Webster Public Schools School Committee September 9th, 2025

001call this meeting of the Webster School Committee to order and ask that we stand for the pledge of allegiance. >> I aliance 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. It's nice to be back. Nice to see everybody. Uh the first item on our agenda this evening is the discussion and approval of the minutes from the August 19th, 2025 meeting. Is there any discussion around those minutes? Hearing none, I'll entertain a motion to approve them. So move >> second. >> There's a motion and a second. Desire, would you please pull the committee? >> Yes. Motion passes. Uh, next is the discussion and approval of the minutes from the August 25th, 2025 meeting. Any discussion around

002those minutes? >> Hearing none, I'll entertain a motion to approve them. >> So move. >> Second. >> There's a motion and a second. Desire, would you please pull the committee? >> Yes. Motion passes. And um in the interest of keeping things interesting, I'm going to take some of our agenda items a little bit out of order this evening. So before we move into our report from our superintendent, we're going to move down to um I want to say that it is um where are we? New business. >> Thank you. We're going to move into new business. uh num letter C which is the discussion and approval of an outofstate senior field trip to Brownstone Adventure Sports Park in Portland, Connecticut. Good evening. Would you mind just putting on your microphone if you're going to speak?

003Just press the button and you'll see it's green and lean in. >> Thank you. So last December there was discussion around a lot of the schools moving away from our current high meadows um and Miss Davis had reached out to Browning schools and we had a list of schools um get back to us on a bunch of possible senior field trips um taking that listed it with our class officers and decided that they would like brownstone. Um they did conduct a classwide survey and that one had Oops. Um so in shared information we have hope um and the description of you know that's a brownstone. >> Yes. Um so it's a water park and they offer all sorts of activities for the kids. Um swimming, cliff dumping with um in place. They have um rock

004climbing, zip lines, water slides, rope swings, and inflatable obstacle courses. All activities are supervised by certified staff and lifeguards, and they require safety gear like life jackets, helmets, and harnesses. Those are provided. Um if students are on or near the water on the um floating docks, they have to have a life preserve. The staff certified and they will manage um different activities with the students and they will deny access the behavior is in danger to themselves or others. This seems to be a popular um site for um class trips. I know Miss Neves said that a lot of the Swickle um principles are moving to this area uh for class trips um to make a change over the year. So she recommends and supports this. >> Great. >> The cost is about six or eight

005more than per student than High Meadows. >> Okay. So comparable cost slightly more expensive for students. The students usually pay for uh their participation. Is there any fundraising affiliated with this? How does that work? >> So we have fundraising scheduled for the entire school year already. >> Um so the goal is that through fundraising not to field trip and their seat overnight as well. >> Oh great. So historically have have students needed to pay for this trip or it's you've raised enough funds to cover the cost. You feel confident this price difference won't be an issue? >> Great. certainly looks like a fun place to go and the responsibility for safety and that type of thing is really on the staff that are staffing this park. So great. There any questions or comments from the

006committee >> just through the chair >> members? I went there when I was around the age of a senior and I had a blast. So and I also went to High Meadows as a senior um and I also had a blast. So, but we've been going to High Meadows for ever. So, it's nice to have a new change for the seniors graduating this year. So, I hope they enjoy it. Sounds great. Any other questions or comments from the committee about this out of state field trip? While hearing none, I'll entertain a motion to approve this outofstate field trip, which is the senior field trip to Brownstone Adventure Park in Portland, Connecticut. So move. Second. >> There's a motion in a second. Desire, would you please pull the committee? >> Yes. Motion passes. Thank you both

007for being our senior class advisors and figuring out what is going to be the most fun opportunity for our seniors this year. It looks like it's going to be a great time. I can't wait to hear about it. >> Thank you. >> Thanks. And thank you for coming. Have a nice night. >> You So, the next item on our agenda, moving back into order here, is our superintendence report. Good evening, Mrs. Pangeli. >> Good evening. >> So, I will start out with a personnel update. Uh, we have no retirements to announce at this time. Uh, we do have some new hires, which um I'm happy about. I will go through the list. We have a Mary Seratic, an ELLL teacher at Webster Middle School, and Angelica Gomes Little, who is a school adjustment counselor at

008Webster Middle School. Liam Mioli, a school counselor at Webster Middle. Uh Katie Coal, who is a special ed teacher at Webster Middle. She's also a graduate from Bar High School. So, welcome back, Katie. Uh Melissa Flinton, a parah at Park A. Kyle Kriedler, a physical ed teacher at Park Avenue. Uh he's also a Webster um a Webster student, a Webster resident. and Antonio Rodriguez, uh, world language, has come back to Webster, teach Spanish at Bartlett High School. So, I'd like to welcome them all to the district. We're excited to have them on board, and I hope they have a wonderful school year. As you can see, there is a list of resignations below. Uh, a lot of them, actually, all but one are pars or ABAs. Um, unfortunately, we're, you know, we have those are

009positions that we see high turnover in. So, we are actively seeking paraprofessionals and ABAs. We have been advertising. I don't know if you saw did a little Facebook post out there, trying to attract people. Um, they're important positions to fill. Uh, we do have some applicants coming in and um hopefully we'll be able to fill those positions soon, so I won't read the names. Um, and then we have no transfers at this time. And below you will see the vacant positions um that we do have. We still have um a couple special education teachers uh across the district um that we are looking to fill. One at the high school and one at Park Avenue. We also have um it's been a little busy at Park Avenue. We have multiple maternity leaves going on. So

010there's we're we're starting the year off already scrambling looking for people to cover positions, pulling some of our AIS to cover some classrooms because of maternity leaves. So hopefully, you know, as people come back to work, we can fill some of those positions and um get back to normal business, but it's tough when you're starting out um short-handed to start. So hopefully we can fill some of them. Are there any questions about personnel >> through the chair? >> Um have any of the people who resigned done an exit interview? >> We can get a better look at why We haven't done them recently with this last group. We have that is our practice to do exit interviews. Um but I have not done I know a few of them have told me why they were

011just looking for other employment. Um I can tell you just looking at this one didn't want to be just um has a medical condition felt it was going to be too much. Um another one has a different career that they were doing. So some of these I know already um the reason why they left. So but that is our practice. We do do exit interviews with people who leave. >> It's a good practice. >> Absolutely. It's always great to get feedback. >> Yeah. And sometimes the reason given maybe the final arbiter of of why that decision was made. But oftentimes, you know, to your point, there are other factors that kind of play into that and lead a person, you know, to ultimately decide to move on. >> Absolutely. Okay, there are no more questions

012about personnel. I'll move on to our instructional updates. As you know, we are back in session. Our first day for students was August 28th. Um I would like to say opening district um opening day across the district went very well. It was remarkably quiet um across all three buildings. I will say everything seemed to run smoothly. Nothing out of the normal. You know, we had a couple of bus things that it's normal situations that are popping up, but overall um everything went very well. You know, the first week is about building relationships with our students across the district, reviewing expectations and working through any scheduling adjustments. And I want to thank everybody across the district for all their efforts in making school opening go so smoothly. It takes a lot of planning, a lot of

013time. You work all summer to make this happen and then it seems like the minute uh the staff and everybody are back in the building and kids come in, things just kind of fall into place and everybody gets back to what they they do best. So, um just thank you for all the efforts of everyone to make school um opening go so well. Um now that we're back in session, uh the Dilt instructional leadership team had our first meeting of the school year. As you know, we continue to do our work all summer long. Um, but now we're getting to roll out um our implementation of our new instructional priority. Uh, we've changed a little bit of our Dilt structure for walkthroughs uh across the district. Last year, the Dilt team was doing two walkthroughs

014a month. This year, the Dilt walkthrough team is doing one walkthrough a month. The central office team here will be doing the second walkthrough. And this will free up some time for the principles to do an a walk on their own. and they found it was difficult between the two walkthroughs there to find time to do their own. So having us do our own will give them the opportunity um to do some walkthroughs with their staff in the building. So we'll it'll actually add hopefully another walkthrough and open up some time um as as we do that um which is great. Uh we as you know we gather data from our walkthroughs. Uh we review that as from uh we review that as a team and then we send out that feedback to staff. Uh

015we're working on how that feedback will be given. Uh typically it comes out from a district email that we send out for all staff. Um we're probably still going to continue to do that. Um but then um administration will be reviewing it with their teams um at staff meetings and then it'll fall down into your ILT and go into your department. So we're communicating across the district. It's important that everybody knows what's going on in the classrooms. What are we seeing um to help um improve on our practices across the district. Uh as you can see in our packet, we've worked on a new walkthrough tool. Um this is all around transparency. Uh we want our teachers to know what we're looking for as we come in, what what um what practices we're using. So

016the walkthrough tool is in your pocket and that is going out to staff. Um so that way they know um when we're coming in and we're giving feedback what we're actually looking for when we walk through. Um are there any questions about that? No. We're excited to get going on that. Feels good to be getting back into that daily routine. Uh, also this year we're very pleased to be starting off with our CPAC. Uh, Miss Sher is here tonight, our director of student support services, and we'll be giving an update for you. >> Good evening. >> I am very proud to be here tonight, especially speaking about the CPAC and the upcoming events. This year we have nine scheduled events throughout the year and they are going to be led by two parents who are

017co-chairing. Jennifer Gardner who has a child at Webster Middle School and Sabrina Piche who has a child also at Park Avenue. They also created a lovely flyer that's part of your handouts. >> Thank you Sher. >> You sure you can? So um the night events are going to to speak to um basic rights and we have also arranged with the building principles who are in agreement to have the providers be participate in the meetings and the it was very positive the response. All the providers like the physical therapists, speech and language pathologists, occupational therapists were really appreciative of the notice and really excited to be present in the um upcoming events. really exciting to be able to start out with a CPAC where we've struggled for so many years um so that it hasn't fallen

018off the radar. Hopefully, it'll continue to grow more involvement and it's a great way to get information out to our families um who need support in special education. So, we look forward to that partnership. We also are starting across the district to continue not starting we're continuing our work around strategic planning. Uh we have two meetings scheduled in the month of September. Um it's the 18th and the 25th. Those meetings will be held from 3:00 to 5:00 here in the central office. Our hope is to have something solidified um by the end of September, early Octo October that we can bring to the committee as a draft form. But we look forward to that. And in other instructional news, uh we have been notified um in Webster that we have and I know Mr. Peterson

019is very excited about this because there's never enough testing that goes on in Webster Middle School. Um so we've been chosen to participate in the National Assessment of Educational Progress that it's called NAP. Uh Webster Middle School grade 8 students will be testing in math and reading between January 26th and March 20th of 2026. As you know, the entire school tests, I think, for the spring season um in in its entirety. Uh it's constant testing happening at the middle school. So, why not let's throw another one in there just for fun um to keep things light. Um so, we have that coming up for the year. Um, but we, as always, we will do it. We'll bring it on. And I know, uh, Miss Peterson has it covered. So, are there any questions about that

020>> through the chair? >> Members Gregoria. >> Was this a random pick or did we Is this something we applied for for the testing? >> No, we don't apply. >> It was random. So, they just chose We got the letter. You'll see it in your pocket. Yeah. So, it was random. They, as you can see, they're doing pilots um testing and then doing some other nationals. So, they just randomly picked school districts and um we got lucky. I think last year we got picked. I don't think it was your building. I think it was um Park ABS who got chosen last year in grades four um for some testing. So, um the middle school is a lucky recipient this year. And um >> as a district, do we get to the results or is this

021more for state information for them? >> It's for national. So, I haven't seen the results. They haven't sent them out to us. So, you know, >> um so luckily I've been through this before in a prior district. So, no, we do not see the results. And not all students get tested is also a random selection that they um they give us the names of students who will be tested. Any questions about that? No. Hey, that's it for instructional updates um and other updates. We are excited to say that uh we are excited about our continued partnership with Matt Matt Frey and host another visit here. Um her royal highness Elena along with the new uh foundation Matt Frey head Alvivra will be coming to Webster and visiting our schools across the district. Uh they're going

022to they plan on visiting all three schools. Um it is tendonly scheduled for September 30th and we look forward to welcoming them all into the district. Uh and other updates. Uh Dr. Mai is here. She is going to be giving us a grants update um across the district with as you know it's a busy time applying for grants. We've got our entitlement grants and many others across the district. And in your packet you should have a copy of all those grants listed. Dr. Mai, >> thank you. Good evening. Um, we thought it was really important to give you an update. Um, especially since all of the turmoil that we experience and uncertainty with what's happening with the grants coming in FY26. Um but as you can see without reading one by one as you can

023see we are um in the title grants while we received a little bit more and a couple um we are overall less by $18,79 than the previous year in the title grants. Um and in the I can read the number for special ed grants we are actually uh lower than the previous year by almost 37,000 um of what was allotted to us. Um, also another big grant that we have is the 21st century grant which is typically 200,000 and that went down to 180 but that we knew that that was going to be happening because we're at the end of our cycle and our next phase at the end of this year we will apply to be an exemplary district um program. So that comes with a whole new set of rules, but we knew

024going in it would be $20,000 less that we typically get. Um, we also received connected to uh the 21st century grant. It's part of the promoting safe and healthy learning increasing student voices grant. And that's the grant that gave us $60,000 to have the interns participate like real jobs like paid internships for the high school students to participate with the 21st century. Um, I believe we're up to seven students that are going to be doing 21st century. 21st century will begin um September 22nd. Um we're always looking to apply for other grants and so we have to make up the difference somehow. So any little thing that we can get we're no longer in that phase. During ESSER we were like oh it's only 10,000 we don't need to apply because we have it wasn't

025worth the the the effort but now it is and so we're applying for anything that that can come. Um the biggest one is rethinking discipline which we are actually um uh we are obliged to participate as a cohort in DESIE. we're not obliged to apply for the grant, but it just makes sense. And that if we get it is 75,000. Um, and that the main priority of the grant is to support this all the schools in creating a school climate and culture that embodies an equitable, safe, positive, healthy, culturally sustaining, and inclusive whole school learning environment for all students and which support the students academic and social emotional well-being. and uh to reduce suspensions and expuls expulsions for all students um and disperate use of exclusionary practices seen frequently for students with disabilities and students

026by race and ethnicity. And as we I think reported before, we are in a designation where we were found there was a finding where we had a disproportionality of students um on IEPs that were suspended more than 10 days. And so this is why we are obliged to participate in rethinking discipline. Um, and so we've applied to this grant to help us do the work that the that Desi will tell us we have to engage in. Um, so, uh, this has been submitted and we're waiting for Desi's response. We applied for the Mass Grad Promising Practices Grant, which is a grant for 25,000 that will help offset the bilingual family liaison position. Um, again, waiting for a decision. We also applied for the safe and supportive grant. Um and this is a grant that will

027provide consultation for planning or um for implementation for next year related to things like social emotional learning. Um and that we've received conditional um approval of that one. Um we've applied for the innovation um career pathways for 50,000, the workbased learning implementation for 25,000, the innovation career pathways planning for 15, and my cap for just under 7,000. So we are um doing everything that we can to increase the variety of programming that we can offer um students but also funding to augment um the losses from other funding sources from the state that we normally get. >> Thank you. I think it's also important to note um and Miss Hair maybe you can speak to this a little bit but although we are down uh you know it says that we are are en $36,000 or

028$37,000 for our special education. We're actually shorter for our local more because part of those funds have to be tied to our private schools. So adds special education in our private schools increases the a lotment of funds that we have to provide for those schools also increases. Superintendent Pangelie gave an excellent description of of how the increase in proportionate share reduces the money that's available for our students in the district and that is approximately 15 to 17,000 that is going toward proportionate share. So, not only was the overall funding amount reduced by approximately 38,000, we also had an increase of that the funding of the the amount of 703,000 that is now going toward proportionate share. So for the public schools, instead of being down 36,000, we're actually down about 50 to $60,000 um because

029of the proportionate share that we have to provide for our homeschool and our um parochial students. I would add too that the same formula is used for title one. And so as the numbers because we have equitable services through the title grants for the local private schools um and if there are um more students in the private schools, if they report higher numbers of students in who in Webster who like reside in Webster but attend private schools outside even outside of Webster for Title One, then those numbers get counted and their aotment goes up and it you get an overall aotment. So it's not like they count their allotment first. You get an overall aotment of money and then you have to do the math and figure out how many private school students there are

030and then that gets reduced like our overall amount gets reduced by how many private school students there are. So when private school students increase the overall Webster public schools number decreases. That make sense? It sounds like, if I understand correctly, we have one pot of money, if you will, that we can fund special education services for all students who live in Webster, regardless of where they go to school. Is that what you're saying? And if they're going to a private institution wherever, whether it be here in Webster or elsewhere, if they reside here in Webster, the funding comes from our public school budget. >> That's a good question to clarify. So we get an allotted amount and it's for Webster public school residents. So if we have a Webster public school resident attend a school

031like a proial school in Worcester, we don't share funds with Worcester. Worcester uses their own proportionate share. >> Oh, I see. Okay. So if we have students that live in Thompson, Connecticut and they attend a parochial school, we do use our proportionate share funds for out of town students that are going to school in our town that are parochial. >> Thank you for clarifying that. >> It's different for title one. So for title one, the difference is if you res if you are a Webster resident and you attend a private school outside of Webster or even in Webster, Title One is connected to economic disadvantage to economic need. And so they may um be eligible, you know, but then if they if their family isn't um coded as um economically disadvantaged, then we we don't

032share funds that way. So um for those of the for the students that live outside that go to school outside of Webster, for parochial schools in Webster, it's title one is the share that they get. Um, so it's it's it's a little bit different than like it's almost like reverse between the two u between the two grants. >> There's a lot of formulas that we have to figure out. >> Thank you for clarifying that. >> It's been important to note that there's a big difference in the years because as we start we're already starting to head into budget season for the next year. So, we'll be looking at FY27 um budgets moving into October. These things are important to point out because when there are decreases or we see those shifts and change, it impacts

033our district and then we we've need to figure out how what are we going to fund and where are we going to make up that lack of funding. Um which kind of leads me into the next thing on our article. So, um I think it's grant funding is great. It's important. Um we are constantly looking for new ways to um bring money into the district, new grants to apply for. How can we best support the work that we want to do? Um knowing that it solely can't be done on our chapter 70 funds that we get alone. Um so I appreciate all the work and effort that goes in. This is a big undertaking. Grant management is a huge undertaking. Um Dr. Mai does a great job. It's also taxing on our business office. Um

034the amounts of the way you have to apply for grants, the way you have to draw it down, the financial reporting that goes around it. Um tracking it, uh all the requirements, all the compliance that comes with it. It's a huge undertaking to manage a lot of this and um a lot of time is spent on it. Um and it's invaluable to the district. So I just want to say thank you for that work. Um, and we will continue to look to see how we can supplement things in our district, supplement the work that we're doing because as we head into the new budget season, um, the uncertainties under a lot of the grants or the funding that we get through our local chapter 70 is always a question. Um, so we need to figure

035out um, how how we can support the work that we're doing. um in your packet uh there was an article um that was put out on September 3rd um from Chapi Chape Public Schools um worked with them on this and you know we hear about a lot of federal cuts what's going to happen at the state level and a lot of times when you hear about any of the health cuts or Medicaid cuts or SNAP cuts you wonder how that is going to um imp impact public education but it does have a tie to our chapter 70 funding that we receive um through the state that supports our education. So, there's a really interesting article in there um that I put for your reading um if you'd like to look at it. Um, but it

036really talks about how the uh potential cuts to Medicaid programs and uh our SNAP programs, how it impacts our chapter 70. As you know, our chapter 70 um we get money for low income additional funds and it's ranked and that comes from our Medicaid um benefits. Uh they run reports and whoever qualifies that how they come that's how they come up with the money that puts us in a ranking. Um, so with people at risk of losing benefits, um, is going to decrease those numbers, which will ultimately impact our chapter 70 moving forward, which could mean, um, a loss of funding to the district. And as we see our need increasing, um, our special ed numbers are increasing, the support staff that we need are increasing. You're going to see that later on tonight. Um

037there is a real concern about how we are going to continue to fund and where is that funding going to come from um to keep up the level of support that we need here in the district. Um so it's just always on our radar. It's something that is really um high on our radar. Uh we're paying very close attention. Um so if you have time, take take a little bit to read the article. Um, I know we're going to be starting these discussions sooner than later, um, and preparing. So, I think the more informed we are, the more we can speak to it, um, the more we can speak to our community partners about, you know, how and why, um, and where the funding comes from because it it it's it's more than just state

038funding that impacts where we're getting our money, more than local receipts. Um, there's a lot to it. So, um, anything we can do to help, um, clarify and get understanding, um, we're happy to do that. Are there any questions about that? No. Um, next is just enrollment. As you know, it's a busy time of year. Um, this is another thing that impacts our chapter 70 funding. We're really careful at this time of year going through our enrollments um making sure we're knowing who's coming in and who's gone out. Um uh high level it does appear that um we are on track to prior years to our enrollment. Uh we do have a higher enrollment right now at Park A and at the high school. Um we've had an increase of students coming in so that

039is a good thing. Um middle school is start starting a little lower. they had a big grade level um leave in the eighth grade. So um we continue to monitor at the beginning of the year that first week of school. We're checking looking at attendance, calling families, people who don't come in, where are they? Are they enrolled somewhere else? Where did they go? And um we still have new enrollments walking through the door on a daily basis um that we are working with. So I hope to give you a complete enrollment um something that has solid numbers at our next meeting. Um, but it is something that we pay very close attention to at this time of year. It's very important that everything is cleaned up and solid um by our October 1st reporting. And

040then lastly under my other report um in your flyer is um uh grandparents raising grandchildren flyer. They have an upcoming meeting on September third 10th at 9:30 um which is being hosted at Oxford High School in their community room. Um it's not just for Oxford High School. They're just a hosting facility. Um they welcome all Webster parents. I've met with them a few times. Um and I'll be attending the meeting in the morning, but we welcome our grandparents. Um and it's a nice organization. it gives them resources um and helps them um in raising children in school systems. So, it it's great. I would recommend if we have any grandparents that want to go um I'd look forward to seeing them there. And if there are no questions, that concludes my report. Thank you, Mrs.

041Pangley. Any questions or comments from the committee? All right. Well, once again, thank you for your updates. The next item on our agenda is an update from our business manager. Good evening, Mrs. Contos. >> Good evening, everyone. Going to start, as I always do, with the Bartlett High School renovation project and giving updates. So, I'll start first with phase two, section B of the building. We continue to be in the rough construction phase at this point. So, not a lot of significant changes since my last update. I will tell you that the general contractor from a construction standpoint is reporting to be on schedule. That's been confirmed by our architect as well. The one area that our OPM is watching is how will commissioning fit into that schedule. You may recall with phase one that

042commissioning happened after the phase was complete and we're trying to build in time in the schedule to get some of that commissioning done beforehand. For those of you not familiar with commissioning, commissioning is a mandated requirement on mass school building projects. It is done by a third party that comes in and does a verification to say has everything been implemented the way it was intended to be designed and that is a budget that the MSBA supports and requires of all building projects. So that is part of the standard process. It's not something unique to Webster. Um, and we are looking at scheduling to see how can that be backfilled to have some of that done in advance of actual completion rather than having some of that done after the fact. Any questions about that? All

043right, let me give you an update on phase one, which is uh everyone's waiting on, which is the auditorium. Three key areas that we talked about last time needing to be completed for us to get to opening the auditorium. Happy to report that the issue with the lift and the door not opening has been resolved and the lift is fully functional at this point. AV equipment, there were some outstanding items that were found during commissioning that had to be resolved. They have been resolved and now we have another verification that has to happen with the architect as well as commissioning one more time. And um they were actually in there this afternoon. I was there for a bit. They were working on items and doing verification. and I just didn't have a chance to get

044an update before the meeting this evening. So, um it was sounding hopeful. I just don't have a full report for you at this time. The last one is related to some of the water damage that we experienced in the new section. Um and I want to be clear because I'm not sure if I said this last time that we did take in water from the roof, but I want to be clear that that water is coming from section B roofing and not the new section of the roofing that had been completed. I'm not sure if I made that clear last time. And so what we decided to do was um our architects hired the environmental hygienist. Uh we it's Fuss and O'Neal. They're working on this project in a lot of capacities to come in

045and actually take a look at the areas where we believe there had been water damage. Uh they evaluated the area. They asked for the GC to open up several areas and walls so that they could get inside and inspect that. So they were here um on September 4th and 5th to do that evaluation. Um we are waiting for their report. They do both air um quality testing as well as visual inspections in those areas. Uh the lab will take a few days for them to get the air quality test back, but they will be issuing a report to the GC on what actions they need to take to close up those walls and to remediate any findings. At this point, I can't tell you any specifics about what they have found or what they're going

046to require for remediation. The only tidbit that we did get this morning was they did find another area that they asked to be opened up that they saw moisture in. Uh so our general contractor is aware that once that report is issued, they are prepared to move immediately to address those findings and remediate that. The last thing to just be aware of is that um to solidify the completion of the roofing on section B um and C is a parapit wall is being put in and that really does the ceiling and the closing of that um that area as well. I can say on the bright side that while I'm not telling you this evening that the auditorium is open and that's what I wish I was telling you is that we did have some

047monsoon rains recently and we did not take in any water. So, um, that's a a positive at this point. Any questions for me? I can see the disappointment and I'm feeling it. And I hope at the next meeting I'm able to give you some positive news that we're opening it up. In other updates, I'm going to shift this evening and talk a little bit about food services. Uh, we have such a great team. I want to highlight some of their activities and what's been going on um in Kelsey's area. So, for the summer eats program, we served um a little over 4,300 total lunches this summer to enrolled students that were either in activities or in summer programming and to community members. So, that's through the months of July and August. and we served a

048little over 2400 breakfasts um to students over the summer that were enrolled in summer programming. So, it was another successful program for summer eats and we're continuing to see increased participation and we have found that the library location is really the area that people want to come to um and has been a really successful uh place to launch summer eats because we continue to see increased participation year-over-year. Couple other things going on specifically at Bartlett and Webster Middle School is food services is working towards creating more offerings for students and choices in the cafeteria with an emphasis on selfservice. So our goal is to shift away from pre-made trays that you take to giving folks choices on what they want to make. Um that gives some independence and getting things that you want to eat

049out of the required components for a complete lunch. Um, and it really also helps with reduction in food waste when we put food out there, right? So, we're really moving towards that. Oftentimes, we're putting out surveys about things that students might want to eat and even doing taste tests so that they can give feedback. So, um, really excited about that and they're getting super creative on their offerings. So, that's been exciting. Another really exciting one which we kind of touched upon a little bit with the programming over the summer and some of the activities we do, but it's really our farm-to-school program. So, the food services department in conjunction with a full team, our farmtoschool team, um have been able to extend the program at Bartlett High School now. So, we have two raised garden

050beds outside by the modulars um and we have multiple classrooms that are participating in indoor growing using hydroponics systems. Um, so that's exciting that we're seeing that expand. Um, and all three schools are actively participating. So for this school year, we focused in on three goals and and that's really a raise continuing to raise awareness across the district about the program and how that might be able to be in and incorporated into the classroom. So getting some of those ideas incorporated into the curriculum. um and hosting more farm-to-school wellness events, right, to really promote wellness and and good nutritious eating. Um and really whole foods is a a real focus of that. So, really excited about all the work that they've been doing in spearheading that. The um the participation and the excitement that everyone

051has about it. I don't know if you've had a chance to see it, but at Park A, we have a new sign up outside of the gardens that's really excite exciting and inviting and the kids really enjoy it. Um and lastly, just some maintenance things to be aware of. Um we are facing some um increase in repair needs. We've seen at Park AB, we've had three critical um areas of um equipment that we've had to have serviced. Our kettle, our steamer, as well as our garbage disposal over the summer to be ready for school. So, um, garbage disposal continues to be a little temperamental, but that's actually turned out to be a creative opportunity for the food services team, and they've actually shifted to composting some of that that they can then use in the

052garden. So, really been creative in, uh, the heat of equipment not working, uh, making the most of that waste. Uh so we're going to continue monitoring all the equipment and really do some analysis about how much more do we invest in actually repairs versus looking at replacement to that equipment over time. That's what I have for an update this evening and up if there's any questions or comments. >> Thank you Mrs. Ktos. Any questions or comments from the committee? >> The chair >> members. >> I just want to echo about what Mrs. KTO said about Kelsey and all the work that she does for the summer and I can't drive by, you know, the library during the summer and seeing everybody out enjoying um the the lunch food that's provided to them. It doesn't look

053like meals. It looks like a party. Um and that's just so awesome to see right in the center of our town. >> Thank you for that. I agree with you. I also miss condos just want to compliment you on the work that's being done on the school building project. I think it's thankless work in a lot of ways and everywhere you turn there's people who are dissatisfied with um a project that's on time on budget and and really actually going extraordinarily well despite some of the challenges many challenges that we've faced and you all have worked through. You can get a project done quickly or you can get a project done well and you're getting it done on time and ensuring that things are being done correctly. It wouldn't benefit anyone to open the auditorium

054or whatever insert whatever wing uh quickly only to find out down the line that we had water damage that we didn't remediate or that we had steel uh structures that were not sound. So, as much as we want this done yesterday, uh we want it done well. And our students, our staff, and our taxpayers deserve nothing but the high standards that you're adhering to. So, thank you. >> Thank you for that. But it definitely takes a village. We don't do this alone. There's a lot of supporting players that participate in decision making and um uh but in the end, I think what the outcome will be worth it. We've already seen it with one section. >> Uh the kids really love it. It makes them proud about their school and I think the anticipation of

055seeing the next finished section is really what keeps everyone excited and motivated and so February is our next target and that's what we're looking at and I'm saying now that it seems far away but I'm sure in December it's going to hit us like a ton of bricks on being prepared and we will be busy and active and >> the whole district office will be moving out of this area so we're going to get creative on meetings and um we will be doing our school committee meetings so lots of changes just um I think >> I'm confident we'll be ready for it. Yep. So, >> we will be. Thank you. >> Bring it on. Right. >> Any other questions or comments from the committee? >> Yeah. I just would like to give the food service

056department a shout out. Um they do such amazing work and they these ladies take a lot of pride in what they do, but they they never say no to actually doing more work. They're always looking for ways to be creative about what they're serving. How can they serve? not getting. It's a lot easier to order prepackaged stuff and to just say, "I'm going to serve that." But they choose not to do that. They want to make things. They want to look creative. They take pride in how they make the trays look. Um they don't say no to trying new things. I mean, new things can be scary sometimes. A lot of people put on the brakes when you're trying to introduce something new, but they're always like, "Bring it on." They want to try something

057new. They get excited about new offerings. They get excited about new meals, presenting new things, and taking on new challenges. Um, they really work well together and um, I just can't thank them enough. It's it's refreshing and it's wonderful. And I'm always excited when I walk in and I say good morning to the cafeteria ladies and see them. They're they're like, "Look at this TMO." And they're excited to show show off what they're doing, which is great. So, I just wanted to thank them for all their efforts. um thank Miss Ktos for all her efforts. Um they're working so hard and it is very much appreciated. So I just wanted to give them all a shout out. >> Thank you through the chair. Member Millet, I just wanted to add and I I know I

058said it last summer. It's Especially those meals at the library are phenomenal for the community. >> And the library has made many comments about the connection now that it has added to their activities that people are taking >> going to more activities at the library because they go in >> Yep. when they have that meal and it's such a wonderful community connection. >> Absolutely. Couldn't agree more. Thank you. >> Thank you. Any other closing thoughts or comments? >> No. All right. Well, the next item on our agenda is the principal report and joining us this evening from Webster Middle School is Miss Heidi Peterson. >> Hello again, everybody. Um, so just to reiterate what Mrs. Pangelie said about school opening. Um it really was great. I think it was the the best opening um that

059I've seen in my career. Um there was a lot of front-end work specifically on schedules um with our counseling staff and um admin. Um we had our grade five open house which is always well attended uh the week before school opens. I think if I recollect correctly, we had about 70% attendance. Um the schedules again the smoothest I've ever seen. We had usually when we open school there are lines out the counselor's doors with blank schedules, over booked schedules and etc. missing things. Um but we had very minimal issues. um no lines, things that could be fixed within seconds. So um but we've changed a little bit our bus routine in the morning to alleviate some uh anxiety I have had in the past over uh lots of children unsupervised uh in the morning. Um,

060so we have uh added staff outside um and we're letting buses off one at a time as opposed to all together. Uh we are starting breakfast a little bit later but it seems to be working out. Uh previously we had let the kids on the buses get off and come in to breakfast which was part of the problem with my anxiety over that is that they were getting off the buses and not coming in and we didn't have staff to monitor that. So um by doing by having them wait until 7:20 it's um been much better. Um our attendance is really starting off with a great bang. Um we have our best attendance so far in the first eight days has been 15 students absent. Our wor so that's 3% of our students absent and

061our worst was yesterday with 28 students absent. Um so we are definitely on top of that. Uh like Miss Pangeli said, our counselors and uh other administrators have been working diligently on following up with um students who haven't unenrolled. Um so we're working on those those um pieces. Um again to reiterate what Mrs. Pangelie said, we are in desperate need of ABAs and PAR professionals. So that is one one piece that is not going so well. But other than that everything is going swimmingly. Um this week on Thursday we have our open house and um the PBIS team is uh providing a family barbecue prior to that. So the barbecue is 4:30 to 6 I believe and then open house is 6:00 to 8. So it will get families again open house isn't typically um

062is typically well attended um but this will just give more of an opportunity for um uh a little bit more of a relaxing atmosphere before they come in. So um questions on school opening >> sounds like a good start. >> Yes. Yes. Very pleased. Um, so I do have a slideshow to talk about our reading initiative. >> It's having technical difficulty, but it is in their packets. >> Okay, great. So, um, so we are, um, starting a silent reading block of time at Webster Middle School. Um, when a lot of people, even my teachers heard that I was planning this last year because it was in the works last year. It's not brand new to them. um at the middle school. People say at the middle school, but it is a very important piece that

063is missing um from our students lives. And so we have uh at the end of the year, one of our staff members, uh I was trying to come up with something different, more catchy for middle school students than SSR or drop everything and read. Like that's kind of elementary. Um so going along with our wild cats roar theme we are doing roar reading which is reading offers awesome rewards. So that is what we are doing. So why are we if I could get my own slideshow to work. Why are we doing this? Um really uh I could I could provide you with a ton of research a ton of uh articles. So, I'll try to pull it down for you. But basically, it's for academic success. What we as teachers know and me as a

064former reading teacher know uh that reading is the basis for all learning. And when students or people don't read, you aren't able to do other things. You can't do math because that requires reading. You can't do science. You can't do social studies. It's all reading. So reading improves cognit reading for pleasure improves cognitive skills. It builds vocabulary, builds language skills, it improves memory and concentration because you're sitting for a longer period of time. A lot of our curriculum um does not allow for novels at anymore. it's pieces of novels or short stories and that does not build the skills that are needed for um for those pieces. It increases stamina. It increases world knowledge and it there is also a ton of um research on enhancing mental well-being as well from silent reading. So, a

065couple of data points that I will share with you. In 2023, the United States, uh, only 14% of 13y olds read read for pleasure. That's very, very low. And while it's interesting that um I'm presenting on this because I did just read an article uh from a um email uh post that I get um that while we think kids read a lot because they're always reading on their phones or computers, it's not reading for pleasure and it's not that those pieces that we need to build their academic strengths. Um, in contrast, the UK in 2023, 43% of 8 to 18 year olds read for pleasure. And it's interesting that the article said that that that that's a big drop for them. So just looking at those two data points, that's a drop for the UK,

066but look at our 14%. So, so in comparison to other countries, we are well below um what is um below their normal. Uh in 2000 in a 2016 study um this is focusing on reading. It looked at how reading for pleasure impacted academic performance across several subjects. And the authors of this study concluded that students who self- selected literature for pleasure performed better in English, math, science, and history. Um, so I have uh conducted a pre-ereading survey and then at the end of the year I'll do a post-reading survey to see where students um uh preferences lie. So at this point we had uh 177 responses. So, currently only 32% of the kiddos have responded, but we're still getting Chromebooks out. So, um this will update, but um we uh 56% of those students enjoy

067reading, but 28% of them do not read. Uh 54% of those students do not use the public library. And so, um you know, it's a that's another connection we can we can utilize with community outreach. And I know that we do work closely with Andrew Tai at the library. So, we'll continue that relationship, maybe do some walking field trips to get some library cards. Um, and their favorite genres right now are comics and mystery books. So, um, how will this take place at Webster Middle School? I really wish we could use the elementary model where the whole school does it at the same time because it really uh builds that culture of reading. Unfortunately, the way our our um dual schedule for five, six, and seven, eight work, it's really impossible. And believe me, I

068tried. Um so we in fifth and sixth grade um right now the time that we're using is um 10 minutes during English language arts block at least 10 minutes eventually we might do more depending on the day they might do more um actually the fifth and sixth grade teams had decided um it's not just going to be during English language arts because they all wanted to model and be part of this reading culture and so they've decided that they're going to create their own schedule so that they're all reading at the same time. So, um that will be across the board for them. Uh and in grades seventh and eighth grade, eighth grade, they'll be doing their silent reading 15 minutes during enrichment time. Um the reason I didn't do fifth and sixth during enrichment

069is because they only have a 30 minute block for enrichment. So taking that time away from their tier 2 interventions would would um not benefit them. So um so we talked with the staff about setting students up for success and so we want to make sure that students have access to um reading materials. Um so uh we had a a very um active group of students uh over the summer. Well, they started reshelving our library probably last February, and they emptied all of our shelves. If you were in our library at all at any point between February and probably last week, there were just piles of books and it looked like a mess, but we nobody could touch that stuff. If if you moved something, they knew it and they would come right to my

070office. Miss Pearson, someone was someone touched the books. We spent so I just did that. So they're very um proud of their work and um so they are going to be kind of our our librarians. They'll uh be the be in the library in the mornings during home room to help check out books, make sure things are organized, reshelf books. Um so we've also talked to staff about building classroom libraries and helping them with that. Um, and also because this is a choice, um, to make sure that we're providing various levels of reading for them and really opening it up to whatever it is that is in print in front of the students. Um, with the exception of it needs to be a hard copy, no phones, no Chromebooks, etc. Kindles. So, magazines are okay,

071newspapers are okay, poetry is okay. If someone wants to bring in a Bible to read by themselves and not promote things, that's fine, too. But it really is their choice. And the students are very excited excited about that. So, um, and also we talked to staff about creating a conducive environment for reading. Thinking about when we read, you don't want to be sitting like this reading for 20 minutes a great novel. Um, so kind of lightening up the allowing a little slouching or maybe create have some pillows in the room but uh depending on the teacher's style too we don't want to force anything for them. So maybe some quiet music some flexible seating choices. So um and then the most one of the most important things is modeling. So teachers shouldn't be doing work

072while they're they the students are reading that they should be reading as well which they are very excited about. So um so that is our reading initiative and that is um why and where what we are doing. So I'd be happy to answer any questions about that. >> Thank you Miss Peterson. Questions or comments from the committee. >> I'm really impressed with this. Um, I I you know, I think that I couldn't agree more with not only the research that you did, but just the points that you make, Miss Peterson, about reading really being the keystone to everything else, not only academically, but just for life in general. It's it's so critically important. And I agree that you know when you see a student or any person with a screen in their face they may

073be reading but it is not the same as actually uh reading something that's been constructed for mass consumption like a book or a newspaper or something of that nature. So I think it's very exciting and uh would love to hear is there any way obviously you're going to be having this time is it daily? >> Um it is daily. um with the exception of our fifth and sixth grade teams that I've I've had to take some time out of their first block class for uh their newly contracted um common planning time. So with the exception of that day that they're already losing sometimes, so it's four days a week for them. For seventh and eighth grade, uh it's it's every day five days a week. So yeah, come on in, bring a book, chill out.

074>> I would love to be able to read at work. So I think that's a that's a great way like you said to model the enjoy the joy of reading and and taking in information or being transported somewhere else by by reading fiction. So uh is there anything that you're thinking about with regard to outcomes or have you not gone that far yet? >> No. Yes, absolutely. Um I would hope that the outcomes are exactly what the research shows in that um you know we are measured by our test scores. So, I would hope that our vocabulary and reading test scores improve um and that the gaps uh uh close a little bit um in terms of the deficits that our children are coming up to the middle school with um so that they're reading

075at at their level but eventually reading at their grade level and finding and maybe even pushing themselves and seeing what other kiddos are reading. Um, so that is my hope to that the proof is in the data. Um, I'm also hoping a a little bit off topic of the question, but I I also want to reach out to parents and that might be an opportunity for parents to come in and volunteer in the library um to help us with that since we don't have a a librarian. >> Great idea. And a big shout out to those students that they organized the library, right? Yes, they >> saw them at the end of last year. Well, for the better part of the second half of last year. >> Last year. And they were there pretty much

076at least three times a week in the summer. >> Wow. >> Yeah. Their parents would drop them off on the way to work, come pick them up at lunchtime, and they would just be there. Yep. >> That's amazing. Great work to everybody. Thank you for for taking the initiative to really dig into reading for our students. And I love the idea of walking to the library to either get a library card or check out a book so that if we don't have a big home library or a big classroom library yet, there's still lots of options. And that's a whole new world too, right, of being able to read for free. You know, I think honestly as people who grew up here, we very often take our free public library system for granted and it's

077a really unique thing that is available to to anybody who walks in and, you know, asks for a card. So, um, >> some of the teachers have actually suggested that we might do kind of like a um a free book, you know, how they set them up in the neighborhoods like at each >> each uh grade level. So kids might want to exchange books or something like that. So everybody's really >> really jumping on board with that. So you know again the staff at the middle school is always willing to try new things if it means um improving student outcomes. >> Yeah, that's a great idea. Even I know Parkav has done events where admission is a gently used book. So that's also something you know when when people are coming in for events or

078kids are coming in. Great ideas, really exciting. Anyone else have anything they want to say >> through the chair? >> Member Caller. >> Um, I just think it's a great initiative and I think that it just opens up a ton of possibilities of things you can do at the school. So, it's starting with this, but I can just see it really unfolding in lots of different ways like getting kids talking about different things, getting series involved, getting the teachers more involved, doing like, you know, mystery readers. Like, there's just so many different things you can do. I think it's really great and it's really just like you said like the keystone to all learning especially math now has so much reading involved. Um you can't really get away from it. So I think it's great

079that you're doing it and I I can see it really blowing up in years to come as you kind of just keep unfolding it. >> Great. Any anyone else have anything they'd like to share or ask Miss Peterson? >> Well, thank you for your updates. Great to hear about attendance, too. By the way, going back to the top of your report, it sounds like even even the worst day being 28, um, is still quite good. >> Yes. So, I should have looked up the percentages, but we I don't think we have fallen below 95% overall. We're also still doing our um grade level challenge, so posting that every day. And currently, um, grade six is in the lead with six days having the best attendance. So, >> Oh, great. Great. Well, that's good to hear.

080Thank you for your updates. >> The next item on our agenda is an update from our student representative. So, I'd like to introduce Aiden Cruz as our new student representative for the 2526 school year. We're thrilled to have you. >> Thank you. Uh I just wanted to start by saying that I'm very grateful for this opportunity and being here being able to speak for Bar students and >> um some positives with the start of the year are sign up for clubs um with both medical careers and mock trial. Uh many seniors have been placed in internships both in and out of school. Um many students are that are taking AP courses have been given a study class that is directed by an AP teacher. And uh some challenges are students having schedules or like incomplete

081schedules due to having enough credits but not as many opportunities for elective classes that we haven't already taken. And the change in the phone policy is a big one for a lot of us. >> That's a challenge, huh? >> Yeah. Um, some student engagement opportunities are joining clubs. There's always new clubs and sports teams. Um, you're students are also able to run for class advisor positions. Uh, voting takes place September 18th. Um students are also able to take place in Big Brother and Big Sister. Um interest applications were sent out to us and this is a program where a high school student will pair up with either a middle schooler or an elementary student and just work with them. Um we also have the Nicholls Leadership Academy. Uh this will be presented to the ninth

082graders that have recently signed up for it. Um some student events we have are community meetings by grade level. We're they're held to go over student or school expectations and we also have family feud coming up on September 19th. Uh we also have junior class meetings and class ring presentations on September 25th. Um we have a special visit by the princess of Spain on September 30th. Uh they work with through the 18 and 22 year old program along with a group of high school students. Um the Nicholls leadership first field trip takes place um the September 17th. That's for all grades who have enrolled in it. Uh some family events are chemical health night for all athletes. It was held last night. Uh honors banquet for students that have made honor role all four quarters

083last year is held September 25th. Uh some testing that we have is the benchmark for both math and English that's happening now. Um sports updates, we have golf, cross country, and girls soccer games that have already began. and volleyball, boys soccer, football, and all their games will take place Friday. Um, we also have a senior update, which is senior breakfast, class meetings, and class ring presentations. That's on the 26th. Um, that's all I have. >> Okay, that's a lot going on. Some highlights. >> Yeah. >> And you mentioned a couple of challenges, especially the cell phone policy. Um, what does the cell phone policy look like this year, Aiden? >> Um, well, you're not allowed on your phone at all from 7:10 to 2. >> Oh. >> And if you're caught, you know, then you

084have consequences. Um, they're pretty they're pretty strict on it. Like they're very strict on it. >> Okay. >> They don't really play about it. So, >> um, I think it's good though. I think it's good. I don't like it, but I think it's good for students to not be on their phones and pay attention because it's helping me so far. >> It's helping you >> more focused in class, you think? Or >> especially in math? >> Really? >> Yes. >> Okay. And lunchtime. Is lunch different when people don't have a screen to look at? >> Um, yeah, a little bit. Sometimes like there used to be days that I would sit alone and not being able to go on the phone was a little bit of like a struggle but it gives you an opportunity

085to make friends and talk to people which I think is good. I think that you should be able to go up and like today a new person sat with me and you didn't want to at first but I offered him to sit and he ended up sitting with us and he looked like he had a fun time. >> That's awesome. So, it's opening up those opportunities to have that that human interaction. That's great. Even though it's painful, I know any any of us, whether we're students or grown-ups, it's hard to um to detach from what we're familiar with. >> Gives you an opportunity to look up and see what's around versus looking down and missing everything in front of you. >> Yeah. Yeah. But it's a hard adjustment. I think you know maybe 9th graders

086coming up haven't known anything different at Bartlett but for a 12th grader you've had a different routine for the last several years so that's different. All right any questions or comments for Aiden? >> Just a quick one through the chair. >> Yeah memberia at house parking has anybody could with the construction is everybody managing going from building to building or finding parking when they need it? >> Um I don't know much about the parking. I know for students you had to fill out parking passes and if you're parked in the like incorrect number for your parking space then they sent out warning slips to make sure you park in the right spot. But that's all I know. Everything's working good over there. >> I have a followup to that. can tell you that so far

087we'll expect more students to probably get their license, but we have about 20 spots filled in the parking lot for students and we have 16 spots open for the remainder of the year. >> Students get licensed. Yep. >> Good deal. >> We were kind of worried about that. So, >> that's good to hear. >> Yeah. So, I think as students get licensed, there'll be more spots available and we're reserving those to for students. >> Great. All right. Well, Aiden, thank you for your updates. It's great to see you and to hear all about what's going on at Bartlett at the start of school. Thanks for spending your Tuesday evening with us. So, typically, um, our student reps are very welcome to stay for our whole meeting. If you have a lot of homework or you

088have other things that you need to attend to, don't feel rude to pack up and head out, but you're very welcome to stay as long as you desire or are able. So, yeah, you're welcome. Uh, so let's see here. The next item on the agenda under old business is a monthly report on fundraising applications. It looks like uh this this meeting we have one fundraising application from the Bartlett High School Grid Iron uh group and that is their annual gold card discount card sales. So, uh that's happening from August 27th until looks like about next week or this weekend. Uh, as a reminder, it is not the role of the school committee to approve fundraising activities. That's done at the building level, but we do review them. Any questions or comments about this fundraising activity?

089Hearing Neline, I'll uh move on to new business. And the first item under new business is a reduction of a 0.5 FTE nurse position that's currently vacant and an increase of a 0.5 nurse assistant position. >> Correct. As you know, during the budget season for FY26, we had um some significant nursing needs come to rise for us across the district. Um we've actually had some additional needs come up. Um but um through the process, one of the nurses that we had in the budget um the family opted to use private nursing. So that position is available, but we have another position that requires an LPN. So it could be a nurse assistant. We currently have a 0.5 nurse assistant vacant. So what we'd like to do is move half of that nurse position since it's

090not being utilized right now. I don't want to remove the whole thing because we do have a potential other um couple of situations that might need nursing. So, we don't want to remove the whole position yet um just in case, but we know there's a need for a one 1.0 nurse assistant that we can utilize right now. So, we'd like to move five of that over and increase the.5 position to a 1.0 nursing position. uh we are seeing needs that are unprecedented that we have not seen before in Webster. I don't know if you want to speak to that a little bit Miss or >> Sure. I could say that we have two students that are on ventilators which is very very unusual when in speaking with peers that are from Wester public schools in

091the 25 years that they were in nursing they had never seen such. to to have two in our district is um very unusual and they're starting off very young in the preschool and advancing through our through our grade levels. We're also seeing students with increase in feeding tubes and requiring nursing for other treatments that they need to receive during the school day. We also have um students that go out of district that may require nursing that we have to transport that we have to provide nursing support on the vehicle to and from. So that's another challenge that is new for us that we are looking at um that we're supporting currently. Um so you know it's just trying to find the right level of support to make sure um we can cover all our cases.

092So >> thank you Mr. Pringley. So this change from reducing the nurse position and increasing the nurse assistant position is this uh it's a it's a good thing for our budget right it's reduction in cost >> it is it is a reduction as a nurse assistant uh the pay scale is different from um teacher the teacher position is in the teacher contract the nurse position is in the teacher contract um but the other one is the is in the assistant and it's an independent contract >> okay thank Uh any questions from the committee about this request? Right. None. I'll entertain a motion to approve a reduction of a 0.5 FTE vacant nurse position and increase a.5 FTE nurse assistant position. >> So move. >> Second. >> There's a motion and a second. Desire, would you

093please pull the committee? >> Yes. Yes, motion passes. Thank you for first of all serving some of our most fragile students for their medical needs and also trying to do that in a way that's not overkill, right? Cost effective and giving students just what they need. So, good deal. Uh the next item on the agenda is a request for 1.0 FTE ABA and four FTE instructional assistance at Park Avenue Elementary. This is an increase in positions. Is that right? >> Yes, that's correct. It's an increase in positions. We were very pleased about a couple of weeks before the start of school at the prospect of starting the the school year fully staffed in terms of having um FTEEs. We were going to have an actual surplus of of one FTE where we're going to come

094to school committee and maybe transfer ABA positions to IIA positions. And unfortunately, well, I wouldn't say unfortunately, we have had uh an amazing amount of of moveins into the district. Students with IEPs have exceeded 43 and that is a record a record number of students coming into our district with IEP. So, that's why we are asking for these positions to um support the the onslaught of um students that have moved into the the district. And then we can speak to the funding a little bit. Um because last year um some of the positions that we weren't able to fill or just salary months, we had significant savings in our special education um grant. So uh we, you know, we're starting the year this year paying our par professionals out. So that'll give us a little

095surplus in the FY26 we were hoping that we were going to carry um to help us in our future budget, but unfortunately we're going to need that to fill these positions um for a funding source as we don't have the money in our LEA budget. >> Thank you for clarifying that. >> Any questions or comments from the committee about this request? >> Just quickly through the chair members. So, 43 new students with plans since like August. When was it 43 over the summer? >> Over the summer. Okay. And do you And this is park a K to 4. >> PreK to 4. >> Yes. Do you find there only >> 43 is not just at Parkav? >> No. Okay. >> It's throughout the the whole district. >> Okay. But Parkav is >> Parkav had 14.

096>> Okay. And they're the ones that But they're the ones that requesting the five additional staff for them. >> Yes. Most of the students that moved in had onetoone or IIA or ABA at that level. That that's not untip. That's not That's typical for students that if they're going to have support, it's going to be in the younger grades. You start to see it fading out. totally when >> they're older. >> And I think you and I have talked about this before, the fading support and the oneto ones and how we can um support our students without gaining their independence as they move through Park Avenue to the middle school. >> Absolutely. So, we're addressing it in more than two ways, but I could speak to two ways off the um this to to respond

097to that. We are meeting monthly with representatives from all three buildings to work on fading support plans. The representatives are going to be part of a a full special education meeting. They're include representatives from admin, all the related service providers and special ed teachers. And we're going to form a task force to address address that. And then the um other issue is we're going to the other way that we're going to address it is we're going to move to programmatic supports so that this way they're not gritted. So as the students improve and they become more independent, it's not something that we have to take away on the service to delivery grid. It's part of program. So we're going to we're going to probably start off hopefully at the preschool level and then this way

098we will not have preschool advancing throughout the grades with with the support on the on their grids because as they as they mature and develop skills, they need it less and less. >> Totally. Thank you. Any other questions or comments from the committee? Hearing none, I will entertain a motion to approve the request to increase our staff at Park A Elementary School by 1.0 FTE ABA and 4.0 FTEE instructional assistance. >> So move. >> Second. >> There's a motion and a second. would you please pull the committee? >> Yes. Motion passes. >> And we will be we've already dealt with the outofstate field trip. That's next on our agenda. And then the next item, the policy reading, we're going to pass over that reading for this evening, which brings us to the next item on

099the agenda, which is the acceptance of several donations. I'll read off what the donations are al together and then Mrs. Pangley if you would like to speak to any of them I'll I'll make sure that I make room for you to do that. So the first one is a $5,000 donation for the fall sports programs and that's from the Fels Family Foundation. The next is approximately 80 school backpacks from the Greek Orthodox Church to Park Avenue Elementary and the Webster Middle School. and then $80 $15 Dollar Tree gift cards and those are also from the Greek Orthodox Church and they were donated to both Park Avenue Elementary and the Webster Middle School. >> And I would just like to thank um the Fels Foundation, the Fels family. They are always so generous to to the

100community in general, but specifically the school department always um um contributing. So I want to say thank you to that. And I also want to give a big shout out to the Greek church. um they are great partners to us. We um you know we talk to them throughout the year. They open up their facility to us. They open up um their parking lot to us to help us on certain events. Um they partner with us. They donate to our students. Um so we just wanted to give them a huge thank you and a shout out and appreciate all the community partnerships that we have. We really truly couldn't do it with all the part without all our partners. So we just want to thank them. Great. Thank you. Any questions or comments from the

101committee about these donations? Hearing none, uh, do we need individual motions for these? No, we'll take them as a group. Great, that's easier. So, I will entertain a motion to accept the following donations. A donation in the amount of $5,000 for the fall sports programs from the Fels Family Foundation. 80 school backpacks from the Greek Orthodox Church to Park Avenue Elementary and Webster Middle School and 80 Dollar Tree gift cards in the amount of $15 from the Greek Orthodox Church to Park Avenue Elementary and Webster Middle School. >> So move second. >> There's a motion and a second. Desire, would you please pull the committee? >> Yes. Motion passes. And I would just like to reiterate, Mrs. Pangelie's thanks to the Fellows Family Foundation and to the Creek Orthodox Church. Um, two very strong community

102partners for here for us here at Webster Public Schools. And the next item on the agenda is the approval of surplus items. In this case, there's some outdated instructional materials from Webster Middle School. >> Yes, I am assuming these are surplus materials from the library in cleaning out the library. Um actually yes, some are and then some are some textbooks that are outdated uh that have been replaced and videotapes that are pretty much not usable. >> VHS I was trying to machate them as it instructional device, instructional material, what does that count as a VHS? Um so >> okay, >> these are surplus items. All right. Any questions or comments from the committee about that? So, I will entertain a motion to declare surplus items of miscellaneous National Geographic books and other devices from Webster

103Public Schools and to direct the superintendent or the business manager to auction off, donate, or otherwise recycle or dispose of these materials in conjunction with Mass General Law 30B. >> So, move. >> Second. >> There's a motion and a second. Desire, would you please pull the committee? >> Yes. Yes. >> Yes. Motion passes. And our next item on the agenda is to enter into executive session according to Mass General Law 30A section 21A to discuss strategy for negotiations with union personnel. Um and we will reconvene in open session. I'll entertain a motion. >> Move. >> Second. There's a motion and a second. Desire, would you please pull the committee? >> Yes. Motion passes. Thank you everyone. Nice to see you. All right. Welcome back. We have convened our executive session and our reopening in uh

104open session to uh the final agenda item which is the review, transfer, signing of warrants, bills, payroll, and vouchers. But before we do that, we will uh vote on the MOA that was dealt with during executive session. Um, who would like to update us on that? Member Adamopoulos or Mrs. Pangi? >> Go ahead, Mr. Adamopolis. >> We had we had good meetings with the the unit concerning um a new three-year contract. um an MOA was entered between the two parties that ultimately will address some issues moving forward for the next three years. Um it was a collaborative process that um can be beneficial to the uh school district moving forward and hopefully bringing in um new employees in those positions when they do become available and I think it's something that we should strongly consider

105adopting. >> And I would just like to thank the members. I would like to thank Mr. Adamopoulos for his time, Miss Ktos. And I would like to thank the members of the administrative um unit um for their collaboration and their work together and their caring for the district. So um I recommend putting uh approving this memorandum. >> Thank you Mrs. Pangley. Is there any questions or comments from the committee with regard to this memorandum of agreement? Hearing none, I'll entertain a motion to approve the memorandum of agreement between the negotiating subcommittee of or actually between all of the Webster School Committee and the um >> administrative assistance. >> So move. >> Second. >> There's a motion and a second. Desire, would you please pull the committee? >> Yes. Motion passes. And thank you, Mr. Adamopoulos,

106Mrs. Pranguli, all the members of the central office team and our administrative assistants. By what you all reported, it sounds like it was a very collaborative session where you all were able to come to a better understanding and come to an agreement that benefits everyone. So, thank you. And with that being said, um I will move to the next item, which is the review, transfer, and signing of Warrants, bills, payroll, and vouchers. I'll entertain a motion to adjurnn. >> So move. >> Second. >> There's a motion and a second. Desire, would you please pull the committee? >> Yes. Meeting adjourned. Good night, everyone.