##VIDEO ID:cYqjSzAMLts## 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 okay welcome to the Monday November 18th 202024 meeting of the Dennis shorth Regional school committee please stand and join me in the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America thank you first we will have our student representative reports Isabella hello everybody thank you so much for having me I thought I'd start off today with an abundance of sports news from dy over the past few weeks so our field hockey team made the final four which was an incredible achievement and anyone who got was lucky enough to go out to their games could see instantly why they made it that far uh football won their last game of the season which was a consolation game and then they have their senior night taking place on Thanksgiving which is always tradition for Dy and everybody's already getting really excited for that oh we had our dolphin robotics who just won the overall Cape league tournament I know you guys had touched on this last week but I just had to give a second props to that it's a huge achievement always for Dy and a robotics program is so incredible um we just had our winter sports signups open so this is just the beginning of what I'm sure is going to be a great athletic year at dii uh very much in theme with tonight's events we just held our annual mcast retakes which have been going on you know every every year in October and people dread it but you got to get it done and obviously that we just found out that the mcast are not required to graduate anymore but they're so so important to hold events like this and to really see where students are at um on Friday our National Honor Society held their blood drive and their annual induction is taking place on Monday uh so everybody's looking forward to that I know Miss Adams just sent out invites to everybody who got inducted and it's been a lot of like exciting anticipation for everybody seeing if they got in in uh we also held our fall play the election this weekend on Friday and Saturday night and Sunday afternoon as usual huge success we had a great turnout this year and I think that our theater program is just getting better and better as the years go uh we also have our senior class is holding a holiday fair this Saturday at Dy from 10: to 2: and all proceeds go to the class for senior week and graduation and things like that and then to end off we have our pep rally taking place next week on Wednesday just a little bit of schol spirit before our Thanksgiving break so everybody's looking forward to that one as well thank you so much next we have our John and Abigail Adams scholarship and AP scholar recognition by Miss Bennett thank you very much so if I could just explain before we get into the um criteria for the award how this will kind of flow um I am going to read the recipients names and then myself and M will recognize you'll get the certificate Shake our hands and if you would walk around to the stage um with your certificate we'll take a group photo after everyone has been acknowledged so we'll take one for the John and Abigail Adams and then we'll um you will be seated and we'll I'll say the criteria for the um AP scholar Awards double check the right name okay so the John and Abigail Adams scholarship the criteria is to sorry to meet the criteria to be awarded the John and Abigail Adams scholarship a student must score in the advanced category on one of three high school state assessment tests in English language arts mathematics or the science Technology and Engineering and that can be in either biology chemistry introduction to physics or Technology and Engineering they also must score in the proficient or Advanced category on the remaining two high school state assessment tests and have a combined mcast score on these assessments that ranks in the top 25% in their school district so this is such a great and accomplishment I'm so honored to award these students the this scholarship um and they have to meet these three criteria areas which is really really impressive um so the first one is Jamia angen Ryan Arnold Kylie Barney oh come on up oh there she okay Charles [Applause] Blake Brady BOS Brody bullette Tristan [Applause] Bradford Anthony Brown Madison burges Colin [Applause] Karen Wallace D Silva Sophia d mave Dolan William [Applause] Donahue volani dunan Mariah farers Mitchell Fox Noah [Applause] golden Steven graph Tyrell hailes Nina Hill [Applause] Juliana [Applause] harista Aiden [Applause] Carris Lilia katchmar Liam [Applause] Kennan Ava kek Fiona Lou Melissa [Applause] Lopes Lawrence [Applause] matcham Walter Mayo Moren O'Neal Olivia Pendleton Jada [Applause] Perry Mo I just saw you walk in I just read your name come on up and get your awardin o' NE Isabella [Applause] power Andrew [Applause] rodig Gabriella Roman Marissa Samuels [Applause] Ireland shank Mata Silva Jack slingerland meline Stewart congratulations Shan Walsh Hannah Willis [Applause] and Alicia Wyman congratulations one final round of applause for the John and Abigail Adams scholarship winners [Applause] I got the scholarship but I I got the scholarship but I don't but you never called my name wait we also have another award I apologize I missed a few names okay sorry I said Jack slingerland correct meline Stewart should I say mine Stewart Amelia stucko I don't know how I miss like four Nam Hannah Thorton Oscar Turk mine vek and then sha Walsh Hannah Willis Elija wman okay can we take one more photo sorry about that for thank you to Emily for that I appreciate [Applause] it okay next we have the advanced placement often referred to as AP scholar Awards we have three different AP scholar Awards um the first is to be named an AP scholar a student has received a score of a three or higher on three or more AP exams and to put that into context um the exam is out of Five Points so they must get a three or higher on three or more AP Gams which is well beyond proficient and earning college credit in high school uh in high school to be named an AP scholar with honors a student has received an average score of at least 3.25 on all AP exams taken and scored a three or higher on four or more of the exams so they have to take at least four and score three and 3.25 um on all exams and then to be named an AP scholar with distinction a student has received an average score of at least 3.5 on all AP exams taken and scored a three or higher on five or more of these AP exams so quite an accomplishment and we have students that have met the Criterion all three of these so we're really really proud um so for our AP Scholars we have Isabella power Ireland shank Oscar Turk meline vleek and Hannah [Applause] Willis for our AP Scholars with honors we have Kylie [Applause] Barney Sophia [Applause] dup Nina Hill [Applause] and Fiona Lou and for our students who have earned the AP scholar with distinction we have Lilia [Applause] katchmar and Melissa [Applause] Lopes all right one final Round of Applause for our AP Scholars congratulations thank you so much and congratulations to all of you uh next we have the New England associate of schools and colleges final report welcome Miss Bennett back up thank you um so here we have the New England Association of schools and colleges um also referred to as neas so you might have heard that um the acronym spelled down we had our collaborative conference last year and we received the report over the summer so we thought we would share some of the findings from the nas report so again to put some of this into context um Nas is one of the oldest accreditation groups in the nation it was founded by leaders from Harvard Yale and Wesley College um I bolded a few terms this is a description and a link to their site but they had a desire to create a professional organ organization that could assess and ensure the quality of higher education um this historic pledge is to ensure that all children receive the highest quality education um and they have these founding principles of quality assurance and education and a commitment to ongoing institutional Improvement and growth so every 10 years schools go through the neas process for accreditation um two years ago year seven out of 10 for the high school we completed what's called a self-reflection report that is then used in year um to get my ears right year 8 out of 10 where they do a collaborative conference and we kind of take the findings from our self-reflection report and their findings from the visit and we agree on the collaborative conference report year nine out of 10 we work on what we've identified as Focus areas and then year 10 out of 10 they come for their desial visit um and you know the hope is you get the high school's accreditation so that's kind of the process the high school is currently in um so they have four sorry five standards for accreditation and there are also substandards within each of these but standard one is learning culture standard two is student learning standard three is professional practice standard four is learning support and standard five is learning resources the report um you know report Ed out on all five of those standards we had a number of commendations that came out of the report that you know it was really great to see from a visiting group and the the groups are also made up of um School leaders and teachers so it's you know colleagues in the industry um but for Dennis armouth High School it was shown that we have multiple opportunities for students to feel socially emotionally and intellectually safe including a variety of course offerings extracurricular activities and physical bases um the active engagement of Administrators and teachers in decision-making and collaboration as problem solvers and co-leaders they noticed there was time allotted for students to seek support and interventions during dolphin time there was a large number of academic Athletic Club and extracurricular activities designed to ensure that all students are included and valued in the school Community there's a variety of opportunities that encourage social awareness and understanding of local National and Global perspectives through field trips and Civics Action Project then the balance of academic social and Civic opportunities to meet the needs of diverse Learners we also were recognized for the variety of projects and academic uh sorry in assignments used to demonstrate students ability to engage deeply with content such as practical applications and transferable skills in the health and social assistance career Innovation pathway and again that includes student internships dual enrollment um Civics action projects we also have the work-based learning opportunities through Community Partnerships that allow students to explore careers opportunities for real world connections that are facilitated through community and business Partnerships and unique programming like the internship program and dual enrollment in the um health careers Pathways um and then the variety of assessment practices used to determine student progress and growth including opportunities to revise work to support mastery we were also recognized for the range of informal intervention strategies for all students including identified and at risk students that support each Student Success and well-being such as dolphin time Outside Agency referrals National Honor Society tutoring and Credit Recovery um the variety of specialized programming for students with disabilities including our tithes program um our Wellness academic um vocational Excellence our wave program and then the um former neck program which is now dy's autism program the School site imp plant that adequately supports the delivery of curriculum programs and services so again those were all um items that the collaborative conference highlighted um we have a couple more the variety of learning spaces to support the delivery of curriculum instruction in programs and services including two gymnasiums cardio and weight room um health room fully equipped science labs it you know goes on to talk about robotics the TV studio and in Greenhouse um the school's collaboration with local fire police and Community Support services and resources ensures a physically safe environment for students and adults so I will say part of this visit again it's a um a group of Educators that come in but they spend two full days at the high school and it consists of interviews uh with students central office staff um faculty we there's a structure for the neas accreditation so there's something called the steering committee um and then they visit classrooms so it's a series of interviews and visiting classrooms and observations so um although I'm helping facilitate this group is kind of independent um on their own and then we meet to discuss so we're really proud of these commendations that came out of the um report so again we identified um three areas of focus in our self-reflection and Nas the nas group agreed with those three and added one more so we have four priority areas that um that were identified they each come with the goal statement and action items Affiliated so what we're working on in year nine out of 10 this current school year is the school will develop a vision of a graduate that includes the attainment of transferable skills knowledge understanding and dispositions necessary for future success and assesses and communicate each Learners progress in achieving it to Learners and their families and again the standards that are ass associated with that are listed in parenthesis um priority area number two is the school will develop and Implement a written curriculum in a consistent format for all courses and all departments across the school that includes units of study with guiding essential questions Concepts content and skills instructional strategies and assessment practices priority area number three the goal statement is the school will develop and Implement a range of timely directive and coordinated interventions strategies to ensure that all students receive appropriate tiered intervention strategies for their academic social and emotional success and priority area number four is the school will develop and Implement a current School Improvement plan steps that have been taken to you know address these four Focus areas is increase the quality of tier one instruction which refers to the general education provided to every student which is crucial for enhancing over overall student achievement in the school Improvement plan this is the Strategic objective number one so again the uh the Strategic plan was one of the four goals and then um for the curriculum focusing on tier one instruction um will help align with the like I said the curriculum goal what we've done is we have schoolwide goals for educators um that focus on curriculum and tier one instruction and interventions we the administrative team has also written goals as a team that will address the curriculum and tier one instruction we've conducted tier one training and resources both at the school level and at the district level we've developed a strategic plan to address the nas four Focus areas that came from the collaborative conference that are crucial for meeting accreditation standards and driving school Improvement so again in the uh School Improvement plan that's strategic objective number two so we have developed a calendar for the early release days in the half days to plan sorry their plan to execute the Nia strategic plan we've created a structure we've assigned staff members into teams they are tasked with addressing the action items that came out of each of the uh Focus areas and again I'm speaking from our last early release day um I I checked the progress and it was you know I was very very pleased with the progress so again being only November we have the rest of the half days in early releases planned to address uh these Focus areas um like I said we have the subcommittees formed and then curriculum training and learning walks with valuable And Timely feedback are also going to impact the current curriculum work and the tier one instruction and that's what I have for the nask report thank you so much does anyone from the committee have a Mr Morris no small feat uh to say the least how often did you say the the NZ de it used to be called NZ deck uh came into the environment here so last year they came for two full days and prior to that like I said we developed our um self-reflection report so I was communicating with our chairperson who is a principal I think at Marshfield high school so her and I were in communication um in year seven out of 10 but in year eight out of 10 and they spent two full days with us does this report go to any other sources other than the school system itself and the staff so it just the school district that I'm aware of because it's an it's it's accomplishment of great work no easy task so thank you conrat congratulations to all the staff and all the people who helped make us look thank you yep we decided that many hands makes light work approach uh two years ago so it was a team effort great thank you Mr Glenn yeah thank you so much for your time I actually was on 10 years ago I was a Community member on it and I don't know if it was year eight or whatever but before the final um thing so it was probably 12 years ago um and uh one of the student member that was was on with me uh or on with us um he uh went on to great things and uh he was the U went to MIT played football engineering started his own company was forbs 30 for30 uh thing Dy graduate but I only say that is because the people there everybody that's on that the students the staff everybody involved um create things for the next next 10 years and so it's it's great so thank you for your time obviously a great job so thank you thank you thank you so much for the presentation we appreciate it great next we have our subcommittee Representatives liazon reports first school committee liazon to the boards of Selectmen anything from town of Yarmouth uh just tomorrow is a special town meeting obviously we had a a great election and then on December 7th which is a Saturday uh is a a a special Town election to fill the seat of uh Michael Stone so um that's election on a Saturday there are changes with the um voting location so uh contact the um the town clerk but uh or the town office but um and uh they're meeting tomorrow night so and it'll be here great thank you thank you so much I know the town of dentist had their town meeting week or two ago here more than that more than that okay but nothing new from town of Dennis uh School building committee anything to update from there um nothing significant uh we continue to move forward with the uh field project uh but not nothing actionable we're currently working on refining the bid uh the the sub bids with the uh subcontractors and getting that refined that was the last meeting we had so we're working on trying to get the last and final uh bid pricing perfect next we have our policy subcommittee thank you Mr chair um policy subcommittee um is presenting uh four policies two of which have not been changed and two of which have uh been uh we're presenting amendments um the first one in your packet will be uh bgb which is the policy that um shows how we adopt policies um and that one has no changes um the next one BGC policy revision and review um that one we uh we have no changes to that one as well uh policy BG you'll see in your packet we have uh we have uh uh presenting changes to that one um we have the amended uh version uh and then we have the uh the the the current uh language uh as it's currently written in our policy manual um which states that the school committee will develop policies and put them in writing so that we may serve as guides for the discretionary action of those To Whom It delegates Authority the for formulation and Adoption of these written policies will constitute the basic method by which the school committee will exercise its leadership in providing for the successful and efficient functioning of the school system through the study and evaluation of reports concerning the execution of its policies the school committee will exercise its control over school operation the school committee accepts the definition of policy set forth by the national school boards Association policies are principles adopted by a school committee to chart a course of action they tell what is wanted they may include why and how much policies should be broad enough to indicate a line of action to be followed by the administration and meeting day-to-day problems yet be specific enough to give clear Guidance the policies of the school committee are framed and are meant to be interpreted in terms of state law regulations of the mass Board of Education and other regulatory agencies of the various levels of government that's the language as it's currently written this is what we are proposing as far as uh a new draft um policy BG school committee policy development the school committee will develop policies and put them in writing so that they may serve as guides for the discretionary action of those To Whom It delegates Authority the school committee will establish and periodically review educational policies for the schools in the district consistent with the requirements of law and the Statewide policies and standards established by the department of Elementary and secondary education and other regulatory aenc gencies of the various levels of government policy should be reflective of the fact that the school committee has oversight of and responsibility for the school system the direction in which the system must go and establish criteria to determine policies are being met policies should be broad enough to indicate a line of action to be followed by the administration in meeting day-to-day problems yet be specific enough to give clear Guidance the school committee accepts the definition of policy as set forth by the Massachusetts Association of school committees does anyone have any questions on the first recommendation for draft one okay I just want to add the intent of that was to write it in clear and more concise language take what we already liked but revise the parts that seemed repetitive redundant and unclear thank you and I also think it updates what we call the bodies that we get our information from too so which brings us up to date thank you and the next one the next one is a suggestion that we uh as a committee are pleased to present to you so if you go to the policy manual AA this is what currently reads School District legal status um what Mas did and we adopted in 2022 they decided to have clearer and more concise and applicable language for Regional Schools so what we're asking you to consider if we accept this is sort of our AA would be aa1 we wouldn't keep both Mr chair point of order do we need to vote on these individually or these are the first um readings so there's no vote until I think it's the third round okay yeah thank you so the first round is the the readings and then the vote is at the end aa1 Regional School District legal status the legal basis for public education in the district is vest in the will of the people as expressed in the constitution of Massachusetts the state statutes pertaining to education Regional School districts are creating in accordance with state law and the regional agreement approved by the member towns the Dennis yth Regional School District exists through an agreement between municipalities under laws pertaining to education and under regulations of the Massachusetts Board of Education the area served by the Dennis Regional School District is identified in the regional agreement anyone have any questions on the second policy so I think it's the second reading and then I think it's the third reading we take a vote if we want to move forward with the changes I could be corrected if I'm wrong great uh we'll move next to our superintendent's report thank you very much so starting with acknowledgements uh just want to actually just start with acknowledging the U swarm of students who left a little while ago um so you know the between the John and Abigail Adams and the AP Scholars and there were a few students who weren't able to make it tonight you know that stage was was filled with kids right and when I reported uh the report of Entry findings about April last year one of the things that report I reported to the school committee was that um our students sometimes quite frankly get a get a bad rap out in the out in the public and uh but again that stage was filled uh with students who got some of the highest honors um and that's just one honor um that is awarded to kids on an academic uh P or perspective you know we talked last week about our last meeting about um you know state champions for um in a whole different Arena right and you in their music capability Isabella talked about the play I was able to I had a rough personal weekend um but I was able to catch the play and it's it is a comedy and they lifted my spirits they were great it was hilarious um so U but really was want to drive home the point like that's Dy those are Dy kids um and they're they're they're fabulous um absolutely fabulous and that's just again just another small example of of and we as a school district need to do a better job one of the reasons to have them here is for us to do a better job of of really lifting up and highlighting our our kids so I want to start there um also want to recognize there are a couple of donations um in your packet for tonight I just want to call them out uh specifically so one is from the max Springer Holocaust educational fund uh which is a donation which will support the the high school's trip to Washington DC which the committee has already approved at a previous meeting um so that was was about $600 which will support that trip and ensuring that that trip is accessible to more students so I want to thank the uh Max Springer Holocaust educational fund for that and then there's two separate donations from alphabest what was our educational partner that provides our after Care Program uh and they provided both a breakfast at Station Avenue for the staff there uh before or during one of their faculty meetings and they also provided a donation of uh cleaning wipes and tissues at the Dy Intermediate School here um so that they provided a previous donation at a different meeting as well so just want to thank our partners at Alp best for those for that those two donations as well next moving on uh you may have seen somebody up here taking pictures um when all the kids were up so I'd like to I know I'd sort of teased a little bit of this uh previously but I'd like to formally announce and I'm pleased to announce that Miss Leela Spano who's uh sitting over there in the audience as our very first uh Communications and community relations coordinator uh born in Brazil uh she's both fluent in Portuguese Spanish and English uh trilingual she's a three- tool player at least um and she's previously served for us as our one of our um El Family leas on so she was previously working for us in the district she holds a degree in journalism uh Communications and public relations from suffk uh and as we previously discussed a little bit this new position will allow for both streamlined public uh Communications on social media the establishment of a consistent communication policies and procedures uh it will allowed us to continue to really build and strengthen and Foster relationships uh with community organiz ations that will help support School uh programming and build those relationships and as well as develop new relationships to enhance School programming for our dentist for our DIY students and uh it's aligned with the goals of our not only our strategic plan but the school committee's goals to really tell the Dy story and amplify our our posit positive Public Image you know again today being a big part of that and you know as a reminder to the committee and also just for the Public's awareness you know we were able to utilize existing funding in order to make this position we were uh both uh restructured an existing part-time central office position as well as uh redirected the peg funding um and you know so you won't be hearing our ads on the radio for Dy anymore we felt that this was a better better way to be utilizing those funding so want to welcome Leela board we're excited to have her she just started last week right last week yep so she's just getting her feet uh wet um we're very very excited to have her as part of the team um transitioning uh to the um mcast ballot question so as Isabella mentioned in her report uh question two did pass and by now everybody should be aware of that um the day after the mcast ballot uh uh passed the commissioner sent out a or the acting commissioner sent out a some initial guidance and a a frequently Asked question document and so there's some information that we have around um what this shift means for school districts so some of the uh initial stuff that we know is that the earliest the law will go into effect is is December 5th uh so that meant as Isabella noted that the retakes for students who were still working on mcast as a as a CD for November they they just passed they were the actually like the day or two after um for a couple tests after the B um after the election and then last week there was two rounds um those uh those were still on because the law hasn't gone into effect yet so those those remained um and then sort of another question is well will there still be a a CD a competence determination and that part remains in the law law so the the ballot question didn't get rid of the CD it just sort of changed what is the requirement for the CD and so the short answer is yes um there will still be a CD and the ballot question now states that the CD will be based upon a satis quote a satisfactory satisfactorily completing coursework that has been and I'm going to emphasize this word certified by the student School District because the go the the department has said guidance will be forthcoming on what it means to certify a student's coursework um we don't yet I know personally I'm a little bit interested to know what that means and what certification is going to look like um and what sort of the impact is going to be on school districts on our staff students Etc we don't yet know um uh We've Come to sort of I don't know be leery of that phrase guidance is forthcoming from the from the Department of um but we'll see um you know and uh I know I've also been approached by more than one individual um in the time since the passage of question two and today uh and quite frankly since the start of this meeting um or right before the start of this meeting um to wondering questions like well what about students who um who didn't get the CD under the old requirements in previous graduating classes what about what does this mean for those students and these are good questions to which quite frankly I I don't personally have an answer but these are things that probably as an educational Community as a state we're going to have to wrestle with um and so these are um I think I guess in short I would say I think there's going to be some ripples from this uh vote and this decision that as an educational institution both as Dy but also as a larger one across the state that we're going to be sort of wrestling with um probably for some time uh so more more to come I don't really have a ton of answers other than a couple of things that I know for sure which is the bit about the CD and I know that it's going to go into effect as early as December 5th the rest will probably be having some further conversations will we need to make some policy decisions potentially whether there be things that are just ours to figure out on a you know day-to-day management side probably and probably some things that will end up somewhere in the middle um but just wanted to update you on what I had as of today November 18th um next uh on November 14th so last Thursday David Maria myself and Tomas uh met with our C counterparts from the leadership staff uh with our counterparts on the leadership staff from Dennis and Yarmouth as well as one representative from each of the board uh so one representative of a select board and finance committee from each each of the Two Towns um and the purpose you remember we had a similar meeting last year last year that meeting was really more emergency in nature for at least for members that were on the board at that time that was really more like as we realized our budget was really in a difficult space and it was more of a problem solving meeting one of the things that came out of that meeting last year was a desire from everybody at the table to keep that type of a meeting um in our repertoire are but to do it earlier in the budgeting process as more of a forecasting meeting and to work together and really try to build off the um collaborative problem solving nature that came out of that meeting and and build off that momentum so we structured it much earlier and that that one ended up being somewhere in mid to late January last year this so we're starting much earlier and so the the the purpose of the meeting and and the sort of General agenda that we went through in the meeting was we started by sharing uh and by we I mean David uh sharing the the highle expenses uh expense projections for FY 26 the same information that uh David had already shared with the school the school committee Finance subcommittee uh and really getting an A and then going a little Step Beyond that and sharing what a potential some potential assessments might look like based upon some some assumptions and assumptions of Revenue and assumptions of uh what minimum required basically using last year's minimum required contribution which we know is a complete assumption but and we were really upfront about that um but just to give the towns at least a rough idea of where things might land but the expense side's pretty solid because you know our contracts are settled at this point we have a decent um idea around Staffing um so that side is pretty solid it's a revenue picture that we was really kind of up in the air additionally we were we used the meeting as an opportunity to show some Trend data right so uh Trend history on Chapter 70 which is an opportunity to have a conversation around where has Chapter 70 been what does Chapter 70 look like under the St student Opportunity Act which has been good to dy over the last three plus years and what do we have to be planning for when the student Opportunity Act comes to it its conclusion which is it's a six-year roll out for the student Opportunity Act that means the Boon that Dy is seeing in Chapter 70 money will eventually stop and we don't want to find and this was a conversation we had is we don't want to find ourselves in the same place that we found ourselves when the Esser money went away is not having a plan uh so we want to start that conversation now not in FY what would that be 28 um so we're really starting that conversation now and and David did a nice job of putting some charts together to really kind of show even now the Chapter 70 increases have already started to tail off uh from where they were when they first started to come out when the student Opportunity Act first started we also showed David did a nice job of putting together some uh graphs that showed how the minimum required contribution has moved moved over time we were able to put together some pieces that showed enrollment Trends and patterns really just trying to show that um uh you know that that quite frankly we're doing our due diligence we're doing our homework and that the district has you know is seeing an increase in student students we're seeing increases in particular um populations of students and and how that impacts our our programming um and and that allowed us to really open a conversation not only about FY 26 but beyond FY 26 and then um really really left the end of the meeting as an opportunity to open the floor to conversation and questions this uh provided David an opportunity to answer some specific questions you know again you got a lot of different folks in there some with some background in school finance and some without that's not really the time that or that they spend a lot of time so um I know there were some questions that David was able to answer around like Grant and how grants move through the school budget school choice end um the end conversation allowed us to uh talk about uh our our plans for developing a a capital plan which we've talked about here as a committee and how end might be able to support some of our Capital needs down the road and then we ended by setting up a date to meet again uh in the end of January when by then the governor's budget should be out um we'll be have much more and we'll have gone through you know we're just starting to I think next week we start right next week I think we have the first meetings with our principales they they're doing their homework now so we we'll have our first meeting with our with our principes start right before Thanksgiving and then they really speed up after Thanksgiving um so we'll have got all that information in and so the expense side will be really tight and um and and we'll have AR then by then have met with you all you'll have all had your input and the governor's numbers will have been in so we then we'll know where the minimum required contribution sits we'll have a better sense on Chapter 70 so then we're going to go we'll go back and have a conversation with the towns at that point and then that brings me to the last item which is District safety planning um so on November 12th uh there was a kickoff meeting with rap which is if you remember from officer Nick's presentation he talked about he did the showed you all about the the SRP and then he mentioned the technology solution that I love you guys integrates with um a tech based alert system raptor is what we use right now for uh who's not part of our school system it's what scans the ident ID creates the um the visitor label thank you um um and tracks who's coming and going in and out of the building they also have this larger solution which allows for taking that whole I love you guys uh piece that you saw and creating alerts and um student accountability and tracking etc etc so we had the initial kickoff meeting with that group on the 12th and the that was a really that was to start the setting up the background and the backbone on that that system um I've asked Officer Nick to actually take the lead on this implementation to which he has agreed um the first step will really start on first step of that process will be setting up all the data integration so in order for the whole system to work and work the way we want it to we have to integrate uh student and staff rosters with the system so that um you know a teacher or staff member will be able able to pull up um so if they evacuate it will be um you know Maria and her class of kids we all be connected to each other so to be able to take attendance with her kids in her classroom um and you know you can imagine at the high school with a rotating period and you know it all has to be all synced up with all the all the systems that already have that information in it plus somebody like myself who's across um the six schools has a different level of permissions than somebody who isn't and and we want to make sure that an alert at one school is is for those people at that school versus somebody who's not at that school but certain people need to have alerts across all the schools and all that stuff needs to be set up with permissions and all those things and all that is set up on Backbone in the in the technology system so that's all the stuff that we're working on now that's all the first step stuff then it'll we'll start push out some of the devices then we'll start to test um fuel test it with a small group of people and and we'll baby step it out from there and then not connected to that um but additional uh District safety planning work that uh myself and Officer Nick have started to we started in discussion and now we're starting to move on is uh evacuation planning I guess for lack of a better word so should we ever need to evacuate a site and we can't go back to that site for whatever reason let's just say um Station Avenue has a a sewage backup that's so bad that the kids can't go back in that building where do the kids go we don't want to be figuring out that plan in the middle of the crisis because chances are it's going to be a lovely New England March day where it's 36 degrees and it's raining and so we want to have all the backup plans established ahead of time so we've started to think those things through now in that type of a case scenario the easy solution is probably just to come over here what becomes more complicated is if it's more of a difficult situation something that's more complex that involves some of the more worst case scenarios or something where this whole complex is now in some type of a challenge and I have it on a slide somewhere because I presented it when I was over at Yarmouth so the numbers aren't fresh off the top of my head but it's it's somewhere in the ballpark of 2400 humans are now on in the station Avenue a new complex and I might be off give or take a 100 one way or the other but I'm not that far off between the central office building DIY IMS Station Avenue and the high school between the adults and the kids it's in the ballpark of 2400 humans if some event significant enough of event was to happen here at one of these buildings and that even if it was at one of the buildings where there was a significant enough Public Safety response Station Avenue exit 8 all the way down to 28 is going to be closed we're not going to be able to get families in here to pick up and do reunification we're going to have to go somewhere else we're going to have to get buses in get the kids out and then we're going to have to have another location and again I don't want to be figuring that out in that moment so we're starting to talk about where those location's going to be establishing anou with those locations um and then eventually maybe doing some type of a small scale drill that's that's much further down the line um so we've we've started you know that's the biggest version is if if we had to evacuate this whole station a site but there's other smaller versions like where does the high school go with a thousand kids it's a it's a big building if you can't get back a thousand kids back in the build they're not fitting in Station Avenue Elementary School I can tell you that so where do we take a thousand students if we had to walk them someplace else um making sure we have that plan in case for whatever reason we had to evacuate the high school and couldn't go back in I was you know in the previous District we had a bomb threat at the school ended up not having a bomb in the school but we couldn't go back in until we cleared the building it ended up being hours and So eventually we had to have a ended up being a beautiful day but if it's not a beautiful day where do the kids go um so making sure we have plans in place for all that um and that usually requires either going to another Municipal complex and again making sure you have anou established with that Municipal complex and that we've worked with them or another private complex and then we have anou established with them so we're starting to work on those establishing those M us I worked fortunately other school districts are thinking about these things as well so you know other superintendent have already built some us that we're using as some foundations and we're in the process of um building the relationships and then you know working working Theus through and I've got a couple of meetings I don't want to publicly talk about where we're talking about these relationships because I don't think that's something we want out in the public um but we are starting to work the relationships and establish some of Theus that's our our next big step so uh I think that is everything I had I happy to take any questions on any of those things we'll start with Mr Glenn at the end I saw first yeah so you you had a a lot there in your whole uh uh report it was very comprehensive and the last one you know that that's top of my priority list but I'm so confident that you are asking the right questions you know that you need the plan that I don't I'm not concerned about obviously it's a top priority but I'm not concerned about it because I think you're you're heading in the right direction and so these other questions that I had on other issues um and I you you mentioned it um about uh promoting and that's why I think the uh new Communications and community relations uh director is so important because sometimes the perception is not the reality sometimes the perception turns into the reality um because we lose people we lose Talent we lose you know motivation and that bad reputation is a self-fulfilling propery and so we don't want to have that so I'm I'm right with you and that's why you know when you're talking about the Abigail Adams scholarship and the AP stuff that's the stuff that we need to promote um as much as we can we should be shouting it from the rooftops every chance we get uh when we got that AP access award up at the State House you know we were shouting it from the rooftops because it's welld deserved and it says a lot uh I don't know what the raw numbers were for both of those groups but those Abigail Adam scholarships that's that's money um and and it actually also gets the kids um the college students um motivated because now they got more freedom but it makes them to keep that they have to have a certain GPA so um it motivates them and and the same thing with the the AP um thing that's big money if you get 14 to 16 credits that's that's a a semester's worth of money you know no matter what school that is that's that's uh big so um so we need to promote that um and that's why you know I've been you know safety issue has been big but that um positive uh Communications uh out in the community uh which gets to the mcast issues um much like we have to do this planning with the safety um we need to let it develop because they're going to change 100 times they're going to say it's guidance and some people are going to take that as it's written in stone some people are going to say we're going to do our own local control and there's going to be 600 different districts with 600 different plans and the fact that the students are recognizing that you know these kids are smart and they're they're seeing it they keep up on the news they keep up on stuff and and I'm afraid of unintended consequences where they say well well we don't have to do well in the mcast in in the sixth grade in the eighth grade in in the 10th grade because they um they know they don't have to graduate or if it's an athlete that that wants to go off to college and they might not uh put the the overall U attention to it so I'm I'm fearful of that I'm not expecting that but I want us to be aware of it and the state government um what they're going to do the Desi all these different entities you know it it could come back to us but the if the if the students and the parents and the teachers have it right now that it's gone away when there's all these unanswered questions still to come we need to approach it just like we are with the safety plan we got to plan this out we got to look at it take the best practices or the best ideas from other districts like we're doing with the safety plan um because the you know the department ofe is is going to do uh make guidelines and then they're going to change guidelines and state government's going to tweak it um like they are with the uh other ballot questions and stuff so um let's just be you know careful about what we're projecting out there and and uh then we can get together and and find the from the Educators what the best practices are and what we want to do with our district but um but great job with the safety planning stuff and and um and I'm all with you on the U promotion U because that's what we need to do we need to get the that get the word out how many how many students were or I know not every 45 and seven 11 45 and 11 yeah and that's a that's a high percentage of uh of the the high school so great job Mr benett too thank you Marilyn I guess I have two follow-up questions um uh on terms of the MC ballot question um has dessie given any guidance or sort of looks favorable of school districts that has adopted the Common Core which is sort of an expectations of all the courses you have to take in order to get a high school diploma and I believe we adopted that in 2014 that is does that put us at sort of like grappling with what's next at a little better footing so uh just for clarification you're referring to mass core right yeah yeah okay yeah so they haven't they haven't said one way or another about they there hasn't been any so actually let me one clarifying point there was a um commissioner's call on Monday last week but I was double booked in a meeting um so I didn't see the Commissioners uh present and this was on the agenda and I didn't um the recording hasn't posted yet so I haven't been able to watch it uh so it's possible he spoke to mass core at in the meeting in the webinar so I'll hold that you know hold myself in defense on that one but there has other than that particular caveat um they haven't said anything about mcore in any of their um and like sort of what they're going to use um for a standard or if they're going to say they going to be some other common standard all they've said is guidance will be coming on how districts will certify that's the word they've sort of stressed is how they will certify um that a student has met local graduation requirements but and I mean I know there's been some talk at the State House about this but that I think they're a little bit more focused right now on the another one of the ballot questions least that's where I've seen some of the the the focus at the state house so I I don't I don't know um if if this one's gotten as much attention from the legislature right now and my other question is putting you Dr Smith and a little bit of the shair on the spot when you had the meeting with uh the other Town Leaders The Two Towns um in the past sometimes we get a directive or an understanding or a letter of what their budget guidelines before we begin was that ever part of the discussion or was it more just info sharing getting to know each other I can I can answer that well again the numbers were preliminary um and one specific town a town of Yarmouth didn't it basically explained to us what they explain to US every year that they have set aside 2 and a half% uh over last year plus the 250,000 over that they agreed to do for this year and next year um so that's the guidance that they have given us um based on our preliminary um numbers our budget looks to be about 900,000 over that amount um so we don't know we won't know anything until the the governor gives uh her budget which is not du till January 22nd so therefore our meeting is scheduled a week after that so that we know what situation we are um so town of Dennis didn't have a comment per se um but they know that you know if there's a difference in one town it affects both yeah I would say the the only the only piece that I would add is that um the the Town Administrator did say it was early in the process and that you know they're they were going off some and he did provide us with some data that David and I haven't had a chance to really kind of look through and um but that you know that that it was early in the process and they haven't presented their budget yet either um to you know their whole holistic budget uh and um we don't have you know what we presented them as far as sort of to tomas's point around the um where shortfalls might lie was based upon last year's minimum required contribution which did swing as far as sort of who saw the larger increase I don't not in yarmouth's favor uh they saw the larger increase so you know again and we we laid all that out as far as sort of caveats when we started as we used last year's I try I remember the percentage increase off the top M it's like was like 7.2 or something right right and then again just to lay it out of being only only an example two years ago on a percentage basis the larger shift was towards Dennis and not yamit so it really all does hinge on the governor's version of the budget coming out we just trying to use it as an illustration think but if everything stayed the same percentage wise as it did coming into this year this is what it would look like but we also tried to show through the history the percentages have not remained constant from year to year in almost any years it shifts up and down a little bit between the two towns at the state level every year so I I don't have that crystal ball it just kind of an example of where we could maybe be but don't take anything in writing until we get the figures from the state yeah to add to what Dr Smith Point was their numbers were based on what they had at that point and now they know that it's a possibility that our number could be 900,000 800,000 more than what they've set aside so when they go through the buz budget process they appreciated that now they know that there's a possibility that above the 25% and 250 that there may be more needed from the school so it wasn't them saying just so you know this is the number we're giving you they're saying at this point of their budget this is where they were at and now we've told them where again without knowledge where we think we may be at yeah and I and we had a good conversation around some of our shared challenges right so we're all you know shared challenge around Staffing and and trying to keep competitive you know Yarmouth is doing a well we talked about how Dennis has just completed a staffing study a wage study they've made a shift in their compensation for um health insurance in order to keep up and be competitive and Yarmouth is currently undertaking a um wage study because they're having a difficult time retra you know attracting staff and you know we've had to make similar shifts in order to ensure that our staff Staffing salary and wages remain competitive and at the end of the day you know we're all feeling the impact of the housing Challenge and and and in the conversation that we had is you know the the the housing challenge impacts our ability collectively to hire teachers as well as it impacts their ability to hire police fire um DPW Etc right so it's a shared challeng all across across the community as a whole Mr Morris didn't know if you had a question I saw you push the microphone well actually I was turning it off but uh I can take it back then but uh I I like the phrase shared challenges I think we can rely on more use of that uh as it as the budgetary process unfolds their Municipal budget process is a lot different than ours and then until somebody makes the step to share that it goes hey you're we told you we could only go this high it's been a frequent discussion point it's good when it's done with smiles and friendship and respect shared challenge thank you excellent uh we'll move on to our school committee business uh we have the consent agenda um we have the donation for the max Springer Holocaust Education fund amount of 596 for the Dy High School Washington DC school trip we have the donation from alphab best for school wipes and tissues to DYI and then the donation from alphab best for breakfast for the Station avue Elementary faculty during one of their faculty meetings meetings as well as the minutes for November 4th 2024 meeting mot move this consent agenda second all in favor say I I any opposed any abstain okay uh next Bills requisitions and payrolls have been completed uh calendars uh we have our 1 and a half hour early release this Wednesday um and then next Wednesday is a half day for all schools and then there is no school on Thursday the 28th however there is a football game that is home and then on November 29th on that Friday there is no school as well for Thanksgiving break and next we have our public comment our policy on public participation at meetings can be found on the back table on with the agenda this public is reminded the school committee meeting is a meeting of a government Al body at which members of the body deliberate over public business we welcome your attendance and appreciate your interest in ruing your school committee as we conduct a regular business meeting school committee believes that the school district Community should have an opportunity to comment to the committee on issues that affect the school district and are 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 person so concern 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 the topics on the agenda each citizen will be allowed to speak for no more than three minutes do we have anyone that would like to speak okay seeing none Mr chair I'd like a motion to adjourn a motion to we have a second I second second all those in favor say I I any opposed any abstained thank you everyone