##VIDEO ID:uVIdzgquzUs## okay test one two test okay no yes test test test one two she's doing something testing test one two test testing are we on oh there we are go you got it okay perfect all right good evening uh I call to order the meeting of the Hamilton wam Regional school committee on Thursday August 15th 2024 uh 7:25 p.m. um I guess I invite you all to join us in the Pledge of Allegiance Pledge aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God invisible liy and justice for all okay uh Julia would you be willing to read the land acknowledgement sure the Hamilton Wenham Regional School District would like to acknowledge the massachusett tribe the tribe of indigenous peoples from whom the colony Province and Commonwealth of Massachusetts have taken their name we would like to pay our respect to the ancestral bloodline of the massachusett tribe and their descendants who still inhabit historical Massachusetts tribe territories to this day thank you um uh for Citizens comments Mr Tracy is there anyone on Zoom who looks like they want to offer a comment there is not and I don't see anyone in the room so at this point we will close citizens comments uh Trent would you be willing to read a portion of the school committee protocols yes as elected members of the Hamilton Wenham Regional school committee we including the superintendent accept the high honor and trust that has been placed in us to ensure that the students of the district receive the best education possible to that end we hereby commit to the following in the conduct of our business members of the committee will make no independent commitments or take any independent actions that relate to the school district when school committee members attend meetings of other committees or boards they will speak as individuals they may only speak for the committee when designated to represent the committee thank you um next up does anyone have any items that they want to hold from the consent agenda no David uh I moved at The Hil tum Regional school committee accept the consent agenda as written in the uh excuse me meeting agenda second second by Julia uh all those in favor and that is unanimous and the motion passes okay um uh new business Eric to the um Food Services worker agreement thank you um this is an agreement that's new for us we uh created a new contract with our food service workers who are uh not under any type of a a uh employee agreement and we we completed this one last uh June and preparation for the upcoming school year it has been ratified by the Food Service uh workers group and this this is the the final contract the one thing that is not here is an evaluation and we have an agreement to work on the evaluation this fall with the food service workers um to finalize that but other than that this is the a first and new agreement for Food Service workers um I I want to move to table this so I think we might need five people I think that's possibly true yeah um so I uh move to table this to a future meeting uh do we have a second second um a motion and it's been seconded uh I want to just do a I want to make to think about I'm glad you moved that so that we can have a discussion about whether that's true it's a contract so it usually it contains payment information which I would consider money usually everything has to do with money um a super majority so we need five um I was going to try to like I thought I might just have a quick um so I I think that that sounds I I in my opinion that sounds whether I'm I'm not 100% sure that that's absolutely true but I also think it's wise yeah that's a to be safer um Eric what are the implications of not having that um ratified at this or approved at this time we would have to do one round of stip and checks really the first week of school so it's it's actually fine because the next meeting school starts the uh first week in September so we we'll meet that week as well so right not not a problem schools start right it would be on the 5th is our meting correct correct so we'll just move it to the fifth um well we haven't voted yet any discussion other discussion questions um okay um all right so the motion is to table this um at this time uh all those in favor and that is unanimous and we will table it thank you David for um your attention to detail on that um and thank you Eric for your and Vinnie's work on that sorry to have it be delayed no problem um okay uh EV charging station fee information me that is you and um as you may remember we we had I think it was two years ago signed a contract um with an agency to install EV charging stations at two of our schools one was the middle school high school complex and the other was actually here um at the same time the town of Hamilton was doing a similar uh setup for two charging stations at uh Patton and then there's one more I don't remember exactly where it is but I want to say it's in town hall anyway there the uh energy manager Vicky Mason uh had been trying to put some pricing in place right now the charger that we have sits uh without collecting a fee and you can use it it's not hugely used right now but it once the school year starts people with EV Vehicles can can use it we are asking to put a fee structure in place based on Vicky's recommendation in this memo um so that we can offset cost we do have to pay um maintenance costs and uh Insurance costs across uh the next each year for the next at least three years and then it'll be re-evaluate it again this this is a structure that the town of Hamilton set into place and uh Vicky's recommending us to use the same uh structure based on her Memo that's attached to the agenda um so uh I I have a just a clarification question yeah I my understanding is what we're asking being asked here is do we want to just accept that we will have the same fee structure as the other sites in town that's that's what's being proposed correct and they are they they've had a fee structure in place they're just updating it if you look about halfway down that second page yep the FY 20 25 structure uh they're increasing a little bit more because they have a lot of activity there and they're not but they're not also meeting the energy cost their energy costs went up compared to last year so okay um right uh David you think you're able to make a motion based on that um sure I moved that the Hamilton Regional school committee uh vote to approve the uh EV charging station fee structure as presented in tonight's agenda do I have a second second second by Julia um questions should we make ours slightly cheaper so everyone uses ours there's actually quite a few people who have EV Vehicles already and between the kids and the staff up there um all right is there any discussion can I add one thing there is we are still waiting for the charger here um it's just in in the pipeline everything has to go through this very structured check off procedure so we will at some point also get one here and then we'll come back to make sure everybody's okay with the fee structure um and then I guess my only other question is with this um you know other words if the town in the future if the town were to adjust their fee structure would we need to come back and vote again or are we agreeing to stay are we agreeing to shift and move with the town by agreeing to this so we are not locked in shifting with the town and and that's something I think we once we get our fee structure up and running see how much it's used then we reevaluate ourselves because you know schools the school is different than the town the school has kind of a dead time in the Summer where you don't have people although the neighbors figured it out it's there um but it's it's uh yeah yeah it it's fairly dead in that 10 we slot in vacation so unlike the town the park ones those those are fairly consistently used um I think ours would be used a little bit less so we may have to make an adjustment down the road but I think this is a good starting point okay and talking to V uh Vicky she's she's seeing similar in the surrounding communities as well okay all right anybody have anything else no all right looks like we're ready to vote um everybody's clear on the motion all right all those in favor and that is unanimous of the four members present and the motion passes okay so sorry a question um you had mentioned that a super majority is needed for anything to do with money I was thinking about that too since we're going to circle back with it I think when we have that we vote that again like I I was definitely thinking same I and I and I and that's why it was very hesitant because it's I I wish that I was able to just pull it up and if I wish Vinnie were here because Vinnie would know it it's not anything to do with any money um because obviously we approved the warrants we approve it's um and I I'm sorry to say I wish I I just don't have it I know we can't approve the budget for example without um and uh so I actually I don't I'm actually not concerned about this Mone no exactly no I I think that was out of an abundance of cautious but I'm actually not particularly I think it's a good question um yeah we can look it up and see if we need to vote that back in yeah if we're not paying anything out if we are receiving money right is that what we're thinking about or if it just has to do with any implications to the budget um I yeah I'm not going to be able to pull up the I think there are C Worst case scenarios we just have to come back and vote correct right correct exactly but I I um yeah because I don't see anything really happening with this in the two weeks or three weeks before no no no and I will say and I I'm I'm apologetic that I can't give you an example but I will tell you there have been times when I've been worried about a quorum and I have sent vinia question and said if we only have four people tonight can and he said yes so it's not anything to do with any money it's it's specific to certain things I think a chargeing fee structure is okay because yeah I do too it's just a fee we're setting it's not money we're expending correct um I actually I I don't yeah I don't pass him we'll see if he's aik we'll see yeah um okay uh District goals District goals thank you thank you for um all the conversation at the workshop sat down and kind of tried to put things together based on where there was easy agreement where people kind of had agreement across the workshop porra of The Graduate graduate work uh was fairly straightforward each of the levels will take a piece of that pie this uh school year and work towards it um and then we'll start to shift towards the from the portrait of the graduates portrait of learner um doing a little exploration there with some of the ways that uh some of the programs are developed and again as I said any ASC neas the accrediting agency would will require uh the high school to be able to measure each of those so that they started working on that last year and they'll continue working on that and then the uh the middle school is is going to try to connect it to the critical thinking where they've done some work um with executive functioning they want to kind of carry that to the next level um and and look at the the ways uh that they can use it in the critical thinking areas throughout the school year second goal is is the our third year for mtss uh broken out the same way we kept it the same we broke it out by elementary middle and high school on the different things each uh School level will do desie rubric uh we dropped into place and um either way we have to we have to start that next in a week and a half with the new teachers anyway we have to train all of our staff on the rubric implementation of a technology plan uh uh Alan toer had presented last year you accepted it and this is a a fairly straightforward way to begin to look at some of the pieces of the technology puzzle it certainly does not cover the whole plan because it's a multi-year plan um Allan really wanted to talk kind of at the high level with people across the district to say we have this in place now here's what it's about here's what it can help us to do um and then working with teachers examining the tools that we're using and what we're using at each academic level uh determining appropriate computer devices and then also uh integrating appropriate tools and I think key word here is appropriate the leadership team was was very uh kind of adamant to say appropriate because not all tools make sense at all grade levels and in some grade levels you don't need some of the tools that are available digitally uh the VoIP offerings we still have to deal with that carries law which requires us to be 911 compliant across all all phones in the district and then um assist of technology is is a a booming area for us we have more and more students who need some level of assist assist of Technology whether it be um because they have uh a device to help them to communicate or they need some level of hearing assistance in a classroom or they have specialized equipment that they may use in in a particular class and then I tried to take the goal that we talked a lot about at our Workshop focusing on high quality safe state-of-the-art schools and broke them out like we did with mtss so they have kind of 5A is the elementary school project 5B is the facilities Improvement project 5c is the continuation of s sois for the msba and then 5D we we still need to go back and finalize the capital plan piece we we kind of left it at the end of the school year that beginning in the fall we would start to uh create the final form and connect it to the request form so our new facilities director Curtis Whitman will take that on this fall again it's a fairly wide span of goals but I think dividing it up the way we did makes sense um certainly if there is feedback we can go back and take a look at anything that people may have question question or concern about um this is this will be sorry this will be um directly connected to the school Improvement plans that principes will start at the beginning of the year they'll have their school councils meet they have 45 days from the start of school uh to get their school council together get their school Improvement plan developed they'll link it back directly to this the principles are also link uh developing goals in relation to their teachers so that teachers could share goals that that thread directly through this District level plan through their school Improvement planning process um so there's there's some good opportunities for us to to involve all of the staff across a lot of this okay uh I have a couple questions but other people go first questions David you look inquisitive no um I just have a the very top um goal one um this may be sort of a it's just the name but I if you were going to switch it to portrait of a learner I kind of wonder if we want to call it portrait of a learner um inste I mean I understand we're moving from portrait of a graduate to portrait of a learner but okay that's just it's a qu no it's a question like and I don't know how other people feel about that but I guess I sort of feel like if that's the go I I don't know what do other people think well then is is it a is it a goal if it is accomplished by the document that sets the goals right I that I get that's yeah that's sort of what I'm toying with like I I do understand it it's bigger than that we're moving from what we've already created which is this existing portrait of a graduate and evolving it into portrait of a learner so it was a genuine question because like should the goal be called it may not matter but I think I think the the is an opportunity to to I think Tren said it well with where it's like kind of a document instead of that then why don't we redesign the goal to be will'll transition from the portrait of The Graduate to Portrait of learner and also um explore at each level ways to integrate the competences what if we call it portrait of a graduate transition yeah could or even portrait of graduate to portrait of a learner which is not catchy but it's it's but it's what you're doing right can do that um I mean part of it is you know I'm envisioning gesturing to the goals um yeah and I also I think going moving on that is um a lot of the goals have a verb uh an action verb and that one doesn't so I don't know if we want it to have an action verb or we can use transition transition the portrait of The Graduate to the portrait of a learner and then like and really it's I just noticed we've three of us read this today and 2026 should be 2025 um well I think I don't think it has to be an I I heard what you just said seems like if it's transition portrait of a graduate to portrait of a learner I think that's complete right and then all the below it then there's the deliverable below it right the deliver the deliverables would change no um so anyway I I don't know what we want to do with that cuz I know you're looking for a vote this evening so I don't know if we have um but um then I just had a actual question like um on 2A um where am I there's about the schedule where am I oh create master schedules um so would that be that we're changing the master schedule for fy2 or are we taking the year and coming creating a schedule that will be implemented in 26 so they'll they'll do the schedules now coming into this next school year so that they have ability to deliver tier 2 interventions so the kids aren't losing tier one classroom time so the best example is a pullout model of special education right now a special ed teacher may go to a child's class could be math time and say you know I need Billy because I got five other kids and pull Billy out and Billy doesn't come back for 45 minutes but misses the whole math lesson y um so they're trying now to build in segments of time where they can take advantage of doing the interventions while also uh not interrupting tier one instruction so I guess from a school committee point of view when I when we're evaluating the deliverables I mean the that the part that we're evaluating is like does the master schedule achieve this y um because you're saying that already is in progress that the actual moving blocks around right we so we we started talking about it back in our Retreat the leadership team Retreat on the best way to do this we had a new brand new principal on board so that was a whole separate conversation about like okay here's how we can do this as you know we have the ca program we try to keep that with pry clean Fidelity across all the three schools the new math program will go into place this year as well Eureka Math and that will also be treated the same way so having similar schedules helps them to keep everybody kind of in in coordination if you will across the across the U the curriculum so it will also not I mean one of the big things if you go all the way back to my report that I did when I first came in as a superintendent the biggest thing we found was kids were losing classroom time for all these different interventions that were occurring whether it be speech and language Physical Therapy occupational therapy all those things were pulling kids out of their tier one which is their really base uh classes because there was really the way the the day of structure was it was English and then we went to you know recess and then we went to science and we did lunch and so it was very generic so they're trying different ways they've used um uh wind blocks in some of our elementary schools to try to get kids who need more a little bit more and kids who need interventions get their interventions and kids that need to catch up they can catch up as well so um other people have questions I would say I don't really have questions I just my my only comment was the um the verbs semantics so are you I have no questions on the actual goals okay would you feel comfortable with it the first one saying transition the portrait of The Graduate to a p portrait of a learner yes and also um implementation of I think could be Implement if if we're going to go yeah if STI with verbs if we're going to stick with verbs that's just me being Implement new DES teacher rubric yeah yeah because I think because it's like complete continue finalize you know there's a lot of verbs um focus that would be really be my only comment because we did talk about them a lot in the retreat so I don't really have questions I like I love how you formulated them and like you know organized them I think they're very easy to read and easy to understand okay do we feel like well we don't have a motion on the table no um you willing to make a motion sure um I moved at the Hamilton wiam Regional School District vote the um District goals for 2425 uh with changes suggested as posted in tonight's agenda do we have a second second second by Trend second second okay is there further discussion um I just had point of discussion which is I don't know what the Timeless of the need for this to be voted in is but the points that were ju just brought up I thought were helpful and I liked hearing back on the uh some of the reasons behind the decisions um and I know we're missing three people from the committee today and I think that it might be beneficial to have that same feedback given it's going to guide the work that occurs over the next I'm I'm just posing like would it make sense to put off the vote for a meeting until we had more Minds at the table um I don't have strong feelings one way or the other no I I I think that's I think it's good to bring up what I mean that's what the point of discussion is so I think it's good to bring it up I um go ahead I have a comment one is just that I feel like people could have emailed you right Eric yeah um and the second thing is you know it was on the agenda and I know things come up but I feel like I feel like the leadership team they worked really you know they were and you're not saying this that they didn't but they worked really hard and I think I personally don't think we should put off the vote I totally understand what you're saying but I do think we worked as a team at The Retreat and there's been ample opportunity to give Eric feedback I'm just talking from my personal opinion I don't know if anyone else has any thoughts I I do but David do you have thoughts I mean I I would have no problem really tabling this but at the same time we are here if we keep tbling everything you know what I mean from tonight's agenda I I again I could see why and I wouldn't mind doing it but I I um time like let's get something done tonight yeah I I um I actually really appreciate um Trent you saying that I think it's important to be really thoughtful about that and um I'm going to say for me I feel like uh getting these goals before we start the school year feels really important to me like so I um like I feel like we've done the work and mostly Eric and the leadership team have done the work to achieve that so that we could have agreed upon goals before the school year started um so I guess I feel I respectfully I feel ready to vote but I but I um did you um did you actually did you make a motion there or you just just question do you want to make a motion no okay um uh so I think we have a motion on the table it has been seconded is there any other further discuss question all right looks like we're ready to vote um all those in favor and that is unanimous of the four members present and the motion passes um Eric please thank you and thank the leadership team for the work that went into all of that um thank you all right uh Middle School this is um a letter we we received kind of out of the blue at the beginning of August from the state I think AO follow-up email from an assistant to the current interim commissioner basically saying uh you have to do it so it's uh the national assessment of educational progress which is done across the country they do small uh selective groups in in schools all across the the each of the states and they also do a higher level of assessment in some of the bigger cities I think there 27 t uh cities larger cities that they use as well um they're picking in this case math and reading for 13y olds which are our sixth graders um they basically will set up a time and a date with us to walk through what we need to do get us our technology expectations usually something like this is on a Chromebook or an iPad um and then they come in from the state and actually run the testing we don't have to really do anything but make sure the kids are there for that 50 minute window um they they do directions they do they the the people from the state testing the naap uh do they do all the work so we really just have to coordinate where they're going to where they're going to be so they'll come in a couple weeks beforehand um and then talk about okay we'd like to use a room with these types of qualities if they'll pick a room we'll set it up in this case it'll be more than one room because there are 50 kids um and then we'll just cing off the rooms and do what we do with mcast it's the same thing so it just you know it's just a uh it's tough to get out of it I I tried a few years back when the high school got selected uh when I was principal and you know that it's one of those things where they basically want as many uh systems as possible across the country to to be involved it's you know otherwise known as the nation's report card so um so I do have some questions about it but before we do that um are you you're there's nothing for us to vote on right this is something no this is informational I just wanted everybody to know that this was happening yeah I do have some questions but other people might have questions yeah I still have some questions too yeah so yeah my question is the assessment duration is at 90 minutes total one time yeah it'll be one sitting they'll one sitting 50 kids each sitting 90 minutes so that doesn't seem like that doesn't seem like that much to me but I know it's very dis probably disruptive but so it's but it's not like because when I see October 7th December 13th it's not every day 90 minutes no that's a window they have to have it completed oh okay between October 7th and December 13th across the entire United States we have a date of the November 12th date okay that's when they're coming how do they select than you participants that's the question I have I I want to know but they according to what I remembered from previous it was random off of a list that we generate we said okay here's all of our I think it was our 10th graders at that time here's all of our 10th graders and they selected 50 students and said they have all of our data they select the students uh yeah it's a random random selection so that's what I remember but that's another that's a question I want to ask them again so in third I think think you said sixth grade but 13-year-olds in the fall is eighth grade right seven uh excuse me seventh grade sorry seventh grade it'll be it'll be this fall the current well but is it 13y olds or is it by grade because some 13year olds are in one grade and Somey old it's going to be it's going to be they're going to pick a grade I think it's seventh grade that they're picking not sixth grade sorry okay um because yeah that it doesn't sound like it's by grade it sounds like it's by age yeah but like 13year olds are there are 13y olds that are in different grades and they'll do just just so you know they all kids will not take both assessments they'll split that group and say some of them will do the mathematics assessment some of them will do the reading assessment um so you could have 25 kids in each room or you could have 10 and 40 depending on how they decide to break up the uh mathematics and reading assessments but each student only takes one assessment they don't have they don't they're not going to take both and do we I mean in other words do we get individual results do we get schoolwide result we get results but you got to wait to compare them to the National comparatives yeah yep okay what percentage of seventh graders is 50 students uh there approximately 130 kids in each class so you're looking at so it's a substant there's going to be a bunch of kids for a 90minut block Y and then everybody else is going to well interestingly enough I talked to Dr best about this what might make sense is for him to juggle his Wind Block um and use that take advantage of that as part of the time where kids are doing their Wind Block and those other kids would be testing so it's crazy yeah it's but we we literally get sent a letter saying hey welcome to the test so we do our we we we'll we'll do our part can't make what what happens to the kids not testing too fun right because great exactly I mean it's a you don't want to have a field day right there's going to be a sense of inequity yeah we're all going to learn today right well and just I mean yeah it'll be an interest interesting way how to present it that this is truly random that this is really just I mean the state has requirement from the state all of our data they basically pick the kids off of our list it's yeah it's but it in some ways it would be easier if it was the entire grade right like yeah just yeah um okay anybody this is just informational I just wanted everybody to know that we were picked we were selected and it's really it's really weird that it's written as 13-year-old students yeah it's going to be seventh graders but I cuz like seventh graders are yeah 12 turning 13 right that's right I'm counting that correctly yeah I mean Isabelle's 13 and eighth grade 14 last year 15 the biggest chunk of 13y olds in that exactly in that block well yeah or like it depends on your birthday even that I'm looking at that assessment window and I'm like oh if my child my child would change ages during that window and so right yeah they'll do it October that window yeah the state fig they'll figure it out now what what happens is each year October one is our exact data they call it like this is what we're using for your accounts for the rest of the year they'll use that same data your age right exactly um okay looks like we're all ready to move on from that um last thing I had on here is that on opening uh the day Eric what has helped me out on what the day is Monday the 26th Monday the 26th I am I uh Eric gives an opening Day speech to all staff um it's a presentation at the um usually at the high school in the auditorium um I have gone and given like a super brief like three or four minute welcome from the school committee um David Frankle did it last year um I've done it in the past I am not available on the 26th um so I wanted put it out uh about 8:15 in the morning between 8:15 and and 9 it'll it'll be done by 9:00 just going to get everybody in the auditorium and get everybody settled I would I would love to volunteer to do that okay I'm out of the country okay so then um all right do we have a motion there Ive at the Hamilton onam Regional school committee appoint um Julia Campbell for to represent the school committee at opening day on the August 26th second second by Trent um is there any further discussion okay looks like we're ready to vote all those in favor and it is unanimous and the motion passes thank you Julia Julie did you catch me looking at your name tag to make sure I got your name right yeah is that how tired we are I just met you yeah we just met it's a new school I I literally blanked no I've done that before too is that so weird like have never met her don't know I've done that I've done that before I I totally caught you catch me um that's very funny well and so Julia you can just chat with Eric and yes figure out what you want to say come early we have it'll be fun with the teachers in the calf before okay yeah send me all I'll send details yep um okay uh we don't have finance and operations cuz we don't have Vinnie here but we have a new baby but we do have a new baby Sunday suay fantas so oh the baby's here y baby's here oh yay which is wonderful oh I need to text him after yes do we not see him till November now no he'll be here next meeting okay he's going to present the what he was going to do oh congratulations well baby um that it's all so fast time goes so fast um okay um I don't know that we're gonna have much uh Capital Finance I don't I think Jen's the chair yes we have not met not not met okay thank you uh policy I just know I'm not the chair of any of these so I don't know I'm on I don't know no and I don't know even remember which ones I'm on chair we haven't no you haven't met negotiations um we haven't met all summer we have not met we're HED to hopefully get up and running very soon um to continue our negotiations um with the teaching teachers union and I have not prepared a secretary's report no and I did and I still have missing minutes so I'm sure it's just Julia get no I think we're actually we're actually really I I actually it would be helpful maybe prepare one next time because I think there's I know I have a couple I know I have at least a couple we've done a lot of there's a lot cuz we got we did a lot we I have to start the school year with a clean slate I have to just remind me D was going to report on it next time so there you go oh God I got to start the year all right Eric superintendent report I don't want to say a lot but I do want to thank all of the uh custodians and and administrative assistants and student helpers and administrators who have been around all summer uh polishing our floors and cleaning up our schools and getting things ready uh to to launch for the school year and um it's a it's a a huge transition if you come in here at July 1 and see everything out of every classroom in the hallways and then working through you know six and seven coats of wax on the floor and taking in packages like there's no tomorrow I mean Amazon comes here more than any 50 houses in the town in all these delivery trucks so they're really trying to get everything coordinated organized new curriculum coming in so that the uh people that have been working on that uh Jen Clifford and her whole team technology people redoing computers getting computers ready uh for transition people so I think Middle School I think uh will get updated computers this year they're teaching staff they're getting our new people up and running for new teacher orientation which is Monday and Tuesday of next week and uh just Lots going on people think people kind of forget that there's there's not you know that it might go quiet in the school district people always say oh you work during the summer uh there a lot of us working in the summer trying to get things ready there was a lot of good projects uh completed this summer we're closing in on finishing the auditorium at the high school finished the windows in the the central office uh lined all the parking lots put new pavement down in the buer lot to solve our puddling problem fix the drain outside in The Bu buer driveway had that right repaved this past F uh past Monday so a lot of things have have been happening it's great to to uh see and we have uh finally have a a new facilities director of facilities maintenance and operation his name is Curtis Whitman he will come to a future meeting we'll introduce him but he'll do he'll be doing some work on the the facilities goals and then uh we're also finalizing uh hopefully in the next couple of days the new HR Director so we'll have I'm knock on wood have everybody at central office in place at the start of the school year which will be super helpful um so we're looking forward to a great school year our my first superintendent report is going out tomorrow the superintendent uh weekly there are a couple of pieces to that there is the weekly and there are two updates there's one update on the whole elementary school project and a second update on the uh field project up at the at the high school so that people know what happened since we left school in June those will be links within the report so uh hopefully people will take the time to read it's a lot a lot of material but there's a lot for the opening day and I know that some of our principles will also send out their first letters tomorrow um getting parents the information that they need for the start of school year so I'm excited this is my favorite time of the year because my energy starts to go back up and you know we get to to get together with kids and bring in the staff and you know really connect back with our family so it's a it's really a fun time of the school year so looking forward to it questions for Eric okay um I don't really have much to report I did just want to share that I did get to go on both the tour of Cotler school and also the school the tour of um the Manchester Memorial School um this morning which is a elementary school in Manchester that was built um completed in 2021 and used the same Architects that we've been working with and The Architects actually were there to give us a tour um and I found both tours including the Cutler tour um I felt like I was really familiar with the Cutler building and still going on the tour was really um eye opening um and uh it was it was really it I I just appreciate the time that went into doing all of those and um like it was useful was it was not surprisingly the Memorial School in Manchester is beautiful and um um yeah was great I don't know if you had anything else to add about that but it was a good opportunity no but we're we'll be doing more we be giving people opportunities to come through the carler school went to school um doing some more uh leg work with our within the community will be out and about at events again in the fall you'll see us probably pop back up at the farmers market um but also we're working on a video Set uh currently contracted for six different videos to really help explain some of the processes and some of the things that will occur now between now and what's called schematic design um we also oh one thing I do I do want to mention is we had our uh feasibility meeting with the state the msba about a week ago and no excuse me week and a half ago and they um they basically go through everything that we did in feasibility they pull apart our educational plan they ask us questions about the the plans that are currently on the table um there were 70 people on the call many of them were Architects desie people people that worked for the state at the msba uh I think it's important to note that two people on the call one of them was the state the state level architect Terry qu and another one from the Department of Education both noted uh publicly that our educational plan was one of the best they've ever read and that the um there was a lot of thought and Care in the process of this development of of really shifting three three buildings worth the students into a a facility that makes educational sense for um kind of the the way we we we envision this so uh that was really great to hear because it was been a lot of work and a number of iterations we're actually going to update it again uh as part of that process they send us some very specific questions a second piece of it is that's important to note is in that process we were able to gain um more reimbursable space there were a number of rooms that under the original uh submission would not be reimbursed by the state so use the example of 35 classrooms they were only going to re reimburse 32 classrooms um because of the educational plan and the things that we've shown with the way we keep our class sizes small how we structure our class sizes they have accepted the other three um also several of our special Edge spaces that originally would not have been considered reimbursable they have pulled those in to be reimbursable so we we gained uh some significant square footage in the reimbursement range and we'll continue to do that through schematic design um and then just so people aware we'll have some really concrete numbers when we get into November December of schematic design we'll be able to say really cleanly that this is what the project will really cost We Believe it'll come in under $150 million and this is what um the the state will actually reimburse so that will be helpful to get the information out to people to say like here's here's what it'll cost the average taxpayer of a $500,000 home Etc so we'll be able to do that leg work through going in through the spring in preparation for town meeting so awesome a lot of work to do still awesome right thank you thank you I'm I'm really glad you brought that up I meant to I sort of meant to I was on that call and I meant to um say that so I'm glad you said it it really was um it was they were was very encouraging they were very um complimentary about and that about the educational plan and I'm glad Eric brought that up about it wasn't just like you have a nice educational plan it actually translated into more space than it would be you know based on that educational plan so um or more reimbursable space I guess um okay uh any other questions topics for future meetings no okay uh nobody has anything else I will entertain a motion I move to adjourn at 8:14 second second by Julia any discussion all those in favor that is four in favor of the members present and is unanimous and we are adjourned okay save that