District Committee Meeting (Sep 27, 2022)

001I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all would you please keep in your thoughts this evening the men and women are protecting us around the world good thank you so would you have when you have a moment would you call the role for the purpose of attendance please Miss Fitzgerald Miss disler Mr Hayden Mr Cirillo Miss mammal Mr Rossi absent Mr LaMontagne president okay um minutes of September 13th grab a motion to approve those please we have a second second discussion I'm sorry would you oh he did I didn't hear him I'm sorry I'm sorry uh any discussion all those in favor anyone opposed Melissa could we have a cash balance report

002please yep so the account balance as of September 6 2022 was 2 million one hundred and ninety five thousand two hundred and twenty three dollars and forty three cents plus deposits from September 7th to September 20th of 89 950.62 cents less payroll on September 15th of 952 215.28 less a warrant on September 12th of one thousand dollars a warrant on September 13th of 297 thousand eighty eight dollars and ten cents and a warrant on September 19th of three thousand six hundred dollars giving us a book balance on September 20th of one million Thirty one thousand dollars Thirty one thousand two hundred and seventy dollars and sixty seven cents and a bank balance of two million four hundred and thirty eight thousand seven hundred and thirty seven dollars and seventy six cents on the mmdt account

003we had an opening balance on September 6 of 8 million eight hundred and forty six thousand three hundred and fifty nine dollars and twelve cents we have year-to-date interest as of September 6 of ten thousand dollars ten thousand two hundred and thirty three dollars and eighty nine cents for a total of eight million eight hundred and fifty six thousand five hundred and ninety three dollars and one cent um giving us a total mmdt balance of nine million eight hundred and eighty seven thousand eight hundred and sixty three dollars and sixty eight cents here we set the motion as the cash balance reported at the center so moved we have like do I have a second don't don't fight over it guys do I have a second oh good any discussion all those in favor anyone

004opposed okay you'll notice this Consolidated cash Reconciliation Report was a handout revolving fund budget report or in the packet any any questions on any of those okay Communications uh donations of 2006 Cadillac DTS valued at 4 475 donated by Ms Joyce kafori from Lawrence Mass see no articles and no public participation I'm sorry uh well I was streaming is not working you what I'm sorry streaming is not working oh okay I can check on that okay is it not working or are we just not seeing it not seeing it online oh he was here just a few minutes ago okay uh this time then the chill except the motion to take a five minute recess so move all those a favor and you were opposed Vivian made a motion I seconded this evening we've invited

005uh the representative from the uh North Reading uh bussing transportation company to address the committee we have Lisa I have her last name was your last name altricio here who worked with Bill on a lot of the bus issues day-to-day bus issues every day to uh address any of the concerns or questions that the committee might have I would ask Lisa she could kind of give us a report where at this time the most recent report on what are some of the difficulties that we're dealing with right now here at the school that from her prospectus um obviously we're having late bus issues we have especially in the PM is where our issues are so we I do have some some some resolutions that I'm seeing in the near future I just wanted to start

006off by just stating some of the things that we're doing with recruiting in order to try to get more drivers as everybody knows there's a labor shortage and National Labor shortage and so that is obviously affecting the buses coming back so um so one of the things if you haven't heard we have the recruiting center in Lawrence that we opened up Governor Baker and commissioner Riley were there for the ribbon cutting ceremony it is a walk-in bilingual center for the and there's the the store is right downtown so it's it's visible it's walking there's a lot of foot traffic which has been really helpful we've had a lot of people come in we've had about 85 people we're we're also we are partner partnering with the Lawrence community and focusing on ESL training and so

007we've got about 85 people right now that are in the process of of learning English in order for them to be able to at least communicate a little bit on the buses and get them either monitors or drivers so we're in the process of working with the recruiting center we've also launched a community outreach events employment ambassadors that will be building referral networks within the community advertising obviously radio social media school districts have sent Flyers Mass Flyers out to parents just letting them know that we're here we're looking for drivers we're paid training you can get your CDL we will get walk you right through the process um so that's kind of you know what we're doing for the getting the people in also we have increased our wages the wages are going up and

008we need to be competitive there so over the overall we've increased wages in the area about 1.7 million dollars from FY 22 to FY 23 so that has seen some significant increases in people applying which is very wonderful we've actually greater Lawrence Tech has three drivers that are just waiting to take their tests and they will be ready to go so that will solve three of your 10 bus late bus issues in the afternoon um so other things is we're offering five thousand dollar sign on bonuses for anybody that comes with a CDL license four thousand dollar sign on bonus for current employees that will be upgrading if they want to go from a 7D to a CDL um so that's an in-house bonus also offering three thousand dollar sign on bonuses for anybody that

009has a Class B with a p endorsement again paid training we're doing 20 hours paid trading which a lot of businesses are not doing this you know they come with their CDL they go and they pay for it themselves the employees are paying for themselves so we're offering the paid training which has been again another thing that we've seen significant increases in applicants coming in [Music] um so that's kind of what we're doing to try to get more people into the pipeline um right now like I said we've got three people that are waiting for tests they are assigned to Greater Lawrence Tech we have had them doing um dry runs to learn the roots so that when they pass their tests they're going to be right out on the road so that will help

010with what you have right now basically 10 routes that are running late in the afternoons so we're focusing on the ones that are running the latest to get getting to school to pick up the students so once we have those three drivers in place we're going to use those three drivers to go back and get the um there's another three a group of three routes that are running late um and they're they're they're kind of like that almost like 348 350 almost four o'clock so these drivers will be able to go back because they'll have nothing else to to head out to they can head back and pick up the remaining three routes that are late which will solve six of the extremely late pickups that we've been having over the past three two three

011weeks the other is um we are also working to try to do some root adjustments to be able to so the last four routes or our buses that are getting there about 15 to 20 minutes late and we feel that we can make some root adjustments to get those drivers on time so I hope within the next three to four weeks we will have everybody picked up by you know your 250 your three o'clock that time frame um so that's that's where we are with the update on on what these um these um Investments have done in order to get people through is that we are seeing people in the pipeline I have others that are in the pipeline but we tend to not talk about those until they're they have their hours when they

012have their hours they're required to have 60 hours of training time and that can take a while to get people through the 60 hours but we are looking at a target of when someone starts to be through the pipeline within six weeks so as those drivers come out they'll be assigned to a greater level greater Lawrence Tech drivers okay thank you thank you for coming uh I got a question so it seems like the major issue is not lack of equipment it's lack of drivers oh correct correct so I mean once you get the driver situation rolling equipment should not be a it should not be an issue nope not at all we have the buses okay and one other question too you were saying that you're you're teaching certain applicants English are you also

013teaching Spanish to certain because we have a large Spanish popular the whole Merrimack Valley has a large Spanish population is is that also being done on just just a question so no what we're focusing on is trying to get applicants to be able to pass the test so one of the things that we were able to do is get um we had been advocating for a while to have the 7D which is your spedroots your smaller Vehicles getting that test in Spanish and we have managed to do that so the RMV is now teaching and giving that test in Spanish which has helped with the increase of the 7D drivers and being able to get them through a lot quicker than we had in the past so and then the CDL those that test is

014not in Spanish right now it has to be in English so we're really focusing on trying to get you know Spanish-speaking employees to be able to pass a CDL test to get them in the bus Mrs Fitzgerald beginning you had references referenced the late buses and I was thinking late buses like for this the runs for the uh football team you're talking about late because they're not getting here until almost four o'clock all right thank you yeah Mr Sorrell yeah and we're talking about an hour to 90 minutes for a lot for almost um 13 buses and kids that are still stuck here when they should be at home and I'm aware about your Center because I was actually there as well so which as I'm getting the emails of the buses that are continuously

015late throughout the last three or so weeks in conversation with a couple of reps that were there as well um is very dis to me is a problem when our kids are not getting picked up it's a great it's a great partnership with Lawrence and and and I also facilitate the mayor's diesel task force somewhere so I'm kind of curious of who you guys are partnering with um to teach the English to um the drivers I'll let you answer that one first yeah so who we're partnering with is um black yeah sorry that I'm like I know it's so um so that's who we're mostly partnering with um they were giving us like two slots but what we are really now focusing on is getting someone in-house that works with us directly as an employee

016of ours so trying to find that right person to come in and start helping because like I said the list is very long and obviously we can't take all of the slots so they've they've been kind enough to offer to the last time I checked it was two spots so we are looking to get someone permanent full-time with our company into the into the recruiting center okay um thank you for that um any other in conversation with plenty of employees that work for you the terminal that buses are is one of the worst terminals that you guys have I'm not sure if that's correct but the problem is as I'm seeing it this is not the first time we've had this problem this is also has happened in the past but this is the most

017time that it has been so consecutive with kids being so so tardy um I believe it was last year I had a conversation with superintendent because I got stopped my parents saying that the kids are on the bus for two hours that's a ride from here to Hartford um and then our kids are here waiting two hours when a lot of them have to go home because they have to watch their siblings for their parents to go to work or they themselves have to go off to work to help support the family and not only mentioning that those aspects is also the aspects of them myself have to being here for so long they didn't go home to actually do homework or whatever they have to do to get ready for the next day of

018school so the fact that it's been happening for more than three weeks to me is definitely a big problem and I understand it there's a work shortage everywhere but we have a contract that we definitely need to have it filled because I can't have kids here for almost two hours and 90 minutes just sitting around answer that or just take it as a comment yeah I I I I I understand and we're really we are working and focusing on getting these roots back on time and so we do have a plan I have a three-week plan and we'll we'll continue to move forward with it I I my expectations are in the next couple of weeks you'll see some improvements for the CDL to go is like almost two months consecutive am I correct to

019go through the process to go through the process of getting to CDL and so forth because this conversation I've had with plenty of drivers that work for our nrts so it is a long process to get the cdl for those who even want it um [Music] so it is a long process it's it's actually it's kind of it it's it's up to the driver on how fast they want to go through it because they have to have 60 hours 60 hours it's however long it's going to take you um we have been seeing um people come through about five or six weeks but others they struggle they take a lot they may take longer but we are seeing an average of people coming through about six weeks and being ready to be uploaded to the

020RMV to then be submitted to the state police to get a test and then have the test and so from the upload to the test date is about 10 days actually one final question will you um how many people um do you have that need English classes yeah how many slots is great honest Community Action Council providing because if it's if you have more than they're providing I could definitely get you more seats at other locations yeah I don't know the number I don't have the numbers here in front of me but I can certainly get them and and because we are seeing a lot of people coming through the recruiting center most of them are for 7ds they're not for CDLs or monitors which we also need so but I can absolutely get you

021those numbers Angela yep your microphone please you're representing a company and your name is Lisa I don't I didn't get anything else it's El teresio do you want me to spell it that's fine okay so what company are you representing nrt North Reading Transportation oh it is the one okay yeah thanks Mrs Fitzgerald yes at the beginning of school this is kind of a touchy subject but I feel with some good reason that great Lawrence Tech has become low man low school on the totem pole and the reason I say that is in the beginning all of us saw Methuen was having problems they never had problems not everybody was having problems other than Whittier who has their own buses and over the past weeks all of the noise from those communities has settled down

022either internally they've found Solutions or whatever but on our parent an official website the no the noise has not stopped nor has it to each of us receiving um emails telephone calls from the parents of students who are impacted so I just feel that I don't know I I I really don't know except that if why haven't you been able to solve our problem when you've been able to solve the problems for the other schools that you also provide transportation for and I know I'm putting you on the hot seat and you're the representative here tonight but it's a question that we we are all truly upset about um it's just untenable that our kids are still here 90 minutes after school left and I understand so that being said how many of your people

023in the pipeline are women back in the day 20 years ago there were more women bus drivers than there were guys including right here at the school so do you have many women in the pipeline ready to do this so do I um I know of one person that is that is supposed to test very soon he is not a woman um I do have another driver that is a woman and I'm not sure about the Third um probably if I had to say I would say it would be about 50 50. um yeah I think that um and to answer your question about you know why has the noise settled a lot of the drivers that come on they um they bid on a certain District so even though we are not a union

024company we still do some things where we bid that there's seniority there's bidding and they pick a district that they want to work in um and so most of those drivers are settled in those districts and that's the routes that they've picked to drive and as a bus driver I'm sure you understand that um so with with greater Lawrence Tech um there were already open routes going into in the afternoons the afternoons is where we're struggling in at school is is the afternoons and there were open there was eight open slots so that's what we're looking to fill is having drivers that are coming in now new to the company that we can assign to whereas at the beginning of the school year the drivers are picking their Roots but now that everybody's picked we

025can now start assigning people to as they come into specific routes which is what we're doing thank you for um also to get things better I don't think it's going to take four weeks I have like I said I have three drivers that I'm just waiting that are assigned to Greater Lawrence Tech that just need to take the test so there they could be within a week to 10 days is usually what like I said once it's uploaded we wait about 10 days to get a test date so as soon as they pass they can start driving in the next day or so nothing else that can be done to us to get some resolution before that time what is that it yeah so as they as they pass we'll put them right on the

026route so and that's why we've given them the root sheets right now so that they can learn them so there's no delay there's going to be no delay they're going to know the route they're going to know the stops um and we can get them going so it really just depends on I just it's going to alleviate just the three or six of them it's going to it's going to alleviate yeah it's going to alleviate the the the big ones the ones that are that 90 minutes that some of them that are we're looking at 90 minutes there's five of them that are you're really talking about they're arriving about 250 248 so those are not the unbelievable like 330s 345s that or four o'clocks that we've been looking at those are the ones that

027we're going to Target to get fixed first and then try to fix the rest of of the later routes that are coming in at like that 250. uh Vivian so when do you foresee um everything being fixed with all the buses being taken care of like what what is your projection as to when this whole situation will be resolved right now I can't give you a projection I can give you what I have right now which I know which is I have three drivers that are waiting for their tests and then we will have those drivers go back for the other three that are running late so I would as soon as those drivers are done their tests we will have a resolution for at least six of them two of them will three of

028them will be on time three of them will be they'll probably still be waiting about a half an hour until we can get more drivers in and then the other the other four is is going to be that it's gonna still be around that 250 Mark right now and as the drivers come on we will always I'm going to look at the latest and fix the latest and just work our way through but I don't feel comfortable giving you a prediction right now until I have more drivers that are further through the training I'm more than happy to give you an update no definitely I I would need one um because it's only technically resolving three buses even though those three bus drivers are coming back to pick up you know the other three routes

029it's still not on time whether it's only by 15 minute delay or 20 minute delay is still a delay um and it's initial that has not been resolved um I'm curious um all the things that you were describing as to what nrt is doing to bring people in is that something that you guys just decided to do now um or you know these are things that you've been um instituting into your into your company for quite some time to to recruit people so yeah we have been doing it um we have been doing all these initiatives we've been tweaking them a little bit one way or another just trying to see what the ebb and flow is of of drivers coming in um they're over the covid period nothing seemed to work um I'll be

030honest I think people were making more money on unemployment than they were here and coming to work so but now we are seeing people come in we are seeing people be interested and we we have finally have a pipelines this is working um the one the big thing that's working as well is um is having our 70 drivers progress to a CDL so they've been part of the company they are now feeling comfortable with driving and understanding you know what it is to be a school bus driver and so we have a lot of progressions going on within the company which is is is is always helpful because you have people that are dedicated they're not just going to kind of go through and and leave they they want to be here so Fred you

031all set uh Mr Willow there you go um and sorry I know I said it was final but it comes back to a conversations that a lot of bus drivers after the last meeting we had in Leo um I did reach out because it Depression was going to be on the superintendent to give us an explanation um after our last meeting but I believe sometime this week or last week I contacted Leo and said no we need somebody from the bus company to answer the questions for this for the for us and a lot of bus drivers reached out to me and you got a lot of new bus drivers coming in that's going to be making more than the ones that are already there and from there complaint is we should get more money

032um as well which is not my issue because I to be honest my issue is making sure our students are getting picked up on time um and I was there for the grand opening of the year of your Outreach Center and I know you're getting all these electric buses and everything else in your partnership with Lawrence Public Schools um with that said my issue is that if there was a brush shortage issue in the summer that we that you're aware of that was going to affect our school or any other school district but to me I'm worried about this school because I get to when I get the calls or I get stopped in Market Basket or whatever time gets the same thing um Marilyn we all get all the same stops and all the

033same questions when the kids are still in the school building waiting if there was a if you knew there was a shortage then did you contact the school to say this is what's going to happen because when I got the first one message I looked at it didn't really pay too much mind to it because I was assuming it was the first day of school things happen the second one I took a little bit of notice but then I got I'm at the bus stop where I have parents complaining and then I get the third notice the fourth notice and the superintendo is the first one to get a call for me to what's going on with with this with with this with this issue we have him with the buses because this keeps progressing

034it just went on from one week to another week to another week I didn't get any message this week but not not to saying that it's not happening um so if you knew there was a bus shortage in the summer of drivers did you contact the school to say this is what's going on um let's work together so we did have a meeting with the school district and we did let them know that there was an issue with the PM and that we were in hopes that we would there was seven still seven PM routes open but we were anticipating that we were going to be able to cover the majority of them we had I don't everybody may know that when school is about to start about 10 of your drivers do not return

035um so knowing where that those drivers are going to be and what district um is the unknown part um but we we could have I'll be honest we could probably have done a better job in updating and keeping the district updated with exactly what our numbers were but we we did have a conversation with them there was a conversation about seven seven buses being late because I'm going back to one of the emails and it's showing let me say one two three four five six seven eight nine ten eleven twelve thirteen fourteen fifteen sixteen buses late not 13 16. um so depending how many students are in each bus and which direction they're going if they're going to Lawrence are they going to um Andover North Andover or Methuen that's a lot of kids that's

036still waiting here and that's not even counting the kids from the after dark program I don't even know if if they're still waiting around here um going back to school to Lawrence to their schools so and I know you can't give us a prediction of a thing but you're talking about you got three drivers that are going to come in and like my colleague from Lawrence said there's only resolves three three buses because they still have to come back here depending on traffic because anybody who's been around the city if they're going to Lawrence Methuen this there's definitely traffic um that means they're going to be here for another several minutes before the another group gets picked up um so to me it's completely unacceptable that that this has gone on as long as it

037has um and and I'm standing there and I was standing there for this grand opening this great Center that's going to do all this Outreach and get all these drivers and so forth um and then come to school year we're going three weeks of our kids here and we're talking about 13 16 buses not 13 not two not three um it's completely unacceptable to me yeah I'm leaving to talk to my rest of my colleagues I actually want to thank you for coming and giving um some kind of an explanation and I definitely want you to come back and let us know what's going on and keep us informed because the way keeping us informed keeps our constituents informed keeps them knowing that we are actually doing something to make sure that we're resolving their

038issue I'm I'm talking with Bill every day or texting with Bill every day and keeping them updated with the office and myself so we are doing everything we can to be communicating in a better way and making sure that you know we give at least the updates of what's going to be late I think that our last meeting with um went fairly well and and we were um kind of in line with each other and we I I feel like the district is feel seeing it it's not 16 anymore it is those 10 that we're having that issue with um over the past couple of days maybe the past week and a half or so we've we've fixed some of the issues so we are we are actively working on it and you know I

039apologize to the community because I know how difficult it's it's been this is uh Fitzgerald yes I have three specific questions for um a superintendent after um Lisa is through she this is dealing with the busing but pertaining to the inner workings here at the school Vivian out of curiosity um considering that you commented that the three new bus drivers would be once they're they finished their route that they would come back the current bus drivers that you have now is there an incentive in place for them to participate in um also um if they were done with their route to come and do a second one to pick up the remaining you know buses that are not being intended to at the moment so right now those are the ones that are running late

040that they're coming back and picking up those kids because they're finishing their Roots a lot of the roots are longer so we're looking at those routes that we can get back quicker to have those people come back um but that's how the the late half is getting is getting picked up is by those drivers returning okay and anything for them okay if I could before I call on Mrs Fitzgerald again I do want to thank you for coming thank you very much it's not an easy thing to do uh because you know you knew you weren't going to get a lot of attaboys you know what I mean but we do I do appreciate you coming uh could it uh I was hoping that we could ask you uh if we could be in contact

041with you uh once a week like by Friday if you could write an email to the superintendent and he'll share it with us on the progress that you're making or the lack of pro you know I know that sounds not fresh but you know what I'm saying okay we hit a one of those three people is now working for XYZ instead of instead of us you know what I'm saying type of deal if we could stay in the loop we won't have a lot a lot of questions if that's acceptable uh and if we could do it by Friday this way here the superintendent will be able to uh to share it with us um you know and then on our Tuesday meetings you know absolutely and I will leave my card on the table

042and you guys can have it so that if anybody has any questions you can reach out to me directly wait we're always better off to go to administrate you know to say that's that's really the way it should go it should go through Administration to you you know but I we appreciate that you know type of deal if you've been just hang around a few uh moments uh for Mrs uh God only knows what Mrs Fitzgerald is going to have to say uh oh oh you would oh okay I'm sorry I'd like to excuse you then uh thank you very much for coming like I says uh I you know thank you very much I appreciate it and if we could start that by you know this Friday I'd appreciate it you know by the

043end of business I know if you have John's uh email okay if you're sure you do I'm sure you do I would I would appreciate it thank you for coming okay continuing on with the investing uh update uh Mr show you understand it's a public meeting correct though I'm just saying I mean it is no I'm just saying there are many people what you know what I'm saying but you wanted her to leave I don't know why but you know just say I know but at least you would have it okay whatever it's okay no no problem I truly didn't mean to send her on her way I was trying to give her a reason to be able to leave okay okay so continue please yes so I have three questions at our last meeting

044you mentioned another busing company specifically I think it was the Ramon busing company that you were going to try to set up negotiation between nrt and Ramon did we have um any luck with that that was question number one question number two is since I look at nrt as failing to meet their negotiation negotiated um contract um are we going to see some reduction in our phenomenally large busing Bill question number two and question number three what problems are we having to deal with either space wise supervision wise with the children that are staying here 90 minutes later where are they doing their homework what are we doing to give them snacks whatever so those three things the Ramone busing the negotiating downwards our financial contract and then problems that might have Arisen from this

045problem superintendent so first of all in terms of working with Ramon transportation out of Lawrence had several conversations with him had conversations with the leadership at nrt they were all in favor of trying to work something out and communicating with the Attorney General's office we could not negotiate a contract with Ramon directly but what we could do is if nrt was willing to subcontract them that would be acceptable so I asked nrt and for moan to come together to at a meeting with a meeting with me which happened which happened a couple days ago and as a result of that has been determined that Ramon cannot provide the services that are necessary he um doesn't have any he has six buses I believe which he uses for the charter school which he wouldn't be able

046to get here on time for us and um and then the other situation is um he said he could get he can't get any more buses he thought he could get buses but he can't uh he learned a lot by meeting with nrt because there's a lot of stuff he didn't know I didn't understand uh also one of the other situations he said he could get drivers but really he didn't really have drivers he didn't really understand what was necessary to get a driver licensed so that didn't work out either um so there was really no way that Ramon could actually provide any service or subcontract anything with nrt um so that didn't work out when they left and nrt was very very good about the whole situation they were trying to work with them

047tell them they would help train their his drivers if he had drivers they would do everything they could to make that work and also help him in any way they could to help him get off the ground with his business because they felt as though you know he's just starting out and he's got a lot to learn and they're willing to help him get going so I thought that was very good on their part because they're basically he would be their competitors but they totally were all in favor of doing whatever they could to help his own organization so the that organization that bus company learned a lot from nrt and I thought they were more more than helpful in trying to make this work if it were at all possible when they left they

048were going to meet together to try to see what they could do as a team to try to see if there was any other things that they might have missed so the meeting didn't produce anything that would be helpful to us hopefully it's helpful to that particular company because it would be nice to have other companies out there that could you know be competitive and when we go out for a new bidding particularly being a Latino Community businessman in the City of Lawrence that would be awesome if we could have him have a successful bus company so that was a result of that in terms of our contract with um uh the bus company we will do an analysis on um what what has been the impact in terms of our own students and what

049do we believe um has benefited the bus company in terms of their own costs by not providing the service they should to us so that we can then know what kind of adjustments they should be making for us also meeting with our own attorney I have contacted our own attorney a couple times to talk about what you know what were the recourses we could have we had in terms of Legally to make this happen for us there wasn't a whole lot given that this is a situation somewhat out of the bus company's hands but still what our attorneys said that if it continues to go on that we would have a meeting to see if there any what what could be the possible repercussions in terms of legal issues that we could uh address with

050the company so we will be reaching out to them again this week to set something up now that we had this meeting and we've got and we had the bus two bus companies come together and we've I think we've come to realize it's not going to get settled I don't suspect that this will be settled over the next three or four weeks regardless of what you know they get three drivers is not gonna it's not gonna make a difference in terms it'll make a little difference certainly it's not going to resolve the whole problem until they have enough drivers to cover all the routes so um so I think we'll um will continue to pursue other Alternatives if we can I don't know what other opportunities we have it's not like there are other bus

051companies the state is aware of the situation doesn't seem to have any solutions as well um to help us at this point we have some other issues relative to the buses like we have our homeless students at the bus company is not providing services for that we're struggling to find a service for them a legal service for them in order to get them to school here so we're still dealing with that also um as one of another problem we're dealing with we have three students we're trying to get to the school legally here that have transportation problems on the third thing I'm going to let Sue answer the third thing she works closely with Bill with the students at the school and the activities and the things that the students are dealing with day to

052day in during that time yeah so typically most of all of our buses are gone by three o'clock we have Bill and Krista both are responsible for traffic patterns and busing as well as the entire security team we also have had many of our administrators out there helping you know because it was basically Mr Bogle and misgill is out in back with it could be up to 100 students supervising them our security staff typically will leave by three o'clock so it's been kind of an all I I do want to recognize both Bill Vogel and Krista and other members of the security staff and the administrative staff that have really stepped up to ensure that those students are supervised we now have clubs and activities that have started on Tuesday and Thursdays our homework help

053program is also on Tuesday and Thursdays what we found is many of the students have now and parents have made started to make alternate Arrangements for right now so their students don't have to wait but we we are ensuring that those students are supervised they're in there they're currently in the cafeteria and bill has set up a system where he supervises out back so when a bus comes we radio upstairs so the students that are inside are aware that their bus number has arrived so we've kind of tightened that up a little bit you know but I say I will I have to say that it has been really a challenge for them because they have other duties that they they have had to stop doing in order to supervise that thank you Mr Hayden

054okay yes yes um so one question you said Mr you said that you we couldn't get in control with Ramon's bossing because I'm guessing it's because we already have a contract so that would be like a bridge of contract or something like that well um the problem would be we'd have to put out an RFP that would take uh and obviously what you already mentioned Ramon is not ready too no they don't have that they don't have the services we didn't know that two weeks ago until we had them over here and then the other question question I had is what you know what our family is saying and I believe me principal already answered that question because obviously they doing some alternative to take care of the kids getting home or at least we

055are supervising so do we have plan b or plan C to keep doing what we have to do or do better that we what we already doing that's my question yeah and I would say at this point um you know now that we know that it is going to be a little bit more long-term I'd like to work with the superintendent as well as the discipline office and our after school program is to see if we can come up with at least something better for our students additionally now that we have more information from the bus company we will be doing more of it and we'll be advising those families like so so because I've had parents say is this going to be one day and you know we say no I will say that

056we're doing on day to day our I believe our team has gotten better in communicating with students and families like it's now pretty much the same buses every day but before just making sure that if a bus is going to be late that everyone is informed but I would agree now that we know that it's a little bit more long-term we need to come up with some maybe some alternative activities for those students ensure that they have a snack and now that we're getting into the routine of school day we don't want kids just sitting here for 90 minutes like can we provide them you know resources of space to to work on some homework or or can we think a little bit outside the box box especially you know now it's fall weather but

057the last thing you want to do is um go through this when the weather gets colder okay uh Frank Francis thank you um and yes I gotta recommend the staff for the communication that's how we have been able to track what what's been going on and it's been coming out daily sometimes before noon and I know what to expect throughout the day and but thank you for you like me because we definitely have to have something in place for these kids that are still here and I didn't think about the food situation once you brought up but Mr superintendent you did bring up another interesting um point that I didn't think of at the time either um homeless kids that need to be in school they're not getting picked up because I know there was

058a time where some buses would pick up kids take off the other half of the kids that didn't make it to the bus stop before that because there's they're expecting to be there at a certain time um I stand around realizing that where's the bus and the bus is dropping kids off here by six six thirty um I think that was only week one am I correct that hasn't happened since uh because I haven't heard about that since then but if we and based on the law if those kids that are homeless need to be here and need to be serviced so we have to look at something alternative um independent where they are um to be able to get them here on time to be able to service them but even if we get

059them here in time then it's the problem of getting back home yeah so we we have at this point been using some limousine service uh the people that drive those limousine services that need to have a 7D license so that's been sort of a problem um we also in the process of negotiating with another bus company to provide services at twice the cost that we had originally budgeted for with the existing bus company so we're hoping to resolve that um this week actually to try to finalize and make sure that there's Clarity on who's picking up who we're trying to work with one of the communities which is Newburyport in trying to split some of the costs because the student lives in Newburyport and they're willing to provide some support in that in that area

060so I'll give you an example there's one homeless student we have that has a a sibling that gets picked up and I think they're going to Lawrence Lawrence High School but the bus company won't take our student because they said they're too full so our student gets left behind and theirs gets taken to the other student gets taken home so that's just one example of the kind of stuff that goes on that we're trying to deal with and I'm quite aware um some of the issues because but I was unaware of the homeless situation um of kids that are housing insecure which is the new catchphrase term but into the you know I wanted to come into staff there are staying and helping out with watching the kids we don't have kids just hear unsupervised

061I know that they'd rather be home but the dedication to the kids in the school is far above anything else so much kudos to them and everybody else involved I just wanted to make a final comment on our meeting that we had with the bus company I do want to say Cynthia thank you to the Ramon Transportation because they genuinely came in trying to help us resolve this problem and you know they learned a lot but their intent was to try to do something to help us so I truly appreciated that and let them know that as I sit here what I'll do is also do something formally in writing to him to express a thank you on behalf of the committee as well for trying to support our school and our students Angie Mr

062Hayden Mr Lavoy do we still honor the taxi vultures we did that a few years ago would that help us with some of these homeless kids that that really is illegal we really cannot put kids on taxis that's against the law so we can't do that [Music] anything further on this matter John all set okay moving on uh superintendent Lavoy self-assessment I believe there was a handout given the document I sent out on the self-assessment I'm not going to go through it because you're just getting it so I'll let you take it with you take it home and we can address uh any of your questions and concerns regarding the self-assessment but what I will do is go over the goal that I put together and an explanation of why I'm presenting one goal this

063evening so if you look on the gold sheet there superintendents goes it has goal one and go one really is it's uh develop a five-year glts strategic plan but goal one incorporates every standard uh in the superintendent's evaluation uh process and each of those standards which includes all four of them instructional leadership management and operations family and Community engagement and professional culture is captured will be captured in the Strategic plan and I will be addressing all of these standards within the Strategic plan and so the number one goal is I will work with all School staff and stakeholders develop a new five-year strategic plan in this strategic plan we will establish key priorities to help us accomplish our goals to move us to the next level the focus indicators which I've established some of the

064basic Focus indicators and this particular goal is a major undertaking which will incorporate working with the entire staff including teachers administrators the uh facilities cafeteria every aspect of the school CTE academic every aspect of the school we'll be addressing we'll be putting it together I'll be putting together teams to develop this goal so it'll also include stakeholders outside of the school also lead a municipal leadership and state leadership to be involved in this work so it's very comprehensive time consuming but the focus indicators will include improving the quality of teaching and learning review quality of existing programs and determining the need for future academic and Vocational programs recruitment support and retaining diverse teachers and and leaders are retained diverse teachers and leaders engaging families as our partners in our work ensuring efficient effective operation systems

065this also will include everything from looking at the existing facilities and where we need to do in order to increase enrollment in the school we have right now some very future plans in place with regards to adding new programs which one of the main functions of adding new programs is to be able to increase enrollment but also in order to do that increasing space so with that comes a lot of issues and challenges that need to be looked at in a very strategic way so that'll all be addressed in this strategic plan so some of the actions at this time were to establish a steering committee that includes staff parents Community stakeholders and students develop a timeline calendar to complete plan by September 2023 established priorities for all aspects of the plan reach out to

066all stakeholders to seek involvement include strategic plan activities in our operational admin operational meeting bi-weekly uh report progresses to the school committee monthly collect data from all departments and programs which will be ongoing determine strategic plan format and provide a rough draft progress presentation for feedback from the staff stakeholders and school committee somewhere between I would say April and May and a final draft on September 2023 a five-year strategic plan that will provide greater Lawrence technical school with the plan to provide our students with a high quality education to succeed in their career or post-secondary education this plan will also support the communities for skilled labor in all Industries moving forward questions for the superintendent take this document and absorb it ladies and gentlemen and I'm sure superintendent will continue on it did you have

067a question uh Mr Cervelo thank you Leo through you are you saying we're not going to make the June deadline for July first submission and we're going to push it to September do a report on progress no later than May beginning of May so which will be a substantial progress you'll be able to see how close we are to completion and um but you'll be getting monthly reports also so that you can give feedback and committee will also be involved in some of the committee work that's going to be going on so you'll be having ongoing communication with me to have a complete understanding of the work and and the progress so I would certainly allow you to evaluate just about every standard that I'm working on to give some feedback on that we pushing

068back the um submission to Desi until September so I can break goals sometimes or over it can be over a two-year period so I can break if you would prefer I can give you a deadline I can give you a more specific as what should be expected at the end uh in May early May of what should be expected in early May and then you can evaluate based on that if that and then the rest of the goal the second part of the goal would happen uh as part of the second year plan if that makes you feel more comfortable I can certainly do that anything further good no I'm not no I'm just saying yes this is so yes when does our present strategic planned expire our president uh strategic plan expired beginning of

069last year I would suggest that five years it's not that it's ambitious but I don't know if it's practical I think a three-year plan is something so many strategic plans are done then there sit there in a binder and they're never looked at again but a three-year plan with set dates constant so the Strategic plan committee for all of the people that you've said here those people would meet on at least a quarterly basis to see the progress but I I just think that five years it's not that it's too ambitious I just don't think it's practical in its um deployment that a three-year plan is much easier to um check on just my personal opinion I just don't want something that sits around and never gets looked at and have to fight after five

070years maybe not a single one of us would be in this room to check to see if it's happening so uh I I just I it it's just it's just a thought um that perhaps three years is more realistic for everybody [Music] here's the thing uh five years to two plan is a requirement of DSC so I have to do A Five-Year Plan and um here's the thing I think what's important in the work of this particular plan is that there is complete uh timelines and guidelines as to how we utilize to plan we'll be part of the plan so in other words I agree with you 100 our last five year plan I think we looked at it twice and so in order to do A Five-Year Plan we're trying and I met with

071and soon I talked about this already several times how do we incorporate A Five-Year Plan into what we do day year to year with our school Improvement plan so that it's something we go back to on a regular basis so that kind of activity has to be incorporated into The Five-Year Plan so that it's ongoing and connected to what we do year to year and how we're going to do that I think needs to be outlined in the plan itself hmm anything further okay moving on fiscal year 2024 budget timeline of events please John I provided you with uh working with our finance director we uh we came up with a budget uh calendar in order to build this up next coming School Year's budget and I think we've made some adjustments from last year

072that we think are realistic and I think we'll be give us more effective time to work with all staff in building this budget so every person in the school from teacher to administrator will have an opportunity to weigh in on on the budget if if it has any impact on them at all and so if the committee is comfortable with that we'll move forward on that if you did you want me to go through each through the whole calendar uh no no okay as long as you presented it to us if there's questions I'm sure they're to let us know I'll let you know anything on that ladies and gentlemen uh Mr solo no thank you um because now we got a way to keep track of where the budget process should be uh and

073we have to move the little dissect this a little bit more before I could actually have more comments so that might be at the next meeting uh thank you oh and Leo by the way thank you for making the suggestion of the bus company sending the email um so this calendar is for this year for the school year that we're developing uh a budget for 2024 .24 the calendar is this year right it's uh well this year's calendar is 22 23 next year will be 23.24 so it's what what we call Budget 24. I I guess I didn't ask the question the right way these dates in the calendar are happening this year oh correct yes okay yes that's my question yes thank you you're welcome yes uh Mr swallow starting September 2023. correct okay

074September 27th uh submitted to the school committee uh we moving forward from here forward yes yep okay if there's nothing further Mass higher Workforce board meeting update John I did want to update the committee that um that Sue Amano and myself were invited to the mass higher state workboard meeting and state conference on Thursday September 15th to report out to the board and to the secretary Acosta on our work that we've done with CTI as a grant recipient probably with the most Workforce Development programs they wanted to learn more about how our programs work in the success of the program and the benefits to our citizens and um uh and they had a lot of questions for us regarding um everything from instructors to the specifics of the program themselves but we were asked uh

075because they felt as though our our program was a model for other schools in other districts so we did that on uh uh September 15 2022. anything further admission policy update John so if you have a copy the admissions policy work is still ongoing we haven't completed it yet because there are some significant uh concerns and work being done around the equity aspect of the policy to ensure that we are meeting the expectations and been and ensuring that all students have a fair opportunity to apply to jlts and get in because there are so many students that are applying and we have such a long wait list one of the standards that's critical for us to meet that we have been struggling with the last couple of years is the number of el students that

076are accepted into this and not so much even accepted well I should say accept it into the school and special ed so our numbers have been going down and I think part of the problem of that has been because so many students are applying we don't know who's a special ed student or who's the ell students so we need to look at what our criteria what criteria is to see if the criteria is Equitable and fair to El students and special ed students so we are we were given a grant to do some research work which has been going ongoing for one last year and then we received a second Grant to continue that work and I think we're close to I'm hoping that next school committee will be able to bring you a final

077version some things that are you there are some changes in here that are in red that you can take a look at before next meeting and the critical pieces that we are looking at closely we do have a committee together that's done a lot of good work some of the area the area of particular concern that we're working on is our criteria our Point criteria that we use for accepting students and how they score on the application so everything from scholarship achievement attendance school discipline and recommendations that point system we're looking at closely to see if it needs to be changes need to be made into it so we've we've made we're trying different versions of this particular system and going back and looking at the students we accepted this year to see what the

078impact of our acceptance would have been had we had a different criteria in terms of the point system and how that would impact our moving forward so we're doing some continued work on that and should have some hopefully have something completed by the next school committee meeting so that we can give you that would be more concrete for your consideration uh Vivian superintendent I'm noticing that under uh late applications there hasn't been any changes as we discussed previously we um we mentioned how and you could correct me if I'm not speaking correctly on this on this topic but um late applications some students depending on how they're graded they are bumped up from students that did apply on time correct so are we are we not addressing that we we are addressing it and looking

079at it hits some of the problems with that is well our policy uh is an open enrollment so February is the uh when we start accepting students or looking at or start scoring students one of the problems that come out of a discussion with the committee in particular who are working on the equity piece of it is because one of the concerns with putting a hard deadline and is that they feel like that might have a bigger impact on El students and special ed students and regular students so they tend to submit later applications albeit there are others too that do well so that's I'm not saying that that wouldn't be a recommendations coming out but they want to look at it more closely before they and give you a rationale if they recommend that

080that not be the case so they're not saying that that won't change just that that that's being looked at and I want to make sure that I'm not being misunderstood in the previous conversations and comments that I've made regarding uh late applications by no means am I saying that when a student applies late that they should be discarded completely um but I do think that there is a level of unfairness for those that did apply on time and a student that applied late is able to take seniority in the list so I just wanted to make sure that I was clear in regards to that um do you mind also uh letting me know what does this Orange Box next to school discipline slash conduct um I'm not quite sure what is that supposed to

081represent page 7 of 11. it's right next to suspensions so I'm assuming it's because there's a change yep so that's a major change in school discipline we are not allowed to utilize School discipline in our scoring except for if someone is suspended other than like for regular uh disciplinary issues we used to if a student was had a detention for detention let's say they would lose points we can no longer utilize uh disciplinary actions day-to-day actions that are not severe the only thing we can use if it's a severe action or discipline issue that came up then we can deduct points but other than that we can't utilize discipline as a criteria um [Music] I'm just going to continue to go down the list of things that I saw if you don't mind um under

082page nine of 11 where it says replace within red each student is evaluated based on a scoring rubric which includes the following categories um collaboration and employability what do you mean by that so it's it's a criteria in which students would be if they work well together uh they collaborate so if they're working as a team or if they're collaborating well with the the instructor uh they're staying on task all the time those are the kinds of things that they would be evaluated on and could get graded on the collaboration part wasn't uh so much my I guess uh my confusion it was the employability so we're evaluating them based on how on their freshman year on how employable they are um if we were to refer them to a co-op site no it's specifically

083when they're in a specific program how well they meet employability skills in terms of are they staying on task are they working well with others the kinds of things that an employer would think are important but only for that one program not for like if they do poorly in carpentry it would impact it could impact their uh points for carpentry they're great in carpentry but not in any other program um and I'll just uh considering that this isn't we're not voting on approving or anything like that um so I'll leave it for like I guess whenever we continue to discuss um the admissions um the fact that I have discussed it many times um regarding the whole appeal process and how us as a as a school especially a vocational school what could we do

084to be more efficient and effective in a technical way when it comes to the appeal process I'm not sure if that's something that would have to be discussed within um this policy per se but um we'll we'll get to it in further detail I guess as time progresses yeah so if you have any ideas or thoughts on that uh I would love to have you email them to me because as they're doing this work um if you might be considering or thinking about something they've not thought of at all that might be beneficial in doing their work so I'd be happy to hear from you know any thoughts you have regarding that because they would I could pass that along to the committee that's working on this foreign at this time anything further yes Zoila

085the moment I only have one question um back on the conversation only applications you mentioned that it's because we have open enrollment can you hear me yes okay um so my question is are we going to consider um to not to have open enrollment like we already discussed in previous meetings that is part of the committee's discussion regarding opening enrollment whether we should continue to have an open enrollment or have a specific deadline now the committee will make a recommendation to the school committee on that and with rationale either way why they believe it we should have it or we shouldn't have it for the school committee's consideration and control um do we have any com um conversation with Desi because I know that even us approving this it still needs a Desi approval which

086they can definitely override at any time um are they and I can't remember that all their guidelines they said for your in admissions policy can we close the um open enrollment based on Dusty's um requirements or an dessie has um very they really don't have requirements the way they used to I mean they have expectations more than they have requirements but um they outline what are some what they feel might be some of the things that are we need to be uh find uh resolve like the special ed in the ell but in terms of the policy it's totally up to the school committees this is the school committee's policy which we submit to department now we if you we put something in the policy they don't like they'll get back to us if they

087feel as though it's something that has an impact on students getting into the school but basically it's um it's up to the school committee to present their policy if a policy we put in place results in um only High performing students getting into the school and they feel like we're not being uh not having a fair and Equitable system then they can come back and request us to do um [Music] a what they call it yes yeah pulling names out of a hat Lottery that's what I was trying to think of yes Lottery Vivian I just want to make sure that the committee that you have in place um considering how much if it feels like since I've been a Committee Member that the majority of the complaints when it comes to the whole admission

088process enrollment process it comes when a student is either denied or waitlisted and the majority of the complaints is that it comes across that the parents are not aware as to why um so if there's something that the committee could put in place that it's not violating Desi rules or and guidelines regarding the rubric that we have in place and highlighting within that rubric where that student had you know how is it that uh you know their point system has been calculated that way it's showing the parent the reasons why um so if that's something that you know you guys could take into consideration I think it would alleviate a lot of the questions and you know concerns that parents have in feeling that they don't have an understanding why the student was waitlisted in

089the letter yeah within the letter yeah the the well I don't want to call it denial letter because now it's it's a waitlist letter if they're if they know it was attendance or great issues that they could look at before they could apply for an appeal they know what they're looking for and and yeah if it's in the way um the letter they received it gives a little bit more information and a little clarity so out of curiosity my apologies Leo considering what I'm seeing right now the rubric right as to how we conduct our point system when we're calculating the whole enrollment process do the parents know that their student in attendance they scored a 10 in Scholastic they their their child scored a 25 like are they notified on the letter can we

090do that um all the time we can't do that but it can cause a lot of other issues um I will bring it up to the committee and we'll have a discussion on the letter that goes out to the parents um what is the best way to address the parent concerns with Why students aren't accepted we don't typically in the letter doesn't say well they only got 10 points for this so they only got 15 points for that I um suspect that one of the uh and I don't I'm not going to say this is um totally the rationale for it but then it becomes a lot more uh subjective and more difficult you're going to get a lot more calls and then people are going to try to you know argue the point of

091you know why that point or disagree with the amount of points that somebody got I think it just causes more controversy but I'm bringing to the committee and we can get a better and I'll come back with a better understanding a clear understanding of you know what are the difficulties of doing what you're asking what would be the outcome or the consequence of what you might be asking that fair enough I I think it would alleviate in the sense of so if if the if a parent wants to appeal they at least have an understanding as to what they're appealing for because you're requiring parents to bring in documentation to to justify the the appeal so if they have no clue if it's an attendance issue or if it's a dis you know what I

092mean they wouldn't know why they're appealing and what documentations they need to bring to to justify and defend themselves um but I I'm actually looking forward to hearing the pros and the cons um and I think it's it's I don't I don't know I don't I don't maybe it's my lack of ignorance in the sense of me not seeing um the the cons I mean the challenges to some degree because like I said it's black and white like a parent you know if if there's an attendance issue it's like a parent you can't really argue you know if you're if you're stu if your child was absent x amount of times or if they were suspended you know there are certain things that you can't argue um so I'm looking forward to hearing what are

093the pros and the cons from the committee yes and um when the final version gets presented to the committee I will have the director of guidance and admissions here also to help answer questions that you may have and also can help articulate because she's the overseeing the committee so she'll be able to answer a lot of the committee of the thinking that went on with the committee as well might be useful in answering some of your concerns outside Vivian okay Mr Cirillo I think if they understand is this attendance issue or not disciplinary because disciplinary it would be the head of a severe infraction but the grades issue if there's something like that along the lines I mean the point system might do bring a lot of more confusion um but if they understand that

094there's attendance in their submit day the kids was out for medical in the school didn't put it appropriately then they at least they know that it was a tendency they could go back to the school and say oh well there was a medical reason that my kid was out but can we they could have reapplied the um those medical letters to the school so they could fix those attendance issues before coming here and they'll be a little bit more of a clarification for the parents especially when they're making calls to school members saying this is what it is and he's like well you know bring that stuff back to to their schools Vivian I guess I'm curious today would you happen to know and maybe I'm I'm super curious today I don't know if you

095have this answer uh superintendent but uh would you happen to know the majority of the students that we wait list is it due to academic issues is it an attendance thing like where what are the percentages most kids who don't get in the biggest issue is attendance has a big impact on students not getting in uh more so than even grades so that's where a lot of this yeah so you'd be shocked at how many attendance problems there are but I will say that we do articulate and when we meet with the guidance counselors which we will be meeting with them soon from our different various schools we do tell them we do explain to them when they do the any parents that has extenuating circumstances and also we articulate this to the guidance counselors

096themselves if they know that there was an extenuating circumstances on absentee that they should note that because we do consider that look at that you're spreading it um question so remind me why we stopped denying and we now only have waiting list because um the way I see it if we have a waiting list because one of the things that I thought you were going to say why we had such a large wedding this is because we don't have the the seats to give to students I mean obviously we have um more applications than what we can accept so why are we not doing the the night and waiting list so it helps the process of knowing okay this student definitely they they are not considered and then we have a waiting list I think

097uh Department of Education frowns on denials and they and they are well it's something I mean if we wanted to do that process we still could but they don't like the idea of us denying to say that you're denied from coming in you're not denied you're just on a wait list because of where you scored so um and you know and we're always open you know you could be the last one on the wait list if you do an appeal you may still get in there might be um uh rationales or there may be extenuating circumstances we're unaware of that we're still you know you still may get in but if we deny you you're done yeah I think I understand yeah thank you anything for anything further uh Mr swellow um now following the

098Curious Trend um is there anywhere online where the parents apply they're they're shown that they've got a waitlist letter I deny a waitlist letter in in because if we send them emails and we send them letters they should be able to be a process online where they could just start filing um the appeal process is there as well makes it easier for them instead of sending out millions of emails and and or physically coming to the schools to drop off letters uh in terms of uh on the response on the wait lists uh I'm not sure if there's a uh anything might be a something for us to pursue to look at that might be helpful so that's actually I'm not sure myself I'd have to check with Brenda on that but if we don't

099that might be something we want to consider foreign no we're all curiosity though huh okay very good yes it is it's very important topic especially for to a lot of people no doubt about it okay um aquatic handbook to tell except this has to be voted on the chair except a motion to accept the Aquatic handbook to to accept the handbook yes I'm sorry maybe I pronounced it incorrectly the water the the swimming pool handbook comes out did I have a motion in a second okay discussion this is the show yeah there was a second right it was I thought there was I'm sorry it was interested Mrs Fishel did you have a question uh yes I had a question a couple of comments um first of all I'm probably the only Committee Member that

100read every single word of it um but um that my first comment is that um this looks like the incredible work of our two cpos Jen Dube and as if and Isabel Joya and I think it's fantastic there are a couple of things that I would want if we do um approve this as submitted to us that at some point either on the front or the back it says adopted or approved as of today's date because so that it will come before us as other regulations might need to be done um I I really it's comprehensive I do wish that the state regulations would come into this Century anyway and stop using the term bather load or bathers rather than swimmers originally swimming pools were used as bathing units so it's just a side comment

101so because so many times in here Vader is used and it's because of the state regulations so congratulations to the changes that were made and the work they continue to do and it's a great place so so you're about okay we can't do anything about the bathers okay but but your motion you want to include the date on the front okay are you okay you okay okay with that anything further all those in favor and he would opposed thank you very much okay the uh Alice uh alert update uh John I was wondering about this um is there anything anything going to be said that shouldn't go out to the public uh no I don't think so we've uh We've kept the faculty we've kept everybody informed on this and what I'm going to articulate

102to you probably is a little more uh detail on the specifics but there isn't anything in here that I think would warrant any real uh severe concern but I'm not worried about this severe concern I'm worried about it's it's a warning system and you know it's supposed it's supposed to work okay don't get me wrong it's supposed to work properly but I just don't want to give the particulars out to the public of how it uh of how it works or how it sure it should work yeah well and we can first vet it out in executive session if you'd like I wonder if we I'm just wondering if we should do that I think this should be done in an executive session yeah so that's my that's money feeling on it okay Joe accept

103a motion to move this to the end of the meeting to Executive session so move d uh discussion all those in favor you were opposed sorry I didn't give you a heads up on that but okay principal's report is she still here oh yeah okay good evening everyone tonight I'm excited to um just share some details regarding back to school night our summer reading program our September staff professional development and just update you on an exciting opportunity we have coming up as part of his Spirit Hispanic Heritage Month we're having a community family game night so um I want to start off with our back to school night this year um it was pretty exciting for not only um faculty but families as well as all of us this is our first in-person back to

104school night since 2019 and one of the other things that we did was we kind of looked at it a little different and we really tried to connect students and families and teachers kind of from a student perspective we used to have our back to school night a little bit later in the year and it was around first quarter progress reports and so sometimes the the purpose of back to school night was really just to introduce parents and Guardians to teachers and connect them with the curriculum in both shop and academic areas sometimes it got a little bit lost so this year we not only had it earlier but we changed the format you know we had families arriving we split our schedule into Act academic and Shop time we had parents and caregivers follow

105the actual student schedule so there's a lot of parents hustling around the building like their students because we didn't give up much time in between we also made allowances for our grade 9 families because they do not have a shop yet and we presented we did a present the CTE team did a presentation on our new exploratory Discovery process overall I just want to share too we had a staff survey we had 60 staff members fill out the survey after and you can see that I'm sure there's more but even I was pretty excited to see that some staff responded that they saw 40 or more parents so I thought that was great just to share some of them say not applicable may have been our members of our support staff or other words but

106I thought it was really exciting to see that we had staff members seeing that many parents and just a visual for you it was a packed house I will save that I believe that around by 6 30 we had the parking lot full and it was a great night and I had a lot of feedback from both staff and parents that were excited to be here any any questions for the principal Mrs Fitzgerald no uh no no questions just a wonderful comment it was so nice to see on the unofficial parent website so many positive comments um the only thing that was mentioned to a negative that I saw was the fact that parking was at a premium so I'm assuming that night school was also going on at the time which takes up a

107lot of spaces but anyway it was just wonderful to hear all the positive comments that's great and actually night school was canceled but we have all of our staff and typically for our for our open house and other events we move our staff over to a different parking lot we've never done that before but back to school night but that's already a plan for next year to ensure that we have more parking anything further I have a question of I'm sorry John no go ahead I have a question um I should know the answer to this our student representative what are they expected to uh to join us I was going to mention that um so Maureen is going to join us in October she was going to join tonight but she's going to join

108us on the October 11th meeting we're also recruiting an additional student member but she will be back she actually stopped by this later this afternoon to see the superintendent and I she'll be back are you already sick of hearing of me no I'm kidding yeah no she'll be back yep she'll be back in October very nice reports last year she will be back October 11th okay thank you uh superintendent uh well I at this time just wanted to congratulate Susan and the team that worked on putting the uh back to school night together it was the best back to school night in the 50 years I've been in education that I've ever attended so it was pretty exciting and it was just amazing to see not only the enthusiasm of the parents but the staff

109and it just went it was just a terrific event terrific night so a great congratulations to everybody in the school that put so much effort and time into planning it thanks it was it was great to see so many families in the building and we look forward to having more events which I'll talk about a little bit um so I I promised the staff I we will plan a little better next year but the next day after our busy back to school night we had our community school-wide summer reading program and this year was a Jeopardy theme so again we had all members of our staff teachers guidance counselors administrators anyone that we could get to um kind of you know contribute we had them we had a little bit of a difference this was

110a Jeopardy theme so we had students in discussion groups and they also had an opportunity to play a Jeopardy themed game during summer reading it was great so I was a little bit nervous about this that students wanting to participate in some of the acting out and drawing but that was their favorite part so it was it was great to see the you know a community and I also just want to thank the committee because this committee the last meeting of last year voted to contribute and and make available some funding so we could give out more books and I will say that we had great participation this year so a shout out to all of the staff especially the library media specialist and the summer reading committee for making our summer reading a great

111success this year we also had our September professional development we started and the theme of our first professional development session which aligns with our work we're doing with University design learning and mtss is the topic was unlearning and I just want to share a couple slides you know the theme was that like we do the best we can until we learn like how to think do things better and that only is not only in life but also in education so it was a great great session for our teachers to kind of reflect on um you know what what are some things that maybe that they have changed in their practice or maybe one of those what are the some of the things that they want to change and let go so I just even shared

112these slides like we talked about how you know things have changed and like at the time when you use something you think it's great until you know better I also shared these are some of the staff Reflections on some things that they said what it's time for them to let go in their practice I was pretty excited to see some of these silent classrooms lectures assigned seats we're really trying to get to the whole idea of udl and providing choice and opportunity for our students so it was a great session and I think it's a great way to start off the year we are also in the process of Hispanic Heritage Month is underway here and some of the things that we've been doing is this year some of the added features is we're going

113to start a door decorating contest so any shop any classroom they are in the process of putting up door decorations we are going to have them judged I saw one come up already in Dental that's pretty amazing also Mary ringland in the cafeteria staff are working to provide Hispanic food at every Thursday during the month and last week the students were really excited for that we are also having our very first family game night I gave you some information on that it's going to be October 13th in the cafeteria there's going to be games some food and different activities and we encourage all members of our community to attend we've invited staff to bring their families and we hope that our families will attend too and that's my report you know she didn't say anything

114about school committee so I don't know I said all members all members there um no problem Mr Cervelo you said every Thursday they have in Spanish food as do we have a menu as one option I know um okay I'll definitely like another menu might show up um no this is great thank you for the report um very interested to see and it's always great here in all the good stuff that's happening I look forward some to these reports so anything further thank you very much um be perfect committees I see none all business policy policies uh section B bdd school committee superintendent relations need a motion on that foreign excuse me you got drunk I'm sorry and um turn your microphone on jump please I'm sorry no so this particular uh policy uh outlines

115the uh basically the committee and superintendent's relationships and some of the work that we do as a team and I thought it was important to outline some of it because it has an impact on some of the work that we do together and some of the understanding of how we should work together as a team so I would read it out loud and then any questions that come forth all I think I have is a motion on it correct I have no second right yeah right but I have no second on it right I need a second so before we continue on second superintendent continue please uh so this uh this particular policy school committee superintendent relationship is basically what it outlines and I think it's an important one so that's why I thought it

116would be important to read through it uh so it says the committee will lead to the superintendent director all matters of decision and administration that comes within the scope as executive officer or as professional leader of the school district while the committee reserves itself the ultimate decision of all matters concerning General policy or expenditures of funds it will normally proceed in these areas after receiving recommendations from its executive officer further superintendent director May seek guidance from the committee with respect to the matters of operation with whenever appropriate it is necessary to make exceptions to an established policy they will submit the matter to the committee for advice and direction and to the superintendent director will assist the committee in reaching sound judgments and establishing policies and will place before the committee all relevant facts information

117and reports necessary to keep the committee adequately informed of situations or businesses at at hand so um I know that um I think some of the in this particular policy it kind of outlines um kind of where the line is between my responsibilities to the committee and the committee's responsibilities um which I'm not going to go through some but as I I believe that at times um we don't always keep within the lines and I'm very flexible about that because I respect committee's intelligence and the Committees need to be heard but I do want the committee to to um if they had any questions or not sure about what this all intent or means that I'm happy to respond to any questions questions comments yes Vivian [Music] Prince and then out of curiosity um do

118you feel like the the committee has overstepped um considering the roles and the description that you just read have you ever felt that the committee has somehow been confused in regards to their role and overstepping I do at times I haven't gotten to deep discussions and I think the biggest the biggest place where that happens often is in postings if you think about postings posting is a is a process that the superintendent determines what the needs are for personnel what they um what the requirements are in terms of the skills and the description of what their job responsibilities are as well as what their need for competencies degrees all of that is really under the direction of the superintendent director um and to advise the school committee we cross that line all the time as

119far in my opinion and uh and I've asked for a vault on this in the past so that I didn't have to bring that particular issue to the committee we've had more arguments in this and discussions regarding this and I truly believe it crosses the line in terms of my responsibility versus the school committee's responsibilities that's my that's my I mean you'll ask me I'm telling you Mike true and sincere opinion about that but and there have been other issues or other other situations but as I said um I respect the Committees you know need to understand and do things and it's not like I want to control the committee or the or any of that but it can get it has gotten frustrating for me at times when I'm trying to move the school

120in a direction or trying to do something in a timely manner and I get jammed up because I don't get something approved by the committee which is out of the realm of the committee's decision making at times but I don't argue the point that just moved forward anything further okay well oh I'm sorry I didn't see it Mr Hayden Mr Lavoy you've always had an open door policy you've put up with me for years being the vice president I appreciate the fact that you let us be heard and I for one will continue to be heard and I'm sure you'll open that door all the time thank you sorry and with regards to that Tommy I am always open to be heard from the committee and my door is always open so if there's any

121real concerns about the operation of the school or anything that you're unhappy with I am thrilled to have you come in and have a discussion with me and I'm happy to do that I would prefer that as to try to have a discussion regarding something you may be unhappy with in a public session when we can resolve it outside of a public session unless you feel it's important for the public to know then that's fine too if you feel like if I'm not performing a task that's important for the public to know then all by by all means we should discuss it in Open Session but if it's something that can be resolved that not necessarily would have an impact on the operation of the school with regards to what the public needs to know

122then I would certainly appreciate having communication and discussion within my office and uh I'm sorry yeah Tom oh okay Zoila pause but because um Mr Laboy mentioned the posting and obviously I'm the one that is the most vocal when it comes to posting and the inconsistency of information that we get I need to say something um I understand what this says here but when it comes to things like the posting the job posting it's things that we need to do I mean that's why we are a committee that's why we need to make decisions and help to make sure that things are being done in the proper way so again I was I was going to not to say anything but I do need to say it just because of the comment you made so

123I believe one thing is not related to this whole policy as you mentioned John so well first of all this isn't directed at you Zoila I mean everyone has had their own considerate with regards to postings but the bottom line is that the postings really belong to the superintendent not the school committee in terms of what gets posted and what doesn't get posted except for is it in the budget if it's been approved in the budget you know what the requirements for the job are what the job description are is all in the realm of the superintendent it's not a policy school committee deals with policy and budget so in terms of voting for the position that's a budget items committee has every right to vote Yes or no so if if the position is

124in the budget the committee has already voted for that position there's no need to vote a second time for the position that it's already told under any other school in any District that I'm aware of the superintendent does not bring back to the committee another vote for position that just doesn't happen because it's already been voted in the budget if it's a new position that's not in the budget the committee has to vote to allow it to be in the budget if in fact if funding is there it would be incumbent of the superintendent to demonstrate along with support from the business director of uh Finance to ensure that the finance is there funding is appropriate for that position and the rationale for the position certainly that then becomes in the realm of the school

125committee okay John I'm going to stop I got to stop you there we're getting off track of what we're actually voting on here to be perfectly honest with not that it's not to be discussed at a later time or whatever but right now we're talking about the the two paragraphs that are up there that are going to go into the school committee uh policy book Mr Cirillo based on what's on here and my questions have been passed by a couple of times I don't see any changes on it are there any changes in this particular section okay is there anything further on this matter I have a motion I have a second somewhere yeah somewhere okay all those in favor all those opposed okay motion carries new business uh non-table matters I see three items

126there does anybody want to make a motion to remove any one of those items for discussion we did the admission policy we did that already correct uh MCAS strategic threat go ahead Mr Cirillo I make a motion to um take mcad strategies out of the table as emotions are made do I have a second it discussion all those in favor anyone anyone opposed Mr Sorrell and in do we have any um updates on the strategy we're using to help with the students in the new applicant to get to up to the new MCAS course that was just just submitted by Destiny earlier in the year so um I believe I'm not sure that the MCAS has been listed yet but uh our intent uh intent is the principal is going to do a report on

127mcats and strategies and all that at our next meeting she's working on that as we speak I mean she's already started doing the work on that and working with our data Specialists on uh we're putting together a report on that as well as what we're doing moving forward in terms of supporting students who have either not passed the MCAS or and also in how strengthening our success moving forward with regards to MCAS yeah and I'm looking more more particular with the new scores that have just come out um with Desi um that's where we're looking to see where making sure that we're moving in the right direction to make sure our students are are going to meet meet those scores um and it's going to be in the next meeting so I'll probably promotion retail

128I had uh before I left on vacation I had missed one meeting we were discussing stop ongoing projects until a lot of the projects that were started and supposed to be done we're done I had met with the superintendent on Wednesday it was good enough to take me on a tour a lot of the shops are still in disarray but there has been a lot of um process as far as sheet rocking electrical he's really come a long way we're still not done I like committee men's Cirillo have my meetings at Market Basket and uh the latest one was my daughter's in cosmetology and they're sitting in a library doing related work and I assured her I was just in cosmetology and the freshmen were up and running and uh Mr Lavoy had High Hopes

129on getting everything done and I just want to give credit what creditors do a lot of work has been done I'm anxious to see it finished our kids have gone through two years worth of covert they don't need to go to another half a year of this shop being torn apart um we haven't taken it off the table okay okay that's what I was that's what I thought that might have been okay I'm sorry that was the comment I I know it was I know it was disgusting when I wasn't here and that was fine I'm sorry I want to take it off the table I I thought it was mine I'd like to make it a motion please second uh just follow those in favor opposed okay do you wish to continue no I'm

130long-winded enough thank you having the discussion I understand I thought a comment was going to be uh four four words four words not not you know oh sure not full of paragraphs this is uh Mrs Fitzgerald on this matter okay Mr cell yes um I don't remember seeing in here for future is future agenda items in here [Music] oh okay because I would like a every meeting update on the projects going on so basically I don't want to I don't want to table it I just want it to be a a regular report so you want to make [Music] do I have a second discussion all all those in favor and you want to pose to see where we're going to put that down uh well no you don't have to put in the future

131why don't we put on the superintendent's report please yeah okay go to the superintendents report you can doesn't have to be a long report like Mr Hayden there can be something shot you know okay uh president if nothing further on this matter Personnel consideration resignations executive assistant to the principal effective December 30th 2022 leave of absence retirements appointments uh the following ladies and gentlemen need to be voted on job posting superintendent you're up yeah so um at this point here we're looking for a final vote on the posting for director facility and operation I think there was a lot of confusion in our last meeting but we're resubmitting the last posting that we had positioned a description and posting that we'd like to put for move forward on for director of facilities and operations if

132the committee is comfortable with the posting as written recommendation we have a second discussion Mrs Fitzgerald yeah I guess it's a wording thing again um I don't know why I'm having so much feedback I can tell you why but it's not nice okay I know what you're gonna say um going down to qualifications number two Contractor License or professional trade license required I thought that we had decided that the sticking issue was they had to have a contractor's license so my second part of this does professional trade mean it would be okay for them to be a licensed electrician or if they didn't have a contractor's license they could be a licensed plumber I really thought that we had agreed upon the fact by vote that contract's license was one of the big sticking points

133I don't remember the or professional trade license you wish to answer that John I thought there was some discussion on that but I'm happy to take that part out and just leave it supervisor construction supervisor's license I don't have a problem with that if that's what the committee preferred um yep and anything further Mr Cirillo their qualifications number two bullets under qualifications okay any other questions or comments no no right so we're all set with that yet yes okay did you second it there you're okay with that Mr Hayden okay now that we're all hunky dory all those in favor anywhere to polls okay uh the next one superintendent uh Early Childhood teacher please um so I think in uh in order to open the child care center to meet state regulations we need to

134hire two Early Childhood teachers for different age levels you need to have a teacher for each age level so um the range would be 50 to 60 and the pay would come out of the um Revenue that we bring in for opening the center so if we don't have enough we don't have enough students or children coming in then we would go with less teachers so it would be in aligned with the amount of children that come in that are brought into the program so we want to post to see what would be if their what the interest would be and if we're going to have an issue with finding an early childhood teacher in order to open we're looking to try to open before Thanksgiving okay there's a recommendation for the superintendent you have

135a motion please I have a second discussion uh Mr Cirillo thank you Leo this late in the game are we going to be able to get any um School teachers I mean Early Childhood I mean I look at the qualifications that I know it's not going to be the same as our regular staff um but being that this such a hard time right now filling these positions um can we uh is are we even yeah I mean trying um I'm not going to have to delay the opening I'm sorry superintendent so in working with the new director of the center she feels pretty confident we'll find people anything further Mrs Fitzgerald I agree with the superintendent at the salary being offered and the fact that a college degree is not required but these are people

136that are out there already fulfilling this role in other people's programs that are paying less I think there won't be a problem they'll be stealing somebody I'm sorry Zola is this a union position it's a part of the Local 70 no this won't be in position nope anything further all those in favor and he would opposed executive assistant to the principal so this is a replacement position exactly system to the principal is is retiring uh in December so we need to post in order to ensure that we have somebody uh when she retires to assist our principal you know oh you don't have the posting because we don't typically give you postings on replacement I think but we can if you yeah okay Joe accept the motion we have a second discussion all those in

137favor anyone oppose the future agenda items I think it we are we already got it okay uh I do want to let you know that as chair I'm going to uh move us our student report I'm going to put it under Communications for him to here to come just nothing against you okay just so that she can excuse herself earlier in the meeting if she needs to okay without us adjusting the agenda every time it's even more than welcome to stay too and and just can see how we conduct business yeah I'm sure okay okay or I don't see it here that's why I can see it okay all right uh the need for an executive session for contract negotiations John and um yeah yeah another second all those in favor all those opposed uh

138we will be coming back here to adjourn Sue will you call a roll please Miss Fitzgerald yes Miss disler Mr Hayden Mr Cirillo Miss mammal and Mr LaMontagne what time is it 8 11. okay where am I do we have any Advil or aspirins I do it like I do no I have some I have a whole bottle yes all right let me go get it right now shut this off