##VIDEO ID:jjOtgloMdZo## we're back from executive session and we are still having technical difficulties with our cameras streaming live however it is being recorded and it will be up on the Bri water rham YouTube site as soon as we figure out the technical difficulties with that said I'd ask everyone to rise for the Pledge of Allegiance please all right well we we'll pretend there's a flag I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all thank you and before we begin our meeting tonight I'd like to ask uh everybody at the table and in the audience uh For a Moment of Silence from Mr David buy who passed recently longtime director of Bas and beloved member of the bridg B greenham community and uh and we certainly send condolences to all of his friends family and former students who to Mr fely felt like family thank you all right thank you very much much all right moving on to correspondence and recognition Miss King we put the student advisory Council here for the first meeting of the Year thank you Mr chairman um thank you Mr chairman pursu to ma General Law chapter 71 section 30m Massachusetts school committees must have a student advisory committee which consists of five members to be composed of students elected by their body within the district these five members are to vote by June 1st a chairperson which Shall Serve for one year this chairperson Shall Serve as a non voting a non voting member of the school committee without the right to attend executive session unless granted by the school committee said chairperson shall be subject to the rules and regulations of the school commy and serve without compensation this year the following members were voted by the VR High School G Daly Rachel Cory Sophia King Kayla tan C and Sydney sex the student advisory Council voted in seniors Quin da Andel as co-chairperson I met with the student advisory Council and their advisor Miss Kathleen curly last week to talk about their goals school committee meetings in general and some some potential workshops professional development and learning opportunities for them this year with that I ask Miss Cory to come to good evening school committee I hope you're all having a wonderful start to the The Fall season my name is Rachel Cory and I am a senior and this will be my third year speaking here as a student representative on the school committee advising board and my first year as co-chair it is an honor and a pleasure to speak at these school committee meetings for another year apart from being a student representative I am the treasur of the decas club co- captain of the forensic debate team member of the National Honor Society varsity girls tennis player competitive dancer and treasurer of my class I am also the founder of a new club called V gifts that plans to orchestrate impactful donation events throughout the community transforming generosity into tangible support for those facing hardship I am delighted to share with you the latest developments and happenings at our high school at our monthly meetings um thank you for your time wishing you all the best start of the school year and I look forward to speaking with you again at our next meeting I and unfortunately K is not able to make it to our meeting today but I'm just going to be reading the little message he has for you um he wanted to say hello everyone and heor couldn't be here tonight um but he is Quinn Dy a senior FBR and this is his third year serving on the school committee Advisory board he is grateful for another wonderful start to the school year in the district and believes we all enjoyed the day off after Labor Day um before the first day of school take place uh he continues to be involved in many activities at the high school including his fourth year on marching band and his two years as a drum major rainwater and a member of GSA he has done uh three years of guard and has also been a student leader for 3 years um he has been in the trium music Honor Society for two years and this past spring he was also inducted into the National Honor Society um that is just a little bit about his involvement within the high school and he wanted to say that he's very proud of his accomplishments and wishes everyone an excellent school year I now welcome Sophia King good evening Mr ch commit members and superintendent Powers my name is Sophia King I am a junior atbr this year and I honored to be able to stand in front of you today as a second year member of the sto advisory Council committee alongside being a member of the committee I am an active member TJ squ robotics at the BR swim team and I am now also my classes Treasurer I have been an active member of TJ squ robotics for three years now and I've already had so many OPP amazing opportunities with them I've also been a swimmer at V for four years now and I started swimming for them in 8th grade and I've enjoyed every year since I've also been at grout for 12 years now and I'm currently working towards reg over War thank you for today's meeting I look forward to seeing you at Future meetings I know welcome Kay to stand good evening my name is CE I'm a junior this is my first year serving on the board I appreciate the opportunity to be before you and tell you what is going on at the yard along with speaking before you each month I'm a Staff photographer in the newspaper Club a member of the Culture Club and just brought up healthare Club poster to the school I've also been a member of the track team for three years now and it's taught me so much about myself and others aside from school involvement Crimson em/ Association ambad lifing CPR and helping pass a law Massachusetts to require CPR first training as a high school graduation requir thank you for your time and I look forward to providing updates from V for the duration of the school year I now welcome good evening everyone my name is I'm excited to repr on the of my I hope re dancing for my studio for my 12 year and also keeping up with I hope to become a student this year to help my and conect with myates outside of this I try to engage with the world reading and writing which always passion thank you for your time [Applause] I just want to say thank you to the committee for being here tonight yourselves so we can get to know you and writing an introduction um Welcome to our returning members and to the two new members that are joining the commit so we really look forward to your reports and meeting with you as well um and you know gaining feedback from you and providing feedback that can discuss thank you for serving um and that concludes my thank you Miss king um all right National Merit uh program commended students Mr Powers would you like to tell us about that yes thank you so much uh this did proudly share with us that we had a number of students recognized nationally uh we had three students uh Mr Ben Smith Miss Molly jessen Mr Cole Bridges uh who have been named as commended students in the 2025 Merit program uh that is based on their exceptional performance on the preliminary sat uh PSAT qualifying test uh it's been uh you know some time since we we've been able to put forward a number of students and so we're very proud of them approximately 34,000 commended students throughout the nation are recognized each year uh these students although they scored exceptionally uh they did not move on to become um semi-final however we did have one semi-finalist from the group uh Miss GI tun uh she is uh being moved on as a semi-finalist uh to compete against 16 other 16,000 other students um as a semi finalist we're so proud of all these students I know Miss Watson is as well certainly speaks their accomplishments and it's like I said it's been a few years since we've had a semi finals so we're very proud of that proud of all of our students but obviously want to give a shout out to to these special students obviously on behalf of the whole school we commend them as well and and congratulate them and keep up the good work folks all right correspondence for the school committee uh we had uh a great update from the marching band with working with uh a much younger band um slightly smaller band than last year and under very adverse brain conditions uh at their first competition they increased their score by nine points from last year so congratulations to them uh secondly I'd like to inform everyone in the public I've informed the school committee and the superintendent uh that the Bridgewater Town manager is uh left to uh pursue another opportunity in Barnesville County leaving the town manager job in Bridgewater open the uh Town Council has decided that they'd like to do a preliminary ad hoc search committee with four counselors and one school Committee Member I was appointed to be that one school Committee Member uh by the town manager and ratified by the town C the acting Town manager and ratified by the Town Council uh if anyone has any questions issues concerns Etc please email them to me I will bring them uh forward to that committee when we do meet um conditions of assistance uh Miss Miss hard are you up here ready to speak all right let's go okay good evening CH given um members of the school committee and superintendent also covered under educational reports a just so folks understand got it um I'm here for two reasons uh one of them to just review the conditions of assistance um each local educational agency in Massachusetts also known as the Lea um needs to View and agree to the conditions of assistance in order to be eligible for funding under the um individuals with disability educational act um and that's idea and also to make sure that we are ensuring compliance and also that um to ensure that the district is following state and federal laws and regulations so every year during administrative um Retreat before school starts all of our um all of our administrators are presented with the power point that uh really outlines what their role in the building is um as it relates to students with disabilities and all of the state requirements that the schools and the district need to follow uh we also upload and sign the conditions of assistance uh or the signed conditions of assistance for when applying for our 240 Grant which is a grant that really helps support our students with disabilities and then um we will be putting it on our website as well and once it does go up on our website I just want to give you a disclaimer that Pages four and five are repetitive of pages two and three and that is because um that's how it is for the regional paperwork on desie and I didn't want to change any of that paperwork so that's why it's there I just used all the paperwork from any questions thank you very much any questions I guess we this out okay all right thank you very much uh Miss um and then finally a happy 65th birthday to the Bridgewater rham Regional School District uh 65 years ago Bridgewater and rham uh came together as a Regional High School District took another 30 years and this year is actually the 30th uh birthday of the full region which is which is great too so another happy birthday to B ra him to become a full integrated to 12 District so uh I'm sure throughout the year there will be many different celebrations and so on all right moving on to public comment is there anyone here from the public wishing to engage in public comment there's no one then I don't have to read the rules all right moving on to the consent agenda uh generally we take all of these together but is there motion to remove the general ledger warrants from the consent agenda and vote them independently under new business made by Mr Lo seconded by Miss maren okay any discussion on that uh who's asking to do this separ okay all right um so maybe Mr Lo can further expl so that we have yeah there's two warrants on there one is for the Excel program the other is for transportation to my organization okay um then what what we'll do is move that out and we'll do it right after this vote when you can recuse yourself into the other room all right so that having been done any other discussion on this all those in favor of separating it out say I I opposed it's unanimous all right we separated out so now the rest of the consent agenda which is approval of minutes Declaration of surplus um $25,000 gift a $50 gift uh reads collaborative quarterly report received and the Personnel report um all those in favor of adopting those say I or I guess there's a motion first made by Mr second by Mr Lo all in favor oppos I actually had some questions about the personel report that I hav a response to so I'm tostain from that okay you're going to abstain from the whole vote then motion to remove that and talk to her about it or you just just I'll responses give it more time to get the responses than all right so it's uh we had a vote it was 7 Z to one um all right now Mr Lo can recuse yourself go hide in the that room there that's a good one it's where um Mr Dolan usually went um all right on Item B of the consent agenda uh the three War warrant stated August 22 uh September 5 September 19 is there a motion to approve made by Miss King second by Mr deino discussion no discussions so uh all those in favor opposed I have some outstanding you are voting no okay I just wanted to make sure it was not anate okay so uh six to one and Mr Lo can return all right educational reports we've done condition of assistance but we can bring Miss Hart right back up for esy update Miss har Mr FG as well if I may while miss Hart's appr point I just wanted to give a special thank you to president Clark State University for their generous donation um as you know their Community Park grants have format over the last few years with some retirements on their staff and so they have been graciously given us this donation for the last couple years uh we use it to fund uh some of the programs that were uh historically funded by the community partner brants the DECA program TJ squ and such so again I just want to acknowledge president thank you bridgew State uh university has been a very good partner uh to uh both the for G the town and and a very good neighbor so we do acknowledge that M har good evening um I just am also here tonight to provide an overview of our esy program that wrapped up a couple of weeks before um school started and just a general overview of our esy program um students receive Services during esy as determined through a team process and um it's really in order to prevent significant regression during the summer months so uh we had most students participate for five weeks from July 9th to August 9th with a small group who required an additional week so they they stayed for one more week to make it six weeks we had two sites one of the Mitchell and one of the high school and we had just a little over 300 students in 27 classrooms in uh in the two sites combined so I just want to quickly recognize it it does take a lot to um to get a program like this running there's a lot of logistics and a lot of moving Parts um and I know that it wasn't perfect but we had a lot of people that helped us and um our teachers ESP related service providers and nursing staff all helped tremendously our special education administrative assistance our two site supervisors our transportation department that's a huge undertaking to get all of those routes um up and running Luc and our said admin as well as well as the support of central Administration so I just wanted to use this to take a moment to to thank everyone who helped us with that um so there were several positives to come out of esy as well as some barriers and so this was definitely a learning experience for our Special Education team um but overall the staff and students were extremely happy if you walked into that building at any time you would see Smiles on your face I was in the classes at both sites almost every day and the students were engaged they were having fun they were excited to get off the van um and they came every day and the teachers also during the summer it can be um somewhat difficult to get you know staff to come consistently and um the the staff was there they were happy to be there they were H happy to help out so it was it was a really nice culture and climate inside that those two programs um the students also had a lot of community opportunities so they took field trips to various places um just a couple to name um some of them went to good days and they had to bring money themselves they had to budget they had to make sure that they ordered and they had enough money for tip so they were really learning some life skills as well as having fun on the field trip um some went to the equestrian center some went to St D gym and then we did have one program that did a coffee part and did some um they did a cookie baking uh fundraiser as well and they raised money so then they could go purchase materials um and you know coffee for the next time so they could take orders again so they they did a really nice job and it was just fun to see them going around the school delivering those coffees and um you know taking the orders and just engaging with everybody um so those were some really positive things that came out of esy there were definitely some challenges um there were some unexpected challenges at the beginning um so we did have one of our special ed administrators resign at the end of June and we didn't get the replacement special ed administrator until um August 28 so we were down the special ed administrator that knew a lot of the kids in her program and and we were kind of that was a struggle to to try to um piece together some of that stuff but we we did have a process in terms of hiring we were lucky that we did get a lot of special education certified teachers we posted a job ad um and those special ed certified teachers were the first ones that that we interviewed and the ones that we wanted to hire if they were appropriate for the position um after that a second job ad went out and we had a lot of General Ed certified teachers apply which other districts um didn't even have generaliz certified teachers it's been a really big hardship um especially in the summer months and with the teacher shortage so we were lucky that we did have a lot of um General Ed certified teachers apply and then um you know we continue to recruit throughout the summer another unexpected challenge is that we did have a an OT that was secured and then at the last minute that OT was no longer um able to work due to different circumstan so we were out of an OT um for esy and so we did provide compensatory service letters to families uh with the mistime and um those compensatory Services have already begun this school year to to make up for that time um so reflecting back on the feedback that we've gotten from families specifically um sooner communication regarding Transportation regarding the program um you know sooner communication with the job ads going out so we need to as a as a team we need to make sure that we know what students are going to be attending and we need to plan for how many to determine how many staff members we need there um and just do it earlier in the school year so um it's really important that that we do do that we have already started planning for esy 25 while it was still fresh in our head um so we have those dates that the job ads are going to go out already um we have the memos that are going out to families already drafted so we really I feel like we have a good step um ahead for esy 25 just from learning from what you know learning what we did um on esy 24 so we uh you know plan to improve it staff feedback of the program was extremely positive they were able to provide some suggestions as to um mostly with scheduling that they were able to kind of provide suggestions to see how we can improve the ESI program and overall you know like I said at the beginning for our students they they're the ones that matter they're the ones that were getting their instruction they were having fun while doing it um and it was just it was really impressive to see the hard work that the teachers and staff were doing with our kids and and just the kids coming every single day and and enjoying themselves and working hard thank you Miss Hart um I've said before that no one volunteers to sit up at this table expecting to be a whole bunch of AD of ones and I believe we all had some emails around esy um shortcomings can I say that is that an appropriate word o over the summer does anyone want to particularly address concerns that they heard from parents and or caregivers on this you answered a lot of question me always curious Asal surve so the staff were survey um with specific things and informal conversations and then um did and and I appreciate this parents reached out to myself and our special administrators um you know for for positives and for areas that we needed to improve and and areas that they were concerned about which you know we appreciate because we wanted to come to us so we can address it we can address those concerns so a lot of the feedback with the students and the parents were more informal or um you know parents engaging with us other feedback from for OT yep so um they it's already started we have contracted with North River collaborative for OT they have they've identified three OTS um so that's already started and and they are notifying families when they're going to be working with them um and I already have um three different agencies that I'm already talking to to try to secure an OT nice and early for summer of 29 further questions discussion uh I have a couple questions missart if you don't mind um so what's what's the law around this like there there were students owned services that did not get services and we kind of postponed it I I used to coach baseball so it's like okay we're calling a rain here and we're going to move it to you know a game few later in the in the season um that's all legal and everything for compensatory yeah yeah yeah yeah and and so then um given that um when because they were expecting to get those Services over the summer what's being taken away from those students as they're being comp compens for we didn't get them during the supper so the um OTS or anyone who's providing compensatory services does look at their schedule and and um try to make sure that they're working with the family to make sure that they're not taking them out of the core academics um and that they you know if a student has a Wind Block in their schedule or or um if it's a high school if they have a study in their schedule they try to take them out of those less uh rigorous blocks to be able to to make that up we do have a a couple of students that um their schedule is just jam-packed with services and so one in particular we have getting Services after school and I'm sure I'm sure the parents have signed off on that they requested yes okay all right that's good um so then I guess my next question is um given given all of this um like were there any other needs not met were there any other I I understand all the challenges but challenges don't justify breaking the law either right and I'm not saying I'm just saying General were there any other places where we decided this would be okay instead of what really is in the students IEP that we that we substitute something 90% okay we did adhere to all of the um services in the IEP as it was written um however they we did not have um all of the classes covered with special education teachers however the IEP has written um with a couple of different Personnel um to deliver the services so we were we were in compliance with the IEP ideally if we could have found special education certifi teachers bring them you know we we really would would I'm not looking to blame people I'm looking as I've told the superintendant many many times you can probably quote me on it how we treat our most vulnerable students is how we should be judged as a district and if we're cutting corners on them then we're cutting Corners as a district across the board and that's not the type of District I think I want to have and certainly not the one I believe the school committee wants to have and and what I what I'd like to know eventually is how do we make it appropriate where we don't have to cut Corners we don't have to say oh we had challenges is it that you need more funding is it that you need something else Etc you know I I'm almost to the point where I'd say to I'd say to people maybe to the superintendent I'm just thinking of this right now can we do an audit on the entire special education program to understand are we falling short in places and if so why and how do we address it money staff etc etc I'm just thinking out loud I'm not asking you to answer the question so I mean I I can speak to that a little bit our um special ed numbers continue to increase at an expon an exponential rate um they really our our numbers are we started the year jam-packed our programs are jam-packed our inclusion number case loads are extremely high um and we started with the you know we were lucky enough not to get uh teachers cut from the budget cuts however we were not able to add any other staff with the growth of numbers so it's just it is a hardship on you know our our right and and that's that's what I'm saying I I I I I for one and then I'll I'll I'll let you go because I don't want to beat the dead horse but I don't want the excuses of why I can't do it I want to do it I want to make sure that these students are being serviced appropriately that's all so any further comments or questions discuss all right thank you m and I I didn't mean to yell at you stop yell I I just I just get very passionate about this issue all right so moving on to administrative and school committee reports Mr Powers even chairman the school committee the audience and our Administration I do want to apologize first to Mr Fitz Gibbons because I'm probably going to skew your average minutes spent on meeting have somewh of a lengthy report this evening so I do apologize I contribute to that as well you obviously have uh a copy of my report uh but I'll go through it up here on the uh TV well a few things obviously I want to cover um first and foremost just to talk uh real quick about school safety um this is obviously something that we've been uh faced with uh as a challenge to start of school um the opening of school which I'll cover uh has been phenomenal uh it's been so great to welcome back our students our faculty uh engage and connect with our families however we have had some challenges along the way uh specifically around the areas of scho um it it seems as though that uh these are have been quite frequent and as you can see we have had four uh different incidences over the first four weeks of school um I did outline the dates there for you I know you're aware of these um obviously U you know what we do um after every incident uh we certainly take a look at um you know our response our internal response that with our partners in law enforcement so what was the police response um the communication with school the school community did we communicate with uh School Comm communicate with parents do we communicate with faculty um and we always take an opportunity to review our safety protocols that we have in place um you know what I what I can tell you uh in confidence is that our internal response the response of the police department uh it is is you know has been appropriate I would say um you know high level obviously we want to make sure that you know we do have protocols in place which I conf say that we do uh it's not to say that we're perfect but I do feel as over what we have in place uh for our district is um again is commendable obviously we will be reviewing these situations with our districtwide Safety and Security committee um to look at uh one the response uh to talk about these incidences but to also talk about how can we prevent them from going forward uh certainly when we look at these um you know although they've all been deemed uh toti credible um they still have an impact on the district um it's taking away resources from local law enforcement safety officials taking resources away from our students from our staff um and so that's just it's it's having a negative impact we need to stop them um you know obviously we um taking a strong approach uh if and when we were able to identify students um certainly they may uh face consequences appropriate and know law enforcement feels as though that you know they will kind of go through their channels as well take up charges uh however I don't think necessarily we're going to uh be able to discipline our way out of this problem completely as a society so I do feel as though we need to start looking at how other how else can we address this uh certainly we we want to hold um individuals accountable uh if they are breaking our student conduct uh codes if they are breaking the law um but we also know that we need to do a lot of proactive uh prevention work around this so we'll be talking about that again on Friday security uh committee meeting um you know again it's it's you know from for me down to the parents down to the students through you through our staff there isn't anyone that isn't negatively impacted when something like this happens um and so it really like I said it's something that we're not taking lightly we want to make sure we're addressing uh we're addressing swiftly and U strongly but we also know that we need to put some other prevention strategies in place I'm going to stop Mr Po and just ask on this slide if there's any questions from the school rather than waiting the end is that all right absolutely Mr PW there's been a lot of not a lot but there's always over the years questions about school safety from parents about how they can be involved what can they do what can they know how does the school respond and I know um many of us on the school committee know some of this um that this is I don't say protected information but it is but I don't know if you could talk a little bit about some of that process and if I may add and reasons why some of this and if I may add the school committee's role in helping set policies and procedures around around that so that folks understand and even the safety meeting is a closed door meeting I think correct yes our safety security meeting is a closed door meeting we obviously do talk about our um response protocols uh so in terms of sharing information comes out of that meeting uh is not always shared with the general public we don't necessarily uh divulge too much in terms of what our Protocols are in general um we obviously have adopted as a district the um you know Alice response system um and so we certainly shared that information publicly but in terms of our uh internal protocols what we have in place such as you know where do we have cameras um you know how many um uh you know school resource officers Poli building we stationed outside of the buildings those are the types of things we wouldn't necessarily share because we never want to unfortunately you know there has been situations not necessarily here but across the country where um you know individuals that set out to do harm pay attention to those things and so we want to try to you know prevent that information from getting out there uh we have talked about I know we did this in the past uh we did a early on after we adopted Alice we've done a parent information night we that we have also talked about scheding um coming up either in October or November we'll talk about that on Friday at our meeting with law enforcement to hold in information on night uh with them or parents just so we can you know address uh safety concerns in general review our protocols what we can share with them our responses and then obviously you know kind of collaborate with the community in terms of how we can best move forward and could you elaborate on the school committe setting those policy protocols Etc versus the administrative role and and our first respond role uh yes so thank you I should have addressed that um yes so as you know but for for the Public's knowledge uh school committee sets policy uh those policies typically uh refer to internal protocols or internal responses they don't necessarily always uh provide a detailed uh outline of what we uh will or won't do um so in terms of school committe setting a we certainly have policies set forward around um overall school safety and so forth but in terms of our response protocols those are developed internally um as an administrative team with LA with safety officials both police and fire not just law enforcement um and so uh you know you may look at a particular scholting policy whatever it may be it may refer to uh an internal protocol and so those internal protocols what typically do not share I think that's you asking thank any further discussion on school safety ISS Mr de email this to ech her concerns kn while it's ourv here about student abut are there questions concerns comments no I just Mr I just Mr I'm sure you're aware many of is the nonthreatening threats or non credible credible threats this is not a br issue it is happening Across the Nation and across Massachusetts and squs and what is happening right now there's kind of contag contag but like which is a problem with our kids that are making they're saying these things and not and they are not taking it seriously thinking but but this is something not just vs but many districts are grappling with how to manage these noncredible threats of it definitely is something that's happened to your point across the country but obviously across the Commonwealth I think if you turn the news on since the first day of school it seems almost it's a different district and unfortunately uh for us four different times uh but almost a different District every day dealing with um some type of situation whether be being a noncredible threat or a message can't necessarily identify and address so is concerning um our hope is that you know by some of these prevention and proactive strategies we can put in place once we identify them that will help curb it is not just our problem but this this is within our control so I think like said in regards Mr D Mar sorry um in regards what can we do like to deter like you saying but also like can take that under advisement thank you any other further comments Mr so just said this earlier as well just to point out though suspension is not effective deterr to this so I just also think there needs to be discussion with students around the impact make them aware of it and also provide them resources when they are feeling this way so they have outl an ability to express it in a matter other than because I think really taking more head- on approach with them and being up front having an open conversation more impactful than us suspending and removing a few kids who decided to do this because we've seen this unfortunately it does to that point you know into everyone's point about um you know accountability um first are we able to identify that's first and foremost U second obviously we look at um you know even though it may be credible may not be credible kind of what was the intent behind it um and you know sometimes it could be a pride for help but it certainly still has had a negative impact so we have to try to balance the the two uh if it's certainly just to cause Mayhem and and site Panic you know although alternative reasons for that you know our response may be different to that particular student um you know if we're able to identify students going forward we certainly want to hold them accountable but also realize as Mr said as I said at the beginning I think in general we have to look at alternatives for this but we are seeing obviously a number of these situations happening so we want students to realize it's not okay to do this whether it was you know your intent was a joke to humor that's not the impact you're having so know we do need to hold students accountable when we can we identify them and we have a better understanding but rest assured that is happening we're also looking at other method further comments concerns questions see none okay okay thank you yes uh just a this was a suggestion made that know seen this information back to our um August meeting but uh where we uh cut that meeting a little bit short yes we didn't uh go through that so just again a question was raised over the summer once the U final numbers were released by state Massachusetts in terms of our overall budget so again I won't read all these you have these in your packet I we'll make these available but obviously the the state budget that's released uh the initial numbers are referred to as the cherry sheet and I understand it may be a little bit difficult to see up there but you have that number uh those numbers in front of you in explanation uh obviously you know our main source of funding um is the Chapter 70 that's our Educational Funding uh the next major source for us is our Regional School transportation reimbursement from there we also do have Charter School tuition reimbursement so we reimbursed for any student that uh may be uh you know attending a charter school um obviously school choice receiving uh any student that's coming into uh from the school choice and then obviously we have our estimated charges uh so money that uh we are being assessed uh special education costs uh not just for our day-to-day special education cost but we are assessed um you know to to uh help offset the costs uh for those students at our enrolled in State Hospital programs and that's just not a v thing districts are assess that obviously schools Choice sending so any of our students that are leaving V to go to a different district and then obviously Charter will sending as well uh just to kind of uh you know provide some clarity around that this question had come up at an earlier budget sub and hopefully that can explain this quickly but happy to explain this later um you know money uh doesn't necessarily come in and go out so we are not writing checks to other districts that where students go to off for school choice or for Charter Schools um money that we are are receiving is offset by that money that is going out so for example if um you know we were going to receive a million dollars under Chapter 70 and maybe school choice and uh charter school but we were um you know sending out $300,000 worth of school choice tuitions and charter school tuitions we actually wouldn't receive the million doll and then have to write out the 300 we would just the state makes their adjustments and so we would just receive uh a net of 700 that just to kind of give you a quick snapshot of what our numbers look like for fy2 again some of these numbers are you know they're estimates because uh even when the state releases their numbers they're not 100% sure of how many school choice students will be coming in how many school choice students will be going out so some of these numbers although they're the part of the governor's approved budget they are estimates because it could change um even sometimes you see that say Regional Transportation alth they identified what we're going to get um that reimbursement sometimes comes in higher uh Chapter 70 is kind of the one number that uh historically hasn't changed but there others do tend to fluctuate this is again just to shows you a comparison of the original Governor's budget which is what we typically build our budget upon so you can see the BR budget uh numbers obviously very very similar and then the final FY 25 charity sheet estimates that came out and then there the differences uh you'll note that um you know in terms of the difference of the uh charges and receipts was about $900,000 um obviously there is a couple items just to explain there U because we never really sure of U what our money may be coming in in terms of school choice and Charter School those numbers are not always included in our estimated revenues um and so you'll see those there um on the flip side you'll also see that we not uh estimate high enough for some of our charges uh but it still resulted in a positive $900,000 um so again we have that money as you know typically every year school committee uh votes to U appropriate or use uh about anywhere from a million to $2 million to offset the following Year's budget so again the question always is you know where does that money come from in terms of um you know end d uh this is an example where uh you know obviously we have addition that we uh didn't necessarily plan on but it's not as though that we could just turn around and use it we obviously use this to offset any additional charges or certainly uh put it towards D which will then go to back to the towns to help offset their their budgets kind of move on to opening up school unless anybody has any questions questions on chry yes um and you said a little bit just at the very end so you know from looking at looks like we have an extra $900,000 and if you go further you're going to see some of the classroom sizes so what I just heard you say though this is not money that we can use to hire additional teachers or what is your thinking we at with that because some of our class sizes we get to right are high and from yes so that and that's that's the risk we we run if we already use this $900,000 to uh you know for goods Services of personnel uh but still follow our practice putting anywhere from a million to $2 million towards end to use back to the offset the next year's budget for the towns we then be find ourselves short for the following year um and so you know when we can um you know we we look at this number we also look at things such as you know attrition monies um so it may be a case of I don't ever want to say that we're not able to add additional staff but we're very very conservative when we do it may be one additional nurse or one addition l p versus oh I can probably get you know 9 to 12 additional teachers with that money uh we don't always necessarily project because the other thing is uh those would be onee appointments as well which certainly we'd always take uh but historically looking at this number sometimes it's you know $20,000 more uh couple hundred thousand more you know obviously we benefit this year but it's certainly money where we know FY 26 may be just as challenging C don't to that money applied to staff not have money to to put towards the that offset the following year and then you know coming in short in that 26 to that lay off additional further questions on cherry sheet numbers i' Mr P um what's the percent reimbursement that uh we're going to get for Regional Transportation roughly this uh it's estimated at 80% % when the state mandates themselves to give us 100 so they're they're cutting us several hundred, uh because the legislature does not choose to appropriate that we have a chance to elect uh a new State Rep between Bridgewater in Rainham and I know in rain and know in both towns you have a chance to elect new state senators make sure you reach out to all of the people who are running and have them assure you that they'll support transportation to 100% I'm not saying who to vote for I'm just saying I'd like that Contin I'm going to move on to the opening of school uh obviously just wanted to kind of give you a quick overview um first starting with student enrollment uh again it was great to welcome all of our students back so excited to see them um and you know regardless of how many students show up on day one uh we do welcome them with open arms uh we when we look at traditionally enrollment we obviously you know October one is a big number that we at but we also look at day one seat counts students showed up on day one and then that kind of gives us a sense of well from day one to the end of September the end of October end of November how many students have we added uh so we did overall see a day one increase of 148 students um we've seen an overall increase of 199 students so since day one uh we've received approximately another 50 students already and we do have several other students uh what we refer to as in the registration they may have started the registration process uh but have not uh actually completed it so our enrollment could be going up even more um I didn't include U you know prek and postgrad in these numbers when I did the grade spans they are included in the overall increases but when you look at K to 5 uh you know we're approximately 32 St plus 32 students uh 6 through 8 plus 37 and then the high school will seen an increase of Plus 90 again that doesn't include our postgrad and our elementary doesn't include uh prek numbers are down this year compared to last so it actually brings that number down that so as you can see I mean even you know since the first day of school um you know we we've gone up as of the 16th of September we were actually up to 5704 and then as of today we're sorry as of the 23rd we're down to 5700 um with several others in so that number certainly change as the fall progresses you know obviously to show you next is you know how that compares to uh Staffing obviously if you think about you know we're plus uh almost 200 students and continuing to grow um I just kind of wanted to review Staffing with you as well uh although we did Welcome approximately 10 new staff members to our uh to our district during our new staff orientation uh those were to fill uh positions that uh had been supported through the budget process uh either through retirements that we were going to fill uh anybody that Tak so those are not 10 additional staff members those are just 10 Replacements but new to us uh so we're excited to welcome them uh we welcome three at the high school two at the bridgew middle school two at Rand Middle School one at Mitchell one at Williams and one uh districtwide position as well uh we still have one open certified position uh that we're in the process of trying to fill uh that is a special education position at the elementary level um otherwise uh all of our open certif positions have been filled uh we still do have a number of esps Proctor positions U and then obviously those routine uh you know leave of absences that come out maybe attor leave parental leave uh will certainly have those that I Know M staff are working on um but I did want to point out uh we still are 24 positions uh down from last year um as you know we were not able to uh fill all these positions due to the budget um we obviously wanted to minimize uh the number of reductions were potentially faced with um and uh you know to be able to close that budget Gap however um it has has had an impact down 24 positions when you look at being up to almost 200 students and now being down 24 positions uh you can imagine uh the impact it's going to have on class size and just overall operations uh we did have 12 retirements that we did not fill uh we had eight reductions uh those reductions were uh we had four uh teaching positions as you know we issued 11 non-renewals back in the uh spring of those 11 we were able to bring seven positions back but that still left four of those nons so those four um plus an additional four I'll show you uh the Proctor positions we reduce more Pro positions across the district as well so that there's your eight reductions uh this is where uh it breaks down to those additional positions so you can see the retirements those particular positions obviously this doesn't necessarily reflect any internal moves that we did after the fact so for example at laot of Liberty we had a grade to retirement that we did not build that position however we internally moved a teacher down from uh fourth grade there was kind of a little bit of a domino down fourth down to third down to Second so fourth grade is actually the um the grade level that has gone from Seven down to six but again it was that to re there so these are positions that were not filled due to budget and the reason why that position was open was because of a resignation so this is uh in direct relation to the budget any resignations that have after that as part of uh the's report would be a position that we would look to fill um so there may be additional reservations that have come in prior to this you know the start of school year or even now uh those are positions that were carried over in the budget so we look fulfill those positions so in terms of these positions these are all related to how did we come up with our bottom number of our fy2 budget and then any additional Personnel actions obviously um you know such as the 10 any additional presentations I'll be part of so I did want to U just share a little bit of information on class size uh you can actually see what I tried to do is show you what last year looked like so you can see a column number of classrooms uh 23 24 on the left is Bridgewater on the right is Rainham uh we typically have operated 10 classrooms per grade level on the Bridgewater side with with an exception of seventh grade uh as you know we tried to add a team in uh seventh grade and Our Hope was over time to be able to add a team in eighth grade um and then obviously on the rain hand side we've kind of operated seven for the most part with the exception of great e that had eight uh you can see uh again the number of classrooms for 24 25 so you can see where we were at uh on the Bridgewater side we did uh in second grade reduce from 10 to 9 and then from grade seven down from uh 12 down to 10 on the Rainham side again you can see those some of those changes where we've gone from Seven down to six at multiple grade levels uh one being at first grade and then obviously the rest at the um Middle School level going from Seven down to six or 8 down to seven you can see the differences in class size in some cases class size was not impact uh impacted actually improved depending on the bubble that came up so you know I point out say kindergarten at Mitchell last year uh last year is 27 uh average of 27 down to 25 although we didn't change Staffing uh at kindergarten at just a lower bubble so you can see there um again grade two there was a smaller bubble coming up so even last I just suggest to the school committee and anyone watching at home you follow the diagonals down as well so that last year in kindergarten there was 27.4 in in Bridgewater 27.6 this year grade one same class if you will same gradua class so that's a very similar number as opposed to when rain have moving from 22.8 in in kindergarten to 27.3 which is pretty much a direct result of going from seven teachers to six where you'd gone from 10 but you stay at 10 in Bridgewater so it just gives you a different perspective absolutely no great Point um and you know you can see again uh where we did have not a negative impact grade to it in Bridgewater that group coming up with smaller so we did go from 28 down to 25 even though we reduced staff then you can see in other areas where obviously class size is either roughly stayed approximately the same or has jumped up because of the reduction and so you know it it does have an impact when we have more students and less St it has a direct impact any questions on that before discussion questions I'll just say no one's sitting at this tbody sitting in the audience okay thank you okay uh next I just wanted to uh review our Student Success plan for the year um again you have this information I really tried to give it to you at a high level um I didn't want to uh give too much detail up here just in the essence of time uh but uh you'll get a copy of the full plan as well as the public uh with all of the details of this but this is really just an overview of what we plan to work on uh this year just kind of walk you through the process obviously we uh always are assessing and evaluating um our current years or previous years uh Student Success plan we did that as an administrative team to look at the type of progress we made um and what then needs to get carried over into year two what could we move on what did we accomplish uh what could become new I think for the most part um you know we were um pretty spot on what we where we thought we were with progress um in terms of accomplishing things year one and where we can go in year two I think in some cases we you know we realized maybe we uh missed the mark and didn't roll that out one of the activities we did with our administrative team is basically kind of break the impact um so we said we did this um you know on using kind of a basic you know scale of 1 to three no evidence some evidence clear evidence um we were then able to use those ratings in color code um you know our our action items um so we did have several areas of green we had several areas of yellow and then obious some areas of red so when you see uh you'll see when you see the full plan you know anything that really get carried over in year two that really kind of showed up for us as a yellow or red in year one but this just reviews again our Mission Vision Equity statement and continuous Improvement um obviously we you've seen those before come before you here are our four pills of success and our strategic objectives and here are uh districtwide initiatives that we hope to accomplish throughout the course of the plan the five years of the plan one of safe and supportive schools obviously looking at the physical safety but also the social emotional safety of our students as well certainly uh very relevant to uh earlier conversation tonight uh these are some of the activities that we plan to uh accomplish this year work on this year again you get greater detail uh with the full plan but obviously looking to continue our seal programs uh whether it be second step PBIS and we've obvious started some mental health screening tools um and so we want to make sure that we are uh able to uh actually you know when we Rollo screening tools out that we're actually able to respond to the information that we're getting um obviously you know we'll continue on with our um professional development around creating uh Equitable uh and culturally responsive learning environments in schools and so we're working with uh you know our teaching staff um our administrative staff we have various uh degrees of Prof development going on uh as an administrative team we're involved in PD our elementary folks are involved in PD and then our high school and middle school folks um just on their kind of the cycle that we were rolling this out they had actually completed a series of professional development uh activities last year and so this year we're actually starting uh school-based um kind of action teachs where we can U use them as consultancies uh they can look at problems of practice uh develop uh clear actionable items themselves and their college at the school level um obviously we want to uh continue to you know create avenues for our caregivers our parents and our stakeholders uh around communication so you know obviously expanding those opportunities um how do we you know go ahead and and get um that greater connection between home and school and then obviously uh one of the things that's part of my uh super tenant schools but I've talked to you several times about this the impact uh that we uh really get from meeting with our student stakeholder group I think our our most important group and we really tried to commit to uh getting feedback from them and so certainly that's something that as a dist as a district uh we're working on and as you know I'm working on it um as well as part of just realiz I copy the same page multiple times so I'm like that's still the but the PowerPoint is right just my copies are on um curriculum instruction assessment um obviously here are strategic initiatives for the year see and this is really what we plan to work on obviously we want to make sure that uh we have an updated District curriculum accommodation plan uh we certainly before we go ahead and roll that out we realize we need to provide um some PD to our staff so finding opportuni to be able to do that and then uh rolling that out and then actually utilizing um that Decap is what it's referred to as well um obviously we Contin exp the use of high quality instruction materials um we continue to do that um you know we've spent a lot of time the last few years um kind of building strong in the middle and working our way out um and so we continue to do that high school program is is expanding uh as well as now we're expanding our programs down to uh the Elementary kindergarten level uh as well as uh in special education as well um obviously uh we had developed an instructional framework um and so this is actually one of those areas that we you know kind of took a step back and said oh we we're rolling the new instructional framework out and then when we looked at all the components and got some feedback it was one of those areas that uh we weren't necessarily getting uh you know evidence of feedback from the administrative team so we said okay we need to kind of rethink how we're rolling this out um and so we're going to be developing learning series that teachers will be able to access uh building principls will be will be able to access kind of an ongoing pis uh now obviously uh we started uh last year and we'll continue to do a program evaluation around our students with disabil uh and looking at their instruction that receiving and then you know we continue to build uh structures for ongoing data analysis I think we've done a really good job over the last couple years of identifying what data we need to look at uh but now we want to out to create some consistencies around the data protocols um and uh you know for the individual schools and obviously down at the teacher level as well uh operations action plan again here are initiatives for the year not really for the next five years or four years at this point I should say and then our action plans for the years um obviously as we talked about um you know we find ourselves in a unique situation uh many of our neighboring districts and districts across the Commonwealth are you know facing um enrollment challenges their enrollments are dropping um ours is just the opposite our Ro continues decline uh especially coming out of covid we did not see a drop if anything we've seen a significant increase um so that's something that we really need to um work closely on uh and you know work on those projections to make sure that are advocating for staff or additional resources it's matching what we we can see when we look at Trends you know any from anywhere from 100 to 200 new students to start every year we need to make sure we're keeping up with that uh obviously uh Mr Shan and his team uh focusing on the technology that we continue to roll out uh is it making instruction uh you know more effective U as well as uh you know is it sustainable so you know we' talked about as a committee already um you know our our Chromebooks our Chromebook one to one program how do we make sure that is long lasting um is it still relevant is it still efficient uh and then how do we you know make that a sustainable uh obviously uh part of Safety and Security upgrades we have continued to upgrade our security surveillance systems uh for both sides of the district um we I believe at this point have uh maybe one School Mr Seance I think one one additional school to do and then we'll have upgraded camera systems and security systems in all of our buildings um and then obviously we've talked about making the budget uh process is a priority for the district for myself I know it's obviously a priority for the committee U but really working with um you know the communities as well and then I think obviously one of the the highlights uh and and I've spoken about this and I spoke about this in conation is our ability to work closely with our partners in in labor we're really trying to break down that management labor barrier uh we were successful this past year in working with uh many of our different unions to success successfully contracts we do have two uh different groups coming up this year I shouldn't say two different groups one different group in that uh will'll be the asne custodial maintenance team uh but we'll obviously be re-engaging with the brid educational Association so making sure that we can uh put forth a budget that not only recognizes and rewards their practices but is also sound financially and that we can actually afford I think we all agree that um you know available we'd love to be able to give it but we also uh can't put ourselves in in financial so we balancing those two but contining to work as a partner with those those individuals and organizations uh and last is um human capital um again I this he has done an amazing job of of leading this uh pillar so here are our initiatives for the next four years and some of the things that we're going to continue on this year uh we really want to make sure that uh you know we have strong Recruitment and Retention efforts in place um I do think when you look at overall our staff a number of Staff we have very few um retention issues obviously we want to make sure we're recruiting uh as strong as possible to especially fill some of our critical need positions and also uh to make sure we're recruiting you know a diverse highly qualified staff um obviously the other thing we really want to focus on is how do we recognize and show appreciation for our staff and all that they do so that's something that we we're really working on this year um we want to prioritize staff Wellness continue to do that we were so excited to share with you last year our health and wellness fair that we rolled out for staff M ke is already planning that for this year so we're excited about that um and also looking at school-based opportunities not just just app and then obviously uh the educator evaluation system uh there are some new rubrics not just for administrators but also for teachers so working through that uh over the next you know uh several years to make sure that we're aligned with what desie has out there Al using as as a tool for um not just accountability but also for support and growth that really is the whole point of the educator valuation system uh that we are all getting better as individuals um individually and then obviously collectively as District so that is an overview of the uh Student Success plan happy to stop and answer any questions before I'd just like to um recognize yourself and M mville for doing a great job tying your goals for this year to the Student Success plan so that we're all kind of aligned we we know you're working on things going know advance that then you can hold your team accountable for those goals Etc we can Cascade it down so I know that was a lot of work to do for both of you but I certainly appreciate it just a few uh last Quick updates and then I will uh turn this back over to the chair uh obviously we've had some facility projects going on um I did want to take a moment to uh acknowledge our acting director of facilities Mr Mark Chaka um is back here um Mark has stepped up Mark's previously the head custodian at at the Mitchell um and was fortunate to be able to appoint as acting director to help us during a transition time get schools up and running and also for uh you know the foreseeable future so U Mark has kind of taking on some of these projects and seeing them uh through completion also uh we some of our projects across the district so I want to thank thank you for his efforts but the track and Tennis Court update uh as you probably have seen from the uh you know being up at the high school and hearing from your community members uh the track is open uh which is exciting um amazed at the amount of people that are using it on a daily basis which is great it is a community track um we have had several conversations with uh community members about uh you're welcome to use it any time except when students are using it and Community has been very responsive to that they understand uh you know we're not saying you can't be here during school hours but we're just saying if uh a PE class is out there during the day please just give them their space and the public has been very understanding of that now we held off a little bit on the tennis court opening that up to uh the public uh we still have access over behind Bridgewater Middle School um so we're we're kind of holding off until our students can actually get on there we'd open the track after our cross country team was able to use it uh and so we really kind of want to follow that with the tennis courts I mean obviously the weather will be turning so we'll be taking those Nets down to preserve them anyways relatively soon we will keep the bridgew Middle School courts up and open as long as possible may even through the winter uh keep those Nets up so the community does want them um on your way out I would certainly encourage you if you were maybe on your way in you caught it we did replace the gym Flor here at rhen Middle School um it looks amazing uh really take a look at it it's quite quite impressive obviously there basketball down tonight there was a little delay in in scheduling so it wasn't quite ready for the opening of school but we had such great weather the PE classes were able to go outside uh did throw a little wrench into the town elections but they were able to uh make some adjustments and use the cafeteria uh which has been great uh and then FY 26 update just wanted to you know let the committee know obviously we started talking as an administrative team uh obviously I already started meeting with the Director of Business Services um to start working on the FY 26 and I have a meeting with the town of Briar coming up the beginning of October I believe the 7th or 8th um don't quote me on that date but it's R around there um to start these conversations and we also have a meeting with the town of rham um tomorrow with u Mr bar and Mr so again we'll engage in this uh process as as early as we can to prepare for uh FY 26 on that budget development uh and just uh to kind of remind the committee I think you know this has been a standard practice but we did talk with our administrative we will be freezing our current budget as of October 1 um so any of the supplies materials bu that need to be ordered um for the remainder of the Year we're asking our administrative team do that as soon as possible because the budget will propos that allows us to really know what we have available for funds we spending for the rest of the year and if we have any unforeseen expenses um increases in tuitions or transportation we do have money Avil to question further questions on M king um this is related to the gy but we haven't discussed this at um budgeter ISS so we actually did uh we actually had a meeting uh Mr Chaka set up a meeting with the town of rham uh with Mr Stant who is there uh director of Public Works uh we reviewed that um collectively we talked about potential options about what could um happen over there U we did actually have a company come out um and um what the technical term is but basically snake the drains uh cleaned them out uh they ran cameras down there to see if there were any instructions or blockages um there was one drain although water can still flow through it that did have a tree coming through it so it's something we probably will need to look to potentially replace but we do have two other drains that are operational and and clear especially how the debris is blown uh blown out um we did talk about long what potential solutions could be um you know it could involve sight work um I think the drainage itself is working as designed U Mr Chalker and I Mr stent uh kind of agreed that it really is just uh keeping up with the actual cleaning of the drains versus the actual drains not being able to handle it um as you know in that area we have a couple trees on the outside that blow leaves down there we have some mulch when the heavy rains The Mulch gets washed over sits on top of the allow the water so I know uh Mr Chu was actually Hado in here for a number of years he was familiar with that he did talk about he was here and the teams before him teams after him uh just keeping up with the drains and we keep up with the drains it seems to be able to handle the the water that's not to say that we're not going to um you know look at Alternatives but we didn't feel as though that we needed to have a construction project going on right now um to address that where as long we keeping up feel as though that would be okay and that was you know I don't want to say without him being here that was his recommendation but I think um the DPW director felt that way short term we should be okay longm we should probably we don't want toand for questions for the superintendent I just have one observation to follow on M King's observation I'm looking at Mr cha because he's the one I'm addressing actually you Mr B in our town of Bridgewater and in the school district we've done a very good job of building new buildings we've done a very poor job of taking care of them over time so we need to make sure we do this stuff like take care of the drains so we don't end up buying new floors so just an observation I've said it before I'd rather not say it again thank all right uh is that all for the superintendence report um moving on to budget subcommittee report MCE K thank you mrman on Monday August 12th 2024 the budget subcommittee met at 5:30 p.m in the superintendence conference room and attendance were MRG Mrs DAV Mrs marelli superintendent Mrs Bala director Services M District treasur Mrs MCD our reporting secretary and myself um we had a budget over and Miss Bola discussed the 2025 budget and there was not anything significant to report yet miss Bola highlighted Revenue sources and distributed charts comparing expected Governor's budget and actual funding received Mr Po over the that he just class sizes were also red and MRG noted we should follow these via cohort and not compare year to which I believe mentioned this evening as well um federal grants were being reviewed to look at to bringing back any necessary positions um we also had a facility summer project update regarding the RMS gym floor BMS and central office phones BMS parking lot and the track and Tennis Courts um we also discussed the update on high school parking fees um Mr poers gave an update on the high school parking fees and reported that there were roughly 377 paring spots available this year we were going to circle back to this in October um the issue I believe uh why this came back to us was trying to get an actual Revenue um and more accurate and more accurate Revenue um for further years I think this number came in extremely different than what would the actual was so we want to look at that and see what that actual Revenue since we know how many parking spaces we should have going forward what that should be estimated year toe to try and get that um more actual um approval of minutes for July 15th 2024 was approved um we also had other um High School athletic fees um we were going to also go back to this in October um once all the financials were in and rosters are reviewed just to look at this also if this be um year to year we can get this as a more accurate estimate in the question a questions on the particular meeting from see none yes continue um on Monday September 16th 2024 the budget subcommittee met at 5:30 p.m in the superintend conference room in attendance were MRG Mrs for Mrs Martelli superintendent pow assistant superintendent bar MRSA Business Services Miss show District Treasurer Miss Natalie sedov um who took the minutes and myself um at that time Miss Bola reviewed the current fiscal year 2025 budget from July 1st through August 31st um again there were no significant changes to know as we have only had a few warrants in the school year just started as we progress more data will be available and we'll continue to look at the line items that are always of note such as substitute lines transportation and utilities um as we just stated the budget will freeze on October 1st as we have done um each year um the second item we discussed U Mr Po brought forward to the subcommittee ARs Ed negotiations prep um this is a company um that submitted a proposal which does data Collections and negotiations prep for school districts um it is $4,700 per year and you into a threeyear contract with them uh the subcommittee discussed this and decided that even though we do have contract negotiations coming up um the negotiation sub committee and the rest of negotiations team an effective job preparing for those negotiations and it was not something they wanted to look into right now so no action was taken at that time um the next item we discussed was title updates Mr Shan um was requ title change from it manager to IT director he had presented some research to Mr Po and felt that he was performing director level work he is under contract it would not bring any increase in salary compensation and the position itself would not change any of his duties or responsibilities it would be a change in name only Mr poers confirmed that he does do all the duties of a director reports only to Mr poers and attends all admin director meetings did confir Mr chairman I would make a motion to change MR Title it to it made by m King second by Mr dearo discussion on the motion seeing none all those in favor I opposed unanimous thank you uh second Mrs MCD Mrs mcdou requested from executive secretary to executive assistant Mr Mr P again supported this and confirmed that it would not be a change in Du or salary um it would be a change in name only it would also alleviate any confusion as Mrs mdle is not is a contract position and is not in the secretary of the Union um so Mr chairman I would make a motion to change Mrs mcdougall's title from executive secretary to exective assistant made by Miss King second by Miss Martelli discussion on that motion see none all those in favor opposed it's unanimous congratulations next on the agenda we had a fisc year invoice payment item missola brought forward vendor invoices from fisc year 2024 that were unpaid and need to be transferred over and paid included in the July transfer we have already done in order to track these in a more streamlined way and internal controls Miss stated at that time that they are going to be auditing all departments quarterly to reach out to vendors and to check that all and to check into all open inves the first motion I have are ventor payments and the second motion I have is a separate time sheet for a high school yearbook advis U Mr pow also stated in order to increase internal control similarly going forward can cross check which liaison coach or advisor positions were filled each year with HR to make sure that they are paid um as you know all of the positions in the appendix are not always filled every year um so going forward HR will cross check and make sure all of those that were bills are actually um Director of Business Services brought forward a few items that were not included in the July transfer due to late submission um specifically several outstanding any anti transfers must be approved by the budget sub and brought to the full committee for final approval um again missa has changed internal controls to do that quarterly now to make sure at the end of the year this does not happen so in your packet were the two separate packets um the cover sheet outlining the different things outlining all of that um the vendor in invoices total $2,855 in make sense um I'm going to put the motion on the floor and then if anyone has questions on them um Mr chairman I would make a motion to approve an transfer in the amount of 42855 188 to pay open vendor invoices from year 2024 Mrs King is there second second second Liber uh discussion on that I I just add this was uh the controls were a very big topic of discussion at the budget committee meeting and that um I think the superintendent and the Director of Business Services both understand that these things shouldn't be happening and we expect them not to happen in the future is that a fair assessment this Kor all those in it's unanimous all right the second one was the separate time sheet U Mr chairman I would make a motion to authorize a d transfer and the amount of $1,562 to pay the yearbook advisor s time sheet from FIS year 2024 second second by m dport uh discussion see none all those in favor oos unanimous thank youate I will not reiterate that go that this evening um he also gave an update on facilities which he also spoke to this evening uh we did approve the minutes of August 12 2024 those were approved um we did have a few others that we did discuss at the end of the meeting um the first item bring it forward to the sub committee regarding substitute salaries Mr noted that there has been some request for discussion and a raise for the nurse substitute rate um ours is currently the same rate as substitute teachers um which is $17 per day know nurses cont $17 um so we did not take any action as going to negotiation so this might be something that we discuss as Mr also noted that there has been some discussions on the substitute custodian rate specifically for retired custodians coming back and having a higher rate um they currently all custodians are paid at5 so again we did not take any action on that it was discussed on might put on AG public relations Mr did note um as we spoke earlier we did have releases depart reles um one of those was through was it uh to Bridge Water brige of R um John work with them on some of those incidents um we had previously spoken regarding a contract with them which was very expensive and we declined um at that time to go into a contract with them um they currently do have different custom pricings U for what they would call something similar that hold the crises package um and that price is $9,600 um we did not take any action at that time um since it was on other but it might be something that we look into in the futuree is constant unfortunate thing that we do have to work on I know Mr Paris did State when things like that come up he does need to put out information and Communications to parents and families and students and public um but also at the same time balancing dealing with the moment in crisis and working with the different law enforcement or staff in your admin so we just want to make sure that we are doing everything corly so might be this is Natalie does more the social media public relations versus crisis communication so this would be specific to crisis communication what they'll do is they'll dra a St police or emergency happens or to but because we're our own entity school isn't considered to be part of that so for example town of bridgew also along those lines be able to a joint state that need to be put out lot ofct Cris support super is time currently experiencing any crisis with the district at these times correcting statements taking time team puts a lot of time and stress on the administrative team that having this support in placees help focus on what's important in those situations students and families having to thank you any other comments at this point Oh I thought I heard okay Contin the next item we discussed um missa was iness ofing the Bas program for last year and although we knew that there was going to be a shortfall the shortfall ended the year at approximately $113,000 um as we previously discussed we made several price increases stacking moves and we did the BMS program however this may not be enough to impact it enough Mr P is going to bring further information on the program to the October budget meeting once all the registrations are complete and we know how um if it's going to be self-sustaining or not I'm not confident I think we did strides towards that but I do not know that it will be um self-sustaining Mr P um was going to into that might be interested in taking on that program um so we might have that as an as especially if this is going to be a year toe thing lose of money I with the amount of teachers we've lost this past year and not those I know we can amone so we're going to into that October and bring to the committee what the estimates are going to look for this and what the information question Mrs King some of this again it sounds like in October we'll have more information about the projection what the cost is because correct me if I'm wrong last year it took us a while to put these increases in place and so we were continually acing a loss while it took us a while to put of they did not take effect until July and September so this have all price increases as well as registra fees and then just looking at pricing to take consideration summer programing looking the cost comparison is between base summer camps also base to provide an extend amount of hours compared to most camps of last year was they don't offer anything it's more so they're not offering any enrs or field trips or anything like that it's really just a place for parents if they and also a lot of students are taken out and have what it is for that camp is Day Camp to be thank you I don't I don't have numbers yet they were to get me everything for the summer how that came out and current enr will be the sep or to come next me anything anything further from M uh one last thing we did have a note about the RMS soccer um Mr took of it his budget but he did bring it as an FYI that he did covers did not have this year um so I know I student so I think is forward um but it did bring up a question regarding the Middle School sports fees that I did want to put on another agenda for Budget I know in the past when we when we increased all of the fees um unilaterally we aligned the Middle School sports fees to the high school so they're paying the $360 per student for the fee um and that's they can play as many sports fall winter spring they don't have to pay another fee there's a family C so we're aligning that with the high school however there's only one sport to play together so like my child okay she's not going to play basketball she's not going to play softball so it's not really an equitable program to be charging an equitable price so that's something to look at so I did ask office to find out what is actually the cost for Middle School athletics can we lower that price so it's a little bit more Equitable since there's not some um so we're going to look into that but also I know athletic fees at the middle school had come up ago and were on Cut to do that either um but again we can't run a program where we're losing money making it some to school not so we know like for instance soccer we know there's two coaches we know how many kids are on the roster so we should have a sports for each child there so that's pretty much a set in the transort but then there's 10 away games so there's reps there's away games there's and that next budget sub committee is October 7th but I think Mrs report is available we may resed closer to the meeting but I will back to on that thank you Miss k um policy sube rep mrar um one item on the agenda which was seual harassment title policy which came to us byc District Attorneys take a look at it what they had we had they produced a policy based upon that did one change as we discussed about whether or not to use a confidential empy for reporting which would be allowed favor of issuing policy which we did this is a policy that needs motion to wave the first reading second by Mr Lo um any discuss leaving the first read just means we don't have to spend time reading it into the record it'll be part of the minutes right uh all those in favor opposed it's unanimous thank you the other uh item was more of a housekeeping matter and just I'm sorry Mr just to be clear it will come up for a vote at our next meeting having first been R now now we can have a second reading and pass it or do as we will with it guess so the other item was just a housekeeping matter in anticipation that this is going to beting just to align the lettering of uh policies um if anybody looks at our hand the policy handbook the way the policies are list numer systems for like of better term Etc um there is a grouping of non discrimination policies in chapter a look at that to to harmonize it policies believe we in with the non-discrimination policy procedures nondiscrimination questions on that for Mr dearo it sounds like it's just making everything in one place great and everyone has access to the policy document uh through the website so you can always look at it if if you'd like to all right anything further Mr J okay thank you all right moving on to unfinished business Miss Barry amended 2425 school calendar no I think it's going to come up at the next meeting all of because the polic isn't chairman of the school committee Mr pow I'm here tonight just to suggest some slight changes to the school calendar for 2024 2025 when the calendar was initially approved uh by school committee um the state had not yet released uh uh Statewide mcast testing dates um so we recognized that there was March 26th which is a day that we originally had for um an inservice day for all all grade that day also happens to be day two of Statewide testing for grade 10 in ela which is not something that we can be flexible about um so we're proposing that we change the calendar to a full day for grades 9 through 12 um to allow um Ela mcast to take place for grade 10 but we'd also like to maintain Lee for prek prek to 8 um allowing us to have parent teacher conferences which were also schedu for that day's a second change I don't know if you want yeah is there a motion to approve that change made by m cono second by Mr D Marino any discussion on that change I think that we would want to make sure that we communicated as quick as possible so that plans can be made um unfortunately because we have to honor the testing date forcast um we don't really have a choice in the matter but making sure that once um if the changes are made that we are communicating that change um talking a date we have to make yes weed anything further on that that change see none all in favor unanimous thank you moving on this uh the second change um is in regards to the last day of um school for preschool and kindergarten on the calendar had or scheduled it for June 6th but we're actually proposing to move it to June 10th just to give them a little bit more time for that last session and that'll conform with all the contract rules and everything like that and time on learning and all that good stuff okay great is there a motion to approve that change made by Mr D second by marelli discussion see none all those in favor oppos it's unanimous M Barry I do have one question for you on the calendar because someone asked me yesterday is it safe to both relatives travel in for graduation on the date it's mentioned because it's a subject to school committee approval Watson comes before schol ask approval official official approval graduation to say all I believe Watson typically comes in October November all right I I don't think she needs to make travel plans right now but she was asking when we do it so my understanding May 30th since I've seen her aware you go out there by people at the high school no not people talking all right great thank you thank you all right um moving on to new business approval of payroll warrants uh July 25 August 8 August 22 September 5 and September 19 is there a motion to approve motion made by Mr Lo second by Mr de Marino discussion see none all those in favor opposed it's unanimous um we've already taken care of Item B previously under the consent agenda uh release of executive session minutes uh January 24th and April 24th there is one other uh executive session meeting we had on August 21st however due to the nature of that meeting those those minutes uh are not uh subject to releas and will be protected uh at this time and for the foreseeable future is there a motion to uh release those uh meeting minutes move by m davp second by m um M Mar I almost called you miss [Laughter] mantel um all right all those in favor I I opposed it's unanimous thank you all right masc resolutions Mrs K uh the school committee I believe all all the members of the school committee got uh the masc resolutions M King is our representative she went to the uh masc uh well she'll describe it to you but what what Miss King's here for is just to hear any feedback from the committee uh to the extent we could take it we could give it to her on any of the resolutions um that said and as Miss King will say these things can change in a heartbeat at the meeting and amend into something very very different than what you see in front of you today okay um on Wednesday November 6 through Friday November 8th I will attend the masc joint conference in hyas and I will attend the delegate assembly on Friday November 8th as the V Regional School District delegate will be voting on the floor on 10 resolutions these are nonbinding and if they pass the the policy subcommittee of the masc executive board will bring these to the Massachusetts legislature as policies that are important to mass Association Massachusetts school committees I will be requesting a vote of consensus on these as well as acknowledging that I may change my vote if the resolution is amended on the floor and substantially changes the substance of the resolution and or if any further information comes to light that may change our position during discuss um I have reviewed booklet sent to me from MC containing the resolutions and I attended the MC resolutions Workshop via zoom on Tuesday November I'm sorry Tuesday September 24th 2024 um I'm not going to read all of these um I did write out a small blur of what the resolution was any notes that I obtained during the workshop last night um and what tentatively my vote may be um and any reasoning there that to read that um so as I said there's 10 resolutions um there's also some resolutions that were in the book um sent to us that might be expiring they only keep them year to year if for instance they've worked on the resolution for mcats all year um and it doesn't go anywhere they get new resolutions in November for the following year that resolution expires so that's not one of the ones we're moving forward again they start working on The Intercept um so last year was the first year that they had had a discussion about this and said you know sometimes this takes multiple years so they will bring up old ones that are expiring to see if we find any of those that we want to keep on on the books so those would those will be up for discussion but they do not need a vote um accordingly Mr chairman I would make a vot a motion for V consensus to approve my foro asate for the M resolutions andw amendments take Amendment will bew amendments and to further allow me as the delegate to revise my vote on the floor based upon any amendments and or further information I may receive at that time and then I will bring back a report of what happened resol there a second second second by misso discussion are so in my report it does say next to it what myed vote maybe based on my review and the workshop and this King I'm last year some of these never even came to the floor and they got a little wonky and combined in the Dr so I've been going to this every year for the past seven years and last year were l delates that weren't really sure I remember going the first time and people debate these resolutions like this is a fight to the death and I left the room and called Dr Kowski and was like I'm not even prepared what's happening I didn't I just walked in here Cole and she was like it's important because this is what they're bringing to the state like if we pass this Mast one this is what they're going to bring to the state and say this is what school committees in Massachusetts this is at the top of what's important however it's nonbinding like that we're not making a law here but this is what you're saying these are the important things to us or maybe they're not important to us they're important but they're they're not going anywhere so I would suggest M King if you don't mind we have that we have that um maybe we hold off on the vote till next meeting or do you need it now fine that way I mean we just got we just got the the report I mean I would like feedback but also yeah you never know what's going to happen on the floor like Mrs Conor and Lao said because there were so many new delegates and weren't really sure of what was going on it kind of went in some of them and they were making amendments on the floor changing the whole substantial resolution right yeah and I think is it fair for us to individually EMA and just say hey I think this even with the workshop last night things came to light where okay that might even make me change my my thinking you know different points of view for different districts of different socioeconomics different Regional districts um it depends each resolution each town is going to think about things a little bit differently and how it specifically impacts their school so I take a motion to continue to next meeting under finished business made by Mr Lo second by m marelli uh any discussion on that one all in favor what all those in favor okay well all those in favor of tbling and putting it to unfinished business on our next agenda thank you thank you for going to those meetings and doing it's I mean it's important and some of them specifically one of them is about having them adjust the inflation rate which that's probably number one on my list that I want them to work on because they're capping the inflation rate at 4.5% every year however that's great some years it has been higher than 4.5% but last year we only got 1.7% so that resolution is saying okay that's great but the years the where was higher we're going to over and you're going to play catch up with us so we're not going to have a 1.7 right so great thank you all right moving on under new business letter to the town of bridgew this is from myself and um and Miss dport also signed it uh as background of folks uh we've had a problem in Bridgewater since uh we opened the new High School uh as to what to call the old high school many people call it the old high school many people call call it the Middle School the junior high the Mitchell at the middle uh probably many other names that 90% of which are probably not suitable for airing on television um that said years ago this this school committee uh did dedicate the building to uh be our's first uh full fully regionalized superintendent Mr odonahue and um I was going to suggest because it is a Town's Bridgewater building to the Town Council of the town of Bridgewater that it would be um a nice honor and a good thing to do to um just name the building for Mr odonahue um do we want to read this into the record we might as well Mr DAV you want to do the honors to the Bri Town Council the 2024 25 school year marks the 65th anniversary of the brid reham Regional School District and the 30th anniversary of the district regionalizing through 12 an honor of this and to recognize the tremendous educator the driving force in creating v as we see it today the school committee respectfully request the council to current briw Middle School Edward mdle School in 2001 V school committee dedicated the building to Mr saying this building is dedicated inog of Ed Odon Mr Odon Ser the children of the communi of which is with distinction for 26 years as a teacher administrator and the first superintendent of the full briwat ringh Regional School District mru embodies the spirit of v and always being the educational needs of children His Highest priority his vision leadership and genine love for our children help bring out the best in our students and need both communi better places to live since then we as a community have built a new high school repurposed this building as a junior high school an emergency Elementary School and back to the middle school it is today through all these changes the people of Bridgewater and reh have faced a challenge in referring to this building often resting resorting to terms like old high school I do that the Mitchell at the middle or simply BMS the school committee believes that a clear distinct name for school building can help alleviate this confusion the school committee further believes that naming it for Mr O who given the bu's previous dedication to fitting but also a respectful way to Hon honor his legacy the school district eagly inable action on this matter this fully prepared to collaborate with the town on planning and executing an appropriate dedication ceremony in the upcoming spring sincerely Mr timoy and so with that said I'd make a motion to adopt sending this letter to the Bridgewater Town Council do I have a second second second by Mr D Marino discussion thank you but in further discussion how has the community uh that's going to be for the Town Council to be able to figure out where just suggesting a course of action and they can then do as they please with it they can open it up for public discussion I would imagine if it's on the agenda it can come out for public discussion and so on um but that's a town issue not a school committee issue where just making a recommendation so how did this um well you saw what you just said I saw uh I think I've shared in in our um in our folder two different yearbook dedications to Mr oonu um I Believe Miss uh uh mcdou has an obituary in Mr Adon that that was written on his passing and um you know you can certainly use any of those sources um or just talk to folks who have gone through PR talk to the teachers who have been here a while talk to Miss marelli I was actually student advis super oh really yeah and uh and I I think he was very well regarding in both districts and especially in the town of Bridgewater uh where he was uh just a very big driving force not only not only in the district but also in the community he was the director of uh one of the local banks was the brid one Cooperative Bank Dave Hold You right so um those are different ways you could do it any other discussion seeing none all those in favor opposed unanimous thank you oh abstaining okay so 701 all right uh moving on to public comment uh I understand we have some public comment this evening so the school committee uh meetings operate under rules which were adopted to approve information for the public and make it easier for parents Guardians and the public to both follow and comment on issues before the committee and make meetings more accessible to the public speakers should please keep their comments to No More Than 3 minutes if you have more than that you can turn in your remarks to mugle and it can be a part of the record uh is there public comment I know was Patrick's coming up but I don't know if any if anyone else wanted to all right yes sir just identify yourself for the vice president thank you so I'm here tonight folks uh speaking for members of the V to let you know that we really feel that we're in a staffing crisis at this time mentioned earlier we lost 20 24 positions last year and it's really taking a total uh class size continues to be an issue we don't need to talk about that s numbers we all have heard about it uh but specifically I like to talk about the case loads and the workloads uh for a special education teachers uh slps teachers uh uh School nurses adjustment counselors and uh those that are in the transition program uh the their numbers the the case loads and the workloads are out of control and they're really feeling it they're overwhelmed uh and it's really unfair to the kids and their families uh and as you know those kids are our most fragile our most vulnerable kids uh so you know in the upcoming months um I'm confident powers and his team is going to present to you a budget that uh addresses the our many staffing issues you'll hear it you'll accept it you'll go to the towns and you know as we know those Staffing levels have a price tag to go along with it the towns will give you tell you what they can afford and so forth and we know it won't be enough it's usually not you know this is nothing new um but that's where we need to change some some things I'm not sure what the answer is but I know we can no longer we have too much at stake now is the answer an override so it let the people decide kind of school district uh I know a big sale won't do it and just I want want you to know that this that I as a union leader I shouldn't have to be convincing teachers to stay and work here and that's what I'm doing okay um I shouldn't have teachers com and crying to me because they're so emotionally in mentally overwhelmed and exhausted because of of the case that the those specific jobs that I mentioned so please go to the towns it's their responsibility to fund this District the correct way let the people decide how they F thank you Mr Patrick certainly appreciate the senent and always good to hear from the V further public comment yes ma'am come up just identify yourself and where you're from and go from there evening I'm Trac Lincoln from I'm actually coair person of wasn't planning on coming today but when I went on line to see it it said that the video was taken down so figed show up anyways um actually I just wanted to comment on um workload I was looking at the teachers contracts or the teacher is the um Union laws or whatever they go I don't know that name of it but say there was a special Edge I mean not special Edge speech and language theologist workload in there append G have you read that at all I'm not sure you have but I didn't um I'm concerned about the workload of spech apologist um and it says that prior to the start of each school year by October 1st there should be um a meeting work on the course Lo for Equity has that been done I'm not sure I just wanted to know if that had been reviewed at all um but that's not what I was here for I just happen to hear about the workload um did write up something really quick I only have a certain amount of time so let's see I want to um address esy um the summer I reached out to acting commissioner um Russell Johnson from desie in regards to bsy because I was informed by The District administration that they had received a directive permitting the General Life teachers to instruct special students however desie clarified that this information inacurate raising significant concerns about honesty and accountability in our district the biggest concern is that the district isn't being upfront with families when there's a lack of personnel providing Services regulations state that the district should immediately inform parents in writing in an delay uh reason for delay action the school district is taking to address the space or personnel and shall offer alternative methods to meet the goals of accepted IEP parents receive been writing at the end of esy how is that helping students like this is um you know as far as OT the summer um this is denying students the rights and not getting for six weeks and at the end they got in their backpack so if they don't look at their backpack how how are they going to know what's going on um this school year parents have reached out to me because they found out that there wasn't um because the administration didn't tell them that there's no speech mythologist of raining Middle School um they did get a letter recently I guess only because they found us this I think and she's going to be starting sometime in October but why wait you're supposed to immediately inform parents students aren't getting Services some of these you know parents don't even think to ask their students what they're getting Services I do ask my daughter it's not fair for me to have to keep asking my daughter about when she's getting services we shouldn't have to um um let's see so like I said I didn't want to come yeah I didn't want to you know said I wasn't here wasn't planning on coming so I didn't bring speech just kind of something up really quickly um but I'm sure I'm going to be coming in more times year with other um thank you for your input we certainly appreciate it we always like a live audience um anything further from the public seeing none we will move on to committee comment announcements is there any comments or announcements from the committee i' just like to note that Bridgewater's Autumn Fest is this weekend coming up at the uh Bridgewater State Club so folks are interested in that a good Community event uh all right so that being said uh I'll take a motion to Second Mr de Marino all those in favor opposed it's unanimous thank you Judy I'll tra