##VIDEO ID:1Q9sayLvsUM## e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e welcome to the Monday September 9th 2024 meeting at the dendis Yarmouth Regional school committee may I please have a motion to enter to Executive session I'll make that motion uh the Dennis Yarmouth Regional school committee will enter into executive session to return to public session for the purpose of discussing strategy with respect to collective bargaining or litigation if an open meeting may have a detrimental effect on the bargaining or litigating position of the public body and the chair so declares litigation second we'll do a roll call vote Mr Morris yes Mr new yes Mr Martin yes m b Miss yes and I vote Yes we will return thank you e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e now return from our executive session I'll ask everyone if they could please stand and join me in the Pledge of Allegiance 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 uh we have start off with the reports and discussions and we have one of our two student Representatives we have Miss Isabelle Powers I'm ready hi guys I want to say thank you for having me back this year I'm excited to be here it's always a good time to come out on a Monday so um this I don't have too much to report on we're just back to school we've got class meetings going on all week from 8th through 12th grade which I think is important it sort of sets the tone for the year and we have a lot of changes in admin so I think they need that sort of like representation a little bit um we had our first football and volleyball home games which are kind of our biggest like turnouts at Dy sports-wise and we won both so Spirits have been very high um we also have our Esports uh season starting this week which has turned into a huge thing of culture at Dy they're a great team I think initially people were like a little surprised that it was so big and so appreciated and now you know everybody's looking looking forward to it I'm excited to see how they do um more on like DIY cultures we also have our clubs and National Honor societies beginning to meet right now so I know like NHS we had our first meeting today and clubs are all getting back in the swing of things and organizing we have our dii open house on Thursday from 6:00 to 8: which is when parents get an opportunity to go through their student schedules and talk to their teachers and kind of get a good feel for that so we have ambassadors and other clubs going to support and and also a little bit of a plug it's a little far away but we have moved our dolphin Dash from the spring to October so it's going to be October 26th and we've got every Club at Dy every National Honor Society all coming out to support and all the sports teams I'm sure will be running and I'm very excited for it I think it's going to be a great time thank you and I I've been notified that we have a new student representative for the junior class and if I pronounce your name incorrectly I apologize I have Ava Deo okay how'd I do close enough it's good good good and uh as we talked about all the things our wonderful students do she's a member of our volleyball team so she's at volleyball right now that's why she could not join us but we thank you for everything you bring to the table and we're excited to meet AA thank you and next we have uh another wonderful thing we get to hear about today a field trip approval from our foreign language for exchange trip to Germany welcome where it says push okay I think I got it good evening um yeah I'm here to uh propos a Dy Germany exchange to you tonight um an exchange that Dy has a tradition with um I also brought former department chair of foreign language um Don Colton with me and one of my students Michael O'Reilly who also went to the Germany exchange trip with me last year so you're welcome to ask any questions I have a little slide prepared for you I'm just going to go through it and if you have any questions afterwards you're welcome to ask away um so the Dy Germany exchange is a learning based travel experience um and we are proposing April 2 um next year oh no that is one to much um so the proposed dates um April 22nd through May 3rd that's 11 days that's as long as we went the last time um our school vacation at Dy are from April 18th through April 27th and um our students would be missing five days of school um that goes along with the our German partner High School's vacation which is at the same time as our vacation um actually a little longer because they add on on the front end um but we are proposing these dates because since they are simultaneously with us on vacation one of our goals for our students is to attend high school there um so they can't attend high school if they have vacation as well so we have to add on a little bit on the back end and that's why we our students would be missing five days um it has happened in the past just uh so you know in previous exchanges there have been um five days as well here and there um where students have been out I think the most important part though is that our students are going to school there they're attending a German High School um and they are not completely disconnected from from education education at all to begin with but from a school um so that was the proposed dates what makes this experience so invaluable it's it's truly uni unique experience for our students because they are getting to attend a German high school it's not just a trip to Germany where we're going to do all the sseeing and experience as experience it as a tourist they are completely emerging into the life with a German host family with going to a German high school with their exchange students and it's it's a full immersion into German culture and and German language and that's what makes this trip so unique you can't get this kind of experience through a regular trip um by traveling you truly only get that through an exchange trip a few facts for you um there's a little shifting going on on the slide not sure what happened but um one it's it's open to everyone to our entire student body at y um not just to German students not just NHS to everyone we are looking at approximately 15 students last um exchange I took 18 students to Germany um so plus minus 15 academic requirements um student have to be in a good standing and not failing any classes in terms of our competition our Germany exchange is an integral part of the Dy advantage and sets that's what sets us apart from other high schools on the cape there is no other Germany exchange trip on the cape and there is not many in Massachusetts um and the last exchange trip gave us a wonderful publicity we ended up on the cape cut front page um when our Germany uh when our exchange students from Germany were here and um the the cape cut times came and interviewed us and it was wonderful uh in terms of costs uh maximum cost per student is um $2,000 which we are able we are able to offer it for two it used to be even less but now with the inflation and everything that's going on with flight prices it will be around $2,000 maximum um and that's already offset with the various fundraisers we do with the German um Club at school which is one of the biggest and most active clubs in in the high school FYI and um yeah we do fundraisers such as for example we make candles for the holiday season we sell them uh you bought one um and um we do the Schnitzel Fest and we are very active and we're trying to just help help each other out um we also have two to three definitely two possibly three scholarships um for this exchange to offer um by the Cook family the Cook family they have been Aid supporters of the of the program and they have always offered Scholarships in the past and they will also offer SCH two scholarships for this upcoming trip um there are two $500 scholarships that will help two to three lucky students um it's an essay that's that they have to write and the cooks will pick the the best two essays also in regards to to um who has the greatest need for a financial support and if we don't use up the entire $2,000 per person then there's a potential that the the students will get their money back okay benefits there is many benefits of course traveling is always a plus um and getting to know a culture and a language always a plus but cultural emerging um students gain firsthand experience of a new culture including language traditions and daily life um which Fosters great cultural awareness and sensitivity uh language skills living in a country where um a different different language is spoken accelerates language learning leading to Greater INF affluency and confidence in speaking personal growth uh students develop Independence adaptability and problem solving skills as they navigate life in a new um environment and they often experience increased self-confidence and maturity for Global Perspective exposure to different Educational Systems and World Views uh broaden students perspectives on global issues making them more globally minded citizens uh academic and career opportunities experience abroad can enhance college applications and resumés as universities and employers value the skills and experience gained through exchange programs and students also built Network that could benefit future educational and career opportunities they also built lifelong friendships which many of our students have with the past exchange um two of the German exchange students were just here in the summer two separate ones from each other which is great to hear um but many exchange students form deep lasting friendships and people from their host countries and other exchange students uh leading to a Global Network of connections and Civic engagement students show that exchange students are more likely to engage in community service and Global issues contributing positively to society and lastly enhance problem solving skills adapting to new environment often involves overcoming challenges which enhances CR sorry which enhances critical thinking and problem solving abilities and many more um in case you missed it that was our front page uh last year October and um here are a few pictures from our last exchange trip in stutgart and all over Boston airports and that's it thank you any questions if it's if the students uh able to is there any feedback you can give us if it's okay if you don't if you don't feel comfortable but I know that when we've heard other students talk about it it helps uh make the decision for others good evening my name is Michael O'Reilly I'm a junior at Dy high school and um I went on the German exchange trip in 2023 and it really helped me like put aside my myself because it was just such a tremendous experience that I could just immerse myself in it and just grow it helped my character grow so much while also learning and just being there for a real purpose too and if if like I asked all of the other students like if they would go back I know they'd say yes and just a heartbeat like is just such a big feeling that nobody was focused on like any menial problems they were all just able to be the best version of themselves and it brought out different feelings and just new experiences thank you so much Mr Riley does anyone have questions for Mr Riley or Mr Mr Glenn yeah thank you so much for the presentation thank you Michael very well spoken and um and I'm sure you you did have a great time and it is uh one of the things that you you're kind of pointing out is that uh you become ambassadors for Dy and the cape and uh our towns and uh our country uh so it's it's great that we have these positive experiences um the questions I have um is so you said like $2,000 and it's open to The Wider student body one of the concerns I always have is people who can't afford it and if we don't raise the amount of funds and like the non members of the that aren't members of the German club if it's open to them they would still be eligible for a scholarship or um for that help um so I just wanted to make that clear but the other question is any academic time we're losing that's concerning um and if somebody had paid up or were set to go and they were failing a class knock on would that that doesn't happen but what would happen then so thank you we have um we we are having a travel cancellation insurance which we had the last time if something happens they can't attend the trip then they will be refunded it's covered um in terms of missing academics yeah they're missing school time at d why but they are not really missing academics per se because they are attending school in Germany and they are learning so much more for they learning life skills that's Way Beyond the classroom um that's kind of how I see it they are immersed in more than academics over there so they are also in touch with you know they have Wi-Fi in Germany they are in touch with with the community here and with their teachers they can touch base they can go on Google Classroom if they want to and need to and uh check what they miss they can touch base with their with their students and we make sure that we let them know that ahead of time that they have to be in touch with their teachers and see what they are missing perfect answer and uh good luck I'm sure we're when we do approve it uh it will be a good positive event just make sure you bring the am same amount of people that you brought over make sure you bring them back maybe one more Mr new following in that same vein um academically is there an arrangement with the rest of the faculty at Dy so that students won't be penalized for the time that they miss penalized I've had experience before where there are certain faculty members that might not be as forgiving for material Mist during the 5 days that they are going to be gone as far as to my knowledge I did not hear from any like any penalty um circumstances um I prepare my colleagues very well that we are going on the exchange they know very very well ahead of time who is going the students know ahead of time that they need to touch base with their teachers I I don't it's not to my knowledge that I don't know any one of my colleagues that wasn't in favor of the trip excellent yeah okay Mr Morris at the risk of sounding like a homer always advocating for the local team local schools uh I am a strong believer and I've watched the programs and the academics grow I have two daughters who are DIY graduates one of them had four years of German got into Wellsley College got a full bright to teach back in East Germany U as the as the country was being reunited that helped her get a scholarship to Colombia where she got her MBA and now she works for Google all of it started with dy's academic programs and its foreign language so thank you again that's awesome yeah you never know what happens with the foreign language later on it's it's fascinating thing I can just talk about my own story the only question I have is are you comfortable with the company that you use to book um some of the other field trips they talked about the companies that they use for it is a company that you've used before to book the travel and accommodations you said are host families I'm just you know want to make sure that you're comfortable with everyone that you're utilizing and have used them in the past well we we organized the trip ourselves that's why we're able to do it for $2,000 because if we would use a travel company per se it would probably come close to $5,000 which is what comes close to other trips that our school offer um but $2,000 is is because we are we are organizing it ourselves basically and that's what makes it affordable relatively affordable to to the main student body um yeah I mean I'm I'm comfortable with emerging ourselves into it again uh we have two great German uh teachers in Germany that are doing a fabulous job um acquiring students on their end and um we are matching them to the best of our ability and it's been it's been always a a good experience great I I appreciate that because some people may question that as well of because we looked at prices for other field trips and you know maybe they had the same question as I did so I'm glad for the clarification of the difference in pricing and and how it's being booked thank you anyone else have any questions I'll um I'll make a motion for the um Dy Regional school committee to approve the proposal uh set forth for the uh field trip um well it's not really a field trip now is it for the uh student exchange trip to uh to Germany uh this coming April of 2025 second I think we if the motion also has to include the missing of the five school days that's important as part of that as well like the the second page you want to allow me to amend um I'd like to make a motion to approve a home stay trip to Germany from April 22nd to May 3rd of 2025 and to approve the students participating missing school from April 28th to May 2nd of 202 so that they may participate in the exchange second we have a motion a second any any other further questions all those in favor say I any opposed okay good luck and we we look forward to hearing about uh the trip next year thank you very much have a good evening next on the uh agenda for discussions is uh a town of Dennis liquor license application um Rea a butter notification uh so the committee has in their pack in their packet a notification that we got from the town of Dennis regarding a liquor license application essentially this is for a business within Dennis is looking to relocate uh to an address that abuts the Ezra baker school and um and there were're seeking com ment from the um from the school district regarding this uh address the address is uh pretty close uh it's within 500 ft of the elementary school um and regulation um states that when when within um 500 feet of an elementary or within 500 ft of a school um a town may deny uh the application uh if it determined that it interferes uh with the uh the operation or this the purpose of the of the schools so they're seeking our comment um on this application and so I just wanted to bring it to the school committee for some discussion and then determine if this committee wanted to direct the superintendent um in any way to comment back to the to the Town um I did seek some input from both the principal and I asked uh David to give me um his perspective um I I can let David speak for himself but both uh gave basically the same you know their their concerns were similar which was you know the property does the back of the property directly abuts the play um the play area at Ezra Baker um concerns were from both were around um you know significant increase in traffic specifically in adult traffic um due to the nature of the particular um business and concerns around um litter specifically around uh nips which tend to come with uh um liquor stores unfortunately um and what that might mean around an elementary school Ezra Baker currently has about 400 uh students just for the committee's full breadth of understanding and again the the back of this property directly a but sort of the play Space um and that's already a busy street obviously so did just sort of the increase in in traffic as well um in what is already a fairly congested area with coffees coming in already on one side and now adding that I mean again a business is a business but um but that those were the two concerns areas that were rais raised from the administrative side um but I don't know if David if there's anything additional you wanted to add but then again wanted to open it up for school committee discussion and then was there any direction that the committee wanted to give leadership to bring back to the town no I really just as Mark indicated my thoughts were kind of the along the same as principal Depp I did speak with him and traffic maybe not so much at arrival but dismissal in the afternoon in that it is a direct abutter to the playground for you know just adults who might not necessarily belong at the school if there's lit discarded Lottery T tickets Etc and the fact that you know the state law is there in my mind for a reason that they shouldn't be within three t0 of a mile of a school I believe that's what the law is unless there's an exception made and I think that's put there for a reason and just my personal thoughts on that any feedback from the committee Mr Glenn yeah so that's what I was going to go to wanted to see if there's any Town bylaws but um if the state is already has that concern I I certainly never want to be a burden to any business but it's not just any business it's a liquor store there's concerns and and I think what we should do is we put our concerns out there um maybe not our opinion not our support um just that these are our concerns maybe there could be some signage maybe there could be you know something that would deter people you know and the Business from saying that's a school right there you know you might not know it's a school um we don't want our our uh clients or our customers to um be you know in conflict with the relationship that we have with the district um and so that the customers know the business knows that these are our concerns um they obviously have to go to their um liquor licenses with the towns um and so uh so there's those rules that they have to follow so if there was ever any concerns with the business itself and any that did happen they would still have to report back to the the town local uh licensing Authority which is a selectman in both towns so um the the hours of operation the overlap is concerning to me um the nip bylaw I think Yarmouth is uh um doing something independently of that I don't know if Dennis is but to kind of cut down on that but um um those are those are our concerns I think that that's what we should be favoring back to the town of dentist to say we have these concerns I'm sure you had those concerns and um you know where we where we neither support or uh in conflict with the with the thing but that we we display our concerns just want to make a point of clarification I know Mr new you had a comment based on the copy of the Lial license um application it actually shows that it's a deli store that carries beer and wine is that correct I have a picture diagram from the liquor license that shows um that it's going to be a store that has a deli that serves meat sandwiches it has a grocery area and then it has a section that serves liquor and wine I just want to make sure if we're we have the correct information based on the application I I'm not saying that makes anyone a change in thought but if if it's a grocery store versus an actual liquor store but if I'm reading the application correctly it shows that it's a sandwich and Deli store that has groceries and snacks and it has a section that sells liquor alcoholic beverages we'll say um I'm not saying that makes a difference necessarily for a vote but I just want to make sure as if the decisions are made on the correct information um that it's not a a liquor store that it's a store that carries liquor Mr chairman it says here in the in the letter from the town of Dennis an existing liquor store it's it said a liquor store is looking to move their license to a different location but I I don't know if in the exhibits of it they do show a picture um of what their layout would be proposed at that location Mr Martin you had a comment actually Mr new I don't know if you have a you you were first to raise your hand Mr new thank you Mr chairman I did talk to Kelly at Town Hall about this and uh the current store is located on School Street in West Dennis and they want to move the store to uh what used to be a sandwich ice cream shop that is there on the north side of 28 um I believe they're looking for our approval uh there is no law that says they can't move within the state but I believe that they need the school committee to give approval for that to happen is that correct Mark it's not necessarily approval but it's I I have to few read the hold on one second I don't want to misquote if you in the original email is the leg is the it was ask the original email is asking for feedback from us yeah but if you and and if you read right that was my conversations with Kelly said they're looking for our approval on this otherwise because it's within 310 of a mile the town does not have to approve yeah right so licensing board so licing licensing board requires any comments or concerns from the from us um and because and then then the Building Commissioner confirmed that retail sales are allowed at the proposed location however Mass General Law chapter 138 section 16 indicates that premises located within 500 ft of a school or church shall not be licensed to sell Al alcoholic beverages unless the lla determines in writing that after a hearing uh that the premises are not detrimental to the educational or spiritual activities of that church and school so that's what needs to be determined right so if I could just follow up that I I think it is detrimental right to the education of our children having whether it's a partial liquor store or a full liquor store and I don't think there's any guarantee that the diagram they give us is going to be something that will be followed through on so I'm in a position where I I don't approve okay Mr Martin um I'm with I'm with Mr new um just I didn't know what when I read the the uh the address I didn't know what that was so I went and looked and it ends up being the space formerly known as Chris De Kay ice cream where my daughter had many little ex you know outings when she was at Ezra Baker um and it's also formerly known as Holly Deli um still there which is still there um soon to be Formerly Known um but it is I mean it's it's it's right there and where uh 66 School Street is right now um Paradise Liquors it's it's a mile away and so on the other and on the other side of 134 over a half just about a half a mile away from the school there's another liquor store that is used to be a 71 and it's kind of the same sort of deal they sell tidbits and snacks and eat stuff and but but I mean if you look at the diagram there's one aisle of groceries and snacks there's a little Deli area and all the rest is liquor you know and they're looking to change their license from being a beer and wine to all alcoholic beverages which means that they're going to sell nips they're going to sell you know ands not for nothing but you're they're not going to police the litter they're not going to police the the the the the content of the character of their you know of their the people that come to their establishment you know it's they're going to they're going to make their sales and that's going to be it you know so you're going to have you know I don't know I'm I'm I'm concerned about the traffic uh the the foot traffic that will be in and around that establishment as of right now as we sit here there's five liquor stores within two miles of Ezra Baker why does this need to move you know why do I understand they want to move from school streets to maybe 28 get more exposure get more foot traffic and stuff why there you know I don't I do not agree with this I do not like this at all um I think that you know there are a million places on 28 that are empty that they could that they can look to go into um that are not you know a Stones throw away from yet another liquor store um I think that this I think it's unnecessary I don't think it needs to happen I think it's just a bad idea and I would be in favor of wholeheartedly declining this Marilyn um so just reiterate it is a different manager owner of the current place so it's taking the current liquor store and creating a new owner manager in the application it's moving the location and as uh Glenn said expanding what they offer they're also in their application asked to go beyond just selling beer and and wine and a full liquor store so there are many things that would change that are unknown um when I I was curious when I saw the notice uh where it was and I too did discover when I looked up 882 Main Street that it is a current uh Deli Place Holly's Deli uh and so I went into that parking lot and from that parking lot you clearly see the Baker School playground and in the back corner of the Baker School playground or where the swing sets are for kids because it gives them their most open space there's also uh a athletic field there so it's something that is used not during just the school year but one would say it's used for families if it has an athletic field and a very nice playground year round so uh I would say the proximity is definitely from that open space play area for kids is less than 500 ft because I know that's about one5 of them all and I walked it I walked from Holly Deli over with my dog and it was a very short walk took me less than five minutes Mr Glen yeah so I agree with especially Mr new's comments about detrimental um but what I want to clarify here is because the ma the the mgl chapter 138 clearly says that it should not be uh but it it shall not be licensed to sell alcohol beverage unless the lla the lla is the loal licensing Authority which is in yit selectman I believe it's a selectman in Dennis also so they're like like they could take what we say we could say no and they could say Yes um because they might disagree with what is detrimental um so what I would like to give them the information one that we strongly think that it's detrimental um but also just in case they're going to approve it we want to have something else I don't know if fencing is a possibility and we we also got to uh realize that there are responsible community business members they could be the best they they could be people who really want to help us they want to be part of the community they might want to do fundraisers they might want to do a lot of things and they don't want negative aspects so they might be perfect for if it did get approved um as opposed to other businesses that might go in there that might not um because if it's a public place anybody can go into a a public place and they're going to be near that school um no matter what it is um so you know I I just don't want to Broad brush uh any businesses um and you know we we could say that we believe it's detrimental um give our concerns to the town of Dennis and then let them you know decide because they are the authority we're not the authority and then go from there but I just want to make sure that we uh are you know not thinking that we say no and it's it's not going to go that we're we're not the authority on this Mr Martin you another comment I do um in response to what Mr Glenn you know just said um I do feel like well I don't really have a problem painting a broad brush um I I feel like there's an entirely different uh type of clientele that uh that uh visits a liquor store as opposed to visits a deli or an ice cream parlor um and I feel like there is a greater amount of um variables Associated when you uh get alcoholic beverages involved um you know and I think that um the litter in the the litter and the um you know having uh nips and scratch tickets and what have you um you know littering the the grounds around our play areas uh for Ezra baker having the children um outside playing perhaps witnessing people you know just kind of walking outside and consuming their nips um it is an entirely different uh animal than having somebody coming out and uh eating their Rocky Road ice cream and perhaps Dropping It On The Ground um I feel like this is um I feel like it's a bad precedent for for us to set I feel like it's a it's it's I I feel like we as a district at least need to be unified and allowed as far as what we want near our schools and the influence that we want that we uh want and will allow near our schools um I feel like we should be um and know I'm hoping that my fellow committee members will be uh strong in the uh opposition of this uh regardless of whether or not the Licensing Bureau takes us into account or not um I do feel like we need to have that voice because ultimately it is it's not about you know putting a business out of business or even having five liquor stores within two miles um it's about U abiding by the law that that states at the moment that you know less than you know 500 ft uh from uh from a school you know it's they can find somewhere else as far as I'm concerned you know I I think it's a bad it's a bad precedent for us to set and I think we need to uh we need to we need to be firm and we need to to stand Pat even if we get overruled no Mr Morris had a comment and then Mr new my concern rests with the fact that having witnessed licensing hearings in Yarmouth based on opposition or support of different businesses different establishments coming in new newly acquired managers and business people I don't know what the revenue stream would be for a dentist equivalent but I know that the board of Selectmen have the authority to request diagrams editorial support commentary of of of of what is projected to to toss it seemingly on top of the statute that gives the school system some additional Authority is not sufficient justification for ruining an opportunity for somebody else however I would like to have seen some attempt to answer the objections even before they were voiced by the school committee uh we do I do carry the responsibility very seriously about impact on from external sources to the growing attention of of the community if this were next to a high school we know full well what could have happened to kids who saer over who leaving a aspect of their behavior up to the police department so I would have liked to have seen more evidence of some research and some support so I can't give an okay on this because I don't feel okay but I also don't feel okay to turn it down just based on location alone so I joined my colleagues in their questions sen did you have another comment thank you Mr chairman yes I do I if we don't elect to voice our disapproval then we are setting a precedent for whatever happens in the future anybody else that moves into the town of Dennis or the town of Yarmouth and elects to open up a store of this nature and I mean this nature it could be a broader Rush as to what they're going to be selling will be in a difficult position so again I don't want to set a precedent and I don't think we need a vote but I think with the this the comments of the committee I think if we did have a vote um to show our strong opposition I think it would maybe be a stronger feat to the to the select Board of the town of Dennis that you know the the members how strongly the members feel rather than you know advising you to tell them we're not in favor um I don't know if anyone else feels the same and wants to move forward with that but I just feel that it'd be a stronger message if I'd like to make a motion if I could if there's no other comments I'd like to make a motion that the school committee strongly believes that the premises in the liquor store would be detrimental to the educational activities of the school and uh we disagree with it and we hope that the liquor licing Authority takes our uh opinion um strongly a motion to have a second second and just to confirm the the the vote would be to direct the superintendent to to confirm this to them and I believe that's what we all have okay so all those in favor say I I any opposed okay I think we have our answer I think you know including that it was voted will be a stronger word thank you very much appreciate the direction and I will get that information to them tomorrow and then uh subcommittee representative report school committee leison is the Border selectman Mr Glenn do you have anything from the town of Yarmouth well I I don't think that we've met um since the passing of uh selectman Stone um but uh his family and himself uh has was widely involved in the uh the town of uh of Yarmouth but also with the Dennis yarm school district and the superintendent and the chair um put out a a nice letter to the Y Board of Selectmen and to the towns um but I would be remiss if we didn't uh acknowledge Mr Stone um and then uh in regards to um the report I believe the superintendent in his report is uh going to talk about a meeting that he had with um the uh uh Town Administrator uh and secondly or lastly um there will be a a special election um that the uh Den the arm selectman will vote on tomorrow night so there will be a uh an election to uh within 90 days to um uh uh fulfill the vacancy so I just wanted to point those things out Dr Smith wasn't going to but I will just since you mentioned yeah we did have uh David and I just had a very early um meeting with the uh Town Administrator and the finance director on the arm side we have one scheduled in Dennis it's either next week or the week after really early high level budget conversations like giving them a sense of what we project for early expenses for FY 26 um and you know as the committee knows our Revenue side is largely driven almost all by the state and we get that information real late but we did you you try to give a sense of if State projections are the same as they were last year and we are are uh David has our expenses pretty well tight already by now because our contracts are all settled so we've got a pretty good sense of um where the expense Side Of The Ledger is so we're able to start from there and then make some rough estimates on what um uh revenues might look like um and then you know again another big factor for us is um where the minimum required contributions land so we just used last year's minimum required contributions and said okay so if those are the same then this is what you know real early stuff just to have a real uh we had talked about that last year when we went through the budget cycle that we wanted to start much earlier have a much earlier initial conversation just to get the ball rolling so that's all that that meeting was meant to be that and then the second thing I just wanted to just since we're talking liaison is um uh reports is I am scheduled tomorrow uh in front of the Yarmouth select board just to talk uh have a conversation about the EM small building and property Etc so I am be going in front of the select board tomorrow to have to have a conversation about that building and property um with them thank you beus anything for Dennis just um in terms of the liquor license a butter notification the meeting is tomorrow by the select board at 4:30 thank you and then School building committee uh David or Dr Smith uh I'm going to talk specifically about the biggest thing is the fields which I'm going to address my superintendent my in my superintendent report then we'll move to the superintendent support and recognitions and donations and ackowledgements all right super so starting with uh recognitions uh I'd like to recognize Teresa Koval Teresa was awarded the the 2024 Association of immunizations managers the immunization Champion award for 2024 uh Teresa who serves as one of our School nurses here uh in the district was one of a handful of nurses to receive this national award so I just wanted to congratulate uh Teresa for this recognition uh and then I wanted to recognize a couple donations uh you'll see them in the consent agenda but I always like to call them out separately I just continue to be amazed at the fact that I can do this every meeting just is just an indication of the generosity in our district so two uh this week or this meeting one from the Friday Club who donated $500 to student athletes who are unable to participate in uh who don't have the funds to be able to participate in our Athletic program so this supports uh those students and second to uh Mark orberger who donated approximately $550 worth of backpacks he donated the backpacks so we sort of did a little estimating on how much the backpacks were worth but approximately $550 worth of backpacks to students in grades K through four uh who didn't have access to their own backpacks to be able to start the school year so again just thank you to those um two things who allow our students to be able to participate in our full school program uh transitioning to the next topic School opening uh we had a picture perfect weather day for this start of school um it was a beautiful day uh was able to get out to all the schools um especially at our elementaries a lot of our especially our kindergarten families but still a lot of the the younger families walk the kids up the first day so it was just a perfect day for that right a lot of the you saw I happen to I this only my second year but I've started so far now each of the elementaries at a different Elementary right when they start their cuz so I can see arrival I can't obviously can't beat all three at the same time um and so I started at e a baker this year and so have everybody gather it out on the front lawn before they come into the school and again just a beautiful day for it uh walking in the door today or just the beginning of the school year we have 3,186 students which is 100 more students than we had at the end of the year last year so uh our enrollment continues to increase that's uh the last two years years have been the highest enrollment that we've had in the last than than we have had in the last decade so numbers continue to increase uh but the big theme across the entire day was just tons of smiling faces whether it was students staff family members dropping their kids off just everybody welcoming the kids back into the school the buses our new routes are running uh fairly well um uh mornings are running particularly better than the afternoons um minus a few delays with the the sewer projects which I'm sure everybody running into those delays trying to get around Yarmouth um and we had a few new drivers trying to figure out their routes um afternoons are still a little sluggish but that's more to do with dismissal processes in the school than the actual bus route right it's actually getting out of the building and onto the bus then the bus itself um so that's School opening again great we're already into week two and before you knowe it'll be the end of the year um so the next item on my list is uh daycare update so as the committee and the Public's aware we were in uh we transitioned to privatized daycare this year and as one parent and I were having an exchange this year or this week this last week it's been a debacle that was probably the best word that I had um for it and it just was not a great start uh to the to the switch there really have been multiple points of failure throughout the system but as I put uh in a message out to the families uh last week at the end of the day it's my responsibility as the superintendent of the district the buck ends with me uh and uh I know how deeply impactful this was to our families and continued to be to our families uh I'm deeply apologetic to the families that continued to be um and you know I our families just shouldn't have had to experience this on multiple levels it happening in the first place some of the communication failures Etc you know short version of what happened just for the edification of the general public and to keep the committee um up to date uh essentially the licensing wasn't in place um when the the group needed to start so public schools are operate license exempt when they run an after Care Program uh when we brought in a outside vendor they need to get licensed they need to get licensed by the department of Elementary no Department of early in Education and Care thank you too many departments um so eec and that didn't happen in time that problem got further compounded by poor communication so that message didn't get out to families um until uh didn't get come into the district until the Friday before Labor Day weekend quite frankly I missed the email while I was trying to move my daughter into college and then the the notice went out to families it was either Sunday night or Monday night um that there we weren't going to have daycare on Wednesday um it's just way too late for them to get that information and so we didn't have anything on Wednesday the first day of school we were able to scramble to put something and I emphasized the word something together uh for Thursday afternoon uh which was a hodg Podge because we had really dismantled our infrastructure for care um and so we put a hodg Podge something together Thursday afternoon was okay it was pretty good um f then Friday morning came and that wasn't great um had a bunch of emails on Friday morning um but then I was able to so we put some things back in or we fixed we've been iterating I guess I would say uh I was able to get out this morning to all the programs this morning things were much better this morning um and I didn't hear anything this afternoon so that's usually a good sign um and where we are right now is we're in this inet place so uh actually with a lot of help from representative Flanigan I was able to get the licensing board down to so they got the LA last two licensing board visits were done this morning so we should hopefully be getting to licensing for the group soon there was a some structural changes done with the the vendor and uh we should be able to hand the whole Pro because right now they can't really operate so we're kind of have some of our staff who did a stepped up and have done an amazing job with their materials and a little bit of sort of side by side work with the with the vendor but we're close to being able to hand the whole thing off and have it run the way that it should be run um and I anticipate that happening as long as everything continues to move on the pace it's been moving with the state hopefully this week um but we've we've got something going now that's that's um that seems to be working again thanks to a whole bunch of great staff on the Dy side who've just really stepped up and and cared for our kids and then the last uh item I have on my list is our uh diim so this building the the new school uh Dy Intermediate Middle School field update so as most of the community um may be aware uh we've been having ongoing problems with the fields here these the brand new turf fields short version of that problem for anybody who hasn't been paying attention um and hasn't or has Isn't aware uh essentially when it rains the water doesn't drain uh it puddles in ponds um and moves horizontally instead of vertically um that causes all the little pellets that are supposed to be there for uh shock absorption to move to one side of the field and then they have to get R back but it's not it's not working the way it's supposed to be working we've been working actually work was done even before I arrived as superintendent to try to figure out what was going on where the problem was um and and over the last year that I've been here we've dug deeper into this and determined at the end of the day that uh it's a design problem that there is a issue in the original design of the field in the subbase material um and and so we've been working over the last I don't know several months on working on uh remediation uh We've solicited a new designer U we've put a construction plan into place and we're pretty close to having a start date for construction and we're just really looking to get some subcontracted bids finalized um and we've actually put a construction plan in place to minimize cuz we are going to have to rip the fields completely up and get all the way down to the bottom to fix the problem cuz it's in the subbase material the water is not getting down to the big drains because of something in between and so in order to not have huge traffic flow problem um we've come up with a solution that will have traffic flow coming in through the through the side entrance of the high school and up through the fields so as not to cut all this traffic flow that comes in behind St Station Avenue and around um and I'll be communicating out that to the community once we get a little closer to actually having a start date on the on the construction on what the traffic pattern I mean we're not really actually going to change the traffic pattern here it's just letting folks know where the construction is going to be taking place um and at the end of the day you know we didn't create this problem so we as a district need to figure out um uh pursue damages for this problem and as the committee knows uh you all met an executive session today and we will as a district following your decision today in executive session will'll be pursuing damages um to get this uh will get made the so the district will be made whole um through suit in order to ensure that the district because it was a design issue um and we need to make sure that we get um the district gets recoups it lost damages as a part of this project so that is what I have for updates and I'm willing to take any obviously I'm willing to take questions but um Marilyn I know you had a your hand up for the daycare if you want to go first or um I I I thank you and your staff for sort of Crisis Management on the after school care issue but you know sometimes uh it what's lost was the original reason why you saw want a thirdparty vendor to provide that service could you just for the benefit of the community who may not know why was this contemplated which was contemplated last spring and there was a concerted decision to go this route so there were a couple uh contributing factors so one is that piece that I mentioned around licensing right so we were able to operate a license exempt program um which also meant like we didn't have to keep up with licensing standards so big picture longterm it's hard for me to say it right now because we don't have a quality program but long term we believe this will create um a quality program um that's up to e high quality eec standards second piece is sort of a structural and supervision piece um which is we didn't have an infrastructure in place to really maintain a super visory structure um and it was hard was became harder to maintain that structure um and we were having a hard time maintaining optimal Staffing as well um and uh and like Recruitment and Retention within the program was becoming very difficult for us and so we weren't able we had like significant waiting lists in our programs and so looking to somebody who's this is their specialty which sort of lead leads to the third piece is care is not the school district's function pre- to 12 education is the school district's function so really allowing us to um focus on our primary function which is pre2 education and and let folks who specialize in care do the care work um third was or fourth I think I'm on Fourth now fourth was Financial uh the district had for the last five 5 years I think it was when we done an analysis had been uh this was part what originally sort of drove this was or not shouldn't say well maybe originally at least had to start a conversation around it was looking at um when we found ourselves in a difficult budget last year is we have been historically losing money in the daycare program um so looking at uh from a cost benefit analysis um we were um the district it was that program was running in the red um and and then also having um an outside vendor manage the um the payment pieces allowed a little bit more financial flexibility for families especially those who had access to vouchers as a district we didn't take vouchers um but we when we put out the RFP we wanted to have vendors that did take vouchers for families I don't know if I'm missing something but those are the first ones that come to mind oh yes sorry and thank you we expanded it allowed us to expand uh care through the fifth grade where we didn't have we didn't have care we only our care ended at the third grade it was actually probably the first phone call I took or email I got from a parent was how come we don't have Care at the fourth grade so it allowed us to meet that need as well thank you Dr Smith thank you miss m m Martin did you have a question um I think probably uh debacle is probably the nicest word you could have used at this at this point um it's it it was very disheartening to get the um to get the emails and to hear the you know to to see what you know the communication level was um from alphab best and you know the last minute scramble of these families to try to you know try to figure something out um the the staff from Dy that stepped up um they're you know it's exemplary and it you know it and it shows the dedication of the staff that works here and um and I I I give all the the praise and credit to them um my question is at what point had does alpha best violate their contract and uh what is the contingency plan because it's my understanding that essentially alphab best has next to no staff hired and they're not prepared to take this over 100% so what do we do what is the contingency plan so they currently have staff uh arriving so they've flown in staff um and they're working on recruitment efforts currently so they've promis to keep staff here that they've flown in from other places um and if we aren't able to like if they violate their contract then we have Clauses in the contract that we can terminate the contract the challenge will be if we don't have a care solution in place for families like we can terminate the contract but as superintendent I also got to be careful not to terminate a contract without another solution in place so because I'm going to be back in the same boat that I was in right so essentially nothing would be different it would just be you know I mean it would still be I mean because the level of care right now is compromised anyway so I mean how I I guess my I guess I guess I'm looking for like a timetable how much you know how much turmoil are we going to allow before we we try to fix it yeah so I mean this is what I work on every day right now pretty much most of my day so so it's it's consuming a significant amount of my time I think that's Mr Glenn in the end yeah if you can't see me you'll hear me um the uh I I don't want to add on or or detract from your taking responsibility um but it's like you know stuff happens um and it's how we deal with it after the fact and what we learned from it you know car companies have recalls all the time but the way they handle it sometimes make sure that you trust them even more so um you know you have to take your child to college we should we should have contingencies for things like that I know that that communications director will be a good part of that um but when when I was seeing it we couldn't we couldn't say anything one because we didn't know anything about it um but I've been following the the daycare issue at the state level they're lobbying people that say we should have more State money that comes back to the districts and we're more like Community Schools um and it's such an important part of economies I mean I I've heard three years ago the called young professionals talking about this as their number one issue um so we've known about it um not that we've known about it but um that we not you know not to uh say What Glenn is saying about what we do next but we do have what you're dealing with on a daily basis but then we have the future um for expanding it um and leading with it so um I'd like to know if there because I swear that I want to say it was common something wasn't Common Core obviously but it was common something and it was a group that was lobbying the state legislature to get more money from for the districts and I thought that they got it um so I'd like to pursue that to see you know obviously more money that we have for it to to direct it um could solve the problem but I I'll look deeper into it to to give you a a straighter answer I had been following it Loosely but um but you know stuff happens I you know you when you did get the information um you know and to the public um so that they know we really couldn't say anything about it I saw the the you know parents page and everything and I was like you know I wanted to say something about it but I couldn't say anything about it um and you know so I I felt their pain and and I think you did too and and I commend you for taking responsibility and then where we go from here so you know I think it's commendable to say that you made that you know you dro the ball on it and and you're taking responsibility now we just go forward so um let's do that thank you a as with any vendor um we we will we expect the best and obviously we'll keep a close eye for them and if any changes need to be made then you know we make changes as if as if any anyone from our paper deliverers to you know our food pro programs but obviously this is the care of our students so and our famili so it's it's important but uh I the the email came out at 950 on Monday cuz my phone rang at 9:51 uh so I I I know the uh the timeline very well um the one night I went to bed early I was woken up but it's fine but uh that that's why we're here cuz they cuz people are passionate about their children right and we talk about some of our meetings our largest meetings were people most passionate about their children right and you know daycare is something that's been important and you know you talked about all of the meetings that you've had with the different um stakeholders and daycare was one of them and the having fourth grade you know the discussion of should a 10 or 11 year-old be home alone until their parents come home two hours later that was the discussion that came to me um and obviously came to you so that that's the question and it's it's each person's own right to to make that own decision but to be able to offer an option for those who feel that it's not it is a great thing so I appreciate the work that you've done um we'll move next to our school committee business the first one being our SEIU contract approval so yes so you all um have a copy of the full contract in front of you you you have really already um reviewed and U approved this in executive session really no changes from that it's really just a public um open session vote um and then I'll need uh the chair's uh signature uh to ratify the official document if the committee takes that vote tonight Mr Morris move to approve the July 1st 2024 to June 30th 2027 sdu collective bargaining agement as previous reviewed in executive session second any questions take a roll call vote Mr Glenn Mr Morris Mr new yes Mr Martin yes Miss beus yes and I vote Yes so I will sign those right now uh the next is our consent agenda which Dr Smith has gone over with a donation of $500 uh from the Friday Club the donations of backpack approximately 500 uh the backpack's approximately $540 from Mr erenberger and then the minutes from the Monday August 12th 2024 school committee meeting move the consent agenda as printed second all in favor say I I any oppos Bulls requisition and payroll is going around calendars uh first month of school busy calendar we have our station AV has their all the schools have their open houses station AV has theirs tomorrow night uh they're split up by grades I think one's at 6 one's at 7 um they talked about the duy high school openhouse at 6 p.m. and then next week uh we have DMS Mees and Ezra Baker's open houses and then on Wednesday September 25th we have an hour and a half early release it's a very busy September um um and then next we have public comment um our policy on public comment at meetings can be found on the table in the back with the agenda the public has reminded that a school committee meeting is a meeting of a government body at which members of the body deliberate over public business we welcome your attendance appreciate your interest in viewing your school committee as we conduct our regular business meeting excuse me the school committee believes that school district Community should have an opportunity to comment to the committee on issues that affect the school district and within the scope of the committee's responsibilities some questions you may have may not be within the scope of the committee's responsibilities in that case I will suggest that you send or give your question in writing to the appropriate persons that concerned may be given proper consideration individuals may address topics on the agenda items specified for public comment or items within the scope of responsibility of the school committee this is an opportunity for individuals to address topics on the agenda each citizen will be allowed to speak for no more than three minutes do we have anyone wish to speak tonight I see none would like to make a motion motion to return second all in favor