##VIDEO ID:iQpnFZOk3ZA## 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 February 3rd 2025 meeting of the Dennis shth Reg school committee tonight we will present the Dennis shth Regional School District's FY 26 budget following completion of the presentation by Dr Smith and Mr Flynn I will take comments first from the public and then the school committee when discussion of the budget is complete I will close the public hearing and proceed with the regular meeting but first 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 it stands one nation under God individual justice for all so I'll now that we've called to order I'll officially open the public hearing all right thank you so um we will start with uh just reminding folks that this year we launched a strategic plan and really trying to ground all of our budget decisions going forward in our strategic plan we do have three large strategic objectives that drive our strategic plan first one is to limit to eliminate disparities and access and achievement for every student um which really is largely focused on improving student achievement for every student in the district while ensuring that uh access to both academic and extracurricular programs uh is not restricted based upon students language race gender religion disability sexual orientation or any other protected category second is to establish consistent consistent districtwide systems to support organizational Effectiveness which is really to establish systems uh that really support the business you know quote unquote business side of the schools and how we run as a as a quote unquote business and I've talked a little bit uh internally about the you know we roughly employ about 630 employees give or take and compared us to other like siiz organizations the Cape Cod 5 is roughly I think I looked it up it's 575 employees for their entire organization anet Airlines is 700 employees so we're somewhere in between that those are two good siiz organizations and we're somewhere in the middle right uh so there's things that we can do to run more efficiently and effectively as an organization so that strategic objective is largely centered on that and how do we run more effectively to ensure that the students the staff and the leaders have everything that they need when they need it uh in order to posit positively impact student learning and then the third one is to address the district's long and short-term facilities needs and capital needs and this is so that we can plan for a safe healthy and vibrant School uh set of facilities and grounds that our entire Community can be proud of so this is our calendar for the budget timeline and you we can see here as uh the chair just mentioned we are at our public hearing date um and we've talked about before we've been waiting for some of the governor's numbers we do have those numbers in we'll talk about them in more detail but uh the revenue side of the pictures come in as well as some of our expense sides now we've the all those uh Revenue pictures including Chapter 70 Transportation Aid Etc have totaled 17 million and the expense side is uh 14.9 million in assessments sorry sorry point9 thank you for catching my I don't know what a verbal typo is but whatever a verbal typo is we've talked uh about this slide but for anybody who's watching for the first time this looks this is the fy2 budget so the FY so the current budget this is really largely helps to show the how we expend our um our budget on a any given year and this really just shows that a large portions of our budget goes to cost that we don't have a large um set of control over in the sense that 72% you can see is salary and benefits so those are the people um we are largely a people business uh our people that support uh students and that's largely what we do we don't make anything um we don't sell anything we don't build anything um we're we are in the people business um the next largest chunk uh are fixed costs um utilities Transportation um you know getting the students to and from Etc uh then the next largest cost is tuition we do have to pay for some students who attend other other schools uh and then some other smaller bits you can see in the the uh sets of 1% including Athletics technology um some discretionary costs and then our 2% for M uh District Maintenance there are four major factors that are driving the FY 26 budget as we mentioned the Strategic priorities that strategic plan is the number one driver uh we do have contractual obligations we're fortunate in this year to have settled collective bargaining agreements we're not currently negotiating any contracts so we do know what all those salary increases are we do have settled service contracts so we know what those are uh we do have some contracted Services um and then we've seen as we'll see in some graphs coming uh up we've seen some steady steady increases over the last five plus years about a district cost for special education and transportation student need um is always a driver for uh our school district that is who we are here to serve um and then as a district we've level funded uh supply lines across the district so Staffing this is just again we're going to provide some historical data uh pretty consistently just to show Trends and patterns so last year you know was a difficult budget year so you can see um this shows the historical data but then you can see the drop in Staffing was 3 35 and a half if I remember correctly um total staff reductions last year um so this is just showing that pattern over time and that shows our current Staffing the current budget doesn't have any um Staffing decreases in it um some transfers of FTE and a couple of small additions which we'll get to as we move forward and then this slide shows where we fit relative to the state on I guess on three slices so one is the state which is in each of these um each of these sets of bar graphs it shows the state is one of the represented bar graphs the next is for the the um the state runs this uh comparison tool called Dart and dart you can either compare your school your scho your school district to other school districts of like demographic or you can run it based upon uh school districts with relative wealth or similar relative wealth which is a combination factor of a few different things but the two largest ones are school districts with similar property values and similar overall wage um uh average wages in the in the district So based upon tax return information Etc so and and when you run it by comparison you get 10 um similar districts so to narrow that pull down so we weren't just looking at a mess on this slide uh we selected four from each category four of similar demographics and four of similar relative wealth that also had similar um total student uh population so you know we are roughly 3,100 students so finding other school districts that were roughly 3,100 students give or take per pupil basis that's what these are these are out of uh 100 per uh students so that as a ratio compared to 100 students you can see that Dy sacks up favorably whether you're looking at relative wealth or you're looking at demographics Dy Staffing um models are stack up pretty fa favorably against other dark districts you know I've said to the committee I like trending Trend data you know I think if you just look at one data point in one moment in time it's just one data point in one moment of time so looking at 10 years worth of or in this case I think it's 11 years worth of student enrollment data you can see a shift you know when weer eight seven or eight years enrollment was heading in One Direction in the last now five years enrollment is heading in a different direction uh where we've seen a steady increase over the last five years including from last year into this year we're up about another hundred students to where we have 31 uh just almost 30 somewhere between 31 and 3200 students kind of depends on which day I check uh last time I checked it was 3,120 students currently walk in the in the doors every day um and again this is different you know we'll get to another slide a little bit down the down the deck where you'll see Foundation enrollment Foundation enrollment is different than our student enrollment student enrollment is the kids are actually walking in you know attending school and classes here in Dy Foundation enrollment is used for the assessment Foundation enrollment are kids who reside in the towns and they might attend Dy but they might also school choice out to another school district they might attend to a special education school so it's calculated slightly differently um so sometimes folks get those two things confused with one another they are not the same they're close the numbers are fairly close but they are not the same another Trend point that we keep an eye on are of the students that we have here um what's the makeup of those students so one thing that we look at is the percentage of high needs students um this is one it helps us determine who and who do we need to budgeting for what are the needs of our students as well as this also helps Drive some of the revenue picture helps Drive some of the Chapter 70 uh information so you can see there's been a steady increase or there was a steady increase from 2013 till about 21 and then it's leveled off from 21 through 25 um of the percentage of high need students we've largely stable been stable we about two-thirds of our students fall into this category for the last four plus years or four years at this point um and then this is a largely a I I don't want to say it's a madeup statistic but it's a it's a like what does that mean to be high needs it it is a a category that the department of Ed has created and then it's made up of these four subcategories so these four subcategories is what the department Ed has determined is high needs so a student can fall in in any one of these four and a combination of these four statistics or these four categories of um students so then if you track these four categories back over time then you see how these categories have changed and um so for in here in Dy the ones that have changed the largest over that time period are the percentage of students that are economically disadvantaged that has it peaked at 60% it's sort of stabilized around 55% over the last several years um the and then the percentages that have grown special education has remained fairly stable it's gone you know as high as 20% in some years but it's really stayed somewhere in the 16 to 17% range as a district and then the percentage of students whose first language is not English is steadily increased over the last uh 12 years to where this year it's almost 30% of the student population and the students who's are active English Learners so then there is a distinguish a distinction between those two populations um English Learners is an active service and while students are currently learning the English language first language not English means just that that your first language was not English but you're currently or at this point you're now bilingual um uh or or you could be an English learner as well so you could be in both of those categories um for some some students um and then this is race and ethnicity overtime uh just uh something that I became curious about uh since the last time I think I was here or maybe I showed this in the last slide but not the first time we met um so this has changed and this data some of it I've just updated because they just released some so I only had the 23 24 data I think the last time I was here so I have now the 24 25 data so again just sort of showing the changes in student population over over time and then talking about uh or I mentioned before some factors that drive cost so here this is showing three bits of data and thank you to David for putting this chart together because I don't have the skills in Excel to put all three data points in the same place uh so what you're looking at is the number of students is the green line um that have been in out of District placement so some students were not able to educate in Dy some students have a level of need that require a placement in a specialized School outside of Dy but we still are responsible for those students financially and so those um are the number of students from year to year from 2019 through the current fiscal year uh and it is you know David and I have talked about this it's a little bit you know that number fluctuates throughout the course of the year so we really kind of had to use a moment in time um I think David used the end of year report this is as of the last day of school in each fiscal year um so you know in any given year that number could have gone up and down but he picked a a fixed moment in time so it was the same fixed moment in time for each year and then the blue what you're looking at is the cost of the tuition and then orange you're noticing is the cost of the transportation so we're responsible for not only the cost of the school but also the cost of getting the child to and from the school uh and you can see both the tuition costs and the costs for transportation are increasing at fairly significant rates and then an additional Transportation cost this is a new slide since the last time the committee saw it uh is related to uh mckin vento transportation mckin vento is the act that covers uh several aspects of uh education for students who are uh currently uh homeless and so one aspect of that is transportation and students rights to Transportation under that act and so as as an example this is not an ex inclusive example but as an example if a student um is uh homeless and living living u in doubled up or in a shelter in Yarmouth but uh had originally come um had been had been housed in let's say the town of Bourne uh then then that student has a right to attend their school of origin which would have been you know one of the whichever school they were originally going to in born so we have a responsibility or that family has the option to keep their child going to school in that born school so then we and borne would have to work together to share the cost of getting that child back and forth to that whichever school they attend and born um and in some cases that might be you know a family that has multiple kids at multiple schools with multiple dismissal times so it's multiple trips um and you can see that this cost so the green is the cost and then we do get some reimbursement from the state for that but I would say maybe fickle is is a good word to use for the reimbursement cycle for mckin vento it's not consistent there like some of the like Regional Transportation it's become fairly predictable but um mckin vento transportation reimbursement is not there isn't a clear formula they f up set up for it yet and it it lags it's about a year behind so what you see these should be fiscal years I I screwed up this is when you let me do the graphs and don't let David do the graphs um so that should be fiscal year 25 the green one is this year's and work your way backwards but um it so the the last small one you see is actually reimbursement for three that should be 2023 so it falls a whole year behind um so they're not so where you see the three there you see that really close bar that's not actually reimbursement for that year that's actually reimbursement for the year um that is underneath the bar too um so and there's not really a clear pattern to how much reimbursement they give um and again you can see the costs are are growing at a very rapid rate um that trend line would be a steep steep Arrow going up and currently there in the district there's uh just under 170 students who fall into this bucket um and again that's a a steadily Rising number of students so again thinking about those budget drivers right is uh one of them being student need so then as we transition into this year's set of uh budget requests and as we met we've talked through with the committee we have an internal process meeting with all the um department heads including principles uh and getting from each of them what are their requests for the FY 26 budget then we went through a prioritization process for for each of those requests and we used this rubric to determine um or to to rank each of those requests and applied this four through one um prioritization rubric I'm gonna just keep saying the same word uh to each of the requests to determine uh what to bring forward to the committee well we brought them all forward to the committee but to help prioritize those in bringing them to the committee and then from the superintendent which to recommend to include in the FY 26 budget and which not to include in the FY 26 budget so as we stand currently there's a couple changes here from the last slide that the committee saw so here what we have our priority four and three on this slide so for from the last slide there are some items on here that are um contractually obligated um so for example like the robotics the um the first four robotics Winter Guard winter percussion game officials so Winter Guard winter procussion those are from an M MOA signed with the dya so we're obligated to those to add those into as stiens however those ones including and the Robotics are all part of our education program and they provide access to a wide variety of students a wide variety of extracurricular programming um and our support of our strategic objective number one robotics as I mentioned to the committee before it's money that we find every year it's really ultimately just putting a line item in the budget that we have to find every year um that we should just have in the budget even because we're every year we have to find the supplies to support the robotics program and um so now we're putting that in the game officials is the Mia sets the rates um for game officials and that is going up so we just want to make sure we're accounting for that in the budget and then uh at M Small based upon our class size expectations that we've established we're going to need an additional third grade teacher to support that under priority three if I was to go back to the slide that shows the increase in both our first language not English and our English learner population um it's the one Department in the district where we don't have somebody um in charge of uh a direct service um from a leadership level in my cabinet position you know I've used the analogy before it be like you know having uh a Wastewater project going on in either of these two towns and not having a Wastewater supervisor um as a district we have one out of every we're at this point we're one out of every five kids is an active English learner and I don't have anybody in my cabinet who's uh responsible for that program and seeing that program forward and I think it's a disservice to those students and and disservice to supporting the education uh supporting that part of the Strategic plan so that's why we feel it's a priority number three and then the thought exchange is the interactive uh survey tool that we've been using um f support of strategic objective number two in sort in an effective way of gathering information collecting feedback the most recent one we did was internally with staff to collect staff climate data uh but the Committees used it for transportation feedback for calendar feedback Etc uh and then also on the next side or on the other side actually hold on so before I leave there so the other two that have the lines through them we will maintain those in the budget so we do there's still a need for that um a specialized program however um one if you remember sort of some of our um tasks or what we as the team needed to do was take a closer look at the budget and take a closer look at internal Staffing and the way some things uh uh essentially we have some programs that will and student need that's going to be exiting the district so so we're going to be able to reassign FTE within the district to meet that need so while the we'll be able to create that need we won't need to add Staffing in order to make it we'll be able to reassign Staffing in order to make that happen so uh the program will still happen and the need will still be met without affecting the budget so that's why that is uh lined off there and why you ultimately see the budget number come down then on the other side the first two uh ared training um arced provides two things one is um this year was the first year we moved all of our mandated train training there's a ridiculous number of things that staff have to do every year um and from mandated training mandated reporter training to um Title 9 training to title 7 training to title or I think might M title seven up title no title two to yeah uh to um a whole host and so we've this helped systematize that and and systematize the sign off and and um and then and additionally there's also a data platform that will support the committee um as we move into next year and we start the negotiation process um with uh we'll start with the teachers then after that we'll be back with the dyrs AA and SEIU so there's a a data platform that helps support that process and then um the then foreign language textbooks helps again support strategic objective one as do the transfers which are budget neutral but each of those transfer positions again uh FTE transfers help support strategic objective one and then these are additional um priorities that we just uh couldn't support funding this year for diff from our recommendations for this year as I've mentioned it's important to have a prioritized list um for a couple different reasons one uh because um as we continue to move forward it gives and as we start the budget building process for FY 27 it gives us a place to start from and as we meet back with the with each of the internal leadership team to be able to say are these still priorities are these still things that we feel we need um and also should we have you know any at Surplus at the end of the years and there's some of these small piece small things that we might be able to chip off instead of just saying you know asking for a wish list we we have a prioritized list that we can go back to and whoops I'm ahead of my own slides all right so that brings us I'm going to turn this slide over to David and the next couple of slides over to David to walk through the function code so this is just the the summary by the high level summary from the Department of Ed function function codes of the the 1,000 through the 9,000 accounts it is down slightly from the last time well there's some changes pluses and minus from the last time as I alluded to with the governor's figures coming out and also getting an inkling from the cape card Municipal health group as to what that was going to be coming into this year I've updated those two things so the good part is on tuition was one of the lines down in 9,000 that I said was going to potential Chang based on Charter and school choice tuition that actually went down round figures $15,000 from what I had a couple weeks ago because the governor's figures came out very close to this year but down 15,000 so I updated it to the governor's version on the health insurance I had been holding 5% and at the meeting last week of the municipal Health Group it looks like the recommended increase is going to be 6 and a half per. so I added 1 and a half% of the cost of health insurance into that figure which is in the 5,000 benefits and fixed charges now you do see the plus minus as a negative for the year in the far right column and really what that's doing is it's balancing out all the turnover we had this year coming into this year with the 33 35 positions that we had to unfortunately lose and turnover and retirements we had initially budgeted all the savings just on the salary line what's the turnover in whole put it all up in the 2,000 accounts but now that we were you know halfway into the year I've got an exact picture of who's remaining on the health insurance versus who had left where they were where the savings the salary portion was it the health insurance portion and I balanced that out going forward into um next year so it's really it's just a plus and a minus between the 2,000 and the 5,000 accounts due to the total amount of turnover in staff but I wanted to set a new Baseline going into next year for what those figures should be so that's why it looks like it's a negative there because those probably 600,000 or so that needed to be shifted as of right now so you take the plus 600,000 minus the increase from next year and at least to a net minus that I can take out of the budget 282 when you net the two against each other and those are the only changes so it does bring us down to a 4.49 6% overall increase on the operating budget and the debt Services that's changed because we know those amounts are fixed the 4 million 9,647 for next year we've got some a little bit more detail going into these coming up so this takes those function codes and just represents it graphically so you can see we go through numerically the bottom right is the administration at 3% and as we go around the wheel instruction is the largest piece of the pie at 54% pupil Services which is you know Athletics nursing it's an odd mix of things they put in there 3% Transportation 7% of the total maintenance and utilities another 7% benefits and insurance at 15% of the total private school transportation that's out to less than 1% our fixed assets 1% tuition to other schools be that school choice charter school or out of District special education placements 10% and that's you know this is the operating budget so I don't have the um the 8,000 accounts in here for the debt because it's I was focusing on the operating budget on this P so then it leads to especially now the governor's numbers out how do we calculate the assessments to the towns so this Slide the last time we met you know FY 26 was blank and I'm happy to share that the net state aid has gone from 10.6 million to almost 12 2 million a one a one point Just sh yeah $ 1.6 million increase almost which is great because it's actually a larger dollar increase this year to next year than we realized last year to this year because I wasn't sure if that Trend was going to squeezed down we knew we were going to get more the question was how much more so I was happy to see and you can see it more easily graphically here that you know in the blue bars since the student opportunity Act was implemented seeing a steady rise over these four fiscal years and you look at 22 was just shy of you know $5 million now over $12 million so it's more than doubled in these four years so we really have been a great beneficiary of the student Opportunity Act funds coming in and just to reiterate that that's additional targeted funds toward some of what they refer to as the subgroups of like the high need subgroups that Mark shade on that previous slide so all the students that fall into those categories economically disadvantaged first language not English the state is giving additional funds on a per pupil basis to districts and that's what's leading directly to the blue bar is increasing for us so then with the foundation enrollment you know we actually knew this figure because we use we lag a year behind when calculating for the assessments we use the trailing five years so for the FY 26 budget it's fiscal years 21 through 25 that get used in the foundation enrollment so the 5year average is now 30.6 68 for Dennis and 69.3 32% for Yarmouth this has a point of reference last year it was 30.9 and 69.1 to round it off so a slight shift towards Yarmouth again this year and this just shows the foundation enrollment Trend graphically over the past number of years and you can see the line is a percentage the bar graphs are the numbers but you can easily see between the two lines that it's shifting getting a little bit wider towards Yarmouth from Dennis and you know Mark mentioned a little bit earlier just just to reiterate your foundation enrollment is all the students and Dennis and Yarmouth that we are financially responsible for so not only is it our children that come here to Dy it's the outer District students the charter school students in the school choice out students who are Dennis and Yarmouth residents and we are responsible for them financially so that's the difference between the IND District enrollment and the foundation enrollment so over time probably heard me mentioned that the first factor in calculating the assessment is the town's minimum contribution that is set by the department of Ed every year and it's based on two factors the relative income wealth of the residents of the two towns in the relative property wealth of the Two Towns property wealth is updated every two years by the state in the formula and the um income is typically every year to two years A lot of times it's on the off Year from the property wealth years so you can see over time that you know going back to 2019 know a big shift towards Yarmouth almost nothing for Dennis again in 2020 2021 Dennis was a little higher and 2022 coming out of covid both dropped down but then paying attention to 20 3 forward you know Dennis primarily driven by property values had a higher minimum increase in 23 than higher again in 24 well then in 25 they looked more at relative income and yarma shifted a little bit higher and now with updated property values being used for 26 we're back to Dennis having a higher minimum increase so this just leads in both towns contribute a lot more than the minimum we're not saying that they're not this is just to illustrate why when we get to the actual form in the end the Two Towns don't have an equal percentage increase in their allocations for next year it's because this is the first step so if the state puts 6% towards one and 4% towards the other it's going to skew that in the very first level of calculating the assessments and then this just shows the cumulative increase over time so you can see there's the Gap in Yarmouth is cumulatively higher but the trend going back to 2018 to present is almost the same total increase over that point in time as I was trying to show here it's just that you know in different years they're going to shift one more than the other in any one given year but the total over the past whatever that is eight years is almost the same between the two on a percentage basis so then we get into how do I actually calculate the assessments and when I say I it's like you know it's applying the regional agreement and it starts off with you know the revenue offset so what money comes comes directly to us so that's our state aid the Chapter 70 the transportation Aid and the local receipts things such as you know our miscellaneous income and things like that that come to us then the next step is applying the oops somebody I want to stay back on that last side if you don't mind the minimum one is as I was just stating applying the required minimum step by Department of Ed and then the net amount third step down is what's left in the budget so we take our entire operating budget subtract out the revenue subtract out the state aid subtract out the minimum local contributions what's left that last piece is what is split up by the fiveyear average Foundation amount so you know we've been after having met with the with some of the folks from the Two Towns I think this is this is the point that we're trying and you know we've added a couple slides here to talk through talk this through I think this is the point that we're trying to help as many people as possible understand which is the piece relative to the minimum required contribution and I think generally speaking and I understand why folks generally think that we just take the amount to be assessed and essentially sort of it's a 7030 split I mean the the percentages might be slightly off from that but there there's just a general sort of I think a general assumption that okay well you know the cost just roughly get split may you know take the revenue off the top and then the cost roughly get split 7030 between Yarmouth and Dennis and this is the I is is and it's a complex piece for folks to understand because it's I don't know state math um but this this is the first part actually really the second part in the the assessment formula and and and it for the um for the regional agreement and we're trying to figure out the best way to illustrate this to folks and so first we take off the revenue right so um that roughly this year is about1 17.5 million comes right off the top right because that comes right to us so that never gets assessed to the towns and then the second step is we have to then do the minimum required contribution so to David's Point both towns pay well above the minimum but when calculating the assessment we have to start there so last year and I can't read my numbers from here probably need to strengthen my contacts but Dennis uh's assessment last year was 13 13,29 619 and yarmis was 17 Mill excuse me 7 27 million 378 684 so the state determines the governor's budget determines what is going to be the increase we don't set that the state does so for Dennis this year that increases a M11 15, 160 so that is a relative to what the minimum required contribution was last year that's an 88.4% increase for Dennis and for Yarmouth the increase is 1.6 1,676 966 increase now it's bigger number but because their base is bigger it's only a 6.1% increase you know it's like if they one town was paying 100 bucks and it their increase went up by $10 and another town was their their base was $200 and their increase went up by $12 it's more but it's a smaller percentage one increases 10% the other one 6% I did the math right I think um so and that's the same here so the base the bottom of the the the pyramid went up bigger for one town than it did for the other just at the start and that's where that's the first layer of the pie that we peeled off then the rest is where we apply the 6030 or the 7030 split and this year it was 69 whatever the numbers David was just told us 79 or 69. 332 332 to 30.6 30. 668 so oh and I have them right up there on the slide um so that's the remaining amount in blue so for uh Dennis that's 6 million 68,9 67 and for Yarmouth that 69.3 32% is of the remaining amount is $3,785 15 and then when you put all of that together you get a increase for Yarmouth this year which is 3.18% on their assessment it's lower than what our overall budget increase is and for Dennis their increas is closer to what our but it's actually a little bit higher because their jump in their overall assessment was much bigger than by comparison to what their base was based upon the minimum required contribution because of what the first peel off was and that's all baked into the regional agreement and and that's all set by the that whole bottom piece is all set by the governor's budget and the six the 70 30 or 69 31% is all just the blue part of the equation and and that's that's an important part for for everybody to understand in in the establishment of the assessment turn it back to you here on this one sir which so this is just really taking what was Illustrated there graphically in you know starting from the the top and working down so again the operating budget request would be the 8,347 758 minus the state aid Revenue 16, 28874 less the estimated local receipts a milion 320 there is a total assessment on the operating budget of 62 mil 7391 and as we would just showing required minimum local contribution for Dennis and Yarmouth is up 8.44 2% for Dennis and up 6.125% on the minimums for the 43,372 which then leaves the 19 mil 358 582 to be divided out by the Two Towns at the 30.6 68% 69.3 32 leaving the total operating assessments of 20.2 million for Dennis or 4.55 s% and 42.4 77 million for Yarmouth 3.18% and those two add back to the total assessment of 62 m739 011 and then just to final payment on the high school bond is FY 26 so it was issued in 2005 it's $416,000 there are two bonds that have been issued on this new building 2,828 294 for principle and interest and then there is a also a ban Bond anticipation note that's the short-term interim financing we doing until the project is finally closed out with the msba to keep the cash flow in place but there's anywhere from1 and a. half to $2 million that the msba still owes us back once they finally do the close out of the project and audit it so personally I didn't want to long-term finance that $2 million if we don't need to we'll take it out of the final borrowing so in the interim we have to do these Bond anticipation notes 846 203 for total debt service next year $ 4,964 thank you gentlemen so much for the explanation I know you know there has been some changes and changes in the good you know the numbers lower from when we first met and first discussed this um and now open the public hearing for anyone that would like to ask ask any questions is there anyone in the public that would like to speak Mr Simon could just say your name and and ask a question as unaccustomed as I am to being the first person at the mic make sure the microphone's on the green it is on okay there we can hear you now uh first of all I'd like to uh uh thank uh Dr Smith uh for starting the budget process far earlier than we have ever uh worked before by the way I'm Richard Simon um Yarmouth resident uh and also the uh chair of the finance committee in Yarmouth so uh I think my first again thank you to Dr Smith uh for uh really sort of opening the kimona a lot earlier uh and having conversations with the towns far in advance um there are a number of detailed questions that uh in fact uh David and I just before the meeting started to dig into the ins and outs of the $2 million uh increase in transportation from uh 2023 to 2026 and there's a couple of other types of those transaction or specific questions uh so we are looking forward to continuing to work uh with Dr Smith and his team um and we're hoping for efficiency because we do have a new inum uh Finance person uh perhaps to save some time uh we could perhaps collaborate uh with uh your team and concurrently with uh the town of dentist so that we can cut uh you know reduce the amount of time that we spend behind uh going digging into the details I do have a couple of U items also related to um very specific requests for the amount of uh the specific numbers for the students in the special ed program um the uh students who are part of the uh who have the largest need for uh language um and again and David said that he did send over the detailed um wage report to the town so we'll be taking a closer look at that as well uh to map that in so uh again I appreciate the uh the hard work that's gone into the budget so far and looking forward to working uh as we go through our budget review cycle and coming back with our recommendations to our towns thank you thank you Mr Simon We Appreciate both the towns willing to work with us through this process so thank you would anyone else like to speak seeing none I will um now allow the school committee to speak on the budget we go start with Mr Glenn and move down if you have nothing you can pass or make any comments or statements yeah nice try uh um thanks so much for the presentation again um just getting back to the uh uh McKinny vento and that percentage do we know what that percent percentage of reimbursement is roughly so it it really has varied from year to year Joe because what the state does is they set aside x amount of dollars and then they receive all the claims from all the school districts in the state and then quite honestly they just divide one by the other so if they you know do some easy math they set aside $100 million for the state they get $200 million in claims to give everybody 50% back so if might have the next year maybe they set aside $100 million again and for whatever reason it was only $125 million worth of claims so then you're going to get 80% back so there really is no set formula other than they divide out equally the amount of money that they have set aside by the number of claims that are received from all the schools so in the example that Dr Smith gave about um somebody that was in Born um and we have to share that how is that broken down how do we negotiate with born and that instance or how does that break down respons so the split is the split is 5050 okay so that is set in the statute the negotiation potentially could be do they have a vendor or capability to do something better than we could or less more efficiently less costly in Easy case might be say us in barnable maybe one of our own buses small buses could just run right over the border to a bronal school potentially and it's really not costing us anything other than time or vice versa maybe they have some a vehicle or van that they use and can jump over here and either bring a kid or get a kid back in the case of us in born or Falmouth really not the case other than maybe they have a vendor that they've worked with that we haven't and they might give a slightly better cost and then we'll split that lower cost 50/50 between the two so our office particularly Rose does a very good job of reaching out to the other schools and the vendors to make sure that both us and them are calling around who can find the best contractor now it's a relative term they're all very expensive but we're always going to use the most reliable least expensive one that we can find then it to split 50/50 yeah so we just do our best and correct yeah um end projections did we make do we make those so soon or well everything's been everything's been submitted to the state they have not certified it yet it's my anticipation that is probably going up adding to our end about I'm going to guess 8 to 900,000 in round figures great um when when we are calculating the overall assessments um the required minimum contribution those reimbursements that we might get for a yaret student whether they're economically disadvantaged or transportation reimbursements we don't separate that by Town even though the required minimum contribution is separated by town the the reimbursements that we get back from the state aren't separated they're just separated correct by the district right that comes in as general fund Revenue to the district under the um the aid for transportation Aid estimate and last question um so the 3.18 for yarm at than the 4.58 uh for Dennis if Dennis's number gets lowered uh yits obviously would would get lowered significantly but I can't do the math on how that would break down right so it's you would do it proportionately at that real round figure 7030 figure 6931 so you know let's make that math easy if Dennis wanted to go down 310,000 using the 31 right then Yarmouth would go down 600 990,000 and you'd be down a million dollars for accommodating one town for 310,000 because you you have to keep that proportionate share proportionate not to reiterate the same word but the cuts need to be if there were Cuts need to be done proportionately between the two towns so the percentage increase of 3.18 and 4.58 what's the overall District increase for the year so the increase per town is 3.1 yep the dollar amount is Oh I thought I had that so I know on the fun you talking about the operating budget increase yeah it's 4.49 oh but that was that was under the function codes but that was before the the re right yeah but that's still the still the op the operating budget increase and then part of that is taken care of through um Revenue right so the state revenue covers plus local receipts cover that and the rest is covered through assessment okay so it's the 4.49 is the number for the operating total operating budget increase correct it's 4.49 okay great thank you so much thanks for the information Mr new thank you I'd like to Echo what Mr Glenn said I feel that uh the presentation over these three weeks has been extremely informative and the breakdown uh in my opinion made things very clear as where the money is going and how it's going uh I just have one concern uh in the budget uh the elimination of the math interventionist I feel that that is something that is necessary and important uh to improve our scores in that particular area that's at the uh intermediate school so there a possible way moving forward within that budget that would be something I would like to see added into it other than that uh very clear presentation thank you so much for all the work that you put into it and uh for me was very easy to discern can I ask a a question of that a comment please so are you saying under the priority two we seeing that St out is that we referring to so priority three and maybe it wasn't called out clearly that was actually moved up to Priority 3 and it is in there and because it's transferring one FTE to another there's no cost associated with it EXC so under priority 3 continued you see DYI transfer classro teacher to math interventionist all right let me write that in thank you welcome I think the difference is that the the middle school teacher was not added so a math interventionist from middle school was not added but the interventionist for the intermediate was an FTE transfer so I think that's so there was two position asked for they were both in the lower priorities one was moved to an FTE transfer if I'm correct and one was not added great thank you for that just for clarification I appreciate that thank you Mr Morris I appreciate the sense of the question to come you just answered my biggest question about the role of different staff when you're calculate their involvement in the given school or program I try to keep track of the ins and outs all I know is in 1975 the two enrollments were proportionally that's all I did just compare the two it was a 6040 uh or 7030 split and that was the ratio of elected members from Dennis and Yarmouth to the brand new Dy High School add-on counting the elementary school has now period both of them now included in the K to2 new K to2 region this we never went this deep when we first started looking at the combination of population student population determining the size of the budget and the number of people on the school committee and it's not obvious except when you answer the question that's not spoken thanks 1975 they're going to talk about midnight of 1989 I lost Mr Mr Martin M Landers thank you I think this is our third time going through this so a lot of us have already had the opportunity to ask a lot of questions to make comments so I don't want anyone to think we're not you know fully engaged but you know this is our third or fourth and and those of us on the finance committee even more so so um my only request at this point and echoing a little bit of what Mr new said is um I would like to see a DM math interventionist I'm glad to see that we are able to transfer an FTE for DYI to have a math interventionist and that's so that would be grade um six and seven but I firmly strongly believe that we need a math interventionist at the 4 five level oh I switched it um we're getting one for we're getting one for four five we need one for six7 we need them four to seven basically in this building I've this is something I've asked for probably every year that I've been on this school committee is extra support for math in this District um we have coaches but the coaches are for the teachers and for the administration in each building our math scores are not where they should be and we need to spend our money money strategically and spend our money where the need is and I'm glad to see we're able to transfer FTE to cover the sped positions and I would like to see a second math interventionist included in the budget thank you Miss buus uh I'm not going to repeat what Mr new and Miss Landers has just said but I'm also in agreement uh I think it does have to be an priority to um I recognize that uh we voted on a tenative budget at a certain percentage so I am suggesting here that it might take some perhaps reflection on the central office District administration Staffing uh are there ways to still provide some sort of service or um monitoring of the El program uh perhaps without having a uh full-time uh e director um you know we do have student supports and some sort of programs within the central office there's been a leveling off of ratios so some sort of creative looking at Staffing maybe we can have uh an e additional staff member but not perhaps at the director level that would be my only suggestion uh the goal is is always to make sure that we do have another math interventionist at the middle school level thank you so much yeah we've had some great presentations um as I mentioned earlier we had some great meetings with the town um I think the ask of them to talk earlier helped us um got us engaged got us asking what our priorities were um and as Dr Smith said gearing our priorities based on our strategic plan um kind of helped us guide where we are I think we've made strides over the years and we've gotten things that we've asked for I'm you know happy where we've gotten um obviously I wish all the priorities could be on there um but we know that's that's not that's not possible um in a perfect world they they would be um but I'm I'm happy I didn't hear the World level uh level funded or unlike it was all times last year um you know but the you know the the concern I have is you know slide 26 I know I've heard people say this the net state aid um 2022 we had 5 million this year we had almost 12 million so what happens to our budget when there's $7 million not in it um and I know we went up higher than we thought but again the student Opportunity Act we don't know when that's going to end but we know what happened with Esser and we lost 35 and a half positions not all because of Esser um but what happens when we lose part of that 7 million um we can't afford to cut 35 and a half more we can't afford to have zero uh options on our priorities and I know I'm not asking the questions it's just that it's a concern that we have to have David is ready to respond I just want to clarify one one thing I think based on the way you're saying it Tomas is that unless the state does a complete upheaval of what they've done in the past state aid is always hold harmless from one year to the next so this is setting a new base for us every year so even if the student Opportunity Act ended the $7 million extra isn't going away what could potentially go away is these year-over-year increases that you're seeing to this level because there are approximately 240 of the 350 school districts that only receive the minimum right so we're one of the 110 that are greatly benefiting from this and you're right I it's definitely a valid concern but the concern is really diminishing increases and not taking away what's there because they've always had a hold harmless from one year to the next yeah I think like a way to look at it is if if the minimum required contributions had been more balanced let's say both had gone up like in equal um amount I I I can't do the math in the back of my head but but based upon the fact that Dennis's I mean yarmouth's is that got a assessment increases like somewhere in a 31 in that ballpark I don't have the numbers I I moved the page but and and uh uh Dennis's is is pretty close to where our overall operating budget increas is if they had been more similar the actual assessments to the town would likely be less this year than what our overall operating budget increase is because the state a increase was significant so if the state aid increases level off then ultimately what that's going to mean is more of a burden on the local municipalities to fund the operating budget so the what what SOA has done is is helped the school district continue to move forward without pressure on um without as as much pressure on the local on our local partners for local assessment exactly you know in the state aid is up about 12% so that's to Mark's point you know our budget we're looking at just call it four and a half well the state Aid's going up to 12 so it it is helping to offset the burden on the Two Towns perect thank you for clarifying that so in essence the difference would be you know if we get an increase of a million dollars versus you know 800,000 so that 400,000 or 300 whatever the difference is would have to be split by the town so they'll be they obviously could be a burden in the future we just don't know when or or how much um and then I think the last question I have I know rough numbers we talked about it I don't know what has changed so you know a lot of stuff we heard is 2 and a half percent right the town on the budget gives us 2 and a half% um and I know for Dennis the last conversation we have above 2 and a half% is about 330,000 is it still around that number yes the variance yes between 2 and a half% in the 4.5 % yes is right around and then for Yarmouth the 2 and a half% plus the 250,000 the difference came to around 80,000 above correct correct okay so just so we know where we are sitting right so in essence we're asking the town of Dennis for 330,000 more um than what 330,000 over 2 and a half% and we're asking the town of Yarmouth for 80,000 which is 2 and a half% plus the 250 that we've agreed upon last year so 880,000 for the town of Yarmouth about 330,000 compared to what in essence our original conversations they set aside so I just wanted to say those numbers out loud because we we're talking percentages but dollar-wise um and I know majority of both towns are here but we we've explained this numbers to both Town managers and then you know we'll go from there from what happens between now or presentations and then Town meetings or where they sit or if they're funded so just wanted to make sure we discuss those numbers so Dr Smith or uh David anything before I close public I just you know I am slated uh uh to go in front of uh each of the boards and finance committees over the coming three plus weeks so um more more information to come but um we did schedule a series of uh series when we met last week we set a bunch of uh I was invited to to do a trim down version of this um but but to present this information to full to the full boards um in front of both towns thank you and then I I you know would be remiss if I didn't say thank you to David I know we're going to discuss um publicly discussed David's departure but um on behalf of all the committee and members of both towns the residents and the uh select boards and town managers we appreciate all the work you have done for us um you make it sound easy on numbers that we don't I don't necessarily understand or maybe others don't understand um but we've been able to accomplish great things and get the things we've needed because we've had explanation and the data that you provided for us and for the towns has been appreciated so thank you David um and seeing that I will officially close the public hearing so we'll move to the next item on the agenda um I know they're excited about this now the student Representatives report Miss p p Miss R oh good evening everybody I hope you've all had a good week and weekend thank you so much for having me um AA was away this weekend and she is still on her drive home so she's not here today but she sends her regards and honestly not too much to report on for Dy right now it's sort of we started um semester 2 last week so everybody's just getting the hang of their new classes and it really not that much going on I know for seniors it's been very bittersweet because it's our last semester and then everybody else is just sort of taking this as like a reset in the middle of the year I think as per usual uh we held our annual poetry out loud on Friday the 17th which is a really beloved Tradition at DUI and I know ever since I was in eth grade I've gotten to go and I think this year there was really something different in the air and I know that the teachers sort of reflected on it as well because usually what they have is they have like every person come to a to the auditorium and this year they had like classes sign up so it was really more like everyone that was there really wanted to be there and everybody was invested and all of the performers were so amazing and so far beyond anything that I've seen at Dy before so I think that's just a sad to miss mcmah like our theater director and a lot of the people performing in our English Department of course so that was really amazing and then we also have our mcast science retakes taking place I think beginning on Wednesday so those are this week and then um as for sports news our girls track and field winter came first in the cap and Islands League meet and our boys came third so the girls were undefeated this entire season as for usual again coor is quite the leader for them and um the boys were also doing amazing and then we have our senior nights starting for all of our Sports so winter track doesn't really get like a typical senior night just because all their meets are away but they already had their league meet which sort of acts as theirs and then Boys Hockey is next Wednesday I think boys basketball is next Tuesday and I know girls basketball is next Tuesday and girls hockey is sometime next week as well and then going ahead I think everybody's just excited about February break we've got like a week and a half left of school so everyone's just counting it down and not too busy at DUI these days thank you so much and then um you know just briefly talked about David's departure um we have the introduction of our interim Director of Finance and operation um I'll let Dr Smith take that over thank you uh so I'd like to welcome um uh our interim Director of Finance and uh operations uh Mr John Ferris who's going who's sitting down there I'll have him come up to the podium in just a second and introduce himself um John comes to us uh after retiring from over 10 years of working as the Director of business and finance with the hangam schools as well as five plus years uh in a similar role with the Norwell Public Schools um he started with us just last week um and again this week and he's been making himself already a part of the team uh he's working closely with David on transition as well as meeting key staff um and learning their roles um he's got a strong which he can tell you more about but he's definitely he's got a strong accounting background worked in um private sector accounting before transitioning into into the schools um and he'll be he's already established himself that it'll be a strong fit helping us in this transition period uh before we move to a um permanent U try to make a permanent replacement for David probably no such thing as a permanent replacement for David but we'll do our best uh and I'll talk about that process a little bit later during my superintendent report but I'd love to welcome John up to the podium um just say a couple words to the committee I just hit the green button John first mean you got to push the button for green light now it's on yes thank you um good evening everybody hi my name is John Ferris thank you for the introduction Mark I really appreciate it uh my background is I spent 25 years in industry in big companies I had uh Verizon and the telephone company for 17 years and then I was in cable companies of delier and Comcast for another seven years or so so 25 years before I ventured into education um I did recently retire in 22 after 11 and a half years of being the director at um and Hing and public schools Director of Business and support services my credentials I'm licensed business manager of course I'm mcppo which is the Massachusetts certified procurement professional um I maintain those certifications and I have have maintained them over the years uh my training is I was at a BBA from University of Massachusetts in Amherst and um my master's degree is also in accounting from Bryant University in Rhode Island so yes I do have a very strong accounting background I'm quite uh a number person so you know I I can read a bunch of numbers and probably start telling a story and the stories go on in my head we'll see as we go along whether they're true or not but um I'm sure that everybody in the organization will help me um answer my questions because they ask a lot of questions and I think um that's the best way to learn and I'm happy to be here thank you for having me thank you thank you John we look forward to working with you next we have our subcommittee Representatives leaz report uh first will be leaz select board town of Dennis I see there's none um town of Yarmouth anything um I I think the superintendent's gonna uh address the EM small and the uh madaki utilization committee so those have been subjects but I'll let the superintendent handle that perfect thank you um and then the Cape Cod collaborative I believe that would be you Mr Morris you'd be correct the new director of the collaborative is taken her position public at the January 24th Regional educational issue legislative breakfast of which uh was co-sponsored uh by the collaborative and by Dy and region 7 of the collaborative board of directors we belong to re region 7 and and with the Advent of Carver being brought into the offices of the collaborative Carver belongs to region 7 and that's the present representative to the board of directors the legislative breakfast highlighted and gave examples of the interactive Forum that we've been doing doing at the the collaborative and masc for at least 20 years and so we had an opportunity to not only highlight and introduce new faces such ASO hope hansum for that position most recently in having a position in similar in m but also the fact that we had people have a chance to see our new school this one and it was they didn't I've heard several staff members teachers administrators from other school districts want to know how did you do this well I I a short answer was it was a team effort of good hardworking sensitive people from both towns and different occupations so we will be having uh a return to the board of directors meetings usually held by Zoom or in person at the headquarters in Osterville but the this legislative breakfast was an opportunity for school supporters to talk to State reps and state senator uh uh about what issues are going to be gerain to the towns and through the schools no predictions were made except they'll do it their give it their best look so anyway it was a pleasure to watch us show off what is our normal highlevel behavior pattern of hard work and ethical behavior and good education thank you and I what I what I think was great about the the meeting with the collaborative is kind of to what Mr Glenn talked about earlier about the transportation needs all of the schools there said the same thing and you know I know that was Mark's key thing about the increase from year to year um and there was some great discussion of you know what Mark talked about earlier is how can we share this is there a bus going by a town a student a person um and utilizing the collaborative to be that middle person that middle company to see how they can assist um because we're not the only ones sending a student to Plymouth for services that we can't provide on Cape and then the discussion was why are we not providing services on Cape why aren't there organizations doing that um and by putting pressure on you know the collaborative and telling them what we need they can work with other entities to create opportunities so overall it was a it was a great discussion Dr Smith yeah and I would just the only thing I would add is that so I one of the other things that I'm involved in is the the cap and Island superintendent meet regularly once a month and I chair that um committee with another one of the other superintendents and we've we've agreed as a group that we're going to the and we play a role in organizing that legislative breakfast in that we want to be more organized um as a group and develop a subcommittee that is going to meet and that was I know I myself and one of the other superintendents had a sidebar with um with our Senator and that Senators interested in um as well staying because you know I participated last year but I was a brand new didn't really understand what was going on and we both agreed well the three of us really um agreed that there was a need for both from the legislative side and from the superintendent side for us to set up some type of a subcommittee that's working on a more regular basis to move the these because we have we had similar conversations last year and then nothing happened for a year right so uh we learned some good things about some bills that Senator like the senator from Plymouth has on the to try to move forward to try to address some of these Transportation pieces for cost control Etc so I think if we can maintain some of the momentum that came out and the only way the momentum is going to ma maintain is if some people stick with it right stick with these conversations so um I know the superintendant are interested in in keeping that that moving forward and working with the legislators they have a role right and they have things that they can move that we can't but they need our voice to help keep them moving forward so perfect thank you and then School building committee any updates there really just as it pertains to the fields as we've talked before the um the bid specifications for the rebuild of the field is completely done now it's just with the project managers and they're getting ready to advertise it so hopefully within the next few weeks there will be some real bids on putting that project moving forward and the engineers who designed the specifications said that still two major players in Field construction have still indicated they're interested in wanting to bid on this project so the specs are done and we potentially have biders very interested in bidding on it so within the next few weeks that should The Next Step will be done and hopefully the price is what we're estimating it to be even though hoping to mitigate that down the road but we want it to be a reasonable cost which is why we're doing our own individual bid now anyway thank you so much um now move into the superintendent report all right thank you so starting with recognitions of donations and acknowledgements so I'd like to start uh with some uh donations recognition of donations so starting with uh something that the committee is going to have to take a motion on under your business I just want to a thank you to the Yarmouth Art Guild so the committee will have to take a motion or consider a motion to accept a donation of $88,000 to create a scholarship from uh the Yarmouth Art Guild so again just with sincere thanks to the armouth Art Guild for do that donation and helping establish that scholarship I was last year I remember talking to the committee can't remember the number off the top of my head I think it's somewhere in the ballpark at 650 ,000 if I remember correctly and the total number of scholarships that we give out um annually to students and you know this just is going to add to that total so just huge thanks to our community and specifically tonight to the armouth Art Guild uh second to the uh Robert cook memorial fund uh who funded two scholarships uh to the the German club um so thank you to the Robert cook Yarmouth I in the yarm Robert cook memorial fund which is sort of a part parcel of the um cape um Cape Cod Foundation uh next is three companies or three two companies in in in a family so the clean So Clean Sweep Oceanport construction and Elaine and Michael uh raus uh who for their donations and support of the Dy high school basketball team uh and then next is uh committee members may remember last year they actually came and did a presentation but the the boys Invitational golf tournament uh they ran the tournament again this year and they um donated $20,000 in memory of Dr Paul Funk um $1,000 of that 20,000 or $2,000 $1,000 each to go directly to the boys and girls respectively golf teams and then the remaining 18,000 going into to support generally uh Dy Athletics so again thank you to the to the boys uh Invitational golf tournament for that very generous donation and then another recognition separate from donations uh to the Dy uh marching band I got a letter um a couple weeks ago uh from us bands which is the band the organization that oversees uh the competitions that the marching band participates in and uh to summarize what the letter said largely it said that due to their success during their 202 for season that they've been promoted to open class of competition um which means that they'll be representing the top marching band assemblies ensembles rather during the uh throughout the country for the 2025 season and what this does is this affords them the opportunity to compete at the national champion championships this year or in the 2025 season so congratulations to the marching band for their continued an ongoing success so that's it for recognitions and donations so moving on on to the next bit of information which is uh assistant superintendent Director of Finance operations search timeline so in your packet you have a uh the timeline for um us to begin the unenviable task of trying to find a replacement for David um so you'll see um that as the committee's hopefully come to know a little bit about me me uh I have a bias towards process uh if we Sim similar process for uh finding our principal for Station Avenue um and so thanks to both Maria and Tom Campbell our HR Director they've put together a pretty thorough process U which starts we've already got a posting out um that that posting closes on the 20th of February and then you'll see we'll go through a screening process and then we starting conducting interviews in the middle of March and then if you turn over to the back we'll get down to some semi-finalists and finalists by the end of March um to have a finalist to bring to the school committee at your April 7th meeting this is one of a few positions that have to come in front of the committee by Statute um that has to be appointed by the committee by Statute uh under the recommendation of the superintendent so the um I'll the process brings that forward uh to you by the 7th with a start date for July 1 so uh you know really want to do a thorough process want to make sure we get out there early to get to get a good strong set of candidates um and then be able to establish a a transition plan appropriate um for that and uh you'll notice uh there's a space for a school Committee Member talked with the chair about having the chair appoint a school Committee Member to participate in the search process and um but then having um a well rounded team to help in the selection of this process one additional bit of information which I'll update the committee on as soon as I'm then able to establish that process because I did get notification this week um that we have another person retiring or retiring leaving us but is retiring um uh so the principal of the Ezra Baker School announced that he will be retiring at the end of the year uh the prince of Dennis um Mr Mr Kevin bacon um Kevin Bacon Kevin deppen um will be will'll be retiring at the end of the year so we'll be running another executive search um as well um but I haven't haven't had time to set up that or work with Maria and Tom to set up that process so but that will be coming as well um let's see moving on the next is also in your packet uh you have a letter of support uh for the I know it has to still believe it has it's on their agenda for tomorrow so but the one of the select board members from the town of Yarmouth uh is working on submitting a grant uh through I think it's through yes through ever Source a National Grid um for a uh Municipal energy manager um and the the way the grant is constructed it's a position that sits in the U on the municipal side and will'll do a lot of things to support M um Municipal Energy Efficiency including and must really include a partnership with the schools you know in most you know traditional municipalities that's obviously you know hand inand but for us as a region it's sort of a little a little bit of a a little funkier Arrangement um so anyways this is really largely um or make makes a lot of sense for us as part of our you know going back to the Strategic plan will support our C long-term capital plans um as a simple example this building is preconstructed to support solar but you know one of the conversations is is that the right right plan is it the right energy decision for this I I don't know I'm not an energy and I'm not an energy expert um you know when is the right time to make that decision how do you set those things up in the best way for the district financially um Etc so this this to me seems like a very um smart idea we have other um uh you know as we've sort of transitioned between um the different solar Fields like and and things have moved between uh between the the um the know the turning back of both wixon and madaky um just making sure that all the right solar um credits are going at all the right solar places like this is meant to sort of support all that work as well um and to make sure you know one of the things as we move down the road conversations around both the station Avenue School and the Ezra Baker School longterm the heating for those buildings you know the the msba will support projects that are renovation projects and they support like heat pumps is really what they will largely again I don't know is that the right decision for US Energy isn't really my background so having somebody who's that's their expertise working in the town of armouth to support us in that decision- making is there's a lot of benefits to to the town I mean to the school district to have that position on staff at at the town and it's all supported through this grant so um this is our letter of support from the school school district um and me as a superintendent for this grant process and you know again I know it's on this I'm pretty sure it's on the select board agenda for them to discuss um tomorrow night next is uh Mr Glenn mentioned um The Mad Keys utilization committee or the Muk um and its relationship to our statement of interest for the me small so Muk and mess um I couldn't resist sorry uh um so the so largely the the the Kur fuffle here is that the mes utilization committee as folks are probably aware has a pretty comprehensive process they're looking to make a plan for that that not only the building but the whole complex and as I've been keeping the committee up to date the we are in a process for uh em small and but then that process has just started and msba has their own timelines and their own um set of steps that we have to follow and the the town of Yarmouth has established a process that they want to follow and potentially depending upon how the msba process goes and in partnership with the town of Yarmouth we may need a space to potentially build another School uh but it's the our the msba timeline is way behind where the malie's Mad Keys utilization committee timeline is they're moving faster and where we could accelerate some of the things with msba we would jeopardize our ability to get reimbursement which would hurt both us as a school district and hurt the town of Armen so I met with Bill Scott assistant Town manager from Yarmouth to figure out how do we make these two things line up so what you have in here is a letter from myself to the madak kees utilization committee largely establishing here's where we are that's sort of the bullets here's we're we technically our eligibility period hasn't even started yet doesn't start till April 1st then we have a series of things and and outlines what are the big things that we have to do in partnership with the town of Yarmouth over the first 270 days and that's just the first things we do before we can even start a feasibility study so and that's again that's sort of where it slows down their process and then outlining really like if we're able to go forward what is it we're because the the Muk process is really designed to get a bunch of folks and I'm simplifying the process but largely to get input from a wide variety of stakeholders to determine what to do with that space and one of those stakeholders that they wanted to make sure had a voice in the in the process was education and our main interest is a potential site for a new school so this is really largely saying can you hold some space in whatever you design for us to have a potential need for a new school down the road and so that's um more to come because this is you know they the way that process works is they have they're they're starting with a whole wide scope and then they're narrowing down to a couple scope couple options and they'll bring bring those to the select board Etc so there'll be more um more interaction as we get deeper into the process but this is essentially at holding our spot in line Mr GL yeah thank you and I I just want to commend them because they've the group of people and it's a large group it's ve everybody has been very active um very openminded uh so it's nobody's it's not all these different silos getting trying to get what they want they're really honestly trying to get to what's best for utilizing those things so even though we joke about it being a mck it's a it's a good muck of uh good people um but my question kind of ties them both together the um uh the mck the Emy small and the solar um is there any information that we can give them because the solar Farms there is uh I don't know if we call them a farm but there is that behind me small and they're looking to see what revenues we get what our term is there and here because that's part of that msba conversation too about station AB that's wide open but I I know that I don't know the term or the uh Revenue that we're getting from either of those but I want to I want to be able to update them or someone update them on what that is yeah I we can get we can get the whatever I just would need some specific questions on what it is that they're looking for so whomever I there's a chair of that committee right yeah so if that person wants I think Bill Scott or you know the Town Administrator but I I think they're just looking for what our current terms and revenues are in other words are we at the end of it does that make it easier for them yeah in making their decision but um you guys can work that out I just I just wanted to make sure that that was addressed perfect uh yes Miss Landers I would just like to add one thing Mark um that wasn't in your superintendent's report and that I don't think was in Isabella's report about the All Cape Music Festival did she mention that she did no um so uh last week on Friday students from the high school who had auditioned for and been accepted to the All Cape Music Festival participated in uh rehearsals all day Friday this is with um students across the cape and then Saturday they rehearsed half the day and then had a concert uh and I think there were 40 students from Dy so that's there are two choruses there's the soprano Aldo chorus then a larger chorus then the orchestra and then the band and um I was at the concert and it was phenomenal you know our music program is we've said is just incredible and that we sent so many kids that and that auditioned didn't accept it and participated in uh this festival and this Festival has been going on I think they said for 75 years or something crazy like that and Dy always sends a huge contingency and they did a great job this year so just wanted to mention the music program thank you for that Jenny I appreciate it um so school committee business the first is that we're looking for a motion would someone like to make that motion second so was a motion in a second to they accept a donation of $88,000 from the Y withart Guild that was discussed earlier so we have a motion in a second any discussion okay all those in favor say I I any opposed any abstained so that passes uh the consent agenda we have the $20,000 to the dyrhs athletic department memory of Dr Paul fun that we discussed from the boys Invitational golf tournament we have the donation from Robert cook memorial fund um care of Chris Maly for the German club for sport to students for principal Ben memo that was discussed uh the donation from Clean Sweep in the amount of ,000 Oceanport and 500 and then the private donation from Main and Michael refuse um and 100 for the basketball team uh we have the minutes from January 6 2025 the minutes from January 13 2025 and then I had asked for the subcommittees to make sure that we had those updated on our website so the finance subcommittee October 7th 2024 the finance subcommittee December 16th 2024 and the finance subcommittee January 30th 2025 Tomas the I don't think the finance committee has Ian we're not approving those Finance minutes those are just for information at this point right because the finance committee hasn't approved those minutes that we can just approve them without the finance commit okay just making sure okay so someone want to move to approve I move the consent agenda second second okay any discussion Mr Glenn I just on the golf um I just want to commend them and and I mean that's two years in a row and it's just incredible and they they pretty much did it on their own both years and I want to know or I want to try to encourage them going forward that they know that they got our support in maybe the two towns um can publicize it and and make it even better because they've done such a good job without us um but with us it could be really incredible they they just it's just fantastic So yeah thank you Jo I I I have I didn't see anything about the event myself so I I agree um so we have a motion to Second all those in favor say I I any opposed any up stain so passes um we have bills requisition rules which have gone by calendars um I know we already talked about the school vacation that's coming up I'm on so many pages in here so we have uh Monday the 17th president day and then the 18th to 21st is school vacation um and then not much after that so that is our calendar and then public comment is anyone looking to speak Public public comment will save me okay so uh yep I'm going to welcome you so the our policy and public participation in meetings can be found on the table with the agenda the public is reminded that a school committee meeting is a meeting of the governmental body at which members of uh the body debate deliberate over public business we welcome your attendance and appreciate your interest in viewing your school committee as we conduct a regular business meeting 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 would suggest that you send or give your question and writing to the appropriate person so that your concern 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 opportunity for individuals to address the topics on the agenda each citizen will have up to no more than three minutes the floor is yours uh Carl Monroe Dennis finance committee just wanted to come by and thank you for your service over the last few Cycles I'm sure you're going to miss us dearly um and I appreciated your time thank you thank you Mr mon anyone else seeing none we close public comment any other motions motion to adjourn have a motion we have a second any comment all those in favor say I I any opposed