##VIDEO ID:gq7vskkXCcE## uh good evening ladies and gentlemen at this time I'll call the school committee meeting of December 12th to order um and I'd ask everyone to please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America to The Republic stand one nation start with Matt Matt milville dunon Blackstone Tara scobby Blackstone Tara Lin milville Carrie godette Blackstone vako milville Joe spaga Director of Finance and operations Jill pag gallerani assistant superintendent director of student services and Jason DeFalco superintendent and Dan Keith Blackstone I passed myself oh I'm sorry I stepped in again didn't no student representative this evening I think with all the games firing up tonight I think everybody is caught up and okay we'll move to consent agenda a warrants take a motion to accept the warrants so Move Motion made by Tara seconded by Carrie and Chuck uh any other discussion all those in favor signify by sorry wow no breath um just um point of um we had new minutes sent by email so they don't match the print they were just a couple Corrections so what's printed in front of us has just like a couple typos fixed on the print version at the email version we got those are minutes yep okay that's next oh sorry it's sorry whoops that's why I was moving trying to get all right sorry any other discussion on the warrants all those in favor signify by saying I hi hi and a motion on the minutes for November 14th 2024 so move following what Tara just said motion by motion by Tara seconded by Chuck any discussion and that's going to be just to clarify that there are edited minutes in our email edited okay and we will um with that note um any other discussion on the minutes any other Corrections okay uh all those in favor signifi by saying I I I any oppose the eyes have it public forum anyone wishing to address the school committee can come right up to the uh the table here and just give us your name I'm Jessica campano Blackstone resent all right I sit or stand you can sit sit um I'm gonna go first and then sure some of the girls have they'd like to say too uh I'm not totally prepared but I'm just going to go with what I have okay um I wanted to address um some issues and concerns I have with the BMR cheer team first and foremost I'd like to express that these athletes work just as hard as any other sports teams but sadly it seems they always seem to get the short end of the stick um it's come to their attention that the space being provided for practices is not only unsafe but not practical to carry out the physical aspects of cheer as far as stunting and tumbling goes these chair leaders do not just shake their pom poms on the sidelines of football and basketball games they work countless hours practicing choreography performing gymnastic stunts as well as learning new routines and techniques to compete against other schools I've been informed that cheer this entire week has been cancelled due to space and lack of logistics working out originally they were placed in the basement wait room of the Middle School the ceilings are too low and there is equipment in there impacting their safety uh apparently they are now being moved to the JFK school as a result of this shift they are missing a full week of practice as well as tonight's first basketball game um and the girls basketball game pratice practice tomorrow they allegedly cannot practiced there yet because the mats need to be moved to JFK but also can not get um they're not able to get the larger gym at JFK needed to hold those seven mats because Town Basketball is using it last year and prior years mats were moved the same day so they don't understand why mats cannot be moved during the day tomorrow during school so practice and um the game tomorrow night can be attended my other issue is that the fees for cheer have recently doubled to $200 without notice to families um while I understand where this money is going and getting allocated towards demanding an extra $100 without notice or explanation is not acceptable I was given the explanation when I questioned the increase however not all families are prepared to pay for that increase when the cheerleaders signed up it was listed as $100 parents received notice this Monday that $200 is owed before participating can begin the cost is only for those on the comp team to cover choreo uniforms busing music and competition fees however they are not hiring a choreographer this season it's my daughter and another charot leader that are doing the choreography um again I understand what the increase is but to just demand the money this week without explanation email or notice is not okay I've checked with the ad and as of now there are no competition scheduled um from what the team is telling me they are not having a choreographer or new music for the season so again I'm not sure where the fees are actually going towards furthermore it's come to my attention that the previous coach um who left last year has made contact with the school on numerous occasions and has offered to help do the choreography for this season not have the high schoolers Do It um but she has yet to receive any kind of response I just feel like the kids are missing out um for some of them it's their senior ye season and their last opportunity so why are other sports teams getting to hold their practices this week and not them that's it um and then we have um we are here speaking from the BMR Varsity competition team and basketball sideline team we are the captains of both teams we are speaking before you all today instead of cheering at our first basketball game which we were all so excited for but we were unable to attend because we haven't been able to practice all week due to being booted every practice space we've previously booked user fee going up after season started for what the 80 claims was always $200 which is untrue she claims it's going to music uniforms and choreography which none of those things are we paying for the season Bella and I are responsible for doing the Coro because of this raising of the fee last minute it's affecting multiple athletes financially and mentally as we're expected to cough up 200 bucks by this week or we told we are not able to participate in the sport we think there's plenty of space in the gym to share and we are a Varsity Sport and we've been nothing but neglected we were told we were not able to use the afg AFM gym at the elementary school because Town basketball team participates in there school sports should get First Choice Over Town Sports never mind a varsity competitive team in the fall we were asked to leave all the away games early because we weren't provided busing we were we were unable to go to multiple away games due to lack of busing Middle School cheer teams have been halted all week and we have had our tryouts in the hallway even though our tryouts dates have been up for months we've been put in the weight room which is unsafe to stunt because the ceilings are extremely low the gym we have been told we are unable we are able to use is way too small and we are unable to fit our 42 ft mats while the perimeter of the gym is only 38 ft we've been told no one is able to go into the building before 3:30 but we need time to roll out all of our mats which ends up wasting lots of practice time it has not been confirmed that we have a bus to take us to the elementary school when many of us athletes rely on the bus to make it to practice we've been pushed around and we've put when we've put up with it kicked out of our games and practice spaces but enough is enough as a cheerleader people see us as just a silly little hobby as we cheer for the boys and wave around our little pom poms when in reality we are a competitive sport we stunt we jump we do gymnastics we flip and we spend countless hours practicing for competitions and many of us athletes are very passionate about this sport we try so hard and it really affects us as a person of the mindset am I enough when we aren't treated as so we feel no one cheers for the cheerleaders and it's not fair that's all that's all okay so first of all thank you for you coming to us this evening and it takes a lot of courage to do what you guys just did you did a wonderful job at it and and typically we're not obligated to respond to you because this is a public forum um what that being said we do have the ability to and seeing the hands raised around me I'm going to address the school committee members that want to um respond to your comments and I'll start with Aaron so first question are you the coach no I'm not okay you're I'm a parent parent okay um so just to clarify and it seems like you've been on the team for years practice was typically here in the cafeteria correct in the gym it's in between and fall we practiced in the gym we had the gym space and then um during the winter time we would practice in the cafeteria that was and are the mats here currently yes there and you weren't allowed to practice in the cafeteria this week or you did not want did the coach not want to no we were not C cclc takes place in there now is there anything that uses it at night yeah it was evening there's been a lot of discussion with the facilities use process and the head coach there's been a lot of a lot of discussion and it's partially you know there's a lot of information that I think everybody doesn't have yeah unfortunately is evening not an option I I know every year it's probably been different times probably based on coaching schedules and availability but does the coach this year not have availability for evening practices she's she's tried we we have to like work around other people's schedules on the team too and every time that we've like picked out a day that works for people we have to wait for the ad to approve it we were told that the gym at the high school was booked until 8:00 p.m. and then Color Guard practices here until 8 so there's really no other option for uh Chuck first oh go ahead first I just need some clarification I'm just trying to figure out where was your winter practice was always here right what was the time prior to this season so last last season it was 7 to9 we were at the high school at the high school 7 to9 and then prior Seasons it was right after school 2:30 to 4:30 okay and now none of that there's somebody in there both those times we've been told well not in the cafeteria right now I I think there's a lot of missing information the the ad the director of uh finance and operations Joe spagna and the coach have been in communication for weeks and weeks on this trying to come up with Solutions so I agree with you Mr ke this takes a lot of courage to do this I just feel really badly because there's a lot of information that they don't have right from the head coach I wish they did I do hear what they're saying though I I am going to say this I do hear what you're saying about the fitness room they tumbling stuff but that was the space the coach requested but if that's the only space we're offing it Wasa notate there's so much information that's not accurate here okay yeah so that space did you just say was requested they requested that space we actually recommended in our Monday morning central office leadership team meeting recommended they don't use that space for the reasons that they just said did you give another recommendation of space Joe's given quite a few suggestions and there's always an issue with the time and they were saying some of the individuals on the team have other uh obligations uh jazz band might be one of them there was something else that was brought up by the coach dance thank you yeah so if the JF K school is available which they're supposed to be moving to they're still not able to practice tomorrow because they're being told that the mats can't get to the school those are going in the morning Mr Hebert is that right that's right email went out today that already was taken care of I know you guys have like a part of the information which I feel badly about the coach has all this information who is the coach this year uh it's it's a new uh she's new to the team Rebecca Boule Becky boule okay so I feel badly they've missed a week of practice Yeah and our first game tonight so though if Matts are being moved tomorrow morning they should be able to have their practice tomorrow afternoon as well as attend the basketball game yep 100% and does that space work for you at the JFK we need the bigger gym and that's been told the town is in for basketball we need the AFM gym cuz our mats don't all seven mats do not fit in The Little Gym so uh what upset their schedule from last year what made the yeah that was what their schedule change this year they didn't want that if I'm understanding correctly Joe interrupt me if I have it wrong but I don't think they wanted that time and I believe they were offered the high school gym after 6 high school after 6:30 is available but wasn't can I speak go at after school so at the 6:30 time we counted we would only be allowed to have five practices because of games games that are because every time there's a game obviously the game you understand takes priority we would have five practices between December and January before our first competition you're at the games though right don't you cheer at the games we don't them oh so they don't cheer at all the gamesys we do most of them but in times that their girls absolutely need a practice then so you wouldn't go you wouldn't share the game you do the practice instead just so I understand the schedule yeah like we would do most practices by practicing earlier we are able to do all games but if we were to do if we we just we just can't we can't only have five practices because of the time that the gym is available is it impossible to practice right after school that's what we would like is it the availability right after school is the JFK gym because of all the other obligations the AFM gym is not available after school it is it is not and then this cafeteria uh after school after school program they had get here because the basketball team needs the gy it's nice you know as part of the community like School Community after school you know you you go to your practice and you're not going home and coming back at 6:00 um and it seems like you should sit down and really work it out and not let weeks go by it hasn't been working on this for weeks it's been Conant they been on this also like having practice at the elementary school after school like School D doesn't get out until 3:10 so we would have to rely on the bus which we're not even sure if we have and then we would have to wait to get in there and then usually games we have to be there an hour early to get ready for the games and so at that point we wouldn't even have a full practice so there's no point in doing it because with the amount of time it takes to roll out the mats and roll up the mats that's half an hour itself and with the time that we need to get ready before the game which is an hour we'd only have half an hour of practice the gym being used at that time that you're trying to get into the school that you'd like to get in is the gym occupied no and so what prevents them from getting in some state law or something or they used to come here and and start their practice and we didn't Supply a bus either so I don't I think that's more of a logistic thing that isn't well you took them so much she said they couldn't get into the school uh if they could get scho they get out here early the kids are in school till 310 the elementary school but to let okay they us how many kids are on the team uh there's 10 on the competition team how many on the sideline competition team and some people I think was there 14 on the disruptive to allow that group to go in there might be classes going on yeah in the gym so what is your ideal time and place just if you could pick I mean as of right now what's been working for us is like like right after school until practice is 3 to 5 where we fall was in the gym yeah 3 to 5 the gym is well our gym floor was our gym was closed for a while so this gym this gym okay and no bus was supplied to get over here yeah there was a bus the athletic shuttle is that yeah and it was only $100 for That season so well very different though we do have a choreographer budget so that's something we would talk about I believe at another time but music choreography that is all part of the the budget and has been um why it's not being spent this year would be a different conversation but as far as user fees it's still a lot less than oh that's understandable it's just that when these kids signed up it was listed as 100 and this Monday we all received an email that the fee doubled and had to be paid before they could participate and on Monday they were all under the impression they were practicing on Wednesday and then the gotc tri were the next day for JV as well I just think that an email maybe should have gone out and said just um to make everyone aware the fear the the cheer fee for choreography um and the busing and and the uniforms and all that for the comp members is um going to be increasing for this season like with some notice interesting and I have spoken to like one of the guidance counselors at the high school and I brought it up to her and she told me that she was going to send them an email so we could I could meet with the with Mr duch and the ad to talk about why it happened get a real explanation like face to face and I've not gotten a response yet and so I plan on going back tomorrow to get a response any other followup J no just where do they stand now it's tomorrow they able practice because the mats are moved in the morning that but not until 3:10 I think if if I'm don't want to speak out of line but if the coach is present when they get there a little bit before 3:30 and the coach can bring you into the school I think that would be acceptable because we want to minimize disruption especially at that time of day there's a lot of bus activity there parents pulling in and out we don't want anybody's running through and possibly having an accident in there so if the bu if the coach can meet you there get you into the school that she can get you into a door we've already assigned actually but on the back side getting there early isn't a problem I spoke to the principal today about that so if it's 310 3:15 that's okay can I make a suggestion I've been helping as an assistant coach I work at the complex okay I am in the complex um I am I am certainly you could meet them at the abely meet them and let them in because I was going to say finish with bus duty at 3:20 our head coach like works here she's in this building in that building I'm already there this time schools end which is later than it used to be so I don't know if it would be like so getting there at 320 if you're available I think that would work I'm absolutely I can walk right from my bus duty is right around the corner from door 25 so I can be there unfortunately trans ation I had a conversation with telone today we tried to work out a way to get transport we're not going to be able to pay for another bus for transportation by the way so getting there is going to be again it's going to be up up to you to figure out how to get there I know that there's the athletic shuttle that goes from the Middle School to the high school at a set time of day we can't get anybody from the high school to that location reasonable to the complex from the comp comp they would they would get there probably about 3:00 and then there's no supervision there's nobody available at that time so I think there's an issue there so I think that's where we're heading with the transportation issue how long have we' been supplying an athletic shuttle for years from this building to the if we do it for athletics band and um um drama if if anyone needs it so I do know that the pro cuz this is also concerning the middle school team will also be looking there so um we'll also be practicing in the same spot so the idea was like it was supposed we were told is that the shuttle would go to the Middle School pick and then pick up the high school and then stop at the complex um that's not is that well it's the timing of it they would be get they' be dropped off around 3:00 because that shuttle now has to get back to the elementary to do the route that they need to do do Road it's not like that shuttle just go that bus just goes back to the yard and sits I mean we have multiple members that can will not be able to participate without transportation which is so they can't the challenge is getting from just so I understand it correctly getting from the high school to the complex yes but also and also middle school students Middle School to how many middle schoolers from here we don't know because they have not been able to continue tryouts tryouts were supposed to be this week so as of right now the middle school does not know we don't know oh all right I thought they were already Cuts me um they were not Varsity cuz we didn't have enough space we had to they had to be divided um triy outs so we were trying they were doing tryouts in the hallway out here sorry can you just ask qu Tri out so you're in JFK now right what is the time slot they gave you without us talking about adjusting it what is the time slot 3:30 to 5:30 3:30 5 is it 5 days a week yes we don't practice every day um and the shuttle Joe doesn't work for that 3:30 to 530 they they'd be dropped off probably around 3 given a time frame where we can't get middle schoolers to the practice but we don't we don't Supply we don't Supply transportation for activities I I I mean I we try but for years I've driven my own kids other I I there are things you have to work out car pooling and and stuff when your practices were at night when you were younger there was no shuttle so the issue is because it's at JFK get them to the high school we used to get them from middle school challeng is getting from the high yeah what activities the challenge is walking from the high school to the complex okay I got you go ahead so you don't provide busing for activities or you don't provide busing for sports we do for competitions we provide we provide busing for competitions like if you're going to if you when you get your competition scheduled together you'll have transportation I'm sure as part of that competition Joe I'm sorry was there another I'm sorry there's been so much talk about times and everything was there another time at JFK that was available um JFK's gym is is open so the problem there would be nobody it could be later in the day it could be and they they could have the high school at at 6:30 the few days a week what you're saying you said minimal like our mats I mean they're out there if you want to see them they're 6 feet tall they're we've already we planned on moving those over to JFK only problem with the JFK gym is regulation competition size mats are 42 ft x 42 ft that gym is only 38 ft wide the JFK yes okay so you know respect we they would never be able to practice prior to comp on a m that is and the 6:30 in the high school doesn't work well there's games constantly during that time I we went we went through and counted and that it only left us five actual practices between now and our first comp or 6:30 here I would have to check the schedule where they were for years so the AF gym gym is the bigger gym that would work better but from 3:30 to 5:30 town is that is that what they said when does town no they start at 5 I believe Town basketball program the youth the youth basketball I better than I they start at 5: I don't believe there's anything in the cafeteria after cclc here though which is the space there Matts always fit in Prior and cclc is till 5 mhm it was the time slot they didn't want they really it was it was there is availability the time slot wasn't didn't work for them cheerleading is having that later time when we have to we're doing games we don't have practice if there's a game and we're cheering it we're not going to have practice so if we have earlier like tomorrow we were planning on having practice going leaving practice going to the high school cheering a game I mean that's typically what these girls do um you know are the same girls the competition team and the there are all the competition girls are on are on the sideline team there are additional members to the sideline team which they do not practice as frequently need to build an Athletics fa facility again and see if she she'll come in to meet be nice to get them back into this space it all out because it's got the room yeah they'll take the and the mats are very hard to move they are so you have an after school program in there about 100 kids Monday through Thursday 80 to yeah 80 to 100 Monday through Thursday yeah so they could have an earlier practice on Fridays if they had later on during the week but that's all I mean based on the coaches Ava and I think there's a I know one of the things the coach mentioned was a jazz band conflict does that sound I don't think jasine is Tuesday Thursday 3:30 3:00 okay so May 3 to 4:30 that might be Middle School the middle school team that's not something got tough job an athletic Drifter right trying we're trying to make it all balanced so the mats are getting moved to the AFM gym tomorrow JFK JK JFK gym that they don't fit in they don't I mean can we start tomorrow with six mats instead of seven absolutely but you don't have transportation to get um we don't have transportation um get there I I'll drive over to the high school and grab a view myself if I need cuz I have one my my own daughter um but um yeah like we can't be expected to stay in there for the rest of the season cuz we the mats don't fit we can absolutely start tomorrow and get started need to be able to be on regulation siiz mats prior to competition I mean they they puts them at a severe disadvantage um they're already at a disadvantage because we're a week behind um schedule you know um our first competition is I believe February 9th I mean that's less than two months away routine has up a pep rally routine for what 3 weeks Y and the mats have to be moved for Pepi and we're not sure if we even have secured space for or practice over break either yeah yeah we've put in like multiple date that we need over practice but wasn't approved well it's as this really sure where it would be so are the girls asking for the dates or does the coach put in request she put in a request yeah it's a coach there seems to be a lot of miscommunication and definit information that's not I I know I wish you had all I'm incredibly proud of our student athletes are coming forward that you did the right thing I just wish that you had had all the information before the Mee they just want to they want start cheering I mean they wanted to do their thing I think everybody wants the same they went to States last year which was huge it was the first time that happened in seven years they want that opportunity again and if they can't start they're not you know they're behind the curb all right so tomorrow after school Matt will be at the JFK gym yep and this will continue to be coordinated to the administration and the coach and yeah and see what we can do to bring it all together nice job girls but you didn't have really good job you really did we'll figure it out I don't think they feel like they got any other answers I know but we need to talk to the coach I mean that's part of the did she did she I wish she was here so we were here as we had a cclc cheer showcase you know done by these two girls who teach cclc cheer we had a showcase we were here these these girls are devastated that that what has been what is happening and they're really I mean you can see my my daughter here is in tears these girls they want this so bad they my own daughter this kid lives in Breeze chair she teaches it to the to the younger kids um and I know Bella's been in the same boat with us and not ell um like they this is what some of them want to do it in college this is they do it in college if they don't get these opportunities I mean it's it's just really it's heartbreaking cuz like when practice Wednesday was cancelled like immediately my daughter's text Mom what's going on my practice prse practice cancel you know she was so upset I mean this kid she's working on choreography she's got these two have got the che count hours they've got this routine choreographed these two their own charge R team for cclc commitments two jobs dance like and they're and they're honor students so like choreographing things for pep rally their own team our team they have their own jobs multiple jobs other requirement Sports they they work two jobs dance she does dance really committed to this and yeah they want to see it happen it's last year they feel like they've been let down that they are cheering on everyone and nobody's cheering for them as Z put it um and you know I mean I get there's so many Logistics and um you know but they they were here and saw there was a school committee meeting and said let's go like this was just an hour ago out in the out in the out there that they made this decision to let let's go um and you know like you said great job girls like I just I just feel like that needs to be known that how committed these girls are to this I'm just going to another question on this so CU you one of you made made the point that there's outside leagues using facilities and you guys essentially feel that you were passed over but you have the right to feel that that the league that's in is is it the the league in the in this gym is at 5:00 is that what it is no this gym is the middle SCH this gym is is the middle is the middle school teams the one the AFM gym I I believe it's the town I mean you it's a town town league okay at AFM at AFM I'm sorry at AFM yeah okay obviously that's something we authorized as a facilities use yep um can we bump the town 530 what you're going yeah was kind of where I was going if you guys were practicing from three 3 to 5 was it or 3 to because of the it's 3 to 3:30 to 5:30 because of we have been doing 3 to 5 here but because of the changes at the school because of times um it would be 3:30 to 5:30 oh and you got to set the mats up we have to set the mats up yeah I don't know if it would be worth reaching out to the league it would be the so the town league starts at I thought they started there at 6 no they start earlier in the afternoon I'd have to check for sure but I think it's I think it's 4 or 5:00 I'd have to recheck that I don't have the calendar with me yeah it's on the on the it's not five I will tell 5 to9 for AFM 5 5 it's that's what it's block so it's a half hour because if someone falls off they're going to have to so 5:30 this takes precedence over that they can use the JFK gy for half hour Shuffle AFM JFK they just start at 5:30 start at 5:30 the the league the town league yeah yeah that's so they get there's still an issue then with the transportation because it's still from the from those that are at the high school to get to the complex but it would still be you still get tomorrow's practice is just varsity it's not an issue with the middle school it's it's only the varsity varsity team tomorrow but I mean now now that we know as far as of tonight it was canceled tomorrow but if the Mets are going to be there and I think if we tell our coach that she shouldn't be doing that right Jason yeah I don't know why you're can I don't know why you're practices keep getting canceled like that should not be happening and that was canell yesterday too it it doesn't that's the coach's decision very respectfully like that should not be happening to you guys that I agree I 100% agree well without because without the math it's we there's not much we can do is BMR cafeteria big enough the ceilings are not high enough for us to stunt is is the problem um sizewise fine we need the we need theing it's the ceiling height that's that's the biggest issue um thought of that you wouldn't use the AFM gym you know five days a week so you know how many days a week and then we can tell the the youth basketball league like these days you can only start at 5:30 the other days you can start at 5: okay so it's not like so um but you don't have to tell us that now on Thursday right th Thursdays are definitely there would never basketball never be that out with right right that's the only reason we didn't move and we've been waiting for approval on Monday or else we would have split it up cuz now now that they've missed out the girls are hoping to add a Monday practice um because typically what we do is the middle school team practices Tuesday Wednesday is a combined practice between the Middle middle school and the varsity team um Thursday there's no practice Friday is the varsity comp team only um so the girl we are C we have been hoping to maybe add a Monday practice I'm not sure that that's been communicated to you so ultimately you'd like to do Monday Tuesday Wednesday Friday yes that'd be the perfect scenario mhm yep 3:30 to 5:30 but like I said I'm not sure that's Mondays would no it was cuz they didn't get back to us so we want to do later though yeah later Monday yeah the Monday idea the girls have been we like talk about that with the team make sure everybody can do it before we bring it up cuz they they had talked about possibly doing a later night Monday night an evening practice on a Monday night um we're in the discussion phrases of this I know this was we're not sure with like they do feel really behind already um so Tuesday Wednesday Friday 3:30 to 5:30 that's what we have like concrete is is um we were hoping to add a Monday whether it be directly after school or maybe later in the evening but that has not nothing has been finalized and I don't think that was okay brought up to you or anything I that was and whatever gym you're in you need to stay at cuz obviously we can't move the mats right and the get put away they're out of the way there the girls put them out so that's another issue with the JFK gy I was speaking to Mr Eisenberg today and he is like what do you mean you're going to how big are these things they're large um have to put them away every night they're right up there 6 ft tall and they're a Scott and a half wide we did that rolled up so our plan was to roll them against the back I worked with the we we spoke to the principal this afternoon roll them up against the wall they'll be out of the way it won't be an issue for cuz there's a lot of kindergarten activities and stuff in that gym and when the girls arrive they'd be able to roll it out use it then just make sure they roll them back at the end of the day so it shouldn't be an issue what we want to avoid is having them dragging these mat around cuz that's dangerous trying to set them up themselves you want to find a location get them where you guys can easily access them to use them and easily put them away so you're not lifting and moving and dragging them around I mean and it's pretty typic difficult they've been moving these they've been moving them all oh and I don't think you should have to do that you should be able to just set them up and that I that would be that would be wonderful I used to show up like an hour early from practice and set them allall up yeah hopefully that won't happen hopefully we can find a resolution for that too so besides Transportation being an issue who's in Milo who's in the did we put any of our teams in JV Basketball is in milville from four to six we're not we're not providing transportation to milville we are not no but not but we that gym is used I'm thinking like space for storage they they'd have unlimited space there not a class but I think it's the time of day though it really is that is mv's cafeteria ceilings High I can't seem to picture at all I don't think so was Tiny yeah smaller than lot of square feet but we couldn't do the he okay so the plan is AFM gym 3:30 to 5:30 and we're going to move BM BM 530 and the mats are going to go to AFM not JFK tomorrow is there room for storage in the AFM gym though I didn't look at that today Scott there's same type of scenario with the AFM gem right we could probably do the same thing with those mats put them against the wall yeah and let them roll them out and put them back probably the same thing yeah it would it would be some the only issue might be with the mats if there's if there is an issue with the kids during the day we might stand them up and actually strap them to the wall so you might have to lay them down to we've usually like them usually are trying not to even do that we want them laid out I see what okay okay so then yeah you would like me to contact the uh youth basketball league to let them know Monday Wednesday Friday we're going to move them to after 5:30 and Tuesday um uh I'm sorry Tuesday Wednesday Friday after 5:30 we might need to reiterate to them that the boys have to wait till 5:30 till they're done like no early arrivals okay yeah I mean we can commit to being done at 5:30 being done the from 3:30 to 5:30 for your practices and we can get the mats there Scott tomorrow for that then we'll have to work out how you're getting in the building to get to the AFM gym I want to just make sure we're not bumping into dismissals and bus runs and things okay yeah they drive I'd have to we' going to have to work that out cuz we only look sticks for JFK okay um I mean I can still plan to meet them out door 25 tomorrow and Al them I mean it is significantly farther and like you know hopefully we can change that but for tomorrow like without having time to work it out I I will meet them at door 25 from Varsity like drive right like yeah yeah for the only busing issue is like for middle school or sideline the Varity kids can drive all Varsity all Varsity competition kids can get to the elementary school and the door 25 you'd be there about 3:20 I can be there at 320 yeah absolutely they nobody could I wouldn't have them arrive before that just for the dismissal purposes from school and then I mean maybe once we look we can maybe pick a door that's a little closer to the gem sure we Logistics yeah tomorrow I mean I can meet them wherever okay you would wherever you want me to so tomorrow would we be in JFK gym or AFM we'll put you in the AFM okay and we to talk to the youth basketball and what time does elementary school get out 310 so the um dismissal starts at 3:10 we are usually wrapped up about 320 all right so don't show up until after that mhm yeah mhm okay no I know it's like a mess but yeah yeah okay excellent um the door 25 is the is the where they do parent pickup so um you wouldn't even be able to okay no it's the front one by the NC oh you it's the front one one of the front ones oh like where the okay whatever don't worry you don't need to waste our time with that I can tell you that after it's been a while since we've been there thank you thank you excellent excellent job ladies thank you ni job good work anyone else for public forum okay I'm just going to take uh student on the school committee agenda student recognition um that student is unable to attend tonight so we're going to byass that until the next meeting and and um if there's no objection I'm going to move to the report of the superintendent uh while we have uh staff here for the uh the updated health unit materials Mr superintendent thanks so much uh good evening everybody uh if our health uh and fizzed staff want to come forward uh along with Mary our district lead coach um just a very brief overview as a school committee remembers um in the fall we had our health Educators uh and PE teachers here to talk with the school committee about the new um Massachusetts state Frameworks as it relates to health and fed uh we looked at um and shared the new standards and the ones that we thought might um be of most interest to our families and to our uh school committee in our community and at that meeting we share that we would be coming back to share with the school committee um actually the materials the lessons the handouts the slide decks the videos uh that we'll be using with our uh students for each one of our units so um I see all you have your uh packets this evening there was a lot of material that was delivered uh and I know you also got emailed uh the videos you could see the video link so that you would see all the videos that would be used in class uh and so our fette and health educators are here tonight to talk through um I think just one or two um of the lessons themselves they're not going to walk through every single thing um clearly would be here for hours of went through every single one of those uh but to then turn it over uh with whatever questions and concerns the committee might have with that so if that's all right we'll get excellent yeah started so I'm just going to we're going to go a little bit out of order because um Josh actually has to go to work so um we um I just want to say uh it's been such a privilege to work with these teachers because they've tried they've worked so hard to um to complete all of this um very um in-depth curriculum and uh I it's just really been an honor they've done such a great job um so I'm GNA Karen Thompson and uh Dave Eisenberg couldn't be here tonight so I'll be doing uh grade two the grade 2 curriculum and the six and seven but we we'll start with the high school so um for the high school and we kind of talked about this at the last time the last meeting that we were here um there's not many changes to the high school curriculum if you look at the new Frameworks um so most of the stuff that we had on here um we just kind of tweaked for relevance and like updated statistics and things like that when it comes to like um sexually transmitted diseases methods of contraception um and team pregnancy uh but really the if you look at our our curriculum the very first part where it talks about communication consent respect and safety that's really the only part that we had to tweak too much um in terms of like the sex trafficking information um so if you look at that section um what we added to there was we did talk a little bit about the consent which I believe Jill talks about uh with the eighth grade um and then we also added the sex trafficking information um that came from you know the Desi approved websites uh with you know um a Desi approved lesson plan um some some slides information um and a video as well uh and basically with that stuff uh what we're really talking about is kind of like the social media aspect of you know the trafficking and how um you know these kids are always on their phones now and they're always on different types of um you know Instagram and Snapchat and stuff and they can have people contacting them that they don't necessarily know so we kind of talk about that aspect of it when it comes to the trafficking and you know just being careful with who you're talking to what information you're giving out about yourself um and and all that that's really what we're going to touch upon with the sex trafficking part and it's just to for me you know even as a parent just an awareness thing so that you know you always have your guard up you you know something doesn't seem right and part of the lesson plan that is there is um a red flag thing where you're giving the kids different scenarios about information that has been shared and the kids will decide if it's you know a red flag a yellow flag you know what's some information that maybe shouldn't be shared um I personally think it's important um obviously we are from very small communities it doesn't seem to be um as big of a hit like in some of the cities and things like that but I think these kids are going to go off to college they're going to be in bigger places I just think it's an overall an awareness thing um that's important and that's why we put it under safety I turn Okay um so for eighth grade um when I look through all the standards that were kind of coming to the eth grade I broke them into two roughly units um the first one is kind of healthy relationships and unhealthy relationships um so that's kind of the one that I was going to share with you guys today um I start off the um lesson with a warm-up activity um that kind of just gets them to kind of open up and think about you know what a healthy relationship looks like what an unhealthy relationship looks like uh when should we end a relationship and it's a activity within the classroom um that involves him kind of moving from side to sides of the room um then I go into a stay Oro activity uh where we read different scenarios and we kind of discuss okay would we stay in this relationship or would we leave um and kind of their real life scenarios um that are geared towards eighth graders and their relationships and if it's you know um a healthy relationship they would stay if it's an unhealthy relationship they would leave and how could they leave safely and kind of go into that um and then we get into the content uh with some interactive slides and videos um and then to fully end the um unit we do a PSA on healthy relationships and including um what consent is what a healthy relationship looks like um what an abusive relationship looks like where to go to get help um if anyone was to be in an abusive relationship um who to contact and how to safely end a relationship ship if relationship needs to end is all of the lessons kind of came from the curriculum that we um kind of got when we did our conference and it was also Desi approved both of the the the curriculums that they used to to do this whole from K to 12 were both Jessie approved um curriculums um so for Karen Thompson for six and seven there really wasn't that much of a of a change as well and she's doing the same type of um of thing as as Jill that that a scenario so that they would go in and discuss a scenario so one of hers would consent in personal boundaries and then teaching that with um with age appropriate terms and then teaching how to respect each other's boundaries same thing they would have a discussion and then uh there would be uh really that's all would they're mostly just scenarios and then they would just write and reflect on the scenarios after they had the discussion yeah so at the uh fifth grade level it's kind of broken up into three distinct uh chunks students learn about the physical mental and then social changes that occurred during puberty um the second main chunk um students learn about the reproductive Anatomy for people assigned female at Birth and male at Birth and then they it goes into some of the um key terms surrounding gender gender identity gender expression and the lesson that I was going to focus on was on puberty it's lesson number two um students will start off by we'll go through a slideshow as a class there's a note sheet in vocab where students fill out key terms and key ideas that they take away from the content um once again the videos that are included in the lesson come from the three hours curriculum so it's all um approved by the state and then um we'll do an activity to assess their kind of understanding of that students have to place different terms related to puberty whether it's a physical change a mental change or a social change that occurs during that time period and then students end the unit by looking through and exploring um trusted websites where they can find information on these topics for for K to2 curriculum we're going to it's mostly going to be focused in our grade two and uh when when Dave looked at this he thought because they're so young these would be just about 10minute lessons it wouldn't even be in the classroom he would just sit them down in the gym and do um some lessons he has a couple of videos but one the first lesson that he would be doing is uh respect and kindness and also again personal space in respecting each other's boundaries and that's it all right any um questions from the committee um so I'm noticing a lot of at the younger ages that we're putting more gender Ro stereotypes and all that into the is that new to the to this curriculum yes yes um is it necessary at a second grade level well who came up with this idea mandated to teach right this is a state yeah this is just these are just the Frameworks and the standards that we're just following it wasn't it wasn't our decision this is when it was we we actually made the decision because you and teach at 6 7 and 8 we decided that we would put a lot of these heavy more a little bit more heavy duty lessons in as old as we could put them in so that that kids would understand better but it I'm sorry I just want to understand this it is a topic that you guys are mandated to put into your yes but it's volunt we can opt out yes there is yes and we there's an opt out lesson for yet you can opt out before we begin before we begin the um the unit we send a a parent letter home with every student and it's an opt out or an opt in so it can't be one of these situations where oh the parent didn't get it and then you know their kids going to be doing it we tell our students if they don't bring it back and we don't have any communication from your parent via email or the note that we give you then you're going to be opted out uh and and they'll do an alternative assignment one more question I'm sorry that's okay the opt out it's not for the entire no it's just for lesson yeah okay so we have and it's in your pack for that un it's for the whole unit it's not for any specific lessons they can't opt into the contraception part but they opt out of the Teen Pregnancy I wanted to know because that's too much for us to kind of keep track of and then a to do that conversations get going conversations roll to other lessons that we have so it's either they opt in or out of the entire unit so and there there's copies of the letters that you you received them and as well as the alternate assign the assignments how is the altern alternative curriculum handled so it's a little different at each level um the high school we focused on careers in the health field and then and we gave them a list of different ones and then there was like um for every day that we spent and in the unit there's kind of like a task so it's the research it's putting together and then you know Finding and it's everything from you know researching salaries to you know what credentials needed um and just trying to tie it into our field and just whether it be nursing you know Physical Therapy um just so it's still in our realm but it's something that more open to everybody and I know the middle school eth for eighth grade for middle school and I think Karen's doing the same topic as well but we're kind of taking a different it's not the same assignment um we're doing um environmental health so they're talking about you know um Health a little bit of Health Science um they do a little research project um an activity that way and I'm not sure what Karen is but it's very it's it's very similar she's she's doing health hazards uh environmental hazards and how they affect your health so it's it's a research project as well and then at the uh fifth grade level students are looking into basically Fitness they're kind of that's really their big push into that and how um Fitness and physical activity benefits the human body um you know go through the muscle groups things um pick out different exercises that work those specific muscle groups um look at different ways that you can be safe while engaging in physical activity whether that's just out in the sun or or it's in the waight room and then uh students will have an opportunity to create their own um fitness plan in that alternate assignment so a lot of so much of what you're saying sounds great uh I have a problem with the younger kids and uh you have a lot of terminology in there that it seems like you're planting a seed in there and you're um so much sounds great but there's um in the lower grades I I'm struggling uh you know you said you we signed that birth let's I so I'm not maybe I'm uneducated or I just don't understand what do you mean by a signed at Birth so that's all the terminology that comes from the Department of Elementary and secondary education right from their standards um means the gender you're born as MH one the materials for that actually I thought were were well put together because decides you look at the slide deck what it says uh for the materials for the kids particularly um to your question the top of the slide States uh something like and correct me if I don't have this right but it's something like uh most individuals identify with their gender you know that they're born as right that's kind of that like that's the first thing it says it says I think the second part is but some people don't and so I think it's to clarify like what what that means so kids understand it is that appropriate for second grade well seven that's not in second grade producing terms that's right say discuss gender role stereotypes and their potential the slide deck I'm referring to is in grade five I'm not talking about this my apologies is it is it appropriate 10-year-olds in fifth grade I don't know I'm just kind of posing the question it doesn't have to be answer again this this isn't this isn't something that we created ourselves this is something that has been revised and it's been the first time it's been revised since 19 I'm sorry my question it's just something along lines that we have to follow no and this isn't an easy thing for we really not at a point to make a judgment I feel like no problem and that was my question really let me rephrase my question my it was more of a a question that we should all kind of think of you know as a committee I think I understood that exactly thank you sorry I didn't mean for you to I didn't put anybody on the spot I'm sorry I know these things you try to you try to navigate through these as best as possible it's not an easy thing coming from but if it's coming from and desie desie is not elected by anybody so these people from what what what are their backgrounds what are that's not something these guys can it's not for them so my I guess what I really want to see here is like I'm noticing in this deck and I think this is Joel's deck I noticed and I just picked this one up not picking on you sorry um but trusted trusted individuals I don't see parents I sorry this this is a common commonality throughout all of this that we don't have parents listed as trusted individuals we should probably revisit that that that come from Desi as well we did have parents we did have parents in there we we changed it because we agree with you it was not they were not listed we included them every page so the materials you have in front of you we went through every single page we watched every video and we made and we yes yeah and on the first line of the high school when it comes to communication the first line of defense or communication rather would be parents and Guardians were first then your doctors and then potential sexual partners so I have noticed it was in there a lot so if it's been change but I think you can go beyond those walls because not everybody has a healthy relationship for that open ability so just having the kids have somebody is better than and that's really how we kind of gear it towards when when we're discussing whether it be a counselor you know family M I trust you guys to do the right I really do I I don't I'm not trying to grill or anything but this is a hot button topic a lot of the materials that desie provides you when you kind of peel away at it it comes from very politically motivated uh places so action for advocates for youth very political you know it's a political activist group uh Planned Parenthood is embedded in this throw you know throw so these are big things that maybe we need to look into a little bit more rather than just accept it wholesale uh again you guys were tasked with this and it I tried to read through this in the last 48 hours um I don't think that anybody I don't know any that anybody have a chance to read through every page of this and click on everything well I think most importantly what's in there is the opt in and out for parents ultimately they're the ones that get to decide as a board though we're we're required to review this too so right so that's what I looked for as a school Committee Member was to make sure that parents were going to be informed and able to make that decision I it's our job to make sure that the education is delivered it's and that's part of it I will say too that for the younger kids Dave Eisenberg and I spoke about what you're talking about and uh he will be giving any of the lessons that he gives on this will be hand like handouts to the parents after the lesson he'll he'll H them he'll hand them out awesome how does physically how do we separate so you're one teacher you know how are you going to separate if if there is an opt out normally what we've done in the past is because we obviously don't want to make anyone uncomfortable so when a student um brings in their permission slip and it says that they're you know not going to do the assignment um we'll privately have a conversation with them either at the end and we usually collect this prior to teaching this so it's not like we're collecting the letters and then teaching it that day um and we'll have a private conversation with that student and they'll go won't even come into the classroom so they'll go to either the library or go into um the teacher CF area in the high school I know for my class I'll send my kids to the library and that way there they're not coming in and then leaving and then having it be awkward so we try to do it as easy as possible to have them not feel uncomfortable how um I guess my qu that's thank you but when are they taught the alternative curriculum so it's usually a self like taught self-directed assignment that the teacher will check in yeah yes in second grade for our for our Wellness classes typically we have our Wellness class in the cafeteria and then right around the side of that is the teach calf that we can put the other students in um and you know as we're going over the material with our class they're starting their research on whatever topic they choose um and then once our kids start doing like different activities and stuff then we go and we check on the other students see how everything's going over there um you know redirect them if needed help them out if needed and it's kind of like a back and forth for us so it's kind of like we have to hop back and forth a little bit um but we make it work I I appreciate the opt in and opt out I appreciate you guys shuffling around like that cuz that's new that's not something we've done before we've done that we've always had that okay typically there might be one or two okay you know and it's never been an issue and you know the kids have done a nice job with the alternate assignment and other kids don't even notice I'm not there um this is one of those units where there's not a lot of voices I mean there a little bit more the kids are quiet it's one of those things but at the end of the day um I know we found we used to give end of the year evaluation and this was one of the units the kids found most valuable and they got the most out of and they appreciated and they were very honest with us um so I think we go in we try to teach it like we would teach any other unit like like we're just coming off nutrition um we're teaching you know the state standards if they choose to you know abide by those dietary guidelines great I mean it's just it's the same concept it's just a different topic um and we just respect everybody's opinions and values but we're just presenting you with information so that's how we've always done it and Josh and I have never had a problem um Jill when we were together and now we're back together again so um that's how we've done it you know I I can look at this as a teacher I can look at this as a parent I think we all have own opinions and personal values but we think we say you know we're just teaching you know safety and just protection and so you if you you don't if you don't receive a permission slip back you automatically consider that as opt out yeah so unless there's so there's no Miss yeah yeah and we we explained this to the kids beforehand and a lot of times the day that we're going to start it I'll get about 25 emails oh Mr Ugo so and so my mom emailed you this morning and I'll have to double check and then we'll be good to go but yeah if they if we don't hear anything and they don't bring back the slip then we just take that as an opting out until were told otherwise so just kind of a way to cover ourselves you know because we know how at home communication can be yeah yeah I I I do have some of the same concerns as as Matt and Chuck and and the fact that the district and you folks had to add parents in as a trusted individual is also concerning to me if this is a recommend uh program I think we I don't think we added in I think we've always had that we we have there were at the younger grade level okay were and yeah you guys did yes yeah which is um I think it's a bigger discussion than than oh this is no I understand you're handed I understand what your role is absolutely yeah it's not yeah you're you're not the creator of this you're the um yeah yes messenger always I think we're looking for a mo this is action tonight we need yeah we're still discussing so I mean only a couple of people have discussed I wanted to add my um my concerns in as well um yeah and and some of the stuff in fifth grade I and maybe I'm I'm an when you know going through fifth grade here was we weren't having I don't think really any of these discussions so it's it's it's um definitely changed it's changed yeah it's not coming from our district it's you know it's it's right it's just a new evolvement yeah well you I don't know how else yeah yeah I don't I think you may have mentioned mandatory before but none of this we're the ones who you know set the you know it's our decision on this and and so essentially de like you said desie or the Massachusetts Association of school committees are making recommendations or opinions but we're the ones who were put here by the uhas by the people of the communities who I'm sorry I want to I I want to ask Jason a question maybe he can answer this is there a repercussion on our school level if we don't follow the desie are you sure yes go we just have to report that we're not following the state Frameworks that asking so it will become I don't know what would come of it but we would have to report okay thank you than thank you thank you yeah and by the way this is part of the discussion so it's I'd rather have it here than and and then uh so I feel like the some of the language in there we should uh go deeper into it instead of approving it here tonight I think it deserves uh more in dep depth discussions on some of the language maybe it's only 5% of what's in there but that 5% I think we should have a a discussion uh so I I'm going to vote no but that's actually what we just they came to us a few months ago we asked them to do that and then that's what these are and and I don't and the reason it's tonight is because we needed it we need something for them to teach before the end of this quarter the high school stuff sounds great it's the lower level grades that I'm concerned about I I didn't hear any looking through the papers and uh so my concerns are the lower level grades uh some of the language in there on topics that so I'm just that's how I feel and I I represent a lot of people you know they voted for me and I'm here to speak up on their behalf and that's it I'm done thank you thanks Chuck and that's right that's what we're here to do we have they've been preparing this we've got it we got it in 48 hours ago and and we're having a conversation so and I do agree yeah there which I I and maybe it's just me that it's just there's certain things more so in like the fifth grade end of it that was I just didn't realize it they were that young when they were and it may be my ignorance to the to the situation so um but with that uh is there any further discussion Tara I'm sorry there's still an alternative for those fifth graders though yes at the end of the day we represent the students and and the parents I'm comfortable with the parents have that option that they can opt out um or if they don't respond that is considered an opt out because these are Hut topics as we all know they're Hut topics and and and I'm sure there'll be no matter what like anything else there'll be feedback on social media and opinions so um and I honestly think there could be if we didn't approve it too either way either we represent that's why it's good people want too or that want the option to make the choice for their student not us making that choice for their student so it could go either way and as far as not offering it and it's a desie recommendation a desie curriculum then we are actually taking away from the the 1400 students that we have here that are going to go out into bigger communities to go to college and those kids were given this curriculum and ours weren't you know so it's uncomfortable and it's touchy and but it's important that our kids are educated it to me it's just like wanting them to learn math and wanting them to learn how to read they need to know what's happening out in the world even though we don't want them to so it it's it's I don't think anybody disagrees I just don't know if we need them knowing that in second grade or in fifth grade but the way but exactly what she said is he's going to do it in 10minute deliveries that's age appropriate for a second grader I could almost guess what it's going the conversation is going to be I mean I I didn't have a class of 30 but I have four kids and it is something you have to age appropriate deliver so but most importantly the parent permission slip is in there and believe me my faith is in the Educators for sure you know it's I mean we go kind of above and beyond to communicate with parents too it's not just like here take this home email is also sent out along with posted on Google Classroom so the the full curriculum gets sent out to the parents too yes with all links that's for the school policy getting this no upon upon request that's the way it was we Chang it this is all all of this is going to be electronic so we're not going to mail home yeah we won't mail home this packet right you know but they can get physically no but they can yes they have access to have access to they can anything they want the slides the videos oh yes I'm trying to remember when we redid that policy did it in the spring did in that Pol I guess we can look it up there's no request for material the materials will go out in advance of the unit with the um permission s so just say that again there's no request so the old policy read if you interested reach out we'll schedule a time for you to come in you can see the materials the new policy reads that the materials and resources will go out to all families in advance so what we were thinking of doing was actually creating we have a teaching and learning page on our um BMR website uploading all of this by grade and having it in addition to sending it out to and then we're sending the link out to parents what we're not going to do is photocopy you know 110 packets of this what we will do is take this upload it to the web page and then send out a message to the parents and say Here's the link here's all the videos the lessons the slide decks they're on the teaching and learning page click this and you can see everything instead of sending home 110 I'm using that number because that's about what we have in every grade and they'd have to still wouldn't have access to the video so it would be ridiculous to send this out to I mean that I think we're all in agreement that would be ridiculous what I was concerned with is the information like so we received this electronically on the links and everything like that instead what you're saying is it's going to be shrunk down to one link to bring them to the district website they'll be able to access and they can that District website now I might say grade five right I'm looking at the the work uh that we did in fifth grade and this would be there with everything hyperlink to it so you see all the materials behind it all of these would be linked to so the parents can click on them and read them is that what you're asking that I'm sorry maybe I'm not that's what I'm asking it's not what I'm I I don't think that's that was the nature of the policy what did you think was the nature so that what we received as a committee this in electronic form would would have gone out to the parents I'm not saying so that way they can they can click on these links I get that I get it's one link to I feel like we're we're we're adding a level for them to my goal is to get them are you looking one PDF and they can just scroll through everything we that's what we received as a committee that's what I received on Tuesday correct you got a main P you got a main piece like this yeah that had all the videos and the word documents and everything hyperlink M that's what we're talking about yes that's what parents are getting correct okay so we are okay my apologies I I thought we were I thought we were shrinking this down to one link to bring them to the district website where all of this would be rather than what you're saying is this is what we received the other day in our email is going is the similar to or is exactly what yes so we can send that's what the policy so the way that our the way that our um email system is set up I can send just this packet to all fifth grade parents like that link yeah perfect thank you that's yeah they don't need fifth grade parents don't need the second grade and right you can just click this link to grade five that okay for the poliy yep thank you any further discussion Chuck you had some concerns on certain ones we can vote at all materials or you can we can break it up and vote by the grades it's up it's whatever the board wants it the committee wants to do I I feel uh what grade do you start teaching this at what at the lowest grade level what what grade for the the curriculum the second grade two grade two so int int introducing terms um all the like the sex why at 2 through five uh the the gender terms and so there isn't really any gender terms that kids haven't already heard in second grade gender role stereotypes and impacts on people of all genders you know just great to I I think they're they're not ready for these uh discussions they're they're just being kids uh one through six one through six on this top page right yes you have that so I look through it I'm not going to go line by line right now you can I I Just Disagree that we introducing these kids to these there's too much sex being taught in the school a lot of it is very important they know all the high school stuff I I nothing that I disagreed with uh is the lower level kids and there's some terminology in there and I don't think parents are really uh you know we have to work and it's hard keeping up and they're not even going to know what's but it's nice with the opt out so if they don't even send in a so I I'm just stating how I feel and I I don't agree with the lower level some of the terminology even up to the the fifth grade just letting it be known that's it thank you okay can I make a motion to approve the materials as presented motion made by Carrie second seconded by Tara all those in favor of uh approving the updated health unit material signified by saying I I any all oppose Nay Nay Nay four to three right chut T's not here all right we're all set thank you thank you for your time and effort on this thank you thank [Applause] you all right so we're going to go back to uh vote to approve negotiating Unit A C side letter sorry negotiating a unit c I know it's little make a motion to turn the off um Mr administrator sorry Mr I did it all several months Mr superintendent uh thank you um just very quickly um one of the things as this I know the school committee is aware we have been working uh diligently on is to support our staff uh we've talked a lot about staff retention working with our staff to um you know provide additional supports in a variety of areas both instructional and the non-instructional areas the teaching and learning in the non- teing learning areas um so uh Jessica Sinclair rhr Specialists and I have been having uh conversations with our unit c uh leadership so the unit c President and Vice President and actually um we've um just kind of very informally discussed the idea of creating a mentor a lead Mentor just one in each of the buildings for our new instructional assistance um those were the former PA professional uh that that title um and so um we it was a very preliminary highle discussion but we were not comfortable going any further without approval with the school committee to engage in that because um that would be essentially ending in could end in a side letter of agreement with a new job description for what a um a uh lead instructional assistant or Mentor instructional assistant might be uh and that's not a new position we're not talking about adding any FTE we're just talking about a small stien that would go along with um you know whoever would be at the uh The Mentor in that building for our new IAS instructional assistant so uh I didn't want to continue the conversations with um The Unit C leadership without school committee approval um in case it went somewhere okay so you're looking for a uh motion to approve the note uh the superintendent to negotiate the UN Unit C S side letter Jason has there been any discussion what the stipend would be not not yet uh but our teachers are um currently around 850 um so it certainly wouldn't our senses it wouldn't be budget supports all of it and everything yeah and we're looking at two maybe three if we could if we were able to get one for each building so it's not a significant amount of money U but it would give the new instructional assistance like a key Point person in a formal role uh that has their same position to be able to go to for mentoring right now their coaching and training is coming from myself Jill Jessica which has been great but this would give them somebody on the dayto day to connect with yeah someone they're face to face with on a daily basis that knows their job yeah so I'll make a motion to approve negotiating a unit c side letter for instructional assistant mentors second motion made by Arin seconded uh by krye any further discussion all those in favor signify by saying I I I any oppose you guys have it thanks and I'll bring that draft back to the committee to review U here we have that now we have an update to the high school trip to Spain yes so Jean Rell was um something happened she was supposed to be here to present the materials I do I um I have them you all have them in your packet I wanted to give an update you might recall um I want to say it was about a year ago I think Jean came uh forward and discussed a uh taking a trip to Spain which was our first international trip in quite some time um with our high school students um and it's been a bit since the school committee has had an update on it so we thought it' be good for you all to have um just kind of an overview of where things stand um so it's kind of interesting uh in your packet there is an updated field trip request form um which we um filled out because we have four students um the trip is very expensive as you can imagine to go overseas but we have four students we have a senior uh I believe two Juniors and a sophomore that are attending um with Jean um and the trip has expanded so the trip that was initially approved was just to Spain because uh we are a smaller group we're now joining with another school U that has not been assigned to us yet through the travel agent so Trav travel firm so we're not sure who it is yet um but our four students in gene will be going on with another High School um that trip is expanded because of that which is a good thing the kids will now be going to France as well so it is now uh a trip to Spain and France um the initial trip was 7 days it's now 10 days at no additional costs right um and so that's where kind of the nice part is but piggybacking in with another group uh we have an opportunity to do that so um in your packet is an updated field trip request form for Gene and the for students um and a total overview of the itinerary um thought it was important for you to see you know what what the students will be doing over the course of their trip just high level but it gives you a good sense of where they're going to be um I am incredibly jealous I've never been any of these places but it looks like an amazing Che it looks like an amazing trip that will be going over the week of um April vacation in 202 it was originally February too yes yeah it was February it was a shorter trip and it was just Spain and uh now it's a longer trip included France and we're going with a different School however our students will only be staying with our students so when it comes to Hotel assignments they won't be sharing rooms with students from other buildings they'll just be our kids very good uh next is to vote to approve the uh 2526 school year calendar should be in your packets I'm sorry can we backrack I have a question about sorry Tri to Spain so it's one chapon for four students what happens God forbid something happens to our one chapon I think because we're we're linked with another school I think they have they have more adults that'll be part of that group but would be one of ours we from our school we only have one just G yeah are you saying you think we need to back up yes that's I'm saying that yeah oh trying your opportunity um no I mean having one chaperon I just I mean granted we don't we know Jean I think it's usually two but a much bigger group actually I think it's the tour company who sets it it's like one adult per five students or six students something like that but is there a backup by backup you mean if they're if they're you know they're in Madrid and she get SI rocket ship to Mars tomorrow who's going to well if she's gone tomorrow we can replace well I'm saying day okay the day before or she get or if she's there get sick or something right can't attend to the students is that we refering to yeah that's a great question the safety of the students is you can have a followup to that next meeting sure I'm happy too thank you um a school calendar for uh 2526 school year why is graduation blank question date to be did it just get missed or is it it must be May 29th it is it is the Friday that last Friday in May isn't it on there not in June it was there H yeah it was on there I was one I saw it it's not on this the calendar it was on there yeah it should be the Friday in June um sorry the the last Friday in May the 29th yep it should be right here is it not listed okay we'll make sure it's listed yeah it's not there and it's not on the side it was so maybe on the revised copy somehow got deleted on it no problem the 29th right yep May 29th get out early the 12th like so early yeah that's nice crazy it's always always a Friday though or not the snow yeah the snow days you really know give any um yes just uh quickly um the calendar uh one of really probably the biggest change was just moving the professional development day um that we've done the last couple years um right around Halloween U which I know parents have loved um so have teachers by the way I think the kids have two but it's on a Friday this year um so uh that's not a problem and then where Veterans Day falls on a Tuesday we thought it made more sense instead of bringing in all the staff and students for one day and then they're off let us have the professional development day on that Monday and then it was a little bit of a longer weekend but it's also less breaks and interruptions for families that are trying to get child care and things it condenses it to one two-day period instead of two separate weeks and we don't have to worry about Halloween it's on a Friday yes people will be happy about that so you're looking for a motion yeah you can a motion to accept I'll make a motion to accept the school calendar for the 2526 school year second motion made by Tara seconded by Tara any further discussion all those in favor uh signify by saying I I I any opposed the eyes have it Tara msba update skip for this time we are are working with the designer and I will let Jason give us all those details sure yeah lots of great progress in the last meeting um we uh thank you to Carrie and Jane Regio who are serving as uh um our school building committee representatives and the designer selection um panel I guess is what it's called through the uh msba uh process um we had three applicants for designers for the feasibility study um last week we met with msba there are 10 members from the msba that are part of this um panel that have a voting um opportunity there are three of us that also are on this panel so it's 10 and three we also have an opportunity to vote um and the last uh meeting on December 3rd was to review the three submissions and determine whether or not we want to interview all of them or some of of them um after lots and lots of discussion um we all voted and uh incredibly all 13 of us voted the exact same way which is actually pretty impressive yeah um and so uh we all voted uh collectively to select the top two um which was Dr was the they got the most points in the voting process and then um uh kba was the other they got the second uh amount of points and so next Tuesday at 9 9:00 9:30 something like that maybe yeah we're going to be interviewing our two uh finalists for our designer for the feasibility study so the hope is um after the uh conclusion of the interviews we'll go through our process uh vote again on our finalist and then um I will reach out to the designer firm that we select and start negotiating a contract um that will take place sometime around the holidays um I hope to have a contract um to present to the school building committee by December 30th so I'll be working closely with our OPM and the design firm um you know just before and after Christmas trying to get a a copy in front of the school building committee by December 30th so um assuming that goes as planned on December 30th we have a school building committee already scheduled sched uh meeting already scheduled um and if they like what they see in the contract they can authorize me to sign it on their behalf um that's important because once that contract is executed we're often running we have our designer we have our OPM and the feasibility study starts so we're at a really exciting juncture excellent car is no good Tera no yes no thank you Carrie Jason and Jane for all the work on that all right back to the report of the superintendent um winter Athletics update yes briefly um I just want to run through I ask Darlene to prepare something because um we have our we had our opening games tonight I wanted to make sure she was there um so if it's okay I'll just kind of read out and to record what um our athletic director shared uh I want to get all the words correct um so all triy outs have been completed except what we heard this evening with chair looks like they're still in process with some um anyone who was cut from uh one of the teams was encouraged to try out uh to try indoor track um schedules are finalized for the winter season and uh we have the following Sports in place we have a uh girls Middle School JV and varsity basketball we have boys Middle School JV and uh varsity basketball indoor track we have sideline and competition chair which we heard a little bit about tonight uh both for middle school and high school we have a swim co-op with Grafton we we have four students participating in that and we have our ice hockey Co-op at Bellingham uh we have one student uh who is participating in that user fees were due on uh December 6th anyone who has not paid or made arrangements uh with Kathy um our account uh are prohibited from participating in the practices or games until it's resolved we're going to be starting year round conditioning open to all high school students that will be held in the wait room this will primarily be led by uh coach cap our football football coach um but the athletic director will also be involved this will be starting on January 6th um we have located the new high jump mat um that was purchased for the track team we'll be moving it indoors so the indoor track athletes uh will be able to use it for the winter season that was in the track sh uh my concern at the last meeting was our old mats yeah which has apparently been gifted to Hope Deale that is what I was yeah that was what was shared with me do and usually that would go through this committee I thought that process did happen when you we went through all of the inventory and we said give away whatever we don't Yeah well yeah thought that happened may have given away too much you know I thought HD was borrowing well apparent uh I don't think that was the case I think they were gifted by the previous Co the coach previous track coach oh without our consent all right they may have follow I maybe they followed the direction of their places that could use this equipment instead of disposing of it I think maybe they took back to that so that would have been not one of the things you know so we got the the new mats I you know that's better than the old mats moving them into the school so I don't have a problem I I don't have a problem with gifting it to Hope deal but as long as you know everyone knows we that's what we did what have they given us no I'm just kidding is it like a competition that's what they better not beat us now with that it's the lucky mat um Darlene will be requesting um in January um I believe we're going to have her come to the first school committee meeting but looking for a uh Middle School winter track club there's a lot of interest at the middle school level to get the kids out and practicing and so setting up not not as a as a competition sport but as a club where the kids can actually practice alongside of the high school kids and try to get them to go to some of the meets and start really generating that bench and that interest I guess there's a lot of kids who are interested in that so um just wanted to uh kind of forecast that that conversation will be happening um very shortly after the New Year um and as far as the leadership group just a quick update on that um I know we were going to have a group here today but we do have uh our new we have two actually we have a large number of girls so we have two women's leadership groups um that have already volunteered at the um Food Pantry in black and Blackstone and tomorrow they're going to the prade center in Wester what's matter I'm sorry can I just ask you a question are are you done with the athletic update yeah I just wanted to ask a question how are we looking with our uniform cycle The Ordering of schedules and stuff mean know are you following it or have the uniforms been ordered just so I'm you're same thing both I would assume yes and yes but let me check and absolutely and get back to you if that's okay I'm going to jump in right there and ask Harry how whatever happened to the Retro uniforms we started working on them last summer okay and with getting a new ad and I was unfamiliar with what uniforms actually belong to the teams right now like which ones were the newest ones we didn't want to sell them like the mats right we didn't want to get our we decided to kind of table the cleaning out of it and let all of this year's Sports go through the uniforms so then we would have those kind of like set aside and then next summer I've already got a bunch of kids lined up that we're going to go in and totally un popped into my head right uh Mr superintendent please carry on before apologize for oh sorry Erin we're going to continue the interruption would you be able to find out for us why we're not paying a choreographer or buying music for cheerleading it sounded like the girls themselves I I got two different Impressions from that like they want to do it but then they first they said we're not paying for it and we're doing it but then it sounded like they Pride themselves in doing it but it has been something we paid for there was definitely a line item so where is that where is that going yeah they want to do it then even better but be I'm sorry yeah my impression of that was like the fee went up and we don't have a choreographer but I think they like do I think they they said you know the fee goes towards uniforms we're not getting those this year too but right you're not in the cycle yeah that's weid so much money for I'm happy to find that out too thanks yeah thank you yeah definitely okay uh moving on okay um and so that's it uh for the Athletics update and for the uh women's leadership group there'll be at the pr Center tomorrow in Worcester uh from uh 10:30 to 12:30 uh doing some volunteer work uh which is it's a Family Health Center um and our boys are there today so they are um the organization itself is very happy that we have had multiple groups going up to help and volunteer I'll be posting some photos uh of the boys um shortly I just need to get to that but they had a good day thanks yeah and um the last item on my report for this evening is the FY 26 budget um and this is really as the committee knows this is our first stab kind of highlevel uh macro look um and Jill and Joe and I are actually going to run through this um collectively this year um as the school committee knows everything is d by our district Improvement strategy and our 5 C's um additionally um other structures that have helped inform the budget you'll see surface throughout our conversation tonight and as we go over the next uh subsequent months um the end of year mcast accountability data as far as you'll see some of the interventions and things that we're looking to do um your feedback uh from the 23 24 evaluation to me um you'll see some evidence in here as well of that as far as what we're looking to do next um and then our surveys from our families and students and uh just a quick point of um comment on this um we are now going through the process of uh surveys and focus groups um all year so we'll be sending out additional uh surveys to staff students midyear uh families looking to collect more feedback following those up we'll have a second round of focus groups talking to kids and um Educators and we're also um we'll talk a little bit more in a minute but we're uh in the midst of preparing our new strategic plan our new blueprint which will come to the school committee um initially as a workshop to get your ideas and thoughts on just a draft um but so we'll be doing that with families and our Community Partners uh in business members in town as well so we have a a whole structure for that which is really exciting so connected to our budget and where we're going next so what is driving our FY 26 budget um so driving our budget number one force that's driving all of this is our students um we still are hovering around that 1500 students um and we still have our population about 50% of our students again are still continue to be classified as high needs um one of the other factors um just to to throw in that's driving our budget is our student enrollment beyond the numbers um we have uh an increase in our students in District who are considered English language Learners who require those services and supports um as well as um students that are entering our district um a a a larger population than normal are entering that have already been placed out of District whether they've been placed by their sending districts or if they've been placed by the department of children and family so that's something that is coming in that definitely impacts our budget um we also have like Jason just mentioned the Imp implementation of our threeyear um strategic plan which we know is grounded in in our blueprint all the work that we do in our C's um and again engaging all those stakeholders to finalize um and we're also working there's a lot of work going on in literacy so we do have a literacy committee Mary is leading that this year and it's definitely um focusing on um our a lot of on our right Ang you'll see that's in there as well and also we're we've looked at going to be replacing our 6 through eight core literacy um program um we're going to be going moving to study sync in Sixth and eth grade as we are in the high school and then of course we're going to our five-year Capital plan we're going to be hearing a little bit more about that um from Scott later on than Jo on the fiscal side um as you know health insurance rates are are going up for everybody so we're in the process now of trying to mitigate that increase to our district to see what we can do to keep that rate increase down as low as we possibly can um just as Jill mentioned the collaborative and private school tuitions are increasing due to just the annual cost increase that happens every year plus the use and enrollment that Jilla just spoke about uh facility needs Blackstone milville Regional High School has definitely been a drain on the budget a little bit and a lot of it has to do with the ESP repairs that coincide with all the repairs that we do those asbest remediation requirements any repair we do drives those costs up not just by the hundreds but by the thousands every time we do it but we're working to get ahead of these repairs um short-term capital projects are are still you'll see again in the presentation that Scott's going to do what the FY 26 recommendations are for our Capital needs um we're trying to keep ahead of any of the potential cost to the facilities and for some of our aging equipment so a lot of equipment we have is aging out but you'll see that in the next presentation um obviously faculty and staff contractual obligations is a driving factor of our budget you know staff uh is 80 to 85% of our budget every year so any change in those will have a good impact minimum local contribution as you know every year minimum local contribution has been increasing the the burden has been moved to the towns because of uh state aid funding we don't see that changing in 26 matter of fact that pmer revenue and the Ways and Means Committee commission um also said they're concerned about the revenue for the state for 26 we don't know what that's going to be exactly but it does sound like that minimal local contribution may continue to increase because of that uh and transportation costs not only due to cont contractual agreements but some of the uh collaborative intuition students that are coming in are also escalating our requirement Transportation needs for those studs all right oh yeah uh the budget process to date uh just to give you a quick overview we you know our timeline has been set we've identified the process we're going to use to do to bring all the information into our financial Software System um we've already met with each of the principles and cost center managers to review their line item requests that are that we' that have been submitted um they've been assessed and we're going to be looking at those we're going to make sure we have all of that information gathered put together and ready for a draft budget to be presented to you by the 9th of January on that at that school committee meeting so a little bit about some of our strategic priorities uh you know we kind of Chunk this out into materials resources and then Staffing so high level on the materials and resource side Jill mentioned that we're looking at our revised literacy um materials um again I this is really going to I think it's going to span over this year and into next year it's going to be a lengthier process uh not on the Core Curriculum side uh wonders is staying in place as Jill mentioned our high school core program uh study sync and all the work that the educator have done around the different units of study to go along with that novel studies Etc that's all staying in place we're looking at the middle school program uh so that um we'll have a 6 through 12 um aligned literacy core program the reason it's going to take time that part won't take time it's we're actually spending a lot of time on writing and establishing a common uh writing structure writing expectations rubrics for various genres uh we have a a stellar writing committee of our of our teachers frankly that are working with Mary to put that work together and that's all in the budget uh each year as you know we have money set aside for the next curriculum um that's up um so we're really excited about that um and what's going to come forward um with that and in that process as you know the writing committee will be here to share their updates with the school committee as they're going through that work um our assessment system continues to to be refined um so there will be the need and Mar's reconvening the assessment committee now but there'll be a need for uh some additional work as we continue to do our kind of our homegrown math uh internal assessment system that we've put in place to replace star we're still using star for Literacy for a lot of other reasons um but I do think over the next couple of years you will see Star Fade um sounded weird we will see the star I'm sorry you'll see that star system go away and be replaced by an internal uh literacy assessment system like we have for math this year but we're working really hard to get the math just right so we need additional for that um again um when Scott presents in a few minutes uh he's worked very hard at putting together a five-year Capital plan for the school committee uh and then when the school committee eventually you know approves we'll be able to pass that over to the towns member towns so they can take a look at that so we hope some of the you know items in year one uh will be in there as well I know it's a separate budget but still important to note um you also see an increase in uh after school in summer programming again that goes back to um some of the um uh intervention work that we need to do whether it's for you know just those kind of kids that are stuck that need some additional support whether it's our kindergarten program um that's been great and you know the before school program we have a group of kindergarteners as you all know you approved the program uh where our K students start an hour earlier than their peers um so we're looking to do some more Innovative uh programs and uh like that and then of course additional uh student behavioral supports um you'll see that surface in here about that in the budget workshops um one of the usually the most U kind of interesting slides in all of this is really looking at the overall Staffing priorities and what um what requests may come to the school committee again this is very high level um but currently uh we we looked at all of our grade levels we rolled up all of our numbers we looked at our existing staff and uh in front of you on slide eight is the overview of class size for grades uh K through 7 so you can see in kindergarten next year we're projecting about 110 kids that would give us a class uh class size of 22 we have five kindergarden teachers first grade five teachers rolling up our K students we have 100 kids that brings us to classes of 20 in second and third grade we have four teachers each um and we have 103 students coming into grade two and 100 students coming into grade three that would bring those classes to a size of about 25 26 and then uh for grade four and five each of those grades have five teachers grade four will have 98 students grade five will have 118 It's a larger class and you can see class sizes for grade four will be 19 around 19 to 20 for grade five will be 20 around 23 24 and grade six and Seven's always a little funky because they're teams remember the team structures so we have a team and a half at each grade level so we have four sixth grade teachers and then we have a team that teaches two sixth grade sections and then we have four seventh grade teachers and we have a team uh the other two classes are sections of seventh grade so right now that's what the sections look like as far as student sizes for sixth grade we're looking around 21 uh 20 to 21 and for seventh grade around 19 and for the high school uh this is a little bit different um but at the high school's Workshop when we have Jil FIS with us to go through her budget she will actually have a draft of the schedule done um so that you will be able to see what what actual like sections look like for each teacher um so you can see the numbers of students uh the asterisks for grade nine is because we don't know how many students will you know be applying out to other high schools it's typically 20% but how that shakes out we're not sure yet um are you know still going through that process um but we have an incoming class of 8th grade of about 135 um ninth grade again is kind of that variable we could be anywhere between 111 and 95 98 somewhere in that window we're not entirely sure yet um grade 10 we'll have 120 students 11th grade 105 and then 12th grade 102 um I will say that we do continue to get new enrollments uh regularly for it seems right now to be the middle in high school so I do think those numbers will increase but you know that remains to be seen um and then the numbers the numbers are a little bit different um I think you might be off in one of them are they aligned here no okay they're they're good um so you can see the numbers by content and what Jill and I talked about was again at the workshop actually showing you English teacher one here are the exact sections with the number of kids that she'll have um I share that because it's going to be important uh for the school committee to make decisions around uh budget and where we may want to add some additional FTE um the high school schedule is kind of funky in that we offer a lot of different classes which is great but it is very easy to see you know in a in a teacher that has five sections classes of 28 22 19 14 and 12 given what the class is when it's running when it's running parallel to to other classes that take larger number of kids if it's an AP course um so those are just important variables for the school committee to be able to look at um before making decisions on what the staffing needs might be uh early on in the conversation what is being uh at least initially requested is a a teacher for second grade and for third grade so that's two separate FTE and then three Educators at the high school um what the thought is now is that they would need a teacher for uh electives to be able to offer some elective courses um a teacher for Science and a teacher for social studies um the cost of adding a teacher uh and Joe do you want to touch on that briefly sure that's uh we make the assumption that it's a step eight Masters we figured something middle of the road an average uh and it also assumes family medical and dental benefits it doesn't you know that so the cost could come down depending on who we actually hire or go up if they've got a higher um Step so that runs about $ 96,5 something5 for one individual so you multiply that by five and I think you get an idea so it's an important number to keep in mind it it may not be that but it's something we want to budget for because that would be most likely the most expensive scenario M and we don't want to be caught on the other end uh not having budgeted for it so just something to keep in mind as we're going through that process next steps as I explained we'll have a detailed budget for you but for the January 9th meeting so we can look at that line by line when the time comes um we'll be planning the cost center uh manager presentations they have budget presentations sometime January to February uh The Joint meeting with the Boards of select men Finance subcommittees from each of the towns is to be scheduled we'll get that underway uh the school committee public hearing is for FY 26 and once it's if the budget's certified at that point in time we'll start production and distribution of all the certified budget books immedately following that um and that is the uh initial budget pass through uh we'll as we usually do on this on the 9th we get real deep into the Weeds on the specific numers that's how things are looking so far any questions on that before Scott presents our capital capital plan okay so this is a 5year plan that I put together um a lot of it came off the master plan that the ra did for us um kind of picked and choosed which ones are top priorities for us this one as you can see um the JFK playground has always been a constant issue it's past its prime uh that was installed over 10 years ago um one of the biggest problems we have with that playground is it's built on a hill so all the footings for the equipment that there now is coming above ground level I continue to put the P Stone back but when you get rainstorms like yesterday it just washes it back down and we got to put it back so for 81,000 we'd be looking at shrinking the footage of the playground bringing everything closer together getting new equipment and fencing it in um this is quite an issue with students that like to run away from teachers so we'd like to get them coralled um Scott drop for one second y just on the the estimated funding just so you know we Scott had pulled and he did a lot of work on this was already talked to the individual who prepared the Dr Dr report right and he had mentioned we're using those values from when that was done in 2021 right uh and increased that by 17% so these are estimates you know if we proved this we'd probably have to go out and get actual cost mhm just so everybody knows and again all these would have to go out to bed anyways due to the cost of them um maybe with the exception of the VCT Floor in the cafeteria which I'll speak to now um so all the white tiles in the middle of the cafeteria floor are lifting up um last year we actually had the senior say I wanted to use it for a dance and we had to tell them no unfortunately because it was a tripping hazard so for $8,500 we can get all the White Tiles replaced which is what's popping up now um the head custodian here has been doing a fine job last year he went through five cases of tiles he's replaced almost 100 tiles on that floor already and unfortunately they can you know the older ones are continuing to lift and when you put new ones down the colors don't exactly match so kind of becomes an eyeso and with a beautiful building not that impartial to this building or anything thing but um it is the centerpiece of our district and we got to keep up with it we also looked at getting playground equipment um for $70,000 that would be approximately four apparatus um 54 students would be able to use that at a time 54 plus and that would be for ages 5 to 12 um this price would change due on due to like the grading that they would have to do or excavation as to where we're going to put it one of the sites we looked at was outside the academic Wing but my concern with that is it may be too loud for classes and there's also ledge there so we don't know what we're going to hit another option would be to dig up maybe like a corner of the parking lot out here um we looked at the athletic fi but that would interrupt with the sport so finding a location for it would be a challenge but doable um there was no fencing included in that price and that would be processed wood chips not the poured rubber membrane um as you can tell here at hotnet Middle School the windows are starting to fail the window frames themselves are good it's just the glass panes the seals are breaking and getting sweat in between them and it's an Nicea so um we came up with maybe doing them you know a a little bit over the next 4 years um that's a a rough estimate cost as to you know how many windows we replace at a time whatever gets approved starting with like the front of the building when you drive up the driveway you see the front of the building and that's you know what everybody sees so we do it in sections and the same thing with the roof um that has broken down over three years when this building was built it was built in three sections so we would do a section a year um I don't know if you recall but back in 2008 was probably our one of our worst snow snow storms out here um we shoveled off the roofs and at that time the company that we hired um put 1,276 holes in that roof so uh no wait them at 1,277 I found one more today when I went up because we had a bad leak in the tech outside here yesterday that was 20 wasn't that 2013 was it 2013 the first year we had it's either the 13 or 15 uh wasn't your I wasn't the contractor no you weren't but the building was new at the time the roof was severely slippery you couldn't even walk on that roof when it would rain let alone snow it's it's PVC the roof is PVC so it's like ice as soon as it gets wet but now that it's older and dirtier it's not as slippery so we'd be looking at doing that in sections and of course you know the it's going to go out to bid so that price could change walkways at milville elementary school if you drive up um Big Stone Wall on your right hand side you see that that sidewalk is severely cracking deteriorating it's concrete and also there's a ASA walkway in the back of the building that I would like to have replaced as well it's all cracked and uneven and it's uh safety Haz it it's right out by the preschool playground and security system at NOA elementary school is over 30 years old um just last night at 1:15 a.m. I got a phone call for a burglar alarm in the gymnasium turned out to be a false alarm this is the second time it's happened this month the last time was December 5th across in the middle of the night have a convenient time so um and unfortunately with that alarm system it doesn't tell you exactly where it is it just says lower gy area there's like 10 motion detectors there could be where in this building it will say Media Center motion detector and it tells you exactly where it is so it's past this Prime and it's something we should look into upgrading um there's a control panel in the main office when you go to set it those that work in central office who tell you it just blinks like it's a foreign language and then goes blank so you got to look at all the lights and say yep it's on get up but uh it still works it works as it's intended to work the building's safe um but just something we may want to look at and flow truck so uh F650 which is the size of the Town trucks is getting past this Prime there's a lot of rod on in fact the first snowstorm I took it out and it ruptured the hydraulic line underneath in an area that you can't tell so it's not like you could look under there and say hey we're got to change this line now it looks bad it was chafing on the where it goes through the floor of the cab and it split open right there and all the fluid came up I was able to bypass it still use it for the storm to plow with but the sand wasn't working it's been fixed C so that's you know but it's something we're going to want to look at that's 20 years old and unfortunately that truck due to the size of it we only use it for plowing and sanding it's not like you could hook up the landscaping trailer to it and come over here where I feel if we got an F550 it would be more practical to use you'd have the dump body on it we could run out get mulch and use it for hauling leaves and whatever else we need it for I know there's other options we can look at and we will of course and that would be something that would go out the bid as well so for FY 26 total I came up with $1,350,000 $1,350,000 200 again this is all on the contingency of whether or not we get a new school um FY 27 one of our biggest costs will be remove not removing but abating the esus just in the lower B wi the following year would be another huge uh huge cost to do the lower C wi Scott you have all like you have the details here you have all the details for FY 27 through 30 all laid out too right I do yeah so we do your budget Workshop we could look at all of this or corre MH any questions for me um the security system at Mees that was there's one I'm I there is an existing one yes the building is secure yeah still works yeah and was that in the building was that who put that security system in it came with the building all right so that would' have to have a conversation with the town of milville on um and and same thing with the playground at JFK be a conversation with the town of Blackstone um so they like that those two items may not be um the obligation of the school all right so that's all I have for that anybody else all right work scottk you thank you thank you Scott that concludes my report thank you than okay um on to the business office Joe um in your packet you you've got the sheet showing you the Personnel changes for the for the month of December um or as of December um to be put on file and the expenditure report so no structural changes to the way I'm reporting okay just little update on some of the projections I'm making you'll see on page two um some increases in expense assumptions that are happening under salaries on the substitute line it's the second item you see that's increased by a little over $100,000 and I've also have retire read costs uh projected out a little bit more accurately for the year right now that I have you know four or five months of activity it's easier to see where we're going to be trending in these costs so I was able to do a a little bit more detailed projection on those um with the health insurance it's strictly based on the any particular line still look like we're going to be ending in a positive situation too so all right thank you I'll take a motion to um approve the uh budget Journal so mov a motion by Tara second second by Tara any uh further discussion all those in favor signify by saying I hi hi hi any oppose uh unanimous um the next item is actually we don't need a vote this evening um but I did want to share just a quick update uh we were invited into the next round of uh a pretty competitive grant for an innovation pathway at the high school we have a meeting with the representative from the Department of Education next Jil F and I due next Wednesday uh and then the second part of the application for the grant is due in February um and what we are looking to do is develop an innovation pathway um specifically for environmental and Life Sciences at the high school which would be very cool uh and would provide a really great opportunity for our kids so we'll have lots more information as we're going but just to give an update on on where we are with that all right thank you okay and then what do we have here yeah circuit breaker circuit breaker audit and I'm sure every time you see the word audit it always seems to come my way I don't think I've ever been a year when I haven't had to present several audits um so this year we had our audit I think I met have mentioned this before for circuit breaker and remember circuit breaker we actually can submit for some reimbursements for Extraordinary Lea and that is the common special education reimbursement program we call it circuit breaker um they set a threshold and if we have a student who may be in District or out of District who goes over that threshold were able to submit for some reimbursement over that threshold we get about 75% back on the programs in tuition um and transportation cost is about 44% so we did go through our audit and I just need to give a huge shout out my assistant Jen Hernandez who also is our grant manager is a huge integral part of this and makes this very successful so it's really important you know she's just fantastic but they audit us both the financial piece as well as we can following the laws the compliance um we did our own internal audit prior to doing this and we identified anything that we thought could have been off at all um but the overall is basically that we there was no systematic um errors for Blackstone um we are going to be doing some more training because they're actually changing their whole system but it was another audit that you know again all full compliance excellent and how much money Jill is that usually circuit breaker um it can be anywhere between 500 and $700,000 yeah we go for every penny Okay that concludes the business office yes sir all right thank you very much facilities [Applause] report I'm just going to boys okay as reported the last time uh the heating circulator pump at the high school uh industrial burner has ordered the repair kit for that and it's expected to be done during the Christmas break um anybody who's visited the high school gym knows how hot it was in there um in order to rectify this I had to go up in the ceiling and manually open up the outside air dampers uh it's working well it's taking all the heat out of the building it's a lot more comfortable now um the way those systems work is there plastic tub and that runs through the ceilings through the walls blows air into these um pneumatic valves that open up the dampers um there's no air coming through those lines so I got a company coming in over Christmas break to investigate that further um it's going to be really hard to pinpoint where the leak is we'll look at Alternatives we can probably put electronic switches in there had to manually open them like we did for the kitchen uh the Middle School sprinkler system was still waiting on the gauges um I'm going to contact them and hopefully have that done during Christmas break as well Oiler number two over here has developed a leak um the O-ring the update on that is they will need to come in disassemble the rear section of the boiler to find out exactly if it's a crack in a section or if it's gas and if those gaskets are still available um so they cannot provide us with an accurate quote until they take it apart and determine what the exact problem is um don't know if that'll be done during Christmas break they got to find a good time to do it but they they're expecting to be out here then we do have two other boilers so heating the building is not an issue uh JFK septic tank alarm um on November 5th the septic tank pump alarm went off it was determined that the septic tanks were not full as the alarm would indicate um the pumps were not were functioning as designed so the problem with that was the wires running from the the septic system across the parking lot through the building down to the other end of the building where the control panel is there was a a Fray in one of the wires so they had to run all new wires that was done yesterday uh I'm sorry the day before Tuesday and today they finished up um they had to cut the pipe there put a junction box in so that they could run the new wires it's like probably 200 y worth of wire so there was a long way to pull it so they have to separate it so that's up and running as uh it's back to normal now mil Elementary School um we're going to install an outside light timer there's one there that's there now that is not functioning as it should so we need to manually go into the electrical panel and turn the pocking light lot parcking lot lights on and off manually so when the custodian goes back there at 9:30 to secure the building he switches off to parking lot lights so we're going to get a timer put in to take care of that um um plow truck repairs as I told you the F650 broke down during the first snow storm it's been fixed I was able to use it for plowing we're still waiting on the exhaust system um first price we got for the muffler was quite expensive so we're looking that aftermarket Mufflers but that should be done by Christmas break as well and onto Surplus items so if you drove behind the building you'll see there's a 19 1974 to F250 that's we Sorry 350 and we haven't used that in like the last 5 years it won't pass insp7 say 74 I think you said 74 did i7 it's 97 yeah 1990s I thought he was 19 say it's 19 1970 1974 it's a 197 1997 tongue for F350 um the thing was brand new when I started it was a nice truck I love 97 I started in 2000 it was brand new um yeah it's pastes Prime the rocks are all rotted out um there was a sander on that though that I would like to take off and get it running again and put in the back of the yellow F250 that we have this way if our big sand ever breaks down again we have the backup plan so estimated value on that I would put at between 1,000 1,500 maybe somebody want to buy it for pots um the hood the fenders are still good stuff like that U maybe the axles I don't know we can either try selling it or we could just scrap it all together probably get $500 you don't need it to Hope SP the M we would have to pay them to take it didn't we have conversation you talk about this truck last year we did yeah well when we were talking about replacing it with the um F550 the the 350 I thought we scrapped it last year no we didn't scrap no it was never on the list to be scrapped all right Scott's holding on to it value um there's a plow on it and in order to get that plow to raise up you got to rev the engine so then jacket jacket it's not t three times back up real fast and hit a curb um if you go into the gymnasium uh going through the doors if you look to the right before you go in the doors there's an old ladder system that's out there it was U probably original to the building it was used to change the light bulbs and the gymnasium stuff um hasn't been used in years it's been sitting outside for like 10 years parts of it are missing the ladder is missing so the thing's just it's no use to anybody so we'd like to scrap that as well um Hoya lift it's a a lift that broke it's no longer safe for students so we'd like to scrap that as well and student desk a lot of the student desks that I want to scrap there's about 20 of them they were actually new with this building but the welds came apart um and they Beyond repair if you weld them they look horrible um some of them I was able to say with just a little tack weld underneath doesn't show but there's about 20 of them and some desks from the high school as well so like to scrap those next what's on my list um I know there was from library materials I guess um those are old obsolete Library materials so we like that as well you got that Library material not is that on this it's not listed on that no no you have you want to vote to we we can move that to the next that's okay yeah yeah we can so you can see the itemized list uh so I'll take a motion to dispose of the Surplus items as described by the facilities manager second motion made by Carrie seconded by Tara any further discussion and we sure we're disposing we're disposing of this we're not giving it away or um all those in favor signify by saying I I I any oppose it's unanimous can I just ask followup question are we disposing of the truck or do or selling it cuz he has it's on here as scrapping or selling what did we it's probably got a $1,000 maybe $1,500 value to it somebody may want it for the engine or the axles or can we I can try to sell it or we can just scrap it get $500 from a junkyard do you want to try can we try to sell it first and then scrap it if it doesn't work can we make the motion try to sell so you know we'll leave it at your discre at the discretion of the administration yes if you can get or you're going to even if you scrap it you may get a few bucks that'll all end up back in the in the kitty anyhow right yeah we all know going to do is best for it mhm yeah do we need a motion since we just motion to S to scrap yeah we're just going to Sur dispose of surplus items what how whatever the outcome of that is is uh yeah we don't want to sit on it forever trying to make a $1,000 so it may offset pay to get rid of stuff we yeah you're going to I would imagine you when you dispose of that or if someone buys it for parts it would go you go through the your supervisor with correct probably have to find a title for it too do it as a as a school fundraiser oh title we all right we're good we're good okay yeah I'm sticking around for facilities requests oh yes facilities items tonight um okay facilities bu items use of facilities thank you you're welcome all right what do you got what you got all right basketball games Saturdays so do you want to run through each one of them individually uh sure I mean we could just a brief what's that three of them yeah yeah a brief description of two of them it looks like the U the uh wreck basketball team want uh program wants to use the gymnasium at the Middle School uh several Saturdays 8:30 to 5:00 they're a group group two so the the charge they're getting is for the um custodial fees for that day uh there's no right now there's no conflicts on the calendar for those days okay when you look at the calendar the other the next two is the um student council would like to use um the gymnasium at the here at the middle school on the 17th it's a Friday from 6:00 to 10: for their lockin social event no charge to to them they're consider the group one and BMR chair banquet they'd like to hold that here at the middle school in the cafeteria on Friday the 13th uh from 5: to 7:00 again a group one so there is no charge for that I have a question on the cheer banquet yes that is for tomorrow from 5: to 7: after they just were here to request to make sure that they could practice to then make it to the girls basketball game very good point I didn't C that are they having their banquet tomorrow the request is in um I if they rescheduled it without hearing since they didn't get it to us going to practice end of season for season it's the fall a game B oh they're going to the game tomorrow normally go to booked this before they realized there was a game yeah was my guess they probably to Res they're going to Res have to reschedule it so maybe approve it and then if they need to reschedule come back for another request just in case they still do want to hold it cafeteria is available so cafeteria is available there's no in the calendar there is no conflict on any of these requests well be work on that communication I can't my eyes tomorrow I'm sure there'll be plenty of communication about so take a motion to uh approve the facilities requests move uh motion made by Matt second seconded by Ted chuck chuck sorry T any further uh sarara oh B I do just for clarity I think Joe mentioned that the um basketball would pay for the Saturdays but this has it highlighted that we're waving the fee did we wave all their fees they understand we wave the rental fee they've always paid the cust so rental fee is waved not the cust okay just all right thank you all right any further discussion motion made by Matt seconded by Chuck all those in favor signify by saying I I I any oppose it's unanimous thank you Scott um school committee Forum Tower I'm going to give a shout out to both JV boys basketball and Varsity Boys Basketball in winning their first games tonight of the Season excent I'd like to add that the girls are playing tomorrow Girls JV at 5: and then varsity at 6:30 and one more shout out to whoever got festive in this building I love it yeah looks cool excellent anyone else I'll just um let you guys know that the blackstorm home Board of Selectmen approved as we're finishing up our oper Opera funds um for the black so mil Regional School District $115,000 for a new floor scrubber yep very excited that's a positive thing and we will probably most likely have it all spent by the there won't be anything left on the table um and I just want again um reiterate the and and compliment and commend the the cheerleaders that were here tonight it does uh they're passionate um they want to practice they should uh it's unfortunate that they haven't a been able to practice for the last week but um hopefully that gets resolved in a positive way and I give them a lot of credit it does take a lot of Courage especially when you're younger like that um to come up and address um a group of us um and again uh congratulations to them and now we were going to be I'll take a motion into we're going to enter executive session without coming back to public session we'll adjourn after exe we're coming back to public session to adjourn but will will not be televised um I'll take a motion to enter into executive session for the purposes that will be held uh under Mass General Law chapter 38 section 21 A3 to conduct strategy with respect to collective bargaining or litigation if an open meeting may have detrimental effect on the bargaining or litigation position of the public body and the chair declares to discuss deployment of security Personnel devices personal de devices or strategy with respect there too and not to return to open session I move motion made by Tara second second by Matt I'll take a roll call vote Carrie yes Erin yes Matt yes Chuck yes Tara Tara yes and I'm a yes