001for for for please good Ali to the flag the United States of America and to the Republic which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all if we could take a moment of silence for the Francis family please thank you Clos SE disclosure ready for the scho Y yep okay start um she's just checking and I think that's the ethics commission she has all the information yeah she knows all right so during executive session um we took a vote on uh to approve the executive session minutes of 61824 there were eight um in a in favor and two um abstained with Chambers and Champlain abstaining and kisante juicy Hopkins Luzan Phelps pulot purcel and Reynolds in favor uh CTC appeal minutes there were eight in favor and two abstained with
002Chambers and champ Champlain abstaining with Hopkins kisante juicy Hopkins Luzon Phelps pulot purcel and Reynolds in favor and then return to open session 10 in favor with Chambers Champlain kisante juicy Hopkins Luzan Lyle oops ly's not here Phelps pulia pcel and Reynolds are all in favor thank you okay so recognition this evening please join me in congratulating and thanking the following our high school senior Ka Elwell 2024 recipient of the Providence Journal courage award next is High School junior William Ellis one of 62 students from across Rhode Island earned the Herbert and Clay bonel medal for US History this award recognized as college and high school students in the state who have excelled in United States [Applause] history we'd also like to recognize our skills USA national champions Erin vanhousen silver medal and Architectural drafting
003Ella Murphy eighth place in baking and pastry arts and Tori Babino Emerson Flynn and Mia MCN eighth place in the crime scene investigation [Applause] we would like to thank Charlestown school committee representative Andrew McQuade um for the his service for the Cho school district and it is with mixture of gratitude and sadness that we announce the departure of Ned Draper our director of administration and finance over the past four years Ned has been an invaluable part of our district contributing his skills dedication and positive spirit to every project and task Ned's contributions have greatly impacted our success and he will be missed by all of us we wish him all the best in his future endeavors please join me in thanking Ned for his outstanding work and dedication to the Charo [Applause] Community okay public
004forum Louise you're first good evening Louise Dinsmore from Richmond um Ned I wish you the best a big loss to the district you your skills your demeanor um you're an exceptional human being and um I just want to thank you for always being willing to answer questions the many that I've had over the years so thank you very much for your service you're welcome I'm Louise denmore from Richmond I'm the president of the Forgotten taxpayers and a candidate for Cho school committee I have a point that I'd like to make tonight and then followed up by a question for superintendent Bard this past weekend the world witnessed a failed assassination attempt of a former United States President Donald Trump's life was spared and he evaded a fatal Bullet to the Head I'd like to call
005attention to the verbal bullet that was hurled at last month's school committee meeting by Richmond resident Christopher Kona Mr Kona who neglected to reference that he serves as the chair chair of the Richmond Democrat Town committee took a verbal shot at moms for Liberty at the June 18th school committee meeting Mr Kona said and I quote I wanted to speak about the rising threat from moms for Liberty in Rhode Island these people have been coming to school committee meetings espousing fear they are trying to bully Town members and school committee members they are going to be vile in their discussions they are going to try to scare you he goes on to say that quote one of the goals of moms for Liberty is to undermine the effectiveness of our public schools let me set
006the record straight for Mr Kona and for our community I signed the moms for Liberty parent pledge for candidates and elected officials I was proud to sign it and I am Unapologetic about it and here's what that pledge States I pledge to honor the fundamental rights of parents including but not limited to the right to direct education Medical Care and moral upbringing of their children I pledge to advance policies that strengthen parental involvement and decision-making increase transparency defend against government overreach and secure parental rights at all levels of government there is nothing vile in that pledge there is nothing undermining the effectiveness of public education in that pledge that pledge is reasonable so to Mr Kona the chair of the Richmond Democrat Town committee please stop hurling your verbal bullets my way there is something
007that Mr K and I agree on and that is bullying is never acceptable to that end I'd like to point out that a board member of the friends of Cho approached me aggressively in a school parking lot last month she was unhinged pointing her finger in my face acting erratically I reported the incident to the Richmond police this is the same woman who called me evil and posted that all over social media she also posted personal things about my son and that is not acceptable so to Mr Kona instead of hurling verbal bullets at mothers who demand to have a say in what their children are learning in school as they should as parents why don't you spend your time calling out your surrogates who take it upon themselves to bully candidates like me who
008represent a different point of view let me repeat I represent a different point of view from time to time I regularly ask questions about spending I'm an independent critical thinker it's perfectly fair for others to challenge my ideas but character assassination must stop I would expect Mr Kona to challenge ideas not attack moms Mr Kona the verbal bullets need to stop you're better than that okay you're better than that moving on I'd like to ask the superintendent about the status of the flooding problem at Richmond Elementary school if you'll remember last month I asked superintendent Bard about the plan to mitigate the flooding issue at the school and was hoping perhaps um superintendent peard you can outline any steps that have been taken to ensure that students and staff aren't impacted by this flooding issue
009in the future is that any update that you can give well I can't guarantee it's not going to happen in the future we're doing the best that we can with the facilities that are 90 plus years old which is why I recommended new structures new facilities you can't just lift up the building and fix the grounding and and the leveling of that or the grading that needs to be done so we have widen drained we have added pumps we have um fixed and pointed bricks we continue to mitigate the needs as necessary in the last few rainstorms we've had a few we haven't had flooding so that's a good sign but I can't guarantee that we won't see it again but so far since the last time we've widened the drains and added more pumps
010in the bags um we have not seen any any other problems to date thank you I would add when we get over two inches an hour or over saturation like when we have a really heavy spring rain fall and then we get a inch an hour two inches an hour that's when we start to see the water tables become very high and then create the the problem okay thank you so much Chris Kona from Richmond hi thank you I'm Chris Kona from Richmond um I I wanted to least start with a quick reminder that that the the school committee is limited in the extent to which they can answer questions when presented those in public form and so as folks come to public for to keep that in mind that if they would like to
011have a discussion with the committee about some of their policies that they should I recommend they add that to the the agenda um I'll my statement in defense to uh Louis's comments uh so I did speak out at the last school board meeting about Monster Liberty uh having heard Bob's response I don't feel bad at all about anything that I said and feel like the the statements that I made were validated in the statements issued by Bob on behalf of monster of Liberty at the school district with regard to the way that they deal with transgender and gender non-conforming students uh as a student of two kids at cherro school which is my principal uh representation from this um as well as from the perspective as Lis inmore said I am the chair of the
012local Richmond Democrats and therefore I do uh want to make sure that we are representing folks who also have children in the Cher schools for which this is a concern uh this those statements made by Bob last month at the school board meeting represent a threat against my students who are at this school and the way that they're educated chero so far has been doing a phenomenal job of educating gender non-conforming students including my students and I would their success in in chero is a testament to chero success in this area and so I would encourage the chero school district and the Cher of school committee to continue to maintain your policies in these areas uh to support students like mine who were in there uh if Louisa is concerned about the way that her
013children are educated she may want to bring that up with the uh administrative boards for the CH the schools that her children attend as opposed to the chairold school committee thank you okay that's the in public form on to business okay next we have the rhod island ethics commission presentation this uh staff attorney Lyn uh is it rades R radishes thank you Lynn Lyn radishes will provide an introduction to the ran ethics commission and the ran code of ethics I I do suggest that everyone um participate in the presentation and ask questions as necessary IED stream I didn't know I was you do um who has if you send me the link I can put it up yeah I can oh it is oh the slide deck or the Craig Gina can you remind everybody
014why we're having a presentation um you are required to participate in this presentation every year and it's it's ordered by the C years yeah because of a lawsuit that had we had against us that we won but it was mandated that we and the other parties participate in an Ethics um presentation every couple years which I've been at every time but the other parties never showed up once no you're right they're no those are no longer members like this is I didn't realize that um I will say that um people that are elected and appointed officials uh both state and Municipal and state and Municipal Employees um and members of public boards commissions and a agencies are all subject to the code of ethics and it's really a good idea to be familiar with one's
015responsibilities under the code in Rhode Island ethics training is not mandatory at this point so I just uh travel around town to town trying to deliver this training to anyone who will have me and I'm very grateful to be here this evening not just because I don't have central air at home but um it's lovely in here so it would be ideal to use the PowerPoint yep it's coming I just oh terrific it's searching for the library I've done it without it but um might not be as much fun for for everyone here so how will um I be able to advance the slide you can just let me know and I say next slide oh okay that's G to bug you but it's okay um all right Lynn we have done this through two
016years even before a suit was B yes and and I've um I've been to Richmond recently um so it's great it stopped C there it is what's the number I will start by saying that this is indeed an introduction to the Rhode Island ethics commission and the Rhode Island code of ethics this is going to be big picture stuff okay there's no test at the end no one has to memorize anything there's nothing that will be presented tonight that can't be accessed at a later date whether it's asking um for a copy of the PowerPoint or looking at the code of ethics on our website we have hard copies if anyone ever wanted one you could call my office and I would send it out to you you could call someone at my office or
017me there and and ask a question um it's again big picture stuff if you leave here tonight knowing there is an Ethics commission when you might need us how to get a hold of us that's in my wind column I hope you put it in your wind column too I do um I do answer questions I'm happy to answer questions generally speaking I ask the favor that people hold their questions until the end and I'll tell you why 97% of the time the question that you're going to ask it's the next slide I promise and if it's not it's coming up and if I switch gears it's a little tough to stay and I try and move through this thing in like 45 minutes or so that having been said if you simply can't go
018on until your question is answered raise your hand I'm happy to answer a question okay so I think I've just gone through the first slide anyway um so we'll be able to move that along no is it on it's showing again what is it first code I have a thumb drive that that help that looks familiar SL from beginning just okay tting my you you can advance that one that's the one that was my little Spiel okay all right everyone um you know what I'd like to move around I don't really hear a difference do I need a microphone yes because of the YouTube sorry oh I forgot about the YouTubers okay at the microphone I shall stand take a look at article 3 section 7 of our state constitution which reads the people of
019the state State of Rhode Island believe that public officials and employees must adhere to the highest standards of ethical conduct respect the public trust and the rights of all persons be open accountable and responsive avoid the appearance of impropriety we'll talk more about that and not use their position for private gain or advantage that is what our state constitution asks of us next slide please so before we get into the ACT ual Rhode Island code of ethics and the ethics commission I'd like to just kind of Orient us all by talking a little bit about ethical conduct in general ethics is a standard or philosophy of right and wrong human behavior based on logical reasoning so ethical conduct is the type of behavior that a logical person would agree is just the right thing to
020do under the circumstances right well maybe maybe not because here's the thing people have different ideas about about what makes um Behavior right or wrong right what might be right to one might be wrong to another next slide please we have something called ethics based on culture maybe you've heard the expression When in Rome do as the Romans do many people think that whether something is ethical depends on the setting in which it occurs taking into account the local culture habits Customs hey this is the way we've always done things in our town it must be ethical right maybe maybe not um ethics based on culture is not the standard by which ethical behavior is measured at the Rhode Island ethics commission next slide please so how about ethics based on consequences that's where ethical
021or unethical conduct is determined by looking at the outcome ethical conduct is behavior that produces more positive results than negative results in both quantity and quality maybe you've heard well the end justifies the means here all is well that ends well as long as we have the right outcome doesn't matter how we got here not so not per the ethics uh commission next slide please well how about ethics based on character that's where ethical conduct is determined by asking what would a virtuous person do under these very circumstances the focus there is on one's character one's motive hey I'm a decent upstanding person how could I possibly violate something called the code of ethics even character is not the standard by which ethical behavior is measured at the Rhode Island ethics commission next slide so
022what is we ask you to please focus on your result I mean I'm focus on your action not the result the code of ethics tells us what actions to avoid without regard to culture without regard to consequence even without regard to character ethical or unethical conduct is determined not by looking at the results but by looking at the conduct itself self and judging its inherent rightness or wrongness focus on your action not the result next slide please a little bit about the ethics commission before we get into the code of ethics there are nine members of the Rhode Island ethics commission right now we have eight we anxiously await the appointment of a ninth and final member because it's always better to have a full compliment of people at the table the governor appoints all
023members of the ethics Commission Now the governor selects four commissioners of his or her own choosing and then the governor also appoints the other five members of the ethics commission but does so from lists of names that have been submitted by leaders from both our house and Senate the state house and the state senate um the ethics commission is a very powerful commission it has advisory Powers investigative powers adjudicative powers and in some instances removal powers and this this is interesting that members of the ethics commission may not hold or campaign for public office they may not hold office in any political party or in any political committee nor may they participate in or even contribute to a political campaign not so much as a sign on the front lawn of an Ethics commissioner at
024election time next slide please so I am a member of the staff of the ethics commission we work for the nine ethics Commissioners and our executive director and chief prosecutor is a gentleman named Jason grit and prior to becoming executive director and chief prosecutor in April of 2018 Jason held my job for I think more than 20 years this guy knows the code and uh its contents up one side and down the other so Jason and I are two of five Attorneys at the ethics commission we have Three Investigators all former police officers all know their way around an investigation we have an incredible support staff uh Michelle Berg is a name you might want to remember she is our financial disclosure officer and um if you have a question about financial disclosure and Michelle
025can't answer it no one can um there are 12 of us at the ethics commission and we spend our days at 40 Fountain Street in the city of Providence there will be a slide at the end with our contact information next slide please so who's subject to this code well I mentioned it earlier um All State and Municipal elected officials subject to the code All State and Municipal appointed officials and employees of state and municipal government and members of public boards commissions and agencies there are a lot of people subject to the code of ethics in this state next slide please conflicts of interest and recusal um conflicts of interest and nepotism are pretty much the bread and butter of the Rhode Island ethics commission there are other parts of the code that are super
026important as well and that we will cover but I like to start with conflicts of interest because it's such a big piece of the code and so important uh next slide please so as a person subject to the code of ethics you may not participate in any matter if it is reasonably foreseeable what do I mean by reasonably foreseeable reasonably foreseeable means that something is more than conceivable and less than certain to occur that's a lot of airspace right so it has has to be reasonably foreseeable that you any person in your family your business associate or any business by which you are employed or which you represent if they will derive a direct monetary gain or suffer a direct monetary loss by reason of your participation you've got a conflict of interest you must
027recuse now I've had people say to me I get the financial gain part but if I take part in this particular vote qu I'm going to lose money so that shouldn't be a conflict of interest I shouldn't have to recuse I can take part as long as I'm not going to have financial gain right wrong the code of ethics makes no distinction between financial gain and financial loss the concern is that you as someone subject to the code of ethics not take part in a matter and that doesn't just mean voting that's the discussions leading up to the voting and the voting if your participation will result in a direct Financial impact to you to someone in your family to your business associate to your private employer next slide please so who do I mean
028by business associates it's important to know that by definition under the code of ethics our business associates are persons or entities with whom we are joined to achieve a common Financial objective that is not the most helpful definition I've ever read let's look at some examples your business partners are your business associates that's fairly obvious people you have hired are your business associates think attorney accountant realtor contractor you get the idea the ethics commission has determined that the landlord tenant relationship is one of business associates and this next one is really important and often forgotten you ready any businesses or organizations now this includes not for-profits okay if you are an officer or you serve on the board of directors for that private organization regardless of whether you get paid to do so you are
029a business associate not only of the private organization but of the other officers or members of boards of the board of directors okay next slide please so ongoing business relationships do not necessarily remain ongoing forever right people come and go in our lives so I'd like you to know what the ethics commission looks at when they're trying to determine whether or not there's a business associate relationship between two parties they'll ask three questions are the parties conducting ongoing business transactions between one another are there outstanding accounts between the parties let's say the work has been finished but somebody still owes the other money is there an anticipated future relationship between these parties you don't need yes to all three if the answer is yes to any one of these that's going to indicate that there's
030a business associate relationship now a few minutes ago I used realtor as an example your realtor is your business associate let's say that you sold your home in 2019 and you used a realtor and hopefully got more than you were asking for your home you had the closing all the funds have been distributed you've been living happily ever after in your new home for 5 years with no plans to use that or any other realtor anytime soon and that Realtor comes before you in your public capacity in the town barring some other relationship under the code like it's not your brother-in-law or your niece probably not your business business associate anymore right but if your house is for sale now and you used a realtor and let's say you accepted an offer and the closing
031is in 3 weeks and that Realtor comes before you in your public capacity stop you have a conflict of interest because that's your business associate you must recuse from participation next slide please so the code also talks about our family members who does the code consider our family members well here's the deal on that whether by Blood me marriage or adoption here's your list of family members spouse parents children siblings grandparents and grandchildren aunts and uncles nieces and nephews and your first cousins those are all your family members when the code says you may not take an official action that will directly financially impact your family member that's who they mean so someone might say Lynn I haven't spoken to my sister in six years if she comes for me in my public capacity I
032would no more go out of my way to help her than I would to hurt her I'll treat her like I would anybody else no conflict I don't need to recuse right nope not right a family member is a family member is a family member regardless of the status of your relationship at any given time so let's say that the same person says Lynn I'm a lot closer to my best friend than I ever was to my sister if my if my best friend comes before me and my public capacity with the town do I need to recuse tell you what technically under the code you do not I mean can you imagine the ethics commission trying to assign some sort of a value to your friendship with someone I mean what would they ask
033did did you meet in kindergarten did you date in high school do you take each other's kids back and forth to practices or rehearsals do you text twice a minute twice a decade it's impossible but remember that constitutionally founded goal asking us to avoid even the appearance of impropriety the code of ethics asks us to do the same so if your best friend comes before you in your public capacity it's an excellent opportunity for you to just exercise the discretion to say you know what this is my best friend and this looks bad and even though I don't have to recuse I don't need to take part in this I'm going to recuse and let someone else handle it okay sermon over next slide um think of a conflict of interest as a situation where
034a person's public duties and private life intersect okay and I did say no test and that's still true and you don't have to memorize anything but if you leave here tonight with anything on your mind please make it the next thing I'm going to say you ready it is not unethical to have a conflict of interest it doesn't violate the code of ethics to have a conflict of interest said the woman from West Warwick with 31 first cousins I kid you not that's before marriage um it's not the conflict that's the problem the potential problem is the failure to identify and manage your conflict and we help people do that all the time next slide please so do I have a conflict of interest here's what you're going to ask yourself is it reasonably foreseeable
035more than conceivable less than certain to occur that a decision ision that I'm helping to make as part of my public duties will result in a financial benefit or detriment to me to my family or household member to my business associate to a business by which I'm employed next slide please ask yourself oh we can go back one thanks um do I have a conflict of interest uh I'm sorry next slide I just updated these slides and I don't recognize them all yet the other ones I know like the back of my hand okay ask yourself even if there is no Financial impact is a family member household member business associate or a business by which I'm employed a party to or taking part in the matter that's being discussed if the answer is yes
036you have a conflict of interest you must recuse from any participation in the matter now in this slide in the last slide you see the term household member up there under the nepotism provision visions of the code of ethics which we're going to look at momentarily if someone lives under your roof that is conflict of interest territory regardless of whether you are related by blood marriage or adoption that's as pertains to the nepotism Provisions next slide please so the active recusal is a relatively simple one we ask you to please complete a statement of conflict of interest form sometimes called a recusal form if they're not in the building or with uh your clerk you can download one from our it or we can send you one I'm sure that most clerks have them in
037the office you fill it out it's very short and sweet you present the original to your presiding officer or appointing authority or your supervisor and between the two of you decide who's going to send the ethics commission a copy because we like to maintain these recusal forms next slide nepotism this slide I always get a kick out of and if nepotism exists my brothers will root it out right ah the irony next slide okay okay as someone who is subject to the code of ethics you may not participate in any matter as part of your public duties if there is reason to believe or expect that any person within your family or a household member is a party or participant or will derive a direct monetary gain or suffer a direct monetary loss or somehow
038obtain an employment Advantage by virtue of your participation next slide please the codes prohibitions against nepotism apply regardless of whether for example your family or household member is objectively the most qualified candidate for the job absolutely deserves that promotion if it's going to happen it's got to happen without you taking part the policy underlying the prohibitions against nepotism is premised on the recognition that it is just really really difficult for anybody to be truly objective when considering matters impacting their family or household members do we think you can do it maybe probably not the point we remove from you any obligation of having to defend yourself after taking part in a matter uh involving a family or household member by just taking it off the table and one more time I'm going to hit you
039with that constitutionally founded goal of avoiding even the appearance of impropriety next slide thank you some examples of nepotism not exhaustive list but this will get you thinking about it hiring someone in your family or household is nepotism awarding a contract to someone in your family or household is nepotism any decision regarding a family or household member's property appointing someone in your family or household to a compensated position and the participation in a disciplinary matter in which your family or household members employment is at risk these are examples of nepotism next slide thanks um as someone who is subject to the code of ethics you may not participate in in the following the supervision the evaluation the appointment the classification the promotion the transfer or discipline of anybody in your family or your household nor
040may you delegate any of those tasks to your subordinate to someone who answers to you if you can't hire your niece to work as a paid intern next summer for the town you can't ask your assistant to do it it instead of you it's like you did it yourself next slide please so the code of ethics allows the ethics commission to approve what's called an alternate chain of command under situations where nepotism uh is is at risk so generally speaking this happens in Legacy jobs think police departments fire departments where people of the same family might be on the same Department what I want you to know at this point about the alternate chain of command is is that the person who's going to step in for the person that has the conflict of interest
041has to be of equal rank to that person or hire okay and the second thing I'd like you to know is that an alternate chain of command can't just be presumed acceptable prior to the issuance of a duly authorized advisory opinion from the ethics commission and we will cover advisory opinions shortly um next slide recusal so I've had people say all right I've recused Ed from a town council meeting do I leave the table leave the room leave the country what do I do technically recusal does not mean that a public official must leave the room if it's an open meeting although I'll tell you right now that's best practice that's what I recommend everybody do and I'll tell you why because someone may recused from a meeting and go sit in the front row
042acceptable sure it is the person might say I'm not taking part in this I'm going to text home see if anybody needs anything from CVS while that person is sitting there texting home to see if anybody needs anything from CVS someone at the table is going to get a text from their home from somebody maybe saying Uncle Joe is out of the hospital we're going to pick him up and take him out to dinner hope you can join us my phone's going to ring at 8:31 the next morning from someone who wants to file a complaint because the person who recused went to the front front row and texted the person still at the table who texted back and that person participated save the Tylenol for another time do yourself a favor leave the room
043if you recuse from an open meeting now that's an open meeting if a public body is in executive session or private session where it's closed to the public once a public official recuses no more right to be in the room then any member of the public must leave the room okay next slide please all right new new topic contracts we're going to cover this briefly no person subject to the code of ethics may enter into any contract with a state or Municipal agency unless next Slide the contract has been awarded through an open and public process including prior public notice and subsequent public disclosure of all the proposals considered and the contracts awarded uh one more slide on this please so there are certain contracts for Professional Services that are customer awarded without the competitive
044bidding that's fine they don't need to have competitive bidding they still need to be awarded through a process of public notice and disclosure of financial details and some examples of those Professional Services that don't require competitive bidding Physicians attorneys Engineers Architects accountants land surveyors psychologists let me put these last three slides into perspective if you are subject to the code of ethics and are an employee of this town or an elected or appointed official of this town you may not enter into a contract with say this town let's say that someone uh an elected official has a side hustle in the winter moving snow and they have a plow and a truck and they go to whoever does the hiring in this town for such a a task in the winter and says you know
045what you don't need to put this out to bid I can do it I've got a good truck I've got a good plow I know every Road in town I'll give you a good price um let's let's sign a contract that would be very very wrong unless it went out to bid and even then there's a question of whether the person could put in for it it would depend on the circumstances next slide please secondary employment this is another topic under the code we sometimes call this Moonlighting and some people subject to the code do have a second job uh in addition to their state or Municipal employment here's the deal with that as a person who is subject to the code of ethics you may not accept secondary employment that does either or both
046of the following that second job cannot impair your independence of judgment with respect to your Municipal duties nor may it require or induce you to disclose confidential government information that you acquire during the course of your official duties next slide a number of people will ask the ethics commission for an advisory opinion there's that term again I promise we'll get to it okay an advisory opinion before they take that second job and I'd like you to know what the ethics commission looks at when they're trying to weigh it out and to determine whether or not that would be an appropriate job for you to take in addition to your municipal or state position they're going to look at the Nexus between your public duties and your private employment see how closely they're related any work
047that someone does outside of their uh public job has to be done outside of normal work hours without the use of public resources a public official or employee may not appear before their own agency the work has to be conducted outside of areas over which that public official or employee has decision-making jurisdiction and this next one's important a public official or employee may not use their public position to solicit business or customers for their private work or their private employer um okay this hopefully comes as no uh surprise to anyone a person subject to the code of ethics shall not use or disclose for find financial gain confidential information acquired in the course of their official duties please keep confidential information just that confidential and when I say for financial gain not just for yourself
048for that same group yourself your family your business associates your private employer next slide gifts this is a popular Topic at the ethics commission 12 months out of the year so we're going to look at gifts and here's what I'd like you to know as some someone who is subject to the code of ethics if you participate in making decisions you may not accept cash or forgiveness of debt from an interested person what's an interested person an interested person is someone that has a direct financial interest in a decision that you either make or you help to make and interested persons include employees or representatives of an IND individual a business an organization or entity next slide so what can you accept under the code of ethics you may accept things of value up to
049an including $25 per instance and $75 per year per interested person now I'm told that many moons ago before I joined the ethics commission um that $25 limit was 150 and the $75 limit was $450 maybe it's just me but I would tend to think that as the years go by and the economy changes that the amounts would go up not down but clearly this gift regulation needed to be reeled in and now it's $25 right so one one moment I just want to get this out but I I will get to you so if your um agency or municipality has a zero tolerance policy on gifts or one that is more strict than that within the code of ethics you must follow your agency's policy but let's say your agency or municipality says yeah
050we get an Ethics commission you can't go around accepting gifts from interested persons but $25 is not a lot of money that's like a sandwich and a cup of coffee we're going to make it a 100 nope if that's the case you follow the ethics commission you follow the less fun one okay and I actually had someone at a one of these seminars once say do you mean to tell me that if an interested person wants to give me Bruins tickets I can't take them and I know Bruins tickets are more than $25 and I said that is exactly what I'm trying to tell you A+ and he's shaking his head and I said excuse me anybody want to send you to a Bruins game before you had this job and then he just kind
051of got silent did you want to ask a question sir about G yeah the Supreme Court just basically ruled on something similar to this about a politician in Indiana can you just use the um M A Little Closer thank you okay uh politician in Indiana where they gave him a a a a a gift after they awarded the contract and they said that's fine really yeah but if if a contract was awarded isn't there still going to be a supervision of performance under the contract he was the manager of the town so I'm I'm just throwing that out there I think that shocked a lot of people that they come up with that ruling but they ruled that there was nothing illegal about it I may have to look that one up but it doesn't
052apply to us this is the Rhode Island code of ethics but it was very interesting very and I will you said Indiana that doesn't mean that somebody can't sue the state of Rhode Island over over this in relationship to Indiana correct be case law I would guess well is it Federal it's no we're not even in the Supreme Court ruled on oh the Supreme Court the the US Supreme Court Supreme Court Indiana Supreme Court no no no no oh well that could trickle down to us they've been making foolish moves lately next slide please um transactions with subordinates as someone who is subject to the code of ethics you may not engage in a financial transaction what do I mean by that private employment or Consulting giving or receiving loans monetary or charitable contributions with
053an employee contractor or consultant over whom you exercise supervisory responsibilities next slide please exceptions include Financial transactions in the normal course of a regular commercial business or occupation that would be an exception or if the subordinate initiates the financial transaction that would be an exception and there are certain charitable events that are sponsored by the highest official or governing body of a state or municipality which is why as a state employee I can be asked by the governor's office to contribute to the United Way each year next slide these slides are reminding me that I have an eye doctor appointment Thursday and I'm very glad because I think my my lenses are going to go up okay the revolving door statutes there are a number of revolving door uh regulations and statutes in the in
054the code of ethics we're not going to cover all of them but I want you to know why we have them the purpose of a revolving door statute is to prevent government employees and public officials from unfairly profiting from or otherwise trading upon the contacts associations and special knowledge that they acquired during their tenure as public servants the cooling off period that we have is one year under these revolving door statutes uh next here's an example no Municipal elected official or School Committee Member whether elected or appointed while holding office and for a period of one year after leaving municipal office shall seek or accept employment with any Municipal agency in the municipality in which the official serves now there's an exception for employment that was held at the time of the officials election or
055appointment that's an example of a revolving door regulation next slide okay as a person who is subject to the code of ethics you may not represent yourself or anyone else before the agency of which you are a member or by which you are employed or before any other agency if your agency is the appointing authority for that agency you may not serve as an expert witness before your own agency and these prohibitions continue for one year after you leave your public office or employment next slide so what do I mean by representation if I say you may not represent yourself or anyone else before your own agency representation is the particip and the presentation of evidence or arguments before an agency for the purpose of influencing the Judgment of that agency in your favor or
056in favor of someone else next slide so there is something called a hardship exception where the ethics commission may Grant a hardship exception allowing you to represent yourself before your own agency or before an agency for which your agency has appointing authority to obtain a hardship exception you have to get an advisory opinion one of those things I keep talking about and that I will get to but first I want to give you an example of a hardship exception let's say that somebody is a member of a local zoning board and that person wants to put a shed in his backyard and he's going in his backyard he's looking to put where where the shed's going to go he finds the exact spot and he thinks to himself you know what I'm gonna have a
057problem with the town's setback ordinance if I put this shed here I need to ask for a variance to the setback ordinance I need to get that from the zoning board I'm on the zoning board what's a guy who wants a shed to do right he's going to go to the ethics commission and say can I get one of those hardship exceptions because I want to put a shed in my backyard and I need a variance so I'd like permission to go before the zoning board that I sit on to ask for a zoning or for a variant and chances are strong as the ethics commission has done I would say four times since I've started six years ago people are building sheds zoning board members are building sheds all over the state they're going
058to say you know what we're going to give you a hardship exception to let you go before the zoning board to se to seek a variance so you can put a shed in your backyard but you're not taking part in the conversation or the decision right and you're going to let everyone at that meeting know that you got this formal advisor opinion saying it's okay so the guy goes before the zoning board maybe he gets his variants he puts his shed in the backyard it's a year later a year later the same guy buys a piece of property in town and he says I am going to this property is perfect I'm going to construct a commercial building on it I'm going to rent it to several tenants and I'm going to make a whole
059lot of money doing it but I have some matters to take care of before the zoning board that I still sit on so I can do this the ethics commission was so nice last year when I wanted my shed I'm going back and I'm going to ask for another hardship exception and he goes before the ethics commission and he says hi it's me the guy with the shed from the zoning board I could use another hardship exception because I bought a piece of property I'm going to build a commercial building on it I'm going to separate it and rent it to commercial clients I'm going to make a whole lot of money how about that hardship exception what do you think the ethics commission is going to say no wait a year and a day
060till you're off that board there is a big difference between wanting to go before your own agency to seek a variance to put a shed in your own backyard to keep your grill in the kids bikes dry in the winter and wanting to go before your own agency to try and launch a new commercial Venture okay next slide complaints we do get them at the ethics commission they are never filed by one's friends I can tell you that um we're not going to go too deeply into complaints but there's one slide that we're going to stay on for a minute and I'll let you know what I want you to know anyone can file a complaint against someone subject to the code of ethics it's got to be on a form provided by the ethics
061commission it's got to be signed under oath you know what that means no Anonymous complaints it's got to name the individual alleged to a vote violated the code of ethics we call that person the respondent it's got to identify the respondent's public office it's got to detail the specific acts which allegedly violated the code and a complaint is not public unless and until it's accepted by the executive director and the complainant is not a party to the action the complainant may get the ball rolling by filing but it's not complainant versus respondent it's state of Rhode Island okay the other thing I'd i' like you to know is that complaints before the ethics commission are civil in nature they are not criminal in nature the ethics commission does not put people into prison um that
062is not to say that someone facing a civil complaint before the ethics commission might not be in some hot water with the Attorney General's office or the US attorney's office for the very same conduct um but before the ethics commission it is civil the other thing I'd like you to know about complaints pardon me is that uh as of a few years ago there is a moratorium um on on the ethics commission accepting complaints from citizens against candidates for elective office anytime sooner than 90 days before the election and this came about because apparently once upon a time people thought there's an election coming up I think I'll throw some mud against my opponent and I'll file a complaint who cares if it sticks to the wall it'll be on the front page of the
063Providence journal and uh my business will be done here and then even if the complaint gets dismissed the next day you're not going to see that on the front page you're going to see it on page 17 with those six font Public Notices right so 90 days before an election is the cut off for filing a complaint against a candidate the exception is the ethics commission may file a complaint on its own regardless of the time of year okay I may have spoke too soon about that air conditioning huh is it me maybe I'll sweat off a pound or two okay we're finally at advisory opinions advisory opinions is pretty much the other half of what I do at the ethics commission along with my colleague and friend teodor Papa Teddy and I probably draft
06495% of the advisory opinions that leave our office so we'd like you to know what they are how to get one if you want one next slide an advisory opinion is a legal interpretation of the code of ethics it is issued by the ethics commission it provides specific guidance about a particular and impending circumstance and it's based on the representations of the petitioner your takeaways here the ethics commission does not issue advisory opinions on hypothetical situations one who's got the time two it's of no use because these advisory opinions very much turn on the facts that drive them and when I say they're based on the representations of the petition that means we don't investigate facts of advisory opinions we rely on the person the petitioner the person seeking The Advisory opinion to tell us
065the facts as they are and and be truthful about them and if one receives an advisory opinion based on true facts saying that um you are allowed to do this under the code of ethics that's protection in case someone files a complaint speaking of which any person subject to the code can ask for an advisory opinion about a provision that may affect that particular person you don't ask on behalf of someone else um the time to get an advisory opinion is before taking official action better to get what is it better to get permission today than to ask forgiveness tomorrow right um plus the ethics commission does not issue advisory opinions on past conduct prospective conduct only next slide so to get one of these advisory opinions you mail hand deliver or email email to
066the ethics commission a letter containing your signature and I need all this info I absolutely need your name your phone number your email address because we are going to communicate back and forth when um this draft is getting is created the name jurisdiction and powers of your agency commissioner office tell me what your position is tell me your duties describe the nature of the potential conflict summarize the relevant facts as best you can I'll get the rest of them out of you as necessary you can't possibly be expected to know everything we need to know do let us know if you have any time constraints generally speaking the ethics commission meets twice a month once a month in the summer always on a Tuesday Morning always at 9:00 am. and we try and issue these
067advisory opinions in the order that the requests come in but sometimes somebody's in more of a hurry than somebody else we certainly want to accommodate as best we can after you submit your request you're going to get a letter saying we got it you're going to get a draft recommendation prepared by a staff attorney it will say draft on every page in big letters they're usually three four maybe five pages long the reason it says draft doesn't mean a thing unless and until a majority of the ethics Commissioners vote to approve it you are strongly encouraged to attend the meeting at which your advisory opinion will be uh considered by the ethics commission they may have a question for you you may have a question for them it's painless we do the advisory opinions right
068at 9: and I'd be surprised if anyone was um at the meeting past 10 to get an advisory opinion if it is approved you will get a written copy our copy is going to go on our ethics commission website and what I'd like you to know is both The Advisory opinion which is public anyway because it's on the website and your letter asking for it are considered public records under the access to public records act so if someone called my office and said I want a copy of the advisory opinion issued to Lyn ricus along with the letter that she sent to you asking for it that would need to be turned over look at us at Financial disclosure already we are wrapping up rapidly Financial disclosure statements we're not going to go too deeply
069into them but um these are the there are a number of people public officials uh that need to file a yearly financial statement right and you can see here the the people that do have to file these things if you are required to file an annual financial statement you are well aware of it because we know who needs to file and Michelle sends reminders every year they due the last Friday in April or within 30 days after someone's initial appointment to a board commissioner agency next slide here's what I'd like you to know the purpose why we have Financial disclosure I promise it is not to embarrass annoy or offend anyone Financial disclosure helps ensure people acting in the public interest do not use their public positions to further their private Financial interests they help
070identify any conflicts between an official's Financial interests and their public office they increase the overall transparency in government appointments and decision-making they help further The public's confidence in government and what's wrong with that no one's going to ask you what you paid for your house no one's going to ask you how much money you have in the bank those are not the types of questions what boards do you sit on as an officer um where are you employed not how much do you make those sorts of questions to identify potential conflicts and here it is this is our slide with the contact information for my office I will tell you this um as for advisory opinions some people might just want to give a call and talk to someone at the ethics commission and and
071that's fine too the only thing you need to realize is that if you get me on the phone and we're talking about a question anything I say to you is is uh purely informal advice and is not binding on those Commissioners that I work for right um if you need something formal that you can rely on with 100% certainty you'll want to get a formal advisory opinion but you know if I get a call sometimes I'll get a call it's two in the afternoon I'm on the such and such Town Council and I need to know whether I can vote on a particular matter and I'll say Well when is this coming up well a meeting's at 7 you're not going to get an advisory opinion between now and 7 o'clock but let's talk it
072through and uh what people will ordinarily do unless it's real clear to them that it's not a conflict they may take their chances or they'll just recuse out of abundance of caution or they'll get an advisory opinion and ask that the matter be continued so that the person can get the advisory opinion there's any number of things you can do so that's a lot of information and this is where I say to people do you have any questions and this is when I can feel people thinking one of two things the first is this questions I don't even know half of what you just said how am I supposed to phrase a question you've just been spinning stuff at me for 45 minutes perfectly understandable if you have a question at a later date you
073let me know and you will be surprised at how some of this stuff is just going to stay with you as the days go on and the weeks go on um you know this is not a course you take once in your lifetime and understand the whole thing um I've been with the ethics commission five and a half years going on six years and I still scratch my head a number of times a week the other thing I can feel people thinking is yeah I have a question I prefer not to ask it in front of 30 other people thank you very much I'll catch you privately and I will certainly take my time packing up but I will ask if anyone has a question at this point yes ma'am that's an excellent question what
074I keep track of is the number of people that attend these trainings not the names now sometimes municipalities do their own thing and they keep track and I'll tell you why we don't track the names if someone were to be held to a higher standard because they attended an Ethics training I mean everyone's subject to the code and everyone's responsible for acting consistent with the code but if someone were held let's say they came before the commission on a complaint and it turns out that they never had ethics training and they were punished more than someone uh or or someone who had ethics training was punished because they had ethics training you should have known better and they're punished more severely than someone who didn't not that the ethics commission would do that but this
075is the theory behind it I don't want people to not want to take ethics training on the chance that they might be held to absolutely understanding and knowing everything they heard tonight now what if somebody and I'm also convinced that someone can sit through this training three times and not Come Away with half as much as someone who picks up the code one night and reads it like that like I don't know so I don't want to penalize anybody for taking the training and I don't want to keep anybody from wanting to take the training out of a fear that they're going to be held to a higher standard but it's an excellent question because you'd like to think if someone takes training they're not going to step out of line right because they've tab
076the training but you just don't know what if someone's not feeling well or they lost a parent that day or they weren't you know whatever um now the other thing I want to mention is this ethics training since the fall of 2021 is now available in a pre-recorded format online that you get a link sent from me if you want a link to the training it's pretty repetitive of tonight but it's like seven little individual modules on each of the topics that I created and and recorded they last about six minutes a piece you can sit on your own time at your own computer and and take it again and I threw in a couple of multiple choice questions at the end of each module you don't have to pass it you don't have to
077take it some people like to just to say I wonder if I've learned anything let me answer these questions so if anyone wants that you can get that as well any other questions yes sir [Music] nool Point spouse Bo that's not a VI that must have been because because the ACT the official action of voting to appoint your spouse to the planning board it sounds like because there's no compensation where's the direct Financial impact upon the spouse by their spouse's vote but it does have kind of a weird gives you a weird feeling about it right but in other words a lot of these small towns are I've heard that over and over inv the problem right right and if if there's if there's comp compensation that's problem right sure sure there questions any other
078questions this is on the agenda is there any way to tell how many people are online um thank you sir okay oh any other questions yes what the state did a few years back by by relieving us of some of our responsibilities get handing it over to six I don't know what he's talking about the the education accountability act with school Improvement teams and superintendent um Privileges and rights of school committee started to shift and change state law changed point is fact oh I should educate myself on yeah more about school committees I know I don't you know I I appreciate anyone who um includes Public Service in their life and you know you could all be home watching Jeopardy right now um and there's a probably a lot more hours than any of us
079realize for public servant so I'm very grateful but I think school committees uh often have it as tougher tougher than a lot of others um I admire you for stepping forward um thank you for your time good luck with the rest of your meeting and I'm going to go sit in my cold car now thank you very much good night everyone thank you okay Item B on the agenda is field trip request I am recommending approval of the following requests for Chris Hab and Stacy Pepper for two students and two chaperons to travel to the FFA national competition and convention in Indianapolis Indiana from October 21st 2024 to October 26th 2024 there questions n those in favor is UN Miss thank you our next field trip request of the high school boys Cross Country Coach
080bill habak for 12 students and two chaperons to travel to Pilgrim Pines Conference Center cross country camp West Swansea New Hampshire from August 25th through August 27th this was a yearly trip prior to co second questions those in favor unanimous thank you item C on the agenda is memorandum of understanding between the Westerly Public Schools and the Charo Regional School District to for a Rhode Island inter Scholastic League high school girls swim Co-op team I am recommending approval of the memorandum of understanding between westle public schools and the chero Regional School District to form a r Island inter Scholastic League high school girls swim Co-op team I need just to remind the um school committee that this would be Title 9 based on the number of girls that we have we we've never had enough
081girls to be able to um have a swim team because you have to have more than three we now are up to five so we are um are proud of that but we also need to make sure we comply with the title nine second questions so the cost of this is $3,500 for our portion correct any other questions those in favor unanimous thank you item D on the agenda is the fy2 Grant application with Rhode Island infrastructure bank for upgrading and updating of the Charlestown Elementary School Wells and the emerging contaminants Grant I am recommending approval to submit the Grant application to R Island infrastructure Bank to upgrade and update the public water service Wells at Charlestown Elementary School in the amount of $615,000 to eliminate and reduce the polyfluorinated substances which also known as
082PFA pfas questions great back go ahead I may be able to answer it um so how are the numbers at Char there are the four so that's we um monitor that but we knew this the wells have always been a concern as you know at Charlestown it's an ongoing and we've worked with the town as well um but the numbers of the other schools are within uh they're they're almost zero or none um but charlestone Wells is one of the reasons why we recommended some of the the new um construction because it would have helped us handle the well infrastructure which as you know $615,000 is a large expense we were lucky enough to be able to coordinate um to get this grant uh four yeah it's it's parts per um parts per trillion I
083believe but it's it's a measurement of the P pasas content across I believe it's five or six different categories and those are aggregated to give a total number that number needs to be below four when the EPA regulations kick in which is in about five years um right now it needs to be below 20 that's the state regulation so we are compliant with the state regulation and there's every indication that will be compliant for the next 5 years but then when the EPA regulation kicks in we won't be comp C uh just as a followup the campus also has um an 8 count I checked the I checked the latest test records um however we have a middle school with no detection um I think we have might have one other well here so we
084could always cross-connect the well on the campus location and come up with a way to get get water into the other system but Charlestown is Standalone so we have to deal with that by itself I'm only asking for this information just use your mic next mic down thank you um I actually saw Larry and Donna and the k no G answer the question okay Ken so if we don't get the grant we have to come up with uh 615,000 to replace three wall we have we've been working alongside them so we are pretty confident that we will get the grant okay the US green R award helps us get lots of Grants that's excellent good to know thank you yes Craig was that 650 solely for Charlestown and we got to app for no that's
085for Charlestown okay thank you anybody else all right those in favor is unanimous thank you as you know we need to begin Elementary planning so for the selection of necessity for school construction members just to review while we don't have the money yet to be able to hire architex Engineers for the planning of the elementary schools it'll be important for us to capture the ideas that people want to pursue so when we do put out an RFP The Architects Engineers understand the number of choices and you'll be able to see the amounts of each one of the choices that you would like to see an architect put a proposal plan together so that's why um we'll be we're looking to begin in August um we uh I am recommending both Greg zenan and John dero
086they were already on the necessity School construction team and have a good history of what's been done to date and all other members are as you know are required by ride so I I am recommending Greg and John I don't know if you want to take it separately and then you do the school committee members uh if I would just say we appoint the same ones but if anybody would like to do it differently please let me know but I am recommending the reappointment of the four members if they are in agreement that they would like to continue to serve on this committee along with Greg zenan and John dero who were also previous members um and again every other member is required by R somebody want to make a motion so we can discuss
087it or do you would you prefer to take them separately us you want to take them separately take them separately okay fine um somebody make a motion for John Deo and Greg zenan so okay those in favor one who made that was it it wasn't Polly I think Jess made it made it those in favor and you're abstaining or um I thought we going to discuss it no John and and Greg no I didn't think there was necessary need for discussion so do you have an opinion um I just wondered if there are other people in the community maybe that would be interested that also have experience in construction so rather than just you know assume that they're the best candidate without putting out to the community like how do we know they are well
088I mean so that was my thought one thing is that the hopkington town council did appoint Greg zenan as a member uh on the building Committee just recently he was a member on the necessity for school and he was just appointed building committee didn't go on so I think the hopkington Town Council put Faith in Greg zenan even on a separate board that had no nothing to do with our vote uh John dero has a a strong history of the electrical needs of the district um while other people have maybe electrical background they don't have the inner workings of the actual um intricacies that we've been dealing with so while yet yes I mean we all have people that we know I think these members represent um a history that is important to the task
089but again you can vote now that's everyone has a chance um my my thought was not that I have any issue with the candidates it was more just the fact of um has it been put out to the community in case it was anyone else that has experience it would be interested that is entirely my thought also does John Deo work for the school he's a vendor he's a vendor so he's also a community he has to be a to be um this is a Community member so there's no stien for this position there's no fin explain vendor what you mean by that um he has a hired electrical service he he's hired to do he's our Electric electrical work when we have to call when the telephone poll went on got on fire over
090the weekend and he's also u a member of the town so the ride only requires you to be um a Community member so he is one of many members of this committee right yeah so I'm just going to share my opinion is that I would like to see it go out to the community if there was anybody else interested that may have even Superior experience so I'm just putting that out there sure So based on those comments let's vote again those in favor and recusing or abstaining I'll abstain okay so then um my next recommendation is to reappoint unless the members that were approved on uh decide they don't want to be on the school committee members that were previously on the necessity for school construction team do everybody know remember who they were yeah
091they're listed so yeah it's all right here so I can read them it's Katherine Craig Karen and Patricia do any of you have a desire to leave that committee somebody make a motion e for me to make a motion F no you're not getting any money I know there's no money involved but it's required by Ry that you sit on I don't want the appearance I let me make a motion to keep the four um existing members who choose to stay on on the committee fantastic thank you second second second those in favor I'm gonna vote for myself otherwise we don't have enough votes can we have is there no discussion on that the motion was made apologize do you have a point to make I the only question I have is this work is
092going to extend for probably a period of time right it yes yes how does that affect members that are school committee members post November sure um actually the um ride only requires one school Committee Member okay perfect you answer my question you have four so you covered yep you answer my question they become community members anyway so yeah yeah yep no you answer my question what about Ned what Ned's required position so Ned's position whoever we hire would be that position it's required by R now the other question is some seats are up for re-election some what just said right remember you're only required to have one school Comming member okay not one per town just one one R asks you to have one member we are going to because ns are safe you do
093realize that going to get Donna started cther you have a question yes um so yes I understand we're only required to have one however say um things change in the election and there's someone that's on the committee that does not get reelected um is there anything that precludes us from appointing another member no we would put it on the if we have no members we would have to ask committee to appoint a member no I don't mean if we have none I mean say we have the one but we but someone who got elected is interested well it's a public meeting anyone can attend but and there's no votes I mean everything comes back to the school committee so no the necessity for school construction team can't make decisions the school committee makes decisions which
094is different than the building committee so everything has to come back to this committee for a decision Karen I think post election typically what happens is we review review all of the subcommittees correct and make sure we filled all of those spots so this would be one of those possible positions it would somebody then wants to put it back on an agenda you can put it back on an agenda I just wanted to remind the school committee that no decisions are made outside of the school committee because it's a different board way the Cho Act is the building committee that's the building committee that stands separate from the school committee and those seats Community seats are selected by the Town Council and then the school committee selects the school committee seats one for each J
095any other questions those in favor oh did you have a question no I just want to say like any other committee any member can attend they won't have a vote but any other member that's interested and sitting in on those necessities of school construction meeting are welcome to come so can I add to what she just said they might not have a vote they have a but they have a voice yeah absolutely and Cho is always been open to that everything's open folks you can all come make it a party it's not super secret you can attend you can voice your opinion any other comments those in favor thank you that was UN okay the next item is outside management study this item was requested by Craig Lozan in response to request from hopkington Town
096Council vice president Scott Bill Hurst included in the packet are document submitted by Hopkinton Town counselor Sharon Davis Craig I'm gonna open it up to you okay um thank you thank you Sharon um I've heard Scott asked for many many many years um let's at least discuss it um I'm glad you gave some of your information because I did have a a pertinent question uh your main goal here is for tax relief only not only I'm sorry what did you say for tax relief only can I read my statement chair typically what we do is we have the committee ask questions first so is anybody feeling if they'd like to go before Sharon before she reads well I was going to wait till this unfolds so no problem Don yeah my question is to Mr
097Hurst um I have sat at many meetings where you've requested this management study and I just at some point in the discussion I would like you to explain to us what what motiv Ates that do you feel that there are inefficiencies that need to be addressed for us going outside of what you're already seeing we're doing with the schools and the budget so you should so the I yeah so what we're going to do is I'm GNA have Mrs Davis read her statement okay then the school committee will have an opportunity to expound upon that and then we can go to members of the public okay all right Mrs Davis thank you the last chero facility and financial study was conducted in 1999 by MGT of America Incorporated the study was commissioned to address the
098facility and financial needs of the district for the next 10 years 1998 through 2008 based on a rapidly increasing enrollment prog projection up to 4,470 students by 2008 as of 2023 the 1999 enrollment projections were found to be very inaccurate the highest actual District enrollment was 3,891 students in 2001 was reduced to 3,746 students in 2008 and has decreased to 38 students in 2023 during the same time frame the Tero budget increased from 32,8 14 4,641 in 2001 to 50, 327,000 in 2008 and was 62,1 181,000 37 in 20123 clearly it's time to conduct a new management audit to cut costs a similar audit request was made by Senator Elaine Morgan in a January 14th 2020 letter sent to me she urged the school committee and the three town councils to conduct an independent Financial
099audit an independent management study she also felt that residents of all three towns would benefit from these two studies both by achieving cost savings and by having a management plan to continue to provide students the education they deserve but at a price taxpayers can afford Senator Morgan's comments inspired me to ask governor mcke in June 2023 if there was State funding for these studies per our hobon town council's July 17 2023 letter to Cheyenne kazol the director of Municipal Affairs we requested funding for a management audit that extends beyond the typical Financial audit we wanted the audit to examine the way resources are applied determine the effic efficiency and effective application assess whether the desired results are being achieved and create actionable recommendations we would model our audit on the continuous business process Improvement study
100management audit conducted by the Prince George's County school system in 2016 and I sent you an introduction to it and I sent you their RFP and I I don't know if they got the the final result the final report after Ernst Etc did their study it's on their website with the packet and it's on this the district website as well for the public okay and study so we decid we would have studied three of the five areas that they studied we would study business and Management Services information technology and Support Services Prince George's County Schools also studied human resources and curriculum we were not interested in those two areas because our school district Personnel are doing a great job of implementing Rhode Island mandated curriculum requirements based on the Cho 2021 2022 report card our
101school district is performing better than the state average by most educational measurements the ELA which I think is English language um Tero scores 44 .8% of the people using it doing it versus the state is 33.1% Cho's math is 40.2% versus the state of 26.6% and science our students score 51.8% versus the state 30.7% we believe that we can find cost Savings in other areas that would result in tax relief for our residents based on my research I identified three Rhode Island firms who can perform the management audit for between 60 and $80,000 or less and submitted that cost request for funding to the educational representative from Governor mck's office unfortunately we were told there are no funding available I also received the same answer from the Rhode Island Foundation I'm trying I was trying
102to find a way for the three towns not to have to pay for these audits so that's why I was looking tonight I am suggesting that the chahal school district find the funding in your budget which means ultimately it comes back to the towns um I am also suggesting that some of the money spent for athletic trophies my favorite uh complaint $445,000 be diverted to the cost of the study as a former buyer I would be be happy to work with the chost superintendent the Director of Finance and school committee to create a customized RFP that was approved by all parties thank you again for your consideration I'm looking forward to your reply thank you I know superintendent Peart has a couple of um statements she'd like to make in relation to that so I
103just want to go back because uh and I appreciate Sharon's due diligence I think she always works really hard to try to to try to provide the information to the best of her ability but I just want to clarify a few things the enrollment studies that happened in 99 and 2008 those were those are under old laws and in 2018 the state law changed that that the districts every five years had to invest in a capital Improvement plan which included an enrollment study one of the reasons was because of the inaccuracies in earlier days so what happens now is when they do enrollment studies they must look at birth rates they might they must look at Debs they have to look at permits pulled Etc so that law was updated based on concerns of overall
104projections so we now know that I R study data is much more efficient however uh families still have options you may still have these students but they'll homeschool all they to go to Catholic school or private school so they exist but they have opportunities um that are may be different but uh I can assure you that the enrollment studies done since we have been here are much more accurate based on the the new law compliance so that was one I know you had said management audit to cut costs I want to be careful when um when you look at the Prince George County study it was um based off the RFP was based off the findings and recommendations from their audit so as you all remember there were no findings or recommendations from a brand
105new audit company that we just utilized so they had very specific direct interest in Prince George because of several findings and recommendations in their report we do not have that the other thing I want to make sure when we talk about no actions um create actionable recommendations part of um our review was the district did uh participate in a study um I want to say maybe 15 years ago and there were actions that were mentioned that should happen no actions were taken so there was uh money invested in a study and nothing came from that study I I don't know about you but I don't like spending money for things that AR not going to be fruitful for students or fruitful for the the community so I think it's important for us to recognize that
106no actual items came from the last time the district had um been involved in this type of work also uh when they came from the findings recommendations they me like Sharon mentioned human resources and curriculum she wouldn't need to dig into I think Scott Bill Hurst would disagree councelor Hurst has mentioned our staffing I believe um there's a concern around our staff so that I think that he would recommend but I do think it's too broad and I and I I'm not a proponent because I I think what's missing one is that they already exist the data uh ride put up the data two years ago we've shared the data with the school committee we've shared the website with the school committee the data that you're looking for exist so my question is in the
107school district financial data located on rid's website and just for the public I'm going to read with millions of dollars being spent to educate our young people it makes sense that decision-making data be available to District leaders School leaders State leaders regarding where our resource dollars are being spent it also talks about performance because as you all know we have to ensure that our students are making um their goals so the following resources were created to ensure we had this information that did not exist many years ago this is um in the last two years it's the uniform chart of account so when that system went into place you'll all remember your budgets Chang some of you knew or may not that's why you have the budget you have all the different codes and why
108we have to change different items when the state it's so that they can track our information and that's a system of numbers and method of accounting that provides transparency uniformity accountability and comparability of financial information to all schools and districts and then there's four other Insight Finance reporting system for school district expenditures prior to 2009 it has the eate program which reviews Federal programs that support technology and Library infrastructure of schools it has classroom initiatives Statewide bonds that would provide access to classrooms and then Esser dis urements so my my recommendation would be that the school committee in uh take time and the town councils take the time to review this data and look and compare across the the state on what this says because I think a lot of the questions that people have
109are answered in that data I just don't think people have taken the time to and I'm not saying it's easy I know we did it with the budget committee we walked it through so I don't know if Tyler or Jess or Karen and somebody else was saw that Andrew Andrew Andrew um want to share the information but I think you all felt that that data was important that it's what people keep talking about but it's not necessarily and I'm happy to have ride come in and and do that presentation unfortunately the gentleman that did it for all of you just left right and he was phenomenal so hopefully they get somebody as good but um I do think that may be the best maybe like a a larger meeting for Town councils and school committee
110to ask the questions using the data before we you know utilize dollars in in ways that are not going to provide information that we can use that's thank you Sharon and just $45,000 Sharon that is not for awards there's a category so it's Awards it's uniforms it's first aid needs and for our athletic trainer just so you know oh I thought it was trophies no that is part of that but there's a lot the line 4,000 for trophies is just to me I can promise you think the reason the reason I really wanted to have this man management audit was we've heard it we've heard we need to we need it we need it and nobody knew exactly what it would provide which is why I went looking and came up with the the Prince
111George's County RFP and their final report Etc so people could get a feel for what you get out of a a management audit and I've and I have participated in in that kind of thing in a lot of large companies that I've worked for in my career and I think you know they usually ask the people who are doing the job well could how could we do it better that's one of the questions that the Consultants ask and and I don't think we've ever had that time to go and talk to the people who are doing the job if they could find a way to do it more efficiently and they might find that that maybe some of the there would be cost savings but I you know I'm not hung up on the dollars
112because also the average uh charge for uh per student compared to the state chero is under is less so we're not I don't think we're overspending the money but I was just wondering if in fact we could become more efficient and then maybe that way we could reduce the costs I'm going to go to Ned next pardon Ned had a response okay yeah I I took a look through the documentation and also um you know I based on the earlier news I'm saying this with with genuine an interest in the community uh doing well and I don't have a dog in the fight so to speak uh but but there's a couple things I observed Prince George's County is a very very different situation than we have extremely different apples and oranges but but it's
113it's over a billion dollars um and that that study cost actually Rings pretty true because I think they spent about 500,000 on an audit of grading and some curricular items which based on their size is is roughly where $50,000 would get us uh what I would offer though is is exactly what we've been talking about which is to take a look at the data that exists because the uniform chart of accounts is a requirement of the State of Rhode Island which breaks out our spending as compared to each other school in a very exact manner everybody's supposed to report their finances the same way and as as uh council member Davis noted you know we know that in a lot of measures we're at or above the averages for the state what I would suggest
114is just what the superintendent brought up which is what's your return on investment so in in one manner I'd say yes expenses are something to focus on I do think there's efficiencies that can be gained from looking at different things um a case in point uh we looked at bus stops there's also a political cost for some of that because it may make residents uncomfortable but it gets us to a place where we're more efficient there's a whole other side of the Ledger though that is not talked about I believe in Prince George's nor in the considerations we've had so far and it kind of came to me when we were looking at Hope Valley which is what is the revenue side of this conversation because that's literally the entire other half of the ledger
115so if we are 65 million-ish in expense we are equally 65 million in Revenue that is tax revenue as we all know it's also Grant Revenue state revenue so on and so forth I I would invite or suggest that if you're going to spend this kind of money the towns also consider some kind of Revenue side to look at what are the different options to collect tax income is there business income that can be derived is there granted income that can be derived are there other opportunities with the state to partner that may offer some offsets to what we're spending money on because it the reason I come up with a suggestion if you do look at our data you will see that we've expanded our income from tuitions we've expanded our income from Grants
116we've expanded our income from other other sources and I don't know that all districts have been able to leverage that kind of Revenue Side Of The Ledger so that's that's something I would put on the table that if you're going to spend this kind of money look at the revenue side where there may be some opportunity as well well Hopkinson has been doing a u a lot of using federal grants and and getting money from the state so because if not we wouldn't even we wouldn't have a capital we don't have enough Capital to do anything so we've won a lot of money recently from the state uh and grants so that we can have a new community center so that we do things we have um I think our auditor is on tape saying
117that our fund balance should be I think you almost got out of your chair when she said five to s% and when Ned and I were in just in DC and Dr Cella regarding the green ribbon award they were shocked that our fund balance is only at 2% they were could not believe that they like how do you even function on a 2% 2.25% but to Ned's point it we can't have everything can't live on the back of the schools we want to be efficient AB absolutely but remember the school committee's responsibility is legislated to be Student First phisically responsible student first um but I I I know everyone there sort of this contention between the towns but Charles Town's tax dollars are lower but there's Economic Development whether you believe it's because of the
118cultural or whatever there's Economic Development Richmond and Hopkinson do need to have more of a profile for that that business side of it you can remain rural but you it always can't be on the side of the district to be able to find how to alleviate tax because um that so while it's 70% charlestone has a different set of income coming in that offsets that that's that business development well like I said whether you believe it or not like I I said to uh the chair juicy I was at top golf with my uh nieces and I said to myself this would be a great I mean the ecosystem in Richmond and hopkington are golf Community what a great you know lucrative business this could be if we if we tapped into that but I
119think I'm hoping with the economic development committees that you're trying to establish that will also offset um because well when you look at our side of the house what's going up is and we're we're not going up even close to inflation and I we we continue to show that and I think people are often impressed in the state but what we're accomplishing and how we're doing it with the dollars grants a lot of our good good work the green ribbon award is from Grants it's because we have invested our time and energy for the sustainability of our work um Partnerships with our grants um and we've been able to access that work but I and I appreciate it but while I think we're always about cutting cost and we're always looking for efficiencies it can't
120be at the cost of student outcomes I don't think you're saying that no I'm not um I saw Catherine and was it Paulie or Jess and okay okay um so Sharon thank you so much much for the work you've done on this and um I would just like to say that having a lot of data and information transparency is a lot different than having Expert Eyes that are being hired um that are specifically um trained gifted experienced in looking um to improve efficiency um big businesses that are very profitable do this all the time I have a brother-in-law who is an efficiency expert for years um is no at all no insult to all the good that Cho um is doing um at all it's just recognizing that there are people that are skilled specifically
121in that area I would agree that um you know Personnel cost is big and I wouldn't say that that was something that shouldn't be on there it says business and Management Services Information Technology support services I personally um believe that that this is something that has been talked about for years it should be done um and again it's very different to say oh the school committee the town councils um they have access to so much data so utilize it um it's very different to say that we can do that as opposed to have an expert being hired so I do think that it's something we should do and I also am told by um Sylvia Thompson that the three towns did um did um vote to do this and the money was put in the
122um Charo budget of $100,000 I don't know I don't have this as firsthand knowledge but she was on the Town Council at the time she said $100,000 was put in the budget for this and it was never done so um to me that's just another reason um and again I wasn't the one on the Town Council I am just relaying information so I I um I do believe we should do this thank you uh Jess and then ply so I also want to thank you for bringing this information to us I know you're not the usual person who discusses it Mr Hurst is the one who always brings it up um and I haven't heard him ever back up his request with any information um other people seem to know what this is more I've
123looked it up I can't find any I've never found any studies of other Public Schools where this has happened yeah that's why I gave that yeah so I appreciate that it's been difficult for me to find it um I I think we do have to be upfront about some of the motives like um I appreciate the information you put in here but your letter also says three times this is about cutting costs or what taxpayers can absorb um and I think that's the goal of Mr Hurst from what I've heard from him um and it kind of brings up what we went through with the bond and with the budget and talking about closing Hope Valley and how that was a way to create efficiencies and to consolidate our schools and to address enrollment and
124it's still it doesn't make it easy even if the math is there um none of the discussions that we make that may have have more efficiencies across the line are easy when the math is there and even um in some of the texts from what you presented it said upfront Investments needed to create later savings there's a clear opportunity for efficiencies but these require investment and that was similar the same discussion we were having with the bond like if we make this investment and build these new buildings we'll have efficiency L later on down the line but it's going to cost money um and as far as the data from ride that was something that the they came and they presented to us and and it's difficult if you look at this portal there's so
125much data in the uniform chart of accounts and on the ride website but what we had talked about with the budget subcommittee was them coming to us and doing a presentation so I really like to put that back on the table at some point because when you have a guide to show you um how to use it and the different levels of interaction it's very helpful thank you hly Sharon I just I have nothing to add or nothing to question I just wanted to say thank you for taking the time this is a lengthy letter and there was quite a bit of information attached so I just wanted you to know that I appreciate you taking the time to run this down thank you thank you and I will say when when Governor mcke came
126to our learn 365 signing at hopkington that's the time that I asked him if he had money and Gina said afterwards that she would be willing to participate in the management study provided that we all agreed on the recommendations because she thinks the my my said I didn't offer up the money yeah pay for it I said I would want agreement across the Town Council and a vote that the recommendations that were made were acted upon right because I do think and to your point Katherine while I'm it's interesting to me that we want outside experts but you hire people to do your jobs and then don't necessarily believe that they have the information necessary I'm just I want to be clear I've been involved in the John's Hopkins Providence it was a very lengthy
127study I've been involved in efficiency reports I was part of the Great City Schools key performance indicator study so I've done this work you have somebody that you hire at a very good cost to that does that has done this work but yet um for me to say I want to spend money in our budget if you all find the money someplace else that's great but I I don't I have a hard time giving more money to things that will not be actionable or not be done in in a budget that I am using Grant funds to provide student Support Services um I had Karen and then I had Craig and then I had done Sharon thank you so much for putting this together I appreciate it and I know that you've gone above and
128beyond to try to find funding for this and I appreciate that as well your figure of 60 to 80,000 I'm not sure where that came from CLA is one of the vendors the one of the three vendors and they quoted uh 80,000 and I think that I I have another vendor I think I can get it for Less so that's why put that number out a normal a normal just Financial audit for um chero you've paid about 40 or 45 right yep yeah so it's going to be a little bit more than 40 or 45 so I that's how I came up with those numbers okay so during this past budget cycle we cut $80,000 for a bus by redoing the bus lines we cut $80,000 for a bus we cut $152,000 from the fund
129balance and we cut $434,400 to 80,000 to do a study seems inefficient to me I do think we should start with Ry coming in and doing a presentation and looking at the data that's already available and If at that point the feeling is still there then perhaps all of the towns because you even stated um the school committee and the towns would fund this yeah I I know I know I but I appreciate I gave up Andra Sharon you've gone above and beyond and I don't think this was this was your Pony I don't think this is what you brought to the you know you picked up Mr Hurst um yeah I just and I and I don't blame him I mean it's I just I just did I'm tired of hearing it correct and
130I thought I thought as I tried to say with about um Gina that she really thinks that if you had the study you might find out that they that the chero is very very efficient and actually needs more people that was what I start so you know but at least it puts it to bed and the and the and the residents will understand and appreciate what cherro has done if some third party unfortunately you need to have a third party say they're doing a fabulous job before people really believe it and that that's where I'm that's I think that's why we appreciated the financial audit of a new company that came in and said it was the first time ever they had no recommendations no findings so that we can um that the school committee
131can be proud and feel that the financial information that they're getting is strong so you know and I think that sometimes can go un notice because of of a platform and I appreciate you're saying it Sharon um the efficiencies would come in but not through money because like if someone monitored me for a day to see what I have to do that's not a superintendent's job it's inefficient so we're paying staff like me to do things that are not efficient and take away from the work which is my point what you're going to see from a management study based on how how I because I've had to go in to do them is they're going to say well you can go up to contractual size okay school committee how did that go over when when
132you tried to cut classrooms and raise class size Place gets loaded right we you saw what happened Hope Valley just cutting kindergarten right from hope valy it was it's not easy but Ned and I came in saying you know and the school committee knew this because it was part of the plan hope rally by Richie told you in 2005 John Pini told you in 1999 rally needs to close it's not it's not going to be efficient for the district so things have come up but as it's not easy to make the decisions that come along with what um and I'll be honest with you I don't believe going to contractual class size is good for students at any grade level I think you have while you have it and you may need to do it
133in certain classrooms you've got to be thoughtful about who those students are what is their data there it's not just oh this will be perfect for this students and I'm sure if we did it you would have parents at the podium who would explain why this is not the class to do this with MH and I think that's where you know why when I make decisions and then Mak decision it's not in a in a it's not in a box you know we all collaborate with our administrators we're always I mean we're five years 10 years down the road of what we're do we already know sort of the plan of getting even more efficient but what I can tell you is there's a lot of inefficiencies because we have one person who does a
134smattering and it like I'm your communication person everything that goes out if if God forbid there's a crisis people want to know well I you need to up the FAQ well I'm the one who updates the FAQ and I have to be in a school as well so I think that's where people would be surprised about if the audit comes in which is why I said if you can find the money to do it and people before it's done says yes what comes forward we commit to make sure it happens I'm All Aboard oh I'm sorry there are other I'm sorry I just have a question about I don't even know if it's still P there are like three other people first oh I'm so sorry I thought you were Happ I'm sorry because it's
135it's Donna and Craig and then I'll come to you thank you all everything thank you Sharon for doing this you're right and I so appreciate your candor and let's just talk about this discuss it make a decision and put it to bed for at least a while longer um uh a couple I have so many things to say and agree with everything that was said particularly with je what G had to say I think um we worked really hard at cutting our budget down to what I considered to be pretty beer bones and I can't even imagine coming up where would we find any kind of dollars let alone $80,000 in this budget to do a a study that that we are not sure would produce the kind of information that would save us money
136it probably will produce the kind of information that will cost us more money that we will not be able to do because every the T the towns will bar at the increase in budget over what they would recommend as Ned said it's comparing apples and oranges I know Prince George's County and it is absolutely not the demographics of chero in the least so it's very a as a model for management study it would work for the topics but not to compare the resulting in and that is why that is why I wanted to we would have to customize our RFP absolutely absolutely absolutely yeah and the other thing that Ned said and I would say I would add to it is we saw the Hoopa that happened with when the decision was made for financial
137reasons to close Hope Valley school I think any management study I don't think you have to spend $80,000 to find out that that's one of our biggest deficiencies is to close Hope Valley School to cut the kindergarteners to do all the things that as Gina said would be very difficult for our parents to accept Okay I think we're doing a very efficient job as long as I've been on the school committee I think it's been extremely efficient I think we have the talent in the staff to make the decisions the management decisions that any study would find to be needed and I just don't see the need to spend that money right now that's my opinion anyway thank you um and maybe Mr Hurst um maybe you could tell us where you think the efficiency
138should be before we commit to spending that kind of money because all I heard was we need a management study management studies to me implies that we're going to nitpick every little thing in our personnels and the Staffing and the number of teachers and the sides of our classes and all those things and I don't see the need for it I think we do a good job we have a good system why do we need it examined at that level for that kind of money I would not vote Yes on for this thank you anyway let's got get up and talk I before we do that because I think that's going to get into a little bit of a conversation Pat do you have something that a question yeah I just um I know we
139implemented it in the federal government um the lean Six Sigma and that was a way to um find efficiencies and and eliminate duplications of of work and even the amount of steps that people took in a building because that's all time time is money and I didn't know like and we had it at we all were required to take some training and then we did have people that went on and did the black belts and all that I didn't know if any of schools are doing any of that lean Six Sigma or if if any I know the corporations were doing it I even thought they're still doing it yeah not that specifically but for example uh with with the trust comes in the review of like our maintenance so where the where the supply
140should be held how often even when we did the um was we did project Adam defibrillators we had to Pace out uh the timing of how many steps so you know everyone the nurses will say oh we need 50 of them no we need this many per step so that we would be able to do that so um it exists just not uh in the same way that you're saying but the same thing um efficiencies through like like I am someone who can go in n and I use the data that ride provides actually um we were part of the pilot because we said we need this data you have to be able to buy we're giving you all all of this and then um they've adapted it and they Continue to update it based
141on questions that we ask which is why I think it's important to sort of know what exists and how to get your questions answered so that you can sort of break down what what is it you're really looking for so is it like I said a management is going to say okay your class sizes are 28 to 30 at high school hold them up that's not necessarily going to be something that the parents are going to love so there's always a balance when you're talking about students because it's not NE necessarily like Ned will tease me but they're not widgets so we can't you know manufacture them in the same way but we do look for the efficiencies um one example is the maintenance and the custodial which we've been as you know very short
142in um with the vacancies so that's provided a lot of inefficiencies because we can't get certain work done sometimes I'm just I'm going to make one comment if I may Craig I'm G to jump in front of you thank you um one of my issues with an outside management study at this level isn't the findings of an outside management study and I would certainly support if we were going to implement them um my chief concern is if we have an outside management study and we're taking into account all of the various stakeholders that we have three town councils the school committee and the public uh we need to really narrow down what the questions are what we're looking for and there would have to be some agreement because otherwise it's a waste of everyone's time
143because you'll have somebody pointing out saying well that's not what I cared about I cared about this other thing instead um I don't know that you're going to get that consensus and that's my chief concern is we're if we were to find the money which I'm not sure that we can if we were to go through the exercise of an outside management study um you're not going to get that consensus amongst all of those different public officials um and it will be a waste of everybody's time we've had management studies in the past as the superintendent pointed out nobody did anything with the findings of them uh we looked at an outside management study when we talked about Senator Morgan's letter and at that time we determined that we weren't willing to take that money
144out of our budget for an outside management study um so that's my chief concern again it's not the findings of an outside management study that concern me um it's gathering enough consensus amongst four governing bodies to make sure that we're hitting everybody's sweet spot and then making sure it counts for something so thank you Craig so Mr Hurst would you like to come up that was courtesy Scott I yeah I've been waiting a long time and this is we know you have I uh I believe strongly in an outside management study and long been interested in government and uh I think but I like to make a comment about the MPT study that's very rarely El mention that same study recommended equiz tax rate in the chro school district which be to the detriment of
145the town of Charleston and an asset to the towns of Richmond and hop and and uh that uh was a serious sticking point I support it outside management study and I believe it's a very positive thing the fact of the matter is is and I do institution institutionally respect the chair of school committee because I voted against the h in Town Council going to the state for an outside management study and Steve M and I did and the rationale is very interesting because I was a poly major and one of the things I always respect is the powers of the office you hold and it's not the power of the office of Town Council of hopkington because we have no institutional prerogative to even approve the chero budget like they do in a single member
146School District like North Providence which the super and is a member of but the Town Council of North Providence has the power to approve a disapprove the school committee budget we don't have that power in a Regional School District I believe that educated people get multiple ideas from different people not from one source and particularly I remind you that the town of Hopkins and spent 79% of its tax dollars on education the town of Richmond spends 80% so the ability even if it's a small amount particularly the delegates or Representatives I should say from those two towns have an obligation to their communities to make sure that town services are maintained and addressed I also believe that you should have credential people I don't believe uh that you if you have an outside management study
147you have credential people who know the issues in other school districts and uh I think that's a positive getting information from multiple people with credentials is a positive thing because even well-educated people even credential people even experienced people have dis disagreements and different perspectives I uh believe that we should have an objective credential experience firm with a record of examining School District Operations removed from both sides in this debate I think my proposal is the best specifically because it removes Politics as much as possible from the process you don't have the school department you don't have those of us who've been school budget critics and you have a a p professional outside look at the school district operations and people can draw their conclusions after it's issue I wouldn't have my fingerprints on it the
148school department would have the fingerprints on it and you can do what you may with the uh management study but I think periodically they should be done how extensive it should be done depends upon how much money uh you wish to spend and uh we should look at Staffing goods and services and what should be contracted out and what should be done in we should take in consideration the financial issues of the town but I want to remember president Dwight Eisenhower when he retired as president he talked about the military-industrial complex about people who had a financial interest in the military and defense spending what we have in America today is a public education complex that has a final uh a personal interest in expenditures for public educ ation whether it's employment and goods and
149services with local school districts so we do have public school education complex in America and that's one thing that we never talk about much with that I thank you for your time I urge you to support an outside mandate you I'm going to give Dina a shot and then you so thank you councelor h i i I appreciate um your passion for the topic um I think I I I agree with the efficiencies but I disagree with the path forward based on on your review so you had mentioned that the representative I am on the school committee in North Providence and if hopkington was not part of the regional district as it wasn't when the Cho Act was passed uh it would cost more money for the town because based on Federal and State law
150you'd have to hire your superintendent that's required by law you'd have to hire your special director that's required by law so there's and then you have to have your teachers and students so what happened was and I'm sure you know this because because you like to do your due diligence with the history it was costing the towns more money and I think when Charlestown originally they looked to uh remove themselves from The Cho act they also found that it was not going to be cost effective it it is more cost- effective to be Regional however when you mentioned the representatives for Richmond and hopkington first and foremost as a school committee and I know this because I am a school Committee Member is students is your obligation is to students not taxpayers your T your
151budget you are responsible for the budget to ensure the interests of students are met the Town Council is responsible for taxes now I've said this before we must be fiscally responsible and efficient but we are legislated to ensure that the school committee is first and foremost about students I just want to so there is clearly uh so if Hopkinson said oh you know there's there's a way for you to remove yourself from the Cho act and I think we all know that you would find similar to charone that it would cost more money which is why it hasn't happened but I do think you know instead of sort of thinking about charlestone as um a a contentious I would think about why they are a great partner and how they invest in the community to
152enhance the district a as an educational facility for the work of the of the students which they have been a fabulous partner and and maybe thinking about talking to other districts who are losing enrollment to get into the regional um Charo act like South Kingstown whose enrollment is significantly lower but I don't think you're going to find people entering in if we can't collaborate and communicate across the four um bodies so I I do think um while I believe you think the management study will show um effic inefficiencies or efficiencies in certain areas I I don't believe that based on the fact that I've done the this work and that's what I did when I came in I I I've continued to look through and I think um the school committee knows I'm always providing
153efficiencies but it takes time and it takes um I've been doing it through attrition so if you've noticed other districts have laid off 30 40 teachers Cho did not have to do that now we passed the budget and if we didn't pass the budget we all knew hope that the the end was going to be Hope Valley closing completely that was the conversation that we had that wasn't an easy conversation it's not the conversation that our parents wanted to hear but in the end if the Budget moving forward and and that's why it's it's a ongoing item if the budget is level funded our first goto is going to to be Hope rley Elementary School Because unless the school committee has other ideas which I sat here at the budget meetings and no one offered
154up suggestions and how else to cut because we are very efficient and if you look at the grant dollars that we're using those Grant dollars are supporting the initiatives that our teachers and our students and our parents are most excited about and it provides us with our student services so we're we're able to do those things because we have had an opportunity to get additional funding um but I would recommend that uh you you reach out as a Town Council to have ride come in and do that data dive with you so you can ask your specific questions and you can get really into what you're specifically interested in and then build from there Craig Aon thank you very much um Scott you said this is not about politics I hate to say it's all
155about politics and you also said back when MGT which did it in 1999 you you said they recommended that we have a equalized tax rate now looking at the Grand list back then uh Charlestown would have paid approximately 60% of the budget now right now we have a student population about 24 to 25% is that fair is that fair to Charlestown I don't think so um then in May in May middle of May 2007 the school committee and you recommend you you'd recognize some of these names I mean I would I Lov seeing it because uh aboc toet day EAS Falcon McQuade petite PR Sarah I remember those names uh they they discussed doing it again and Mr palowski in his usually infinite wisdom and his very loud booming voice was hollering no way and
156the reason why we didn't do anything they recommended the first time I don't want to spend back then $100,000 wasting it for not doing it shades of what Gina said then when uh Ryan Callahan was chair we had as an agenda item and we only it only lasted about eight minutes uh Mr Mr Richie was the superintendent then we discussed doing it then and and Barry eluded possibly up to $200,000 to do a study why so expensive because you're also paying to house these people to fly them in whatever amount of time they do their analysis um you know several years back um Charleston Town Council called the school committee members from Charlestown to a town council meeting and they wanted to know why with an increase of five students our contribution went up $550,000
157$110,000 per student why did that happen and we all all the members said because Richmond went down 37 that impacts US every year Charles at 24% hopkington almost 40 you were warned years ago your student population was going to rise Frank was your was your chair the demographic study says charon's G to drop Richmond's going to stay a little neutral and then Hoppington is going to rise and it has done exactly what they said now what it's going to do three years from now I don't know all right but but that demographic study was done by a company during the um factoring the field episode which wasn't that long ago so personally I'm not for this all right because what are they going to truly tell us the first thing the big ticket items what
158people have learned on this school committee is is a there's no sense making a cut of $500 out of a $65 million budget you need big ticket items so what's that one of one is a school okay right now we have one 1,115 elementary students that's before maybe some more kids sign up this September or August or o up to October 1st right but the point is that's what we have three schools by state law by their uh regulations of of how many students they're allowed to house three schools not including Hope Valley can house 1,233 with a difference of 118 students now if we go through a big uh uh boom of of population Rising I guess we'd have to address that issue if we go beyond that I personally don't see it happening
159um but as far as a management study personally I'm I'm not for it so that's my opinion so we've had a robust conversation so Tyler you haven't spoken yet and then everybody else who's already spoken you've got one more bite at the Apple so I'm going to go to Tyler and then K so I I mean I have a couple questions um I've never really understood what people were looking for in a management study to be 100% honest with you I do think Gina alluded to it at some point and what what I think councelor Hurst and and people are looking at is they think that the we're bloated at the top uh if that makes sense right and and we're looking for efficiencies there and quite honestly you go through this and I have
160to agree with Craig and and and a few other people here I just don't think you're going to find that and people aren't going to like the outcome of what they see and what they what they read um secondly we're talking about finding a credentialed Outsider to do this we can't even find a damn study to reference how do we find someone who's really credential to do this what are those credential enals to do this I mean you're looking for an audit you're looking for a CPA you're looking for a you know you're looking for an investment guy you go to a CFA or you go to a certified financial planner I mean I understand there's Certified Management accountants out there but I just don't understand the the thought process behind what the credential for
161this is um I I just don't right now I don't I don't support this so that's all I have to say thank you um yes I I just want to follow up on um your comment Gina that the first obligation of the school Comm committee members um is to the students we we hear that constantly um I know as a brand new school committee member that was the first thing that we were told um secondly you said that the Town Council is responsible um for the taxes but because 80% approximately of the budget at least in Richmond in um hopkington is outside of the Town Council control no one is available to look out for 80% of the budget unless school committee members are responsible enough to recognize that while they can never um lose
162sight of their um Supreme obligation to the students getting a good education they also must not dismiss their obligation um to look out and balance um the financial needs of the people that are funding the schools as well and so that is why um I believe that the school committee members have to do both and I understand that this has opened up a lot of questions that I don't think we all have satisfactory answers to and I would be dishonest if I pretended that I understand the whole scope of this in principle I absolutely agree that there is an advantage to having an external agency do that um and I would see no harm in Sharon I know you mentioned that you knew of three vendors in the state I would see no harm in
163inviting a vendor to come um that has more experience in it and again I'll just reiterate um just one point that big company do this kind of thing all the time and they are not insinuating that the people that they hire like you said G you have hired us to do these kind of things big companies do this kind of thing and they're not insinuating the people that they have hired are incompetent or not um doing a good job so my opinion is that we should at least entertain a vendor um or two to just give a presentation to the school committee so that's against the state law so you can cannot call in a vendor to discuss a quote that you want them to give you because you have to put it out to
164everybody that's not that's part of the purchasing law okay I just want to clarify you do have a responsibility for the budget that's why it's very we take very seriously we sit here hit this table and the budget cuts how many members of hopkington and Richmond and I'm I'm not I'm doing this I don't want you to answer but that's where it comes down to the table and I think what we saw Katherine is that the difficult decisions to cut the budget our our school and our staff and it's going to impact our students so like uh when Tyler said people think we're bloated at the top please feel free to watch us work because I do think that people will not be happy when they say that we're inefficient because you have a little
165number of people doing a lot of things and I think I just want to be clear overall the time and effort into the budget is where you're representing your towns for fiscal responsibility where um you're not tax based that's that's a town responsibility and if that's what people want to do then that's great but that's a Town Council responsibility first and foremost the reason why it's legislated and the reason why school committees were created were because bottom lines were never good for students they're not widgets they're not Factory materials they're real people with real lives and real situations that occur and they have to we have to look at it differently than a police car or a fire truck it's different it's important but it's different so all I'm saying is that if we're looking
166to change tax base then I would I would push on your town councils for economic development and I would I would I would push on all of you during budget Workshop to to find those efficiencies because that's where that work happens and to be honest I think we all saw with the budget committee subcommittee that we that worked very diligently that it's really hard the decisions that you have to make are cutting teachers closing schools that's where your money is going to be and not you we all saw the outcry at hope valy that's not going to change and if the budget if we have to completely close it that's not going to be a fun conversation for any of us we all get the emails we all get the letters we all see the
167social media that's where the efficiencies are going to come but my recommendation for a slow roll out is because I have to keep an interest the best with with for students and yes was it hard to close kot absolutely but I had to look at 30 compared to 3,000 so while those decisions are hard that's my responsibility don't like I said but that's that's all I want to say is that first and foremost my responsibility is to the advocate for the majority what's best for all students parents should Advocate what's best for their child but in essence we I think we all know the re the realist vision is Hope valy has to close and that means if we if we can do it thoughtfully we won't lose or have to lay off staff because
168we have enough retirements coming up through attrition that we can do this and that's what we've been doing that's why you don't see a budget but do I I mean then we all know contracts are coming up our teachers work hard we saw the budget that we're presenting every year is way below inflation that's not easy to do so I I don't take it as you thinking or anyone's thinking that we're incompetent I'm just I have a hard time dishing up money when I'm getting grants to support stud Services that's why um I'm not for and I don't think based on what we reviewed for history previously things weren't acted upon and I'm not in any interest of doing things that were that are not going to help improve the work that we do we've
169had a robust conversation about this uh is there any other school committee would like one more bite at the perial Apple final comment Catherine I'm gonna one more question that's all yep let me just anybody else okay good uh like Gina just mentioned this P past budget season it took Charlestown to make the cuts Charlestown time management study though focus on that I I understand that okay but but we also have to make the decisions our superintendent just alluded to this so thank you Donna your final comment Yeah final comment I think I want to repeat what Jessica pointed out when we went out to bond the taxpayers in two of the towns voted it down and that was to me one of the most efficient money saving over the longterm things that we could
170do as a committee is to take advantage of those of the state money to build schools rather than be looking constantly to repair them the fact that the voters voted that down said to me they're not looking at the most efficient way of operating this this District so I think that's a point to be made um so I respect and with a little further thought I can certainly understand why it could it would be illegal to pick a specific vendor to make a presentation because you're not having an RFP and not putting it out to anyone so yeah if you think about it a little more it makes logical sense that that would not be allowed um but the idea of how to get more information and explore it um I still for a lack
171of thinking of another way um I threw that out there but I I I feel like if we had more information again big companies do this kind of thing all the time and it's not a negative against our present Administration so that's my final comment thank you Jessica so you say big companies do it all the time I don't see it done of public schools um I'm open to putting out an RFP to see who's out there you know know Sharon says she knows people but that's not the professional way we have to do things but I don't I'd be curious to know who are the people doing this are they credentialed what's what's the experience doing what not because that's my point right exactly this is so this is just to to jump in
172there's not enough information right my concern is we can have an idea but it's not going to scratch the itch of everybody right Sharon you can when I when I asked when I asked the governor if he had any money um and could he do a study I pay for a study he said what kind of study so that's when I went out and and found Prince George's County's RFP and I sent that RFP to three vendors to show what I was looking for what I thought a management study was and to try to get a quote so that I know what to ask for how much money to ask for the from the governor so these people the three people that I'm talking about have seen the Prince George's County's RFP so you know
173and supposedly they can do it I just want to Bear remember Prince George was based on audit findings so they probably looked like that like I did they looked I didn't actually I only found the audit founding findings through the Langworthy Library this Frid the RFP it said what we were looking for yeah right it references the findings that they wanted so that's what I'm saying they reference it but why what they were looking for correct we don't have findings and recommendations so we're we're basing it off hunch because if we did if we had findings and recommendations from the audit then it would make sense we we would build an RFP around what we're looking to improve upon but that is and that's the other reason why I gave you the final report because
174I thought if you read the kind of recommend they came up with that might trigger your mind thinking oh well maybe we should what are we doing in this area could we do it differently could it I told you we need more people and people were going to say no well I don't know that you don't know you don't know appreciate it but I did I didn't they you I appreciate all the work you put into it I found three people who said they could quote but I just wanted to let you know that they did see the the RFP from Prince George's thank you so I I think we've had a robust conversation about this um I don't see any action on the floor so I appreciate everybody's um discussion I appreciate everybody being
175respectful and uh we're going to move on thank you so item G is the individual School Committee Member request for conference fee reimbursement so this was put on the agenda and Katherine and I spoke because um the rules of conduct section three item e has any expenditure exceeding $75 will require prior approval of the the school committee so I that and that was probably what was that that was updated back in I want to say 2015 so cost costs have risen and it's now $100 so we have a couple of things we could do we can update that um to say a to say a $100 or we have to put in some method of knowing because we don't have this in the budget so it's not a problem if you go but if if
176you want it in the budget then we need the school committee to take action of the budget to have the money in there to be ble to pay so um ites and it does say the chair would have to approve it based on the um it just says individual school committee members requests for reimbursement for mileage conference fees Etc shall be directed to the chair any expenditure exceeding $75 will require prior approval of the school committee so um Katherine based on on the on the invoice that you see she had authorized us to be able to pay it because you have the bills anyway but I we felt like we should clarify is it the committee's will to add this conference fee to the budget uh and or to update the number to the $100
177fee that's been happening so we just wanted to make sure that we were all clear on the process right Craig so I was on the committee when we did this um because some people go in like 3400 conferences and school committee looked at the budget so you know we weren't prepared for this uh but with that being said are we just trying to clean this up or is somebody requesting this so nobody has come to the chair to request going to a conference people have gone to conferences and typically what we say to ryas is the school the school please Bill chero okay the bills have come in um and they're over $75 so ryas is charging more than 75 they're charging $100 so right so this has happened to a couple of members here
178I don't think the members knew that it was going to be over this limit because I'm sure they would say hey can can we go and we would had a discussion um so I think we need to either amend that to raise it from 75 to $100 or we have to say to everybody as a collective if it's over $75 um you may have to pay $25 of that cost or we need to put a line on them in the budget P I have a question sure um are they requesting I mean you're saying they're going to these conferences and then submitting a bill for reimbursement so I don't know that the people understood that it was going to be over the $70,000 C that that the bill did they even know they before they
179reimburse got reimbursed that they had to get your permission I think that's that's a misunderstanding in the we like we said go over the rules of conduct but that was the concern that people probably didn't realize that they needed the chair for right okay because I didn't know if these were seasoned people or new people or not seasoned people did you have a comment this isn't so it's not so I went to the ri but I've gone for three years and this is the first time this has come up right so like it came up before but I think we figured out okay this keeps happening we need to figure out and I have no problem reimbursing the district for for this like it's it's informative um it's a way for me to meet my
180hours it's so it like originally like there were some school commity members when you they first got on they went which was it's not a problem it's just that if we want to do it we just have to know and we have to budget for it and then we have to for so we wanted to make sure a it's now going to be at least $100 so we want to make sure we update this and B my recommendation is this that we know so that we can have a plan for the budget so if like we the typical ryas is like a May conference and a January conference those are the typical ones because it's like school committee 101 and then they do like an update one um they and they both run for the
181same cost my suggestion would be that you know if like we may have new members who come on and want to go to school committee 101 so just want to plan for it so that uh we know and that we can be mindful of it hly uh if there's I was just going to make it make a motion to update it to $100 and make it amend U amend it to $100 um in terms of the rule of conduct item three number eight think she can I I'll second that if she raises it to 125 is it just in case sorry I'm no I I I I I agree because it's a valid it's a valid argument yeah I mean you're not only going to get reimbursed what you spent I'll I'll amend that to
182125 give a little cushion just in case for inflation no I am in full agreement with that because again we don't get paid we don't get a stien for the work that we do and I think it's valuable I do think that it's valuable to go I do think it's valuable as well we just want to make sure that we CLE clean up the process so that no one's like what do you mean I didn't know I could even go so there are some taking um the opportunities some that may not want to but I think it's um you are required by law to have six hours of professional development every year by going to one of those you have you already meet you'll meet that requirement so it's helpful you also have backup because
183now you know you got the bill that says you went so that's helpful too subcommittees count too sorry certain subcommittees not all subcommittees there questions on the motion all right those in favor of the motion it's unanimous thank you very much okay um the next steps as they relate to elementary school planning and the phase out of Hope Valley Elementary School so as I mentioned to you before this item is included on each agenda moving forward so that we can determine the further action that needs to be taken as it relates to Hope Valley Elementary as we prepare for the FY 26 budget season so again my recommendation um for the budget would be right now is to keep the slow roll out and then we have K and one and then re-evaluate for FY
18427 how fast we need to go because that allow us and I think I've told you like we we we know the numbers are getting smaller and smaller so that allows us to be mindful of the plan um but if school committee has different direction so for example um my charge no longer Ned's charge but whoever's in the seat would be you know um superintendent if the budget is even 0 one% over I want you to dig deeper into Hope Valley so those are the kinds of things that we would need to know so that we can plan mindfully around the budget I think all of you saw at the budget Workshop that's where the money is going to come from it's going to be Staffing and um closure of the building can't just um
185well you can't you can completely close it I would recommend that you don't completely close it all at once because I think it it provides A disruption that we're not prepared for thoughtfully can can we do it sure will it be thoughtful no because you have preschool students you have to have certain things done so you're going to be working inefficiently to be able to house your pre preschool program Etc so our our thought for our thought is uh in August we start up the necessity for school construction team we think through the recommendations that we've heard from other community members including school committee members about what kind of things people want to pursue for options so that when we do an RFP the the people who are bidding on the RFP know exactly what
186uh you you want and how much that's going to cost because every every scheme every schematic costs more money so we want to be mindful of what it is because we've heard oh we just want a renovation plan that's not easily just done because you what is your renovation plan is it more classrooms is it an additional Auditorium is it an upgrade of an auditorium is it an upgrade of cafeteria so things like that so we'll begin an August we did discuss uh starting those meetings at an elementary school so our first meeting will be at Richmond um there that people that are there we can have the conversation about spe specific issues like flooding although we have leaking at the middle school and we have it at charl toown and other areas um we
187felt like we could have larger conversations in a facility where we can point out very specific items of concern um and then we we're doing Charlestown next so we can discuss the wellwater issues and the septic issues etc etc because these items are not going away they they still exist we just have to have a plan for them and as you know in the budget will be the $2.3 million request for Capital Improvements to be able to begin the renovation planning so I mean think we were very honest with the taxpayers we were very honest with the community about the cost of that work um but that's where we are to date and we now we have the members so we'll be starting that without Ned questions okay thank you okay uh budget transfers I
188recommend approval of the transfers by July for July 16th 2024 on the additional sheet attached second questions on the budget transfer those in favor is you n if you would so lovingly one more time provide the FY 24 budget update as your finale request yes sure um oh no I'm GNA have plenty of requests before he leaves when is your official leave date end of the month the okay but I will be available to help out as need for Fe slam um you want me to just give a brief recap so on the revenue side uh you can see we came in uh slightly over budget at about $50,000 more than uh we anticipated I don't know that we'll see too much more activity there it depends on uh closing out our grants and closing
189out a few other things so we may may see some more um we also on our expense side shows that we have uh over two million available that of course does not include some of the summer pays and some other adjustments that happen at year end so that number is is going to shrink significantly as well um on the grant side things are tracking to expectations uh we've been keeping up with uh with our spending plans uh things are coming together pretty well there uh the lunch fund uh we are seeing a little bit of weakness in collections um debt was usually running around 20,000 a year it's now climbed we're thinking over 30 may even approach 40 so that's something we're going to have to keep an eye on this is consistent what we
190shared earlier about the um lunch prices you know we'll be okay next year because we do have a healthy balance in that account but uh I think next year that's going to have to be something we examine uh Student Activities fund is just a as as per normal thank you consent agenda do anybody have anything that needs to be P oh um a question for Ned in this section so on um in item [Music] 8j there was um line items for the expense operating accounts status report through June 30th and it was um line item number 321 building are you on the budget update are you in the consent agenda I am not in the consent agenda it's AJ okay so um building upkeep utilities and maintenance there was um $691,000 um from the available
191budget line item so I mean I know that we had a atypical winter so I'm assuming that um oil um would would be in that utilities line Ned so um what's typically paid out of that line item that you know you're seeing a $691,000 available budget there so 8j back up I'm sorry I didn't write down the page number when I printed it out but I think so it's it's the page where um it starts with zer 00 workers compensation and then it goes to report total uh yeah I believe that would include utilities um says building upkeep utilities and maintenance 691 th000 available buet any consent no I asked you no no it's page one of the expense operating account status report that's right trying to see which which item it is in the
192packet documents here 27 page 27 yeah oh so C Business yeah sorry 321 yeah the you online I don't have page 27 thanks okay yes so that would be in the different maintenance categories um so when we did a budget freeze we just stuck with the necessary items so utilities was one area that we had a lot of savings that would have been in the oil side okay um in addition to a mild winter we also predicted that we were going to have the continuing trend line with oil cost you also move to Esser the electrical for a AC yeah yeah that was that was um some of that would have affected operations and there was also some of that on the capital Y we find offset the health care um okay concern correct and
193then I'm assuming on this is page 28 where it says um the available budget is 2.8 million and you had said earlier that you still have summer payrolls left that is not reflected in that over at the time what else would you anticipate on top of the summer payrolls um so on top of that there'll be some benefits reconciliation um one of the major items will be the health care so I anticipate um there'll be a health care entry which will recognize that that deficit we've been running so that'll probably be in the six to 700,000 range the retirement that benefits yeah there'll be some retirement reconciliation too but the yeah the big one is is the healthcare thank you I question sorry just looking at that same page um 27 line 431 public parochial
194private and Charter School pass through is that like a holding account or so so that's the uh different tuition right so so for instance uh there public mean like out of District public cor okay I was just confused why that was include included with parochial private but it's that a district correct and and as a for instance there we typically don't get DCFS in a dcyf billing in a timely manner right uh so that usually ends up being entered later later after the fiscal year closes okay thanks any other questions did anybody pull anything no you want to pull anything hey don't have that was that loud a one and two and three all a okay one two and three y That's it seeing there's none Madam chair make a motion to approve the remainder
195second was in favor unanimous thank you madam chair make a motion to approve A1 executive session minutes of June 18 2024 approval executive session minutes of May 14 2024 minutes not sealed so move a second those in favor and those abstaining I was not here well set Madam chair make a motion to approve A2 executive session minutes of June 18th memor of agreement between the chro Regional School District and Nea chero pertaining to article 12a minutes unsealed June 18th 2024 some mooves those in favor and those abstaining I was enjoying myself somewhere else Madam chair make a motion to approve A3 regular session minutes of June 18th 2024 sove those in favor and abstaining oh you in favor no you're abstaining thank you you ready yep okay oh no did you do the other one
196already we're done yeah we're done it's you okay subcommittee reports none at this time for marport The District transportation uh the deadline to register for the fall busing closed July 1st we sent out email reminders and text messages to remind our families it doesn't mean that they can't register it just means that the time um that they we may need to be able to complete the request goes now from 3 to four weeks usually we can get them done in three to five days but our policy is um three to four weeks because as you know with even one bus uh down our uh registrations usually go up and um the actual on the website if we use that we also will at the beginning of the school year um we can resend transportation of
197no ridership so for example if they if you're consecutively not riding the bu for 10 days then um we would we pull a letter to the family that says we're no longer going to provide you with bus transportation because you have not utilized the transportation sometimes we'll get a call that they're in a sports activity or an extracurricular so that in the morning they're getting dropped off so we make a note of it when the sport activity ends and then we tell them because obvious you know seats are a commodity especially when we're being efficient so K registrations ashway is at 44 K students at 53 Richmond's at 80 with the largest class size being at ashway at 21 and 22 and then uh our summer Advance can you repeat our ashway please sure 21
198and 22 it's um well actually we just removed one that's why I took it off but it was 44 but we're moving uh family has asked to go to Charlestown okay uh the summer Advance is an intergral part of our continuous Improvement effort to align with our district Vision it is dedicated a 4-day professional development event where our administrators come together to engage in collaborative work on a variety of critical topics the focus of our days is to ensure that our efforts and initiatives are directly aligned with the vision hereby fostering a cohesive and strategic approach to achieving our educational goals our administrators will participate in training discussions and planning sessions on key areas such as multi-age systems of support student engagement strategies datadriven decision making and leadership development this time is designed to provide
199our administrative team with the tools knowledge and sh shared understanding necessary to lead our schools effectively and support our teachers and students in reaching their full potential the outcomes of the summer Advance contribute to the continued success and advancement of our district next is our us green ribbon award I am pleased to share that we have recently returned from Washington DC where we were honored to receive the US Department of Education Green Ribbon School sustainability award again the only District Inland ever to receive the district award this prestigious recognition underscores our commitment to sustainable practices student and staff health and wellness and Environmental Education within our district during our time in DC we not only celebrated the achievement but participated in numerous sessions and workshops focused on advancing our efforts in this cause these sessions
200provided valuable insights and practical strategies that will further enhance our initiatives in creating a healthier more sustainable learning environment for our students you take pictures we off send yourself okay it'll be an e update for August that's it for me and we have no no work no school August okay well school committee request for future agenda items or legal opinions anybody have any I think yes I'd like to request a data data portal presentation from ryes I can send you right anybody else Craig no before I make a motion to Aur I just want to comment about the awards you went to I it just seems like considering what we accomplished we would have got a little more ink than what we got just mentioning so Madam chair make a motion to adjourn second in
201favor