so I'll call to order this meeting of the somerset Berkeley Regional school committee at 6:02 p.m. due notice having been posted pursuant to the open meeting law any person may make an audio or video recording of this public meeting or may transmit the meeting through any medium attendees are therefore advised that such recordings or Transmissions may be made whether perceived or unperceived by those present and are deemed acknowledged and permissible we'll do a roll call of members present Mr fens Maker Miss Ashley present Miss Ferrera present Mr Mado present Miss O'Brien present Mr Vieira present Miss Kettle present um and the chair is present also with us this evening it's our superintendent of schools Mr Jeffrey skover our director of business and finance Mr Ron Taro and our director of special education Miss Megan Ashton um along with our recording secretary Robin car could I ask you if you're able to please stand for the question I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all thank you everyone um the next regularly scheduled meeting of this body will be on Tuesday May 21st 2024 in the somerset berky Regional High School library right here I want to um extend a welcome to um Miss Ashley who uh new appointed rep from the somerset school committee welcome back Mr M thank you and um not really welcome back but miss ferera is now the one of the elected members of the um Regional school committee so welcome to everyone um and I'll just note too that we will reorganize the committee at our uh meeting in May following the Berkeley Town elections okay the first item on the agenda this evening under student teaching and learning is a report from our student Representatives Brian VI and Ali K oh good evening everyone so just to start off with a few things regarding academics um so starting the week of May 6th through the second week of May 17th that is the week of AP exams so up until this point students and teachers have been working hard to prepare for those two weeks of exams so I know most exams are on the Monday Wednesday and then I think there's some on the Tuesday for uh some virtual High School classes um as well and then upcoming this week's um Thursday and Friday there's a performance of Mean Girls um Thursday and Friday will be at 700 p.m. and then Saturday there's performance both at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. as for spring Sports we have basb softball tennis track and Lacrosse and as far as I know lacrosse is enjoying their new opportunity to play uh clubs an extra curriculars we have the DECA Club leaving this Friday for Nationals in Anaheim California um and the career fair also happened last week and we've had lots of positive feedback about the and then so I'll talk a little bit about what I know about um something that is an event for juniors tomorrow called credit of Life the credit for life so we had a presentation on it yesterday so I'll talk a little bit about what I know still a little confused but we we'll work through it so credit of life is an event for juniors that's sponsored by Bay coost Bank it essentially teaches students um how to go through healthy Financial practices so you'll go from so you're given a software program on your Chromebook and you select what your uh what occupation you're looking at so you'll select uh your occupation and it'll give you like a a base salary um uh credit like a give it will assign you a credit score and then you'll go through stations like buying a car bu um buying a house renting an apartment and then it will throw like uh Rainy Day events at you and you'll have to try to budget through that so that's tomorrow um for an hour and a half during period a so all students that are in their Wellness class or um I think it's a any Wellness class will report to the gym during Peri day for an hour and a half for for that event um so that that'll be exciting something new I think I think um that'll be beneficial and that is all all we have for today thank you very much does anyone have any questions question I just I wanted to know uh if you went to career day how how that went yeah so I was actually um impressed for the first year having a career fair having the I think it was 48 or 52 something in that in that range um it it was very beneficial to see the different aspects of um what each professional and each different profession goes through on the day-to-day basis um so it's definit definitely beneficial to see that wide range of options I don't know do you agree with that yeah I do I I thought it was really well organized fantastic thank you fabulous thank you both lots of good things happening and the sun is shining okay the next item on the agenda is to consider approval of the HOSA future health professionals trip to Houston Texas on June 25th through 29th and I think little is here to give some I over here wh you're okay perfect um first before I start I just wanted to ask if anybody got the little pamphlet that I emailed out faul I'm going to leave extra copies here just in case anybody needs some um those of you who haven't met me yet my name is Lindy Littlefield I am a Project Lead the Way teacher here as well as a hosta advisor I do want to take a second to acknowledge Grace twey who actually joins me today and Ryan ver who was actually both HOSA members Grace Tweety is actually the first place winner in HOSA in the pharmaceutical science so very proud of her she's one of the people that will be benefiting from this program and specifically today so thank you for joining me um so I am here today to discuss Health occupation students of America we always compete at a state conference this is an opportunity for students to work with other peers and health professionals and really explore health careers it's a really great alignment tool with the project leadway program we have have here at the high school and we actually compete in different pharmaceutical and Science and medical Endeavors on a national and international level the only people who ever get to compete though are the people who qualify at States and that's very difficult to do this year we had three people qualify Grace placing first in her field and then we had a team of two that placed second place which is Nate melow and Jasper Troutman so we have three students who are well qualified in going on to International presenting our SCH which I think is so cool it's hard to get there I competed in HOSA when I was you guys' age and I only got there once out of like my four years so it's very difficult to do this um with that being said though I am asking for not only approval for the trip upon contingency of your approval you know once you get the paperwork which is actually heading your way this week um but I'm also asking for support in funding this is a very expensive trip students do pay for it themselves HOSA is a smaller chapter in Massachusetts it's not the key other states where they actually pay for those winners to go to Internationals we have to pay ourselves and we're a small chapter here at sprs and we're growing but this is how we have to grow our chapter and how we grow our project lead program so I'm asking for your support and some dues that we do have to pay one of them being the national fee which is $90 for students to compete that is just the straight out comp competition showing up to the conference it pays for their meals their lunches and their dinners at the conference as well as the social Gatherings that they have where they get to interact with medical professionals across the world in addition I'm asking that you pay for the hosta uniform Blazer that is a uniform that is specific to the International Conference it is required of the students to have the blazer with the embroider album on it if they don't have it they risk getting kicked out of the conference and I don't want our students to have that experience and then lastly the trading pins which are a little bit less expensive they're only $40 but this is a fun way for students to actually interact with other students internationally it's a part of the host of competition that during the free time and when they get to go to the conference and just relax they actually go up to one another and trade their state pins we have to purchase those pins I would love if our students could go with 50 pins and be able to meet one person from every state at minimum um and trade pins with everybody it's so great networking tool any have any questions so what was the total per student yeah so the total per student I apologize the total per student with would be $228 and then with $200 for towards travel so it would be about $448 per student equaling up to 1,284 Total completely and what was what portion of that were you asking us to consider I am asking to consider to supporting us with $1,284 upon approval okay what's the total cost though I think that's the oh I'm sorry the total cost per student without any assistant is 2 328 with your support that brings the total per student with your support down to ,900 so our goal is to get it down to 1300 we also have a fundraiser coming up called kiss the seniors goodbye the students will be selling Cy kisses with like little candy grams so we're working our way towards getting that price but if we could just lower a little bit to allow the students the opportunity to finance and maybe fundraise a little bit more close the gap between the price and the eligibility to go Mr Michelle so today you're you looking to have us fund 1,200 and 12 what was the amount again uh 1,284 84 student no total toal total I can pass this your way too um and the price breakdown is on page five all right and that's the $90 for the national fee $998 for the Blazer and $40 for the pins yes so it ends up being 228 per student that I'm asking um at minimum and then there's the additional 200 for travel to Def travel to Def just to assist I was wondering where that is so that's okay yes so the 228 is the actual like the three things that they desperately need for this trip I'm asking that you go above and beyond and donate additional $200 just per travel these students work so hard they're part of Project Lead the Way program they staying after school this is not something that we designed during class and they're in class and they get a for it this is they're spending time after school studying working hard learning skills Grace for example was after school every day with me for like two weeks it felt like and she was Dawning her gloves putting on her scrubs counting out medicine learning how to actually prescribe a medication something that's not specifically aligned with pltw but it takes it one step further in our curriculum and that's going to set her up for her future she's been now in the field essentially pharmaceutical science so now Grace will know if she wants to go into that field or not she's had that exposure and that experience and she's met professionals question miss Andrew if I may add something uh earlier this year I did apply for an innovation Pathways Grant um and the grant which uh we did receive uh funds are to support um our biomed and cyber security innovation Pathways programs mostly with uh equipment and professional development but I did include uh $1,750 specifically to support students to attend this conference knowing that uh we had the the first year success last year and if I'm not mistaken Ryan you attended right and did Allison you okay so um so we do have the 1750 which I just informed Mr Littlefield prior to this meeting that we had that money there um so that that is already going to help alleviate uh some of the cost here and that number was not included in my little informational graphic I just found out about it today so I apologize for not including it but that is your fault I truly appreciate though and it's such a huge help so I I just have a couple of quick questions regarding the blaze this is more for Mr schoonover regarding the the decer blazes how do we is that something that we purchase for the students or is that something that is my only concern uh about you know if we find the Blazers for this I'm glad that you have the grants so I'm glad that that's because that was a part where I was struggling the national fees the pins um it's just that I have to try to keep as a school Committee Member what's you know we did it for the DECA that we paid them for the registration fees so the only thing that I'm struggling with is the are the Blazers so if that's something that you can use that ,750 plus that would be great CU do you mind if I elaborate a little bit upon that uniform just to fill in some blanks cuz I know if you're not part of HOSA it's always like it's foreign land you're like who is this what is what even is HOSA um so HOSA is actually designated they want the state competitors to actually wear these blers as well because Massachusetts is so small and because we're still starting our FR chapter we are exempt from that for the next couple years because we're a new chapter however I will say that when we go to you know our state competition and everybody's in the Blazer and we're standing it's almost a little like upsetting and frustrating and sometimes it's a way of feeling left out so my goal with these Blazers is actually while we're purchasing three this year I've talked to the students and they're actually going to donate them back upon after the conference so that way we can use them next year and my goal is that throughout more people coming into this program qualifying for Internationals that we start building up that wardrobe and that wardrobe would just stay property of the school and the students would borrow it that's different now that's my goal now it's more like School uh uniforms for sports that's yeah that's a whole other issue now because you know the DECA I know with students keep them I believe at least in my knowledge so now it's now we're back to the sports now I can support that again okay knowing that I'm glad to give us more information yes I apologize but yes that I think that works best for not only you but also for the students because once they graduate there's not necessarily much use for a hosta uniform with the emblem on it but it would be useful for incoming freshman and whatnot going I just have question about the grant so the grant uh is there a certain date by which the funds have to be expended June 30th of this okay so it's and are there and I'm assuming that this would be the last um need for those funds like I don't know if there's anything beyond Nationals or uh no this is the highest level you can go and host so this is international so it's not just Nationals it's there's actually um a group from China that's coming okay great so Internationals highest you can go so there's nothing that would occur the three days between this conf just making sure okay can I clarify then would it make sense um to um for the committee separate from the grant to cover the national fee the uniform in the pin which would be $228 per student which would be I think consistent with how we have supported similar groups in the past and then perhaps use the 1750 for the grant to defay travel is that same sens okay any other questions all right let's see if I can put that in my um in that case then I would um entertain a motion to approve um let's see $228 per student um for the to attend the host of International Conference um to cover the national fee the uniform fee and the pin fee and um I don't even know if you need this but then to authorize Mr schoonover to use their remaining funds in the grant of $1,750 to offset um travel costs can i m change the motion don't mind um because I think the original motion the original proposal was for $1,284 and I'm assuming that includes the $200 correct yes so it I don't know where the 228 um oh per 228 per student flip the page five yeah I have a oh I apologize but the two I'm just trying to still you have three students right yes at 228 that comes out to 600 correct that's the travel 600 so originally you had $200 for each student correct additional y yes correct so now because I'm the numbers were still off for me all right so in that case I like to make a motion um that we take care of the national fees the pins and the uniform Blazers that will continue to be property of the school um for a total of $684 and do we need to make a motion for I don't think we do it's a grant so that would be that would be all right second the motion by Mr Mado and seconded by Miss Ashley any further discussion hearing none all those in favor I I opposed so voted thank you so much thank you thank you fabulous work thank you um the next item on the agenda this evening is to consider pre-approval of a 2025 student trip to Costa [Applause] Rica thank the last STP to in yes know it feels not that I don't I do care it's not going to question [Laughter] I don't know if you want the digital presentation everything in the packet is what we have in the presentation if it's easier just go over the paper the only uh difference is we corrected the 2 am uh double talk in the uh in the packet on our we were supposed to have a student representative from our last trip here but I don't know what happened it's part of her project but I did include the link to her presentation uh inside the electronic copy that you guys go so um I don't know how crunch you guys offer time if you want me just to streamline or if you want me to go through the whole presentation want to occupy your time as much but stream work sure much much of what we have to say is the same as last time we just so for those that for you those of you that were on the board uh last uh last time um we are coming back from covid and we're looking to uh do our travel programs again this year we just came back from um Portugal and Spain uh and to try to keep with our regional 5year uh plan that we had prior to covid and then the world you know shut down um we wanted to run this year's trip see how it went and then we going to try next year's trip to the Costa Rica and then come back with another fiveyear plan with the hopes that won't cause pandemic and that way students students um will know freshman year what trips to expect so parents can save money in us so um we decided to do uh South American again we've done the goop G before uh then uh this year we went to Europe and then uh we're looking to go back to South America one of our destinations from our fiveyear uh plan was uh Peru Peru there was too much political unrest right now so we decided um you know we were talking about possible uh Italy trip we next year it's going to be a jubilee year um and the way that April vacation Falls uh with easer we're just concerned with um you know issues in uh Italy so we went with the Insiders um tour of Costa Rica and the reason why we went with this one is uh the kids are able to Merc in the culture of uh Costa Rica uh as well as get to see the um you know the the rainforest and experience the rainforest uh but some of the feedback that we got from our trip this time around is that there was some some people felt like there was too much downtime so we went with a traditional Costa Rican trip where you have the science and the nature part as well as the cultural in integration and where is more um organized and the kids are more involved in act more activities while we're down there so um like all our other uh trips that we've been on this is going to be linked up with a one credit class that the students will when they come back um they'll share their uh travel experiences and present either at our Multicultural week our uh elementary schools middle schools um and or to you or to the school Community if like uh Mr G would you like to uh go over the uh it so when we do South America um we leave uh very early in the morning so it's like a 2 am. departure from the school we go up to Logan Airport um we requested to leave on the Saturday uh of school vacation uh so it's not taken away from the kids uh school time but that does fluctuate sometimes either Friday or Saturday um we don't do the uh booking of the flight so it's one of those things just to keep in mind but we did request a Saturday departure date which would go Saturday to Sunday and like Mr taba said and Miss Karo we did kind of highlight the Spain Portugal trip recently during multiculture week uh the students who went on the trip not only wrote essays and uh did various projects but they also presented to their fast f during Multicultural week so we had we had a good time with that and it's um great to see their perception um of the trip um and they all took different themes be it food or um architecture or or just the music and it it was a really great time and was nice to see the students reflect on the trip as well so I'll just briefly go through our itinerary uh we're going to leave from Boston to San Jose where we'll meet the tour guide and then we're going to move to San Carlos where we're going to focus on there is a craft project one of the highlights from our last trip that the students really liked was the engagement on some of the the tasks we had as a class uh we we did a a tile project and we had a a dance lesson which was two great flamco dancers are right there so if you ever need a flamco lesson there you go there is a video out there I haven't seen it but I don't want to see it so day two we do get a craft workshop and then we're going to visit our school as well so our students will get a chance to practice their Spanish firsthand not only throughout the the trip but also in a a school in Costa Rica and then we'll have a nice view of the volcano as you can see in the picture there day three we're going to move and this trip like our two chaperons or our group leaders were telling us this intense trip uh we're going to move to the the river for a nice boat trip um in San Carlos and then day four is Monte ver uh we take a bus there and then they do have a horseback uh ride day five is also in the mon region um and they have uh some they call them Canopy Tours and they raised canopies and the hanging Bridges um up to the Jungle there uh so we're looking forward that and then later in the day we also have a cooking lesson uh day six it says Beach right there it's at a national park um you know it didn't look like your I don't know if you call it like a five star uh Beach but uh we'll be um they're going to do some snorkling that day so we'd like the kids to know how to swim for this trip uh day seven uh is another National Park the Manuel Aton National Park and then we moov to San Jose before departing back to the United States and then just to point out the on day five the hanging Bridges the purpose of the hanging Bridges is um when you have the ecologist going up in the canopy uh studying the wildlife and biodiversity in the canopy um so those are actual uh research station uh hang Bridges uh that we' be going on I can't see that all right so um what's included nice over um so what's included in the trip so the round trip flights are included um just like last time we we're going with acis who is um they're a wonderful tour company to go with roundtrip flights um with motor coach while we're there um there's no trains we won't we won't be on trains until Street I don't think so we're going to get that one off there I'll I'll just uh speak real quick about that um they try to keep the uh buses down so we're looking we're aiming uh more for 15 to 25 kids to this trip um if we do get more they can uh handle that amount but it's a small motor coach uh you know because the trails and the regions that will be traveling okay um we'll be staying in three to four um star hotels they'll be centrally located unlike the um European hotels they're probably a little more remote so when we're there in the evening we're there in the evening so the kids will have to bring stuff to do at night and we'll have activities for them we won't be going off for gelato or mcdonals or anything like that um they will be eating Regional style meals there it has actually been made clear by acis so we'll be eating a lot of rice and beans and Seafood and Meat breakfast and dinner is included lunches are not the kids have to pay but they will bring BR us to a place that is safe for them to eat um guided sight seating is included all of the bridges everything is included um any entrances that we have and um acis does offer 24-hour emergency services and one thing I want to point out with the travel company that we are going with this is going to be our third trip well fifth trip inside District uh with acis both student and adult trips that we've run um but we're very comfortable this company we change companies after issues that happened with uh Co with EF Tours um and just for peace of mind even though we're going um not in the outback but more uh rural areas uh they still V out the restaurants and the eating places that the students will eat um you know see this all the time with other um you know towns in one of the towns in Massachusetts that actually just came back from Costa Rica they had an issue with that where uh they weren't bringing the kids to the vetted uh you know eateries and so on so that's one of the benefits with this company and we really do trust this company because we explained to you last year that after Co they changed their insurance policy and we did have a few people who actually had to use it so if they up their insurance what's like3 $400 if they up their insurance they can cancel up to 4 days before for any reason at all and we did have a few students who had to back out and they did get their money I'm not saying it's easy to get your money there's a lot of for but they did get all of their money back we had the student thatb back that day so and we got the full amount minus the uh Insurance yeah it was less than four days and that person actually got it to so um can you go to the next slide MRP pricing uh yeah so the uh trip pricing is 4250 in even though that is uh higher um we we do have some uh scholarship opportunities through ACI uh you know students book so if we do get the permission to go ahead tonight uh we'll startop the uh planning for the student parent meeting uh to happen in uh early May um and then they're also offering us a 30-day risk-free uh so if a student signs up regardless of the insurance policy that they get they're running a 30-day um kind of piece of Mind where if they decide you know what it's just not for us it's too close what have you uh they can get their money back and in that price the tips are actually also included so we don't have to ask the students for any more money yeah so it includes the prices uh for the roundt trip airfare uh the motor coaches the only thing that we would be responsible for and we've done uh fundraising in the past is the transportation from um the school up to the uh airport and back uh sometimes that's been covered by uh fundraising if we've done it or sometimes uh some of the chaperon um will uh kick in for that uh these links uh you have the electronic copy but I did want to point out the student Civics project uh Ava Caruso she's a junior she actually came with us to um uh Spain and Portugal trip uh she did some background research um for uh for the trip and she actually uh asked students their feedback with you know how many you know the percentage that would be uh interested going on the trip so if you check out her uh presentation I also included her slides on this as well uh in the back um where she couldn't be here because of the play uh but I did want to share some of her stuff uh the other stuff that's there is just you know the general things uh in case you had any other questions um uh undergraduate credit student credit is uh students can link up with um usually it's Southern New Hampshire University for us uh they can get uh college credit for their uh their trip and their experience based on uh some um produci that they would uh submit uh the travel scholarships uh through the um through acis uh that link there uh one is an sa contast one of them is uh need based and then also where um the only free trip that we take or Kickback let's say that we get is the group leaded gets a free trip we try to bring as many shop owns as possible so it's a sliding scale so like even though they'll give you a free trip for the group leader it gets uh brought out to the chaperons and we can also roll it down into students uh if there's somebody with like a very high uh you know wanting to go but you know a big Financial uh issue I mean we do definitely recognize that it's a lot of money to go on these trips and this kind of trip isn't going to speak to everyone uh mainly a because the location and some of the ruggedness involved uh but also you know the financial uh um cost that associate with it so we we we do want to recognize that you know um it is a pricee trip um but this company is really good with uh the experiences that they give the kids and again this is why we'd be coming back for another Five-Year Plan where we can kind of plan ahead with the kids because this isn't for like you said this isn't for everyone the last trip that we went on was more about sightseeing and history and architecture and it was kind of slower paced this is more for the adventure type of a kid who doesn't mind hanging Bridges and walking through jungles and Little Critters running around so if you can't tell like Miss Kamar rjo it was like a hard cell to her like where I'm like yeah let's go and get it but you know she wants to kill me but that's I don't like Critters that's my wife the last when we went to the galpagos years ago um Mr gleon did not tell me but there was a picture of a snake underneath me while we were snorkling and they didn't tell me to like go back which was a very good thing I probably would have if I can do it any um but at this point we'll open up any questions that you guys have well I I'll have one you addressed it in some way but the cost of the trip it looks like a great trip and I'd love to be on it but um I'm more concerned about students that maybe couldn't or their families couldn't afford these you know you know how do you how are you doing that to no that's a great question I mean ideally comes down to fundraising uh one thing I I do want to point out like all the shaon pay for their trips all right it's coming out of our pockets as well um so we definitely know the burden of of finances is going on this but um it's if the kids are willing to do fundraising we do as many fundraisers uh as possible that we can like car washes you know the restaurant nights uh last time around we did a plan boil which brought in uh a good amount of money and so on um they they get um social media apps links where uh people can donate they can do fun you know fundraises through social media as well um it's one of those things that you know you're always at that conundrum of do you offer trips like this to the student body knowing that you know some people will never be able to afford it or do not offer it at all and we we want to try to offer it and see you know is there a way that you know some students might be able to go out and you know kind of get money for themselves you know through fundraising or looking at different organ gations like so when I was in Junior Achievement in high school um going out to Indiana for our International Conference I I hit like you know the anets Post 72 uh they helped cover my costs as well as um one of the uh the Leos of the liance club at the time so it kind of put me out of my comfort zone and made me kind of ask an approach and kind of present so because I know my parents could afford it so I mean it's tips like that that we talk about as well as you know fundraising um we usually go with what the kids want to do though for fundraising sometimes you'll have kids that know we're all at we're going to find our own financing or you know um but we're there for them if if you know they need adult help uh you know uh do the fundraising the other uh thing that when we've had this kind of question in the past we had to research domestic trips uh one of the members at the time wanted domestic trips why are we just doing International and our point is uh we're trying to hit places that maybe you know family wouldn't necessarily all go together as a vacation you know kind of expose them to that kind of trip um when we did cost out um a it was the umos no not colos the Arizona Grand Canon yes yes uh Grand Canyon trip and it was the price wasn't a huge difference between international travel and domestic so that's why we're still staying with the international so again like to wrap up like we we definitely were cognizant of the prices and people will definitely be alienated by it unfortunately but we still want to offer it thank you any other questions so the price that I see on here I know you said that lunches are not included so is that in addition to this 4,000 that they would we usually have them bring some spending money but to be perfectly honest with you when we went to the gath it's a little bit different when we went to Europe because we had so many things readily available but we had kind of had the kids trained please eat a big breakfast a large breakfast and they weren't really hungry for the rest of the day and we also had the kids pack snacks and then like for the Glo otion like for this trip here we would bring extra snacks as well um a lot of times when we do uh fundraising or sometimes we've got like contributions in the past with uh some of the chaperon uh spouses what have you have given us spending money to bring for the kids uh to basically kind of compensate for the for the lunches and some and and the galpagos we actually all took our fidget to lunch we all we all had designated groups and we all we went to a real nice place too the toe Guy brought us there and we ended up Hing for lunches because we want them to have a real good meal and it's one of those things it kind of goes back to what Mr offense maker had asked before you know sometimes kids you saw in the this last trip they spent all their money like the first day and then you see them like Hey we're going to go here and they're like you know everybody was offered stuff with no you know giving you know I think we have a great group of chaperon and they're very generous so Mr M what happens if you have a student that yes I am daring I'm able to do and then you find out it's like a George Austin gets on top of the bridge and he's not Crossing and the reason why is I'm going to pick on my niece Ava kuso you know this is the kid I used to wait in line for a water slide and next thing you know I'm walking her down so I'm just wondering what is the plan there are alternative activities so with all of the chaperon we could have we're not going to make anyone I'm going to be honest with you if there's zip Landing I'm not doing it so I will be on the ground with the kids um but there's always something for us something else for the kids to do or we could just take pictures yeah um we're not going to make them do anything they don't have to do the bridges or the zipline or the horseback riding um in the gagos I think everybody swam some people that um my nephew for example unfortunately had a bloody nose and like you know he freaked out because you know there's shars in the water and it's like hey kid I'm the one bringing you back to the boat here you know like you know what your nose um but so the poor kid he like I mean he did get to sit on a boat and eat those cookies the whole time so like I mean who who benefited there but um ultimately uh it's like uh misso said uh all the activities we do have the option of if kids you know are afraid of heights or you know they have the um uh they get to that point they can either come down um and then do alternative activities and in a lot of those countries they divide you up anyway um when we were in the gpos we had to divide into our groups so this group was doing this activity while this group was doing another activity and there was one activity that what my group actually had missed because of the boat the boat BR down so um there's always something else for them to do but um when I was in Peru I was doing the teacher project in Peru over the summer um we did hanging Bridges uh in the Peruvian green for and one of the people that was with us she was actually the last in line and she just couldn't move off the platform she was definitely afraid so then one of the GU split up took her down and then took her to the rally point you know the the headquarters where we were going to sleep that night so same kind of situation how that would handle it questions so just um to clarify so your target is about 15 to 25 students um and if I can count so we've got about 10 months if we would approve this tonight till the trip which is a pretty good amount of time for fundraising and planning um they usually just to correct that though um the bills I do usually November December is okay so um we could still fundraise after the fact and then they get the money back uh kind of that okay okay if there are no questions I would entertain a motion to approve the student trip to Costa Rica planned for February 14th through 22nd um potentially 13th um 2025 motion by Miss Ferrer and second by Miss O'Brien any further discussion hearing none all those in favor I opposed so voted thank you we'll see you a year from now I guess um just out of curiosity if we go forward with the uh five-year program would you prefer it this year or would you prefer us presenting next year or like when is the best time you think for that or does it not matter I know you're in budget season right now and there's a lot of decisions to be made I don't want to occupy your time but I also want to try to plan out for the kids as much as possible my attitude is always best earlier than later because of that one particular reason you now you have eighth graders who are coming up that they can already think about you know this is an opportunity that you have in the school so okay it would be great before e8th grade night yeah great thank you very much thank you so much you sure you don't want to go thank you every much uh the next item on the agenda is recognition of our March Visionaries um the committee would like to commend torren eser Brooks independent Claire Gloucester digital citizen Connor haey resilient Leland osari respectful Grace kayata Digital citizen Brady monis academic Jeet Patel academic and Jacob poo empathetic congratulations to those students for their excellent work the next item on the agenda under business and financial is presentation of the audit report overview for year end June 30th 2023 and we welcome Anthony roselli CPA for that presentation we'll be participating via Zoom see hey Tony can you hear us can you hear me yes we can can you hear us hello hello can you hear us can you hear me we can hear you yes okay I can hear you now feel like I'm that little animal back of the car dash how's everyone doing great good how are you T good good good so um so Ron um do you want me to share the screen or with the angel or do you want to do that or it whatever is easier for you if you want to share it then you can drive to it and switch a Swip flip to the pages you want to go through we'll give you sharing options do do you want to flip through it just in case yeah okay sure we could do that sure I remember last sh had in so so Tony this is a generic account and I'm not logged in so all right let me please tag your in all right so if I so I'm GNA be able to let's see where are we okay can everybody see that yes yes okay perfect all right so my name is Tony roselli and I'm the partner of the um the account for the audit of the uh Summit at Berkeley Regional School District I don't know uh if there are any new school committee members so just doing that for their benefit and um we completed the audit uh few months ago um got everything done ahead of the deadlines got everything submitted to your bond people your debt people the single audit um everything basically got done so now we're here kind of to do to kind of do this this presentation so what I'd like to do is go through the um more important Financial uh areas and then uh if you have questions um feel free to ask uh those questions and we uh we can go from uh we can go from there so uh one of the things I'll noted before I even start into the numbers is that the uh the district has done very well addressing um the fin that we've had for the last uh several years and we haven't had anything like overly um significant no material weaknesses or anything like that but we've had a handful of findings uh that have kind of dwindled down and this year I really didn't feel it was uh necessary to really report anything that was um a finding other than some minor things that myself and Ron um talked about you know really really nothing um that um would be worth you know calling us anything significant or anything like that so in the one report that I I did send which is a governance report we do in that report we do say that there were no difficulties there was no material weaknesses or significant deficiencies uh there were no disagreements so it's a pretty much a standard report uh we don't need to go through that because it's kind of standard basically I I just kind of highlighted how that report reads so um so we can jump into the numbers unless there's any questions just on you know controls and internal controls and whatnot um does anyone have anything comments or anything I think we're good okay so let's let's jump into the numbers so on page um of the financials we're looking at page it's a long page page 12 if you have it in front of you and basically uh at the we'll focus on the First Column is the general fund and the district had 3.8 million in cash uh at the end of uh the fiscal year in the general fund about 2.2 million of that you can see is either accounts payable or acrw payroll in with Holdings so up the 3.8 million about 2.2 of that is spoken for so in July and August uh you're going to have these bills come due uh theay payroll is summer payroll and with Holdings associated with that so in July and August those will get paid and the district's cash balance will probably go down uh to about uh let's see 2.2 in the low one two like two range uh 2.2 3.8 2.2 about 1.6 million um of that if we come down here you'll see that 1.4 million is unassigned and that's the amount that the district has um moving forward to the next fiscal year that's the amount that the district has basically that's un incumbent this $244,000 amount is an incumbent amount and and in this unassigned fund balance it would include anything the district has like stabilization funds um your U undes your ENT is in there all all sorts of of things are in that particular number uh so that is your general fund which is in great shape uh the 1.4 million is roughly about 10 10 or 12% of your um of your of your operating budget so um so you've got some pretty decent reserves there and uh uh remind me Ron did you go over the 5% or did you stay under on the uh end for uh fiscal 23 we um we stayed within the 5% and we used some of the end to fund oped contributions okay so yeah then I'll get to the oped slide in a few minutes but um so you so the good news here is you pretty much you you you've um put some reserves away but you've also stayed under the 5% so um so that so that's really good you kind of walk that fine why that the the districts like to like to walk um the next column is circuit breaker so circuit breaker you have to spend whatever you receive received in the fiscal year you have to spend the next fiscal year so the district uh received U or had 91,000 at the end of the fiscal year and that needs to all be spent before the end of the next uh fiscal year otherwise they um they reduce your you know they add that to your e and d and then it that's to become a problem so um so that is H one of the things that um needs to be spent that's a you know little under a million dollars 910,000 you can see at the bottom here uh your high school building project fund had close to 600,000 in it this is an account that was used basically to build your $70 million school years ago that's kind of money left over that wasn't spent and um we've highlighted in the past that it should be repurposed is that being used for anything now Ron Debt Service or anything or um a portion of it is being used to offset the annual Debt Service payments as a percentage allocation based on the principal interest payments okay and and that is one of the acceptable uses under the Mass General law is to to pay down the debt that created this uh on an annual basis so um so this is going to probably be hanging around for a little bit but but eventually we'll uh we'll get paid off or you could use it if you wanted on a similar type of U uh project if you wanted to repur purp the whole five $558,000 so um the non- major funds which is your last column here before you total that's basically all your revolving funds your grants uh your your other special Revenue funds basically things that come in and go out um and um you know any fund balance is just basically timing because you're not it's not a um it's not a fund that's intended to accumulate resources in it's mostly for ins and outs especially like education Brands okay any questions on this particular slide or page okay the next page is that we would look at is page 14 and that's going to that's basically your revenues and your expenses so your revenues in the general fund were 21.5 million and your expenses were 22 2.1 million uh the number 21.5 is probably higher than you folks have seen in your budgets for 23 and the reason for that is um the state pays the teachers retirement uh portion which I think was about $2.4 or5 million in 23 we have to include that as a revenue in the top an intergovernmental Revenue so it's up in the 8.6 number and then we have to include that also in the expenses as an expense so it's a gross up your revenue and expenses gross up so the number you were probably used to seeing in your budget is somewhere in the 19 High 18 or 19 million uh range for 23 and that's the reason uh why that number is larger um now you had an operating uh deficit for the year and that was intentional because I believe in the pron correct me if I'm wrong um that you had exceeded your p& so you had to uh basically lower the assessment in fiscal 23 uh so what that it gives the illusion of a deficit but it's not a real deficit it's intended just because you exceeded the end is that um that correct that that's correct payments were issued back to the member communities for that excess end from fy22 it was done in FY 23 yeah normally you like to see a break 22 million in 22 million out but like I said in this situation because you exceeded the 5% in the prior year it it caused this to get you back reset and 23 you were under 5% so you won't see this in uh in your fiscal 24 report uh the second column is the operations of the circuit breaker and 171,000 came in 952 went out left you with the 910 balance that we talked about uh the high school building project uh looks like a couple of thousand was spent towards the interest expense and there was a transfer out into you'll see the 26,000 that goes into the um general fund that 26 was used to uh facilitate Debt Service uh so at that rate it's going to take a little bit to pay down so um but so we'll expect to see that for a little bit and then like I said here are your non- major funds which is all your revolving funds and everything 2.2 million went out uh a little under 2.1 came in uh for for a little excess but this is like I said all timing because this is mostly grants and revolving uh funds uh any questions on um on this page okay next we can go to the opep uh uh the oped page which is on page uh 20 page 16 uh you got a million in oped million one almost let's see how we got there on the next page um basically there was a large uh contribution into opep uh you had investment income of 59,000 you had employee contributions of over a half a million so your opep almost doubled and that's a really good thing to see I like to see that you're um looking at your operations during the year and seeing if you have any extra funds that you could put into the other other o into the oped fund because that was a fund that was doing not doing too well it was it was very low and at some point that's going to become a real liability to the district so um so it's nice to see that there was some contributions made uh to um to to the opep trust all right any questions on any of that okay and then in the in the back we can look at your budget to actual out on page 43 okay looks like your your Revenue were under by about 800,000 and then getting n because of the assessment issue um so your revenues came in a little lower than you had uh forecasted in your budget and uh and your expenses were basically flat basically right on so that's why your um your um your fund balance your unassigned fund balance went went down um or you had an operating deficit for the year so that is your budget and this is a number that you're more familiar with that does not include the m teach just retired um um items okay that's that's what I got any questions or comments or um overall great job um I I Ron had indicated this may be the last time we talk and we're all together in the same room so you know if that is still true great great job Ron and um I think um you had a a handful of things that were there at the beginning you weren't a Massachusetts accounting person but you learned pretty quick and we got to the point where we got some pretty good fund balances we've got opep growing we've gotten rid of all the findings so I think uh I think the district is district is in a really good place right now so if I could ask a couple questions Shadow uh first to avoid any open meeting violations can you explain what Eed and p means sure so it's excess in deficiency and we have to actually go through a process with the Department of Revenue so we basically they do a validation to see what our revenues are what our expenditures are and we have to be within 5% of our previous year operating budget if not then we're exceeding the end we can maintain up to 5% and that's basically what endd is and we have to go to a certification process aside from what the Auditors do and opep opep is other post employee benefits and that is the basically the health insurance coverage for our retirees thank you um the only really comment that I have for both the district and Anthony while he's here Anthony can you hear me y okay thanks um obviously last year we returned money to the member comp uh towns um that was a little disheartening for me because we had to uh because it was over the 5% we have a Turf that's going to be needing replacement what is our goal to replace this Turf because how many more years do we have in it one two at most at some point we're going to have to uh repair it what is the future plans are we going back to town meeting asking the member communities for money uh because what was disheartening is we could have probably have paid a good half of it or not more uh to do so I'm just wondering that is the biggest expense that I for see coming uh and I'm just wondering how are we going to handle that so I think that may Tony if you don't mind I'm going to put you on the spot uh we have a stabilization fund and and if I understand correctly I think a stabil stabilization fund also has a limit a cap that you can put equal to not greater than the value of what the operating budget is I think that's a 5% cap as well is there other avenues where we can put some additional money away if we have some some Savings in our operating budget to help offset the cost of this artificial turf replacement and and and track and the track exactly and and the other thing obviously we have a high school budget line is that something that we can use about a half a million dollars there as well or is that only for physical building items or that you're talking about the bond proceeds money available I I think we already got a ruling from Bond Council on that that we can't but we can do repairs to certain fields and areas around the building all right so I did I did have uh I actually reached out to bond Council on that you can do it for that but you can't do it to replace a piece of equipment that was already purchased by bonds yeah so right now right now is obviously the football field that I'm and the track that I'm really concerned and then I know under the super tennis we're going to be talking about the baseball field so I was just wondering when I when I see all of these major expenses that could possibly happen I'm trying to figure out how we going to handle it is the goal to assess that back to the member communities or to uh just use um if you have a favorable year to use um money that's left over and and and and put it aside uh what what what was the uh um the goal the L the goal would be to avoid having to assess the member communities and to instead find an alternate way to because I'm so right now you have a general stabilization uh Ron correct and you're are you capped on that the 5% we are so so the question really uh becomes is um and I haven't been asked this question so I don't know what top of my head but I can certainly find out is if you can create a capital stabilization fund um as a another dedicated Source uh towards um towards this these athlet what is it an athletic field you said that needs to be um the football field correct is the is the uh turf field in the the track around the turf field yeah so let me um Let me let me think about that I mean you've got that little bit in the um High School uh in that high school account that right now you're using the debt service but it's really at 20,000 a year it's really not denting things too much and I'm wondering if you spoke to bond Council uh if that's something you could use um because it is uh related to the high school so I'm wondering if that's something you could use uh re it would have to be repurposed um so that that's a uh an area that that could be explored and then potentially setting up some sort of a capital stabilization fund would be another area um that you could um explore uh with your um excess funds at the end of the year so that that would be something that um I would have I can't answer right now but I could could try to uh do a little research on that we appreciate that yes so just to recap so the um Mr scov was shaking his head because it sounds like we've already we've checked in with Ron coun it's and Ron can um clear up anything that I uh misstate here but the whatever we use that money for has to be um at least equivalent in um the life of the bond so a tur field is going to be replaced every say 12 years or so and the Bond's length of time is more than that so you can't use it for a a small investment like that but if it does if it involves say repairing our baseball field and and uh putting in uh a drainage system there which you know would be a permanent fix we could use the high school building project money for something like that but you have to look at the life expectancy of whatever it is that you are repairing replacing um and and compare that to the life of the bond so if if I could so what you mention if if we only had 11 more years of the bond would that be able to be used at that point because it's less it's it's greater the turf would be greater than allow me to to dig up the the communication from bound Council so that we're giving you the right information I think Mr scov provided a pretty good overview with the conversation we had and I remember at that time it was kind of a no but you can do this right well like I said I've waiting for this meeting to talk about the turf because it's keeping me up at night asking the town for a million plus um or member towns million plus so and I that's something I'm I'm having a difficult time doing so uh but it also hurts when I know I just gave back about 800,000 a few years ago so I just just for those members who weren't here I think it's important to know that the reason the majority of the reason because of the S money and and Co and everything else so we've always been within margin so I think that was a unique year but it's always better to give than than us sometimes and better to give back so but sometimes when you give they forget just reminded them okay so and just so I I think we have about 1.4 million in in unassigned cash balance that's between end D and our current stabilization right now yes okay and so we'll explore the possibility of creating a capital stabilization fund see if we could add to that because obviously the stabilization and the end will come and these projects are likely more than 1.4 milon dollars given the going rates or at least lot one to two don't anybody write that down and just spitballing George don't write that down they they're well north of a million dollars okay anyone else have any other questions I would just like to um uh thank Mr zelli and also I really want to commend U Mr Tero and his team um for the incredible work that they have done um to have basically no findings is a great accomplishment and one that we very much appreciate appreciate and I also want to recognize um former member of our committee Miss Ramos Gagliardi who um was a champion of um ensuring that we contributed to our oped fund um a little more aggressively and so I want to thank her for that as well so thank you very much my pleasure this need not be your last audit you're r i I'm I'm glad you acknowledged my staff because cuz when I'm in the throws of this and trying to get the audit done and we're you know trying to finish up the budget and get everything done so it's good I also will tell you that Mr roselli um and his team aren't afraid to ask questions and push the envelope and test us to make sure that we really are on task because if he's not doing that then we're not getting better at what we're doing so I I appreciate when he's sending new blood in and taking a look at or new staff members coming in taking a look at that that's what I want uh I I don't want to be compliant in okay or complacent in what we do because you can't approve you can't approve that way so Tony thank you for you on your team as well thank you all right any anything else or no I think we're good all right I'll I'll see if I can dig out some some way to um answer your questions on this uh turfield I'll uh go um go see if there's a mechanism um so you don't have to stay up at night and uh and we'll uh we'll see if we can uh find something some way to do it and other than that uh Ron we'll we'll we'll reconnect in the next week or so yes and uh and thank you thank you for having me tonight thank you thank you for your time a great rest of the meeting thank you okay um we'll continue under business and financial the next item on the agenda is the March financial statement Mr tarot yes um so basically you're see and I want to make sure I have the right report I think I may have left it on my desk give me one second to open it up um I'll give you the abge version um we have you know we'll be right now based on projections and where everything is I was able to reconcile all the positions that we have people that may have been on medical leave leave a family medical leave um transportation cost utility cost kind of project those out what the substitute uh lines are as far as the remainder of the Year health insurance for retirees versus active we looked I looked at those so basically you know we're going to be ending the year in the positive I have not completed my transfer first to make sure I'm utilizing all federal funds uh which would be Ida for for um uh for out of District tuition I am I did make sure that we're already using our circuit breaker money as allocated received in FY 23 we're using an FY 24 so we will be we will be ending the year in the positive um and we'll be looking at prepaying tuition um up to I think on the region side I was looking at both dist about 200 we could pay up to $200,000 for prepaid tuition for July and August and or make some contributions to oped and or maybe make a contribution to another fund based on Mr ral's findings and so we we are ending the year favorably uh there was some adjustments that I'm looking at as far as uh school choice revenues where I anticipated should be are down a little bit and expenditures are up a little bit I think I reported that out we'll go through the budget process but overall you know we're over in some lines you'll see that we spent a lot of money in some of the security lines we made some improvements that came out of a report that was done a year ago or so and we're continuing to make those improvements and make the Investments those onetime Investments uh we made an investment this year in Spanish bookses and that's you'll see the textbook line that's over about $40,000 and that's because of that particular purchase to get those materials in now so we didn't have to carry them in the operating budget um and I think most of them pretty much on toet special ed AO District tuition is still one of those things that are going to fluctuate and we're going to if we can make the transportation work internally we're doing that and that's that's basically why we're at where we're at so we're able to do some of those things inh housee versus uh Contracting out anyone have any questions the March F could you just clarify for me I know I saw a note at the end on page nine about the debt service principal and interest payment could you just yes so it actually look like langage I can understand yeah sure so if you look at the the last page and I don't have I don't have it in front of me but the numbers are um I thought it looked like a deficit of about 990,000 or 880,000 so what had happened was um I'm carrying an open purchase order for principal and interest so it doesn't show like it was paid and I closed out the purchase order because The Debt Service payment was made but I closed it out in April so it looks like we have it we we over spend for principal and interest so that footnote says basically if I reversed that if that entry hit as of March 31st and then we would have probably had a positive uh balance of about half a million dollars in the account 400 just about half million oh yeah like 57 yeah I saw that foot okay I just make sure I understood the y i a good question thank you for does anyone else have any other questions we always like to hear when it's to the good thank you I'm always glad to report that um the next item on the agenda is continued discussion of the 2425 budget oh um if I could stop one um I still feel very comfortable with the budget that we voted on um but it was great to get that memo from uh Mr scoon over regarding the propos budget from the house which will uh I I believe it jumps from $30 a student to a possibly $14 so that's you know that's nice to hear obviously it hasn't been approved yet so we're remaining at the 30,000 but uh I at this point I feel uh reviewing it further uh I think the budget committee did its work and I still feel extremely comfortable with that number at this point so other than that updated house budget which is again not a thing yet I don't think there are any other updates is that no not really uh as Mr Mich just said that the house number would be an increase of $ 7,670 over uh the governor's proposal uh but obviously the Senate has to come up with theirs and then the House and Senate will meet in conference and then recommend something out of that so um we just have to wait and see what happens over the next couple of months great the only other number I wanted to share related to the budget and it's really on back in the last conversation but just to give the the numbers you were talking about the end and the stabilization as about 1.4 million um Mr Taro presented at the public hearing the end balance is 800 just under $891,000 and stabilization is at 458 48,51 that was as of January 31st so just so you have those two values um and 5% of a roughly $20 million budget we have thresholds of about a million do I think a little bit under a million doar so that 890 you can tell for e and is right up against that cap close to it thank you okay the next item on the agenda is the public hearing on school choice participation for the 20 24 2025 school year I would open the public hearing at this time Mr SC okay so I I I apologize for not getting you the information earlier but you um I know every year for this I rattle off some numbers I see people writing them down so I just wanted to have uh wanted you to have the information for you um in front so just to show where we are right now in for school choice for the 23 24 school year you can see the numbers by grade level we have a total of 55 students right now attending Somers Berkeley through school choice um and then at this point we always look at Somerset middle and Berkeley Middle uh What's the total population in each of the schools which students how many students are going to Diamond Bristol Plymouth Bristol agie private schools uh so as of a couple of weeks ago uh once uh students found out if they were accepted to Diamond or Bristol Plymouth now we have a better idea of what their um choices are so for Berkeley Middle uh they're currently 96 8th graders uh 51 of them uh plan to attend Somerset Berkeley and that includes six school choice students uh Somerset Middle School this is our the smallest class in a very long time that we've had it's 173 students a year from now we'll be saying how it's a larger class is just a significant difference between the current eighth graders and current seventh graders but we have 173 and and 36 of those as of right now uh we know that they're going to other locations uh so really we have 100 um 82 students who are residents of Somerset or Berkeley who we uh think will be attending Somerset Berkeley next year uh and then an additional six students from Berkeley Middle School who are school choice who can come um who are grandfathered and to attend school choice here and are planning to do do so so that really puts us at a total uh 9th grade population of 188 students next year including those six school choice uh I spoke with Dr bford and we're always looking at our school choice numbers and you know we we've tried to often have about 15 or so students um so even though and this is a this is a difficult one because this is a smaller class so there's definitely capacity to have more students come in but then I think I've expressed I know I have uh in the past um just relying too much on school choice as well um at first I was going to say I was going to have a recommendation of 18 total uh students to bring us to uh 200 uh but then that's 10% of there a 10% increase over our existing population in which typically historically we've been about 5% of our students uh have been school choice um so I spoke with Dr pford a recommendation is to have a total of 15 so would be the Six coming from um Berkeley Middle School plus an additional nine um that would give us a Freshman Class A Class of 2028 of 197 students still um probably about 50 students under what we would typically uh what we historically had um and I do have a typo on the second to last line I had the the approximate uh enrollment next year would be 9:01 I was not including our 11 students in our 18 plus program so actually the um the enrollment would be uh projected to be 912 to start the school year uh with 15 total school choice students uh which would be an increase of three students over the current Year's school choice enrollment so we go from 55 to 58 uh somea Berkeley has done a nice job of maintaining that enrollment of a thousand or so students while every other District around us has experienced these significant decreases but now it's getting to the point where it's affecting our two communities as well um at the same time where and I I think I said this at the last meeting of the meeting before where our vocational schools around us and others are expanding uh when the total enrollment is going down it's just it's it's making for a a challenging uh situation for us but uh anyway for school choice that would be uh my recommendation are there any questions um this past year we also opened up some sore because of the closure of um um Co coil C um Bishop Bishop Bishop that's what everybody's gonna C calls it out oh they already did um so my question how many um how many students do we turn away last year do we know for the sophomores or just for for the Freshman uh you know I I don't remember um we have the 16 who are here uh I can't I can't remember we didn't turn anyone away okay okay thank you Robin that that was that was my only question because obviously with the school of 912 with the school that was built for a thousand you know hey I like smaller classrooms and potentially but I always I'm terrified losing programs that we might get to especially after a year like this year was difficult to look at the budget so but all right that was that was my only it's not like we're turning away 20 30 40 kids either so no every year has been some years are a little bit off in the others um some years we do when we have to have a lottery um there may be four or five maybe up to 10 in some years where uh if we're accepting 15 we receive 25 applications there there have been other years where we received fewer applications than we had available spots yeah and and then sometimes we will have a lottery accept someone in and then they turn it down and then ultimately everyone who applied uh is able to get in because of some people making decisions not to come no I'm just looking at it uh in a few years it's going to be a little bit even lower numbers when uh Diamond uh Bristol you know they're all be accepting more students uh so those are numbers that are going to hurt our school population as well so okay questions so I just want to clarify because actually this I saw a question on social media about this the other day and I didn't want to answer incorrectly so I didn't answer it at all um but I want to clarify so for students who attend Berkeley Middle School through school choice um they are automatically offered they're grandfathered in for like that's our policy or Curr a few years ago and I forget exactly what year it happened uh the state changed the the regulation about school choice so it had been if you attended a feeder School you automatically could enroll in the High School uh a few years ago they did away with that rule and they grandfathered in anyone who was already in kindergarten at that point under school choice is probably somewhere around Upper Elementary school at this point where the where those where that grandfathering in happens I think it was 2019 you by9 it was that's right because we were just looking at that yeah I think it was you had to be enrolled by the 20 by 2019 otherwise you are not automatically grandfather so it's about fourth grade or so right now give a pick a grade level so there for for the next for the preal future for the next five or so years kids are all set but then after that there isn't the automatic guarantee that they could come okay they have to go into the law system like everyone else process okay M all right great thank you and then just to reate so and then the the um concern with limiting the school choices also sort of to preserve the historical sort of balance or percentage that we've had in terms of students who reside in either Community um and not to have so many school choice students that we change that drastically is that right okay all right if there are no other questions I would entertain a motion to have all right letes this n plus the six so is it 15 is my number 15 thank you 9 plus six okay I would entertain a motion to have 15 spots available um for school choice for incoming freshman um there will not be any spots of billable for upper classman that correct so mov second um motion by Mr Mado seconded by Miss Ashley any further discussion hearing none all those in favor I opposed so voted thank you very much the next item on the agenda this evening is a superintendent's update oh about I missed that thank you back is there any public input regarding School CH there is not um Madam chair was public hearing thank you close the public hearing um so we'll redo that vote so uh motion to close to close the public hearing made by Mr Mado do I have a second second second by Miss Ashley all those in favor opposed so voted and Madam chair with the uh lack of public input on this I would uh just uh refer back to our original vote and leave it as is um okay now we can move on to the superintendent upate you very much thank you uh I did share with you in a memo recently but I just wanted to uh share it publicly as well uh the high school recently received uh two different grants uh in the amounts of $20,000 a piece uh one is for um an acceleration Academy that will be taking place this summer uh this is I think we've received uh two of these previously I think this is the third time since Co that we've received a grant like this um so the goals of the grant is to provide in-person instruction of about 20 to 25 hours uh in one content area during either one we or two week Academy in small class siiz settings a dozen or so students uh per classroom uh for the high school for high schools to receive these grants you have to Target Rising sophomores it's really there's the the the aspect of mcast preparation involv D with this uh so we will be offering uh programs for Rising 10th graders in both Ela and math during the week of August 12th so I'm sure the high school will be communicating uh will be identifying students who they want to invite in but um my guess is that'll be based on past history there will also be other slots for other students uh too if they're interested but the high school will be communicating that information uh we also re received a genocide education grant in the amount of $20,000 uh and this is to support teaching and learning related to the history of genocide uh there are a number of uh priorities for the grant aligning materials curriculum and professional development uh increase uh access to high quality genocide education uh and opportunities to work in partnership with relevant organizations uh and local community members so uh for Ser at Berkeley's grant that we are partner ING with Facing History and ourselves as well as the versal community colleges Holocaust Center to provide both professional development um for our teachers and guest speakers for our students so congratulations to those who were instrumental in applying for those grants uh those successful grants uh as Mr masado mentioned um he had a question recently about the baseball fields and uh we had I I was checking before today's meeting uh at least for the general Providence area uh we've received about 24 Ines of rain since the start of the calendar year uh including um about 14 in from March 1st until today uh and we all know we've it seems like we have a discussion uh like this every March or April our baseball field has historically p po drainage um has before this that field um on the south side has had po drainage since before this new building was constructed um and you couple that with historically high amounts of rainfall and we have a baseball field that if you look at it it looks good but when you're out there as I was last week it's soggy it's um there is an area or two of some standing water particularly after the rain that we had the other day uh and we did attempt to roll it we haven't even had a chance to roll the fields yet because of all the rain that we've had since January usually that would take place a few weeks before the season starts just to make sure that uh everything is level and anything that happens over the winter months is uh leveled off and I I think we had um we attempted it and there was um I don't know if a vehicle was was stuck or or or just could couldn't couldn't uh really do what it was intended to do and we haven't really been able to touch it since then and we're hoping last week with the warm weather that we had on warm sunny weather Monday Tuesday Wednesday with some dry winds that that was going to alleviate the problem just dry it up enough so we can get the roller out there and and do the necessary work um it's still not to the condition where we can even do that yet uh our baseball team has been um they've been playing mostly on the road at this point because of that uh they have had a home game or two in Berkeley uh which I understand the Berkeley baseball fields are uh very well maintained it's it's a great facility um but we have to practice at other locations uh and play our games home games um there so this is that Transportation component that um we're now facing uh Mr Taro um Mr Carrero and I have been talking about this Mr Francis just trying to figure out how we can if there's anything that we can do but it's mother nature and there's no way to dry a wet field without having some non-wet weather just some sunny windy conditions would be ideal um so we are uh crossing our fingers that over the next if you look at the 10day forecast or so uh that we should be able to get out there by hopefully the end of this week if not the weekend because we do have I think nine or nine of the last 10 or 10 of the last uh 11 games are scheduled to be at home starting next week so hoping that we can do the necessary work to get that done um it's a lot of hoping it doesn't solve the problem but what the problem is and getting back to the initial disc discussion about the uh High School building Project funding that we still have of $558,000 uh Mr Taro and and just jump in whenever you you want to um he was uh speaking with uh a state um uh state approved vendor who we can bring in without having to go out to bid just to expedite the process but when we do that if we can get through this season um we'll have to get that done that and that does require some growing seasons for the work that they have to do uh so they that could if we do it in the end of May early June when the baseball season's over keeping our fingers crossed we could play out there next spring if it requires three growing Seasons a spring fall and a spring it really we would have to um we won't be able to play on the field next spring either which has been the struggle that we've had with this at the same time where we don't have a Middle School baseball field uh we we really have um outside the high school we have one baseball field left in town at south complex that's large enough for high school sports parville as well but I I don't know what's happening um there with creation the creation of some t-ball fields that were um planned so it's it's just this you know all of these different circumstances are happening at once creating this far from ideal condition for us for our players um so anyway that's that's where we are right now uh hope said hoping that conditions change in the next few days and our players can get out there and finish the season strong at home um and if not we'll continue to play our games in Berkeley and get get our kids practicing and whatever ways that we can get them uh some time on some fields around here to practice any questions I I just have obviously I would like to fix the problem you know last year we were hoping that whatever Band-Aid it wasn't going to be a Band-Aid was going to be a solution it obviously isn't I rather prepare to use or ask the town of Berkeley to use their Fe FS for all of next year and budget the transportation have it you know if we do need the the three seasons to grow uh but you know one of the things you know when you're building these fields that to be used you know obviously at the next town meeting we're going to be asking for Fields uh the purpose for the fields is to be used and right now when I hear that you know we're making last minute calls because of the field is wet um why can't we have a field like Berkeley and you know and that's what I'm trying to get to I would like to see not um as a member of the town as a school Committee Member and also a taxpayer of I would like to be sure that what I'm or what I paid for is the correct item so I really would like us to to really consider fixing the problem not finding a way a cheap way out so that's that's my only comment and I think um our students deserve it um and especially when this town only has one or two Fields well if we don't fix that this town will always have one or two Fields so that's why I'm really would like to force upon ourselves to correct the problem now and that's why that High School building project money if it's and we can get the the answer about the life of the bond that's still remaining um and compared to the total life of the bond but this is the type of work that that money what what we were told several years ago is really intended for a long-term project um we don't know what the the cost will be we'll find that out soon and but that High School building project money I think is is the right Avenue to to to fund this so we can help we can use the stabilization and everything else to help replace the turf uh field that in and track repairs and on the side note whoever did do our Fields please let me know the names because I don't ever intend on using that unfortunately and this is why you know I don't want to you know get into a some Middle School building project but this is why we're we're planning on doing the fields there with a proper drainage at the very beginning because of the experience that we've had here and we had that debate um about should we do it should we not like no we're not going to repeat the errors that were made here because there was Carlos says that they knew that this that these fields had poor drainage um but we didn't for whatever reason you know put the the proper drainage system in to alleviate that and get the the water flow going out and away and uh rather than puddling in our Fields well obviously you just heard from me as one member I don't know how the other members feel but um I I just think we need to fix the problem so I agree wholeheartedly so okay so we'll give you updates when we get this vendor in uh who can in in part of it Mr mad I agree with you 110% the last thing you do is throw a few dollars at something and never really fix it because you're wasting money and it's really critical that we find the right vendor who has the experience and the knowledge and the know how to know what the what the fix is instead of us guessing and so I think we have somebody who's really I'm optimistic about this person but I we have a meeting coming up pretty soon so we'll make sure we keep you posted I I would do you know ask the questions cuz even though they're on the bid list if it's not the correct person then that's useless to us so um so I'm glad that you have that same mindset let's do it absolutely that's the only way I will all right great I'll look forward to an update if you have a chance to meet with that vendor okay and just I always ask Dr brusser if there's anything that she wouldn't want me to mention but uh everything she said Mr viea said uh for her career Affair credit for Life tomorrow AP testing um and she's also going to be surveying all of our students I think she's sending it out tomorrow just to get their feedback about the career fair uh so we can use that to plan next year's but um I was able uh to be here that day attended um six or seven different sessions uh they were all everyone I went to was outstanding uh we had uh I think he said 48 or 50 uh different people who are here from filling up the Performing Art Center and the DLC to 20 or so people in classrooms all over the building uh there was some just a variety of different occupations that we hear and it seems like it was really well received by kids so we'll definitely be doing it again next year and uh looking to expand it that's all thank you Mr scov the next item on the agenda and I believe Mr Mado requested this at our previous meeting um kind of spurred on by our budget conversation that we had um is an um some information about the district's responsibility for School nurses and I know that Mr schover provided us with a communication earlier today regarding that in case you have a chance to look it is in the full well um if I could just um you know there's this concept around town or around social media that um schools are required to have nurses um and though this community and the district has always had a nurse in the building um and we will continue to do so with our current budgets uh not only the K and also because obviously that was been proposed so far but here at the regional side uh we do have in our budget a nurse but it is there are times where um you know a nurse will be out and a lot the very quick thing people say oh we're not in compliance they're going to report us to the dph um and seeing that letter it seems like asking parents to come in is a legitimate reason because of the hard to find um substitutes and things like that um I think a bigger picture for the administration is now that we won't have a floating nurse is we may want to come up you may want to have a future joint meeting and allow nurses to jump from District to District but that's more of a joint meeting discussion when uh if the time being in because I think the concept of having a nurse at one building might not be the correct uh practice moving forward we may have to stop moving nurses um from building to building to accommodate the needs especially if nurses are out on vacation or whatever the case may be personal days so uh but it was really good to hear I know that you know obviously there are students that have a requirement uh those are different issues but I don't know if we do but uh um but the letter makes you know now if people come up to us and say hey my child uh didn't have a nurse and um but I also think that we need to have a plan in place with the administration where If the child has an allergic reaction or needs uh insulin or all of that someone from the administration or folks from the administration should have access to that if the child in a high school might be a little different than a uh obviously grade schools but you know if the student is capable of provide you know sometimes they know better like U Miss Dr bord said sometimes the P the student knows better than the actual Administration which is great uh as as long as we are there to see and if the parents allow it but I think we need to put a plan in place and I'm sure we do uh but I want to make sure that with one nurse at the high school that we do have other folks with the keys to uh the box and are ready to actually um and train to do the work that might be needed and one very small update but in the in recently we've added two sub nurses to our sub list so at least we we still continue to post for substitute nurses is um and that we do not have a lead right now so I I interviewed one of the nurses um worked with me and we interviewed another sub nurse so we did recently add two sub nurses to our list um I did reach out to two other uh agencies as well because we do contract with agencies um and one agency that does not typically do prum nurses um is willing to work with us so I told them right now we're in we're in a decent place but I would like to follow up with the meeting uh over the summer so that we have something in place if we need to use that for the fall we do use cultured care right now and there are times that they're able to send us someone and sometimes they're not so I wanted to have another agency that we could work with but we will continue to build our subc capacities um and hope that if you know um nurses are able to put their time other than sick time obviously in ahead of time or field trips will able will be able to plan effectively and um have the coverage and we do have uh it's happened in the past where we've had nurses even between districts will go and support one of the other schools whether it's one of the two nurses here in the past going over to support of suet school or we've had it in the past where for some reason this building didn't have the nurses and then someone from Somerset came over to support at Somerset Berkeley uh and and even I had a conversation with Mr yuchi um uh a couple of months ago about this and he said hey have you ever thought about contacting the town nurse and I said you know I I had not and so he he made that recommendation saying hey if you're a a pinch if it's a day that person is in Somerset not Swansea give it a shot U you know she might be able to come over and give some medication or you know whatever is necessary questions thank you for that information Mr um okay the next item on the agenda um although I think we I think we're going to table updates from Somerset and Berkeley at this point so we do not run a of um open meeting law uh so then the next item on the agenda topics not anticipated by the chair 48 hours in advance I don't have any right um action items for future meetings um anything other than what has been discussed this evening I'm going update on the baseball field situation once we have one um we're also await an update after the auditor has had a chance to research and confer with Mr tar on a capital stabilization fund any other items so can we get some information on the schedule for uniforms for sports a rotating schedule yes sure because I was provided one last year but that didn't happen this year it's actually teams fundraising for uniforms really yeah I wonder well okay also we have re reorganization oh yep we already have that y the reorganization beond any other I wanted to talk about next year's meeting schedule and see uh and this might be an agenda for a joint meeting as well uh if you feel it's more appropriate um I think it would be great if we could coordinate our meetings and streamline things for the administration and for ourselves but I think that's a family suggestion okay and then Ron will stay it's all to make Ron stay of peessure no more doodle poles okay great anything else for next meeting all right um moving on the next item on the agenda um is to consider approval of the following minutes although I actually had a question on the um open session minutes of the 26th so before we do this does anyone time any questions on any other minutes for the Open Session meetings of either March 19th or March 26th okay well then I would entertain a motion to approve the Open Session minutes of March 19th as presented second motion by Miss F and seconded by Miss O'Brien anything on discussion hearing none all those in favor I opposed so voted I'll abstain thank you I wasn't on the committee and then I had a question and I it's quite possible I'm wrong um but I noticed on the Open Session minutes of March 26 under um the public hearing on budget me go to that it says that um Mr tarot about the one two fourth line down the district will receive an increase of $70 per student in Chapter 70 funds that should be $30 per student is that right yes 30 was a minimum okay we got the minimum right I wish it were 70 but so that was the only correction I had anybody have any other okay good so I would entertain a motion to approve um the Open Session minutes of March 26 as amended second motion by m f and seconded by Mr Defence to make or anything on discussion none all those in favor I opposed and I'll AB thank you okay and then at this time I'll entertain a motion to enter into executive session pursuant to Massachusetts general laws chapter 30A section 21 A3 to discuss strategy with respect to collective bargaining or litigation if an open meeting may have a detrimental effect on the bargaining or litigating position of the public body and the chair so declares American Federation of state county and Municipal Employees asked me par professional and custodial units and cafeteria M MOA um and pursuant to Massachusetts general laws chapter 30A section 21 A7 to comply with or act under the authority of any general or special law or Federal grant and aid requirement to consider the release redaction and withholding of the March 19th 2024 executive session minutes and the March 26th 2024 executive session minutes and the committee will return to open session so moved second motion by Miss Ashley and seconded by Miss O'Brien anything on discussion we'll do a roll call um those in favor Mr Mado I Miss Ashley I Mr fens Maker I Miss O'Brien I miss Pereira I and the chair votes I all right so we will return to open session we're going to defer the first item on the agenda um approval of Mo MOA uh as we do not have that yet um and we'll move on to the second item on the agenda which is approval of executive session minutes I would entertain a motion to approve the following executive session minutes as presented March 19th 2024 and March 26 2024 so moved second uh motion by Mr Mado seconded by Mr Fence to maker all those in favor I opposed and I'll abstain so voted next on the agenda I would um entertain a motion to release the March 19th 2024 executive session minutes and to release the March 26 2024 executive session minute so Move Motion by Mr Mado and seconded by Mr Fence to Mayor anything on discussion hearing none all those in favor I opposed and I'll abstain so voted um and with that I would entertain a motion to Jour move second motion by m r and seconded by Miss Ashley all those in favor I oppose so voted thank you everyone you thank you