I'm going to open the Blackstone Moville Regional School District school committee public hearing for grade reconfiguration for the school year 2425 um we could stand for the pledge please I pledge ALG to the flag of the United States of America to the repblic for it stands one nation under God indivisible liy and justice for all all right and we will do introduction of members M Catalano milville Chuck dunon Blackstone Tara scobby Blackstone Tara lockin milville Erin vaco milville Dan Keith Blackstone Carrie got Blackstone Jill P gallerani assistant superintendent director of student services Jason def Falco superintendent thank you and we do have one other member that will be joining us very shortly um I'm just going to go through the process of our public hearing we do hold them every year for our budget we're going to run this um this one for grade reconfiguration the same in the same order um so we will have a presentation from the superintendent on his recommendation there will be time for public cont um comment and then there will be a motion on the floor within the schol committee and that's our time to discuss um and move on the motion and then that public hearing will end we will move into our budget public hearing uh same process that public hearing will end and then we have a 700 p.m. um posted school committee meeting with its own agenda um so with that being said I just do you need to open okay um I would like to introduce our superintendent of schools Dr DeFalco who H I believe the community already knows very well um a lot of work and a little bit of time there have already been other public forums held for this um information um we're going to wrap it up for everyone here tonight um with hopefully all the information we need to get to um a vote on this this evening so thank you for your time and efforts and they're very short thank you uh good evening everybody um uh actually um Jill pag galani is going to be um kind of co- facilitating the discussion tonight as it relates to our presentation and so I'm going to uh kick it over to Jill to to uh lead us off great thank you so I think every time we have a presentation we always start with grounding our discussion in our district blueprint which is there um and if you remember anything that we do the directions initiative we take is grounded here um and the goals in our blueprint which are connected to our curriculum instruction the whole child and the community and by saying that some of our goals um one of our district Improvement goals which is directly connected to the conversation we're going to have tonight is our facilities and creating spaces to maximize learning if you look at this one of the goals was for long and short-term planning for our distri district and doing that including our school committee our building committee our BMS RSD community and our district leadership team and if you look at the bottom one of the ways we're going to measure this has to do with not only addressing the building systems and structural issues but it's also the unused space um and again if you look back at our blueprint it definitely talks about an inclusive approach and our community goal actually states that we continue to engage all stakeholders and to seek feedback and encourage active engagement so if you've had the opportunity to join a couple of the other conversations uh this slide might look familiar to you and this is really to kind of delve into the different conditions that have been set that uh kind of underscore the urgency of doing this work in addition to uh what Jill shared already as it relates to one of our goals uh one of our district goals for this school year is to address um address the space and Facilities issues uh and while I won't read these to you because I'm sure many of you in the room have seen this multiple times at this point uh there are a couple of things that I do want to bring to everyone's attention um and really that is the uh essentially the first and the last um bullets and I think you know the the ones in between are equally as important but I do want to kind of bookend um the discussion points with these two um the first is just the fact of the matter which is the system is built for twice the amount of students uh that we have um it was built for over 3,000 students um we haven't had 3,000 students here um in in at least the last decade I'm not sure uh prior to that um but our enrollment has stabilized over 1500 which is great uh we saw a fairly significant decrease during um the covid time uh the co pandemic and just after and then saw a nice uptick uh the past couple of years so we are definitely stabilizing our enrollment our student enrollment just over 1500 which we're really pleased I think that's an important number for all of us to remember um because it does seem to be that we are at a um at a stable place with the number of students that are um that are in our school district of course that's one of the main drivers of the overall um uh grade reconfiguration the last bullet is something that I do want to spend a minute on which is really this idea of a new approach and while it isn't necessarily a new approach as far as the grade span and grade uh configuration to some of the communities around us it is new to us um and I want to speak for a minute as um as a former uh Middle School principal but also as a parent um I haven't met one parent yet in uh my experience who has been excited about Middle School right like and year after year after year we get feedback from our families about our Middle School experience um and just a quick personal anecdote I sit on the board at my church in town and I was having a meeting recently with a member uh who is I believe in her 70s and was sharing that I have a freshman and a senior in our local school system public school system and uh she had said oh my children went through uh the system as well they had a great experience except for middle school and I actually laughed out loud and I thought we it's got to be the agent stage there's something here with that you know 12 to kind of 14 and having you know that grade span all in one place um and so I think for me one of the things that we haven't talked a lot about uh but as something we need to discuss uh is just the idea of what is possible by bringing different groups of students together as far as the different age and stage and and developmental um um components for each of our students you know there's a lot of opportunity um I know parents are worried and concerned and we'll talk about it uh in a bit uh about you know fourth and seventh graders being together in the building and on a bus and all the things but honestly I think there is some really great opportunities uh for leadership for mentoring um and yes we will have plans in place to keep you know grad spans separate in different parts of the buildings and assigned seats on the bus to address and allay some of the worry um but at the end of the day um I have taken the time to visit um uh another a neighboring town that has a 4 through 7 th grade school and tour the building with the superintendent with the principal uh had a had a meeting afterwards with our principal Dr Rema who will be running the uh if it is approved the fourth through seventh grade model um and they did share a lot of the highlights and a lot of the successes we looked at the operations and how the building was separated and where the kids were assigned and the different opportunities to bring together and bridge that elementary and middle model um and so I think it's a really great opportunity I think we've spent a lot of time talking about the worries and that makes sense that's kind of what we do as parents and Educators um but I do think there's an opportunity here to do something creative and different and look at how do we tackle a grade span that traditionally um you know even back to you know to my colleague at church who's you know in her 70s and her own kids didn't have a great experience um you know back in the day um but I just share that as to say that you know I think there's an opportunity here that we that we're not talking about that we should be uh in and so I hope that as we're going through our discussion tonight we're keeping that in mind um not just for the fourth through seventh grade but looking at that High School model and expanding it to grade eight our eighth graders are already very very involved in our high school through the grade eight Academy through Athletics through music through drama um and and frankly the majority of the Academy kids they start the day at the high school they don't want to leave um and I get the sense that once we bring together those two communities it's just going to lead to even better things for BMR so I wanted to share those as as some really important um pieces to the work that we haven't really spent too much time talking about so we just want to take a step back quickly and just remind everyone of kind of where where this discussion all started it was back in um school year 2223 um was when we had our initial um discussion or began our initial talks about right sizing the district district and in December of 22 is when we actually sent out our first f um survey to families um at that time I think we had was 433 responses to that um and if you look there it's going to tell you that at that point our model was the prek through 2 the 3 through 7 and the 8 through 12 um and we had about close to 59% agreeing with the proposed model at that time um and I think um about 66.5 said that it was it was very clear then we had a little bit of a pause um we were uh on our reconfiguration discussions because we were work moving forward with our work with the mass um School building authority and then we started up our discussions again this year so we started with we actually had a a public meeting back on February 7th um it was in person but we also had virtual viewing for that um which we followed up by another survey to all of our families and staff and you'll notice here that we received approximately 400 respon uh 47 responses with the majority coming from our parents um you can see there and I you know took a look at the presentation from previous um and and the survey now and back in 22 again it was a little over 66% that understood the need for the consolidation um and with this recent survey and the information that was shared is around 77 and does this new model make sense so remember previous it was our prek through 2 our um 3 through 7 and our um 8 through 12 this this one we are looking at a little bit of a different model which is our prek through four uh prek through 3 four five six and seven and they're 8 through 12 after the survey we got all the information in we gathered the data we had all the questions and we had another virtual meeting I think it was on February 28th um we had a lot of people tune in to that one also just so you know all of our videos are definitely available on our YouTube channel if anyone needs to watch that um and since that time we've also had the opportunity to have several staff meetings at least four staff meetings and respond to multiple emails from not only staff family um but and community community members so some of the additional feedback that we had from uh uh families and staff when we surveyed them both times um and and there literally were pages and pages of questions and and comments and suggestions and things um and so as far as the grade reconfiguration and I should mention if you were able to tune in to the meeting on February 28th we addressed the questions there we wanted to make sure that our community had an opportunity to have all of those questions answered um uh but as far as other models these are other things that were suggested so we did share this before but I wanted to bring it back up um there was a suggestion about developing one big prek through 12th grade school there was a suggestion to have a prek through fourth grade a 5 through eight and a 9 through 12 uh there was another thought around having one preschool through 8th grade and then one 9 through 12 and then we had over 25 suggested uh suggestions that were all the same which is the model we ended up moving forward with which was the preschool through grade three the 4 through seven and the 8th through 12 um and so moving forward with that model you can see what the enrollment will look like um next year as far as um and again this is our rolled up enrollment so this is looking at all of our students next year and where they will be placed um if this model is approved this evening um you can see that in our preschool through grade three we'll have 480 students our grades 4 through 7 um will have 495 and then the high school 8 through 12 will have 530 it is important to note though that enrollment changes all the time we had 12 new enrollments this week um and so it happens like it you know there's an EB and flow people move and uh move in and out of the system on a regular basis uh but we are still maintaining our enrollment where it is currently around 1500 I think this was about 1505 and we toggle between that and 1515 uh so this is the suggested model moving forward let's talk about the impact on Staffing this has been a uh a really important issue that has come up and should frankly um it's a it's an important one for all of us um as the community is aware we've had a lot of conversations around the budgetary impact of being able to consolidate and reconfigure the grades um and that's a hugely important issue and it's one of our our um areas of our like our why now why we're focusing on this at this time um but through the consolidation we've been able to reduce our our uh staff count by about 17 and a half staff um and so I want to be clear about what those are because there's all kinds of chatter uh whipping around different places uh about what that number is and what the class sizes will be uh we're going to bust all of those myths and misconceptions and all the disinformation uh right here right now um so what the actual account is uh we have five classroom content teachers uh that will be um you know as a result of this that will be reducing our budget by uh so I want to be clear what I mean by that I'm talking about Home Room teachers teachers of very specific content at the secondary level you know team teachers that have you know 100 110 kids uh rotating through their team through their department so those are kind of the General Ed teachers that traditional when we think about a teacher that's typically what we think about right the teacher that's standing in front of his or her you know 25 students running their classroom uh so we actually will have five reductions in those positions we're going to have um additional um reductions of five in what we're referring to is non-home room non-content teachers so these are like the teachers that are supporting not special education not not ESL but these are teachers that are supporting um other teachers in the classroom or um their intervention teachers uh these are different positions they're not standing in front of kids assigned to a home room with those kids all day uh these are more of that support staff um in addition we will have five support Personnel staff these are the you know um and in Prior presentations we've looked at these these are our custodians um you know the administrative assistants these are more of the support um positions we'll have an administrator and we'll have one and a half of our health staff so I want to be make sure that we're being really clear about this because I know that this is an issue um that has gotten a lot of traction recently and there's been a significant amount of misinformation and disinformation around so now let's talk about class size because I know that's something else uh equally that has had a lot of a lot of air time and again it should it's an important it's an important issue so as a result of the impacts of the reductions that we just looked at this is what the impact will be on class size and I am going to read these into the into the record so to speak I think it's important that um these are shared particularly if anyone's tuning in at home and they're not actually seeing the slide but they're just hearing the presentation um our preschool currently there will be no changes we have three teachers we have 80 to 90 students and there tends to be given the number of sessions the AM PM session about 15 students in each one of those sessions there's no changes there kindergarten there's no changes um we are looking at about 100 uh to 110 students for our five teachers class sizes will remain remain between 20 and 22 similarly for first grade and again these numbers are all rolled up so these first grade numbers are the current kindergarten kids uh we'll have five teachers about 20 to 21 students second grade we currently have four teachers in second grade next year we'll have 97 second graders we'll have about 24 25 students uh third grade four teachers we've got 83 students that will be moving up so the class size there will be about uh 20 to 21 fourth grade we'll have five teachers 116 students about 23 to 24 fifth grade five teachers about 120 students will have classes of about 24 sixth grade and this is important to mention uh because you might be looking at the sixth grade and thinking how do you have six teachers in sixth grade or with six teachers in seventh grade there will be one full team of sixth grade one full team of seventh grade and then there will be a split team of half sixth graders half seventh graders so the sixth graders will be together the seventh graders will be together and you'll have two teachers um that will be teaching the sixth graders at once Math and Science a two doing English and history and then they will switch we've had this for years at the middle school but it's traditionally been a seventh and eighth grade uh split split team um next year it will be a sixth and seventh grade split team um for the high school it's a little bit different um so I would ask everybody to look at this um and kind of take it with a grain of salt because as you know the high school has multiple um different sections of courses in each one of the content areas different levels AP classes um but overall we'll have six English teachers five math five Science five social studies in a total of about 530 kids your average class will be around 25 uh but in most cases you'll have sections that are much smaller because some of the classes are very much tailored um depending upon the level that the student is um is registered for whether it's a an advanced placement course or College Prep course um but on average your classes will be around 25 and then just our next steps um we're going to continue to work with our staff around all the assignments uh should this get approved this evening finalize schedules and academic mic programming coordinate all of our transportation we are looking at a third run this was an issue that um came up and was discussed at a couple of different meetings uh we are looking at having our high school so 8 through 12 running on the time give or take five minutes that it's on now um the elementary school okay so the preschool through third grade running on the time that they're running on now give or take five minutes U but what folks may not necessarily be aware of is there's actually about a 30 to 40 minute window in between those bus times now where the buses are just sitting so we actually have the time already built in to put us to put another run in and that other run would be the fourth through seventh grade uh students so which we would assign the seats fourth graders you know in the front seventh graders in the back just again to allay any concerns that families might have but we're going to continue working on that and coordinating our transportation with those runs we're going to establish our moving dates uh we're going to do um quite a few different opport have present quite a different few different opportunities for staff and families to get into the buildings to see the buildings to tour the buildings uh throughout the spring uh bringing the staff together uh to actually start doing um some more work some more training some more relationship building um and really helping to establish that new school culture that we'll be having in um in each of the buildings um planning celebrations for kids that are moving uh that's really important and so we're going to be very thoughtful about making sure um that if if this does move forward that we're having celebrations for the grades that will be moving forward uh and that will be their last year in their current building um and then of course working out all the details on extracurriculars um there have been a lot of questions around our National Junior Honor Society that's the um njhs some of the other clubs are Athletics um and our after school uh 21st century uh Learning Centers program so lots of planning still to do um but those are be the next steps if we're able to move forward so I will pause here all right so um moving forward with the public hearing for grade reconfiguration um next on the public hearing is public comment um so I do ask if you want to address the committee I do um need you to come up to the table for um viewers at home the microphone is here please state your name the town you live in um and just remember that what you're sharing with we are going to make a vote on this this evening so it it can be impactful so it is important that we hear from the communities um positive and negative so there's anyone that would like to ask question uh you know further questions or share some comments this is the time for that y you can see good evening I'm Lisa rounds I am the President of the unid Educators Association um I'm here just to publicly Express the concern about cutting nursing staff um we understand the need to keep teachers in front of the children um but we're concerned about the safety of the children um and it's not just Karen young high school nurse nurse leader and myself speaking out it's this is the entire Unit A we're speaking on behalf of 140 something people so um who work with the children daily um we know you're in a budget crisis we I've seen the numbers I've been been through it through several meetings with Jason so I understand it um we think it's in the best interest of the students to keep at least one more nursing staff um and there are several reasons um one is Acuity and safety with cutting nursing staff that's going to increase the number of nurses per student I'm sorry the increase the number of students per nurse um but there are still the same number of students in the building same number or you know per it's just it's a lot um the office visits aren't going to decrease just because we have less staff um as of now there are no nursing Subs um it's hard to get subs for anything for classrooms and for nursing um it's especially hard for nurses because of the rate they can make working in a doctor's office in a hospital in an emergency situation emergency rooms what have you and public school districts just can't afford to compete with that and that's realistic um so if there's a nurse out that's an entire building without a nurse and it's just not feasible to share a nurse between two buildings on those days um the other thing is that Subs need to be licensed um RNs or l PN um there is also a greater potential for mistakes due to the increased volume especially during lunchtime where there's medicated U medication administration and potential recess injuries um there are especially at the middle school level a great number of medication visits so um it's something that really needs to be considered um the injury visits may be considerably longer younger kids may need more care more time um you know they can get kind of upset so spending more time with them is key um there are mandated screenings that nurses can't be available for um emergency visits ill visits what have you um they have to be doing those screenings and there's just no Subs to cover that so if there was a fourth fourth and a half nurse in in the district that would be able to be flexible to cover those um there's also um time needed to be able to communicate with families so we're talking about um so let me just take a quick look at the numbers um approximately 2, 811 visits for prek through three right now um from from start of the school year to now so year to date um and that doesn't include the med visits which are 111 so if there was no nurse in that building that's almost 3,000 visits that aren't getting met at the middle school there were 4,000 so sorry 4 through seven we broke this up by the new configuration um 4 through 7 there were 4,17 visits from August to today that's 1,411 Med visits so over 5,000 visits to the nurse's office um and then at the high school there were so 8 through 12 or 8 through 12 plus because we do have our 18 to 22 year old program at the high school 3,176 visits and 87 medication visits um so imagine what the what it looks like at lunchtime when kids are coming coming in to get their insulin their ADHD meds um you know their midday meds um and that doesn't include at lunchtime the nurses need to take their contractual lunch I mean these are people they need eat too you know so there's nobody there to cover those lunches to cover them having lunch um and then there's you know time needed in the day to be able to reach out to parents to make phone calls to send emails to follow up on like I can't tell you how many times I've emailed Karen about different protocols for different students and she has to find the information look it up and then respond to me and the families and make the phone calls to the families and the Physicians and that takes a lot of time um and then there's uh Mental Health visits students who have somatic issues and students who are continent who are going to need changes and being cleaned up and helped um and then the non-medical visits um you know young teenage girls who were just starting their menstrual cycles or kids with braces or other various things like that um so there's a lot that happens in a nurse's day and not a lot of time to do it in and the kids are going to be the ones who suffer and in some cases they're going to be safety concerns um can you speak to the the incident that happened today so at the complex today um the nurse between the start of the day and 11:30 saw 24 students for Urgent or emergent reasons had to turn away other students that were non-emergent um and that's not even including any communication with those those families so that's that's a a lot to do and we do really understand the budget and the you know that the cuts we get it but this is a safety concern so we thought we needed to to bring it to your attention to the attention of the public I I agree it's great information um so right now there are two full-time nurses in the in the complex one for Mees side one for um AFM side correct correct one and then and then a half position so there's two and a half there's two and a half yes for all the little kids so and it's about 700 kids uh about 750 yep and then here there's one for 6 to 8 and then I'm at the the high school with the 9 to 12 so the proposal has one um in each School the dph recommended I believe it was dph recommended one to 500 minimum so right minimum of one yeah one to 500 yep and we could have as many nurses as we want to have but the recommendation which we did during Co when we needed those extra hands yeah so as those of us at least half of us that are on the ground working with the kids the nursing staff who are dealing with all these medical things we'd like to ask that you keep at least one more if you could keep all the one and a half we would absolutely be thrilled but at least one more someone who like if you look at the numbers the the four to seven is going to be the heaviest hit group so maybe keeping two at this building and then having that second person be the floater to cover for others however it needs to work we just we're concerned about the safety of the students very good information ask a question of course you mentioned with the reduction of one and a half there would be and that there's no subs how does that work now though because if we have one assigned per building and one calls out sick where where is the sub coming in for that right now we we do have um a couple of Subs one is going to be retiring at um the end of the school year and the other will be seeking a full-time position at some point I I'm not sure how much longer we're going to have her okay so that one and a half doesn't include like subbing needs no no and then if we have to we'll pull the halfers to cover a building so at least there's partial coverage for a day so right now for our student population there are four and a half nurses our student population isn't changing why why would we cut one and a half nursing staff we have less sites and we're consolidating we're getting in line with the other districts around us and following dph guidelines I you know I met with Lisa and Karen and I completely hear you and and the safety of our kids are the top priority I think everybody knows that for all of us uh one of the things I shared is we keep watching the revenues you know as the budget Works through the legislative process I also encourage Karen to do some grant writing um you know as the lead nurse she should definitely be looking at grant opportunities to try to fund some of these things um so that it doesn't just fall on you know on the town assessments and on you know State revenues so and we're committed to helping with that too of course so I don't think um this conversation needs to end here but I you know right now it's just what is proposed and this can still evolve for stff purp right um I think it's great information so and I agree with you the student population isn't changing so and I've always said safety is a huge priority so I appreciate that information any other um parts of the stuffing that you wanted to talk about this was the only thing that is a major concern while we don't love losing any of our staff never do we we we understand it and are working very closely with Jason and Jill to work through with our staff and to you know make it as smooth a transition transition as we absolutely Poss possibly can but this was the thing that was the major like red flag so well I thank you for coming and bringing it up for us we do have many like I said many discussions to come um I personally think that it's going to be on the top of a list so we will keep you very good thank you very much if I could just follow up also with So currently it'll be one nurse in each building that's the proposed sure and it's more of like a budget thing this is so it's this we're not and you and you're asking you hopeful to keep one more yes correct at least and so with the reconfiguration proposal is like 480 495 and 5:30 so in the three buildings so I'm just curious of where that one more would would that be something that would be floating around like a so when we looked at the numbers based on the visits um the total number of visits including Med visits um at the elementary so prek through three is uh 2,922 um and I'm going to math on the Fly here so I apologize if I get it wrong um the middle 4 through 7 is 5,57 and the uh High School is uh approximately three sorry I'm I'm I'm not I'm about 4,000 yeah it's about 4,000 give or take so the the middle 4 through seven is the the that's has the most frequent those four through seven most frequent visits so we feel like that would be a good home base for that fourth person and then if people have to be out for you know illness or training or you know need a half an hour in their day to have lunch um that per that person could float you know or even you know if there's a there's a um um uh screenings that need to happen or a medical emergency or a medical emergency and we have those happen so yeah and there are times when you know I can't tell you how many times we've had an ambulance to the high school this year and the the the office is unmanned because Karen is at the emergency dealing with that so all right any other questions or comments I just wanted to well I'll let you have your I but from us to them part of the nursing staff okay um if you want to join them that would be I just need you to introduce nurse I work out of the complex I've been there for I guess 10 years but really five because I'm five so um I also want you to know that we do care for the staff as well like when staff has injuries illnesses we see a lot of Staff um we do a lot of Education in fact today one of the issues that Karen read about earlier with the nurse that was there before I came in was a staff issue she had to go out and have um sutures she was in a um you know had an accident report and all that because of an injury in the kitchen and had to go up with sues the same nurse had to stay last week for a teacher's Health um emergency and didn't even leave till 5:15 last week so um you know it's those kind of things it seems like a lot of things happen at the very end of the day and you know or the first thing in the morning sometimes soon as the buses sounds like that's the kind of day that um they what started at the complex with issues coming right off the bus and you know just we definely I mean I've been here for a long time and you know we were seeing 60 to sometimes up to 100 kids in a day most mostly being around recess injury time and like I said safety is super important to us so we appreciate it um I think like I said this right now we're going to going to continue with our grade reconfiguration these are recommendations um that do kind of coincide with our budget so future conversations to come but appreciate your time and we will organize all our data and email it to all of you so that you have it for those future conversations thank you you thank you okay any anyone else with any public um comment for great reconfiguration oh sorry hello hi Val Melville introduce yourself nice to see you Valerie nice to see you Aaron um I do have a few questions one of the questions that I have is what is the capacity at Mees right now for the students at the building or at the building oh okay it was built for just under 500 okay and what's the capacity at the complex about 795 Could you um so when you were looking at these great configurations one of the things that my husband kind of pointed out to me um eighth grade they either 12 or 13 and they'll be going into a high school situation with up to 17 18 year olds maybe a little bit older if they if some students had stayed back so that seems like a big age gap for to have together and not really knowing a lot about how that High School situation is going to work now you've said that there's some eighth graders that are enjoying this eighth grade academy but not knowing what that ad Academy is happening I thought they were going up for Spanish they might be doing more than just Spanish class but I don't know what that school day does they get busted is it do they go there first do they only stay for part of the day have they gone through a lunch situation are they in any classes with older maybe juniors seniors how do you are they going to be kind of kept more separate you said that the classes when you put all the grades together 530 you said so many teachers well how do you determine how those kids go in there are they going to be more with freshmen and sophomores eighth graders freshman sophomores rather than eighth graders Junior seniors or what's that going to look like those are great questions so um the the majority of their core classes will be with with their eighth grade peers and the eighth grade teachers that will be going up you know with them I say the majority because there are some that will be ready to take Advanced course work that can go into those Advanced courses um similar to the grade A Academy now so how do the kids go into those Advanced courses how do how how do those kids make that determination that they might be able to go into that there'll be a whole process in place for parents and students to be able to determine that with the High School administration um so we have a process now for our grade A Academy I don't know that it will be the same I don't get the sense that it will be exactly the same because it's a different model okay um but we want to make sure that we give eighth graders those that are ready the opportunity to take Advanced course work okay how will lunch work are they going to be mainly with the eighth graders or are they going going to be is it whoever I don't know how do how do the how does lunch work right now at the high school they're running three lunches right now and I believe the plan is to run three lunches for next year as well and how do so I know at a different school they run it where it's I think they only run two lunches and they with the way that they run it sophomores and seniors freshman and juniors is that somewhat of what you're doing or is it okay these classes this is what we're going to send over there I I don't know that it runs that way now I think it runs by by teacher I think there's three lunch periods in one of the that's built into one of the periods and I think you are signed an A B or C lunch I think it's different every day yeah and I yeah I think Bas on their class rotating schedule okay so it isn't as um as defined as all the freshmen eat at it's not like that okay okay and then um how does it look so I did one tour the high school and you have a first floor and a second floor are all the classes inter disperse or are they going to be maybe their core classes located on one floor where they might have to go up to up the Upper Floor for special type classes you exactly what you just explained yeah so the eighth grade the way that I'm understanding is the eighth grade the bulk of them will be in one place okay uh for their core classes but for their enrichment um they'll you know they'll be moving around the building okay thank you very much I just want to point out um what your the SE the 8th through 12th grade um I think the best example we can give you is banned and there are already I would say half of the seventh and eighth graders are already integrated into our high school marching band they already work together for almost 6 months a year um so some of these kids are and sports but the bigger number is I I believe our marching band now is made up of you know the percentage is a higher group of younger kids um they're not going to walk in there and not know the faces they're going to have friendly faces from from band and from other sports um probably even from within the town so and I think that's a continuous cycle mhm um just you know and and the band has always been that that configuration with the middle school kids going up for can I just add something that might help too they go to lunch with their class that they're leaving correct so they'll be with their peers too so they it's not like they're going to just go and be with you know they'll have peers with them that go to the same lunch yeah that like that whole math class if you will we'll go to lunch together but it's more too whether or not how much exposure are they going to have to Upper classmen you know it's like you got some kids they're driving you have disparities probably on the height and weight differences that they're not used to I mean between sixth and seventh and eighth graders there's some kids that do Sprout really high but they might not have the bulk of an 18-year-old so it's just concerns you just want them to be safe and stuff and it's just kind of knowing a better of how the day runs and definitely I kind of look at it was just just because of your numbers it seems like with your numbers you could almost do a 5 through eight configuration if you weren't going to try to use mes at some time in the future you could hand handle it the complex the complex could do prek through fifth grade or through you P PK through fourth grade could be at the at the complex but not at n and then you could do 5 through eight which would be a nice nicer number at the heart net and then do the 9 through 12 but just looking at the complex if that's what you're trying to avoid I can understand that thank you thank you any other public gonna go only if another parent wants to speak first anyone oh yes someone's coming oh thank you no it's okay hi I'm Stephanie um I live in Blackstone um I have two children who are in Elementary School one who's in kindergarten and my daughter Penelope is in third grade um she has special services she is Def and um she has an IEP um my concern um my biggest concern is class size um I love her teacher her teachers throughout preschool up has been wonderful but to go from 18 or 19 kids to 24 25 kids in a class is extremely distracting it's not as uve um I respect the Educators I respect everything that you guys do up here um it's a lot of work um and my biggest concern is the class size on both sides we're increasing it substantially in my opinion um the 4 through S model not really too happy about it um my concern is them on the bus I went to a high school 7 through 12 and I understand the conversations that I had when I was in high school from a seventh grader listening into a 12th grader the adolescence and the development social between a fourth and a seventh grader they're on completely different different tracks different socially just different um I don't know what the answer is um I wish I did um I wish we had more money to be able to make sure we're not increasing the class sizes when my husband and I bought a house here we didn't go to Bellingham because I didn't want the big class sizes I didn't want that Big Town feel that's why we moved here um that's all I have to say thank you thank you thank you anyone else um so Jennifer Gil milville um I just wanted to give a couple updates on mes water I'm sure you're all shocked but you guys get more people at your meeting than we get at our course so this is an opportunity I'm just going to say I don't know if that this is where we should do it because we need to move to our motion to consider for grade configuration possibly public form of our meeting or do you feel that something fits into reconfiguring um well I wanted to get to the use of using the milville elementary school point of board that's been decided previous meeting so just I think I would like to if if that's going to be talked about maybe that's talked about in the general meeting rather than that would be 7 o' R configuration I'm not trying to put it to the side I'm just I need to get through this because we had another open hearing we were supposed to open at 6:30 so okay um but I'm not saying public forum conversation we're not voting on placement right now we're voting on what grade levels are going to be together next year okay and we're not talking about space okay okay I will wait thank you thank you all right so with that being said we're going to um move to our conversation um and I'd be looking for a motion to consider and approve grade reconfiguration so we can open our discussion I motion to approve the grade reconfiguration model for school year 2425 as presented motion made by carrye is there a second second second by Tara s all right so let's talk I mean um we are over on time but I mean if there's anything pressing that um before we vote that now is definitely the time to discuss I just want to go ahead and say previous when we had the discussion in 2022 I was staunchly against the 3 through S you know model um for a lot of the reasons that the the parents have tonight where you know the maturity levels between you know a third grader in a seventh grader and I still stand by that and I probably wouldn't support it if that was the idea tonight um but this isn't a new idea this is something that the district has been struggling with since I mean I don't know who was on the board at that time I know you know it was a different Superintendent at the time I think it was 2018 2017 but we weren't we didn't have the ability to change the the model at that point because we didn't have the elementary schools in um the district as we do now um I think 4th through 7th is palatable at this point and we're able to you know they're not as far off and I appreciate the you know separating on the buses and all that kind of stuff um I still have concerns again you know with the maturity levels um but I think we should all know that the leadership that we have in place in the schools I think is the right leadership that we have uh especially with Dr Rema taking over uh in the middle school or in the in in this school uh how it's going to be so um that's what I want to say it's not a Now problem this has been a problem in this in these two towns for almost 10 years so I think it's something that we should consider that's that's why anyone else well I'll piggy back um what match has said is the emotions I've been going through in this these quick three months since since we decided to even try to conquer this for for this year for this coming school year is we knew this is a is a need it's necessary um and every time we stepped up and said oh we better talk about this something else stopped us so um it feels like it's happening really fast but I I've known it's a need for a long time um I agree with the leadership com comment that you know just from the top down having Dr DeFalco here to reconfigure this and get it um set and into motion um I can't think of anyone else that we could have relied on to do it and do it right um I think just like the regional agreement change moving the elementary kids a year into it felt like it was always it was always working that way or you know and it had never um and I think we'll be there a year from now so with that being said a motion was made for the 2425 school year are we only considering this for a year or are we um amending the regional agreement yeah no we're not doing it just for one school year though right right cuz then then we'd have to talk about this again so we might need to amend motion if that is the direction the committee wants to go in to just you know we do have a feasibility study out there we you know we know that's coming and that would be a separate but is this where we want to be until that recommendation I I'm asking I'm not Dan if I just I was going to ask for some just some a little bit of clarification on the motion and so this is essentially moving the existing fourth graders uh from the elementary school to the middle school and the exis sorry fourth and fifth and then the seventh the eighth graders to the to the high school and I just want yeah so well because we we can't so this wouldn't be an amendment um right now to the to the agreement well this is part of the agreement so this is a it's just changing the configuration um just want to make sure well so we're not yeah so this is the configuration but it's not locking I want to make it clear that it's not locking the complex as the no we're not even talking about building I understand well we are because we're that's currently the building that they're in so I just wanted to make that clear in the discussion that this isn't locking lock in permanently the complex as the elementary school I I suppose I'm making a Clarity that other than you're clarifying yeah um so Ain I would then probably amend my motion to say the reconfiguration model beginning with the 2425 school year okay so motion made uh amended by Carrie um to approve the grade reconfiguration model beginning school year 2425 as presented so as presented is prek to 3 4 to 7 and 8 through 12 is there a second on the amendment second so amended motion by carry second by teres any other discussion or um comment to before we move to a vote all right so all those in favor of uh approving the grade reconfiguration model to begin in the 2425 school year as presented say I I I any opposed any abstentions so it is a unanimous vote and I will call to adjourn our public hearing for grade reconfiguration thank you motion Me by Tara um and now I'm going to open our public hearing for um the fy2 budget um we're actually just moving into opening the meeting so I will open the public hearing for the um 25 2025 budget and I think we'll just introduce ourselves again for formality but we're not going to Matt Catalano milville Chuck dunon Blackstone Tera scobby Blackstone T Lin milville Erin vaco milville Dan Keith Blackstone Carrie got at Blackstone Ted Noel mil Jason DeFalco superintendent well all eyes are on you Jill jist superintendent director of student services all right so same format we're going to have a a short presentation of the 25 budget um as has been talked about we have had a joint meeting with both towns and um we'll be moving to public comment and then motion to consider by the committee and if it's you presenting yes I don't want thank you um and if um Tim if you wouldn't mind bringing up the budget um slide deck that'd be great is it the same budget uh no I I had resent it today but that's okay I'll send it again sorry bear with me one second while I'm doing this I like to point out that our new Finance director is sitting in the audience and he will be doing this presentation next year so welcome Joe thank you for spending the night with us I don't see it all I have is yeah no problem I'm sending it as we Oh I thought you yeah no it's okay y just sent it along there go I love technology when it works um so those um those of you who have been who have had the opportunity to tune into any of our budget work and we spent a lot of time as you know on this uh dating back to November um this information I'm going to move through fairly quickly because we've been through it uh multiple times so um I do want to make sure to um to share with those that haven't seen it of course uh prior to now um but for those that have just bear with me as we as we continue to move through um the material tonight um again as Jill mentioned in our last discussion um everything leaks back to our district Improvement strategy um this is really the kind of the why and the how of the work and our fiscal plan needs to match our instructional plan uh and so um I I really want to highlight that because uh each year we ensure that the dollars in our budget are connected back to um the goals and the focus of our strategic plan um that's a top guiding structure for our budget development so there are some key documents that we use to help us put our budget together um clearly our blueprint is the first um we get uh annual feedback uh and student performance through the Massachusetts Department of Education through our mcast which is our student um achievement and growth numbers uh I know folks are really familiar with mcast um and also the accountability results that's kind of the second side the Department of Education determines how the school district is doing based on a variety of measures the student achievement and student growth Factor that's included in mcast as one of those measures but there are other measures that are included in that overall accountability ranking as well um our school committee uh feedback through my evaluation um and it's it's uh Tethered to my evaluation uh clearly as it should be but uh the goals that I have each year are our district goals um and so that feedback is critically important to to give us an overall indicator of where we need to be putting our Focus as we move forward um and last but certainly not least our surveys um so to our families and the audience and our families and students students and the audience too and students and families at home tuning in uh we take that feedback very seriously and we include that uh in the work that we do as we move ahead setting new goals for the next year so all of this is important because this is what drives the budget um the other side of that equation of course is our student enrollment and so um it's important to know who are the children in our seats uh so at the time of our enrollment snapshot here um we had about 1513 students or 1,513 um you can see the demographic breakdown uh by race you can see our overall number of English language Learners so these are the students those are the students who are getting English language learner Services um so not only are they sitting in class but they're actually learning the English language from an um an elll or English language learner instructor so they're actually acquiring English as another language um but that's different not to be confused with first language not English we have a lot of students uh who have left or exited our program um they've mastered the language they're able to exit uh so we have about 8% of our students that English is not their first language uh but they don't qualify for um elll Services of course our students with special needs uh so those are our our friends that are on our um IEPs or individual education uh program uh plans and then we have our students who are high needs which are students who are um low income Andor elll and or special education so that's about half our student population just to give everybody a sense uh I always think of this slide as our return on investment slide so how are we doing uh with the resources that we have um and again I won't read through all of these there's a ton of data here and uh I know looking around in the audience I know many of you have seen this already um if you haven't attended one of uh these meetings you probably saw this in and in a subsequent email when our data came out um I'm big on sharing uh with the community how we're performing I think that's really important um we look at the good we look at the progress that needs to be made and we look at everything in between uh and speaking of progress the Department of Education uh has deemed the district as making adequate or moderate progress towards our goals um and that is the actual title that is used so we are making gains uh which is great to see none of our schools require any assistance from the Department of Education uh nor have we uh nor should we frankly um our graduation rate is strong just over 90% our drop rate is around 1.7% um both of those are uh above State average in the good way uh meaning our graduation rate is above the state average uh and our drop rate is below the state average um you can see our mcast scores grades 3 to five uh Ela grades 3 to 5 math uh grades five and eight are the only two grades that were tested in uh science specifically although there is a science exam at the high school that we've been transitioning through the last couple years with Biology um and then you can see some of the additional um State measures as it relates to our accountability ranking particularly around attendance and students involved in advanced coursework those are actually two indicators that we are uh waited on uh from the Department of Education in terms of how we're doing um so um we are making tremendous progress in our attendance uh which is great it may not sound like U you know a big challenge but uh for most school systems across the Commonwealth after covid postco um it's been a significant challenge um so we're pleased our kids are showing up they're ready to learn uh and as you can tell uh by this uh indicator underneath um we have many of them enrolled in rigorous coursework those are our advanced placement classes um of which 75% of our students are getting passing rate or college credit for that uh so big shout out to the work that's happening across our schools yes there's work to be done particularly in the area of mathematics uh the area of science um we're in the process now you'll hear tonight of selecting a new science program having the right core materials in front of our students and staff is a big Focus um of our leadership team and has been a big focus of our school committee which I'm very grateful for um so additionally what's driving the budget um so we talked about our student population we talked about our blueprint we're in our third year uh of our current strategic plan about half of our students being classified as as um High needs and I only mention that because that brings along with it a different level of service and support um again looking at the grade uh configuration or reconfiguration so um I'm grateful we're able to move forward with that uh the C um you know we remain focused on minimizing those non-academic barriers those are the things that can prevent kids from getting to school like attendance and all the challenges that can come with that um and that can get in the way of their learning and so we remain focused on those areas while looking at uh selecting a new science curriculum uh K through 12 there will be a recommendation brought forward to the school committee from our science curriculum committee that Mary colino our lead coach has been uh spearheading um in April so we'll have some uh further discussion on the the what of that program uh very soon um and then of course uh one of the things that we have heard repeatedly from our school Community uh and we know this uh is working very intentionally to engage particularly our sixth through 12th grade students and more Athletics more music drama opportunities more extracurricular opportunities uh through clubs and and um and internships so um we have um been very focused on that as well when we've been putting together the fy2 budget other things uh that are really important to just keep in mind that are driving um the development of our budget and what we're going to see for numbers this evening health insurance costs um we did get our health insurance increase um was about 7 and a half% um which is High um but uh we remain hopeful that in in the future years that will come down of course um private school and collaborative uh special education collabor of tuition increases facilities needs our contractual obligations um the minimum local contribution that's the number that is assigned by the state to each of the towns uh that they are required to pay their school systems so we'll talk about that in a moment we'll actually see what that is um our utility costs I'm sure uh many of you have the sticker shock every month I get mine around the 15th of the month when I open my bill uh for my gas and electricity and it's a staggering number um so that uh we are not immune to that on the school side as a matter of fact um we have worked very hard to try to uh kind of spread out our utility costs across different vendors and and different uh venues so uh you know looking at regular you know National Grid electricity uh as a provider but also solar uh we have about four different vendors that we've been working with in an in an energy broker to help us get our utility costs down for our communities um and then of course we'll talk in a in a bit just a little bit about our loss in state and federal funding um and so budget reductions right so all those all of those drivers all of those needs lead to um the actual leadership team coming together and putting together a budget um and so I wanted to just highlight um briefly kind of where this process started um before we look at where we ended so when we started this process in November um I kind of call it the all-in budget that everything that everybody needed all of the positions that we have now plus all the additional things that were asked for the materials supplies resources all of the early estimates on our utilities and all of our expenses our budget initially came in at 30.3 million uh or what would be an increase of 25% to our communities uh nobody finds that in any way reasonable um not and I'm sure in the audience not in those tuning in at home not in the school committee nor in the leadership team um so we've spent the past few months really working to see how can we get the uh protections we need around insulating the programs for students and I do want to mention that the budget we're going to present tonight does not cut any programming for kids none of it uh so our friends and families and the audience and those tuning in at home um this does not have a reduction in programming for kids uh we worked really hard to make sure to preserve uh to preserve that for the student experience um but with that being said we knew we could not bring forward a budget of 30.3 million um so the number just under that the 27.9 uh we use that as kind of a bell weather because that would be a budget that we would call level funded which means we get the same number the same dollars in this upcoming fiscal year that we have currently right now in FY 24 and so um that would still look like just over an 8% to both of our towns you might be wondering how is that possible how is it you're getting the same dollar it's the same budget but it's an 8% increase shouldn't it be a 0% increase that's a good question that's a fair question but the answer is no that is because we have seen a significant loss of Revenue and that is the state and federal funding streams that I mention here we don't have a budget problem we have a revenue problem which leads to a budget problem um and so that leads to our third bullet underneath which was the need for reductions and so um as we just looked at with a grade reconfiguration we had put Force put forth excuse me a set of recommend recommended reductions of about $1.5 million in staff or about 17 and a half positions and approximately a million dollars in supplies materials and resources so that total reduction is about a $2.5 million reduction so what is that lead to it leads to um us this evening looking at a uh draft budget for fy2 of 27 m829 275 in 43 c um if you look just below you will see what the operating budget for FY 24 is that's the current school year that we're in the fiscal year that we're in of 27,9 79,90 14 I want to make sure I'm clear about this uh for those that are just uh tuning in for maybe the first time you'll see that it's delineated as the operating budget and not the total budget that is because there are two numbers that are not included in this number that are included in the overall budget number for the school system that is our Charter School sending tuition and then as our school choice sending tuition collectively those two numbers come to about $2 million so when you look at the total budget you would add $2 million on top of that so I just want to make sure that that's clear we separate those out because we want the community to be able to see like this is what it actually costs to run the school system the other two um figures that I mentioned the Charter School tuition sending and the school choice tuition sending that's money we have to pay out I want to touch on the charter school piece for a moment because there's been some conversation recently in the community about the possible idea of that being a revenue Source um that currently costs our school system which is assess to the towns over a million um having another Charter School in our community would decimate our budget and would be incredibly problematic for for the residents because it costs a significant amount of money we still have to pay uh a significant portion of that um of that funding it is not uh it is it is charter schools are public they're called public charter schools um they are free to families they are not free to school systems they are not free to taxpayers I just want to make sure I'm very clear about that um so overall the operating budget for our school system in fy2 has decreased by just over $150,000 so we're actually coming in about Point 0.5% less as far as an operating budget than last year however I just want to remind everybody that we are also looking at a significant loss of Revenue so in the governor's budget that was released the district will be receiving approximately $130,000 Less in our overall uh revenues than FY 24 you add to that the Esser money which is about 430,000 this is our last year of that those are the co dollars that we had um we used about another $380,000 in circuit breaker that special education grant funding that we used um and we used about 500,000 in excess and deficiency uh from the school system um so all in it's about a 1.4 $4 million uh loss of Revenue um on top of that the uh state has increased what is required from both of the towns to pay for the education of the children in those communities blackstones increased by about 544 th000 milville is increased by about 134,000 um and so I you know if if you look at the um the italics uh italicized numbers in a little AST Mark there those were numbers the 430 of Esser the 380,000 in circuit breaker and the 500,000 of end those were all numbers that we used to offset the assessments to the towns last year um so while we have some of that not the Esser money uh is nearly to the degree that we had um in fiscal year 24 when putting the budget together and the overall impact and um Tim if you wouldn't mind just clicking that Google doc into the school committee it's actually in your packet so you'll see these are the uh this is essentially what the assessment looks like to the community so if you look at the top you can see the uh school choice uh sending tuition and the charter school sending tuition um and you can see that the actual total budget is 29,800 um uh $ 57,8 33 um you can see all of the offsets that we're using Tim do you mind just scrolling down a little bit you can see the offsets that are listed there a recommendation of about 100,000 of uh eend d uh trying to do some bulk purchasing this year um uh with some of our supplies you'll get a sense of what the state revenues are a Chapter 70 Regional Transportation school choice receipts that's the money we get in for kids at school choice into our school system um and the uh yellow highlights are just numbers that are estimates because we're still waiting on some of the additional numbers from the federal and state um government government um and if you scroll to the bottom you will see additional revenues uh totaling about 469,000 um those are gate fees for athletics they're user fees that we take in I want to share just I think a point of clarity on the way that we do our budget here there is not a an ounce of Revenue or an expenditure that you're not seeing here um and we do get cited from our Auditors often because we put everything in you see our grants you see our gate fees um technically we're not supposed to be doing that U but we do because we want to show the communities how we're trying to offset every penny we can to minimize the assessment to the towns uh and I just think it's an important piece to mention just under that you'll see the actual percentage the number of students from black zonea milville that's recalculated every year so the assessment of what's left in our budget Blackstone um pays for for 74.3% milville 25.7% that's based on just pure student enrollment and then if you scroll down to the bottom a little further Tim you'll see the overall increase to the assessment um year-over-year so Blackstone increase from last year is about 5.9 and millville's is about 5.5 uh Tim if you scroll over to the side a little bit if you could show the highlighted numbers just move that slide uh or Google sheet over just a couple clicks a little further perfect um and then you can see this is millville's overall assessment is about2 200,000 $24,000 more than last year and blackstones is about 600 72,000 more than last year and you can see how it's broken down thank you uh Tim so those are the overall impact on the assessments and that's after after $2.5 million in in reductions in staff and uh supplies and resources and again I want to go back to the grade reconfiguration because that was a critical part in making sure that we could actually present a budget that is um more pable to the to the communities and if we go back to our slide deck next steps would be to continue to monitor state and federal funding and I do I I do want to uh commit to to uh Lisa rounds our unit unit a president just the importance of us doing that we we remain committed to that particularly around I know some of the nursing concerns um we'll once the budget is certified we'll create our fy2 budget book we'll start getting those distributed we'll be meeting with our U Boards of Selectmen and our finance subcommittees as we always do and then of course the town meetings so I will pause here thank you I know that's a lot of information not all new to everyone um so moving on the public hearing for the budget next is public comment through the budget there's anyone that would like to share comment questions um to the table name and town or position thank you thank you uh Peter Caruso milville town administrator and chair of their Capital planning committee uh again I appreciate all the effort that's gone into this tonight your certifying this budget which picks a threshold above which you don't go doesn't necessarily mean you can't go below it and I appreciate you know the multiple iterations that you've done um I am the budget meister for milville and last night I sent to the board of Selectmen um and the finance committee millville's budget okay okay and and the way it we put it in is we put in a column that says what all the Departments ask for and then we put in I put in what my recommendation is to those boards okay and so in my recommendation I tried to follow uh the guidance letter you have a budget process you follow ours we have a process which begins with a guidance memo that goes out to all the Departments including you know School leadership um and that guidance is determined um in you know with the board of selectman and the finance committee so that's the millville's guidance for the budget doesn't end up necessarily where we wind up espe especially when it comes to your budget needs okay but when I do the budget with the guidance it says 3% for you know various things including BMR if when I put in the number that you're ask so with that guidance what I showed them last night just for discussion purposes a deficit for mville of 250 Grand when I I'm sorry 150 Grand when I put in your ask for number which is slightly changed but approximately the same it's another 100 Grand we're talking about 250 Grand deficit for milville and it does not include you know numerous requests from other departments for example if I put in what the fire chief asked for we'd be talking a huge number okay so he we're going to work that over a little bit yeah I don't know if he followed your guidance he did not follow my guidance but what got in there is my guidance so it's a working you know it's a working progress It's a working document that the the finance committee and the boards of SE Board of selectman will be working with I just want to point that out because you know baked into baked into there even when I follow my guidance essentially with some also creative stuff that I try to do not creating but trying to be prudent um we still had that 150 Grand deficit to begin with what's built in there as you recall last year we if I follow the guidance we had a we had a no deficit budget we added in your ask we wound up with about $ 126,000 $136,000 deficit that was made up with one time only free cash applied but that thresh that budget level was baked in and so it's some would call it a structural de deficit um that's built in there upon which we're adding now so the the point is that I'm trying to make is that the you know the residents of milville the taxpayers are going to have to and the and the leadership are going to have to wrestle with these challenges of achieving your needs and the needs of the other departments and services that folks need um and do it in a way that is yet to be determined because you know it's a bit people in m will have to live within their means I'm sure Blackstone has similar challenges um and when you talk about the minimum local contribution that helps milville because it shifts more over to Blackstone and last year was 105,000 or so this year it's 185 Grand to our benefit and your loss um and so I hope it never switches back but it just might right I don't think it will um so I I just want to point all that out because Folks at home who may be watching this and I know it's a very popular show um Folks at home are going to have to be addressing this situation and and and the leadership as well and I'm not sure where it's going to go but we got we have two months to work through it um and you all are you know you we're all in this together so we'll figure it out um I I will also say one last thing I I know you have a little bit of OPB in there I know we're going to have a bit of OPB uh contra contribution I don't know what your current liability is I think it went down a bit from where it was a few years ago and that that's good because of assumptions they make and all of that um but if you one way to think of opep if you look at one of the drivers of your budget increase as you mentioned uh was the healthc care that's that's an eighth of your budget is your health care cost right and it increased 8 and a half% or whatever the number was that you said but it's three and a half million bucks in your budget I would say that 40% of the participants in the program are retirees I.E people who are no longer providing services and the idea of contributing to opep liabilities is to help bring that down versus see that percentage grow go grow where you paying for people who don't provide services anymore so I just that's my Soap Box on that one you've heard it before I'm glad you don't have tomatoes cuz you throw them at me right now um so thank you very much that's I just wanted to say that okay all right I I do want to while while you're here thank you uh Mr Town Administrator I was able to watch your meeting on uh Monday night and so I I want to ensure that credit is given where credit is do and I thank you for actually your chair stated that it was your idea to have the vote to be able to have the meeting that we just had earlier and uh so I want to give CR yes to extend that from the regional agreement that's correct sure and came from inspiration in a meeting I had with your superintendent so I I share that I want to make sure that one second I so I just want to point out too that because I 100% I know everything you just said I think it's not as easy for the lay person that might be listening um but it's important to point out that the minimum local contributions at an increase of 6.8% to Blackstone and 5 5.25 to milville are truly what have bringing these numbers up and and I disagree with you on that but that's fine we'll agree to disagree okay it it's it's if you just as you have um you know we're submitting our budget to you we the those numbers are driven by the state correct right so we we saw that and said like we so we brought our other items down yes to try to adjust where that would have landed um so because the state has been increasing the you know the burden to the towns on payments to the school um we just don't have the revenue to supplement it and I'm not saying the town does either but to evenly distribute it is probably what is most I won't Fair go on that too much but I'm CU you had the access I'm curious to say we see his well I'll give it to you all right the minimum local contribution it because you have 15 million to split up amongst the towns right and you add up your both minimum local contributions it's 11 million bucks of that 15 million the rest is transportation split by enrollments and the final balance is what's left and that's split by enrollments if it was all split by enrollments we'd be paying 185 Grand more you'd be paying 185 Grand less that's all but but you're not at the point where the minimum local contribution has exceeded the amount that you have to assess to the towns when it does then then you're into what you're talking about the burden to the taxpayers that's correct okay so that's all right thank you very much much good job well done he did it two years in a row agre without a finance director so I'm excited to have some add it to your resume any other uh public comment to the budget for fy2 all right we'll be moving to a motion to consider and approve fy2 School District budget as presented motion um once made we'll open our discussion I'll make the a motion to approve the budget as presented for discussion okay motion made by Dan is there a second second second by Tara all right um so any comments or questions about what is in here what we do with it this was a very long budget cycle I think we would all agree on and I just hope everyone at home understands just how much we went through every number and we sent it back to the leadership team time and time again like we can't present this to the towns we have to do better and it was such a constant back and forth that like there's a thank you that is due to the leadership team as well because they they were constantly looking at these numbers it's still it is still a work in progress yeah because if whatever um ifying tonight a dollar amount holds us to that and um the only thing we can do is we we can keep that number um or we can go down from there if for some reason we found a pot of money um we would you know we would recertify to add that Revenue to our working budget or um all right any other I if I May uh just to to the um to the point in the earlier hearing on the um um this this budget being certified at this number and I know it's Bare Bones and the the the school nurse concern has me concerned is that you say we can address it at the later date but if we don't have the funding um and we can't go up I just maybe you can explain that process to me well I think what happens is we decide where we want to spend that money I'm in a short answer but I'll let Jason answer that yeah you we you may decide the budget number doesn't overall change but we end up you know bringing a nurse on on board instead of something else that we were going okay um we also keep a very close eye on the revenues you know I don't know what those are going to look like as we only have the governor's numbers so it's possible that the numbers could change in the Cherry sheets and maybe that goes up a bit I don't know I just just want to ensure that we didn't hamstring oursel with that we can't go go up with that that's all thank you madam chair any other comments um I'm just verifying our motion and I think is this tonight or is this um yeah this is the certification and we're doing it in the hearing yeah okay so we're actually going to go through one motion at a time on the sheet that's in our packet um and so Dan made a motion to consider um and approve the FI 24 25 District budget but even if we approve that we have to certify each line which I think sometimes we done at a like a later meeting of next week meeting which we don't have we don't have a next week yeah we have one we have one have next week meeting certif we're doing it today yes um so without any other questions or comments I'm looking for um a vote on Dan's motion and then we would move into certification so motion to consider and approve fy2 24 just fy2 District budget um as Pres presented all those in favor say I I I any opposed any extensions thank you that's unanimous um so before we adjourn I think we should do our um certification it's not on here sear right I just it's on that's under we're going to do our fy2 budget certification um which we typically go around and do a motion at a time does everyone have the page I'm looking at okay um and do we want to just verify these match what we have ask can I ask a question on that sure in the presentation we have the operating budget at 27,825 275 but our motion number is not the same as that is it a little off yes yeah it could be it could be I just want to make sure we're giving 3 77 is 829 2 could be 2000 is it yeah it could have been a little off based on the utility negotiations we were doing it's 278 29 275 it's this number right so it's the one that was in the presentation the number it's right here yep it's right in the assessment sheet can can we just check the bottom part of the motion for the 29 million 855 935 make sure that adds up to sure right here 20 it is 29 yeah it's 2000 it's it should be 29 uh 857 833 this one the total operating that should be the 857 833 8578 yep Madam chair I'll be more than happy to make the first two motions if you we just want to verify all these others before they are all correct the it was just the negotiation of the um utilities that went into the operating budget can you just confirm that town ones the next two look like the totals are the lines are right but the total yes the uh we have to remember that the um capital is um at the bottom so those are assessed different uh separately so the these two motions I I'm laughing because we have this conversation every year yeah these two motions don't have the capital of them these are the two minus the capital the capitals at the bottom got it I know it's it is confusing all right so we're going to start with match and just go around um until we finish if that's okay uh read it just so everyone has I move to adopt a gross operating budget for the 2024 2025 school year in the amount of is it 29 million 8 27 I'm sorry 27,878 33 did I get that right you guys thr 27 m829 th275 27829 say that again 27 milon yes okay so motion made by Matt is there a second second second by Dan any discussion it's correct all those in favor say I I I any opposed it's unanimous thank you okay I move to apply the following reimbursements to reduce said Gross operating budget for the 2024 2025 year Chapter 70 11,275 939 Regional Transportation $856,000 Charter School reimbursement $273,800 the above reimbursements total 12 milon $656,000 935 so just correct that to$ 29,8 57,8 33 from the what's written there okay oh sorry he motion made by Chuck is there a second second that's good second by Dan any discussion that's why I wanted to read the first just noted that it is updated to the um correct total of 29 million $857,000 there we go and all those in favor say I I any oppos unanimous thank you Tyra um I motion to move um assesses the amount of 11,548 and9 to the town of Blackstone to be applied to the operating budget for the year 20 for the 2024 to 2025 year which includes 8,513 357 for the minimum contribution 1,159 64 in exclusionary costs and 1,911 490 in supplemental Investments second okay motion made by Tara and second by Dan any discussion all those in favor say I I any opposed unanimous thank you I move to assess the amount of 3,744 3876 to the town of milville to be applied to the operating budget for the 2024 2025 year which includes 2,697 26 from the minimum contribution $386,000 in exclusionary costs and $661,000 supplemental Investments okay motion made by Tara is there a second second second by Tara that won't be confusing sorry any discussion all those in favor say i i i any opposed it's unanimous thank you D I move to apply the following amounts to the gross operating budget for the year 2024 2025 exit excess and deficiency 100,000 Medicaid 170,000 Revenue user fees 89,000 Revenue gate fees 15,000 Revenue classroom rental 880,000 Revenue prek tuition 15,000 second he motion made by Dan second by Carrie any discussion all those in favor say I I any opposed it's unanimous thank you car I moved to adopt a capital and interest budget in the amount of $381,500 14 for the fwh Middle School $3,757 15 for the JFK boiler Windows project and $1 152,246 for the roof projects second motion made by carrye and second by Dan any discussion I would just like to point out that it is the last payment for the Middle School um all those in favor say I I any opposed it's unanimous thank you I move to adopt a capital interest budget in the amount of $ 17,9 7694 to be assessed solely to the town of milville which includes $43,500 6545 for the milville boil project and $69,500 for the last motion Madam chair I'll take it oh thank you make I'll make a motion to move to certify the alternate presentation of the total budget representing only monies moving in and out of the general fund this presentation will be used by the Department of Revenue in the calculation of excess and deficiency motion Me by Dan is there a second second second by Matt any discussion all those in favor say I I any opposed thank you that's unanimous all right and I'm looking for a motion to adjourn our fy2 budget oh public hearing motion made by Dan second second yes that's exactly what I'm doing and now I will open our school committee meeting for March 7th for the uh Blackstone Mobile Regional School District school committee uh um moving right into our agenda as we've already introduced ourselves many times and said the question almost two hours ago um we're going to uh just move out of order for a few items um we have a group here for field trip requests under school committee if there's anyone that isn't opposed to that on our agenda yes thank you for your patience we thought we were going to be ahead of schedule here we are so please introduce yourselves and hello Tracy duch I'm one of the senior class advisors sue desit the other senior class advisor and I'm Hy duch one of the class advisors officers officers ADV you can advise too so we just came here tonight asking for approval for the senior class trip um on Tuesday May 28th they'd like to go to Brownstone Adventure Park it's in Portland Connecticut it's like an outdoor activity thing with there's swimming and kaying and roping oh by the way it's not going to cost you guys 1 cent so we got it all covered okay um we're going to have transportation through tellstone um we're have going to have approximately six staff chaperon Mr duam will be there uh the school nurse will be there and like I said it's all provide the whole thing will be paid for by the senior class that the money we've raised um we'll be leaving the school about 8:30 :30 getting to Brownstone at 10:00 leave there at 3:30 get back to U BMR about 5:00 you know all the kids of school rules will apply and they will also have to um have permission uh par permission slips and waivers great are you renting them any of those cool gazebo things no are they have do they have the big it seems like it's a pretty all-inclusive thing so it's probably about $60 per student 40 like 45 for the ticket we did the middle pack package um the higher end packages included weake boarding and I would just figured that would be um so like Sue mentioned earlier about there is swimming kayaking rope swing rock climbing zip lines water slides the rope swing they can scuba dive and then there's the inflatable obstacles um and then I think the big part of it is just watching and and just having friends and hanging out there'll be probably about one or two other schools there too so they'll get to mingle with other schools so um I know Mrs fallis has been in the past um she loved it I've never been um the kids are really excited we showed them some videos it's a lot of fun they it looks so cool I'm jealous it looks cool so um I know the class offices we had a couple meetings and then we shared it with the class and it was it was kind of a slam dunk so we just kind of went went ahead with that one y so something different the kids don't normally get to do and they'll all be together for the entire trip which I like um rather than just kind of scatter being in their small groups landing on an island and dispersing yeah but they'll all be in one area for us so that would be nice yeah you know so it sounds fun all right so motion to approve the senior class trip at Brownstone Adventure Park what date was that again May 28th May 28 Tuesday Senior Week motion made by Tara second by Tara any other questions or comments for no just I think they're going to really enjoy yeah I'm excited for them good time all right thank you any oppose have a good time thank you is there anyone here from grade four or we're just going to go through that no yeah no we just went through all right so moving back up the agenda um we don't have our student reps here they're on a weekend uh stucco yeah they doing moment yeah y um they're out of town and consent agenda a warrants and minutes from February 8th did we get those back updated in from um in our email yes in the email I right yep okay so motion made by Dan is there a second second tar all those in favor of consent agenda a say I I I any opposed exstension unanimous thank you and moving on to public forum this is when we welcome anyone that wants to address the committee and again just please state your name and position or town that you're from if you're appropriate now y okay I just feel bad people that came from milville left so maybe must have heard what they wanted oh they're not going to hear your water I didn't mean it that way they're going to watch it on YouTube that way no it's um I assume they were here for the budget no no no I think I they were talking about the building so um Jennifer Gail chair board the select wi um I just wanted to take the opportunity to educate everyone in the town's efforts there are still more people here than we have at our meeting um so the town has adhered to mass D requirements to provide bottled water for the school year um since since I've been on the board of Select which is June 2020 this is the first time I recall being asked to do that um we've acted in alignment with M and the viice and the advice of our water expert um and we talked about this with the board s media on Monday if you saw the recording like if they had said you need to move the students we would have been in complete in alignment with you we've been following what they tell us because I don't think I know more than they do um since July of 2023 the Halo cdic acid reading has been below the 60 parts per billion threshold since the October of 2023 the trihalomethanes has been below 80 parts per threshold and for the entire school year the average for both uh Halo acidic acid and trihalomethanes has been below the threshold um I'm very confident that water notices will be lifted in March and we actually submitted our water yesterday to be tested for March um so the ha the Halo acidic acid results would need to be 91 or less and trihalomethanes would need to be 143 or less and we've been averaging less than half of those numbers for the whole school year um we voted to provide bottled water for September and October for the 2425 school year regardless of whether or not mass D required or not um if Halo atic acid or the trihalomethanes exceed their thresholds um even if they exceeded but not enough for a water notice and we'll provide bottled water until we get six consecutive months of readings below the thresholds in terms of capacity over 130 gallons has been run through the system which is approximately 70% of usage um and as a reminder the exposure that would potentially trigger a health issue is 2 lers of water a day every day for 70 years that's 25,550 days in a row and we talked about asking for a um order from Mass DP around the bottled water but when we met with Mary Jud she said why don't we meet in April and when we'll talk about lifting it so I and I don't know what she's going to say I don't know if she's going to say great no more water no more bottle water now or she'll say the end of the school year but she's at least open to having the conversation makes me think I maybe should have asked her in December so I guess the question I have for you does anyone think anything I said was untrue or or do you have any questions or anything that I said right now right now what I just read right now does anyone think what I said was UNT I don't know what you can to no no I just want to make sure like because are you you're asking do we agree with you that you're speaking facts yes absolutely yeah okay from from yeah facts from what you are dealing with yes okay perfect 100% great um so then I just um so in closing CU I'll be very quick um I just wanted to say that I really wish things had gone differently over the last school year and I think the good news is that there's still time to fix this there's time to put the children back in our one of our newer and nicest buildings in the school district um you could make a motion that's contingent on the March water results so that if the water notice gets lifted then the students will be back in that building um I hear from a lot of parents in mville that that's what they would like to see they would like to see the building you used [Music] um CU I believe we I believe we'll not be sending water notices so just but I understand you probably want to see the results so you can make the motion contingent on the March results when is the next quarter from March so they do calendar year quarters so it's we have to do January February March testing and we get that average and then it's April May and June testing and then we get that average because we could look back which is kind of what we dealt with last July yes it is exactly what we dealt with all the time for everybody you know the only thing I want to point out with that is that we were all here February 8th when Mary Jude told us all that monthly testing doesn't count one quarter does not count it has to be consecutive quarter she wouldn't tell us how many did she say did she give us no she has so she quarters for for the for clean water for no notices no so we are meeting the based on the math if that's what um that's what Dr gullet gave us so he went through the the calculations of so we'll be looking at the April through June of 23 July through September of 23 October through December of 23 and then January through March of 2 4 provided the March reading for that one month is 91 or lower or the trihalomethanes is 143 or lower is going to give you one quarter they average but then they'll go back for the year and average all those quarters and we will not be needing to send water no so so how the calculation is done is they'll look at the average they'll look at what the reading was for April 23 May 23 June 23 and create an average and July 23 August 23 and September 23 and they'll be another data point and then look October November December of 23 and that'll be another data point and then January February March and another data point they take the average of those four quarters so the average they average the quarter and then those four data points and provided March is not above 91 or 143 we will be below the threshold and not need to send water notices I know it's not easy I've just been doing this for a long long time many hours every day but that's so that's what it would mean and if you look at the I brought the presentation with me that Dr Glick provided in December the readings for those um since July since he was on the operations have been um on the Halo acetic acid I July through December 2231 1841 and 42 and 20 in the trihalomethanes on the first quarter there was not as good 161 97 113 then October 5756 36 but the average of the school year has been below the 80 so the last we need the March number to complete the first quarter of 24 and then we take the a we look at the averages of Q4 23 q323 q223 with q124 and then average those and then that average if it's below 60 for the Halo acidic acid there'll be no notice and Below 80 for the trihalomethanes we will not send a notice does that make sense I know it's not can I just ask a question on that so q1 of 24 could drop you from needing notices y however if May was a super high reading mhm Q2 of 24 could bump you back up to needing the notices and I think that goes to what Mary Jew's point was that it needed to be consistent where one quarter might drop you from needing them but the next quarter could bring it right back again so that would we'd probably have similar numbers because with the Halo atic acid like I said the numbers I've read were like 18 21 40 so it need to be a number like 200 I mean I don't so I haven't done the math but it would need to be like like the 91 or 143 which is double or triple what we're seeing so it would it would be shocking if that happened but one quarter could bump you back up it would be yes it can but it would be we're definitely heading in Direction with that should not happen I agree with that and obviously everyone's hopeful for that um however and I think that's what's happened in the past where we've been we we'd go we have no notices and then we'd have one and it it would happen and it was always this test was from last quarter and we then we were shutting the water off so um and I just want to add so we have additional controls in place around the chlorine and we're adding in more of that which should just make the readings more consistent not less so we've been able to manage this water with the um with the monitoring of the chlorine and the and then they'll be adding of a shut off for the chlorine so once it reaches a threshold it'll shut it off so that we don't exceed so it's just going to get better because there'll just be more controls not less that was a couple months out right or man when that's coming Peter he supposed to take delivery this month Oh yay doesn't mean they're going to be installed this month yeah nothing moves fast I mean there's no denying we're in a better place than we were a year ago and and the and you know a year ago from right now in March um and then May June July um I I would think it's a little premature for us to make a motion contingent on um a q1 but I I mean I understand the process um I know at your meeting you had other questions as to who are experts were yes um so I'd like to address that perfect and um I think another thing you mentioned once again and I again we were all in the I'm going to clear this up first because it's shorter than who our experts are um on the information you put out on social media yes you mentioned that again other towns were like this and were not asked to provide the water yes Mary Mary Jude was here February 8th and she clarified that's because those Town had their long-term plans in place that's a huge difference I felt after that after she clarified that because I didn't know that was why there was a difference that that kind of makes that go away you know and and we're not comparable to Springfield uh we're just not however do you have an update on long-term plan Grant is there a bucket of money so no I'm Mary you's out for March for um she's out for March just March okay for a personal reason so that's why we're sinking back up in April all right um and then you know the I I don't want to argue I I do definitely see the difference in the way you talk to us or the way you talk about us when we're not there when you're having your meetings um um I wish I could be at every meeting just to participate and maybe it maybe it would be more civil or maybe it would be back and forth because I would be there to like rebut the things you say and you know I think you and I are both doing um the same kind of work with our towns and it would just it would just be that much more in each of us to feel that we had to be at every single meeting right um it would double the burden of time but when when we do catch up and we watch them It's upsetting to see like some of the slander and against the school committee against you know what what did you feel I said said that was slanderous so um in the past there's been mentions of of the T of the school ordering work that the Town should pay for and you know those that's before so but in your meeting last week yep you said who are their experts I'd like nobody so I'm just going to clarify for you right now that our experts are your experts we we we are not in the business of water operator okay okay we have depended on Mary Jude we have depended on your prior water operator who would be Bob and now your new water operator um and I think without going down a rabbit hole we can agree that there's been um some derogatory stuff from the water operator however the current water operator however we all sat here last May when and we're told don't drink the water don't cook absorba bles with the water water and no one said close a building no one said shut it down right but in the safety and concern of the students and staff that are in that building with that being said to all of us as a group collectively I don't know how you can you can sit here repeatedly or at your meetings or on social media and say why' they close it why' they close it if if you're totally thinking of the well-being of the children and the staff and you were just told don't drink the water don't cook absorba bles with the water I I just I honestly don't know how you can sit there and try to keep pushing the issue of it was never we did not close the building we shifted operations we still have minimal people in that building minim less exposure and that has always been the intention that was the motion that night um so I I just want to clarify that part that I I try not to get upset when I hear it but it's upsetting for because you keep saying the same talking points Jen and you're just you you're that stuff is done we're almost at a better place I I think we can all agree on that we're almost there and and it is the first time that milville has been able has had to or been a and put the resources into it to get to this point and for that I mean unfortunately if it took moving the kids and if it took that it's it's still going to be you know in a better place for the town and the taxpayers and the kids when they get back there so I'd like to answer your question why I keep pushing for the children to be back in the building so two things so one no expert recommended moving the kids Mass de or or Dr gullick and Mr Ferrari didn't recommend at the April 27th meeting or May 16th I rewatched both of those meetings myself and then the second reason is we providing bottled water so that won't be drunk I'm just going to I'm going to say this once because I don't want to expose anyone I don't want to argue about it but last year at this time the water was not being provided or paid for and we were arguing over it and if you go back to your June meeting when I attended because you had made the great the motion of supplying water for the rest of year $115,000 and then I sat there and we fought over that on who was we want to set precedents that the school's going to pay for the water and we're going to reimburse you and so those things do that that was a burden on us that we didn't need a burden on I mean we're here for the kids and the educating of the students mhm fighting over bills and paying for water that should be it should just be the water and electricity and everything in that building should just work MH and you know I think of it as the we pay the electric bill but you supply the conduit that comes through the ground there's there's the difference the Well versus the actual water if there was an expense to it you know very well that starting last January February or I actually I'll back it up because I said I'm going to say this once when the regional agreement changed and Blackstone and milville kids were in that building Peter did not want to pay the water operations of milville elementary school anymore and was continuously bringing it to the slack board saying he didn't feel that he could authorize it he didn't feel that it was in his you know he wanted to make it an operating expense of the district because the Blackstone kids were now occupying the building with the milbo kids and that is that is before unfortunately in the middle of all of that unfortunately the water went bad and looked disgusting everyone said it was fine but it looked really bad and then we were told don't drink it don't cook absorba bles so it kind of all mixes together but you you weren't supplying water and I I know you're using like we were never told before May before July to supply water like that's a good thing I actually think she thought it was being supplied and I think it's actually a negative thing that she had to tell you to supply water maybe it was supposed to be supplied every time there was a notice I I'm not going backwards so so come that helps no no no but I so when I got on the board of Selectmen we were not paying for the water and so I don't know how all of you feel but my first year I was kind of just listening not paying for the water we were not paying for the water my first year on the border S I think you mean not paying for bottle water yes thank you not paying for bottled water but Mees water operations and water operations no water operations just generally so I was just kind of listening and everyone said this is what we do and I was like okay so cuz I was not a big rock the boat kind of person my first year on the board of Select and I think that many of you can probably appreciate that your first year on the school committee are just kind of listening and like this is what we do and I was like okay that sounds good um and like I I really do feel that the regional agreement still is not clear on that but let me finish so although I don't think it's clear on that I agree with you Erin that if I were renting an apartment building and someone said by the way figure out the water on your own I'd be like what are you talking like what and I also think of preschoolers my cuz my children went there at preschool and being like Oliver please sir may I have some more and we're like no you can't have any water and so it's more that I don't know from a legal perspective if it's required but I think from doing the right thing that's what we're doing so it took me longer to get there Erin on that point it did because I was kind of listening and following other guidance Peter and I still talk about this too Jennifer is not in the regional agreement the right thing to do I think is to provide the water that's what I think the right thing to do is so that's what we're doing and we would still like to work with your attorney to have a s side letter because that would really quiet someone else and then it would be we have a side letter now and this is their agreement and that would be okay because that does make his life a little easier if it's exactly how written down so I am sorry that it took me longer to kind of get there on that and you're right Erin that you that you're 100% correct on I'm I'm not even looking for that I appreciate the no but you should you should be what I'm asking though is at your meetings like we are we are working together as much as we can right and we don't come to our meetings and talk about dump in milville and and and that is really where your conversations go like I I you're talk about getting you sent out a survey to the entire town on what would you like to do with this building do you want us to take it back for revenue and that was all like fabricated by that wasn't driven by any it wasn't driven by a feasibility study it wasn't driven by it was all it's in it's informational so I understand that you that might have upset you and I thought that it might um I mean the results but so nobody wants it not to be mville elementary school that's true so with that being said let's move on let's let's stop the negativity and any of us feeling like well we got to go to that meeting tonight because otherwise they're going to talk about us and you know we've tried to sit back and let you guys get this figured out there is nothing I want more than the the kids to be back in that building it would have been ideal had we been doing a reconfiguration and going back to that building and you know with that I'll just say we're still in the middle of a feasibility study and I believe it will dictate Us in that direction as well but any other itam Che if I sure yeah when you first sat up here you you um you listed this a set of facts yes and I said absolutely and and I agree and and but there are other things that are said that are not factual in in like just your last meeting and I I mean I've been around this for quite some time so like personal attacks on me or or if I'm the ring leader or what references that's okay I I can cuz that it's not um like it's the problem or the issue is bigger than any one of us individuals um but I just want to touch on a couple of things be and you're right like getting to understand how the regional agreements work you know being a new selectman I mean and understanding the school district world compared to the seleman world compared to the real world outside where you know it's there's a lot there but um the the the the bottled water uh when you you got on and and I first got on the board of selectman and and the bottle of water was being supplied uh by the district yes you understand that 75 cents on the dollar of that bottle of water was being paid by the town of Blackstone yes at the same time you're challenging whether or not you're responsible for providing that water for the milville elementary school the town of Blackstone has been providing water on the taxpayers dime to the complex so I mean it's it's just a slippery slope to go down because it's understood because and and I understand the confusion because from you know 1982 till 2019 the Kennedy Maloney the elementary schools in Blackstone were under the operation of Blackstone as far as the water provision it's just like the Long Fellow school was in milville and the new milville elementary school and now that the kids integrated in those grades where Peter would have a concern saying well why isn't it at the in the district but the towns continueed to provide to Pro provide the water as a selectman at the time I knew that the town was this District was providing that bottled of water and for the same reason you probably did is I'm not going to rock the boat I'm not going to be the guy that sits there and says well we don't want to pay for water for the kids you know because they're milville kids and then some other politicians would say that but I am not going down that road there's no way that because I I don't I believe that when we're partners are in a district all the kids are ours black Zone and millville's you know our responsibility whether I'm a black zone selectman or a member of the school committee because we are Partners in this in this Venture um and and as far as like that's concerned like the if you want a side note I I don't I don't know then blacko would need one I mean like blackone currently right now pays for all those kids water at the complex and and and there's no like there's no uproar to that and and you could say well they can have you know bottled water from milville but and I I don't want to go backwards I I said several several months ago to you like you can be the you you would you alone start I think started you got the rest of your board that came around that the recognize the issue I mean you had adversity between two water operators that two Opera arguing with each other and you had you know you you you're you're facing things that really haven't been solved over the last 20 years and you have five or six months of pretty decent results but there was 240 months before that that was like this like this and I don't think the school committee's request to let you finish the project the are in a safe environment now I made a promise to you the last selectman's meeting that I was at that once that's resolved and and that time period goes by I'd be the first one to make the motion to put the kids back and milville Elementary is clearly the better learning facility building building for the kids and and and and and I'm you know comments were made that this is political that this is that and it it I don't it's not for me I don't think it's for any other member of the board this was about the misinformation the mixed information the conflicting information that we were getting through this period of time you have seemed to got things under control and you have consistent you're starting to have consistent positive results and I think we're all hopeful that that that continues I know I am and and I and at any time I know in that meeting your last meeting you said you reach out to select I've reached out to you in the past and said you can reach out to I'm always willing to speak to you on this and and I mean the I mean the Facebook nonsense is a Facebook D I would I recommend that you can you move on with well I want to I want to finish we don't normally interact in public forum we need to wrap this up I'm just I'm finishing up everyone else interacted I mean I just wanted to finish up I want to clarify just getting really long and public forum is usually just to State not to have a whole so we're going to address that now after we just had a half hour TR that's my opinion all right well I'll just I'll just finish up with um the fact that one statement that was made in your meeting is that this will cost the taxpayers more with the building being the way it is right now the operations of the milville elementary school that's still being um used as the administration is um th those operating costs are still being paid by the district which is you know the 75% is still coming from Blackstone as well so it's not costing milville taxpayers anymore it would actually cost them more if you had the building back right now and had to pay for those operations so yes yes I just wanted to clarify that but yeah we talked about that that's not the direction that we are no absolutely not but I think Peter has said it many times to to you guys like this could be a revenue Source or you know is it is does the pro of paying off msba a way the you know the con the con of paying msba outweigh the pro of making money on it that is not it's actually not up for negotiation we have a lease with you just putting that up there I think until 2032 or yes 2032 so we you know that is we're we're just looking for a more positive public and personal communication Point okay and talking about getting rid of school talking about and um just to clarify one more thing and then we'll be done that you know you you did say well why wasn't this 10 years ago why didn't they close it when the water was bad and let's I again all the other things that happened last year we're arguing over payments and your water operator quit because he was wasn't paid I know you wanted him to that's a different conversation however my he he was not being paid because of other arguments so it became a very big burden on us and we had to know where those kids were going to be for the first day of school and we didn't know if we were going to be fighting over paying for bulk water or you know and um I appreciate you coming here and giving us updates whenever you have them and you know just know that if we're not there I do try to watch later in the week and the the efforts are appreciated okay so in the interest of being quick terar I appreciate that um so we're not fighting over water bills anymore because I do always think of Oliver asking for more like that just not cool um I will make sure that we conduct boss meetings like you're in the room Erin I appreciate that IE that I kind of am when I'm watching later um but I still want to encourage you to put the children back CU I do have people who are like why isn't this happening why aren't you doing it look at how much progress you're making um I am getting a lot nothing we want more why why I'm pressing so hard is because people are pressing me so hard and um you know we will keep that in the Forefront of you know of our conversations I I try to get them to come to this meetings but okay thank you thank you any other uh any other discussion for public forum this evening all right moving on to school committee approv warrant articles to submit um to the town for their Town meetings we have some language here mville and Blackstone yes these are the articles we submitting the same ones to both so would anyone like to make the motion for our warrant articles these will be um submitted to the towns and voted on separately from our budget uh it's a specific warrant article um schools I move to approve the fy2 warrant articles as written and be submitted to the towns of Blackstone and milville okay motion made by Tara is there a second second doubling up the whole night going with Matt for that hey motion made by Tara and second by Matt um these will cover school committee stiens which is a yearly Mo uh article and the opab which is also a yearly article now um and I guess we are for going any all right any other discussion questions are these two separate warrant articles in each Town they'll be read and voted on separately by the other um with the conversation on the mini splits in my discussion with both um Peter um and um with Blackstone said they didn't feel that that needed to be a separate item it was a small amount and they thought they could do it through you know other budget means oh oh that was the only that was the only um piece that that's a capital piece yeah it was a $41,000 expense for the Mini Splits for the central rooms here but um after discussions with both they didn't think that it was the town felt it was necessary to do an article on that all right so motion to approve the uh warrant articles as presented um all those in favor say I I any opposed any extensions it's unanimous thank you msba update feasibility agreement to be finalized by April 11th is that when our next um yes are you presenting okay if I touch on it quickly so in your packets you have the feasibility study agreement documents um and I just I only certainly wasn't trying to uh kill trees here but I put them in there because I wanted you to see them before they come in front of you April um just so you have time to get familiar with there's a lot of jargon in here um and so uh we are very excited we will be on the board the mass School building authority board meeting on um April oh gosh Tera 2 24th 24th somewhere around there 26 24th 24th um and so um they will formally vote us into feasability which is great uh we did finally settle our enrollment um and uh I app appreciate their entertaining um a few conversations with us and did agree to increase our enrollment um from the initial so that's good uh request um and then uh that moved us into the feasibility study agreement so I will send the necessary documents off to our legal council to review those uh we'll make sure that we get everything in place and ready for the school committee for April 11th so the committee can approve um the documents that you need to and we can move on to their board meeting so good news there and that's virtual yes okay perfect and when we have the link I'll send it out to everybody so anyone can jump in moving on we did have one other field trip request um we will'll just do them separately grade four Mystic Aquarium it looks like about 120 students 26 chaperon I believe BM PTO pays for busing and um this is really just because they're leaving the state I believe yes it's Connecticut so motion to approve the Mystic Aquarium field grade four field trip it looks like it is on June 5th so moved motion made by Carrie second second second by Tara any questions or discussion three buses paid for Again by the PTO all those in favor say I I any oppos unanimous thank you and superintendent midcycle evaluation this is just information only um at our next meeting we will be receiving Jason's midcycle evaluation um in the midst of all the other work being done he's keeping up on now anything want to comment about that no you'll we'll do the same uh process if that's okay that would be perfect okay we'll do the presentation and um communication the same way we did last year all right report of the superintendent great I will move quickly um first is just the updated organizational chart we it's we actually had this it's in your packet we had this done in August um but our time together became focused on other areas so we put it off but since we have our new Finance uh in operations director starting we wanted to make sure that this actually gets in front of the school committee and officially approved um if there's nothing different on here than we already have it's just we haven't we just haven't voted the new uh updated um draft that's all so that um needs to be approved but there are no changes from what we're doing all right so motion to approve the organizational chart as presented so move he didn't sneak in any uh no action just housekeeping yes we did have it last full yes all right motion made by Matt is there a second second second by all those in favor say I I any oppos extensions unanimous thank you uh the next item thank you is student Opportunity Act plan and just so this isn't anything new um we've talked about the student Opportunity Act a bunch of times um anytime there's an increase in Chapter 70 money this year we saw an increase of I believe it was uh just a little over $447,000 which is the $30 a student um this state is um identifying that as student opportunity funds as a result they require every school system to write a lengthy and extensive student Opportunity Act plan it's a is it kind of like a thank you for this $0 per student so um we actually are receiving 130,000 Less in Revenue but in that configuration there's a $47,000 increase in Chapter 70 even though the overall net loss is 130 um we're required to write this plan by the state and as such the school committee is required to now vote it and approve the plan um the what's interesting is the plan itself is actually an electronic document that you have to work in it's in a it's in a grant system I can't bring it to you um we're we're going to write our plan around our uh literacy work that we're doing next year anyways uh around selecting um updated literacy materials it literacy is our year next year um in our in our curriculum revision cycle so um it's a formality I just have to tell the department of Ed that you voted the plan the plan is is for us to use this money um we're not going to use it on the literacy work frankly we're going to use it on like salaries but um we have to write a plan so um there are many districts that are in the same situation where and it's a compliance thing so I'm I'm asking the committee to approve the $47,000 to do the literacy work that we're going to do I have to write something so looking for a motion to approve the student Opportunity Act funding fy2 in the amount of $47,900 to focus on the selection of high quality literacy materials for both core instruction and intervention materials so moved motion made by Chuck is there a second second second by carrye all those in favor say I I any opposed you can send them a big fat thank you yes I will thank I I was confused and they said you're I said I'm like I actually they said what money what are you talking about like you guys gave us less money so anyhow um and then lastly uh the District of one event and Matt too I don't know if I'm going to jump on that but we're super excited we've got a lot lot in the lot in the cooker Matt's doing a lot of work on it and uh as our PTO our BME PTO um leaders so we got an event coming up yeah we uh it's starting to really kind of um grow uh I think you and I talked about that when I first got on last year and how do we make it bigger um I spoke with uh Sergeant herwitz at the police department um he's got really excited about it uh spent half a day um better part of four hours uh just making calls so um the amount of organizations that he reached out to outside of the town that will kind of just bring some excitement um to it uh we reached out uh CPAC is is doing their Touch of truck so that's going to be awesome as well yeah uh we've got commitments from the local organizations um obviously the scouts Lions Club um winning here back from a few other organizations Historical Society Historical Museum is going to be uh interested as well so um lot more to come but it's going to be a good event I understand that Blackstone I don't know what they're doing for Memorial Day if they're if there is a big Memorial Day celebration going on again so this might kind of be the celebration um for spring so uh hopefully hopefully they have something as as they normally do but is there a date for this uh so it's going to be May 11 11th and tentatively 1 to four yeah tentatively cuz with the amount of stuff I mean we have right now we have commitments from you know we're going to have a k9 um demonstration possibly a there going to be a lot of stuff let's just say a bunch of activities it's so think about last year but with way more and last year was great we had over I think 500 people last year so I I'm I'm this is awesome it's like every year it gets bigger and better and more people get involved and that's the whole goal it it turns into a great Community event so Matt thanks for your work on that more to come we will look forward to the updates all right moving on to that with your yes yeah business office personal Personnel report and the expenditure yes you have the personnel report in your packet uh that's to be received and placed on file and then you also have the expenditure updated expenditure report um we've made great progress on that um each of our schools has come up with a um spending plan for March 1st through June 30 we've reviewed those spending plans um all of the resources that are that were encumbered that don't need to be we will release those encumbrances and close out those POs uh the items that um that were not budgeted but are things that popped up that the schools need are on that list all those plans will go uh to Mr spagna so that he's ready um when the ordering comes through and and people are working with their budgets um we'll have a really good sense of of kind of forecasting where we're going to land fy2 24 um and right now I think we will hit our goals I think we will hit our Target so we did uh a big kudos to our administrative assistants and our buildings and our principals and our business office everybody's been working um very hard very focused to make sure that we can land FY 24 where we are hoping to so lots of uh lots of good work there yep and business office report moving on to facilities faster what yeah we were a little behind we caught up okay good evening um so as you know Encore fire protection came out February 22nd to do the inspection of the kitchen suppression systems uh at that time they found that they recommend a new nozzle being installed over the new steamer that was put in recently at the high school uh the one that's currently there does not hang directly over the device I did talk to Jen paradise and she has the means to have this work done so so we're going to get that done and the high school is also going to receive a new compressor for the refrigeration system uh we scheduled that work for March 15th because it's a PD day they need to bring a crane on site to drop the unit onto the roof so it'll be less distraction to the students and the parent drop off area um baseball fields and softball fields I'm I'm dying to get down on those I just wish it would stop raining uh I just don't want to cause more damage to that than yeah early spring though yeah it's going to be earlier well the first of spring is 15th Scott can I ask you a question on those yeah absolutely behind the um behind the fence like if they hit a foul ball right and it goes back into the woods is that our is that still our property over there it is okay yeah we own all the way down to the stream that runs in the bat we don't have the that we could do to clear out some of that do we I'm not only asking cuz we we lose a ton of balls over there yeah I know it's all poison ivy down there yes it is and the the kids were getting it and they were getting ticks too so unfortunately we can't use pesticides on school grounds to kill that is that right behind the where we put the net have is there another net that we can put over is addition to what's there so I don't believe at one time there was none so we just recently installed that six foot fence mhm I just wondered if we still this a bad time to say like well I mean we're losing a lot of Boss damn would take care of it I just wondered if it was our if it was our land definitely our lands over there the same thing I eaten goats not a terrible if we can find some goats that would be awesome they eat it Pi up the balls too those would be really good goats to be yeah who's picking up all the fertilizer fertili just hope it doesn't fertilize it so It Gos back yeah but there might have to be SL Billy gos to make that banking put anyway um yep so moving on the shot put desk discus Nets and uh those will be installed tomorrow I have a couple of custodians are going to stay and work on that so those will be up tomorrow uh weather supposed to be good tennis courts whole another issue um we did put the Nets up the gates are unlocked now they can use um one of the gates is unlocked one of the locks is Frozen we got to get that um opened up but they can be used however there are cracks I did have Premier seal coating out today to look at them um unfortunately there's so much groundwater underneath the the asphalt and the asphalt just keeps moving because it's on the banking and possibly Wetlands as well so he's going to um write up a recommendation for us and get it to me he did say he'll come out and he there are a couple of patches that are sticking up a little bit that could be tripping hazards he will come out scrape those down for us in the meantime is he the same one who repaired them were they just repaired last year had two years ago two years ago um it doesn't have a sounds like it doesn't have a good base so been there forever though I don't get those are redone um in 2023 I believe the year this the school opened up the same year the track was done they did the tennis courts not 20 what year I'm sorry 2003 oh oh okay okay yeah I'm sorry 2023 I think you're right they've been resurfaced since then you saying surface oh they may have been yeah it keeps every time you have a fix it keeps cracking at least twice I know the track has been resurfaced what is the track has been tennis courts probably but that's just a like a drive we did the track in the tennis courts the same year the same time couldn't even tell you what year that was long time ago yeah I wasn't the grounds keeper then so what um I mean I I think we'll have to just wait till their recommendation but knowing that somehow we have hopeful that we have a project coming you know to get five more years out of them when they've been there for as many years as they have' got to if it takes this yearly maintenance because I believe some you know Simple Plan that's out there is moving all our fields to the front too so we'd have a new home hopefully in some I think we someone's not made up design yet right um okay so moving on to the covered everything so the Middle School uh un fire also recommend U the suppression tanks were expired so those are going to be replaced and they actually coming tomorrow they just called me today they're going to come tomorrow and do those after 1:00 kitchen isn't being used uh I'd like to give a shout out to the Blackstone fire department for coming out to assist us with running the cable back down the Massachusetts flag pole that's the flag pole that carries Massachusetts flag um they literally spent like four hours here helping me get it done with the ladder with the ladder truck what it was amazingly they got no calls while they were here so well you were up in the bucket so thank God they didn't there you'd be driving off down the I he s a picture he's like hey waving him like what the hell is going on he's all the way up in the how everything look up there it's a great view let me tell you that right down on the roof get out of there yeah so but big shout out to them for for staying here that length of time and and getting it done cuz without that truck we couldn't get it done was the flag up it was just a ladder truck no it's was the flag flag up oh um yes well I did tell him to put it up so hopefully the poll's operational all right that's the poll is operational So what had literally happened was the mechanism inside to crank the flag pole the cable up um wasn't holding so the flag would just drop back down I took that mechanism out it costs it was going to cost us between 4 and $700 for a new mechanism I took it home grinded out the spot welds took it apart cleaned it rewelded it put it back together and no guarantees but I'm hoping it'll last but I made every effort so thank you so in the meantime the cable we had that Windstorm and the wind grabbed the cable and pulled it right out and and I'm talking like probably 70t of cable and then we had to thre it back down a hole in the middle like that was that big to get it all the way back down and what happened was it bunched up built up a big Rat's Nest we had to snake it out and it was it wasn't like me had to take the little ball off at the top so we can get the wire down when you lose your sweatshirt string is it worth putting back it is the flag po it was either like cut the flag pole in half or we got it done um and then JFK AF Maloney um on the 28th somehow we lost power to the septic pumps this is the pumps that pump the fluid out to the leech field that enabled that septic tanks to fill up to the Max Capacity um I immediately put a call into ADC so a large you know shout out to them as well they were with on the site within 10 minutes pumping the tanks out um so that was nice um Palmer electric came out Palmer electric used to work for uh wilington pumps which did the pump system originally um he was the electrician at work for them so he knows the system so he now owns his own business so I contacted him he came out and he's done work for us in the past so we're going to um he's going to come back out tomorrow to diagnose why we lost the power and there was no power running to the alarm system that should have sound let us know that the pumps were off so it never would have filled up so we're going to um hopefully get that straightened out questionss good stuff thank you are you actively working to run the water in the milville building oh absolutely it's your like are you it's you it's me I was actually thinking about what they said the other day about something like we were already running at 70% we weren't using the water so with that being said if whatever we were running it at to flush and then for 5 years we have not the used running water right we certainly weren't drinking it and on and off of the cooking right and in fact make sense that we're like that close to yeah it does and before I started running it Dr gullick told me to let him know when we're going to start running it because he needed to bring the outside tank water back up to level to handle the extra 3,000 gallons we were going to run a day or 1,500 gallons a day sorry but he needed 3,000 gallons in the tank so that we didn't run it dry so yeah good to know yep thank you for helping with that not a problem we all want the kids back there yes we do and staff thank you for that update we do have use of facilities requests a few of them in here and I had to add a couple they came in and the only reason we added them was cuz they the groups wanted to start uh it was the girls on the run Club did this um it was the after school em so was one of our groups and then the rep soda is the rise up initiative meal um so we just wanted to make sure that we had this on so we could get these so I I put them in front of your the ones that over here yeah in front of your seats can we take this as one motion to approve all yeah so I move to accept all facility requests as WR second a motion made by carry for the use of facility requests and second by Chuck all those in favor say I any oppos extensions thank you committee forums any I don't know that I I guess I'll apologize to Dan for asking to kind of wrap that conversation up earlier I just think that we need to really focus on keeping public forum public forum and have like discussions other ways um I know working with the towns is really important um but I just feel like it it was getting a little long today so I'm not sure the best way to move forward but I just want to throw it out there that well I AP like I we didn't have a water update on our agenda and they clearly came here to give us one so that was the only time that it really fit into this I think today's long just because we had the two public hearings that I thought we were going to be spending 30 minutes each on I know I thought we were going to have too much time that's between so um I'm just hopeful that maybe so we're not rehashing every single meeting that they said what they wanted to say and maybe come our next meeting we can just move with our agenda yeah no water right well we and we I don't want to say we purposely not put a water update on when we've had it or or Scott has brought it to us or she's been Jen has been here but we're not the water operator so we didn't you know I'm not going to put it on the agenda and unless we are asked to so with that being said I I think on Monday night she said she wanted to come to the meeting she did email me asking to open her meeting if she had a quorum so um but typically yes you're right the public forum is not a I I kind of just let that go because it was another Town body that we needed to communicate with so um any other school commit for we do have an executive session tonight so um I just don't know how this going to work if Dan's not here to roll call in um empty bowl is coming up yes March 13th: 13th 5:00 p.m. so Wednesday March 13th 5:00 p.m. next wedes let's make sure we have that um that's this the NHS biggest fundraiser of the year for them um oh there's also a meet the coaches night coming up too for spring Sports March 12th Tuesday yep 6 p.m. March 12th at the high school yep for all 6 through 12 spring athletes there's a pancake breakfast on the 24th too for the Boy Scouts at Divine Mercy 8:30 to 12:30 what date 8:30 to 12:30 on March 24th I hope that's a Sunday think it's a Saturday yeah it's a Saturday so it's whatever that Sunday is oh that is a Sunday was my fault okay thanks you waiting for me nope saying no being sarcastic yep timing is good though do you have anything for committee Forum no okay I said up earlier for a motion to move into executive session um we'll take a roll call vote and not to return into our public meeting our next school committee meeting is April 11th we will have to reorg on that meeting because elections are sometime before that um reor our our board our seats andil first am I foret anything do we don't have any other workshops or anything in March do we need any I mean I'd love spending time with all of you but you may not want another Workshop but no read to us we're good till April 11th okay so motion to move into executive session not to return to open meeting so moved yes oh I get ahead of it I was I thought you were giving me that motion so motion made by Carrie second second by Ted call Carrie Dan yes Ain yes ter yes all right