call the school committee meeting to order Mrs Helman will you please call the role Mrs Cormier present Mrs Hurst present Mr lafrenier present Mrs Leighton she is absent Mrs pavin present m Mr Schwarz present mayor Nicholson is absent Dr pelino present uh Zen the student rep is absent and Mark Hawk Dr Goen and Joyce West are here all right please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance i al to the flag of the United States of America and to theic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all all right moving on to open time for the general public is there anyone from the public who would like to be heard all right the next item on our agenda is the public hearing relating to the fiscal year 2025 school budget proposal I hereby open the public hearing and invite the superintendent and District officials to present their budget materials to those present following the presentation the members of the school committee will have an opportunity to ask questions first of the districts followed by statements made by those members of the public who are present Dr pelo hi everyone um as usual I'd like to go over a few things before we get into the numbers of the budget let's look at the numbers of our students um so first thing I want to just mention is our demographics are still changing um students with high needs um continues to be on an upward Trend um as um is our low-income population our students with disabilities and English language Learners as well um have gone up English language Learners have gone up considerably whereas our students with special needs population has stayed relatively the same um although I I say that percentage is um it it's it's deceitful um in in that we've had a hundred new students with special needs because our population has increased um so much we have increased over the past three years about a little over 100 students so I I think that's important to note our out of District costs um this is um our out of District um placement costs went up as you can see considerably a lot of this we've talked a lot about at um the finance committee meetings um a lot of these um students have been have come to our districts with already out of District placements um but serving everybody's needs we have to make sure that we serve all students so that was an increase this is our school choice enrollment Trends and as you can see it's starting to um come back down to a much more manageable number we had 160 this is right now this is approximate each year when I give this to you um as a budget time we won't know the final numbers until July um however as you can see our enrollment trends of students going out which are the red is the red bars went down to 169 so we're down to just a little bit more we had 162 students coming into the district and 169 students leaving the district very different from back in um FY 18 when you see 300 students going out and 110 students coming in um our numbers aren't quite as tight for the amounts um the cost of students leaving and the cost of student and and the income from kids coming into the district so as you can see um it's about 1.2 million going out of District the reason for that often times is believe it or not our virtual schools um several of our students who go um leave our district go to go to a different districts go to some of the virtual schools which cost $8500 per student as opposed to 5,000 for a physical school and the out ofous replacement costs can went up considerably as well just mentioning the student Opportunity Act we had that um we had a convening of over 40 stakeholders several of you were there as well to talk about who and how should we be using our money and who should we be serving most with our money to make sure we're we're targeting our groups that have the most U marginalized outcomes and so we identified students with disabilities English language Learners economically disadvantaged students Hispanic and latinx populations and uh African-American students so over a three-year period we'll be investing $2.5 million and you guys signed off on this um I think last month a $2.5 million um focusing on um progress both academically and social emotional behavioral behavioral uh issues and then for the mtss process to implement academic support specifically um $4.7 million over the course of the next three years that's again not money that's money that we much of that money is stuff um positions that we've already identified and we already have in the district um I just want to talk about increased Staffing since um I became superintendent in 2017 we've actually added 62 service positions at 3.4 million in 10 administrators at $927,000 so I think that's um pretty substantial because when you talk about the student Opportunity Act we're talking about serving our students and making sure that we're one of the things believe it or not was taking care of our buildings maintenance is one of the things that fell by the wayside when you when you're at minimum net School spending before the student Opportunity Act that's one of the things that got cut so we're really trying to maintain our our buildings and especially our new building we want to make sure that that's beautiful for years to come a decades to come I should say right um again the budget um adjustment process every year we get the principles and directors together um they submit to us uh a level funded expense budget um and then they submit prioritized lists of needs um we go through these needs we talk about we actually cut um this year each um School cut $125,000 from their budget um and what we did was we then said okay well these are your needs these are the positions that we cut now let's put the positions back into the budget most important position first this is a really important exercise for us to make sure that we're putting our most important need needs at the front of the budget um and then with through um uh may may h mark Hawk and um and I we actually sit down with um with each one of the groups and make sure that um we have our level service budget um and then we meet all together in a room focusing on our state balancing the budget now I'm going to turn it over to our Director of Finance and operations Mark H so this slide just shows the uh the total budget this total school budget of the 34476 971 which is the number you'll be voting on tonight if you vote on it tonight and then the pass through of the budgeted costs that don't apply to net School spending that's the money that the city spends mainly on Transportation it doesn't count towards our net School spending number um the indirect cost of over $10 million um and then the total net School spending budget of 41,7 39,000 so where did the money go so on the left you'll see the new Revenue we got uh 2 and A4 million from Chapter 70 next school spending this is the mandated spending by the city increased by 647 th000 uh because of the the Migra flux there's a $104 a day per um student I guess we call a grant it's funding from the state um so we're budgeting $160,000 we anticipate it to be higher than that but that's a safe number to Budget um over net School spending we're at zero uh additional FY 2455 so we have 3,644 181 new dollars and where did it go salary 1.2 million expenses um a lot of this was expenses that we can't cut it's not like paper went up um additions this is confusing it shows 225,000 less but that's because we added $335,000 in new positions last year and this year we're only adding $110 so 335 - 110 is 225 and then non- net School spending shows us a negative 670,000 which is actually an increase to the city of 670,000 which is mainly the special education transportation and regular Transportation increases and then the indirect cost which is mainly health insurance and retirement costs increased by 575,000 the aforementioned um restoration addition was the assistant pupil Personnel Services director um the salary numbers are broken down by regular special ed Support Services School administration Central Administration in Services facilities uh substitutes of the total payroll so you see the 1. almost $3 million increase expenses the $1.8 million increase the biggest one was uh what does that line follow over to other programs is that what it is okay which is the added District placement that Dr pelo spoke about uh there are some other large increases the facilities the transportation one sticks out at $697,000 so total expense increase $1.8 million uh the costs that don't apply to net School spending again it's Transportation so regular Transportation we're asking the city to fund an additional bus an 11th bus because as some of you know they have kids that ride the buses the buses run very tight we have three tiers running one for each school and then we squeeze in Holy Family Academy and all the other runs that they do and in a very short time period which is why the school start times adjusted this year by a couple minutes again um so the minini vento uh the fost M kin vento was the homeless Transportation Forester care special education Transportation um all increased the revenue again it's the uh Chapter 70 net School spending um overnet School spending is at zero and then the homeless emergency money which we have budgeted at 161 160,000 and then uh over the past several years Dr pgo and I felt this was important to include because we are one of the very few districts in the state that are at $0 over net School spending and we are one of the very few districts in the state that has not had any sort of an override ever which is why we're at $0 over net School spending so all of that leads us to a budget gap of 0 which in the Yer years it was a negative number and we backed with Essa so we are existing off of the monies that we are doing thank you okay at this time the hearing is open to any questions from the school committee no um seeing as there's no members from the public there will be no questions from the public um um um seeing as there are no more comments made I'll now entertain a motion to close the public hearing motion second motion made by Mr lenier second by um Robert Schwarz um is there any discussion on the motion seeing is none all those in favor say I I I um the vote passes I mean the motion passes the hearing is hereby closed all right so moving on to to the fiscal year 25 school budget that was just presented with the bottom line number of 34 m476 n71 um is there a motion to accept the budget as presented so move is there a second second motion made by Mr Schwarz seconded by Mr lrer is there any discussion on the motion just want to thank the administrators this is a lot of work and I know it's really tough uh especially with um not getting any uh dollars over net School spending um so appreciate the hard work and and finding a way to do it thank you um is there any other discussion hearing none will'll put the matter to a vote all those in favor say I I all those opposed motion passes moving on to the consent agenda which consists of the approval of minutes the various warrants um and that is it so is there a motion move to approve second um motion made by Mr Schwarz seconded by uh Mrs Cormier is there any discussion on the motion hearing none we'll put the matter to a vote all those in favor say I all those opposed motion carries uh moving on to the subcommittee reports policy subcommittee Mrs Hurst um policy subcommittee me um March 20 and um so in the packet tonight we have we have four for first read and we have five for second read and then we have four for adoption um there's also um should I well we can do the votes later when that comes up on the agenda um yep okay that's about it all right and I neglected to say but the finance subcommittee we didn't actually meet last week because it was during the storm um so we'll obviously be meeting before the next meeting um moving on to the student Advisory Board zaven is not here tonight um discussion items new business item number 3606 appointments of the Keystone and caps collaborative um I think we'll take those separately and do the Keystone appointment first is there a motion on the floor to appoint someone to be our representative to the Keystone collaborative I'll make motion to uh appoint um superintendent pelo is the Keystone representative I'll second that um motion made by Mr L rener seconded by Mrs hearse is there any discussion on the motion hearing none we'll put the uh motion to a vote all those in favor say I I those opposed the eyes have it congratulations superintendent Pino moving on is there a motion for an appointment um for caps collaborative I'll make that motion to um have Dr pelo motion's made to appoint Dr pelino as the representative for caps collaboratives is there a second I'll second um motion made by Mrs Hurst seconded by Mrs Cormier is there any discussion on the matter hearing none we'll put that to a vote all those in favor say I I all those opposed the eyes have it again congratulations thank you um item number 3607 the school Improvement plans um I think we should take those separate too um so um the first plan we'll look at is the ghs plan which is part of your packet we need a motion to approve um that school Improvement plan move to a approve the ghs Improvement plan um motion made is there a second second motion made by Mr Schwarz seconded by Mr lrer to accept the school Improvement plan for the gardener High School um is there any discussion on the motion hearing none um we'll take a vote all those in favor say I I those opposed the eyes have it moving on to the gardener Academy school Improvement plans is there a motion to accept ccept move to approve or approve sorry is there a second seconded by Mr lrer um the motion is um to accept the school Improvement plans as presented for the gardener Academy um all those in favor say I I those uh any opposed motion carries moving on to the Gardner middle school school Improvement plan is there a motion to accept so move second uh motion made by Mr lur frenier seconded by Mr Schwarz for the Gardner middle school school Improvement plan any discussion on the motion um hearing none we'll put that matter to a vote all those in favor say I I all those opposed motion carries moving on to the Gardner Elementary School school Improvement plan is there a motion to accept I'll move um is there a second I'll second it motion made by Mrs Cormier seconded by Mrs Hurst to accept The Gardener Elementary School school Improvement plans all those in favor say I I oppos the eyes have it um moving on to item number 3608 it is the field trip for the gardener middle school for grade seven to canaby Lake Park on June 7th 2024 do we have a motion to approve so move is there a second second second oh fine you can do it motion made by Mr lrer seconded by Mrs Cormier is there any discussion on the motion U Mr Schwarz isn't it kind of early to uh for us to approve this now there there were a lot of other things like who are the guidance people are going to be or the the uh what do they call them shapon shaon yeah who the Sha are I I think by policy we have to um you have to approve the trip itself 60 days beforehand so I think we're right under the wire all right um is there any other discussion hearing none we'll put the matter to a vote all those in favor say I I I all those oppos the eyes have it um moving on to item number 3609 to add air Shirley to the Caps collaborative and accept an updated Charter um Dr pelo so um a a shirle um has a number of students who are participating in um caps programs they are a part of um the Keystone collaborative as well um to add them on would only make us A Little Bit Stronger quite frankly um so it would be helpful to to add them on and so we we they had to change the charter and in order to change the charter they need all school districts that are part of the collaborative to approve it okay so we'll need a motion to approve air Shirley to become part of caps collaborative and accept that updated Charter I did I make that motion motion made by Mrs Hurst is there a second uh motion made by Mrs Hurst seconded by Mr Schwarz is there any discussion on the motion hearing none we'll put that matter to a vote all those in favor say I I those opposed motion carries item number 3610 the first reading of policies Mrs Hurst we have four for first reading that are in your packet we have IMG animals in school JF School ad um admissions jfbc School tuition policies and JH student absences and excuses um then we have five for second reading um that's I MB teaching about uh Alcohol Tobacco and drugs ihba AA observation of special education programs ibf homebound instruction IB h e remote learning and jfb bullying so I'd like to make a motion to accept the policies as presented in the packet um motion made by Mrs hurse is there a second second um seconded by Mrs Cormier is there any discussion on the motion to accept those as presented I just just want to add for the sake of the public that uh upon reading the the changes of these and all other policy changes that we have made along the way that they are written so that they become more clear and easier to understand and also as a result of changes in the law of of the Commonwealth that's why these changes are being made so we're really staying up to date that's all I have thank you um any other discussion on the motion hearing none we'll put the matter to a vote all those in favor say I I all those opposed hearing none that motion passes and then um Mrs Hurst the policies for adoption we have four for adoption IBG home education IJ OA field trips ijoc School volunteers I student submission to educational surveys and research these are um policies that masc has um and um I make a motion that we adopt these for our district motion made by by Mrs Hurst is there a second a second um seconded by Mrs Cormier is there any discussion on the motion hearing none we'll move to a vote all those in favor say I I I those oppos um motion carries uh moving on to the policy for removal Mrs Hurst uh we have policy jfa grade placement for students leaving Charter Schools um it's just a redundant policy and and it really isn't necessary um and I'd like to make a motion to remove it from our policy manual motion made by Mrs hurse is there a second a second seconded by Mrs Cormier is there any discussion on the motion hearing none we'll put that matter to a vote all those in favor say I I those opposed the motion carries to remove that policy moving on to item number 3612 the curriculum coordinator update that's included in your packet um is there any questions comments concerns hearing none we'll move on to item number 3613 the grants administrator update also included in your packet is there any questions comments concerns from anyone hearing none will keep the money rolling in uh moving on to item number 3614 the special education update that was also included in your packet any questions comments concerns moving on to item number 3615 the CPAC update Mrs HSE I don't have anything tonight I hadn't had time to talk to anybody and um Joyce has put it in her report anyways so all right thank you moving on can I just Y what was the um basic rights well attended orally had the same number of um parents that have been consistently that's good that's good um the basic rights is something that they have to do every year and um they made the um presentation onto slides and it'll be available for people who haven't been able to see it which I think is a great idea and they're also looking at translating it into other languages as needed thank you Joy all right thank you moving on to Communications um i' just like to say the other day it was hopefully our last snowfall however we still have two days that we would have to make up if there's any more snow um after the eclipse today um I think um quite frankly uh director um director of Health Services Becca mcaffry handled it very well putting out Communications um we were very nervous just to let you know we were very nervous about purchasing glasses it's something we considered but there are so many counterfeit glasses we were very concerned about purchasing them um in in an expedited manner to get them in on time but if anybody saw it it was kind of cool um but uh yeah and the last thing I just want to say is we're in the middle of mcast things are going very well it's like a well-oiled machine um I really appreciate all the hard work of the teachers the the um the administrators but especially the kids I I've noticed a lot of kids have been walking around and I've seen some kids working and they're working really hard so good for them all right and moving on Final comments of the school committee Mrs is Hurst um I wanted to thank Dr pelo and um Mark Hawk for their presentation tonight on the budget um it's kind of a sad State of Affairs throughout the Commonwealth um I do find it a little disappointing when um no one shows up to listen to it but everybody seems to have a an opinion on social media about how things should be run um you know it's it's so important to be involved and to understand how big of a budget this is how it works um people should be here at this meeting advocating or at city council um you know um because I don't know that's my rant thank you thank you m um Mr Schwarz I remember when the budget was just a little over $12 million and people were nervous over that and now we're over $34 million it's amazing and and I think all of that is a trib to Dr pelo of identifying that I know don't mean that in the negative sense but that he's pursuing the interest of our students in the city and it's most important that we provide them with all the service necessary for them to succeed I think that's my point not a negative thing but a compliment of his his hard work and achieving what he's doing I think you're doing a great job a terrific job thank you thank you um thank you Mr Schwarz Mr lafrenier well nothing tonight thank you um Mrs Cormier nothing tonight thank you um I'll just mention that I was able to attend the plays at the high school and at the middle school I wasn't able to see the elementary school wining of the Pooh production but um the kids were amazing I think it was amazing the talent that exists um um and then also with the mcast testing I know there's was a lot of movement with the m school days um but I know I think it's what Wednesday Thursday this week There's a group and was there a group today and tomorrow too middle yeah for the Middle School specially yep yeah so hopefully and then after vacation we have math mcast coming up so yes thankfully we have the Chromebooks and everything available to do all that um and that's all I have today and with that we don't there's no need for an executive session so we're in line for adjournment is there a motion to adjourn so move second motion made by mrr are seconded by Mr Schwarz to adjourn um there is no discussion all those in favor say I I opposed meeting is adjourned