001okay I'm going to call to order this meeting of the Greenfield school committee budget and Finance subcommittee on December 9th at 12:34 p.m. and uh we have as our first item on the agenda public comment I do not see any members of the public present so I'm going to move on from that our second item is uh discussion in regards to uh making a recommendation related to the process of approving warrants uh so as you know sorry Karen what was that the second is to approve your minutes from September 24 sorry that's okay I'm sorry no worries correct the second item is to approve the minutes from our September meeting uh I will move to approve the minutes is there a second I'll second okay and uh I any discussion okay then uh I am
002a yes member child's yes member deneve yes okay that carries unanimously and now we may move on to discussing the warrant process so um as you will recall U this came up at our most recent school committee meeting and uh the committee delegated it to us um to discuss and come back with a recommendation and uh I have a few things um to share to start with and then we'll we'll open that up for discussion so uh firstly I'm not entirely sure that this should be under budget and finance since this is a policy of the school committee so I might be inclined actually to send this back to the committee and move it to the policy subcommittee that being said I did go ahead and um go through I'll go through some history as
003as far as I recall it and then um I also did a bunch of research on the masc policy database to see what other people are doing uh on this front so in the past the committee uh used to require a majority which would be four members to sign warrants and as I recall uh this was changed during my tenure on the committee at least in part because uh there was frequent difficulty getting four signatures by the time required and uh I recall Vera sending email after email looking for three more signatures and two more signatures please just one more signature um before the deadline so um the committee decided to change this policy and um allow one member to sign off on any given warrant and that's what we are now doing so um
004that is what I recall and I welcome anybody else's Recollections that were there at the time and then I did go ahead and um go through the uh database which we are now on on masc website to see what kind of policies are out there um on other other committees just for reference um so what I found there was um and I did not get through the entire database but I went through a lot of it I think I got to like the teas on it um and found 41 other committees that have a policy similar to ours right now they have one member designated um and the next largest group that I found was actually unclear like they say that their school committee will approve warrants but it doesn't say what their procedure is
005um and there was a small but substantial set that um have a policy stating that their school committee or a subcommittee of at least three members will approve warrants um that's related to some other committees that either delegate this to their budget and finance committee members or they have a specific warrant subcommittee that does this and um then then on the smaller side there were some committees that simply say a majority uh one of them said a majority or the chair or their design if there aren't enough members available um there were a small number that approved their warrants at meetings but one of them delegates it to their budget and finance subcommittee if they have only one meeting that month so these were committees that have more than one meeting in a month um
006and what else there were a few that delegate this specifically to their chair so their chair is always the person signing and then there were a few outliers there was one that delegates this to their secretary there were two that happened to have a Treasurer position on their school committee and that person owns this responsibility there was one that designated the chair of but their budget and finance subcommittee to always do this and um one more I saw that uh had three members signing warrants on a rotation designated by the budget and finance chair so that's what I could find so far um and it seemed like certainly by far the largest group are doing it the way we do it right now so that's all I have for uh background information and I will
007open this topic for discussion sorry member Den um I don't mind if we do one signature or multiple signatures however that works the best for all the committee members I support um my issue is that I would like to be able to ask questions about the warrants and find out uh what is going on with different charges and see uh get questions answered if they don't seem transparent enough um and also we learn a lot by looking at the warrants about you know what contracts might be up or things to look at I mean there's a reason that we have to look at them so it just seems odd to me to be required to look at them but not get to ask questions about them specifically and I just don't have time uh in
008my volunteer capacity to pick up the phone every week and have conversations to you know piece out little things I'm happy to send emails if I have questions or whatever but it just seems like uh all the other committees that I've talked to discussing warrants and uh asking questions about them is always part of their process as a full committee um and I'm not trying to step on anyone's Toes or get involved in day-to-day business I mean 90% of them are you know perfect and seem reasonable and fine and are not on my radar and then there are some that come up where I'm like what is this and it's our job to ask those questions so for me it's the feeling uh routed at every turn when I want to ask questions about it
009and there seems to be some sort of feeling like we can't have the discussion in a public forum but that's public money so that's where my feeling is on it and where I begin and end on it um however the warrant process uh works for the group is absolutely fine with me and my Recollections of how it went down is the same as yours are you um inclined to have warrants be on the meeting agenda every month or yeah yeah I think it should be on the on the meeting agenda that is best practice I mean we spoke with so many different committees in our area at masc in hyanis and a lot of them said well of course it's on our uh agenda and we can discuss them and that's an important part part
010of our role so I would like to see them on the agenda knowing that most of the time no one's going to have anything to say or bring anything up but also I think it you know is an incentive to make uh things a little bit more um I don't want to say transparent but maybe more well written as invoices because there are things that sort of lead to Nowhere remember child so with us meeting once a month how do we handle the timeliness issue if we're putting them on the agenda you do mean in terms of the amount of time the meeting takes or do you mean in terms of posting items well I mean in terms of so we get the warrant and it needs a pretty fast turnaround so how does that
011work if we're meeting once a month well right so we have we Reed receive warrants more frequently than we meet so I don't think it would be possible to put the warrants on our monthly agenda for approval because then they won't get approved in time um that's not to say that they cannot be on the agenda for the purpose of questions um I would have a couple of concerns about that one being that it takes time to track down information so when someone has a question if they're going to ask it during a meeting and not before then they're not so likely to get the information they're looking for um unless the superintendent or business manager happen to remember something off the top of their head but they might need to go tracking something down
012in order to get the answer so there's that and um in terms of open meeting law the general public has a right to know we're going to talk about in advance at meetings so uh probably this is okay it would be okay but it feels like a little bit of a gray area to me because if we were to talk about something significant then it wouldn't necessarily have been I'm not sure that that would have been proper notice to the public if all the posting said was warrants um you know like it might need to be more specific which is um a lot of the guidance sort of theme that I think has come out of the Secretary of State's office the last couple of years um my and my other worry about it would
013be the amount of time that we take in meetings because earlier this year we were doing really well and having meetings that were probably like around a couple of hours but lately meetings have been dring on 3 hours 4 hours and if we have a additional standing item and there are multiple questions then yeah that could add to that problem so um I you know my preference I think would be to have members put together their questions and send them to the superintendent in advance and if they don't get what is a satisfactory answer to them um to a certain question then to ask the chair to put it on the agenda for the next meeting provided that they do that before the posting requirement so how does that differ from what we're doing now
014because at present time we can feel free to email these questions it doesn't that it's not that would not differ from what we're doing right now except that it I mean we could spell it out more explicitly that members please Pro you know provide their warrant related questions to the superintendent like one week before the meeting and if they're if they do not have a satisfactory answer to one of their questions to uh request the chair put it on the agenda at least like 72 hours before the meeting that way the posting can be updated does that sound interesting to people I don't know I'm just talking so I don't know if you can see but Elizabeth has her hand up I can't I can't see you Elizabeth I'm sorry sorry I will formally raise
015my hand I'm here we go go ahead I I totally agree with you and I'm glad that you brought it up and yes I don't want meetings to go on longer and I don't want anybody to have to do too much extra work and I don't want there to be any gocha scenarios like I I understand um the thing we've never really talked about about the warrants um at least in the time that I've been here we've only just changed the signature requirement but we've never really talked about a process how we discuss them how we handle them so I'm just talking about the process and making one is a wonderful first step um and I feel like we could find some sort of Middle Ground where uh people feel the members feel like they
016can do the job that they're supposed to be doing um not adding to anyone's workload or extending meetings but also doing the the oversight that's required so um some sort of marriage of the two concepts I think is needed to be spelled out in an explicit way so that we know what we're doing um and if that function is emailing you know and saying I have questions about you know warrant four five and six then that's that's fine but um uh I don't know what I'm trying to say it's just it needs to be it's part of what we have to do and it needs to be welcomed because that's unfortunately part like a big part of our job otherwise um what is the point if we're just going to rubber stamp everything and not
017not understand what we're doing continual question about committies yeah how do we reach the compromise where we're not just rubber stamping and we're understanding but we're also not adding to anyone's workload I gu question well so how about this oh this idea if we set a procedure that the chair in has a designated place in their planning template for each agenda for Warrant questions and um that members provide their warrant related questions to the superintendent at least Karen chime in here if this is totally unreasonable at least a week of ahead of time um [Music] and then forward to the chair any unsatisfactorily answered question by 3 days before the meeting that way there's always something there's always a space in the planning of the agenda for this purpose and there's a reasonable expectation of
018members um putting their questions out there enough in advance to get an answer and putting unanswered questions you know non-s satisfactorily answered questions to the chair for it for that space in the agenda that is way too many many words I'm sure there's more a more concise way to say that um no Kate I I appreciate that and um I think Andy will also chime in in agreement we're happy to answer questions on the warrant um I've only ever received one um since my time being superintendent so uh I'm intrigued by the conversation that is ongoing about warrants but I'm happy to answer questions and if I don't know them at a meeting when they're asked I'm happy to research it and answer it further and so is Andy so happy to you know talk
019about adding the agenda template for questions that they may feel are unsatisfactorily answered but we are just happy to answer questions on the warrant too is the my question for you is would that be a reasonable amount of time because that's four days basically potentially between when somebody asks you a question and when they would be receiving whatever information you're available or able to provide before that 72 hours before the meeting I think members would just have to make sure that if they feel the answer is unsatisfactory that they're uh letting uh the chair know to put on the agenda that's like I can give an answer but sometimes I don't um know if the answer is unsatisfactory or not if no one actually responds back and wants either more information or wants it on
020the agenda for further discussion so the timeliness I think will be on the interpretation of my answer by the member who has asked yeah right so basically we're saying here's the meeting seven days before the meeting a person needs to send you their questions and then within the next four days you're going to be able to provide whatever you can provide for information about their question and then three days before the meeting no later than that they need to be letting the chair know and I think it would be the expectation would be uh to let the chair and the superintendent know that you have a a a question that has not been fully answered um in your estimation and you would like it on the agenda that way it can make it into the
021posting in time it's so that I feel like I have to ask Glenn about that because I don't I also don't know if that 72 hours is going to be like reasonable for him and administrative staff to change a posting because that's what work too but um I'm just spitballing here so anybody else please feel free to chime in with ideas I will I'll just say up front I would not be a fan of designating the uh budget and finance chair to sign all the warrants we not do that I would Beil that one well so it seems like what we're suggesting is just formalizing what we already technically have in place but putting the timeline more in a more concrete way and I think that is a strong enough recommendation to bring to the
022full committee ask Glenn does this timeline work any objections okay cool let's put it in writing this is what we'll do okay um Elizabeth is there anything else you wanted to say about that I think that's a great idea as long as we have something formally in place and a path for us to follow so that we can do what we have to do it kind of doesn't really matter as long as everyone is on board with it and we've had the discussion um if we all vote and feel comfortable with it then we have a path to follow and that's something we can add to the handbook also so that members know what to do when they're when they have these questions and I don't think that it has to be a um a
023specific amount of time that Karen has to give back to us I mean that's so silly she's so busy I think that we're all you know adults and we know what a reasonable amount of time is um and well yes but you never know who's going to come on to the committee true and they General reasonableness so true but you know the administration is always on top of their communication as far as I've ever experienced so you know I wouldn't be wondering where's my answer until it's been you know a month or two but I mean I don't know so I don't think it has to be like you have one week or something a reasonable amount of time to me would be like several weeks and I don't think that it has to be
024in set in stone but maybe some people feel like it does I don't know if that's a deal breaker for some people but well I think just having a path is enough I think two weeks would be good but I don't want people to feel like their question is being like postponed or put off or what have you because um then probably the most recent warrant any questions related to it would end up going on the following month's school committee agenda if that's the way it is so well I think that it doesn't I mean anytime we discuss the warrants it's going to be too late to affect the payment of them I mean sign off get paid if there's a specific question for an invoice does that invoice get pulled you know we would
025need to know that ahead of time before warrant processing so that you know I've had clients that have done that where they their warrant review now this is before the law was enacted to allow one person to review the warrants that they would actually you know pull those those invoices in question off and wait for another month to process while the questions were answered so like that's a logistical thing that would need to be worked out as to what do does a committee feel on a question about an invoice when the goods have been received and or Services already rendered because we can't pay without having the goods received or Serv right I think what we're talking about here is a process for questions and answers about warrants and being unrelated to the approval of
026the warrants so um I for my part I would not like the idea of a bill not getting paid as quickly as possible by our school department I want us to be reliable so uh I wouldn't want to see language like that attached to it about paying bills this isn't about paying the bills at all for me even if I had a question about something or thought something needed more clarification it wouldn't be an impediment for a vendor to be paid I certainly don't think we should go down that road for myself okay um so I think I'm inclined to present this as a discussion to the school committee on Wednesday as opposed to making a formal recommendation out of this subcommittee um I'd like to for us to tell them what we discussed and
027put this idea forward and then ask for it to go to policy sounds good to me okay so I'm not going to make any motion related to it right now um all right so now I'm going to move on to the last item uh which is is what I would much rather talk about which is all the work that has been done over the past several weeks about um collecting feedback um through Outreach to all of our um parent Affiliated groups including pto's and a school council and the CPAC and the lpac so um I put together a list based on the notes in an attempt to create um you know or sus out what the themes were and so I think what I'll do is I will just go over that and then and
028then we'll discuss so uh the feedback themes uh number one was our need to improve Staffing uh no surprises there especially of substitute teachers IAS and special education teachers and as part of that uh General support for small class sizes then there were uh themes about seal needs so uh needs for support for continued social emotional learning for students and teachers uh for example an anti-bullying program access to counseling and ensuring cultural or linguistic capacity in counseling for our English Learners and professional development in this area for IAS um there was uh expression of being happy with the high quality instructional materials that the district has been investing in and wanting to continue support for that and a need for consistent K to5 science curriculum or instructional resources there is a desire to bring foreign
029language instruction back to the Middle School uh desire for additional Arts and Music opportunities which was expressed a number of different ways so uh bringing specials to a funding for Instrument Repair music nonperformance related electives um and vertically aligned Arts C extracurriculars like theater and music and a wish for a full-time band director at ghs and GMS there was a across theboard desire for in school enrichment events as well as more field trips people expressed technology needs um for example the elevation platform to support English Learners Prometheans or smartboards and document cameras spare iPads to ensure there is backup for students with disabilities who rely on them for communication laptops for teachers uh there were two people who expressed a wish for more Librarians and books in the libraries um there was a desire to
030support developing parents capacity for understanding their rights in special education and to support elpac to elpac Intergroup activities there was uh transportation our forever conversation about Transportation um in terms of needs for supporting Co-op Sports and extracurricular activities and the lpac both for intra and Intergroup activities and field trips and lastly a wish for a volunteer coordinator or Community coordinator or community resource support person for parents um now outside of that um there were a number of other needs um that might not necessarily fall under the operating budget um that were more along the lines of building repair and um things that might per chance be uh Capital requests so uh number of repairs noted in need at Federal Street School for the elevator obviously um stair Flo fling and railings uh sidewalk repair brick
031wall in the playground and Door and Window issues a has some fence gaps that need closing and there are wishes there for play structure and uh cafeteria tables that are sized and designed for three to four year olds and uh also to have adaptive swings on their playground and uh an unknown heat issue at Four Corners where somebody seems not to have been able to turn the heat down in their classroom so uh that is the that was what I boiled down um as much as I could from the notes and I will open this topic for discussion Elizabeth um I will say that the PTO were so happy to have us come and check in um and they were thrilled that that door was open to them and they would like to have us
032come again whenever we can and um they would also like to make reports to the school committee once in a while they said maybe quarterly um they also expressed uh I asked them for roses and Thorns so a lot of them expressed how they are now feel really empowered being able to get things into the um parent update that Karen sends out they really liked that they were able to send things in and have them added um but the theme across the board for both of my meetings was field trips um they all would like more field trips that's came up right away um so that was the resounding desire that I was met with um but you definitely summed it all up very well Kate and the heating issue is that one teacher said
033that their room is stuck at 90 degrees now and they can't turn to town well I am sure that's going to be figured out I don't know why that would be okay uh member child so I first wanted to comment that something else that came up uh in the meetings that I do think we need to tell Karen is that there was a lot of satisfaction with Karen's leadership in particular um multiple places cited that the culture coming from on top was very positive uh and has been really good this year so I do think we need to give props to Karen for that that she is being seen and appreciated thanks then for Staffing with the par professionals I wonder because we're doing contract negotiations so how much can we talk about that right
034now I mean because par professional staffing uh pay came up explicitly pay uh because people were worried that you know you can be a par professional it's a hard job physically and emotionally you don't get paid a lot or you can go work at McDonald's for same or more money without the responsibilities so where does this discussion fit in during negotiation season that's a good question because I tried to put those items that I summarized by order of how frequently they were brought up and so that was number one uh my suggestion would be to discuss with member seon who's the negotiating representative of the school committee okay so would we do an executive session for that or because it is related to bargaining or would we invite them to come to one of these
035subcommittee meetings how would we go about that no it would have to be executive session okay yeah okay and what about our sub rate what would be the um process for um changing that Karen we just increased it uh Andy what a year ago or year and a half ago I think they just voted at a meeting but I'd have to look back at the minutes to increase so that's what I recall too yeah um would we be able to get some information about the current um rate at which we are filling needed Subs with subs and not with other staff uh when would you need that by not by Wednesday I just sorry that's a test sorry no not by Wednesday No but sometime you know before the January meeting would be great yes
036okay so I don't know um if there are do you have any other um suggestions Karen about improving Staffing because this is such a um wide issue by wide I mean everybody is having Staffing problems um and these three positions that have been brought up as having staffing issues are probably the same ones that everybody else is having too the most with um instructional AIDS and substitute teachers and special education so um is there anything on your um in your plans or on your wish list to um to do about that well it's as you mentioned it is not a Greenfield issue it is a educational issue it's a universal I mean I just was at my doctor's office the other day and they have a huge sign that says the whole world is under
037staff please be patient and I chuckled to myself and said oh can I borrow your sign because I think people have forgotten the whole world's really is having staffing issues with that said that doesn't help us on a daily basis so Stephen and I are constantly trying to uh be creative and backflip and try to find alternative ways to fill positions um it's just a lot of those ways don't Garner people um you know I I do cold calls every day I have my admin assistant just go on and you know people that sign up for other jobs that weren't subs or IAS or sped and see if they're licensed or see if they want a full-time job doing X Y or Z because we just don't have the response to postings that we need
038um we have been working with GCC and HCC with their par pipeline programs that they both have GCC just talked to us about a grant on training a cohort of Greenfield IAS but we'd have to find the cohort for them so like there are are things out there that will support people in these positions but it's finding the people that is the constant struggle for us and I mean I often think of maybe standing at uh Court Square on the weekends with a sign because I feel like at some point maybe someone will call me back and want to come but it's it's really sad and it's a struggle for us because because yeah we know how valuable these roles are and we know the vacancies and the impact that it creates on our schools
039but I don't know how to create people out of nothing and that's where we're at right now especially as it's getting later in the school year and we just keep trying and trying I've even you know asked volunteers if you really want to just volunteer or you really want to come and work for us full time we try everything to try to see if we can get them in but right well I was wondering um when you mentioned volunteers I had a a little question about whether it would be possible to hire a recruiter someone whose job it is to do all of that footwork um because I think given the environment we are in that's a great deal of footwork that needs to get done and I kind of don't really like the idea
040of that all um being on the superintendent I mean it's not like you have anything else to do so um I was wondering if even if that were not a full-time position um if it would be possible to have a halftime recruiter combined with a halftime volunteer Community coordinator which was one of the other um items that was suggested in the um the feedback that we gathered we did have a volunteer coordinator in the past um which was a part-time position and we asked it a few years ago um I think it might have been 2022 uh so muted Karen ,000 yeah I I think it was maybe it was prior to 2022 but you're right it was a while ago do you feel that that would be potentially helpful and if so do we
041potentially have room for a position like that in FY 26 or is it too early to tell um I appreciate apprciate you protecting my time I do I don't do all of these things I have two admin assistants who help in the stocking of our applicants and begging people to take jobs but I'm not sure even having the person in that role is going to change the outcome is My worry is that we will hire someone who will be faced with uh no applicants or no um you know we've worked hard to get Volunteers in and you know I've seen some processes you know where we're reimbursing for fingerprints and I've seen them some things go through so we're getting more parents to do it but even the people that then get approved we don't
042actually see them coming to do the to do the volunteering so I you know it's like this Catch 22 you know I'm not sure another person trying to get the people to do this is what is needed it's on the other end it's the supply end so I'm not sure if this is really the answer I mean I don't know I understand that everyone is struggling with not having the staff and that is affecting daily operations and um I just don't know if that is the answer okay um did other members have um any questions or ideas that they wanted to bring up related to Staffing the only thing I can say is so do we request that Glenn put an executive session discussion on the agenda for would it be this or NE next
043month it have to be next well I don't think it can be this month yeah it could be next month which is fine and I will make that request and I don't think we need a motion to do that okay uh now the next biggest um or most frequent ask that was brought up was related to um support for uh social emotional learning related needs um I don't I don't feel the need to get into that um unless somebody has something really specific they want to say about it because uh we all we have been talking about this a lot lately and um we know that there's a 5year plan in place and this is year zero and um it there will be Improvement and this will be developing it's just going to take time
044uh but it will definitely be an integrated part of of FY 26 planning I am sure um did anybody want to say anything about that okay so um Karen did you want to weigh in on what is needed in order to continue support for hqm and about um the issue of science sure um it's my understanding and I'll verify with Stephen that opsed is launching a fifth grade cycle um so it currently is grades six Through Chemistry which the district has adopted um and so I see it um cycling downward towards the elementary as they develop more and more of their program um so that is I think ongoing and soon to be released and potentially adopted um if that fifth grade year gets developed in time for the roll out of 2026 or 2025
045to 26 sorry right um so that's something we have on the r um the support of hqm I think just needs to be clear to this subcommittee because financially it will have an impact ongoing um desie is very good about year one piloting grants and adoption grants which we have taken advantage of for all of our uh hqm adoptions and implementations but then the sustainability of the these materials ongoing is at the expense of the district so I just want folks to know that um we are committed to this investment but that investment is probably going to be quite costly in supporting that as we move forward for uh 25 to 26 an or Elizabeth anything about the instructional materials I mean it seems pretty straightforward to me okay uh the next piece was about
046bringing far language instruction back to GMS um what if anything is our capacity for doing that Karen off the top of your head um So currently um and I'll give a little more in-depth report Wednesday night it's in my superintendent update we are finalizing the schedule for ghs for next year so I have a meeting Wednesday morning with the high school folks um and that actually will determine the flexibility of foreign language teachers to potentially be part of their day at the high school part of their day at the middle school or if the need for an additional full-time foreign language teacher at the middle school is needed based on numbers would be potentially a budget request for FY 26 so um it's uh definitely though in the works I think the Middle School uh
047certainly the administration wants foreign language back and knows that the impact of having it at younger years is beneficial for our students so um we are definitely uh still looking into that because the loss is felt at the middle school and they are in favor of that as well are we talking about Spanish instruction specifically it looks like Spanish the potential for uh uh maybe an eighth grade French will know more as we look at the numbers that the high school has remaining with regards to their scheduling next year okay and as I recall the last time that we really talked about this was in the context of a discussion about um this potentially coinciding with uh changing to ful year science and social studies at GMS and the requisite additional I think it was
048six positions or maybe it was five that were going to um okay but there it's you know it's an enrollment game unfortunately and um it looks like the potential eighth grade team next year would be one team not two based on numbers but that is yet to be determined until we look at their enrollment and uh start doing their scheduling but we're not doing that until we do the high school scheduling because we need the waterfall effect so um it sounds more complicated than it is but um yes science and social studies has to go to a full year based on the desie regs based upon the curriculums that we've adopted so um that will happen it's just a matter of what teams need what grade levels need two teams versus one team moving forward
049and if that team is a seventh grade team next year can they um can they follow their their next year into being an eighth grade team and have that flexibility with licensing so and a lot of this obviously as you know has to be discussed with the union and um clarified with uh all of them so we're we're getting closer to having a lot of these answers um but need to solidify numbers with the enrollment at the high school first and then do the waterfall are you hoping that change is going to take place next school year oh yes yes okay not hoping it's it's definite like the full year science and social studies has to take place and it has to take place because of the curriculum scope and sequence and uh giving our
050students what they need has to be priority and that is definitely been something in the works that we've talked about in the past year and are certainly going to implement moving forward okay uh okay uh the next piece was about um Arts and Music basically um so is there anything that um members wanted to say specifically about this topic there were a bunch of different ideas that were brought up um clearly there's still a lot of interest in supporting Arts and Music programming and developing it in the district and there was like a variety of um directions that went Elizabeth all I it I think that the general feeling was just a desire for um a way to have a dedicated band teacher for each school um for the middle school and for the high
051school because they were saying that it was being split and then that was causing an issue and then the general feeling was just to have more of it but um the most pressing seem to be splitting um I don't know the exact details of how that works uh but that is what was told to me and an so a really wants to bring music back uh but aside from that it it seemed like non-music Arts just more creative Outlets because we have been investing in music um and I want to make sure we don't forget non-sonic Arts is there anything you would add about this Karen or have well the works I caution everyone we can bring back everything that you want to bring back and we can propose it in a budget but um
052we also have to be fiscally responsible with our assignments of Staffing so we do the best we can with a lot of uh for instance just the shared staff between the middle and high school um it may not feel like it works to some people but it works in terms of scheduling that unit a folks because that there is um no other classes available for that person to teach so there you know we have to we have to assign where we have have the need and we certainly can create numerous additional positions um with regards to AEL I understand their desire um but with their current contractually obligated schedule their prep is not needed to be covered because they have half days on Friday and specials really are to cover teacher preps so our first
053priority would be to assign those specialists at schools where that coverage is needed um I know there was more course Selections in the music and arts uh offered in the program of studies this year that ghs students could choose from so when we get to look at those numbers um we certainly um will be able to determine what the staffing needs are but until I know that I'm not sure where you know the potential asks will be um and I know that the librarian issue has come up because it's a UA at the middle school and not a true quote unquote librarian they do teach children um so that is another thing that the committee will have to consider because a UA might be needed and if you're going to add an additional librarian it's
054just an additional cost of another um person on the on the GMS staff so I mean all of these things um I know are are important and we want our kids to have great experiences but we also have to think about the schedule with which we present to um meet staffing needs as well as meet budgetary needs okay I think um those were all of the uh like staff FTE related um items that were on this list um there were other asks related to things so um technology I think is something that um is always on the always on the docket when it comes to budget development because you can't ever leave it alone um things just go obsolete so quickly uh so I'm not sure um I'm not sure if there is [Music] anything
055that is um a definite in terms of FY 26 planning um with regards to technology and technology updates Karen so we did a pretty good job districtwide with technological updates using eer funds um we did add it to our Capital requests for FY 27 because we are going to have to continually um support the constant technological changing needs of the district and have to have some cycle of support for that um I don't know historically I think Andy probably could speak to it a little better though if those Capital requests for technology have ever been supported and maybe that's why we ended up having a a 10year old uh Esser need to you know replace the majority of what the district currently owned so um I think that's something we're going to have to really
056be consciously aware of moving forward especially with Ever Changing Tech uh issues that constantly arise on a daily basis okay and was there anything you wanted to add about technology um just something from a that I thought was interesting was they suggested uh getting hand me downs when the other schools upgrade their technology which I know doesn't work for for everything like those Chromebooks they've got their lifespan and once it's done it's done um yeah and then grants I mean anything we can get Grant covered for technology we should we I saw that like wishes for Grants came up a few times and my thinking on that was is this not under the um under the responsibility of the assistant superintendent yes we look weekly every Monday at anything that's put out there either you
057know uh we get updates from Mass we also get updates from desie we get the Commissioners guidance every week um so any Grant we can apply for we do apply for um and then try to figure out how we can uh maximize the grant requirements to fulfill the district needs so uh definitely uh something we do weekly are staff familiar with the procedure they need to follow to suggest a particular grants or to express a need for grant funding for a thing um yes most of the time though they they don't go directly to staff uh no staff member can apply on behalf of the district so right um we have a lot of teachers um that will find things and then they just shoot Stephen and I an email and say hey can we
058apply for this and then we say yes let's write it together tell us what you would use it for why do we need this and then we go through the motions of actually deciding if it's uh funds that we can use because sometimes Grant requirements are very strict as you know and um it may sound good in theory until you get down to the nuts and bolts of what they'll actually allow you to use the money for um and then the timelines are also another thing so sometimes you get into it with a staff member and then you're like well you have two weeks to use the money as you know they they give you these ridiculous time constraints so sometimes that is a reason why we kind of just either go with it or
059but um they know how to you know talk to any of us that we can certainly look into but more often than not we're reaching out to staff saying hey we're going to apply this we'll need staff support in the funding of that Grant and is it worth us worth it for us to go through like the accelerated academy one that uh Stephen just applied for for vacation um support for intervention so that there's no vacation slumps and we can have you know quote unquote school during February and April break to provide support for students that can't happen unless we have the support of staff so before we apply for these things it's sometimes the opposite we're asking them if they're going to be willing to do the work right well I just want to
060say I love that Grant so much and I hope that that works out I know well you're gonna get an update Wednesday too excited about as well um okay so um that's that's it I think um in terms of this list except for the building related stuff and um Karen I sent you this list already um by email and I think what I would like to do is to uh address all of the building related concerns or needs um during the walkthrough tour which usually takes place in January and to which school committee members and the city council are invited so that everyone can see with their own eyes what is what um in our buildings would that be possible there can okay and that would be January 31st that is the PD day so
061I have that um but I can I have it on my report for Wednesday but I will also add it to my city council update when I go next week with them to invite them all right we'll give them embossed invitations it's time and hope they all come um okay so uh that is it is there anything else um and that you wanted to um talk about in terms of um FY 26 operating feedback um I'm just skimming through my notes and I think the only thing we didn't touch on uh was from Newton with they're wanting weekend backpacks for food insecure families and I don't know what we can do there I don't know how that would work right I did not put that on the list because it was there was only one
062mention of that um but that's true Karen there was that an interest in having weekend backpacks for food I can talk with Greta our food service director but I don't know where the funding for those kinds of items would come into play okay all right thank you um an anything else everything else from my list we have talked about okay all right so um Elizabeth departed just a few minutes ago um because she has a hard stop at 1:30 um so it's just you and I and uh I am going to move to adjourn I will second that and I will say yes and I will vote Yes to adjourn then this meeting is adjourned at 1:39 pm thank you everyone thank you bye by byee [Music]