##VIDEO ID:RUcgGV8n8qg## e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e good evening everyone today is Tuesday January 28th 2025 the time is 7:30 we're at the M public school committee meeting and I call the meeting to order i' would like to remind everyone that we are being live taped by wmctv and we are streamed as well so having said that that let's move on to the Pledge of Allegiance so can everyone rise I pledge aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all thank you everyone so moving on to presentations we have the Maro Education Foundation Grant presentations so if you'd like to come up to the podium State who you are and what this wonderful Foundation is all about um hi everybody I'm Valerie Cowen um the president of the marble Education Foundation this is um Mike brossi our vice president aako Barnum our Treasurer just have you come up to the microphone so people can hear you at home thank you sorry do I have to repeat all that no is your green light on yes okay you're good okay okay is it working now um we can hear you but the people at home need to hear you that's why the microphone there okay um so I'm Valerie Cowan the president of the maror Education Foundation and this is Mike brossi our vice president a yako Barnum our clerk um Michelle B heninger is also a member of the foundation and she's one of the founding members of the foundation and Heidi is also is Heidi here hi Heidi yeah and Heidi has also been on the foundation um so um we were started in 1997 actually Michelle and a mutual friend of ours a man named Brian fie started the foundation and since then these grants this year bring us up to 213 grants we have awarded to the schools um with a total dollar amount of over $237,000 wow um so we've really tried to help as much as we can and this year we awarded six grants for a total of 8,354 um to six different teachers um I think we have grants to every school except ECC this year um so the first one is $600 and I apologize if I don't pronounce some of your last names correctly um $600 to Danielle uh uh cikel um at wickom school to purchase various materials to enhance the student restorative Center at the school of which actually we funded the student restorative Center last year um and so now [Applause] um then the next one is um $1,975 for kbo robotics coding kits for the elementary schools this is K through five they're teaching the kids how to code in The Innovation labs and I kept saying that that astounds me Michelle kept telling me to get over it digital age right now but I think teaching first and second and kindergarteners to code is amazing um um so um we're actually um the grant is um for the elementary schools Innovation Labs Allison haway of garwick school wrote this but actually these robotics coding kits are going to all the elementary schools awesome so that's great much um the next Grant goes to Nicole carrier and it's for a digital media uh who's a digital media teacher at Wick home and it's a grant of $1,861 for four professional digital single lens reflex cameras for the eighth grades that's awesome [Applause] um the next Grant goes to Chris KO who could not be here tonight he's a physics teacher at the high school and this is a grant of $1,500 for lowcost multisensor devices that will wirelessly interface with the students Chromebooks in the classrooms at maror high so um Daniel May um um the next Grant also goes to witcom and it is for $183 to Mark Rodriguez for no CO2 launching systems for the Dragsters that they build and test the transportation technology unit of the environmental learning curriculum [Applause] Peta Fender keeps doing good work so and the last Grant goes to Emily Mian at marbor high it's for $613 for flexible seating and sensory materials for the therapeutic Learning Center and the learning and functional environment programs for undergraduate and postgraduate students at the high school [Applause] um and I have the check for Matthew is Matthew Wells here yes ick so that's our grant year for this year so look look for us again next December um well so we have a fundraiser coming up it's a March Madness fundraiser where you buy buy a square on 100 square grid and then you can win multiple times in the basketball games that are played in March Madness depending on what digit you get assigned to that for the scores in the basketball games so that'll be coming up that'll be on the website and um uh we look forward to seeing everybody again next year thank you thank you thank [Applause] you congratulations thank you good okay we're moving on to committee discussions directive so the superintendent search committee followup so the Director of Human Resources hello hello hello Mr Mayor um so I'm Patty Brown the HR Director for marbor public schools and I have an update for everybody for how we're doing with the um superintendent search since the meeting last Wednesday a lot was accomplished in a short amount of time good so um that I'll give you an update first on the number of applicants and then we'll talk about the formation of the committee and then the timeline so we had um the deadline was the 27th of September for the applicants to submit applications we received 11 applications for superintendent and to our internal the rest are external the search committee is almost fully formed now I can confirm members that I know of the as of this moment um Denise Ryan Dan cruso and Katherine Hennessy from the school committee that were um appointed last meeting on Wednesday and then Angela house is the principal at witam um Mary Murphy superintendent Murphy was charged with finding administrator and she did uh and then the mea um was to appoint a teacher and they um that that I know of at this moment is Fran Francesca Scott the mathematics teacher at the high school and then the other Committee Member um from the number of committee members that you chose the last time was a parent representative and mayor Dumas and um Vice chair Michelle bodden heninger chose that parent representative today it's Mark pharo so those are the members I know as of this moment um's a hand up I mean if are are you all set or we have open up questions and comments andeline after that but are there any questions and comments to this point why don't she just finish her presentation then we this because we have to vote on it I would so okay so I can proceed okay thank you so we have three meetings planned with the six individuals I just named the first two weeks in February and given that we should be able to um be on track to being bring finalists forward to this committee by the end of febru February early March that's the point okay thank you open up to questions Miss Matthews uh I guess it's not a question but I when we discussed last week establishing the commit um Mrs Brown's original recommendation was for five members on the committee we asked for a change to have three school committee members which left us with an even number of votes on the committee and I'm asking that we change that to an odd number by adding a second mea representative which um I have been given another name by Mr Thomas for that committee committee but um again I think it needs a vote by the committee to change the format of the committee so I would ask for a suspension of the rules to vote on adding a seventh member of the search committee I would second that okay what we need to do is to suspension I just want to make sure we're all in the same okay sorry so is there any questions comments concerns regarding the suspension of the rle rules seeing none all in favor yeah we don't have to do a call okay okay now a motion to allow a seventh member being an mea representative for the search committee and I would also second that motion on the table to add a seventh member to the committee questions comments concerns seeing none I just have one question how many members did we have last time to recall I think we had we also had we had three school committee members we had a a teacher well we had two we had two mea members the last time so we would have had we had a lot we had L we would have had two mea members last time so we would have wound up with seven total yeah I mean it's not that they because they were I'm not over concerned about the number because it's not like a final de decision but I understand I understand why we're doing this but it's not like I can see if like they the final decision to one person but they're just going to nominate the final few candidates but well and if I remember correctly I feel like um it was making sure that we had like say an elementary a person representing more say like an elementary area as well as in a secondary kind of level if I remember correctly and maybe I'm not remembering it correctly but yeah the mea had two two presidents so and one was representative of the elementary level and the other was representative of second they were both on the commit just because of the way of their makeup of their unit that's why this scho this is middle and high okay I'm just was curious are we good any other questions comments concerns regarding speak now sure yeah okay all in favor motion carries so you know who the seventh person is now it's Heather Katon that's it Heather Kon yes so and she's from wcom so we'll have one from the high school and one from wcom yes okay thank you anything else you well miss BR is here so did you say that that you have meeting scheduled already or we do yes um and the committee is all aware of that the committee aware since EX for Heather who was just appointed um and I do have dates for those which will those meetings will be warned okay do we have an anticipated date of when recommendation is coming to the full committee or hope would be the end of uh February you have a meeting at the last week in February and then you also have a meeting in March um so we'll be one of those two meetings if you want to know the dates that I've scheduled so now right right now I can tell you what those dates are sure sure February 5th February 7th and February 11th 5 27 211 okay and 25 will be start in Open Session 25 will'll start an open session yes at 5 into executive session after the questions have been yes developed that's correct thank you okay thank you for all the parents that did reach out who wanted to be part of this search it's much appreciated there was a lot of great feedback it's nice when the Community steps up to the plate and wants to help out the the school so thank you for all of everyone that did do that and um and to the committee so it's a big task and um okay moving on if there's anything else no okay thank you thank you thank you thank okay superintendent report thank you mayor Christian um I included in my January report and update on student enrollment the district enrollment um because we are still increasing um month to month um not drastic amounts but we did um exceed we're over 4,800 students currently enrolled as of I think it was last Friday um and I also included the Elementary class siiz chart um one of the things that we've been looking at is some of the class sizes across the district I know that um good now has been trying to keep with the six sections across the board mainly because it allows them to not have so many small groups out in the breakout areas that are designed for more flexible grouping um cane school um assistant superintendent O'Brien and I met with uh principal pantazopoulos earlier today there is will be a projected need for an additional first grade section next year based on the fact that there are five kindergarten sections and only four um currently um first grade that request we are putting aside and putting it um reserving some of our state funds that are designated for cane school because of the large um migrant population that they're serving this year so we'll be able to do that without a budget impact but it's just something that I want the committee to be aware of that we're looking at these numbers um can I just ask a question through the chair um do we have space I mean will the kindergarten go down a section we don't know about that right now um the only space that they would have would be once again similar to the other buildings is the doubling or the tripling up of breakout rooms so El Services happening in Combined um spaces special ed services happening in shared spaces those type of things um potentially music or art being on a cart those are the only options we're at at any other any of our elementary schools one of the things that I'm looking at my calendar is that I'd love to offer um building tours to both school committee members and city council members of our elementaries and whitcom school if desired both during the day and at night because we know not everyone's available during the day the principles would love people to be toured through when there are students in the building so that you we can see what every space is being used for um there is concern that we will continue to increase before we are able to build anything in the city that will help with the overcrowding situation especially of the elementaries um and we are we don't even have places to put modulas in many of our schools so yeah is that something where um just to make sure that our city councilors know uh that we really make some kind of a formal invitation a formal in um invitation with dates times and buildings that is in the process um Mrs sailo and I have been looking at calendars and trying to I've already talked to the princip principles about it but I will designate different times both a and p.m on multiple days hoping that we can get people to actually um see what's going in on in the school how we have maximized our space how closets are being used um Etc throughout thank you that's that's fantastic news um I did want to update um I'm sorry that Mr Thomas is not here tonight because um I asked permission for the two of us to share this news um we have um a building advisory committees that were added not this current contract but the prior one to our teachers contract and the whole goal of that was to give additional voice in decisions and problem solving in um each of the buildings during this last cycle of negotiations We Came As a joint interest to try to improve and grow these committees and um we think that it they're all started as a POS on a positive path this year we started the year with Mr Thomas and I doing a joint presentation to all members of the building advisory committee and currently Mr Thomas and I have been rotating through a number of the building advisory committees um just sitting in um giving support if anyone asks um so just just a brief update on the status of a something we're excited about and we think that together we have created systems that hopefully um will work together to solve any building based problems and to continue to grow positive culture i another question sorry um so using the interest based bargaining techniques that we do in negotiations was it helpful I mean do you feel very helpful because it's the beginning of identifying the issue and then telling the story and then agreeing and many times members of the building advisory committee are saying that's an individual issue let's let's meet separately to discuss that or yes this is a great building based issue and let's be creative on how we look at solving it for example drop off a pickup at the elementary school schools is a longterm but it can be let's try this first and if that doesn't work then we'll go to this next option so they're really like problem solving together it's really exciting to watch awesome great thank you welcome um safe roots to school update um later tonight Mr wells will be presenting some information regarding the FY 26 uh bus bids um we will be as part of that discussion um throughout the rest of the year preparing for some walking zones um throughout the city for next year and we have continued to collaborate with safe routs to schools initial steps that I wanted to report out on um is that currently safe Roots is are in the process of creating a student radius map for each School these Maps will help us identify the number of students living within a walkable or bikable distance from the school and after the bus strike we should have thought to like talk more about the the bikable right the ele the principles are all looking at Grants for additional bike racks as well there's also going to be a districtwide parent travel survey so just looking it's supposed to be a two-minute travel survey that doesn't ask for any personal information it's just to collect data on how students are currently going to school so that we can collect that data and will help with some of our plans um and on the schoolwide um school-based level whitcom school will be offering a biker safety afternoon in the spring and they're going to be inviting families to that event as well whim school is also doing their own informal survey for drop off and pickup they believe that they've improved drop off in the morning I think anyone that has tried to tra drive down Union Street does see a big difference pick up they're still looking to make some changes and then the elementary schools are scheduling walking and bikes biking safety programs for their schools in the spring many of them are going to happen during um PE classes in the spring um so that's just initial steps that are in process thank you questions comments concerns for superintendent report I guess I would just say I I'm going to hold some of things around that to tie into the transportation conversation if possible okay thank you okay thank you moving on the assistant superintendent of teaching and learning Dr scaz thank you Mr Mayor uh first in my report is on the January 21st professional development day we recently held our recent January professional development day was split into a morning and an afternoon session we continued our anti-bias anti racist otherwise known as abar trainings during session one with a focus on student lessons ranging from prek to grade 12 session two consisted of choice offerings what that we have traditionally run covering a wide range of topics that are all related to our district goals and roadmap work most Elementary Educators participated in a getting started training on the potential new math curriculum in grades K through five on that note our go maath program contract expires at the end of this school year and the go maath program is no longer defined as a highquality program on the department of early and secondary education's curate list we have identified into math as our likely choice for our elementary math curriculum and we wanted to take advantage of the opportunity for initial training that we held on January 21st although it has been hasn't been finalized we believe that in math meets the needs of our students Educators and is ranked high on the curate list of high quality instructional materials the new youth mentorship program last year as you recall we had partnered through project 351 um with the Playbook initiative unfortunately we were not able to get membership with the Playbook initiative again this year however they have assured us that it is likely that we will be able to rejoin in the future in the meantime yanira um and Mr SOA are working hard to develop our own youth leadership program at wickom Middle School in conjunction with principal house so 20 whitcome students joined Mr SOA principal house in our grade 10 project 351 Ambassador yanira yure Rosa for the first witcom youth leadership meeting yanira held a meet and greet and started off by discussing the characteristics that make a good leader we are looking to build a program that becomes a yearly opportunity for youth leadership at the Middle School level so yanira will be holding her first meeting that's not just a meet and greet where she will run a workshop with the 20 middle schoolers on February 5th so more to come and then finally second steps programming at marbro high school we have expanded our second step social emotional learning program to the high school and we are intending to present these lessons during advisory and health classes the high school curriculum focuses on providing students with the skills mindsets environments and high quality relationships that create a healthy school environment marbor High School is specifically implementing second steps as its bullying anchor curriculum starting in freshman year health class through this program students will be exposed to important knowledge and critical skills like a understanding bullying B factors that contribute to bullying and C how to respond to stand up and stand up to bullying in a positive way Lindsay Castro and the audience has joined us tonight to help answer any questions that the school committee may have regarding second steps at marbor high school thank you hi thanks for having me good evening hi hi um I just wanted to share a little bit about the second step for the high school program and I think the what we're seeing more and more of research is that the bullying curriculums are really targeted for kids from 5 to 14 ages 5 to 14 and after that it's more about teacher education and around how to respond to it and I think the national Center for Education statistics has has done some research and 43% of kids that have been bullied have reported that they've been bullied in a classroom setting um versus only 8% of kids are reporting it on a bus Which to me is like mind-blowing I would feel like it'd be opposite but so what I love about the second step program is that there are teacher programs and support programs for how teachers can build safe and supportive classrooms so that they can make sure that they are prepared for bullying and are able to respond to it um appropriately in a classroom setting so as the kids get older it becomes more of a teacher program as opposed to a student L program right so if we're thinking about it of a Continuum at the elementary and middle school the kids are learning the language the terminology they're learning the skills that they need and then as they go on it becomes more of the adults making sure that the environmental factors are all there to make sure that we are responding or preventing bullying and then responding appropriately and which is what I really appreciate about the second step program but any questions yes um thank you um thank you so much for being here tonight and I'm glad to see that we're going to be doing this um as I had reached out to Dr skaza um I I just was when I tried to look into this second steps program it was interesting which you were just articulating that they don't really specifically have something for the bowling curriculum at the high school level um will it be something since it's going to be more teacher focused at that level is that something where we're going to be having more PD available then to try and make sure that they have like the tools in their toolkit to address some of those things yeah and we're doing that now through the advisory periods that they have so some of the lessons that are building up the competencies that we talk about around bullying the self-awareness self-management all those things that like factor into that are being addressed through the advisory period so there's certainly that piece of um education for the adults and the staff and yeah for sure more PD absolutely around all of these factors okay and then as far as with the ninth graders that's going to be happening then later on this spring that right now this third semester that started yesterday or today I think it was yesterday great yesterday yeah yeah awesome thank thank you anything else um if some if nobody else has questions on that I did have just a quick question around the math but I don't want to take us away from that area okay I think we're all set so thank you than you thanks Lindsay so if I can ask about the math program though so I just found it really sorry somewhat humorous that go maath was some how designated as being you know meeting that higher level and now all of a sudden is not cuz it and maybe I'm just collapsing on my time frame but it doesn't seem like we've really had go maath for that long 12 years oh it's been 12 holy moly I remember it came on when I started okay so this is New New Math that was just new math well that's what I was just like are you kidding it just seems so silly to me that we like are like yeah we're all into it and it's high level and then goodbye you're out the door I mean wow it was on the list when we did Implement 12 years ago okay I knew it was a while thanks thanks so much everybody I have a question about the math are you still talking no that's that's thanks I my question about the math is in regards this there must be so many programs to choose from how did you land on this particular new program we're going to get was there like a committee of teachers that got to review the different curriculum options or how was that chosen that's a great question didn't form a committee um but we did do some logical deduction if you will so I ready is the only other uh K through five math program that meets the high standards across the board as indicated by The Cure rate um uh vetting process so basically if we wanted the highest quality that desie is endorsing it would have been one of the two we are not compatible with ir ready we are already using the platform Ed uh the digital platform through our into lit and into reading programs the teachers will be familiar I wish they were still here but the teachers will be familiar with that platform um the design of it how to navigate it um some of the terminology within it and hopefully it's that leads to a seamless transition it also speaks to our nwaa assessment system there's just a lot that connects there that made it a logical possibility um um we haven't finalized a contract but Holton Mifflin was courteous enough to provide us with a getting started training in the event that that does happen so we're we're getting ahead of it a little bit it it did really come AC uh around the corner quickly um and quite honestly I thought that they were sunsetting the the go maath program and it was going to be similar to like Journeys and now it is called into reading but go maath will still exist it just uh appears that into math is a little bit more incredible and can I just add grade 6 through 8 has is also into math so it gives us the alignment from K to8 that's great great thank you for the explanation anything else for Dr SCA oh I just sorry I just want to give a shout out to um what's her name yanir yanira yep I mean she has taken this project on her own and is developing this whole thing right it's quite remarkable and I'm glad you mentioned that she's amazing it truly is um student leadership at its finest uh she already had a relationship with Mr SOA being one of her favorite teachers so there was a an easy connection to have uh adult um teacher leadership meet with um student leadership and develop something organically they've met a number of times um um and quite frankly she was a little let down when she didn't get the Playbook initiative as her project for this year through project 351 so this lifted her spirits a little bit it focused her energy in the right direction and the end result is something that's going to be great for witcom middle school and for the District of marro uh mainly led by a a 10th grade student so I would love to bring her back um along with Mr SOA and possibly principal house to speak a little bit more to what they've designed and you had mentioned many kids doing it h how were those kids identified and were they capped at 20 so there were more that were interested that didn't make the cut we kept it around the 2025 cuz it's a workable workshop model to have that number of students she was pretty thorough with her screening I'll be honest with you I was um kind of a little bit more loose like you want maybe someone who's in aspiring and she was like no this is what I'm looking for and uh so she she essentially conducted her own interviews through meet uh before even the meet and greet um kind of like a screening if you will and then she met with everyone who was selected and she feels that she has the right 20 students to lead this work they're all they all have their own characteristic of leadership and a lot of potential to do great things in the future and we're hoping that that kind of permeates throughout the middle school and they start to other students start to replicate that and respond to that and want to stand up do good things and are they multiple grades are they all eighth graders are they we selected oh did she do all I I have to double check on that last year we did six seven and eight but I'm not certain that we did all three grades this year I think she may have selected all eighth grade students this year but I'll double check and one other question the so project 351 is usually seventh what is eighth it is an eighth grader so the fact that she's a 10th grader and still affiliated with it as an ambassador do all of the kids continue to be connected to it once they are chosen they do their service work as they continue through the ranks of uh of the high school we do have a new project 351 grade 8 Ambassador who I do want to introduce to the committee at some point that's very new superintendent Murphy and I were just talking about the um Ambassador induction that was held over MLK uh weekend uh so we had Kayla last year we have a new Ambassador this year we had yanira who was the great Ambassador two years ago so they do continue their work after grade eight I didn't realize that um and we see project 351 um when we're at the superintendent's conference in July and there's just a great unit of people there yeah just for you know people out there do you want to just explain what project 351 is 351 cities and towns in the Commonwealth all cultivating youth leadership through this movement um pillars of their organization our uh kindness youth leadership making change standing up against unhealthy environments in school and Society so and one student from each one of those 351 towns are chosen every year yes it's great yeah it's it's pretty remarkable thank you yep thanks okay thank you thank you thank you moving on to the Director of Finance and operations Mr Wells thank you um tonight we have uh the Food Service op um presentation will be broken into two pieces we have the operation side and the financial um on the operation side uh we have the participation numbers available for you uh we're keeping very steady with our participation um we're still pretty low at the high school as far as breakfast goes so our administrative uh team at the high school as well as the food Serv team are working collaboratively try and identify what it is that that is affecting that low participation rate um including putting together a survey which will be released to students and asking what their their choices are what how they're choosing to do breakfast in the morning um one of the things we do identify a lot is students are walking in with Dunkin Donuts um so that may be you know they have a little bit of cash they work they have some money they go and buy their own breakfast instead of coming and getting a free one so um enticing them to get a the breakfast is is a little challenging at the high school um we are going to pilot um a program of actually getting hot meals up to the door we have shelf stable meals at the door of all of our schools for students to grab um we're going to Pilot a hot meal for as well for that grab and go to see if we can entice people to grab a hot meal and if it works out we're going to possibly roll that out to more schools as well um just to you know good now is another great example like where the the cafeteria is so far on the other side of the building from where the students come in if we can get the food up there we might be able to also get some higher participation numbers so we're going to play with that a little bit we're going to continue to to look at this try to figure out what's going on with those numbers um so the financial side uh when we ended fy4 um the audit identified that we had $3.7 million in our food service account um regulations uh state that we should not have any more than 3 months operating expenses for the M Public Schools that's approximately $1 to $1.5 million so we have an excessive balance that balance represents almost a full Year's Revenue that's sitting in there so we have to work towards this to try and figure out how we're going to spend down have money now Marro's not alone here um almost every school district in Massachusetts is facing the same issue um this came about with universal meals when Universal meals kicked in um you offer free food and they will come and they will eat the free food so participation increased uh the money keeps rolling in um we're doing a great job with the staff that we have um and we just have to make sure that we're looking at these funds and and figuring out how we're going to spend them down so we have a plan in place and there's a you know a couple little hiccups around it but we'll start just kind of talking through the plan and then we we'll go into the hicup UPS afterwards so um complicating this is that that money can only be spent on items that directly benefit students eating food so you can improve your cafeterias you can get new equipment that kind of thing we can't use that money to provide meals for adults or anything like that so it has to directly impact the students that are receiving the Foods um so it started in probably spring of 2024 we began with a program of replacing a lot of our older equipment or bringing in new equipment to to use within the kitchens uh a lot of equipment was installed over the summer uh new Steamers um kettles ovens uh everything you can look at and say you know we these are kind of old let's let's get some new equipment built in here additionally we did buy the um the Hydroponics machine so that is up and running at the high school if you have an opportunity to go by the high school and see it it is very interesting um they are able to grow micro greens uh right now micr greens and herbs are growing in there they're harvesting pretty quickly some of these micro Greens in 2 weeks they're harvesting and serving them to the students um it's turned into a really cool program around it too so we have uh students are special education students are coming down to help keep it clean helping to learn how to maintain it it's really kind of it looks incredible sitting in the cafeteria it's just very bright and you know fresh and you've got the you know all these greens growing with all that snow outside so it's uh it's pretty fantastic um that's another area that we would like to expand upon and at the very least get one in each cafeteria uh in all of our schools again you know and we will harvest those greens and serve them in the schools but we could also Envision this expanding even further into our science labs so that we have them all around the building and we just continue to kind of go around and be little Farmers running around and serving our own food to everybody so um it's very cool and it's great like uh I was in a school district that had them in the science labs and at night when you're walking through the building like the glow of those as you walk through was just it was very it was great to see it um additionally uh anyone who's been in a cafeteria and any of our elementary schools probably walked out with the same headache I do every single time I'm in there they are very loud the sound bounces incredibly off the walls so we're looking at um uh upgrading our acoustic panels within those rooms to help soften that sound down this is really a health and wellness thing for our well for our students and our staff the students don't recognize it quite as much because they're young they heal up a little bit better but our staff certainly are feeling that and I know every time I go to visit I love visiting the cafeterias but I feel pretty drained afterwards from all that sound just coming at you so we're going to be looking at the acoustic panels and getting those uh getting those sound kind of deadened down a little bit um we are also looking at cafeteria tables so the ECC uh replaced all of their cafeteria tables we we uh we we that's our first one that we move move forward with we're going to be looking at all of our cafeteria tables and all of our buildings just see what we need for Replacements um and get some nice nude tables uh put together additionally um both the high school and the middle school have patio areas and we would like to set up those patio areas with with uh proper outdoor furniture uh tables and chairs for for Food Service as well as to get some coverings if possible over those and that all can fit into this too because students will be able that's part of the Food Service program be able to eat their lunches out there so that could really kind of add to the dynamic of of lunchtime for students as well um we are also looking at uh some programming that will bring students in earlier and before care programs that would um include as part of that we would want to bring staff in earlier to serve breakfast to those students if they're there they're coming in it makes sense to bring some staff in earlier get some breakfast ready for them and be able to serve to the students at the same time that we're running these note programs so we're looking at that as well uh the next one is the part that's kind of uh kind of exploded a little bit over the past 24 hours so um we weren't entirely sure what was going to happen with the new federal Administration um as far as uh funding goes there was a lot of rumors about reducing funding stopping funding going after grants well an issue did occur last night and exploded during the day today where the office of my management and budget released a memo uh freezing all funding that's going out now that does not affect our current grants um grants are forward funded so FY 24 funding is used to fund the grants for this year so it does not affect the grants this year but one of the programs that could be impacted by this would be the federal reimbursement of for Food Service um that could be significant for us as a c district and it could greatly reduce the the money that flows in if it actually is impacted so all the spending plan that we kind of put in place we have this here we're going to continue to do the procurements collect the quotes but right now we're not going to move forward with some of these things because we're going to wait and see how this plays out because this money may be needed to support this program as we move forward so um kind of you know not good we have the money but at the same time wow kind of glad it's sitting there now um so we can kind of protect against that so more to come on that we're going to you know we're there's it's developing we don't really know what it's impacting it keeps Chang changing um over the next few days next few weeks it's going to develop a little bit more we'll get some better answers around that so um but there's a plan that we kind of have in place so we we know that we're going to be able to bring those funds down considerably upgrade our kitchens get some work done um there are a couple other things that came up uh after we actually published this um one of them is um we need to replace all of our registers um because we have a um a Windows 11 upgrade Windows 10 is no longer being supported for security measures and a lot of our computers run off of Windows 10 so we'll be upgrading the computers for all the registers um within the offices for the Food Service as well so there are things that we're we're going to that continuously come up that will spend some of these funds down and it's great to have this money to be able to do these things because otherwise we know you know I think we all remember back preo most of these programs ran in the red um they just didn't bring in enough money to support themselves so there was never any money to invest within the kitchens um any questions on that that was a lot can I ask question um so um I just forgot my question um shoot um you have a question I was going to say I I have a question you you ask your question and I'll think on it okay so thank you thank you for the update exciting stuff that you're talking about love the idea of expanding the hydroponic yes into other schools fantastic and I can't wait to get over and see it because I have not been able to um I love idea of the acoustic panels especially at the elementary since so many of our elementary schools really are like multi-function rooms um so many of the music classes needing to actually happen in some of those rooms and knowing that assemblies are happening in those rooms and things like that because it does get crazy so that's fantastic absolutely love that and I'm hoping that um we might be able to make sure that we're you know talking with some of the music folks so that we can make sure that it's really aligning with their needs you know music wise so that we're kind of thinking out of the box for everybody which you probably are but I'm kind of saying it out loud you know yeah these are to your point these are multi-function rooms so we do want to make sure I mean if we put so many panels in there that you can't have sound coming off the stage kind of defeats part of our purpose of those rooms so um it certainly is going to have to be one of those that we balance and make sure that we're we we're bringing the all the players to the table to make sure we understand that we're doing everything I think that's absolutely fabulous because I just know like you know they really are so utilized and need and need to be able to meet all of those purposes just what you were talking about superintendent about you know how our schools need to function to to meet all of those aspects so um fantastic um relative to the information right at the end there uh I'm going to try and think very positive uh we need to be supporting our students and I um thankfully I have to say I'm so proud of our district for the way that we've continued to support our community on a regular basis in this realm so I'm going to think some really positive thoughts that um the powers that be um really think big picture about how this needs to support children and how it's our job to be supporting all uh so I'm hoping that we can move forward in a positive way for for uh making sure that meals are available for all of the people that we need to be taken care of so thank you thank you I did remember remember um so it just was about the audit the audit that was done so when they do those Audits and they tell us the feedback is there some recommended period of time that we are supposed to whittle that number down I mean do we get ourselves in trouble no so it's that's a great question and and it is very interesting um this isn't the first time I've had a high balance within a food service account um but usually the high balance is like we have we're supposed to have you know a million dollars and we have two we so we're you know we're only car we're caring twice as much but usually there's a reason for it you know you're you're building a new school and you're you're saving money aside to make sure that you can make to invest properly within the building so there's always sort of a plan in place and you could always when that come through you could always say oh no we know that this happened and this is a reason for or we're entering into a year where we know our equipment is breaking down and we need to carry a little bit more into the next fiscal year to be able to to replace that equipment this is just unprecedented across the board it's it's every school district is dealing with the same problem so the way that it um the way that the the regulations handle it they haven't caught up with with what's going on so the regulations state that you know if you you end up in the situation the state will talk to the school district about reducing the price they're charging oh we don't charge anything right so you know so that's the solution that's actually ridden into the regulation so it's a little like I said very unprecedented where we're at that um we're kind of in the situation so what is that solution as far as that goes when when the regulations suggest something that you don't do anymore so it's it's an interest interesting place to be and again like I said probably I would say the majority of school districts in Massachusetts are dealing with this um I had a meeting with my as Val collaborative business managers last week this was the first topic on the list and nobody had a great solution actually we had the most suggestions um of everybody of different ideas and how we're kind of brainstorming things that we can get done um you know we had a spreadsheet we were just like madly updating it with information as we run along uh it's it's just hard we it's a because of the restriction on how you can spend it's it's very limiting on what you can what you can do with that money so it seems like you came up with a pretty good list and you know as long as there is no timeline by which we need to you know Whittle that down holding on to some of it right right I think you know I think is a wise choice if we were to hit the end of this year with the same balance or more they would be like okay now now we're going to have to do something to you but you know if they're going to come in you know at the end of this year they're going to show that we made some some serious efforts to move forward with this um I I think they're going to look and say oh no you're making progress we're not worried about that so it's you know it's not one of these where you they come in and you know and and throw me in jail for it I don't know um um so as long as you're making that progress and and and moving forward and and these are all great items for for progress and you know we've kicked around some ideas too of um one of the things that I I am talking to the Food Service team about is can we get better ingredients and do more scratch cooking so scratch cooking is fantastic like you know one of the complaints that we hear a lot of times is hey do you know what's in that food you're serving it's processed you know and a lot of it is processed so coming into scratch cooking you know all the ingredients you're putting into that so that involves trainings uh training your staff getting them them trained on how to do scratch cooking how to do the proper prep how to do all them those meal programs so it's really you know we have this great opportunity to really transition how we're doing Food Service um by offering a very different meal Set uh to students now you're still going to have the ones that they just want their pizza every day and they want their chicken nuggets and they want their tat tots I love tat tots so I I can understand that um but you know we have you know we do have more developed pallets now and and students are more interested in a lot of different foods so um more to come and if we're growing our own herbs to to dress it up as well it's going to be a lot of fun so um great thank you yeah uh next item is uh Transportation uh we the compu the procurement for the next round of Transportation completed two bids were submitted one by nrt and one by first student um there uh the one of the bids nrt's bid had a correctable error within it um it was on the 47 pass passenger buses in Category 2 is easily correctable within the four walls of the bid um they use 120 days instead of 180 days so we were able to correct that um but it's it um and chapter 3D identifies that type of error as being easily correctable um within the bid uh it represents uh the per unit cost so the daily the per per cost per bus per day increased by 39.4 one% with nrt however with the bid um we are reducing the buses from 33 to 25 so the effective rate of the increase is about just under 8% at 7.89% years 2 through five for nrt inflated 16.45% over the life of the bid for student was the higher bid um and they came in with their per bust rate at a 42.4 7% increase uh over the current year and the estimated first year again for the 25 buses versus the 33 at 10 . 39% increase um and then first student inflates over the years 2 through five at almost 30% so they're their 2 through five had a much larger inflation built into it um first students bid was uh 2,783 29 higher than nrt's bid um over the proposed contract um and again the leveling of the budget um helped to is the difference between the actual increase on the per unit and the total increase on on what the expected cost is for the bid uh um we did reference checks on both nrt and for student um all came back satisfactory um we did also look at some of the we we do know that nrt had some Transportation issues last year um very very considerable ones and we looked at what those ontime deliveries were for students for last year um both AM and PM um because delivering them home is just as important as Del delivering them here um and we looked at it this year to see the comparison on on a per day daily basis of what the average was per day and they have seen based on the data that we show was about an 85% Improvement this year over last year so the changes that that have been made um were considerable we we we did a very as we know a very different style of Transportation this year with Community stops staying out of the neighborhoods allows us to run our routes longer get to to the to the the schools on time and have slack time between the the the end of one route and the start of the next route allowing for buses to get there not have to rush to start the next route additionally there have been some uh changes at nrt that that that seem to have been very successful um we have a very responsive team over there uh and very collaborative we have a lot of conversations with them and when we have these conversations now it's much more welcoming and we're finding we're actually solving a lot of problems as we're having these conversations um so with that um nrt is the lowest responsible and responsive uh proposal that was submitted um and we would uh the the procurement office um would recommend moving this forward as as the for award tennessy um so um I actually would like to make a motion to um table this at this point in time I'm hoping that we can still have some discussion relative to the situation um so I'll what it's an action item for later that should be t not this conversation yeah okay okay sorry once you table it we can't talk about it anymore okay well then I will resend that resend that okay I will resend that discussion so okay can't motion oh well I guess yeah once once you with the discussion so from a discussion standpoint thank you first of all um I appreciate um all of the back and forth that you've had to go through and working with the procurement office at um City Hall to move forward on this um I'm happy that we at least received two bits um there are many districts that went out for transportation bids and received one if if that and if anyone's been paying attention there are um some districts that actually received bids and they have pulled back and are needing to rethink it uh one of our neighbors is in that situation um I think if anyone's following uh Framingham actually just um had a situation where they the school committee had moved forward with a solution and needed to work hand inand with the city and it seems like they're a little bit of a Discord let's leave it at that so um so thank you for all that you're doing I think that um we do have some more work to do although obviously to meet the procurement um specs and such um you are correct nrt um did provide us with the lowest bid um but I think anyone that knew this was coming um this is a large number um we knew we were going to have a large number was the question was going to be what kind of a large number were we going to be dealing with and uh my concern is that while nrt has done a really incredible job uh working very hard to improve the service for our community um since the beginning of this school year I would be really remiss if I did not say that we did have issues last year uh we we all know that and I think our community um deserves to make sure that we have done a thorough analysis and that we review all that they're putting forward to make sure that uh we're as buttoned up as we can be moving into this next five-year contract and um that's really where my head is is I feel like we need to have some more conversations around this um we had to have some tough conversations in preparation for the bid specs to go out because we were going to have to make a reduction of the number of buses that we were going to be allowed to run because we knew financially it was going to majorly affect our operational Budget moving forward and we had to be fiscally responsible about how we were going to approach this for the district but also for the community and we know that there's going to need to be some additional ask above from a percentage standpoint it's not like we're moving forward Flatline and so we have to be moving forward together on finding our solution part of that is going to be on making sure that we're considering the safety factors and that is where I want to commend superintendent Murphy on how you've really moved forward on that safe Roots program um and taken steps so that we can do um a close analysis of uh how we can have good walking areas biking Solutions things like that we're going to have to really work really close with um the police department with Chief giorgi uh with Ted Scott for DPW and we're going to need to talk about the solutions about crosswalks crossing guards things like that to make sure that our community is moving forward together and I have no reason to doubt that we wouldn't find this but I think we really have to um start our problem solving by us scrubbing what we can in this bid and what they've put together to make sure that we lay out our expectations to nrt about what we're going to need and that we're going to need to move forward together on it and that we also really have the tough conversations with the the city and and how we can move forward with the DPW and um chief giorgy on making sure that we're satisfying the safety needs that are on the other end because those are going to have cost factors too whether it's hiring of crossing guards or whether it's actually with um Ted Scott and the DPW needing to lay down additional crosswalks that are necessary to make sure that we're meeting the needs of our families I mean we've already um just this past you know summer fall um when uh superintendent Murphy and um principal Patel and I went to traffic commission I want to say um to to discuss the issues that were happening over at jar and we were um able to have a number of officers that were able to get over there yet we had some discussions around crosswalks that needed to be changed and to the best of my knowledge I don't believe that anything has happened on that which is really concerning to me that here we are in January and we had that discussion I'm going to say off the top of my head I think in September a August excuse me so you know I I just um we don't have time for that kind of a delay and we know it's coming for next fall so that's you know just kind of putting it out there um we're going to have to all come together as a community pretty quickly um behind the bid but really working hand inand with the city the city council and all of the counterparts to make sure that we execute um as safely as we can and it's going to be a large number I just want to do make sure that we've scrubbed it as best as we can to make sure that we're all laying out the uh appropriate expectations across the board so thank you yes m Matthews um I too want to thank you for the time and effort put into this because it it was not an easy task and and um I I have many of the same concerns as Mrs Hennessy um nrt has definitely definitely shown a humongous Improvement um over the past several years um and I want to thank our drivers too because they have stood by through all of this and we'll continue to and I I get that you know they're very loyal to our students um to Mrs Hennessy's point about coordination going forward especially with multiple um units of the City eight % is not an Apples to Apples comparison of what we're doing right now if we had requested the same number of buses we'd be twice that so our first step in only in only having an 8% Transportation increase for next year um has Rippling effects Citywide and that's I can't stress enough the importance of making sure we all come together on that because you're Mr Mayor you're going to have to put a budget together that's going to reflect and Encompass the entire city and these departments that have to we all have to come together to make sure our kids get to school safely um you know and when Chief Georgie says to you I don't have the Manpower or or if Ted Scott says I don't you know I'm not sure how I'm going to get this done we we have to find a solution um and it's not going to be it's not going to happen overnight I know that but we we have we're behind the eightball already and I think the superintendent understands that too and I and I commend you for the getting safe schools in I know one of our first conversations we had when we came back from the cape regarding the safe route things was the fact that rud 85 Maple Street Bolton Street has four schools on it and not one school speed zone sign on it not one and safe schools or they they were they couldn't believe it safe fruits was like what do you mean and how how do we make sure if we're going to probably double triple the amount of kids walking especially to the two big buildings right there middle school and high school we got to make sure that these kids are safe and have the ability to get to school safely because they're going to be the biggest ones impacted the closest to there so um with nrt I commend them for the improvements I hope we have no more disappointments with them I I know there's good days there's bad days it happens but as a if I were if I were a parent that still had children I would be concerned with awarding the contract to them again because of the history um we have seen the Improvement we know they're capable of it we just need to ensure that it's maintained so that's where I'm at with it any further discussion regarding the transportation report um and final piece uh there is the um the uh copy of the UN day budget report is concluding your packet for your review um we have conducted we did um budget adjustments um for salaries we did a number of budget adjustments for that um sort of adjusted the ones that we knew very very easily we could get done uh we've had to create some uh we had to bounce some things around we had some people in the wrong places we had to create some uh some account numbers so we'll have a second round of uh budget adjustments that are going to happen with the the salaries um within the next I would say for the next meeting probably um and then that should take care of sort of uh the largest of our budget adjustments we have to do for the year questions so I'm just going to ask relative because um this first round that we just had done was rather large yes so I would ask that if you've got something coming up it um I know that you per the policy that we changed that you can move forward with that I would just love I guess a heads up to sit down with you ahead of time CU reviewing it after and having so much on that was a large amount to have to go through um and I just don't know how that next group is going to go and I would love to have a little bit of a heads up before looking at everything afterwards so it's not just such a large chunk so if that's a one-on-one would love that opportunity so abely sure thank you um do you anticipate coming forward with a budget calendar at the next meeting yes thank you for br bring that up we're all running out of time at the next meeting we'll bring forward a budget calendar um we we we'll have something to bring forward but we certainly uh we had talked about that just couldn't have it ready for now for this year this week but definitely for the next meeting we'll we'll have that Ava great thank you anything else okay moving on there's no minutes to accept so public comment you're in public comment going once is there any you want us Sor please state your name address and your public comment oh name address and what and your public comment okay uh hi my name is Thor um and my address is five MBE Drive um and I heard the superintendent talking about um uh uh some tours of um some of the schools that uh that were being set up and I was wondering if that was if that was something that was specific to the school committee or if that was um open to public to come do the tours that's my question um for now it is the for the school committee and city council okay um public are invited at certain times of the year's um Open Door day is the um day that most of the elementary schools are open for um parents and students to come in and see the classrooms in the buildings and there's some community events that happen throughout the year at each of the schools that are the public are invited to attend as well okay uh which school day did you say uh open Open Door day that's a tradition in marbor that's rather unique to Mar but it's I think we switched it to Monday M so the last Monday of August it is a um day that is two days before the first day of school where students and families are invited to come and see their classroom see their classmates and look around the school okay thank you you're welcome thank you Thor public comments public comments going once public comments any public comment going twice seeing none public comment public comment for a third time seeing none we are moving on from public comment action items and reports policies for first read um thank you so um in front of you you have a number of different Poli icies for your first read um they would be ihb social media uh ijb student extended field trip protocols ilb High School promotion graduation requirements KB School visitors volunteers and then two um new um policies which are kba volunteers chaperon for the schools and KBB observations of special education programs so um should you all have any questions please let me know thank you speak now um the only thing I would ask is if you would just when you go through it again gender neutral so you have a lot of his hers still in there instead of theirs or them so we'll do thank you no problem and I'll send them to you my little copy expert person that can review them how about that no problem be happy to thank you any other questions comments concerns regarding the policies for the first read seeing none oh actually I do have one question now the time I have a question on it on policy kba the volunteer chaperon for the schools mhm a fingerprint background check is required in all schools for individuals volunteers chap arounds engaged in the following activities and second bullet point says volunteer athletic coaches I am I'm going to go out on limb here and I'm going to make an assumption and I know Mrs Brown is here in the human resource department but I'm going to assume that every employee of Marvel public school system is fingerprinted and that includes athletic coaches do we have them do we have sorry you're not actually at that sorry thank you I just realized yeah so all of our paid coaches are are fingerprinted um volunteer coaches we do have some occasionally and when we do the athletic department lets us know and we're required to do a quy for the um athletic volunteers but I guess the policy is saying we would fingerprint volunteer coaches and and this was um looking at some best practice and I would say actually the practice that was suggested more from from an HR standpoint for the safety of um all of our students um we felt that it was imperative that with that type of interaction um and actually if you tie into um safe Sports um it is it is something where it is indicated as a best practice so uh we felt that it would be something that would be best put into policy so it was not just something that was on the shoulders of HR to necessarily enforce but that it was in policy so that's why I I have no objection to it I was just wanted clarification on it because I no agreed and understanding and I think that's part of us just making sure that we're kind of like dotting our eyes crossing our teas on everything I because again I I my understanding too is that the the assumption is made that people that are cored soared fingerprinted and the reason why um a a parent who comes to see their child in school is not um in that position at all times is because not being left alone with a child in a situation that's that's the big thing where there's a a situation where they these people may at some point be alone with a child or several children is the reason why we want the additional policies in place yep MH okay thank you thank you thank you I just have a question that if we are requiring volunteers to be fingerprinted who is paying that cost because there is a cost for an individual to go and get fingerprinted so that would be on them unless by the group that needs them to um that they want to shoulder that cost um that would be something that would be you know per whomever they might be associated with but that is just like um for any of the staff members it is a a cost that you know it's $35 uh for that fingerprinting service and it is something that once it is done and on file it's it's there it's not something that is needed to be done every like I don't know three years it's it's there on file okay so thank you thank you for the clarity any other questions regarding the policies for first read we good good okay so we have to vote right no it's the first read we don't vote on first read right memorandum of agreement between the mro school committee and the marro school administrators Association Miss Matthews uh earlier this evening in executive session um the committee unanimously approved the marbor uh an MOA between the mar school committee and the school administrator Association um and I'm asking for a public vote on the same document now so a motion to approve the Moa motion on the table and second questions comments concerns regarding the agreement seeing none all in favor motion carries thank you thank you bus transportation award so we had the report for Mr Wells regarding the bus transportation W award for nrt and if there is a motion to do something with this award I'd like to make a motion to table it's a motion on the table to table that almost stumped me I pulled that out already um so second a questions comments concerns regard regarding tbling the table no questions comments concerns seeing none all in favor of okay motion carries we are tabled to the next meeting next up is acceptance of donations and Gifts first one is donors choose which is Richer School and wol room I think I'm saying that correctly U for five $149 motion to approve motion to approve and seconded for the donation questions comments concerns seeing none all in favor of the donation motion carries Boston Scientific for Richer School for $1,000 motion to approve motion to approve is on the table and seconded any questions comments concerns seeing none all in favor motion carries fy2 FC 348 multilingual newcomer and hom support crit for the district for $75,000 motion to approve motion on the table and seconded questions comments concerns seeing none all in favor motion carries Mr Mayor yes i' like to move to suspend the rules to add the MEF gift to the district there's a motion on the table to suspend the rules second thank you questions comments concerns regarding the suspension hearing none all in favor to suspend the rules motion carries I move to accept the grant um of 83553 Mr Wells can you just double check that that is the correct amount 8,354 13 okay so that's 35413 yes 8,3 543 okay and 13 cents 1 13 okay so um so move to accept that amount to the district on behalf of the six Grant recipients correct so what we're voting is the presentation that we saw tonight just so full disclosure disclosure for the people at home okay there's a motion on the table and seconded any questions comments concern regarding the presentation or the donation amount seeing none all in favor motion carries you thank you moving on reports of school committee subcomittees any of them today so um we just recently had a number of policy meetings as you can tell from us bringing this forward we do have um um have to put together another policy meetings on on continuing some conversations around some point so we do not have a set meeting date yet but I will let you all know but we're just trying to move some things forward okay thank you any other reports from school committee subcommittees yes Miss Matthews uh the negotiation subcommittees will be starting negotiations with the cafeteria and the custodians in the next coming weeks okay any other school committee subcommittees seeing none let's move on members Forum Miss Matthews I have reviewed and signed the warrant thank you um no thank you all right um so I think I'm going to probably Ste your thunder but I just want to congratulate yes robotics team thank you you can tell us a little bit more so y the team x squared I saw on social media that you guys won first place and I know that so um our team we we not only won the overall skills tournament but we also won the tournament in general um congratulations congratulations all three teams made eliminations our team made it to finals and one um not only that we are now seventh in the state for overall rankings and top 6% in the world oh jeez so yeah congratulations so exciting could you tell us a little bit about your robot yeah so this year's game you have to take these like rings and you have to put it on this like stack of uh this kind of goal you have to put like the rings on um in this game you have to put these goals in the corner and there are two corners there's a corner that doubles your points and a corner that uh subtracts the points so you could either take your opponent's rings and subtract them or put your rings and double them right so there's like a offensive defensive type play there um so do you know the game ahead of time yeah so every game is released in May got it and then it changes every year so yeah at Worlds okay is held in May so okay um and then there's our state championship which we qualified for which is the February 22nd at Framingham so um top 65 in the state and then 14 of them make the world tournament so wow where is World Dallas oh wow yeah okay um I believe that Team Delta squared made 28th Place so I just want to shout out to them congratulate to them so um congratulations to both teams and good luck at States thank you yeah um is there anything else that you want to no no I was very very proud of you so I just wanted to make sure that that was recognized so kudos to you and in the team so um all righty anything else regarding yes I just I want to note the passing of Mrs Joan tuy former music coordinator who was a teacher and a friend and occasion my music director for many things she she touched lot of students lives over the years so thank you for that um all righty she will be missed for sure anything else regarding members Forum it's our favorite time give it to me move to adjourn move to adjourn is on the table and seconded any questions comments concerns about ad joury no all righty we are adjourned all in favor let's vote all in favor motion carries we adjourned at 8:57 have a wonderful night everyone