[Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] e e [Music] [Music] [Music] second by member and we need a roll call vote please Martha Ryan daglio yes may Beth Donovan yes Lori Keegan yes Kristen Maxwell Kristen Maxwell Daniel shabila yes Kenneth wette yes may an Neil Perry all right superintendent would you please start the discussion of your goals yes thank you um so in your so you have two things tonight you have in the packet is the report myself assessment on my end of year goals but you also have a separate packet that was given to you three hole punched um with some additional evidence of the six goals to put in the binder that you received in January so when we met in January I did a midyear uh update on my goals and uh last year we tried this and it was a much better process to have a midyear uh goals so people were not uh looking at binders full of things you know in a short period of time to actually fill out um the evaluation for for me but before August so um I'm not going to go through Page by Page what you have in front of you uh are the six goals that the committee and uh I agreed upon in August of last summer so uh you know recognizing when we talked in January this could also be somewhat challenging because there are four new members on the committee who weren't there for that discussion in August um but hopefully there's enough information in your binder and you'll have opportunities um through the summer when uh the evaluation subcommittee meets to ask questions if there are further clarifying questions that I can provide through the process um so uh the piece in your packet that you have is again my final Reflections and goal outcome and basically all I tried to do here was just highlight uh when the evaluation comes there will be two sections there's a section on goals and there's a section on the standards and the section on the goals is really what this pertains to and the language I tried to keep the same so um for example in goal number one I highlighted what my self assessment was you guys might find a different assessment when you look through my evidence but the goal outcome for one is that uh overall I think there was significant progress made we made some some incredible gains in our meing which Dr glovsky went through last night you know we met the goal of 65% uh in many of the grade levels but not all of the grade levels and so you know unfair to say that we met that goal of 65% across the board uh we were focused on grades three through five at least that was my goal and there was a a a purpose and a reason behind that those were our covid the covid cohort of kids that uh were a little more uh behind than the rest of the the the grade spans and so uh we knew as a school district we needed to focus on those kids so that's why that was part of my goal specifically and again I think um they made some incredible gains this is still a group of kids we're going to be following uh through the grade three students weren't in kindergarten during the covid year right so that gives us some perspective the grade four kids were in grade one you know so those are some pretty significant foundational skills that we we are we're State everybody's concerned about that so I think we're making gains to catch those kids up uh and the focuses that we've had with the tutoring our summies you know all those things are impacting uh what we're doing so um that was goal number one and all I did was add uh in the packet that was clipped that is three hole punched for you I labeled it the same way that we you know uh goal one I goal one J the description of what that is is here on this packet and then you have an a piece of evidence to look at okay goal number two uh was our goal about our English Learners this was the first year that we had our uh English learner supervisors and a real focus on um data and accountability for our English learner students and staff uh so uh at the bottom there I have a goal outcome uh I feel very strongly about this one we absolutely exceeded the goal that was set for the work that was being done uh thanks to Dr golovsky and the team of five uh English learner supervisors uh it was pretty amazing the work that was able to be done we were able to uh during the access testing time once we got those scores we were able to uh celebrate the students who scored out of ESL uh share that with their families I think there was just a lot a lot of really positive focus on their learning experiences and becoming proficient in English um the team really dove into this work and creating assessment calendars making sure that our kids uh you know while they're in the mainstream classrooms have the support they need it is it set such a foundation for the work ahead of us uh and again the work uh I I am in awe of the work that the five supervisors and Dr golovsky did in one year's time and again this is all new to us so it's very exciting to see where this is going to um you know go in the future and the work that is again very much ahead of us uh but uh really important work for our English Learners I think the the one thing that I know I enjoyed very much is uh the conversations I had with various administrators about the fact that these folks you know one of our big goals was not just to focus on our English learner staff and students but to focus on the all classroom teachers because all of our English Learners are in every class right they don't they come out for specialized instruction or are are supported in the classroom for that specialized instruction for English learning um but but they're in every single class that we have and so uh that's a that's a a little bit of a broader lens that we're we're uh focused on even making uh more a part of our professional development plans for all of our departments so that's another exciting piece to this particular goal so there's some additional evidence um in that goal as well for you um goal number three so this one doesn't have the evidence which I I did explain in January this is not something that I would put out for public consumption um I have the binders in my office this is something I'd be happy to share and show all of you uh you know in the confines of that setting um but we did work throughout the school year to actually revise an update that was a big goal of ours of mine to update our emergency uh procedure manuals to make them um you know in line with what the state what the federal what the police chief the fire chief we met multiple times over the school year with those particular folks um to talk about the emergency plans will be able to meet with them over the summer make sure they have copies of all of those um they're pretty comprehensive much more comprehensive than our past emergency manual so we feel really positive about that work um and uh we did do all of our the SRO Sergeant uh was great this year with the police department um we did all of our emergency drills in every school which uh you know we we after covid it was a little body so we were happy about that that we got our lockdown and Alice drills in we had all of our uh fire drills in evacuations uh that that was uh something too that we were hoping for the one thing we weren't able to accomplish this year which I think the chief and I we we have our our sight set on it as it as does the mayor uh we we still want to plan for the large scale um you know uh lockdown or Alice drill response so that we can see our real time response and the police can actually do a a real life drill uh and see what their response time would be and how we would handle that situation as a community um we we did that years ago and we would take turns in schools uh doing that and I think we need to get back to that again uh and again just this we we weren't able to get that date organized this spring uh with with other things happen happening so I'm hoping that that's something we can really execute and plan uh even the summer to execute in the fall so we're working through that the next goal goal number four so family engagement so uh this one has taken a few windy turns over the past couple of years um but I think uh one of the things that I included in your uh evidence for evidence is a comprehensive list I started out giving you guys uh one in January of different events the the one that you have currently that is updated uh is from all five of the schools with all the different events that families were invited to so again we're making we're making significant progress in this area of bringing parents and having events in the schools that parents can celebrate with us uh the principles are working to figure out what those moments and times are that make the most sense I have to say we tried some new things even at the high school this year um we did the Junior's honor Awards we separated it from the senior award night and it was phenomenal it was actually in the morning it was just for juniors all of the parents of the kids participating were able to attend it was a nice uh perfectly designed event uh and again they had their own moment separate from the senior Awards night and uh I think that was a new tradition that we set this year because it was really um something we weren't sure how it was going to go uh and it went really well so I think we're we really focused on those conversations about you know sharing those opportunities with parents and we're hearing that loud and clear from you all and the PTO meetings same thing you know they love coming in and and sharing those opportunities with their students being a part of the school environment so uh we're doing that as much as we can and we're going to continue to do those things starting in the fall a little bit sooner there's some other examples in there too but that I wanted to focus on that one so goal number five is uh the one that aligns to objective two which is the mental health uh initiative so in this one the goal outcome is interesting and so uh what I have for the goal outcome there's a chart on the back of this one so we we what you didn't see in the uh report out last night and the report out I think in quarter three we had the baseline from the beginning of the year but I wanted to show you what the beginning of our plan was and so last year we were able to make our metric in year two in this goal uh you know Mr Crocker explained that we we thought we were going to get to a a uh let a decrease in the severe categories quicker and in year one we realized after the pandemic that wasn't going to happen it was going to take a while and then kind of take a nose dive and then level off um and so we we saw the decrease the the largest decrease was in year two of our work that was a year after coming back from the pandemic so year three while we saw the decreases we didn't meet that 12% Target last year it was a 14 I think or 15% Target um but we didn't meet that 12% Target we met it in a couple of areas which are highlighted there um but I think one of the other things that Mr Crocker wasn't able to or didn't report on last night cuz we had the numbers in quarter three um was we we are one of our goals too in this work was to actually get us back to a place where we were seeing prepandemic numbers and although those were not good we are back to that and so I think that is someplace uh as well that you know they were so high coming out of the pandemic that we're we're making some progress and now we're back to those pre-pandemic levels and now we have to readjust right so this is the next cycle of okay where are we now what are those categories and some of those categories are shifting where the severe um categories are lying whether it's anxiety depression trauma Suicidal Tendencies we're we're seeing some of those areas shift a little bit from what we had seen pre pandemic if that makes sense um so that will be some of the work ahead of us so again there you know we met some in a couple of those categories I'm trying to be I'm trying to quantify some of this as well you know the work was pretty amazing that that we're able to do and stick to what the plan is for the professional development we're providing um the work that we're doing the Partnerships that we have um you know an all Testament to John Cracker's uh networking and work to be able to bring these these folks in you know have care Solace be a support system for us and keep this uh keep us going in a in a positive direction with this work all right and then the last goal is uh the weird one and I say that with all because I wrote it um but so goal number six uh we have I think I we started talking about this last year for those of you who were with us is that this goal uh had the best intentions when we wrote the goal in the strategy plan and quickly realized that this goal really isn't a standalone objective um for the district that it really looking at the different data looking at curriculum looking at everything with an equity lens is our work right so so we will you will not see a goal like this a standalone goal about equity and the next strategy plan it will be woven into whatever goals that we're presenting right looking at the data looking at the subgroups looking at inclusive practices um all of those things have to be built into everything that we're doing not something separate so I did my best here to to provide you with some of the things that we uh certainly were able to accomplish um I think the most important one and uh Dr golovsky did have a slide on this last night I know it was the very end of the long meeting um but I don't want to uh gloss over it too quickly but one of the things that we have focused on since February January or February um is the is the uh grading with Equity work with all of our administrators we we spent time uh we do a quarterly leadership meeting so every two months we do a hour and a half session with half of our administrators and then the second half comes so we're not depleting buildings of all the administrators at once and we try to focus on some professional development for our administrative teams and Grading is the we we committed to it and we focused on grading for the last three meetings of the school year um and it was an amazing uh amazing we saw some amazing progress had some great conversations recognizing that grading is something that we need to to talk about and and try to re aign you know the the language in the handbook uh if you guys have looked at it is really um needs revising so that's why that was part of this where it says you know in grade one you'll have 10 minutes of homework grade two you'll have 20 grade three you'll have 30 grade six you'll have 60 that is archaic right that's just we we need to update that and so um we spent some time thinking about where are we uh able to align our work because some of the things we do are best practices and bring everybody else in line to that because some of this is already happening right so there's some loow hanging fruit here that we thought was really uh important to acknowledge that could be easily implemented easily communicated right because some things are already happening a certain way and just haven't been communicated properly to teachers to parents in handbooks right and so um we we have a working draft it needs a little more work before we present it for handbook purposes to all of you um but also keeping in mind this is a really important topic to to parents right and grades and report cards are for parents and so uh this is not something you know we have lived through I have lived through this multiple times in this District of changing reporting Styles changing report cards going from the trifold copy carbon copies to non-carbon copies to standards based report cards to infin like all of that can be very uh you have to have a good plan and so uh we recognize that and we're not going to bite off more than we can chew and we're going to have to take pieces of this slowly but we're really looking at that with an equity lens as well um you know what does it mean and what are our beliefs versus what is best for children and what do what do higher education institutes want we have to keep that in mind what do private high schools want we're looking at all of those things so um so while this is the L least meaty goal for me uh I think there was some really important work that came out of it because we decided to just absolutely focus on it with our administrators that goal will still be a part of our work uh and be you know again woven into some of the other pieces of of the work that we're going to be doing so we provided you with a little bit of that for this school as well so there I'm saying we made some progress right because we were able to focus on a few of those items make some progress we'll be presenting some of those changes in revisions to you guys in August as well with a handbook that's like the overview um does anyone have any questions M shilia so I haven't been able to go back to where we started in August but looking at this my two points I come from a world when you see these big changes in scoring be it with reading or anything that it's it's an alarming jump because the the Bro range is so broad I look at the reading scores and stuff like that and it's great that we're we're producing them I just need to understand how much of that is actual knowledge being consumed into these kids or is it because we change programs or is it like I see a big jump from 30 to 60 and it makes me nervous just because if I were sitting at my desk at work right now and I saw that big swing there'd be alarms going off somewhere in the building because something bad happened um so it's just it's a perspective thing that I need to some help wrapping my mind around um the other element is the bringing people into the building one which is a big one for me as you well know I just want to make sure and I assume that this will be a goal next year and a little bit of a different fashion that we're not putting too much emphasis in Reliance on our pto's I mean they serve a very distinct and separate function I I'm not very distinct and separate but distinct and F separate nonetheless absolutely and I want to make sure that we're watching to make sure that we're bringing in giving an opportunity to all parents and not just the was it the the National Honor Society the El parents and just broadening that up that's my only two comments and feedback yeah I I I can certainly I appreciate the comment about the data because we're really excited about it so we're looking at it from a different lens we should um you know and I can certainly ask Dr Gaby just to speak about that a little bit on what we think it is from because it is different than in the years past and we're recognizing that and I think that was part of what we were trying to see last night like we recognize that the assessments we're using this year the fact that we're in year three as well of implementing curriculum with Fidelity also plays a huge role in that um where we're getting to a point where uh you know we implemented reading success blocks three years ago because was absolutely out of necessity um and now we're looking at the reading success flux and saying hey teachers we might not have groups of kids that are so far apart that we need to put them in six separate groups that's what we wanted right we want to get to a point where we have in certain grade levels we don't need a reading success block because all the kids are so uh have so many vastly different and Far Away needs so we're starting to see some of that so some of that is definitely because of the work our Humanity supervisors our principles are doing to make sure that the the courses are happening the way they're supposed to be the instructions happening um our work with Team I think all of it it's hard to say like one thing in education is it but in year three this is exactly we want to be where we are right now and then some obviously because we want to keep going right but the work that we've done with tntp as well this is year three of actually opening up our eyes a little bit on calibrating what we should be looking at for instruction and reading and literacy has been phenomenal and I've been a part of that for the three years so I've seen our teachers grow I've seen our administrators grow in the walkthrough opportunities I mean we can walk in now and I know exactly what I'm look I know what I'm looking at do I know what you're looking at right we all kind of know now like oh wait a minute this might be happening for a little too long right the opening went a little too long and even at this point and I say even because it's not you know this isn't my area of expertise but um I can walk into pretty much any classroom at this point and know uh the units and wonders the books they're reading in the L curriculum what kind of work they should be doing the conversations they're having it's phenomenal to see that so it's exciting I think all those things together add up but I do think and I'll let Dr golovsky answer that part about the testing I think I think the assessment we're using is a far better indicator than the Lexia was about kids actually reading at or above grade level it it's actually giving us uh here's a passage they they have vetted that this is on grade five right this is a a national assessment that they have vetted this is grade five material and and kids are meeting it and Lexia worked a little differently right Lexia was saying if they score this the likelihood they're going to be at grade level is this percent so the way and I I think I said that right so the the way that it was normed was just a little bit different and I and again I think we're recognizing that this is reading plus the Insight assessment and Dibbles is a little different because it's it's different categories for the younger kids but the actual reading comprehension piece of it it's vocabulary it's the passage it's the it's the language it's the questions that are being asked is that on grade five and kids the kids do it and if they can do it they're reading at a grade five level it's kind of matter of fact I I think that's part of what we're seeing and as they are going through their school year they're they're able to to gain that experience because they are in this is the other piece of tntp for us that was so critical that we just we didn't have consistently in the district prior to this is that kids need to be in a text whether it's an article a book a novel they need to be talking about it they need to be reading it they need to be sharing ideas with each other about it and that was one of the things that that when you saw the tntp slides last night you know quality text that's the first thing they look at that was the first thing we worked on with tntp is making sure right kids were in it not being talked to about it but that kids were actually shared reading they were reading to each other they were looking in the text for evidence right they were interacting with that text so that was a really high point too so I guess I can let Dr golovsky answer more if it helps yeah no I it's helpful it's absolutely helpful I guess I am looking to understand so I know we're not the only District that had reading issues oh yeah postco or pre-co or pre-co right we're not we're not alone we're not unique um is it a is it a normal swing that we're seeing like I know that you belong to your superintendent groups and you guys all talk about this stuff around the water cooler like is it are those swings normal like are you are you seeing are we doing are you seeing that your peers are having the same result if they're doing similar programs um so I haven't been specific in having that conversation with my peers around the water cooler um I think having kids reading at a a a I mean obviously all of us want our kids reading at grade level by the end of each Academic Year um I I don't think I can answer that about the and that's that's fair I just the different part I just I don't have perspective because I don't live in your world yeah about how much of a Improvement is to be expected over a year or curriculum or two years of curriculum right I don't know so I know that again in my my world a big swing would be a scary thing not necessarily bad but scary until we understood it and I don't know how to view it in this other than it's great I we want our kids to read without a doubt I just I don't I don't know how to view That Swing because it's inherently driven into me that it's scary so I I can your last question a little bit um I attended The Gleam convening of cohort one two and three districts just recently in at devans um and we were presenting on behalf of the district on our progress monitoring and our processes um and the district who presented before us similar in size and composition um they were allotted for their uh progression and growth in screener scores and I took a look at the handout and they were they were knocking on 60% 6162 um so I was proud to see that we were in that range and a little bit higher that's yeah yeah and I I would say to it that at the onset of the Strategic plan it was established as a Direction because it was recognized as an an issue that we needed to address and there's been a whole lot of attention growth right um and effort devoted to that and so I want to give um praise to the teachers and administrators who really supported that and committed to the goal um and I will say that whenever people from the outside world visit the district whether it be another District or a Consulting Group one of the comments we always hear is that our kids are ready and are ready to learn and are really respectful and respondent to what we present them and so with the curriculum that you mentioned um holding students to high expectations help those that are ready to zoom ahead go for it um and then we worked on the supports as well um we also worked really hard to make sure that kids had um access to text and supports both in and out of schools so whether that's Reading Plus newella open ebooks at their fingertips they had access um to what they needed which I think H helped as well as the um targeted PT PD time and the common uh planning time that was directed um so I think and those were consistencies it wasn't one of those um situations where uh the teachers arrive and say well so what's the focus for this year it was it was loud and clear that literacy was where we needed to grow so from the convening I can say that we're we're in the ballpark of uh cohort one districts of which we are a that very helpful thank you just to let you know she's got her hand up up there member Maxwell can you hear me yes um so I just wanted to point out a few things I think that if you know we're making such Improv with the literacy like 25 to 30% from the beginning of the year to the end of the year I think that's great I I do I would love to support that and and keep moving forward with that I would love to see what the end of next year is like if that's what our students are capable of a 30% increase but um another thing I wanted to point out too is last night while we were talking about it and I brought up the fact that you know sometimes there is double testing it was said that you know you do choose the higher score um of the two tests that they take so I I just want to highlight that and remember that that was actually something that we said and then I wanted to touch on the events because I see a lot of them um and I I actually um talked with you Dr Quang a lot about parents and uh being welcomed into the buildings and I think you've done a great job especially with new events and all of that so I appreciate that um but I do want to say that a lot a lot of the events are PTO um posted and sometimes PTO aren't supported uh they're actually made to feel like they very much need to stay in thean so and and which is fine and but it's treated as a separate entity so I don't want this to kind of pull the wool over people's eyes because um although we're doing it for the students it's not always welcomed um so maybe we can all get on the same page with that again and um as far as the grading um is is changing um the grading system um in that topic to or is it just like the wording of the handbook like would grade five be graded like letter grades a you know ABCD or like I'm just curious as to if there's any like additions to what we do now no so um thank you yep so so two things um I just want to say that I do continue to meet and I I meet with the PTO officers twice a year and so um I do I had I did have a leave of absence this year for my own medical reasons so it threw the dates off a little bit but I did meet with um the PTO in August or September and then again in April um so I do definitely keep the line of communication open with the PTO officers in the schools and again they're there a fantastic group of people and they share I don't really even talk during those meetings very much they just share ideas with with each other about where they are that's how I think we got to the um the the uh I don't know the fundraiser that they all do now with the race the racing and the color fun The Fun Run stuff uh was through those meetings and sharing some of those ideas and how much money that can raise so so those meetings are good I absolutely am going to continue those meetings as well to make sure we're on the same page I think you know a lot of my conversations and you're right Kristen you came up with some great ideas too that we were able to make happen this year you know just some some easy opportunities to invite parents into the building for academic bowl or the National Honor Society as you know assemblies uh you know I think one day I was at the timy and it was we were celebrating the L's uh testing out of ESL needs and so I was with uh groups of families in the atorium and then uh I came out and streamlined walked up to grade four I believe it was grade four who were doing Multicultural presentations for their fam so that was really another exciting at the same time the PTO was having a Scholastic Book Fair it was it was again it the energy was positive there were a ton of people in the building for different reasons some for the same somewh going streamlining up to the the next thing but I think again we're really open the principles and I have had lots of conversations about that you know just when the opportunity arises let's just do it right we don't we don't need to overthink it we don't need to create something necessarily new and we know that parents don't particularly like coming out at night if their children aren't involved like we've learned some things over our our tenure right um so so how do we capitalize on that I think we're going to you you'll see more of it and continue to do it um but the grading thing so no U member Maxwell we're not talking about Chang ing the grading system so k6 will still be standards based 712 will be letter grades it's really just about the the expectations the Norms of grading like how much does homework count what does classwork look like what do participation what are expectations of students at certain grade levels and content areas um it really it's almost going back to that basic like what do we need to expect because we've the handbook language I think has probably been in there since I started 22 years ago um but we have changed our grading schema right the standards based versus the letter grades uh definitely in the time that I've been here but we really haven't changed what is that what what should parents what do kids need to expect um from from classes and how consistent can we be so it's more on that regard um member Maxwell than it is on like we're not going to be changing the grading schema and that's a that's a huge undertaking uh we're going to start small first and just kind of revise what we have and and talk about our practices and try to communicate those best practices out so everybody feels that they know what the expectations are how do we get there and so forth does that answer your question I can't see you member Maxwell so I can I see a big glare when I look at the the TV so hopefully that helps thank you yep member Donovan okay I have um five it's kind of a schizophrenic combination of questions okay okay oh well okay so first of all um can you hear me no can you hear me now now okay okay so the the talking points which obviously has been a huge sea change right um that I know many teachers made that their professional practice goal last year or this year I don't know I've lost track of time is the Assumption now now every teacher uses talking points yes and that's part of the evaluation piece is it yes so so we actually can see uh the whole platform yeah so meaning Lisa and I can see the whole District use of talking points um and so when we do that we actually will share that out with principles department heads things like that of who might be using it so much and who maybe isn't using it as much and we want to get people on that so we are definitely talking about that and sharing that as we close this year okay yeah because obviously it's it's it's an amazing Tool uh we're trying to figure out a little bit even um there's a couple of other opportunities with talking points that we're looking into that could be a complete GameChanger for us meaning uh there's an There's an opportunity that it could actually translate documents into the home home language she's still nodding her I just want to make sure she's still nodding her head um and so we're very interested in that cuz right now Infinite Campus can't do that for us right like we can email things but we have to translate the documents attach them accordingly and right now we are we have the capacity to do English and Spanish those that's our high highest um incident language but we have a lot of families who speak other languages and so we know that level of communication isn't reaching everybody when we just do an email and it's English Spanish so uh if indeed this talking point which is new and we're going to investigate this year to see about this if it actually can translate the documents we would potentially be using talking points for almost every communication instead of the emails with attachments because the documents would be attached like in the talk like we have teachers now who love doing that they just send the email out are the the talking point text to their class and they'll attach a PDF of whatever it is right the activities for the week or whatever the communication is they want the whole whole group to know so just imagine that going to the parents the the text that the teacher types is in their home language and then it it actually translates the attachment in their home language that's a game changer is that something you'd be able to use for special ed documents because I know that's a pain I don't know the new features it looks like they're trying to combine um te text messaging app use and an email feature as well so it could be delivered to inboxes in a more formal way I think we're trying to figure out um when is it appropriate uh to deliver certain pieces of information quickly to a parent um because we're are finding that parents are very prone to respond quickly um but then the teacher finds that now they need to respond again and so so in order to keep up and be responsive to parents sometimes if it's a lengthier conversation a phone call or an email is warranted now but with the new features that's really exciting um all at an up charge um but the the video feature as well um so Dr quang's video messages would be translated member Donovan just one comment for the special ed stuff going into the app my concern would be to make sure the app is privacy hip a compliant yeah because I don't think we would be sending we wouldn't be sending like IEPs that way that would that wouldn't be the formal way we would do that um yeah CU if it did end up in the wrong phone number or the hands I wouldn't I wouldn't necessarily want because that happens right one number transposed and trouble somebody from Infinite Campus is saying why am I getting these talking these messages um were are all the parents now in CU you feel confident that the parents I don't think they're all in I think we have more parents in interacting with talking points than with their email okay yeah 100% that I can I think I can say with real good confidence I the teachers just the teachers feedback Alone um yeah and I think the important part for us is you know if if parents know that the weekly message or that comes via email on my own time but the message that I want to communicate with the teachers are coming daily or weekly through talking points that's that's important for us too they know sort of what Avenue that's going to be uh but I would love to just be able to use talking points for any messages going out because again the the likelihood that somebody's actually going to get it and look at it is much higher with talking points and it that's why we went with it okay right I lot ease of use number one right texting in the app is just people seem to enjoy that better than opening and checking emails right because we're just more used to that sort of immediate uh notification um but also the translation that you know there's we can't do that we can't have that in Infinite Campus which is unfortunate okay thank you to that level yep um you second language Learners you mentioned you know we know that's a growing student population I'm curious has the access test scores Have you shared that did I miss that we have not we shared it when we did the S SOA plan and the probably the second quarterly report some of that had some access scores on it okay I think that would be something that we'd formally share in August we're presenting the new draft plan um because that will certainly be part of it okay um and that will certainly point us in the direction of of how we're how we're doing um we we have received really good feedback from the office of language acquisition from desie um they've been up to visit a bunch and we're always in contact with them our long-term English Learners still remain a challenge um in terms of getting them to um exit um the L identification become fell um but we are seeing really good results in um the upper grades in lower school particularly of students fing so grades three and four um and five as well and it's different depending on um the students level of proficiency um but I believe the timy off the top of my head I think they felled which means they passed the access test uh 43 students this year which was exceptional um and mirrored their results from the year prior um so as you know that's also an accountability Target um for the school's report card um is dependent on access scores so we'll share more of that in August as well I look forward to that um and with the conversation about testing um the literac for literacy rates I wasn't when I saw the dates that the testing is done the Dibble testing like wow right at the end of May after some kids have done eight full days right in certain grades of mcast upper school kids yeah MH so I could see why there's that fatigue even and for the staff too but okay I just wanted to say that and finally um oh the new the new teacher project so if I missed it last night forgive me this was the last year with them under the gleam contract and the 3-5 contract it was our last year with um tntp it does continue through the summer our work okay we are staying with them just just under um the land the learning acceleration Network um which is very similar to gleam um in terms of how it operates but it's a free program through desie so we've asked to keep our same um Partners in terms of our Consultants to keep that and so we hope to keep it going at least through next year and is there work to you will like teach the like you'll have more local like I'm not putting this correctly uh literacy coordinators they'll be taking a lead because I know that was a really intensive process to walk through the and you know maybe the uh the rest of the board would like to see the rubrics for that of what was being looked at because it's really gives a good picture of what needs to be done um so I think a little bit of that happened this year they tried to I know our last couple of walkthroughs with um they the Consultants had the humanity supervisors be the lead and they joined the team so it was a modeling weaning us off of them that's what I'm trying to say they really I mean the two we had to share buildings but the you know the two buildings that I CU they're here at the same time Lisa and I can't be in the same place at the same time so the two buildings I was in it was very clear that the supervisor of humanities was leading the conversation what we're looking for where we're going and then when we came back to debrief the conversation led the conversation there was some prompting from the tntp consultant for sure to get us you know going in the right direction but uh we saw definitely some of that in the May walkthr for sure it was almost entirely either the high school department shair was leading it or the humanity supervisors to help us right they they they did this with us and they facilitated it for two full years and so this year was really uh We've taught you how to do this now you have to continue to carry this forward so keep the keep these walkthroughs you know we're going to keep going to walkthroughs keep the same process because that's FID that's the that's the lens and the focus we need to continue implementing this work right if it's focused on it will continue to happen so we're excited about that and I I will say the the literacy action plan we're designing to go forward is very much focused on capacity building to make sure then it's not just owned by the humanity supervisors and the teachers who happen to teach Ela um and also sustainability so we spent a lot of time to try to spread our wings a little bit that way good I I look forward to hearing more about that yeah we can include that will be probably included in the Strategic draft as well so okay so you better rest up for another long meeting yeah and and you know the one thing in hearing about you know what's going on in the schools uh the celebration at the t uh timoy for the kids who were moving out um I don't know if it's worth it if it's appropriate if anyone else is interested for you guys to be invited 100% I always like to go yeah if you know but I know we all have stuff going on during the day but even if we're included in the newsletters that are sent out by the school every Friday the newsletters go out right from the principles can I would it be worth so you can't so this is people have asses I can't even be on those emails really right so so when I'm checking I just go to the website because they're all posted that's the best way to do it that's the best way to do it is because each principal posts their own newsletter on their website each week Infinite Campus can't add somebody I can't I can't be a pretend person cuz I'm already a person I can't be a pretend like parent or person in a group that gets a newsletter attached to like the timy school or the okay I coming okay they are all I mean they really you know the principles are really good about making sure they're all posted um so you can see them but but I think that would give us a better idea of what's going on because you can't always keep track yeah I I made a note when um member Maxwell was talking earlier about that might be a good thing to share out at school committee meetings about what what's upcoming in the month ahead in terms of Engagement activities or things happening at different schools you might want to partake in okay thank you that's all I have what is the um sorry I don't I didn't know if you guys saw my hand no go ahead what is the fourth grade celebration what is what is that about I can't hear the fourth grade celebration yeah she had mentioned something about a fourth grade CRA the one that I I mentioned remember member Maxwell that I went to no oh oh I'm talking about was this at the timoy Miss Maxwell yeah you were just talking about a fourth grade celebration that oh the students who are moving out of the elll oh that the testing yeah yeah and I mentioned I'm not sure if that's what you were talking about when I was at the timy I don't know what day when it was but close to the end of the year it was a we did the L celebration with the parents and then the fourth grade uh teach the whole fourth grade was doing a multicultural presentation so the kids all set up their Multicultural um they did slides and a presentation for their families that same day yeah that would be great yep and then you know the other buildings I think this the CGS had they all have a little bit of something uh in those grades one school had I think a wax museum the Tenny does that as well the biographies yep the CGS did a similar thing with the VX Museum where the kids do some research on you know influential uh you know people in history and dress up and present and do some research so that's always fun okay are there any other questions all right so um so so the red part right right um so before we talk about nominations for the superintendent evaluation I just want to explain a little bit about what the committee does and what the evaluation looks like um so each of us will receive um an evaluation form from Martha um and we have to fill it out everyone is required to fill it out um and you give a number one through four but you need to add evidence and supporting evidence for your number if you do not just say met so even if it's Superior or exceeding whatever it is you still need to justify that um that respon resp so it's not just a simple check a box it it really is thoughtful and the binder that we have with all the evidence really does come into play you need to go through that and be very thoughtful about grading and when you're doing that it's also you have to keep in mind it's the goals that were set forth in September so you may read something and think well well the superintendent didn't necessarily do that or did this really well but it has nothing to do with the goals and those don't matter unfortunately um so you really have to focus on her goals on her um her what's it called the um evidence the evidence um and really support your answers once those are done they all get collected and then the subcommittee goes goes through them and has to make a final report for um and that will be presented in August now what's interesting about this is that you collect everybody's responses and you don't necessarily average the responses you have to read the evidence that's given and figure out the will of the committee and so it's not just a real straightforward thing and it does take a couple of meetings during the summer to get this done so it does mean that we will be meeting in person in July and the beginning of August to go through this and read everybody's um the other thing I want to say is that all of our responses are public documents and so they are able to be looked at by the public um as well as the superintendent her review is actually public during one of our meetings um and she is the only person in the city who gets a public review um which I personally feel is a little bit unfair but it is what it is um so we need to be very thoughtful with our evidence and we need to be very thoughtful with how we respond because it is all very public um and I guess that's all I have to say I nominate member Keegan not there yet I have to ask for it sorry are there any nominations for the superintendent evaluation committee I nominate member Keegan so moved I accept the nomination um I would like to nominate member Donovan all right then I second that member Donovan will you accept that yes thank you I will also nominate member daglio I will second that I will accept that nomination all right um do we need to vote I apologize I I missed that last one Nom who nominated you though I'm sorry and I seconded it all right do we need votes on those bundle yes do you want to do do you want to bundle them all together and just do one roll call or do each one separately we can do them all together yeah let's do them together all right all right so this is for all three nominations together Ryan daglio Yes mayor Beth dunan yes Lori Keegan yes Christen Maxwell yes Daniel shabila yes Kenneth wette yesel per unanimous may I have a motion in a second to approve the title change for fy2 ESL to XL at the CGS so moved second moved by member daglio second by member shilia discussion one question is there a fiscal impact to this change Zero it's just a title change that's why I did it this way uh we just after looking at numbers Dr glovsky and principal proed and I uh the position that was in the budget is uh uh ESL position titled and we needed to be Excel because the numbers in the Excel classroom so it's not a new new FTE at all it's just a title change but you have the authority to approve that all right roll call please Martha Ryan zoglio yes may Beth Donovan yes Lori Keegan yes Kristen Maxwell yes Daniel shabia yes Kenneth wette yes unanimous may I have a motion in a second to approve the bid award for RFP 241 to leadership and literacy Foundation 16 Commonwealth Avenue Salsbury Massachusetts 01952 I motion it a second we need a second to discuss it can can we have a discussion I I'm sorry I miss I'll second it so we have the discussion okay right um discussion member shilia so I'm a little disappoint this also move back a little bit huh I'm a little disappointed that there's nobody here well I Michael um luchano was going to join us via Zoom I did invite them pray your request uh Ian is just seeing with Michael are you there yes I am can you hear me awesome I am now UND disappointed UND disappointed yes cuz I did invite them and he's he uh obliged and was able to join us via Zoom tonight so thank you Michael Michael thank you very much it's it's helpful to have someone here because I feel like this has kind of come out from behind a bush like a freight train and I know that this has been an ongoing conversation for what 40 some odd years a long time yeah so I I just I want to understand where we are and what we're doing um so my first question and I don't know Michael if it's to you or Dr qu to you there's a vendor coming in to manage a youth center who's managing that vendor is that us or the city us so uh is the school committee effectively becoming a landlord yes um okay um I guess Michael to you in your engagement now and looking at this what kind of assessment was was done uh and I asked this knowing that back I want to say 2016 2017 the maic uh received an air mark from the state I believe from I don't know if it was at the time representative do aglio or Linda Dean Campbell uh to do that assessment through DCF um I know an assessment was done I just want to know was that used was there a new one done to update postco what what are we looking at to make sure this is going to be an effective facility um sure so the the assessment that was done previously and this was before my time as the executive director um for leadership and literacy uh was for the Pleasant Valley School uh and we we had several done from a few engineering firms across the state and the the ultimate recommendation was a tear down uh of that facility um for various reasons um environmental um the the bathroom situation but there was a few reasons and it was recommended um that we tear down um that building and start from scratch and uh I think we all agreed that that was not um a path that we wanted to go down so some time pass the Central School became available teds in place uh we've been investigating um what it would take to renovate that building uh we have done some walks with the uh build inspector for the city uh and some of the facilities department and we have identified some areas U mainly safety concerns Le abatement um improving the bathroom space in the building um and we have secured and we have uh 1.5 million uh ready to roll in state earmarks that were um secured by then um representative daglio now auditor daglio uh and we are prepared to spend spend uh a very healthy portion of that amount whatever it takes um to make sure the building is safe renovated um before we bring in students so the maic assessment that was done was not so much facility related but more program focused and need focused um I will acknowledge based on my understanding of that assessment that it was a little bit let's call it tilted towards having it at uh what are we still calling it holy family or St whatever they are the grounds between holy family and a Tiffany I don't know what they're called anymore so um it was a little tilted towards holy family but I don't think that detracted from the social and structural component of the programs do you guys have anything similar would that be part of the development phase uh I am unfamiliar and I'll have to get on top I not familiar with that study um it was done before and hasn't been passed long so I have some homework to do um to review that and I'm happy to uh make that happen but at this time you know I'll have to get back to you because I am not familiar with that study has been passed along to me I do can I just comment though because I've been a part of it so I wasn't a huge part of that assessment that was before my time as well um but since then and Michael you uh have been I think a part of this part the second part of the question is we we do have uh and we are creating a new group now and um not because they haven't tried to get it off the ground but more for us getting students but we have a my voice group a methan youth voice group and they were pretty integral they worked with uh a couple of leaders in the community uh we had mostly high school students in that group at the time they actually got visited by the then attorney general uh now governor hey uh came here you know speaking about what the Youth of methu need who don't have you know the the whole point of this student voice group was to talk about the things that they don't have access to if they if they don't play sports have the means right the the different things that a a lot of our community kids do participate in but we have a ton of kids who don't and so what is it that they wanted out of a youth center there was a ton of meetings and time I know I attended several of those as well at the time um Michael is now the executive director here so it was a different person running those meetings but they were held here at the high school with our kids um and we actually had the principals identify uh additional students but we're including the middle school students so grades five through now you know the incoming 12th graders um to create a new my voice group that can help us uh and I I say us them whoever it is because we're not running a youth center right we're giving them the space to do it but they are our kids and so we want to make sure that we are supporting our students having some voice in that so that is something that I know I was a part of I wasn't part of that initial one I I've seen it um you know I know it just it didn't come to fruition the way that it had initially we the city and everybody thought it was going to but you know just the conversation has not has not uh died you know the the we don't have a place for youth to go to do anything you know North Andover does havil does Lawrence does dra does all of our kids are going somewhere else and um you know I know the mayor and I have had countless meetings about this in the past four years and uh you know when bran Street did happen the tendit in place building just felt like it actually was the right type of space because it has the gym it has a fully functioning Kitchen in the first floor as well that they could use for classes and programs um it has an outside area not awesome one but it has an outside area um and it's just so much more accessible than Pleasant Valley ever would be for our kids who can actually access it via bicycles or walking in the center of town um so that is a part so Michael not not because of you but because of me I haven't gotten back to you on that date trying to get all these kids together in the summer but that is a part of us trying to get the kids involved in some of those conversations all right so I I don't know Michael if you can see that but I did have a a Litany of questions um so in in fair warning at some point I will make a motion to table this but I want to give everyone the opportunity to speak on it but uh from a high level I have real concerns over the building I mean I I know that you guys planning to invest it's like half a million bucks at at Baseline plan into fixing that thing um but I know right now we have the the DPW and the fire department in there as let's let's call them squatters um and I don't I don't see how we can repair this building do a um a lead abatement and I I learned today that there was a nesus abatement done uh I don't know a decade or so ago um but it was probably an encapsulation and not a removal so any repairs are going to be luciding up that asbest which is going to cause even more problems um I have concerns over the insurance for the renovation because the insurance here was operating not a build plan um I don't I don't want to stand in the way of the youth center because I love the idea of having somewhere to go I grew up in Wilmington and we had a youth center like it was for that sixth through eth grade time period when you know it was cool that's where we went um but this RFP was very well written and I can say that based on the fact that I've written rfps and responses and read more than I can count but I don't see anything in this RFP that says kids are gonna come here uh just it nothing in this document portrayed to me that any of the teenagers younger teenagers twe tweens is that still a thing the tweens are going to say I want to go to the youth center after school today um and now knowing some of the folks associated with this and knowing ot to daglio I have full faith that anything she puts her mind to is g to succeed so I have no doubt in that but I think there is more more thought and more planning that needs to go into how this develops instead of me hitting you with a list of questions that I broke down by build and financials and timelines Staffing and safety programming and then what I called legal stuff um I mean I'm more than happy to share these with the superintendent and she can forward them over to you guys just for your own your own knowledge I think there is an absolute value here I think that you guys presented a great case and how this could should be structured and and could work but where it really missed the mark for me was was the program and the draw um not that this is a a revenue generating thing but how do you bring in customers that's that's the big question for me and I when my kids are old enough I would really like a place for them to go that's not my house so it's it's something I would love to work with you folks on I just this document left a lot of question questions for me thank youo thank you so I was here when Mari hilly and that whole presentation was here and if people were there they would see that whole cafeteria downstairs was full with kids um coming with like their surveys their little power point saying that the majority of methu wanted a youth center so if people were there they would have stle that statistics um I've talked to numerous parents since I've taken office they need a place for their kids I've had sat down with meetings regarding the central building and they said it is up to date they they are going to work on it to make it more for suitable for all kids and that's what the $1.5 million were for was to put it towards that and if there's anything else that was going to come up we would we would move forward we would talk to our uh State reps but that's why we put this $1.5 million because again I this has been a couple of years so I don't know but that was just enough to kind of get the building to get kids in um from my understanding uh and again I don't think we're saying we're going to put kids in a building that's going to be unsafe like we obviously it was clearcut it was it was a very good um understanding from my state reps at the time because I know Christina minakuchi was one of them um which fought very hard from North and or where she was from to get us into that building um as well so to I I think and I think they came to a meaning too um one time I know well times Senator jogo came here to talk about it too multiple times multiple times since so you can always watch the tapes of those meetings to kind of get a clear indication of what these things were going to um be like so that's why I am all for this because we've already went over this stuff we we like I I'm kind of getting very passionate because I feel like people just didn't watch or didn't do their due diligence to ask questions and to postpone this you're prop you're you're you're keeping our kids from being able to go to a place um to hang out with their friends afterwards and again we're not going to put our kids in danger I don't think the asbest of course I'm all forward knowing of the asbest do we quick question do we know anything about the asbest right now yeah so they there definitely will need I don't I'm not sure why you said lead but we definitely need abatements in the building yes so if we we we know that and what that the ceilings that's right I'm sorry the ceilings have the lead paint um so yeah I'm sorry so yes we do need we do know that there is work to be done that's what we've been talking about the infrastructure of the actual site in order to have kids in that building right the adults it didn't matter as much cuz they weren't as sadly we weren't walking around eating paint um I know that was a little light-hearted for that but um There are rules and regulations that we're going to have kids back in the building so everybody's aware of that and the work that would need to be done in that building is is significant to have any students right so if we kept it you know the the Outlook too is the the second floor is empty right now so the question is what are we going to do with it like what do we you know that that that's where where we are too and I think you know and I don't want to speak for the mayor because he's not here but in all of our conversations you know we do have some use the city does need some space and so they know they're using that as some of their space The Adult Ed Center has to be in that building the courrier is just no longer you know a viable option and I think this committee knows that we're going to we're going to be talking about those two properties at some point we have to we have to really have some um pointed conversations at the city level about the PB property and the courrier property what that means for the school committee what do we do when we turn that over I know there's some you know different ideas about what that agreement should look like so just we we have to be able to focus on that conversation too um but you know with the central building it it is it is for school purposes right now it's under our purview it's under your purview um you know so do I already feel like a landlord yes because I'm not in that building and I have other people in programs that Bruce does go and that we are responsible for the facilities and we know the building and it makes sense um so so our conversations have been you know let's let's you know and I I said that in my memo I'm not saying anything I didn't already say to all of you this has been and it is challenging um because I have been involved in these conversations for six years and and they've been happening far before I entered the superintendent position you know and I again that wasn't within my purview in the role I had but um if we have this opportunity and space I think that was where we were thinking is I'm not running a youth center right I I'm not we don't we don't have the capacity to run a youth center but can we give can we give this the the space like we did and I don't want to say we but the city gave the what is the building that the YMCA is in the Barker school it they they leased that for a dollar or whatever it is right um you know to have that space so it's it's not perfectly similar but kind of similar in that you know we all believe that we need something for our youth in the city I do I don't have the capacity to run it but I believe that our kids need it and if we have the opportunity where this the space is here and I don't have there is nothing in the second floor so I just want you guys to know that right there's nothing in the second floor of the central building right now we're holding that well we were holding it for this RFP right the space that people need is being used the The Adult Learning Center is on the first floor in the half of the building DPW is the second half and we have the fire department in the the renovated basement area so th those spaces are being used appropriately um you know it's not an empty building but I guess you know that that was that's been our conversation this this the six years that we've been having this conversation and more actively the past four is um when the PV just wasn't the viable option I mean we took tours there and it was going to cost millions of dollars right to either renovate or just tear down and rebuild for a youth center and that wasn't the kind of funds that the senator at the time had or uh the city had to invest in it so this is this is you know there's been a transgression of this conversation and how we got to this point over many many years and it is challenging and uh I've been part of it but we've had three different School committees a part of it in the past six years three different city councils and two different mayors right since I've been superintendent so so there is a lot of that that we we've been consistent in our conversations the people who have been kind of behind the scenes having them have been very consistent about the work that we're doing and trying to work to figure out how we're going to support this um so this is again this is where we are and so while it seems like it's coming out quickly uh it actually seems like it's taken forever from where I'm sitting uh because we haven't been able to get to this point where we actually were writing the RFP and have a bid out there for this actual thing just to even think about happening right and I think having a the space first is the most important thing that any group needs to be able to build the programs around the space so that's where that's where I'm coming from that's where my conversations and my head has been about this particular project and again I'm not running the youth center am I going to be a landlord I guess yes um but again we already are because there's already people occupying that building and I'm still making sure that that building is safe and running the way it's supposed to and our facilities manager is still making sure that everything is in good working order right so um yeah I mean that's where I'm at so you know I wrote in the memo what my thoughts are on recommending this moving forward and the mayor and I did agree on this memo going forward that you know we would recommend that this move forward to the city council and the reason so the school committee while has the authority the final say comes with the city council and I can explain that a little bit I started to explain it in the last paragraph in my memo but um because we have a city building and we are proposing potentially proposing for it to be least used at at less than fair market value by law the city council has to approve that they have to approve the use of any City facility that is being used at at less than fair market value so if for example if I said to if you guys said let's put out an RFP to lease it how much would that be I'd go out and do an assessment fair market value we'd lease it for whatever the square footage is and I'd be competitive with other offices in Methuen for lease right so that's why the city council has the last say in this and the city solicitor has been involved in a lot of this conversation as well about what that resolution would how it would read and how it would write so the city council would have to agree for this purpose and also agree to be able to do that and not get funds for that site does that make Clarity I know I went into like 10,000 other things than what we were originally focused on uh and I apologize for that but it just uh I just wanted to share with you a little bit about where I my perspective on this and this project and where it's coming from is um again I'm not I'm not running a youth center like I'm what's it run yeah my free time so so we're just we we are hoping to be able to provide the space for this to come to fruition you know that's really what what we're trying to do here and getting that there's questions and you know people haven't been involved in the conversations makes perfect sense which is why we're presenting this tonight member Maxwell yeah I have some questions and I know um member Willet does too um my concern I I am all for a youth center I really really would love to see a youth center here in methu and I think I think the kids deserve it and need it um however this um I have I guess I have just some questions about this particular Youth Center so one I just wanted to touch on the U asbest issue the asbest becomes dangerous when it's Disturbed when it's not Disturbed it doesn't it's you know it's not dangerous but um my concern is that you know we talk about how in meu you know kids struggle to afford to do certain activities or anything like that you know the schools are kind of stared away from doing certain things is there going to be a fee associated with being a member of this Youth Center um and is it open to just methan kids other surrounding towns can't join um and the other question I had was it says here that your first in your first year you know you'd be looking to serve over a 100 methan youth 100 is not a lot especially for a youth center and I mean just in the schools alone we have I think 7,000 students you know so who gets to choose who those hundred kids are and uh how do they get into this program what is going to be offered at this program is it actually going to be a youth center where there's ping pong tables and caches and TVs and game consoles and games outside and you know what type of Youth Center is this going to I guess I just have more questions so I would love to see Center I'm not standing in your way at all I'm just I'm just kind of gray I don't I don't see the big picture sure um I can jump in here um we want this Center to be completely inclusive so there will be no fees um for students to access the center now there may be certain programs that there isn't incurred cost however we are working with granter to do that but to use the youth center and the majority of our program no fee Associated it is open to all youth um we are open to expanding it to the surrounding Community but we want our Focus to be uh methan youth um so that's a discussion but I think that's a great idea like just methan kids RFP was written and very focused on the fact that we want it with methu and youth for sure okay yeah that's why it's the methu and youth and Community Center so we do look to you know help serve The Wider Community but the Focus right up front methu and youth um and just to reiterate no fees um we want this to be a space um you know not only for the student athlete we want this to be a space um you know where the Arts are tested where we can do coding programs where we can do uh you know we want to renovate the kitchen we want to use the gym of course so we want this to be a space for students of all kind not necessarily only focus on the student athlete which of course are welcome as well um we have already had had some ear marks come and go in the past fiscal years and we've already purchased some fun things like ping pong tables chairs couches TVs gaming councils we have a bunch of brand new computers um some MacBooks uh we have some PCS uh ready to loan out to students ready for a computer lab um so yeah there's going to be elements of a traditional Youth Center here um we also want to not dictate to the students what this Center is going to be while we have some ideas and we have a few programs lined up we really want to lean on the student advisory Council um the my voice Council which we've already had one cohort come through um previously uh a couple areas that they really want to focus on was financial literacy and mental health support which we've already allocated some funds uh to anyways we have as a superintendent mentioned uh another list of students from middle school all the way up through through High School we've identified some youth um we're going to land on some time for the first meeting of that group uh some point this summer uh we have a youth coordinator um who we are very close to hiring and very close to the age group uh young college student um who we're considering hiring um I will be a part of these meetings as well um but we want to lean on that group to see what their needs are um that will create the ripple effect we want to bring the students in they will tell us what their needs are we want to supplement what the school methu and Public Schools is doing um and offer them what they need so really the way I look at it is they'll tell us what they need and it's my job to help execute that um I'll be honest with you I am not a program director I do have a lot of experience um working in this field but my expertise really comes in finance and um the renovation of the building um one of our first hires is going to be a program director um who will bring on that expertise um but we want to get this youth Council together and really let them be The Guiding Light tell us what their needs are what do they want to see out of this youth center and then our job will be to execute it um just a followup question you said um it's for students in six through 12 like that Council group are are we reaching like who who are involved in those groups is it like school coun student councils or like who what kind of first what group of kids is um going to be on that and then second what's the max amount of kids that are allowed in that space in the council no in the um like in the youth center like once you're up and running and how many what's the max number of kids I'll have to get back um I'll have to work with the the city to get an answer on the max the safe amount of space I do not have an answer on that one um I also haven't had a chance to meet this new new cohort yet um the superintendent worked with uh the principles of the schools to identify uh a starting handful of Youth um to be this next cohort um I haven't had the chance to meet them yet um so I can't speak on who is exactly involved however we want to keep that again inclusive open to uh any methan students um that want to be part of that Leadership Council thank you member wette thank you uh Madame Vice chair and to just uh reinforce what member Maxwell indicated my biggest uh drawback about the proposal and I thought it was a very positive comprehensive detailed uh inight insightful proposal my biggest drawback and it's something that I feel you need to revisit that aspect of it is for the first year only 100 clients will be serviced at the youth center I think you're going to severely constrain the services at that youth center and you're going to grassly I'm Excuse me grossly exceed um the demand is going to be out outrageous as compared to that small Universe of a 100 clients that will be uh served so that was something that um I'm very concerned about I think it needs to be Revisited because if you have an organizational hierarchy if you have a grant apparatus if you have people that you plan on hiring and they do an Outreach and you're going to be seeking uh foundational nonprofit governmental resources and during that first year you're only going to be serving serving 100 clients I think you're going to be severely limited and it's going to be grossly underserving um and a huge demand it's going to entail um and that's something either through a survey or Outreach I I think you're gonna uh really exceed the hund uh clients um so that was something that I thought was the biggest drawback and also um are we ADA Compliant with the central school because I know we did Renovations in the past are we ADA Compliant with the central school because if we're talking about in The Proposal it mentioned ADA compliance and I thought when you do a renovation according to the Ada Act of uh 1990 anytime you do a renovation to a a significant renovation to a building you have to make sure it's ADA Compliant um so that was something I was concerned about and that's something that should be reported probably back to the school committee uh as far as ADA compliance we did do a walkth through with the building inspector and there was a couple things I think were we're well on the way there I know we have uh elevator access and some other things I think we need to um repave the path for uh wheelchairs to get up into the building we also identified maybe automatic door openers on some of the doors um we also have looked at um potentially creating uh exclusive access or entryways into the building for the Safety and Security of the students uh and making sure that those entryways would also be ADA Compliant um is something that we've looked at as well so okay so I again and just in conclusion um I'm I'm lary about uh supporting a motion the table at the same time I think we need to buy some additional time time because I am very concerned about the inflexibility of the 100 client uh cap and it's a very small Universe when it's a huge demand I know from the methan island to Neighborhood that place alone will probably exceed the hundreds uh clients and if you're trying to broaden it into not only teenagers but also to young adults um is that going to be the entire un verse is you're going to do a peace meal and just Target the youth um there's 100 clients include young adults um so that was something that uh you really have to revisit that aspect of I think it's very limiting and finite to have just a 100 clients that you'll be servicing um and that's just my personal opinion I think the demand is gonna far exceed that number I certainly hope we exceed it um some more thought definitely needs to be put in that and I think you mentioned something that would be great to do which would be a survey um to see what the demand would be but our goal is certainly um to exceed it and maybe we shot too low um with the 100 um we certainly hope we do exceed that and I think a survey would definitely be something that's warranted um and see the problem is if we approve something and it becomes I amcl and it's part of your U mindset of philosophical organizational that that first year you're going to Target only a 100 clients we become pigeon hold as a school committee and we'll be receiving those calls from constituents and if there's a waiting list um I think it's a disservice so I would revisit that 100 clients and to reinforce what member Maxwell indicated in order for the safety of the building and the capacity limit that number should be realized first and it should when you're talking about staff and organization and clients that should match what the expectation and goals of your first year would be because you already have you indicated you have uh an assortment of governmental resources you're going to be engaging in a grant apparatus you're going to be reaching out to private donors you're going to be having Partnerships with businesses so you already have the groundwork in place I would really encourage you to revisit that hund cap and that's just my personal opinion thank you appreciate that feedback and we will certainly um take it to heart and explore that all right member Donovan hi hi Michael hey you got to talk closer Mary Beth I know he's not going to be able to hear you so I just want to make sure I have a really good understanding of this you folks are willing to commit F at least what was it $500,000 $500,000 to do repairs and make that section of the building safe welcoming appropriate yes okay that is that minimum commitment and and since the theme of the school committee seems to be roofs you missed a lot of it previously but tell me about the do we know the roof needs to be repaired there yes we do and do we have an estimate and that would be a shared Bruce do Bruce does and according to paperwork it would be a shared cost according to what they're willing to commit to yes okay because it has to get done and we still own the building I know yes and it's as as all of you know it's historical it's not a roof repair like this the other schools cost Fortune it says in the quote that it's 50,000 I don't know if you guys um know that that's there just I think that some of it yeah yeah we don't have an estimate but we'll get one from Bruce got it okay so yeah none of that's going to happen unless this goes through so that we can have real numbers and bids yep yeah I and I think we're all aware of that so we have like potential it's been 40 years 40 years I believe this city started talking about did you say 40 I think it's 40 Larry giodo started leading the campaign so I don't think anyone's against the youth center at all um I don't know why it never really got legs in this community I've always wondered why it never happened before now and that's a concern um but okay so so we have that to look at repairs to a building that needs to be repaired mhm getting some kids in um Michael who's on the board of your organization I I went I Googled it and I I ended up at an old website and saw some old names could you share who's on the board please um yes so we have uh Anthony Ferraro and eron powers and Danielle Kylie on our board okay um and will you be there full will you be a full-time employee you have quite a number of people who appear to be ready or that you plan to have on board looking at your list of potential employees yes so you're fulltime and we have we do have uh like I said we have a list of we want to get a commitment before we make hire uh some of these hires and at some of these renovations but we do have um two candidates lined up for a um programming director and a youth coordinator who will be our first two hires um as I lead you know the charge for the grant funding the management of the money that we currently have um and the renovations to the building um I want to bring it someone with the expertise um in the programming side because that is definitely an area I lack and maybe you know some of the feedback um that was missing from the the this committee um in the RFP which I took the lead on um maybe my lack of programming expertise um shown through a little bit um in the RFP response and also in um the paperwork you provided to us you said that while the while the work was being done correct me if I'm wrong while the work was being done you would try some programming elsewhere did I read that right there'd be some effort to get stuff started yeah we're we're open to kicking off programming um in temporary space we have had and I'll have to get back to you on the exacts we do have a couple of spaces that have been offered up as temporary space to kick off some of the programming um I know in this very building withu and high school we can kick off um the my voice Council um so we are open to that we would like to kind of see the two pillars while the real estate um is being developed in the building is um becoming a safe and inclusive space we would also like to raise the pillar of the programming aspect as well so that once the building is accessible and safe that we can really hit the ground running and not start this programming um from zero at that point we want to raise um both of these efforts simultaneously well I guess the other piece of that the programming would tell you if there truly is an interest if kids are ready to come out you know we we assume they are but until until you run a program how do you know right and the quality of the program and what it is so I I'm really intrigued by that but that's not why we're here tonight we're here to talk about this lease um okay so I'm how long do you think this kind of work would take the actual physical work in the building well we want we didn't want to spend uh money moving forward we there's definitely going to be you know we're going to have to get some quotes do some feasibility studies um we know generally what we're looking at from our walkthroughs um with the city the facilities department and building inspector so we know generally what we're looking at um our next step if we can get a commitment and a signed lease um we want to start putting funds towards bringing in um the contractors getting a more concrete timeline um based on our understanding right now we anticipate you know about six to eight months um before the you Center will be ready so we'd like to start the work um sooner rather than later so we can have this up and running before um well before next summer and if this the costs exceed because you never know what you're going to run into in an old building um although you've had a preview if the costs exceed what you're committed to what would happen uh we'd have to take it to the board I mean we do have additional funding um you know with that funding and we're we're bringing in more we're talking to multiple charitable um organizations already to um get grant funding for a variety of of things to bring on new people on programming but before any of that can kick off the safety of the building has to happen so you know our minimum commitment is the 500,000 um we are prepared to spend more than that if it's warranted but I don't make that decision on my so it would absolutely be a discussion but we are prepared um to put additional funds in if it's warranted and how long is this lease for I forget I'm I'll have to look we're all wondering yeah no it's in the it's in there three years no no not three years sorry we did a we did a like a long-term lease with a opportunity to renew new for like 25 years we tried to we tried to mimic what the city did with the YMCA right Michael correct I don't have the actual RFP in front of me I'm sorry on my computer somewhere so um excuse me I'll try to find the uh information on the original RFP well you know we can get the answer to that at some point um I I wanted defer to my um I'm sure there may be a few more questions um yes I actually have a question how long do you have to use the money um because the money is coming from State um earmarks and how long do you have to actually use that money so that's a excellent point um we do have their fiscal year 2025 for um 500,00 of that and through fiscal year 2026 for the other um 1 million for the ones we have secured in State uh earmark so far so um you know especially that 500,000 you know the longer we wait comes further and further into Jeopardy um so we would like to start drawing down those funds I know when I say fiscal year 26 it sounds you know like a long way away but there's uh work to get done and we'd like to start putting that money to use thank thank you member shilia so first to member Dago's Point uh never would have assumed that we' put our children in an unsafe place that would be a ludicrous thought for me to have um and for anyone to say this is a place for kids to go 9 years our children are not just going to go somewhere these kids are perpetually connected as evidenced by our conversation at this table last night they have their phones they have their games they're playing uh I don't know what whatever these group games are these kids play online now they're 100% perpetually connected all the time so we need to be able to provide them more like Michael was saying um to to member wet's point and Michael you actually hit on this we have no idea what the demand is we we don't know we don't know if we're expecting a 100 kids we don't know if we're expecting a thousand kids and anyone who's ever done an event at a school knows that number's going to change and it's going to swing hard dayto day like it's just the reality of the demographic um I know Michael you had mentioned doing some surveys I am never opposed to doing some surveys to understand what we're working with no matter how many surveys have been done in the past it's it's a everchanging demographic so I mean some of my my my first question here more to Dr Quang a vendor comes in to run a youth center we're ultimately responsible for that vendor the same way we are for nrt or the vendor that does our staffing for our agencies or any other vendor right no so it doesn't work that way so basically our Authority is the building use right our Authority is not running the youth programming getting into the details of How It's run our job right now is to decide if we're willing to use let a third party use that space so and the lease the lease is that was in the RFP was exactly like it was for the Barker school didn't 99 the city's committing to 999 years and they can't open and that was when the RFP was put out but no sooner than July 1st 2024 so that clearly is we're beyond that that date so they're going to be able to meet that um but but no it's not they're not they're not employees they're not a product of the methan Public Schools they're we're landlords because they're using our space but that's where it ends that's where it ends so so yes we have to make sure you know they have to make sure the building is up to all the codes they need to have children in the building and of course that was part of the RFP as well it's going to have to be a joint effort because we the city owns the building right so they can't just go in and do what they want to the building when they want to they can't knock down walls they can't do things like that right they can renovate they can paint uh they can do some of those similar things you would expect a lease see but everything has to be done that was how the lease was written by all of the legal council that worked on this as well so if there was ever a short flow of money we you know we hit a a fiscal clear fiscal disaster who would end up how would that be resolved there really isn't a resolution because I'm not getting money from them to use the building right so that that would be programming stops right it's not like the the youth programming or this organization is not part of our budget it's not part of the city budget it's their own we're again it's just the space that we want to allow the use and let them run the program uh this is again would not be attached to mthu Public Schools or a city department for budgetary purposes so if the funding runs out uh their programs don't run they can't pay their staff I mean that you know that's that's part of I think what Michael's job is as as a financial person assume that I just you know my concern from a legal perspective is something happens and there's becomes a lean on our building or a million other things that could go wrong um I mean would we as a committee have representation on the board or any insight or input overview anything I don't see it that way I mean that's up to the organization but again we are it is about the space we are not in the business of Running nonacademic P like that's not my business that's not your business so we're not in the business of running the youth programming our business is the MTH Public Schools programming this just is an odd situation because we have a building right that is run by methan public schools that we keeping occupancy of um you know if the city owned this building it would be the same exact thing they would lease it and the youth center would be responsible for running the programming nobody at the city would be running the program or the books of the financials it wouldn't be part of our purview right would Michael I'm saying that all correctly right yeah absolutely okay so I just I would have concerns I don't know the size of the space it's been I don't know eight years since I been anywhere near that building what happens if too many kids show up like I guess there's a lot of questions and concerns I have that would be I guess programmatic and I know they're not in our purview but at the end of the day if stuff hits the fan it's landing at that Podium so I guess I just I I have some concerns and again don't want to stand in the way of the youth center love the idea grow up with the youth center fully understand and would Embrace doing it and want to do so but like I just I don't know I don't know how we create that relationship because yes I get it we're just a landlord at this point but the unfortunate reality is we are operating in very similar spaces with the same population a population that we are now saying hey guys you should go to the youth center that's ultimately what's happening so we're we're taking on a good deal of risk and doing that I mean especially where we have other people in that building and granted they're city city people for the most part and I'm sure they're all cored already anyways but there's there's just a lot of open open items that I don't feel like we have any control over and any real direction from based on the response we received so that's I don't want to be viewed as being a roadblock but I have a little bit of anxiety over how it's currently presented remember do Zago is gonna fall out of his chair if we don't give him a chance um yeah just to follow up it to go off Dr Kong it's like we rent out our ice rank we have a third party that comes in and rents the ice rink if something happens in the ice rink you agree with me or if it doesn't it's different why is why if they're running a program and something happens with the program unless it's really involves the ice in the boards or whatever collapses then yeah but if there's like it depends on it depends on the I see what you're saying yeah a problem amongst a team yeah or an injury that's not our problem or what they're teaching that's not on us yeah that's what I'm saying like in that in that regard unless it's like the building itself we wouldn't be liable right uh we don't know that I'm not so I'm not your attorney but third party liab third party liability is something people make millions and upon millions of dollars off of and it it could be argued and you even in the best of Courts you're going to win five times you're going to lose five times out of 10 it's you don't know that if that's the case can we have Mike m like who would we talk to like in that says to that Logistics I mean I I already had attorney mcel go through this I mean I wrote the RFP with him and the city solicitor and the mayor so it was a joint effort in writing all of this to make sure we had the right language and everything was in the right place um for what we were trying to do so you know I don't I'm not the attorney so I'm not going to I'm not going to say that you know the questions but the RFP at least purpose and the lease that was attached was reviewed by our legal council and the the solicitor was involved as well I mean there's always going to be liability so I I mean I totally understand that you know it's not going to be zero liability um if I they are certainly expected to have their own insurance and their own you know all of that as they rent that was something they had to provide for for us and also they'll provide once they open for them to make a these Renovations we have to make a commitment they're not going to throw $500,000 if we don't have a commitment so they're willing and Mike I don't want to put words but you you would look into helping out uh making the building 8 compliant correct correct okay so that would be free money that's because they're giving it to us to make the building ADA Compliant you would then work on with free money because it is free money to help do all the esus the paint whatever it needs to be done to make that building safe absolutely to make the building safe and to get up the code because we know we need to add new bathrooms stuff like that as well so that money so the only thing be and again uh Mike because we're concerned about the roof and if you were here last night roofs are the biggest thing right now would you guys whatever left over because you got to do the inside would go towards the structure too like a roof Etc if you needed to or would you have to raate that would have to be back on us I mean we look at it uh the way we've looked at it is it's a shared cost we all are going to coexist under the same roof um all the programs um all the Departments they're sharing that building so we are open to sharing the cost of the so they're willing to again Mike I'm I'm just tell me I'm not making these words into your mouth you're willing to look at the cost of the roof and whatever the city or whatever that other side has to happen you're willing to put up or raise money or work at things to help out to get that roof up to par correct it's a shared yeah so it's a shared cost right so the whole point is I want everybody on this committee to understand they're giving us money to help as long as we're making commitments to them that's that's that's what I'm saying and they are that's what he just said I heard him that's what he said and the public now has heard but if he we we don't make the commitment no none of that stuff is going to happen because it's coming out of our pocket and we don't have the money to do that so that's what I'm saying that that is what I'm say m shilia member doag has spent the last six months of my tenure here on the school committee advising us that free cash is not free the money that they are putting forward is not their money it is money that Auditor daglio in her capacity as a state representative has generated through air marks and other donations and put into a fund to do this it is not free cash it is not it is free cash the same way our free cash is free cash that's the reality and not to take that away from Mike and his team because again I have full faith that they can do this I just have operational questions that are not going to be answered in day one of us seeing an RFP and I I think that that's a fair assessment we do rfps I do them all the time you don't make a decision in a 30 minute meeting it never happens and I fully understand and respect that this has been going on since Larry giodo sat at the table uh 40 years ago not trying to stop that but to sit there and say that this is free money then I I I want to know where that printing press is that they're giving this away because it's about as free money as our free cash and you of all people have spent the last six months telling me free cash is not free all right me member Donovan okay I I have a one question and a suggestion so do you have to worry about the neighbors do do you have to notify them because of the change in the building or the additional use because there are some residents who live around there uh I don't know okay so that's one question you know obviously we all want to be good neighbors so given I think we can agree we all want to see this we all want to see a place in methan where people our kids can get together and grow and feel safe agree okay so and there seems to be some very valid questions like what's the shared cost what do we have to do about do we have to be worried about the neighbors um memb shilia you have a lot of questions can we commit to put this on our agenda for August and make a decision one way or the other and then everyone will feel good about things is it possible to get these questions I don't even know what the questions are Dan so I mean you have we'd have to table it till August 12th yeah but I mean unless you you know unless we could have another meeting in July a special meeting or you know it's not a emergency meeting cuz I'd post it but you could have a special Zoom meeting or we could agree to come back it's just I I would just feel better if like okay we we I don't want it hanging out there and to know if we could get a definitive date so everyone feels comfortable because this is our building it's a beautiful building we want to make sure we do the right thing and I get the value of hey someone's going to come to my house and fix things that we don't have to pay for and we don't so I I just don't see us going anywhere right now I'd like forse and probably for Michael the the most important part is I need very specific questions then to share with him of what it is that you're looking for so that if we come back I can invite Michael back and share the information that you're looking for specifically but I but I want to caution us a little bit because we're not in the business of running a youth center this is about the building and US feeling good about a a the space being used this way that's what it was the use of the space the purpose of it are we comfortable with that right not I get everybody wants to know about the programming uh and have a say and what they think it should look like but you know it'll be for youth of Methuen uh there is a description if you want more of that if that's going to be a deciding factor I'm not sure how much more they're going to be able to give us in four weeks without hiring right they're not going to commit to anything and hire staff until they have an a actual commitment to an infrastructure an actual building where now they can start releasing those funds so I think there's things that he can bring us back for the information that we've talked about here and there's things that I just I just don't know and I'm not the one doing it and Michael's still here if you know how detailed are we going to get because they're not going to have the conversations with the kids by then somebody hired for programming right everybody knows what the idea is going to be they have some of the supplies they want to use but I I don't and I don't want to put words in his mouth because he's here but that's what I would ask for is just like specific things that you want me to follow up with that I can send to Susan and Michael and say can you get this information to us by a certain date to make sure you guys all have those concrete questions ask the neighbors the liability I could ask our attorneys a little bit more about the liability to this like what what have you they experienced right like that's even if it's anecdotal what has they experienced and can share that with us um those things are a little more concrete for me so two questions who would be signing the the the the contract is that us or is that you may the mayor Maggie how does that work it's the city because it's a lease cuz it's a city building correct okay and it's longterm to anything that puts us in potential debt long term right is the city that's how I understand it I could check I could that could be something concrete I can make sure of but know that it align with my what my which is why uh the city solicitor had a a very keen eye on the lease part of the RFP as it was written to make sure that it was in good standing but yes I can liability questions I mean you guys can send me some information that would be helpful so we can continue to move on oh sorry I forgot my second questionable um if the vote tonight was purely do we all agree that this space should be held for a youth center I mean I'm a hard yes on that one 10 out of 10 days the the RFP response you know I I again I think it portrays the group wonderfully I think that they have the understanding that you know what needs to be done and how to do it and I mean even looking at the resumés we loved imagine that in L and not LEL Lawrence when my kids were little like I know they can structure an environment that's going to be conducive it's just I I would be concerned about when it gets to Contracting how that looks and if someone can give me some assurance that when it does come to the Contracting that at least the school committee will be consulted what do you mean by Contracting I have like I said it's when it we're going to do a lease for the space and it's probably going to be a Bo boilerplate commercial tenant lease it was already written in the RFP yeah yeah um I just it's a government template there are no slas in there service level agreements for what the city expects a vendor to live up to there's no contract performance indicators of what how we're going to measure the success to say if a group is actually doing what we expect them to do and that's those are not typically things that a governmental entity includes in contracts the rest of the world does but government doesn't and that it's just something I would like to see in in a Contracting phase because in my mind I get that it's space we're talking about space but we're not just talking about space we're talking about a partner that's going to come in and facilitate stuff for the city because we're subbing out something that we we technically could if we had you know the the people in the money do on our own but we don't so now we have a vendor coming in to do that and we should be able to set those expectations clearly in in writing with Michael and team to to kind of bench bench mark that for a long and 99 year relationship which I hope it is but on the best terms for both parties so that's so I yep I know what you're saying I can ask if there's any such relationship between the YMCA and the city something of that nature that was written programming you know Pro I know what you're saying programming wise I how are we meeting success and are we going to maintain this member wette uh thank you and like I go back to my previous reservation about lowballing the number of 100 clients I would be adamant about the removal of that language um not to set necessarily a Max number but to remove a low balled number and to allow an alignment with the capacity limit of the building um something that you envision full capacity usage of the building um I would really encourage both the survey um and movement on that front and I would also be very leery of just limiting it to 100 clients because the demand is going to greatly exceed that initial number and I think to reflect what members should be IIA has indicated uh Susan has done tremendous work with imaginat and Little Sprouts and she has Decades of service in making organizations profitable and successful and enticing to families and their children I believe they can start from day one in terms of promotion and advertising and Outreach and I want to make sure too that we're providing some sort of uh information about transportation to that facility for families that do not necessarily have access to Transportation um so those would be my concerns is that a we do a survey to gauge the populace in the interests overall B to remove the language of the 100 minimum um and just the we're going to be constrained by that I don't think that's fair if we have an overabundance of out reach and interests and then also uh making sure that we have some type of provision or discussion about how they're transporting these children from different uh locations in methan I know uh some of the kids will be in walking distance and that's why um centralized in downtown methan is advantageous but you might have lowincome families outside of the immediate walking distance and we don't have uh school buses how they will handle that situation so those would be my three concerns that could be brought up at a future meeting thank you oh I just want to say something that our purview is literally are we going to allow this space to be used for a youth center our purview is not the number of students our purview is not the programming none of that is our purview the busing is not our purview so I I'm not sure that we can ask for those type of questions because it's not our purview our purview is literally just are we willing to let this space be used for this youth center with this particular organization so I'm I appreciate all the concerns but yeah again respectfully that's one interpretation and I'm an elected School Committee Member working with the voting population I will not be answering no calls if we're pigeon ho holding ourselves in terms of just a hundred clients during that first year if there's a huge demand out there I will not be privy to that and if that will be reflected in my vote and I have conditions on my vote and those are my conditions and I have no problem with that thank you table somebody somebody should just motion to table at this point and then if there's other things that you guys want to send me to ask I will send those to Michael I will motion to table second roll call please Martha yes yes Ryan daglio yes may Beth Donovan yes Lori Keegan no Kristen Maxwell yes Dan chilia yes Kenneth wette yes Perry two three five yes one no passes okay Dr quong I will have my list of questions to you tomorrow wait I think I captured some of them but if you could send those yeah I've got a list of ones I didn't ask I have some notes as well but I want to make sure I capture everything so please yeah I'll send everything to you Michael that comes my way okay thank you appreciate it yeah you're welcome thank you for joining tonight no problem thank you the school committee ratified the methan cafeteria employees Association group a contract and executive session the school committee ratified the methun cafeteria employees Association group b contract in an executive session the school committee ratified the Massachusetts nurses Association contract and executive session the school committee ratified the methan educational secretaries Association contract in executive session does the committee have any questions on the expenditure report can I just speak briefly uh we are coming up on the end of the fiscal year very quickly our last payroll hits Thursday um a lot of moving parts closing POS um I do want to let you know that as you see there's a um an ask for Omnibus to be able to transfer funds my goal will be to save as much money as possible leaving it in the circuit breaker account for specialed uh tuitions um and using it for next year's uh we did plan on that during budgetary times so I just wanted to make you aware of that all right may I have a motion in a second to approve the authority to transfer funds in order to close out FY 24 so moved second moveed by member shilia second by member dolio discussion as previously in the past um we typically get an email with everything that you've done yep so I would just appreciate that to continue that be the same I uh my real goal is to get it to you by July 12th um but I did put the 19th on the memo just to give me a little time I do have to have everything buttoned up around the 15th so yeah but you will definitely be notified as will um the CFO perfect thank you roll call vote please Martha Ryan daglio yes Mary Beth Donovan yes Lori Keegan yes Kristen Maxwell no Daniel shabila yes Kenneth wette yes passes five yes one no does the committee have any questions on the revolving funds report may I have a motion in a second to approve the ice rink rates so moved second moved by member dolio second by member Donovan oh sorry member shilia discussion I just want to commend uh Mr goling over there I agree with giving our hometown organizations a break I think it sends the right message so I'm I'm a fan I will tell you it was probably about six years ago we bought a a Zamboni um and we didn't have the funds within the revolving account to you had to put down about $50,000 up fr front which matthu and Y hocky did for us um we've been paying them off at $20 an hour of their use since then and that's about to come to an end and that's really why I kind of want to keep their their price level so they don't get that bump a double bump kind of so they've been good to us I I think it's it's fair to be good to them maybe have a conversation with Treasurer jelbert about the uh the boards that they're talking about wanting um answer let you know about the boards um we are getting quotes to see exactly what that costs we have received one it's between 280 and 290 to replace the boards so we are looking at what that looks like do we need to do the whole thing do we just do all the glass do we you know are there certain areas that are unsafe that need to be addressed immediately so we are we're are looking at that to see the best way to address that but if we had to We Can't bite off that whole chunk at once tell all right roll C please Martha Ryan daglio yes may Beth Donovan yes Lori Keegan yes Kristen Maxwell yes Daniel shabila yes Kenneth wette Kenneth wette yes unanimous excuse me Madam Vice chair one quick question to Mr are we running the ice rink through the summer the ice rank is closed this summer because people can't get to it oh okay correct that's the only reason once um what the ice is is still there um once there's access or it's um feasible to get there we'll open it up again but we're not expecting that until the end of August thank you are does the committee have any questions on the Grant's report does this committee have any questions on the Student Activities accounts does the committee have any questions on Food Services report flying now um members bilia do you have an update on the policy subcommitte uh policy subcommittee met oh time is time is a funny thing uh a week ago week ago with um Miss boac uh to discuss the bullying policy uh those notes are reflected in the meeting minutes that were approved last night earlier in this agenda uh hopefully there will be a draft circulating over the next couple of days slash week or two uh back from Miss boac for us to review uh once we have a what we deem a final product it'll come back to the body as a whole for a review that's that's what I've got thus far actually I I do have a question from the policy subcommittee actually that was Transportation subcommittee never mind I wanted to ask you about the the bus guy but that's that's a different different subcommittee it's unfortunately not on the agenda I do have a question for the policy subcommittee um yes did you guys want to talk to the school committee about going to the masc it's on the agenda that's next sorry may I have a motion in a second to may I have a motion in a second to approve the masc policy review you man manual development proposal so moved second move by member shilia second by member Donovan I will give a little bit of background on it uh by Keegan um masc Massachusetts Association of school committees does a offers a service that they will come in and review all of our policies against what they deem as most current up to-date best practice they will take our policies one by one review them and return them to us for review and approval for updating uh I think given Dr quang's earlier mentioned that some of these things have been here longer than she has uh this is going to be uh three grand it's it's $99,000 three grand in one fiscal year three grand in the next three of the next where it is going to be a very useful uh Endeavor this is something that would take the policy Sub sub policy subcommittee the next 45 years to complete these guys are going to do it in three and it's going to be uh top-notch um and luckily they do have a soul Source letter so we didn't have to put this out to RFP so that is always a Saving Grace remember so I was reading this so where would this money come from uh H we we have the money for um Consultants Etc out of the business office so $3,500 is it's a good deal it's a good deal any other discussion all right roll call Martha please Ryan is aglio yes Mary Beth denovan yes Lori Keegan yes Kristen Maxwell Kristen Maxwell yes thank you Daniel shabila yes Kenneth wette yes unanimous member shilia will you please start discussion on the audit subcommittee update so there this this was a little bit misconstrued um but I found a way to make it useful uh in the mayor's absence today I did speak with uh laori antonucci the city's purchasing agent this morning um unfortunately despite there being a total of 17 polls of the audit from the city website one of which was me uh two of which were another city member five of which were from the same vendor the rest were what what you would call forwarders they're companies that pull these things down and send them out to a bunch of different companies cuz they're looking for this company to win the bid and they're going to take their Vig um unfortunately there were no responses there were no questions from any uh direct bidding party uh there were there was an email that Miss anonui set out to those folks that she could capture information for from the tool asking you know for some feedback What stopped you from responding what what was the feedback you received uh my feedback and uh it was a part of the conversation at the first bet this RFP was written in a way where it was it was really good for what it was however it was a monster it was asking a lot of one organization at one time um my recommendation to both councilor fetra this morning in conversation and with the city president purchasing agent was if this is something they want to continue to do I am one vote and one voice but I still support it but I think we need to build the puzzle one piece at a time if that's what they want to do because you're not going to find one organization to do it uh my opinion that I I have not yet shared with them is I think that it needs to be put out by the schools purchasing department uh presenting it as a city RFP for a school uh presents as a uh fractured uh entity and a hostile kind of environment and I think a lot of vendors may see that and shy away um so unfortunately there were no respondents there it it is not dead uh Council Council of fetra has uh made it very clear that he intends to continue to pursue the audit and I told him I for One support that uh I don't think the school committee or Dr Quang is going to shy away from anybody wanting to look under the hood so that's the update I have at this point are there any questions um with no further business to discuss may I have a motion in a second to adjourn the business Workshop session of June 24th 2024 so moved I just want to make sure she gets the date right is is she right because we started it the 2 25th I apologize it's you because we're looking at yesterday's right but isn't it isn't this the meeting it is yesterday's meeting why don't we just say both dates it's continued from the 24th but the meeting is posted as today's date okay thank you so with no further business to discuss may have a motion a second to adjourn the business Workshop session of June 25th 2024 so second moveed by member daglio second by member shabila roll call please Ryan dolio Yes mayy Beth Donovan yes Lori Keegan yes Kristen Maxwell yes Daniel shabila yes Kenneth wette yes unanimous meeting is adjourned at 7:27 good night methun [Music] [Music]