24 meeting of the school committee the um time is 7:00 so we'll open the meeting um I would like to remind everyone that you can see there's a camera here it's going to stream on our YouTube channel and uh be recorded if anyone wants to watch it at home later um that would be fine other people obviously may be recording us as well because that's certainly allowed so um let's rise for the Pledge of Allegiance and when we're done with that let's remain standing for a moment I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liy and justice for all and now a moment of silence for those who' lost from the V Community uh particularly one young man who tragically lost his life and was a recent thre thank you all right moving into the agenda we have correspondence and recognition um Community correspondence and emails to the committee um and M McDougle is collecting them and I am going to report on them um there was uh one we only just met last week so there haven't been a lot of them um an inquiry from a Community member about access to the high school track which I believe the superintendent will cover in his report this evening out on the track and Tennis Court progress possibly even talked about tennis court access as a suggestion Mr um and we had a very a very nice note from a Mitchell School parent um praising of the staff members at the Mitchell School who uh have interacted with with their child this year bringing them into the school um with some um higher needs than uh perhaps a typical student and making the experience very positive um obviously this is just an example of all of the staff we have across our our district and making sure all students are comfortable uh and and have an ability to learn um you know as I've said often in the people PR to say that's how we treat our most vulnerable students is the way we should be judged so very well done by those staff members who are particularly recognized and uh generally across the district um recognition of Music uh booster volunteer M uh Willow um Mr Po thank you Mr chrg yes you know it's we often try to recognize our students our faculty as much as possible uh it's not too often we actually get an email recognizing another parent but we did recently receive a email correspondence uh singing the Praises of of Miss whe power so we wanted to take this opportunity to acknowledge uh her years of dedication uh she started volunteering for the district when her daughters were in kindergarten they actually just recently graduated um so we you know we typically see parent volunteerism uh come and go over the years depending on the activities but to actually have a parent start in kindergarten go all the way through 12th grade is C commendable started off with gemv at the Mitchell school and worked with the PTO there fundraising efforts such as the iPads and all sorts of activities if you've ever been involved in gem spay you know uh how uh wide they spread their reach in terms of fundraising and what they do for the students and then U this is real how uh transitioned over to J music boosters and then uh in high school up to music booster so really has has gone the full spectrum of K to2 and we can't years of dedication and Service uh certainly it's always great to to see you with all the different events and I know how much time and effort you put into it it doesn't go unrecognized and unnoticed and we just want to take this opportunity to publicly thank you and acknowledge you for all that we've done for our students thank you Mr P it's not over yet folks because uh we were proud enough of this email to send it on to our friends in the Bridgewater Town Council who wanted to actually um officially recognize MV so I have a proclamation here from the uh Town Council of the town of Bridgewater whereas Margaret willower began volunteering with George H Mitchell Elementary School parents Association 13 years ago when her daughters were in kindergarten and whereas Margaret was the resident box talk coordinator cutting sorting and counting thousands of Bo stops each and every month earning the school thousands of dollars that went towards playground equipment many grants for teachers special events and so much more whereas Margaret was there for six years to set up design build props decorate sell tickets concessions I'm getting tired and so much more for every single event jema hosted and whereas Margaret joined the Junior M music boosters and was an integral part of the success of the music boosters and music programs and she is a Relentless Advocate and a tireless supporter of the Arts programs and has dedicated all of her spare time to ensure that the musicians directors and District have what it needs for the students to thrive and succeed and whereas Margaret was not only the board's Treasurer vice president and unofficial historian she was also the resident photographer uniform me me Mender Gift Giver Community liaison and many other titles and whereas as Margaret has taught future volunteers what they need to know to succeed and leave behind some very big shoes to fill now therefore the Town Council of the town of Bridgewater Massachusetts does hereby declare June 12th 2024 Margaret will Howard Day accounts appreciation for all Miss will Howard has done through her years of selfless volunteer work signed by Council pres Kevin w [Applause] all right all right now why don't we end on a high note all no um so now uh we're into public comment and um obviously we welcome public comment uh per our policies uh we do have a 12 minute time limit in total for public comment and uh we do ask that everyone keep their statements to 3 minutes we have um five people pre-reg registered so you can do the math it needs to be a little bit under 3 minutes everyone if you want to get uh in under the 12 but if you have other stuff to say please email it to the school committee M mcdouall and we will certainly read it so going in order of who was pre-registered uh we have M hle of Bridgewater Miss hle if you'd like to step up good evening superintendent powers and members of the bridgew school commit and families we are members of the junior music boosters and parents of students in the band New Forest in Williams Intermediate School and Bridgewater Middle School we want to inform you of an fortunate situation with our band and chus program at the Williams Intermediate School the spring concert which is one of two regular performances every band and chus performs each year was cancelled by the music and coral directors at the Williams due to a drastic reduction in rehearsals able to P this spring due to scheduling the director informed us that since January they had almost half the amount of rehearsals that they had in the fall they sometimes had two or three weeks in between each rehearsal I'm sure you can appreciate that in order for these ensembles to be successful they need continuity and consistency the reasons for the scheduled disruptions included half days and vacations which are occurrences that are obviously scheduled by our Advance however additional rehearsals were missed due to mcast and Bri lives presentations we understand m requirement in brid lives is important information that should not have taken away valuable rehearsal time for band Coral students the only practice together one day per week during the ASB block we are unsure why other days could not have been chosen to prioritize these rehearsals for the students involved in this programs as you may know fifth grade is the first year band and course are offered in our district for their second concert to be cancelled for this reason is very upsetting and discouraging for students and parents the students have rard and families that PID for instrument l understanding that there would be two concerts the families the students were so proud of their Winter concert where they began to grow their confidence in love for performing we're concerned about the consequences this may have on students including some whom may decide to discontinue their band for participation and parents that we may see that these programs are not valued or prioritized in our schools due to Growing concerns over future scheduling the band call directors of the Williams are now saying they are unsure whether the program will even continue next year they La of support they received despite requests and complaints they along with parents they made for over 10 years it would be extremely upsetting to have band course be set back yet another year the circumstance further shows the importance of feing leadership and Direction banding forus in the district our district lacks a music coordinator who could vanage these types of issues instead the overwork music teachers have to work beyond the scope of their daily teaching duties to try to make the program work with proper planning and foresight the fifth graders would have been able to have their concert we are asking you to Advocate with the administration to work with the music teachers at the wills to continue this program and provide it with the time and support it needs to teach Inspire and encourage any Young Musicians thank you for your time thank you Jess Reno and I do apologize in advance if I pronounce anyone's name wrong you so I try to read fast sor so good evening thank you so much for having me here my name is Jessica Reno so good job with pronunciation I'm a member of the junior music boosters and among to an eighth grader and third grader in the district so as Jen had mentioned the spring fifth grade band and course concert was cancelled due to rehearsal scheduling conflicts so not only should this not have happened but it was also the Catalyst for the potential for canceling the Fifth Grade B Forest program at so as I mentioned I have an eighth grader and for years it was available to Fourth Graders due to a number of reasons in the last few years beginning for was then made available only to fifth graders and now even that is in Jeopardy so I it's our responsibility as parents caregivers teachers administrators and the community to make sure that our children have the tools that they need to succeed in school in the greater World in fact it states right on the Bridgewater RH Regional School District website that the superintendent and the school committee represent the education and developmental needs and interests of all students in the district so I really want to help everyone do that I'm not here to place blame on anyone or anything but I want to offer creative ideas for an actual solution there's plenty of demand for Banning chores so again if there's demand the next thing to look out would be cost for fifth grade band as Jen also mentioned parents or Guardians are already paying for lessons and instruments so if the funding is for the instructors and if that's an issue I propose we work with local organizations or universities and ESU or St help College they have music and performance excuse Performing Arts programs to integrate maybe a practicum for graduation credit and then those teachers or students can take on that Ro the district could also utilize grant writing and pre-existing advocacy groups like safe music Foundation to offset any other cost additionally maybe Banning cores can be integrated into the budget under some other thing I don't know line item since Studies have shown being involved in an ensemble Banner course improves mental health as well as learning we take up so much of students learning time with assessments and tests after test to see where they're at how much of the learning Gap there is instead of actually using that precious time to take action to prevent the gap before it happens in a 2019 study by the American Psychological Association children would learn to play an instrument or were involved in chorus and continue to do so in high school were the equivalent of one academic year ahead of their peers in English Math and Science all three subjects according to a paper published in 2022 by the international Journal of Environmental Research and public health music education contributes to improved creativity and confidence better mental health and emotional stability and student performance a 2023 article from the American Psychiatric association states that research supports that engaging in music Mak activities like Ensemble bands Ensemble group chorus can facilitate emotional release promote self-reflection and create a sense of we know you're about to wrap up I am I am about to wrap up yeah so we are all here as I mentioned because you're concerned for our kids for their wellbe so these kids deserve the opportunity to have chorus and dance made available to them and we really need to look at this as a holistic situation not so much math and science but as a whole and it does helps with their stress levels and everything so I don't I I just really feel that it's very important to keep this program alive where again look at the benefits I mean we've had people in this for decades so I'd hate to see it go away thank you very much Lisa okay than you Teresa Cher Cher nothing oh [Music] okay good evening superintendent Powers Mr fitzg and members of the school committee I here to talk about creating a policy regarding the inclusion of residents of Bridgewater and rhill for attending the two partner vocational schools in the BR marching band my son is a current eighth grader uh fath grade marching band member in good standing and will be attending BP in the fall for many reasons including a lack of marching band fvp he would like to continue participating here while bands the overseeing organization for competitive March and bands policy allows such participation after a great deal of research I found no VR or state policies regarding this particular situation because of this it is clear that one needs to be created in order to avoid decisions being made based on personal beliefs and philosophies fortunately MIAA has very clear policies regarding athletes and participation so allowing participation in the marching band will not negatively impact the Athletics program this is a time sensitive issue because the new marching van season begins on July 1st and we don't want this to be a quick decision therefore we are requesting that until an official written policy is created the marching B director be given the discretion to allow current eighth grade members to continue with marching b as they desire thank you very much thank you very much uh watch out family um so I'm Scott walk I so I'm here like my wife and others to try to push the idea of allowing the kids um who are already in B especially in eth grade to continue on even if they choose to go school um the the question really isn't why you should allow them to do it but why you shouldn't because there are a lot of little reasons you can come up with um but us BS already promotes this idea and pushes it uh as Mr as Mr Powers has mentioned in the past there are other schools that don't but what he might not know is that there's a reason why some of the schools don't allow it and for Taunton and West Bridgewater for instance it's because they're not competitive schools which means they're marching band practices during the school day so that's why they can't allow it in this case it's an after school program it has nothing to do with school day so therefore the kids like it's not affected um the other reason there are other reasons to like about the slippery slope argument right you're worried about how it's going to affect other clubs you could come up with a specific policy that's specific to band because to be honest and to be fair marching band isn't Ultimate Frisbee it's it's a bigger deal it's it's a obviously bigger deal to some of these kids and to allow them to do it is is it's it's a big you know it means a lot to that and it means a lot to the band itself because for every one kid that's in that band it just positively impacts the band it has zero negative effect on the kids in the band right it's not like like sports where you're competing for you know special placement or whatever so it's only a net positive to allow them to do it if you're worried about liability which is an argument I heard earlier you could have them sign a waiter if you're worried about them taking their uniforms home with them which is part of the reason it was canceled a few years ago to begin with because as a lot of people know they used to allow this until it was changed recently so if you're worried about the uniform being taken home and not returned have the kids that are from out of uh that are in the v put a deposit down for the for the thing if you're worried about the cost First of all Junior you know music boosters and the fees cover almost all the costs so you're not losing any money by allowing a couple extra kids to be part of it if it becomes a larger group if some 20 kids from BP want to join then you can come up with a different solution you could say maybe they have to have Tri outs maybe they have to pay more because they're part they from out of the the district there are all sorts of solutions you can come up with that can cover almost every problem that you you can have if the issue is philosophical where you're worried oh well these kids chose to go to another school and take their tax money with them well that wasn't your money to begin with the Money Follows them where they go if they choose to go to B they're not taking money from V and to be part of the band once again doesn't affect any of the budget of V so like I said there's no real reason to not let them do it unless it's just a kind of Brad we don't want to deal with it and if that's the case if you're just not sure and there's too many details to to then as my wife suggested let the band director choose whether or not to let these kids in because that's how it used to be anyway around here for a long time and nobody cared and it didn't affect any um so that's you know thank you very and El follow good evening everyone thank you for giving me this opportunity to talk anyone can see how Color Guard is important to me I love learning the new the new moves and the process of learning them marching with the rest of the band is also fun because it makes me feel part of a team no others for Mak me feel part of the team as much as marching band I really want to stay in it because it's a it's fun and it's a learning opportunity what I learned in colard is something I won't learn anything else band also teaches me the importance of teamw workk and if I haven't joined colard or marching band then I wouldn't have learned how helpful working with other people is I've also been in it for uh I been in March band since seventh grade so I'm not going to start anything new band means working hard and taking responsibility for yourself it also means bring it also means being dependable and that people can count on you and your ability to achieve great things please consider allowing us to continue to be in uh in being part of Bridgewater rham marching band thank you thank very much thank you thank you everyone for your public comment we really do hear you and appreciate your your your passion about the subjects on which you speak um all right moving on to consent agenda approval of minutes dated June 3rd 2024 and approval of General Warren dated May 30 2024 is there a motion to accept the consent agenda made by Marino second by Mr King all those in favor opposed it's unanimous thank you all right administrative and school committee reports Mr P is going to give a brief superintendent report because he is of the back of subon thank you Mr chairman members of the school committee members of the audience members of the administrative team I do want to provide a quick update on uh several items uh the first already heard mentioned is the track and Tennis Court project um the project is coming to an end uh the track itself is complete however there's still some work that needs to be done uh the tennis courts if you've been by today uh they are in the process of being painted there's two colors put down green and blue and obviously the line markings need to be applied as well uh we do have some rain in the forecast coming up at the end of the week so I'm not sure how much they'll actually be able to finish this week we need decent temperatures overnight for the tennis port for the paint to cure so we're probably looking at if not the end of this week sometime next week um and then obviously site work needs to continue if you've been by you certainly know we still have some moom that needs to be spread um some punch list items need to be taken care of and so although uh the both track and Tennis Court themselves will be almost finished there's still a lot of site work that needs to be done so therefore we are going to limit access for the foreseeable future both those just while the site work is being done um certainly don't want anyone to you know this construction fence up there there still construction equipment um so we really want to limit that until the the site is actually ready to be used in the meantime however um the tennis courts over at the Bridgewater Middle School at 166 M Prospect Street are still open uh and will remain open those Nets are up we have four ports over there so any member of the town of Bridgewater or town of R over and use those ports while the project is going on and I continue to provide updates on the tra and Tennis tra and Tennis cour project as they um I also wanted to uh provide a quick review of the budget at the last school committee meeting provided you a sense of where we were at I just wanted to inform you that we'll be sending out a correspondence basically summarizing all the past correspondences that we have sent out to the families through the BR Buzz uh and also what we've shared with you here at school committe so that will be going out uh sometime the remainder of this week but basically as you know as I've shared in the past uh we were really looking at uh an FY 25 uh budget season that's been somewhat challenging uh our state aid increased by a little over 1% where the last two years it's been an average of 15% uh we obviously took our aid from the state from the towns as well but that certainly was not enough to cover some of our cost drivers that we've discussed in the such as our contractual obligations uh Transportation health insurance utilities um obviously cost associated with special education uh sometimes those placements we were just talking earlier you can't always anticipate those placements and they are sometimes costly and so we as much as try to budget and pre purchase some of those items we're not always able to do so uh so those cost drivers plus our contractual obligations as you know we entered into negotiations with three of our unions four unions this year uh we're still currently negotiating with one uh but we're able to settle with uh two of the three uh but obviously there's a cost associated with those contracts even though we were able to really try to keep those cost drivers down there were still about another million dollar worth of anticipated costs for those contractual obligations so in total we're looking at about a $4.5 million shortfall obviously I've shared with you in the community that we first looked at any Goods uh Services materials expenses that we could reduce uh we were trying to do everything we could to avoid any type of personnel action however that wasn't possible we can only cut so many things from the budget we still need to have the lights on we still need to heat the buildings we still need to maintain our facilities uh we need to buy supplies for our buildings uh I will tell you we have drastically reduced those line items uh so we were certainly won't be providing and purchasing the level of supplies materials that we in the past uh so what we first did was looked at any potential retirement leave of absence coming up for next year resignation that position would be open we wanted to try to eliminate any positions that way or decrease funding I'm sorry decrease expenses that way uh and then certainly uh if that didn't make up the shortfall then looking at um having to reduce the number of current staff members and so unfortunately as I shared with you already uh we did send out 11 nonrenewal notices uh due to budgetary uh um and I just wanted to kind of review those positions so in addition to any open position because of retirement or resignation or leave uh those 11 positions we have been able to thankfully now that both towns have passed the budget we have a better sense of what next year will look like we have been able to call back some of those positions I don't anticipate us being able to call back all of those positions certainly not prior to the school year as I've shared with you some of these positions are going to have um you know a negative impact on class size our main goal in making these decisions uh was first to try to maintain class size as close as possible to this year and also programming as well um and so just to kind of give you a quick review of positions that will not be filled uh for next year we have one first grade teacher at Merill that will not be filled average class size this year is 27 because we have a roll low enrollment coming up in kindergarten class size next yeara 26 so even though we are having one less teacher uh in that grade level class size will be lower and certainly 26 is uh we know it's not something we would Advocate uh but given our unfortunate situation is something that you know right now we're we're dealing with uh one grade two teacher allow Liberty uh grade two class size right now is at 26 next year will be at 27 uh again we're going to do some internal shifting there uh to be able to provide that St teacher ADV to we have teacher at Mitchell uh that we're not filling class size again this year was 28 next year will be 27 again smaller class coming up from first grade into second grade and that's why were able to do that uh we have reduced the number of teachers at Bridgewater Middle School um we have essentially eliminated we had a couple retirements that didn't fill those um with new staff we again move staff around to fill some of those openings uh which resulted in essentially eliminating one of our teens in seventh grade so right now we'll be have an Ela teacher a math teacher and a science teacher at EMS uh that class size uh you know impact will roughly be from 25 to 27 uh ring middle school again reducing three staff members over there we had uh a few leave of absences for the upcoming school year that we chose not to fill that again moving staff members around to help offset some of the uh challenges so I'll have one Ela teacher one science teacher and one social studies teacher uhing level we're looking at anywhere from 23 to 26 or 25 to 27 uh respectively uh at the high school high school you know class size numbers are a little bit more difficult to calculate because we don't necessarily know I mean we have a projection of how many students will actually take a particular subject but that could obviously change students can add drop and so forth but um our best projection for next year we're reducing one Ela teacher at the high school so we'll go from 22 to 24 uh we're reducing one math teacher at the high school uh 21 to 23 our biggest impact will be in World Language uh we actually had U three World language teachers uh a couple one retirement one resignation one non R um but we are filling one of those so we'll go from 24 to approximately 30 and then one social studies teacher at the high school as you know unfortunately we have over there and so that will also similar numbers 25 up to 30 if all students continue to take those electives U we certainly have tried to spread this impact across the district so not just teaching positions uh currently we have three administrative positions that we're not filling uh the assistant principal at Li Liberty and Merill uh the coordinator of diversity equity and inclusion uh and a business office position pay uh we're also not filling a retirement in special education uh for speci special education secretary uh we had a number of custodians put in for retirement we not filling all of those retirements we'll be down two and a half custodians and proor positions we had some resignations retirements there so we'll be down four proor positions U what we really hope to do at this point is obviously U you know re review the positions um obviously working with the business office in this Bola as uh end of the year funds become more available or we have may be available uh we may be able to do additional pre purchasing with some of those end of year funds which then frees up money in the FY 25 budget uh if we're able to free up significant amount of funds we might be able to bring back some of these teaching positions they would certainly be a onee long time position unless we can actually build them into the budget long term uh and also our state grants uh as you know we get those allocations throughout the summer for Title One title two three and four however there are some restrictions with those grants so even you know our Title One Grand is our largest uh award U it has in the past been over $500,000 a lot of restrictions and uh specific spending requirements on that so it's not as though we could just take that money and go out and hire uh you know six new classroom teachers uh that really has to be designated towards Title One activities and Title One expenses but again there may be some opportunities to take money from the operational budget uh in Chu there title two does allow for reduction so depending on our funding for next year for title two we may able to use some leftover money from this year combin with next year cover teacher salary so there could be some additional moves uh throughout the summer uh we hope to be able to um you know bring back some of these positions certainly depending on your uh lens your um uh closeness to these positions uh I think anyone could stand up here and argue the importance of of any of these positions I certainly can do uh that myself we realiz that all of these positions but certainly a few uh will potentially have a negative impact on the district uh and so we're working as a central office team to make sure that we can minimize that impact and that the responsibilities of certain positions that are not being filled have to be taken on by other uh administrators such as myself or the central office team or building based teams will certainly do that but as we work on those Ed action plans throughout the summer we'll be communicating those to to f have to answer any questions about that questions for Mr poers Mr Lo so with the cut of the vi what is the district Contin on that so I I can kind of talk in Broad terms Mr L uh that's obviously something that we um you know know we need to really uh put pen to paper this summer and have concrete plans uh right now our initial plans are to divide up some of those responsibilities um so such as you know teaching and learning what we look at our curriculum Mak sure we're looking at our resources Miss Jo um will assume that responsibility um obviously Miss Hart looking at our students disabilities will take on those responsibilities as it does now um this more our coordinator of family and student supports will take on some additional responsibilities obviously because we don't necessarily have that one person kind of champion this effort um I certainly that you know I I will assume that responsibility as well partnership with our Dei professional development provider uh they have obviously they've been working with us now for a number of years um and so that is something that we'll continue to do uh we'll hire them to do some of our professional development going forward uh looking at North River collaborative is bringing on Dei consultant as well so if there's something that we need to tap into our collaborative uh for that will um but certainly I think as as we're able to kind of digest all of this as a team we'll be able to Cle plan a more actionable plan to share with the community as we closer to school but we realize you know how vital this position is Miss berio's obviously was the first one to uh step into this role and and she's really moved the district forward I can't thank her enough it's unfortunate you know had toate that position she's had a very positive impact on the district and but we're committed to the work you know it's not something mag because the position is going away that we're going to important it is for our students for our families for our staff and we're fully committed to to do that further M other questions from this side okay just one one last item uh Mr fitg if I may we just uh we do have a number of retirees as I mentioned so I just wanted to take a moment um and quickly acknowledge them and I certainly hope I've captured everybody on this list unless we've had somebody uh sneak in towards the end here uh but just to to kind of run down the running list uh miss Robin Murray Miss elain Watson Miss Pat Armstrong Miss Laura oan Mr Danny Young Miss Diane power miss Karen Greenberg miss Karen Harrington Miss Jean Lee Mr Steve Barbosa Miss Beth Buckley Miss Priscilla McCrae Miss Rosemary dunan Miss Don Hol Miss de pole Miss Lisa Bumpus Miss L Conley Mr Peter Mr robt Ley Mr Paul m kich Tomkins de  Patricia need and Christin hopefully I didn't miss anybody I just wanted to publicly acknowledge and thank them for their use of service to the district uh some of them have been here uh you know 30 plus years and so they certainly leave a void and have had such a great impact and lastly I just wanted to again review some uh administrative uh changes as well as I've shared with with the committee and with the Mr Metropolis will be the new principal of Middle School Mr kff as you know it will may not know I believe you do will be transitioning up to the high school as an assistant principal uh so they are essentially swapping uh Mr pulis the assistant principal at Li liity and Merl has tendered his resignation so he will not be returning and I also want to to acknowledge that we have one special education administrator Miss Rachel Joseph who I believe had already shared this with you uh has taken on a new position with an outside Special Education Agency so she's leading public education Al together uh but thankfully we were able to add uh Mr Christa silvin uh she is currently the director of student services at o coling uh prior to that she was a assistant director of special education and finance so we're very excited to have her join our team at some point this summer and as you know we were in the process of hiring the assistant principal at bridgew middle school we hope that position filled within the next week or so we'll certainly share that information hope in the summer thank you Powers all right moving on Miss King budget subcommittee report Monday jary super the agenda bu update4 of July as well as of budget items that would need to be approved by the end of June we had a discuss trans into the iot stabilization also Andric action was taken at that timeis year 202 budget update Mr an upate on year we also received a fac upate the come inated at that time however Mr the facili director was able to work insurance that project start the day after the last day of school Mr upate at that time track we did approve the budget of commit minutes of May 14 2024 secondly the budget subcommittee also met on Wednesday June 12th right before this meeting at 5:30 here in the repor secretary and myself the first item of BU was theis year2 Jun 30th the remaining transfers regarding the budget will be July for these transfers that need to be done um the first of which is transfer 50,000 from the year4 budget to depit the stabilization fund again these by m King there a second second second by Mr L M KY any further discussion on that motion any discussion anyone else discussion on the motion see none all those in favor I opposed it's unanimous thank you continuing with the budget thank you to into theion f is there a second second second by Mr Lo uh discussion Miss King any further Mr Lo discussion see none all those in favor oos it's unanimous do still the I all right continuing Miss and finally Mr chairman I would make a motion to approve the transfer of ,000 buget to liability fund is there a seconded by Mr Lo anything further on that M Mr Lo any discussion any discussion from the rest of the committee seeing none all those in favor opposed it's unanimous thank you um as I stated we did have a discussion regarding a transfer of it stabilization money um we did not that forward yet we felt comfortable waiting until after us botom line is going to be at the end of so that be brought forward after July so we're not recing any transfer regarding it stabilization right now okay thaning the discussion is end warrant believe still Wars to close out this year um once she is done with that cling at the end of the year um the end that we're ending does not get certified into October but she should have a guest by hopefully next meeting just to see we want to just make sure that we are going to end with2 million that we've already said that we're going to put into this budget to offset the assessments so she will confirm that us she confident that we she'll let us know at the she's me to say it's not get certified until October but she will give me her best estimate once she closes out the books June 30 um also in July once we close out everything we will have the final transfers so at the beginning of the year we start with our budget of what every line item is and where everything is enced um once she closes out the year at the end of June we will have final transfers of where things to be um for in if we needed to Mo Transportation lines we're not changing the bottom line or any money spent or income we're just making that all the line items are ending correctly when we certify that so all of those final transfers will be up ju we're also again until she closes out everything we're still watching subtitute line any last minut that we need to keep Ane on bottom much over the system se but subtitute line definitely we look at the last month Withers complete allly meeting to W theing 202 buget update just presented discussion approve ofun the bu meeing other we did have a couple of other items that came up as an FYI Miss indicated that she is still waiting to collect um final monies from chapter and from the state um she's hoping to have that in by June 30th um again any anything back to last item the one thing that also to have V on is anying invoices are stilling things that weed and not received today that are going to be left open any of those also bring forward at the next me into next year's bu approve that so just fying chap 71 final from the state for this year as a brought forward the treasure High School athletic fees we budgeted $150,000 for Revenue um which we think was a little bit High um what came in the budget for Revenue under High School athletics was 110 um however this year we' only 88,000 so there was a shortall there we do rely on that money at the high school um so we have asked the bus office to look into that all the high schools to making that all collected L athletes that participa this that meeting after that reive inform and then lastly Mr reported thank you Mr K uh moving on to policy subcommittee report Mr Deo thank you Mr chair the policy subcommittee met uh this evening June 12 hend superet two items were on the agenda first was discussion on potential potential policy s curricular activities uh which uh the general body heard from parents uh regarding this evening uh after discussing that policy or creation of that policy several questions were asked by Mr Powers one of which being liability in whether or not those if we do open create a policy to allow this to happen insurance policy give us that information that uh discussion was Ted to the next policy committee meeting the next item was uh a review and changes to the district's concussion policy uh this was brought forth by the trainer Mr King Smith uh based upon changes in doctors have Bas life testing uh a red line version will be presented at the next sub committee meeting so that we have something to present to the full board all the changes so that we can see what is coming out because of the changes how doctors are not treating concussions that was until the next sub that was our subcommittee policy from Mr de Marino just one question Mr dearo on the concussion policy when it comes back out it'll be first reading and then we'll have to go back and have a second reading correct we just wanted uh the full board to be able to see what exactly is changing the and the reason for my question is we should be able to put it in place before the beginning of the next SCH year if we have a meeting in August as well we can have a meeting in correct Mr address that that with that would still give enough time for students that wish to thank you very much moving on to new business uh superintendent evaluation um each year uh well right now we're on each year um the school committee evaluates the superintendent and I'm going to as the chair report on the evaluation that the entire school committee settled on as a an evaluation of the superintendent just so everyone uh follows at home and in the audience um it's kind of a uh majority rules I get all of the chair I should say giv all of the uh evaluations from each individual member confidentially no members talk to each other about their own evaluations the chair then compiles them and whatever uh ratings the superintendent gets by uh section that's that's the majority so when anyone he sorry about that when anyone hears me talking about something it's the committee talking as a whole uh it doesn't necessarily reflect All of My Views it doesn't necessarily reflect all of Mr Lo's views it reflects the consensus of the committee not to Pi so much um so we we had three goals that the superintendent was working toward and we'll get into those in a little bit uh professional practice student learning and District Improvement and he was raid by the school committee as having met all those goals this year we had um four uh performance on St standards uh which is essentially what um how how he's doing his job and uh there are four levels of that unsatisfactory is performance on the standard or overall has not significantly improved following the ratings of needs Improvement or performances consistently below the requirements of the standard or overall and is considered inadequate or needs Improvement SL developing performance on a standard or overall is below the requirements of a standard or overall but is not considered to be unsatisfactory at the time Improvement is necessary expected proficient proficient practice is understood to be fully satisfactory this is the rigorous expected level of performance an exemplary uh a rating of exemplary indicates the practice significantly exceeds proficient and could serve as a model of practice practice regionally or Statewide there were four standards on which the school committee up rated the superintendent for this past year we'll delve deeper into them again in a few minutes instructional leadership management and operations family and Community engagement and professional culture uh under each of those standards the superintendent was rated as proficient um so suits the superintendent has rated overall as proficient for the last school years I just said uh generally the school committee felt as follows Mr Powers continues to provide calm and steady leadership for the district superintendent pow first year as the superintendent showed that he was the right person for the job overall I feel Mr Powers is doing a fantastic job I think he had a really good year for his first official year as a superintendent of the district Mr Powers has shown leadership professionalism and commitment to our staff our students and their families he welcomed new staff families and students throughout the year in a manner that was supportive and showed its strong leadership and character and Mr Powers has made great strides this year since taking on the role his role of superintendent while this was the General tenor of the evaluations that were received there were significant comments related most mostly to the budget process which included approved Capital plan and it plans and budget needs better alignment Student Success goals and measurable outcomes Financial updates need quantifiable data to support conclusions hopefully in the next year superintendent powers can find a solution where the district can St take steps forward and stop having our teachers and students settle for less than they deserve and with regards to the budget we the school committee as well as the superintendent all own a needs Improvement in this area it would be important to continue to regularly meet with various stakeholders and town officials to have a good grasp on what the future holds and with the dim fiscal Outlook already known continue uh to look at ways of doing more with less so as you can see there was someone who rated it needs Improvement but the consensus with the Comm was a met all right moving through the performance goals we T we we had a student learning goal and it was focused uh on the curriculum instruction and assessment um and it was that student the superintendent would during the year uh oversee the expansion of I ready to the high school level uh where targeted ninth grade students uh will continue to be administered the diagnostic assessment and be provided with remediation Andor intervention in order to accelerate their learn learning and performance at our last meeting uh superintendent did provide uh his evidence uh for meeting that goal and the committee as a whole agreed that he did meet that goal um the second professional practice goal uh the superintendent was going to participate in the new superintendent induction program to develop skills and in strategy development data analysis and instructional leadership by actively engaging in the program again the superintendent presented evidence to the school committee that led a majority of the school committee to believe he met that goal and we had two uh District Improvement goals around the first one being around safe and support of schools uh curricular instruction and assessment operations human capital uh during the school year the superintendent would collaborate with district and School administration to ensure district and school priorities are aligned with the Student Success plan and and that progress towards that alignment is monitored and that was rated as a means meets us that's the goal there and finally the district Improvement goal too uh around the Student Success plan uh I will work with the Director of Business Services in collaboration with District leadership and the leadership of each town to develop a sound fiscal budget that aligns the district priorities of the Student Success plan and promotes student achievement despite the fiscal forecast and again it was rated as a means so moving into the standards there are many different standards that the department uh of Education uh puts out and the school committee chooses a few of under each uh standard to evaluate on so this year under instructional leadership uh we chose to evaluate on curriculum and that that meant that uh the superintendent ensures that all instructional staff design uh effective and rigorous standard spased units of instruction consisting of well structured lessons with measurable outcomes and he was rated as proficient there uh evaluation uh ensure that the superintendent would ensure effective And Timely supervision and evaluation of all staff in alignment with state regulations and contract provisions and again the superintendent presented evidence to the effect he had uh done that and done that proficiently and the uh school committee agreed that was proficient uh data informs decision making uh uses multiple sources of evidence related to to Student Learning including state district and school assessment results and growth data to inform school and District goals and improve organizational performance educator Effectiveness and student learning and that was rated as proficient and so therefore instructional leadership overall was rated as proficient generally the school committee felt the superintendent met this goal there was a concern around data informed decision making that Financial updates should provide quantifi quantifiable data to strengthen the community's understanding of our financial health for instance instead of just being told we're in good shape a more informative update might include spending rate and Target comparisons or other specific metrics that demonstrate positive Financial Trends this would allow for a more data-driven assessment of our financial position uh under student performance uh rating for standard 2 management objectives the um one uh item we chose to evaluate the superintendent on this year was that the superintendent would develop a budget that supports the district's vision mission and pools allocates and manages expenditures consistent with district and school level goals and available resources uh the school committee found his uh execution on that proficient uh the majority of the school committee viewed the superintendent performance under this standard as provision uh some school committee members felt that the superintendent could do more in regarding in regard to being proactive in the budget process to achieve better results and clearer communication around the budget with the member towns and the school committee as I noted above moving on to Performance standard three family and Community engagement we chose to rate on uh the engagement metric here and uh the measurement criteria would be uh act that the superintendent actively ensures that all families are welcome members of the classroom and school community and can contribute to the effectiveness of the classroom school district and Community uh the school Comm found him to be proficient in that um continuing uh the theme of this review the school committee uh found the superintendent to be proficient but noted uh I recommend the superintendent follow the transition plan and evaluate existing communication strategies if needed clarification on the school committee's expectations is crucial this includes how School incidents are reported response time transparency action steps the superintendent should proactively work with the committee to ensure clear expectations for both committee members and the community and then another note that the communication to the community can be better with more creative ways to increase engagement um and then the last standard was professional culture uh we chose to rate uh on continuous learning uh the superintendent would develop and culture in which staff members are reflective about their practice and use student data current research best practices in theory to continuously adapt practice and Achieve improved results that the superintendent would model these behaviors in his own practice uh this was one where the school committee was unanimous of raing the superintendent proficient this was noted as an important aspect of helping the district Mo forward that is the superintendent's evaluation for school year 2324 I would entertain a motion to uh approve it as the school committee's uh evaluation of the superintendent made by Mr de seconded by Mr Lo discussion Mr de Mr Lo any discussion M any discussion any discuss no okay uh then hearing none all those in favor say I okay don't know oh all right no you got to strike all the irons on um I just want to say I'm glad that we as a committee AG he gos I just want to put coms that and seven years on the committee this was the first year that I am so thankful that positive and transparent with the staff and students in the community um for his first year as a superintendent I have been so impressed with his Outreach and his ability to take charge of the situation work with everyone involved theit staff students and taking escalating to as our CEO of the district so I just wanted to say that thank you Miss K any want to add something just WRA up V okay and we we must be ready to take the vote now there's been a motion made in seconded all in favor opposed it's unanimous thank you congratulations Mr fers very nice review uh all right now approval of payroll and we still got five approval of payroll warrants sted uh May 30 2024 is there a motion made by Mrs King seconded by Mr deino discussion Mr King Mr Deo hearing none all in favor say I I opposed it's unanimous like here all right my is com back all right if anyone's looking good kitchen equipment slightly used this one this next items for good uh Declaration of surplus obsolete kitchen equipment um so uh essentially we have some obsolete food service equipment uh and we need to declare it so and allow us to move on from it is there a motion by Mr King second by cono any discussion Miss K any other discussion I have question Mr de so looking at this and little that Supply to replace this equipment is that going to be we as a district having to replace this and buy new stuff or is this something that CH well does uh so when we look at equipment uh with ch Wells uh certainly depends on the the actual item um we do have an account where um you know money that is brought into CH R's program lunch program breakfast program uh does go to offset some of this equipment uh there are certain items that CH RS themselves actually will purchase this particular replacement I I can't answer that question S I can certainly find out um this is something we are purchasing or is that Grant is that just general grant money or specific grant money that is earmarked for student m in that account that we have set aside child in their correspond equipment we don't we can't use that so specifically goes to that so it's not we're not redirecting you know funds from other areas the budget just kind of you know looking at it seeing you used can't cannot be fixed not any reference as to from Mr can't what efforts were made to be these sets to be fixed and hearing how dim the financial Outlook is and everything un Clarity um you know that's concerning especially looking at his memo where there's items that in the near future they going to be kind to try to make changes to the buildings those changes going to be Capital items that we're paying for as a district or is CH fit for that um in terms of um those items a lot of those items will come out of it will be a combination Chartwells uh if there's any like you know for example you're looking at say the FL TV displays that wouldn't necessarily be you know that would come money out of the funds that are generated by CHS for the district um you know the tables steam tables bmsw those will come specifically out of that account so it's not again redirecting funds from another area of budget that would be paid for by funds that generated through the breakfast and just to be clear Mr the breakfast and lunch program we have Mone for the state from that because that was passing the bud correct uh correct yes we we are Reed um we do provide breakfast and lunch to to our students certainly if they elect purchase a snack additional lunch have chares for that but the basic breakfast and lunch is is that reim 100% F I would just you know best I understand that you know is a contractor but uh looking at the number of items he's looking in the near future to change and then no information that Mr personally to explain these that's and if I may jump on that suggest to m k we can put that on a budget committee at some point just understand I to my knowledge like Mr account right it has not on operation but if they start to get more money we may need to raise fees and those revolving funds Etc you know it would just be good toay Mr de those con all right uh anything further on the Surplus kitchen items seeing none uh there has been a motion in a second all those in favor opposed it's unanimous no no no okay uh so Mr de you are voting in the negative everyone else voting in the affirmative all right uh other business I am not aware of any seeing none try not have that up all right uh public comment again if folks want to speak again in public comment we are open for another 12 minutes per school committee policy Mr W up feel free and um again the same rules 3 minutes per and 12 minutes good evening again my name is Char wup um I just like to address some concerns regarding attendance grades and conduct of nonv students in Wasington um which is a valid concern um marching band we're thinking um the Maring band include uh some writing that the BP or AB students have to present their report cards to the director uh throughout the year this will address grades attendance and conduct also if the school committee creates a policy that allows only eighth grade marching vanand members to continue if they do not go to BR they will not be unknown and the director could also have a final say as to whether they should be allowed to continue based on their experience the prior year um all non BR students should be treated the same the BR polic for homeschooling allows participation of homeschooled students in extra quickly activities with the superintendent approval they are unknown students we don't know their grades they have no grades we don't know what they're doing at home there's no attendance record and there's also no State money coming from them um so I and also uh finally uh the more marching students in the band uh more family members attending uh attend football games and they are paying entrance fees and that will help increase the athletic Fue that we that was discussed earlier thank you so much thank you very [Music] much anyone else public comment and or otherwise once going twice so okay um thank you very much everybody who's been here listened participated we certainly really do appreciate it uh I have no announcements does anyone on the committee have an announcement Mr D thank you MRG uh for our students that need community service hours the greh tenu allstar team will be hold hting the car Ripken East Mass state tournament on starting June 28th running through July 5th uh the team is looking for volunteers to help staff the uh Snack Shack as well as assist with ground responsibilities and parking uh assistance great way to knock off those community service hours right at the start of the summer so that you're not scrambling so if any uh family student or parent would like to uh see if it's available for their kids please feel free to reach out to me um the information also will be up on the website shortly follow I would hopeing we can share with the High School Mrs Watson because it gets a blast out the high school kids um she blost all the high school kids volte opportunities and I know there any other uh Miss [Music] K I just wanted to announce studis counil and no other announcements from okay um moving on I'll take motion to adjourn made by Mr de Maro second by m Marell all those in favor