##VIDEO ID:2oJ_HH_XRUo## e e e e e e e e e e e e e e all right um I'll open the meeting of August the 29th 2024 for everybody please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance flag United States of America rep stand y y Mr Hogan Mr lame here Mr Mr G yeah Mr Bahu here Mr yeah Mr Richardson here Mr Sheen here uh Mr Rich anybody signed up for public appearance netive no thank you sir school committee Communications no report of the uh there is no report of the uh student representative we're in the process of a selecting a new student representative for the school year and he will or she will hopefully be joining us at the next meeting do I hear a motion to approve the minutes from June 20th so moved second all in favor please say I opposed unanimous uh report of the treasurer do I have a motion to wave the reading second second all in favor please say I I opposed unanimous I need a motion to approve the expenditures of 9,783 9255 so move second second uh questions comments all in favor say I opposed unanimous there is no report of the general Council Madam superintendent good evening uh first I'd like to welcome everybody back uh and just like to give you a brief report we had a wonderful opening to the 2425 school year uh and we're happy to be back and ready to go and hopefully this will be another very rewarding school year for our students and staff so the first item on my agenda I'd like to ask the assistant superintendent principal Mr Barton to join us to give a brief introduction of one of our our newly hired administrators good evening everyone good evening uh so it's my pleasure to introduce Ariana aak who is our new mathematics science chairperson and new member of the leadership team so uh welcome Ariana thank you uh she has an undergraduate degree from Cornell University in animal science a master's in teaching biology from pittsbur State and a doctoral degree from University of Massachusetts at L she comes to us from bka public schools with a variety of uh teaching and Leadership experiences both in science and special education and just a wide variety I'm happy to say that Ariana has done a smashing job for the summertime and all the way into the beginning of the school year and we can't be more pleased so congratulations and welcome to thank you congratulations very nice to meet you all I'm sure you do a great job thank you you're welcome thank you okay great thank you thank you everybody welcome thank you have a good year en night so the next item on my agenda I'd like to inform the committee that we were awarded a weoa youth services Grant uh uh from the mass High greater low Workforce board board in the amount of 63,64 to provide services to 25 students in school that are at risk the next item on my agenda I'd like to inform the committee that we also were awarded a whole a whole kids Garden Grant and the amount of $3,000 in this Garden Grant will be used to fund our school community garden which is supported by our students in our transitional occupations program otherwise known as tops okay uh before moving on to the next item I on my agenda I'd like to ask uh the chair if he would give permission to go out of order on the agenda items and I'd like to move agenda item four to the end of the report sure okay so with that said I would like to ask uh assistant superintendent principal Mr Michael Barton to come come back up to join us to present the 24 through 26 fooling uh prevention and intervention plan the 24th through 26 substance use prevention and intervention plan as well as revisions to the 2425 student handbook Mr Barton good evening again um so it's my pleasure to introduce the uh first program which is the 2024 2026 prevention and prevention plan uh this plan uh represents some significant changes in the Massachusetts law regarding um both uh bullying as well as sexual um harassment um you'll see in your packet the changes are in red the changes are in Black that are consistent with what was previously put uh you'll notice that there's a definition of perpetrator here which identifies someone who had potentially done some harm toward a student uh there's also an expansion of the definition of uh bullying which includes race color religious Creed and you'll see there's a change there as well it identifies the resources of the school district has in regards to bullying um it also represents an exp expion with more detail of the ethical High School buing prevention intervention incident reporting form which includes um an expanded definition of um the incident which requires more details than just a general statement it asks for specific dates times quotes Etc it asks for a signature in the form it gives a little bit more detail on what the school district is required to do in terms of Investigation um that is here as well um there's also a inclusion in here of the um conclusions or thing the outcomes of a bullying investigation and provides greater detail as to the reporting process uh so those are the changes to the 2024 26 bulling prevention interventure plan thank you motion to approve second any questions or comments all in favor please say I I oppos unanimous the substance abuses so the substance AB abuse plan abuse plan um includes um virtually no changes with the exception of an update to the school support and family friends resources so each year we look through this book to ensure that these resources that are in the appending are operable and active um so you'll see that on page seven the resources that are operable and active have been um included or remain and the ones that are notr off and those are the changes to the substance of resp motion to approve second questions or comments hear none all in favor please say I I opposed unanimous so Mr Borton I'm just going to ask before you uh begin with your student hook up States if Mrs enor asio can come up because I know a big portion of the changes that you're going to ask for uh approval for have to do with the revisions to our sexual harassment policy so if Mrs inario our titled nine coordinator and also our director of School counseling can come up and share those changes uh for us and then Mr Bart will come back and finish up the changes in the student Hur all right am I spinning all right I'll spin thank you good evening happy school new year new school year um we had to talk about something nice and light sexual harassment changes so I have sort of the Highlight Reel of really what has changed in the body of um the policy and procedure for of sex-based harassment which is Title Nine and one of which is definitions um and now instead of saying sexual harassment that is one of the Chang it is now sex-based harassment because it actually has become a little more inclusive of um violent sexual acts as opposed to harassment as we may have discussed it previously that was always implied but the language has become clearer and now it is referred to as sex-based harassment instead of sexual harassment um previously a respondent or someone who's been accused of sex-based harassment would have been called an aggressor and now that has changed to perpetrator and the language around um pregnancy and related conditions has been redefined and strengthened that's actually a very large chunk of the title n changes that you'll see um in your outline it actually is like a page and a half now and a lot of those changes really involve um clarification in what that looks like when we say that we need to um put in protections and make sure that they are able to access the curriculum and come to a safe work environment you'll see there's a lot more language that sort of spells out what that might look like to give schools a little bit more ability to put um accommodations in place one of the things from going through the policy um while there is a lot of changes because with any language changes obviously it it becomes wordy and you want to make sure your wording is correct um one of the biggest things that really shown through was we didn't really have to make a lot of changes into how we do things so like with the pregnancy and related conditions one of the suggestions is a lactation area uh for staff or students to be able to access during the school day that's something that's been in place at gral for a long time so we had already had many of these changes we were already doing as just a matter of making sure students felt and staff felt safe in the building um but we did refine the language and increase the verbiage to make sure that policy and procedure is very clear to students families and employees in order to um maintain that safe environment um some of the languages that are clarified is the reinforcement of just full protection for everybody around um sex based harassment that the school district is required and this isn't really a change for us because it's sort of how we've always operated based on our our previous policy that we respond promptly and that we put things in place to prevent a reoccurrence um it also talks about retaliation and making sure that we were able to address retaliation should it occur for people who do choose to come forward again these are things that we have always done here but the language has just been strengthened and clarified a lot of times I think when you write policy it's clear when you're writing it but I think the state has found these clarifications really help school districts move forward and ensure the safe environment um one of the things also already in place at greater L but language was strengthened is that we are to provide supportive measures for anyone who comes forward with sex based harassment allegations and it continues to also provide supports to the respondent or the alleged perpetrator because while an investigation goes on no disciplinary action can be taken until the investigation is completed um and then if you know depending on the finding we could then decide if we were going to um Implement discipline um they also strengthen the language around the lgbtqi plus um just to reinforce that those students and staff will be um protected and safe within the school environment and they will be allowed to do their jobs and um access the curriculum they also added a a language called Dem Minimus harm so um that sort of comes into go when you go forward with an allegation and you go forward with a report you're looking at whether or not it is it it the alleged Act created de Minimus harm so if it's that really breaks down to is it so minor that it is not worth considering or the law would not take it into account so that's part of the language that's been introduced into the policy in order to strengthen the investigation process to make sure that things that go forward are appropriate investigations and fall with fall under the category of the law the other term which is pretty common is the preponderance of evidence but that's really when when you look at the outcome versus how you go forward so the that statement is is um been introduced as a way to determine what's going to meet um a complaint and what maybe wouldn't meet a complaint but if someone's coming forward with an issue that we're still moving forward to to address it it just might not reach the level of a title n investigation so that clarifies that um it also added language to support parent rights so previously under the law if if a student came forward or a staff came forward and they had a complaint and they didn't want to go forward with a formal complaint and they were okay with an informal process and they were okay with um whatever supportive measures we could offer that you know the director of um Title 9 could say there's so much evidence based on what I'm looking at that I'm going forward with a formal complaint regardless of the person saying that they want to or whether or not they're okay with the informal and the supportive measures the language that has been added to the policy now based on the new guidelines is that parent rights have been strengthened so that parents are are allowed to act on behalf of their minor children should they you know students sometimes get overwhelmed minors and sometimes parents feel very strongly that it's a difficult process but with supported measures and support from the school they would still like to go forward with the formal complaint so the language to strengthen parents rights has been included now within the policy um and confidentiality oh we also updated the Discrimination uh non-discrimination statement as I think Mr Barton already me mentioned through the bullying statement adding a few categories and you you'll see it it's already updated on the website um and it's just it's the federal guidelines changed a little bit of the wording again we're saying sex-based harassments instead of sexual harassment so some of the wording has changed so we updated it to make sure it's reflective of um the current government regulations um one of the other things that it strengthened is the confidentiality piece obviously in any investigation you move forward with confidentiality however they've refined the language to really focus in on um the confidentiality applies to information that may have been gleaned as a result of going forward with a title 9 investigation so it just put some stronger language and some more uh firm guid lines around those confidentiality pieces to protect people people's privacy both the um complaintant and the respondent that kind of sums it up that's the Highlight Reel I guess of the changes in the sex-based title I just had a question yes sir reading my homework here that on the front page here I didn't realize that I guess because of all the changes the the the pages change yes I did notice that as I was I looking at 50 and 51 and it's just not there right sorry it's about eight pages later the pages have changed yes yep and they'll be updating that in the final PR okay yes well you've done a lot of work on this so congratulations some people like to think that you know schools and administrators have Summers off but this clearly defines how much work went into it um was this part of the the language is that part of what the state um sort of has summarized and Stu like that yeah it this all came as a result of the federal and state guidelines they issue them to us and then we make the changes accordingly to be in compliance is there some type of class that someone needs to take or anybody or one of the things that um we've always done but also has been mentioned is that we are required to do trainings I'm actually signed up for the latest one um congratulations uh starting October 6th with um myp the middle sex youth uh partnership so uh yes we are required to train the one of the things they talk a lot about in in all the guidelines and this is something we've always done here at grade anyway is sort of really do the training to make sure investigations are impartial you know the students are coming staff are coming with different complaints or issues and you want to make sure that the investigators are trained to ask the right questions and and have that you know neutral FactFinder um approach to anything that comes forward so um the main office has been fantastic being trained to help with the investigations I do a lot of training um the HR Director also does a lot of training um I do as many has come my way because this is a a significant um law and the importance of it is Paramount to keeping students and staff safe outstanding thanks thank you thank you thank you sorry one one question uh is there at some point if input is required by outside legal councel yes yes we we uh work with the lawyers to to verify that the changes that have been made are accurate and on on task with the federal and state guidelines like nothing comes forward without that they're looking at it I was just concerned If U if I can make up a scenario as far as if par parents request not in their Oh I thought you meant just in writing it I was like they definitely check it but you mean if like a case comes forward yes yeah if they if a parent or Guardian decided or employee wanted to bring their own lawyer we would immediately involve and that would probably be at the event that the parents did and then yeah yeah for sure and we would consult if we felt that there was an area that was unclear you know there's there's a lot of nuances to it but you always want to make sure that you're operating within the correct guidelines so y y we rely on them whenever necessary wanted to PO the question thank you yeah no I'm I'm glad you asked okay thank you thank you thank you try thank you great job last dismiss so Mr Barton do you want to join us again so I have a motion to approve the title night policy second roll call Mr Hogan yes Mr lame yes Mr NCO Mr Gia yes Mr Baho yes Mr Moren yes Mr Richardson yes Mr Sheen yes thank you thank you so um as you just heard U Miss sario described the changes those changes of Incorporated in the student handbook um they go into a similar level of detail regarding um any legal definitions of sex-based harassment as well as uh examples of sex-based harassment that are included in the law and language it also gives the description of uh pregnancy and crold Status included in this as well as how to make a complaint the nature of a complaint it describes the resolution process the supportive measures that may exist for so everything that Mrs andasio discussed in our yes schoolwide policy is inor any questions motion approve motional approve second unless anybody has any questions second that was the only revision to the handbook because we had recently approved the handbook and then these changes were made and we are coming yes all in favor I opposed unanimous okay thank you thank you thank Youk you so the next item on my agenda I'd like to invite uh Mrs Martinez of our director of enrollment and information to uh talk about our uh updated acceptable use employee acceptable use policy more hey hello two months good so I'm here I was looking at the dates yeah I'm here to give a brief summary of the the greater low Regional Vocational uh technical districts acceptable use policy for dig information communication and Technology resources for 2024-25 uh much of the language in this policy um is is really from the new tech policies outlined in the December 2023 Massachusetts Association of school committees uh policy of so so some of the the piece on the scope the the the policy um applies to all District employees students families and visitors covering the use of digital resources data protection and communication then there are some key points um about how the district uh supports a balance of security and access um as well as support ongoing digital citizenship instruction to students that align to the mass curriculum Frameworks um and that all district business must be conducted using District provided email email addresses and that data and other material files maintained on the on the district systems may be subject to review disclosure and Discovery and the district will cooperate um fully with local state and federal authorities um concerning uh or related to any um legal activities or activities not in compliance with the district policies or government regulations and that uh electronic messages may be subject to public records laws and foia requests and really that users must use digital resources responsibly um uh efficiently ethically and legally regardless of where the physical location is while they're using um District equipment electronic uh devices including computers tablets smartphones and other digital devices then it sort of goes through the acceptable use and that the access is provided for educational and business purposes and that users must follow the guidelines on supervision um and ethical use and privacy and that prohibited activity include accessing inappropriate contact cyber bullying and copyright infringement okay then it it talks a little bit about the student use and um that the students um sign an AUP annually as well as it aligns with our code of conduct so the kids already know this yes so they already signed and then the we go more into the employee use uh employees uh must use District accounts for all School related work and community ation and that personal use uh should not interfere with the job duties or incur any additional costs to the district and then some new pieces of uh looking at social media guidelines at that employees should maintain professionalism and avoid discussing confidential information across social media and that they should not friend um current students or parents on uh personal social uh uh media as then it goes on to the network usage and security and really that uh the district reserves the right again to Monitor and access all data in the systems and that uh users are prohibited um for security reasons from downloading installing altering and bypassing security measures on all electronic devices um Network equipment and other software online security measures without the written consent um of the network manager director technology ology and and the superintendent and that all users must adhere to password requirements and protect sensitive data as much as possible also uh talks a little bit about personal devices use of personal devices at the discretion of the administration and that the district is not responsible for personal device security or loss and then it goes talking about uh consequences for violations of uh that may result as well as liability for the district um and uh talking a little bit about um making sure that um that would not otherwise be provided in the applicable Collective bonding agreement um so the liability section basically explains what the district assumes no responsibility for and then compliance that uh just all users including employees students and annually verify that they have and will abide by the the acceptable use policy and that um they need to sign a policy each year and that actually the the acceptable use poliy will be reviewed annually um by the superintendent director and um and the director of uh technology enrollment information yearly so to somewhat summarize um and this the policy emphasizes really responsible use of Technology the protection of sensitive information and really the educational purpose and and uh digal resources in the school environment anyone have any questions sounds like a technology policy to me lots of it this is more about the teachers than it is about the students yeah yeah the students have this is a general policy for employees but it it the scope it outlin some schoolwide uh I guess they can't make fun of work anymore motion to approve second any questions further questions or comments roll call Mr Hogan yes Mr lame yes Mr G yes Mr Baho yes Mr Moren yes Mr Richardson yes Mr Shan yes thank you very much thank you thank you everyone you have a good thank you see you later excited to be back oh Lisa do you want to just share about the website because I think it's important yeah oh sure you almost made it I almost made it excited to talk about the website we have a new refreshed website and so uh we're very excited about that and uh it it enables us to have uh more accessibility for the users to be able to um provide um uh I think easier access for our parents our students and and the community and we'll be able to Showcase um all the great things that we're doing here at greater low um certainly um it's some more U video as well as images and uh just making it a little bit more friendly um for certainly for uh students um to to be excited about accessing the website as well and so um so we're looking forward and and uh we'll be happy to have any feedback and how we can improve it it looked good today I was jumping around on it it looked easy good looked easy great and uh so keep keep um tuned for for new new U content that will be have we gotten the Drone picture yet not quite yet we we we'll be having some uh some new video on the front page and what's nice about this new um this new website is you'll be able to switch from video to pictures uh more seamlessly so it'll give us a little bit more flexibility in being a able to Showcase all have great um especially programs is there something with the languages too there is so we have accessibility for the languages there's a translate uh button right there and um we're working um hard to put um documentation in as many languages as possible so that's being updated continually as well as uh for accessibility so so if someone in another language pushes this button does does it actually change the yes the lettering and everything yes okay and then um not the actual documents you have to do that document by document and we're working to get those documents in as many languages as possible cool so what changes the actual features on the website but not the actual documents that we've added to the website we work hard to translate all our documents into the languages of our fam and make them accessible good sounds good um how how many languages do we have well we have we have multiple languages the the one that's what the website provide many more languages than even oh so they're all there available not just what we have yes because our our languages are constantly changing as well and every year there's new languages that are coming into our communities so to make the website able for any new language that would come in to be able to access our information is important beautiful and if there's not wasn't available before the Web Master it's just more ask um see if we can come out very good great thank you thank you so much oh did we approve we did approve that was just for the website so thank you and that is the end of my report thank you thank sir two two items for you on the agenda tonight the uh I don't know if I'm going in the corre correct order but the first one here is the transfers uh with the contract settled after the budget was created uh there's a number of transfers that needed to be made um so this was I should quy this was the teachers contract was included in the original budget that was passed this is everything that's settled after s call administrative nonc contractuals um individual contracts tutors everyone that pretty much all the contracts that motion to approve $330,000 and9 $330,900 it's actually not even doesn't even look much like a construction project yet so um just wanted to give you an update as to the reasoning behind that that comes down to when you do modular construction the general contractor uh is has the responsibility of having the foundation engineered to meet the load of the building um so they have General parameters that go up for what the building needs to be what energy codes it needs to meet what the foundation needs to be what codes need to be met on that Foundation but they're they're responsible for the design um so since our construction meeting started in uh February I believe um so we've had weekly conversations about where this plan is where's the structural plan where's the engineering behind it um and you know we got unfortunately unfortunately it didn't come to fruition yet um two weeks ago the GC fired their engineer and hired a new one the new engineer is working much more collaboratively and quickly it seems with our Architects um and actually had a draft that the draft that the first draft that hasn't been kicked back in less than 24 hours uh came in on Tuesday I believe so they've had it 48 hours they're running calculations and it looks good so far but um there's still I think it has about 100 pages of calculations they say we you do a Foundation Engineering report so they get some ways to ways to go on the uh reporting end and the approval side of it but it appears as though uh we're moving now a little bit more expediently than we have been uh the buildings are actually in the city of LOL already they're in a storage yard if you that was my next question uh they're they're sitting somewhere I I believe they said it was on Pine Street um so I don't know I don't know where that is myself I live right off yeah that's in their neighborhood maybe they're in new yard I'll I'll get you the exact you can drive by and find the Pine School it's probably the only lot big enough on bu right that would be my guess in school here Pine School the Old Pine Street School I didn't see them yeah I live yeah I know I'm just wondering wait have to look a little closer you exactly every day I can get you an exact location so you can drive by and take a look at the wrapped buildings but they're uh here in the city so after the foundation approve or drawings are approved it takes a couple weeks for permitting um and then after permitting the foundation should be going in so we're probably looking at about 6 weeks until the buildings move from the city uh and get cranes together here on a weekend um they've been the contractors been working to make sure the site's secure while school's back in session um and they're clear about working hours and not interrupting the educational process here and making sure that anything that does have to happen in the building is occurring from two to 10 at night uh or we're starting to plan a bunch of weekend work now where they're going to even start doing some of the tree work uh in two weekends and some of the excavation work that they had to do um to make up for the compensatory storage for the FL Zone um permitting so they're going to start knocking some of that stuff out on the weekends and then we're going to start seeing I think some interior demo and at least preparing for when the buildings are here um so that that should come together Brie faab in sections and then they're going to put them out together yeah yeah it still takes probably about their their initial estimate was about two to three months after the buildings are on site to have them fully fabricated put together uh they have to do the interior finish they don't do things like VCT Tile and um those types of things before they ship because of the fragile is there the movement of the buildings they break things is there a connection to this building to this yep there's a connection that they have to build both on the first and second floors so there's going to be a Skywalk bridge out of the second floor uh out of an old what was an old closet over to the new um building so down in the uh we call it the new in but yeah the new down in the new Wing yeah it connection will come through there so they're going they're going to start prepping at least for that those items um but at this point it looks like we're not going to be online at the buildings until probably late December or January at Fest case um that's still might be a little bit optimistic but that's that's where we stand and they have been put on notice about liquidated damages um had letters sent so there shouldn't be any surprises that we're not going to be paying full price because we're going to miss the deadline by six months six months this can yeah I checked with the the grants office as well made sure that the funding wasn't in danger because we were supposed to be fully obligated by September 30th and part of their initial obligation um approval process involved the building permit which we can't get till we have a foundation in place um so we won't have a building permit by that time the contract um sufficed for the approval of the Grant and making sure that the funding is all locked up uh we have we have to file for late liquidation it's just a form have to fill out that says we're going to request funds after September 30th December December 30th or December 1st would have been the last day to normally draw those funds because the Project's going to extend Lely beyond that we'll draw the funds a little bit later but probably by a couple months long as we start before December 1st we'll be covered we should be we should be in good shape the state's not going to question the S so money how we're spending it because it's already been put in the books all approved delays after delay after delay y they've seen the contracts they've SE the approv the approvals that have gone through they have some permitting we've got utilities permits and demo permits and some of the smaller ancillary things that have occurred like the electrical is all run we're going to have to shut down tomorrow to get the uh new breaker hooked up that's going to feed that building um for a little bit in the morning so there's there's been some progress It's just obviously not not near where we thought it would be at this point okay it's in delay it's coming it's on the way to be continued yep so since this is going so since this Project's now going to go on while school is going on um all the contracts in there they go through a Cory check since kids are going to be on campus even even the summer contractors also anyone that's a contractor that works on site is subject to the Cory process and we review everyone that comes in and out and then they still all check in and out of Security even though they haven't been in the building um they're still checking in and getting badged out and then walking over to the site for the work that needs to get done okay all right cool thank you very good that's that so sir thanks anything under Ro business anything for new business committee person motions I report of the subcommittee do I have an a motion to approve the building expansion committee report of June 20th 2024 motion second questions comments all in favor please say I opposed unanimous need a motion to enter into executive session pursuant to Mass General laws 30A section 21A and two to conduct strategy sessions in preparation for negotiations with non-un Personnel or to conduct collective bargaining sessions or contract negotiations with non-un Personnel non-contractual LPN Personnel we will uh need to return to open session after this to take a vote uh so motion of go no executive so moves second second all in favor please say I I oppos unanimous we will be back in a few minutes folks thank you very much e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e I call the meeting back to order uh roll call Mr Hogan yeah Mr May yes Mr gier yes Mr Bahu here Mr Moren yes Mr Richardson here Mr NCO Mr Sheen here all do I hear a motion to increase the hourly pay rate for the LPN support staff to $40 per hour so Mo second roll call Mr Hogan yes Mr lame yes Mr gier yes Mr Baho yes Mr Moren yes Mr Richardson yes Mr Sheen yes well thank you everybody everybody have a great school year motion to adour motion so Mo second all in favor I I oppos thank you very much everybody good night thank you thank you e e