[Music] 7 o' ready to get going Perfect all right just give me one second all right uh all right good evening everyone it's uh 7 o'clock and I'd like to call together the March 14 2024 school committee meeting if you would please uh raise and join me in the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge aliance to United States America the stand One Nation God indivisible thank you very much um this evening we have a consent agenda posted which is the minutes from our February 29th 2024 meeting as well as an oath to bills and payroll do I have a motion to accept that motion made second seconded by Jen all those in favor indicate by saying I I set there um we have a singular item on this evening's agenda the 7:05 um public uh budget hearing and after that there's an opportunity for public comment um maybe we'll ask if there's any public comment beforehand just to double check and then we'll roll right into the budget presentation Perfect all right so Kelly and I are going to do this from the podium and Kelly's gonna lead the way yeah so you get a chance get set up you can kick it off and then I'll follow up so that's good all right thank you very much thank you Ste did you put this off oh I just shouldn't be thanking you then cough drops up here my goodness you know are the only ones that have cold well good evening everybody Welcome to our FY 2025 budget presentation uh exciting time of year where we have a budget uh ready to recommend to you this evening and uh I'm happy to report that uh the budget that we're recommending will uh certainly allow us to continue to actualize our strategic plan and meet the needs of students within the district so we've been watching the news uh you're fully aware that we're very fortunate to be in this position compared to some other districts that are faced with some really tough budget discussions year we're going to start off with our mission statement uh I mean it really drives our work in our district and this year we actually revised it and added a sentence our mission is to foster a community of Learners who strive for excellence and prepare each student to be a successful contributing citizen in a global society as a district we commit to evolved together as a diverse community Through education accountability and action are as individuals and organization our values uh respect responsibility integrity and accountability or values that we live by so we have a lot of accomplishments this evening and our strategic plan is is really the key document that we use to create our budget budget so it's important to uh spend some time looking accomplishments for the sake of time this evening I'm going to try really hard to not go over every one of them but it's going to be hard to do that because they're all really important but uh I have 20 pages to go through this evening so I'll be mindful of that so that we're we're not here too long uh I guess to start off with then our first standard and we we go through this uh for every school elementary schools we combin so we're going to start with uh Shaker and Russell Street School under curriculum instruction and assessment uh we uh are continuing to uh update our Curriculum maps uh we have as you all know some some new curricul that we're we're working with and it's a great time to convert from a program that we used to use called Atlas to Google Docs which is going to be a a huge change and make a big difference in our district because we're also familiar with Google dos our continued prek to 5 professional collaboration for vertical and horizontal alignment that is so imperative in any District uh we're fortunate in our district to have one of each School I've been in districts actually so the only District where I've had that my career and uh it's much easier to uh attain that uh you know to the point where where you have Fidelity in that when you have four five six or eight elementary schools for example it uh takes a lot more work to to be able to stand up the evening like this and say we're vertically and horizontally aligned it can be done you just have to persevere and make sure that uh you're very explicit in your expectations uh it's our second year of implementing into math program I'm really pleased with this program it's really uh building a good foundation with our students and it's challenging them as well so we're developing critical thinking skills which is so important our read our reading curriculum Review Committee uh we're currently reviewing three curriculums and next year we should be piloting so exciting we're at that point in the process uh whenever you do a k to5 curriculum Vamp uh it's expensive so we want to make make sure that we get it right want to come back to the drawing board we did implement oneone it in kindergarten this year it's always it was nice now that we we are truly a one-onone system from kindergarten right through grade 12 which is quite an incredible accomplishment uh and we still use mclass Dibbles 8 early lry screener for grades K to three that has been instrumental and helping us uh identify students that are having trouble learning how to read and also very helpful in uh identifying early of thisle in our students so it's not exactly what we wanted to do with our contract negotiations we're able to uh formalize a 60 Minute uh meeting once a month in grad K to 5 that has allowed us to formalize our monthly data meetings which uh was what we really needed to do more formality what we were doing with our data analysis with mcast and app testing we're very pleased with our lab and Pace programs in K to5 uh they're doing exactly what we wanted them to do able to uh you know identify students that uh are uh able to to join these classrooms and uh at sometime in some cases more correctly you we're able to teach these students in our community which is really important I'm a very strong believer that if if at all possible our students should we in the community that they live pretty we do a pretty good job of that but sometimes as a diversity increases it takes a while to get that critical mass before we can Implement those programs seal and udl NTS I'm sure you've heard that a gazillion times this year that's our primary focus for our district and it's truly making a difference uh we're certainly on the right path forward to Contin contining with that for the next few years and PD professional development you can see that I already emphasized almost everything there uh we do mention the cross District PD day and uh that Focus that day focused on protocols to enhance student learning our special education teachers uh spent the day learning about the new IEP which will be the next year our fry L uh PD I just want to spend a minute talking about that it it's it's really powerful to have teachers within a district that are committed and and feel confident in offering ping to their colleagues that doesn't just happen it's it's something that you work on for years and years to develop that culture and we're at a point in our district where teachers are are anxious excited to talk about things that they've learned with their peers and and I'll tell you right now it may seem easy but it's not easy many educators are really comfortable in front of students but when it comes to being in front of adults it's it's a whole new game for so really proud of that some of our Educators have gone beyond our district they participated the tri District P day uh State initiatives as well and we've had a few that have gone to National events spoken so you know that's uh one of the the many many factors that I look at as a superintendent to see where we are in terms of education and where educators are in terms of how driving to be the best that they can be culture and climate Shaker Lane and and Russell Street continue to focus on part stri those are words that are grained into our students and I don't think there's a a graduation that I've attended here where heart wasn't mentioned by some of the students so it's been very impactful and continues to be impactful we uh created more door signage for safety I thought I'd mentioned this one just to make sure that everybody understands that we want our our schools secure during the day we don't want any doors are propped open the doors that U left open with somebody holding them Etc uh I know we we're a small community but that doesn't mean that we're not susceptible to not having to be aware of of what school safety should look like within our schools we uh continue to use our second stepal curriculum and social thinking lessons we continue with monthly classroom diversity readings which is really important as well monthly Community meetings uh committed to generating weekly positive affirmations and students are really good at coming up with positive approbations as a result of Educators bothering that behavior throughout the year uh we've invited families to share about cultural or share about their cultures cultural celebrations I'm encouraged and excited that we're going to continue that within our schools as our diversity uh continues to increase in our community there's a lot that we need to learn about cultures that are moving in a great way to to celebrate together as as Educators and families uh outdoor spaces classroom spaces we're making good use of those and uh hopefully we're going to have one at the middle school this year as well and high school is a small one we like to expand that it's nice to get our kids outside and it's fresh air and also learn at the same time and bulletin boards uh I've always been an advocate of of expain student work and uh it just brings our schools alive and I want to commend our Educators for for having the same value that I do in that area our schools are are bright and and and the SP school work throughout the entire year so it's really nice to see next uh standard thank you community and and communication our kindergarten ambassador program is alive and well and we introduced a grade 1 and two new family buddy program as well uh it makes it really nice for for parents uh of young children to get to know each other within our school setting uh we continue with uh Shaky's virtual storytime night and also the Ki virtual dance party which is the positive things that's happened as a result of a pandemic and uh it's a great way to bring a lot of people together including families for an evening our art show and townwide band concert as well we have created new compassion projects so continue with the weekly principles newsletter we keep trying to streamline that so it's easier for parents to Mo through it get to the information that they really want to or need to see uh I'm also pleased that we continue to partner with Littleton high school students uh with interns and mentors in our classrooms what a great way for for our young students to to learn and spend time with with older students in our district it developed some really nice connections uh other activities Springfest at Shaker Lane which is real H Book Fairs powering families events and other family forums technology we continue to emphasize trimester based chem K to5 stem projects and uh we uh are certainly well versed in our digital citizen program K to 5 as well uh We've uh actual Iz cross-curricular projects which is really important as well and uh we're still working on converting our shaker Lan Library into an online platform which is a lot of work but it's going to be worth it once it's done our T TVs we've talked about that many times at school committee meetings I'm happy to report that our educators are are loving them in their classrooms and are looking for new and improved ways to use them we are still uh pay ipens to technology teacher leaders and they help our staff uh learn new technology and it's a small thing to do but it makes a huge difference in our K5 schools U and you know one way to enhance technology is make sure that the your Educators have the support so they're not stressed out about implementing something with their classrooms uh we still offer ongoing technology tutorials and PD opportunities U and also stem Nots our Middle School well one huge accomplishment is our Middle School was recognized as one of the uh strongest performing schools within the state it's an incredible acknowledgement by itself then our High School uh ranked number six Boston magazines rankings for uh Boston and area schools so let's think about that for a minute because we still reflect on what happened during the pandemic uh we forged ahead and and veloped uh hybrid and online classes for our students and it was new to our Educators wasn't complely new to me as a as a leader but it was a huge change for for any District including ours and uh we have had lots of dialogue about learning loss Etc post pandemic but when I look at these these two uh recognitions that we received from the state and uh Middle School in particular and in the Boston magazine recognition for the high school it really affirms that we were doing the right thing and we're on the right track however difficult it may have been for families students and Educators we uh we forged A New Path in terms of learning models and it benefited our students I've had a number of conversation parents who had children and and that were Juniors and seniors during that time period And I have not had one negative comment about the education that we provided during that time these students are doing well in their po secondary Endeavors and uh that says a lot for what we've done as a as a community to support each other through a very very difficult time I just wanted to mention evening for for the Middle School uh curriculum instruction assessment uh we implemented the new I science curriculum following an extensive curriculum review we unlevel grade seven math I'm so excited about that so although I I spent time in a lack of a better phrase British colony where streaming is alive and well I don't believe in it and I never have I don't believe in streaming fits too early they have plenty of time to uh learn what they or decide what they want to do uh high school or post high school so I think this is a the first sign in our district that we're rethinking the way we're doing business and this will allow more students to be able to take algebra in the a gr so I'm really excited about this uh we added a second uh Ela teacher to the grade six class or grade uh in Split classes and separate reading and writing courses if you I'm sure you remember sometimes we have a bubble coming up from grades five to six and the only other option we have because we went out of five teachers uh for grade in the middle school is to add another teacher for a year and it just it worked but there were there were better ways of doing business this is going to allow us to continue put the emphasis where we feel that's needed and uh also when those students go into grade seven we have a draw to Parker Charter so the population drops a bit so it kind of levels up from grade six to grade seven I just thought I'd mentioned that but I really feel that that what we've done this year by adding that Ela teacher it was a reconfiguration wasn't a new staff member that uh it's working really well proud of the the middle school for coming up with that plan pilot did grade eight Civics for mcast and uh e e coming back slowly every I see culture and climate increase focus on building connections with students to help them regulate when needed uh Middle School any school but Middle School in particular we really need to to pay close attention to uh social and emotional development as we all know our staff need to to be committed excuse me committed to do that uh in order to make the difference that we're looking for we continue with the universal mental health screening in seventh and eth grade and SOS screening in grade six Community communication in the Middle School thank you so thank you uh Middle School hosted a cookout for families uh prior to school starting this year that was a great time I'm so glad that that one of our schools ventured out into bringing families together before the started school a barbecue time for our kids to get together and our families to to talk about their summer Etc and it was a it was a perfect day the only thing I wish for next year is that the uh Wass stay away when we're cooking but uh you know that time here is pretty hard to do that we continue to host musical B musicals band concerts other events for families and again we streamline our our weekend updates as as effectively as we can to get information out to our communities technology I'm pleased the the middle school is is offering a game design workshops since we have a gaming Club at the high schools they G some experience before they go into the high school and this happens Wednesday mornings uh Middle School also implemented a pass program this year that tracks student breaks schedule appointments so counselors nurs office visits I was working really well in terms of time management for middle school students and some of them do need a little bit of time management uh they're working with the uh a Ela Department to address artificial intelligence and writing how to embrace this this technology another thing that I'm really proud of I proud of so many things but when when AI the news there are many many stories that were negative that were cup half empty stories our district took a real different approach and it was a cup half full how can we use this to prove our our learning experiences for our students and how can we use this to create some efficiencies for our teachers their planning vs Etc so that attitude uh or approach still prevails and looking forward to what we continue to do in the area of B it's not going away it's only going to grow we need to to learn how to how to exist with it and and not uh be against it all right the high school that I've already mentioned uh the uh number six standing my Boston magazine uh high school again continues to incorporate udl practices and inclusive teaching practices you can see the consistency through on our schools which is is so important as well uh we completed uh curriculum reviews in history and Rural language it's our second year of our PACE program is bridge program at the high school and we're both working very well uh adopted and then implemented a new social emotional learning program for the first time in a high school called character strong which we've heard about before uh with 10 school-based and over 25 available online AP courses Littleton High School have 39 Scholars 10 Scholars With Honor eight Scholars with distinction pretty impressive we continue to offer dual enrollment courses partnership with middle sex Community College and uh we offer US History English Latin Anatomy physiology environmental science and statistics so it's kind of a nice uh platform of courses for our students to receive dual credit so my dream would be to have any student that that is going to college have one school at least one college course the research is very clear that if you have taken a course prior to going to college your chance of finishing uh on time is far greater than if you don't so it's certainly something wor pursuing and I'd really like to see that U platform increased of time as well we've offered the Seal of biliteracy for a number of years which is really powerful as well our students by the time they they at their senior year if they're really interested and motivated in earning or in learning a second language they're pretty pretty proficient and I have to tell you somebody that was put in French Classes from kindergarten to grade 10 uh that was just the way it was when I went to school I'm not I'm not proficient in French whenever really was I I was okay but uh you don't use it you lose it very quickly so when I look at what our students finish with in our high school it's just really impressive they are conversive in a second language they can write second language so uh you know lot of cudel to to our world language teachers for doing a fantastic job and I guess on that note my my granddaughter is in a French immersion school so at some point in time have to brush up on my French not going to have a choice and in in high school we use map testing just in ela and it's a a great tool to use to to figure out where our students are in terms of skill sets as we all know writing is so important whatever you do reading comprehension is also really important as well with math speaking of math we use an Alex online adaptive uh program at the high school level as well do professional development of the high school continue to focus on technology integration implementation with interactive panels you know in terms of being you know a high school teacher I was a high school teacher for 10 years and uh when you're bringing into new technology I me you always have to remember that your your courses are action-packed with objectives and goals and to bring something in and change the way you do business takes a lot of effort Commandments and and again I'd like to commend our high school Educators for embracing this concept to and uh they're doing really well integrating the uh touch panels or interactive panels into their classrooms the high school uh also hosted a bid watch school counselor uh collaborative connect for collaborative connections which is nice to have other districts come to our district to V together and uh some repetition udl cultural proficiency instruction technology social learning Mental Health and Wellness it is certainly alive and well at the high school climate and culture we continue the universal mental health screening this has made a huge difference by the way Middle School and High School allows us to uh provide intervention is far earlier than the before we use screening tools so one thing that is another thing that is really important High School annually participates great kindness challenge so they're kindness certified School Sil District it was nice to reestablish our unified basketball and bowling team so it's really great exit to see our kids out there playing in other communities and having a good time continue to strengthen our advisory connections and uh 293 out of our 475 students paid at least one sport equating to a 62% participation rate and we have a total of 569 total particip said oober that's I don't know how many of you attended large high schools but U did nobody there somebody that did it's a whole different ball my high school that I attended had 4,000 students if you made once for you were doing really good so I mean sometimes we we take things for granted because we're a smaller District but our kids have incredible opportunities uh we have a super strong uh Fine Arts and and music program in our in our schools and when you come to our concerts U that certainly uh is evidence in every production that we've done drama Productions are incredible as well and again that takes a lot of commitment and hard work our our uh teachers Educators community members and our students of course to uh you know want to uh go out and and uh do something extra like that that that takes a lot of time can so again something that's we're really proud of community uh communication survey parents of students and staff members about the vision of The Graduate presentation the last meeting with a skeletal framework for the vision of the graduate this is uh in part for neas re accreditation visit that's coming up next year they've already had a self-reflection process and they completed a narrative uh narrative report in five areas learning culture to Student Learning professional practices learning support learning resources and uh they're preparing diligently for uh the collaborative conference in the spring of 2024 we're we're working hard on increasing internship at work study opportunities as well I'd really like to see our students have more opportunities to go out and try something that they're interested in and uh you know we're we're getting there we have a ways to go but it's nice that it's it's on their minds and they're looking at ways to improve or increase these opportunities we started to post a a new weekly School counseling newsletter as well and we held a financial literacy fair for the CL of 2023 which been really important I would love to see a mandated financial literacy class in the high school that every student be required to take on grad my dreams hopefully don't come true community and communication partnered with the US Army in providing a special static display of two helicopters on December 7th it wasn't that static it was it was it was incredible it was just uh you know incredible to see our students touring the helicopter talking to the crew that was out there and you know was as a great a great way to spend the morning so hopefully we'll have a another occasion to do that so and it it was it was cold with that wind and uh I think I shared the story with you I was standing with one of the Pilot's dads and I figured well you knew where to stand I'd stand right beside him uh we didn't stand in the right place because when one of the helicopters took off and nosed towards us and uh he blew us back about 20 ft it was impressive the wind speed we started those props started facing us SP so I learned a lesson from that one and then I turned behind and I realized the whole Police Department was about 30t back okay thanks guys yeah uh technology continued implementation of of line wise which uh provides content filtering which is really important uh it will pick out certain words and it'll send send it to the administrator 247 so catch things quick as can uh we still offer PD in in technology I don't think that will ever stop because technology is ever changing and we uh have a pretty strong uh partnership with virtual high school that's really nice to broaden our course finess as well priorities 2024 2025 this is what we're we're aiming to accomplish recommended budget evening obviously to continue to meet the learning needs of all students continue an ongoing assessment of our district programming to ensure that students are attaining the skills necessary for college career and Future Ready we all know that that uh future is is unknown and and job market is somewhat unknown as well our kids need those skill sets to be able to toggle into something else and also have strong resiliency skills as they they enter possibly many careers they they finish college and high school continue emphasis on student staff Wellness with canl learning experiences you know key is it's a student and it's also staff Wellness that we need to be concerned about uh a lot of Articles out there on on teacher burnout teacher stress so after the pandemic and it's it's alive and we need to do whatever we can to the support our staff so that they also develop those res skills to continue to be help and be able to be in school teach our kids as much as possible further develop instructional practices uh integrate social and emotional skills and wellness support inclusion equity and diversity cultivate belonging that's so important uh we we do reviews every year and take a look at inclusion and Equity uh within all of our schools to make sure we're not missing something know our goal is to make sure that that we're as inclusive at that will always possible committed to that advanced growth mindset strategies develop and enhance executive functioning skills reflect sheltered English immersion best practices we are getting uh an increased number of students that need uh V services in our community and we have a strong program we need to continue to build on that program Foster professional learning culture that promotes growth and Innovation and uh we're uh have full intent of continuing our cross District PD day with Harvard and air sh air Shirley Public Schools as I mentioned the number of times this evening next year we will be implenting the new IEP form almost the last page provide continued professional development to multi-tier System of support mtss actualizer District strategic plan which is key accomplishing our mission Equity diversity inclus inclusion and sense of belonging culturally responsive practices social emotional learning Universal Design learning already mentioned I continue to participate in curriculum review Cycles it is really important that that that money remain in our budget so that we can do the curriculum I mean we come a long way the 13 years that I've been here when I first came here we didn't have a budget for we had some catch up to do and we've done a real good job do it does need to continue we want to make sure that our Educators have the best resources that they can to reach all students and you can't do that without investing money great our maintenance uh the repair plan is is is also key if you start letting your schools get run down the costs go up quickly and and the pride in your schools decreases and we've done an excellent job keep keeping those schools in good shape that's you know thank you to school committee and and the select board for for realizing the importance of keeping our abilities up having in good shape our K5 map prcum we'll continue implementing that I've been using a coach that we bring in and uh by the way I've sold on coaches and implementing a lot of curriculum especially in K5 and uh another dream of mine since I'm talking about tonight is going to be to have our own coaches at Ela M great K and next year we should be uh piloting at least to grade K5 curriculum reading curriculum more correctly I talked about the NEOS visits U we do place an emphasis and continue to place an emphasis on civic education which is really important as well and we'll continue with our exploration of AI we implemented an online registration turning online registration feature in Aspen this this year uh our rate of return was way better than it has been in the past and uh so we will evaluate it but uh makes a huge difference having people fill out those forms to when they access ask them so we get that necessary information that we need if we have to respond to an emergence in your medical situation we're going to review and modify safety and and the reification plans technology initiatives continue to implement site based technology plans review and strengthen technology apps tools for all Educators to learning experience for all of our students continue to support staff and students invation of oneon-one Technology our students are really proficient but there are always new new things to learn but it's really nice to see the skill sets that students have even as they go into grade two grade three now so you look back when we were first implementing technology it's just no comps it's really nice to have and we're committed to not overusing technology and you would see that if you were in our classrooms our kids aren't on computers all they long we use them when when they're necessary to improve the learning Environ but we're not a tool that we use all available we continue to uh develop percum lessons using the digital literacy computer science framework standards as well as the SD standards SD are international standards and continue to support finalizing p12 digital citizenship program we have a DLCs committee that meets once a month that looks at this so and folks that brings me to the end of my 20 Page presentation oh thank you and at this time I'm going toh call up Justin to go over the budget numbers for our recommended budget you've had a c any questions for superintendent gleni before we go through the numbers I just want to thank you for I think it's so smart to talk about what our money is being invested in before talking about the money so um thank you for pulling that all together very impressive um package of what's happening in the thank you I appreciate that I didn't use one cough drop it's all all right thank you very much thank you for making that comment because I was gonna the same I um I like the way that this presentation format um allows us to see all the great work that gets done in the school system and then we get to talk about the dollars and cents um as well all T to it takes a lot to run the district a lot of good people doing high quality work and there's dollars behind that um the first SL superintendent CL sort of skipped over was just an introduction about the team and I think it would be appropriate just to thank everyone involved in the process first so um thank you goes out to superintendent clenchy bet steel um uh Lyn snow uh Steve Mark business manager and then of course the building Administration uh John Harrington Keith Ki everheart Matt leandi Carl Temple andreano Michelle Kane and Rebecca Deon so it's a collaborative approach a lot of thought and effort goes into into this um budgetary process and I'd also like to thank the other school committee members as well Jen served on the budget subcommittee with me and um I think because it's been a bit of a challenging budget cycle for the town um other school committee members were present for other budget meetings and I just want to thank everyone as well so we're going to start with uh the budget process timeline this is um this work begins early in October when the central office um starts to initially identify uh budgetary priorities a lot of work goes in uh to the budget uh between the time frame of October and January January is when we feel like we've got our first initial look um at the budget we we get together we we we comb through the figures it was around this time that we had be begun to formalize we thought our ask would be of the town at the same time the town was reviewing their numbers and realized that they might be in a situation where where there was a deficit which ultimately came to fruition so they had to go back to all the departments in town um it was some point late late January where the uh finance committee and select board had approached us um after a first look at our numbers and asked us for I'm going to get there in detail but asked us uh for a $270,000 reduction at our first look so some more work was done and we're able to to thin that a bit um um with the $250,000 reduction we published our preliminary budget for them to review again uh here we are in March with what we believe to be our final budget so long as we we have a vote this evening and then we will go to U town meeting where the town will ultimately to approve the budget so a lot of work goes into this it takes a significant amount of time um but as Kelly just uh presented the benefits are huge so um we will just in recap so our um requested increase for fiscal year 2024 was uh 5.34% um initially we had looked at a 1305 increase on top of that in our preliminary appropriated budget the appropriated portion is the taxpayer dollars there's other money on top of that use of revolving funds grants things and um the like our initial ask was $ 25,338 n28 um this slide speaks to uh the collaboration between the finance committee the select board and all our departments so we were asked to thin back by 270 we're going to take a look at again as a committee we're going to take a look and for the record um publish the $250,000 savings or or budget reduction and highlight some of those line items but ultimately we're presenting a budget this evening that's $250,000 less than our than our initial ask but as Kelly stated uh the number one priority is meeting the needs of our students and we feel like we will be able to do that uh with absolute certainty fiscal year 2025 and we're going to highlight in detail some strategies uh this evening where we're going to fund some of those line items anyways question sure so the town asked us to reduce it by 270,000 and we reduced it by 250,000 correct and they solv the the minor difference they Sol it okay if I'm on TV fingers crossed hopefully they hopefully they were able to solve am of difference thank you no problem so this this slide here goes ahead and details the uh the $250,000 uh reduction and we just want to take some time to explain this believe the school all School committees were present at the Joint meeting with the select board finance committee so you folks have heard this before um but for the public there was a a reduction of $2,887 that um is staff salaries so essentially we have two uh Post in position for educational assistance uh that are currently vacant we we desperately need those positions filled uh because it's for the benefit of our students but we felt that it would be appropriate to remove that line item from the budget uh for the year 2025 when we go ahead and hire those folks um we'll pay for those uh school choice funds anyways and then um this is probably near and dear dear to the central office uh staff um they're agreeing to sort of Kick the Can uh one more year so as the school district has grown and public education has become more and more complex and there's been some changes in town hall um the central office really feels like uh there's a need for an additional administrative support position um they are absolutely making doe with what they have um but in the event that there was uh an extended absence injury or illness uh or just even simply turnover um The Skeleton Crew that operates now would probably be severely underwater but um we are going to hold off on that for for the year and we will revisit this fiscal year 2026 additionally um as part of the budget there's a $110,000 allocation per school for classroom supplies as you can imagine that doesn't necessarily go very far because everyone does back to school shopping um the Staples commercial still cracks me up but um every you know all the families are asked to bring in um a laundry list of classroom supplies and then as the witer months roll through we're looking for paper towels and Clorox ripes and all that stuff um but we're we're go aheading we're going ahead and removing the $40,000 for classroom supplies I again we will fund uh what's necessary out of school choice dollars but to get to a balanced budget we're removing that line item and then we had a $150,000 request for curriculum upgrades um obviously as uh superintendent gleni spoke to there are some curriculum upgrades currently in process um we felt that again to get to a balanced budget for the town we could uh offer a reduction of $97,900 what that's going to allow us to do is finish the curriculum review that's in place continue to buy those materials and Implement that strategy and then just for the audience we're certainly not pausing curriculum upgrades what we're doing is just going to fund uh fund the necessary additional work out of school choice funds but we're we're pleas we were pleased at the time to present to the select board and finance committee a $250,000 reduction um off of the previously requested budget so I wanted to take some time to go ahead and detail that we're doing this a little a bit of out of order but that's kind of the punchline for those that are interested and the next slide will um cover how we get to the the total 2025 appropriated school department budget so we start with uh fiscal year 2024 approved budget again these are the appropriated dollars so we've got 24,43 3,266 the first line item there is um increases to staff salaries that's a contract actual number uh based upon steps Lane cost of living adjustment we are in year two or sorry this will be year two of what I believe both parties would uh say was a very successful contract negotiation between the school committee and Littleton Educators Association um this recognizes a 325 call adjustment as well as additional uh steps and Lanes um it's a smaller dollar amount but just to show the the nitty-gritty here and everything the the detail um we do have a speech pathologist position that's currently on payroll at 08 and based upon the case load meet the needs of the students we do have to bring that to a full-time position so that's an increase of 8,000 yeah sorry 18,6 65 Transportation increases um that's $126,400 believe a three-year slide from our additional uh busing cost that was a two again a two-prong attack and uh busing fees we were at the end of a five-year contract we knew that upon a renewal um we would likely see an increase and we did and then with a shift to earlier school start times running 14 buses twice each morning and evening morning and afternoon as opposed to nine buses three times um more buses equal more dollars so that's not the entire increase that's just the the portion for fiscal year 2025 that the school committee asks the tax dollar the taxpayers to help offset through appropriated funds and then there's a line item for $57,000 um which are operational costs which we've we've been highlighting and keeping an eye on for a number of years some of this is cover delated others of it is just standard inflation so um we have older vehic an older vehicle Fleet within the school system um we're realizing that the cost of those repairs is increasing fuel costs custodial supplies legal services and the U HB maintenance contract unfortunately is up this year we feel like that's been a really nice spend for us um to maintain those older systems we feel like we're getting a good bang for a buck it's up and we're as with the busing we're going to see an increase there so um we were likely um spending I would we were spending more than 100% of that that line item so the $57,000 increase hopefully gets us back to a level play to be able to with at our anticipated needs are and then we've got the um the reduction of from $150,000 curriculum materials request what we're left with is $52,800 increase which quite honestly I feel pretty good about I mean it's the school district as Kelly just detailed with 20 slides accomplishes a significant amount and I was going to say 180 days but it's actually what 182 now it's like 183 days right um accomplishes a tremendous amount the town um sort of budgets or allocates you know a growth rate of about 5% within the school district school department budget and here we are coming in at 4.3 so um a lot of work went into this and a lot of work is going to need to be done with with these dollars to continue to provide the the services that we do that our citizens expect um but a 4.3% increase is a really really nice place to come in um this slide details uh how we anticipate on using our school choice funds so we're fortunate um to be a a school choice town and have a lot of students from surrounding areas select to attend Litton Public Schools again number six High School top performing Middle School um when once they start ranking elementary schools we'll probably see uh us at the list as well but as we've done in years past uh from the School of Choice funds received we take about $250,000 of that and allocated to current year salaries it's not just as simple as filling an extra seat often times those children come in and they require additional Services as well and materials um so that $250,000 offset helps this District function as planned the next $250,000 line item is the all of the items that I um detailed from the reduced budget request so the two open spaces for uh teaching assistance perhaps that central office position the $40,000 um for school school class classro supplies at each school we we fully anticipate needing to spend every one of those dollars um we'll just spend it as the need arises that was to the tune of 250 and then the school department is uh still bearing the load of that tuition uh sorry that Transportation increase what's left over um out of that that would not be appropriated would be $178,600 uh is anticipated to be $678,000 uh $678 64 the good news is is that as of June 30th 2023 um the school choice balance was as you'll see just a tad over three $3 million looks like a big number um but educational cost um Can Swing wildly based upon enrollment um in the area of special needs so we've only all been school committee members for you know a term and a smidge um that $3 million balance is really the work of school committees before us and the central office um when we were reviewing the budget with the finance committee they said you know we we don't uh we don't begrudge anyone for having a balance and it's we're fortunate that we do because we were the town made an ask and we're able to reduce our budget and we're going to pay for some of those things things from our school choice balance typically um if all holds true um we should grow somewhere in the neighborhood of about $450,000 to $500,000 from school choice revenue for fiscal year 2025 so for the first time in a long time um our school choice balance will likely go down but it's still quite healthy it's about it's just a bit over 10% of the total budget exactly where we want it to be what did you say it'll grow 45050 yeah 450 to 500 that number fluctuates we don't you know that's a decision that we'll make at the end of this year is you know what additional school choice seats do we want to open up those that are in the district have the right to stay um but it's in all likelihood our our school choice balance will likely go down this school year 2025 but not in an alarming rate but this is the balance 2023 which is last year correct so we don't know what going to be for 2024 right because that's a future date and what we're highlighting is what we believe the usage is going to be for fiscal year 2025 but anticipating that it will increase by 450 to 500,000 well we spent some of it because we spent the 250 and we run into other expenses but it my my I would venture to guess and St BR me from wrong that our June 30th 2024 bounds will be Slightly North of the figure that's published on that page yeah a it it'll probably be right around the same balance because we're covering the 472,000 for the additional buses this year out of school choice as well so yeah it's pretty much Break Even this year school choice Revenue versus expenses so okay we're still it's still in good shape all right so um I'll just quickly review the the cost centers um because this will make a little bit more sense when we touch on the next couple of slides so when we detail the budget um we do so over the course of seven or eight cost centers um the first is regular education so it's all cost associated with regular education programming second one there is special education uh all Associated cost specialized with the exclusion Transportation costs number three is St support that includes guidance nursing technology curriculum professional development other instruction is co-curricular and extracurricular cost center number five is the super attendance office and staff and the school committee costs insert joke about how much money we spent as the school committee um which I think is one banera meal maybe um and the conference thank you big spender this year spender yeah uh number six is the school administration that's the building leadership of principles and office staff at each building seven is transportation and busing regular and special a transportation costs and number eight is facilities of Maintenance um operations maintenance utilities which have been an increase custodial cost contracted services like the hbac all right so in summary and then we we slice and DIC a couple different ways in case folks want to see it but in summary we were at 24433 262 a 1, 55,66984 , 488 928 and we break this out real simply here on uh with two line items we've got salaries and other expenses so as you'll see the districtwide salaries uh fiscal year 24 just north of 18 million and we're coming in just south of 19 million for fiscal year 2025 that's a difference of 820 $820,000 um salaries represent 74.1% of our total budget with other expenses being 25.9% um people are expensive but the good news is we have good people within our district and and they're they're the ones that accomplish all of those wonderful things that Kelly shared with us on those previous 20 slides um you'll see that salaries are going up by 4.5% um as Kelly mentioned other districts are making making the the news um there's been some lockout situations and um we feel that a 4.5% increase is um not enough but it's certainly um fair and um it allows us to arrive at a 4.3% increase uh across the total budget you'll see other operational expenses are going up 3.7% all right so this is this details the cost centers I won't necessarily run through every single one of these line items um we've got regular red um going up 3.6% that's the largest line item um on the on the sheet here and then of course there's a significant uh for special education um to the tune of $6.7 million that's also going up 3% so our two largest line items um at 3.6 and 3% are helping us arrive at a 4.3% total budget um you'll see student and staff support that number uh in terms of a percentage change sort of the one that sticks out with a double digit increase there of 11.4% um that is the result of salary increases um some of the curriculum spend is in there there was also a um an added nurse position which wasn't previously budgeted for um which is now rolling into the budget so it's not a small line item at $1.6 million this is a smaller line item um when you run through it so with those with those activities arriving at that number we end up at 11.3% again prior to that were schools sharing that there was just a need to create an additional nurse phys okay so how many of we have five nurses now one's a floater oh that makes sense the nursing company that we used for reti Justin are the teacher are the salaries distributed in M between the first two line items there's Sal yeah so there's salary and Regular Ad of course right there's salary and special ad there's salary and um student and staff support there's salary and system administration School administration yeah and then the transportation increase 8.2% you all know why so um you know I sort of came on the school committee right at the tail end of um change in the school schedule of the impact on Transportation um is there like a a certain number of years that you're anticipating a an impact on the transportation costs from that change or is it just going to be going we we know what the impact was when we signed the new contract uh the variable there is that every year there's a CPI adjustment in terms of cost of fuel and things like that um but that's not all that significant where the impact is is that we didn't ask the taxpayers to pay for the whole difference we were sitting with some school choice funds and although we surveyed the community and it was an overwhelming um support for the decision um as we did with the tuition free kindergarten initiative we slid that into the budget over a like a multi-year process that's exactly what we're doing here so we know fiscal year 2024 there was a piece there 2025 here's the next piece the idea is by 20126 that might be the final piece in we'll see how the finances of the town are um next budgetary cycle and it would be our our goal um since busing is required and so is school that um that the that that all falls within the appropriated portion but we'll see how it goes that makes [Music] sense all right so this is a bit of a change in information here so this isn't um this isn't appropriated these are revolving but this is revolving fund usage so we've got fiscal uh year 24 versus the estimated 25 and the this is non non- taxpayer dollar but um for full transparency just to detail the entire budget uh this is money that comes in through um ancillary fees like athletic fees busing fees um rental space within the auditorium grants um be it state or federal circuit breaker is also in there as well thank you so the big line item there is um special education people service which is circuit breaker money so the the district's reimbursed a certain a certain percentage above a certain dollar amount um for special education expenses so this for the most part is dollars in dollars out it um but as you'll see the um the budgeted use for fiscal year 2024 was 4035 the anticipated use for fisal year 2025 is 4.66 represents a six uh $630,000 increase it's 16% again a lot of that is or nearly all of it is state aid in one fashion or another so um as our taxes all go up we are then in turn receiving this money from the state and it's being used to help offset some of our our budget are we anticipating getting 4.6 million in funds or we got it this year and then we spend it next year is it a year ahead uh so some of it's a year ahead like the uh circuit breaker funds so we're going to receive funds for our usage this year we're going to submit our our reports and they'll uh earmark a certain dollar for us and we use those funds first and then we supplement with our dollars other um other funds here like picking information at the Gate of Alumni field and the busing for next year and St I mean we have an idea what that's going to be okay um it's anticipated then yes income okay right and some of it is in uh entitlement grants and things like that so yeah um Steve maybe this is a question for you if you have a chance to compare um the expenses or the salaries for tigers den with what after school programs and other districts are progr yes we we've done some studies on that um our program director has done that um we think we're relatively competitive we're looking at that uh for next year as well to see if an adjustment is needed for the tiger program okay right because we want to keep our good people yes definitely and it really helped when we started to focus on K3 instead of K5 with parking becoming partners with us so we can really build that K3 program uh so far it's working really well our waiting lists are gone that's one the things we wanted to to do make sure that our our families who needed care received care tagers C so the load has been successful to this point in time thank you we have a new director of that program this year so she's kind of getting up the speed uh on the program as well and we've been communicating about uh Staffing levels and um salaries and uh wages and things like that and doing comparatives great thank you y I'm also yep here we go so this takes the uh the appropriated and the revolving fund usage and just compiles them together so we can see the the total anticipated um budget for fiscal year 2025 um as comparison to 2024 the uh the budgeted use was 28,40 1864 um although the ask of the town was for the appropriated dollars was a 4.3% increase um we're anticipating which makes sense like all the wonderful all the slides that you had Kelly that detail all the wonderful things that that are accomplished over the course of the year and if we're looking to do more and be and get better at what we're doing um it's actually probably going to cost us an 82 uh 88.2% increase over uh the current budget to the tune of $3,155 and10 um again it's 4.3 of the town the extra percentage there is hopefully the addition of state aid and grants and uh other revolving funds that we receive is this appropriation and revolving funds and school choice yes yes it's all together and then what is the number of total students we have in total students FL all the let me yeah I know we don't know f25 obviously what I have today we're running uh 600 or 1,673 students out of that we have 101 school choice all right so um just want to share um future bud budgetary concerns with the school committee and uh and the general public um obviously the first bullet point here everybody everybody's felt over the past couple of years um and it's likely to continue um but the recent inflation factors and continual impact on future operational budgets we've seen the prices of our utilities natural gas food prices electrical cost salary increases um contractual costs all go up it's likely that that U that that'll continue we'll see interest rates are pretty high right now to try to fight off inflation but U time will tell we're also coming up on an election so we'll see how that shakes out um bu Point number two here is the impact of inflation on future contracts we saw the bust contract come in um that's a that's uh that's a tough one because we only received one bid um despite our our efforts to secure other bids that's um kind of an ond process but as we mentioned earlier um the hbac contracts coming up and we do have older hbac units so we need to continue to maintain those as Kelly said we got to get out in front of that otherwise we're just going to see larger spends down the road um but anytime we're looking at equipment and labor it's coming in u the highest we've seen it number three here is the town appropriation support for structural increases so that's kind of macroeconomics here um the town's growing School Department's growing and um and we hope that the town can continue to grow the revenue side to meet the needs of not only the school department but all of the budgets in town Poli leas fire Park and R Human Services etc etc um so when speaking with select board members and finance committee members give them in the planning board give them a break they're trying to do the best job they possibly can and never is aware of the issue um but we we're all optimistic that um with some of the exciting projects that are coming to town that they are well thought out and that uh some additional Revenue will be um will be coming in that'll help support the growth the anticipated growth of the town uh future collective bargaining um Association negotiations so as I um stated earlier this this budget presentation is for uh F the second fiscal year the current contract with the Lea um it'll be like that before we're negotiating the next one and uh and there were other um cbas within the within the school department as well um but for the most part I'm happy to report that um both sides presented their points um reasonably and both sides listened and both sides of course had to make sacrifices um but the process went as smooth one could possibly help and um just a quick question about the busing contract how many years is that I know five years five years so right it's fiveyear contract we're in year one yes okay all right and then um we're we're hopeful we're optimistic I mean we we are a top performing school district and the way that our um buildings are laid out now in the room in the classrooms we have a healthy school choice population we hope to maintain that to uh continue to offset some of these operational expenses but as the town grows and perhaps we have a a new Shaker Lane School coming at some point certainly a renovation or um a new build the uh what we have for the other three schools is kind of what we have so um as new housing comes in some of those school choice seats um might not be made available um each and every year our school choice population might have to shrink over time as more and more Littleton residents show up and need to participate in public education it's a it's a concern it's not an immediate concern it's not a clip situation where all of a sudden one year we're going to go from 100 and what was 101 101 to zero we're going to lose a few school choice students every year because they're going to graduate or they're going to have another option um and we just as a school committee need to keep an eye on and be mindful of what school choices we open up will we also then though gain tax Reven we it won't be equal to the amount of school well that that's a that's a good question it's tough you don't know if someone's GNA move in with no kids or five kids no but still increase tax revenue your tax revenue will increase just I guess the trick is to to grow at a a rate where your tax increases are shouldering increase costs is pretty hard yeah more students as a student population increases you get additional Chapter 70 funds for each student but it's not it's certainly not an equal not enough right um sort of just belabor this point but the new development and housing growth potential impact on classroom SP Transportation cost regul stal L uh fiscal year 2024 current year that we're in is the uh end of those Sr funds we were conscious and to allocate those dollars towards single use spends um it was challenging times things were needed additional uh support for students and staff air purification PPE all that good stuff um those dollars were put to get use what we tried really hard not to do was roll those funds into ongoing operational budgetary line items um which I believe might be some problems for some other districts that were we're hearing about um but we manage that well and we're just going to need to uh as we continue on without those funds which keeping an eye on that and then of course um we've got four buildings four school buildings we share a building with some other Town departments in town hall moving to Indian Hill no how that's going um there are some capital funding concerns over the next 10 years so we've got some aging roofs we've got some uh hbac upgrade um upgrades that are needed there's the Shaker Lane building project which is ongoing we're in the feasibility uh study portion now it's um we're I'm optimistic that we might hear back from that feasibility study in May of 2025 um as for the direction that we're going um there's boiler Replacements that necessary the high school that's just cherry picking a few of them the finance committee um as they do every year as for a uh a plan from all departments we've submitted that paperwork they've got a list of everything that we anticipate coming out um but just wanted to highlight a few that in addition to our operational budget and uh the town needing to uh help us uh offset that with through appropriated funds there's also a need or concern for capital projects over time which of course they're well aware of but it's a continues to be a concern I I have a question about the actually this goes back to Dave Riley's presentation about the energy but um he was talking about one of the expenses during the pandemic was um The increased air flow that was required and then of course that's cold air coming in so it's more expensive to heat it and I had asked if if the um that was still the case and he said yes so I didn't know you know is it best is it best practice at some point to ramp that down now that we're on the other side of pandemic well we eventually that will happen but you know we still I mean our Co not in our district but in the state and Beyond Co cases are still around and uh you know we have RSV going around Etc so I mean we're really trying to keep Staffing students in school as much as possible so everything that we do to to create an environment that decreases the transmission of germs as much as you can it's beneficial there will come a time though we'll feel comfortable starting to uh close those dampers a bit but uh I mean that would be our our our longterm not not so long but the longterm plan it's worked out well consell are cleaning High touch surfaces all the time you can intercept the ger transmission goes a yeah I mean I'll I'll kind of piggyback on that a little bit I think one of the things that we realized during Co is that you know healthy buildings equal healthy people and the the quality of air inside a building um this isn't just a response to co but it's all the other germs and stuff that goes around so during covid we had you know windows open and dampers open and you know um like dollars going out the windows you know at least this point in time windows are shut and we've just got a a higher concentration of fresh air coming into the schools if Dave Riley had presented to us we've really got to close those dampers back because we're we're again sending money up to smoke stacks um we'd be having that conversation but I think there's a a trade off there yeah and he's the expert um so we've hit that sweet spot you know I think it's something that he's going to continue to reassess each and every year but he didn't bring it to us as a as a concern I think what they what they realized was not they but like sort of the general general public was you know to increase the dampers and have some additional fresh air and just to everybody's benefit is it coming at a huge cost no it's it's coming at you know an increased cost but it keeps people in school and to keep staff healthy having dollars well spent sounds like so it's still a multi- multi-level approach we still have the air purifiers in the classrooms we're bringing in fresh air we're disinfecting the classrooms we're still trying to keep staff and students healthy so it's it's kind of a whole education process again of you know what can we do to keep everybody healthy but minimize um those heating costs well if there's anything good that came out of the pandemic it's that heightened Awareness on what it takes to keep people healthy it's true I just clarify sure um when we were talking about some of the things that we were cutting from our current budget but are being carried by school choice I recognized a few things I think last year we cut in the budget completed which was the TA positions and the administrative positions right like last year we just said this we just have to cut this out of the budget entirely but now we are going to hire for those but we're able to cover them with the school choice or we have to well the TA if you're talking about the two two ta positions for for next year we we will hire them if we we need to our our population changes from from year to year so I mean for all who knows we may need four depending on on the students that move in to our district or we do not need anymore so it gives us a bit of a you know cushion if we do that at this point in time we we don't feel we need any more at assistance but that may may change in a month but then so the administrative support we needed last year we know we need two different things yeah there there were two different positions been the the year before it was for uh special education when we moved the team shairs into uh special education administrators position we're finding at this point in time they're they're fine with the current support that they have okay you know if that job will get probably will continue to evolve we have to reassess it couple years okay and the administrative support for payroll accounts payable I mean we still need to to work out you know what's the best way to to to move forward I'm not I'm not an advocate of halftime staff or part-time staff because the chance of keeping minimum we're going to put the money in the train somebody like to keep them so it's just a matter of what is that going to take and we are working with the town our biggest vulnerability including the towns side is is having somebody that can come in and you pay accounts pay well but payrolls is the the area that's the most concerning and right now we don't we don't have a lot of cross training so we're trying to solve that by combining with the town but that that's probably not going to be enough we're going to need somebody else that's cross trained and and payroll R counts pay Cas somebody know goes out from or so pretty hard if that happens to bring a contracted firm and take over they may have the skill sets but they don't know the organization not be no M as well as I just want to make make sure we're all we keep pushing positions down the road every year and they become more and more necessary just want to make sure we don't keep cutting those things from the budget every year they if they are a priority so I just wanted to clarify if those are the same positions or if they're different good question thank you for asking please okay any other questions can I just comment though on my appreciation given what other towns are going through par particularly two of our neighboring towns um in making some very difficult decisions that we are in a position because of I think both Kelly and Stephen School committees before us where we don't spend above our means you know we plan we bring high quality but not at a cost of uh being in sort of a deficit position and that we maintain sort of a healthy school Choice savings account I think is a really wise uh trajectory of this town and especially now this year I'm very impre I mean we've been strategic and fortunate the pandemic had we our technology infrastructure was good and a lot of districts couldn't say that took a lot of money for them to upgrade their technology systems uh we you know we spent uh you know money on an energy manager that has created some great efficiencies in terms of energy use in our district as well uh bringing in programs for students that we used to send students out for created some deficiencies so all of those things kind of gel together helped us be in the position that we're in there still Choice enrollment think my first year here we have 30 something 30 students maybe see back it was like 35 or 36 or something now we're at 101 we're a sought out District the reputation is you know continue to increase throughout the time so all those factors come into play there but we're fortunate I mean we worked hard but really fortunate we've had the support of school communties in the town to you know to to help us move our district forward I think we also benefit from a a very transparent and collegial relationship with other boards in town that it's it's sounds like it's a real back and forth that people are listening to each other and being respectful and reasonable and um I don't think all towns all districts are like that I think in some cases some of our neighboring districts that have trouble I think um sometimes it stems from um people not trusting each other over time there's been bad blood and and uh I think you know we really benefit from everything being so transparent everyone is assuming good intent it's a good point yeah great thank you both for those comments um so there's nothing else I got a two-part um two-part motion here to make this official I'll I'll move to close uh that this be your 2025 budget public hearing second I'll second second made by Jen all those in favor indicate by saying I I budget hearing has been closed now what I love is a uh motion from the school committee to accept the presented budget how that we accept the presenting budget okay um what would what we'd like is the dollar amounts to be to be stated and if you don't have that information in front of you Stacey you might have it in front of her by chance that's I'd like to make a motion to approve the FY 2024 budget of 25 million 20 FY 2025 budget of 3,155 110,000 with the appropriated with appropriated yes there we go with the appropriated budget of 2,488 928 perfect motion made by Stacy second second by ly I appreciate your enthusiasm I'm trying to make the motion um all those in favorate by saying I I post heing none we are unanimous thank you very much awesome thank you so good yeah clear it is so clear exactly clear makes sense all right we'll get back to our uh regularly scheduled business here which we should move along pretty quickly just you've been sitting there so patiently do you have anything would you like to add anything this evening I don't want to put you on the spot oh okay gives me a chance to take a sip of Cofe thanks um all right we'll roll through our subcommittee reports and then we should be able to get out of here uh at a reasonable time so we'll start with pmbc uh pmbc is just I think believe the right the high school done they are just getting their last items and then they have their checklist for kind of finalizing everything so far as I know they're they're on their way out of there finally so wrapping it up finally um budget subcommittee I just want to thank Jen she's been on the subcommittee for the past couple of years as as has been stated Jen's not seeking re-election so your your work on the budget subcommittee has been greatly appreciated and want to thank both Steve Mark and superintendent clenchi um it was a heavier lift this year um we will wait um with baited breath for uh the town to accept the budget at the town meeting and uh and then we'll get right back to work so thank you very much yeah thank you you it's almost next year budget season already don't say that take a breath it's a uh policy subcommittee anything to you guys have been busy anything additional to report no we did meet um but it was about wellness policy we'll bring to you at another time um so we don't have any policies for your review to it will be fine and Shaker Lane building committee um Yes we made some progress last meeting we had here we voted to accept the two architects architectural proposals we had to take that vote to the design selection committee meeting um and we were able to review the proposals from both what was it um fine Golds Alexander and Studio G um our goal for that meeting was to kind of decide who we would want to recommend for event msba for I think I think it's March 26 that we have a meeting with them um we have a conversation with msba to kind of discuss which designers uh we had proposals from and who we wanted to go with um both are very well qualified Architects um with a lot of experience with msba so we essentially voted to during our meeting for msba we are going to ask request um that we have a um inperson meeting with both designers so that we can kind of get to know them a little bit better before we choose which one we want to recommend for for the town um it's a very long process something we're going to be working with them for at least five years um so if there weren't any huge differentiations between them we wanted to kind of meet with them and and see who kind of would fit with our with our group the best so I think that's the 26th with SBA um and then after that we'll go from there once they give us hopefully they give us the green light to have some type of P test that we can choose from there great great for the update is there any other uh business subcommittee or otherwise before the committee this evening I'll ask for a motion to adjourn motion to adjourn motion made by Beno second seconded by Jen all those in favor indicate by saying I I we have ajour thank you