e e e e e oh my God so hot hey good evening um I called to order the meeting of the Hamilton wam Regional school committee on Thursday June 20th 2024 at 7:01 p.m. and we'll begin the meeting uh by inviting you to join us in the Pledge of Allegiance Al to the flag the United States of America theice okay I just want to um remind everyone that this meeting is being recorded and live streamed on HW cam um as always we have um an opportunity for people to provide a Citizens comment on Zoom um but the best way to watch the meeting is not on Zoom the best way to watch the meeting is on HW cam um we also Mr Tracy do we have a member that is remote or not yet yet okay so we have a member who may be joining us remotely um and we'll let you know if that happens um okay um and do we have any citizens on Zoom Noone okay um so at this point I'd like to um open citizens comments if you are a citizen and you would wish um to speak to the committee um I will ask that um when the time comes I'll ask you to approach the podium and I ask you to give your name and please Please spell your name so that we can get it um spelled correctly in the minutes um and um I ask you to keep your comments to three minutes um please know that this is our opportunity um to listen and it's your opportunity to be heard um I will ask someone to um do some timing looks like Julia is ready to do that and she'll give you a heads up when you have about 30 seconds left um doesn't look like we have anyone on Zoom um so I'll ask those in the room if you'd like to um make a comment please approach the podium good evening good evening um Peter fiser Greenbrook Road in Hamilton um recalling from our last meeting that uh in the discussion leading up to the vote on uh in favor of a Consolidated School for elementary students sorry could you speak a little closer to the mic oh yeah I'm I am actually thank you for saying that I'm I'm able to hear you but maybe you can move the mic upward so that sure yeah yeah Peter fiser uh greenbook Road in Hamilton recalling from our uh meeting where the vote was made in favor of a Consolidated School for elementary students that uh in the discussion there was talk of uh educating the public about the uh logic of that vote and I am here to be educated if that isn't happening tonight I'd be very grateful for a heads up on when that might take place and how I might participate and I would recommend uh that it include uh disclosure of documents raw documents showing the quotes for comparison of a Consolidated School with a rehab of three separate schools so that I can uh vote Guided by data when the time comes for a vote thanks very much thank you thank you still have no one online Okay um is there anyone else who would like to make a comment okay um thank you um for that at this time we'll close the citizens comments um as people know I don't we typically really don't spend a lot of time back and forth and we don't typically um respond I do it it's very very hot and so I do want to let you know that we're not um going to be specifically addressing the topic that you um or I don't anticipate that we're going to be specifically addressing the topic that you opened up today we've addressed it in the last 20 minutes nothing we're yeah we'll just take website though oh the website I don't to sit hereon I haven't even been outside all day to be honest okay so we're gonna move onward um for those of you um okay we're going to move onward sure um just for as a point of information the um HW schools website um does include a page that provides a lot of information regarding the elementary school building project um and the process that thus far okay um let's up next is a review of a portion of the school committee protocols I think that was you Julia as elected members of the h Hamilton Wenham Regional school committee we including the superintendent accept the high honor and trust that has been placed in us to ensure that the students of the district receive the best education possible to that end we hereby commit to the following in the conduct of our business number 13 the school committee will demonstrate professional and collegial relations with one another to this end members will work to maintain trust and mutual respect between and among each other the superintendent and the administration by treating everyone with dignity and respect even in time of disagreement all voices and concerns of individual school committee members will be given equal weight and significance and number 14 recognizing the importance of honoring these protocols members will respectfully remind each other when they get off track thank you um next up is a portion of our school committee Mission stat David sure the hamiltonm regional school committee will lead and inspire a district that is a source of civic pride in Municipal engagement to serve the community for generations to come thank you um next up is the consent agenda um I have uh one thing to hold which is the minutes from June six does anyone else have anything to hold from the consent agenda uh David I move to the Hamilton one and Regional school committee approve the consent agenda as written in um the Thursday June 20th meeting agenda do I have a second second second by Julia Campbell all those in favor and uh that is unanimous of the five members present and the motion passes um I held the minutes um for two um spellings of names um I since I say it at the beginning of every Citizen's comments I really do mean it I want to get the names correct um so at the bottom of page uh two of the minutes um it the one of the citizens who spoke is Eric muser and it is incorrectly spelled as muster I believe it's m u SS R um and then at the top of the next page um the first person who spoke is Jeff Austin and I think that's just to typo Jeff is misspelled I have one more okay and I just happened to know this person at the top of page two Shantel Clark's first name is misspelled oh okay good catch all right so Shantel Clark her first name is spelled h yep yep I also have a question absolutely might be like a transcri transcription question on the top of page five um the last sentence of 9A chren confirmed that according to the polling data all of the presented building projects are underwater either I'm missing what that means or not I I don't I I'm going to speak to that only because I think I don't I don't know for sure but I think I'm the one that asked the question I think that that's how I phased it um I don't I I don't know that to be don't I don't know that to be 100% true may not have been me but I think um but if you're feeling like that that could be clearer is that your we can go back and look at the video yeah we can ask the we can certainly ask okay I went back and tried to get to that point but I yeah didn't happen for me so yeah know if anyone else had an opinion um so we're looking for clarification on that yeah thank you um um given that I wonder whether the motion is to send it back rather than correct it yeah because since we were not sure well I mean those could be probably I mean you you guys caught me because I actually didn't get a chance to read these when I walked into our uh meeting the other day and I was talking just shows that you normally do um but I um Janella set them out wanted to put them on so I just told her to put them on but um trying to think if that last note could just be deemed a scrier error he did say under water I so he I don't think he clarified what it meant but we can we can clarify that yeah I guess all I'm saying is I'm wondering if it just is the kind of thing that gets corrected and put back on an agenda yeah I but I don't think it needs if it's a sc's eror doesn't need to go back on okay then I'll leave it I'll leave it to you to try to craft that motion um so I move that the Hamilton one Regional school committee approved the minutes from June 6 2024 um with the noted changes as discussed period second uh all right second by em kumberg um is there a discussion do we want it to come back to us or no I think we need to I think we just say these are fine with these you know okay couple changes uh all right that because it's we're not changing the content at all we're just changing a couple of the a little bit of the clarity yeah we can go back to to the video and clarify it too I'm a little I'm I'd sort of like to see it again but let's take a vote all right all those in favor uh that is three in favor all those opposed want to see it again that's two opposed and the motion passes all right okay I'll look at it on my own time all right um do you want me to keep the zoom open uh no I think no we can close the zoom because citizens comments is over sorry um okay next up student handbook changes Mr manoni do you want to present I no okay I didn't think so good evening uh first I want to thank you for a great school year uh we really uh benefit from your support and guidance on our 184 Day Journey that uh starts in August and ends in June uh so I just want to extend our appreciation for all that you do on behalf of our students and families and community members because your work really does make a big difference uh but I'm here tonight to talk about uh handbook changes uh for the up up coming school year uh most of what is in that summary document that you have um are name updates date updates um I also inserted some of the newer policies in the appendices uh because there have been a number of changes in policies um with you know not only the substance of them but also um how they're indexed um so I wanted to reflect that as well um I did put a couple of policies in there um that are aligned with procedures that were in the student handbook but I felt that it was necessary to have the policy that's attached to that um and certainly happy to answer any any questions about any of these things the the one thing I would point out though um is that our school council is required by law um to review the student conduct portion of the student handbook every year and the part of the student conduct uh code in our handbook that we chose to focus on this year was the use or misuse of artificial intelligence um so we spent a little bit of time uh school council um also collecting some input from faculty members and students uh to see where they were at with that um but you can see in there um a summary of where we landed uh with including artificial intelligence specifically in our academic Integrity policy really wasn't any change to the policy per se in other words um we follow the same procedure in terms of notifying students but also the consequences um that could ensue from any violation of the academic Integrity policy what we felt was necessary though was to clarify what we mean by the use of artificial intelligence um while also being mindful of the fact that it is a tool uh that our students may use um certainly with teacher permission and teacher guidance as well um and I did a little bit of research in terms of looking at high school student handbooks addressing the issue of artificial intelligence and I was a little bit surprised that it didn't turn up as much information as I thought it would um I found a High School in Illinois that seemed to have a pretty well thought out explanation of what artificial intelligence is um and how it may or may not be used in the classroom but we looked at that specific policy from the high school in um in Illinois and made a few tweaks to it um and then the proposed language um is in the summary document that you have so I you know really would welcome any questions that you have specific to that or any of the other proposed changes thank you for that I do have a couple questions I don't know if other people have questions um a couple things one I'll um email you and put you in touch with um uh colleague of mine Lance Eaton who actually has been keeping a Running Blog of all schools artificial intelligence it's a voluntary basis so actually to use as um excuse me it's at the high school and at the higher aded level but just to use to have everyone bounce ideas off of one another and actually he just published um some new work this week on student use I haven't had a chance to read it yet but uh he's a great guy local um happy to put him in touch with you just as a running resource um that'll help you know sort of you know this is a moving Target for everybody so that's why he just started uh putting it all together but um happy yeah that' be great yeah I would appreciate that excuse me you send it to you too sure I'm I'm really happy that you've kind of left it up to to the teachers and kind of made rooms for that for the students and teachers to explore together I think that's awesome this is great other people um so no it's good oh um I had I so I I also had I guess a comment about the the artificial intelligence um I read it pretty carefully it felt good about it it felt like um it felt like where we are right now right it felt like it was a policy that didn't try to do too much because things are changing really rapidly I was I thought it was good and I think all of it sounds like you and you're giving more information we need to be really on top of this that things are going to change rapidly um so I appreciated you including that it felt like the right place to be right now that's my feedback on that um and appreciate the council doing that work um I just had a quick actual question um on U page three um we still have a statement about free and reduced lunch where people can get the application for that why uh what what page is it on I'm sorry I think it's on page three um just on the let me find it hold on oh it's at the very top of Page Three right there on see the SEC the third little paragraph on the very bottom free and reduced lunch applications are available I I mean I don't it's not bad yeah but why why have that statement there well in other words currently lunch is free breakfast free yeah um that's a good question question um it's still a designation that we use well that was kind of my question is that something that is still in prac ask that was really my question is that is that a still a form that people are filling out are they filling it out to access some other service is there I can jump in on that y that that form accesses other services outside of lunch scholarships as an example we use that form as a trigger um also summer food programs yeah which are still free but only for people who quote qualify so we have to be able to use the you know if somebody moves into town in may we can't designate them right away and neither can the state we basically get a list from the state and then we compare with what we have so we do have to make them available still so I guess because I sort of suspected that that was the answer and and I guess my question is and this isn't this is not really a criticism of the handbook it's more concern about given that lunch is currently free how like I'm concerned that families may not be accessing this the way that they would have in the past and I don't I mean again maybe that's outside of the bounds of this but when I read that I thought that's really interesting that that's still the way we're collecting this data is based on free or reduced lunch but people aren't going to necessarily feel the need for free and reduced lunch because we get our food data from the state so it actually comes in through the um various programs they have for children in need families in need and and that data gets compared along the way and I think more often than not if you get somebody who's new new to the state or someone who doesn't hit the database right away that's where this catches it um and it could be a situation where there's a divorce that occurs and suddenly one one family member can't afford uh whatever they may need for food and there's if you if you watched um some of the Accord ads that are out there there are more people who need who are accessing free food services now more than ever the other dilemma we have is we still don't have a the state budget yet so there's no guarantee on anything free until they pass it even though they're saying don't worry it's going to be free and breakfast is now going to be free you know I think we still have to cover our bases there I'll have to check but I think it's also in part of the law that we have to make them available to every student I actually I guess my question is or my concern is actually the reverse it's not a concern that they are available my concern is are is everyone who should be completing this application doing so because it seems like in the past you might have been more likely to do so because that was the way that your child was going to access lunch like the entry to that form shouldn't be through lunch anymore could right and and and that it sounds like that's a state level decision and not one I so it may beyond the scope of this handbook I just want to I just want to make sure that everybody oh that's thank you David no that I thank you although you know it's already so hot in here I don't know that it makes any difference on the fans so thank you so anyway yeah that was just my that was just my concern is I want to make sure that if if people don't realize or don't know that this form is actually a inroads to get a bunch of other potential Services other than lunch that's all right yeah so is it worth striking this from the student handbook moving forward let me let me dig into it with elany yeah I don't I'm not really I'm actually not even proposing that it should be stricken I'm more just worried about confusion worried about like if if you know if a family is experiencing food insecurity for example in the summer I'm not sure that they would know oh this is how I would access it you know um but I suspect that it probably is a freee and reduced lunch application that's probably still what it's called is that correct yes so anyway there may not be more to say on that I just was just was that's a good question though it's kind of a logic problem in some ways right exactly um and I and I just wonder if people are missing it out on that because of um and then my only other final thing that I wanted to say is I really did appreciate and I had um I appreciated that you in included a lot of the updated policies and I guess I just wanted to take an opportunity to thank some of whom are no longer on the committee but the people that did that huge policy review um because SE several of these policies were reviewed and reworked um by the school committee in the past couple of years so I feel like it's great that everyone is the work is utilized so thank you for that um anybody have anything else I just want to add there's one item that's not here it's the title nine changes okay there are I think 11 or 12 different lawsuits right now pending um we've asked our attorneys to help us kind of Wade through it and realign our policies so we won't have that until we come back to school it's it's going to be um an August deadline to kick everything off so attorneys now are just looking at the information with some concern that it could get over turn some of it could get overturned so that would be the only addition that we'd have to vote in probably in the fall all right and and logistically then that's just kind of an insert or something that you add later people well everything's electronic so it's easy virtual insert virtual insert um I so we're actually so again no no no well no I mean typically we don't just but just for a clarification we're actually not voting at all on Title Nine Mr Tracy is saying that we'll have something in August it depends on which state you live in so there's a lot of there's a lot of uh legal action between I think there's 10 or 11 states against the Biden Administration changes so we're kind of waiting that out a little bit to see what happens but we haven't done anything yet thank you um oh go ahead get I just had sort of one clarifying question then uh these were both thoughts that I've had in my mind that I what probably wasn't going to bring up until sort of next year but one is really pertinent here um the grading guidelines um as we go through right um so we're looking at um 80 you know B is an 83 to an 86 and B plus is 87 to 89 and while that seems really um cut and dry um is a b in 86 uh 83 to 86.9 or is a uh is it 86 you know um 83 to 86.4 and then 86.5 to 89 AB plus right that's the that honestly is dependent upon the teacher does the teacher round up or does the teacher not it's I would think that we should make that a a districtwide policy one way or the other David just you're looking in the body of the handbook right not on the there's not not you're not in the changes yeah no no I'm just looking at looking for CH I just want to make sure yeah no no these are just two thoughts that I've that have sort of been in my mind that are and this is again I use Aspen at my other school and we use as and the two run a little bit differently so these are sort of things that have come up and people have asked me questions and I know answers for one place but not necessarily the other so I've thought about that and then the second thought in this is planting a seed for a discussion maybe it's with us maybe it's um you know within the school but the idea of uh minimum grade requirement and um you know for the quarter of f um you know being no lower than a 50 so mathematically um a student can get their can recover get together and actually recover um and get that's a much bigger discussion but this is a great place to plant that seed forar discussion I was just making sure I understood were both of those comments sort of forward looking uh yeah I think so I think that you know as here just the that that vagueness um especially I I the up the teacher discretion thing is probably the worst answer I could have gotten because then if there's no written policy I can give it to you but I'm not going to give it to you and that throws the idea of having an equitable education environment right out the window so yeah we did uh engage in a probably a at least a semester long discussion around grading uh at the secondary level um and David uh you know one of the things we looked at was the use of a 100 point scale to determine grades now I can't look at any kid uh next to another student and say you know you're 95% good at this and you're 94% good at this like you can't a human being can't discern 100 different levels of performance related to a skill um so those are the kinds of discussions that we had a little bit so it that speaks a little bit to what you were talking about in terms of a minimum grading requirement but also the idea of using decimals because once you introduce a decimal you're now saying I can discern a thousand different levels of performance and it gets that's where it gets really kind of mky well I mean the reality is the math goes to the you know 10,000 yeah you know in in Aspen right and then excuse me as my kids get older I start realizing that the difference between an 89.4 B+ and then 89.5 a minus is $5,000 in scholarship it can be you know um you know and so that that is things to sort of start considering you know when you're getting in there and that just having that there and and I understand both sides of the argument I understand the thoughts of grade inflation and and you know things like that but I just having that sort of clear def clearer definition um you know again just sort of students know parents know teachers know this is that this is the you know cut off and this is the way it goes you know you got to have people on both sides of the argument that I get but I do think it's a discussion worthy of having um anybody else anything um so do what what do you need from us you need a vote to approve this yes correct okay um but by the way I just I do love these the notes the it's so much easier than years in past yes I think I think we've given you feedback in the past about that and it is this format is extremely helpful the way that you presented the track changes verion the track the well the the top you know the current page proposed change and then the rationale is very helpful like it's doing a deep dive in 10 minutes that took us an hour and a half much much more so than I think it used to be like in the red mind version this is very helpful that's my feedback they're digging on the old principal if you didn't know [Laughter] it wow God he's G oh God it's the it's the nice thing about having an attorney as your assistant principal enough grease the skids with this kind of stuff yeah no the yeah this is just very very helpful and very easily digestible um okay um can we have a motion sure uh I move that the Hamilton wiam Regional school committee approve the excuse me Hamilton wiam High School um student handbook student and family handbook as presented in tonight's agenda have a second second by Amy kumberg is there any further discussion all right all those in favor that is unanimous of the five members present and the motion passes thank you okay thank you very much thank you we get in some air conditioning or pool okay it's 90.3 degrees yes exactly my frozen water is not frozen anymore um okay um next up um is the superintendent evaluation that um we had a discussion on and there were um a couple of uh David uh came back to us with a couple of um edits and so now we have another draft um I have to I have one thing to say before we start is that the typo unfortunately is still there oh I knew I forgot something hold on I now I actually have the right computer so now I can actually do it okay so go so just I'm going to just say so goal number one throughout the document um and this is a typo that was originally mine and then has just perseverated and moved through but goal number one throughout the entire document is the it's actually there's two typos in it it is complete with an L District Communications plan so that's how it should read goal number one um anyway um David I don't know if you want to present or if people have I mean we discussed it once so if people have other I don't know how you want to handle it whether people just want those that's point it out just you know real quickly um want to make sure I make this edit right now before I forget um just real quickly as we go through the the two major um changes that went through I KN I that should have been three major changes um was one that um Trent was correct he actually identified that I had written um a series of his numbers down wrong because I thought it was a one through four scale and it was a one through five scale so I actually had change that can I just ask a quick question on that that did not change it doesn't look like it changed where any of the eventual correct correct okay um and if I could pull it up what want to pull up um that was was um on the superintendent performance goals um where that actually changed um I had I originally had it as um 3332 for Trent and it was actually 4442 so uh so that's all now four out of five so that was the first yeah okay okay and I just closed it again um and then the second change was just adding a little bit more um specificity to one of the notes as um David had asked for excuse me and that was under the not instructional leadership the standard 2 management and operations um and I just added to uh to the last paragraph where it says um now reads M while Mr Tracy's performance and standard 2 management operations is graded as proficient there are areas identified for improvement such as enhancing transparency and Community engagement and refining process related to project management one specific concern raised by a single Committee Member involves the need for proactive measures and assessing Uh current facilities to ensure they provide a safe efficient um effective learning environment this member emphasized that waiting for mandates from Regulators should not hinder proactive leadership in this area citing successful initiatives in other districts like BPS and Newton excuse me that have yielded important health and academic outcomes despite this differing Viewpoint it's important to note that the majority of the community recognizes Mr Tracy's overall effective management of projects and adherence to the to legal and ethical guidelines contributing positively to District Operations in sud wellbeing okay there discussion so I thank you for your work on that I really appreciate it um I I do believe that this is um accurate in that it clarifies that it is one member um the sort of the portion of it that I I I I find like saying that there's areas for improvement such as enhancing transparency and in community engagement all of those things I I feel like is certainly um you know a judgment that people are allowed to make and that um while I I mean every well I think my personal opinion is Mr Tracy is excellent at those things that does not mean it couldn't be better we could all be always better right I think those are excellent strengths um so I'm not really as concerned about that I am a little bit concerned about this and I know that I was one of the people that asked for specificity and so I I know but I I'm a little bit concerned about the part about waiting for mandates from regulators and initiatives from Boston public schools and Newton only because I those were things that were actually brought before the committee and I don't quite know I guess I I'm to me in some ways that's a criticism of the committee not necessarily of the superintendent I it's not the hill I'm going to die on it's just something that I'm not sure how a superintendent like I understand that a superintendent could have had a different view but these things some of these things which I so I'm trying to speak really carefully about it because I I do really respect your opinion and you're allowed to have your opinion um and that's my concern is that it's fine with me so that you disagree with what occurred I just wonder how much of that falls to the committee versus the superintendent is my concern and we don't need to debate it at nauseum I just so yeah well the um I guess my feeling is that it's a it's a shared responsibility it's a shared responsibility um but is not strictly the committee the committee's role is to set goals and policy the superintendent is the CEO CEO's lead and they suggest and propose policies and and goals and so to the degree that that in some cases didn't take place I would like to see more of that and that I guess that's my experience of being on boards that that uh more often than not it comes from the C because the C is more embedded in the process and the system and the you know they're more likely to run requir or the need and so forth I I would just say um having having also you know served on boards I think that it's difficult when there's something that is not when there's there's something where it's that um you know one or maybe two people feel very passionately about out and I think um you know I have things that I feel very passionately about that are not mandated that are not you know they're not manded by this I also can't think right now so um they're not M they're not sorry they're not mandated by the state um but honestly and I'm just I'm thinking of specifically the land acknowledgement that we passed was that two years ago um that a board member was like so so incredibly passionate about people were opposed people were passionate and then somehow as a committee we all came together and and I I'm sure it wasn't a unanimous vote but I'm thinking that that is something that board members can do but the superintendent I just I don't see how they can possibly be as proactive as as you know they can't they can't Poss possibly be proactive on every single issue like we can bring issues to them um and I also think I mean I it's not the hill I'm going to di on either I just want to recognize that you know this is going to be if Mr Tracy leaves us at some point or or looks for another job this will be part of his permanent record so I want us to be cognizant of that I don't necessarily have a solution or change um I just want to say that that was not my experience but that's the hard part of creating this this consensus evaluation is that we have all had different experiences so I I would just like to say for the record that was not my experience but understanding we want we want to hear all the different perspectives and make sure everyone is heard in this evaluation but recognizing that this is you know permanent record and this be out there for the public for everyone to read so I don't really have a I don't really have a solution I just wanted to say that I I didn't have that experience that does not negate anyone else's experience other people have any questions or comments um thank you Dave for David I thank you um and I do want to give um Eric an opportunity I do have one question question what is just what is the typo that I'm fixing other than complete I have it open right now and I'm looking at everybody use the same correct so again again just to take full just to take full responsibility I initially sent it out with a typo and then I sent it out with corrected and none of you made the correction and it's my fault but th this is how it should read it's up here on it should be complete not compete but complete District Communications plan it's under District Improvement but it's actually the district Communications plan I think it occurs a couple times and then right and the reason it's throughout is because I just cut and pay you know so it it's going to be something that needs to be fixed throughout fixed in the first one I will fix it all the rest and then I will update the correct um Eric did you have any questions or comments that you want to address with the committee uh no just say thank you I will continue to push and pull for the students of the our communities and I think it's important for us to continue to do the work that we're doing where you know this is never easy work trying to you know make sure we we can have safe places have places where kids can come to school and kids can eat and Learn and Grow you know so I think it's it's important to for me to take the things that are in here and use them to develop my next uh set of goals for next year in alignment with the district goals and uh I appreciate it I appreciate the feedback all right thank you um can we have a motion um sure I moved the Hamilton Regional school committee approve um the superintendent evaluation with the proposed change in the excuse me communication CH uh plan language second second by amver I'm just in the middle of it it's a typo it's a typo it's AO just change the typo um okay is there any further discussion questions don't nobody wave I like the it actually feels seven degrees don't move the lights will turn off um all right uh looks like we're ready to vote all those in favor and that is unanimous of the five members present and the motion passes thank you thanks again David thank you thank you um all right next up is the uh custodial contract that uh Eric and Vinnie have been working on in between the other negotiations um we actually had both of them at a tenative agreement the both the custodial and the um New cafeteria workers contract cafeteria workers W not able to ratify before this meeting so they'll ratify between now and the next meeting and we'll have that on that agenda that is a totally new contract so there a lot more changes in it um but certainly all the chains are in red we can take any questions that you may have related to the contract Vinnie and I met with asme and F four of their members uh went through um some give and take we we reduced some of some of the things that are um kind of annual occurrences like clothing allowances and you know we kind of held it in one place and they they were asking to move okay if we take a 100 from here and move it here if we take so we we kind of made sense out of those things reduce some of the things that are were even noted by them as excess like they don't need five shirts and five t-shirts and five you know so we reduce those things that save costs um we did put in some incentive language for sick leave buyback and vacation buyback because this group tends to use every single day they have um which makes it difficult and expensive to get a either a subin or to pay uh the day custodian to work night to or vice versa which costs us even more money so we're we're tried to put some incentive language in here to buy back some of their days um we have the Good Fortune of our custodians many of our custodians have been here for more than 20 years so they're on the top of everything including vacation time so um everybody thought there was a a good move to to give some incentives both in sick time and in in vacation time and then um some things we took out like workers compensation we don't have that for this group um and then uh the final thing is the uh salary changes it was three and a half 33 which is n and a half overall for the duration of the contract oh we did also split out the maintenance technician at the request of the group um which Vinnie and I actually thought about last year saying you know because they they do a very different job um so we split out the maintenance technicians there are two of them one at the currently we use one at the elementary and one at the middle school and these are the people that are on the roofs and in the refrigeration units and under the buildings and kind of they they they actually have a lot more skilled um work required of them so at at their request and we thought it was a good idea too to just break out the two maintenance people from the rest of the group and the others remain the same he custodian and custodial were that's just how they were set up previously so it's really all the changes in a nutshell okay um let's uh let's start with a motion of and then if anyone has any questions we can do that uh I moved at the Hamilton one Regional school committee vote to approve the AFS CME custodial maintenance contract as presented in tonight's agenda second second by Julia Campbell does anyone have any questions is there any discussion all right looks like we're ready to vote all right all those in favor that is unanimous and the motion passes of the five members PR present um thank you very much both of you for your work on that um was fun great um all right next up we have the PEC agreement I don't know who wants to speak to that you want me to you want to going you go I'm still okay so um state law allows us to create a Public Employee committee and that committee is designed to uh really look at things like Insurance in our case that's what the focus is um so it looks at insurance from the perspective of the employer and the employee in one committee that's basically comprised of in our in our situation school committee members and at least one member from each of the five unions that we have plus a retiree a state retiree member so this group um under this agreement has the opportunity to negotiate um in this case insurance insurance premiums Insurance splits uh for the I don't know past eight years or so there was some conversation that we were operating under a PEC but it was only a an agreement years ago was actually more than that it was before I think Vinnie and I arrived um there was an agreement for a PC but there was nothing in writing so we have now put this in writing we've gotten all parties to agree uh to the language it's actually pretty boilerplate when you start looking at other uh PEC agreements and then it just outlines the who the subscribers are what the splits will be and those are really something that get negotiated currently this outlines a shift in Insurance splits we are the uh um most different I guess if I can explain it uh Insurance split in any District in any municipality around here many are they range from 8020 to 75 25 to 7030 we are 6040 where the district pays 60% and the the employee pays 40% um these groups have come together and said listen we we want to try to shift that to 7030 people uh got to the table table sat down and started looking at um ways to do that and uh this PC first of all is a three-year agreement so we can only work within that threeyear cycle um so this is currently represents the agreement we've come to the first year which would be next year the shift would be for 6238 on the split and then the next year it would be 6337 and then the third and finally is 6535 in with the goal of trying to get get to realistically 7030 over time and if you see how that's working it's probably six years away so that's what this represents thank you um can I sorry one one thing I do want to mention the group did vote to leave um the Medicare splits the same at the 6040 for now so that's the one thing that's different than all the other groups groups and just if I might add those Medicare plans are different also in other districts yeah they are probably more widely varied than than um just in this area they range again from 9010 all the way to 5050 um there there splits all over the place for uh Medicare and retirees um okay let's uh start with with a motion and then if anyone has any questions uh I move at the Hamilton and Regional school committee vote to approve the PEC agreement as presented in tonight's agenda second second by David Frankle anyone have any questions all right discussion all those in favor sorry I'll just I just want to say one comment I really appreciate the effort put into this I know we've had a lot of discussions or I know you've had a lot of discussions around this also the move to hopefully be 7030 I think that's sort of like our North Star maybe at some point who knows if we can do that um but I I love that it was it's been said it's been sort of put out in the universe maybe you know some at some point maybe six years from now like you said we can make it happen but I just I just think I think that people don't understand like how you know the difficulty in negotiating these kinds of things and and the constraints the financial constraints so I appreciate um the negotiations committee and all the work that you did on this it definitely could be sooner I have no problems with it yeah it definitely could be sooner because of the I just popped the reopener up there if the premium goes above a 5% Vinnie's actually done an excellent job of keeping our premiums down the two towns have been hit with 9 10 10 and a half% we're at what 4 point 4.9 4.9% increase so he's been able to manage uh fairly reasonable premium increases but if it goes above that then any of those group members can request to reopen and I'll just I mean I'll just say it it certainly was a thoughtful respectful and productive um negotiation on all sides it really um was some hard work but felt good so the tone has been very good yeah ex excellent um all right I don't think we actually voted did we vote no all right all those in favor and that is five in favor and of the five members present and the motion passes and before everybody leaves tonight we we all have to sign it okay okay I got most of you got to get it signed okay um next on the agenda we have a Communications discussion and I am going to ask uh the committee um to move that to table that discussion um I think it would be Eric and I talked briefly today um I think it would be a good discussion to open up at our Retreat um and also it's a thousand degrees though that didn't play into this not at all um so last last letter e there you're on the front page e I'm just all yeah I see abent all right without objection if if it's fine okay um all right next up um finance and operations V do you need a motion for that I don't I don't I think I got consensus okay just double check yeah no I think so actually why don't we move to uh I move to table the communication plan discussion to Summer Retreat second okay second by Julia um anybody have anything else all those in favor and that is unanimous and the motion passes of the five members present C basis okay um Vinny do you have anything for us I do not tonight ah okay um committee reports uh Capital Finance I think I can speak to this I'm the one holding everybody up finny's not looking at me they're trying to schedule and I just realize I didn't never got back to you guys on a date so so you guys having some scheduling challenges but I will um I'll get back to the chair this evening uh policy oh yeah yeah did you send me okay so policy we're Julie's fault Julia's everything on this is Julia's fault sure I'm not writing down Julia in any place it's just um negotiations we are going to provide you with an update in executive session um secretary report do you have anything for US Secretary um I do have a question and a a couple things give me one second I don't want to cancel that believe 19 there we go there you are no now where'd you go gez so I had just a couple questions I had um I know we discussed last time about some outstanding minutes and I can't remember if we finished I'm not you can email me because I'm sure that's my fault as well Julia I think you know outstanding minutes it's definitely me yeah I did get the executive session minutes in though all right yeah so that was that was just something from 2023 that there was yeah there was some executive session all right I'll just email email you I just there's a few questions I just had about what so I know we had the discussion but I didn't do you made that amazing spreadsheet yes and that's what I'm looking for right now and it's just hidden somewhere on my lapt yeah so I I mean and yeah it's totally appropriate to send out just these are the outstanding minutes would be fine um and then you know hopefully we can get those wrapped up to start the year fresh so that we are CAU up just the second part of that really like only like two yeah there's some outstanding minutes for executive sessions that I think Dana and I figured out most of them today yes I have um well I have and we're going to we're going to approve minutes in executive in executive session um but I do think we have one that we might need to figure out who has them who has them okay um okay um all right thank you for that um Eric to you thank you um I want to jump right in here uh for our retirees this year and we had a we had a ceremony at the end of the school year with all of our staff members we had a little ice cream social and and recognize each of our retirees uh in front of their peers you know each of the principles had something um that they read about each of them but I just wanted also to present them publicly here Mark Williams teacher at the winter Elementary School 33 years of service to the district Leslie Grant one of our school two School psychologists who are retiring she was a district-wide employee 28 years in the district Deb clap teacher science at the uh High School 24 years in the district Karen De Alonso she's a physical therapist for US 19 years working mostly out of uh winr Elementary but also helped us out in other schools an paage teacher in the district uh ended her career at the high school but began her career in kindergarten for us so um I actually hired her to come to the high school from her kindergarten position many moons ago so 19 years for an Ramon Ruiz who's a school side psychologist districtwide he finished 16 years uh Ramon and I worked together 30 years ago in the City of Salem so was inter it's good to see him uh get to enjoy his retirement and then Beth dmer she's one of our occupational therapist 16 years and mostly works out of winthrip school those are our retirees for this year and I want to congratulate all of them and thank their them for the service to the students and the families of the district and and um you know they will be they will be missed each one holds a special place in in the hearts of their you know their their local school or where they worked out of and um these are tough these are tough shoes to fill so thank you to all of our retirees for their service to the district that's amazing thank you and thank you for taking the time to go through that um it's a lot of years of service right up there on the board it's really it is thank you does anybody have anything else all right nothing else sure want to make something up no good um okay um for my chair's report I the only thing I want to say is we have our Retreat scheduled it's um August 8th I'm saying that ninth nth sorry nth nth um and my um only final comment will be that my dream goal as a personal goal would have been to get under two hours for our average meeting as before tonight's evening we were at exactly 120 Minutes two hours and since tonight's meeting looks to be like it's going to be under an hour I mean under two hours driven down the average we're gonna I can plug it into the spreadsheet when we're done and I'll tell you the exact number Vinnie probably already has it done because um but I to the thousand's place I I really I I do I mean I'm sort of joking but it really was a real goal of mine that two hours seems really sufficient to to do and um while we certainly have some that have been much longer than two hours we've also had some short ones and I appreciate the level of professionalism from the committee to make that so anyway um all right topics for future meetings oh I was going to say I was offer you a motion our next meeting will be in fy2 but yeah okay um so unfortunately I know how much you like to make the motion but I have to move into executive session could um to do does anyone have anything else before I that all right um I move to adjourn into executive session session for purpose number three to discuss strategy with respect to collective bargaining with HW Rea where an open meeting may have a detrimental effect on the bargain bargaining or litigating position of the public body and the chair so declares and we do not we will not return to open session second second by Amy kumberg and this is a roll call vote uh David Frankle David yes jul yes yes Dan is a yes and we are adjourned into executive session thank you e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e for