for for all right so this is reminder this speeding game is being live streamed and recorded and um just so everyone um who's here today knows that our sound is really sensitive so we'll pick up sounds throughout the road so if you're having conversations you may be on camera so this the live stream will be available on Facebook and YouTube um and just before we get into our business um as a reminder to everyone uh this meeting is run a a little bit differently than our regular school committee meetings um so we will spend the first half hour covering school committee business um and then our preliminary budget hearing will start at six o'clock pm um as such um the public input um will be available after the budget hearing um and so anyone who wishes to speak um is certainly welcome to do so that youve signed up or signed in um to make sure that we have your information um with that said I will move forward with our regular business um so starting with our meeting minutes of February 15 2024 I would entertain a motion to approve those minutes as R second motion by Danielle and second by Sean any questions comments seeing none all in favor I oppose abstained and I say yes so that is unanimous also some pable attach St next week okay next week our student representative is not here today so we move forward uh we do have a special appearance today by Ashley nigle our assistant director of PPS so I will hand it over to you Dr C to introduce her and then um we'd love to celebrate you uh thank you madam chair um I think it's about maybe two meetings ago I did an extremely poor job um explaining a wonderful and well-deserved award the district had received um it was in the Excellence in school Site Services and that's really where decided to go downhill there um we we brag about this a lot and as you know I like to do that and one of the bigger things which all had actually then J Le he also talk about is that we were we are one of one only two disperss in the entire state of Massachusetts ever so I want to let that hang for a second uh because there's only been to Boston public schools and US so without further Ado and so I don't um don't badg of all the wonderful work uh in the technical sense like I did last time I'd certainly like to invite assass mle and miss lady to either speak from there or to come down um closer or I'm not sure we maybe we're gonna have you come name um so thank you for taking a minute to celebrate this with us we're very very proud of it I'm so glad to have the picture of the majority of the staff there behind you because that's really where this award belongs um and we're just really grateful we've continued to grow our Mental Health Services in the district and it has allowed us to support So Many students and um certainly prevent a lot of Mental Health crisis from occurring and it all started with just starting the um Universal social emotional screening that we started back in covid and we've carried that through and through that data we've been able to support a lot of students proactively before they're in the red which is really nice um and you know we're hopeful to keep moving forward and continue to build structures that have multiple tiers of service um and also uh unite that with a lot of our academic work as well um because with these things working in tandem it's far more powerful than in silus and Jennifer Ley is our school psychologist at the middle school um so I appreciate her being here to help show what what work we're doing well thank you so much we're just so excited to have you here this is such an amazing award I mean you know to have the Maric Regional School District right up there with Boston Public Schools is is really an amazing thing so please pass on our sincerest thank you to everyone for all the hard work that they put in um you know you see student mental health um in the news all of the time to so to know that we have such an amazing program here when that's being recognized for ex Excellence is you know such a blessing especially with so many parents at the table to know that you know our our kids are all being well taken care of so thank you so much for your work um and we really appreciate you and we're so glad you could be here tonight so we can celebrate you and we'll round the PA input toight is anyone from nde this so okay sorry there's a crowd I had to check all right um f524 budget updates Emory I'll hand that over to you um there's nothing really different um it's holding its own no budget free this year which isable um jump right into the report um the monthly reports are attached but I also attached we received our final invoice from Minute Man mova Health Group this is the one I had let you know would be coming it is due by June 30th this is for the runal claims it's $ that is going to come from school choice because we had 400,000 budgeted for health insurance in there this will hopefully be the final bill but it may not necessarily be because the run out plane is run for a period of 30 months starting July 1st um the group feels that with these numbers that they assessed everybody they they actually took all of their members how many members each group had has came up with a total in this is our percentage of the group which we are one of the larger ones not the largest but we're closer to the top than the bottom um they hope that these numbers will cause a little bit of a surplus when this is all over and hopefully at that end of that run out period members may get small refunds back but it's all a moving Target because this number is based as of February 9 this plan runs till June 30th and Anything could happen with a member in claime between now and the end of the year um so we will process this probably in June we'll keep the money in our account for a while and until it's due no since and let them get interest we'll keep it um but I just wanted to let you know that they did process this invoice and this is our number just opening it up any questions for Amory on that okay table C 11 sewing machines three fabric irons four ironing boards one embroidery machine uh miscellaneous sewing items and one C Focus to battery power 28 inch War scrubber um so I would entertain a motion to Surplus those items as listed second motion by Danielle second by Sean any questions on those seeing none all in favor I opposed abstained and I say yes um so that is unanimous and now we have another uh great item to go through we have our ad of State field request um and who's going to be presenting that tonight Madam chair believe that um apprach hon will present that I mean in terms of of why um before we do I'd like to ask a question if I may u do you happen to know who the winningest most successful program in the history of nans I'm a guess is golf it's already you got that along but um I there is a when believe here tonight I believe it's the TR Cas directly outside I believe it's um I know that it's to be empty three times since I've been here because the cheerleaders win so much that they literally have this is so 200 late they literally have to get rid of trophies to make room for new ones in the last four years they have been League champions eight times because it's there are two seasons they have been Regional Champions three times they've ranked in the state well I they'll have to tell because it's always but they were were um I believe that super duper champs this year because when you look at the four League uh divions that compete they receive the highest score out of every single cheering in the state they're good and so I know that Co Hilton's gonna come down and have some I don't know some National Championship uh you know again which is I think it's the third time I've been I think it's been the third or four I I really lose track so if uh if you don't mind M CH I believe say we can talk about going I would love to all right so welcome thank you um yes these amazing athletes behind me are amazing um hard workers and so we've had an upstanding season uh we were League Champs uh we were Central match Champs in our division but also we were the highest scoring in all of like basically West to 495 we just beat everybody um so then last week at States we went up against the state we took fifths um and so but it ranks by score and we have to get above an 80% and we got um the 83 to move on so we'd like to return back to Hershey Park which is where we went two years ago um we actually placed second there so we're really hoping to go above and beyond and get our Banner for our school um because we've never won in all of games of History so we're hoping this could be our year so that's why we're here that would be amazing we all be yes yeah we're also going Sunday to the New England Championship to compete against the state finalists from everyone else so yeah oh exciting exciting well this is amazing um all right so we have uh the field trip request in front of us um and I'm gonna give everybody just a minute just to scroll through that and then see if there's any questions about submission not seeing anybody with questions oh go did they get to like actually enjoy the park only win then I would entertain a motion to approve the out of state field trip for the nans Regional High School chair team to compete in the Nationals competition so through 22nd right um in Hershey Pennsylvania as presented motion by Shan second second by hea there were no questions before so I'm assuming there's no questions now so all in oppose abstained and I say yes congratulations can't wait to watch one have a great night you got we don't bye thank you very much um so this the next item on our agenda is uh not as exciting but it's the school year calendar um so do you want me to talk yeah be great so it came to you last month and you approved it um except on that version Good Friday was counted as a school day so when the counil is correct it actually pushed the last day of school to Friday um the 13th of June so that's the only change um so any any questions about that change no all right so this will be a quick one um I would entertain a motion to approve the amended 2024 2025 school year calendar update as presented Mo mying and second by Sean no questions uh all in favor I opposed abstained and I say yes so that is also unanimous long okay instruction update do you have any updat forist yeah um and uh Dr C you have 12 minutes um for anything you need for your superintendent report I will um I'll give that time back I care if that's okay with you I can't start the budget meeting okay let me tell you a little story um so as we've um well you talked about the weather I don't want to talk about the weather because we just got off the calendar right so um we believe that we we've you know might seen our way through particular you know Season that we don't ever mention and um that's really helped us out honestly with a lot of the work that we've been doing well this point in the F so they're out there the TR finishing up on the uh the lock that we cleared that will eventually be practice fails and we hold to be a softball so that's again we need to measure out that's what that's what they need to do um the dugouts have been completed as of I think last earlier this week um and we just need to do some minor fence work but the baseball field is is complete uh the stairs that were put in through the erosion control uh piece by the by the uh stands at the athletic field work that needs to be done but nothing that um nothing too grand um we've been able to actually get a lot further along with our library project so what is the library project is that um we are going to put air conditioning or ventilation or HVAC into the U the library we use the library a lot and during the the shoulder months as they call them but May June August and September you know we have a lot of kids in there with very little air moving so that'll definitely that'll make that space a lot a lot better A lot more enjoy is it's ring the Box r C and we we' talked so so that's actually been able to uh really accelerate a lot of that work um the I guess facilities is that oh MBA yeah so we we did I think we might have touched upon this last meeting but we did in fact submit to statement of interest to the msba the Massachusetts school building authority um to gain que right to for folks to come out to look at placing the roof of this of this structure um we had to submit to because technically we are two schools and thus for whatever reason we had to fill out two of them so those have been submitted on time and thanks to enur ke Parker and Company for getting all that information together um I I think that's it for p want to make sure I didn't miss any of them yeah it's just the baseball fields like all first game is April 3rd but it Lily gets away so us probably a couple of days to finish up but we have like you said the dogouts are finish we have a banner coming to get rid of that RI GRE talk that goes across that Back Fence um the land clearing they just came to work actually at 4:00 after their regular day and started chipping away on the pile of Russ out there um they're hoping to be out of here by early next week and be done um I mean we have some things but most of it will probably have to happen over the summer on school have big project for that lower field will start after July 1st just make sure the kids are gone let all starts practice starts up at Gilman weight next week I was just booking the Vans to take them there before the meeting so spring has strong hopefully it stays one of the things I will mention that which has been long gone now but we fixed the drainage in early spring we talked a lot about we would be underwater still um right now if if that drain that the field has never been drier um so that alone was such a huge um win for us for every so um but I just want to make sure that a long R we did last last week before we did not even I don't believe we had a puddle which which is is remarkable given that The Dugout was you know underwater last year so um so anyway those those are actually going to move I think fairly quickly um then probably be done a lot sooner than folks that we anticipated um um see what else AEF recess short on time it's okay go right um so we are participating with desie in a pilot project that they're rolling out this year there it's no there's no funding involved um but they are des's early college um and college career department is working with a group called College guidance Network and theyve built a platform that is um will be available for students and parents the primary audience for the for the platform is parents and it's a platform to help parents and students navigate the college application process um and so our guidance team will be working in the next few weeks um with the group of folks that are doing the roll out um to learn how to um present it to students and present it to parents and in the coming month or so we'll be having an posession for parents um and introducing this platform as a tool to support parents through the process of college applications and financial aid as well great so more information to come um but we're in the early stages of getting that roll I unfortunately one of those people who will need that sooner than laterly listening St sick and it'll be very it's very it's very friendly space so we've looked at a little bit there's a lot of short videos that areed so if you just have a question about um you know something specific about filling out your class per form or something um specific about the process of visiting colleges you can click and you can read about it or you can click you can watch videos um you can keep track of your progress and where you and your child are um in the application process and it will help support you with informational um kind of Snippets it pushes out as well as you can put information in and all to your needs thank youcome okay so I'm gonna do we need to vote to take a recess Han or do we just take a recess we can call recess okay so I'm gonna call recess for five minutes um so I believe the mic stay on so just be cogent of that so if you're going to speak feel free to step out into the hallway we can turn off mics oh we can it'll stay supposed to yeah so e e e e e e e per back um so it is 6: PM so I would now like to call the preliminary budget hearing for the nanson Regional School District to order all right um so we are going to I'm gonna hand this over to Dr cassan to lead us through um the budget presentation for fy2 do we need to be at all concerned with the error message on screen we're we're actually streaming so did say we were going to have problems walk towards the can you verify that sound is working and that they can see the see hear this again hand over to you to lead us through the B ofation check um so you know we've um we've certainly had a first you know go through this a couple weeks ago but clearly this will be the preliminary um it says it right on budget but in terms of our um the beginning of certified sorry so OB you know this is why you know thing about schools this is why we're here um we we took care you know to put the right pictures in but certainly it it identifies some of our um are the projects that we are most proud of at the high school uh with the Project Lead the way and um that goes across the entire District but the Early College um program set and um that's been you know we've worked hard to to obtain and to really start to J in and to provide our students with options right so from the very beginning we want to be able to give our students we regardless on what they want to do once they graduate we want to be able to give them options if it's School hire we have working on vocation um but where we are we want them to be prepared and I think that that is really the theme before we even get started and we'll obviously talk about that as we move forward okay so when we start looking at um what do we offer and what what of you know kind of the highlights of fy2 so far um one of the things that we want to look at and what we are really proud um to suggest and to offer is and I'll start right from the top and kind of work my way around but we want to make sure that there are no user fees um for any of the extra activities um that we offer here um and the reason why we want to do that is because we know for a fact that although we have never charged um a student who may have some Financial or family that has Financial you know issues um we had never not um you know had sto him from participating but what we know is that there's a statement to that and we know that that there are maybe parents or students that just don't feel comfortable um with that and there's more than just a handful and so we've learned that over the last couple years and so we want to make sure that if there is someone out there who wants to participate in whatever whether it be Athletics whether it be extracurricular band whatever that they have the opportunity to do that um and we really um you know we we feel that that is something that is very well within with our range to do athletics we talked a little bit about that um about the facilities when we start talking about Athletics we're really talking about you know upgrades to the facilities themselves they um I was speaking with someone remembers when the dugouts were put in and I asked well how long ago was that because I just wasn't sure and um this gentleman has been around a very long time he says I don't know but I was a young man and so I um I don't I don't know what that means but I I tend to believe that it was maybe a couple of decades ago so so some of those things we talked about the lower field we have to add um an additional playing field um an athletic field for our uh for our athletes special education we uh through the Thrive program we have brought back several outplay students we talked a lot about that that's been at the high school level um and yep there was a financial savings to that um it really becomes ref cost after the initial time that you do it um but we we have seen a savings thus far of 269,000 give or take in out of District transportation costs and of course tuition um well $200,000 in tuition in $269,000 in transportation more importantly though these are our kids and a lot of these students were here and then they you know they were outplaced for whatever reason we want them back um not for the financial reasons but we want them back and we want them back being you know Warriors near advancers and it's important to us and by by starting this program we were we' being able to do that in very you know selective cases health insurance refer 25 we talked a about that we have worked very hard um and uh to change our insurance and we we did that we talked a lot about that but that's a big that's a big highlight I think that um Alan Marie was talking about the run out claims when it comes to uh this we house that we have few our insurance we've been Choice fund we don't we do not want it there I I have to tell you I didn't see a day that that would actually come fruition just it almost seemed unreachable just because it's so hard you know to you know to make those of things happen we've done it um by you we had a great a great group U of you know folks across the entire District district and all the units and so that we're actually going to see you know we're actually going to see it happen it's really fantastic um we talked about Psychological Services sorry Ashley Jen talk about that today we that has been our Focus for many years um quite honestly I feel have some of the best supports for students um not not only just in this area um but around if you know what I mean um that's important um this this community this district has a bit of uh I I don't want to say a reputation we we've had issues here in this District um and uh with you know with issues of social emotional issues ETC it's important um that we continue to improve those to strengthen those and that is that that obviously is a high for 24 and I know it will be a high for 4 25 we offer more services kids in this District that many districts Point ourselves and that is um that is something to be really um curriculum project leave the way early college um we increased the offerings from 4 to 15 um The Early College enrollment has increased from 10 to 40 students um that has really taken off and has been um very well received not only by students by our kids but by our parents who go like that might save me some money and it does and that's important to do so we put the uh survey up uh probably to date uh um in the snow day survey of when do you want to receive the call this has received probably the most votes today um and we uh you know anytime you put a you know a survey out to the community you kind of go oh boy what were they going to say um they were very serious about this survey I believe we got close to 341 341 oh thank you 341 um you know respondents and as you can see um maybe I glasses on with the teacher class student ratio in compensation really one to throughout the entire um throughout the entire survey and so that was an interesting piece of information to get before we even started the survey um to see where the community sat on these on these issues and um it really wasn't very close after after one to all right so when we start talking about the general fund budget so we kind of transition to the Mone things and you know what we know is that we have been because of the increase of students over the past two years which is roughly around aund additional students residents that we found ourselves very quickly uh you know our student the student teacher ratio was starting to really starting to uh it was starting to be very concerning because kids were coming in so quickly it was just it was almost a w of kids two years ago and this and last year and and a little bit this year so when when we start talking about the general font budget we do talk a lot about um student of course we're talking about students we're school but our foundation loing right is what drives the the amount of money we get from the state we were flat this year we we were minus eight kids in the foundation button which is you know the students that are of school age that live in the towns of templon and filston you not over school and as you know we spoke last time those those eight students might have never been here before they might be students who uh you know were in prived schools and they went simply sou or whatever what we saw here um was it was almost a one for one a swap from kid from students at school choice we have been purposely lowering the number and we have seen almost kid for kid in terms of resid and that has been a very interesting thing to watch because because it's it's been uncanny about how many students are been moving in um and we'll get to that a little bit but overall when we start looking at what the total increase it's 4.99% Emory made a great statement earlier today when we were talking about the budget we have in the past asked for much higher percentages over the years that's because the amount of money was different right so it might be you know 13% was again is money but it might have only been a $500,000 or we it's 5% of this budget is is quite a is quite an increase so Philipson's increase when you um you look at how the students break down between towns it it looks to be at 10.81% or $200,000 in a rounding increase into Templeton is a million 7 1 million 7,492 which represents a 13 um% increase and that's even with saving some money on Transportation I say some quite a bit um so when you look at this you know Transportation actually went down um and it still had this type of increase why um and that's always been to the L this so you look at the increase and what it what does does it affect and you look at all of the the counts that are the general count system for the for the state but specifically for us as a school district and I every District you start looking at you know an 8% increase to um the 1,000 which is Administration but SCH attorneys set kind of the U well that setal law instructional is a 12% inre a lot of what we do is is all we staff intensive and so that that represents the increases of people or staff that we are that we think that we need forward um other school Services a s where actually saw you know a decline um in that may so I know that the you know the committee has certainly we have we have gone through this we've gone over it a lot but what I want to show you is that the tuition line and the other school Services line are areas that we work very hard to reduce mostly mostly I'm using my quotes speci special appucation so you know it's these are the type of things that we're trying to positively affect the budget Rel um uh with the thve program and you know making sure that we are diligent in our you know our the way we assess students and not you know where we place them and kind of the accommodations modifications Etc but all toll it it looks to be a 4.99% increase overall this is the general fund breakdown I want to I don't s want to everything but it really just really just kind of reaffirms what I just talked about like the administration of the Thousand series is really due to you increased prices of payroll unbarring software auditing service prices increased attorney cost increases District software Etc transportation we actually start decline as we talked about there been a reduction in Sp transportation and the reason why that is is because we've been able to keep more kids in house okay um and we also reduce the position of of the full-time nurse leader um maintenance uh you know we saw an increase about you know with that um in terms of in the 4,000 series U which I think speaks for itself benefits almost break even Etc so the tuitions and other which generally the 9,000 Series where people just really see gigantic increases because they're usually sped out of District um costs you know we saw decline in that where a lot of districts have seen an increase now as I say every year we are one child away from moving into the district that could double that to you know you know to the so so I just say that with caution you know and that's you know and that is the the risk that any district has when it when it comes to um providing services to students especially with um severe specials revenues we really talk about two main categories of funds when we do this right General talk about general fund and grants revolving lots of folks don't know that you know when they see 20 you know whatever 24 million they say that's the that's what you know costs to run the dist it cost $28 million to the district and U that's because we have grants some evolving funds circuit breaker which is a stad um you know it's it's it's an ability to offset cost with out of District placements federal grants state grants school lunches because that's a rolv account and other local reasons so in school choice school choice will play large in our conversation as we move forward even though we are effectively reducing the number of school choice students so I say that with a cautionary tail because there are there are some very important costs within school choice but if someone were to ask you hey how much of it do you think it's going to cost one District next year with everything that you need going to cost $28 million but 3 million of that comes from very really the next page without going over too much is that you know this is where um well what monies are we talking about what what do they bond on school choice covers nine teachers nine teachers staff B Athletics supp technology upgrades H these are one time wellc in a perfect world we would like to keep onetime costs out of out of school choice all one time oh a driveway Bo it's not you don't want to put two things in school choice fo insurance and teachers every almost every District I know around here has teachers in school choice because in order to help offset the cost to the towns or or city Etc we we are certainly no different um we are very open about that I'm not you know I'm not again I don't know what other District talking about but we're very open about how how we spend our money we every year we detail that the circuit breaker again is a reimbursement um structure for excessive special education cost and they set up what they do is they set a uh you know standing rate like $45,000 and EXT am of dollars over that they you know they um hopefully reinversion but that always comes at the end of the year and we're we're quite um we've been told many times it's generally what they can afford the state can afford so sometimes we get X percentage this or that federal grants we do a lot with grants so isn't everyone else but Title One Ear child grants covers you know three Title One teachers sped pairs now a district tuitions and by the way that's what those grants are for right so title want to PO to pck off those type those type of services and the Early Childhood nursing Grant provides the district with resource nurse um and academic support Pur so we we generally use that for our sub nurses um and again the academic support person that's up at the high school um that helps with um students who are having difficulties you know earning credits and that's been widely I mean wildly successful other receipts what we talk about is preschool extended day programs covers one teacher pairs a lot of these things are evolving and so whatever we take in they go out and so that's what we put under all right so trying to stay with the wise what is our so why is this costing so much money like why are we asking for almost this 5% increase which is you know all over million Val well Chapter 70 hold harms we Hells we talked about that and we'll get into that but we were we didn't receive as much money we didn't have as we didn't have more kids than we did last year um and that is how Chapter 70 the majority of it is an instruction if you get more kids like we did last year 60 or 56 kids Plus or although income um bracket is much lower we received about $11 million when you are flat like we are they're only one to give you the minimum Roman glass has speciation enrollment although we have reduced special needs cost in the uh the areas of transportation and sending kids out um to uh you know placements we have seen I think over two years a 2% increase and I always looked to M but where we're at 21% currently special y we're at 20 say 20.6 Just Around 21% but it's the first time um we've been over 20% right and we've seen a big increase when I say the 2% I think it was over two years we've seen that increase and that is where we had the um the positions mid mid position although we have not been able to to fill those positions which speaks to Stephan then the B which we talk fun as well is the watch so the chapter 7 impact um you know a circle that you can't see very well but um there you go you know that's the total number of kids um read students who are accounted in the foundation ler okay low income group is 8 l last year we dropped to seven that's problematic well no it's not problematic if you from a money standpoint it's problematic because multipliers are uh special education um elll students and um and low income groups last year we had far more lowincome students and that increased that low-income group to eight and that was a multiplier okay it gave us more money um with the kids that we had we many of us been doing this a while knew that when they did the audit for um when they sent out the little blue envelopes for uh for SSI benefits because you had to recertify last year there this big marketing campaign many of us the State of Florida knew that those numbers were going to probably drop because they were it was it hadn't been able to be um recalibrated since Co so people there were multiple people being added but nobody was being taken off because through the natural Ed and flow of these things and we knew last year once the blue envelopes went out that we would most likely see a decrease and we did we did uh our district saw a decrease in the the students who are identified as loc student enroll talk a lot about student roll right a lot so there's two things is there's how many kids you have in seats in front of you right those are inh then but we talked about foundation so I'll I'll make sure I'm like try be clear SMUD as I go through all this but the Chapter 70 increase of only 39,000 that has to do with how many kids were uh identified as living in either town or School eligible so we were flat so the amount of kids that we got in was pretty much you know what we got last year and within my with a couple I think it was 120 some OD districts that had less had fewer kids than they did last year we were at the very top of the list as losing the least we're having a lower number um where districts were losing 100 200 50 whatever so we were up pretty high on all those districts so we held pretty much we held the amount of kids that we had the last two years which is is interesting um we again we talked about the decreasing age students the low income category we talked about going from 8 to seven we talk about why housing housing is is you ever thought I was going to be tracking the number of houses that were being built in a town if you said that to me five years ago I'd be like I'm not doing that that's not my job oh it's my job um because you know we you start seeing some things happening going oh boy all these houses buing kids three bedrooms you know you can only have you know one man cave as far as I know and so there was other bedrooms are going to be filled at some point with students um so the other part too which I don't want lost at all because it's important but because we're talking about fway 25 generally people forget the the things in the in the past we are still catching on from the number of students residents that we have received over the last two years which has been 100 100 and we did not add Staff last year via the budget we had to add staff absolutely need so we would not fall um out of compliance but we are still trying to catch off and if students come in even at a trickle where that's even further and further behind and when you're talking about the future it's hard to talk about the past at times I don't want to lose that and I want to like pause not pause but make sure I put a big emphasis on this no matter what we are still trying to catch up from where we're where we're okay so when we start talking about enrollment what I you know these crazy you know these crazy graphs that I do I want to just be open and off it's easy for me to say 100 kids and you're like how do I know right well first off it's all public record you can get the clips all you want but the fact is when you start looking at things and you even if you even if you take fy21 which did it even exist I don't know that's Co year people didn't even know where children were so you can add it or not add it it doesn't it doesn't matter I just made sure that people say look this is co um here and if you look at the plus minus difference was 95 we we did we Lo we we reduced the number of school choice kids by 37 so normally I replace whatever we lose when the high school graduates do that because where was I going to put them and I have not put it we have not accepted a school uh school choice student at elementary going on now four years next year if everyone stays the same we will have I think four school choice students out of close to 600 kids or 55 whatever it ends up being we only have four school choice students in all of the elementary that's something quite frankly so I guess when you start looking at the plus minus differ you get around 67 um this this size that's a lot especially where they end up and where they end up at that time depending on what year you're talking about third and fourth grade they're huge current fifth grade is 136 students 136 students 12 nine of them I believe I'll double check this are residents we do not have a a class bigger than that but one's close is the fourth grade and then a little bit you know a little bit closer is the is the sixth grade they're big they're big classes when this graduating class of 24 graduates with 60 some odd students we will not have the high school class to include the eth grade under 98 a 95 that is I don't know when that was the last time that happened I know it has but it hasn't happened the six years that I've been here six eight going on eight years that is a big increase and they are mostly residents so anyway we we try to break it down many ways if you want to see it like where where are they grown well it's not just templon templon is see the largest increase um philipson is supposed to and it does it oscillates depending on what day in the week people come and go they do all the time we've been in a small District where we're close to 200 kids from philipson um which is obviously if you look back it's it's one of the higher years that we've seen and you know templon continues to grow um and again he still have school choice but if you look at that we have reduced school choice from 20 from almost you know almost 100 kids what less than we were back in t number of enrolled students versus Foundation almost like just to make sure that you know just literally more the heck out of many but to to sell this all is that if you look at the gold and you look at Foundation you already know that I've we we have reduced the number of school choice kids by 80 or whatever and you look at this the enrolled students were supposed to go down enrolled students were supposed to go down you see that we have some elementary teachers up in the back and in the middle here when they cut the teachers when we cut staff down to four the plan would have worked it would have worked we would have reduced the number of special uh part me school choice kids by the number that we did those classrooms would have been would have been been you know a little on the full side but if as progression was is the projections went it would have worked because those numbers were supposed to reduce that and they were they we were going to cut 100 to 150 school choice kids that would have been that would have worked it didn't happen for every school choice student that is no longer you know it's no longer in this District almost to the child we have received a resident and they're coming so that number was supposed to go down it didn't it actually went up a lot so if you look at fy22 when we start coming out of the haze of Co you go okay A little bump there then all of a sudden FY 23 at 1486 and N fi 24 basically 1478 depending on what month you look at it's pretty much flat right just like foundation and that's because housing kind of stopped for a while because money was tight inflation we're going to talk about housing I told you talk about housing we talk about housing a minut when we saw looking at school choice the big line I want you to look at is the Blue Line 63 that is the pupil differential I've got to keep that on the plus cell why already said we got nine teachers coming out of school choice I've got to keep that revolving fund positive so it becomes it becomes tricky now because if now I'm supposed to replace this you know these kids you know in very strategic points I have you show the mind to try to keep this the differential correct or on the plus side but if you look at this since 2021 uh me 22 we have seen a massive music decrease in kids school choicing out that is a credit everyone up on that end of the of the uh you know stage not on you on this they like what we have to offer teaching we do a very good job of what we do people like it's safe small it's you know people know their kids people you know they they want in Clos in terms of school choice but they actually have a residence here that that and that's why a lot of reasons why they're coming to us and that's a credit to of course our urg when I tried to talk about um anticipating enrollment projections I don't like to do projections I hate why I know I have to do them because so much changes the chair was looking at me said you love projections we have to love projections so it's hard to do to trying to convince me that they're good I say they're bad because I never know but because they um they're not I'm so concrete when it comes to these type of things but when I look at the first grades one through four so we just took a little sample in that kindergartens we don't really know right kindergarten is like I don't know here they come I think I don't know um that we start seeing that if I you know if you know as of January we had 432 kids you know at tees remember grades 1 through four projected by the way all I did was gradu I didn't I didn't add anybody I just said okay if you're a kinderg guardian hour first grade I just moved everybody on you're starting with 407 I smil because if you look at the little note to the left when we do our projection when we look at um the census and Terry has that like an expert it shows that there uh you know resident AG shows 248 pre KK eligible students the classic line is like they all don't come here they're not going to get all 248 well we have to add a full day kindergarten that's full we have all of our other variants of you know the kindergarten proog prek sorry I did that again the prek program they are full and there are people wait you know just waiting to get in that's a projection which I don't like but that is literally what Terry has to look at and say well gee if x comes in then you know whatever so so I say this as a cautionary tale because um I don't know what we will have until May because that's when we do kindergarten you know registration is on that time frame which just is a is an as side I think we're going to have to do that much ear um because given the number of kindergarten eligible prek eligible kids can't wait toight because we are now that's where they're they're com so but that's just something for next next year see I'm see so addressing CL size what so what are you going to spend Mone the high school absolutely is the number one priority period just so to say that loud again the third time there is no situation in this District right now that is a higher priority in the high school the eighth grade needs a teacher like like you read about they they they're part of the high school program but the sheer numbers of kids that have come through the numbers next year even when you factor in all the things like mon Tech whatever that high school is really really full in terms of the class SES now yep we've all been to high school many I'm sure the folks out here in the audience have taken AP courses we all know that there are AP classes of 10 sharper but there are also General classes in college level classes of History math Etc they're sitting at 25 26 what whatever the case may be that's why they're AP that's why they're lower numbers because you know they're dealing you know they're doing space math or whatever the case but where it's a very limited amount of kids who are going to be you know um just willing to take that level of math but our general kids our general kind of Pop kids are in classrooms that are very very large the Monch after d teacher which people go what you know one of the last things that we were you know kind of like the goal is that we are thanks to Molly has worked very hard on an opportunity with Fitchburg and Garder to offer vocational services to our Juniors and seniors and it's a very low number of kids but they would go and receive like Juniors would say go on you know on you know one half one week and then seniors would go the next week while when they're back by the way they would stay ours those are our kids and we get to pick them which that is important to me I'll be very cand um I don't I don't believe that our special need students are are are represented um or R special need students represented appropriately M Tech I said it to their face inste to the school committee and I say it here again um and so my my it we know that that's a program that doesn't currently exist and we also know that if we do not sign up for it Gardner and Fitchburg aren't they nice they will take our slots we don't blame gner Fitchburg of course they will take our SLS so we would have to wait two years before we offer this again okay but it's it's important I think to um a lot of kids who did not were not selected um and again I'll get off the Middle School music teacher and literacy teacher literacy is um is is academically our probably our number one priority concern goal focus I whatever word you'd like to use the music teacher is one because we trying to build again trying to be balanced as we as we add um as we add opportunities for kids and teachers and kids we know that the music Middle School had two music teachers and they need to you not currently off I consider a course program you know a dedicated Coral program Etc there's a lot of other things that we can do there and that has been something that has been we're trying to desperately get back it I will be very candid it's also a numbers there's probably no school that has you know more of initiative over CR in the middle of the next year they will have two of the three largest classes and it's about it's about you know getting kids you know you know kind of spreading out spread up a little bit um in terms of how many teaches they have music made the most sense obviously because it's something that we definely want to get back to T yes the three Ava pairs PA or kindergarten pairs that happen to be abas whatever you like to say it we've been able to find two we've been able to find um resources for two um it's it's it's important that we um that we add those last three so that there would be one per classroom um or at least at least five for the entire kid and however you'd like to look at that and that certainly is um a priority which comes to a brand total of$ 39885 am so I don't want to over I don't want to again because sometimes it can become overly competitive but here is exactly why you know yes we said these teachers but here's the you know walk right we have currently six teachers okay so why the high school why the high school I mean come on well currently we have six teachers who are teaching an extra class okay which is UN where it cannot be cannot sustain it yes they receive a sple yes they do they give up their prep and they teach something out of their content era we are going to burn out our teachers we're going to burn them out we talking about high school level classes we're talking about freddit bearing classes and I I I will say to you that if the true hero and all this yeah they get a St I don't want to take that away but they don't have to do this and if they didn't we would be in trouble big trouble so there's another need down the road and we know that we can satisfy some of that with the phans that we're talking about here today but the teachers that really step up I believe one is there's one we at the middle school who actually I think there's two folks special ucation wise we doing n um the middle school I think we've talked about that enough music program of course and literacy is absolutely um academically our our toity um most kindergarten classrooms have care of professional supporting the classrooms we do not you find a kindergarten classroom that doesn't have some type of par support please let me know because I want to um you know commiserate with that for person as well um and plus we're seeing a steady increase eligible prek students by eligible Folks at talkot special needs so you remember that we must support students with special needs who are prek whether you do that in-house or you find um Services outside of your District but that is worse than all um requ so we threw this in we up so if I think back four years ago five years ago whatever years ago I Tri walked out um when the override happened and you know I some said we have some low PID teachers in the area they said we prove it I didn't have proof you don't even know what your teachers make but I trust me I knew that our teachers were locate um and so this summer I decided to do a little project and I'm gonna and it's it's got it's it must be in everybody's home because presented send it up so but one of the bigger problems in there it's twofold one it's compensation absolutely two um the teaching field is starting to see some cracks in terms of its um in terms of the machine that gener that make teachers right College programs are not putting out teachers in you know uh that as many Teach as they used to there is definitely a shortage except for a lot of reasons we don't need to go them to hear this is how many education people that I was I am looking for currently right now and this is of this week right Susan or is it this week last sorry it's last week we had to get we had to get into the we had to get to school committee but I can tell you that I could probably just bet pretty good money that I'm gonna have the same positions open next week so I and we have been looking for a special needs teacher at the elementary so I can move the special education teacher up to the Middle School now for I don't know I think it's three weeks it's got to be more than that it's be a month I have not had one application Janet I was just ly on myself at this point so January okay so the fact of matter is that I can't even hire I don't even have someone interview okay so that's that's problematic and that's happening in some very specialty areas when you flip the page what I you've already have so I compar I believe these that are administrative Sal I believe the next are teachers interchangeable obviously I I compare everyone's salary with the districts that are around us who do we compete with okay these we call them sometimes the family um but you know Ash West um AOL of course nanson winon Gardner and quava okay and so that's whom we compete with the most um and for on a lot of levels and we were last in almost everything and what I want folks to remember when they look at the sheets or they share them the discrepancy is to the average not the top that's even more concerned so when it says 4.9% looking okay again uh okay 4.81% um you know that's from the average the difference from the average now you know for the contract we had negotiation set aside not discuss that now but the fact of the matter is that you know even you know I I need to be competitive SP right so and that by the way administrators and teachers so it it becomes an issue later on when you're trying to attract folks that you know need obviously desperately and everyone is competing for the same mons so that's something that we're going to have to address by the way that's really going to be over a period of time right because everyone understands the ndda is great we have good convers this it's we understand how we're going to have to attack this and you know because you you don't have you don't just not unlimited fund so we're we're we're working our way through that houses 40 houses um the last two years P permanents in 24 in Phil in various forms or degrees of of of uh their the structure maybe just the foundation maybe it's I don't know the hous is built it's hard to know because we didn't get into that but either way if you have 40 houses and that's was I'm kind of the date off of February was the date February I think it was like Fe yeah it was February 9th said okay February 9th let's just that's it and you know because I got these three we just said no just let's just do February now well this looked at this number I was like like oh boy right and these are a lot of houses and so then we did not even include the Bonville School housing project with 54 units right and the 11 over 55 we didn't we did not include the over 55 so we were not trying to we're not trying to gain the system we're not trying to blow the numbers we clearly said look I don't know but if you got more than one or two bedrooms they're going to be kids and what I said I said over and over another is is that what concerns me about the B School housing project not that it's going to exist not not at all but when those do fill that is going to be that is going to be an instant surge of kids right everybody whoes in and they come to school that's not like these houses in a way where although it's happening like this but they they they they'll just come now look it is what it is they could be evenly spread over over 13 grades K through you know through the SE that can happen it hasn't um I don't know what was going on in the fifth grade uh the year when they were Bor I don't want to know but there's 136 of those kids okay that's what I know and a lot of them are residents so I don't I don't know I don't think those was a blizzard are so the fact is that we we are watching this a lot more closely now than we ever have uh because we we are trying to reject as best as weekend which is which is hard obviously because we're not going to go house to house andry took me on a tour um I know the area but I didn't really really know a lot of it and and where they're building houses and so took me around to where they're building houses or they have built houses it was um it was I say it's impressive um because I just didn't know that there was that much building going on um in in in both things right frankly so I we end with this because the level service because you know tradition you never you can never lose better right um and you know well that's the goal and there have been times when we have the district has had to do that um there have been times when the district is either been forced to do that or has done that um just because whatever the fact of the matter is let's put aside the fact that we're still making up for the two years that we were not able to add teachers which I I want to say again level service is almost not an it's not it's not an option it's not an option um I have so many kids especially right now at the middle of high school it is not an option by hook of my crook I need teachers at the middle of high school one that this level service is not an option and to go below level service honestly I'm not even I can't even hear that it's not possible it's not possible and so questions were asked which was which is fine about well what could you maybe what could you lose in order to gain back a class to nothing where and I challenge people point point to something that is not relevant or relevant or important or you know whatever whatever the word that they want to use and I got to tell you I think I got a pretty good answer for all people came and we we talked it all out I don't think many people understand how interconnected some of these exam services are to to to the greater good in terms of either sped testing or special education testing etc etc so I think once people got that conversation we had it they're like oh my God this really kind of affects everything we really don't have someone just kind of you know kind of in this really cool job that you know we really don't need um so I I say that and you know there's this summary in the back um in terms of everything we' just I've just honestly said um but quite quite honestly I I don't there's not a way that we can go level service and I communicated that to both them so B sure so um so Dr Pan's handing it over to me at the moment um because before we get to school committee um comments or questions um I did want to give everybody a quick update um so knowing that increases we were looking at were as deep as they were um we called um for a chairs meeting U between Templeton philon and the school district um so that we could have another conversation following our our presentation to the town that was in February and you know what I will say is that it was it was a really positive meeting everyone was getting around the table everyone was you know kind of sharing sharing in this challenge that we all mutually have because this increase um in students is because of an increase in Residence and that increase in Residence creates other needs across our towns it's not just um hitting the school it's hitting our fire department it's hitting our police station Etc and um we needed to have a further discussion because um we really needed to to kind of come together because what the school district absolutely did not want to see was that any critical funding that would need to go to those I'm going to call them Safety Services Emergency Services was going to be used to meet our funding requests that said um what we did here um from from Templeton is that they could not imagine a scenario under which they could need all of our requests and so what um what they would like us to consider and what I will ask amarie to follow up with for our next meeting um is a scenario under which we cut down our asks to Bear gos so what does that mean so actually if I can ask the person who's controlling slides I'm not sure who that is um to go back to slide 20 just a so um you know Dr Cass Cass and I had a had a conversation about what does Bare Bones means Bare Bones means cutting that Monti Tech after dark teacher it's a program we really wanted it's a program the community really wanted as you heard it's a program that mly worked really hard to bring to the community that said it's not a program we offer today and so the first thing we looked at is the programs that don't even exist in our in our um school system so so that is one of the proposed cuts that we make the other um um is those ABA Paris for kindergarten this one hurts I know um because we've been wanting those we wanted those last year um we pushed them in the hopes that they would get funded this year um unfortunately what I will say is we did put all of our I'll say additional resources um so really was replacing Sr files but at the end of the day it was additional resources we needed to keep those positions we put them all towards the elementary school last year uh and so we needed we need to prioritize our high school and our middle school so that leaves three positions and really what we're hearing from those FS is they think they could do two they think they could do two of those which that this point would be one of our gr school uas and one at the high school level um so you know I mean there's no guarantees obviously we're we're still asking for additional monies we're still asking for a lot of monies um but you know this is what we're being asked to consider as a school committee and I will be honest that the the budget that we agreed upon in the financing facilities meeting was for to accommodate all of these positions now what I will say is that there was a broad recognition that what we're doing is continuing to kick this can down the road that is not what anybody wants to be doing I want to be really really clear um that there was a lot of you know frustration that that's what we're we're kind of doing every year um and a lot of questions asked about well what is the town doing you know we are hearing that the town is looking into um rezoning some areas um because you can only fund so much with residences um I don't know what that will look like or what that will mean I don't sit on those boards um we also know that they want to start having conversations about fiscal year 26 as soon as possible so their best is for more projections which is um as you heard Dr cavan's favorite um so that we can because we all recognize we need to have these conversations a lot sooner um that's difficult for a school to project um I laugh because I've learned over the past three budget Seasons just how difficult it is for the school to project I can't tell you the number of times people said me I just want a fiveyear projection I said well that's really difficult because the kids aren't even born yet who will be in the kindergarten that year so I don't know how you want me to project population growth um so so you know I realize that those are a lot of cuts to what's here um so what I am thinking in this moment is you know I I would like to see what the budget would look like with that one high school and that one Middle School teacher and I know that Dr cban just said that there really is no room but I'd also like to see I know that we were talking about putting money in like stabilization funds for example which I do not want to cut from but we also really need that second Middle School teacher um and so I know this isn't what anyone wanted to hear it isn't what what I wanted to sit at the table and talk to everybody about but I also can tell you that schools that go for overrides by themselves generally fail they don't they don't they are not successful when they go without the TOs um and I can also tell you that if we push for a budget that the town doesn't think it can afford we put ourselves in the position of going into 112 um which can be really harmful for our district um and mean that we don't get anywhere near the funding that we really need um so again not the news I want to be sharing um but I did want to be transparent with everyone about what was talked about at the chairs level um to share you know that our towns are are struggling um to make sure that they can spread that funding where it needs to be and we we absolutely we we need those safety services in the school um and the community needs those safety services so we cannot be the reason that that those are not funded so considering that um I would open it up to the school committee first um for any questions or comments Sean uh Dr casan uh is just more of a clarification for me we haven't actually hired any of these so I guess my question becomes there's no cuts on theable table currently right this is just positions that we will not have hired yet correct exactly okay okay thank you uh and then my second is um and maybe this is for the community because I was having a conversation outside here with a lot of people could you explain like level service and what the town is currently offering so that way there people understand versus the ask so that way their people understand what level of service means because that's a that's a phrase that not a lot of people are for right I should have been more clear level service literally is every staff member we have right now right so it's if level service is what we have right this minute then level service is providing a budget right that will just keep all the same number of Staff um in their positions so there'll be no ads ands right but but that's that is level services so as a followup if we didn't meet to level service then there would end up being cuts across that's that's exactly thank you I think it's helpful to point out that level Services doesn't mean that number of static that that cost increases of course it does yeah um everything else still goes up right so I you know we all know right insurance is um we have contracts teachers in our UFCW post we have you know so salary increases of course um there are those type of increases it's just that you're not adding additional staff to you know to you know add on to those numbers exactly thank you and that number is high so let me just be clear that when you look at this level service number I mean I'm not I mean you're still look at that it's it's you know it's an increase uh to Templeton for $668,000 in rounding um it's still it's $141,000 and rounding to philipon so it's still a lot of money other words it's still more is still more than you know it's still lot I should say me just ask so with the understand the level fund okay but some oppositions if I'm Notting are still grant funding positions okay yeah okay so there are several there are the uh nursing the nursing program and the entitlement Grant the title one Grant okay so how long are those go before they no longer funded do we have to reapply for these every year good question nursing Grant is good for the next uh it's a 10 year cycle 10 year Grant and we are we were going into year six so title one is that comes to it's based primarily onome students and we only know how to find that number out until July for June to July it's always late um but Title One is I would say is as healthy as you can get from a federal a federal it's a concern well you drop so low in terms of your low your low income that it it can start affecting you might not school L you might have to go into um are projected numbers for Title One Look slightly lower yeah so we don't we don't know those so you know we don't want to you know ring the bell bring the alarm cat had a question yeah also I also have questions about that because a lot of these houses that being built are very expensive they cost a lot of money we have people coming in with money so we're going to be lowering probably our poverty level right maybe I don't know with all the housing EVS coming in I want to know specifically about like classroom sizes what's our Max in this District per contract I would have to break it out and I don't I don't what if we go over there then it's a conversation with the we are we can't so we can't actually legally well there's no yeah so like a host these kids yeah it's a suggest we try very hard to keep the number below the numbers that are listed in the contract which I would have to read I head in front of me um but but you know generally speaking Yeah you don't want to over of course you be over 30 okay no one is at 30 but those those start getting to those rarified care numbers you start those are very very difficult to manage and just as a point of clarification because it's a contract level not a not a not a Desy legal level that we're talking about so there isn't one wow for for any grade I feel like is there's definitely legal levels for early childhood like accredidation doesn't have a required number yeah there's definitely there's a preschool preschool there are some Absolut has has some that I'm just asking I'm nervous about like our projected number what i suest is that rather than conjecturing about you know kind of what this is and what the specifics are we could absolutely cat ask for a slide for next time that details what's in the contract today and if there's any desie levels or some information on that um because I just want to make sure that we're talking in in in the facts and and what is um as opposed to you know talking about let's do that for time but it's a great question Sor sorry so like our our our classes increase right and we have kids that are very high needs and we have special ed with or whatever because we talked about the increase in most students in our district we also have requirements of teachers being able to meet standard scores right like they have to meet a certain score before a state steps in to then like basically slip us or wipe us out like I want to make sure that we don't like go below certain scores and State steps in to have to re like make us what we are already um I think what you're referring to the school account for some piles out with desie we were a little nervous last year with our um accountability score for tees we were below the 20 percentile um and I don't know if you can if you remember back to I think it's October or November when I presented our mcast update uh from last year's mcast scores um we were slightly above 20th percentile of the Tes based on the growth patterns from honestly it's one C- of students because the only cohor in that bil show growth our fourth grade because they don't have a growth pattern in third the first year they take assessment um so that's a concern but that um you know that's something we're working hard on we put a lot of data practices in place across the district so that we are um adjusting our instruction along the way so that we're not just waiting till that mcap score to figure out you know what students need um but that we we were alwayss from from that um but yes that would come from our test scores it wouldn't come from class size it wouldn't well I mean I feel like class side size would impact that that's what I'm saying is that that makes me nervous because a lot of kids need special um you know extra teaching specialized instruction and if you have 30 kids and one teacher and no parz you know where is that extra time coming from teachers outside time you know our other teachers volunteering like weekend time like you know what I'm saying and I'm only supporting our schools and our teachers for this reason of fing but yeah our staff our social education staff provide a lot of those services and we have what I need now win intervention block where teachers provide small group targeted instruction our elementary level um in our Middle School level we've had to as Dr C mentioned um you know mid year hire another fifth grade reading interventionist because we're out of compliance meeting services our needs or grow my um we have challenges filling the position um and then part of what we're proposing with this unified Arts literacy position is to help me that need as well um at our high school level we are we put in last year with some um Grant funds and after school tutoring program for literacy tutoring um that two of our teachers ran um and our teachers do a lot of work um in office hours outside school time you know connecting individually with students um and putting action plans in place to support um what they can for additional ration or support during the school day but it's it's hard it's hard work yeah um on slide three Dr C you mentioned something about probably not as relevant to this conversation just I got to understand what the Deferred cost of 269,000 and what do you mean by deferred does that mean we're just kicking that 269 later FR for that the special ed Department put in they brought back a number of students so for FY 25 our out District tuitions compared to FY 24 I'm actually going to be able to lower our outo district tuition by 269,000 well the 269,000 is the transportation for the out District students and I'm able to save 200,000 in tuitions because they're no longer of District they're in District got okay so it those two numbers put together gives our bottom line budget a savings of almost a half a million dollars that's fine I just he used the word deferred and I just defer makes me nervous yeah that that was like kind of like last year because like when they come back there's always a chance they could go out so there is technically a cost that could come with them so it's here but it is a possibility okay thank you the line is more just um a comment um this is my second year on the school committee last year is the first time that I participated in the budgeting process and I was genuinely surprised that um what we asked for because we absolutely needed it was something that we ended up having to go back and modify for the betterment of the town um because we knew that making sure that we maintained funding for all of the agencies in town was important um and when we agreed to do that I was confident that the towns understood that we had basic needs that were not met that we were deferring to for this year so once again we're in a situation where we know that the towns have tremendous burdens on them right now um but the most important asset that anybody has in this town is our children and we are once again faced with not being able to fund um our schools for the essentials we're not asking for things that are over these are things that we need to provide basic Educational Services for our kids um and I know that we're going to come back next week and we're going to look at a Bare Bones uh budget proposal it doesn't feel good I know needs to happen so what I'm I guess what I'm using my time to talk for is I'm putting a plea out to the people of both towns to make sure their voices are represented at town meeting and I know it's for my generation at least it feels like such an Antiquated process that we have to go to a town meeting and sit and listen and vote um but is the way that towns do think and it is important that you show up and that your voice is heard um because we cannot continue to to defer what we're asking for to fund the school district um we're getting ourselves into some pretty tough situations right now um and it has to be deed and it's not just the school it's the police department and the fire department it's every single agency in this town that needs the people of the phon and Templeton to step up and to have their voices represented at town meeting um so that we're not putting ourselves in a situation where the youngest community members are being impacted the most yeah so as many of you know I work for Commonwealth in high okay so I truly understand the cost of stretching a dollar I know what it takes to maintain a facility I know what it takes to hold together okay uh that said I'm also a taxpayer a homeowner and the head of a household so I also understand what it takes to keep your head above a law however I also understand what it would cost this District if we do not fund this budget alone over the past few years we had the significant increase in special in special ed enrollment 21.6% whiches 25 students or 25 IEPs okay in a single year think about that 25 additional special ed students in a single year Madam chair although I appreciate your request actually maybe not your request but it's still a request to eliminate the kyot in pars I feel this is simply not going I feel this is simply going to exaggerate the problems we're experienced we all understand or at least hopefully we understand that the cost of educating our students can be expensive however the real the reality is the cost of special programs special teachers special technology to help support these Special Needs students is extraordinary class size is very important to our community I've been hearing it for years for parents for years now it's in it's the number one concern I hear when I'm out in the community it was highlighted again in the poll of the district sent down in my opinion the request for additional Staffing to help maintain these class sizes is a must the triy program that we just talking about as Chris stated we were able to bring these students back we were able to attract or re reattach these students this is amazing and this is a great part of the supports that we've been able to improve throughout the years we we collectively district has been extremely creative and has worked extremely hard to get to the point where we are today and we are not done in order for us to maintain this District to continue to move this District forward and to support our students we all this committee this community and our partner town just support this budget as presented that's what I have thank you J it's a tough thing to face you know trying to figure out what we can Ure prce if we don't want to end up in that one 12 situation uh because I agree I agree that every single position we put on here is an essential position the you know I think last year You' heard me talk a lot about we don't ask for new bicycles we ask for underwear and socks um and I stand by that um so so if we can take a look at that and then I don't know if there's anything we can do to find Space Room for a third teacher but let's take another look next week and you know we will we will look at this together so as a committee decid Mo with that said um I do want to open up for uh public comment um public foot um before we do that I am just going to remind the folks who are here um that about just some of the uh policy around public comment um so as a as a reminder to everyone um any the following R rules and procedures are adopted um at the start of each regularly scheduled school committee meeting individuals will sign um or sign up for opportunity to speak during public comments the public comments segment shall not exceed 15 minutes all speakers are encouraged to present their remarks in neighor speakers will be allowed up to three minutes to present their material and must begin their comments by stating their name and City Town the presiding chair May permit extension of this time limit and extenda circumstances topics for discussion should be limited to those items within the school committee's scope of authority the authority of the school commit primarily concerns the review and approval of the budget of the district Public Schools the performance of the superintendent and the educational goals and policies of The District's Public Schools comments and complaints regarding School Personnel apart from the superintendent or students are generally inhibited unless those comments and complaints concern matters within the scope of the school committee Authority the chair of the meeting after a warning reserves the right to terminate speech which is which is not constitutionally protected because it constitutes true threats that are likely to provoke a violent reaction and cause a breach of the peace or excitement to imminent Lawless conduct or contains obscenities uh written comments longer than three minutes may be presented to the presiding chair before or after the meeting all remarks will be addressed through the chair of the meeting comments made during public comment portion of the meeting do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of the nanit Regional School District school committee um sign up instructions will be provided to those who wish to participate um so the source for that is our policies as well as Mass General law um Chapter 30 a-20 um so I did read well the portion of that that was specific to the actual comment um but I did want to open it up and see if anyone from the public would like to offer any comment this evening I think my name is B on the FR Longville Road um in Templeton Center um I have two children that attend this High School one is graduating this year um and then I have a sophomore um I'm very thankful to the things that were presented tonight because um it actually address some of my questions that I had and I'm very thankful to hear about that music teacher and I hope that's not the teacher that gets cut um I am also the um president of the at Performing Arts boosters um and um the music program and the arts program here at um the high school and middle school are very near and dear to my heart um my son who's graduating is going on to music school he hopes to do that in his professional life um his father hopes he makes money at it um but um I wanted to come and speak tonight because there have been some music things about um we had our meeting last night of our our boosters we have a monthly meeting um for the boosters we meet here in the library and um there was some things that were said about the music program um taking um a back seat to honors classes I was very happy to hear about the different honors classes um that were increasing U my daughter is in the pltw for biomed um and she loves it um um my son takes lots of achy classes and but obviously Music is More near and dear to his heart um but the expression uh the thing that was expressed at our meeting was that some of the um students were being counseled on next year's classes that they were going to take that they needed to prioritize honors classes Above music uh because they got money and which is why I'm presenting it to the budget committee that the school gets more money for more students enrolled in honors classes and the same is not true um I know this is heay but it it was a concern especially for those of us who support the new the Performing Arts programs um here in the district um so whether or not it's true it's what the students are bringing back to their parents um so that these students were discouraged from signing up for music class in L of um honors classes because it affected the budget and so that is a big concern um as as a parent of a student who's wants to go on and do music in in his life and he takes Hors devices he takes AP lies um and it's always been a struggle because I was very glad to hear about more AP classes being offered and more honors classes being offered because often times there's a scheduling conflict a CH a child wants to take a pltw class but it's only offered at the same time as the music class so to have more choices means hopefully that it's not GNA that conflict isn't going to arise um but to hear that students were being discouraged and this came directly from a parent in our in our in our meeting she confirmed what we heard from staff that it was being expressed to the children that it affected the budget nobody wants to affect the budget and I thought that was a terrible thing to put on the child um so um but like I said I am very glad to hear some of the priorities that were presented tonight and U I did have a question that maybe you can't um answer but maybe that's something of the chair's committee that could one thing I didn't hear here tonight was 40 new houses that is amazing well that's also 40 new tax revenues so why doesn't the town have enough money um and as far as the attendance at town meeting I remember when we did the budget override a few years that whatever years back that was um and it was defeated and it was very crushing and it was stied for those of us who were supporting it um and that town meeting was well attended because there was a lot of passion for getting that override going forward and I think that same passion gets lost in the yearly in andout of a budget um I work for Regional Transit authori so we too are dependent upon State budgets and um we're very thankful to the governor this year for actually supporting the transit authorities and from the state legislator supporting the transit authorities and giving us an increase that we haven't had in a very long time time we've suffered for many years under level funding so I completely understand for a school district to to have to suffer the same things which I you know transportation is very important and it's essential to workers and and children around the country but so is the education of the children um so to hear level funding is really hard and so I I don't know what recourse or push back we can do on the town or reminding them that there's all this new Revenue because because of these new houses um that if there's some way to maybe win that battle a little bit and I also and a kindgarten teacher and here with my other fellow kindergarten colleagues so I just want to share some of the struggles that we have every day in our kindergarten classrooms when we don't have extra support so for instance I'll start with safety so simple tasks such as unpacking a backp using the bathroom maneuvering around the classroom in our school is difficult with only one adult in the classroom we have children leave the building without anyone knowing have bathroom accidents not be able to get into the bathroom without assistance because the bathroom doors in our classrooms are really heavy at the beginning of the year they don't have strength to it um we have behaviors that are taking place in the classrooms and the teacher has to attend to those behaviors and while doing so other children in the classroom begin to have behaviors because the teacher does not have their eyes on them add two sets of eyes and every kindergarten classroom is necessary when you are dealing with kindergarten age children academic concerns kindergarten age children have an extremely short attention span trying to meet all student needs and give everyone help is very difficult with only one adult in classroom as kindergarten teachers we want to help all our students and make sure that they are all able to correctly hold a pencil for instance manipulate a pair of write his her name correctly and meet the Massachusetts common cor State Standards one example is teaching penber we have many students who need help to hold the pencil correctly uh this might sound like a simple task but when you have 20 or more kindergarten students and no help it's not we model practice our students how to pull the pencil and go around each table correct pencils get as soon as you leave one table go to the next those pencil grips are back to full fist meanwhile um and please understand that it's not because the teacher doesn't have control over the class or can't make their way around it's just because they're little and they need a lot of assistance we're losing a lot of time on learning um because we have to take time to deal with other things that may arise in the classroom for example phone ringing spills bathroom accidents nurse visits dismissals Wasing tables Etc um for example if we're teaching a lesson a child can't open the bathroom door we have to move away from the road to the bathroom help them open the door when we come back we got to regain the class's attention that's that's can be a struggle sometimes if we had a class par professional here or she can help either help the student that needs Assistance or they can take over right and keep the kids focused on what they need that we don't have to keep stopping and starting up again when we are in the middle of teaching we understand that the classroom par professionals job is not just to do simple tasks in the classroom when we're trying to teach kindergarten age children those simple tasks can easily interrupt the flow of our classroom very quickly and take time and then the social emotional needs of our students the training of procedures routines and expectations of behavior take place in kindergarten for many students it is the first time that many students have set foot in a school learning environment and everything needs to be taught retaught modeled over and over again setting these expectations in kindergarten helps the first grade teachers and Beyond to teach these students if we can't get those procedures routines and expectations down in kindergarten it does affect these students in years to come let's help our early childhood students now succeed not later on thank you thank you all for everything you do we really appreciate it and again the big concern from this side of the table is just as you said if if they don't get them basic learning skills in kindergarten it's just going to compound as they years we hear it from our phone call going up Tri I just wanted to address the four of you um so when you so eloquently delivered your um speech there you started by saying uh what happens in a classroom when you don't have extra support you're not asking for extra support you're asking for just support extra would imply you are already being supported um any kindergarten teacher they were interviewed for a position and they heard there's no par in the classroom they would they would leave so the fact that that you guys are here and I know there's support going in and out um we cannot lose you we cannot lose you um you're asking for the bare minimum to support children in your classroom um and I applaud them for everything you do every day you are literally super hero I don't know how five and six year olds the way that you do but thank you anything closing all right so with that said um we will close tonight's PR preliminary budget hearing so I'd entertain a motion to close the hearing motion by Han second by Heather um all in favor opposed abstained and I say yes um so the budget hearing is closed um so moving into our final areas of business um I don't believe there was anything not reasonably anticipated um school committee comments is there anything that's outside of budget I just want to be clear we're done with budget so there's any school committee comments that were outside of budget um anything that anybody wanted to add the only thing I wanted to add it was because I missed the last meeting was um and I wish the cheerleaders were still here the camp that they ran over February break was phenomenal and they had such a good turnout and they did such a wonderful job um it was awesome to see the older warriors with the younger Warriors and it's those types of things are what keeps kids here absolutely okay yes of course sorry wanted to highlight this bnie said it so quick in her public comments but the um longstanding music boosters um deliberated a lot this year about the definition of their organization and the scope and you know they realized that a lot of these families who were in music they were also in Color Guard theater um you know that really they were those parents were supporting all of the Performing Arts um he against it so they um in in um inducting all their new leadership and and kind of refreshing organization they decided that they redrafted their bylaws and have retitled themselves the Performing Arts boosters for a can so as a theater parent I want to say thank you for including thank you for including us because they were just kind of hanging out there in WS um you know cheerleader to keep them involved else so I'm gonna move into some committee um reports what I am going to ask is that since this is a longer meeting um and I do know that we need Executive session tonight um if everybody can try to try to do the two to three bullet points um for each of the subcommittee updates um just to hit each thing on a high level um finance and Facilities I think you've heard pretty much everything we have to say um so I'm going to move into District Operations and I think your meeting was rescheduled till next so we're going to try to find um a time but not next week the following week okay to schedule it great um Labor Management committee any updates um Sean um we met y great um with the N was able to resume meetings and just wake up that conversation and keep it going which is vital yeah and I and I know we had a a very positive WC meeting with UFCW as well um so again keeping those meetings going keeping the conversation going um all of which are are key to making sure everybody El supp so shaa how about cack update um quick update is next meeting is April 1st 6m here in nth Library great um cat how about PTO okay uh I didn't read this normally like I do so let me think for a second um we're opening a new account for PT we are going to get a second signature um we have a new fundraising out uh which is Square One Arts we are hosting ice skating on April 6 possibly from three to five it hasn't been totally confirmed but yeah it's going to be up up to 300 people can attend um at a time um we're going to have Carnival math night possibly on May 7th from 5: to 7: 3K through 4 and it's going to definit be here because of um space and staff appreciations coming up and our next meeting is April 2nd at 5 um I am the Leon to student advisory Council um so we had our meeting last month our next meeting will be the next meeting I will attend I should say they they meet every month next meeting I will attend is in April um and we will be talking about Athletics and how much it takes to post a game um and you know ticket fees and kind of just doing we're we're using them as sort of overall educational um sessions to kind of help them dig into what are some of the things that school committee does and what's in our purview and what they care about um and how does it connect to the things that they care about so so that's what April session will be um how about legislation anything Bo I'm dropping the ball with this one so off the top of my head um I know know that coming up there'll be a lot of talk about the thrive in the future of Nast for graduation requirements um my world lately has been anything legisl legislative related is kids at school talking about the ban on Tik Tok that's all I have to report great thank you everyone and thank you for the quick summar there just you know being considerate of time um so we do have a couple pieces of Correspondence um this week so I will um read those out Mak sure um so the First Communication we have is from krina um and I apologize F okay thank you um Katrina says hi I wanted to reach out to you all about the current nrsd policy no is it all to not allow any eighth graders um to play high school sports I am unsure who SS the policy or how the policy changed currently there will be no JB softball team even though the middle school teams for the past two years had many students try out that should translate to a strong program I can speak to how keeping the eighth graders down affected my child and some of her friends last year the middle school team team had 17 or so kids even after making cuts which means many sat the bench at the same time there was a JB team that didn't have a pitcher and led to frustration for girls at the JB level many choosing not to come back to play because of the lack of players the year before the eighth graders didn't have the playing time they could have had and could have helped on the J team this year many of the eighth grade girls have decided not to play some because there will be no JB team I know that one of my younger daughter's friends didn't even try to play because she told me she knew she wouldn't make the team because there was so many eighth graders I don't understand why surrounding schools are able to have some eighth graders play Middle School While others play high school why can't we adopt the same type of policy to include the most number of kids thank you so much for the information about this and then the other letter was related to the same topic um sender was uh Shelly I don't have a last name um this one says hi you like to have a meeting with you regarding JB softball I know another parent has reached out to you the numbers are low this year other schools let a graders play the numbers are low we would like to know who made this rule thank you um so what I what I can just share in this moment is that this has been um referred to Dr casan and Dr casan is planning to meet with these parents this is not something that would typically fall under school committee um so uh he's going to meet with the parents um so we we've referred it to the superintend so I just want to make sure everybody knew that since I know that everyone on the school you did was okay so um the next uh meeting will be held on Wednesday March 21st at 5:30 p.m that will be our budget hearing um our bu hearing will take place at 6 o' p.m. um sorry Thursday you're correct that I forgot found something I didn't edit Susan uh thank you for the corrections Thursday March 21st um at 5:30 pm um and we are going into executive session um so I would entertain a motion to enter into executive session as per Mass General Law chapter 381 number to discuss strategy to Collective baring oration an open meeting may have AAL effect on the arting or position of the chair so declares meeting not return is by Heather second by Jack R call Sean I and yes I yes um so the meeting ISJ thank you everyone appreciate your