##VIDEO ID:wiZh0Vz3ASw## good evening ladies and gentlemen we're going to open up the um uh the 6 PM um school committee meeting for the purposes of going into executive session so at this time I will um uh take a motion to enter into executive session so Move Motion made by Tara second second by Carrie and we will uh take a roll call uh uh vote to go into executive session 10 yes Carrie yes Matt yes CH yes yes Terry yes and Dan yes back shortly um 2025 school committee meeting at this time I'll call a meeting to order and ask to join us in the to stand pledgees flag of the United States of America and repu for it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all introduction of members we'll start on this end with milville Carrie godette Blackstone Matt calano milville Chuck dunon Blackstone Tera scobby Blackstone Dan Keefe Blackstone Joseph spagna Director of Finance and operations Jill P gallerani assistant superintendent director student services Kaitlin Juba student representative black Maya student representative black and Jason DeFalco superintendent and now we'll move to an update from our student Representatives all right so to start us off students in the performance split class performed in a play in front of the entire School the day before holiday break and it was called The Elf on the Shelf must die and also on that day students decorated their advisory stores with their pep rally themes so the seniors have the United States the Juniors have the United Kingdom sophomores have Greece and freshmen have Canada and on the topic of pep rally classes are working hard to craft their banners and create their lip sync routines for pep rally which will be held next week on Friday the 17th and also next week is spirit week so each day the number of participants will be counted and that will count towards pep rally points bmr's winter sports are in full swing with our girls and boys basketball teams indoor track swim co-op with Grafton and hockey co-op with Bellingham all been having practices and games lately our national orange Society has also been hard at work preparing bowls for the annual empty bowl dinner which will take place this coming March it's a pretty interesting process so students have to schedule either charger time or come after school and they design their own bowls and you'll get to see all of them at the dinner I'm also going to come to you with a student council update our stugo has been preparing to attend the winter day of service by the central district of the Massachusetts Association of student councils on February 1st which will occur at mayard high school at tentatively 12: or 1 the CD board will be meeting this weekend to decide the time and we are also preparing to attend the masc annual conference State Conference in hyenes this year and preparations for that have also begun our mock trial team also has their first scrimmage this Saturday praying it doesn't get snowed out but mock trial team's first scrimmage will be this Saturday at Malden Catholic High School and the first competition will be this coming Wednesday on the 15th thank you thank you very much thank you you great nice work great rest of thank you all right moving on to consent agenda a uh warrant take a motion to accept the on so moved motion made by Tara second seconded by Chuck any further discussion all those in favor signify by saying I I I any oppose the eyes have it and accept the minutes of December 12th 2024 so moved motion made by Tara second second by Carrie any further discussion all those in favor signify by saying I I I any oppose the eyes have it next on the agenda is public forum anybody wishing to speak um can come to the table and there is a three minute time limit for each individual all right uh let me just stop by saying uh I have the utmost respect for every educator and anyone that serves the youth no matter what city or town and I have a a great respect for I don't needan to interrupt but just can you just introduce yourself yeah my name is Gino Elias uh I have two uh children uh in the Pro in the in the school uh one in fifth grade and the other and third um so uh I I just wanted to stop by saying that uh the conversation that took place at the last month meeting regarding the wellness curriculums uh I wanted to share some thoughts uh I often say that perception is 99% of of of reality in a lot of ways and when I looked at that video there was a few statements that really stood out to me and and one of them was when we when it was talked about we changed it because we agreed with you and that was referenced to uh not including parents as a trusted person and uh it kind of set off a bell in my head that the Desi guidelines uh must allow for some type of changes cuz we made a change or of the people task with making changes made that change to include uh and it sounds like they heard you guys loud and clear because they they change it uh but then I also want to talk a little bit about the repeated emphasized statement that families can opt out uh and that was a major push I felt as getting this approved but the caveat to it and what troubles me as as a father uh is that when my son son who may or may not opt out has to go and sit separately or do something differently that the educator will have a private conversation with my child to explain why and if I'm op in my kid out I will have that conversation with my child so I'd like to know what that message him would be if we could provide some clarity on what that Universal message would be to kids from the Educators uh cuz they're not going to understand they're going to know they're not with their friends in the classroom uh but then you know you go on to it and and again I think words matter and and you sit here and you look at things and I you know I pick up on certain things at times and and one of the other things I was said was like safeguards in place to cover us uh because we know how communication at home can be not I know how it can be it's we so it's it's a shared philosophy I guess or bad words but it was it was met with a little bit of agreeing and chuckling and I don't find anything funny I think the worst thing that has happened to our communities across this country is broken families and it's not to be made light of like we should be saying how do we tackle those problems and I know that's not your problem I get that but we we should you know when we talk about trust and building that trust and things of that nature we should should really be conscious to the fact that you know there are a lot of PE and I would say the majority of the families that live in this town have conversations with their kids they're good parents uh not perfect but but to have that kind of stereotype kind of put on you in a broad brush maybe that somehow we fit that mold is is is just something I ask that you guys take into account when when maybe having these public forums because again when I talk about perception it it makes you want to reach for the worst and and I don't want to reach for the worst I want I want to think that this was well thought out that this discussion that was had to come up with this curriculum was well thought out I want to believe that um but to determine what's best for our kids and go beyond the academics parts and how it's delivered and you know how to explain it to our children uh I felt in my mind it wasn't really solution based but more divisive based because it's really pinning one against the other in a lot of ways my son goes into his side this kid goes into this side well why can't you learn about this and then and I'm and with and I'm really focusing on the seven eight and nine and 10 year olds like how do you even have that conversation between your buddy who you might play with on the basketball team like somehow I don't care about what you're learning I just I I feel like it brings more def divisiveness than than anything in a lot of ways and we know that Desy makes recommendations and we and we know like we heard mandatory mandatory mandatory and and that's fine is it mandatory I don't know I I don't even know because I didn't do enough research on it because I kind of got this today and I was a little bit taken back by a little upset over it uh but my understanding is you can refuse and you can make changes because you guys made changes you you add trusted persons and I'd like to know if you did have the ability to make changes and what was determined here was what the Educators wanted to teach in this curriculum or was it mandatory like they had no say in it and and and that's fine if it I I just like to have that answer uh and then we also heard about discussions about these it'll be age appropriate 10 minutes 10 minutes conversations topics just the topics alone are controversial they're political they have no place in my opinion that a seven eight n and 10 yearold can somehow try and digest this in their mind to comprehend what we're trying to to make them understand now I was hoping it was like maybe this is more geared toward kindness and teaching kids to be good human beings a productive part of society and I think that can be accomplished I just don't know at a 78 and N year and 10y old level that they can't even comprehend violence they can't comprehend a family separating a loved one dying in 10 minutes so to see you know and and use terminology of the assignment of being a male or female at Birth could that have just been changed a little bit do they even know what that means and then when we teach it it's what who who who says that's right that's the great debate that's what everyone fights about and that's a conversation that can be had amongst adults and people voting for political people because at the end of the day whatever our kids learn and whatever we have to swallow is based on our elected representatives they go and they will dictate policies right so uh I think that's why politics and religions are bad for schools to begin with but I I'll just I want to close with this uh if changes could have been made and this was the want of the Educators and you folks have voted for it I might not like it right but I respect your opinion and what you decided but be clear as to how you came to that decision and we don't all have to agree there's no problem with disagreeing or me not agreeing with all of it but I I feel like this wasn't completely transparent and I think that changes could have been made I think you guys took a document that was guidelines pushed as mandatory everything within it was mandatory and I just I believe that just wasn't the case and I don't expect you to answer that but if you could provide some clarity that'd be great other than that I mean look I I respect all the Educators here everything that you do I may not agree with this particular objective but I think you guys do well by our children so thank you thank you anyone else uh would like to address the board under um public forum thank you Gino I need to introduce myself you guys know who I yes you do I'm Chris Moren um I understand that you want to kids need to know what's right and wrong from touch perspective I get that my 7-year-old does not care who is sleeping with who at home she doesn't care if someone has two moms or two dads one mom one dad or a heterosexual couple she doesn't care she doesn't know my boys don't care if pink is girls my girls don't care if boy uh blue is boys there's no gender role there anything can be for anyone my daughter plays with GI Jo's she plays with Matchbox cards she plays with Barbies she wears blue my boys wear pink nobody cares they're not they want to play they want to be kids putting this on them is complete bull it's unnecessary and it shouldn't be happening at all it should have been brought up to the parents to be able to fight it and argue about it and question it and we shouldn't have to come here like this because it was something that was sent home as a permission which you pointed out was not even required the fiz head teachers did that to let us know you didn't even have the decency to do it yourselves okay you took religion out of schools but no you took religion out of schools and I I I understand your your your passion about this but I don't want to direct it at any individual and if you're going to direct it you can direct it at me as the the chairman okay I'm sorry I I just don't want to you didn't anything home you you weren't going to if if an opt out form and a permission slip wasn't sent home the school the school committee made it clear that we were sending things that was one of the policies one of members of the school committee did make sure that that was going home an Opel policy was part of that discussion you guys decided we can we can you can come up to the table if you want to address the committee so I just I don't think that you guys went about this the right way it should have been you you have building committee meetings about a new school meeting after meeting after meeting you have parents coming asking questions you have public forums this and that you can't do that when you're trying to teach my seven-year-old about this it's not okay it's not okay at all I have two kids I already pulled out of this District Two I have one left you need to focus on academics and not this our academic numbers are terrible terrible they're a disgrace I have two kids that went to a different District that are excelling excelling now you can shake your head all you want Mr DeFalco it's fact they're my kids I saw the report cards I saw the comments and I'm seeing them now do better these are my kids thank you would anybody else like to address the committee I thank you thank you for coming and expressing your concerns and and I'll just add to to uh Mr Oz Point addressing your grievances to the elected bodies also does impact change so I appreciate the time that people take to come and address their Grievances and their voices are are being are being heard is not also not an easy thing to do on on on your end as well so I thank you everyone for attending for that uh for this issue we're going to move on to uh I have a point of order can we reconsider the vote from the 122 meeting based on you know so we can maybe open it up to more discussion for more of the community I that would have to go on an agenda item it could have been reconsidered that evening okay in my understanding of it once once the me meeting's closed out okay it can go on a future item agenda item if that's what you're getting at i' ask for it to be on the December I mean uh February 13th agenda if that's I think it's February 13th February February 6th February 6th sorry February 6th I will put that thank you for reconsider discussion and reconsideration on February 6 I think it's just important if we're having discussion with our community and they feel as though that they're getting this and not having enough time to review it maybe we give them some more time and then you know we can entertain their opinions and their voice and then we can revote on this sure thank you so that we'll be re re reviewing our or reconsidering a mo there'll be an agenda item to reconsider the curriculum on February 6th with this body Mr chairman can I ask a question for that is you yes um for that discussion on the reconsidering would you be able to provide us Dr Falco the dates when because I know we voted in December yep but emails had already been sent home yes the Frameworks and whatnot right yep we notified families in October we actually sent out the standards we sent out all the changes and the health curriculum we posted on our website yeah there was a lot there was quite a bit of communication uh we've been working on this for about 18 months you know we've talked to the committee about it a few times we've had the staff in front of us a few times um so yeah I'm happy to bring all that data thank you and the school committee policy thank you that's what the policy subcommittee put in place uh was that we will communicate when there is any topic of this nature with any family not only communicate but give them all the materials resources PowerPoints lesson plans worksheets videos so that's what exactly what we did that was put in place by the policy subcommittee which is Mr Catalano Miss scobby uh Miss fako and myself and approved by the entire committee so we've been really far ahead of this making sure that the communication's been clear okay all right we'll move on to U uh School committee's portion of the agenda to declassify Executive session minutes for July 8th 2024 August 19th 20 24 and October 10th 2024 I'll take a motion to approve those or declassify a motion made by Tara second seconded by Chuck any further discussion all those in favor signify by saying I I any oppose the eyes have it moving on to msba update Mr superintendent or toar super please you want anything y uh so we have some really good good news um as uh the committee and the community is aware we've been working diligently on our feasibility study process uh we were in the um mod uh the module of for forming our project team which is module two um first was our OPM selection which we did in uh the early fall and most recently we have selected our designer for the feasibility study uh we uh unanimously move forward uh by unanimously I mean the designer selection committee and the mass School building authority uh moved forward with Dr um jumy Rosanne and Anderson that name might sound familiar that is the Architecture Firm that actually did our master plan uh back in I think it was 2019 so uh they've been uh fairly active in our community before meeting with uh various U stakeholders parents students staff uh working with our municipalities um they were the actual uh the group that helped us submit our statement of interest um so we are very pleased we just signed our contract School building committee approved it on December 30th um I signed it yesterday and we had our kickoff meeting yesterday afternoon where we outlined uh all of the work that is in front of us uh over the next few months um that work includes meetings with um principes meetings with teachers support staff meetings with students meetings with our community um our uh community members our parents our families to collect a lot of feedback uh around what the educational plan can look like for our students and our town moving forward um so lots of good work is in front of us um we will be notifying the community very soon of the uh First Community Forum regarding um the feasibility study which we think at this point will be either the first or second week in February so uh lots of work happening between uh now and the spring to get the feasibility study done and in place um so we're really excited about that and um in your packet this evening is the slide deck that we uh reviewed with the school building committee on December 30th that reviewed the whole designer selection process and what was necessary uh in order to land on Dr um so uh this also we have uh a very active website if you haven't been on it you should check it out we have a school building committee uh it's right there on the main page I think it's titled as high school project but you can click on that link we have all of our agenda our minutes our PowerPoints um all things um School building committee that you could uh be interested in or want to know about all the mass School building authority modules where we are in that pipeline uh so lots of great information there and we're very pleased to be at the stage where we are all right very we well any questions uh that update thank you good thank you policy uh excuse me policy subcommittee updates uh review and approve policy section A and do we have any ma yeah so you'll find in your packets um we started to start from a and work our way through Z of the of the existing policy um and just updating it um based on you know the uh recommended policy versus uh any changes um really there's very little in a um that is a big change there's no real big changes um you can see on policy AC I think is the biggest change where they've um Aster uh the word race uh individual on the basis of race and put some context uh F further context to that um to kind of expand what race means um so we're just uh looking to adopt that um and this is base so we look at it it says race to include traits historically associated with uh race including but not limited to hair texture hair type hair length and protective hair styles uh this is in response to a recent um case that was uh decided uh I I know you have more details Jason about the the actual case of the crown act correct um other than that there we didn't find any changes to our existing policy so we're just going to ask to um you know to uh have a vote to accept that that is make a motion to accept and the review um the am to policy section a motion made by Tara second second by Carrie any further discussion all those in favor signify by saying I I I I the any oppose the eyes have it next will be policy jjf Student Activities account I'd like me to take that uh this is the Student Activity accounts that we discussed in a prior meeting with the strikeout language that's there and the new language that's added the main focus of this change is to update how we're processing funds that are used for our Student Activities that are uh handled by each of the schools uh it's going to move from uh check basis uh at the schools to having to follow the warrant process in the district and allow for some fiscal oversight that we have to kind of apply to these funds uh one thing that we did add to this is a section for petty cash which is another policy that's coming up following this because of the concern that some of these groups need access to cash for the nights of their of their programs or whatever they're doing so we have a plan in place to make sure that there is availability for those cash needs at the time um in doing this we we'll be consolidating there are seven different bank accounts right now two at the high school two at the middle school um and one at each of the elementary schools or former elementary schools this will consolidate all that cash into one account and then once that one account's set up and we come to our balances each Club will be set up in our system with its own financial statements so if it's a drama club or whatever the club is they have a cash balance that's recorded in the system the portion of the cash that's held at the bank account that's theirs and they'll be able to see what's expended where when why and how and everything will be there they can actually be able to run their own financial statements at the end of the year if they would like to see that because a lot of the questions I got when I first got here was where's our money um well I can't tell you that because I don't have the checkbook so now it'll all just be in our system we'll have the fiscal oversight they'll have access to the cash they need for their programs and they'll also be able to go into the the system and see exactly what's available to that club at any given time and what the deposits were and what the expenditures were very good any questions sure you so apologetic oh sorry I didn't see on 2.3 yes it says it has to be distributed by the district accountant say that we're not we're not on you're looking at the um cash policy oh yeah oh I'm jumping ahead sorry I did the same thing now I'm [Laughter] sorry okay so we uh I'll take a motion to approve policy jjf Student Activities account so move uh seconded by a motion by Chuck seconded by carry any further discussion all those in favor signify by saying I I I any oppose the eyes have it with that Mr chair excuse me could I could I also request that at this point in time we do an approval to consolidate the seven counts into the one because that should be the next document that looks like this in your packet and it's listing out each of the seven accounts that there are yes and stating that we'll we'll consolidate us into one account called Student Activities yeah take a motion to consolidate the accounts so so M motion made by Tara lockin seconded by Carrie uh any further discussion all those in favor signify by saying I I I any oppose the eyes have it I do right now we'll move on to the petty cash policy so this is a continuation of what we just talked about I've come to find out as i' as I've worked through this process that there's petty cash needs there's cash needs for these kids there's cash needs for some departments um you know we tried to weigh out what options we have I mean I'm not a big fan of cash to be honest with you and if we do do a petty cash fund we have to have very strong controls and oversight over those cash funds um so what I'd like to do as opposed to credit cards or purchase cards or all that that's even on another level is uh request to have a policy established that will enable the districts by approval by the school committee to set up petty cash funds for individual groups or needs that are that that would come before you and you would approve it the petty cash policy would basically be set up by the approved by the school committee with a not to exceed balance um and each fund may have a different need the and we have a an uh a not to exceed uh request amount I mean if somebody's coming to a petty cash fund and requesting $500 we're not talking about petty cash anymore um so I know in this policy we set a an not to exceed of $100 you will see after my finance subcommittee meeting some red language added to that because it was recommended that maybe we give some a little bit of flexibility on there so on 22 that you were you were talking about Tara um uh or 21 actually but 22 each request not to exceed $100 but I added the line a higher dollar amount may be requested prior with prior approval from the superintendent or Director of Finance and operations there may be a function that comes up that they're going to need more than $100 to run out and buy some things we just we'll just give some written approval for that before it's done basically um and yes we have it set up so all petty cash is going to be maintained at central office with the district accountant the district accountant is kind of like the offshoot for the treasurer so she's all things cash so that cash funds will be set up with the at the central office maintained in our safe at the central office there'll be a pro a process for the individuals to come in request the cash sign out the cash there'll be a form that'll be signed they'll utilize the cashes they see fit return with any change and receipts make sure everything balances signatures will be taken so everything is lines up when the Auditors come in and say what do you got for petty cash we can hand them all the information and it's all right there and everything ties problem we run into is when petty cash goes missing so we don't want that to happen um basically and then the rest of the it just kind of goes through some of the details some of the um one of the other areas we added was uh number six which was reimbursements the district District's policy right now is individuals cannot go out and just spend their own money come back and say I need I need to be reimbursed for this they need a written approval to do something like that and the reason for that to happen is we need to make sure the funds are available for the purchase they're making through our warrant process but we also understand that there are times where reimbursements have to be done there are organizations that don't take a PO they don't do those things so with with approval from uh from myself or the uh my office or the superintendent we can't allow these reimbursements to take place that's not to say that if we're if there's a school dance and they took out the $100 petty cash something happens and the $100 wasn't enough but it was an urgent need that had to be fulfilled that they can't come in and and and and state their case basically and if it's IL legitimate and it makes sense and it's reasonable then of course people are going to get reimbursed the whole point is we don't want individuals to have to spend their own money to support the school district the school district is funded and it's funded adequately we'll say I wouldn't say well but adequately there shouldn't be a need to spend your own money and also we don't reimburse tax so if somebody goes out and pays with their own funds and gets taxed on it we do not pay tax so they they lose that money and that's also something that nobody should be doing you shouldn't be eating your own funds so with that I'm asking that we add this policy uh fedy cash policy policy to our policy manual um and we can go forward with it and put these in place I just had one question Joe on 2 three yes do we need to add if the district accountant isn't available do we need to add you on there as somebody who can disperse the money just in this policy sure we could do that want I I know you guys do the writing the request of writing but I'm just thinking if they need that cash and you want to get away with not reimbursement and she's not there we need a second person to want to be explicit that they could come to myself yeah I just want if the district accountant is not available that there's a backup that they owe to okay make a motion to do we also have to change decide today on the 1 point2 I believe that's that's where we we had to figure out a dollar amount that that's going to be based upon each request so it could be different like I'm going to have I have three requests for you right after we if this policy passes and it's approved I have three requests so each one each one of those requests has a different not to seat amount and then will we let students at the high school level make these requests or does this have to come I'm just thinking like the class officers like the senior class if they are setting up a fundraiser or whatever and they need popcorn to do they they each have an advisor they all have advisors but does it have to come from the advisor for the adviser to do it with you know just so there's an adult stud to process too though we should add that then yeah advisor needs add the advisor okay but get back to one. two with the petty cash fund shall not exceed a balance of yeah we I think we need to put a a an overall amount on that tonight no no my my point was that and that's why I have a bracket set by school committee for each petty cash fund approved so for example I'm going to ask for a petty cash fund for Student Activity fund tonight and I'm going to ask for a balance not to exceed $1,500 okay so you're you're going to do it as we do each fund because each fund has a have different needs uh Joe are you going to be asking for those petty cash accounts in this segment of the meeting I would like to if I could okay yeah as long if this gets approved if it's not approved then we'll have to take what so right so we'd have to approve this let me ask this are those three petty cash are the three petty cash accounts you're going to ask to set up tonight yes are you going to ask for all them to be $1,500 no okay but they're real quick they'll be really quick well the policy then to improve the policy this is the policy he going to leave that should not exceed a balance of well if is the highest one going to be, 1500 yes okay so we can no more than yeah yeah so shall not exceed a balance of 1500 okay that'll cover all three of and we'll put that right the discre will be um if the other one's going to be 500 or 750 or what have you that as long as it's not exceeding 1500 we're covered okay that's easy so I'll I'll put the number in 1500 uh for the purpose of the discussion and the vote if and so if that's if that's um clarified are um are are you all set with this aspect of this policy I am as long as you're if it's okay with what I'll add for language that you're requesting I'll add that and I'll send it out to everybody sure and so with the 1500 and essentially uh 2.3 the district accountant or a design yep um is there any is there anything else and then the adding the advisor 2.1 I think is probably with the by an adviser so in writing yeah so I guess you'd have who can make these requests would be the leaders or advisers of such subgroups could it be coaches too would we have any need for coaches to take cash well you have are they considered an adviser you have three there's going to be three petty cash there's only going to be three right now they'd have to get approval for another account what are the accounts uh one is going to be for uh special ed for the life skills program and who would be usually Rec making that request it' probably be Jen or Jill or Jen okay and then central office for $300 and that would be that would just be sent up be myself basically okay to the district accountant if we need stamps things like that um and then the Student Activities account I was going to do for $1,500 and that would be Student Activities would include what groups any programs that are under the Student Activity clubs which would be the the different clubs at the high school middle school and the elementary school that on their individual checkbooks okay so the the request would have to come from advisers or directors of those clubs or or coaches or coaches or coaches correct y so we that's good that's yeah with those amendments is everybody good so I'll take a motion to um approve the KY uh petty cash policy some motion made by Matt second by Tara any further discussion all those in favor signify by saying I I any oppose the eyes have it so with that do we need to go through and approve the three I just mentioned I put them out yeah well I'll I'll take a motion to approve the three C petty cash accounts thank you as described by Joe so moved second not to exceed 1500 for each anyone motion by carrye seconded by Matt any further discussion all those in favor signify by saying I any oppose the eyes have it graduation policy yeah you want to spe up yeah so with the recent vote uh in November in the state of mass in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts uh we were left with I put it as a crisis as far as uh graduation requirements uh mcast no longer being a requirement uh and where do we go from there so we we were leaning on that um so we set out to come up with I guess we're calling it a bridge requirement for now um so that way we can satisfy you know the requirement requirements for graduation this year uh most immediately uh and then the policy subcommittee will be working on uh a more broad um requirement down the road uh so I'll let Jason take it from there thanks Matt yeah so um as Matt shared with the elimination of the competency determination which is the requirement from um this uh Commonwealth M Massachusetts essentially to show competency through passing the mcast for ELA math and science uh by 10th grade uh with the vote the competency determination can no longer be required by mcast so we had to come up with another way to do that uh and so uh we were left kind of struggling to figure out you know what would we put in place for this year um knowing that long term we will be assembling have already actually started but assembling a graduation uh requirement policy uh committee to really work on some language longterm that can look at things outside of the you know what's in our current policy but also be thinking about Service Learning and some you know community community service type projects uh internships Etc so that's kind of longterm where we're going but what's in front of us tonight um is really C uh kind of catering or geared toward those couple of students who didn't pass the MCAS uh because we still have a few and that is no longer an acceptable uh competency determination I'm using the term competency determination because that's what's in the state law uh the way the state law was written in 2001 is that kids have to show competency students have to show competency of grade 10 standards as it relates to math science and Ela and those were measured by passing the MCAS so we the law still stands we have to show competency but we can no longer use the mcast to do that um so uh what is in front of the school committee this evening as a draft policy um essentially just outlines the fact that we can determine competency determination for grades uh 10 Ela Math and Science standards by our students successfully passing the courses that we listed here I don't want to confuse this with graduation requirements because those are actually above and beyond this so there's kind of two uh two steps in this process for our our um for our students one is proving competency which now uh and again the law is really clear until that Law changes by the legislator needs to be done by grade 10 um so essentially there's kind of a check and review on the 10th grade standards very specifically what are the skills Concepts that students would acquire in grades 9 Ela grade 10 Ela Algebra 1 and geometry and biophysics or chem um and so we don't we don't offer physics anymore at the younger grade levels uh but we included it because it is potential uh course that kids can show that they've met that competency determination by so uh we now have gone through the process of looking at all of our students and making sure that our students have successfully met those at this point those competency determinations um that's step one step two is meeting the mass core standards uh and expectations that's the other half of the graduation requirement so that part didn't change um so right now I believe we have two students uh one student um was not on this track to begin with uh and wouldn't have shown competency through um through uh passing the mcast uh and then the other student uh will be able to work with that student through some type of a coursework portfolio to ensure that they get a diploma and not a certificate of completion those actually a significantly different things um a diploma puts a student on track for you know post higher education two-year four-year or a certificate of attendance or certificate of completion um will give students access to a two-year school only um so um we have language for discussion this evening for the school committee um to take a look at um and uh this is just listed as a discussion item for tonight U because we know it's a really important topic and the committee like we've done with other you know big issues we'll come back to at a later meeting to have a follow-up conversation um one of the things I just want to draw to your attention is I think it's important um and we discussed uh with JPG particularly for our students who go into a uh more restrictive special education pathway like our Essentials program which would not be on a diploma track um and that isn't new but ensuring that through the team process that those parents um not only understand they get the pathway they understand the diploma versus the certificate of completion but also acknowledge that in writing saying that they understand you know the kind of the two differences in the pathway that their child is on and again that's a very small number of students but I just want to bring that to your attention not that I miss anything on that no those was [Applause] spot I'm sorry I'm sorry any comments or questions yes I have a couple um so this second page the policy is that in addition to the first page or replacing it yes great question Tara thank you for that so uh it wouldn't be replacing it the first page outlines the mass core requirements this would the competency uh and we may need to call it like ikf that's what I was wondering I know like I'm not good with naming the policies themselves I don't know how that works but we'd have to figure out what letter goes next to the this is specifically for this year this school year yeah and until the uh policy committee would approve u a permanent policy to bring forward to the school committee for review and approval and so this right now it's two students it's looking like it's about two kids Y and just for as a typo on the second paragraph thank you I think it should just be score not scores while it's [Applause] open so then you said that's is only for this year so the graduating class like Jason said we're looking to well to put together a committee of students and Educators um to come up with something that kind of makes sense for for our district I will say you know through our discussions it sounds like we're light years ahead of any other District in the state doing this a lot of them is you know Jason can speak more to this is it sounds like they're not doing anything nobody's doing anything no they're waiting for the Department of Education basically to give them guidance uh and we just I want to we need to get ahead of it because we have students that are they need to graduate so we can't wait for them to to do that so this will ensure that our class of 25 kids are taken care of and then moving forward would we be looking for a policy that kind of marries these two pages together into one I think so and I think we're also looking to kind of blow that out a little bit and talk about you know for instance like community service how can our students we we've talked about a lot of different angles that we you know that could give back to our community correct indicate uh a student is ready to graduate um the great thing about this not having mcast I know that a lot of people are you know don't like that we don't have mcast but this gives bmrsd the ability to do what's right for the BMR School District not what's right for the you know Welsley School District or whatever other school district so this will be right for blacks and we'll be able to compete within our area um you know and and drive you know more success that way I that's how I see it and Matt to that point if I if I may I think it's important to also note uh because we're looking at um file ikf as well our graduation requirements less than half of the districts in the Commonwealth actually adopted Mass core which is a far more rigorous set of expectations so I put our schools up against anybody um our graduation requirements are are are far more rigorous than over half of at least on policy on paper um than the other high schools across the Commonwealth so this would get the checks and balances in place for both the competency determination until the legislature changes that and the graduation requirements would remain ter to your to your point would remain in place for Mass what's the ideal time you'd like to get this approved uh probably come back at the February meeting if if that works yeah we wanted to bring this to you this meeting so we could have this discussion and update you on you know what's going on elsewhere and then bring this back on uh this comes back in February is it going to be any alterations to it not unless the committee has any feedback for us right no it's just for that this graduating class so it's what's on here yeah it is for right now now I I want to make sure to like it could be that the work group that we have on the overall graduation requirements they may come to the policy subcommittee and say we need we need more time like we're looking for more time we we're not going to be ready to have all these uh Provisions in place by next school year I'm not sure yet but but I think for to Dan to Dan's question is this is going to be the the policy that we're going to use for this year yes y right so if we're if we have our conversation tonight do we need to bring it to the February 6th meeting we can vote on it tonight you want yeah it's up to the committee we can just call it if ikf 20125 that way there because we know we're gonna it's going to be amended once it's permanent U because it's you're going to take the language out of 2025 so but for the following policy to then affect class of 26 and Beyond would we need to vote that in prior to the start of that school year well is are we looking at that short of a window to what might happen is it there there could be a process where we phase that in right so like the policy might read I'm making this up but you know starting with the class of 2030 that sounds crazy but like it might read like starting with the class of 2030 these are the requirements that need to be in place and something like this ikf 2025 whatever we call it might be what's in place until we start rolling in that new I think there has to be like a transition period we're gonna have to kind of think through um and then whatever legislative changes if they scrap this competency determination requirement altoe like we're going to have to keep it's like any other policy we have keep coming back to the drawing board but yeah I there may need to be a transition or like a phase in process to it because that wouldn't be fair to the class of well to just suddenly be like you 26 surprise quick get working we also could build a policy that breaks down for 26 we're going to add this piece because right you know sa for the 10th graders this year after after the ninth and and forward they're not going to have any issue because there's there is none so granted the 10th grade I think they did they already did 10th grade already take the mcast that would have indicated no they'll they'll be taking that in that in in the spring right we had the retakes so so it could be 10th grade and non that you know this is really 11th and 12th grade that are that that kind of need that bridge policy correct and to confirm they're are taking mcast they just don't count as graduation y okay just so people are aware I think some people might think they voted to get rid of mcass no it's not really gone and that's ferally required that's a federal requirement so whatever the pleasure is the V we could we can we can adopt this tonight can always come back with Revis um can we vote on it if it's a discussion item can we can vote on any agenda item oh or we can bring it back on the six you feel comfortable uh I'm yeah I'm perfectly comfortable so I'll make a motion to uh accept file uh ikf 2025 we want to call it tentatively or how should I say it I'll make a motion to accept the graduation requirements um as presented as presented second motion made by Matt seconded by Chuck any further discussion I just want to thank you for your the policy subcommittee and and the administration for getting ahead of this you know this this vote was from November 5th so we're probably going to be one of the first ones we are yeah something in in writing on on this matter so those in favor signify by saying I I any oppose the eyes have it student council overnight conference uh actually we heard Maya talk about this earlier so this is the uh request from the school committee because it's an overnight uh say they go every year to hyenas for this uh conferences at the same place but they've renamed it it's where the also were the school committee and super anic conferences that Cape cot Irish village in hyas any I was just going to make a motion I make a motion to approve the student council spring conference Tara did you second second second by Tara uh any further discussion all those in favor I have a question too go with student and advisor driving are is that reimbursable and whatnot if we're not providing Transportation yeah what van they go they did request the van um they requested the use of our van so we're seeing if we can make that work for that if not the mileage Joe what's the mileage 79 cents 71 I'm not sure off the top of my head what it's changed to in January I think it's somewhere in that area got to take it out of petty cash reimbursed show that receipt um I just as I said with the previous um trips you know to Spain and France I my main concern is the one chaperon for the students um I I still think that we should be looking at at as a district we should be looking at both for the chaperon sake and for the student sake to increase that number um God forbid something happens to the loone chaperon and now we have four to eight students who are on the cape in Spain in France without any sort of uh someone local to them I understand when they go to Spain and France that's a different story we already voted on that um but they have no one they're down on the KPS they have phones they have all that but they have no one immediate so we should have we should have more than one sure uh going forward I think it's just something we should consider maybe a policy needs to change I'm sure we can get a second staff that we go in there you that I'm gonna have a rotating School Committee Member attend I'll take a trip down to DC if if anybody wants to send Spain trip then we're i' take the DC if you want to take Spain I'm all set with Europe yeah um so that's that's just my two cents thank you this is high school right so what 9 through 12 or do we know who's going yeah the eighth graders are not attending this no 9 through 12 make up any further discuss all those in favor signify by saying I I any oppose yes have 7 obain on that 70 cents madain I'm mad of stain that the where could show six I didn't hear what Jo said so I'm just winging it 60 and one all right uh moving on to the report of the superintendent thank you um this evening we have our uh just a few things under my uh update the first um is an overview of our initial FY 26 budget um wait I'll give Tim just a second to pull that up would you mind thank you so much appreciate it um so as a school committee and our community knows uh We've uh started our budget process uh earlier in the fall uh and we were here in December to talk about uh the what we were forecasting as the main drivers of the budget uh but also uh ensuring that our fiscal plan matches the educational plan and thinking about what are the resources and supports that our students um and staff need um so of course all this is driven by our Improvement strategy um the feedback uh and guiding structures through our blueprint which is our uh District strategy itself steth our detailed strategy our mcast and accountability results which we'll talk about very quickly uh this evening because it was a very much a driver of this um the school committee feedback uh through my evaluation um which is very important um and our community feedback through our student staff and family surveys which I know uh we had a chance to look at that I believe in September um so lots of information has gone into really driving uh the overall needs of the budget um this year uh as we do every year just to kind of quickly touch on uh who we are supporting through our budget uh this is our current student demographic our student enrollment um these numbers Change Daily um so I we listed approximately 1500 we've been up to 1520 we've been down to 1505 back up to 1510 uh our enrollment is constantly changing um with uh students either moving out or moving in um our demographics haven't changed significantly uh as you can see here these are very similar to last year's um we are still around 3.2% of our students are English language Learners just under 8% uh their first language is not English just under 20% uh students with special needs and then our high needs numbers are still just just about half again just as a reminder the high needs are students who are uh students who um qualify for any state benefits or EC economically disadvantaged but also our students of special needs uh and our English language Learners so it's that kind of combination of uh which encompasses about half of our students our overall State data uh just to touch on some of these quickly uh we are making moderate progress towards our goals uh which is great to see um none of our schools are required any level of State assistance uh and we certainly would expect that to be the case our graduation rate is uh just about 92% % um our dropout rate is just over 1% um and then you can see where our meeting and exceeding uh uh numbers for grades 3 through eight Ela math fall compared to the state um as again we're either just at or just below um State averages in all these areas um you will see that um our grades five and eight for science also made um we made some gains this year you can see the high school scores as well again right within Striking Distance to the state um something to identify all of our science achievement uh scores uh exceeded what the state set for us for targets all of our schools exceeded the absenteeism rates we're making tremendous progress with our community getting our kids to school on time and all of our schools exceeded the targets set for our elll um English language acquisition targets um so you can see as a district we are doing incredibly well um again keeping that graduation rate strong over 90% that dropout rate really small our achievement rates right at where the state is um of course we want to be higher than that we're still working on uh our core instruction as everybody knows that's you know regularly kind of tuning into our work um but even with that the targets at the Department of Education are setting we are exceeding many of them so really good news uh as far as the success of the school system and that's a big shout out to our uh teachers in our classrooms and to our Educators uh supporting them our principles and to our families so what's driving the budget um a few things um and I just want to touch on these and again we really we went through this in December uh but a couple I want to bring to your attention uh looking at our enrollment doesn't reflect it because our enrollment are the October 1 numbers so I just want to draw that to your attention the enrollment that is listed here is the October 1 certification number from October 2024 uh this changes all the time um we are seeing uh from October to now um frankly the start of the school year an increase in our English language Learners who need additional supports in increase in students who are placed out of District so for instance we may have a family that moves from Northbridge but their child is already placed in an out of District uh setting uh this year we are not required uh this year mean the current school year we are not required to uh pay for that out of District placement but the following school year that becomes our responsibility fiscally and programmatically some yeah some it's right away um so we're seeing an increase uh in students moving into the district who are not a district placements Jill I don't know if you want to touch on that at all yeah and we'll get into it significantly in the budget but um more specifics but we've had this year it's been um a large population of the students who are moving in are already placed elsewhere before coming here so we've had several students we've worked really hard over the years to bring that number down and we we've actually had I think and I'll go through the numbers but maybe a little little bit under half of the students that are there have not been placed by us but when they move into the district depending on the kind of program there are sometimes that fiscal responsibility kicks in immediately and sometimes it is until next year so that definitely has an impact on our budget and when we do the special education budget Workshop we'll get into the weeds of that absolutely um next year we'll be implementing a new three-year strategic plan um really excited to share that uh in um we're thinking end of February early March uh we'll be bringing it to the community we'll be having a few Community forums to get feedback on the strategy to get direct uh information back from not just our families um but also um our local businesses municipalities to really get a sense if they feel that this school is you know with the with the revised strategies moving in the right direction if not what direction we'd like to see the school district move in um we are just about there in terms of getting feedback from the staff currently so once we get something a little better cooked we're going to bring it to the community and to our parents uh for feedback so we're looking forward to that and of course we're working through refining our uh literacy program that is the content area that is up for review and renewal this year as you know we have a curriculum review cycle um it is looking like at this point again we will be replacing our grade 6 through eight core literacy program and part of that was through the reconfiguration of the schools and um and kind of the redistricting of the grade levels and where they went um we want to ensure uh that we have alignment between our secondary grades so like grade 6 through 12 and currently our elementary program which is PK through grade five looking like it will have no changes um so we're hoping that the changes there will be minimal um as far as core programming um but in addition uh we have a really strong writing committee that is working to establish some writing expectations uh PK through 12 to ensure that our students um are writing up to very high standards so I'm sure that as we're going through the budget cycle you'll hear from members of our literacy committee that will come to the school committee as they normally do uh throughout this work to share updates um and then of course the implementation of a uh revised Capital plan and we'll talk a little about that tonight too uh Joe do you want to touch on sure some other drivers some of the other driving factors like we did discuss in December already is um health insurance increases uh a a quick example of that I'll get into more detail when we actually start going through the line items of the budget um our health insurance assumptions that we're be uh assuming for our working rates for next year is going up 11% um and that's with a recommendation for May or our our carrier uh to use 15% but we are going out to bid so we're hoping to get that rate down on the cost of the districts and just as Jill and the superintendent mentioned too our collaborative and private St uh School tuition they're increasing and ual cost increase that are built in plus the enrollments that are happening a perfect example is since this budget the draft budget was prepared just this past week two kids came into district and those two kids alone next year are going to cost $343,000 a year because they're already outplaced it's a very fluid it's constantly moving um we you know we do that our best then the facility needs is driving it you know obviously with the high school and the condition conditions that is Condition it's in the repairs and maintenance are getting to be more and more we're trying to stay ahead of things now as opposed to being reactive to any issues that come up hopefully um with the new school building going in we can make that happen as quickly as possible because that'll minimize some of that then there's some short-term capital needs that we have also that'll be brought forward in detail when we start to look at the budget also faculty and staff Contra staff contractual obligations obviously that's that's a big number 80% of our budget is um salary and benefits I mean that's what we do minimal local contributions is an issue continuously increases to the towns because the revenue provided by the state is not increasing adequately uh and our transportation cost use of Transportation but also just the contractual obligation we have in our contracts for the rates that are going up thanks Joe thank you um an important just a a reminder of FY 25 uh as We Know was a very challenging budget cycle um for a lot of reasons but I think um there was a lot of really good work done and I want to highlight some of that um something Joe mentioned uh already in the prior slide this idea of minimum local contribution uh just as a reminder to our uh family and friends tuning in at home that is what the state says the town of Blackstone and the town of milville has to pay the school system um and so last year um the state told Blackstone you need to pay the school system $544 $341 more than you did the prior year so that was a 6.83% increase over FY 24 and they said similarly to milville you need to pay $34,636 more than the year prior which was a 5.5% increase the reason this is so um and you can see the cost of both towns was just under $700,000 the reason this is such a significant piece for us is because we as a school district are left looking at that number and saying how do we find a way to absorb some of this because the towns can't afford to pay this extra plus all the additional um that we know is required to run the school system um when you look at the Chapter 70 increase so this is what the state said okay Blackstone and milville you have to pay the school system 678699 more dollars but we'll give you $94,000 more to help so the math isn't mathing so to speak on that um and the rest is left for us to figure out how do we either reduce the budget to try to absorb some of that and make our budget be able to support the needs of our students and staff but also have it a number that the towns can support as well um so these are the fy2 numbers it's important to just take a look back as Joe mentioned uh we will have the governor has to release her budget um Wednesday I think it's January 22nd this year yes so we should have the the additional the um first kind of swipe at what those numbers will look like as far as revenues to the school system and what the cost of the school system will be through charter school and school choice and and those areas but some other uh important information one of the things we did last year to help offset those costs and to offset the the reduction in Revenue which we all remember well that loss of Revenue through circuit breaker and through our Essa dollars uh was to reduce the budget through consolidating our schools and reconfiguring our grade levels um that came at a total Savings of about 2.3 million so we were able to get the budget down about 2.3 million um to help offset those costs of the town but I want to just underscore that a large piece of this was the consolidation staff and resources um we're not going to have that this year so uh I just want to make sure to mention that up front to again to those that are tuning in at home and also want to thank the communities again for their support through that process there was a lot of work that went into that Joe uh for the for the uh Capital assessments for each of the towns this is the debt that's currently in place only it does not include any um short-term funding for the $500,000 that was approved for each by the towns for the feasibility study that's happening now we're in the process now of getting that funding in place so we can have it before the towns and the committee um for approval in the certified budget so we make sure that number is there um we did see a retirement of about $3.1 million for the middle school bond that was retired as of August 2024 so with that the total principal and interest for FY 26 for Blackstone currently is $250,000 uh and to milville it's $133,800 for a total of $ 383,899 th000 a month that was split between the two towns that isn't coming into here but our other Capital needs will probably come in to fill that Gap because we have quite a few needs in the district the capital needs that will come forward to you so the short version of that Joe the Middle School's paid off that's correct which is good news as we're looking at a feasibility study for the high school I'd just like to add that this also is typical this is aside from the budget these numbers are results of previous town meeting votes for yes commerci uh uh Capital upgrades whether it be the town owned buildings or the or the district owned buildings so these are although it's part of the budgeting it's not part of the educational budget and these are town meeting votes from 10 some 10 10 years ago thank you and Joe do you want to walk us through the overview of the uh draft proposed FY 26 budget sure I'll be going through this document that's right here and uh I'll just really focus on the changes and why it's changed but a couple of um assumptions that are built into this budget buet like I said the medical is assuming an 11% increase um and life insurance we're assuming an 8% increase the retiree portion is almost 20% because they went up on our retiree funding and the FED set that number we have no control over that at all um and a lot of what you're going to see here is a restructuring aside from those increases a restructuring of the function codes so there's a lot of ups and downs in each one of these function code lines but we need to make sure that our function codes line up to the Desi requirements so things were budgeted in places that were kind of weren't lining up so I made sure that happen for this budget um so starting with the school committee the function code uh 1,110 you see a reduction about $31,000 that's basically because we no longer utilize a CPA firm that we were using before in place of not having a finance director um and I've also moved the uh uh expected moving cost of putting our kids back in milville elementary into that line under school committee as opposed to where it was before so the net effect of that was a $31,000 reduction superintendent office which is 1210 uh that also was a movement of uh we had to take the eay consultant out of that line and put it into 1410 where it belonged and a lot of the PD was booked at each one of these departments desie requires that to go into to function code 2351 so really it's just a movement of of that um uh that those funds to different lines the other thing to keep in mind too is salaries Medicare Medicare was budgeted but it was budgeted into each individual salary line Desy requires s Medicare to be budgeted under its own line 5100 Series so a lot of that takes count too you're you're taking a a salary cost with Medicare comparing it to a salary cost without Medicare and obviously you're going to see a reduction there um 1220 is leadership and student services um we had some administra assistances assistant that were budgeted into a 1230 code they need to be put back into this uh leadership line to 1220 where they belong uh business office has a reduction about 9200 bucks um the HR specialist also need to be in its own line which is 1420 coming up next and salaries no longer include the Medicare and so and when we hired our district accountant there was a administrative assistant position that was absorbed by that so that kind of uh accounts for that reduction the human resources line of 1420 is just a brand new line like I said that came out of business office to create that new line for 78,000 Legal Services we've level funded no increase or decrease projecting to be on target with that information management uh another issue where we had some of our IT staff three IT staff were budgeted into this line they need to be moved down to a technology line of 4,400 by uh Desy requirements so that's the reason for that reduction School curriculum leaders um we we're doing a uh we're in a phase of renewing looking at a um our literacy curriculum and doing a renewal of that or an update of that for $150,000 and then from there we also move some staff evaluation stiens out of this line into where it belonged with 2120 so that's the reason for that increase the increase there is about $120,000 uh department heads again that's a new line where we want to make sure our team leaders and chairs are in the correct line that Desi requires so that came from other multiple line uh uh uh function codes to create this new line for $106,000 uh School leadership for the buildings that's the principles and and and their staff uh it's basically what you're seeing here is is just mainly step movement and there are some Supply incre uh requests that are above and beyond what we had in the past we'll go into the weeds of that during our our work groups to look at each one of those requests to make sure that that's something we want to do uh you're going to look at classroom teachers next and that's 2305 and 2310 the previous budget budgeted most of our Staffing under 2305 which is regular Ed teachers and we have 2310 which is special ed teachers there just had to be a shift to make sure we had all our special ed teachers in the right line and our regular Ed teachers in the other line so that's why you'll see the $440,000 increase in regular Ed and a $479,000 decrease in special it's just a shift but in here also our requests for five new positions um three at the three at the high school two at the elementary level which again during our budget workshops we'll be able to go through and look at those requests but they are reflected here uh 2320 is medic medical and therapeutic services we've moved our uh nursing contract with B Bata nurse from 20 from 2310 into this line um we added a bcba I believe in fy2 so that's kind of uh driving some of that added cost um includes uh title fund request and some supplies and materials that are being requested to again during the budget workshops we'll be able to look at those uh substitute teachers one thing I found is when we they they're called fillings here but we call them coverages when a teacher's out other teachers will cover or fill in for that teacher when they need to or other staff members we've moved them into that substitute line because in a sense they're acting as a substitute at that point in time they used to be charged right to their salary line but we brought them down here so we can get get a true reading of what it costs to cover teachers when they're out of the classroom uh instructional assistance is uh 2330 we moved an instructional assistant um uh from speech from here from 2320 where it belonged and the rest of it is just really the step movement for those individuals and the uh contractual increases that were settled on the new uh CBA that's in there so that that's what reflects that increase uh library and media specialist um we had an increase in requests for library books which is good um so that's going to that's in here uh and we've moved uh some Library activity and Personnel out of where they were into that Library line to make sure it's complete so that drives that increase professional development you're going to see a decrease um we I found that the summer program the teachers for the summer program were budgeted in this line previously they were moved where they belonged into the 2305 for the summer program and that's that decrease textbooks there were various supply lines in here that weren't really textbooks they needed to be where they're supposed to be in their supply lines um so that was just a move of those PRI those requests where they belong and that's driving that decrease of $49,000 there uh let's see classroom Supply uh instructional equipment excuse me 20 2420 that's just a new it's the $6,000 increase is just a new request for instructional equipment and again during the workshop we can go through each one of those classroom supplies same thing each school and each department have put in a lot of requests for additional supplies and materials we're going to have to go through each one of those it's pretty extensive in some cases just to make sure they're legit and that's what the school committee wants to do um other instructional services uh We've added some before school tutoring and I've also moved the cclc coordinator budget into this line because it really is um other and other instructional service it's not really an educational service built into the classroom um instructional Hardware increase that's where uh let's see make sure I'm looking at the right line uh that's uh where we're seeing some uh special ed requests for new educational platforms some of those platforms that were in there so we'll look at those during the budget Workshop guidance and adjustment counselors I did find that some of the guidance counselors were budgeted in other lines so I moved them where they belonged and there was an adjustment counselor that we had to put into this line also uh and that's really what's driving that increase that you see in there and there's some added PD that they're requesting that we'll look at also at the workshops and Psychological Services really it's just mainly due to step movement for them uh there is an esy psychologist that I put into this line to make sure it lines up where it belongs the medical and Health Services this is basically the the nursing Services um we've added an esy nurse there was a request for a new LPN I believe it's a part-time LPN um that's in here and there's a request for additional ads eight of them with the purchase of those eight aeds I think that completely re refurbishes all the aeds in the district at this point in time so but again we can look at that during the workshop transportation services uh you're going to see that increas is driven a lot by the collaborative um requirements that we have these kids that are coming into school that we need to transport we have no choice to do for those um transportations plus there's contractual agreements like I said before the contracts are to have small increases built into the the rates that they're using um Athletics has gone up it's projected to go up about 71,000 there's a request for an a athletic trainer we're hoping that that move actually will be a a net almost zero move because we'll eliminate some of the the um the uh services that we're getting individually one off that that trainer will take on take on um the employee coaches were not normally budgeted here the the coaches that are our employees were budgeted under the salary line for their salary they really should that separate stien should be down here with the coaches so that's driving some of that too uh and there is a request for a uh you know c a new coach and all the coaches we made an assumption that they all stepped up and level doesn't necessarily mean it's going to happen but you you you plan conservatively and make make it happen and hopefully maybe it won't um other Student Activities that's aign the 3520 that's all the clubs the advisers the extra extracurricular music uh or all put into this line now where they belong um that's the Student Activity accounts we just talked about this is where those that funding will be will be placed custodial Services um basically with that it's just a we use a CPI or a consumer price index of about 3% we took our needs went through it with uh Scott and we said okay we're going to just put an increase of about 3% on the cost of all this equipment all these all these materials so a 3% heating uh increase heating of buildings of 4120 we see we see a substantial uh decrease in the cost of oil with our frck um uh membership it's gone down quite a bit and there'll be a slight reduction in propane so hope we going to see a $46,000 savings there Utility Services is showing about a $35,000 savings we just did a lot of electrical upgrades here we're hoping those efficiencies are going to pan out and show up and based on the savings we'll have from that we should see a savings in our budget maintenance of grounds is the same thing as with the custodial Services the 3% increase over our anticipated costs maintenance of buildings that $51,000 is driven mainly by the MS Mees the midle milville move used to be budgeted here at 50,000 we've moved 40,000 into the um school committee line at one 1110 that's really the majority of that uh building security system uh 4225 now including the ra panic button cost and there's an increase in the resource officer I don't know if we we I believe we might have had one resource officer before now there's two the detail the detail the detail yep so now that's drive that's driving that cost up that's there um maintenance of equipment is it's that is mainly it's minimal $6,800 increase but that's really just the shift of the function codes what belongs there versus somewhere else technology infrastructure those three IT staff that I was talking about that reduced the line for 1,400 up top this is where they came into um to drive that increase it's about uh I did I just want to say as this is a draft I did find a duplicate too so next the next iteration of this budget if there's any errors or duplicates in the budget those will be removed um retirement this is where Medicare is this is where it belongs it's 5100 we budget Medicare here and we also budget our Worcester County Retirement in this line so that's driving that increase of $236,000 it's all pulled out of salaries and all placed here under retirement um Insurance active employees one thing I found in passes insurance for active and retirees was just one L sum number in one account desity requires to be broken out active should be 5200 retirees should be 5250 so it's a really a function of moving those retirees out of the active line into the uh retiree line so you see a slight decrease there even with the 11% one thing I'd like to point out is our system allows us to build assumptions in the system itself as opposed to doing it outside in the spreadsheet we can take the actual employees that have whatever medical coverage they have for for example and the different working rates put that 11% assumption to it and tell the system what is it going to cost us next year for these these individuals and that's exactly what we're using here so a lot of this could be a comparison between how it was budgeted in 25 versus how we're budgeting it now to produce maybe some savings and and it it seems to be happening with our insurance overall um retirees brand new line like I said that's medical dental and life insurance cost for retirees $692,000 um other non-employee insurance that's our property and liability and our student accident Insurance the increase is because the property and liability was moved out of that insurance line into this line and previously what was budgeted here was only the student accent Insurance in 25 so you're going to see a big increase there school choice and Charter School um all we can do at this point in time until we get our hard hard numbers hope hopefully in January at the end of January I took our FY 25 projected for both added a 4% increase to it to come up with a number that we could use in our current budget the reality is what we'll see what the state gives us when the time comes out of state tuition and the non-public school tuition again driven by by Jill's office this is just what's projected um I do want like I said I do want to mention in non-public schools of 9300 it says 72,000 here just this week we brought in over $343,000 with two more kids so that puts it over a million right now um and the collaborative again is just the the projected requirements of these kids coming into to into the district that are already placed in collaborative placements we're looking at about a $25,000 increase so this budget right now as a draft is 2,732 689 or $690,000 over uh what what we requested for last year i' I'd be happy to try to answer any question I know it's a lot of information and I'm sure it'll be a lot more fun when we start to get into the weeds during the uh workshops and if I could just quickly add on um we know there's a lot of work to do here which which is the same case for every year so uh we're really eager to get to the workshops and start getting a number that meets the needs of our students and staff and community and it's something that the towns can support so we get a lot of work ahead of us I just want to say thank you Joe for shifting things where they need to be fixing it up okay yeah next day'll be easier I'll say that I'll agree with Tara Joe has been slowly moving things over we still have a couple of things sure to to um coming up right with the budget journal every cleaning that up every every few weeks get to watch that process any other um questions this is kind of a budget kickoff discussion and it only gets more fun from here this was a really good explanation though seeing function code how it I hope so I wasn't sure if it would be clear enough that helps is it m or there less does it seem like is less there was less to look at but more explanation and I appreciate that yes oh good I'm glad this is a new process for me too I usually do it a little differently in the system but this is this was good all right and next we have um select and approve budget workshop dates yes so um there are dates listed uh in your on your agenda we can take the first date right off because 113 we wouldn't have enough time to post the agenda for Monday excellent so we can take that off so uh we have 121 122 127 128 in February 3rd um lots of coordination between school building committee uh teacher negotiations regular school committee meetings budget timeline and next steps which is up here on the slide uh slide 11 so um you I know it's you can take one21 down there's a special town meeting in Blackstone that night all right I have a conflict that night too okay yeah you're going to be at the special town meeting I hope maybe yes that's it so we're at 122 127 128 23 uh we normally will will book for sure two and sometimes we'll hold a third date but it it may be that we want to book two and hold the other two we might want to book them all and then not you know only use them if we need them it's up to the committee what time were we looking at for these meetings 7 a.m. 7 a.m. perf even EAS that would work you tell us where I mean where in the past we've done all kinds of different things we've done earlier starts we've done later starts we've done all sort sort of things we've stuck to six o'clock whatever it's at the plure of the committee five is probably earliest for me and six o'clock's not very ideal for me 530 you tell us I could make 12 22 and 127 122 is a personal conflict a Winter concert what time do you know no no at 7 right is it school concert they at 7 7 but I have other conflicts at night I'm good for 122 127 or 23 I'm good 127 and 23 me too I can do 127 and 23 so what yep 23 if we did it like 6:30 instead of I'm good on 128 as well I'm good with that time on 23 2 doesn't matter time time as long as it's after 4:30 I'm good 6:30 conflict Cs on 128 unless we move the time sooner we didn't have any objection to 17 27 127 I think we were all good with yeah two of them M stick it keep it at 6:30 660 yeah whatever whatever you all prefer that's fine first one you want to start a little earlier because it's on the 27th on the 27th yeah like six o'clock I can do anytime on the 27th me too yep 5:30 530 earlier the better if 530 too early 5:30 ises that work for people 5:00 I can't make five who can do five 5:30 5:0 back down to 7 A.M no time good that' be good so we got so we got two he then 127 at 5:30 and 23 at 6:30 that's great can on 127 we could pick more dates if we need to was 122 for 23 clear for everybody yep 23 could we could try because we have a we have a full school committee meeting on 26 um so we we could do a lot of things we could if if the committee is okay we could have longer workshops and try to get like we could do all the school-based and Athletics and music in one and then we could do all of the district like facilities and capital and they just would be longer but we could do two and then we could look at I saw your eyes met it might be too long long I'm just trying to work with the time we have no it's because the goal would be to get uh the school committee to a comfortable place prior to February that uh February break because usually the week after we meet with the joint uh joint meeting with the boards of Selectmen and finance committees what did we say about 121 town meeting no good town meeting so that's out um we've done this in the past too just something to think about um we've we've taken the February school committee meeting and we've turned that into a workshop and then we've we've held a separate February meeting the following week that's just something else to think about if you wanted to take like if you wanted to look at7 uh 2 three and then 2 six we could do that as workshops and then do then we could you know move our you could move the formal school committee meeting to the next week we've done things like that before too all right so just just different options I'm just looking at my calendar here but we could start with these two and if we're comfortable having longer meetings do that too did we we've ruled out the 28th did that one come up uh I I I couldn't make the 28th but that's okay so Matt you're you you're you're the only one on the 22nd yeah so I mean I mean but depending on the time I mean well no I'm out actually yeah I still have something after well we got two that we all agree to until we hear from Aon and I could always meet with you Matt to go through all the material first and get your feedback and share it with the that's the one on the 22 on the 22nd if that was something you all wanted to do it's up to you I'm okay with that okay we can meet during the daybody spre out a little better that way too so 122 and then I'll meet with Matt during the day and get all of his feedback on that 22 at 5:30 at 5:30 perfect yeah so then is 23 still 6:30 sorry yep 23 yeah so two 122 and 127 are at 5:30 and 23 a 630 okay I mean if you all prefer 5:30 I'll just come in a little late to that one you said it better they was better for you too it I yeah 6:30 is probably good on that one yeah I'll send calendar invites to everybody get on and I'll run these I'll I'll share these with Aon too so she has them that's great and then so we'll we'll determine a uh meeting uh for the uh The Joint meeting with the boards of Selectmen and finance subcommittees um Governor's budget should be out January 22nd which we'll then get our hands on at least the first uh Cherry sheets to look at what the revenues and the receipts will look like uh public hearing for FY 26 will be on March 6th um and then um assuming that is certified that evening and we're in a good place we'll start the budget book production on March 10th good so we have a very busy uh January and February as always okay thank you Mr superintendent my we will move on to back to Joe in the business office um you have your the Personnel changes for January that is just to be placed on file um the expenditure report you have before you there's been some changes um every every month things come go up and down as we as we see things are moving you can see the salary line has changed a little bit but one of the bigger changes I want to mention is our um Charter School sending and receiving the state comes up and they they reassess their their uh the the um allocation that's to the town uh to the to the district and they've increased our cost of the of the sending tuition by $330,000 but they've also increased the tuition side of it that we be receiving by almost $30 ,000 so the net effect is is minimal um I don't foresee any um issues as far as budget overrun I think we're going to end in a good place uh just as a point of disclosure end of January is the halfway mark for the school year that's where I'm starting to put together schedules now where I'm actually going to be projecting out expenditures for a lot of like for example transportation out of District placements we were just talking about really what is that number going to look like we can't just assume we're going to spend everything are we going to spend it all are we going to overrun I'll be able to give a little bit better more accurate uh disclosure on that uh at our next meeting we are not going to overrun we are not we can't it's not even possible the system won't allow it so um unless there's any questions that's all I had for that one okay and as usual these are the budget journal entry report that I did I've highlighted yellow the items that may be changing in function code because that's what really needs the approval um most of what you're seeing here is we've amended uh done a lot of amendments to our grants and those amendments basically are you'll budget for a grant expecting to spend the funding in a certain way the reality of how you spend that during the year changes so we go through we get an amendment and we get approval for those amendments to move the money where it needs to go to represent how we're really spending those funds that's the majority of what you see here Plus in addition you're going to see a lot of movement we when 8th grade moved up to the high school that eighth grade budget stayed at the middle school so the district U District accountant took some time to go through that e8th grade budget and and find out what portion of it belonged with the high school and we made that move into the high school so they had access to those funds and that's really it for that any questions I'll take got a motion to approve the uh adjustments in the journal entries motion made by Tara second second by Chuck Joe thank you for your continued efforts on this thank you all those in favor signify by saying I I I any oppos the eyes have it facilities report [Applause] good evening hello so on December 23rd both boilers at the high school shut down um industrial Verner came in they had to change the gas solenoid on boiler number two boiler number one had reached a high water limit sensor which did not allow the boiler to fire up both boilers were putting back to service on the 23rd however on the 24th Joe malali the head custodian came in discovered water all over the boiler floor um the boiler room floor and that water produced theme which shorted out the motor on boiler 2 boiler 2 had no power whatsoever going to it so that motor was shorted out um was discovered that the hot water pressure relief valve on the hot water tank was defective which spilled the water all over the floor causing the steam so that needed to be changed we had to put a rush on that in order to reopen on time uh December uh January 2nd so on December 30th they came in they got that running we got hot water again boiler number one is running uh the motor for boiler 2 was sent out to be rebuilt was hoping to have it back this week however they called me today and and we will not see that until Tuesday the 14th um right now boiler one's running it's a little sketchy um nine out of 10 times it'll start up that one time it won't we'll have to come in and reset it I currently have my alarm set for 1:00 a.m. 3:00 a.m. and 5:00 a.m. to make sure it is running um we don't want to freeze any pipes or anything so so hopefully Tuesday that's back up and running and then they will look further into boiler number one to find out what the issues are right now it's running we don't want to play around with it um it's not a problem every time we reset it it fires back up so it's an electrical issue somewhere um so that's that uh January 5th the boys basketball team was in practice in they were low on one of the backboards one of the pins for that backboard popped out Rod came flying down hit the window did not shatter the window thank god um so I was able to just put a reinforced hot and steel bolt in there and then I checked every single backboard to make sure we didn't have this issue anywhere else and there's no issues that I could see not sure how that pen even came out but so that was addressed um Middle School the sprinkler system they did get the gauges I put it off till February vacation so that would not interfere with learning um over break they did several more floor tiles in the cafeteria you know as you know they're lifting up causing a tripping Hazard so uh custodians replaced several floor tiles and they repainted most of the lobby walls uh JFK um update on the septic system that was repaired and is back up in running normally so no further issues with that uh during the holiday break several Plumbing issues were addressed at the JFK school as well and the milville elementary school um we put a new timer on the outdoor lighting so we can now control when the lights come on and off over there we don't have to do it manually anymore which with basketball going on there now it's it's a perk and uh also the generator has couple small pin Hol in the radiator um it's quite significant to replace the radiator so we're getting more quotes and we're also looking at the possibility of just having that one taken out and repaired whatever we find most feasible that is what I have for facility re questions concerns it said it didn't smash the windows but it didn't break the window right just put like a little chip in it so hopefully the sun doesn't hit it or something and heats up and expands thank God window replacement is at least $5,000 because of asbest yeah crazy feasibility study they're coming Friday yeah that's right y start getting on the site looking forward to that and again like Joe said with the increase in the budget you know all these issues the boiler systems and whatnot I know like everybody else my taxes went up but we need a new school all right any questions Scott thank you thank you very much Scott you're welcome facilities uh use of facilities requests looks like we have a couple one from the Knights of Columbus and one from the music program we to look at the uh facilities calendars there's no issues with conflicts um there was the Nights of Columbus usually the boys basketball team practices to 6:30 p.m. but they uh were willing to give it up that half hour so Nights of Columbus can come in at 6 and in the junior high concert Scott are we doing these one at a time yeah go ahead do you have any I just said a question on the junor a comment on it I know they're going to be there from 8 to 6 and I guess there's about 500 people that are going to be in attendance we were talking today about probably should have a custodian or somebody on staff during that I know it's a group one there's no charge so we're not going to charge them for it I mean the district would have to be willing to pay that that fee I guess but I think it's probably a good idea to have somebody on staff during that if we can find somebody that be will I'm going to get the name of it wrong but the um M yeah it's the M oh we're hosting yeah we're hosting it this year I hope it's Mike I hope I have but it's one of the big that's what raised the question long do concerts what is junior high is that middle school or I thought they were going to Bellingham they usually do it at m at Bellingham we're we're hosting yeah yeah last year we hosted the coral the chorus you might remember the The Chorus version of this year yeah right this year we're doing the band yeah definitely a custodian obviously it's a 10 hour yeah 10hour operation there schedule somebody Scott you want to volunteer to out of town that with Dan gets to volunteer as a school Committee Member as long as out of I'll be believe or not I am I am out of that day sorry oh that's right I had to give you a hand that day that sounds fun all right I'll take a motion to um approve the use of facilities requests so moved with his suggestion uh the administration will be providing a codian for the event correct yes at the expense of the district because we are hosting it okay motion made by Chuck second seconded by Tara yeah any further discussion all those in favor signify by saying I I I any oppos the eyes have it school committee Forum anyone say thank you to the PS that did come out tonight to voice their opinions it's not easy to get up and speak in front of anyone really um especially on such a passionate topic um I hope that can have a more broaden just a civilized uh conversation going forward okay up to our February 6 meeting now I'm done okay I'm Sor you paused for twoo long for me I'm Sor thank you Matt anyone else I also thank you thank you um I'll say this to anyone that gets up in front of any public forum uh it does take uh courage um uh to stand up for what you believe and I appreciate that as the young ladies did the last meeting uh fighting for advocating for their um time in the uh chair leading as well so I thank uh those who showed up tonight and um with that being said I will take uh if no one else has anything to add our next meeting is school committee meeting is February 6th I will take a motion to adjourn so moved motion made by Carrie seconded by Tara any further discussion all those in favor signify by saying I I the eyes have it