[Music] good evening everyone today is Tuesday May 7th and the time is 6:31 pm and I'd like to call this meeting to order first on our agenda is the consent agenda first is minutes from April 23rd everyone have a chance to look at them questions are comment hearing none I'll take the motion I'll make a motion to accept the minutes from April 23rd 2024 I'll second all those in favor I next is warrant 6466 and 67 questions or comments hearing none I'll take the motion I'll make the motion to approve warrant 64 66 and 67 can I have a second all second all those in favor and I'll send those War over round for Signature uh next is visitors comments any citizen wishing to speak before the committee must sign in with the administrative assistant prior to the opening of the regular session of the school committee the visitor will identify themselves by name and address and shall speak for no longer than 3 minutes for anyone unable to sign in ahead of time we ask that you clearly state your name and address so that this information can be included in the record for the meeting seeing no visitors we'll move along cool thank you I hope you're all doing well uh as we know te's appreciation week is this week so thank you to all of you and all hard working you guys do for us and of the students the community of course mcast is still going on for grades 3 four and five at East Meadow the pvis soccer tournament is going for grades four five and six as for Community involvement kindergarten letting no site is May 23rd it'll be a tool to inform parents of upcoming schedules and HS for their and their brothers for upcoming events at East Meadow very similar to last report school is planning on painting bu bches for students calm down friend if they need it and the spring playing dance is scheduled for May 17th at the high school also teacher appreciation we we have a lot of people I I can't speak for East but know I'm sure it's very similar but I know the high school a lot of people are contributing a lot of donations have comeing from parents flowers food Etc academic updates uh miss beardy Mr CA are working on the schedule for next year a exams are scheduled for this week we already have one yesterday and the rest will be by the end of next week mcast has not finished grade 8 is currently testing from Arts night is still scheduled for May 16th students can show off their art for parents and visitors from 5:00 to 8:00 p.m. and Senior nights for upcoming Sports in the next few weeks as well the high school had the digital skills assembly last week and Suns for 7th and 8th and Brownstone for 9 both field trips and still andway scheduled for another month May 9th Friday so two days from that that'll be the good decision and positive action to to keep the students aware and safe siens the end of the Year celebrations are also being planned our goal is to extend an extra thanks I don't want to Extended one last time I was here but an extra thanks for teacher appreciation for all the parents and um Community involved and donations that they've sent in especially appreciation the NHS did a spring clean up for du BRS Park and have also been traveling around town to help out people clean up their roids for future f and blls the newsletter is still up it still has chances for summer college opportunities M Jordan also detailed and that she added as a bridge which is basically a program to help students transition from normal classes to ADP classes graduation plans for seniors are underway and um is Friday have any you guys have any questions to Cole well done as always thank very much for coming in thanks Cole quicker it's a lot of information in a short time have a great one you too all right next is uh new business the superintendent evaluation so we did um that is in the folder um kind of combined um everyone's information for that final document um overall just some notes um it was noted Stephen met or exceeded um all goal areas the rating was proficient High proficient um because there certainly were exemplary ratings particularly in the family community engagement piece and around professional culture um overall with some Trends and themes with comments um people were pleased with the or the committee was pleased with progress that was made um noting that Stephen's been very visible in the buildings and in community events um he makes a strong team with Todd in terms of the budget and the finance piece um he's always professional impressive abilities to communicate incredibly approachable and has definitely moved the district in a positive path um and ultimately what I saw was that everyone was really pleased with where we're at and really you know sad to see him go any questions or comments I just grateful and appreciative of the feedback the kind words the praise um I think I've said all along that um I know there are a number of superintendant out there who would die to work with like a committee like you guys that are receptive to ideas that are willing to push where you need to push but also provide extra support where that's needed um and I've been very appreciative of that um and I hope that despite leaving I hope that I've left the district in a better place and when I arrived um seven short years ago um and I do I think with Todd and the rest of the leadership team who'll be in place next year I think the district's in a good position I think there's all always work that can be done in a school district um and I think with the leadership team the staff the support of the school committee um I expect we'll continue on a very positive trajectory so thank you again for the feedback and all the kind words excellent um thank you Jill uh for compiling everything um when I'll have to tag up because I'm need to I haven't sat in on that access though for future um a little sidew um all right anything else on that if not moving along for superintendent search um the search committee um has met um a couple of times and we've offered interview um we've opened up for interviews uh to be done this week and next week with the anticipation of making a recommendation of no more than four candidates to the school committee on May 21st at the meeting on the 21st and so um I've already confirmed some interviews so now we reached out and we're hearing back so I think at this point we want to start to consider interview days for the school committee for their um open session interviews so we can get those posted um in an appropriate time or a time like that so what we did last time is we had do we have both candidates on the same night with a half hour buffer in between I think we did I could be wrong but I think we had thought we had three so we were going to potentially move like between two different meeting times but we ended up with two and I do believe we kept them on the same night um and then had discussion right after was 2021 21 yes yepiz my recollection is similar to Jill's that two public interviews were held on the same evening I [Music] believe trying to figure out who um so if we want to do we want to do it um it would be a separate a separate meeting night so we are saying by the week of the the 20th so something about the 21st you want to try to have the meeting on the 21st then so the 21st is when we're going to make our recommendation to the school committee okay so we could plan um interviews for anytime after that then um so we could do I don't know do it what do you all think do you want to try to do it like the following Tuesday that which is the Tuesday after Memorial Day have another meeting that night to have um to do the interviews so we need to have more than one we because we have we potentially have four correct so Tuesday Wednesday Tuesday Thursday I don't I don't know so I do have the CES meeting or potentially have the C somebody will have CES meeting on the 29th um which is that Wednesday certainly I think it makes sense to at least save the time and make sure that that's posted even if we don't end up meeting all of it it might make sense if we can think about it to do the 28th and the 30th uh and then set a time frame to allow for the interviews and then potential discussion if needed at the end of the all of them six is T tight for people to get here I know it's kind of tight for me but is 6:30 better 6:30 is preferred but can we do like 6:30 are they I think we just did like an hour so we do 6:30 7:30 and then 8 to 9 that's kind of we June 6 6:30 May 28 and mayth I believe those are the dates we're thinking May 28th and May 30th correct so um we don't all have to be here but we have to have a quorum right which brings me to another thing too um sort of an aside but speaking of space we are still technically down one seat correct so that person seat Stephanie's seat is not on the ballot so um we should start the process now for getting a an appointment or figure out is someone told me it would be a one-year appointment and then someone else told me that the person would have to fill out the balance of her three-year term so it would be a two-year appointment I can get clarification from the town par yeah and then if we need to do that we need to collect interest and um then we'd have to have schedule a joint meeting with the select board um to do the interview um process if there's multiple candidates sorry for the aside but as I'm thinking about it you know it would be nice to get someone in at the you know close to when this term starts as opposed to waiting if it's possible it might be nice to set the times for like a 6 and a 7:15 okay um or at least maybe hold the you know the meeting space from like 5:30 to 8 or something um I'm just thinking about that timing because then say there's only three names brought forward like maybe we try to schedule for like 6:00 and 7:15 and then 7:15 okay to allow for some more flexibility with schedules um but I don't know how people feel about that cuz I think the later time frame might be yeah hard I struggle with 5:30 but I could do I can make six work so um know I might be rolling in on the two wheels but I mean if I think you know I can definitely commit to like 5:30 and kind of making sure that things are set up and okay um and you know that way things are like ready to go is six okay for you six is okay we do six all right so May 28th and 30 6: p.m. we'll have try to get here for 5:30 if we can to make sure everything's set up first candidate for 6 600 p.m. second candidate for 7:15 and then the next day the same thing six and 7:15 and then we'll fill in what 30th yeah I'm sorry I meant just okay yeah so the 20th and the 30th 5:30 doors open sort of thing first candidate at 6 second candidate at 7:15 and then the same on the 30th and we can look back at those agendas too because I know some deliberation could happen after I don't know how that needs to be posted or anything so we can look back at I think we have to post an executive session after both of them so we can um oh no aren't deliberations supposed to be open the only deliberations that are closed are um when we start discussing salary the negotiations yeah typically it would be the job is offered contingent upon a successful negotiation so I'll check with Kimberly and make sure that the process is clear I remember I do remember the deliber it felt weird to be deliberating openly on on camera about um candidates would you or in the past did you deliberate deliberate between them or did you wait till both were done that we had a little bit from what I remember just I think everyone took a few minutes and wrote some notes down and then kind of reset and the way I remember is we did just deliberation after both candidates and it was probably about 40 minutes or so and then we made the call right it wasn't so so late when it no no it was probably 40 4 minutes like it was long enough for you to be able to get home I was home yeah yep um I feel like we called you at like 8:30 4 9 or something yeah it wasn't like too terribly sorry to Circle back to the unexpired term fulfillment um The Mask policy would be until the next town election for someone who's appointed yeah so the problem is is that the mass policy and what the town of gry and how they appoint the what their bylaws said yeah what the position that's being vacated um because there was Stephanie had originally thought she was only in for a onee term to begin with okay and then Kathy had told her I believe that it was actually a three-year term so it's there's a two-year unexpired term so we just need clarification you don't mind reaching um all um and we've had to do this a few times and every time we've done it it's been a little bit different so um yep we'll follow up with her tomorrow and I'll put I she's typically really good about responding so I'll try to include her response in the update Friday excellent uh anything else on the search I just think it's a it's a nice group and everybody's working together well and having a lot of discussion and collaboration on you know ideas and like how to move forward we recognize the fast pace that we're you know headed in um but trying to be mindful obviously of the kind of expectations around the position so to make sure that we're covering all bases excellent okay um next is an enrollment dashboard it is an unexciting enrollment dashboard for I think it's our fourth or fifth consecutive month that we're at 7 112 we had um One new enrollment and one student relocate out of state so that's exciting we are still at 712 holding strong holding strong is right the big dip will happen right um September 30th so the number we report October 1st s will be yeah the first big dip you'll see is in your July meeting because of all the graduates come out and not all 3K is in yet so you'll likely be looking at a number in like the 600s at that point and then think I'm the pat we at around like 656 in the summer popped into my so I feel like it's around there for yeah even in June it was 669 right so yeah that's right after all the graduates go out and everything so so they come out and then um we might have held off even on the dashboard until September once things stabilized a little bit but ipating yes through it um because it didn't really have uh any um there's nothing we can do about it at that point in it right so um One new enrollment in prek and one sixth grader relocated out of state okay M right along oh I'm sorry any questions on the dashboard okay superintendent [Music] report Ken cold my thunder um just want to express my thanks and gratitude to our staff um since I've been in Gran B we have celebrated teacher appreciation week as staff Appreciation Week um partially because I think it's easier than all the days and weeks for admin assistants and nurses and all that actually nurses day is tomorrow um but just want to recognize our staff for all that they do it's often a thankless job um be it as a teacher a par professional and you don't always get to see and recognize the fruits of your labor um in a tangible way um and I think we're about three weeks away from one of those events that allows people to see it in a tangible way in graduation and two two or three years ago we started having our senior class do a parade through East Meadow so um they come in their caps and gowns so not only can our elementary school students see them but as you all know much of our staff has been here since those students were in elementary school so it is one of those connections back to their Elementary School teachers allow them to reconnect um in a way that maybe they haven't over the past however many years um since they last had that teacher so it was high for sure last year even Marcus loved it that was like the one of the highlights of their graduation week stuff really cool it's great and the community comes out and supports our kids um East Meadow staff attends graduation so there's all these little things and um they're just so important and our staff is always willing to step up we've talked about it during the budget um process about how our staff is always willing to try to do more with less when it comes to um funding or resources they don't want students to rec recognize that all right we might not have had enough funding to do a b or c so we're going to make sure that you have that same experience if as though you had it um and that goes for all of our staff from our Paras to the lunch staff to administrative assistance to the administrative team um just want to thank the staff because um teaching is a hard job and I know sometimes students and parents thank you but there are many days where you walk in and out of the building and you might might not get that not that any teacher looking for it or staff memb looking for it so just wanted to express my appreciation and gratitude for all of our staff um email went out today to parents of students in first who will have students in first through seventh grade next year for some summer enrichment options uh Mr Taylor is leading that again in um through East Meadow and I know um they are planning a number of different events so please respond back if you're interested that will take place through throughout the month of July Monday through Thursday beginning on July 8th um Cole also mentioned grany Junior Senior High School Arts night is Thursday May 16th from 5: to 8 at the Junior Senior High School um also want to mention that Miss dejarle had sent out a survey last week to East Meadow families about a potential partnership with the collaborative in Northampton um applying for a 241st Century grant that can bring free after school programed free summer programming um we have had some after school options and some of them have been cost prohibitive and we recognize that this could allow us a grant that could open up and offer more opportunities for students and Families um so please if you can fill out that survey so that we can um make sure that that application is meeting your needs and I also wanted to acknowledge um I know we talked about the superintendent search we also um are running the director of pupil service search simultaneously uh we have a team of teachers community members and staff who um that posting closed yesterday are screening candidates this week and have interviews planned for um next Tuesday May 14th and the following Tuesday May 21st and I will make sure that I keep you posted both at our meetings and through the uh updates that we that I send on Fridays any questions or comments for Stephen all right top um Megan sheart and the special ed team um filed with the state for extraordinary relief um it's part of the circuit breaker uh program um this is the first year since Megan's been here that we've qualified it's a it's a product of a significant increase in specialed spending from year over year so we are spending uh quite a bit more this year than we did last year and so we will be seeing um some it doesn't cover all of our costs but it does uh give us some support to cover some of the gaps that we have um because of just the increasing cost associated with special education um so that will be coming in this month and it is something that we need to um spend down this fiscal year it's not money that we can carry over so we'll be applying that um I've been in contact with the architect for the kitchen um he's anticipating having the bid documents ready within the next week or so uh so that we can get the bid uh that out to bid um and start breaking ground pleas soon um um to get that project up and running uh and lastly um with the recommissioning project that um Stephen has talked about um they were here over April vacation they uh checked in a couple of times they did look at our EV Chargers our EV charger we have one charger that by it's working not that the other ones aren't capable of working we have one that's working um and it's all seem to be tied with the payment mechanism uh whether an account isn't set up it's a card reader issue not a mechanical issue not a functionality of the system itself so we've tested it and we the Chargers do work so people can use them when they come in now yes y we have one that is operation for free I the amount the amount of electricity some going to get while they're here for a paring night or something is you know not much not so much I'll be switching an Eevee changing where I park every day I'm on face just being awkward s being awkward being awkward okay um anything else no that's it for my report okay we well I mentioned we're we or someone will meet on the 29th of May that's our next scheduled meeting all right um I guess maybe I should mention Town first set part of annual town meeting is idea to either have Budget Finance or community relations so we can go over the one pager town meeting okay also try to include that in this week's school committee update we have Todd has pretty close to a draft ready so um I'll try to include it Friday so people can get a glimpse of it before that M Perfect all right oh and I don't know if any other Comm would you need to get together for policy we can do that out okay all right um and then we'll keep the superintendent search can't think of anything right now well we'll see it when it comes out though if there's something else that needs to be addressed um um so if there's nothing else we'll votee to go into executive session vote to enter into executive session under Massachusetts General Law chapter 30A section 21 part A3 to discuss Strate strategy with regard to collective bargaining as doing so in an open session may have a detrimental effect on the bargaining position of the committee the committee will not return to open session can you do a roll call please Mr yes Mr FAL yes I I thanks everyone have a good night