##VIDEO ID:3Y8C6jZXDCA## welcome everybody the time is 6:31 p.m. on Wednesday August 21st welcome feel like it's been a little while all right so for those attending tonight's meeting you should be aware that the meeting is being audio and video recorded by says um SPAC is that right in asrsd did I do that correctly Michelle if I did not okay APAC just make it sure is being audio and video recorded by APAC and asrsd any audience members who wish to record any part of the meeting must inform the vice chairperson who will announce um I'm sorry who will announce the recording this is to comply with the Massachusetts wire tap statute the listings the listings of matters are those reasonably anticipated by the chair which may be discussed at the meeting not all items listed May in fact be discussed and other items not listed may also be brought up for discussion to the extent permitted by law okay let us du the call I just did the call order sorry Pledge of Allegiance please I alance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liy and justice for all Michelle whenever you're ready Mr here Mrs Berard here Mr quy here Mrs here Mr M here okay so we're going to open up for public comment um first I'll do online do you have anyone online Michelle no okay do I have anyone in the audience for public comment today let me give it 10 seconds okay uh so I am going to go to Dr Renda um for introduction of the new District administrators okay thank you um I'm excited to introduce to the school committee and the public uh the new principal of P htop Elementary School Mrs Bonnie Farner Bonnie comes to us with a wealth of experience in elementary education she has been a first grade teacher an instructional coach an assistant principal and a principal uh recently most recently she's coming to us from drit where she was an elementary principal for the past five years six years excuse me and prior to that um she was an instructional coach and teacher in Pittsburgh Public Schools awesome good evening um I'm really excited to be here um when I got saw the opportunity to come back to air I don't for those of you who don't know I was actually an air High graduate um and I feel that air High really um did a great job preparing me for college and getting into the educational um field um I don't know if any of you also graduated from Air High Paula Sullivan made sure that I was going to college she made sure I was going to do it so so I owe a lot to her um she was an incredible Mentor for me and um I'm so grateful to be able to kind of come full circle and come back and serve the community that I feel like served me really well thank you thank you does anybody have questions or anything all right so did you grow up in air or I didn't we my parents still live in air my parents live on Sandy Pond they moved when I was in high school so I attended Air High my younger brothers and sisters all went to paig and Hilt talk of course it two different schools then in the junior high back home again I'm sorry back home again yes exactly yeah and my my parents are thrilled you know my mother already called me oh you can swing by the house my neighbor wonderful oh oh yeah we're neighbors anyone else yeah Jim it just seems wrong that you have Paula Sullivan because it's Paula was in my class and this is our 50th reunion I spoke to her this is all wrong but we're glad you're here well she was a wonderful educator she was one of one of my top five people that had an impact on me in education so and the Year this is and this will not surprise you the year before she retired she came into the school committee meeting in May yeah and assigned a book to every person in the entire building including the custodial staff administrators and school committee we all have to read The Hunger Games and discuss later yeah that doesn't surprise me at all and and I still to to this day remember things I've learned in her classroom I can cite poetry that she made me memorize all kinds of stuff like that so yeah so yeah I'm really excited and I want to say that the staff and um Charlie and Adam and everybody have been so incredibly supportive and getting me transitioned in and um I've met teachers and um I have a meet the principal night tomorrow night up on the playgrounds for any parents or staff that want to come that haven't met me yet um we had a meet and greet with the kindergarten it went really really well we had a great Journal so everything's moving smoothly I won't jinx myself of course thank you so much welcome thank you all right okay I am going to go on to the consent agenda so as we can see the consent agenda has a vote so we have the June 26 2024 regular session meeting minutes for release 8 donation of $1,250 from rollstone charitable Foundation sponsorship with the Noah gray football camp to be used towards the air Shirley football program thank you so much and then we have our warrants AP warrant 1201 1202 1212 Miss span if I may yes um you do not need to read all of the warrants uh because they are in print in part of public record thank you so because they're part of public record I will not read the rest of the list thank you for reminding me it's been a wonderful vacation okay so Madam chair if I may uh there are a couple of clerical errors on the warrant list I think uh cutting cutting and pacing is great but I think it led to some errors here so I just want to make you aware of them we'll have a corrected copy for the minutes uh but starting with warrant number 1214 uh the full amount that is supposed to be listed there is 30751 uh coming down to Warrant uh number 101 AP warrant 101 uh that is incorrect amount for that warrant that warrant was $336,600 the next one down is also label is labeled uh AP warrant uh 1012 and that amount is also wrong it was copied down incorrectly and the amount for that warrant warrant number 1012 was 7762 1889 um AP warrant there's two 102s you may just want to clarify which dated 1012 there's two two 1012 which is an error as well so that second uh 1012 dated 82 is incorrect that's supposed to be uh that is labeled AP warrant 1021 not 1012 those last two numbers were transposed and that's it on the errors for that list it was quite a list but um we'll watch The Cutting and pacing going forward thank you okay um is that clear enough for the for the minutes or should we see it redone they're clear um for the minutes according to Michelle um so I'm going to open it up for a discussion do we have anything that we need to discuss before voting just just one minor typo and page three of the minutes for the uh changes in the um update of the wellness policy the uh the second the actual change that we talk about is the proposed language just a type of okay anything else I'm sorry Jim I couldn't hear you repeat that um on page three of the minutes at the top of the page we have the current language and then the next paragraph should read the proposed language it was just current proposed Lang thank you okay anything else okay all right so let us take a vote on the consent agenda all those in favor of the consent agenda say I I I hi Chris hi there thank you Erica all right it sounds like it sounds like that was unanimous am I correct yes okay excellent so we can move forward to new business Chris would you like to take over or would you like me to continue I'm more than happy to have you continue I'm not sure how good my audio is in the room I certainly uh am not able to pick up on many of the social cues in the room so um I'm more than happy to have you continue Erica okay just want to make sure all right so next we will move on to our presentation on the air Senior Center project I'm sorry and that is um Dr Katie is it pety am I saying that correct okay and then um Senior Center Director and chair of the committee Mr Robert is it how do you say it ponon thank you thank you so you can take it away U Madam chair members of the school committee Dr Renda thank you for having us I'm Robert pom and the air toown manager and the good news is I'm not making the presentation so hope beon be uh long but I just wanted to offer a couple of introductory um remarks uh the town of air desperately needs a new Senior Center and the town has been committed over the last three or four years but really in the last Almost year dedicated to um this project and the biggest challenge for the project is to find a viable site so tonight you're going to hear a presentation uh that'll give you an update on where we are with the project and we are narrowing it down to two sites one site uh is potentially off a gron Harvard Road it would be on school property hence why we're here and we'll talk a little bit about that procedurally and so forth and questions on that uh the committee has not made a definitive decision yet to the select board on a site that we that will be happening relatively soon so without further Ado I want to just introduce uh Dr Katie pety who's the director of the air Senior Center and Council on Aging and the chair of the building committee uh we're also joined by Mr Ken disin who is on the building committee also a member of the air planning board and air selectman uh Chris Taris so with that Madam chair I'll turn it over to Dr patrai thank you and we also have um Matt on Via Zoom from the DPW if there are any technical um land related questions so thank you again for having us here to give you an update um do you want me to just tell you next slide is that that'd be great okay awesome oh you're doing it okay I'm doing so for today's as as Robert said today's um update is really sort of a little bit about why we need a new Senior Center and the progress that we've made to date so next slide uh air just like the bulk of the country is aging uh over 25% of air residents are over age 60 this is a what they call the graying of America that trend is expected to continue until it peaks in the year 2060 so this demographic shift is a long-term one and um we we know from a preponderance of research that senior centers are a vital community resource they help seniors stay in their homes and remain independent and contributing members of our town for a long time through things like Fitness classes lowcost meals social and intellectual engagement which helps um counteract the devastating health effects of isolation health education in chronic disease self-management transportation and access and assistance with the um ever lengthening forms that come with um getting health insurance and Social Services um over time time next slide so in order to to be able to provide that kind of the the breadth of um services and um the breth and the depth of services that are needed the current Senior Center just does not it's not adequate for where we are now um especially given the growth that we're expecting to see the current Senior Center is a rented space it's hard to find around the backside of the Pond Street um senior housing there's 13 spots in the lot um three of which are taken up by Housing Authority members there's not enough programming space what's needed to program for a 60-year-old newly retired older adult is wholly different than for someone in their late 80s or early 90s there's just not enough programming space we have two rooms right now actually one of them doesn't even belong to us there's not enough office space and it's not confidential so when you want to have a private conversation with someone my office walls don't go all the way up to the ceiling so people who are sitting 4T away from me having lunch can hear the entire conversation um there's not a commercial kitchen so uh we're not able to provide lowcost healthy nutritious meals we're currently bringing them in uh and have a catering budget for that and the whole building is not ADA Compliant um when someone needs to use a walker or wheelchair it often involves a lot of can you scoot this way for a second can you scoot this way for a second um I've had to rescue people out of our restroom because they get stuck um of both genders because they can't Circle their um their wheelchairs in there um so it's it's just not adequate to meet our our current or future needs next slide what we're looking for is a modern Senior Center something that is the opposite of all those things I just describe this a a building that has space for a variety of the exercise Social wellness and education programs that today's seniors need commercial kitchen for a daily meals program outdoor space for gardening walking socializing confidential office space of course adequate parking and accessibility next slide so we've been at this for a long time actually before I even came to the town of Air the original feasibility study started in 2018 2019 uh it had a lot of town input and ended with a town meeting vote in the fall 2020 meeting to U vote down or to table the West Main Street site uh at that time Co kind of became the number one thing on people's minds the project sat for a little bit and then we started up again a working group in 20122 that looked at um a lot of different town own and property Town own and private properties and ended with um this recommendation of a of a community center at per Park um that that effort ended with parks and wreck backing out of the the Peroni Park site and so then we decided we need to continue to move forward the need did not change so in August of 2023 the select board appointed the senior center site selection and building committee we've gone through all 54 town-owned properties and narrowed that down to uh two town-owned Parcels we also did a request for um proposals for private land donors we did not receive any responses that's now the second time we have reached out to private land donors both on a large scale and on an individual level so what we've done is narrow it down to two Town own Parcels next slide so they are Bishop Road and uh which is essentially where the um brush dump is and then gron Harvard Road where um Washington Street and BR Harvard Road come together next slide so just real quickly uh we've had the archit hyr architect we've begun to look at floor plans and site placement this is um the current it's not the final but the current um version of a Bishop Road Site the building is really um kind of right on top of what you would call the existing Rush dump um you know lovely adequate parking um building the building is about 14,000 square feet that we've worked on uh next slide and like any project there are Pros and cons there is no one perfect site the advantage of Bishop Road is that it's a flexible lot it's wide open it will be easy to Stage construction um plenty of room for expansion there's very little traffic out Bishop Road there it's close to Park Street and Main Street in terms of the downtown area and it's adjacent to Oxo which presents some opportunities for nature appreciation um which is wonderful the limitations of course there are no utilities on site they would need to be brought in um and that of course involves outside entities um like National Grid and their timelines uh it's an isolated location in the sense that you don't just drive by it on your way to anything else most people don't so it it has um poor Street visibility there are some designations that AC and rare species environmental designations none of those are um deal breakers they just involve a little bit of extra paperwork and some public hearings uh we don't think that those are um going to stop the process they'll just be um a process to work through uh Mass development we've there is a gate there on Bishop Road that closes when there's flooding we've already had successful um conversations with mass development about moving that gate out beyond the senior center property um and putting appropriate signage at Park Street and Bishop so that one is not really a limitation uh and then obviously issues of Road ownership to work out so cut behind plenty advantages some limitations I don't think any of those are are are deal breakers so this brings us to site uh the second option and the reason that we're here tonight is Gren Harvard Road this uh one represents um at the top of the screen there is Washington and the little squares are the private homes along Washington Street and then the road running vertically is gron Harvard Road so that parking lot just to give you a little bit of reference that parking lot is sitting right on top of the water catchment basin I use the right word retention Bas retention Basin um and the architect has some plans for managing that um so the building is the the Red Square there um and then just to orient you so the bottom left hands of the screen is where the um tennis ports are next slide again advantages and limitations to this site as well has great visibility from the road and um people drive by there on the way to the transfer station I'm going to say on the way to the hospital um but um on their way to Bron and other other places um it's Central to the Washington Street side of town um there is electricity and water all of the utilities at the road on one side or the other um which certainly keeps cost down the central location there's the opportunity to depending on where and how it's cited to have some collaborative use of the practice football field um where it's currently cited right now the latest iteration um it's not going to be we had originally talked about whether it was possible to put it right there next to it um it doesn't seem like that's the most advantageous place so um it would be downhill from that practice field limitations of course traffic concerns as people tend to travel fairly quickly along both of those roads um there is the process part of what we'll talk about today to create a new parcel and to work with the school um District to figure that out um there's Li there's a limited Recreation designation on all of the land there that isn't um actual School building but I don't think it's um a State Recreation designation I think it's local um we're looking into that and then uh it involves some amount of storm water management combination with the school and then um the potential of the elementary school building process which I know is something that's on the radar but down the road um so next slide so for again for the reason that we're here tonight is mostly to talk about what the opportunities are with the Gren Harvard Road site to see the level of interest and support that the school committee has um the next steps would be obviously as we're here tonight to obtain um the support of the school committee to further explore and and possibly select that site as the site for the new Senior Center um then if um the senior center site selection and building committee that's the um abbreviation up there um would then choose the site again we're looking at two sites so there is no um we haven't chosen one yet um so if we had your support that would allow us to potentially choose the site from there there would need to be a survey to create a legal parcel uh then with that information about what exactly that parcel would look like then the school committee and the select board would need to vote to declare that piece of the larger 55 acres to be Surplus and then um once both of those boards did that then a town meeting vote would be needed to confirm it as Surplus and to create the new parcel for the purposes of the senior center next slide so just to give you a little um preview of what we're what we're thinking the building will look like it's a twostory structure with 14,000 square ft total um everything that is sort of that reddish brown color is program space so when you come in at the top of the screen there's office areas in purple off to to the left there's a cafe a library and an activity room off to the right um plenty of restroom ADA Compliant restrooms the big room in the bottom um is a multi-purpose room that will seat up to 150 people for lunch which we expect for our large Gatherings um and then uh it is dividable not quite in the middle but you can see a little line there for our 40 to 50 people we expect to have on um a daily basis for lunch and then exercise classes happening on the other half there's a commercial kitchen plenty of storage a patio um a a room designed for uh like Walkers and wheelchairs medical equipment um loaning swapping which is um something that our current seni Senior Center isn't able to accommodate due to the size limitations then let's see next slide um upstairs is a a partial second floor because it's not the whole footprint um upstairs there is room for cards and games um two billiards tables should the committee choose to go that route extra restrooms um two more activity rooms an exercise um like a fitness equipment room uh and then a small office for the public health nurse for a um like a spa like manicure pedicure podiatrist massage raike um health insurance um consultations all the things that you'd want to have happen in a smaller more confidential space and then um you know we're we're trying to see if we can get a walking um a little walking path around the building as well as that outdoor patio space so people can enjoy the fresh air as much as they can next slide so um again next steps more broadly um will be the committee is meeting the senior center site selection and building committee is meeting on August 28th we are hoping to select a site then it's possible we have a little bit more information coming in we're still waiting for the final cost estimation and um we have an update to the utility information so we will be um we're not able to select on August 28th it would probably be in the middle of September at the latest we're wanting to to move the process forward um then the committee would um our Charter was to investigate the possible places and determine um where and what a senior center could look like so then we need to take our recommendation back to the select board for approval then we go through the public input um process for education and and feedback and then finally we would go to town meeting with either a request for funds to build the senior center or a two-part if it was gra Harvard Road it would be two-part to confirm the Sur and then request stability in your centor next slide oh I shouldn't that's the last one okay um questions did you have something you want to I I just want to thank you guys for having us here tonight um the process that we're in right now is essentially a feasibility study so we've been fortunate enough to get funds from the town to support this phase of the project we've got like $360,000 from some grants and from Opa funds and other things that gave us the ability to go out with an RFP to architectural firms to help us in the design of the building and in helping us site the building on the on the lot and and what have a lot we could find so the one the show of it is that we've committed to to spending you know some architectural funds we've committed to some engineering we were able to do testing fortunately we've got permission to dig some holes um and we determined that basically both sites at this point in time are approximately equal so we're not exactly sure how the the committee is going to vote um a big determinant is going to be the cost of utilities at getting utilities to the brush dump this is a huge Advantage here to have utilities available all utilities sewer water and so forth um we've got a lot of cooperation from the Department of Public Works in the process they've been a partner with us right along the process um and starting from the fact that we as bet as U Katie indicated we actually looked at all 54 town-owned pieces of property from the smallest to the biggest and that's how we ended up at these two locations by carefully inspecting H1 and looking at every criteria that you can imagine from Wetlands to you know easements you name it topography ledge the whole nine yards um we actually didn't when we look came to to look at the the property that was controlled by the school we were leaning more towards up the hill from where we ended up near Clos to the U the practice field but in essence when we looked at that and tried to put the parking the other um requirements it's a parking for about 100 cars is what the engineers are telling us we need to support this building and it just doesn't fit between Harvard Ron Harvard Road and the field and that would it would have been too narrow going down the hill to the spot that we showed you the Triangular spot um the really only the real only obstacle down there was again we were weren't sure if it's was going to be ledgy or some issue with the soils and other things cuz it's pretty lgy around the site and the testing did not show that the testing actually showed the material was good fascinating to all of us so and when we walk down that I don't not I'm sure most of you haven't walked down that spot but when you get down there it's interesting that it's a little bit flatter than your eye tricks your eye it's a little flatter than you think the grade is not as severe as it appears from the road so it's certainly an access accessible and acceptable location um initially when we looked at it the architect was talking about having having one entrance they they believe in the situ in the design that you need one entrance to enter to a Senior Center parking lot in one instance one exit area for the just because of the way seniors negotiate their parking and turning and whatnot and it looked as though we were going to use one entrance on the side of the street on the grh road and an exit on the other side in Washington but after relocating and working on it looks like we can have both approaches as we showed maybe we should go back to that slide but from Washington so there's in in the time that we've spent on this which is over a year we have basically looked at alltown property we have hired an architect to help us the architect that won the bid fortunately is also the gentleman who has built 30 senior centers in the state of Massachusetts he's a prominent speaker on the topic of senior centers and he happen to have the best price so we were fortunate enough to get a qualified uh assistant in the process the architect and he also has brought us a piece of the puzzle Beyond just the architecture where he is familiar with the site work requirements civil engineering requirements uh you know the all the whole process so his thought process and looking at how we land the property land the site on the project on the property is more than just the building and the inside of the building we're looking at the entire operation as how we approach the building and how to get to the building so we're here tonight to tell you that we hope you'll consider this to be a positive thought and it's a location that it doesn't appear to be a part of what would be a school expansion because of its location um we're just looking for positive support from your school the school committee to tell us that we could go forward and potentially break a lot off in that location and that's some of the work we've been doing thank you thank you thank you anyone have anything yeah Kevin yeah so um we talked earlier I know and I mentioned some of their concerns that I would have about using the limited space there so can you tell me from um when we met with you earlier has this location changed since then or like where would the existing current practice football field be on this chart do we know so yeah it's yeah right where the cursor is there um so when we had initially talked we thought it would be so those two lines are contour yeah so um so we originally were looking at this we just thought this might be too Steep and whatnot kind of tricked us we were looking at here's the practice field here we were looking at putting a linear across parallel to the Gren harbard Road this way um and if it turned out that was too narrow as I mentioned we could not get the parking they want the parking in front of the building rather than to the side of the building to minimize the distance and sight visibility for seniors coming in and out of the lot so the building may end up turning one way or the other in relation to this slot this is showing us that it will fit in this triangle basically so it was up here before uh kind of starting maybe at this point going beyond the field over here where there's an existing almost like it's not a gravel road but there's a gated entrance to the field so we were kind of in that would have been the middle of the first thought was where that gated Railway was so let's move down I think this is in the same location though is what we looked at um when we met at downtown um cuz this is really the same spot so I guess we talked about so at that time just so everybody else the the concern I voiced was if you go back and you look at um the original field proposal that we had um it wasn't just considering where the existing practice football field is which as it I think is in adequate the football coaches would tell you um as far as size it's not a regulation football field but the other thing that we had at that time is um to get additional practice fields we were were going to move the current softball field down to next to the the practice football field um and that allowed for additional practice um space because and you know if you think about expansion in 10 years 15 years whatever that is I definitely would be concerned that you know at some point we're talking about adding lacrosse we're talking about adding field hockey we have all these other sports and we just have such limited space I think there's a real possibility that at some point you're going to want the option of having additional field space down at that location um I don't know if we were talking about trying to get the original plans so that we could see what that design was not that it's going to be the exact same but it would give you an idea of at one point what we were looking to do with that space so I I waed through those plans and and again to to your point it could change wholly it appeared like the shift came this way with the practice field and then the um the sort of what do you call that the fan out of the Outfield of the softball field went all the way up to where those couple of um contour lines come together there where that steep drop off is there I thought it ended there I think obviously that would mean um you on on your side but I when I looked at it after our meeting that's where it ended ased that we saw a study that was done did that study include the location you were talking about the tests and whatnot of that study the the one of a study that we we got a copy of that was showing a lot of test holes that were done for potential future expansion well I'm not referring to the test hole so there was there was um early on one of the field designs and and I don't know if it was an official architectural design but there there was a proposal that showed um where a softball field would be moved down there and where and at that time there I think they were going to move the existing football a little bit to the left to make room for the softball and then they were going to look to try to expand that to make it more of a feasible actual you know practice field for football um and left you mean towards the school or away towards the school I believe but the we should have a a that drawing I believe we shared we did share those I shared the testing H right in this area not the oral field when I was when they did this field they right over this hill and left it right there so there's a very big steep slope at this point um so that interestingly enough this is below that slope on you know where it flates out of L more um but that's appears in fact they're still putting it there today grass clipping whatever you guys are doing is going down this way um downhill so this is a quite a grade change that would make it a little complicated to get there but can be done versus the distance that's in here which you can cut back you know make put a retaining wall or something but just a thought yeah J this is um nearly similar discussion to what we just had in Charley because there was a private Venture that was going to put in uh senior housing next to where the current housing is on deair actually came to a town meeting vot and was defeated and although it wasn't on school committee property the discussion immediately surrounded uh access and possible expansion in the future and really limiting what our our options would be and that's what I spoke and and I I was very clear to that I'm not speaking for the school committee I'm on the school committee and this I think would be a concern and here I I know about the area that you're talking about here you know but I think for us to make a a determination and I mean I'm all in favor of the new Senior Center because I are one so so I know how neat it is and I've done a ton of Elder Care in the last five years um but I think for us to really make a decision you you need to flag the property for us so we could go out there and see exactly where it is I I wouldn't spend a lot of time digging up you know field plants and stuff from five or six years ago that sort of stuff I think if you flag um you know hey here's a building there's a parking lot this is you know we'll get a pretty good idea from what you have here exactly what we'd be looking at to see down the road whether that would be an issue or not my gut feel is like probably not you know but I don't really know and until it's flagged and we get to walk it it would be diff very difficult for me to say go and of course if you end up on Bishop Road then the point is moved anyway right but I would really want to walk the the property before I I call the shot yeah uh Joyce um so questions come to mind uh such as how many acres is this that we're talking about what is this what does this parameter look like and I'm looking at the number of I'm assuming that those little slicey lines are parking MH and are you putting the same uh building on Bishop Road as you're proposing here or would that be a different design so the architect has approved either one yes at this point we've approved either one those are that totals 100 parking spots um on either site which is what the is recommend and the same footprint for the building yes same footprint for the building um so how many acres if we if we give that to a size thing it's probably it's less than 2 and a half acres I'm just curious cuz it's kind of thinking that direction the objective was an acre and a half to 2 and 1/2 so I'm giving you the highend we probably use 2 and a half acres to that whole project and I have to admit that I haven't gotten the new glasses so I can't see very well um so the entrance and the and the exit are both both on Washington Street where people are flying down from that hill and then we have bus transportation and teenagers driving that seems like one of the issues that we started with from day one is the fact that we are trying to make an effort to save a million dollars in land acquisition so that was our goal first as a senior center site selection committee uh so we will limit it as to what we can do each site's going to have issues no I mean I'm just you know I'm just seeing for the first time and I think I kind of agree with whoever said flagging it and walking down and seeing what our proximity Is to that property would be a good idea the other thing is that if we have um the uh practice field there which means we're going to have students there and then what kind of security do we do we have to put forward to make sure that the parcels are separated so two two thoughts on that one one is that there's a pretty significant grade change from the where the the existing practice field is down what 20 20 or so feet um I don't think you're going to have any seniors coming so you're not moving any land there you're not moving any any field it's it's totally put the building down and nothing else well we wouldn't be touching the practice me ask when you say there's a grade is it going to be a deeper grade grade are we going to have to FL a certain amount of area there to put the building and the parking in the naturally occurring grade is is steep that's there is what I'm saying okay um and then I had spoken with um with um the police chief way back when we started looking at this to see um what the requirements were for security and and he had deferred and said well it's really up to the school and then um you know acquired further and it was as long as they're not using the same entrances or exits um that it didn't seem to be a security risk it's not on it would be its own legal parcel at that point if that makes sense are you concerned with security to the school or to the senior center you could go both either ways I guess I I'm in that age group so you can go both ways um um you know and it's it's something that always comes up and if we don't cons we don't want to consider it later I think we want to bring these questions up now I'm not attacking you it's just that you know um and we were very adamant that in in surley that we not give up a fairly small piece of parcel of land that's next to the middle school for the expansion that we're going to have in the future and you know if you've got a senior center there and we're stuck on this site for high school now if we need to expand where do we go this is a real real tight um campus and Kevin knows more than anybody else even getting the fields project done and everything how tight everything is there is no budge so um where are the tennis courts in relationship to that I mean nothing's on there nothing other than your's on there right can you see where the cursor bottom left corner here there okay so how many feet is that how many cuz we had the construction guys there on that little side road when we built this school how many feet from the tennis courts to the senior center to the parking lot isn't that a side parking I assume that back parking is for staff that back parking is actually so the the this dve that that red building needs to hug up next to it because that's actually the handy the accessible parking there um it actually needs to hug up right next to the building so it needs to be rotated or the building is just going to rotate just a smidge um I I missed that question what was the question again no just I'm just trying to figure out um I've been over on that land quite a bit when we were doing all the construction stuff so um I'm just trying to picture exactly for that is it didn't seem like that there was a lot of distance there you you haven't been down with that pocket lot as a wish don't unless you walked all the way down to the detention base with a triangle the two roads meet that's how far down that is yes the current that parking lot as picture on top of the detention Basin yeah yeah just I mean we'll move forward it sounds like we'll just you can find we can walk and get a good ual I I don't see that as a big problem I like having a senior center close to the school CU then we can drag them up for concert all sorts of stuff but I would from a public hearing standpoint if you take something back I'm looking at your parking here and my experience is like seniors and reverse bad right bad bad bad bad bad bad that's where stuff's going to happen so when you're looking with your designer if you need more land to spray so so people can drive in into a parking spot and drive forward to get out of there really concentrate on that because outside of the vehicle stuff people are walking around nobody's paying attention and it's it's a mess so I would that's of all the design stuff that's the only thing I see that's a problem and so if you need a little bit if we walk it and it's not going to cause us any trouble you might have to expand the to give yourself a parking situation where you don't have to use reverse right that's um one of the many things I um like about Catlin architecture the company that we chose they um design almost exclusively senior centers so the parking spots are a foot wider instead of the standard 8 and 1/2 ft they're 9 and 1/2 ft wide and then they have that buffer in between each spot and that's he designs oneway traffic separate you see there's um on the left hand side and the right hand side there's separate entrance and next so people aren't passing by each other in like a two lane road um it's a good point though because you want to make sure you have enough space for for all of that so sounds like are there any other questions that I want to take up any more of your yeah um my only kind of concern just to echo on the others would be um the elementary school and when that upgrade new build whatever happens with that I don't know where that was being considered so that might be more of like a doctor render question but that would be probably my biggest concern would be if that was a potential location then I think we'd really need to discuss this before kind of so that would be the um building authority would essentially make that decision so we we would have to have a feasibility study they would come out and test the land um and they would essentially have the same process they would come up with suitable sites and then there would be some probably be some options okay one of them possibly being a right where the existing pel toop is okay Chris do you have anything my question comment was going to uh I'm sorry I'm trying to follow was going to be similar to the last one was just I know we have talked about an elementary school um and I'm not going to say renovation but like a new elementary school um and I don't know what the plans are thinking would be for that but I would be hesitant to limit our options um so that would be my only sort of comment which I think built on the last one just to give you an idea of the scope of the scale of that red building is shown there it's a 14,000 ft building but the first floor is somewhere in the vicinity of 8 to 9,000 the second floor in the vicinity of you know 4 to 5,000 so that footprint that you're looking at up there that building is only showing a footprint of it's less than 10,000 square ft that that box the red box so that's pretty small compared to a school um okay this yeah if it was two floors yeah be uh so I guess um the only thing I guess I would chime in with is I hated geometry sorry Mr clear I hated geometry except for when it came to doing box braids um so I am struggling with this I really am and I think you guys did an excellent job I think it's just more more me and my deficit in how I'm interpreting this but I think I guess I Echo Jim in that like having the flags there to like visually see it would be much more helpful and again like I told you all before absolutely 100% agree um with the project and how it's done I think I just need to be able to visually see it um you know for myself um before we sign off so I do know on that other slide that you had um August 28th and correct me I'm probably going to use the wrong terminology so whoever knows it please tell me please tell me um when we had the uh presentation in Shirley remember they had it was it aerial shots of it like it had the tree you might already have it if you do if you could send it um I guess it would technically be to Michelle like so we could or or Adam so that we could see it I think that's what I I need to see in order to understand scale cuz I have a feeling that I might be imagining a larger scale than what you guys are actually saying I that might be the problem help to have it be to show more of the whole school property so you can see with the existing highlight this line right here show you all the land itself that north of that line okay rather than trying to pick this around yes we'll just put a line we'll put a line basically what we would recommend as the outside of the lot I new lck yeah everything to that side would be right it's just my my know my context is anial view was that highlighted yes that would be great and then I think you know it'll be easier to provide a response because I know that you guys have been working hard on this and we absolutely want to give you an answer I just feel that from what I'm hearing or at least for myself um I'm struggling with context to the land um so that that way we can give you a definitive answer and recognizing that again I know you have the August 28th or mid September um so that we can give you an answer and be timely I don't know if anybody else had anything else that they ju could you clarify that the August 28th is that um when your committee is going to vote on a selecting aite so that was that was our hope yeah to um because we have been collecting all the rest of the information that we need um we are expecting the cost estimates to come in from the architect for that meeting obviously if this is not resolved you know if the school committee hasn't had time and would like to see it flagged we'd be happy to do that first our our next meeting is the 18th September 18th and I know you said midep would that be prior to the mid-september meeting for your committee I think we could work the next meeting around okay um because I I just wanted to be mindful of of time and coordination because maybe um and again Chris and um Adam set the agenda but maybe if we can um as as long as we have the materials before the next meeting then that way we'd be able to come prepared so that we'd be able to answer that that is just a suggestion but I I figure maybe that'll be helpful yes jge M CH since I think this is really the first we've heard of this and um another question I might have is there any difference in cost between the Bishop Road site and the Gren Harvard Road that you have at the moment that you're leaning the utilities can be um brought in are you're right next to Devon's utilities when you're over there which might be a real uh positive thing having Devon's power going into there since they stayed on during the blackout since the ice storm um and something like that a cost of that is not a continuing cost it's a one-time cost so uh does that make one more favorable than the other so the utilities cost is we have a preliminary and then we're getting a revised um utilities estimate I think that is probably the different the main source of the difference potentially um between between the two um it is the same building the same parking are able to be accommodated on both sides an excellent question um at the moment the estimate is could be from a million and a quarter to a million and a half more for utilities on the brush dump site since we have to bring everything down the road and to the tune of 1,500 to 2,000 linear feet of utilities cuz there's no utilities there now at all there's nothing there now that was the first thing I discovered when I was working on it okay fascinating it's everything is at that triangle at the end which goes right to the airport everything on that main road that's right along the river okay comes from the other side Devin right straight to the airport and nothing comes down mcferson not even a street light nothing is that mcferson what's mcferson Bishop starts as mcf turns into Bishop you know it's all one road basically right now looking at our sched we only we're just scheduled for one meeting in September maybe you can work with the superintendent's office and with the chair to set up something before that so we can walk the property with you so by the when we come to the meeting that will already be done and eliminate a lot of questions sure you yeah thank you I mean the thing is we can't create more land here and that I think is the basic consideration okay this town is growing this area is growing Shirley is growing and we are a regional and um they're putting in more and more more houses every minute this is a growing area and to limit our future for the kids it becomes a deep thought understand okay so um I know you're already coordinating with with Adam and Michelle so so we'll do that but we just want to be mindful of the time and the plans that you have for your for your committee as well so we appreciate this and then we'll look forward for the other the other um items that we have and walking um so that we can um assist you all uh for your Endeavor since 2018 is there anything else you want to let us know I don't want to cut you off no I just want to say thank you so much for your time and for heing it out and if you have any questions in the meantime feel free to email me or anyone on the committee or absolutely thank you thank you thank you have fun okay so I'm going to move on to the approval of the 2024 2025 school year student handbook Mr Keri thank you very much uh it's an annual tradition to come in with the uh student parent Guardian handbook uh so we've tried for for new members we've tried each year to come back with a memorandum to summarize the changes because the handbook tends to be lengthy uh since there are a lot of pieces in there and a lot of the Law changes that take place we have to update periodically uh we also discovered that we have several different handbooks for each of our different schools so we've kind of lumped them all together uh to create one big old packet so that all the information is in one place which makes it easier and sometimes over overwhelming um so I tried to summarize the changes that take place in the memo that way you don't have to read through all of the changes that are in the handbook since you've approved the handbook each year that we're here so really you're just kind of approving changes that we've made um so just a brief summary the yearly changes that we include in there include changeing calendar dates school year references names and The rosters phone extensions um specifically we made changes to the start times for the middle school and the high school so those schedule tools for middle school and high school are referenced in there as well as the start times meal pricing the continued free piece can is uh for school lunches and breakfast is still there uh changes to the handbook signature page basic edits for grammar and titles and headings and so on those are yearly changes that we that we make um specific content that exists in there uh with changes to some of the administrative roles there are point of contact changes for 504 contact for homelessness mckin vento act Title 9 and for title 6 those are reflected in page 12 you'll notice in the handbook if you saw the digital version or if you had a color printout you will have seen ones that had were highlighted in green those are changes that I'm intend I'm recommending that we make uh and those are what the new changes are going to be the things that are in red areas that are highlighted in red are areas that we are recommending to remove um and those some of those are being replaced some other just changes um we update ated the wording on page 18 about excessive absenteeism or more importantly chronic absenteeism to make sure that we clarified what the law says uh and Define what the consequences are for that so that's reflected on page 18 we added uh specifics about the video surveillance systems that are on the buses that was on page 29 because that information um was not present in the handbook we had information in the handbook about video surveillance but we didn't specify that they were present on the buses so we need to make that clear uh we added the uh preschool start times and end times and drop off times those were changed last year that came to the school committee a couple of times so we reflected those changes uh in addition school committee had made recommendations relative to athletic fees those changes are represented uh in the handbook in two places one in the main place for the high school but also in the Athletics handbook CU all these handbooks live separately for folks that you know if you're participating in extended day for example you would get a copy of the extended day handbook you also have access to the whole thing but you may get a copy of the extended day uh there were some conduct updates that were made in the high school section specifically to remove any references to in school suspension uh and I had mentioned before we added extended day enrichment program addendum because that was a separate piece that was existed before but since it's subsumed under the district we wanted to make sure it was included in the handbook so I'm happy to take any questions on any of the changes or anything else is fair game in the handbook um in the absence of any questions what I would propose uh is that the school committee vote to approve the handbook for release um with the changes that are identified in or highlighted in the handbook uh at that point I will then go and take care of the translation process for Spanish and Portuguese and then we'll get it published to the website and make it accessible and power school so that parents can both see it and sign off on it to meet the legal requirement yes Joyce um are there any variations in Middle School opinion ni B that are different than the high school ones when you have Middle School handbook is that the same as the high school handbook it just says Middle School one they're not the same so what's the major the it's basically the handbook describes a lot of the operational procedures that exist in each of the schools so the simple example is the schedule in the middle school is different from the schedule of the high school high school has credit bearing High School as credit bearing courses and attendance impacts your credits and there's graduation requirements that are Incorporated that so that's in the high school handbook that does not exist in the middle schoolb so that's just simple examples that's it okay anything else Jim sorry the update that we made to the wellness policy make it into the handbook on the no food party thing I don't know if it's referenced in the handbook but I will make certain to double check that I don't think that we put we try to avoid putting entire policies and whole cloth in the handbook we make reference to the handbook saying these policies are available on the school committee site here's a link to the I will D I assure you that I will double check that we did drive home that point at the administration Retreat good and there will be communication coming out of my office the superintendent's office to all parents the first week of school um it is we we are the a bit of the fund police but we just need to change how we celebrate uh certain things in the schools um and and that's fine we've many places have been doing it for a while so we we're on top of that yeah I just want to make sure you get one more one more round in your magazine so you can sit you're like it is in the handbook yeah that that's a good suggestion we do have Wellness pieces that are in there but they're more relative to like nurse and Health Services but I will I'll I'll double check and find a way to link it in to make sure it's in there maybe not the whole thing but maybe just reference no Chris did you just to yeah jump in off that um in terms of the update to so I'm assuming there have been security cameras on the buses prior to this being in the handbook um and I think our follow in uh section e of our handbook we do reference um video recordings how those are maintained um they're specific to school I don't know if it's worth us acknowledging um the buses because I believe we are still custodians of those records in some way um so I they are part of a stu if they are used at all they're part of a student's record they're protected uh um I think and so I don't know if it's worth us checking with mask um in terms of the policy so not a question for the handbook but just a comment for the school committee in terms of policy in section e we may want to think about how we reference um it could be helpful to understand um what these procedures are in terms of how they are storing um videos of students yeah protected information okay that makes sense Chris so those recordings from the buses are retained by the bus company to access bus recordings we would have to call D yes right so then they are secure they're responsible for securing them yes but my question would be just for example um when you're coming to privacy practices I know that we have and in my uh industry right so in my in my industry our Hospital even though we use a third party contractor on the hook if there's a privacy violation by that third party so I think that might be kind of what Chris is getting at is just making sure that we know for ourselves what's our responsibility and um the policy process centering around that even though we don't own the cameras if there's any kind of privacy or storage or even understanding how D has it so that we're not kind of left hanging there for as a risk um but I ask Mas yes we need to reach out to our general counsel about archiving um social media yeah uh we will add okay um perfect the the the Bus video to that okay yes CH and how far how long are those records retained for that would be the other question is the retention the retention typically if it's it depends on how it's um this much I do know is it depends on the what type of record it's considered and then there's a retention around that so I guess we would just need to find that out from general counsel a and and I will so I don't I don't know the answer to that I can tell you that a student record a cumulative folder we we have to keep or a test um we have to keep for seven years um with this it could be different I can get you that answer that that would be that's a really tricky question and opens us up a lot to maybe some severe problems okay uh sounds like that is it Chris did you have anything else nope that was it and again nothing for the handbook I'm I'm here for all the changes I appreciate the summary awesome I am as well yes Joyce Madam chair I'd make a motion that we approve the 2024 2025 school year student handbook as presented by Mr Charlie Clary tonight second okay all those in favor do we have to do a roll call Vote or we can do we do need to do okay could we do a roll call vote Michelle right it was a good summer Mr hiard hi Mr quiny Mrs re hi Mr rer hi I all right so we are in favor Mr clear go ahead and do what you do thank you very much appreciate the help and you want to review it and make sure it's pure you can and uh so next is the superintendent report Dr Renda thank you so we're already at that time the first day of school we welcome back our grades 1 through 12 students on Wednesday August 28th our kindergarten friends will join us for their first day Tuesday September 3rd and our preschool students will join us Monday September 9th there are some start time changes that we want to remind everybody about our Middle School start time this year is now 7:45 and end time is 2:15 their 90-minute early release will be 12:45 and their half day will be 11:15 and for the high school the start time is 7:55 the end time 2:25 the 90-minute early release 12:55 and the half day at 11:25 and if you remember we we made a change um in that start time because some issues with the times buses were able to get to the high school um at the end of the day uh we had new the beginning of new teacher orientation uh this morning at the library in the Middle School um that will continue tomorrow we also had high school student orientation today here at the high school from 9: to 11: um we will welcome back staff uh this Monday August 26 there's a bit of a change U this year we are not holding a convocation this year we had a lot of feedback um from our um teaching staff and Par professional staff that they needed more time in their classroom um so we're trying to listen and be responsive and give them uh that time uh so everyone will start in their own building uh there will be a a brief uh virtual um Union meetings uh Monday morning but that the the teachers will have um at least two hours more um probably more than that in their classrooms this year we also had our administrative uh Retreat uh last year the the theme of that was really to reflect what we've done uh figure out how to refine that and then to streamline some of our uh procedures and protocols um it seemed to be well received um we we had to Pivot many of the things we were trying to do at Retreat because of um uh covid traffic accidents and uh scheduling conflicts but um um Everybody showed up uh worked hard and they're all ready to go uh for the year uh we want to thank our custodial staff who has worked tremendously hard this summer to get everything ready for the year um the buildings are looking great they're almost done we still have some time uh about four more days to to get it just right for kids uh Bob and his custodians as always deserve a thank you uh we appreciate their hard work uh and next on the the superintendent's report I took the liberty of drafting a jumping off point of a of a draft uh cell phone policy we did get in touch with conquered public schools and um they would be happy to meet and talk with us um but I believe I had shared this at the last school committee meeting um they were all away on vacation and and kind of recovering from the school year so they would ask for us to reach back out um after the start of school to schedule that uh the policy that you're that you're seeing is really a version of conquer and and uh LS uh policies um we can certainly read through it um but really our next steps are to get some input um talk to parents teachers uh administrators and school committee gather an input refine uh this jumping off point um get it to the point where we believe this is a policy that we want to implement and then create an implementation plan sometime after uh winter break um if you've been following this at all in the news there is there are articles about the benefits of limiting cell phone use in schools coming out of uh uh every really every news agency many schools are moving towards this there's a push from desie um to do something Statewide uh so we're I think we're probably just a tad ahead of of the wave um that is coming um one of the things that we had looked into is some of these pouches and the what the name of those pouches again Yonder Yonder pouches they look great to start but if you if you dig deep into it our kids are going to hack those pouches and get those unlocked in about 15 seconds um there's videos on YouTube and other social media sites that show you how to do it it's not very complicated I believe I could probably figure it out um on my own but there there's there's other uh there's other options that we can have there's there's cases with individual slots that can lock and has a hand almost looks like a cell phone storage briefcase so if there was a fire alarm an emergency a teacher could really walk out with them keeping them safe um in out of Harm's ways so U really I in my opinion that the the bulk of this work because there are so many policies out there that we can borrow from um is is to communicate this out to families about how this is going to happen and why um but I'm happy to go through the the draft policy if you'd like but again um it's really just a jumping off point to gather some input and suggestions um and and if there are any questions about the start of that happy to answer I don't have any right now I think uh between reading through this I think with a different perspective as a parent um will be more beneficial to me and then hearing from our community um is probably going to be the smartest way to approach this because everybody's perspective is going to be a little bit different at least for I'm only speaking for myself um when I say that but I appreciate the work that has been done um for this the the real work with this is when we Implement and um following through and being consistent with it because there are absolutely going to be students who test us from day one and whatever we decide of those Protocols are going to be as long as we stay uh true to what they are and follow through with that if and if that means a parent coming to to pick up the phone after a certain number of violations um we have to hold the student and the parents to that so the school committee support uh with that is going to be uh very important um and then the the as we would like to say winning the grind um when when they're trying to grind you down to get you to change your expectations if we can keep to the expectation and and to the policy eventually we will have less students looking to circumvent what the policy is and really when you read the articles in in the research students tend to appreciate it once they kind of understand that they aren't going to have their phones anxiety levels go down participation goes up attendance goes up um it's there it seems like this is is kind of a no-brainer to in a direction to go to help the kids and the teachers um in the schools so where we're happy to be moving in this direction so just um it would be great to see kind of when you have what the plan looks like for input community outreach parent input um I don't know if just emailed you know whatever if we can review that or just the next meeting I don't know what your timeline is but we did have um we did present a an Implement I believe it was an implementation plan at um one of the last meetings last year yeah what we'll do is we we'll send that out in an email to all of you um and we will revise that because it's going to certain need to be revised since then and we can present that at the next meeting okay and if there's just I mean I think when I spoke to it last time I said I'm already biased strongly right so so as I read through it I understand I think it will help uh the classroom teachers out immensely especially ones who have trouble controlling the class to begin with so doing this you know districtwide or across the school is an excellent thing I still from a a social aspect and an interpersonal aspect I you know the use in the hallways and the use during cafeteria I would rather have them interacting with each other in a face-to-face basis it's a much tougher environment to control but that's just my initial interpretation yeah and this um just to be clear um 100% draft I I just thought having something to jump off of is was much easier to do um and there's a lot of uh benefits to to keeping for the day the the management of it would be much easier you're collecting them once you're giving them back once um so we can certainly take that feedback and and and whatever the final uh version of that policy is may may very well reflect that okay yes um have you reached out to staff at all to see like what their preference would be whether if it was beginning of the day or each class or what the school committee could do to kind of support them cuz I think at the end of the day if the teachers aren't enforcing it or aren't behind it I don't know how it would be successful so yeah we' love to kind of FL get their feedback on what we can do to make it work for them there's so not formally informally we've had conversations with different teachers are certainly in favor of a cell phone policy and kids being off of their phones um but there's some hesitation on who's going to enforce this who's going to collect the phones right we need we need to figure that out now the issue is is this 400 students and and two three admin in the if we're talking just the high school there's two sometimes three administrators in they can't collect every phone right so we would absolutely need to figure out a way for teachers to assist with this but that's exactly why we need to have a a group of teachers we're talking to to figure out what is a feasible to happen daily yeah right daily or every period right what whatever uh we come to so that's why this is this is just a jumping off point we had started this a little late in the school year um and we we didn't want to bring uh teachers in over the summer uh to do this work but really one of the push we had been talking about it uh and Mr quiny had brought it up I believe at a couple of meetings but the push to bring this to school committee when we did really came from a couple of high school teachers yeah so I'll be the bad guy and it's going to be totally rhetorical so even if you want to shut your eyes so you don't make a face that's absolutely okay um but I think on the flip side for me as a parent one of the concerns that I have is some of and this is I'm going to solely Bas this on the recent years um some of the conduct of the teachers that the students prove through interactions on their phone and so my concern as a parent is when I'm getting feedback from um teachers and the presentation and that this is no knock at anybody when I say this but it has been a Ben Ben at times to see some of the interactions because there seems to be consistency when you review them as in when I say that meaning you're seeing a consistent reaction in a 10 to 15 minute video in October December may you know not just in the context of we all know our kids they can get you at the right time and it's not necessarily really what happens but there have been some interactions that I've seen seen multiple students in different classes or different class times that you're seeing things that then maybe need to be addressed so I will say from that standpoint I have some kind of apprehension and I'm only voicing it just to give the voice of some of you know the other side and to be completely transparent right and that's why I said totally rhetorical but I don't know how as administrators um that necessarily can be addressed kind of it's kind of up in the air with all the other things but just even kind of hearing it or thinking about it or reviewing you know what does classroom conduct look like on both sides um and I I can only tolerate kids for 15 minutes so I can't be a teacher right like I I want to appreciate the work that they do but at the same time I kind of want to voice that concern because that is one you know I can understand that yeah what I would say is that we have had students come to us with with concerns and complaints yeah and um there has been some discipline that has happened the past two two to three years at least since I've been on um from student voice none of those have involved videos of cell phones those have involved students making an accusation and us taking it seriously and doing a thorough investigation um so I can understand that but I think maybe if you were privy to the information of what has actually been done when the student brings a concern um and how serious we do take it I think maybe um some of your concerns would be be alleviated but I can I can understand where you're coming from but when when students come to us at least I can say when it when it makes its way to uh Administration and certainly to to our offices um we take it seriously we investigate and you know the the people here have been directly involved in in um many of those awesome and maybe that might be a part of like some of the communication that goes out to the parents cuz that I'm sure I'm not the only one but that's why I said I'll be the bad guy and say it but that was no reflection on anybody you know in The Faculty or anything like that I think part of it might be educating um our students on what to do right if they think what they need to do is is is take this out phone and video rather than come and talk to um the the princip or senstive principle to get to get assistance with that that's we need to educate them on when you feel like you were a classmate isn't being treated the right way by an adult in in the school who do you talk to first right yeah so we can that that can all be part of thisly that that's not an angle I thought about yet though so thank you for bringing it up Joyce did you have your hand up is it that part of giving the student um the power to understand that everything is doesn't go through the cell phone and through technology but you have to have personal relationships and being able to and don't we have like student council things where they were having morning groups and stuff like that there is advisory and that that could absolutely be discussed during advisory it's really part of digital citizenship yeah yeah um so I mean part of this is the kids haven't learned to talk to the person next to them because of the cell phone and because of computer games but this is this is part of learning how to deal in your Society no matter what your Society is there's less space to face interactions I think we've all seen uh kids or students who are friends sitting next to each other communicating through their phone when they're this close um so that's something we have to do a better job of Chris do you have anything I have nothing additional to what's been shared already okay just making sure thank you anybody else no so there's one other part of the superintendent's report I know this is the first school committee meeting of the year but we're already asking for a proposed change to the next meeting the next meeting is scheduled for Wednesday September 18th there is a comp Laura a white is having their open house uh um the same day as the school committee meeting so we're hoping that we could move the September 8th meeting to Tuesday September 17th at the high school um I have a conflict my it's only one this year and I'm going to be out of town okay planning on being a trying to be ined I'm good right now I'm scheduled to be in Cambridge so I could dial in but being here if it is it 6:30 to me think or that could be a challenge okay but I could maybe dial in so they're having their open house on the same day the 18th September 18th same day the 18th M it's fine with me but I in person or you know calling in for the first half an hour or something like that possible good okay so we will uh make that change thank you and that is all for the superintendent's report are you moving it to Tuesday from Wednesday is that from Tuesday to Wednesday from Wednesday to Tuesday EXC Tuesday okay uh we do not have any ongoing business Chris do you have any chairperson's notes no chairperson's notes okay other topics for discussion not reasonably anticip ated 48 hours in advance of this meeting anyone Madam chair I think something that's very critical that's happening in our area and um um not a motion as such but um the closing of um Melle bahash is critical to our population to our kid population to this area and um if we could try to draft a letter to the governor um to get some atten more attention on this I know there's a lot of attention already but it's proceeding at a rapid rate and there is something about it being a legal clo not giving them 180 days to close and they're giving them about four weeks um if everybody I don't make a motion this is all happening so fast we haven't had a meeting before this to discuss it but I think that it's behooves us to take um our public responsibility for our students and our families to uh protest the closing of the hospital okay mam sh I'd be happy to draft that letter um and send it out to school committee uh by Friday for approval okay thank you perfect thank you thank you has to be done AB okay communication all right um Monday August 26th and Tuesday August 27th all staff according to the buildings Wednesday August 28th is the first day of school for grades 1 through 12 Thursday August 29th kindergarten orientation Friday August 30th there's no school Monday September 2nd no school and observance of Labor Day Tuesday September 3rd is the first day of school for kindergarten Friday September 6th preschool orientation Monday September 9th first day of school for preschool Thursday September 12th Middle School open house Tuesday September 17th actually correction oh no that is right uh school committee meeting um will be rescheduled to that date from Wednesday 6:30 here at the high school Wednesday September 18th is a 90-minute early release day preschool through 12: professional development for teachers Wednesday September 18th is also lower a open house Wednesday September 25th Page hiltop open house and Thursday September 26th is the High School open house thank you okay we do not have an executive session correct no need all right so I will entertain a motion for adjournment make a motion we adjourn if I can see the clock right let's say 8:00 or 1 minute before I can't see it 759 that's one minute before second all those in favor say I I bye meeting aour