e for e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e good evening hollison and welcome to the uh May 9th 2024 meeting of the hollison school committee uh we have a few things on our agenda tonight all very important including an update uh from our uh student services director uh but to start things off um we'll get uh things moving with the consent agenda so I'll take a motion to approve the consent agenda move by Don second all in favor great thank you very much um we will move on to a report from our student Representatives which we have three of tonight yes so we don't have anything uh to share about um for school events but we would like to address the concern about the removal of the librarian position at the middle and high school students have expressed shock sadness and disappointment over this news as the librarian is a vital part of this school the librarian is a key position um at the high school doing far more than checking out out books she has helped students with finding information for research papers provided a safe space for students to learn and interact with one another and fostered an inclusive environment in which students can pursue their interests every time I've walked into the library I've been greeted with a smile and immense kindness and I know that this extends to all students she's always ensured that the library is accessible and Equitable for all students no matter their background the library is also constantly in use especially during directed study block and lunch in students are often using the library as a quiet and safe space to work during class time within the library there's the maker space an area containing arts and craft supplies a 3D printer sewing machines and Equipment many classes utilize for projects I know recently my fashion class spent a lot of time there doing wonderful work on our projects removing this position is a disservice to all students and sends the message that reading and libraries are no longer an important part of our school our school culture we we reiterate that the students of hollon high school are vly opposed to cutting the library position and vow to keep supporting this position in any way we can thank you thank you that was that was well said uh and that that your your um um all right SP Comm any individual comments nothing for me thanks um just wanted to say huge thank you to all the teachers it is teacher appreciation week and I know that um there's been lunches and snacks and I think more to come this week so and thanks for the PTO um who's doing a huge job supporting all of that so thank you to everyone great aome no comment other than to again Echo Sarah sentiments thanking the PTO for their support and thanking our teachers during Teacher Appreciation Week [Music] and uh yes I too would like to uh to thank all the teachers and um it seems like so far from what I've been seeing on Facebook to have been a you know great uh you know obsess of of a of a um of a week so far um let's see planning on giving um asking you to move the budget update out of order so we can discussion about that now um do we want to can we can we briefly get through our reports from subcommittees yeah subcommittee meetings we'll just do updates and nothing from Communications tonight I don't have anything for policy you have to reschedule immedately that's it um and then on budget we had a budget meeting on Tuesday um afternoon and then we just had another budget meeting uh at 5:30 today to further discuss some of the recommended cuts um uh and um at this point we have no additional meeting scheduled so I think you know uh we have our town meeting on Monday and then um we will have another update next week as to our next meeting and then okay uh superintendent evaluation so we have an upcoming meeting on Tuesday uh at 5:00 U to go over the reports and hopefully present to you all on the 16th okay um okay so um we'll we'll we'll go on to down to Old business uh briefly and just uh be uh we're going to we're going to vote to change our Capital request um this is something I actually meant to do last week it's sort of something just it's on the warrant it's been approved by the finance committee um but we did need an official sort of vote to from the uh the school committee for that and so uh when James Keith and Keith were working on the auditorium while fixing the the waterproofing um they got a quote with about a 4year uh return on investment uh to include insul insulation in the wall um for uh see where's the number 53,000 should be 53400 I believe do that I had it written down and then I lost it what when I click on when I clicked on this it doesn't go to that though yeah it's going to the wrong thing it's going to the return yeah and other returns okay so it's just mislabeled so yeah we need to bring up this appropriate number that was in my present God [Music] bless so for $ 53,486 keep the moisture on the other side um the the vendor had and and James talked about the potential of putting some insulation in between there again to help with energy efficiencies in the space both because it is a space that does heating as well as air conditioning I'm not saying you get twice the bang for it but again there's two pieces where insulation in the space is not air conditioned you're only getting bang for your buck in the winter so the the the thought was that if we were ever going to consider putting insulation up in this space this is the ideal time to do it and the the cost differential um for the project wasn't significant enough that it wasn't worth at least investigating and going down that path followed by um it it went in front of the uh it went in front of the uh uh Capital sub committee and they they they supported it very strongly as well so um what we're looking for tonight is for you to for your approval of of this uh piece of the capital uh warrant article going forward and and how much was it four again 53 53,486 [Music] I believe I I personally was a little bit of an optimistic look but that being said it's still you know helpful to do things such as that it helps us with any of our green communities uh uh processes going forward any additional savings we're always needing additional savings in town because some of the things that we did on our own I don't say they've hurt us but they have when when they used the Baseline year our Baseline year was a year we started doing some things already so we didn't get as our cost and usage was not as high as it could have been so it's we need more help in in having reductions basically um so yeah so basically the town will pay for this and then any savings will cruit us okay great so um um motion to approve the High School auditorium wall installation additional $53,500 so so amend our c request to include the high school W insulation for 534 I I thought I was helping I guess no good thank you second in that okay all in favor that carries Dr cus would you like to uh do your sure no yeah we go the you leave [Music] okay so last week you heard me um after numerous conversations with our administrative team um conversations with school committee during budget subcommittee we had to make some difficult decisions um I shared this presentation last week but I'm sharing some changes um tonight as you know we had a 1.1 million deficit um going into the town meeting on Monday and Mr Alfred is going to talk about some things at the town meeting that we're trying to do to address some of that but I was tasked with trying to find a way to make up some of that deficit and making sure that we're not minimizing or taking away any program args that we're not increasing class size as a result and that we're not um impacting direct construction to students was really an important topic of that conversation so when I presented last week um we do have a change I was able to meet with the principles today and Mr and Dr manard and we were able to come up with a we we still have the same number that we're looking to reduce in order to get closer to the number that the budget um was put forward with the school committee so if you look at the list here I did speak about most of these last week in order to get to that approximately $400,000 reduction and get closer to our negative 1 1.1 million for next year we are shared last last week that we would be not not refilling the 1.0 central office admin assistant role because it is unfilled right now we have already reallocated some of the duties in order to make sure that we're not um you know in order to keep that offset in the budget and then because we have lower enrollment going into grade six approximately 40 plus students less going into grade six and also in kindergarten um we had 220 220 stud students in kindergarten approximately 2 years ago when we made that fre full day kindergarten decision which was a great decision for our community for literacy University development for all children and but this year um we looked at the census results we already have our registration that has been opened and we currently only have 119 students registered for kindergarten we don't know why the number is quite so low uh the year we had 220 part of that may have been because there were some people that did keep their kids home during the co year so the following year there may have been a slight increase which actually helped us with Chapter 70 funds going back to town but so those 2.0 grad classroom grade six classroom teachers are still the same that we talked about last week the 1.0 kindergarten Position will be determined once we have the final enrollment numbers for kindergarten um if you see the next item we had talked about and we heard a lot of feedback on and we understand the um anxiety that these things create these none of these decisions are great um they're always challenging when we have to make reductions um but you see that I've I've stried the 1.0 librarian position after a lot of conversation we looked at the shifting in enrollment and the needs of our students and also the fact that we still have unfilled power professional positions so we are looking to reduce um 3.0 power professional positions in order to reach that $100,000 number um in this scenario with those three positions we don't anticipate any par professional that work for us losing their position as a result of that because we do have a number of open positions at this time it would be some shifting um but those three positions will be determined again once we have our final enrollments number and we'll know um where the needs are for students then we can figure out um which positions but they will be in that category and then I did talk about last week the um going from 2.0 Tech integration staff down to 1.0 in the secondary again um just our capacity of our staff has increased immensely we have so much more access to technology that we feel um this is the um offset that we can make in order to keep our class sizes in a reasonable um reasonable numbers and also make sure that our programs are not interruped for all students um thank you for that update could you bring up my presentation and uh flip to slide 14 connected to the agenda I just want no it's not connected to the it's in the folder though [Music] it's the first one under the agenda y sort of differ what it is yeah bring the SL for [Music] [Music] is that the timeline what's that Tim yeah that's yeah so um so just to to go over sort of the the budget request and the recommended amendment to to our budget request if you flip to the to the next one um before I did that though I just wanted to kind of go over sort of a Time line and just a discussion about what what we've been doing so on January 25th the governor published her her budget which showed incredbly weak Chapter 70 funding and that was sort of the first ining what we had had some inklings of town specific issues that we were having but that was the first time we really realized the State wasn't going to be coming for uh U coming up with uh you know money that was going to really help um our budget on February 8th uh we sent a letter to uh State Raa D Roo and Senate President Karen um expressing Our concern with the with the uh with the governor's budget um and since then Chapter 70 funding has been increased um but not enough to to fully support the uh the school uh budget request on February 29th Dr kuska presented her budget um and announced within there that you know based on as things currently sat there could be up to 20 positions uh 20 plus positions that were cut um we worked over the course of of March and some of the things you'll see later were ongoing discussions with the select board finance committee um about finding uh ways to help offset the significant increase in special education costs that we're seeing this year and that we we currently forecast we won't have next year um so then on on March 27th the hon school committee uh presented the budget subcommittee's requested budget or suggested budget um which was able to close the gap to 1.1 million um but still included you know sign significant budget uh um budget cuts on March 28th we sent out an email to the community sort of expressing this this this likely need to have significant cost reductions on April 1st we presented to the fin to the select board um on April 2nd we presented to the finance committee on April 4th we presented to we had our our budget uh Hearing in which no questions or comments were made um and then on April 25th we we had discussions and I think with other meetings I was trying to go back to figure out when exactly we started having these discussions but about the the concept of a a special education stabilization fund February March February March was okay well um and for for $750,000 uh ultimately the decision was made to to fund it sort of through a warrant appropriation article doesn't impact sort of our needs for this year um but it is war in article 17 and is incredibly important that uh we we get that uh past the town meeting to avoid any additional Cuts we have to close that $750,000 we need that it's that the the cuts that that Dr Kuser just went over um do not include that so if that were to fail at town meeting we would be back here um with as hard as these decisions have been the next round would be that much more more difficult and that requires a 2/3 vote and that requires a two3 voted town meeting be is using stabilization um then on on May 2nd just last week cusa presented our cut list on May 7th uh the budget subcommittee met to vote um our reduced budget which we'll go over in a minute and review the cut list and then Professor just presented her her updated uh cut list and so we'll be voting on our on our budget uh recommendation now um just go back quickly on on slide 16 this is kind of where we started where we were before uh earlier this week with a 6.03 uh budget request um moving to slide 17 um our recommended budget is is to meet the Town Administrator and finance committee's recommended budget of 41,8 47,1 157 which is a 3.25% increase along with supporting article 17 which includes $750,000 of supplemental one-time funding to help o have the $922,000 of increased special education costs and I just just for anyone watching at home um I just want to be clear um there are many drivers to to are budget and significant increases the reason we have sought um specific funding for special education is due to the fact that we believe that those costs as we look out into the future Mr B Ransom numbers are one time in nature and therefore we believe that it was prudent to request uh stabilization funding for that this is not a special education versus a general education type of issue it just happens that the that the manner of funding and and delays in funding from the state for for for special education um makes it a reasonable request to to ask for one time money to to support that so I just for anyone in the community this is we we're seeking money for the special education cost increases but that is only because of sort of the the nature of of those costs so it is um just something that's very important that I think everyone understands you know it's very important that we fund our special education costs um but also that we fund our general education costs and we're not pitting one against another and I just want to make that clear and again our level service budget would have had to come in at what percentage um 6 6% 6.03% and slightly 5 Town the Town Administrator budget for us was a 3.25% correct however this year we're getting to a 5.10 effectively a 5.10% if article 17 passes okay right um if you go forward that's again this is just a sort of reiteration of of the uh of the cut list but again it's it's you know just the last one is Shifting par professional coverage not reducing uh you know any current uh par professionals um and the budget SubCom has voted to three 3 to nothing to support um this reluctantly but you know necessarily um as of this evening as of this evening yes um I think and I guess just again to highlight in terms of the enrollment shs and um part of why it was recommended to us to um eliminate the two grade six positions currently um there's about 219 or 220 students in sixth grade and then the class coming in from fifth grade is going to be reduced down to about 40 or a little over 40 students um it's projected to be at about 178 similarly the driver for the uh kindergarten reduction is again again that it's 119 students registered I mean I know many of us here are where classes as large as 220 230 over 230 going through but right now this is historically the lowest enrollment for kindergarten that we've seen the current kindergart class is 169 and we do typically have some um movein over the summer so that's why that number is just where we are at the moment right but it won't be significant increase um so so to just to confirm these are positions not people so of this we don't many of these folks will be either moved to where we have other spaces and openings where possible and and not be positions that are lost from this well going going through how the the the union process for for those types of things yeah and so you know I think for me personally I think for for the for the budget sub Comm as well I kind of adding principle here was to limit any impacted class sizes as well as to look to do um reductions to positions not not people where we where we thought that there was going to be the ability to move people or at least offer people different different opportunities and Susan I appreciate you adding back as I'm sure Sarah would Echo adding back the librarian because I think it's still vitally important that our students have access to that if if at all possible to keep that I think it's really important to do I do want to reiterate this these are not decisions that any wants to make and I I'm hearing some of the horror stories and something in my own daughter's Town um seven positions at for high school I don't know how many in the entire 40 or more in the district um significant reductions in District so I'm passionate about making sure that our students get the best education that they can we unfortunately do have a budget that we have to I have to balance which I help from my assistant superintendent for finance and operations and we work really hard to make sure we provide the best programs for our students and this is um what we could come up with given the difficult decisions we have to make you should also think the principles for going back we asked them to go back and relook at this again and Tuesday's budget meeting and and gave them not much time to do it and great I'm very grateful that they were able to move things around I also thought maybe this would be a good opportunity for you just to go one where your your curriculum change more time so the next if if you want the next SL just has your proposal and then um I thought just just giv things and just you know any confusion there maybe you can help sort of explain what's going on the net impact to to the number of Staff uh things like that sure so if you um look at what we've had in the past we have this year we' have the three full-time coordinators one for stem one for humanities and one for unified arts and World languages and they are they do full-time their role is to work on curriculum instruction teaching and learning um supporting interventions as far as data and things like that but they don't directly work with students and Inter instruct students so when we're hearing about all the changes that are happening I I listen to all the feedback the challenge of having an individual um our goal was try to get people that are full-time dedicated to this work so that they could actually help support teachers with this work and be there in the coaching mode but given that they only fre people even though freeing them up and having them in each building it's still quite challenging for them to try to get all the schedules and make that all work when they're moving around and building the building so we heard that feedback but we also want to make sure teachers get the support that they need and then additionally we've talked at length about the changes to come in uh we're adding all these new resources that are wonderful for our staff to have it's been quite some time over a decade since we've had new math curriculum resources and that's been challenging for our teachers to have to manage without those so we know that's going to be a heavy lift for them and providing a lot of professional development and some summer work to help support that but the other piece we talked about is the school committee voted and I Pi which meeting it was now that we would be um reintroducing algebra one in grade 8 with that means some shifts have to happen and again teachers will need some support with that but also we are predicting that students will need some support with that because as we shift our model and try to adjust some pacing for next year to get ready for 25 26 we so I'm shifting some of that curriculum part of the role to make it a teaching role an interventionist role so they'll be doing direct supports for tier tier two and tier three so overall it's a reduction in the amount of people dedicated for the curriculum um and instruction work but it um allows us to give some more supports to students and keep teaching positions that will directly work with students so they are half half curriculum and half um interventionists in the new model and based on how it is now if we don't change the the p through uh five stem curriculum coordinators this is a reduction of one ft one basically one curriculum coordinator essentially for the curricul component in order to add the interventionist piece as well the teaching piece is offset and we have not changed um the um the title for the prek 5 it's currently a math specialist position you know it would be wonderful at some point if we could consider a stem position because we want to be able to support teacher with science too so this is just an idea this adop card has no changed at all just be the top C right I just cirle it as as an opportunity potentially in the future if things change dramatically um or things change um so with that um I will open that this up to public comment um and there was a sign up sheet in the back I know three people signed up if anyone wants to speak that didn't sign up if you could just let us know now for for this if they here to speak about something else on the agenda uh I'd ask you to wait we'll have another public comment session um so no one else okay okay so we'll do four uh I have three no minutes 4 minutes okay that it's not our policy what's that it's 3 minutes 3 minutes right well I mean I we can do three minutes with three yeah I I okay I think it's probably what was expected that's what's listed okay so would you keep it I can keep time keep okay y uh Alex strm uh vice president of the teachers union uh Happy Teachers Appreciation Week it's definitely been a memorable one uh from the perspective of Union leadership uh we're going to pretty tough State of Affairs here uh it's easy for leadership to chalk up these layoffs and other Cuts uh to hardship due to riseing cost in some areas and reduced funding from the state and sure there's some truth to that uh every town is dealing with this reality of course not every town is laying off their teacherss as an answer how much restructuring has been done in central office and raises given out some upwards of 25% since 2021 all to make their job easier they've made a habit of prioritizing their own comfort and security at the expense of what goes on dayto day in the classroom we've been told that these are at no additional cost to the district well if that was true we wouldn't be here tonight part of the cost has now been laid bare and I'm sure some of it has to do with the dip in enrollment uh but making layoffs based off that is shortsighted a year from now we could be scrambling to refill these positions and the professionals we already have in the buildings don't have the luxury of waiting around for us to admit that we need them again maybe six layoffs across the district doesn't sound that bad it certainly does to the people who are being told that this town no longer has a place for them but it's not just about six positions layoffs create a ripple effect that shuffles the remaining Educators around and does not put them in the best positions to succeed I grew up here my family lived here for 40 years I graduated from this high school in 2002 when I was growing up the perception was that Holliston was a destination district for families and teachers alike I was blessed to go to school here and I was taught by people who were blessed to work here it kills me to say that this feels less true with each passing year with each passing year we are losing experienced teachers to better opportunities or in some cases no opportunity just they don't want to be here we have a retention rate between 6 and 12% lower than neighboring towns such as hopkington Ashland Norfork Wayland Denham and Medfield that works out to approximately 20 more teachers a year leaving across the district that's 20 more teachers who know your kids and know this town that won't be there come September and those numbers are from A Year Without layoffs and an effort to save money we're replacing them with cheaper less experienced people who are staying just long enough to get the experience they need to move on to the place where they can settle into their career that's what we're supposed to be not only do the priorities being set and the choices three so if you can like just a a little bit more sorry what's that we we have to keep it to about three minutes that's our policy 10 seconds left absolutely you got it uh not only do the priorities being set and the choices being made here have a real human cost but they're pushing the district into stepping stone territory and the families of this town did not move here for a stepping stone school system the parents deserve better the teachers deserve better and most importantly the kids deserve a heck of a lot better thank you thank you [Applause] hi Jamie Kone uh I am a parent in town I live in town uh I'm a biology teacher at the high school and the hft president uh speaking of families my husband grew up here his family lived here for probably close to this same number of years actually my mother-in-law uh did daycare for Mr strum so uh this is the kind of community we're talking about when Mr strum gets hired here and uh he says hey how's your mother-in-law doing um that wasn't the start of my comment so you may have already started the clock but that's all right uh we are all here tonight to support our teachers who have been told their job is or might be cut these teachers are coming to work each day right now Des despite being told there's no job for them next year or not knowing if today will be the day that they're told their position is being cut people are worried about their jobs worried about paying their mortgage worried about paying their bills paying for summer camp College tuition buying food supporting their families these are our colleagues our friends our neighbors our family public schools are a people business there's simply no other industry like it we treat your children as if they are our own we go to their track meets their musical performances we say hi when we see them at Target or while they're checking us out at basil when we stop in for pizza this is the kind of community I want to have for my children the kind of District we may not have much longer we are on the brink of becoming one of those towns that can't or won't fund their schools we have become a district where teachers are afraid where they feel disposable what kind of schools will our children have when our teachers are coming to work in fear we already have a retention problem that has gone largely unaddressed we are unable to attract qualified capable applicants in key positions and these Cuts will undoubtedly further the morale Problem by decreasing worker satisfaction and well-being with those remaining something that is backed by ample research is this the kind of District that you want for your children as a mom to children at placentino and Miller a taxpayer a voting resident I'm concerned about the choices being made about how money is being spent the priorities with spending the inability to anticipate staffing needs the lack of advanced planning to avoid cutting off people's livelihoods we are all public servants we are here to serve the community I don't believe the choices being made are reflective of the values and the the priorities of the community it is time that someone steps up and shifts the direction of our district so that it aligns with the values of the community we ask you to treat our teachers who are facing Cuts with kindness and compassion that you re-evaluate priorities within the budget that you find ways to increase funding for the schools and find ways to decrease spending so that it doesn't lead to cutting our valuable staff and when all other avenues have been exhausted take advantage of natural attrition be creative and work to find ways to keep the people who are working here with our children here every day with them thank [Applause] you um just a quick question I'm not known for bring for talk a little bit so um does my time start before I introduce myself or after introduce yourself um what introduce yourself Catherine and then we'll start okay thank you well I'm Katherine Buckley I am a resident of Holliston since a long time ago I don't know and um I am also a teacher of Science in the middle school and both my kids went here through kindergarten and now the last one is out so it's the first year I'm not a hollon pair K okay so that's that so I will press start at 3 minutes so and I'm speaking directly about the library position and just so you know I'm very happy that it's staying but just in the off chance that things get jumbled again I want this heard so when I first heard about the recommendation to eliminate the library position I was I was stunned like I could not believe this was happening in in my town and I could not believe that 15 years 30 years as an educator that the district was sending a message to the community that literacy and fostering a love of reading in our students was not a priority and so I reached out my best friend from high school is a professor of literacy her specialty is K through 12 reading teacher education she goes oh I'm having a meeting with this Library lady tomorrow this Library professor and I was directed towards a wealth of resources of research and the importance of libraries they actually have a name the uh the library impact studies which I am happy to share all that information with you and just to summarize one of these um studies it says um our results on the impact of libraries are highly consistent with studies reporting that Library quality is a clear predictor of reading achievement giving students a choice in Reading from a well curated collection of books leads to better reading achievement the direct instruction in phonics and phonetic awareness which research indicates has little or no effect on reading comprehension and this is supported by many studies this is not just one and in all of these studies 34 Statewide these longitudal studies they're pretty cool higher standardized test scores cross the board Reading Writing and surprisingly math higher graduation rates Mastery of academic standards and in a Pennsylvania study um 8% more students scored Advanced when a PA is added it goes up right goes up even more I think it's okay full-time Librarians almost three times likely so and you think oh this is a wealthy districts but really what they found is that this really helps students of color lwi income students students with the disabilities the vulnerable who was were actively trying to help so the message that we're going to cut the librari and students at risk so I know the money the money the money the money money and so that's what the answer is the money sometimes but it's not so much of a question sometimes where the money exists but where the priorities are that it's spent and so there are there is money being allocated to retain these curriculum and quasi administrative positions some of which are needed some of which are redundant okay so that's that and the one common interest we all share as hous residents whether or not you have students in the schools are our property values um there's a direct relationship in the state between the quality of the school district and home values it's not that complicated so a district that eliminates their Library program is clearly not a district that is striving for High student achievement it's a district in which students scores sorry that's my own can I just finish okay are likely to drop and they'll ultimately sink in rankings okay that's not the qualities that we'll put holl on the top of the list when people are choosing where to live and so we do not have restaurants we do not have easy access to public transportation we don't even have public sewers okay what we have is this our schools that's why I moved here I'm sure that's why many of you moved here okay so why would we intentionally why the town intentionally devalue our primary asset makes no sense so lower student achievement lower rankers lower property values okay say cost too much to fund a librarian and Library program is a false claim in long term and Hol IC sense it cost too much not to fund a library program and lastly and I'm not saying this as a resident I'm not saying parent or a teacher but just as a human being on the planet to other human beings on the planet the decision to announce the cuts and Staffing during teacher appreciation week is so insulting and insensitive as to be incomprehensible to me the timing of the announcements derates a lapse in judgment so toned deaf to basic considerations of other human beings that the Judgment used to make the staffing recommendations I think also must be called into question because I cannot understand how that happened so I thank you for giving me an extra minute [Applause] [Music] [Applause] um so so just to address the um the timing of this it is unfortunate though obviously we did you know initially announce them last week um unfortunately a few years ago town meeting was pushed back a week we wanted to make sure that these uh this information was in the community before town meeting town meeting is next Monday um so it was a it was a decision forced by by timing more more than anything else so um you know it it it is very unfortunate but um you know I I I will leave it at that but uh but but I hear you um the only other thing that I would say is and we can we'll talk about this uh at another later date uh the state did put out some new retention data and it and it shows that our retention has has increased and that's not to to to minimize the the the issues but um it it it does uh appear that we we have uh bounced back to some degree we have work to do but there is just some that we have uh improved our retention um so with that um we need to vote our updated budget um I'll open up to for questions or comments or discussion um about the budget or or we can just vote it I think I'd like to press the vote but we have to vote the budget number cuz Town meetings on Monday yes correct but I think in terms of any decisions that we need to make about positions feel like we need to wait to see where what attrition we might have what favorability we might be able to use and not make any decisions about giving anybody any notice of your leaving because we can't afford to keep them until well until after at the at the end of the year I mean isn't that when we're going to know the most accurate numbers that we can do you want to speak to that true but it's also it's it's kinder to tell folks ahead of time as far as cuz like now is the time for looking for jobs whereas like waiting in the summer is harder to look for jobs hopefully that will be there will be zero people right for that's what I'm hoping is that it's about the position not a person so those positions will be you know moving that kindergarten teacher to a third grade or wherever else there's needed since we don't can't fill another class so there will be shifts as a result of the enrollment um right decreases or increases depending on the grade um as our students move up into Miller school for example we see significant 220 students moves to Miller that's going to need an offset there and things like that so we we certainly look at all of those shifts first we also then look at um any um retirements and we do have retirements this year and and that also is a place where um you may not feel a retirement versus letting a person go we deal with positions But ultimately we have to look at the people and The Lure and all of those things um each year separate from any budget discussions there um there are sometimes N I don't know if there's any year that I have had none but typically um in any given year you will have some non-renewals just um as a matter of course separate from any budgetary decisions and um Susan can you explain for people watching at home what a non-renewal is sure uh so we have to follow Mass General law for a couple of things related to um this process so um professional status is granted to Any teacher that has given been worked in a district three consecutive years at the end of this year um going when you're going into the next year if you've had you would automatically be granted professional status um in your school district so um anyone that is in their first second or third year would be consider nonprofessional status so those positions at the end of the year um whether they are non-renewed it could be because it's not working out or it could just be because of this situation as well so they are handled the same way um as far as nonprofessional status individuals and in in that sense uh the Master General law does require that we do any non- renewals no later than um June 15th that being said unless there were you know there always are unforeseen things that happen over the summer as far as Rift process but we're supposed to notify non-renewals um and people that are going through that process by June 15 I think that's incredibly insensitive to do it that late can not give people an opportunity to look elsewhere I don't know um I've been in that situation myself my daughter was in that situation recently where she was laid off and I think the better we can communicate and be fair we are talking about people and it is to me very insensitive to do that when we have um an understanding of what we're dealing with so our hope would be to do that sooner than later um and not wait till June 15th for sure as as difficult as these conversations are I I do respect um you know having been a teacher myself for 15 years these are very painful conversations to have and no one wants to have that but I I do feel it's very insensitive to wait till June 15th because people have a right to be able to seek other [Music] employment personally as much as I'd like to hold off on doing anything as long as possible just for because you know it it's hard to do these these types of things I I also think it it's important that we go into town meeting with a a voted sort of plan that we can sort of demonstrate to the community how we're going to bridge that Gap and um just for for transparency and we have that that's fine I'm just saying that what happens if we don't get that $750,000 then we will be back here making a lot more more decision so it's just vitally important that people attend town meeting to get to a two vote on article 7 correct so um so let's start with you know entertain a motion to um reduce our budget to the town minary finance committee recommended budget plus $750,000 of 40 of um excuse me of uh here of 4,597 157 that's without the stabilization fund that is with with the stabilization is that what he asked us to vote for yeah okay that's with the stabilization it's not the Sables is it's not it's it's onetime funding it's not technically to our budget but I I don't want to reduce our budget and meet their number before the the 750 is is is approved so are we going to be doing like a Monday evening no we would we if necessary we could do it afterwards but once tell me spoken it doesn't really matter what we're requesting um that's CIA second all in favor [Music] um so next you know I I would like to to vote the the the list like to but I think we it's important that we do vote the list of of cuts as presented by I don't feel comfortable doing that okay I I think it's up to us to figure out how we're going to address it the town just has to they support the budget and then we it's up to us to figure out how we're going to have to address it we to the town how we're we're going to address it ahead of time and and then you we can have future conversations and make changes if necessary but I I don't think walking into town meeting without having um you know sort of a voted path to getting there um I don't know that we have to vote on it I think we have a path I don't know if we have to vote on it I don't know that we've necessarily voted on the we've definitely had a path we've had to have these conversations before but well it's already always been wrapped into a single vote I think where we're voting on the budget and we understand what positions that represents like I think we have to just ask a clarifying question would like to know if she has a job He restored that position so absolutely Kelly has a job Kelly's position is not changing she has a position she has the same job okay so is there someone who's willing to make a motion to to uh adopt the the the cuts as the new presentation was recommended by Dr PESA that we reviewed in budget today and for [Music] with so move by Dawn second by Lisa all those in favor even if reluctantly all BOS I carry 6 to1 [Music] it's all right that is uh obviously not the fun part of the job I'm actually wondering what the fun part of the job is still waiting um we've got to is there any members of the public who wish to make individual public separate from what we just discussed okay chess and I promise to be nice so well here comes the fun part of the job um so we going to have some positivi P that up for a [Music] second right taking away spey our director of student I know I never know how many times I need to reintroduce myself so for those of you at home that don't know me Jess spey director of student services um you can turn the slide um I am super proud in the work that I have been I'm going to be able to share with you and don't take one bit of credit for it um wish the the rest of the audience stayed just to hear the good work that's happening um we have wonderful special education great student service administrators Specialists counselors all my student service people um have been amazing and so I put together lots of um initiatives that we have started since I started here last year um and this is just a list that I'm going to go through um through the course of this presentation just to update you where we are at and how things are moving [Music] along go ahead sorry you already fell asleep on sorry um I like to ground our work always um when I run meetings in our students that's what we're here for that's what this work is about so I pulled some snapshots of fun events that we have had throughout the year um we just finished Special Olympics we had a wonderful fundraising um unified um sports event and just um you know safe walks to Safe roots to school in our therapy dogs and and all the wonderful things so the first thing that I'm going to dive into is really our student service data and what is it telling us um and what you'll see through the um slides that I'm providing is that we are providing or intervening earlier you're going to see that our special ed numbers are going up at the younger level so really placentino um I almost see that as somewhat of a celebration because we're capturing our kids younger um and you're going to start to see the trend of IEP um data going down as we hit middle school and high school which shows me that we are doing the exact thing that I am hoping um and that's creating independent Learners as they grow through the school district which is great um a lot of the work we've done this year is around um really understanding what true differentiation is and what true inclusion is um a lot of conversations I have with CPAC and just with our staff is we want to be a really inclusive District but what does that mean um being inclusive doesn't mean just popping kids in classrooms and saying they're included it's really how they feel and so that's a lot of the work we're doing um I'll dip into a little bit of attendance jerielle and I usually present together um so he's going to do more of the attendance piece for you but I'll kind of show you how it all correlates go ahead sorry do you want hear me I can I'm happy to click through um this is our data um and where we are at so I gave you some updates in February and you can see where our numbers are um with the IEP totals by school um as of you know the beginning of May I wanted to include which I never usually break this down and this is where sometimes the confusing discrepancy in how many total kids on IEPs we have we are obligated um legally obligated to provide testing and IEP services for homeschooled children and those that are privately placed but our residents here in Holliston and we often sort of forget to represent those in our numbers so I just want to show you when you look at if you look at our numbers um on the desie web page why we hit 579 when you're looking at totaling our school numbers and we're at 508 so um I just wanted to Total that there so that there's not so much confusion and give you that total percentage of students in special ed services were right at about 19.6% um in comparison to surrounding districts really relatively close um with the exception of hopkington which is a little bit lower than than all of the surrounding towns around here go ahead um I wanted to just break down the categories of disabilities so you're able to see here the types of students that were servicing IEPs only this is what this represents um I wanted to bring special attention um to that specific learning disability category um that is increasing and I I feel that it is in part due to the fact that we are naming dyslexia and dilia and disg graphia which all fall under that sld category um so I'm really proud of the work we're doing in that area and when we talk about literacy um I'll go into that in a little bit but um to me that is showing that we are addressing those needs and we're addressing them much earlier trying to close that Gap um and identify those kids this is just the total student service population I just wanted you to be able to see the types of student profiles we're um servicing we are seeing a bit of an increase in our 504 numbers we're at 239 um the IEPs are right at 579 with still please keep in mind we have meetings until about June 10th so um give or take and then our multilingual learner numbers are increasing as well and I know um Dr Menard and and her team have talked a lot about that throughout the year and how we best service them um but I wanted to be able to capture them as well in the numbers so that you could see that so as we dive in and make sense of this I wanted to just share with you the work we're doing so true inclusion does impact student performance and I say this all the time and I just did a PD with our Paras the other day on inclusion is a feeling not an environment so I really want us to step away from often calling classrooms like the inclusion classroom right all of our classrooms regardless of whether they're continuums small groups of sub separate um or General Ed classrooms should be inclusion settings um it's how we do that work to help support the kids in those settings so we focused a lot of PD this year with our teachers Specialists and Paras around what true inclusion is we did that in January and then again in May um I am trying to bring about true inclusion bringing our first event through CPAC which was amazing in March where we really pulled the community in and for anybody that went to it it just it reminds us why we're here and it was an amazing event of kids that came together um Community um companies that came came together and helped support us and just it was a great night we're going to look to expand that and make that an annual event every year um we had our Special Olympics on April 26th we had um that was a a we probably had one of the biggest showings of athletes at that event in Millis but beyond that we also had um other model students peer models that that helped that event and were there for our kids and it was just a really wonderful thing um myself and Jerry Al ver are beginning to put together the HPS belonging and inclusion team which has been really great work he's going to dive further into that but I just wanted you to know because it it does um pull in that inclusion piece so really working to identify and celebrate days of inclusion um that have to do with different cultures different abilities health and wellness and mental health um and just other community members so really bringing to light all of the different awareness and appreciation days and and providing that to our community in ways that we can all celebrate it as a district but also how can you talk to your kids and and other community members at home about [Music] that the other piece um that impacts student performance is chronic absenteeism and I put this slide in here again jerielle is going to go further into this um but desie is really making chronic absente a priority and when you look at our data um on desie you will see that we are impacted our um scores are certainly impacted by absenteeism um we've seen a strong dip in chronic absente AC absenteeism across the district since coming out of covid um and I think now we're ready to have that time to look into that data to determine how do we help parents understand the importance of students attending regularly um what can we do to keep keep students engaged and want to attend school regularly um and how do we sort of hold that balance of accountability um without feeling like we're punitive but also making School fun and engaging to get them there so this is our goal with that chronic absenteeism team we are just starting our work we just kind of formulated this group in late March um and beginning to start looking at all attendance data um um reviewing our current practices so what do we do in a kid's um absent sorry or or um tardy um when are we acknowledging those points of contact to parents what does that contact look like are we doing home visits and connecting with them and trying to draw them back in um and establishing practices that encourage and support attendants um those are all things that are going to be the area of focus and really we're going to dive deeper into next year and then work ahead in this area is really um making time to review the data so um for all of those things I just discussed looking at attendance how are we progress monitoring when are we doing that um and really capturing the gaps in our learning we do need to build stronger tier one support for all so we're looking to do some PD for General Educators and special Educators as to what does tier one support look like next year um and how will that impact our evaluations you saw on my Slide the increase in referrals um while I'm pleased that we're capturing some kids we might have missed there are a lot of referrals where kids are pulled from class time only to find out that they are making progress and are not on IEPs and therefore then there is that Gap in learning again for all that time they've missed for evaluations um and finally finding ways to use technology to um ADV Advance our Learners and all learning styles I am putting together an assist of internal ass assist of Tech Team um that we are just starting and they are going to help us sort of reach all of our teachers and what tools do we have they'll help us to bring in um assist of tech of vals instead of paying um outside contractors to do those and that's great work that's happening special programs I'm going to just fly through but it's really important to all of us that you know um you can advance the slide if you want um where we are at um so at of date we have all staff trained and it access streamlined and processed all of our documents in Po and special programs um what we're finding is it's a quicker turnaround and sharing the information both with families but also internally with staff um they're able to just hop right on instead of going to find a file and find everything they need hop right on to their portal look up their students and be able to access all of that data the parent portal as of April is fully functioning um and I do appreciate everybody patience with this when you start new programming it's always hiccups um but Parent Portal is fully operational parents are now able to go on there access all docs that are finalized for their child including uploaded evaluations so now we are eliminating that process of where we were PDF in things home um for me it was not resting easy on mistakes that could be made um things that could go wrong in sending it out you now have to log into that portal to access your child's information which is really a much more secure way of handling all that confidential information um and we have secured e signature um there was some hiccups around that and I do appreciate parents reaching out to me and giving suggestions um we've streamlined that and made that much more secure doing that right through the portal now and Expediting Returns on consents and signed bys I'm going to just add to that cuz Jess does not like to um BR about her work but I have to say it was her advocacy Al Dan Cloud reached out to power school which is our um program that this is housed in and their advocacy led to this stronger e signature process they had not foreseen that there was some pickups with that and I think this is now helping other districts as well that was getting lots of reach out from other districts well done good jobob um and then training so we are providing um our staff with a variety of trainings throughout the year and just making sure they feel aligned we have that new Mass IEP coming out so making sure that they're ready to roll that out go ahead um and this is just a slide summarizing our confidence in special programs ahead and everything I pretty much just went through so for the sake of time we'll keep going uh the roll out of the new IEP go ahead um just wanted to share with you where you're where we're at with that um so so as most of you are aware uh desie is requiring that all districts roll that out as of the fall of 2024 no longer an option every District must use it um I am really proud of our staff we initiated a new IEP internal team where um members of teachers and members of each building um volunteered their time to help me and to go to trainings along with our ssas and really build out a calendar of training for each building so um the faculty meetings curriculum meetings time was spent in training special Educators specialist counselors in what these forms look like and what will be the expectation we used um PD in January to really dive deep people got excited gave feedback on what that's going to look like um so we're in a really great place um and we just held um last this past Tuesday what day is it two days ago I held um a parent night on the new IEP recorded and that's on our web page as well so we are ready uh to fully implement the new IEP from pre- to 12 plus starting in the fall um and all of special programs is ready to provide us those forms and ready to go uh communication and acknowledgement so positive culture is key in moving the work we do I am a huge proponent of culture and I did lots of culture work down at Rams and just want to continue to provide that here in the district um we started our starfish Awards this year and I have to say I kind of stole a little bit of this idea from the superintendent's conference but it's been really great um and each month I send out um a community I mean a staff newsletter um and the first thing we do is recognize our starfish so I choose at least one um staff member can be any Your Role can be anything um we've had bus drivers we've had paas we've had Specialists we've had um you know teachers and special ed teachers um they get a charm the little card and then write out um a message to them just on why I feel like they have made a difference if people know the starfish story that's where this comes from um and it's fun and people like it and um you can turn the slide these are our current starfish winners this year um and it's just been a really great thing to to kind of look forward to and a really nice thing that I like doing um for our staff go ahead um and these are just other ways in which I'm trying to build um culture with staff communication as as well as with our families so pumping out these monthly newsletters um gives them information on special ed updates strategies and things they can use in their classrooms resources that they can have um we've built in a little para corner so that um I want to make sure that all staff really feel resources um I have provided a few office hours on Zoom um not so many people attend but I try to just kind of keep that momentum going um um and then we also continue to promote our mental health supports through Carol less um as far as family supports we've tried to um get our face out there my ssas and I have put on um eight presentations this year um we've brought in presenters we've done the presenting I've had other staff members present um I try to pair everything with a slide deck as well as a recording so families that can't attend everything is on our website so people can pull and and review those as needed um increasing communication um I have provided a few newsletters out to families in addition to our central office ones and I try to maintain that special programs update um so that families know what's going on and what what's changing for them and how they can access things and literacy movement um we know that is a big topic of conversation um intervening early is key for us we know this we have done two dyslexia night we continue to do um the screenings and the progress monitoring we are identifying through testing which is great we are also identifying through outside aows independent avows that families are bringing in so we're doing the work and we're providing a lot of intervention especially at placentino and Miller um for students on IEPs and not there yet so students were seen struggling with learning were able to provide some OG as well for those kiddos to see if that is an intervention that would be working for them um Orton Gillingham We are continuing with that training and I will continue to do such um we have 30 staff members at this time um from placentino Miller and Rams that are trained um and we continue uh to have Wilson as well although that's on the decline so far as needs we're really shifting to that OG where it feels appropriate um and then we're committed to training our upper grades in tier one literacy approaches uh placentino is pretty solid in their tier one which has been amazing they've done a lot of literacy work with their administrators and their reading Specialists um bringing that up to Miller and then up to Rams um and then we are reforming um our language based programs if you want to switch the slide um this is just an outline of demystifying Dyslexia really putting a name to it really taking that vulnerability out of it um I think has been huge we've had a lot of families reaching out and and very appreciative of our support in that work um I give huge credit to my dyslexia team um which is a lot of placentino admin um Dr slany has been wonderful in pushing this with us um and Jenny man as well Lisa Robinson um and our school SES um have been great go ahead and lastly um sort of closes out our literacy is our language based programs um that I feel really uh excited about uh we are now um we have built with the help of Kelly Camp my predecessor brought in Landmark Outreach um who provides wonderful professional development in the area of language-based and slds um and so they started with our fourth and fifth grade and really built that program up um we then saw the need continuing to grow so Tessa panad DOI um at Rams has been amazing in pushing this work with her Educators um and so we had Jen pring our grade six special educator really glom on to this as well and she's been trained through landmark and working with our fourth and fifth grade to align it um and we are looking to move the work next year to include um really grades four through eight in this work with the help of um Landmark um our work is is really valuable in this area we're catching kids um earlier and it's more than just a small group English class I want to move away from that it's really about rebuilding that language for kids um and bringing it into the math pieces of things working on their writing their reading and their language um because the more that we can kind of push that with kids the more independent they're going to become as they go in the upper grades um so we're really working hard we're going to do some summer work around this um and do some continued training Landmark was gracious enough to give us a few scholarships for the teachers that are involved in this so we can put them through continued training and and my last area is reimagining our continuums um I am so proud of this work with our bcbas and our special ed staff and our Administration if you want to turn the slide um we are got we have gotten ourselves into some non-negotiable places now so um we've done a lot of work around building entrance and exit criteria so no longer just kind of guessing this kid belongs in that room um we really want to make sure we're placing kids correctly and we're moving them when we need to with which is why we call them continuums so they're not stay put um so we have done this with staff and with families really looking at where do kids fit so far as that we're reviewing students specific data at teams to determine when we move them and when we don't um our bcbas have been amazing to help um push this work um and really help consult with the staff in there that's what I'm seeing we really need um we have a lot of amazing staff but they need that support around Behavior plans f what do things look like and how do we keep kids in District um and we are continuing to do some consistent districtwide Continuum meetings to include myself our bcbas our ssas and then all of the Continuum staff come together and we sort of talk about case studies what do things look like are we aligning that process go ahead uh we're reimagining our basis Network program um and this is really important to us because what we are finding is it's not just about about the diagnosis so along for quite some time we have um almost assumed a kid with this disability goes right in here and that's where they go um and what we're learning is we need to meet kids where we're at and push them where we can so where are they making progress and when can they become in that Continuum to what we now call our Bridge or what we're going to call our Bridge um the high school started this model and it really is a pathway for kids so we are not discounting the fact that they could possibly graduate so kids that are re are at that place of functional academics we don't want to say they're probably not going to be able to graduate we want to give them that opportunity so being able to flex them in between um the Continuum work and the general education classrooms to hopefully get them to a place um where they're either transitioning into an 18 to 22 um which is wonderful as well or they're transitioning for a little bit of a longer track to graduation um so really looking at that positive place for kids um and this has been amazing work um we are bringing it down to our lower levels and in fact a little bit quicker than I imagined we had a meeting at placentino yesterday and they said we're ready to do this work too um and we kind of looked at all of our kids and are there kids that are ready to push out from basis Network and now be in Bridge and be more um included in a different type of setting so it's it's been great work um I look forward to sharing more updates um and Victoria Briggs and Laura Ryan are pushing this wonderful Community Bridge idea which sort of rounds it all out and partners with Community businesses to teach vocational skills to grades three on up um how do we give them the opportunities in their own Community to sort of shine um and connect so that will be coming soon we're excited and lastly is our pathway and connections program um that goes across placentino Miller Rams in the high school um we have not renamed it at the high school so that is considered our connections um and its Pathways all the way through um up until then and that really is a Continuum that's built to support students with social emotional um well-being challenges right so really battling mental health school avoidance just that overall challenge of getting to school remaining and school remaining in class um it is strongly consulted with our bcba um Aaron conent um and then each Pro each Continuum has a special educator a school adjustment attached to it and a pair of professional or two um and really the work in there is to provide academics but also provide that social skills building um and really building up their skill set to be able to manage and regulate themselves to be able to stay either in District or in school um for longer periods of [Music] time we always use this quote so the moment you doubt whether you can fly you seize forever to be able to do that I like that for kids but I really like it for staff because some of this felt really unimaginable that we could get here by now and I was chatting with Victoria Briggs just yesterday and today and she's like I can't believe how much work we've done and so I'm proud of our staff and um I just look SE FL took great work next year so with that I'm ready for questions I have I have a few but I'll be nice I can let go first if they if they want I'll go first I mean it wasn't really okay oh it wasn't a like that wasn't an offer in anyway pretend it should be since you were abandoning us let you go fair enough um I don't think we could ask for more in term of how much you've how much work you've been able to accomplish how many changes you've made um I am so impressed and so grateful and want to compliment you and your whole staff because I just think you guys do a tremendous job and I um because I'm involved in the special education Community I know a lot of parents at in other districts um and I can tell you that we are the best I mean we I don't I I the some of the horror St stories that I've heard from some from some parents like just make me want to cry in terms of what they they've dealt with in their um school districts we are super lucky here I feel like we have a staff that really truly does put the kids first they don't just say that that's what they actually do and they mean it um so I'm really really grateful and I want to particularly call out the idea of putting in supports earlier this is something we've talked about for years and to see evidence that we're actually doing it for real makes me so happy because it's it's not only what's best for students which is obviously should be our priority but it's going to help us financially in the long run because when you are helping students earlier they're not going to things aren't going to snowball they're not going to need as many supports later on regardless of where they are um and I just want to call out uh car Solis which I'm not ashamed to say I have personally used used to find a therapist and it is a fantastic service it sometimes takes a while because there are a lot of it's hard to find mental health professionals across the board um but they stay on it they will text you and say okay that's we gave you these two options have you called them yet fantastic did you actually make an appointment wonderful did you go to the appointment I mean they are really really really they they work with your insurance and and they are just a fantastic service had a good experience so I want to especially um just for anybody watching at home put a little more light on Solus as a resource that we all have access to Yes um and that's it thank you so much [Music] thanks anyone else that was a little bit of a loaded laugh to it was I've been known to to anyway um so I just on the out of District placements as if I recall correctly we were at 52 in February and we are now 51 so we're down a net of one correct and is that sort of I have numbers in my head um and so okay so that's as of now not a projection for that is as a okay wonderful um I know there was a lot of slides but can you go right to the one had the disability by by type six the yeah the the P P chart go this one yeah so so two things so if a child has two different disabilities what do we do so this pulls your primary disability that's what this is pulling y yep good question um everyone every once in a while I get a good one um I I prefer to think of it as a as a stop clock but you know um do do do we have this over time yes yes I without spending too much I don't want yes because this I followed this model Meg has done this Kelly has done this I just tried to keep the process the same with that so I can it would just great to sort of see absolutely shifted especially from preo and it's a little different I know we we've diagnosing dyslexia those more so it's not like it's going to be Apples to Apples if you will because just a different but I think what you'll find too we talked about how we're bringing in the um sorry what's the program that we're using for the um data dashboard oh yes I do not know bring data Dash we capture this information we'll be able to run these easier in the future and get longitudinal data which so um necessary and something that we've needed for so long yes and I actually we just attended Dan um um and my assistant and Jody Renee attended a special programs training on a better multi-dimensional report you can pull from special programs so I'll be able to do that as well and just sort of add layers as we go yep great that that was it was that nice okay thank you um I just wanted to Echo what Lisa was saying about all the services that we're providing I do hear from other folks in other districts that they don't get a half of what they're getting in this District and and early and I feel like pushing in all the supports that we're doing is yielding results for our students we're able to keep as many kids as we possibly can in District and they're succeeding so cuz clearly if they're not this is the right place for them we're we're putting them where they need to go um I I appreciate they including the home the homeschooled one because that's not data that we usually are tracking y but it's an important statistic cuz we're still responsible for that correct correct and it is a it is a data point that we are always tracking right you're always but like it was important for you all to know that that is part of what we have to look at and that we're tracking amongst our peers peer districts in terms of the percentages y so y i just add to what you're saying to the about and that's why these I I know there's been some questions about the um intervention roles that we're creating but it really is a response to these types of things getting that early supports before we end up on the IE process are there students that can get tier two and three supports within general education M and then minimize their process of even getting onto an IP I mean really that's what we're hoping and keep in the least restrictive environment so that's why we're putting in all these General Ed procedures as well y great so thank you thank you thank you anyone else great thank you very much J you can stay you can go toally run away it's our first it's my first oh my go tomorrow tomorrow tomorrow you taking you having raised one daughter those were very stressful friend and I believe they went to four Proms and I have our sons went to um a number of proms each as well but it was easier that's just it's a lot of work getting I ripped my dress on prom night I was a I was a like the brazilla version of prom Billa person yeah I ripped my dress on Prom I slipped on the plastic that goes over the dress this is agenda so f a deal I [Music] haven't right so moving on to central office administrator update um hopefully not on Prom um or at least about their own prom experience prom so I really just a couple of things that have been going on I mean it's obviously we've been very busy dealing with the budget process and that's consuming a lot of time but I did want to Echo some of the things that um highight especi I didn't get to stay for all of it cuz I had to do the Mia train training but I was able to at least share the kids on as that were coming in and Mr bu Dr man were there so that was a wonderful event um this week I actually today I was the mystery chef at the high school and this is not my first time but this is my second time this year usually do it at least once or twice a year I love the children you know talking about the program that um Jess was referring to um and it's so wonderful that when I walk in the room it's well first of all they have to guess who it is before you go in and I went yeah did you have to make something we made something yes what you we made um munchie buddies I think it was called munchie buddies with the check mix and milk and the chocolate and all that stuff that was fun but the fact that this group of kids they had seen me enough now that they were um oh it's the superintendent it's Dr kaso so um you know anyone that knows our um special needs wonderful students here you know it's really the joy that we don't get to do enough of and it's something that I strive to get into classes more often so any chance I can get like this I will uh pursue but that's really I think the only thing I've been able to hit this week um but we have a lot of events coming up and I know oh actually I know someone might have said it earlier but uh the parade is on Saturday and it's I think our middle school students are going to be Middle School band members will be marching and playing for that I'm hoping to be here with my grandson I told him I to take him to the parade so hopefully I can get in to the town join that faity and be part of that that's it for me great Dr Berard two quick announcements tonight we had our last new teacher induction meeting just so um all of you guys know new teachers are required in any District to go through a year-long mentoring program so we have 10 meetings throughout the year with them great group um did a wrap up tonight also um congratulations to all administrator excuse me all Educators who received the hollon Educational Foundation Awards yesterday so those to up and just to F quickly on the on the C the celebr H in 300 we have a number of uh School groups that are involved I think the uh the Rams react players um some high school um groups are involved so it's a whole Community probably have a better list than I do I don't know I'm I'm getting I'm getting text of the list right now um I won't be them all but it's lot of lot of great representation from from from from the school so Mr buay yes I just have one thing um I put it over when we were when the vote for the capital request just because it's a capital related item but that came up before I expected so I didn't jump in then and so um but if you if you go to that it's basically a capital return um when we are when we were completed with the capital project it's the remaining funds we were return return them to the town so um there's just a little bit of housekeeping here so there are three projects we had we had a project for the high school Fieldhouse insulation and what that was we were hoping to work with an outside vendor and with the green communities act to basically line the galvanized steel panels that are above the the uh cinder blocks uh the project fell apart as a combination of support from the green communities in addition to co so at this point we'd rather just return the money and we'll come revisit that at another time um the committe and field Turf project um the Project's been complete that this is just money that we just haven't returned yet um again if you look at the dates kind of this is a it kind of got left behind in the co project and then uh School networking infrastructure that project has also been completed and there's a $400 left from that so what I recommend is returning um a motion and and a vote to um return the monies identified in this totaling $3,956 for the three projects stated in the memo so I would have thought that after in 24 and A2 years you would know that you really can't make your proposed a motion but but will allow it for motion so that so that that is so that is what the link is in your in your in your packet so uh at Mr suggestion I entertain a motion for to return capital projects as listed in the amount of $93,900 69 move by Cynthia second by Sarah I'll the favor note that uh this m cion is out of the room for the moment thank you thank you sir with that uh we've done reports uh so we have one last old business item and that is to discuss uh the um request that we received last week I here I thought I think they left I didn't see someone they were here but I think he left with all the other teachers I think they I don't know if they understood that we were going to continue public comment I know you said it but I'm not sure that they understood there was a lot of people here so I can understand translation the student who presented was here he was here that's what I was saying he left yeah but we can still we can still no we can I just so does anyone have any any thoughts um I do okay um just just a response and some of the um stuff we heard from folks after our discussion last week um I just want say that um I really really appreciate them coming and giving that presentation and Ali and um how important this is um that being said I just want to clarify that um the reason we didn't just immediately take it to a vote last week as you all know is because sort of like as elected officials it's our responsibility to um think about all information from all sides before we take it to a vote um for me as like a person of privilege I always try to make sure that I have thought about um all the different perspectives and all the different sort of needs that would come into question that I might think of myself um one of those being like being a single parent um for whom it's much harder to have another day off from school because you don't have child care and whatnot um so that's why we didn't immediately um take it to a vote last week as you guys all know um that being said um Aid is a really important holiday and I do believe that in order to be inclusive um we need to weigh it as importantly as we do Russia shaana Good Friday Yung kapor Dali Christmas any other religious holiday that we take off um I am in favor of in the future discussing alternatives to all the religious holidays um more research for us to do in the future I know that there are certain towns who have policies like really really good solid policies about what is allowed at school during religious holidays such as those and what is not and I think it's important that we do continue this conversation about all the holidays that we currently observe but I am in favor of adding Aid to the list of holidays that we do observe I'm also in favor of adding it I I appreciate the presentation that came in I think you bring up a really interesting point about the um days off we might have during the school year whether they're um for a professional respon for like a PD day or whether they're for um a holiday where you know working parents or a single parent does not have off I think um I think one way we could address that too is a reach out with like our parks and wreck program who runs um child care services during say December vacation or February vacation especially as we continue to have more days off right I mean I think even even the simple PD days can be really impactful to parents um so I I think it's a really good point to uh bring up at the same time I think um it's important to recognize it uh I really one of the um uh side effects of of even bringing Dali in uh a few years ago is how much more awareness um it brings and respect to that and then how that gets shared as well so I see another opportunity here where our community will learn more about um the holiday of and another point that he made which is awesome was it will make our community appear more attractive to other Muslims who might say oh this is an inclusive place for us and be more likely to move here seeing that is a recognized holiday one thing I find really um difficult during the school year with religious holidays like ours like diali is that does not fall on a so for example Good Friday I think it's always on a Friday correct it's the name yep so um and by definition and then most of these holidays are actually they are like like they are added to the weekend so it's easier for parents to find Alternatives but with Festival flight hours um I think it does get very difficult to get um because it just Falls Anytime of the week it changes if there's no like you know hard and fast rout but U like which day would be so yeah I think that is probably one of the things that I have as a parent who does not celebrate any of the like you know I celebrate Diwali but not the others I found that to be a little bit of little bit challenging because it's hard to plan ahead when the days shift like that that's I think the only thing that I can think of with with these holidays that are not very um given to [Music] us um I I agree with all what you were saying Amanda and we did talk about it a little bit last week about how um we need to you know hear feedback from the community and make um not just be reactive to requests but be responsive to request and that means taking in all the feedback that we get from the community also being thoughtful about the fact that we've already voted on our count calendar three times I think already um that being said we I don't think we even voted a lot of the details we voted you know the first day last day um and because we were still trying to sort out things like PD days so um but I agree with you I think that you know if we're going to start talking about if we're really going to walk the walk of being inclusive then we need to make sure that it reflects the community that we have and the community that we have is saying that this is this is important to them this is a holiday that a lot of kids would be absent for and I don't know what that criteria is I agree with you that maybe there's other districts that have um set criteria like if 20% of the student population isn't going to be there that day like I don't I don't know that I think that we've always kind of taken it as I mean Deval was the first one we've added in I don't even know how long um in terms of holidays so yeah I meant like if we decide not to have a day off for any of them policies about like what that what that looks like right right right um and I think then also we have to be mindful of what our existing policies are around um exams and things like that around holidays because it's not really giving those kids those students an opportunity to be celebrating with their families if as soon as they get back from that holiday they've got two you know exams in an AP class or whatever so it's just I mean we have it in a policy I just think need remind people that we have to be mindful of that too so I don't know how that would work out in the calendar but I think that's something that we need to plan ahead for I suppose more I guess um I'm not sure what the best ways to handle that but maybe more of a teacher by teer in terms of their policies within their class classes their classrooms I should say so I'm in favor of adding it I think that we do need to have some more thought about it probably over the next year at one point I I've been told that there was a schedule committee or something formed someone me Stacy I don't is that like is that an official thing yeah yeah but I mean we just we there was some surveys done yeah and it landed on nothing there was like it was sort of you know nobody right there wasn't a strong feeling one way or the other so it didn't go anywhere but um so so I think what I'd suggest is once we because we're going to have some significant turnover on the committee I think that my March break idea looks better and better each time to talk about it I think we have to I think we need to do it more comprehensive more compr but that's the reason why I'm putting it through and that and that may but but I do you know there were some comments made by by some by some members in public comments and one one member of the committee about you know just sort of continuing to add different days as they came come forward and I I think you know this is this is a public school we need we need to you know we we do start earlier now than than used to be and we we end later than we used to we can certainly look at other other ways internally but there's only so much capacity I think that we that we have for for holidays I I agree and I don't I'm not push putting this on any one religion or or or day or anything like that there's no sort but we just have to kind of think about what that's going to look like going forward and how we're going to how we're so that's why I was suggesting maybe in terms of we we have to talk about a policy that says if x number of students would be absent on such day that would be a holiday I don't know what that percentage is Shi over times were we taking I mean I'm not for having conversation about but but um I think that that could could get logistically tricky I do want to clarify just because um you know the calendar the way it exists right now I don't know um recall so right now the last day of school was um tentatively the 18 18 and now it's the 20th which was before right so there'll be the 20th and then five snow days makes it the 27th corre so we cannot I mean that's the last day we can have school we can't go any later next year um where that could be problematic is if we had um more than five snow days um I don't know what do to us at that point state law says we can't go past June 30th yes it's as well well no but Jun 30th St you have to do Saturdays so that you know that we got that close because if something ever happened I don't want people to think we didn't at least share that so that would um you know and I know someone mentioned adding more holidays I hear you and I you know me I'm all about Equity that would mean starting the year earlier in August as well so I mean you know this I know people think it's very easy to stay at dat but we have limitations because as much as we do want to support everything we also have the heat to think about I don't think we can start earlier certainly next year either because that's that would be you know we started the teachers first day is or Staff first day is on the 26 and that's a Monday so we'd have to go to the 23rd stff come back no no I I so there are a few things that we can look at and we have summer school as well you know all these things so there are a few things we can look at we can um we can look at either taking one of the existing holidays and and trying to make that a PD day which has some issues we could look at December 23rd and and removing that as a holiday and as a day off sorry it's part of winter break it's not great but you know just I mean in order to or we can we can may people come back after Thanksgiving no um I I we can't of Thanksgiving those two days are no no no no I'm just kidding about 29th but but um no school on the election day right there no that's a PD day PD day PD day that's what I want but part of but also and also part of that just the parking lot could we make it a PD day but you'd prefer that I mean good good Friday is also Friday before so the So Good Friday this year and I don't mean to pick on Good Friday but good Friday this year is the Friday before the you know April break so just to be clear Easter is a holiday just saying I know that we take Good Friday but often as Christians but it isn't and next year uh mon the Monday after Easter is April break for CH Christians died at p.m. so I like if we did a it should be fine yeah so are traveling for Easter they can travel on but it's a holiday I know but the I mean sorry it's it's the school vacation week right but they'll be able to travel like on the far end of Easter rather than on the beginning end of Easter if folks are used to leaving on Friday on Friday if we wanted to leave that PD right so the do we want to take make a decision tonight do we want to survey people about whether they the 23rd or Good Friday say December 23rd yeah yes having school on December 23rd no know see that affects what I feel is that affects literally every student yeah cuz people people are going to take that week off they're going to travel I feel we should ask the teachers first maybe no and the thing is that it also coincides with most of the people that get holidays across board even in the offices so it's just not because break is very long just I'm just you know companies also give holidays to most of the parents so many of the parents I think we would just see I know we've been doing all this minimal you know attendance from staff and students no no I understand you know and then we I mean and I support this process ending on the 20th after a holiday we're going to see um time and learning effective there because we probably have less I don't want to I'm trying not to to change the last planed day of school but that's the goal I I don't hate to say it but one of the reasons why I started talking about doing half day professional days professional development days was because of this like a lot of the other districts around us do a half day once a month the entire year so and we don't do that for PD for PD this is contractual so the I I no I know we have no we can still do Contra I understand I'm talking about professional development days making those a half day but it doesn't change that the kids would still be 181 I guess is what I'm saying so you what are you are you opposing less time on learning for students with more PD time no I don't mean I'm try to word it badly or or alternatively if we're going to do full day of the PD then we should do it before the school year starts if that's possibility not next year not maybe not next year sure it isn't but so we and we we did or it could be because it's not like we can't say professional deel the Friday before yeah as early as August 23rd or 21st and then one thing to throw out there too is you're doing new curricular using new curricular resources a lot of like just to put map out there for a for an example there would need to be full day PD days because you're charging for the number it doesn't matter if somebody's coming at a half day or a full day you're charging you're being charged that amount and we would not be able to keep affording to bring somebody out for half days and so that was the reason we also shifted um when we added 12 hours with power professionals well we fine with the four different start times we can't align the content specific work if all of our Math teachers have to have something and the trainers come in we can't do it on days are the only days you can do Cross School correct correct and we're trying to do more and more alignment 3K to 12 and offer our par professional opportunities Jess had to cancel multiple times because she couldn't get because the par were her all different time so they lost that training this year so I mean we took all that in consideration we also did survey um and talked to the PD Council and F far and larg teachers ask us please don't put PD before school starts we're we're stressed trying to focus on our students we don't even get anything out of it so we took all that into consideration everything we plan we keep adjusting every year from the feedback we get and I just just feel like if we're going to spend sometimes thousands of dollars on PD we need it to be effective for teachers when they're ready to learn so that's what that's why we pushed um the first PD to the 13th instead of even the first week you know we keep adjusting that of September so I hear all of that um I I don't know what the answer is I'm just I'm pointing out the other lisal no good easy answer the next year is really and I think this is a you know this is an unusual year because this this year I believe went two holidays that fell on the weekend was valy and was it rash fell on Sunday winter break being two weeks is a long yeah and that's unus this is just unusual year I just don't know how we make it work you know we I think I would suggest probably leaving it as the 20th as the last day and we just we just roll the dice and we leave it at that I mean I think that's all we can really do this is just an unusual we've got you know an extra long winter break plus we have um the spring break which is you has Easter within it and it so it's I don't know and you think if P if Good Friday were a PD day you'd get no attendance not on the day before a long weekend it's a long it's it's right before the vacation can I make a suggestion what about this what if we we we have it for June 20th but by the time we get through February and let's say we have an excessive number of snow days like two three four snow days we could we consider something like our March 14th full PD day of breaking that apart should we get to the end of February we've already had a couple St how that helps well we have no school at all on the 14th what what if we turned that in because of a full PD day and we converted it to two half PD days but we still have to 185 days still 18 so matter how you distribute the time days literally unless you're going to pay the teachers to not come in I'm just saying that's but that's what it is if you if you're saying we're meeting our Our obligation to students for the 180 days but we're moving days around etc etc then potentially you're less than 185 School potential contract signed for PD providers to come out for those days here's what I'm going to suggest we we vote to add e as a as a as a holiday and then we ask the administration just to sort of look over the next week to see if they there's anything that you can come up with other than just moving the date to the 20th it may be that the 20th is is the date and that's just what we we we go with but at least take a week to kind of just think about [Music] it I'm not I'm not actually expecting anything but maybe there's a miracle I don't the one advantage you have this year in all honesty by it being the 20th the 20th at least is in the same week you have one but that's one snow day right I know so we won't have any snow days I I know glow warming but like help for the best we really didn't have any snow this year which is cool the weather the weather people did not you know do any and I just I know I just want to say I think I certainly have been a strong supporter of equity work I mean I pushed hard for us to get the equity on and all that so this is certainly something we take seriously and I I just want to that's why in parents I don't want them to think that we didn't you someone said it tonight we certainly care about inclusivity for our students and supporting all of our um different cultures in the community it just it it isn't as simple now that we have like I just want people know we're open to doing this and and looking further but it's not just flipping a because you have other considerations like the heat being not well the beginning of this year was was brutal for for for students and teachers or and staff but I support the decision to add it okay so um what have you think about that suggestion it probably ends up being that we end up voting the 20th is the last day next week but at least we we give it a one more shot to see if we figures this up okay so iate a motion to add e as a holiday uh and then with the final starting the 2425 school year starting the 2425 school year um I I don't we don't need to make this part of motion but I would like to have you know when we get new members you know have some sort of work done just to sort of take a look at the overall policies procedures schedule and everything um that's not right now and then next week if if there's no in within the calendar it's a really long motion um within the calendar uh solution moving we'll move it to the 20th motion by Don second by Zarah all in favor okay thank you um so newsletter not so the only thing I would add is just given ask is that given town meeting I know we don't have anything to to vote on but I'd like sort of I'd like to send something out on Monday probably um to remind people to show up at town meeting to um we'll figure out a good way to say this so I try to draft something really short that we it's like four paragraphs that we could look at right now okay and just send out okay okay so why don't I send that to everybody thank you um I'm just going to email it okay although if I put it in a share drive that's easier so let me do that um so while she while she's doing that um I know this is not going to gender me any any Goodwill but it it is going to be uh Amanda's last uh meeting a big meeting with us so just wanted to acknowledge that I know our other two members we do meet next week uh well we'll reading twice next week but only once on camera um any any parting words no my last on camera meeting um I would like to thank everyone it's been a joy to work with all of you um and the one thing I really will miss is working with all of you and getting to work with so many people in the schools teachers administrators whom I wouldn't have really um had the chance to interact with had I not been on school committee so I'm very grateful for the opportunity and um thanks Amanda I want to say thank you because I know all the time time you put into so many different things right I mean you came on in an incredibly difficult time 3 years ago we've been through a lot I mean I really have appreciated your voice your perspective as a teacher as a parent um and thank you for all the many many hours I think until you're sitting in the seat you you really don't know um this is you know these meetings are a small um fraction of it so thank you and your family for all the time you've thanks and thanks to all of the like especially Cynthia Don and Lisa who were the members who were already on when I was on for really um mentoring me and helping me learn about this process thank you and and I'm not going to delete your number because OT but your do people do work outside Administration Dr and Walmart teacher of the year Susan cusa um what sorry walart that's just one of her we talked about that resume items felt it was appropriate to include oh okay feel free to call me anytime you want math advice for free I'll consult for free thank you how how are we doing it turns out I can't add to our share Drive who knew you email to me and I'll it no I'm putting it um just email it to us no I'm almost there now I'm going to put it in Google Docs and it'll at least and I can share that with you you're goog sharing it Lea we are running late so I know I'm trying I'm going can help she goes okay I'm almost there I've got the link [Music] [Music] I'm just typing in each of your names hold on okay remain calm it's really short it's before 11 I'll be ending on a long not just kid thank you for doing this too it's super short you're not going to be a did you send it yes thank you I hope [Music] here let me refresh and see if that will yeah it takes about 30 seconds to get all the it says message sent oh got it thank you Lisa let see if it actually works yeah we still need a last sentence we got to close it out but and I you can edit it however you want I don't I'm not my feelings are not going to be hurt I just wrote it [Music] okay I think we should say something more concrete that like to be clear we're not request don't pass okay sorry what we're not requesting a budget of I we voted our budget of 42 but that's not like I'm saying to be clear like if we don't if as article 17 doesn't pass we will have to make more cuts and that would suck yeah we can definitely put that don't like the term cutting can we not say that can we say reducing or something something else reduction or something eliminating it's yeah I mean I rather eliminating okay eliminating is fine eliminating thank you I think that's better it's I just don't like cut cutting same I understand we don't like it because it's the terminology I don't like um well so my think it was actually to send this out Monday morning so but what's that sorry okay um you know I think you said you know you know [Music] please can we include a link to the town meeting warrant right we've done that in the past um we could do something like our operating and capital budget request one at a time something like our operating and capital budget requests uh for fiscal year 2025 along with article 17 are included in the town meeting warrant something simple like that and we can include a link to it [Music] your B [Music] [Music] [Music] should we say that it's a one-time special education stabilization fund it's not so it's it's a special education um appropriation it's really just an appropriation it's not a fund it's a so what do we call it special education um stabilization stabilization it's just special education supplemental appropriation okay [Music] sure suppl C huh I mean is that the title is a warrant article um for well I think I think I think use the four-letter word to [Music] um special education temporary funding so I guess you took that other part out um temporary funding I but I don't like that I don't either just say supplemental appropriation I think supplemental appropriation is better I like temporary [Music] [Music] funding wait to be transparent we need additional Cuts if either our budget or article 17 fails okay gotcha that works well if our budget fails we got a lot more problems we yeah but yes so it's requesting a a combined a combined budget and supplemental appropriation of no it's not we're not requesting a budget of 42.6 5.1% right we're not that's what we voted but that's not it's it's can we just say requesting funding of sure [Music] is it really appropriate to say 32.6 and then 5.1 there where it's a not particularly it's not really appropriate because it's still a 3.25 but in addition we have the the special ed supplemental appropriation comb combined 5.1 right combines both the 42. requesting combined funding yeah combined funding I just think it made that doesn't make combined what I I think can you take the the percent out take the percentage out it's it's in we're requesting a that number because it reads like it could be a 5.1 plus a 750 and it's not right it's a 3.25% with the 750 right but if you go below the funding includes our budget plus 750,000 in funding for special education supplemental appropriation I just think the specificity makes it confusing can we can we remove the 5.1 and and just leave it with the budget number and in [Music] okay do we want to be more specific which you're tied to declining enrollment in kindergarten sixth grade [Music] yeah you want to say the the class the year like in the classes of instead of kindergarten and sixth grade because some people be like yeah it's next year's class next year it's not like this current um and get rid of some then too no get instead of saying some in next year's right yeah that's said 24 25 yeah that's what it is should we say three currently on buil care professional [Music] positions I don't know why is that not going I feel like it helps people to see that we're trying to Okay add I like the 2024 better we talk about next year above we do 2024 25 next year above so we're just going to say next year's I so why not make it the same like you did up there when you said next year 2425 doing next year 2425 kindergart great instead of separating [Music] [Laughter] consistency this is what we don't do this can can someone can someone fix the what the indentation the inders oh the ination of the 2020 actually I can it if you know how to do it do it can you just hit tab no no okay sorry sorry I'm undoing second oh my God oh my God really everyone get back this is why oh my goodness you didn't actually use she didn't oh don't e it yeah she didn't it's not this was fine start messing with it by the way what you doing okay this is a substan change that could be addressed later let's let's focus on substantive changes when you a geometry fair I don't have to do that I don't like triangles um do we want to include there three baby sitting yeah who um it's not I'm not sponsoring it though it's from the select board's office right yeah well it's not still or thunder is there but also I'm not sure we get to the budget in time for for the at 9 or something like that skip ahead requires God okay then we we not going to get the bab we have to make sure we have the vote the parents what ending vot for this there was a last sentence that said this defending pleases wait what just happened nothing well then control Z cuz I didn't see any looking at your original oh I don't even remember I didn't I didn't even click off of it how did that happen mhm it makes me feel old every time I have a tech glitch it makes me feel old all right so I I'll clean this up make it look pretty what it looks fine don't don't start add Capital it needs capitals and no it doesn't where does it need c what 3 3 1 a well you could go as long as it's consistent it doesn't matter but whatever makes you happy those are bullet I'd prefer capitals too that's fine there's no writer okay don't go adding charts and graphs and stuff leave alone seriously no do not do not do not seek the treasure it's all right I have I have my I have my presentation um our presentation which TR need to send travis um all right can this thank you Lisa the time y yeah so do we want this coming out from the whole school committee that's best okay so motion I would entertain a motion to approve the release of this this document newsletter newsletter with non-substantial changes with with with non-substantial Chang charts are grass maybe a couple CH simple no move move thank you thank move many seconded sorry go ahead Amanda Amanda second all in favor thank you very much um you'll send that to D oh sure I'll send it to after I Fant I'm not add chur tell him what the subject line is ask him for a subject line that says please attend town meeting on Monday May 13th so the question is do you want this sent out tomorrow or do you want this sent out on Monday tomorrow okay if you get it Monday afternoon at 4 you're not going except that after everyone had so much fun at the they Lisa he could schedule it for both times tomorrow and then he can schedu it to go out again on SCH okay um if anyone is still watching please please please attend the $750,000 requires a 2/3 vote um as it uses stabilization fund so we really people show support that um our next meeting will technically is is May 13th Before Time meeting at schedul us for 6:00 um I I we can start later it'll be in the library um if we if there's not doesn't seem to be any need we'll we'll schedule it later but I do uh want to make sure that we have we're in session and then we adj the town meeting so there's no issues if we do need to deliberate and then our our next meeting following that will be that Thursday um and that will be the last meeting for the other two members more than likely the last well certainly the last scheduled meeting for our other two members Le the mini and they can say their goodbyes then um least I'm scheduling you for half an hour um no it will not take me half an hour um with with that we do have need for an executive session so I will entertain a motion to adjourn from Open Session to Executive session from which will not return to discuss strategy with respect to colletive bargaining or litigation of an open meeting may have a detrimental effect on the bargaining or litigating position of the public body and the chair so declares and strategy related to colletive bargaining with the H oft can I move it since it's my last yes move by Amanda second by cnia that does require a roll call vote Amanda yes Cynthia yes Sarah yes Lisa yes Minnie yes Don yes Dan I am a yes as well with that you stand by thank you very