet until FAA that's the final approve Improvement so he's also been doing some
026substitute work and other things to fill in um if we get FFA I mean FAA approval um beginning of April possibly March uh then we are considering running an exploratory during the summer if we can run an exploratory during the summer we can then have so then we would want to hire another instructor but at this point we're not sure that that's going to be the case also depends on what our budget our final numbers come out in the budget uh whether we pursue that or not um so that's just an example robotics uh has three instructors so we'll be looking at hiring a robotics teacher bi biology I mean um biotech we had three I'm not sure if we went looking for fourth one or not we have in the past posted for four
027one for that spot so wherever there's a a necessary uh need to increase from existing programs that are still growing we may be adding structor but it's not across the board okay second Mrs so so you've already done the IR ready testing so we started it um in November and then the whole thing with the network kind of shut that down so we are looking to try to finish that up in our Wind Block for students who didn't complete it okay so you're you're going to identify those students and and then implement the necessary high quality learning that's how so um well how many steps does it have to go through and and also if I recall that Grant was like a four or five year thing was it I no student Opportunity Grant which
028oh that's that's a fiveyear grant okay and I believe it's five years it could be four but we're just finished our third year I think this new budget will be the third year that we've have opportunities and student opportunity yet will kick in okay so yeah it's a partly five years of extra funding to support student needs okay in different areas and then how do we know know that that it's working through more assessments and more testing and also data but if the if the extra help hasn't kicked in yet like well we've had it for two years so we students have had extra help the last two years and different whether it be Ela or math they've had homework help they've had an extra course work depending on some of them have specific course
029work that are those the students that have been identified after that assessment so it's kind of they're sort of different buckets right so we we try to give all students um the I ready testing I don't know about seniors I can't say all SE students um but we we're testing most of the students um we already Ed some of the results that we had from last year's it was a different assessment it's called the star assessment so we used that at the beginning of this year to identify students who are in need of um additional reading support so we already have uh two teachers who were new this year who implemented a new reading curriculum called read 180 um we also have based on that testing um the special ed Department started um their own
030reading curriculum they're using a different curriculum um so that's already in place and we could so we'll do the testing now which it's not ideal you'd like to test all of the students at one time and then you do it later in the year like in the spring to see what the growth is um unfortunately we're now going to have students tested in November all the way through January so you know it's not 100% alive um but it's sort of the best that we can do right now um so that will continue and then we'll you know we test the incoming freshman so typically it would be like twice a year would be that cycle um the hqm the math department is in the second year of using high quality instructional materials and this is
031the first year for the ELA so that's just being rolled out so it is definitely um we hope to see some gains by the end of this year and going into to next year but it is definitely a multi-year um initiative it's not something that will you know sort of change overnight but we hope to see you know Progressive growth and do you spend more time like on the freshman and sophomores speciically so more time in terms of the testing or any kind of extra yeah well the ninth and 10th graders that we that was one of the big changes that we made to the schedule this year so this year they have English and math weeks and so they have a half a day of shop in the past it was sort of the
032full five days of academics five days of shop now their schedule is broken up so they're basically in shop half the day and academics half the day so math and English every day we also assess their uh their quarterly grades and try to alignance some of the assessments we have like two two weeks ago I was looking at assessment with uh Penny ala director of teaching and learning and uh the U Isabel who does a lot of our collection data we're looking at some of the uh I ready data on reading and then trying to compare students in ela how they perform this first quarter based on how they score to see what the impact is on their grade in these particular courses to to identify whether they need additional support Beyond just the read
033read 180 so we're all and we have a specialist data specialist who's also looking at data basic on an ongoing basis then our Wind Block we're trying to drive our Wind Block on data that we collected and then do specific coursework for those kids and place them in the courses on Wind Block based on what their needs are so we're setting up specific curriculum designed to meet different standards based on the the gaps we see in students have into those wind blocks so we're doing a lot of stuff we're using data a lot more than we've used in the past to try to identify some of those weaknesses one other thing that I just wanted to highlight that um we did last week on the professional development day so um the CTE team along with
034fota and Chad they did a great job organizing that um professional development for CTE so they provided that I ready data for all their sophomores and juniors um it was shop specific so it wasn't just overall broad data they got to see their own students in grades 10 and 11 and to look at that data um and just having an understanding of where students were was I think really eye openening um and then they had a chance to sort of look at it and to break it down to figure out how that impacts their uh their teaching and in the future they'll uh probably at the next PD session they'll actually get more professional development on how to actually go into the system and to you know to find the data on their own and
035to really get more familiar with it but I think that was a really um important piece and integrating it into the shop since they spend half the time there I think the other thing about that too and help some to understand why certain students aren't performing the way they would expect them and why they're having challenges and understanding particularly when you're looking at techn uh technical manuals and things like that that students have to reference and then they struggle having an understanding of where their students are gives them a better CH chance to spend more time with those students who are specifically not area so that was one of the reasons I'm happy to hear that it's it's it's moving along so good any other questions uh the admissions report it's pretty self explanatory but
036maybe the assistant superintendent the superintendent have something to say on that yeah I mean basically right now we're still in the beginning stages of it um what we're finding uh we're close to where we were last year we might be a little there may be lag behind a little bit but it depends on how many um applications that we actually started to process so the numbers uh are not reflective totally on where we think the amount of applicant we have but you can see it is starting to quickly grow in terms of the numbers that we have that are applying you can see the at the bottom of the report that said the um class of 2029 started duplicate out of district and withdrawn applications were not included so students um who have started the
037application but they haven't fully submitted it um and incomplete application so um with that new Student Activity um that we have this year if a student hasn't submitted something yet they would be considered incomplete so I added up that those two categories the started and the incomplete and that's another 475 applications so rough um you know we're just at about 1,200 um and of course that final number depends on how many of those started applications students and parents follow through um we do have um a couple of people in the admissions office who are actually reaching out directly to those families who haven't submitted the Student Activity as well as the sending schools to make sure that they do that questions uh superintendent will you update us on the uh chapter 74 feasibility study for
038the following animal science veterinarian assistant construction craft labors and I'd appreciate if you include the update on the Elks yeah okay so we are um continuing to look at other possible opportunities for where job market might be suggesting that there's strong need for uh skilled labor uh as well which would then off offer us opportunities to take in more students but in the realm of uh two of the three that we're looking at right now uh we're looking to uh Start programs that we don't need more space here at jts so we're looking at animal science veterinarian assistant we've reached out to MSPCA um to uh do a partnership with them and run the programs out uh evidence there uh we have a meeting with uh one of the uh not the CEO but next
039level down his assistant uh when we come back from vacation I think it's the first week of January we're meeting we've had one informal meeting discussion with them uh we'll have a more formal meeting after to see they seem very interested in pursuing something like that but we're just in the beginning stages to determine how strong the job market is is what the interest of students would be and all that before I would come back to the committee and suggest that it might be something you might want to consider us starting those programs the construction craft labors is one that we're looking at uh we don't have that particular program other vocational schools too it's really pretty much a direct partnership with the labor union uh train uh students to uh become laborers uh it
040would be uh limited number of students but it would be partnership with that Labor uh Union if they were interested in working with us so we're looking at is that something that might make sense given that that's been a strong drop Market in the uh North Shore uh uh reports uh unemployment employment reports show that that is a a strong job market in that area so we are looking at it considering but I want to give you a head start right at the onset of our work just so that you know we're looking at it and then um and then we'll give you some reports on what we're find before we make any decisions on that and then whether we should move on that at the same time we would give you a plan on
041if we were to pursue these plan uh these programs uh what the impact would be on uh the school in terms of space uh budget personnel and all that before and so you can make a good decision whether you think is the right think we do enough but um we are looking at those and then as far as the out goes um the um gem line company next to the Elks is also interested in purchasing the Elks so theyve U reached out to us and want and ask if we want to do a partnership with them in terms of buying El because I know the city's also looking at whether there a better option than to buy um because the city has reached out to them to see if they still are interested in buying
042the outs so we did meet with them to talk about what does a partnership look like uh they're very interested in partnering with us because they're interested in um the parking lot but not the building so it might be a partnership that would save a lot of money uh but you know in terms if we decide to go down that pathway if they El do buy property so the the challenge still is finding them they haven't found a piece of property yet we did locate a building in the uh across the street basically dling from the Elks uh in the um over on power Street which is off Glenn Glenn Street there in sou Lawrence there was a building that uh is up for sale we brought them their building committee we met them over
043there they looked at it and they're interested in purchasing it uh but when the realtor uh showed them the building and after they showed they were interested they said well we got two other buildings we want to sell all three we won't just sell one but they never told us that when we went to look at the building now they want to sell all three and that's not something they else can afford or know they what they do so right now that's out of the that's out of the real so basically the El still do not have a new home so we're still in limo until that can I'll get back until that happens or whatever happens so that's kind of where we're at at the end any questions it's been ongoing saga we also
044supposed to have a meeting with the city on a piece of land been waiting a long time for that we had one meeting with them and I forgot to put us on the agenda so then they said we'll reschedule the meeting but we schedu a meeting and that was over 6 weeks ago so we're still waiting for schedu a meeting probably want to R develop the property so on Wednesday we sched that we find out there's a lot we did look at has some uh some issues with the lot but still we believe it's buildable if the out want to start from and built right from the ground it's just it's just another option for them in some ways it might be less costly for them um given uh market right now regards to commercial
045properties very high any [Music] questions Mr ly uh the Grant on a clean uh School Bus program EPA program so we pursued or we pursuing I should say U we originally were pursuing the grant proposal in partnership with our bus company uh reading bus uh company which we're still working with them but they're taking over the they're going to be the lead on the grant this time so what the grant is federal government's offering uh to pay for up to what they say 50 buses um uh electric buses so the fedal government's trying to encourage school bus companies to purchase electric buses so we we partnered with uh in order for uh ready to pursue this grant they needed us but we actually initiated it and we saw that so that they could they would
046be purchasing 30 electric buses with in our part being partnered with us which would um which would help in terms of the uh clean energy climate issues and we thought was a great opportunity to try to do something for the environment so we reach out to them they were interested we got the ball rolling so the grant is now in process of the application is now in process and should be completed sometime in the middle of uh January we actually feel pretty good about the possibility that they would get the Grant and our ring new collect buses with a lot other new technology that come along with it so and hopefully we could uh convince them to provide us with a cheaper rate or something we help them so anyways actually was going to make
047a comment as you was speaking but I mean I think the bottom line is if if we break even but kids get new buses and their electric and it helps the environment with them a good thing for the community so that's one of the reason we pursue the just I hope it makes it a FR any questions on the uh PPA Mr superintendent where would these buses be housed in ready or here well that's that's something that we haven't that's that's another whole issue that we talk to them about that we can talk to them about um we could if we were to house them here the electric uh all the electric uh stations would have to be here um so we would basically home them so that might be an opportunity to bring some
048Revenue solar farm yeah so they use our electricity and um drive for free right and we would charge them for electricity and make money on it there's some opportun there may be some opportunities with regards to the aspect of the program um I'm not going to uh suggest some other Visions for the whole thing that uh that might be possible that make money for and I that's another good reason to do it hey if if these people can make that money that is wow that Beyond The American Dream Ria yeah I I see opportunities for us to be able to make some situation any further questions always fun negotiations Mr so we had our first negotiation meeting last last night yeah with who with the teachers union I thought uh we exchanged proposals um I
049thought I thought it went well I was um somewhat pleased with what they gave us for a proposal I think it's a workable proposal nothing scary or overly through the roof we're not we haven't talked money yet though that's the one issue that's still hasn't been brought up so we still waiting for that to come but some of the things they presented to us I think are are things that we can work with them I think and driving some of the things that we want I've always found the teachers to be very reasonable for the most part yeah well depend they weren very reasonable during Co but other than that usually we have a good relationship and it works pretty well I think right now I think right now the last negoti went very well
050you they got everything but the moon but other than that I think right now well everybody did in the school yeah all schools did well yeah I don't think you have to police the teachers as much yeah so my only concern I thought the mood was good the interactions were good that's good so I think they reasonable people yeah yeah most of the time my only concern is why why is absenteeism yeah we that was a big we talked a lot about that yesterday and U trying what are some ways that we can uh curb some of the of that issue through some kind of uh contract it might be reasonable but they're not happy who's not happy know I don't know why would you stay out well we have we do have a lot
051of longterm that people are um which when we started to collect the data I'm going to give you later some of the data um you'll see that there's people you know returning leaves sickly there just a variety of other issues that people are out for for other people out so there's a variety of stuff that's driving some of the the data okay that we can talk about do we have a timeline for the next meeting uh in Janu January I think we have two meetings scheduled for January January any further questions Mr Vice yeah I mean maybe this question is more to you or superintendent so I know School committees well the school committee in the past has appointed members of the committee to well to represent the committee in those negotiations and I assume
052all unions are up for Ren renegotiation from so I don't know if we' done that I don't know if we've done that process I don't know who's representing the committee all those neg I haven't been asked and nobody else that I has been asked to we haven't been on it in a number of years okay and that was negotiated years ago back when I was vice president um because what was happening is we would have 10 meetings and we' always see somebody different on the school committee we' never see the same person so they were never up to speak we did recently have one uh for the admin yeah we had one uh school committee remember two committees last time around when it got difficult so when the we couldn't come to any kind of
053agreement with the administrators and we were having challenges with it then we brought on I don't know if we brought one or two SCH commit members on to try to help uh show the the administrative team that um they were U working with reasonable School Comm members and then and then the other one was the clerical U because a clerical one um we felt that might be a little bit of a challenge as well plus I don't negotiate the CL one because I have someone that's in that that I know so but other than that we never had administr school Comm members on any negotiation in the last 15 years since superintendent and the superintendent prior to meeting also didn't have school committee members on on on the negotiating committee okay but just in response
054to you I mean if the committee and to my understanding this is my understanding through mask is we the committee is supposed to appoint representative or representatives from the committee to be part of those negotiations if that was happening and there is different School Comm members and there that was there was just no responsibility or accountability in terms of who was supposed to be a negotiation so we have different units regardless of the conditions of of the negotiation or where where they're at and you guys aren't able to come to an agreement regardless this should be some sort of representation from the school committee in those negotiations and I know in the past so I know you say in the past 15 years but I know school committee members in the past that have been
055part of negotiations yeah not so my argument is not I want to be in negotiation table this is an argument more of sitting down generally there should be some sort of representation from the committee because I have no idea what's going on I'm hearing put a motion you can put a motion to get somebody on here but I believe that we first meeting we have that paper that says these are the yeah we already brought represent already agreed to do it the way we're doing but here's the other issue with you bring a school committee member on then you got to bring the attorney on if you bring a school committee member on you have to bring the attorney on and if you do that then they can bring their attorney on then it gets
056expensive and it gets lot long and it gets drawn up anytime you bring on an attorney and from my perspective every time we brought attorne a couple times we brought attorneys on and I would say that it's much more challenging first the attorney doesn't know half of what's going on for my experience every time we've had an attorney it's been more difficult and more costly but uh but we're not going to agree to anything the school committee has to agree to everything in this particular negotiations there's not a whole lot of things on the table it's very limited what's on the table the biggest issue will be might be honest with it very little on the table what they're asking for and what we're asking for very specific things you know I'll give you an
057example like one of the things that's important to us while we can talk about an executive session you know because it deals with negotiation so we can talk more about that so I can give you more insight as to what the issues are right now I can't do it an open session yeah no I I don't I don't mind you know not necessarily having a member I'm I'm saying it more generally as school Committee Member and knowing that there might be committee members maybe that want to be part of that process I I mean I'll just put it this way maybe we'll probably look further into it and in the next meeting talk more in depth about it but I think that's definitely a conversation that should happen at least so I'm not going to
058put any motion but we can put it down for future business yes I think that I brought it up prior when at a prior meeting about someone from here being in the on the committee and that's what I was told that it hasn't happened in the in the past so so why are we going to bring it up again I I would like because the vice chair wants to discuss it that's okay that's good reason I don't know if we voted on anything no we didn't I mean [Music] I we discussed about it and to my understanding was is if you needed assistance in the negotiation process then you would come to the committee and request a representative right um I just believe that it would be important to have representatives in line for each
059of the units so that if and when a school Committee Member would like to be part of negotiation or you are you're having trouble then you could call on the school committee to take part in that negotiation um you might not have an issue with the teach you might have an issue with the administrators or the cler and and and I know definitely your problem will not be the teachers but you will definitely prob one of the unit and that's why it's important that we at least one of us on each of the units are part but that's why I just mentioned for discussion for future the way you just explained it is right when superintendent was having difficulty with the admen he asked for two um committee men there and War and the attorney
060came as well yes once we did that I do understand I'm not worried about paying the attorneys I'm not no I'm not either be safe than sorry yeah don't let that deter you don't let that deter us yeah yeah that's not my concern I mean if we need the attorney we need the attorney but the way to go is we need to have some sort of representation of the school commit in those negotiations I have no idea what's going why we put it down on the future agenda we discuss it further I appreciate the update anything else on negotiations uh superintendent ly we want to move a January meeting looking to move January meeting to January 21st because I uh will be on a at a conference on that week motion to uh approve Mo
061moving that date does anybody want to check on that date from the 14th to the 21st which we would also be moving our general Advisory board meeting because they come in January we report out the recommendations so we be moving both can I get a recommendation can I get a motion please second FIS discussion Mr Mia yes Mr tabos yes M Ferris yes M dler yes Mr Hayden yes uh travel meal uh rates have gone up Mr want to talk about that so um recently well we haven't had an increase in the travel rates for basically food in uh since 2010 I believe so 15 15 years now and so proposing breakfast to go from $12 to $22 lunch 18 to 28 and dinner 3550 total $100 a day which is you know given food
062prices over the last 15 years has been substantially increased so we're looking to just increase the rates can I get a motion to approve the uh meal rates as presented Mr to box second second second discussion show Mr Mia yes Mr toox yes M Ferris yes M dler yes mren yes uh they've been changes to the calendar uh you'll see the uh the old calendar and the new calendar and the changes are uh on the third page Advisory board meetings senior finals senior senior final makeups and the awards night I think this had to do with the timeline for us being out for a week no explain to you why we have to change the the timelines so when we submitted our school calendar to the Department of Education as part of our civil rights
063review um they sent it back and they said that the seniors we getting out too early because um according to desie they can't get out any more than 12 days before the rest of the students and if you looked at our calendar the way it was broken up with the the seni um finals and all of that it was actually 17 days um so we adjusted the calendar to reflect that so um making the senior final go from May 19th to the 22nd now it's the 22nd to the 29th um I think just senior Awards night was changed and our graduation rehearsal obligation day um day after prom now so we're switching that to a 10:30 start instead of the early morning so making this adjustment just um helps us to be in compliance with
064des's requirements questions this is unrelated to the proposed changes um I mean I've gotten phone calls the last probably week and a half of why kids are going back on the second because the first is on Wednesday and the day after New Year's Day you about Thursday and Friday you're going to have families on vacation you're going to have a lot of absences so I'm just a little worried as to and I know all the other school districts in the in the I want to say all most of the districts in in the valley are not in session for the rest of that week because of that reason um and the way that they well the districts were making that upward towards the end of May to June for the last day of school so
065I'm just curious as to why or if we could prevent this in the future yeah so part of part of the problem for us is desity requires 185 days including the snow days so so I think you know I think part of our problem is well I wouldn't say it's a problem but for us what's different about us is we start our week on Wednesday so our kids really it's the second day of the week and if we wait till the following week they're going to come in and only have one day or two days left in that week and then go into another week so really is to our advantage to have them come in those two days so now they have their four day week and then the other group has their five
066otherwise it's uh you know it's uh I think it provides us with that opportunity to give the kids the time to um you know start the week get closer to the start of the week without having to only go to dat so you know educationally it's better um and given now that we had those four days it helps us too we didn't even plan on that but thank God that we have those two days right this year given that we lost the four days in November but I mean next year it'll be one day so that might have a big you know that'll change the whole thing but you might add the time on the other end before Christmas because now you may have instead of two days you'll have three days so you may
067push go two days in the beginning of the week uh because that's the back end of the of the fight they schedule as well so it's just something we consider and we can talk a little bit more of that when we present next year's calendar thank you anything further uh so I need a motion to update the I mean uh yeah motion to update the calendar as presented Mr discussion tler yes Mr yes yes Mr TX yes M FIS yes Mr yes agenda itend the calendar no the gap for the sen I don't we wer closely that is a concern [Music] business we have District committee priorities uniform update Mr have a uniform update for us so um we've we've had we have a uniform committee for people within the building we also had which
068we met uh we actually met today on it uh also have um the school council met on it today as well um so to uh give some consideration uh to what might what might be a good choice and we're also looking at uh doing a possible survey to the students once we have once we narrow it down to a couple possibilities to possibly do a survey with the parent with the families and and the students and get some feedback that way and then after that we make a final selection to bring it to the committee for a vote one of the things that it seems like it's been a long talk about I want I'm going to put it out there just to get a feel your feelings about this U t-shirt being a t-shirt
069to be a shirt uniform un academically with a pair of uh jeans I think that's what we're hearing most from the conversations we've had so far uh so that that what I didn't je blue jeans t-shirt and blue jeans for uni why would we put a uniform policy then just so if you don't like that that's fine because then it gives us some Direction that's not something that you would want to consider t-shirt and blue jeans okay with me it really is I I know a problem but I'm just I'm just curious as to I'm just this is this was Mr J Mr Jones request on uniform polies and where did this addressing come from came from two groups actually from the group from the group committee that we have from the school from this
070two separate groups and from the school council the faculty group actually was talking about like giving more options so in addition to jeans right uh possibly you know khakis or um you know black pants like that so we're looking at sort of different styles um options for shirts so having the option of a short sleeve or long sleeve t-shirt or a short sleeve or long sleeve polo um different color options things like that yeah so what's what's wrong with that I still go back to what's wrong with enforcing what's in the handbook oh I have no problem enforcing what's in why isn't it done because it isn't if you want to go to that rout but the committee voted to go with the uniform for real go committee wow this you you last no wait
071a minute did we vote for a whole uniform yes no Ed to look into it supposed to be no no they voted to go with the uniform no look at the look at the uh look at we did vote to look it to explore and to come back with a policy to come back with my was options and we voted to go to a uniform the committee was to look at options and present those options to the district committee for approval so we didn't vote for a uniform voted for that that's my last option I would bring you some ideas for you to bring you recommendations for uniform y for a uniform right that's what that but the idea was you going to vote for one of those uniforms we brought you two options that
072you were going to pick I'm only giving I told you what I told you we're telling you what we what we've discussed so far to give you an idea of what what the feeling is right but I'm just still wondering why you can't enforce what's in the handbook we can no you can't clearly it isn't that's that's the whole point it says no pajama pants there pajama pants it says no uh tank top so whatever I'm hearing that people are saying that it's it's a biased against females that's bizarre I mean maybe I'm not seeing stuff but I don't see people wearing tank TOS around the school I mean you might catch one here or one there you wouldn't know you wouldn't now I mean it's even early in the year I mean I never
073noticed that but I mean I'm not looking for like the kids been appropriately dress if I saw something glaring at me or if I saw a t-shirt that was you know had inappropriate uh comments on it I would certainly recognize that but um you know pajama bottoms yeah but it's for the most part kids violate the dress Cod there ended up in the in the discipline office the last meeting Mr Mercedes moved to seek out the current the creation of a dress code to look into the creation of a dress code which we all voted unanimously approved we didn't vote for a a specific dress code and if you look on page three there was talk about adhering to the handbook at the time it's in the front of your packets well how about if
074we maintain the here's a suggestion we maintain the existing dress code and we bring you back a report after two months of a list of the violations that we end up within the front off in the safe office of that dress code how many violations do we have and then you can make a decision after that yeah I mean I think we should just move forward with what we've been doing now um the suggestion you offered is fine at least with me I don't know others feel about it but in terms of what Miss f is more concerned about is the enforcement behind it so you're coming back with a you know new devel newly developed dress code which is what the intention is but in of that you know we need to make sure
075that we are being intentional we being clear and specific about enforcement and making sure that folks in the safe office and whoever is responsible for discipline um that we are making sure that we're holding people accountable and that folks are aware that we do have a handbook and this is the way where we need to enforce it and if you know once you come back with what is newly developed dress code then we talk about enforcement and how we could and if there are other strategies as to enforcement because clearly the strategies that are working right now that are in place right now are not working as efficiently as it should um and I and I tell you because obviously I have bus come a loud bus that comes past my house at 6:30 in
076the morning and my sister goes on that bus and I see at least five of them with Pajamas I pass by this road I live right down the street and I see half of the bus of kids with just these crazy fluffy sweaters with their their Grinch pajamas and everything so and slippers I mean like no no I mean just like just dress normal that's it I wouldn't mind again I wouldn't mind if it was a spirit week but I don't know something we're happy to do whatever you'd like if you would if my understanding is you were looking at doing uniforms and I'm fine to do that and bring you recommendations for uniforms and then in terms of enforcement it'd be a whole lot easier to enforce uniforms than anything else because everyone's going
077to be dressed in the same close to the not exactly the same thing but a criteria that's very easy to see yeah is you know a black T-shirt and khaki pants yep you're good to go you know what I'm saying if you don't not good to go yeah that's that's what I'm suggesting simp what I'm suggesting is can I get one of you to put it into motion please because we have so much on that uniforms put in a motion that we would be adhering to the current uh hand somebody formal motion yeah I'll get to that um but you know in terms of the enforcement piece it'll be much easier but just to have something clear and you know that we're being intentional in enforcing that um regardless whether it's easier or not um
078it's just better to have it in place so that you know you also respond to the concern that M feris has and other people have but I'll put that in a motion that's my discussion for yeah well I think um going with uniform will be clear what you is supposed to be dressed but not necessarily easier to enforce there might be other other difficulties in forcing it other challenges I don't know because we never did and I think you're absolutely right I think look I'm not going from A to Z I know it's hard for you to understand that because I usually go from A to Z but listen reverse no I mean I'm a reasonable person I just expect what's written in that handbook gets enforced and not today I decide to look the
079other way because you know Johnny or Susie is like having a bad day I'm sorry that's the way it is I mean I guess you can you know I don't that's the problem you can never do that now mid year start enforcing what's written in that don't write it in the handbook I mean that's the thing don't write it in but then I'll have a problem with what there's no there's no boundaries I I will have a problem with that well you know I was just trying to see like if we brought to you a t-shirt as the sh you going to be okay with that if you say oh no we're not going to be okay with that at least I have some direction to go back and say yeah that's not going to
080fly of course that's going to be the easiest that's the easiest thing but then like you said there are you know unintended consequences okay so the unintended consequence could be and or challenges that people can't get the shirt you can't you know afford that particular thing I don't want to get into well problem you got to have some clothes no matter what so I don't think you t-shirt pair of pants if it's jeans fine if it's something else fine it should be it should come right down to a shirt and a pants just not pajama pants okay that's I don't mind I don't mind what this than you offered I don't either but you know you don't have to even well that gives us some parameters and we'll bring you back something it gives me
081some clarity here yeah that's that's a pretty uh I think liberal or uh standard to me in my mindset you know so that that helps us yeah but in return I just want enforcement enforcement yeah I mean more the easy simple simp it is the easier it going be afford so if if you pick a t-shirt you might want to pick some kind of a shirt a sweatshirt or something that goes over on a cold days the kids might say well I want to wear my sweatshirt it matches the T-shirt something like that we would bring you that as well like accessories that that would make sense yeah what's up you want a motion I think we're clear with where we're going but we're going to keep going in the Direction with the process and
082once we get a response with the proposal and the ideal code we want to move forward with then committee would decide which one to go about I think I'm clear as to what you yeah are you confused any further questions does it make it easier yeah yes okay uh agender item 8 B new policy jka AA which I I believe is a file number this is from the state physical restraint behavior and support policies and procedures I believe there's 12 Pages we had uh from the common wealth of Massachusetts that we have to uh approve we have to vote on motion to approve discussion yeah this is um I assume an update from the association School update on this is from the code yeah yes the CMR code okay yeah all right they're not asking
083us no no I know I'm just I'm just asking whether being nice yeah this was also something that came out of that civil rights documentation review yeah thank you any further question sh pleas Miss Parris yes M dler yes Mr Mia yes Mr TX yes Mr yes new business we have none we did have uh something that we were discussing should on the old business I guess but the legislative breakfast the vi year had some questions on finding out May we're going to have one if we're having one so I mean it's not on the agenda but I can tell you that we're looking towards U beginning of February we want to get through the holidays then we gives us the month of January plan so after the start of the year we can then
084out invitations so that's what we're kind of looking at thank you table matters I see them Personnel considerations anry carasso special education bilingual Le effective December 20th 2024 Thomas Paulson pH Cal instructor effective date was December 20th 2024 there were no leaves of absences there were no retirements there was an appointment Thomas suin Plumbing instructor effective date was December 9th 2024 there is a job posting which I'll need a vote for special education psychologist local 1707 effective January 2025 new position C the attached is a job description for the next page can I get a motion on the job posting pleas car I have a second second discussion please ch um how many school psychologist do we have right now we have one one recomend recommended uh psychologists is one for every 500 students we
085have almost 2,000 we have one psychologist and is there a plan to meet the ratio are we just looking for one is this for one person we're looking for one we did not put another psychologist other than one that one budget to go any one we have other kinds of social workers that kind of fills the Gap a little bit but in terms of psychologist who really are desperate for the need for particularly in given the mental health challenges we have with kids today is growing substantially uh you know we have way more autistic kids uh the workload we have to be more and more evaluations of kids so uh we're really struggling in the special department but we got the number of students that we can meet further Mr tbx oh yes M Ferris
086yes M TLA yes Mr Mahia yes Mr ha yes future agenda items we have one already um I have missed one I think the superintendent missed it also Mr Mercedes I had a motion to have the Corey and soris uh done um I will add it to the next meeting it's on page four of the uh last month's meeting we'll addend that you want me to bring the application no it was the uh Cory stories to have a vote on to have the future um people sit in these chairs oh make it a a policy policy I missed it I think you had missed it I picked it up the other day so okay we'll do it on the next meeting okay sure so that under contr and we need to go to Executive session
087now Mr superintendent right we have a few things on that get a motion to go into executive session MO s discussion let's go into executive session shall we e e e sh okay um we're all set with executive session can I have a motion to adjourn motion to ad any other discussion all set Billy all