##VIDEO ID:unAbn3GtS5U## [Applause] [Music] call the meeting to order oh good today today is Tuesday December 10th 2024 this evening is being video and audio recorded for future cable broadcast please silence all cell phones for the duration of the meeting could I entertain a motion to open today's meeting so move to Second we'll do a roll Mr Hood yes Mrs dowy yes Mrs THS Mr H yes Mrs yes we'll start with the Pledge of Allegiance FL of United States of Amica God indivisible andice for the first item is the consent agenda everything listed in the consent agenda was distributed in advance of the meeting does anyone have any requests for something to be removed from the consent agenda and discussed or voted on separately may I entertain a motion to approve and accept the items listed in the consent agenda including the minutes of November 12 2024 all those in favor I I any oppos see none uh Dr Billy do we have anyone signed up for delegation no okay so seeing no uh old business we'll turn it over to you Dr all right thank you um first order business in your packets um you will see that we received a grant at the elementary school for the string program in the amount of $5,000 so I just wanted to make that announcement tonight because we're very happy to have that program back again in the elementary school yeah it's great um um and then next up we have our 7eventh grade social studies project in showcase Golden Age of Athens and Mr cadero who's the teacher is going to be presenting With His Brilliant students that we're all very happy and excited to hear tonight so this is like the feature part of the meeting it's the best part for me so welcome thank you I'm actually going to go before Mr cardo okay um so I am excited to share that this is a little bit about our social science curriculum and then I asked Mr cardo I said hey we need a student showcase at the seventh grade and then um we had the student showcase last week we used TCI teachers curriculum institute it is an online program that are social studies classes in the sixth grade fifth grade and in the seventh grade use 8th grade have we had received F grant for the dkp the Democratic knowledge um project so they use that in the eighth grades we've be using this probably about the last four or 5 years oh sorry it's the third year of utilizing TCI in grades K through 7 it's aligned to the standards closely aligned with the massachusett state standards blend in learning integrates videos interactive maps there's simulations alongside traditional test materials the students are up and about a lot of the times with these activities in the social studies class differentiated instruction is an inquiry based approach ancient worlds and so in the 7th grade they're going ancient India ancient China ancient Greece and ancient Rome Golden Age of Athens Mr [Music] cardo so what we did with the Golden Age of Athens right they had a few cultural achievements they had to do the project on so it was religion drama philosophy uh Sports um architecture and sculpture and based upon those cultural achievements we learned they had to make a project off of that um and they had different Avenues of making it whether it be architecture with pot glue sticks sculpture with Clay posters slideshows so everybody was doing something different and they um did an amazing job so I'm excited for you all to see what the students have done what they created and here's a little bit of the student showcase you see some students with their posters uh the architecture the sculptures they made that was Sports okay so let's go to my students they were so excited to hear first we thought it was a PTO meeting it's a not school committee it's school committee we're going to and we have a few who weren't able to come but we have a few that are here they're going to come up to the podium they're going to share what they created they're going to share what their project was on and one or two pieces of information who's going first okay Victorian Emerson thank you you well probably the mic is better ahead want to tell them about your project so me and Emon had architecture and we were partners for it um and we made a poster and a clay mod of the parkon over there um there are many cultural achievements of Athens one of them was architecture the people in Athens were able to show their love of beauty and all for the gods through architecture an example is the paron a beautiful temple in gree which was a reflection of their values these reasons and many more is why architecture is a major achievement of aths so we had Focus questions so we could make sure that our project was staying like align with what we needed to do and for example for architecture they were W were temples like the Parthenon buil and the three types of columns and and what features made the python beautiful so we had to answer those to make sure that like we were staying with what we need to do do you want now you want to go get your bring it here so we made this poster to show we made this poster to show um um what we learned and Mr C made like a rubric for us so we could make sure that we had everything that we were going to be graded on um and we have the temples like the paron and like it shows like each type of column the Doric Ionic and Corinthian and we have fun facts and other um ideas about architecture thank you thank you thank you oh sorry here I'm Grayson I forget we were very excited when we were preparing for it we may be a little nervous but worry want to talk about when your project [Applause] yeah I will be very so we built the paron out of popsicle sticks glue and toothpick why we built the um Parthenon is because the Parthenon was for the goddess aena who is like a main part of Greece's like culture and how they worked with everyday life so for sports they had the parth theic games like outside the building and all the the religious ceremonies and everything outside the building instead of inside the building cuz they didn't want to ruin the sculptures and like they had like um little sculptures on top of the pillars they didn't want to ruin anything in there cuz she was like a big part of their religion Sports and all their like everyday life okay so going off what Zoe said about how they didn't want to ruin um the the building and the beauty of it it still stands to this day as one of um their big achievements um um it took a really long time to put everything together and build theire but did you have time to practice too right Mr C just didn't throw you out there right yeah we had um a DAT where we presented to our own class and there was also another date that we presented to another class so you practice presenting and practice being an audience yeah okay would you do it again thank you thank you and here W supposed to be here but there was a mistake in schedules so you all want to stand behind here one thing that I really enjoyed we met together on Friday afternoon in my office and all of you were so supportive of each other it was amazing toar all of you given suggestions of what people could do you want to come stand behind her so no you're good support moral support go Mr C yes I did statues and this is my um partner Sophie's statue she did it but unfortunately she couldn't be here but like throughout the lesson we all got to like kind of like pick our own but there was like a bunch of different options but what I learned is that for Greek sculptures they went from like being very basic and they kind of followed off of um Egyptian sculptures and then they turned into very more like realistic and they had much more detail and their hair and their muscle and their poses and also Mr Cordo like a quick shout out he did very good with teaching this to us and he gave us a lot of like different options that I already said and we got to do a lot of Hands-On activities which made the cost a lot more fun and yeah thank you thank you thank you so like you said we had the Showcase December 4th 8:30 to 9:30 for parents community members 9:30 to 10 was cut shot sixth graders came in we had to go outside and watch the fa Haven football team come through and it was a cold morning that day too um but we look forward to another Showcase with our seventh graders stay tuned for the details our eighth graders their first showcase is December 20th the bill of R's birthday 8:30 to 9:30 family community members and then you will go through the eighth grade showcase on December 20th and at the end of the school year the 8th grade civics Action project that we presented on last year will'll go again this year how are Alliance to the Strategic objectives on the board questions no thank you all for coming and presenting you all did great thank you great I am very proud proud of our students um you are brilliant I saw a few of you at the last ceremony we just had um for mcast score so you should feel really good about your learning and what you're doing Mr cadero I appreciate what you're doing with our students uh very very much appreciated I know that the Showcase was very well attended and that's what we want to encourage our parents to attend um these sessions of showing off our our teaching and our learning because the student students really are shining bright and we're very very proud of them so thank you all and thank you to the parents and family members who came out tonight to support our students it's very much appreciated so thank you all so much all right so I do have a couple of other things that I wanted to bring up that we're not hosted on the agenda at the time of Hosting I did email the school committee tonight uh earlier today actually that the town is picking off master plan a meeting and they're looking for representative so if anybody's interested it's a year-long commitment and they will have meetings um if you can just let me know so I can let the town know that would be great Dr Bailey was there any uh indication a year but how frequently the would be I think it monthly monthly I think it monthly yeah and that would not be like for I'm not running for April so that would be something that I would not be able to probably me yeah so if anybody well it just means it's up if anyone arested let me know um because I would like to respond back to the town actually if Mrs Sylvia is still here I'd like her to go up to the podium in case we have questions on this next one yes but we um at the Ford Middle School just received the 1 18 Foundation applied learning leadership Discovery program Grant um and I'm going to ask Mrs silia just to we just got notified of this just to talk a little bit about 1 18 foundation and what we've been doing and uh next steps with that the 18 Foundation is a great organization that Miss rary and I we bumped into a few years ago and we receiv received the open SED Grant through them and it has been unlike any opportunity that we've had in the past the professional devel our teachers get 3 4 days intensive PD everything has been paid for in the summertime all the supplies are paid for Angie and I have gone through different PDS throughout the year um everything it's just been a great opportunity then they rolled out their dkp the Democratic knowledge project and I said let's go for this one so we did and so now our eighth grade civics teacher has the same opportunities it's you know a brand new curriculum platform the Intensive PD that goes with it the support the Hands-On learning they come visit us we go out to other schools and then the applied learning Grant came around and and I said let's apply for it so we applied for it and it's taking our learning and taking our students and applying their learning and getting them to dig deeper and to own what they're learning and to use what they're learning we have a virtual meeting in January we visit another Middle School in February at the end of March beginning of April we traveled to the West Coast um and you know visit a school there where the applied learning has already been going on and then hopes fingers across the next year we become one of those schools that teachers in administrators can visit in the future and I know we'll look forward to hearing updates and reports but I think the reason why the four Middle School was selected is because of all their previous work um with the one 18 foundation so congratulations M siia to you and your team thank you and I does anybody have any questions it's great exciting great thank you all right and the last thing I did include in your package is the PCC program which is Project temporary competitive competitiveness Advanced Studies program which has been around for several years at Stonehill College um is disbanding just because of the lack of interest at this time I think I I think students are just involved in many other things now so to commit to a 4-we program um so there's a formal letter from the president of the board um but it was a very difficult decision that they did come to um so we will no longer be a part of that and that is all I have for this evening thank you are we going to hear from business yes absolutely this out of my hands too good evening chairperson Hood school committee uh business manager report is usual um budget spending outlined in my report about halfway through spending and that's primarily because we're doing a better job encumbering our expenses so putting a placeholder on the books now for expenses that carry up throughout the year um so that they stay on budget and remain on budget um so again you know the budget es and flows as do our expenses throughout the year what's forecasted versus What's um not expected but so far so good um no nothing to sound the the alarm's over yet um and nothing on the horizon that we anticipate so um good news from that front um the budget still is not in our accounting system system I regret to continue to bring this up but it's it's been a challenge not having a permanent position of a town accountant over in the town offices um it makes our job more difficult it it duplicates efforts time resources everything really um I know we were anticipating a new accountant come the the calendar year but I've been told that isn't the case any longer so it looks like that seat might be empty still but um you know we're doing our best in the district for the schools to report on what we know and again it's it's a lot of extra work but we have accurate figures here presented for you and you know we're going to maintain that Integrity with or without the accounting system to the best of our abilities Patrick can I ask a question sure um has there been any update yet from the town if that I know I think they had somebody they were anticipating that person was going to be full-time after the start of the New Year correct maybe that person has left um we haven't heard an update from them in terms of what the plan is there as I haven't heard a plan as far as I know that individual and our former Town accountant Nick monello are working Friday nights to help maintain the books and close out fy4 I don't know what the it's a question for the town I don't want to speak on their behalf um I don't know what their plans are beyond that but um I know we plan to sit down with the Town Administrator to discuss FY 26 projection soon and I think that probably a better platform to ask those questions um so speaking of FY 26 again um we continue to work through our process same timeline as the past and what we've communicated um our leadership team budget requests are due on the 20th of December and that really just scratches the surface of where we begin to kind of go through everything and and strategize um to provide level services for next year while maintaining a a fiscally responsible budget um any questions as far as the finances go uh moving to facilities um we've been talking about this investment grade audit that we've been working on with train Technologies for uh you know quite some time now uh we were able to meet with Town representatives from the select board and finance committee on November 13th to discuss how we move this project forward and what implications those will have on Town and community members um we sort of set a plan in place we met with our consult we met with train we gave them a deadline to provide us a final investment grade audit by the new year um and we have a upcoming meeting on December 19th um a private meeting where we do expect attendance from the Town Administrator and some more Town individuals to really clean up a timeline and and do the math on what this all means for everybody in a cushion it um while we continue to Band-Aid the issues the capital issues that we have at both schools with you know plug in accessories and and overtime and and things like that um to Food Services um you know the mo MOA that we had spoke about publicly has been signed and agreed upon we've begin to put that in motion and and uh look to hire that new part-time Edition that will provide additional hours in the kitchen to to get our meal labor hours up to where they should be according to state standards um so we're making progress there um we're happy to say that we completed the procurement review of the national school lunch program and School breakfast program just last month we're awaiting the final report but um the this the Desi representative came out spoke with us at length for you know probably for the full day about procedures controls things like that and had minimal findings if any he thinks we're doing a great job so um we'll have a formal report that we can share on that and we'll make um corrective actions accordingly and we'll you know we'll improve from there um really that's I think that's it for now I covered the other matters regarding the town um accountant Transportation you know for the bus drivers if any of them pay attention I wanted to thank them you know publicly as well it's a thankless job they deal with a lot with you know state laws and regulations and keeping our students safe on the bus while you know focusing on driving um we do appreciate everything that they do I know we don't get to see them face to face daily unless we're up front at pick up or drop off um but they're an important part of our team and they they get our kids to and from school safely so um shout out to them that's really all I have for report this month um is everything with the lawsuit that we had with the transportation has that been finalized and we're done um so that was voted on last spring as we know at annual town meeting um to make payment in accordance the settlement agreement recently um I had legal Representatives reach out to me asking where that payment was we had that all on our end again over to the town this past spring fall spring and fall one or the other early and it's been hanging out but I got worried that that payment went out this morning in the mail so we got to move that along with a little extra nudge thank you better than never question um so in regards to the investment grade audit and the capital project right there's a lot of work I think that has to be done there in order to meet those deadlines it seems like we have a lot of time but once we get here in January that's going to turn over pretty quickly do you feel confident that all of the folks vendors have the right resources in place to be able to achieve the goals I I think train will deliver um on their part with the date that we gave them I think January 6th was the official date that we gave them for a final report it's just a matter of us being able to educate the community on what the Project's all about what it means from a taxpayers standpoint in that amount of time I keep using the term competing priorities um which we have a lot of between building the budget and you know negotiations kicking off and this project amongst other things um so I think it's a it's a big ask on our side but I think the vendors will be ready it's just going to be down to collaboration between us and the town and and kind of marrying ourselves to a timeline that we are willing to commit to which quite frankly we have to if we want to see this project successful thank you thank you is that it for our updates yeah continue the agenda yeah so um there's some other information in the in the packet District newsletter AES newsletter FMS newsletter an update from our wonderful director of Technology we'll hear from you next month I anticipate um uh and some other Communications are there any other committee reports no all right so our next school committee meeting is Tuesday January 14th 2024 at 6 p.m. uh I'm going to can I entertain a motion to adjourn to tonight's meeting so we can go into executive session 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 with no reason to return to open session and we'll have a roll call so second roll call Mr Hood yes Mrs Downey yes Mrs GES H Mrs yes yes I'm taking a drink motion passes the meeting as a thank you [Music] hey