School Committee Meeting 11/1/18

001everyone I'm noting the presence of a quorum so I am now going to call the Acton Boxborough Regional School Committee to order I'd like to welcome everyone here this evening thanks for coming out to share your evening with us especially members of the public we have a full agenda tonight so I'm going to move right to public participation but I do want to mention that acting TV is taping us tonight and this and they are live there's a live broadcast of this meeting so at this time I invite members of the public to speak on items not included on tonight's agenda and please note that we have added an item new item 12 to the agenda that addresses the ballot question so if you were here to speak on the ballot questions we ask you

002to wait until that item 12 comes up during the business meeting John Peterson 6 Jackson Drive Acton next week an election will be held and voters will support some candidates and their positions more than others but when we look at the results few minorities will be less than 30% many minorities will exceed 40% and some minorities will be within just a few votes of the majority position however the majority will determine the outcome because that is our process and each of us should accept that outcome even if we were to change the process in the future tonight the school committee will vote on a variety of issues the burden on the school committee members is greater than the burden on individual voters as thousands of citizens in Acton and Boxborough have elected school committee members

003to represent us the question of good member of what makes a good representative has been asked many times often people respond with the words of Edmund Burke from 1774 who when speaking of elected representatives said and apologies it was 1774 pronouns were really an issue at that time but his unbiased opinion his mature judgment his enlightened conscious he ought not to sacrifice to you to any man or to any set of men living your representative owes you not his industry only but his judgment and he betrays instead of serving you if he sacrifices it to your opinion tonight I will be listening to school committee committee members voiced their opinions and per Burke I do not expect them to align their opinions with the audience I do expect their opinions to be result of their

004careful study of the issues and their mature judgments if this is the case I will be completely satisfied the outcome of the votes will be whatever it will be my role will then be to accept the outcome and move forward thank you is there anyone else who would like to speak hey when you come up please state your name and the town that you're from hi Jeff Fishman in Prospect Street what I wanted to talk to you about was was we're living in a world unfortunately today needles and candy and Marshfield there's been mass shootings there I said it even we've done a great job you guys done a great job in locking school buildings but the administration building is left unlocked hundreds of kids including mine go to the administration building every single day

005pre-k before and after school care from all the schools enacted I think that believes even a high school something like that in that building as well there's a there the door with a code block that's unlocked in the afternoons and then the front door has just left unlocked I think this is beyond unacceptable god forbid something happens in that building to one of our kids we're all gonna regret it I beg you to please figure out a policy a plan so I believe you sit in that building - if I'm not mistaken those doors should never be unlocked thank you so Jeff first thank you I appreciate the comments just on a technical correction our doors are actually locked all day except at dismissal and entry times because parents walk their kids into classrooms but

006other than that actually they are they are locked so there you're saying they're unlocked like during the time our childhood is in session those doors are locked so but it drop-off and pickup I thought the unlocked the door the padlock the code I thought that was on a lot from about two o'clock on it is because parents are coming and going to pick up children but we can I happy to talk to you more about it a few that's a four-hour window they got the buildings left wide open okay thank you we now move to item four on the agenda we have our high school student rep here with us update us on what's happening at the high school thank you packed house I'm just gonna try to keep this quick but first I think

007mr. play was thinking all on the same lines I just like to I was trying to spend 15 minutes before here trying to figure out the right word I'm not sure condemned acknowledge it cetera but no none of the above the acts of hate both nationally locally things around that I just like to note that there was a statement read to all students at the high school by Principal dori on Tuesday there were discussions on during all lunch periods that were voluntary in the Counseling Center today for students who would like to discuss those issues regarding acts of hate etc I just want to take a moment to note that moving on today today I think it's a very big day for seniors it's their early action I have to get this right it's the

008early action deadlines for college applications so a lot of seniors are being sort of stressed out about that it's it's a really sort of a big deal for them and for the rest of us it's also the the term is next Monday which means just naturally the way it goes a lot of exams tests stuff like that and earlier this week would partially have been the last day for schedule changes which basically makes a lot of students if you want to maybe make sure this is the right class for you the right level things like that that would last week would have been the last day or this Monday within the last day before you would have had to have that reflected on your report card so there was a lot of decision-making by students

009around that and then next week we have sort of funky schedule with Diwali being a homework free day we have the election and then we have homework free with the Veterans Day I think it's a Veterans Day next Monday or next next Monday now so that just sort of shakes out to be sort of a busy time on Monday and Friday before that moving on to extracurriculars proscenium Circus is currently in session with the Hunchback of Notre Dame I had to pronounce that French right but I believe they're still having showed they opened last weekend I believe they're still having shows this weekend the 2nd and the 3rd or yes and I'm sports I just checking Twitter I believe that all of our teams the fall sports all made the playoffs it's just a great

010great achievement but yeah round of applause [Applause] and I'll just leave that thank you I should say I really I really appreciate the updates that we get each week from the high school kids so thank you for taking your time to come and do that thank you Michael we have a warrant gonna read the warrant now we have two vendor warrants actually there's three now so 1900 9 PR 1900 9 Sh those are student activities and 19200 9 in the total amount of three million three hundred and twenty three thousand seven hundred thirty dollars and 27 cents and a payroll warrant P 1 9 0 8 in the amount of two million five hundred and five thousand five hundred thirty eighty three dollars and 64 cents we also have minutes to approve tonight in your

011packet you will find the minutes from the October 18th meeting do I hear a motion to approve a second Mary any changes anyone wants to make to the minutes okay all in favor proving these minutes any opposed any abstentions motion passes thank you all right so good evening everyone I want to just take a moment I know this is in your packet but I wanted to read this because I I think hopefully it also leads us into a little bit of the next presentation around the seed training we have but I think I reflected a little bit over the last week or so in the news and I think it's been a very challenging one to watch in the media and we've seen extensive news coverage both locally and nationally around several incidents of bias

012as well as extreme and violent acts of hate one such incident resulted in two tragic deaths of two African Americans shot after the suspect attempted to first gain access to a locked church we also watched media coverage unfold as pipe bombs were mailed to various national figures by someone espousing hate felt messages on social media we then watch the coverage of the horrific massacre in the Pennsylvania synagogue by a man shouting anti-semitic slurs at the local level one of our own elementary students was subject to hateful speech when a man told him that his dog had rights as an American and that if the student didn't like it he could go back where he came from hate is not partisan hate is simply hate we don't tolerate hate here in our schools this is an

013important message for our students to hear and understand if students confuse political rhetoric in hate they misunderstand the rich historical political debate that has shaped our nation for generations as a school district we have a unique responsibility to make sure students understand this distinction because as citizens they will need to engage in civil discourse around important issues with those who may have different beliefs it's important to recognize that in the media rich environment of today's world and regardless of how we try to insulate our children from these horrific acts our children are indeed listening they watch and listen to the media to their peers into our reactions to these incidents according to a study published actually just two days ago by the American Psychological Association the current generation of teens ages 15 to 21 and

014now we are on generation Z are reporting higher levels of stress than previous generations the study attributes this based on survey that they conducted in which students responded that the major issues influencing this were increased gun violence and other recent political issues that have been widely covered in the media we cannot lose the opportunity to speak out against bias in hate in all of its forms our words and actions or conversely our silence send incredible messages to those listening our nation was founded on some basic principles of equality laid out in our Declaration of Independence while far from perfect and ever evolving through interpretation the core values articulated by the founders still apply today that all men and I added women and persons are created equal and are endowed with certain unalienable rights among these

015are life liberty and the pursuit of happiness all students are our students and all families are our families regardless of the color of your skin your religion your gender gender identity or sexual orientation independent of your place of birth your ancestry economic status or political beliefs and whether or not you have a disability or any differentiating characteristic you are one of us and we are here for you I want to take this opportunity to really reiterate on behalf of all of our district leaders faculty and staff throughout the district that we will not tolerate accept condone or be silent with regard to bias and hate our students deserve to be loved and valued as unique individuals and for the families from which they come and ultimately to feel safe and supported by the school they

016attend each day to those members of our community who have been impacted either directly or indirectly by these or other incidents of hey Tobias please know that the a B schools stand with you we remain committed to fostering an inclusive environment for all members of our community and then I have a note in here if you are interested in doing more whether it's anyone here or on our school committee there was a training coming up and I erroneously had it sponsored by fostering racial justice group it's actually sponsored by the UCC in Boxborough and it is this Sunday November 4th and information is listed in the superintendent's update but it's a training for active bystanders so that we can enable all of our community members to better understand what they can do if they see

017evidence of hate or bias so thank you very much and you know with that I will pass the mic back thank you I think we all need to hear those words right now at this time especially so item number six is a presentation called seeking seeking educational equity and diversity so I'm just gonna remind members that seed as we call it is one of the strategic items in our long-range strategic plan and the district goals it sits under goal to our equity goal it's an initiative coordinated by Deb bukas office assistant superintendent those of you don't know I'm teaching and learning our district goal is by octa-pie August of 2019 to have nine acton-boxborough teachers who have completed the seed train the trainer program so that they can return here to Acton Boxborough and hold

018workshops for our teachers and staff and their goal for that is to have 10% of our certified staff here in a be complete a seed workshop by August 2019 so what is the national seed project we have invited two teachers here to walk us through and introduce us to seed hi good evening I'm Deborah Lucas I'm the assistant superintendent for teaching and learning and back in the spring of 2017 val glod and maureen lin two of our junior high educators whom you'll meet in just a minute asked me to meet with them to discuss seed training I had no idea what a seed training wise but within just a few minutes of hearing about seed fully supported they're attending a workshop to become C trainers it's so perfectly aligned with our district values around wellness

019and equity and engagement and continuing to create a culture that was caring and inclusive in which all of our members our staff our students could continue to learn and to thrive together and so I'm really happy this evening to introduce to you Val Galan who is a special education teacher at the junior high she also formerly taught social studies here at the junior high and Maureen Lin who was a special education teacher here at the junior high school and formally taught English here at the junior high so welcome Maureen down mm can everybody hear me I was having some trouble hearing some folks so okay so what is cede first we just wanted to give you a little bit of an overview how we learned about seed some folks at the junior high staff not

020just teachers but some assistance administrators were interested in having and encouraging deeper conversations about equitable opportunities at the junior high and in schools in our district and so we formed a group now sort of known as the equity initiative three or four years ago and we found a woman a melody brazo who is the welcoming schools coordinator for Cambridge Public Schools and she also is a consultant for many districts in the state who wish to deepen their conversations around equity so for about a year and a half she consulted with anderson maureen myself and other teachers who are part of this equity group of the junior high and after about a year and a half of helping us facilitate pd she recommended that we look into seed to sort of deepen our own train the

021train train the trainer model so indeed we Maureen and I pursued leadership training and I you'll notice that I try to stray away from the term training because it really isn't a class or a training in the same way that you would envision a diversity class Maureen and I have played around with the term courageous conversations so how can we become more skilled having these courageous conversations around issues of equity so what is seed seed stands for seeking educational equity and diversity it's a program out of Wellesley College Wellesley center for women peggy mcintosh some of you may or may not have heard of her she's a scholar a feminist professor from Wellesley College and co-founded this organization in 1987 and again hears this term conversational communities so as opposed to having a set curriculum

022which Maureen will touch upon a little bit later the goal is to sort of drive first-person growth and change then organizational and finally systemic change towards greater equity and diversity Maureen and I first participated in August 2017 this new leaders week in which there were it was a large cohort I think over 60 people pre-k all the way through college level administrators community members educators counselors here's a picture of our cohort this was at st. marks mm Southborough yeah Where's Waldo maybe you can find us in the middle there it was a really fabulous opportunity because we were able to experience a lot of the activities that we would then be delivering to the participants in our seminars so now that we're back from new leaders training we've been running seminars for administrators and teachers

023and other staff members in the district and the goals of our seminars are to develop the ability to listen more effectively to the experiences of others in order to build our cultural awareness and sensitivity to establish a shared vocabulary and foundation of knowledge pertaining to systems of oppression power and privilege to recognize how one's own experiences in schooling about diversity is a prelude to creating more equitable educational environments and to consider the ways in which each of us has the agency to affect change in our individual roles as leaders in the district see it is not a class with a set curriculum they did not hand us a binder with lesson plans seminars are created with the needs and interests of the group in mind and no two are ever the same this visual is

024from seed and they call it segments of self-knowledge so we all have areas skills and and facts that we know we know we all have areas that we know we don't know but the vast majority are things that we don't even know we don't know and the goal of seed is really to raise awareness of those things that we don't know or understand yet and to minimize them so since we didn't leave with a curriculum we thought we may show you what we did leave with which was this template so it's our it's the expectation that each seminar that we plan incorporates each one of these concepts and so we wanted to explain to you what they are something that's fabulous is you know as I mentioned there were community members administrators counselors teachers a

025part of this training so all of us can use these in our what we're calling courageous conversations including teachers can then bring these concepts back to the classroom and differentiating scaffold them to a level that would meet you know their students or their staff whomever it is that they're now trying to implement these concepts with so the first one experiencial learning is we are the textbooks of our seminars so the stories that we carry with us the stories that we learn from others are how we sort of investigate all of the stories that we that we bring is core to what seed is so learning from lived experiences believing lived experiences and seeking out lived experiences and how do we hear these lived experiences sort of ties in to the next concept which is serial

026testimony it's really important in seed that the way we share and hear each other's stories is equitable so the amount of time that we have to both speak and listen is pretty structured and that's what serial testimony is I don't know how many folks are familiar with protocols but essentially that's what this is this is a very structured protocol to make sure that the ways in which we're learning are also equitable we also strive to make sure that we have windows and mirrors in each session making sure that people have the opportunity to see their own as reflected and validated but also to have the opportunity to view as through a window the opportunity experiences of other people shelves and self says that we strive to continue how sorry consider how wider social and academic

027ideas balance with our own experiences and ideas I've also had to think about shelves themselves in terms of the participants in our groups we are not a very diverse group as a staff and so I've had to use resources from the shelf to ensure you know texts and video clips to ensure that we are bringing in the voices of people of color and other groups that are underrepresented among our staff so the next two concepts also tie in to get in with each other I think the notion of systemic analysis is first growing our own awareness of systems of oppression what that means how some of us have more power and others have less and and the next part is positional differentiation based on these aspects of our identities in which some of us have

028more and less power understanding how that shapes our interactions with others in the world around us so Maureen and I sometimes call this positionality poet and scholar Adrienne Rich calls this politics of location understanding who you are what you bring with you when you engage in another person and how that could be very different whatever you're talking about and what you bring to the table depending on who you are and finally we try to end each session with inactivo possibilities so what are some actionable things that you can take back to your lives in your practice our seminars have included administrators teachers librarians nurses counselors and a classroom assistant participants have been required to complete a final product they create something that didn't exist before or they write an action plan for a change or

029a policy that they would like to change some examples of projects that have been completed we had two nurses last year in our junior high group they turned around and did a training for the whole nursing department kind of summarizing some of our seed concepts but also pulling out those pieces that were really relevant to the nursing practice we've had people make their professional practice goals part of their make seed work part of their professional practice goals and we've also had a lot of teachers work on curriculum so adding lesson plans or simply bringing in more resources to reflect other voices introduce us so these long term district goals we had the opportunity to not gonna reiterate the same thing so she just said but I'm to teach I think 20 student 20 participants in

030the RJ gray seed cohort and Maureen is currently teaching another seed group with Sheridan from Merriam and we also have Beth Baker and Maureen Lin who are teaching the district leadership team another seed seminar and have plans for spring and summer sessions as well it's it's our hope that we'll grow the body of leaders this summer and also grow the amount of certified staff who are seed empowered if anybody has any questions just real quickly first of all thank you both for all your leadership in this powerful powerful work you have trained 80 people 80 certified staff at Acton Boxborough out of about 480 so we're already at 16 17 percent by next month you'll be done with that and we have another group two more groups you know the spring and then the summer

031so thank you and congratulations thank you I just also want to mention a Dan Goldin there at the high school is also one of the trainers who attended a training this past summer so we have Dan and Beth will be running the spring workshop for the staff on this spring and then we'll be sending a few more folks this summer so building that capacity for trainers Mary sorry first of all I think this is fabulous I think we could all use this I think maybe later tonight we could use some of this cuz I'm like oh yeah this all relates I do wonder is there once the teachers get really trained in this I wonder if they're a student component or a way that you're bringing it into the classroom because wouldn't it be fabulous

032that we educate our students to be able to have these conversations as they move through the world sure I mean I think there's a natural component where you know they call it seed and so we plant the seed and it grows and we hope it spreads so I think naturally anyone who goes through a seminar brings it back to their work we are we are always entertaining lots of ideas I mean I would love to eventually have some kind of student component at the junior high level at the high school level so we do have big dreams just to finish that off we also have started exploring a partnership with the anti-defamation league around there a world of difference program because it fits very very nicely with the work that the adults are doing around

033seed the one unique feature of the world of difference program is that it's actually peer led so just like the adult groups are peer led the world of difference program trains groups of peer leaders to be able to have these same discussions with students so that's something we've started discussions with at the district level we're actually bringing in high school and junior high administrators in the coming weeks into a broader discussion about that design know to work in sort of very diverse group so to have students in with teachers in with community members so those are all options some day Eileen thank you for that wonderful presentation I just have one quick question can you explain a little bit more because I cannot link the you know the highlight I mean on the High Line

034the boat sentence with whatever down there so what means our student will have equitable opportunity and the tools to learn and down there we're talking about so the teacher gets the opportunity or maybe they get training so what what that ly means so it's the hope that with deeper experience vocabulary sensitivity and compassion that the teachers will be able to provide and grow the equitable opportunities of their students which is is sort of the theory behind seed practically I think teachers educators who go through seed can can actually take many of the concepts back to their classroom things like windows and mirrors so who whose books are you reading you know who whose stories are you hearing and sharing so it's as much for the students as it is for the teachers helps a lot

035but do we I know that is in the may be just a design a learning period do we have any measurement for that how do we in the future how do we consider it is equal and tools and it's the equal opportunity and tools that is something it's really the key I think here so we're just to talk about something it might be or not Oh everybody hope it will be really great so what could be the measurement and what will be you know so that I think you understand what I'm talking about so so I just want to point out goal number two this is from the long-range strategic plan this is our district goal number two and if you could look back on our district goals under goal number two we have quite

036a few other measurable action item strategic items that we're working on this year so this is just in order to show where this kind of work fits in in the plan and so if you look to see our the goal is to increase right now is to increase awareness and to increase people's understanding of it so we've set that goal and then going further we'll be able to look to see how we want to keep in that work and so I mean just to finish off on that so there were actually the overall goal number two was our students will have ecwid all equitable opportunities to learn there were multiple strategic actions within that goal we are providing this as an update as to one of those specific strategic actions and that's just something that

037we talked about during the summer workshop of focusing a lot of our presentations around district call updates so really just one element within that that broader goal you had my daughter in eighth grade and back-to-school night I was I was really blown away by by a TED talk that you didn't you mentioned and I went home and watched but it was it really it was called the danger of a single story by Chimamanda Adichie it's so powerful and I'm wondering it seems to just gel with this and I'm wondering if if this whole initiative kind of formed out of that that approach that that you took and your and I'm sure the whole team was doing the same thing with the danger of a single story and and if you could comment on that that

038would be great so danger of a single story is actually one of the four essential questions I see mr. Bhalla let's go back there for eighth grade social studies so what are the dangers of a single story which was born of Chimamanda Adichie's TED talk which actually Peter shared the first sir first welcoming welcoming us back and so certainly the core of our social studies curriculum an eighth created in seventh grade has very much to do with equity and justice and so is as much social justice education I think as it is social studies as it is history but I think that there were many inspirations for the equity initiative and we want conversations to happen everywhere not just in social studies classrooms and so that was something that was really important to us and

039Andrew when we started us how can we grow this everywhere and not just know it's not just social studies teachers but I think we do a pretty great job thank you I just want to make sure I thank both of you because this has been incredible work and as I've come into the district and interviewed a lot of people for entry processes and things like that almost every person who's been through this training has said what an incredible impact this has had on how they think personally and professionally around working with our whole range of our students but also in their own personal lives just incredibly powerful incredibly impactful so thank you for all the leadership you've done to bring this to us we have a second presentation this evening we've invited Aaron Burr tez

040and Kate Murray here Aaron is the director of ComEd community education and Kate Murray is the director of the extended day programming and they're here to update us on the community Ed's new role as administrator of all our elementary school before and after school programming prior to this change for those of you who don't know our elementary schools ran their before and after school programming zazz like siloed programs so this is the first year of implementation of the new model and we welcome them here to present to us on thanks yep this is normally a departmental presentation that I would do as part of the annual budget cycle it's nice to have Kate as a wingman this year for the first time and the timing we're a little early on the community had stuff to

041try to make it gel with what's happening after a couple of months under our belt with the expansion of extended day so I always come to events like this knowing that different people interact with community ad in different ways you may have a child who loves the basketball league or a child who attends extent a day or you may just get the catalog in the mail not really know much else about us so I'd love to take the opportunity to talk about all the things we do a community I that affect our budget which is the real reason to be here tonight and so you see there are many many things that we do throughout the community from the catalog and the classes and the activities that are in there to the extent of day

042programs that cait's going to talk more about in more depth our summer day program and vacation day programs which are sort of like child care opportunities extend a day on no school days and again driver ed which is just and and use of facility so it's a funny activity that community had handles use of our school buildings outside of the school day and and that's not typical for what a community ed department would do who works for community at again this is another thing I don't know that everybody appreciates and I like to bring back to this presentation each year besides the six folks who work in our office community that supports five and a half full-time employees or the equivalent thereof district custodians who are working in the building I mean helping support those

043facilities in which we run our programs we contribute about $50,000 a year to the salaries of folks who work in central office and who help facilitate all the financial and budgetary things that we do and then you see all the other people that you may interact with as part of you know the school district that really come through community had I had a really great experience this week and I understood what a kindergarten teacher might feel when a student they had is graduating from the high school a young woman came to meet with me to fill out her paperwork to become a lifeguard and I can picture her mother first in line for swimming lessons when I started ten years ago so that was really a lovely moment and and I liked the connections we

044have and was real proud of this the way we taught her to swim and now she's gonna be our employee the bottom line is community at is doing very well we provide terrific programming that people respond to we try to bring new and exciting and profitable things to the district all the time and as a result we have a healthy financial situation that produces a surplus that we are then able to give back to the district each year in many many ways last year was kind of a high point of all the time that I've been at community ad we contributed over $900,000 in personnel items in-kind donations the highlights the the big things I've highlighted there we love to do things like this and already I know the folks in leadership are thinking of

045other ways that community ad revenues can go right back to supporting the facilities and the people and the things that we do here some some highlights these might not seem like highlights but last year was a really interesting year as we planned for a lot of evolution again the work that Kate did and Marie was invaluable in helping us think through all the implications of bringing all of those extended day programs together I would also say the principals of the schools who were affected Dana lab Chris wit Beckett Edie Kaufman were tremendous and partnering with us and solving you know working through situations that were going to be interesting our summer day program has been tearing up the administration building for years and we moved over here to the junior high this summer which was

046tough on the people who work in the program and tough on the people who work in this building in the summer so again that was a collaborative and good effort that resulted in a terrific move across the street and we also a highlight was that Bernadette Keegan who runs the summer Day program was always getting asked by parents why can't you do something at the end of August we we have just historically left the buildings at the end of August or mid-august so that they can be cleaned and readied for the new school year but families who love our programs then felt like they didn't have a good option for things to do so Bernadette creatively with almost no space to speak of has been kind of creating new programs to solve this need and

047added two more weeks of programming at the end of August for families last year so that really responded to a demonstrated need and people were we're thrilled about it you know a lot of them said they'd already made plans so this year I'm expecting it to be that much larger because people know about it now so that was a real quick and dirty about community ad I do want to turn it over to Kate Murray who's gonna talk extended day in detail and then we can answer any questions either of us at the end thanks hi thank you you have to forgive me this is my first time making a presentation with needing to our glasses so I can see can't see here and I can see there so I'm gonna be flipping around a

048lot so as everyone knows we have transitioned to having community ad kind of oversee all six extended day programs in the district which was as Erin mentioned a huge undertaking I know Marie was out of the room when she said that Marie Altieri was a huge support for us while we did this a lot of planning and then through the summer so we have a house here now so we have all six programs underneath community ed we have a tremendous amount of staff leader continuity with all of these programs they've been here for many many years which I think they are the faces of of extend a day to the families and those did not change which I think gave us a lot of strength going forward by combining all six programs on the district

049was able to ensure that every single classroom has assistance support which we're very very proud of and and this initiative really led us to be able to do that on all the work on the school committee and everyone else for moving forward with this I think is a great asset to our classrooms and our students so here's the current enrollment as you can see it's relatively steady some of the fluctuations could be because of the new one tier bus busing that we have a lot of enrollment now in the morning because it's kind of considered in the elementary school a later start so we have children over at Douglass who are having french toast sticks and bacon and and really enjoying themselves over in the morning because they have a lot more time as I

050said it's relatively the same enrollment you know it's a down a little bit if you see the blip down at admin that could be due to the parker damon program being open so children who could attend either one are staying at parker damon the parker damon program as you can see has gone up so there are minor fluctuations but but overall relatively very steady this will be our baseline going forward to see how this year will compare to years going forward I do want to mention that this number 636 is basically one quarter of all of our elementary school students are in in attendance in extended day and that's could be morning and afternoon just after noon or just one day a week or even just a drop-in but that's that's a pretty significant number

051so accomplishments to date this is kind of the meat of a lot of the things that we've done I'm not going to bore you with with many of the details which I could I can definitely go into if people have more questions for the financial alignment across the program's we're now all offering every single program offers an online payment option we collectively at community add we take deposits and payroll is now all centralized in one place checks are all written to acton-boxborough community ed so it's very centralized salaries are all aligned everyone that works for us we're on a new salary scale so it's comparable each program from one to the other which is which is really great and that will be the model to use going forward we have over 70 paid staff that

052includes our six staff leaders that I mentioned for head teachers we have 45 assistant teachers we have over 16 paid high school aides and then we do have about five or six high school volunteers so we're a very vibrant employment opportunity which it which is great and a lot of a lot of the people that we employ have even been around for a long time um it's a mixture some work in the school district then and then work for us after school some have been stay-at-home parents for a long time and want to come back to work so it's real it's a real mixture but it's really the strength of our program I've heard parents really talk about the staff that we have is why they have their kids here at extended day a big

053part of the staff for me on my end is that we now have a shared group of subs that all six programs can utilize and tap into which is which has been used a lot and we can really look at what staff works better at different programs I've had a staff member recently she worked over at Douglas and she just fits better over here with the students and the age group that we have so it was very easy for me to move that person over here and and then we move someone else into Douglas so it was it was really um it was really a win-win for everybody in that situation and I obviously if we didn't have Douglas with us underneath us I wouldn't have been able to make that connection so that was

054great for professional development in training I just wanted to mention that we did do professional development as a group with all six programs at the beginning of the school year and we'll have another professional development opportunity for all the staff coming up next Tuesday we've also done some significant training for those who weren't trained in the other programs they include our safety care which is our restraint training so now we have at all of the programs staff our safety care trained we had all of our staff not all but their staff in each of the programs that are trained in unsafe serve which is the food professional management program they're certified and safe serve theirs they've done the online school training this the safe schools their CPR trained and they also have gone to outside

055training at our our ned's program which is kind of a extended day directors they offer a professional development and many of our staff have gone to that so these trainings were not necessarily offered or required in some of the other programs and now since we've all kind of been aligned under one program now all of the staff are required for most of these trainings so that's been a huge opportunity for them the programming we've offered field trips Parker Damon went on its first field trip it's ever been on last week they went apple picking so they were excited about that there are many classes that I've offered in my programs in years prior that now we're able to kind of offer across programs one great example of this is a high school assistant who is

056just loves to do science experiments and stem work with elementary school children which is quite a feat she made little Hut's the other day and she she had them designed from anything that they could find outside and these are 2nd and 3rd graders and they had to keep the snow out and the snow was salt grains of salt so it was very very difficult the kids were very very motivated to keep their keep their Hut's salt and snow free it it was really great to see and so we bought she comes over here once a week to teach the stem class to Mike to the kids here at admin and she's gonna rotate around all six programs and do a six-week stem program and that's just one example how we're able to use someone that

057we that teaches at the high school to come over to our program so there's just a lot of marriage between staff and then we know that they obviously share the same goals that we have because they're in our school district already so that's great a lot of the mini classes that I offered will be shared again throughout all six programs but we're also looking at what's really unique to each school some of them have had programs running there that we're able to kind of keep their so it's a little bit of a mixture of both in terms of administration under this bullet we have a different a new process for communicating with parents which is bright arrow on power school which many of you know so we have more communications and richer communications with parents

058which is great our new website has been much more accessible to the families in our in our program and they can access we put our calendars up there we put newsletters so I think parents have been very happy about that we have a different staff form that everybody uses so much more centralized systems that we now are able to do we have a centralized ordering system and we just have it just get brings us to be able to have much more control over inventory which has been very interesting for me to study kind of how much programs used to spend and then kind of what things are gonna look like this year so we have two big items on our to-do list this year the first one is to really determine how we can best

059support our families who are in need or economically disadvantaged we have always historically offered scholarships differently so community ed has offered state vouchers through the three programs that I was managing before we we all folded into one and then there have been kind of in-house scholarships that have been offered at the other three schools so this year what we're really doing is we're really taking a look at which is the most feasible way to do it that week that we're going to do kind of going forward so it's a big project of mine year to really figure out does it make more sense to kind of do a an in-house scholarship program across all six programs and not use the voucher system or does it should we continue on with the voucher system and expand

060that to to be in all six of our programs so that's something that we're looking at and and doing a lot of analysis on the second one is has to do with flexible scheduling and whether or not our extended day program is really able to provide more opportunities for one-hour drop-ins or can I just come for a month the way that we used to do it at community ed it was a little we were able to offer drop ins but not similar to one hour and can I come for a half an hour and and that kind of flexible pricing so we're really looking into what the cost of that would be what the staffing would would require for us to move towards that or how we can kind of incorporate that so there's some

061kind of happy medium and balance that with what our budget requirements are so those are my two big lists in addition to kind of keeping everything running this year but so far it's been relatively smooth and we're very excited that we're able to do it so I appreciate all of your support and we're open to any questions Mary not a question but a comment I think it seems that you've taken something that was pretty scary for families you know we get really attached to the schools and the programs that our kids are in and it sounds like you've done a lovely job of really recognizing the value of each program and then bringing enrichment to that through what can be offered as one whole community so thank you so no comment for a long time

062but I was interested to see you have to slide up there that talks about professional development I'm wondering he said right there yeah and I'm wondering it so we were you were giving us the the anecdote of the assault and snow is that is that an example of professional development or is that more one of the programs that you offer so the professional development I was just mentioning that now the professional development that I've been running any kind of trainings that I've been doing we've been doing with all six programs so they're just larger and more information gathering and I think all of the staff that have now come together have really benefited from kind of all being in a room together and talk about best practices so it's been very enriching the snow example

063was under the the programming where I used a high school teacher to come in and she's going to be doing the rotation of the six-week stem program [Music] snow is the coverage yes so great question I was on my notes and I didn't get to it so I appreciate that yes so we still do offer the holiday programs Bernadette Keegan is the one who's doing the summer programs and the holiday programs the no school day next next next week show off or show off for Veterans Day we haven't quite gotten to offering a snow day day yet it's something we can definitely look at this year I do know but any other other days that are that we don't offer something that that there hasn't been enough enrollment are things we can continually look at

064to be open on the nice last slide that Steve out your system for that one and with the trending you know the need for the Israel like a percentage in trending up trending down like did you see that the man going up I think this year we're really gonna take the time to look at that that's really part of the process is to really look at what the needs are are they going up or down and then to really to really determine what the best choice of option would be so we're working on that this year I just want to thank both of you because this has been an incredible undertaking just the amount of reorganization as we were talking through this the other day you know you just blew my mind with the level

065of professionalism you brought to this how you were able to bring staffs from all of the different schools who had independent programs before and really culturally bring them all together under one umbrella cuz that's that that's a huge undertaking so thank you for all that you've done on this Thank You Marie as well for all of the support you've given to that and initiative and you know please extend the thanks also to all the different staffs of the schools because this is it's been turbulent but people have really come along and it's just turning out to be a great program so thank you from a school committee perspective I just want to also and you'll be sick of me saying this by the end of the year but I want to draw your attention that

066there's a reason that we chose to present this this is an update regarding our district goals for the year it's specific to goal number 2 which is the same thing as you heard on the seed program this is another one of those elements the first part of this was to update you regarding the changes that were enacted last year which was part of our monitoring progress initiative and then the second part was to look forward a little bit as you heard about looking at the voucher system that aligns with really taking a hard look at how families have to contribute to students education and how we can do that in the most affordable way so really it is tied into that equity goal I just want to make sure that's clear and I just want

067to make sure you'll be sick of me saying all the goals and tying it to the strategic plan yeah thank you for that that's that's actually very very helpful as we assemble our portfolios and our google populate our Google Docs with the information we need for the superintendent evaluation yeah right okay I'm gonna move right to item nine financial update thank you try and be like Kate and not have to use my glasses but we'll see in the materials you have the a nd balance roll forward that was approved by the Department of Revenue along with the email of the certification of the amount and so here's you've seen you've seen this chart before it's updated for the most current year four million eighty-two thousand of E&D it's up slightly I think last year was

068four million eight so it's up just a slight tick from last year in dollars it's down us like tikkun percent to me that's that's pretty flat and the visual there shows a pretty steep upslope with a with a leveling off in this past year the trend is is clearly exemplary I'm gonna comment a bit later in the presentation about that but I wanted to pass on several noteworthy items from this slide that slope won't and can't continue to go up increasingly to the right because there's a cap that the state that the state mandates that the district can't exceed 5% so it's not a coincidence that we're leveling off in the high in the high four percentile E&D as I said is relatively flat from fiscal 17 to fiscal 18 but that reflects a couple

069of things and so consider that we are flat despite the fact that 710,000 was expended out of the indeed to fund the elementary school feasibility study 775,000 was used to offset the FY 19 assessment and that included five hundred and seventy five thousand dollars to specifically fawned the initiative for single tier busing so it's a pretty simple slide but this is probably our best foot forward again I'm going to follow up in a related matter in a few minutes but questions on this one I'll ask I'll ask on every slide if there were a question you have also in your materials the revenue summary statement here are what I can what I know to be the significant variances to this point in time chapter 70 we received the final budget had $30 of minimum aid

070per student we had budgeted 20 transportation aid was increased in June of 2018 for fiscal 18 and this number which is significantly over our budget the budget as you know is developed in the December January time frame so by the time June rolled around the state had had a significant increase in the reimbursement and will and so that numbers has carried forward on the Cherry sheet for FY 19 and that's a significant source of additional revenue for the district in nineteen and lastly investment earnings historically that has been budgeted at zero for a couple of reasons primarily because the rate has been so puny that that the earnings were fairly negligible this is the first year that we have anything budgeted in the revenue in revenue for the district and again at the time we

071developed the budget last year a hundred thousand seemed like a reasonable target it looks pretty light at this point what I've done is extrapolated actual first quarter investment earnings through out the end of the year if rates continue to rise slightly what we may beat that number again but I expect in all all three of these cases these should be pretty much expected to be carried forward through to year-end and so the variance we've identified to this point in the first quarter four hundred and twenty six thousand fairly consistent I might add with the last couple of years I do expect you to you to get used to that number in my presentations for the next couple of quarters and then perhaps a modification at the at the end of the year questions on revenues

072Mary it's not a question but a comment I I'm thinking the 426,000 if we end up at that level would push us over the E and D cap although I would remind folks we have a transportation a transportation fund where we can put resources and so it maybe we can because we can't spend this revenue because we didn't budget right like if there's unspent funds that we budgeted we can choose to spend those on other things but new revenues we can't spend is that right you can't exceed your budget your appropriated expenditure that's correct right so so we're gonna have to think about that I mean because we've we've already in by we there's two ways there's there's the leadership team specifically Peter and Marie and I have looked at a preliminary view of where

073one year from now and II might might work out given if everything was the same in from a historical context through the year to the end of next year where where might we be and also the the budget subcommittee has talked about strategic uses of available resources because the 5% cap is a hard cap and if there's a strategic useful money that would be a smart smart use of district funds and taxpayer funds which would not require us to go back to them in the future and the hint is relative to capital needs we're looking to propose things like that so so stay tuned for further developments there I just want to point out also that each one of these line items is you know when we go through the budget cycle like we're going

074through now we have to take educated guesses as to what these reimbursement rates are gonna be and it's important to know that that when we do that we're fairly conservative because we don't want the the surprises going the other way and and so this if some watching may be tempted to say well you didn't budget right because you're you're over but but we don't know what the state's gonna come back with in terms of per student aid we don't know what the state's gonna come back with fluid on a percentage of their transportation reimbursement we certainly don't know what the earnings are gonna be doing so so these are you know this is the the artwork that goes into building the budget and and we just and I guess I say that the presentation of

075a budget is an art but the actual guts of the budget is more of a science and so when you said we've budget we've budgeted fairly conservatively I'd maintain that from 15 to 17 you budget it very conservatively because that's how you grow any indeed balance that quickly that's significantly we will need to transition to a more fairly conservative look and so for example I can guarantee you that at least my budget my first presentation for next year's budget will not have an investment earnings assumption of $100,000 that's would be crazy at this point we've proven that we're able to to generate more than that now the market conditions may dictate otherwise the the the interest rates that are available are subject to fluctuation but those are the things that in my second year and

076my second budget with the district I'm going to utilize and be more savvy I guess as far as taking the information that's been available in the recent past and and utilize it to make a more I don't want to you this has bad connotations more reasonable budget but but a fair budget because to return a it's great to have a positive variance of a hundred and eighty thousand it's nice to have that kind of cushion but it's also nice to be able to pass a budget with realistic revenue numbers in there that I can say we're pretty assured of having that number and so at this point we're pretty assured we're gonna be a hundred thousand next year sorry to belabor that point I think it was probably obvious it's too early in the year

077to project in a meaningful way expenditures but I've put some bullets on here and I'll just let you read them because they're it's the it's the the popular hit list it's the things that are expected to vary from year to year and we will be will be spending our time analyzing those in a big-picture manner and bringing to you projected expenditures because that's where that's where the keys going to be we seem to have put aside four hundred thousand or so on the revenue side where's the expense side going to come out and I said you can't over we can't over expend the budget but in the event that something happens and we're getting close in in a budget buster line-item we have to met we may have to make changes somewhere else so that's

078why it's important to keep an eye on the major expenditure categories so I don't have any news about expenditures and so perhaps there aren't any questions and so we'll go on and just say what else is happening in my world overseeing the district's finances I gave you a copy of a two page State House news report state finance officials were frustrated and I can say a lot of my colleagues that already joined that Club as I reported to you there was the possibility of some more funding for fiscal 18 in particular in the categories of circuit breaker transportation reimbursement and not so much applicable to acton-boxborough by charter school reimbursement it did not materialize and they had an opportunity it appeared to be an opportunity with some robust finances at the state but it didn't

079didn't come to pass for districts and those in those categories they did pass a few other things relating to school safety and whatnot but the items that I teased you with a few meetings ago sorry didn't happen we've started budget development those who are familiar with the process and participate with alg and on the on the budget subcommittee know that know that that's happened and also know of the capital planning committee which has formed and met and will be making presentations to you in the near future about a I think I've alone I'm a CPA evolution plan for capital capital improvements for the district and the financial hot it's speaking of exciting has been completed I have draft reports I'm waiting for the for the auditor to be able to discuss them with me I

080have some questions about to get them done and I don't know if it's because of what happened but the audit firm is located in the Lawrence area and their server was knocked out and it's it's just not not been good so I do expect the audit to be issued possibly not by the next meeting but certainly within within a month and lastly I put here a bullet and I gave you a four page report which I believe is in the material that you were was made available online the commentary letter that I got from Moody's there were many positives in there and there were some negative items that Moody's identified that really were peculiar to more to Massachusetts than to acton-boxborough deficiencies so what's quickly what's what's Moody's Moody's is a ratings agency they objectively

081evaluate cities town school districts counties water and sewage districts etcetera to evaluate their creditworthiness so that when those entities go out to to issue bonds the prospective bond buyers have some kind of basis to say yeah this is this is a good credit they're more likely to repay the debt than this one and there's an inverse relationship between the rating the higher the rating typically the lower the interest rate on the underlying debt that gets issued that's rated by by Moody's or one of the other agencies the best rating is a triple-a the worst I believe is a C when you get down to C it's not worth value a ting anymore because probably nobody's gonna buy the bond anyway there are many grades in between it's not simply a Triple Eight B and C

082Acton Boxborough has been for years what's called a double A - so where's that fall Triple A is the top double-a one is second double A two is third it's a very high rating there are only two regionals in Massachusetts according to the representative at Moody's who are rated higher than Acton Boxborough I told you about the importance relative to debt although it's much more important what the debt will be based on the economic conditions than the greatest so in other words you could be a triple-a credit but in in an environment where the financial finances are unstable you may end up paying a higher rate regardless so I don't want to overstate it but I do think it's in my purview to build a case for an upgrade so I'm intending to contact Moody's

083after the audit report is issued and have what's called a ratings call to put a best foot forward and see if they are persuaded that that a B's ratings should be increased questions on that's bit of a dry subject I tried to cover it really quickly and Lassa so you mentioned that the things that Moody's kind of harped on was limit our EMD so now in Massachusetts were capped to 5% in fun by an unreserved fund balance we call it Indy five percent of revenues that's it that's the cap nationwide the average is about 21% because nationwide is not Massachusetts and they don't have this legislatively artificial cap on on what they're allowed to hold most most districts nationwide have the ability to levy taxes and they're their own autonomous entities and so it's not

084uncommon for them to have significantly larger balances Moody's is is evaluating acton-boxborough compared with not just the 30 Massachusetts districts but the hundreds and thousands of districts nationwide I've survived some strategies on how that could be overcome though Wilson will use them and lastly we're in budget season so just a quick look at future assessments this year is the final year that there's a prescribed allocation the the terms of our projected benefit and base budget and 60/40 split that's relevant this year not after this year so the result is you see the percentages of the assessment between acton-boxborough next year is the first year where direct per pupil allocation will rule with the proviso that however it turns out on a per-student basis will be shifted 425 thousand from Acton to Boxborough that itch and

085I just pointed out that the existing methodology shifted four hundred and ten thousand in fiscal 19 so it's going to be I still will be a fairly sizeable shift as a result there will not be the same higher increase in assessment to actin versus Boxborough this year it's going to flip this year because the shift is a much more moderate amount than it was in FY 19 and will we'll have more details about it as as time goes on but I just wanted to give you this first look and of course after that it's going to be virtually an exclusive per pupil allocation it's $25,000 shift in 21 and then 0 is just straight per pupil after that and so one more time yes well the budget 101 cos budget 101 so Andy's and Angie

086has asked for budget 101 so no not tonight right we we have been talking about it and it is not forgotten we need to put some dates out there and as you can maybe see I enjoy talking about this stuff so I'm really looking forward to it you may know thank you very much okay moving on to item 10 school building project okay I'm gonna move us first to the IDI plan Marie do you want to good evening everybody so the education plan has been in your packet and it was this is your second read the first version was at your last meeting you gave us some really really fruitful feedback that we have incorporated and then Adam and Mary in particular really helped go through with a fine-tooth comb and help us edit and

087make sure the logic flowed I want to make sure everybody has met Emily Grandstaff Rice she is from arrow Street will you stand Emily so Emily is the project manager for the architect she is the lead architect for our project she has been spending lots and lots of quality time with us and the IDI plan is due to the MSBA early next week as well as about a thousand other documents that make up the PDP the preliminary design program that includes the surveys that have been done on the sites and lots of the other work that's been done so if we are open to any other comments or feedback on the IDI plan and otherwise we would ask for your vote this evening maiya I just wanted to thank you for all your work I

088did think it had great flow and and even greater context for our kids thank you I have to say I read this I tried to read it from the perspective of someone from the MSBA or someone who doesn't know our district and was asking like who are these people and what do they want from his face design and I thought it was really fantastic um the takeaways for me we're like net zero building if we can get there in terms of energy a twin school which would be a sea change for Douglas and it would kind of beg the question like what is possible when you are in a school community with another elementary school and even in a CC and then I was also really taken with the idea of the building as an

089educational tool that triggers engagement for students I think that we're kind of accomplishing that in little areas here with the battery operated storage system that's how that captures all the solar energy that we that were not using and then we can use that for a peak periods I don't know if that's been installed yet at the high school but we we had discussed that last year and the outdoor space the garden space at the junior high and there's a lot of creativity going on here too and to have a whole building with that design in mind when we build it that would be really awesome and and of course we want a space design that's responsive to the needs of every type of learning and every type of teaching that really came through and it

090was exciting to read the draft and see the current kind of the current model that's that's now Howard's in the schools and then to project that out into the future it's it's really quite a document and I also really appreciate all the hard work that has been done on that I will I just I want to I'm troubled by the the the English language arts instructional program and its emphasis on balance literacy it's a it's a continuing concern I have I feel that we're locking into a building a model that is not not really promoting the values and qualities that we want I think this district is really cutting edge in many ways we have open enrollment we have sustainability initiatives that are amazing we have the only high performing district to partner with the

091Mid Atlantic equity consortium to address equity issues we do a lot of cutting-edge things and I think that we I would like the district leadership to ask what what it like to be what would it look like to be cutting edge and literacy here so I I support this this document and but I did want to register register that one little not so little but one concern that I had about that particular aspect of it well I just like to echo your concern because that was something that I spoke briefly outside of the meeting to Deb and Don about and well I do support this document in general and think overall since I was told it's an architectural document that it reflects what we what we need to do and what we needed in a

092school and being cutting edge and literacy wouldn't necessarily change those spaces so I am supportive of that but the language is hard for me too knowing that the science of reading and literacy isn't really reflected in the language that we use here so I will register my comments as well it was aspirational in talking about the future there's a there's a ferry component to it that incorporates the Future curriculum with the design of the building and the and the plans for sustainability and all that kind of stuff and I and I just I love that what what concerns me a little bit and it's nothing that we have any control over is that we you know we talk aspirationally about you know collaborative learning and all kinds of different styles but yet we have you

093know a standard framework that we also have to live with and and I'm just concerned about tension between the the curriculum aspirations and and and the standards which are you know they have changed in the past year but they're not looking at the future the same way we are so I just want to thank Murray dawn Deb and all those who contributed I mean and the community and teachers I think a lot of people had input into this and I would like to move to approve the educational plan and I just want to add just an update on our meeting so we had a meeting on October 24th we're continuing to review the feasibility work that arrow Street is doing looking at potential layouts to really identify what parcels we're going to include in this

094preliminary design program our committee will meet Monday night to vote that document which is hundreds of pages we're actually not even printing it we have access through a Dropbox so I just wanted to let you all know that and thank you for your support of the ed plan can I add one more thing unless you were going to also this past Monday we were invited to what's called the story of a building which has been done two or three times in partnership between the MSBA and the AG's office but we were able to spend the day in an elementary school with almost a thousand students that was opened two years ago so it was fascinating and it was great to see sort of shared spaces versus non shared spaces and extended learning spaces I'm so

095Peter and JD and I went along with our owners project manager Chuck and so that's something we have in our toolbox to think through as well there we go come on I also just want to echo Mary's sentiments and thanking Marie Deb dawn Adam as well because Adam did considerable amount of work on this to help bring that together but thank you also for all the comments that you provided at our last meeting I thought that was one of the just most one of the highest quality deliberations on something that allowed us as a professional staff to hear feedback from a committee that we could take back which was actionable and really help shape the design of the building and reflect the educational values that you hold for the community so thank you so much

096for all of that feedback it was it was a wonderful opportunity for us to hear from you and thank you and thank you for approving okay we were at item 11 and we were looking for your vote this evening this is a second read on the superintendent goals so unless your emotion unless anyone has anything to say about it okay any discussion okay all in favor aye opposed abstentions motion passes unanimously thank you okay at this point in the evening we're going to move to item 12 which is the discussion of the ballot questions and possible position votes for two ballot questions one is a state ballot question three and another is the Acton ballot question number one on the establishment of the recreational marijuana establishments so I just I need to ask the committee

097since this is not something I've done very often is if we discuss things first and then half of a comment or that's typically what happens okay okay so I just want to share with you my thinking about this so discussing resolutions and discussing ballot initiatives is not something that we have done here as and I've been on the committee for this is my second term now we've never done this this is new territory for us this is not the case in other districts I'm sorry we've done this before discussing discussing ballot initiatives okay okay so the idea of a regular discussion of things like resolutions and imbalance it's this is done on a regular basis and an annual basis actually for many for many other districts and I'm referring more to the resolutions that come

098up at the MAS C annual conference when I say that what I wanted to bring to you tonight because I felt with all of the with all of the emails and the calls and the the political climate I felt it would be disingenuous of me to make a unilateral decision on your behalf whether or not to consider taking a position on these questions I thought you know these these issues do affect our students and I thought it's it's fair to ask that's the best practice in my view to ask the committee if they think it is appropriate for us to take a position on both of these measures so that is the first question that I'm going to propose for us to do is to is to answer this question do you think it is

099appropriate to weigh in on these issues so maybe we could just start with the act and question one which is a which is a special ballot it's like a special election ballot initiative on the night not on the six I'm sorry so I'm just gonna open it up for comment Tessa I actually think for two reasons that it is inappropriate for us to take that particular measure up because a were Regional Committee this is an act and ballot question and although it is going to come up in Boxborough in May I don't see how it has anything to do with us as a school committee I recognize that some of from some reading some of the emails and reading things on social media that obviously there are consequences down the road for making decisions around

100retail pot shops but it doesn't directly have anything to do with our students and that this affects people that are 21 plus and all of our students are younger than that and I don't I don't think that it's appropriate for us to take that up as a school committee Mary I have a different viewpoint I think this directly affects our students and that's why even not as an act in town member I think as a school committee member I and we should weigh in the research out of Colorado is showing that student attitudes the attitudes of young people are changing about marijuana since their law has come in effect there are attitudes they there's actually a large proportion of youth who believe they drive better under the influence of marijuana because it gives them focus

101and that is not true that is a myth there's also more attitudes more lenient attitudes about smoking marijuana and although there's not enough research we see with alcohol outlets that the more access there is the more underage use there is and so I think this does affect our students the question you know we're a committee and we deliberate and we can a conclusion as a committee and it's it's just an opinion of another another group so I don't have any problem taking out the question Adam so you know I was I was torn on this and in fact I tried to do a little bit of research around what in the past what guidance was given to school committees around activities in support or against ballot initiatives in fact there was some guidance from the

102MAS C and also from the office of campaign and political finance a lot of it revolves around funds being expended in a in choice of either you know in support of the choice or in against the choice there's one phrase though that really sort of stuck out to me and that was that officials may undertake various official actions that concern ballot questions relating to matters that are within their areas of authority and so for me I personally don't feel comfortable sort of representing authority in a town of which I'm not a resident and I think that's the challenge with our committee being a to town committee is that you know as individuals we all have our opinions and we're more than welcome to share those opinions in the community but as a committee as a

103whole we're representing two towns and I think that you know as such we don't necessarily have that authority to make an opinion on something that affects just one portion of our committee which is also sort of where I stand on the the second question which we'll get to shortly but when you look at a statewide ballot initiative that does have sort of equal weighting on both of the member communities and so I might feel differently about us having an opinion on that than I would on having one that only affects a portion of our community and again that's regardless of how I personally feel about the subject matter in question Amy so I'm gonna say I I do not think that this is something that the school committee should be debating and discussing and taking

104a stand on this is this is not and this is not an issue about whether we should legalize marijuana or not that's that's already been decided this is a zoning issue this is a town issue this is this is a there's this is not something that the school committee that is not within our purview and I don't think it's appropriate that we sit here and every one of us and you know has personal feelings about this and we're we're going to go to the ballot on Tuesday and we're gonna go to special Town Meeting and that's where that's where it's appropriate I don't think here is where it's appropriate at this point I just want to say I just I want to draw your attention to the to the are operating protocols and they're laminated

105and will be available at every meeting but the sixth bullet I think I'm just gonna read it and that is under the heading of demonstrate professional and collegial relationship at all time the bullet reads and this is our operating protocols we want to empower school committee members to freely express their opinions concerns and ideas and a climate of trust and mutual respect even in times of disagreement so and and the other bullet I want you to I want to draw attention to is that we are prioritizing our priority has to be the student needs an interests above all else that's why we were elected to serve the students of this district so with that in mind those of you who might enact in members who might have weigh in on this even if you think

106your opinion is unpopular I encourage you to contribute to this debate and feel free and empowered to express your opinions in a climate of mutual respect and Trust so is there anyone Andy would you want to say something Jenny but from what I've seen from the emails to me it kind of feels like people want to it's not binding we're not taking any action we don't have the power to prevent or allow or to change the outcome of the election but I think a lot of concerns have been raised and I think the research from Colorado and the potential impact on our students and their wellness which is our biggest responsibility if people who and in a public forum I just think out of respect for those people that we should respond for them and

107not it feels like it would be ducking the issue to me and perhaps only act in people since this is an acting issue on the committee could would address it now and if asks at the time it comes before Foxborough members but otherwise I think that people are asking us to deliver a Tessa and then Angie well so say that we decided that we're going or the majority because accent members have a larger vote here that that goes forward so then how does that get reported out the Acton Boxborough Regional School committee takes whatever stance it is on this thing I don't feel representing about an act and initiative and act and ballot question like I don't I don't live in Acton so to me that is a really big problem with this particular question

108I don't disagree with the sentiment that you express that you know we are elected to do something that that you know people want to know what we think about it but going back to what I said initially I don't I don't think that this is our purview there's lots of things that are going on politically that I'm sure people would love to know what we think about because we're their elected officials but they don't all necessarily pertain to our purview of serving the students of our district and it is a regional district and this is not currently on the ballot in both towns on Tuesday Kenji yeah I want to talk a little history about this I think this was I Lisa I have asked before as a resident and to the School Committee but

109I was told that the school commedia was not touching the political issues so I also want to talk about the timing for the trigger of this one because for the email that I saw is almost all happened within the 48 hours for this particular thing and I think that's related to the other about a question that was kind of on and off and on and off so I kind of want to talk about I think this was triggered by the other event and that's why it's here so I would say this is a kind of like not people with talent doesn't want it but wasn't it was not kind of built didn't realize that he was okay then he was starting then he was started asking so I kind of want to clarify that there

110is a time sequence in terms of that when the request was made do you want me to respond to that or so the if we were to take this question up the taking the question up we don't have to be unanimous about it and and I'm hearing what Tessa's concern is and I understand that to me there are two issues though is is that how you feel about the issue and then whether it's appropriate or not to take it up and I do I am you know thinking of Tessa's position is that by not wanting to take it up for technical reasons you may appear to be on one side of the issue or not and and and I I wouldn't you know want my colleagues to be in that position it might be a

111misinterpretation of the of the committee's decision very I'm just gonna reiterate that I do think this is in our purview because it's I think it'll directly affect the students in our district the Acton students in our district and even potentially the Boxborough ones and I think you know if there was a zoning issue in Acton and it was connected to our campus and our students we would care we care about the crosswalks where accidents are happening and we're asking you know to have be included in some of those decisions I think this directly relates to our students I I appreciate all of the viewpoints said there have been some very compelling comments made the one other thing that strikes me is if we feel like we're going to continue to have these types of discussions

112and requests from community I would really appreciate if we could make these decisions and comments prior to the election time beginning and so I'll remind everybody that as of October 22nd early voting was available and I personally will be out of town on Election Day and so I've already cast my vote and I would have actually appreciated having this conversation with the committee prior to that date and I think that that would be fair for all those other members of the community who might be interested in our our thoughts and comments to have these types of discussions prior to when one voting begins I think I hurt everybody I didn't mean to say I'd you know last all maybe almost the last I I definitely heard Mary I think everybody got their since I love

113to talk about the top I mean the you know twelve point one however I heard everybody else too and also me too just like Adam I already cast my vote in town and I think as them voted official we still have our individual rights to not speak on those very sensitive issues which can that's just I think we have the right to deserve that say that a painting that I'd rather to have my private to stay in the booth and cast my vote in I don't want people to know that I'm sorry I can't help it I actually think you can have two different viewpoints I think you can have a personal viewpoint and then a viewpoint as a school committee member when I first came on to the school committee somebody asked me how

114are you gonna handle issues when it's something related to your children and there's a difference between what's good for your children and what's good for the district and my answer is as a school committee member I'm gonna advocate for the students in the district as a parent I'm gonna advocate for my own children and I think there's a difference so what you say as a school committee member doesn't have to be the same as what you feel as an individual Amy I agree with you Mary very much I guess where I'm struggling is that for me to be to speak as a school committee member I'm I have I'm frustrated because this happened so quickly I don't how can I possibly speak intelligently about how having you know sales within our town or a few

115miles away from our town and now the differences are going to impact I feel a little bit like that how can I speak you know about how it's gonna affect our kids if I haven't been given enough time to think about how is it going to affect our students as a whole Kenji yeah agree with Mary said that we do Kenny we can't have a person of you and as a school district I'm a school committee member and I also agree with what Amy said which is the timing I think the timing is critical because you you know there is open meeting law there is the 48 hours notification requirement and the reason for that is so we can have enough time to digest the information and I agree with adding to which is that

116if it's at the beginning of the vote and there's requests coming then we can have time and we can take a real good consideration and and represented the community and to vote and to digest the information and to have to be honest had to have two political issues on one committee like a week ago I kind of feel this is being pushed by I don't know what it is but I'm really uncomfortable with the timing that for the for the pushing this out and because as we saw this I think the other requests for to put it on the agenda like I think it's on the 26 that's way more than 48 hours ago and with and then you will decided now to put it on then you can later change it so I think

117there is that the timing in in terms of these two issues I think is really critical because we got the updated agenda by like two o'clock this afternoon which is a I was like I can't I can't just I can read it I can't I can't prepare for it so I think that the timing is really I really I I think this issue has an impact for our kids and with the time then I think that as a community coming school committee that we should vote and cast our opinion whether we should vote on that that's I think that will be appropriate but with the emergency kind of oh let's make a stand right now right here like three days four days before the the voting I feel pressure yeah I can appreciate that I

118I can tell you that it was not in my mind that this was even going to come up when I did propose for us to review the resolutions from mas see it kind of opened the door it was it was a it was a uncanny kind of set of circumstances that I that that one of the resolutions pertains to its on the same topic basically as question three so I had a choice shall I be shall I turn a turn away from the public's need and desire for us to be responsive or we can figure out a way to build this in so I mean I think I think that in the future we can be more planful about it if if this is the direction we want to go in terms of evaluating the

119the resolutions every year we might find ourselves doing what other school committees have done and weigh in on ballot questions but again this is new territory for us and it's it wasn't intentional obviously to to put pressure on you in terms of time but I I respect the fact that this does feel that way Paul you know we're having referenced the operating protocols I just want to point out or remind the committee that the second last bullet is refrain from addressing issues that have not been previously brought to the attention of the chair and/or superintendent except in emergency situations so we're calling this an emergency situation well d so the Ald the attorney-general we can who was consulted on this today this morning let us know that it's it is for emergency situations but also

120on circumstances that are unforeseen that come up and you feel that there's a time component to it and need need to be addressed or you would like to be addressed yep sorry I agree with Ginni I think that that you know the people want to hear what we have to say but I also hear Angie is I I didn't get a chance to read through everything that that I wanted to read through I have to work so the time I had to read through the email you know given everything that Peter said in his update I think that people are looking for leaders who are going to stand up you know I don't know I will say the content but but so I don't think it's inappropriate in general for school committees to to weigh

121it I completely agree with Mary this is gonna impact our kids there's no question about it there's also a lot of other equity issues such as if not you know our kids than whose kids iteration so perhaps because very small timeframe just to send the signal community community members that were not rejecting their request and were you know calling into question why it came when it did it came late and this is their only meeting the election is Tuesday so it's not I don't think anybody was trying to put pressure just given the circumstances and people's inability to and I'll just add that unlike unlike question three where we have a record policies and procedures and there's there's history there there's there's no history here for this so that's I think adding adding to the

122the feeling of pressure and Maya did you have something to say I just wanted to say that I want to be sensitive to the committee's lack of preparation I and I want to be sensitive to the climate that the committee has endured in the past you know year and a half or so it's I feel uncomfortable asking people to do something they're not comfortable or didn't think they signed on for despite my own personal feelings this is a lot of ambivalence and not a lot of ready time to be ready in a town where we have had two towns where we've had a lot of strife and animosity and a climate that has felt divisive so I'm just a little bit worried for for us okay so what I'm what I'm hearing is that the

123issues are the timing of this wasn't it wasn't so fish didn't give you sufficient time to really feel comfortable preparing others just feel that this politically this shouldn't be something that we do and then from the box Pro members which is a it's it's a concern it concerns me greatly that that we if it fragments our community our committee when we can't include the Box problem at first I mean we're we're not just act and we're acton-boxborough so III do think this absolutely affects our children and we all have our personal views I don't hear the consensus that I that would make me feel comfortable moving forward with a position so I want to make sure that I'm reading the room right here in the committee so you're not comfortable moving this particular one or

124both no I'm just talking about question one right now so like a previous stated that this one came up was the previous one so I kind of feel if we move the first the cook the other question then this one should be moved if we don't then we shouldn't we assure them so that's how I feel Amy I feel like those are two different those are two different ballot questions the you heard me right you're here what you would you're repeating is is is how I feel I'm very clear on how I am going to vote personally I as a school committee member and representing the students I haven't had enough time to actually educate myself enough to responsibly vote for with that in mind Eileen we'll take one more I have to agree with

125Angie if we do not discuss number one we cannot discuss number two because that's all same issue I disagree they are not the same issues at all question one applies only to one town and there are some questions amongst committee members including myself as to whether or not that's actually our purview and I am presented it as we are discussing question one I don't think that the two can be tied together I don't think it's fair to tie them together we haven't even discussed whether or not it's appropriate for us to weigh in on question three in fact the other school committees that Diane referenced all weighed in on question three this question one I agree with angie was tacked on by community members when they saw that you know there was interest amongst community

126members to have us have a say on question three and I think there are totally separate issues and I think we should consider them separately and I'll just say that I tacked them on and and and I stand by that and I'm it's unfortunate that this came up when it did at the last minute but I feel like it is really important to be responsive and especially when there are issues that are affecting our kids in the district so just to be clear so I'm I I feel like it's appropriate to take this off the table as something that we want to move forward on with the with the position oh yes okay so I'm going to ask for maybe a show of hands in the audience and who is here to speak on question

127one okay I mean I think it would be appropriate to hear hear what the the public has come to say members of the public have you know arranged our schedule so they can come here and we want to hear your position so if you would like to speak please approach the podium and just state your name and then town and Street yes and so we do have a time a time limit we will we will how many people are here to speak on one question one okay we typically we typically give two minutes for public speak I think well the way we're gonna do this now since there are so many people and more another whole nother ballot initiative to talk about is to time one minute and then when the timer goes off that'll

128be a sign for you to just start - thank you so I heard a louder say this is that the pan is only for agaton the public person is over actor and super committee come to represent the truth two times the counter make a decision but actually there's a big grass root initiative within possible they already passed the general by law banned in in September and they are waiting for the dates to decide of the data to do the ballot water so if today you'll say ok because it's the ballot question for action then next time when possible community ask you for your support you say ok this is a foot possible then nobody cattle cattle you know support from school committee and also no matter how you know how complicated this is explanation in

129this board in this committee say about a different issue but in its political issue they are - Oh political issue and if the gue committee take a position on one issue and the now to take another issue that message ascended to the public is Zuko committee you don't don't--i supported a ban it's it's simple as that and the data message standard to the committee has tended to the school district standard to our kids what kind of messages right yeah please think about it we want to these two questions in I sense there's the common essence of these two question is protected the vulnerable the most vulnerable thank you I'm Allie hi I'm Lisa Pearson and I appreciate everything everyone said I understand this has come up at the last minute and people haven't had time

130to do the research that you guys I know love to do on everything and it's really important but I think it's kind of a no-brainer just because you may have your own personal views about this but when it comes to the school system I don't see any scenario where this is good for students I think it may have no impact or it will have a negative impact so I don't think it's that complicated for a School Committee I know you guys wish you had more time but I'm really worried about this what this will do to our town I moved here because of the schools I wouldn't move here if there was a recreational pot shop here and I think a lot of people feel that way and I think it'll really you know diminish

131all the great work the schools have been great for my kids they've had a great experience and I would just hate to take away from that thanks folks I'm a bill baby the livid living along a middle way bellows farm I what the lady just said I am concerned that people come to Acton and pay our high taxes not because there's great places to work here but because the schools and places that have pot shops right now air and Lowell they don't draw people there for their schools if the schools you know if I can't believe if we had pot a pot shop here the schools would necessarily go downhill that fast there's still plenty of people smart people here but people moving in who are smart and want to bring those smart kids and

132pay the high taxes I just think would would potentially not do it they move to conquer or Lexington or someplace where the town is already taking a stand against it I have a son losing Lowell Lowell is one of the pot shop towns and as I said Lowell is not drawing people there by their schools but boy do they have they have pot shop billboards he lives near 110 the bills billboard you come into Lowell and says this is how you get the pot you know wouldn't that look awful enacted so I'm concerned about a spiraling drop in property taxes and property values and you know I just I think we have a very vulnerable situation here thank you I'm cheating me Dottie I have to two points here first point is having pot shop

133in town will bring a lot of traffic a lot of driving under influence that increases risk a lot and it's directly related to our community school community second thing is we already seen in websites like Zillow and red fin that properties are now advertised as okay we this property isn't at ease in a town where there is no pot shop so it is actually taking effect and as gentlemen said we I personally came here because of this good school committee if there was recreational pot shop here I wouldn't have chose chosen act and to move thank you my name is Ravi and I have two kids in Corinth and I second what these guys say property value the kind of students that will that the town will bring in and it's going to become a

134spiral eventually like for the same children I also came to this town because I want to have my so I just request that this issue is I think it's appropriate the first scene first is if we don't have a problem why we are trying to have a discussion and provide a solution and influence the vote like next week next week right my understanding is school committee is trying to solve the problem say if next week the vote happened and there's a result for both these two ballot question at hand at that time we can say okay this is a vote how do I approach how do I do something for our kids here right I thought that's what school committee is for instead Oh before the vote let's take a stand and swing the vote

135and as a matter of fact maybe I'm incorrectly interpreted law but my understanding is they're the state Ethics Commission Advisory 11-1 so my question is are school committee members considered as public employee if it is then there is a specific guidance here for political activity and secondly that's just the Ethics Commission advisory but it's actually based on Mass General law which is 268 a so if anything I would say we should study at least is this something prior to voting okay we are doing some political activity here thank you hi i'm steve ballard from Boxborough I may surprise you by breaking character or perceived character say some positive things after in one comment I don't agree with the box for act and economy here which I do on other occasions because as I understand at

136the I wasn't there but the special town meeting in Boxborough you know what's a vote in favor of a band and the it's not on the ballot this week but it is going to be on May the Board of Selectmen are you decided to do that so it's a parallel process different timeline but these are very I think it's there's no reason why you couldn't decide this now it's sort of like you have Acton Town Meeting and you have a box for Town Meeting but anyway the main thing I wanted to say was you know I've been communicating with people on both sides or different sides of this and I'm glad to see did a deliberation here and thoughtful comments by everyone and it's important for us to try to respect those who have different

137views it's probably weird hearing me say this but I want to compliment some people that I precise just to do exactly what I'm suggesting we do and there are many more compliments that could come but Paul for his dedication to the special needs population of our schools Tessa for her advocacy for equity and Amy and Mary were putting in tons of hours for our school so district and I think if we keep those things in mind that we you know they're people who disagree with us on stuff and these hot button issues but we are trying to do what's right for our district and you know there's no reason why we can't have a deliberation you decide to do it or don't do it but I'm glad to see that you guys are thoughtful about

138this and and thank you I'm Lily Chang from acting not specific to this ballet question but I just want to make some general comments you are the leaders we like to you whether you like it or not we look up to you right so we put you on spot here today to make a statement because we want you to lead a community by stating your view whether it's a unanimous view or disagreed split view we don't really care we just wanted you to make a statement you know that's that's how we that's Highview the leader leadership is this community and I'm very disappointed to be honest to see there's a split between I'm a Boxborough elected officer this is an acting issue I can't bow down that right so I think we're talking about community

139school as a community which is a united community between you know United acting in the box room together right we're neighbors whether you like it not we joined in the hip whatever happened in acting has a large implication to the Foxborough community because our kids they don't differentiate themselves whether they from acting a box that they study in the same class they taking the same lessons you know they're really good friends there's no divide between them box the second comment is really so I think you mentioned three reasons why you guys don't want to think about when the first two really applied to both right both of them were added to agenda last minute right third one one might be only applied to the I strongly feel the first two the reason that you mentioned

140they that you feel like people are not comfortable of making that goal apply to both I'm curious to hear if anyone was persuaded by what was said so I'm an I'm an engineer and I rarely have the luxury of all the data that I want I have to rely on judgment I've read enough for the emails to get the gist and I do view this as taking a stand that in support of protecting the children of the district okay and Mary you were persuaded from the beginning and and from Boxborough so I'm Tessa well I just want to speak to that last comment I'm not opposed to taking this up because I've you acted in Boxborough differently but I'm not voting on your ballot measure on Tuesday because it's an act and ballot measure and

141I understand what Steve said that yes eventually this will come up but that is my reasoning not because I view our students is different or review the issues is different or I view it as not whatever I just I wanted to clarify that that wasn't my issue I mean my feeling is that I do think question three is appropriate for us to take up so if that if if I feel that way you know I'll just abstain from the from the vote of the first one if you if you all want to take it up anyone else want to weigh in because I'm hearing I mean I'm seeing a shift I would just have to say that how I vote as an individual and how I vote as a school committee are not necessarily always

142exactly the same thing and I am not comfortable making of taking a vote on something that I don't have enough information on so if everyone wants to take it up that's fine but I will also abstain yeah you know I thought it it's an interesting point that the community wants to hear our opinion as leaders and I respect that and when we think about how that happens in other initiatives and warrants that come out there is a thoughtful process that the Board of Selectmen or fin comm goes to and they make that decision and then that gets published as part of the warrant that sent to the community and I think that's an appropriate process and I you know I would reiterate again if we if we want to do this then we should follow

143a similar procedure that gives both us in the community enough time to to have our opinions heard and have our collective decisions shared with the community I think you know the concern I have is more around whether or not we've had enough time and we've given enough opportunity to both sides of any both sides of any question to be presented you know again because this was added it last minute there may be other opinions that we didn't necessarily get a chance to hear this evening either do you think it would be possible to read to the audience the our our actual job description you are you referring to the operating protocols no I'm referring to our actual duties and responsibilities as school committee members can someone pull that up so we I just because I'm

144just uncomfortable pushing people into taking a position without the preparation without the proper amount of debate we are not in the business of making day-to-day decisions even when it comes to how to educate our students or what is best for students well-being because we follow our educators our administrators research presentations we read 115 pages you know what we think might be best around student issues and we come here on with with a lot of guidance and and a lot of time to mull over something and prepare so I either think the you know maybe the administration wants to speak up and I'm not trying to be coy or get company no not take responsibility here as a school committee I think it's really important but I think that if people aren't comfortable doing something that's

145not in our purview we just can't push the issue again I think we're a volatile committee that is still recovering from a really volatile tumultuous time and that's not to say that I want a pot shop open next to the Verizon store it will affect all of our students and it will certainly be an issue for our towns and our kids but I feel like you know we have to debate this some other time about future ballot questions that you know we want to take a stand on or don't but this may not be the time Mary so I totally respect people's feelings about not having enough time to prepare but I do want to say that I actually disagree with something Diane said earlier that this doesn't connect to our policies because I think

146it does connect to our policies because we have policies around substance use and you know alcohol is an illegal substance for underage youth and we know our kids are drinking alcohol and so for me the logical thing is that then we're at risk if marijuana is that much more accessible so I think it does relate directly in to a comment that was said earlier of we're in the business of solving problems I like to think we're in the business of preventing problems and so I think taking a stance before a problem happens is a really good thing I just don't think we've done enough research about what will happen to marijuana use which is readily available for all of our students to indulge in including opioids and much and alcohol and things that are you

147know terrible for our students and I just don't think we have enough information you know I'm no I don't want a pot shop around the corner from the schools Oh or three miles away from the schools but I just don't think that we know enough what is gonna happen to the drug habits of our students once it's open maybe it'll you know I mean we I listened to some compelling arguments a town meeting around this issue I just don't think we can stand here and know enough and I certainly haven't researched enough to to make a big bold statement and I don't think people some of these people feel like doing that right now and I can understand why so I think we just ought to respect that and and discuss something that pertains to

148our students which is question three and I think we should move on okay Peter has been so kind to pull up the policy outlining our duties what is the do you want to sure so just two this is for the policy interest people out there it's BB a a it's in the B section of the policy and it's school committee member authority I'm going to read the duties section because I think that's what you were asking for so it says the duties and obligations of the individual committee member may be enumerated as follows one to become familiar with the general laws of the Commonwealth relating to education and school committee operations regulations of the Massachusetts Board of Education policies and procedures of these school committees and school department number two to keep abreast of new

149laws and the latest trends in education three to have a general knowledge of the goals objectives and programs of the town's public schools four to work effectively with other committee members without trying to either dominate the committee or neglect his or her share of the work 5 to respect the privileged communication that exists in executive sessions by maintaining strict confidentiality on matters discussed in these sessions except that which becomes part of the public record once it has been approved for release 6 to vote an act in committee impartial II for the good of the students 7 to accept the will of the majority vote in all cases and to remember that he or she is one of a team and must abide by and carry out all committee decisions once they are made 8 to

150represent the committee in the schools to the public in a way that promotes interest and support 9 to refer questions and complaints to the proper authorities and tend to comply with the accepted code of ethics for school committee members so those are the powers and duties in the policy you know I will comment as a paid employee of the district I cannot comment about how people should vote any of our professional staff that's not the role that we play in this we can advise regarding factual information I appreciate that I'm not comfortable asking for consensus with this much division I have to say so I'm gonna set my personal opinions aside and ask that we move on to question two the ballot question three Angie I just want to say what Maya said and if

151that is the case then I still support that we're not gonna discuss this we shouldn't support we shouldn't discuss the second question I'm gonna move on to two actually I'm gonna disagree with you okay I think it's like just apples and oranges I understand that it's a political it's a ballot question and they have that in common but the issues are very different so I'm gonna move on to item 12 point 2 which is regarding the state ballot question three referendum on the existing law regarding gender identity in places of public accommodation and you will see that item twelve point two point one refers to policies that we currently have in place we have a very strong record of protecting the rights of transgender students so I can tell you just a little background that

152there have been many school committee's that have voted a position on this issue so I'm asking for your feedback on whether or not we should join those school committees and voting the position on question three Angie well I kind of still want to say the same thing because if the first case then if we don't have enough information then it will be the same for the second one so that's my first one okay because this is just weird we're kind of bias here we're treating it the same thing then timing and then kind of the core of the issue and but different so well let me ask members if you do feel like the same way that you have not had time to prepare or if you feel more confident that you uh that you

153have read the policies and understand what is at stake here for this cohort of people who are addressed in this ballot initiative I'm gonna call on Tessa first and then Amy I disagree entirely that these are similar an issue this ballot question asks us just to add gender identity to to the list of prohibited grounds for discrimination in places of public accommodation just as we would not discriminate against somebody's race or color or religious creed or anything else we have policies in place that protect our transgender students here and there's no reason that we wouldn't support this law this ballot question I think that this is a human rights issue I don't think it has anything to do with politics and so I do think it's absolutely 100% appropriate for us to take it up

154I'm just gonna throw out here that this is a referendum and it's it's it's consonant with what's already in place in our policy manual so I'm actually a little bit confused about like what the I'd like to hear more from members who might object to this because we have clearly as a school committee laid down policy on this issue so I'm gonna take just a couple of questions and then try to just move this along to public comment so um Angie since you've already spoken several times I'll just go to Amy then Angie and then to public comment if there's no other I was just gonna say this is I was gonna really reiterate what you just said we already have a very strong policy and procedures and guidelines that we voted on a year

155ago two years ago we've already taken a stand and so the idea that so this is already information that we have discussed so I don't see this is totally different I that we've had a lot of time to digest kind of the research and information out there and this is and I'm completely with Tessa this is a human rights issue so I have no guide no problem this is affect this is directly affecting our students I'm quite torn because obviously my comments to the previous were around our due diligence in providing this information of the community in advance I do believe that we have a clear point of view on this and it's been codified in our policies and procedures and so again I wonder you know if that's if that's the case and additionally

156later on in our agenda we will have an item that is complementary to this question whether or not it's worthwhile to put ourselves at odds with something that we just said when we we have both previous guidance to the community and we have an opportunity in another area to make that that point made so I'm gonna take Angie and then Ginny so I want to go back to the typing issue as far as the Open Meeting Law so I look at the email log the first request to add this on the agenda is more than 48 hours and I have a log here and then you was turned around and he was decided we talked about it and there was emailed and it was decided not to put on the agenda then there were two

157emails requested as more than 40 hours I also called the Attorney General this morning at this afternoon and the answer I got is the 48 hours the emergency only applied that if you don't have the information but that information is occurred within the 48 hours then if you have the information is prior than for theirs is not what cannot be considered as an emergency so you cannot you cannot amend the agenda because of that so I want to clarify that so when I originally received emails about about question three I since we were debating resolution seven which we will which will happen hopefully sooner rather than later I my thinking around that was that because it relates to transgender students that question three it was very likely that question three would come up in that

158context so for that reason and because it's really more of like the resolutions more kind of pure School Committee territory where as Paulette the political the felony for for some I just I made the decision not to include it when the emails and from for question one started coming in I really had to think about do I want to just turn a deaf ear or do I want to include everybody and I made that decision we did call the the AG's office this morning and they they supported our amending the agenda so that's that's my anther so I'm just gonna move on to Jenny to keep this moving but in response to community we try to develop a policy earlier a process for dealing with those requests and any process we want to go through

159and in response to the requests just refer the community members to our existing policy I think it's just at this time - there's too many problems I think I'm sorry I I like to go back to one just one sentence Mary I loved all you said about number one I should say that I love it so much I think both of the items are really related with our student totally definitely but however I still have my own opinion we should not talk about on the table here I'm not comfortable to talk about I hear both way both both items they're all political issues somehow and we should cast our vote when we go to the voting booth thank you you're not gonna be surprised that I think we should weigh in on this I think

160that as leaders in this community we have a responsibility to do this this is directly in parallel with our policies I'm a little concerned frankly that if we just say it fits with our policies it's not gonna be a clear enough message I think we need to be really clear and we should take a stance and support this okay yes I'm going to go with so I'm gonna ask Paul and I'm gonna ask you to hold your question just I'm looking at the clock and we're we have many many just said that you need to hear from yeah yes and I'm just I'm gonna call on Paul and ask him because he has not contributed yet and we've heard from you several times I'm not meaning to put you off I'm just looking at the

161clock and concerned about the time so Paul I was ready to take up the question one I'm ready to take up as well okay so let's let's um how many people are here to speak on question three okay so if you could line up we'll have that same procedure so there was so Angie go ahead I'm gonna let you talk okay so so I want to talk about a little bit different perspective on this issue and I want to talk about from the the resolution that the LGBTQ rights that we're supporting versus a bill that has a lot a lot of ego loophole and when I I want to talk about when we are teaching when we are teaching our students always listen to the both sides of any statement we should always respect any

162disagreement and work together to support of our children in schools so that the or the student experience so we we have an echo we have the equal education equal access to the education so in here that I want to bring about bring about that there are in the past couple weeks days that in the social media and there are quite a lot of comments about this agenda here okay and there was a there is a group with over a thousand people but there's always there its own one voice I kind of want to challenge the colleagues here if any political issue that hosts has only one side of the voice is that a problem with communication channel or is do we have a problem with the coming communication channel or do we have a problem

163in the environment because the reason why you don't hear the other side is because the environment is so hostile and nobody is there to speak up this is why this is this issue is has only one side of the voice and I think that's that's why I am really really uncomfortable and by just speaking here because I kind of feel I'm the single voice here and putting myself and volleyball to like to what you just said you see it's very thick very I'm very very uncomfortable I'm putting myself here that by just by just be able to express a different okay so the other thing is I want to talk about resolution seven is totally different from the ballot question number three the reason why is because there was a bill that's passed in 2011

164that's on the transgender that protector has focused on the transgender protection and that law went into effect on July 1st 2012 12 and also the so we have something so this is not a bill that's that has extra but we have a transgender protection law prior than 2016 already so we I also want to talk about the in this bill it talks about the gender self-identification so the concern about I can totally understand why the way we need the self-identification which because there is the need for to be able to to no really no nobody can decide who you are okay by the way I kind of I want to just clarify I'm 100% support for the LGBTQ rights but I want to point out there are some legal big legal loophole right here and

165so in terms of the concern of the fortwo when we talk about if we are able to have self-identification gender than the concern of that then you will be the balance of the where fair games in of self adaptation for transgender people against the potential harm to the others I'm also concerning about the balance especially for the sensitive so Angie Angie I'm just gonna just I'm just gonna stop you you you've you've talked about the Facebook page apparently and and the you feel that the one you know there are there are many issues that you're talking about that are that are of great importance and worthy of conversation this conversation here among these members of this school come is different we are not Facebook we are not voicing our own opinions we are trying to

166reach consensus based on what we know the School Committee has stood for in the past and that is has been like crystal clear so I I just I I do want to to honor the process of deliberation but it's really important that we see ourselves not as eleven individuals right now but as a committee and and look at what we have stood for on this particular topic in the past and codified in our policies and this is just kind of bump it up to the next level do we now want to do we want to or do we not want to take a stand and vote on question 3 it's not that big of a jump based on what we have in our policies currently so I appreciate that there are differences of opinion and

167an in question one many people said look you know I'm gonna vote one way is that school committee member in another way as a parent just a citizen that holds true for this - this is not really a venue to talk about it deeply our personal views it's really more of a what have we stood for as a committee and do we want to take it to the next level and support and voice our support for question 3 yeah so I I do want to point out that because we want to support the Wellness we want to support equity we want to support the safety and because of the legal loophole here then we are in danger of the safety and wellness of the student here so there is a different opinion and in terms

168of that what the school should be doing is we need to look at the different perspectives and to me this is resolution 7 and this question are two different questions please remember this - state your name and where you live and we will limit you to one minute thank you my name is Kim and I live in Townsend row in Acton and I want you to bring up this a please don't bring political into the school and found that once we have the protocols then it will create conflict among the parents among the students Acton at the ad school has been very good that's why I let us go so much I do not want because of the political stand it would create a country and we all treasure will all respect everyone every student

169they should have the student right they should be respected no matter what about the orientation what about the race whatever so just we please don't bring the political stand and create a conflict amount of parents and I found it's not coming up I'm very worried and it's not only me and a group of parents thank you hello I'm Mike Paulo last school I live on Maple Street here in Acton I'm also the president of the Acton Boxborough Education Association and we are part of a a group called the Massachusetts Teachers Association which has already endorsed a of yes on three but most importantly I'm a junior high school teacher I teach right here in this building and right over there in the lobby every day through those doors come students who are transgendered students who

170are questioning their gender identity or gender expression and I can think of no more important tasks in the body here than to do everything they can in their power to protect the dignity and humanity of those students those students who are vulnerable those students who are in need of support and so I think this is an easy-easy vote for you we want to stand up for our students we want to stand up for our values we want to stand up for the common humanity here in the Commonwealth and that's what this ballot initiative is all about so speaking for myself speaking for this building speaking for the teachers and I think speaking for many people in the community I wholeheartedly endorse you taking this up and I sincerely hope that you will vote to endorse

171a yes I grew up in Acton for 18 years I have four students for a transgender and it explicitly states that the district will establish maintain and foster an education environment that is safe welcoming and free from stigma and discrimination for all students regardless of sex sexual orientation gender identity or gender expression demonstrate commitment to equality equity and inclusion as well as respecting and accommodating diversity among members of the school community community and transgender students will be permitted to use the restroom locker room assigned to the gender the student consistently asserts at school I would vouch that bathroom safety earlier two years ago the state passed a law protecting transgender people from discrimination in public places and this school policy followed in 2017 a no vote on question three would repeal these protections allowing people

172like my 9 year old son to be kicked out of public places like restaurants stores or even doctors offices it would also open the door to more bullying and discrimination than this vulnerable population already experiences the existing district policy is a strong statement in support of question three I encourage the school committee to stand by our district's core values and its written policy and publicly support yes thank you bill BB I live at eleven long men away in bellos farms I'm torn on this on this question the the hazards that I I think I see in it are the questions for the the general law and it may not be applicable to the school because I don't know what your policies are really in the school I have a long term friend who is a

173when I knew him in college in early 60s he was an architect studying architecture and he liked to race fast cars build fast cars today he is a a woman for the last 20 years and from the pictures a fairly attractive looking woman and he still is a tremendous architect retired architect professor from a prestigious College down in Virginia and he still builds racing cars I would not want him to be in trouble in a bathroom if he was forced to go into a men's room and some macho type beat him up in there that would be absolutely horrible I want people who are transgender to be respected for who they are as people inside the the outer the outer shell of sexuality it's the person inside that's really counts I want them to be

174respected and and delighted in by the by the community at the same time I have three granddaughters sweet granddaughters of grade school and junior high age in Concord and I would not want them to be attacked in a public bathroom by say a man in his 40s who just decided that he said today I feel like I'm a woman and I'm gonna go in there so there needs to be protections I would suggest for the eye my idea I'm an engineer like you Raytheon retiree a practical matter I think pardon me okay the practical manner is to put video surveillance in the hallway outside the doors so you can see who's going in and out of the restrooms in the locker rooms okay thank you hello I'm Nicole lorac Coco and I live in Bromfield

175Road um I'm gonna be quick cuz I hate talking in front of people I just had to grab a quote from the superintendent's update real quick I want I quote I want to take this opportunity to reiterate on behalf of all of our district leaders faculty and staff throughout the district that we will not tolerate accept condone or be silent with regard to bias and hate and just also and also reiterate that taking a stance on question three in support of is in support of already existing policies at a be as chris spoke of saying no 2/3 is singling out a specific group for discrimination and that group is particularly vulnerable and i just wanted to add one more thing there have been and this is a fact there has been no uptick in any

176safety issues in bathrooms since the public accommodations anti-discrimination law went into place in 2016 that is that's that's a fact i just wanted to start with expressing empathy in bathrooms that I certainly am also very much in favor of having women have safe places to be I just want you guys to understand what it's like to have a child who has a suicide rate that's 10 times what other children have because they're transgender but it's like to try to go to the mall or to to take a road trip or anything when you need to go to a bathroom and have your child hold it until you think they're gonna pee on their seat it's an it's an incredibly terrifying experience to be like that so I would just urge you to I understand it's

177a balance it's like many things in law but we have a case where there's zero evidence in 18 states that have passed laws like this that it's ever increased any risk to women and on the other hand we have a ton of evidence to suggest that children die if we don't if we don't validate who they are inside and it's not that hard decision when you weigh it like that thank you what I'm trying to say here is this when things go is stream typically they there is a risk right so we really like like myself I have so many friends that is different from me and so I have no trouble supporting especially vulnerable communities for sure and I think I current but currently I I think acton-boxborough have done good job here right

178and I think in in the we have existing policy and by the way we have is a Singh loss right so we have I think the school is more like executing this law and make it better right so I think we should focus on that instead of prior to the election let's swing the vote right I I don't I'm not saying swing which way but it's just you know why we are doing so much political things here instead of just okay let's wait for the vote right and then when there is a certainty and we have a goal okay now the vote is this let's react on that I understand prevention is always good we already done the prevention right we have a policy unless somebody say or we have an incident that the current

179policy don't work if that's the case then I strongly encourage school committee to take on that be more focused instead of just generally suing the vote especially try one couple days prior to the election I don't think that feed into the ethic I was talking about this is country though interest come up let's follow the law thank you hi I'm Lisa Pearson and I just Ali asked me to speak on behalf of acting cares just to register their disappointment that there's a great discussion about question three which is wonderful but feeling that there should have been it's the same discussion given a question one and just wondering if you know people's personal views were getting in the way of some of the stuff one question one and I guess what I heard also was you're

180supposed to have an understanding of the law and as a citizen and voting you you you should we all understand what these questions are about and maybe you don't have enough time to do the research that you wanted to for tonight but as a school committee member when you see that pot shops is on the ballot that you should be thinking about that in the context of our schools so we just want to I just Ali wanted me to speak on behalf of acting cares there's a lot of people in the chain here I'm gonna just stop you I'm sorry we need to restrict comments to what the agenda item is there anyone else speaking econ question three make a Lhasa comment question three under the question one in essence it's the same limit your

181your comments a question three please this is also coming it's about the question sory when we think about the question three we want to protect the most vulnerable then question one is support protect the most vulnerable and if any student life got a shattered because of marijuana business coming into the turn thank you so much I'm gonna have you and your comments thank you is there anyone speaking on question three okay because I am there's some parent they left because they have been waiting too long they've been waiting too long they left and he asked me to please bring it up to say because of the so late so first of all a number of the the resident they could not join because Barry they received a note they can arrange their childcare they come

182through this this meeting in amateur they try to come and also stay so late if they have to go back to take care of the kid so just a number a number of the participant they try to participate that they could not I just want to share at this point thank you okay so I'm gonna I have to say that we have an opportunity here to stand up to protect the dignity of the transgender community we have a track record here in the district of protecting the rights of the transgender community I need to get a sense and I'd like to do this rather quickly if we can proceed to a vote yes yes okay just like nods and yes I really think proceeding to a vote just affirms what we have already stated clearly

183as a district and I'd like to make a motion on the table that we overwhelmingly support YES on question 3 I'd mourn in more discussion okay okay Adam I'm glad that we're taking this to a vote but I also do want to recognize those who are in our community who we may make feel uncomfortable by putting our opinion out publicly and I think that well it's important for us to take a stand we also need to represent Belen question thank you my eye I appreciate you acknowledging that I think that's important to say thanks Mary I just want to say I actually think we're modeling well how to have difficult conversations and we need to have them as a community because otherwise we're not going to move forward and so it is difficult but we

184need to do it and so I appreciate the conversation we've had here on both questions and the respect that's gone on across the table you know we we our elected officials so we are inherently political we've stood on a number of issues and I was willing to stand on those issues and make a statement and I'm willing to stand on this issue as well Angie did you want to say something yes I do want to say something I think back to my main point is I don't think there is enough education to understand the post sight to understand the bill but I do understand that the the why this is important and I also agree that the LGBTQ that a hundred percent agree like I said and I want to point out in just one

185- this is for education the the reason that our people who concern about the bill because they are there was an amendment that was trying to exclude sex offender level to a level 3 out of the bail but he was denied so which means this bill does that grant the legal access for for them to to go there there is there are laws against assault against anyone anywhere this does not allow assault anywhere so it's okay yeah so the information that so we have different education different information so my point is to me this is we are taking a different stand on the same the kind of political thing and we're trying to push one and not the other that's I don't feel what that's correct okay I just want to say in closing my

186did you want to just jump in for a second before I want to appeal to you and hope that you did feel hurt and respected and and and just to understand the difference between the first issue were discussing and this issue which is already just an affirmation of statements we've already made on behalf of our state of our students a stance we've already taken to protect our students and to ensure equity and our strict so I but at the same time I hope you don't feel that there was disrespect or animosity and yeah so I just want to piggyback on that and say that it takes a lot of courage to sit at this table and be honest about your opinions on diffic and have difficult conversations I agree that we have modeled what is

187possible when we are respectful of one another and I do appreciate your courage tonight and stating your views okay I will ask for a vote Eileen sorry go ahead I don't know XPrize I think I would like to say even we do not have to not agree with each other somehow I think this meeting is at least to respect each other I like that however I do feel we treat the first food issue and second issue differently it's really to me it's all political issues it's all on the ballot we needed to vote by ourselves and I feel very uncomfortable to speak out to vote here and I will just echo that what I said before that I don't think I would be pushing this hard if we didn't have the policies in place that

188we have protecting the rights of this community so with that all in favor any opposed any abstentions did you get one member is not here yeah okay motion passes hey thank you all for coming you know you're invited to stay certainly but we will move on okay yep so we will we will take a two minute recess okay it is 10 almost 10 minutes after 10 and we are still needing to move through some items in the Jenna I'm actually going to shorten the agenda because of the hour we will be considering item 13 as item 14 something we can move okay okay so we have two items left and then I'm gonna just call a night after that so item 13 is selected well 13.1 requires us am I asking you to please select

189a delegate who will attend the annual business meeting at the nasc conference coming up next week can you you had mentioned in the materials that six people are going can you tell us yeah we can pick our favorites okay so it's my understanding that that Michael Bowe is attending that angie is attending and Ginny I am I will be in attendance Tessa will be in attendance and Aimee krishnamurthi will be in attendance so those are the six so we need to select a delegate and what I'm when I'm go ahead third that is a new one so I was actually going to suggest that either d2 and one of the newer members do it but we do need an alternate so I will accept your your your nomination there so I don't think we actually

190need to vote this it's just a selection so I guess me yes yes okay yeah just vote it okay okay all in favor post abstentions thank you and can I move that Jenny be our alternate since she's our legislative person okay I tried to look at the agenda today which kindly sent to me does anyone know I want to say it's at 12:15 on Friday okay so okay Angie are you interested in being an alternate for so if I can't fulfill my duties as delegate at the vet annual business meeting at the MAS II conference would you be willing to take my place potentially vote would you would you represent our position on these yes but I'm gonna we'll get to that in a second no no no so know which so we're just selecting

191an alternate and I'm wondering if you want to take on that role Angie or do we'd rather not okay is there someone else who's going I'll move that Tessa McKinley be the alternate for the representative okay all in favor opposed abstentions okay Tessa okay item 13.2 so there are nine proposed resolutions now we have two choices here we could just kind of allow the delegate to make the choice of whether to vote or not on these resolutions or we can very quickly go through the resolutions and reach consensus so that we can let the delegate know the position that we hold so I can okay let me just read them off and what might I suggest we treat this similar to a consent agenda where you read them off and if anybody is opposed to

192any of them they say hold and then we can vote on the remaining that have not been held okay so resolution one is about rejecting the arming of educators resolution three elimination of the federal Department of Education resolution four regional school transportation resolution five regarding reporting and accountability standards resolution six regarding Oh hold okay hold on six five was reporting an accountability standards I heard nothing okay hold on six resolution seven on gender identity inclusive athletic participation policy resolution eight relative to sport sports wagering and resolution nine relative to access to information for parents and students who are clients of special education okay so I'll move that the Acton Boxborough Regional School Committee support resolutions one three four five seven eight nine favor I posed extensions okay we'll move on to resolution to so do

193we need a motion on the floor first yeah okay so I I was reading through fees and I'm I'm okay with the spirit of all of these it's just that when I got to resolution two under the now be it resolved the sentence reads these are resolutions develop I'm no wait I'm sorry I don't have it now be it resolved the mask met that mask oppose legislation there it is third third paragraph down or unleaded regulations that would attempt to undermine the right of any city town or a regional district to have imposed upon it a mandate to restructure expand regionalize or dissolve its school district without its consent I lost I lost the meaning of that so apparently there's been pressures by Jesse to get towns to regionalize yeah and then close a school

194district and so this is saying that they oppose that pressure through through legislation or through regulation okay with that interpretation I'm willing to support it okay the next had to do with resolution six same idea did you have something to say on - yes and so for me listen to all points of view while I appreciate the it seems heavy-handed that the state would ever force okay yes and that goes without saying if um you know if I'm persuaded by arguments I can vote I just want to say being integrally involved in the full regionalization so in regionalizing the elementary schools i felt that that process required the town buy-in and all the work that happens around that and so for the state to come in and require it I just think that it would

195set to communities or more communities up for a really difficult region so for that reason I do really support this I will say that because they talk about some funding and looking at the formula it puts us at risk because unless they put more money in the bucket any change in the foundation formula is likely to hurt acton-boxborough being a more privileged community that said I still felt like I could support this okay all in favor all right opposed sentence so we're the last one is is on hold with Russell's in six regarding reproductive because oh do you want to speak to that ball so I'll move the acton-boxborough oops sorry surely don't know the content for each of this so I don't feel comfortable because by looking at it seems education I saw some

196over the other and I don't feel 100% comfortable with so my question is what is the option Nonie taking some review because because what for whatever reason it is you know for family whatever reason excuse me Deb do you mind talking to that for one second just maybe parental opt-out of sex education for human growth and development sex education parents have the right to opt out and that is in the state that's in our regulations and so we do that for all we inform parents and parents have the right to opt out for that correct for that specific curricular piece not unit and they can always preview the materials are all online absolutely it's sent in advance before in in the letter that sent to parents there are links directly to the curriculum and the

197materials that are used so parents can preview all of those materials ahead of time so that include from K 2 we only teach it in specific grades so in fifth and sixth grade that's done and then at the high school there are some speakers who come in and and those parents again have the right to opt those children out of hearing we still send out I remember that when they're kissing elementary they receive a notification what about the junior high so the junior high right now we don't teach so right now you should know if the health curriculum frameworks are being revised by the state and we don't have them yet so currently right now under the state's framework we are teaching at fifth and sixth grade and again at ninth grade I'm so those

198are the places where parents have notification once we have the revision of the health frameworks we'll have to see what the state is asking us to do sorry it says that this just calls upon the US Department of Education to stop their support of abstinence only education that's that's what this is calling for it doesn't it's not I mean it's not really talking about specific curriculum other than evidence-based so so that piece of it doesn't really come into it because it doesn't it's not that specific so this is a standing agenda item annually Marie do you have any other comments on that the second item is a recommendation to approve a field trip to Quebec for the Nordic Ski Team that's also a recurring trip that's been approved previously no no we're holding the first

199one so go ahead and vote us okay yes so item item 14.1 is with a hold and so there's a motion on the floor for 14.2 to approve was there a second on that any discussion all in favor opposed abstentions motion passes let's go back to 14.1 I just want I understand that the PT OS need to pay for positions that already exist in their schools but I just want to say that I don't think the PTO should be paying for any sort of personnel and we've given a tremendous amount of money to the schools to support assistance in the classrooms and from what I read at least two of our schools are able to do that entirely with the budget that we gave them and I don't I don't think that they should be

200paying for those things I don't think that the PTO should have that burden put on them and I just want to make it clear because the question was answered for me that the district does provide full-time media assistance in each of the schools plus a librarian it Blanchard so those that are paying for media assistance are paying for additional coverage I'll say I agree I'm just saying that I'm not going to vote positively on that because even though I appreciate that the PTO has have given those gifts I disagree wholeheartedly with what they're paying for I would just add it creates inequities in our schools you know I think if they need the staffing then they need to argue for that through the budget process and the other thing is I think it's challenging to

201take money from the parent-teacher organizations and rely on that in our budget because what if it's not there one year that's a challenge for our budget so I think we should be budgeting staff positions appropriately anyone else I mean I don't wanna make this meeting even later however I think we talked about that before right and right now from Camille yet that their program will will give the assistant teacher to all the elementary school I think will found that but how do you know this is for the assistant teacher teaching funds it stays it in there it states it in their letters what they're using the funds for or what they're donating the funds for sorry in each letter from each elementary school it states clearly what they'll be using the fund so what if

202they have their actual help sometimes it's like a mass house sometimes in English language help maybe it's just extra than other schools I don't know I was just registering my displeasure it's a gift that they're giving us so I was just registering my beliefs about that what what they said that they were using their funds for just not said they're using it for al help okay Mary and I just want to say I am very appreciative of the gift and I do understand that it's a process to change this in the district so I can support this gift but I also want to acknowledge and continue the conversation about how we fund staff critical staff in our district senior leadership to come up with something that was just think surprised that we're still talking about

203inequity because I thought we'd interested more than once Marie do you mind just very very briefly speaking to that because you have the history on that and also maybe just very briefly talk about the implication of a no vote so the big change last year was around the before and after school programs and bringing them all together you heard about it earlier tonight that did provide 12 hours of assistance support for every classroom grades one through six kindergarten already has a full-time there are still differences in schools as it relates to PTO donations and when we went through the whole process to talk about the before and after school it was agreed to sort of not talk about the PTO at the same time it was already a big change as it relates to the

204before and after school we're still working our way through that and you know the feedback is taken and the vote tonight is to accept the money from the PTO s that have already raised the money under the guidelines of the school committee in the school district as they stand I'm just gonna add really briefly that these are non certified teachers and they are hugely impactful on the culture of a school and supporting the philosophy of the different school so this is a really complicated issue and I just wanted to throw that out there but Thank You Tessa fer I think part of what Peter was getting at was if if the committee were to vote no on accepting these gifts we'd be going back to the PTO s and telling them no thank you for

205the money that they raised in the course of all of last year and would it have a staffing implication this year yes Maya I want to say something with like a great deal of respect for people's time that they put into this to prepare but I think if there are members on this committee that have been members on the committee for a year or two years or maybe three and they still don't understand this PTO funds issue it's time to get on board and understand it and with all due respect like to it seems like some people didn't read this part of the packet and I'm Leyna I can't help but but but ask you like are you confused about it like it's time to understand a little bit about about this topic as a

206member that's been here for quite a while and if you're not clear I think somebody ought to sit down and explain to some of our news oh my I'm I'm just gonna respectfully interrupt and and ask people to not call out other people you know in a public venue and you know we do have a mentorship system here and we also also know every one of us knows that that we can't always get to the whole packet and this was like you know at the very end so I'm you just let's move to a vote if we can please let me explain Maya I did not read this particular line but what I wanted to agree with Tessa and Mary because I was the one really really with Marie in gates we're talking about the

207Fonz so that's why I was like really confused to say why do we need to do this again that's why so thank you for you know asking that okay it's our emotion on the floor okay all in favor any opposed abstentions goodnight and thank you for your patience Oh move to adjourn oh yes all in favor opposed attentions good night