001[Applause] [Music] All the meeting order today, April 8, 2025. This meeting is being video and audio recorded for future cable broadcast. Please silence all cell phones for the duration of the meeting. I have a motion to open this video. Yes. Do a roll call. Mr. Mrs. Yes. Mr. Mr. Yes. And we'll start with the pledge of allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the stands. One nation under God, indivisible, liberty and justice for all. So the first item will be the school choice hearing. Can I have a motion to open? Yes. um I did send an email on this, but basically I'm recommending I'm going to be recommending against uh our school's participation for the next year in the school choice program. Um I feel as though it's too late
002at this point and we would like to actually work with our leadership team for two years in planning something um more thorough packet making sure that the discussion So, could I have a motion to close the public hearing for the school choice? We'll do a roll call. Mr. Yes. Yes. Yes. Mr. Mr. Next, we have proposed fiscal year 25 school department budget hearing. Could I have a motion to open uh the proposed fiscal year 20 I should say fiscal year 26 school department? Yes. Mrs. D. Yes. Mrs. Gold. Yes. Mrs. Fera. Yes. And Mr. Har. Yes. Okay. Um, for the public, we did review this entire presentation during this whole committee meeting on March 19th. So, anybody who wants more thorough information about our budget um you can certainly tune in to the meeting on
003March 19th, but it is required by law that we have um we need to solicit public feedback on this. So, we're going to review it again this hearing. And as you know, these are our current mission and vision statements. They both revolve around partnerships with all to promote student success and growth and aim and the aim to be a high performing school district. We are in the process right now of reviewing our strategic plan and writing a new one to begin the next school year. Our strategic objectives are achieving academic excellence for all students, creating thriving social and emotional learning experiences for all students and stren strengthening partnerships with parents and the larger community. So just as background, we wanted to discuss in general how our operating budget is funded each year. So accordingly the
004key components are town appropriation, state aid, chapter 70 funding, federal and state grants. We also receive circuit break for reimbursement and revolving funds and and other sources. I would say the most important thing um to focus on is that the town appropriation is approximately 57% of the school district's operating budget and the chapter 70 funding is approximately 43%. Okay, the table of our chapter 7 funding over the past seven years and as you can see the average 2.28% 28% increase. This year is a 1.16% increase. So, a little more in depth on the last seven years of funding um chapter 70 in town. Uh you can see that our chapter 70 increments have been more steady but minor. Um the amount that the town is required to fund our budget has also increased you know
0055% versus the chapter 7% aid of 1% and then generally it takes more than the required contribution in chapter 7 to fund our budget that there's an additional contribution that the town needs to make. um that amount for the fiscal year 26 is about 5% more than they are required um which is still significantly lower um than the past handful of years. Um, all in all, our total operating budget that we're looking to request is 17.1 million with which represents a 753,29 increase. A 4.5 or 4.59% increase in the town shares representative about 57% again lower in the last 3 years than it has been uh previously. So, there are shortcomings in building our budget. Um I will highlight a few of those. The town has averaged approximately $500,000 in revenue growth annually uh based
006on budget to actual projections. And then over the last seven years, Chapter 7 funding has averaged an increase in aid of 150 just over $150,000 or 2.28% year-over-year. State and federal grants fluctuate yeartoear, but generally entitlement funds, ESSA or IDA, have remained relatively flat. And then high school tuition costs of course uh make up approximately 2.7 million or 15.75% of our operating [Applause] budget. Okay? And I know you all have seen this in the past, but it's important to keep um going over this to remind you that we continue to show that our budget is mostly made up of fixed costs. So we have salaries and wages. We have just over 137 fulltime equivalent staff um union and otherwise uh people under contract which that's over 60% of our overall budget or 2.65% 65% increase
007of overall 4.59% increase. Our technology, as you know, we're a onetoone district. Um, which means that we have a device for every student in the district, which allows equitable learning for all students. It also permits immersive learning, better engagement, etc. Um but with this comes fixed costs of maintaining a strong and safe technological infrastructure that can support our devices, our teachers and our student needs. We have curriculum which is the central guide for our educators as to what is essential for teaching and learning so that every student has access to a rigorous academic experience. Without core curriculum, teaching techniques would be disjointed and inconsistent from one classroom to another. You have special education and out of the bunch, I would say this is the most volatile um unpredictable and mandated cost to a district. On
008a per pupil basis, special education costs are at a minimum double that of a general education day student. So to provide equitable services to all students, the Christian public schools must have funding for fixed and mandated costs which support early identification, assessment related and social and emotional services just to name a few. We also have transportation. Massachusetts schools, as you know, are legally mandated to provide transportation to students who reside more than 2 miles from the school. And the cost of transportation in the district is approximately 1.45 million both for general and special education students and increases regularly due to contractual obligations. And then we have high school tuitions. Because we don't maintain high school, we are again legally mandated to pay tuition for resident students attending high school. Traditionally, this expense is covered in
009the municipal budget. However, in a cushion, we have the added challenge of carrying the expense in our school operating budget. High school high school tuition costs make up approximately 21% of our budget. And really, it's also unpredictable as students move in and out of the district. We also pay tuitions for Bristol AI, um, Fair Haven High School, and New Beth High School at this time. And then operations and maintenance. Maintaining and operating our facilities is costly. Uh these schools were constructed over 50 years ago and much of our major equipment is out of date and inefficient. So while we work very hard to mitigate the costs that we were able to, many of the costs related to those operations and maintenance are fixed and become significant budget busters. In building our budget, we always approach
010um the budget process by filling a baseline budget or providing the same level of services we did in the previous year in the next future year that we're planning. Um accordingly, um our projections lie within this chart. Personnel expenses to remain fixed in uh with our staffing pattern. We anticipate a $355,000 increase. administrative costs. According to our Jessie chart of account classifications, we've been able to reduce about 37,000% at $37,000, excuse me. Um instruction $65,000. People service relatively flat. Um an increase in operations and maintenance again because of our aging buildings and the increase in contracted labor um from vendors. Um our community services which is our Bristol Aggie and um other out of district costs. uh have remained relatively flat. And then our programs with other school districts, which represents our high school tuitions
011and our special education out of district tuitions, um has increased about $350,000. So all in all, to provide a level service budget, the same level of services in fiscal 25 as in fiscal 26, we're looking at a 3.78% increase or a $17 million budget. So again, our budget, our baseline budget is $17,13,870. So strategically, we're looking to add a 1.0 full-time equivalent special education teacher and a corresponding van to transport these students that aren't otherwise able to ride our yellow uh bus services. By providing these services in house, we are actually saving tens of thousands of dollars versus the cost of out of district tuition. So these two asks total just over $133,000 which ultimately you take your baseline budget of 17 million. You add these adjustments of 133,000 and we land at the superintendent's
012recommended budget for fiscal 2026 of 17,146,872. Um, another way to classify that and highlight fixed costs, um, again is this small chart that will be that are visible on our website when this is posted. Um, personnel costs represent about 60% of our budget. Um, and have stayed consistently that proportionate throughout the years. um our transportation represents about 8% of our budget. Our and our high school tuitions and out of district tuitions have represented about 21% of our budget. So all in all, we're arguing that 90% of our budget is related to fixed or mandated costs. Uh another way to view the budget breakdown is by Desi object codes. And again, if you look at, you know, object codes 0102 and 03, our salaries represent a great chunk of the budget. Our contracting services have increased
013about $95,000, and that's still related to fixed costs that we can't provide in district. Um, we've been able to cut down on our supplies and and try to decrease those, if not remain flat, and the supplies that we need to run our school and our district. Um, and we've also cut back on other expenses. Um, and then a final way to view the budget is by location. So when you break it down between district, special education costs and where they're found as well as running the elementary school, the middle school, the high school, um, you can see the related costs accordingly. Um, and a big chunk of it remains in the special education budget where costs just increase because of the rate of doing business outside of the district. The next few slides is our
014empath data about three years of data. This is ELA and as you can see we're meeting or exceeding 12% higher than the state and I think it's important to know the fact that we do more we perform better with less money from the state. Um the next slide shows our map and again we're 12% higher than the state. Science we're 4% higher than the state. Um and again this shows the importance that we need to continue to fund our schools. Our data has been consistent over these years and we're again doing more performing better with less. So, here's some other information on demographics that make up our our enrollment in the classrooms. I just want to highlight that our per pupil expenditure is approximately $15,000 per student versus the state average of approximately $22,000 per
015student. So, that's significantly different, right? Although we outperform the state, right? So, closing remarks. We um built this budget. It was an all inclusive process and it took collaboration from our budget subcommittee. I just would like to thank you for participating and all your time that you donated um to working on this with our leadership as well as our staff. Um in the next steps of the budget process, we'll continue collaboration with this committee, the public, and as well as the town administration. We have actually a meeting next week which is a joint meeting with the finance committee and the board of selection to review this budget. Every item in this budget is aligned to our strategic objectives as well as our district plan and the budget maintains level services and looks forward to growth
016opportunities and efficiencies. So, we strongly recommend that people engage in the remainder of this process as considerations take place on how to address the needs of our public schools. Um, it's important that we hear from all stakeholders. And just please keep in mind that each percentage of our budget represents approximately 171,469 which is the equivalent of two to three teachers, two school buses or chapter 78 for about 26 students. All budget decisions have consequences and behind every number is a student, a teacher, a program, etc. And just because a need goes unfunded does not mean that the need has gone away. Um again, so in closing, we're asking for a 4.59% increase when compared to fiscal 25. Um if we were limited to a 3% increase, that would allow us $491,000 or a shortfall of
017261,000. Um you can follow the chart up, you know, to a 0% increase. we would ultimately fail level services by $753,000. Um right now the town is going through their departmental budgets. Um there's been limited guidance um on what our aotment is as far as funding is, but we know there's a hardship townwide in that this is a big ask. Um we're sticking to it because it's important that we provide local services. Um but we will have that joint budget meeting um with the select build and the finance committee next week to look for further guidance and you know discuss the budget and why it's important and critical that you know we maintain these services in the town of Kushner which you know the school system is one of the biggest assets if not the
018biggest in the town. Um what will this mean for our budget if we do need to reduce from this proposal? Well, ultimately reduction in staffing, um changes in programming, potential increase in student fees, um or just the elimination of overall activities that we offer, services that we offer. Um and it would just set us back because once again, you know, we're doing a lot with a little as it is when compared to the state. Um and we want to maintain maintain I think if anybody has any further questions just I just want to reiterate um to the public out there watching that it's really important for you to support the school budget this year. Um as as we do know the town is saying that there is a big hardship but we believe our school
019is important and is the big reason why people move to our town. So again if anybody is available at these public meetings that occur to please attend and show your support for this and I think the other thing I know people are probably thinking like why are we even hired site just keep in mind placement of kids is super expensive. So if we can bring those programs in in house, I mean, we probably won't see something right away as far as a savings, but over time, I think we'll see a huge savings in bringing these programs back with qualified teachers in the classroom. So that's a big Yeah. Thank you guys very much. Would like to thank Mr. Jones, Mr. Alcro for all their work on the subcommittee and just echo the statements of our
020two committee members here. I think it's really important that we have engagement um you know to get the budget further. So, um, could I have a motion to close the proposed budget public hearing and resume the open discussion? Second. And we'll take a roll call. Mr. Yes. Mr. Mrs. Yes. Yes. And Mr. Hoff. Yes. Okay. Uh, the next item is the consent agenda. Everything listed in the consent agenda was distributed in advance of the meeting. Does anyone have any requests for something to be removed from the consent agenda and discussed or voted on separately? Uh so may I have a motion to approve the listed in the consent agenda including the minutes for the March 19th 2025. All those in favor I say none motion passes. Dr. B, do we have anyone signed up for
021You want me to wait? You guys were going to get away without hearing me. Um, who's the chair? Um, school committee members, Dr. Bailey. I'm just here as most people know, today is the last official meeting for Mrs. Banning and Mrs. Gomes. So, as the union president, on behalf of the ATA, I would like to extend my deepest gratitude to you both. Between the two of you, you've had a combined years combined years of 17 years. That's a long time. Wow. Um, it's easy to overlook the impact you've had on others, but the truth is your influence is far reaching. You've made a profound difference in the lives of those around you through your dedication to the students and the staff of the Christian. um you have respected us in our jobs, done what's right
022in difficult times for our students and staff, and never labored in your duties to what's to do what's best for families in turn doing what's best for staff. The two of you have been difference makers. You both you're both dedicated people who have made a big impact even with just a small action or you have to think about positive change. Thank you for your hard work on capital improvement projects, negotiations, and always putting forth a fair budget that supports students and teachers and for always listening and most importantly for always hearing us. Thank you for all you have done for all of us here in Kushnet. You will both be greatly missed. You have left us better than you found us and for that we are forever grateful. So it's been a pleasure working with
023you. I have a little something for both of you on behalf of all the teachers actually all the staff and Oh wow. Sorry. Good. Thank you. Sorry. Well, thank you so much to the staff and just everyone involved in the past 15 years. It's so scary to say, but yeah, thank you so much again and probably more. Thank you very much. It's been an honor to um be a part of this committee as various versions over the last seven or so years, but um I I do truly believe that these schools are the greatest assets of this town, including the teachers and the administration that drive it. I'm getting Terry. Um so, yeah, please show up for our schools. Um, and again, it's just been an honor. Thank you very much. [Applause] I think we
024can have further Yeah. discussion on the agenda. See if we can get them to that. So, the next item is old business. Um, regarding the superintendent's contract, I think at this time I'm going to adjust the order of the agenda. We will address the regular agenda items first, then we will move into executive session. Following uh the executive session, we will reconvene to the regular meeting to discuss and potentially vote on Dr. Bailey's contract. So with that, Dr. Bailey, I'll turn it over to you for Thank you. So first, this is the best item on the agenda tonight. It's the open sed middle school and you can see we have many students joining us tonight. Um and I always enjoy when our students um have a big voice in our presentation. So this is something
025it's a new program since last year that we've been working on. We have our teachers with us tonight. Um and I miss Sylvia will come up and Miss Riveri and they'll introduce um the presentation. But this is the science team at the middle school. Good evening, Mr. Chair and members of the school committee. Um so we're very excited to present on open site at the middle school tonight. As you've heard a lot about um our staff and students have been working hard on implementing this new curriculum. Um and so we're just so excited to present about it. So the top uh the topics tonight that we're going to cover is um the community day that was recently please go we're trying to add to this presentation. So um so the community day in March early
026March we were asked if our science team would present to a group of 500 plus educators from across Massachusetts. And I am thankful, very appreciative. And we said yes, we present because we do have model educators and students in this program. Yes, I was that my presentation. We do. I'm just emphasizing it. Yes. No, I I I I talk about it all the time wherever I go. Student industry connects was another opportunity that we had to submit student work and some of those students out here along with the recognition that they received in front of the 500 plus science educators. The students were there but Mr. Solier and not team received the award for you. Um we're going to have a student panel and then just review the timeline and just look at the amount
027of working time that they have invested in almost two years. It it's um it's quite life uh changing. So our science team, Mr. Cody in the sixth grade, Mr. M is our academic coach who was unable to be with us. Nate Greenhall is our STEM teacher. He takes an open science unit for seventh grade and one for eighth grade. Miss Manda Greg in our seventh grade and Mr. Cristia in our eighth grade. They have been working extremely hard. It's a lot of work. This program is not easy to come by, but we had a lot of support from the top. Yes, staff. It's [Applause] okay. So, on March 4th, you're gone. We'll switch out. So, March 4th, um our team was asked to present at the community day with 500 educators present. And um Joe,
028do you want to talk a little bit about what it was you presented on? Yeah, so we presented on how we do open sight here at at Fort Middle School. Um we talked a lot about rituals and routines. Um the student engagement process. Um I specifically talked about the use of artifacts and notebooks which uh as a teacher too. uh what we presented on the way that we do it here which is pretty similar to most schools but we've made some adjustments. Do you want to share about what you spoke about? Um right so I have a little unique situation right as um you're saying I teach one unit instead of the full um course just because you know instead we're doing some other things and um I focused on my artifact of a digital
029notebook and kind of admitted that's a a working process um that I'm working on and working through with the students but also just wanted to um highlight and talk about the ability that we have and Chris particularly because we both teach a chemistry unit that we're able to share an artifact that the students um make in his class and I it gets delivered to mine and I can keep referring back you did this one. So that was a nice point that we got to share. Sorry, but there's a lot of districts that are struggling with getting through the entire curriculum. So this is just an innovative way that this team has come up with um sharing that workload and making sure that all the students are getting all of the curriculum but just in a
030unique way and it allows the science teachers, the core science teachers to really focus on the depth of the program and not just rushing through it. Uh so I focus on assessments and the assessments are very different than what we've done previously. students aren't memorizing and kind of like just repeating information that they take in. They have to really um figure out what's going on. Like I don't just give them answers. They need to um go through things and figure it out. You work as a class to make models. Um you'll work as a class to do graphs and data tables. And all of that information um is up on the walls. So I have word walls. I have models to look at. they have their notebooks or they've done work and they can use
031all of those things when they work on their assessment because basically they have to take the knowledge that they've learned and apply it to a new situation. Um, which is a very difficult thing to do. Uh, and my concern was that I have students that aren't in my classroom when they take the assessment. So, they're it's not equal. Um, and so I wanted equity for that. And so I started to make a slideshow that they could open on their Chromebooks so they could see all the models that were up on the walls. Um if they weren't in the classroom or if they were absent and they had to take that um assessment at a later date, maybe have to go to the office to do it, go to the library, they would still have all
032those materials that everybody else had in the classroom. Hi. And then I spoke about um basically organizing the walls in the classroom because there's so many things that we have to do that are studentdriven that are individual to each classroom and that as the students are coming in we're supposed to be running around the class changing the posters from one place to another. Um and last year was very difficult to do. There was one day that the students walked in and they must have had 20 posters that just fell on the ground with me standing in the middle of the classroom just don't. Um, so we found that or I found that magnets on the whiteboards work really well last year. Um, I actually got me some of those kn magnetic knife folders and so
033I can put posters on those um, and be able to easily take them off and move them around. Um Christine and I also kind of opened up our presentation um as we introduced ourselves and one of the important things to realize about this science group is that between the four of us we have about a 100red years of experience in the classroom. Um and even with that last year was like first year teaching again. So it was a completely new way of presenting the material. It was a new way of teaching the kids and actually having them have a larger voice in our classroom. And so our experience helped us in that aspect. But it was really first year teacher all over again. And once you're a 20-year teacher, you don't want to be a
034first year teacher. But it was a it was a really I wouldn't say fun experience but it was a really eye opening experience to kind of rejuvenate all of us all of us when we teaching. Thank you. Yeah, Mr. Sonia just hit it right on the nose and after 20 years we don't want to make a change but our team made that change. They saw this program as exciting, innovative and for our students and there's nothing else. you know, we meet with a lot of professionals across the state, across the country, and um they're they are amazed that we can pull together in a year and a half and do what other schools are not doing right now. So, I am very thankful for that. So, so it's not typical for a school district to
035um adopt the curriculum in its entirety in the course of one year. It's a lot of districts are doing it over the course of three. So, we've said this before, but it was a really big ask. Um, and I think that they probably the teachers I'm sure would agree um that they've had a lot of support from the administration um and the academic coach in order to make this happen. So, our academic coach Christine who unfortunately um is not able to be here tonight, Christine Demer, she did um also present with them at community day to talk about what is the role of the coach in helping with this implementation. And I believe one of the pictures on here, you can see um in the bottom left corner, she's kind of showing how she made
036those boxes with all of the um like everything kind of that the teachers would need, help them kind of laminate what needed to get laminated, print what needed to get printed. Um they if the teachers had a release day, say the students were taking an assessment, Mrs. Sylvia would um release the teacher so that she would get coverage for the students to have um somebody else in the room and the teacher would have the day to really look at the upcoming unit um some time with the coach to help plan for what's coming up. Um and that was a model that worked for us. It was a lot to it was a lot, but it it worked and we're getting a lot of recognition from the 18 people and the the the open-sighted community for
037the way that we have um implemented this program. So, it's exciting. I'll share with you all last week I did say we should be a model school. So, people from Colorado and Los Angeles should come over here to our school and see what we're doing because it is it is the same. We're not here. throughout the city level as other schools across the country. Okay. So, student industry connects. This was an opportunity. So, want to stand up. I want to say earlier this year. Yeah. Open up your Yeah. Um, I received an email from OpenSIAD and the 188 Foundation and it they were looking for student work to be submitted um for industry connections and uh it just happened that we had finished a unit they had done their transfer task. So the way that
038that opens assesses them is that instead of so we spend the whole time learning about McKenna and McKenna's medical issues and we diagnose McKenna and and come up with with ways to treat her and the reasons why she's feeling the way she's feeling. But the test at the end of that is about why bears put on so much weight to go into hibernation. And so that's what they call a transfer task is taking the knowledge and putting it towards something else and not just kind of regurgitating the old um the information. So we got this email and we had just finished that assessment um and that that was one of the projects that they were selecting this year to go into the uh people that work within the industry. So I was able to pick
03910 students to send their work in. Um I would say about 2 months later, 3 months later, we received that feedback. But before we did, we had that day in March and they were the person who was speaking on the stage was um saying something like we have somebody in the audience that has an award for the the uh industry connect and it was about the hibernation of bears. I had no I really didn't think that it would have been us that that we would have had a chance at doing this and then they called my name to go up and get the award. So I was very very surprised and then when I started to see the feedback and and it's nothing that I did. It's all the work that that these students did.
040They I didn't know about this opportunity beforehand. So I couldn't even coach them if I wanted to on the the assessment. They wrote down what they learned in class on that assessment. Um, and I picked the ones that I thought had the most interesting models and had answered the questions in the in different ways. They they didn't all answer the same exact way. So, we sent it out to um that we got the feedback in. They were able to see their feedback a couple weeks ago. Um this is a couple things that were said and the best part about it was that these are people who are currently working in the fields um that we were studying. So a lot of them were medical researchers and they mentioned several times that the work that these
041students did was the same work that they do every single day when they go into their jobs. And so this program, because of the way that it's set up, we're not only teaching them about the science and them learning about the science, but we're teaching them how the industry works and how to be a good scientist. And it all has to do with teamwork and communication um and and being able to let people know what you know um in a way that they can understand it. So it was a great job done by these students. We have five of them here tonight. U the other five couldn't make it tonight, but that's okay. Um with their names are on the So, so this is the banner that they sent us. They sent us they gave
042me two certificates and another banner that was in the um that's in my classroom right now. So, they just keep on sending us. I can't wait to see if something shows up next month, too. So, and I think it's a great job that these students did. They really did earn this this recognition. Um, and I can't wait to see what they do in the future with all of this information. Yes. Thank you. We we were with the 18 Foundation last week and they were still actually talking about your work and how unbelievable it was. Yes. They said we have another surprise in May. I think I I let you all know that. I said, "Well, wait till May." She said, "Well, so excited to see what's happening in May." So, we wanted to um have
043an opportunity for the community to hear from the students um their thoughts about how science is going at middle school. So, um, we have our student panel here and, um, they're gonna I'm gonna pose a question and they'll raise their hands and Mrs. Sylvia will kind of select um, and we talked about earlier today that you may all have something to say about every question, but there's a lot of questions, so we'll select one or two and then we'll just keep moving and everybody will have an opportunity to share. Okay. All right. So, the first question is, what is one word that describes an open sight a opensighted science class. Come on up. You got to come on up. Otherwise, they won't hear you. Thank you, Lucas. Logan, sorry. Engaging Miles educational Anybody else? Okay.
044So, on this is just a show of hands and hold your hands up high five because there's people sitting behind you. On a scale of zero to five, zero being silence and five being chaos, give us a show of hands what it feels like to you in science class. So, we have a little bit of everything here. Um, but like I said, twos, some threes, some fours, no silence, right? So, we're kind of like in the middle. Thankfully, I don't think we saw any chaos either, so that's good. Um, so does anybody want to share why they gave the rating that they gave. Go ahead, uh, it kind of depends on the day. Like some days we'll do a science circle where we discuss like the information that we learn in class and that can
045get really chaotic when people have different opinions about stuff and then some days it's really like mellow where we're just like gaining information about 39 um sometimes it's like a lot of people are talking at once but after a while it comes down and it like starts chilling and you start listening to Mr. Cody more um because sometimes lots of people are just talking over him and you can't hear him and then he brings him and then we all listen to what he's saying. Thank you. I think it's like Okay. So now on a scale of zero to f 0 to five with your hands up high. Um, so a classroom, a science classroom of being like silent, doing work on your own, independent work, or um with your desks in rows, right? Or a
046five being that you're kind of working in groups. Um, give us a show of hands what it feels like to you in science class. And then um if anyone wants to share why they do that, please don't. Uh I gave a four because um sometimes I get we do some independent work sometimes like in our notebooks, but most of the time we're either talking to our partner or Mr. Cody brings us in groups. So it's pretty fun that we get to actually work with other people. Um, I've been in all the science classrooms and there's never been a time where we're probably not working with people only for sessions and each science room makes groups of four kids by themselves. In science classes, we always work together. There's never a moment where we're like not
047allowed to share like what our ideas are with our group and we only really have to be silent but even then we're allowed to use our notebooks allowed to look at information and a lot of the time we have ideas that we collaborate on and it's really interactive with our classmates. So, I'm going to phrase this question in a way. So, tell us about a time in science class when things maybe didn't go quite how your teacher might have planned. And we're going to keep this around the idea of like science education. Okay. So, experiments, but the learning, right? Um, so in our class, Mr. Sonora told us that where we're at right now, he didn't even get to last year with the kids in 8th grade. And I feel like it just makes us
048feel like really like we're there because like the students last year couldn't even like get to that point. We're learning with him. He hasn't done this part yet because of the new like open sad program. So, we're kind of just like learning together. During our bath bomb unit, we had to do a test of the bath bombs. And there was moments in our classroom where we all got different results. And we had to figure out why this was. And our teachers helped us like walk through what happened, why this might have been different from the other classes, why we might have gotten different results, and helped us understand what we were looking at. Most of the time the teacher has it under control, but there's one time where the schedule changes um made it so
049that the experiment that we were doing didn't go to plan because it was different times when it was supposed to be 24 hours and it didn't last for so we looked at the other team's data that was like earlier in the day so it had more time to like settle. And so we had that data set. Sometimes we were just kind of looking at other experiments that might work out or experiment. We had another adult and so we experiment to help with our understanding for our lesson. Okay, so we we touched on this a little bit, but like what happened the next day? So, how did you move on? So, this is a learning experience not only for students, but for the teachers, right? So if you have a class in the seven last period
050of the day and this and then that same class meets again the first period the next day right if something needed to sit for 24 hours it didn't quite quite get the 24 hours and those are just like little things that come up and the teachers have to just think on their feet all the time especially first year second year and then you know um but was there anything that happened the next day that helped you to move on in any of your situations that you got stuck. Anybody else want to share this? Okay. All right. So, um so a big part of open science is that they have um science circles, right? And they sit in circles and they're sharing their thinking. So, um are there ever times when your class discussions where there's
051really nobody talking? And and why do you think that is? Yes, we like in the beginning like there's usually no one really raising their hand or trying to talk because either they don't really understand what's happening or they're just like very shy and don't want to like share their opinion. But after people start like asking questions and then another person answers it and then they start going like more into topics that they do understand then and people start engaging into the um group discussion and so after what Aia said uh I agree with her because like there's definitely some people that are scared to be wrong. And I think that's okay if you're wrong because that's a great way to learn past that. So, personally, I think that people should like get comfortable with sharing.
052Like maybe like like bigger groups sometimes can help with that by like maybe Facebook class like three. So like we can have mini groups so that can help with like you know getting over that fear. You're hired. Yes, because um some people are scared of being wrong. So when one kid like stands up and answers the question, they all feel confident in what they answer and then it starts to pick up before it before everyone. Can you tell us about the norms a little bit too? We have a list of classroom norms. Uh there's respectful and I can't remember off the top of my head what the other ones were, but it goes into explanation on how we should be respectful towards other students during classroom um discussions and how we should listen with respect.
053Um we have classroom doors that help us like really stay on topic with what we're talking about. So like one of them is moving our science thinking forward and it's really to help us like guide us to not get off topic and start talking about something completely different but the classroom uh to be and just be nice to our fellow classmates but they share their ideas only criticize the ideas not people who And I feel like that helps our conversations and helps people be able to speak freely in the classroom without being worried that they're going to respond or not be received well. Another one is being committed to the community. Basically just means not one person is sharing answers and everybody should be able to share absolutely about what they're talking about and it
054just shows that like everyone's paying attention and they care about what we're learning about. Um, so this question was about building trust and teamwork in the classroom and I think we just addressed that. Are we good with that? Okay. Um, so what is one thing that you would like all of the adults in the room to know about how students learn science? um using open sed we're told to like question about everything we're doing and those questions then help us learn and by the end of the topic we're able to answer all the questions in the class after yeah and then Montana and so whenever we walk into the classroom is always like there's always a question on the board for us to answer and we're never just like walking in and like putting our
055stuff down and waiting for the teacher to start. We always start engaging like with our um group members about a question on the board and then we start to answer it um right after with each other at the start of the class and then get into the topic. In our classroom, we're almost always doing like doing an experiment, looking at field research, never just looking at statistics and foreign information. We're actually seeing how things work in real time and answering our own questions with our observations. And even if the teacher has to lightly guide us, we're pretty much a studentled class. It takes like a lot for kids to say what they doing, but it's a very like hand talking about the lesson. You know, when kids get off track, they're really like together and
056the teachers know what the lesson is, but they let the students like um like teach the class like what's going on. Uh so I know some people uh uh are different in learning about different things. So um sometimes science is difficult to learn when someone's just saying itish. Sometimes you need models to understand what like like some people are physical learners like they need to like see it and then they understand it. Some people are different. They're like very easy learners like they can just hear someone say it and then they'll understand it. So I just think the adults in the room should know that different like people have different understandings of different topics. So he's definitely going into teaching. So I thank all of you. I do from the bottom of my heart. The
057teachers, the students. I thank you all for going through this process and we will continue. We still have more PD. This timeline, it goes on and on and on. Yes. Um the font is very tiny. Um, it shows the timeline from the beginning of when we applied for the grant, when we got the grant, when we went to the grant convenient, PD after PD, community day and community day. We have PD this summer. Um, we are continuing we are continuing with the open sedan project and actually any you know curriculum the 181 we will dig into it. Yes. Questions. Yes. How did you get this program into our town? How did it come to fruition? Right. How did it um we applied for the grant? The grant came across our desk cuz applied for this.
058We had to get the buy in from the teachers first. Um and we were struggling with what we were using before. It was not user friendly at all in the co years. Um, so we all knew we needed to change and then this change brought with us the professionals in the community with the PD mean 3 days, 5 days P or meals, morning, noon, and dinner accommodations overnight. They pay for our teachers. So there's no driving back and forth. Um, so we applied for it and we received it. So we got this with no expense to the budget. There's no local money in our budget for this. This is free open-source curriculum. high quality and I have to say that our administrators, our academic coach, they've been involved from step one right alongside the teachers
059with this. Um, as you know, I meet onetoone with all of the staff here in preparation for listening um for input and feedback and insight for our new strategic plan next year. And I will say I've met with all of the science teachers um everyone actually and I hear the joy and the passion from every single one of them. And I know Mr. Sonia mentioned he felt like a first year teacher and I say this super respectfully his his excitement and passion today when I met with you it comes right through and the kids feel it and when I listen to the students speak about science they're talking about it they're way more excited than they were when I first walked in this district. Um, it's just a phenomenal program and I I appreciate every
060single person who's had their hands on this, including our students. And students, stop by my office tomorrow. I have something for you because I am so so proud of each and every one of you. So, stop by for a little trinket from me. Any other questions? Just Just one more. For your eighth graders, they did not have this program in fifth and sixth grade. Is that correct? Okay. I'd love to hear from at least one student. What are your thoughts versus November fifth and sixth grade to now? Is it better? Is it worse? Um, now it's definitely better cuz I was never really a science person. I was more of like a math. But this year especially, I've been like leaning more towards science because it's more fun and engaging rather than in six, you're
061just on computers the whole time, not really like talking with one another. But it's definitely better. Thank you. No, it's just a comment. I mean, I'm a teacher 20 years and have had curriculum going on my desk so many times, right, without any of that. So, the PD is so important. I think you have the buy in from your teachers from your support and from all of that PD makes it so important. Um, so thank you for having their back. Yes. No, you're welcome. I'm always gathering up little trinkets and little notes. And one thing the four of them did was they trusted the process. Yeah, that's hard to do, but they didn't. I know. And they had a trust. It's not easy teaching, being a seasoned teacher and being, you know, so open about
062trying something new, right? But they had an open mind about it and they came together and they worked together with the administrators, with the coach and each other to figure this out. And I will tell you, there's many districts right now upset that they cannot get into the foundation the way we have. Um, I'm hearing from other superintendent, how do you get in? uh people want in and they're not able to get in and the 18 Foundation has been highly complimentary to uh our district and it's because of the people in this room, all of them um who really has made this happen. This is why we're here. That's why I told you this is the most important thing on our our agenda tonight. This is why we do what we do each and every
063day. This is the important things, right? So, thank you very very much. [Applause] Yeah, next. Yeah, that's great. Next we have um school choice. That being said, I have a motion to follow the superintendent against the participation in school choice program. I would like to comment Jerry back to the podium. Uh we want to give you a little progress update on opportunity at progress report. So come on back up to the podium. So, um the Student Opportunity Act, if you recall, last year school committee voted on um this our plan for the Student Opportunity Act, which is a three-year plan FY25 to FY27. Um, and so this is the time of year every year where we'll need to be providing a progress report to the stage about how we're uh making gains hopefully on our
064goals that we have set. Um, and the student opportunity act is basically um an increase that hap an increase in chapter 78 that happened in 2019. Um, and the idea is that we're closing opport uh opportunity gaps and so that we're setting targets um and hoping to um have you know achievement for all students. So we based our plan off of the 2023 and pass um for the student percent of students who were meeting or exceeding expectations. Um and what we found was that the group that had the greatest disparity compared to all students as far as um growth and achievement were students with disabilities and also um all students were kind of like coming in there second. So we wanted to mainly focus on um news groups and so we decided to take a
065close look at our approach to early literacy. And we our focus areas are implementing um um a comprehensive early literacy plan using highquality curriculum materials um that really have a strong focus on foundational skills using reliable literacy screeners so that we can identify students and give them researchbased interventions and then um the the academic interventions. Um so we've funded through this uh the purchase of our Lexia core 5 and on the side there that's a a three-year investment the cost for 3 years um our Renaissance star early literacy and star reading so uh we look at dibbles a lot but we also look at the star reading assessments and then we are also funding three interventionists and a reading specialist through SOA And um what we've been working on since we wrote these since we
066wrote this plan last year um we do have a dyslexia protocol established. It's a work in progress, but we've done a large amount of that work. We had a dyslexia team that worked on quite a bit actually last summer. Um we're developing intervention resource libraries. We've had ongoing professional development for the academic coach and interventionists. We are utilizing the Lexia core 5. Um we have reading interventionists and reading specialists in place and we're screening with Dibbles. We're screening with the STAR reading. We're continuing to use highquality materials for instruction. And there's weekly meetings at the elementary school where they look at different things like data review and planning and professional development. Um, and so this is the data that we use. The state will of course be looking at our MCAST data. We don't have
067that available quite yet. So what we're looking at here is our dibbles reading assessment. Um, and we're looking at the group and we're kind of also looking at the students with disabilities. So BOI is the beginning of the year. So this is the number of students who were um at or above benchmark coming into the school year and then the MOI means middle of the year. Um so we've had growth. Um we're showing growth. Um and we have we've we've made some gains with the students with disabilities at varying levels throughout the grade levels. Um, but this information is important for us because as we get that middle of the year data, we can start looking at where are we putting our resources? Um, who are we focusing on? Where do we need to make
068some adjustments? And so all of those things are happening and this ties to the district strategic objective. I won't read all of that, but these are our um indicators for achieving academic excellence for all students questions. Thank you. So, next up, our budget transfers. As you reportedly, we have to present to the school committee any budget transfers. We do not have any. Um, so there's no votes needed tonight. Declaration of surplus. Um, as you can see from the attachment, our cafeteria, um, we've been involved in purchasing new equipment. So, we do want to declare that list in front of you as surplus, which we have to do according to our policies. So, that's what you see in front of you. Um, and we need to vote for that to accept that as surplus. Any questions?
069Can I have a motion to to declare the listed items as surplus and allow the business manager to determine what's at the agent's method of disposal for school committee? So move. Second. All those in favor? I see none. Motion passes. Thank you. Uh before I close my report tonight, um just going to have uh Bonnie, if you could get the little tips for our guest, our honor guest tonight. So I want to just take a moment to express my sincere gratitude to Jennifer Downing and Sarah Gomes on the committee for their dedicated service to our schools as well as our community. Your commitment to our students, our families, and our staff has made a lasting impact. Through every challenge, and every triumph, you've led with integrity, compassion, and a deep belief in the power of
070public education. It's been an absolute honor to work alongside you, and I I sincerely appreciate your support all all the years that I've been here. So on behalf of our district, thank you both for your leadership, your time, and your unwavering support. We wish you all the best in what comes next, and you will always always be a part of our school community. Just want few comments from um one of the most noble endeavors of people is to serve their community and you need to have served this community well. And you have briefly such rewards. The presentation we had recently, you know, was part of your creation. This is where you spent all the time coming to meetings, serving on committees, deliberating, making has led led to made it work. you saw the fruits of
071your labor working and that and that and take that with you. Take that moment that we all shared with you forever really. You know, I've worked on from on my lifetime I've worked on all three levels of government, federal, state, and local. And I find that working for local local is far more demanded and taking a great deal more expertise than as you go up so to speak up up the ladder where it's more segmented in your discipline. Your disciplines have been buried has been you have you had to be know everything from collective bargaining issues through all those issues that we deal with. So I I just want to commit to I I know I I probably uh tested your patience sometimes. No, you're the reason why I'm here. But uh you know I
072I it's how much uh me I appreciate appreciate all your your time. I I hope no I hope not going away. Mrs. Bones a few uh the beginning of the meeting threatened me by saying that she's not going away that she's going to be active and I really I really approve earlier I said welcome that and I and I think we all do. So and I same with you Mrs. Downing don't go away the community needs you more than ever. That's all I wanted to say. No, just um thank you guys because moving here seven years ago, I think I wanted to be like that PCO and like here I am. So, thank you for taking Yeah, I would echo that. I thank you to both of you come by. So, I don't know if
073people realize there's a monthly meeting, but in between those monthly meetings, the amount of time and effort that goes into all of the subcommittee meetings, all of the outreach to the various stakeholders and town takes a lot of dedication. So you guys and I've learned a lot again, I'm just very honored to have served and um I've learned so much doing this. Um service. Thank you. And again, I'm I'm with that. Um I would just um let anybody know that's that's watching this that if you feel like you can make a difference in your community, then do it. join, get involved, make noise, and just uh stay true to what you believe in and you can make a change because I think I'm like one of the only ones besides John that's really seen what
074we've done in the past. It's been 15 years since I've been involved in the school district and with the school committee and um it's leaps and bounds. Changed a lot. Yeah, it it has changed a lot in in a good way and I hope the trajectory just stays even though Jen and I are no longer involved here in the school committee and we hope the future people in here you know see um how wonderful this district is and how special it is um and just move it into the you know the next coming years to a better school, right? Keep your standards high. That's all I have to say. Well, we're better. Our district is better for because of the two of you as well as the entire committee. But I do um echo what
075Mr. Hood said. It's not just the monthly meetings. None of you get a paycheck for this. It's all of the meetings in between. And I know like this week we're get three late nights, many of you, right? So I appreciate that. We all have families that you're giving up time and sacrificing, but you've been a great support to uh the administration, the district, our teachers, and our students, and we are better because of you. So thank you. Thank you for your support. That's all I have for tonight. So, we're going to follow that lovely presentation up in an update from the two patrons. So, go ahead. No pressure. No pressure. Good evening, Mr. Chair, school committee members. It's MCAST time. I know you've heard that a lot from me and everybody else. Uh, I'm proud
076to announce it's been the second day of our full MCAST and we've done a fantastic job. Our students, our staff, the principles, they've done pre-esting, testing, you name it, and it's gone swimmingly. Um and that is with the new platform that has had so many challenges. So I I my hat is off. Kudos to the entire team. Fantastic job. Uh we had a security update um a few months ago and I didn't get to speak about this but we've been rolling out so or single sign on to uh increase our security in the district and make it easier for our staff and students. We're going to continue that moving forward with any application that we can. You would think most platforms would offer that service frequently, but some platforms charge you for that just to
077make their platform more secure. So, of course, those things will have to be pushed to the back until we find the capital for it, but for the ones that we can do, we're moving ahead of those. Uh, for and you've seen that your document what we have moving forward. Um, behind the scenes, we're still doing this with everything, but we're trying to automate and make more efficient make things more efficient. Um, for instance, I give you one right now. I'm working with, and thank you to my folks. We're working on an email that goes out to our new employees automatically with everything that they need to start working here. Um, and kind of have a good foot forward working for a cushion. Um, and those are things that we're doing in the tech department. You
078guys have any questions for me? All right. Thank you, sir. chair, chairperson of the old school committee. Um, business managers report as normal. Uh, starting with the fiscal 25 budget. Um, ironically enough, we have a quarter of the school uh, year left and there's 25% of our budget remaining. Um, it's not coincidence. It's just fiscal management. um that doesn't start with me but with the leadership team as a whole. Everybody manages their departmental budget. Um they stay on track with that budget as planned as much as possible. Um and it does also speak to a little bit of the fact that our budget is mainly fixed cost. So there isn't a lot of variabilities and wiggle room unless we have moveins, moves move outs, new services and we you know pivot accordingly. But um really
079with one quarter left and 25% of the budget left, it's a testament of just our our management of of the district. Um the fourth quarter is the hardest. Uh you know, expenses flow in for the remainder of the year. If there are changes, there's not as much funding to move around to again pivot on. Um and then we try to analyze our savings to see, you know, what can we afford um at the end of the year? what we're going to return back to the town, what we're going to fund stabilization funds with or pay prepaid tuitions for. Um, so we're kind of in the home stretch of closing out the year, but it's also the hardest part as we balance all these other initiatives. Um, and again, those sentiments allude to why there's no
080budget transfers. Again, as we talked about earlier, it's just we're on we're on budget, we're on pace, we're on track. Um, and we do a good job with that and building our budget and our budget process and following the budget. Um, facilities. Uh, let's see here. Um, just an update on the new facilities director. You haven't been fortunate enough to meet him yet, but um, he's been here. He's been working hard. Um just I want to highlight the fact that that the facilities and custodial team it has had a new approach to tackle things in house and fix things themselves and gather the tools to fixing them themselves rather than push everything out to a contract of expense or to a vendor. Um, so with this method, there's a lot that we're trying to do
081on our own and do it the right way, but we're also soliciting a lot of quotes um for things that we know we can't do for bigger projects that are on the horizon. And we're trying to put those things together to sort of build a capital plan that's long overdue um just for the school buildings. that started with the investment grade audit, but now we're sort of extending it um to anything we can get our hands on and get vendors in and out to get quotes on. Uh which is very important um because then that allows us to say, hey, is this easier for us to pay for, more equitable to pay for, or can we do this ourselves with the right tools? And then what can't we do operationally inhouse or external that we
082need to plan for a capital ask? Um so that's important to have that vision. Um and it we've we've been off on the right step within the facilities director. um and taking that approach and uh I I look forward to the bright future that's ahead of him um and our facilities because of him and the team. Um food service. So we talked about surplusing some items earlier. Um this is again in plan with replacing some of the obsolete equipment. The items that were being surplused are 23 plus years old and pretty much they're worth salvage value at this point. Um, so the four items that were on the top of the list are being replaced by two commi ovens. Um, so you know, we're going to consolidate the equipment. It's going to be more efficient
083and we're going to have more opportunity to uh change the processes within the kitchen, whether that means prep or reheat or um new menu items. It just allows us to be more creative and slowly build out that process. So, I know the team's excited about that. Those items are going to be installed over April vacation. our team will be trained on those items. Um, and again, it's a step in the right direction to kind of offer change through the kitchen. Um, which I know they're looking forward to. And then some of the other items have just been kind of taking up space, collecting dust. Um, they haven't been working in quite some time and it's just time to dispose them and start cleaning out our kitchen. So, um, those are being surplus now. They'll be
084posted for 10 days um, available to anybody that wants them. And then after that, we'll dispose of them um properly. Uh usually when the vendor replaces your equipment, they'll take it off your hands for free. Um and then we don't have to worry about costs for getting that out of the district. Um in addition, we still remain a community elig eligibility provision district, which means free lunch and breakfast throughout uh both kitchens, both schools. Um and that's due to our low income percentage. We have to report on that every year. So, we've been working on those April reports, as they call them, um, and are ready to submit. And we look forward to, um, as far as we know, uh, providing free lunch and breakfast for, uh, the foreseeable future, unless something on the federal
085or state level changes, but so far, nothing on that matter yet. Transportation, registration. And so our favorite topic in the world and we look forward to it most is open registration and hoping that everyone registers on time so that we can plan our buses, our routes, our stops accordingly for the next fiscal year. Um it feels early but ultimately there's a lot of data that comes in on this with address changes, stop changes, new riders, you know, people that want private transportation. So, it's critical that when we do release the registration that people register timely and accurately so we can plan accordingly. Um, as we've alluded to over the past meetings and budget presentations, there's a big cost associated with transportation. So, it's important again that we're saving seats for those that need it and
086not placeholding otherwise. Um, because ultimately if we have accurate data and can cut down on a bus or need to add a bus, we need to be able to plan for that. So, we need to have that information now so that over the summer we can plan those routes, plan those expenses, see what needs to change. Um, so be on the lookout for that. We'll be sending out mailins uh with your students coming home. We'll post it on our website on social media and we just ask for timely cooperation with that. Um and then other matters. Our sec second public hearing um regarding the ABS project, environmental project, um and potential debt exclusion is going to be hosted April 16th at 6 p.m. in the Albert Ford Middle School cafeteria. Um this is a joint
087public hearing with the select board. Um you may have seen our presentation previously. will we will recycle that presentation um so that we can inform the public on the project um and the impact that it may have on the taxpayers. And then in addition to that, we are working to put out a fact sheet with the town clerk um to send out prior to the ballot vote. Um so that's important again to just make sure you know we we realize that not everyone tunes in, watches every meeting, reads every newsletter. The information has been there. Um, but these are opportunities for us to just isolate them and focus strictly on the project and the debt exclusion um, and the facts surrounding them. So, these are critical meetings for us as we move forward to a
088ballot question and a uh, town vote. Um, and then, you know, I don't have any words prepared for our two school committee members that are departing, but um, it's been a pleasure. It feels like it's been more than 2 and 1/2 years with you guys. Um, I've learned a lot from you. I appreciate your patience with me. I hope I've been able to teach you some things as well. Um, but you know, you think of these meetings and I I kind of laughed with Superintendent Bailey about all the committees and this and that and that I get dragged into, but it only feel like a chore because, you know, all of the meetings are of substance and you guys bring great perspectives and opinions and and conversation to all of those meetings that it's not
089like, oh no, another subcommittee meeting, oh no, another school committee. They're enjoyable to come to. Um, I've watched a lot of meetings in other school districts and the engagement in school committees vary. Um, and honestly, it's been a it's been a pleasure and you know, it's it's made it enjoyable working with the two of you and you know, the expertise and information that you've been able to share. Um, and the patience and trust you've put in myself and the rest of the district. So, thank you. Um, you will be missed. That's all I have. Any questions? Thank you. Are there any school committee member reports? No more PTO reports. take over. We also any comments or questions on any of the communication materials from district newsletter personnel report. Okay. So, we're going to uh move
090to exec session. Can I have a a motion to adjourn to the executive session to suit the Massachusetts general law chapter 38 section 2182 and 3. Then meet in sessions to conduct strategy sessions and preparations and negotiations with personnel or to conduct contract negotiations with nonel to reconvene an open session for the purpose of voting contract and to discuss strategy with respect to collective bargaining or litigation with an open meeting may have a detrimental effect on the bargaining or position of the public body from the shared Say that fast. Mr. Yes. Downey. Yes. Yes. M Yes. Turning from uh executive session. As we mentioned uh during the meeting, we would um go to executive session with a possibility on voting on the superintendent's contract. So, could I have a motion um and I uh to
091to approve a new six-year contract for Dr. Bailey effective July 1st, 2026, and it runs through June 30th, 2032. So, move. Yes. Mrs. Yes. Mrs. Gold. Yes. And Mrs. Yes. Thank you. Okay. Motion uh passes and uh could I have a motion to close tonight's uh meeting? So move. Second. Roll call. Mr. Hood. Yes. Mrs. Gold. Yes. Mrs. Downey. Yes. Mr. Yes. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. [Music] Heat. Heat.