##VIDEO ID:bvfQTczJp8E## for [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] e [Music] for [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] good evening the school committee business session of November 12 2024 will now come to order this meeting is being recorded and will be made available for viewing on the methan public schools website secretary would you please call the role member daglio here member Donovan grai here member Keegan here member Maxwell member shabila member wette yeah here mayor Boran here we have a quorum so we're able to proceed we need a motion in a second to accept the agenda for November 12th as presented so moved second motion from Member daglio the second is from Member Willette any discussion there's no discussion we'll vote all those in favor say I I I opposed the eyes have it and our agenda has been accepted superintendent I'll invite you to introduce our student for tonight's flag salute thank you so much I'd like to call up Mary Ellen Lucas the CGS lower school associate principal also here is Miss Katie pretti the supervising principal and our student is Serena Silva if she could also join them at the podium little TI is going to take over I need my glasses Serena so we want to welcome Serena Silva she is a proud CGS fourth grader to lead tonight's flag salute Serena who has been part of our CGS family since kindergarten is a dedicated and cheerful student in Miss Barbosa's class known for her kindness Miss Barbosa quickly recommended Serena within minutes of me sending an email for this honor sharing Serena is a a bright and compassionate student she works hard to achieve good grades and to be a good friend she always has a smile and kind words for everyone Serena comes from a close-nit family including her mom Maria her dad Andre her sister Natalia her Nana and Grandpa and her cherished dog Sophie science is Serena's favorite subject especially when she gets to make volcanoes explode and explore how lava can be both thin and and thick a Hands-On scientist at heart outside of school Serena enjoys spending time with her dog talking with Friends cooking with her nana she's a young achiever with Big Dreams she's working to master rounding in math aims to be a pitcher in a major softball league and hopes to explore Portugal one day with a deep love for animal she's already set her sights on becoming a veterinarian to help them even more please join me in welcoming one of GS finest Serena Silva to leave the flag you want to hold you got it there you go I pledge of allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all nice job thank you e e well done and at this point I want to give a special shout out this is crazy but just for the record Mrs pretti was my fourth grade teacher at the CGS and I haven't seen her in many years so it's great to see you at this point and she's still [Laughter] 29 at this point uh superintendent I'll invite you to introduce our sore award student my pleasure thank you I'd like to call up Desmond SS media and Meredith Moore I believe is here tonight and we also have Mr KET with us as well okay good good evening the mathematics Department proudly announces Desmond sesaria as this year's mathematics sore award recipient the National Honor Society and senior class president Desmond has been a consistent leader both inside and outside of the mathematics classroom last year Desmond took both AP pre-calculus and AP Statistics earning a score of five on both exams Mrs Urena was impressed with Desmond's independent work e work ethic in the AP statistics class she shared how desin taught himself the last two units prior to the March mock exam in order to give himself the best opportunity to score well on that practice exam Mr Lorac appreciated Desmond Desmond's leadership in the AP pre-calculus class noting how he excelled in challenging AP questions and supported his peers in understanding the complexities of these problems the AP pre-calculus class with Mr Lorac was one of Desmond's favorite math classes he enjoyed the ability to work collaboratively with his classmates and teacher to investigate challenging Concepts and draw conclusions this year Desmond continues to apply his inquisitive nature in the AP AP Calculus BC class and continues to excel the number one ranked student in the senior class with the GPA of 4.72 two Desmond's academic achievements stretch Beyond mathematics as a junior Desmond was recognized as the rotary student of the year the renier metal recipient and most recently as an AP scholar with distinctions students who receive the honor of AP scholar with distinction have at least an average score of 3.5 on all AP exams taken as well as a score of three or higher on five or more of these exams Desman has completed eight AP exams during his sophomore and Junior years which include bi ology US History computer science a English language chemistry and US Government along with the two previously mentioned AP math courses he has received a qualifying score on all of these exams with an average score of 4.5 this year desmine is enrolled in five additional AP courses including physics psychology English literature Spanish language and BC calculus Desmond enrolls in the most rigorous classes methan high school has to offer and his determination motivation and perseverance allow him to excel in every single course Desmond's involvement in the school and Community is as impressive as his academic success a two- sport athlete and captain of the cross country and lacrosse teams Desmond's lacrosse coach Chris Brana describes him as a leader on the field who constantly turns head heads with his impressive ability to just keep going Desmond was fortunate to be coached by Bill James early on in his cross country career sorry they're sticking and continues to tap into the potential coach James recognized coach Kevin Elliot describes Desmond as a true Captain who acts as an extension of the coaches holding his teammates to high standards and encouraging them to push themselves on top of his already busy schedule Desmond also finds time to coach a youth youth lacrosse team in the spring help run fall lacrosse clinics referee both youth basketball and lacrosse games lead planning for senior class activities and support the National Honor Society community service projects and events juggling a full extracurricular schedule Desmond impressively finds time to dedicate to his academic courses to ensure he is working to his potential Desmond inspires to study biomedical engineering after graduation hopefully at his gream school the University of Southern California Duke University and Vanderbilt University are also Al at the top of Desmond's college application list his counselor Mr Hamilton describes Desmond as the type of student that you may only see a handful of throughout your educational career his ambition and drive have been nothing short of extraordinary it is my hope that all of the colleges Desmond Desmond applies to see the endless amount of potential that lies within him there is no doubt that Desmond Sadia will reach his goals he is an exceptional student and deserving of this math so award recog Tech nian we cannot wait to see where his road takes him after [Applause] graduation um I'd like to start off by thanking all my math teachers at both both atuan high school and the Marsh Grammar School for enriching my knowledge of the subject and providing me with the tools necessary to keep advancing I'd also like to thank my family for supporting me throughout my educational Journey journey in specific I'd like to extend my gratitude to my mother and grandmother who instilled in me a passion for mathematics at a young age I have a distinct memory of spending time with my mother during Elementary School working on copies of my older sister's advanced math packets this taught me invaluable lessons about using critical thinking in math and the importance of persevering through difficulties additionally during a similar period I remember sitting down at the dinner table with my grandmother in her old algebra textbook while she babysit at me the problems in this book were far beyond my grade level but with her patient and careful teaching I was able to build an understanding of the concepts she instilled in me a desire to challenge myself that I now apply to countless aspects of my life I greatly appreciate being presented with this award and hope to continue my academic career with the focus on developing an understanding for increasingly more complex math topics thank you for e congratulations at this point I'll invite the student representative to share any updates with the committee student council is working diligently towards fundraising this year specifically with Doctors Without Borders um our teacher last year um he has since retired was working towards uh Dr L borderers fundraiser but he was unable to do so um because of just the lack of time so we're working towards a fundraiser with drow borders and then potentially a new fundraiser with student council also we're working to increase the diversity across the school in regards to the inclusivity environment we had the flags put up last year and we hope to possibly do more events as well as um other activities that include the large diverse student population um additionally my work with nurak and the State student advisory Council has extended onto our school this year we have a meeting on the 15th to here at methu and we'll be discussing major topics to to tackle in our work groups for example we have three themes first one being chronic absenteeism is the overarching one and it will be focusing through connectiveness to school school safety and mental health I hope to focus on mental health because of my work with mhpc which is the mental health parent and student advisory Council so that's one of the initiatives that will be hopefully driving through the school thank you thank you for the update at this point I'll invite the uh student advisory committee to share any updates for the school committee um I'm Teresa buan I'm a freshman at MHS on Wednesday November 7th mathuna High School inducted 51 new Scholars into the National Honor Society these 51 Scholars are the embodiment of scholarship leadership character and service being a part of the National Honor Society is one of the highest honors of methun high school scholar can achieve and we con congratulate the 51 new inductees the upcoming spirit week and pep rally um the Spirit Week consists of the days superhero Barbie and Ken Sports and holidays the day of the pep rally is as always class colors on Wednesday November 27th we will be hosting our annual MHS pep rally which will take place in the Fieldhouse students and staff are encouraged to participate in events events this year's events events include tug-of warar half court shot potato sack race balloon pop relay race and the turkey toss the methun athletic department will be hosting its fall Awards nights with the methun athletic department will be hosting its fall Awards nights will be Wednesday 11:20 at 6:30 p.m. in the Arthur Nicholson 3 i i i Auditorium all athletes and coaches for all of our fall sports are expect to attend hi my name is Christina Muse and I'm also a freshman at methon high uh yesterday Monday jrtc participated in the Veterans Day Parade the town of methun honored and celebrated all the veterans many people came to cheer and watch the parade there was also a ceremony at the cemetery this past Friday the varsity football team beat Franklin in the first round of the Mi AA tournament 35-21 this Friday they will play at St John's at 6 PM in Danvers there was a historic win for the boys soccer on Wednesday November 7th 2024 the number 33 ranked boy soccer team traveled to a number three way mouth rid in unbeaten streak dating back to mid-september after putting up a good fight on Saturday the team lost to Xavier in 2 to one but the loss does not underscore their incredible season Key Club Key Club donate six boxes of books were donated by the kowas club Key Club handed out the books and candy at the timy's trunk Retreat and the timy school also donated a box of books all the books were donated and given out by the end of the night great update go rangers and thank you to all of the students who participated in yesterday's Veterans Day Parade we had an incredible turnout at this point uh we'll move on to public participation is there anybody in the room who wishes to speak as part Okay so we've had no signups and we don't have anything uh submitted in writing either so at this point I will close public participation uh just going forward if you can't make the meeting in person for public participation you can send an email to Martha seroy m s i o i s mean. k12.us before 4 3 p.m. on the day of the school committee meeting uh we're going to move on at this point to the approval of minutes we need a motion in the second to approve the minutes for October 15 2024 so moved second motion from Member shilia the second is from Vice chair Keegan any discussion I just have one um I don't I I just have one question um so how many would um for $3,500 a year how many policies would they they take like examine because it says 10 we would request to have them send us 10 at a time so how much would 3500 so simple answer yeah all of them but okay under our business from the committee uh segment a is a policy sub subcommittee update so I'll give you more then okay thank you any other discussion if not we'll vote all those in favor say I I opposed the eyes have it and the minutes for October 15th have been accepted we need a motion in the second now to approve the minutes from October 28 2024 so moved second motion is from Member daglio the second is from Vice chair Keegan any discussion there's no discussion we'll move on to the vote all those in favor say I I opposed the eyes have it and the minutes for October 28th have been accepted we now need an a motion in the second to approve the minutes of the transportation subcommittee of May 20th 2024 so move second second motion from Member shabila second from Vice chair Keegan any discussion there's no discussion we'll vote all those in favor say I I opposed the eyes have it and those minutes have been approved we need a motion in a second to approve the minutes of the transportation subcommittee of October 16 2024 so moved second second and is from Member shabia the second is from the vice chair any discussion no discussion so we'll vote all those in favor say I I opposed the eyes have it and the minutes for the October 16 2024 subcommittee meeting uh for transportation have been approved we now need a motion and a second to approve the minutes of the policy subcommittee from October 15 2024 so moved second motion is from Member the second is from the vice chair any discussion there's no discussion we'll vote all those in favor say I I opposed the eyes have it we now need a motion and a second to approve the minutes of the superintendent evaluation subcommittee from July 30th 2024 so moved second motion from Member daglio second from the vice chair any discussion there's no discussion we'll vote all those in favor say I I opposed the I have it moving on now to staff report superintendent do you have any updates for the committee at this time um so I just want to reiterate or if there are questions on the email that I sent to the school committee this afternoon um regarding the photographs that were shared at the unit a contract negotiations on Monday 11 uh November 4th um so um I just I want to reiterate a few things that uh first and foremost we take any matters very seriously regarding regarding uh school health and safety issues uh those were the first time that was the first time I had seen any pictures uh was at our contract negotiations uh and since that time uh here are a few things that we have done uh since then so uh Mr Goslin and I have actually uh we went to the Marsh Grammar School that was where the pictures supposedly were all taken or that's what was communicated to us at that uh negotiations session um so the uh Mr gsin and I went to uh the Marsh Grammar School on Thursday evening and were able to go through every single classroom uh in the building and uh monitored a few things we were looking for Visible signs of mold we were looking for temperature uh that was something that was reported to us we were uh also looking for bathrooms so we had some concerns about what was growing in bathrooms um so we uh and there were some buckets left supposedly in hallways and some issues with the fourth grade lockers so that was what was presented to us uh in the negotiations so um we looked through as much as we could we uh did send a rug out to be tested uh they did come uh I was informed that they they actually came today to cut a piece of the rug uh so that will take a few days to come back to us if there are issues we will certainly remedy those issues uh we had a staff member over the weekend at the marsh cleaning out all the fourth grade lockers and removing other things that were notable in the photographs that we could identify um and we had uh Mr Stella Mr Goslin and Miss Gordon have been uh working on the heating and cooling uh situation at the marsh uh there is a change and so we're just tracking the changes that are happening with the new cooling towers there have been new um temperature gauges I'm not what are we calling those it's a new management system new management system just installed over the summer that they're still tweaking um certain areas need need more cold more heat Etc but they're still tweaking that as we go so that actually uh should be remedied this week and it's not going to solve all of the problems because there's two spots at the marsh that face the Sun and so those rooms are just naturally going to be warmer so we're trying to make sure that when they set the heat it's actually lower than the rest of the building so that's the variation that's happening right now with the heating and cooling system so um Miss Gordon did send out an email on Friday a very comprehensive one to the whole staff uh you know explaining that and also explaining it it might be confusing people think we did a lot of work last year replacing the two cooling towers uh some of you may remember that uh everything wasn't fixed with that right so we have boilers that are on the capital Improvement plan uh we do have a management system and Energy savings uh system that has has been going through the marsh as well so uh all those pieces there again there is some change which is what has been notable the past week or two with the temperature fluctuations in the classroom so we're working hard to manage that so I don't know if there are questions about that but I felt that it was probably necessary to um report on that and just reiterate what I sent you guys this afternoon Vice chair then member Willette um I have a question yes um does the staff have any means in which they can report these issues to you directly as opposed to surprising you with them at negotiations is there is there any sort of thing have have you been notified of any of these issues like um can you explain that a little bit sure so um the process is there's a ticket system for maintenance and technology so staff all staff have access to both of those systems if they have issues again maintenance issues custodial issues they put in a ticket um those tickets are then um assigned to the custodial staff in the building um I do not have uh direct access to those tickets that is uh would be a lot for me to receive so uh it is handled through the maintenance department Mr golin uh is working through the dashboard as well um the other the other piece of this is so that's that's a technical piece um but another piece is every building has a mutual concerns uh group that is with teachers and administrators and they meet monthly as UI I have a mutual concerns with the uh Unit A and C that I meet monthly with for district-wide issues uh it has worked for my entire 10-year Superintendent at these monthly meetings to try to uh you know talk about issues that may may be rising uh and how do we resolve those before they get to any serious uh issues um so this was not these were not issues that were brought up uh in mutual concerns and certainly not in my Mutual concern so again I did reiterate that I first time I had seen those pictures and were able to address or resolve them more on Monday thank you member wette thank you Mr chairman um before I return back to the school committee in January one of the things that I was going to advocate for was the restoration of the facilities report and I think we've been very meticulous about that facilities report and I know for a fact that I've had teachers report to me before I return back to the school committee corrective items I know for a fact were actually done very early in the year so again it's a two-way street we serve as the elected school committee so if it's a a parent a taxpayer an employee um administrator any a teacher anybody who is affiliated with the methon public schools at any time if they have any concerns about any part of the facilities the plant um haist material um dangerous conditions anything of that nature definitely feel free to report it to the elected school committee and I know we've been proactive of having the facilities report and I would encourage anyone because is part of our minutes and part of our agenda of having those punchless items and updates on those punchless items and I think we've been very uh meticulous on those punchless items I don't personally appreciate the gcha moments um because I've had a good rapport over the years of service of having people either anonymously or through an email and I protected confidentiality if it was anybody who had any concerns about any part of this infrastructure that we have and things that needed to be corrected I know I've been proactive and I can you know 100% assert that the members of the school committee to a person would also have that mentality so it's again I go back to it it's not very healthy to incorporate as part of a separate vehicle where at any time like my phone is ready I think it's working uh email text uh um carry a pigeon I'm here to and I know for a fact myself I've had teachers before I became a school committee member brought things to my attention I brought it to the uh purview of the superintendent and her staff and those items were corrected and I also advocate for the restoration of the facilities report so whatever mechanism someone wants to report something we're available um so at the end of the day I don't think it's productive I don't think it's healthy I don't I don't think it's to a certain extent honest um because if it's a gotta moment you know we spend like tens of millions of dollars every year um if there's issues I know it's been brought to my attention and it's kind of like if something's not corrected and it's brought to my attention shame on me but I think we've corrected things and please I encourage people to go through those facilities reports if there's anything erroneous that they want to correct that they want to counteract feel free to do that um but other than that I don't think it's productive and I just wanted to say that for the record thank you member dag Leo thank you Mr chair so um I've been proactive all weekend I received the report and um all weekend I've been talking to Dr kuang um about the issues that are occurring at the marsh um I went there Friday afternoon right if I recall um and found out um because I saw the report for the first time and I was shocked by it I was like I've never I've been a proactive to the teachers for the last five years because I am an educator and I understand the environments that they work in and you know I like like um member Willette said the got you M for me was okay I'll go over and be proactive about things um I think we've made Headway like I think we've proved to them that hey if it is reported to us we are proactive um I've been talking to teachers I've been talking to parents um I have done my own proactive moments to make sure things are being done um and I I I agree with member wet on this it's it's hard to do our jobs when nobody is telling us things and it's a two-way street teachers are here talking about certain things to us but they're not talking about the conditions they're living in and I'm not saying that all the things that are in those pictures I don't know when they occurred I don't know some i' I've seen update pictures on um but we need to start communicating better both ways uh I think second thing is um going off of member Keegan's remarks one of the things that uh when it came to the tickets that is a huge issue I think to me is because our building principles are not part of that tickets and I think it's very hard for building principles to do their job to run their buildings if they're not getting tickets that of conditions or other things happening in those buildings um I know where I worked um they used to have a ticket that would ping the principle or principles of anything that's going on in the building so if I put a ticket in saying could you know uh even like the air conditions broken in my room every principal in the high school got that ping and they would so they would follow up on it um I think that's something I know Dr Quang and I talked about this and we're working on that issue right now uh we're working on uh what makes the most sense for the principls to have the unresolved tickets I think is what we're most concerned about so when the tickets go in and it hasn't been resolved yet those are the tickets that we're going to sort of redirect to the principls to meet with the senior custodians every week yeah so yeah only because they're big buildings remember justly right to get a ping is just that's going to be a lot on a on a principle to get those but the weekly reports I think everybody uh was on the same page this morning when I met with the principles that that might be a better system um but but we're working on a better system yes so we're responsive I guess is what I'm saying yes we're trying to be as responsive as possible if there are things that we can do better we're do we're going to do those things hello so I coach at the marsh um for wreck basketball and the small gyms is heaving like it's being raised almost like one foot um and so because of that our our um practices have been moved so I was wondering if that's the topic that were regarded and is it being addressed Mr goin's writing that down right now tab we just replaced half of that about a quarter to a third of that gym about four years ago so for it to be doing that again may be an issue so this is the first I'm hearing of it I will take a look at it for sure yeah I remember when we received the new flooring like it looks good it's just that there's places where it's like really a foot above it's pretty horrendous and it poses a threat to players thank you T memb shilia so that for me supports my next comment how do we ensure that these things are being reported properly so I feel like a good one foot bump in the gym floor is something something you shouldn't be learning about live on the fly in a school committee meeting that that's unacceptable that's clearly not been missed in the building no one just doesn't see that I mean the the picture of the mushrooms like you you don't not notice that and then do nothing with it so it's it's either intentionally being not reported or people don't know how and I'm choosing to believe that it's people don't know how um I mean I I would like to see some kind kind of uh it's a training I know most of us in our everyday lives probably have trainings on our ticketing systems in our offices like how how do people submit these tickets how are we encouraging them to do it what is the policy that supports it because we we shouldn't be having the gotcha moment we shouldn't be hearing about uh what I consume is a frost heave which I don't understand how it hasn't been that cold yet in the gym Flor this shouldn't be happening so I I think we need to address even further back as to when is reporting required even before we worry about who's getting the report Fair yeah any other questions or comments we can take a second round this important member  so going off of member shil is point of the process from my understanding from the teachers that I've talked to it's not not about it it being put in it's be once it gets submitted it seems like it takes a long time for a response so to them they get frustrated to the point where they're like well I keep sending tickets in and there's no followup but they like when I told the teachers when I found out that the principles weren't getting pinged on them they were actually shocked because they were like they would have meetings with their principles and saying well these issues are not being met and they would be like well this is the first time I'm hearing it when really it was the first time they were hearing it because they're not getting the tickets inside their emails and that's why I I want to approach this when it comes to a weekly update if something gets done on a Monday and then they don't get it until Friday T Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday's pass and then Friday afternoon they get the report they're not going to follow up on it until the following Monday so now it's gone a week it for that first ticket even if it's unresolved I don't know how this process is going to be done of unresolved tickets but if something's not done and in a week a principal's technically taking care of it their staff members are already going to be frustrated saying well why why is nothing getting done so I think that's why I say I would say like a daily report or and if you have upper school and lower School principles they get their pings for their side while lower school gets their side and so those assistant principles can deal with their their areas as well as the head principal can meet with them at the end of the week and say well with these these tickets what happened so everybody's in the same Loop that's what I'm thinking is the best cour of action that's what I think membership it sounds like they're not submitting the tickets though is that correct so it's not that tickets are sitting in Q which I would support if something sits in queue for more than seven to 10 days without a response it irks me have the same problem with C click fix um it's both I think it's both okay I think it's both situations that they might be sitting too long and that they're not reported the issue is if they're sitting too long uh nobody's letting anybody in the building know that so so we're trying to we are trying to close the loop on all of those pieces um what I'm sharing with you is that there are outlets in the building that if there are situations that are not being if they're just sitting and nobody's listening uh there's there's no reason why the administrators in the building shouldn't know that through whether it's mutual concerns or an email from a staff member saying hey this has been sitting here for seven days right like nobody's saying they can't do that um so so that that's the part that is uh you know I just think we need to close the loop it's frustrating on all parts it's frustrating on all parts because I have less custodial staff as well so it's just it's all of it right all those things are coming too sort of ahead right now but but we are I am I am assuring you that we are working to close those Loops but the priority right now is making sure that that everything is safe and healthy which is what we're working through which is challenging uh but we are asking some questions to make sure we have the right things member will let round thank you Mr chairman so the someone does a a ticket or was it it files a report and it's electronic report right okay do you get a CC on that as a superintendent okay no I would I do not okay and why is that the case because I would imagine the mayor would get a on a click it we get a CC on these cuz I have six buildings with with thousands of square feet and 1,200 employees it would overwhelm my inbox and my day that's why we have the custodians to receive it maintenance staff Ian to oversee it for me to get those individual tickets is that is a level of micromanaging that I am I just don't think I have the capacity for that I don't I just don't don't so my follow-up question is what level like if we're going level one to level five yeah level five being a a major uh bleep storm yeah and level one is there there's a wet spot over by yeah so you know what I'm saying a ticket from a teacher to custodian is a ticket right there's something dirty there's something messy I'm seeing this those are tickets so everything in the universe goes into that ticket and then we have different if it's an emergency yeah somebody's going to skip the ticket process and the principal's going to call me or Ian or I mean like there are definitely certain things that are not just sitting in a ticket queue if I've got flooding if I've got major issues in a building that doesn't go through a ticket system that's a communication from the principal to us to resolve so again I'm still trying to find out how we can streamline this that the administrators in the central office can get some type of understanding of what's going on with these schools Beyond just a I think what I'm saying to you like that's what we're working on right now I I really I I just want to assure you that I'm I'm focused on the safety and health issues first we're working on the communication and dashboards and ticket system it's all coming into place uh I think I need the principles to help me also decide what those best systems are if they want APS to have it if they want them they seemed very uh positive this morning that a weekly meeting with unresolved tickets because A lot's going to even get resolved before they get to that point right so we we can start somewhere and move from there but but know that we're working through what those closed Loops in most efficient way is going to be all right so we we'll get a followup at the next uh you know meeting we'll put it on the facilities report for December I mean again level one to level five and then you know maybe in between because it's like again there's a miscommunication happening I don't want to assess blame I think it's a combination of factors including politics ICS um and again we should be we should be notified by people as as constituents as well and that was done and I don't know what happened that that went by the wayside um and again I think it's because of politics and it's a shame but as school committee members work in conjunction with the superintendent I think we probably have to shore up and improve the system in some fashion that even some of these unresolved tickets are brought to to our attention um as part of the facilities report or some type of mechanism has to be and again we had the facilities report I wanted it I'm happy about it we did corrective action we're always doing corrective action we have Capital Improvement items that's something that works with the city of methan um sometimes they have to go through a bond issue on these items or grants but again some of the unticketed unresolved items it's got to be a better Network for us to be be informed about this because I'm not personally I'm not going to I'm not going to put up with it um and I'm certainly um always available at any time to get a text email um call on these is and I was it was done so something happened and I'm hoping that we can reconnect that to just have a basic courtesy of just letting us know and not have this adversarial condition that's it's happening right now it's not healthy thank you that's that's the last thing OV it and just for clarification Dr Quang um on the website under staff and faculty isn't the ticket process a little click so in terms of ease for reporting staff goes into that category all the time it's everything you need to know how to access your Google account and right at the top if I remember correctly it's a facilities ticket so you click on and you fill it out like that so maybe just a general remind her I'm sure you folks are taken care of that but it's easy peasy I think you can go online and I don't think we can do it but the staff can do it yeah I know you will please I know you will thank you thank you member Donovan any other questions or comments remember doag we've had two times here yeah one point just one quick um just so the people at home um I did talk um the fence if I'm correct will be fixed next week if I'm correct uh at the marsh uh if the fence for the marsh will be we we submitted the requisition uh I believe it was last week the perchas AA was finally created today after going through the approval process so the the vendor will have the PO if they don't already have it today they'll have it tomorrow morning and um we'll schedule that so it'll either be this week or next week all right um also the uh I when I went there to the marsh I I noticed that one of the slides on the small playground was loose um and some of the padding that was on the ground have come apart um that was put in um for fixing um and we're just waiting on the return of that um also the heating like we were saying the heating um is possibly coming in tomorrow um is that correct Ian at the marsh can you repeat that question the the thing for the thermostats the heating uh AC is are they coming in tomorrow or this week I don't know yeah this week right I do know the company's been there just about every day tweaking the system so I don't know if there's a particular part that was missing but okay yeah they're constantly working on it perfect so yeah I just wanted people at home and teachers at home that are watching um so they understand that we are quickly working on these issues that are coming in and we I was being updated so I wanted uh even remember W let to know that the communication that we're getting is constant so as well so I can update you too as well if you want to member wellet thank you member daglio I'm a little more flexible tonight with this conversation simply because I think it's very important for us to be able to Hash this out uh I just want to share uh brief thoughts that I have as it relates to this conversation regarding what the superintendent had prepared for us earlier today uh and also some context so coming from uh four and a half years of service on the city council the city council's involvement with the schools is limited to in essence that moment when uh you are approving the city's operating budget and you take a yes or a no vote on approving the school Department's budget and there are two meetings typically that happen annually uh between the council and the school committee as it relates to just getting updates along those lines of monitoring the budget Etc uh so uh for me entering the role of acting mayor month and a half ago my involvement on a day-to-day basis with you know things that are happening within the schools um is something that had been limited up until uh that point and so for me when I uh hear of things that are being shared by the Union uh the uh pictures that were shared with the committee for me uh it's horrifying uh to see information like that but on the flip side uh the report that was shared by the mea uh I i' never received a copy of that I uh received it offline uh through a member shabil who shared a copy with me aside from that I I would not have seen this report and so I think as we've referenced tonight it's important for us to have a two-way street where you know at the end of the day this committee is uh in essence the group that is able to take in those concerns and listen to what's going on in the schools and then be able to articulate to the administration uh what we need to do going forward in terms of recommendations and the like and when I hear of uh you know what's going on as it relates to the more recent things that have been brought to uh the administration's attention um I think it it would probably be uh good to explore perhaps uh in essence a facilities task force where we have all of these requests that are coming in being able to triage those prioritize them and then follow up as we go through okay let's say you have an issue with mold at the marsh or say rodent issues in the cafeteria at the timy those are critical issues that need to be addressed immediately like yesterday and so having the ability to go through those issues prioritize them say okay we're going to take care of this first and go from there and then follow up with accountability I think is really important going forward so uh I think it might potentially be good to explore the prospect of that uh those are just my thoughts uh a stream of Consciousness if you will but that's what's on my mind uh does the school committee at this point have any questions about the assistant superintendent of Student Services report we'll begin with member shilia so first off thank you this is a big first step and I think painting and appr picture for what our financial state is I think this goes a long way in helping the community the the city council the mayor's office and understanding why we keep hearing that narrative that enrollment is down but cost are up because you look at this and it's about $165,000 per per pupil but that is your general education student you start talking about going to these day schools where we're having an increasing number and I I would have liked to have seen kind of a a growth chart to see you know what we had in maybe preco versus postco because I know that can only imagine Co had a massive impact on those out of District placements how that number has scaled in conjunct in comparison to our uh General enrollment because I think that sends a very strong message and I think that people need to understand that I mean I even for mayor Bo God and the council I don't know what their point of knowledge is or basis of knowledge is on what these District placements cost and I think it goes a long way in curtailing some of the um let's call it animosity in budgeting that we have experienced because I mean looking at this and saying you know this now instead of being $1,527 per student you're at $150,000 per student and that's doesn't even include busing so it's it's it's a big hit it does send a budget into Tail Spin yes there is some circuit breaker reimbursements that come into play there right so but there it the picture needs to be painted and I think that we can do a better job of creating a little bit of transparency around this to better present a budget and our nexts go around because I can foresee us hitting let's call them roadblocks can I can I ask a question member shilia I know in the past and I'll look at Miss boac uh not in the recent past so not in the last year or two but previous to that uh I know the school committee and I think we've added it to some of our budget um notebooks just the list of where we have students uh of out of district and what those tuitions actually are because while while we put here uh the 82,000 is a collaborative and the 150 private separate that's a typical prek that does not include this was this was a prek uh snapshot um it does not include some of the other day programs residential programs at a district that we we support um so I'm not sure if that would be helpful and where that goes I'm not quite sure maybe in one of our budget reports you know we're leading up to the budget development but it's also uh educational for the committee to actually see the cost uh of these schools and I know we've said it we say it I've stood in front of city council many years in a row and said these things but I think uh there is Merit in the fact that we need to actually start seeing them you on paper and what those numbers actually look like so that's something I know that we've done in the past we can do that again maybe at the December meeting we can just add that as an addendum to this this packet I would say even more align with come budget time when we get into that first discussion around budget have all that outlined being able to say okay you know it's we've got this many kids at you know be at Deo or St an's or Perkins whatever it is this many kids this is what we're spending or spent in the previous year this is what we're projecting next year because last year these all these schools got bumped up by 14% right and we actually who knows what it'll be this year we have that actually so we can include that now what the projection what we think not not every school has to go up to that cap but the likelihood that they will is High um you know so we could add that now we we got that letter from OSD already yeah so I mean just being able to show going into budget cycle that you know we've got let's say 100 kids out at an average cost of $175,000 a student that is going to be a strong narrative to supplement our budget presentation I think the other piece of that is understanding that that is also how we sometimes determine I know you saw that in the last budget presentation of do we try to build a program in District uh versus sending the students out uh there is a cost value to that but there is a life value to that kids on buses things like that and at this point I think one of the things that is the most challenging uh I keep looking over there but the most challenging is that uh the private day schols even the collaboratives they have no uh requirement to grow uh meaning there's no spots so while our our population is growing as you have seen in our preschool just alone right that's happening in some other program areas as well uh you know the option for us to just send kids out of district is just not optimal and uh often not there as an option so we have to figure out how we're going to build program add to programs which is as you all know already is a challenge but conversations we're having and I in my research what I learned over the last few days is we have a higher proportionate enrollment to placement with our collaborative than our collaborative Partners the other districts in the collaborative there so I just I'm not sure how we ended up being the uh the leader in that pack I could tell you oh okay I think we could share that yeah we could do that too I I know for me uh being on the board at Crest uh part of that is I'm I'm the only Urban School of Crest that doesn't have an alternative school within their public school so havil Lawrence and LOL all have alternative schools already in their public school so the need for Crest isn't as high so so you're talking about capacity of the larger districts feeding into Crest uh we're the four largest districts it's methu and L Lawrence and havil um and so I think is right behind us even uh at Crest but uh that's one of the biggest reasons i' we've been talking to Crest about some of those additional alternative programs that we would want um but that is one of the reasons thank you you're wel the other reason is just services in location right so a lot of a lot of placements are not local to Methuen they're further away so we're putting students on buses for longer periods of time um makes it difficult for families as well so we're looking to Our member collaborative to provide the services that we need so that it is closer to home easily accessible to our families um so that there can be more parent student family engagement there thank you you're welcome member we'll let the member doag are we still on that same theme or or just the the general report that we uh we're still on uh for for the assistant superintendent of Student Services report okay so I add something in reference to The Residency um and again uh I know we have 23 new cases in process but we still have uh 13 I think outstanding since July for review can we possibly get that closed by the next meeting because if we had uh 13 kids since July I'm not understanding what the bottleneck is on that for residency so they're not all from July they're also some from October in general um but a lot of that has to do with either um things that were in process in terms of communications with families um things that they were waiting for different documents um but I can tell you that five five of those right now are in their final stage um so we be closed up within the week okay so just you know for clarification I see it right here and i' I've read it 23 new since October first okay that small cord is still 13 going back to July is that accurate correct okay so please let's get that resolved by the next meeting we're talking about residency we'll do our best all right and yet date is 15 we've removed correct okay all right I appreciate thank you member deug um actually U member Willette answered asked that same question um because I was looking at the residency report and I saw that as well and I thank you M warot for covering all that for me but um when it comes to the outer District stuff it was it it's not funny but I was actually watching the news yesterday and it popped up a special education educator shortage in the state of Massachusetts and I I said I don't know why this is news it's been news for the last two years now and finally it's catching up so it's F but the the thing I have concerns about in questions like we all want to bring these these type of classes back into in District but we also got to staff them as well um so that's something the legislator needs to need to work on because again if you ask uh special Educators that I know um it it's it's a tough job it's it's a very tough job to be a special educator nowadays but also it's very hard to take those tests as well um so and again I'm just thinking outside my head because it's kind of like a general discussion where we want these programs to come back but we don't have the people or the capacity to bring those programs back so it sounds all great what we want for ideas but Dr kuang will tell us right now that that it's really going to be hard if we bring these things back into district is to staff them it it is but the out of District don't have space or staff either so we have to come up with it's not necessarily bringing programs back that aren't here it's how do we grow what is here and not sending kids out from what we have is really what we're focused on the conversation to see what we can do but yeah no I've been that's a broken record for me and and most of you the Staffing in special education is definitely at a crisis level I think here and everywhere else other questions no move on to a second round second round members real quick the year-to-date Transportation expense coming out of the homeless report mckin vento are we still being reimbursed by the state for any of that not currently are we anticipating any so I'm under the impression and I I don't don't know this for a fact so please correct me that um those displaced at the day in are kind of on a rotating system people come people go and we don't know what's coming in our doors the next day are we submitting anything back to the state are they still trying to carry some of the fiscal impact of this no or are we are we carrying the purse drinks now I can so so no uh any any payment that we were receiving from the state and for support of the Emergency Shelters is over so that's already we've we received that in 23 and 24 for those students um any student that is here for October 1st is part of our enrollment at this point uh we do not I certainly have not heard in six months since July that there's going to be any additional funds to schools to support emergency students it's if they were on your they they were right so that's the difference is any student who was here from the emergency shelter this October will show up for our FY 26 budget the the reason that those monies came in is because all of that happened after that first October 1 so we were dealing with the current school year we were in when the emergency shelter opened after October 1 so they so not only did we get an influx of students that we weren't accounting for but we actually didn't get the budget for them the following year because they came in after October one enrollment which the foundation budget is based on so that's that's how it's been reported to us I don't know I if you've heard any Rumblings in your I I haven't heard any no Rumblings at all okay thank you you're wel it's a functional equivalent of an unfunded mandate welcome to Massachusetts M Willette and I know I brought y thank you Mr chairman and I know for a fact I brought this up in January if you look at the map that's been furnished by believe the comment of Housing Community Development and you look at the locations where there there's shelters for homeless um and other places that could theoretically and they have motel and hotels and lodging facilities if you look at the state of Massachusetts it's clustered in certain communities versus others so that is a prom that the state should handle because that that's an un mandate and it's totally unfair to districts especially Gateway communities if we're not getting the funding and we're having a a national problem and we're welcoming certain groups and if you look and I'll furnish the map to you Department of Housing Community Development there's a lot of blank spaces and communities where they have nobody that they're hosting and I know for a fact that they have hotels and motel and lodging facilities and if you look at the neighboring community of Andover the last time I checked they had five Meanwhile we're going almost hitting the 100 there's a massive disparity the governor is not listening and I've said this since January so if you want to play politics and with funding and we just recently I believe got 44% for transportation for the circuit breaker correct and the circuit break is at 75% but that is really at the whim of the legislature correct that could fluctuate it's been lowb too at times and it should be 90% And it honestly there should be legislation filed by the Legislative delegation the money should match with the child because you're talking about extraordinary circumstances for this subcategory it should never be thrusted upon the school district and they're entitled to services so we're going to penalize and we're going to do a shell game of funding and this has been going on for decades they have almost 10 billion in a rainy day account okay they're not listening at the state house and again if you there's a massive disparity and it's totally unfair but anybody wants I'll provide all that information from anytime just give me a call thank you thank you member Willet any other questions or discussion if not we'll move on to the report from the Director of Human Resources M shilia questions for me looking at this I just want to understand so I'm going to use the marsh because that's what I know sure this says that there are two Unit A and four unit c positions open when you say that there are four unit c positions open is that not accounting for all the ones that are currently filled by contractors correct yeah so what we yes you're correct so what we did this time right we said we were going to try to make this a little smaller um so we took off anything that was filled or filled by contracted service providers and only giving you the ones that are filled were filled between October and November because we wanted those right so those will be pulled off for December um and the vacants the the red vacants are truly vacant I don't have a contracted service provider in or a methan public school employee in those at this time yeah so your next question is how are we doing that right no because I kind of don't want to know the answer to that one thinking of you are part of No it's it's it's a challenge of how we're doing it we have a lot of people that were paying during their prep times and things like that to cover these program assistants who are you know uh in multiple classrooms yeah I do want to acknowledge I mean in talking to folks and I mean I had a surprise conversation at Market Basket this weekend I I know that these people are burning the candle at both ends I mean there are people in classrooms yourself included that are trying to do more than is I don't know humanly possible in a 8 hour day it's it's an unfortunate situation and and I'm hoping that we can get it rectified agreed soon me too other questions or comments m m so I just have a like specific question about the one-on ones that are vacant y um are those being covered because how we how are you doing that if a child needs a one-on-one how are you not having one we are covering with other program staff to support the students needs um not ideal because it's taking away from the rest of the program but we are supporting those students thank you other questions or comments member jaag um thank you Mr Mayor um I'm just going to say this um with the current situation that we're we're dealing with with the schools and everything right now um a lot of these vacant spots I know we're we're we're hoping to hire people but I I would say we we need to consider in the next upcoming months that maybe if these spots are not fill built that maybe we need to reroute money to adding custodian staff possibility and using the budget to do that to ensure that the schools are being upkeep for this time being um we can we can reopen the budget and we can allocate these money but like I said we should consider that down the road yeah thank you um I'll be coming to you at some point to reallocate those funds to cover um contracted services to pay the people that were actually paying to fill a lot of those spots okay so I'll be looking to move those funds but it won't be to custodial it'll be to cover the contracted services for these uh for these vacant spots yeah for the people we've we've hired to fill positions we couldn't fill yes okay so in the future like that's what I'm saying like whatever these vacant spots that are being filled in the future future then that's one thing but if there are vacant spots that we are not filling and there's no possibility down down the road to fill we should reallocate that money to something like codian staff what we're saying member daglio is that that money it has to be allocated to contracted service money okay like we we're already working through that to encumber all the funds that we need so we're not going to pull these positions off of the budget just yet uh because we need them filled so we're still hoping that I mean we are hiring program assistants it's just not going as a quick as you know a quick rate um but but at this point we are we are in deep trying to uh encumber and get a final number for the budget so we know uh what we have uh for contracted services and all of our negotiations all right so quick question so Psych the psychologist position is there anybody that has applied for that uh not recently no right but we've already we're already covering by contracted services for that I mean there's positions here that can't go uncovered uh so we're we're using contracted service staff to cover for some of these things you see here just not full-time so I can't say that we have a full-time school psychologist that we're paying it's it's more contracted by case do I say that right yeah all right so so my my my suggestion if that's the case because I'm looking at it as vacon so is there any way we could put contractual like for the future so like I so I'm not looking at it and going oh well this is an open spot maybe we can move money because they're being covered so so just look at as an open spot but we're not going to be moving money right now so we just are trying to look at what we actually have in our salaries for professional salaries and other salaries to determine our next steps um uh but I I don't think at this point we're going to be moving them to custodians or secretarial staff or anything of that nature okay other questions or comments if not we'll move on to the facilities report any questions or comments yeah unfortunately the facilities report will be here the first meeting of December okay did not do one this month sorry Ken moving along to the agenda we have the out of school suspensions and other disciplinary actions report any questions or comments from the committee regarding that report member shilia are we still feeling good about the cell phone policy very easiest question all day I'll take more like that tonight thank you you're very welcome no promises other questions or comments if not we'll move on next on the agenda is old business and other pening matters there are none new business we need a motion in a second to remove from the table The Bullying prevention and intervention plan so moved second motion from Members Alia second from the vice chair any discussion no discussion we'll take the vote to remove from the table all those in favor say I I opposed the eyes have it the items been removed from the table we now need a motion in a second to approve the policy relative to bullying prevention and the intervention plan this the second final read second motion for members should the second is from the vice chair discussion member shilia oh no mrcet member Willet so I I hate to be a dead horse um but some of the items that I know for a fact I mentioned during prior meetings were not uh revised or updated or amended um that I have like legitimate concerns about and I can go through it uh you know Page by Page um I always when you're looking at legal documents or you're looking at policies you should have like uniformity Clarity and certainty to your your policies so when the policy and I mentioned this in in the past when you say something to the effect of within a reasonable period perod of time if I gave everybody um pieces of paper and told them what you perceive is a reasonable period of time we probably get maybe five different answers um so in government I don't think that's something we should be doing um so I'm not sure um there's other parts of this policy to talk about having a certain time frame for um doing an investigation and reaching a conclusion and Furnishing a report um and that's something too that I have a concern about of it takes 15 days once a receipt of a complaint uh is received to go through an investigation make a determination and have a substantiation and have a report and it takes 15 days I I think that's too long of a time frame I said that at the PRI meetings um I rather to condense that down to 10 Max um I don't think three weeks to do a blline report um I I think is is INS I don't I don't like that at all um in terms of the reasonable period of time I I would do is have it five days max that there's a turnaround of finding out that if the targeted person um there's been a resolution an improvement in the situation um to give that is very arbitrary say reasonable period of time so we need greater Clarity on that um I'm concerned about some of the language of uh making sure that there's still a preservation of academic freedom if someone has a contrarian Viewpoint then that we're not going into an intimidation uh issue but if someone has a contrarian Viewpoint that they're not harassing somebody um that they're still uh the academic freedom is protected um the whole issue of posturing I don't know what that means like if I go like this am I like intimidating people is that posturing um I have concerns about that so like I talked about a lot of these issues during prior meetings and they were not addressed not corrected not amended so at this stage I'm not pleased with it and again it's 11 pages and I've viewed at multiple times and I brought those concerns up during prior meetings I still want to have a bullyan policy obviously um but those are my concerns that we have to reduce the timeline of Furnishing a report with substantiation um the reasonable time frame should there should be a substitution in terms of five-day turnaround to address the targeted uh subject make sure everything's okay if it's working properly um the academic freedom I have concerns about we need uh greater Clarity on on certain items um and then the posturing thing that it would have to get an explanation on that but at this stage um unless we have entertained some friendly amendments I'm not I'm not really happy with voting on this tonight but that's my opinion thank you may I may I so it appears that we don't have the update stated uh policy in front of you that the subcommittee did uh amend is that correct so I guess I don't know what that means in that case I would recommend a motion to table perfect yes and then it can come back up again at a future meeting my sincere apologies for that okay do we have a motion to table or do we want further discussion motion to table second member a motion to table from Member shabila the second is from Member daglio all those in favor say I I opposed the ice have it and uh the measure has been tabled we're now on to uh needing a motion in a second to approve the policy relative to whistleblowing this is a first read uh so do we have a motion in the second so moved second motion from Member wette second from Member daglio discussion member shabil I I can give some background about where this is coming from um one of the first things I heard in Jan anuary when I wandered into this role is that folks feel that they are discouraged from coming forward with things and I don't think that's a methan issue I think that it is a general employment issue no one wants to be the person to sing the song um following suit with the city I know that you folks the city council passed one of these I don't know was a year or two ago a while ago H well time flies when you're having fun um and I think that this coupled with the audit that's coming forward provides some comfort to folks um so I try to keep it as simple as possible there was a first draft that went off to attorney Mao um that I may have been a little overzealous on but I was able to peel myself back and get this to be a more realistic document um the the policy statement is clear it's about maintaining the culture of ethical Integrity accountability and transparency which I think is something that we all agree on um the reporting procedure I would be curious to get the uh feeling of the committee uh we as a legislative board are are not involved in the day-to-day but this does put us in the distribution list for people submitting I don't know whistles time someone blows that whistle purely so the we are in the no we we're not involved with managing it that still falls to the administration but it's when all of a sudden someone has an issue who's never had issues before because that was the concern that was raised to me when talking to folks and kind of forming the concept for this in my mind um um I I fully anticipate it having a little bit of work I don't think it's the best thing ever written but I think it's a pretty solid start and I am open to hearing what everyone else has to say about it thank you member shilia member daglio and then member Willette so I'm not going to say much about it because I totally agree with it however also like when I hear now being in the union um with teachers we have protections um already in place so adding on another layer I am perfectly fine with it but the fact that when teachers say to say to me well I don't want rep repercussions they know that their Union um if the second like just saying you say that's never had a problem before and then they did a they reported something and then all of a sudden the smallest infraction is led into them they can file agreements because they can prove that they were The Whistleblower and then they've never had a problem and the smallest little thing it it could happen and I'm not saying would but if it was to happen they have solid they have a legitimate reason to follow a grievance um that's why I now being part of the union for a while now I understood the rules from the the other end and the protections that we have within I Union is good um but the fact that we're adding this layer as a legislative board I'm all for it so now this gives them the extra protection from us as a school committee members than just a union basis that's all member Willette thank you Mr chairman um in January I felt that there was a need to have uh an ethical policy in terms of our negotiations and we we've passed a strong um ethical policy in terms of our handling of negotiations I think this is um Po and parel of that is that we should have a whistleblower policy um the only thing that I would offer as a friendly amendment is that um within the policy itself is that there should be a provision saying something to the effect of nothing in this policy shall prevent an individual from going to either the state ethics commission or to the State Office of the inspector General's office um and have the appropriate numbers of contact so that would be the only thing I would offer as we're going through maybe just I don't know if this has been vetted through our school attorney um I'm not sure if that's okay um I'm pretty Sol ID with the language the only thing I would offer as a friendly Amendment and the the sponsor can discuss it is that um should be something to the effect of if someone has an impass if they feel that they need to go to either the state ethics commission or to the office of the Inspector General that they still have that available and they might not even be aware of it and that they would have the appropriate numbers and contact information to do so so that would be the only thing I would offer um but other than that I reviewed it a couple of times I think it's solid uh but I would just offer that to the uh sponsor thank you Vice chair so I have some concerns with us getting emails about these sort of situations because we are not in the business of the day-to-day workings we're also not in the business of personnel issues and those Personnel issues are confidential and so for us to be getting these sort of things I don't know what the purpose of us getting the email is because there's nothing that we should be getting involved in as a school Committee Member so we we get this information and what do we do with it do we go to the superintendent and talk to her about it and how much can she say it's a Personnel issue so I I feel like we're a little bit overreaching our purview by getting emails about this I think this is really something that is should be dealt with below us and I mean we're the policy people we're not the the implementation people and so I'm a little bit concerned about us being involved in that thank you Vice chair so it was suggested the idea of an amendment do we want to actually make that Amendment member W let propose it and Mr chairman I would just I would volunteer that to the the sponsor if he would entertain that as a friendly that would be being a first read do we need a friendly Amendment so what I would recommend is if there is a desire to amend the legislation I would recommend a formal motion and a second to amend to incorporate specific language and then that change can be made and then when it's presented for the second read we would have the updated document that would include the amendment uh however you know that's something that can be done at any time over the course of this meeting and then when we have the second read there we can continue to amend is needed as we go so that it'll leave it to the will of the body so based off of what member Willet is saying I just don't feel like that would be necessarily be put in but what I would recommend is that uh the the person that's whistleblowing could bring in the union rep or something like that because they wouldn't go to the state we wouldn't go to the state um uh labor board or anything we would just go to our union rep and file our grievance that iy just I I'm just confused then what member Willette is saying because I if I felt like I was being like I wouldn't go to the so can you just clarify what you're explaining because as a union member I I don't think I would call I think I can simplify member I think member member Willet is suggesting the idea of Simply including a line in the legis that refers to the availability of the option to consult with perhaps the state ethics commission or file a report with them uh otherwise that might be something that folks might not be aware of correct me if I'm wrong member will let yeah if I could just have floor um just to answer the question we're talking about we're not talking about if you have a a work issue that would go through the normal channels of a Union contract what we're talking about is instances of fraud corruption unethical Behavior abuse of conduct uh the creation of a hostile work environment so to me there's a mechanism already in place and you already well verse with your your union delegates and everything like that and they go through a process we're talking about and hopefully it never happens in methan um but there is widespread at times and in other communities um you have instances of fraud corruption unethical behavior and for instance the office of the Inspector General they do have jurisdiction over minicipal uh employees and and School Employees they do have jurisdiction in those instances the the state ethics commission does have jurisdiction over Municipal and School Employees so all I'm saying is go through the process and if you feel personally you have an impass and you're not getting a resolution a person might not be aware of the opportunity to go to the ethics commission they might not be aware of the opportunity to go to the office of the Inspector General so all I'm asking is that that information and applicable numbers are included as part of the policy that it's going to be circulated anyways I believe that was one of the provisions is that the the people will have an opportunity to review this policy have a copy of it and at the end of the day if they want to go to the maybe they they want to bypass and say no I'm all set I'll go to the ethics commission which is well within their right or the office of the Inspector General which is well within their right they might want to go through us they might want to go through the mayor's office or or Maggie as a cafo there's all kinds of different opportunities to do so I just don't want to limit somebody just to be local and that's it and feel that they don't have a mechanism Beyond that and it's very straightforward very clear and that's it's all my intention is is my friendly Amendment and that's it has nothing to do with you have a grievance of a you had to go cover a a recess well you know or cover a lunch that has nothing to do with that that's not the substance of this thank you I'll invite member Donovan to speak I I just have two points of clarification U member shilot it's not clear to me did has our school committee attorney looked this over and have we gotten feedback from him the original draft went to attorney mararo he came back with the feedback and this is the product that came from that and this is the finished product from him okay I'm just wondering if we've had any our friends at um masc have any input or could give us provide I understand exactly what you're saying member Keegan I get that I always get a little nervous when we get information that's a bit oh do we really need this is it is it good information because it's something that you know it's juicy and no I know that but we know how human nature is and to protect everybody since this is a whistleblower think we obviously want to be protective of the people involved and I think inviting a larger Community to get all the Deets and have no real function in it other than to know is a little bit concerning to me so I would I would be curious what our friends at masc would say if they they have something similar so I do agree so as far as the reporting procedure this was a product of conversation as I said it's do I think it's the best way no is it the best way that I came up with when doing this actually it's the second best way attorning mairo vetoed my first one so it's I mean I'm open to a modification I understand member Keegan where you're coming from and I agree with you but the concept of folks wanting that impartial what they view as protection is is real it is a real thing and I couldn't come up with they way to accomplish that in a less let's call it intrusive manner open to suggestions I'm open to taing it and bringing it back and talking about it can I just make one comment just so that it pertains to what member Donovan said so we had called masc to get a policy code cuz this uh this actually doesn't exist with masc so so they don't have much there's no like already template for this uh and she did give us a code to use acgc so that's that's why in the vote tonight it'll be acgc you have a second round member Vice chair ke thanks so perhaps it goes to the mayor because he's the chair of the school committee and he's also the chair of the city so if there's something this big that needs to be whistle blown then I think the mayor probably should be in the no but I don't know that the rest of us need to be in the no would you be willing to make a friendly amendment I support that if you want to make the friendly Amendment if we want to make it all as one friendly amendment I don't know may could be I I will briefly say just one thing and I know this is the first read if anybody has been following methan government for the past four and a half years they would probably know that I've generally been a enthusiastic fan of protections for whistleblowers so personally I favor uh this uh so uh what I'll we will entertain amendments to the legislation and then uh the committee can decide on those and then the second read would be in essence adopting the legislation as amended I think that's the cleanest way to do it in a parliamentary sense so here we go amendments member wette so I will offer a friendly amendment to include contact information on the state ethics commission and the state Office of the Inspector General in the the policy do we have a second I'll second it so we had the motion from Member wette and the second from Member ke Vice chair Keegan uh to offer up an amendment that would include information regarding uh options available in the context of the state ethics commission uh do we have any discussion about the proposed and Inspector General you say oh yeah excuse me yeah State ethics commission and the office of Inspector because those I think those are the two uh rubrics that we would be going through a lot of this yeah great do we have discussion regarding the proposed amendment if not we'll vote on the proposed amendment all those in favor say I I opposed so that amendment has been adopted and so what I'm going to do is I'm going to request a motion in a second to uh adopt as amended and then we can reopen it for additional amendments we need a motion in a second to approve okay we're going to continue discussion further amendments member Donovan so the amendment would be that the notification would go to the chairman of the school committee as opposed to the entire committee do we have a second second so we have a motion in a second to offer up an additional amendment that would have information go directly to the chair of the school committee rather than the entire committee uh it's been seconded discussion member wette the only thing like I have a caveat about it is that um I know for a fact I'm not going to mention the person's name but the largest amount of ethical violation findes in State uh that allowable was levied against a prior mayor and we've had um obviously excluding the current Administration or the the prior Administration but before that we've had major issues um regarding civil service and ethical violations and contracts so they have it all go into one entity I'm concerned about that and has nothing against the current occupant of the office but the prior history um very that you need checks and balances so I would rather just maintain the the policy as is um but I understand the rationale for it but the current the previous history of massive ethical violations and Civil Service issues and contract issues um I'm kind of lery of it but I just want to offer that thank you member Willet thank you uh so we're going to have member daglio and then member shabil so thank you member Willette for bringing that up because now it makes me wonder yeah um um should and again we would have to get it clarified by the City attorney would no you don't want to add no okay I'm just asking where we can go with this type see this is where I I fall on because I'm yeah I I forget that person's name so um yeah I don't know where where we would go with that member shilia for what it's worth I agree with you we I mean we have the two candidates sitting in the room right now and I don't believe either one of you would do anything wild or crazy however history has shown Us in this city that not all Mayors are created equal um my suggestion before voting on this would be that we table it let's have the discussion come up with what is viewed as inappropriate and take it from there I I will add my commentary that I agree with what has been said not all occupants of the office of Mayor have been shining examples of integrity uh but what I would recommend at this point we are discussing the proposal to amend it so I think we need to uh vote on the proposed amendment and then we can return to discussion regarding the main motion which is relative to the legislation as a whole so at this point I think it would be best if we simply vote vote yes or no on the proposed amendment and then we'll return to the main question all those in favor of the proposed amendment say I I I oppose say no no no so uh the NOS will have it so we're going to return back to the main question and at this point uh we are uh going to uh continue with the discussion regarding this proposal as amended uh we can potentially table it that would qualify as a first read or we can simply vote on it uh as amended at this time yes I just need to know can I do a roll I don't know who voted that that that'd be fine we can take a roll call vote on that for the record member daglio no member Donovan yes member Keegan yes member shabila no member Willet no mayor borgard no it fails two yes four no so as I reference we're back to the main question so we are discussing the legislation uh as amended it does include uh the proposed amendment as it relates to the ethics commission and the oig uh so um either way uh a table would satisfy a first read or simply a vote on the legislation uh assuming it's favorable would also satisfy the first first read so uh either way regardless of what we do uh we are able to proceed with the second read as amended assuming a passage tonight uh so is there any other question uh any other questions or discussion member Willette just as a point of clarification uh is there a process of if the policy is ultimately approved to distribute it to uh the community um you know to the employees is there a mechanism within the policy because if we do a policy sometimes a policy collects dust um but is is this policy going to be distributed to the employees uh as a result and that I don't know if I see that within the policy itself so that would be a friendly amendment I would like to have If It ultimately is approved I would like to have it uh distributed to um even the parents the parents the volunteers the employees uh of the methan public schools so they're off it out as a fin Amendment so so and a proposal for another amendment has been made to include language that would facilitate the sharing of this legislation upon passage to I would assume the entire meth Public School Community uh do we have a second I'm sorry did I mate that well there is um on it's a friendly Amendment so if the the response is not in favor I will rraw it little over Brad from my okay okay respect draw it we'll proceed with a discussion regarding the main question okay I was going to say that that could possibly happen if you submit it to that the document to the union and have the union distribute it to its members and make it easier for us that's how that's how I would say go about it and leave it up to the Presidents um in the union reps of every building to distribute that policy to to them and their workers I I feel like this policy just because I'm a union member of it I feel like we should include the union a little bit involved in it because it could come back to us and be like the union thinks were shutting them out on policies that could help their members um just saying that should be the Union's job of giving it to its members but not every not every employee is part of a union Public Schools M Willet again I try to work in terms of like professional courtesy and I I the sponsor was a little bit ambivalent about it and I respected that so once the policy is is passed hopefully it's you're well within your rights to distribute it how you see fit see fit so that's not a problem on that I just want to say that thank you can I make a motion to table this so we can bring it back to the uh drawing board thank you motion to table from Member shilia second from Member Donovan all those in favor say I I opposed the item has been tabled and that does as I referenced earlier satisfy the first read for the legislation uh we now at this point need a motion in a second to approve the policy relative to the school committee's professional development the second and final reading some moov second motion from Member uh shilia the second is from Member Donovan discussion member daglio um I just want to uh thank Dr Quang for cleaning it up um basically uh made my point much clearer um so um hopefully this policy is passed and we can start training in January or February whever works for everybody any other questions or comments if not we'll vote all those in favor say I I opposed the eyes have it and the measure has been passed thank you everyone this point uh I'll invite membership Bailey to begin the discussion regarding uh the policy regarding public participation so this is something that's been presented at the podium a few times it's made its rounds online a few times folks are concerned about the privacy of having to State publicly their address me personally it doesn't matter our our address is here are plastered everywhere for the world to see but I can understand how some would be apprehensive about it uh to the best of my knowledge in my research there is no State regulation requiring address disclosure um there has never been a time at the podium and please correct me if I'm wrong that someone has been denied the opportunity to speak because they are not a methan resident I I quite frankly don't understand the requirement anymore I don't think it has any real bearing on us and as far as I'm concerned I understand them having to write it on the signup sheet that gets put in it still becomes public record but it's not being announced public on air like that poor woman last week who tried to give her cell phone number twice it's I I see no harm in in letting that particular requirement fall to the Wayside but a quote member we let one one voice one vote so briefly I just want to State uh to just to guide the conversation that we do not have an actionable item on the agenda there isn't a proposed piece of legislation to amend the policy so there won't be a vote on this but uh nevertheless this is the opportunity for discussion so I'll open it up to the floor for additional uh questions comments member uh Willette uh thank you Mr chairman and I know that U we've had speakers that have not identified themselves or there address has been they still spoke and I respect that I don't have a problem with that and like member shilia indicated I also did a deep dive I don't see any state requirement any state law that mandates you identifying your name and address for the record and obviously um we have a Jane Doe Factor too we want to protect certain people because of what happened to them in the past so I don't have a problem with the next meeting just to amend it and that we do have a signup sheet um it will be included as part of the minutes if they decide just they want to put down their name without the address I really don't have a problem with it um and like remember shabila indicated we're not just um inclusive of just methan residents we've had people from outside methan and I really don't have a problem with people outside methan if they're critical of us at times um and also too like if someone mentions my name um I really don't have a problem with it unless they go into like deep character assassination because we're it's is freedom of speech so if someone is critical of a policy and they may want to just say Mr wette I don't like your policy or I approve your policy um we've had people direct their comments to the chair I really don't have a problem with that either I I'm a big advocate for freedom of speech um and I don't have a problem with saying uh you have a signup sheet and you just have a name and address and it's an optional uh approach and you just say you know go up there and speak your piece we still have the five minute uh regulation it we should um other than that I think it's been brought up uh through the pro Podium through emails um so I don't see the H in it thank you thank you me member we'll let other comments discussion if not we'll move on to members Shia the conversation regarding the mental health SubCom we do that okay uh my question on this would be a next steps do we want to see this come to the uh a marked up version of this come to the next meeting for a vote I would avoid polling oh the membership however I think uh if if it is of interest to bring it before the committee as a suggested policy change at the next meeting that would be I guess a recommendation and then we can discuss further uh so yes me mental health subcommittee um this was brought to my attention a group of parents has formed this group um I received a Facebook invite to the group shortly after it was formed because I I feel like they know it holds a a special place near and there um and speaking with the the the woman who started it I expressed my desire to be able to Aid them in any way we can um in doing so the conversation spun into a subcommittee who could you know meet with them on on an all quarterly basis monthly but whatever Cadence is appropriate and be able to Advocate alongside them um this group to the best of my knowledge is for lack of a better term a lobbying Group which I think is essentially their goal um so I mean my my ask would be to form the subcommittee and set up a structure with that group to bring their suggestions and policy changes whatever it is that they are advocating for that we deem appropriate back to the table for uh group consumption thank you member shilia do we have any comments questions regarding the suggestion member daglio um I'm all for committees um trust me I've been on Plenty of them informed all them the the question is that I'm concerning is is is merging with parents right now and I I don't know who these parents are I don't know what their expertise are I in the fact that they're a lobbying group my word not those okay I'm but I'm just there's a lot of questions with this group that if they were to ever come maybe before the committee so they can express their their concerns and if they have reasonable concerns and like like I said I I don't know who these people are and I'm all for subcomittees but that's just my concern of forming a subcommittee before I meet the people that we possibly are working with [Music] essentially any other questions comments uh we'll have member we'll let the member all right thank you Mr chairman like I always try to be on a fact finding mission in my capacity as a school Committee Member and I try to gather as much information as as possible what I've so far of um Dev of their intentions from my perspective is that one of it would entail actually um the filing of State legislation because it's talking about an an opt out policy and that would be the perview of the the state house and then there was another concern uh rightly or wrongly about a National Organization um and that would again blur the lines between this the school committee and that that group I don't think that they have any affiliation with the methan public schools so like person personally I would rather be invited to those meetings because they have freedom of assembly if they they have concerns as a duly elected member I will listen those concerns because I'm on a fact finding Mission again I don't have the background of the lure I'm not involved in the mental health field I was a public servant um my master's degree is in political science so but part of our mission statement is to make sure we have optimal mental health but what I based on my initial read of that group is that they had concerns about an opt out approach which is would be the perview of the State uh legislature to file legislation which they have the right to do and also they had concerns about a National Organization and that they wanted to make sure um that their voices were U facilitated so to speak on that and that's a separate uh thing that's a like a lobbying group so to speak so I would make sure we have a firewall on that um but I more than willing to meet with their group I've offered any bunch of parents in groups to meet any time I was affiliated with the sped was part of our the uh the special education uh parents pack I was part of that I went to those meetings and they brought concerns to my attention but that's a function of of the relationship to the school administration and the school committee this is a separate entity that it's at the initial stages of it and they have maybe some valid concerns and I'm trying to navigate that but I'm I'm concerned about setting up a subcommittee that would serve as a conduit that other people might not be purview to it and then it would be a conjur coming back to the full school committee um and I'm not sure at this stage that it's meritorious or warranted so that would be my opinion thank you member Donovan I'd like to Echo my agreement with uh two folks who've already spoken um we don't know enough about this organization um I value that they are taking action I invite them to come to the meetings we'd be H obviously we'd be happy to visit them but we don't really know except what we read on Facebook and I think we'd be doing a tremendous disservice to them by making this commitment because I think it promises some sort of access to decisions and then I think about all the other organizations that are driven by concerned parents we open that door should we be on should we be creating subcommittees for them so I'm very uncomfortable with it but I'm not uncomfortable I'm so thrilled that these folks are willing to try to do something different I know it might stem from a disagreement um within the district and within efforts made by parents and staff members and I hope that issue has is being addressed and may be resolved so we're not Reinventing the wheel in many ways but right now I I have some serious concerns about making that kind of commitment Vice chair I'm just going to Echo the same concerns um we have PTO that we don't have a subcommittee for we have CPAC we have lpac we have all of these official groups that have been around for years and years and years that we don't have subcommittees with with the school committee and really the appropriate thing for those groups to be doing is to be working with the school district not trying to jump over the district and going to the school committee and like I feel like it's it's a backwards um way like they haven't even started yet and they're going to the to the governing body versus the people who are actually doing the work so they should be meeting with the district before they come to us I'm thrilled that they're they're wanting to do something I'm thrilled to have them come and present to us when they have something that they want to present to us but I'm very uncomfortable starting a subcommittee for a parent group um that doesn't really exist yet I'll briefly wrap up simply by saying uh or actually not it's not a statement just offering up a suggestion or an idea perhaps to the folks who are uh interested in um this issue of addressing mental health namely in the context of our schools uh so you know I think it's it's widely acknowledged that we are dealing with a mental health crisis uh across the board in our country and here at the local level too and uh in order to try to do what we can at the local level to help address that uh mayor Perry and uh chair fetra established a couple of months back a mental health task force that has been meeting uh frequently and uh there is representation from the school department by way of Mr Crocker uh but I would certainly uh welcome uh the uh potential addition of perhaps one or two representatives from the school committee and maybe other groups uh simply because that uh first of all would help avoid any Quorum issues but also um this group really is designed to review all of the different ideas that are coming through the pipeline uh triage them and then establish action items specific steps that we can take in order to make various policy changes Etc uh so it's just an idea perhaps maybe we can uh streamline this conversation a little bit using our existing resources at the city level but also on the school side too uh we can take a second round that's fine member will so I Mr chairman I I agree with that uh process and I I also want to emphasize that I know representative uh Hamilton and member shilia will be hosting an event a listening tour at the nans library and again that is a ample opportunity for people to bring forward their concerns about corrective legislation that needs to be done at the state level because in in January there's going to be a Mad Dash to to file thousands of pieces of legislation so that that optout process that they were advocating for that would be the Forum because you have a direct state representative in conjunction with member shilia at that listening tour at the nans library to bring forward uh that I think that was a major tenant of that group um and then obviously what you said the other vehicle I think is is healthy to have that discussion as well and then we're open and transparent uh to the process and again like I'm always open to meet with a group um but I also just don't want it to be um going back and forth and no resolution to something so if someone feels like there needs to be a change we can't change the mental health policy locally that's a state law um but they felt um I'm not in favor of it but if some someone is in favor of an opt out approach they would approach their legislative delegation to see either by a filing um by themselves or if they get enough members to file legislation then they the legislation could be filed in January and then they can Advocate it through the process so there's different vehicles to work on this uh other than this subcommittee right now and I I share the sentiments of the my members fellow members on it any other questions comments members um this is the first I'm hearing in the conversations I've had with them about the opt out policy I know that there was a lot of conversation about that outside of the committee I don't think that that was a primary topic because it didn't come up in the conversation I had with the let's call her the founder um you are right there it was born out of uh let's call it dispute I think it was called and that's that's fine some of the best causes are born out of dispute and they end up becoming something wonderful uh I I understand the the hesitation and I respect that and it may have been a little over over course correction and that's okay it is what it is but I do want to express that you know they're they're they're seeing themselves based on what I've read is they're as a as a CPAC type group which I think is going to be beneficial and hopefully they can still still do what they want to do form their group form their leadership and bring forward their suggestions and recommendations and we will we will do what is in the best interest of the community thank you memb shilia we'll move on at this point to the next oh yes student representative thank you um I just wanted to humbly contribute in my very unexperienced um in my very like small experience I've just seen that creating groups is sometimes counterproductive I think there's a plethora of organizations lots of acronyms out there um and I've seen that growing those groups seem to be more effective than creating more I'm not fully informed about the subcommittee group that may be created but I just wanted to add that it could potentially be more effective to grow like already um like effective groups that are we have like if MHP SEC has more representation or if the task force that Mr Crocker is a part of if they had more or if the safe and supportive schools commission had more representation I think that would be more effective rather than creating more groups but again that's my unexperienced opinion and one last thing is that I would also just like to be a bit more informed about this just so I can contribute better so if there's like any way that I would be able to also have some information I'd greatly appreciate that thank you I can connect you with the with the group thank you sir thank you representative and I'd also be happy to share uh additional information about that task force as well thank you great so we're going to move on to the next part of the agenda which deals with uh of course finance and operations we have first the expenditure report do we have any questions from the committee regarding the expenditure report not move right down the list we have uh next up the revolving funds report any questions from the committee grants report any questions from the committee relative to the grants report Student Activity accounts questions from the committee Food Services report questions from the Committee Member Willet the only thing I would I would ask again uh to the administration is that uh we do some type of survey of the students I've been asking that repeatedly um it's just as a as a courtesy just to gauge uh the student population on the Food Service I'm seeing uh leaps and bounds in terms of infrastructure upgrades and an Outreach approach and I appreciate that from the the food service director but I also want to gauge um the student population on the lunches and breakfasts so if that can be done uh I'm hoping I don't have to put as part of an agenda item I'm hoping that it could just simply be done um um at a a future uh point of time thank you thank you member wette we're on to contract approval we have no contracts on the agenda tonight next is notifications of appointments and other Personnel matters there are none moving on to other business from the Committee Member shilia I invite you to give the update regarding the policy subcommittee spent a good amount of time uh chasing down our friends at masc they had a conference last week so they were wholly unreachable so I am waiting for a kickoff email to get our policy review process rolling uh to answer your earlier question member daglio that project will review any in all policies we have um handbooks all the whole nine yards and it'll compare it to what they deem as current best practice and what their policies and framework is set up so it'll be a good Benchmark it'll then come back my hope is that it would then come to the policy subcommittee because their framework is not necessarily going to be specific to methan it's going to be a broad framework that they would apply to every district and methun is not the same as Agawam we're not going to have the same policies so the subcommittee would then tweak those and they would come up for vote and update um that I think is it for the policy subcommittee at this time great and I'll have more to add about this but I'll invite you to share an update from the audit subcommittee the audit subcommittee so member Donovan myself and uh mayor borgard met I what a week ago to do uh scoring of the bidder for the audit um that went well the next step there would be to have it go up to the city council and I think we are on a good track there and I know you have further update yes So the plan is to uh get this settled with the city council in the month of December so that we can begin uh the process um I do want to mention that in the middle of all of this we do have the special election coming up on December 10th my plan at this point in terms of funding the audit is to go to the council uh in all likelihood with a request for a free cash transfer so that we can pay for uh the audit on the city side but uh that is in flux with everything else that's going on but at the at from my vantage point here that is my plan as it relates to the funding piece and I will be able to get the audit done uh from that point forward so that's the latest regarding the audit um may I have may I ask a question superintendent yes how many bids did we have we re do we know can you actually say who the awarding or is that not formalized yet so um we have reviewed we did receive one but the details we'll have uh we'll be able to present that once we bring it to the council so we receive one you can't make that public name that right now just so we know the name of the auditor I you you can all all bids are public so we could have sat in the room and listened so they are absolutely public so it is IR reputable auditing firm uh they've been around for over 70 years the the name of the firm that uh placed the bid is Markham okay thank you uh collective bargaining updates I have a question I'm sorry yes um for the audit is it both pieces of the audit or is it just one piece of the audit like what actually is being audited good question so this will deal with the operational side of the public schools and then uh we're going to be going out to bid for the financial piece uh separately thank you of course so we're on to collective bargaining updates uh we'll invite a member of the unit a negotiating team uh to begin the discussion relative to Unit A Dr Quang did you want to present this or do you want us to present this um I it makes better sense for you all to start and then I can add in the negotiations for unit a unit a what do we have members sheia they're all looking at you I guess for you to start um so I think the first thing that's most important is this information is being shared live on the website I know there'll be an update posted tomorrow for the most recent round um I think that that is something folks should be aware of um there has been a let's call it a social media blitz and the information that is out there while accurate may be um dramatized for clicks essentially uh the the last round of negotiations we had we we did go in a quarter of a percent higher and they did come down on their third year a quarter per low but I think that what people need to understand and when they go and look at that website is where for every percentage point that this contract goes up we're talking and correct me if I'm wrong will about $2 million correct no I'm gonna invite Colleen to join me she she looks as surprised as I am hi Miss McCarthy thank you for joining us colen we should just get you a name tag you should just be part of the party no thank you appreciate it no thank you thanks but no thanks sorry say what you said again or calling do know yes I just want to make sure we're answering the right question so 1% is 520,000 but then you've got to add in your steps which was part of the the contract this year so that's part of this year's cost with steps plus I just need to pull up the spreadsheet if you can give me is it the one that I had you print for me yeah so I I can tell you so at 2.75 with the steps you're at a little over $2.5 million which looks like to be a 4.95% increase because I think what people need to be aware of is every year you go up a step that is not included in the the cola which is the adjustment except for the top step except for the top step um but for those folks still working their way up the ladder uh can you tell us what the average Step percentage is because I know they're not all the same they're not would be far too easy if they were yeah it's very variable this scale they go anywhere from like three to in the sixes so depending on what step you're at you're already getting a 3 to 6% increase plus the Coler on top of it I think that's the narrative that's not being told to folks out publicly um I think the fact that even on the news now with the three districts that are front and center the term fair is being thrown around and no one has stepped up to Define what fair is and the the the number right now and again please correct me if I'm wrong because I'm doing this for memory because I was not prepared to have to present this you're doing good oh oh thanks falsely inflate my ego here right um is 66 and 5.75 is that the last 55 5.75 55 5.75 is there offer as their proposal ours is 2.75 33 right and the the 5.75 would be a difference next well for what would be this year of 3.7 in change based if I'm reading this this chart correctly that chart correct and so that really boils down to people getting between an eight and a 12 depending on the steps I don't think that anyone out there in the world that's getting an 8 to 12% raise on an annual basis short of job jumping which I think Co really encouraged um it's it's scary as a parent who depends on his kids to go to school every morning so I can get some work done it's scary to turn on the news and hear that the word colluding being tossed around up on the NorthShore that was what the channel 4 folks said last night it's these are these are real numbers with real problems and the narrative that's being thrown around that mayor Perry was hiding money is not only ridiculous but a criminal accusation and I think that it is far too casual for people to make those statements without fact because that is not a you stole my lunch money you ate my candy bar that is you committed a crime and that is a very different statement can I add something um I also want to point out that the narrative that there's City money to be used is false because the only money that we are allowed to use is the school budget and we had that budget approved by the city council in June there is no more money than the city than the school budget we by law have to have a balanced budget so if we're giving 12% raises we have to balance that budget somehow um and so that's the reality that we're looking at and we already have a staffing shortage and if we have to make that worse we have that many that bigger class sizes we have all of this other stuff so we have to balance our budget and our budget was set in June so there is no more money and I I think the the saying that there's City money to use there is no City money to use the only city money that there is is the school budget and I I think that false narrative going out to parents is is unfair because we're stuck negotiating with only the school budget M toag um I just want to just add something also and that also the narrative is also being spread around that here parents saying well our teachers haven't gotten a raise as a union member and also an educator I get a raise every year so it's not like they're going without a raise that's what they're telling people that they're sitting on their salaries every year that's what I'm getting from what parents are telling me and I said nope we get a raise every year so the question is that what they're asking is memb shilly is saying they want step increases this is a totally different than the raise increases because as a you you said step and cola so that's how we talk about that's let me add that step but like I said no teacher doesn't get a raise they get a raise every year so I'm just want to clarify that from a teacher's perspective and I want to get that cleared up to parents as well we're going to have a real flexible discussion here so I'm going to invite members shly to speak again I think before the discussion continu continues we need to level set I don't think there's a single person in this room that does not support the work that these people are doing in the building I have said publicly more times than I can count that is a job I could never do I lack the skill set to walk into a classroom and if I had hair I'd probably pull it out I could never do that job the reality is this is not a good teacher Bad Teacher conversation this is a fiscal conversation that very unfortunately gets very personal for how many kids we have times all of their parents and everyone else who's involved in their care and upbringing and helping people get to and from school and all of those things that are involved everyone here is supporting the teachers everyone here wants to do everything we can and if it were up to me and money there was a money tree in the back at I'd give everybody all the money that's great but to member Keegan's point we have a finite amount of money to work with there is no District that is opening up the coffers to pillage their stabilization or free cash that is not good business that is not fiscally responsible these would be onetime incumbrances that you can then not plan for because it's not sustainable we we need to be able to build something that is sustainable we need to be able to make methan appealing so we can attract new teachers keep the teachers we have and it's it's not a one piece it's not just a contract that's going to do that it's the operational culture piece that the audit is going to accomplish and it's going to hopefully Drive our district to be better so we can steal the teachers back that we lost to the lels and the handovers and whoever they are and to say that methan can compete with an Andover is silly we can't we can't compete with Andover they have more money than we do and they approved a what they just just approved prop two and a half right for their yeah I fairly certain they did I'm fairly certain uh Melrose just did as no lynfield just did as well and that's that's not our district that's not the the lives that the people in this community live so I I don't want this to become a the school committee doesn't support its teachers because that could not be farther from the truth there are teachers I talk to every day that know that the only reason I'm sitting here is because I want the best school for my kids and they are a humongous piece of it but we have to play by what we've been given member wette thank you Mr chairman um I like to study macroeconomics um and I would encourage anyone to look at the vacancy rate for commercial property in Boston and New York and also look at the latest jobs report nationally that I think it was 12,000 jobs uh that were added and I think the 12,000 jobs were more than likely government jobs they had a downward revision of 1 million jobs uh that just disappeared um I think the practicality is we live in methan and I look through the history we have never done a prop two and a half override ever that is not the mindset of this this community if you look at at Andover you look at the medium household income versus us um they might be two or three times the medium household income versus methan um there's a lot of homeowners in methan that live paycheck to paycheck um the the renters um they're not relying upon it other than if the landlord has to increase the rent um the inflation whammy hit us significantly and we were undercut of the 4.5% uh in inationary rate for the last uh two fiscal years um did not even help us with the high Wana Mark of 9.1% and then it was um undercut with I think it was 1.2 or 1.35 uh way below so we lost about four to five uh million doll in Chapter 70 expected growth $4 to5 million with a nine going head northwards of 10 billion dollar rainy day account Texas California which are much larger states are the only ones that have a larger rainy day account than um than Massachusetts the millionair tax I've said it repeatedly it helps us with the universal meals program and that's great it does not help us directly into the classroom so if we're a gateway community and we have limit resources from the state and we don't have a history of doing prop two and a half overrides where is that pool of money coming from and believe me onetime revenue streams um the people that oversee uh bonds you want to see your bond rating collapse drain that account so if we have to do a new uh police uh station a new fire station a new building let's say a building burns with the methan public schools unfortunately hypothetically right the the bond issue it would be uh astronomical because you drained the cash reserves and also I learned that a long time ago from a prior mayor that was draining onetime revenue streams doesn't help you at all that that following year because it's a one-time Revenue Stream So if you look at from different angles if you want to sit down with us we'll go over the numbers with you if you want to do a PO game and make accusations I'm there for that game go ahead I face the voters next year I know it's a conservative Community I'll take that Pepsi challenge but either that or we can sit down and try to have a meaning of the minds and try to have a Bonafide compromise but I think unfortunately Mr Max page doesn't want to have a compromise and I think he's agitating his membership and I think you know I saw the rally I saw a sign from andova so you had three different school districts that had a rally and someone must have been invited from Handover because I saw an Handover sign so you're doing it Statewide and I know there is cooperation between the different unions and that's fine I don't but we are adults here I know what's going on your focus should be uh Beacon Hill because I worked there 24 years you're to cut as a school district by about $4 million or maybe even $5 million okay and we were lucky even get the 44% in the the uh special ed transportation that was just a recent occurrence right and then at times we were like below um 75% for the circuit breaker we should be 90% or 100% because it should match the child and then we have the special egg cases and we also have um the illegal alien situation in sanctuary States and we're not going to get any resources from the federal government and now we're hearing that now the state has turned off the faucet and I don't know if that's a political message I don't know what they think the incoming part is going to do about it but I don't want to be left on our own and we should be marshalling our resources to the state house I've said that since January but let's go play the pile of games and let's do the memo and let's do the press releases and the photos and I gotcha I'm here I haven't had any teachers sit down with me or say you know let's compromise let's have a a meaning of the minds no it's like bomb bomb bomb and it doesn't work it really doesn't thank you other comments and questions so just to finish up with everybody um like I said earlier um but like I said I'm I'm I'm an educator and I understand how these teachers are going through um in the classroom and as member shilly said he would never want to do this job it is a h job every day um and I as a teacher understand the stress that it does to be put in the classroom especially as specialized teachers that are dealing with multiple multiple things in a day um but what what is frustrating to me because I grew up in this community I grew up in methan public schools um some of these Educators were my teachers um some of these educators are the kid people that I went to school with and some of them are parents of children that I grew up with so as an educator as a person that went through the meu public schools this hits more because I understand that they they it's not that they deserve everything they've earned everything by working hard with us as students as mayor board and I went to high school together and had the same teachers we saw our teachers tonight here um so I just like I said I want to say and I was talking to teachers this past weekend um and they they see how Act AC L we are doing things um so it's not like we're not we're don't care but we also have a fiscal responsibility to our constituents as well as an educator I understand what they are going through and they do they've earned everything that they are asking but as a school Committee Member I have to be fiscal conservative to to the taxpayers for the future of our children and to our taxpayers even though I understand some of the people that are teaching are also the taxpayers too so I'm also looking out for you in both interests as a teacher but also as a taxpayer because if we pay these salaries your taxes are going up that's just a fact so that's all I have to say Mr M I'd like to begin wrapping up and we do have to move on to Unit C uh I I'll just wanted to quickly uh add to what's been said here and just State how important I think it is for us to have this conversation with a grounded series of facts so it's been referenced the accusation that the late mayor Perry had been in essence padding free cash with Chapter 70 money that accusation is absurd it's ridiculous it's not true um in fact uh any time over the past four and a half years the school department budget has come before the city council for approval I know I along with my colleagues on the council we've never voted no we've always voted yes every single year from the council side and since fiscal year 21 over the past couple of fiscal years since then the school department budget has increased by 30% since fiscal year 21 and that's a fact and today 52 cents rough roughly 52 cents of every tax dollar contributed by the citizens of methan go to our schools and so that's why I think it's a great conversation that we're having relative to the audit to ensure that we're able to uh guarantee that our resources are being allocated in the most effective manner possible and I just want to State regarding the teachers um as member daglio referenced uh there are members of unit a who were teachers of mine when I was in school uh there are members of both units who I went to school with personally and uh just speaking as one person who was soon to be a methan public school's parent my six-year-old daughter is going to be going into the first grade next fall and so I understand very acutely the importance of investing in our teachers and I want our teachers to know that I I know this whole committee we are friends to the teachers at the same time as the vice chair referenced we do have a boundary that we have to work within relative to our budget and so I think we need to find this balance between providing with our teachers with the pay that they need and deserve uh while fitting that balance into the current system that we have as it relates to the budget we'll get to Unit C I think the current pay for our power professionals we all acknowledge is a disgrace it is a disgrace and we are working on trying to get to that point where we can achieve that balance speaking of Unit C I will pass it off just to change it up to member daglio member shabil if you want to add anything feel free member doog Leo for unit c um so I'm going to just do the groundbreaking of it all um we we did meet with them um and as we talked to them and as a member um me Members really will agree with me and U mayor borr said um it is a disgrace what we pay our pars and they are frustrated with it um but I I'm not going to go into too much detail because I was talking to uh Dr Quang about what we were negotiating with them and we have a plan in place that we will talk about tonight um as we move forward but as we said I said before we understand their frustrations we're frustrated as well um and we're hoping that the plan that we have in place that we will an executive session bring forward tonight um between the committee is another uh way to resolve the situation moving forward that's that's all I have to say member shilia so I think it's worthwhile to mention that again this is also on the website there is Clarity in numbers these are it's factual it's it's a factual data dump there's no spin There's No Agenda it is this is what was presented this is what was presented and I think that that is a very important thing for people to see um right now I couldn't agree more it is an embarrassment what these folks are being paid for the work that they're doing that being said you do not fix 30 years of institutional uh mistake for the the role that this these folks have evolved into in one year this is not going to be a one-year fix and unfortunately that is what is being pushed right now and it's it's not methu and it's MTA Statewide everything needs to be fixed it needs to be fixed right now and it needs to be on the table at the last meeting we brought forward a one-year contract that gave do you remember the number off hand on average the the raises that were going to be going out there we said it in the room a couple of times but I don't recall what the number was it was somewhere between 7 and 12 Grand I you mean the dollar increases that we so the dollar inre market correction Market correction yes we're between am I reading this right 6 yeah yeah 5500 and 6,800 and that would have been effective immediately and it would have given people back pay immediately to get everyone rolling before Christmas and we would have started renegotiating again in January right after the governor's budget comes out and that would have given everyone a better foot to start on going into next year to start correcting this problem we are not going to fix everything in one swoop it's the same problem we have with Unit A we have a finite amount of money does it need to be fixed yes does anyone argued against fixing it no but right now we need to be able to do we we need a plan to have steps the the overwhelming uh sentiment that I've heard from Unit C is they want to be treated like professionals and I think everyone wants to treat them that way but that that is going to include the the the opportunity for them to grow and it's going to include some combination of steps and colas and whatever that's going to be but it's not going to be a what was the number somewhere around $52,000 that they had put out at first it's on the website reference it they're at 41 start that's it's it's it's not something we're going to get you right now is it somewhere that we want to be in due time but I don't think that that happens in a three-year contract that is far too much ground to to to correct and I think we need to be aware of what other districts are doing methan is not going to drive the market and as much as I would like to say let's let's go a little bit higher than everyone else so we can steal all the good ones again we're not going to to get there in one swoop and I I I just I really want people to understand that these folks are doing some of the hardest work they I mean they're L toileting in in buildings 14y olds like it's it's that those are real jobs and for anybody out there that's buying into the narrative that the school committee doesn't want to support this or that the school committee is slow walking a contract or that there has been money hidden in the walls at City hall or in somebody's trunk it's it's foolish and it's it's not real and it's the propaganda to spark the outrage that is going to help when people need to stand outside and hold signs that's I mean as far as I'm concerned that's that's kind of where we are I would love to see this get resolved I want these people to feel appreciated and hopefully we can get there soon thank you members sh Billy any questions discussion regarding unit we have Vice chair Keegan and member will um I know for unit a this is true but is it true for Unit C that um the school committee attempted to negotiate past June and through the summer and the union turned us down for both A and C uh my Rec recollection that we did P put forth the offer to meet over the summer um my interpretation of what happened is kind of got ghosted um they told us that they couldn't align schedules I get it let's call a spade a spade everyone's on summer vacation I respect that I get it but here we are and we now have to make up for L time remember Willette and this again I talk about the macroeconomics and we'll go into the microeconomics the conversion of holy Family Hospital to nonprofit a million dollar just disappeared from our community for tax revenue so that is another factor that again you know balance You by law you have to balance the budget by law we have to balance the budget um and we had problems the year past with that not balancing the budget and he had a $4 million deficit that predates us um and that's the reality of the situation that $1 million just disappeared because of the conversion to nonprofit um so I I again um I want to still operate in good faith I commend the the members of the negotiating teams um I commend the the mayor uh working also uh with the cafo um to get uh honest budgeting information to the populace um part of my proposal at the beginning of the year in terms of the ethics and negotiations was making sure we had a budget vehicle and that was realized by posting the differentials between what we're offering and what the uh various unions are offering and there's a huge Gulf um and again we are offering uh incremental increases um and sometimes the their standing pad or offering something that we cannot afford as a school district but we will continue to operate in good faith as best we can and I respect the respective members of the negotiating teams thank you thank you with that we will move on to any I'm sorry may may I just make a comment uh because everybody did a great job so thank you and just to to uh reiterate the sentiment that uh having been not on negotiation teams for 23 years but probably close to it uh we've always been able to negotiate in good faith uh and come to a resolution and an agreement and I'm very hopeful that we will continue to do that and that we will come to that agreement because many like you I didn't go to school here so I'm not working with my teachers however I'm working with students I had as a principal at the CGS first that work with us in these units uh you know parents whose daughters and sons have graduated with my daughter so there's a lot of community investment on both sides uh and I think that's incredibly important when we're talking about context uh and how you know we we are all doing uh our best uh job to continue to negotiate in good with good faith that is our role and that's what we have been doing and we will continue to do that so I agree with all of your statements here I think it's very powerful to have this discussion um and very powerful to know what all of our connections are and again that we're very hopeful to come to this these these agreements um I think it's it's the most important for our students I don't want to uh I'd be remiss if I didn't say right our students are at the core of all of these conversations uh and uh member shabil I think you said it right your your children right we put our children in in in these folks hands I put my children in these folks hands so we want to make sure that the children yeah the children are at the core of this discussion right we we do want what's best um and balancing all that is uh incredibly challenging and has been for my tenure here but again I'm I'm very hopeful we'll continue to to bargain in good faith uh the up the website will be updated with uh where we are currently part of this discussion uh so we'll send that out uh likely by the close of day tomorrow um so you know keep keep your eye on that and I think uh those are the things that are important to us as we go through this process you know our commitment our uh honesty uh you know our um are um I don't know what the word is but all of those pieces I think are important and have been have been stated here in in for all of you uh and certainly all of all of us you know in the school in the school Department feel the exact same way um so I just wanted to be able to to say that and reiterate that and you guys did a great job of summarizing and what our thoughts are and what's happening so thank you thank you superintendent is there any other business from the committee members Alia uh it was noted earlier by I believe it was member Willette uh representative Hamilton had approached me earlier this week or last week about a listening session he was intending to do um so I opted into that that didn't want him to feel alone in his Endeavors uh I will be with representative Hamilton at the auditorium at the nans library on December 3rd from 6:30 to 8 uh his intention is to have a listening session uh seems to be the feedback from parents as they want to be heard and this will give them an outlet uh the I know he is making the ask and in communication with the Union that that is not a a a place for contract uh demonstrations this is an opportunity for parents and while he respects and would encourage us to get these resolved as quick as possible that is not the Forum um but I do want to make sure that everyone is aware and I mean if two of you would like to attend you are more than welcome but other than that we're going to have a we're going to have a quarum issue but it will be no you don't want to come well I'm hurt a little but it's okay and we will M we we will uh be there and you will see some circulation his office prepared a flyer that is circulating and hopefully it'll be a a night of positive conversation thank you any other business member Donovan I would be remiss I'm afraid something that we've been talking about since the start well since I joined will be overlooked with everything going on um I hope everyone here looks at the um newsletters that are posted every week by our principles um we had asked we gave had a directive it's one of our goals well superintendent's goal to include parents more in our schools to bring them into the schools um I have seen repeated just perfectly worded invitations for parents to get involved on a daily basis in our grammas and I'd like to commend Miss Paretti I spoke with her briefly today she it's appears she has led that cause um with the promotion she was telling me today they have a wonderful response and they actually have parents helping greet the kids in the morning which if you're a staff member you know all the extra hands help so um I don't want these kind of things that we've asked for and the response of our parents to be lost as we deal with sometimes pretty uncomfortable conversations so I'd like to uh I just want to make sure we all hear that okay that's it thanks member Willette thank you Mr chairman I also want to Echo uh my fellow member I Al I want to apologize because I didn't comment at a prior meeting a massive Improvement of the newsletter that circulated uh my kids go to methan high school um very pleased with that uh versus the previous vehicle it's like a night and day comparison so I don't know if it's I guess it's widespread districtwide um very pleased with that uh a new product yeah I'm I'm I'm happy with that um the talking points and and uh the messages that we're receiving um you know again I'm very pleased with that so I just I wanted to you know sometimes it's like negative and that's that's fine but the positive aspect of that was a night and day comparison in the newsletter thank you any other business from the committee if not we're going to move on to Executive session so uh at this point I need a motion and a second to adjourn this business session of November 12th 2024 and go into executive session so moved second second motion is from Member shilia the second is from Member Donovan I believe before we enter discussion I will just read the following pursuing to Massachusetts general laws chapter 38 section 21 A3 uh to discuss strategy with respective with respect to collective bargaining or litigation if an open meeting may have a detrimental effect on the bargaining or litigation position of the Public Public body and the chair so declare declares Unit A Unit C I'll make that declaration now pursu to Massachusetts general laws chapter 3A section 21 A4 to discuss the deployment of security Personnel or devices or strategies with respect there to uh those are the purposes for which we will enter executive session we will not reconvene into the Open session at the conclusion of the executive session uh so at this point I will ask the uh recorder to take a roll call vote on on exe entering executive session member daglio yes member Donovan yes member Keegan yes maxel member shilia yes member wette yes mayor borgard yes unanimous so at this point uh we will uh enter into executive session the time is 8:46 p.m. and we will not uh as I mentioned reconvene into open session so the open portion of our meeting is uh now adjourned and we'll enter executive session thank you good night myu [Music]