##VIDEO ID:fZscf8uwR6s## e e e e e e e e e e e e e good this okay oh all right I would like to call this meeting of the mayor git Regional School District school committee to order and we will all start with the pl United States of America to the rep for it stands one nation God invisible with liberty and justice for all just a reminder that this meeting is being live streamed and recorded and available to watch on YouTube and Facebook so we will get started with our meeting minutes of June 20th 2024 um I would entertain a motion to approve the meeting minutes of June 20th 2024 as written so second motion by shaa second by Heather any questions or comments about those minutes seeing none all in favor opposed abstained and I say yes so those are approved unan unanimously we also have bills and payroll this evening and I would recommend a motion to accept the bills and payroll warrants as presented so Mo second motion by Heather second by Shan any questions or comments on those bills points seeing none all in favor opposed abstained I say yes so that was all nams so moving right along um we do not have a student representative present this evening um but we I did hear from Mr Young and we will have uh someone present for the September meeting um so really looking forward to meeting our next uh student representative and now without further Ado uh we have an introduction this evening do um it's my pleasure to introduce Mr Cory Rogers who is the district's new PPS director um as as was communicated that early June hending his resignation the PO home and we started a search immediately and um we are we were very pleasant Cory came to us and applied um he's got quite I I couldn't possibly read all the things that have been done because there's a lot but he is certainly a well tring gentleman um he has worked both when I say when I say private sector I mean that both educationally and non- educationally he has worked um in in several districts in in Massachusetts Maine um New Hampshire and um my favorite was that he um also um was a general manager for Bridge Stone Firestone tire so in case you have any questions I think that's important to know um so uh Cory has really hit the ground running it's it's it's impossible to be new especially as a peach director it's a lot of information to take in it's like drinking from a fire is literally informationalized but he has really done a fantastic job uh coming in embracing all that is us uh so uh it's it's my pleasure to introduce well we're very excited to have you we know that there were a lot of um local districts hiring for this type of position so we're very very pleased and many thanks to shaa actually for stepping in and jumping in at the last minute to help with the interviews um we're just thrilled to have you on board um and excited to welcome you to the district and we won't pressure you to speak this evening but we'll look forward to another time when we can hear from you and get an update as you well you still be drinking from a fire hose but maybe maybe the fire hose will then you know maybe died down just a little bit so it's a little less strong but yeah welcome this is such a great district and we're so happy to have you thank you very excited to be here all right sure okay um is there anyone from the public who would like to give input this evening moving right along um we do have our ntea representative here this evening we're excited to welcome you back thank you um nice to be back and I think um for people I've talked to and I've been in and out of the building the last couple of weeks getting my classroom ready um the buildings look fabulous kudos to our custodial staff they've done an amazing job as usual um but every when I talk things Fresh So I think it was a good it was a good summer for people longer time which wasn't the case last year beautiful weather so we're going to get back into it excellent well welcome back and good luck to everyone as to get started get classrooms readyy it's an exciting time I really appreciate all of that like work that goes into getting ready for the school year thank you welcome M chair yes I I paused and I was also going to say that and I don't know if it's later in the agenda I just hav that chance um as you know the schol Comm points by vote the the PPS director so obviously we generally do it right after we intruction and that's my fa for not it's my recommendation to the school committee that we um we V to point um and you I mean we we can go back we can go back it's just fine because we don't want to miss that we'd [Laughter] like pushing by hang to a point Cory Rogers the second by Heather um any questions or comments all in favor opposed obained and I say yes apologies that I forgot that little piece like both of us um so like I said we appreciate your being here and now you're St US legal legal so thank you all right now we can move on so we do have a few different items going on in the budget um so I will hand this over to Amry essentially what we need to do is close out um fy2 24 um then to get the additional monies we were expecting from the states we need to recertify for the school year 2025 and then we have additional updates so Amar I'll let you go into the details so the first thing is we need to do some transfers for housekeeping for FY 24 um those are attached but I'll just go over them quickly um we need to on the 1,000 District leadership line we need to add $2,910 the instruction line we need to add 30 7,7 53,000 and from student service news which is like busing nursing Athletics um that we need to take 65,500 out of there to help cover these other spots um we need to move $ the fixed charges line we need to move $80,500 and from the tuition line we need to decrease that by $143,400 which helps cover some of the other places that we were short um like in the substitutes line um and I'm happy to say the reason we're moving 80,000 to the F TR is we were able to take every single bit of our health insurance from the general fund this year except for that $400,000 assessment but that that was SE regular monthly stuff it's all came not from school choice great okay so in order to help and Marie finish up the fiscal year 24 budget we do need to make a motion to authorize or to make those light item transfers as presented to close the budget so motion by Sean and second by Sean any questions or comments about any of those moves no seeing none all in favor I opposed obain and I say yes so that's unanimous and well done we can close that out very excited thank you very excited to be seeing that insurance fantastic all right so moving on to fy2 we got to final numbers from state which was an increase to our CH of 70 which we were expecting to come um you would have to restart with those numbers um Chapter 70 increased over the one we improved in May by 98,2 our Charter School reimbursement funds went down a little bit they went down by 7,445 so our overall increase to this budget is $9,975 that to take care about this yeah so because I sent out an email I once we have U got everything all together so the email is about the Mone Tech Grant approval notification so remember during uh during budget time we were really trying to find a way to hire the mdp uh position that is the uh the uh the mon Tech position that the kids will stay here at aand those 12 students set but there was an opportunity at least we were told there was an opportunity that Grant funds could be found to cover that educator but we knew that the grant uh deadline or timeline was not going to coincide with our budget timeline so we were obviously the school committee and folks from both towns were really kind of put on notice that look I I don't I don't want to promise anything but these monies could take place and so what the pro what what we talked about was that if they did come to fruition that if the grants did uh you know come through that we would let the towns know um given the fact that this position really did a lot of positive um conversation people really wanted it to happen and so in the email I just simply stated that you know the right thing to do is to let towns know that look we did get $7,000 to cover the teaching position um certainly we have other needs right um we know that and I I listed some of them but it you know really is on the school committee and and probably discussion with the town if they want that M to to go back into their conference right so we'd have to recertify the budget again yeah so I it was not possible to to just make everything happen in time for this meeting without again we were still kind of looking out a few things just earlier this week earlier this week so that is that is where we sit um we're happy that the grant came through of course we are um but it that is something obviously discussion so for right now what we're what we need to recertify is for the additional $90,000 that came in from the state and as we discussed at previous meetings that's going to be used to fund those additional pairs for kindergarten so we will have pairs in every kindergarten classroom because of these additional funds that have come in what will somewhat wait until the September meeting is the $70,000 Grant and to decide I guess what's on the table at this moment is there's an option that those monies could you know the towns could say thank you so much for letting us know we really do need those funds for other things with they have pounds um since you got that Grant we could really use those monies for other things the other possibility is that um you know we know that there were a variety of positions that we wanted to fund But ultimately decided that we couldn't fund because of what was available for budget and so the other option is should the towns be like we've already approved it you have those monies please keep them we could also talk about an additional additional fun opportunities using those monies now that we have the grant available before we go into my big long sheet of uh motions I will pause now for any questions about these changes because I know there's a lot of mic pieces of the moment we don't usually have to recertify the budget this many times yeah can we can we maybe maybe mention this and I just missed it as I'm sorry can can we pass the town if they need funds that would that would be the statement you know yeah absolutely so I mean the town was good enough to right give us the money you know we should give them the first crack at it PR take care of your town you know but on the other hand they're like no put it back in school well yes now now we really want so you know so that's that idea of community that's the email the Dr C sent today so you probably haven't had a chance to see it because it was sent at 4:30 but he he sent that communication out to say hey we didn't receive this grant should the towns need this money it's available and um I think Adam immediately responded say committee wants to do and so we're sort of at this point we're going to wait and see what other responses we get um so I have there'll be further discussion around that but that is exactly what was done okay any other questions I question about this current certification and forgive me I don't remember the correct numbers but at the end of May you're were talking about you know if the number was going to pass and it was a certain number per pupil or something is that and it's so that's what we anticip and that's what came in yes okay exactly that's okay to thank you yeah yeah good memory so any other questions or comments okay so I have my nice long list of um motions um so that we can because we know only have to recertify the total budget we also have to recertify all the line items so bear with me my friends I would entertain a motion that the narrates of Regional School District school committee vote and certify the amount of 24,48 one, one33 for the fiscal year 25 budget so second motion by Heather second by shaa any questions or comments seeing none all in Oh Hang roll call all right roll call Han I Shan shaa yes FEA yes and I say yes so that is unanimous I would entertain a motion that the nansel Regional School District school committee vote the estimated income of 12,47 n,1 169 for the fiscal year 25 budget which is based on the chapter 78 from the governor's house one budget submission motion by Heather second second by Sean any questions or comments seeing none Hank I Sean I sha yes Heather yes and I say I would entertain a motion that the nans Regional School District school committee vote the estimated income of $639,500 for the fiscal year 25 budget which is based on the chapter 718 from the governor's house one budget submission motion by Heather second second by Sha any questions or comments seeing none Hank hi Sean joh hea yes and I say yes so that is also unanimous I would entertain a motion the narrans at Regional School District school committee vote the estimated income of $ 7,458 for the fiscal year 25 budget which is based on the charter school reimbursement from the fiscal year 25 cherry sheet estimates motion by Heather second second by Shauna any questions or comments seeing none Hank hi Sean hi shaa yes Heather yes I say yes so that is unanimous I would entertain a motion that the narit Regional School District school committee vote the estimated income of $500,000 for the fiscal year 25 budget which is based on the f school year 23 certified excess and deficiency motion by Heather second second by shaa any questions or comments see none he hi Sean shaa he and I say yes so that is unanimous I would entertain a motion that the narit Regional School District school committee vote the estimated income of $245,000 for the fiscal year 25 budget which is based on fiscal year 25 Medicaid receipts motion by Heather second second by shaa any questions or comments seeing none Hank Sean shaa yes Heather yes and I say yes so that unus I would entertain a motion that the narain at Regional School District school committee vote the assessment amount to Templeton in the amount of 8,572 765 motion second by Shauna any questions or comments seeing none Hank hi Shan hi shaa yes Heather yes and I say yes so that is unanimous online I would entertain a motion that the Nar anet Regional School District school committee vote the assessment amount to philipson in the amount of 2, 37,3 2017 so move second motion by Heather second by shaa any questions or comments see n thank hi Sean hi sh yes yes and I say yes so that is unanimous and we have recertified the school year 25 budget and we will have further discussion about those Grant funds that came in next month great thanks everyone anything else am for f of year 25 no um as far as things going on in the office we all our grants um our hair out BS um student imigration everything else I mean every single person in the office this summer is doing a new role so it's a little bit so like we have a lot of cross training a lot of guessing a lot of um long days long nights long weekends we're plugging away well thanks very much for all that work because there's so much that goes on behind behind the scenes that nobody ever knows about but everybody experiences every day so thanks for all that hard work because it's no joke everything that you all have to do to get the school up and running and ready for the next school year processed our first payroll this year for the teachers so that's a plus it went smoothly I'm very certain that they all appreciate thanks am appreciate it business manager report anything additional there did we go through it all excellent all right Miss superi I will hand it over to you for our curriculum instruction updates sound great um first off our mdp Academy program we are really excited to be launching that um this year I know I presented about it at the end of last school year but I update for you um as you know or may know we had 12 seats um six seats for juniors six seats for seniors um we put applications out we had 18 students express interest so we ran St government in a lottery and we filled all 12 seats and we currently have 11 students enrolled we had one who for various reasons withdrew from the program um and we're in the process of filling that seat with alternates from the lottery um a lot more interest in electrical than carpentry so that was interesting to see um and we have have um so of the 11 who are currently enrolled we have four Juniors and six seniors so we have um one Junior opening that we are in the process of billing um and those students are inv and their families are invited next Wednesday evening to monitech it to actually have an orientation see their new building meet some of the staff that will be part of the program um over there so we're really excited to to get that up and running um and then we also found um you know what we weren't sure we were going to find we found a teacher dually certified in English and history to fill the academic position here to support their Mass core requirements while they're here week on week off uh campus weeks so we're really really excited to to just report that things are coming together this program is gaining a lot of excitement um and I um I know we'll you know in the first year we'll probably have some bumps in the roads and things will will have to work out but we're in a really good place and really excited to offer this opportunity to our students this year moving forward any questions about MVP program no I'm just really excited to hear more about it as it kicks off it's such I mean thanks so much to the towns for helping us make sure that that could happen and now we have the Grant and it's just just really exciting to see me forward and and Miss Donley who is our college career and internship coordinator and Mr Young have been incredibly Hands-On and problem solving and working a lot this summer um to really make the transition for these St and their families that's awesome please pass along our thanks because we know again behind the scenes work is tremendous um PD update um we had um five of our tees teachers participate in Project leway launch training this summer and so if you're if you're unfamiliar um there's a training through Project Lead theway that teachers are required to do before they actually can access and utilize the program um and of those five um I believe four four were new pil that came on board for this school year and one was a teacher from last year who came on board but havn't had to training yet um so they all reported that they were really excited to have the opportunity to be trained over the summer so that it didn't you know wasn't more days out of the classroom um that they had to do for training so we were excited to offer that opportunity and excited that they took advantage of that as well um also we had uh Mr Young and I attended the Project Lead the Way leaders Summit a few weeks ago which was really helpful for thinking about long-term vision with our programming particularly at the high school where we offer all three Pathways right now um and will continue to so that was really exciting and then lastly our Middle School history social sciences Department um all of the teachers the assistant principal um Miss V and I went this summer uh to an additional training on investigating history it's the curriculum that we um talked about last year we got the extension Grant this year which provides additional professional development opportunities for all of the class teachers um to do an additional unit studying with um teachers across the state who are teaching the same grade level in content as them which is fantastic particularly for our teachers who are Singletons and they're the only ones who teach that subject in grade so it gives them a lot of built-in collaboration um and networking with teachers across the state um in addition to that the grant also is going to provide us with some additional coaching support um so we're going to do that a little bit differently this year we're going to have the coach come in and actually do more of a lesson study model with the full team during their some good comenting times so they'll have an opportunity to watch some videos of some sample lessons from other teachers across the state they'll have a chance to co- plan lessons and look at some of the instructional practices that are consistent across all three grades um so really excited to report that we have additional support for them going into this year of year too um with those resources excited um and then lastly um we have been working the last few weeks uh with our not a new teacher in a new role Jody Kirby is now um serving as a unified arts teacher at tees in the library space the position is a is literacy and digital media and so the last few weeks we've been meeting and we've been unpacking the digital literacy standards and literacy Frameworks and we've been combining to create a curriculum that is focused on digital literacy and brings in some reading skills embedded within that curriculum for the um for prek to 2 and then for third and fourth we are embedding some reading and writing components just to give a little extra boost to some of the um uh literacy skills while they're in that unified arts class and you know Jody she's been a fourth grade ELA teacher this is her wheelhouse so she's been really uh engaged in that process and I feel strongly we able really engaging PR our students coming up in that class any questions from Miss super just the last part that's just very exciting yeah thank you okay we did not have any surplus items come in um so I we did receive Jeff's official resignation I owe you all a copy I apologize I forgot to hit forward on that and then summer um so I will make sure that you all have a copy of it but we did send that over to the town of philipson to let them know they did post this um the vacancy notice um we have not received any applicants um so if you know anyone in philipon that you think um I mean this is a great opportunity to try things out um Sean I know you came in at a time when you were filling a a vacant position because it does give you that opportunity to try things out for you Heather I think you did as well because you get to come in your commitment is only for a year and and you can decide whether or not you want to run in Springs so if you know anyone please do spread the word um you know we definitely want to make sure our town of philipson is is fully represented um and that you know we're making sure that their voices are heard so um please do if you can um so hopefully we'll have some applicants in time for our September meeting um but yeah we need we need some networking help for those of you who might have some friends yeah it's a great Point J that you know you can try it out if it's not for you and it's not for everybody um you know because a lot of people will say oh how do you do it I mean I think maybe we all kind of get that so I think yeah it is a good kind of file role and it's not for them then you know absolutely absolutely and you know should anyone have any questions any one of us would be happy to answer them so folks should feel free to reach out um Okay so so we're now on to our big our big item of the night which is um the student family handbook um and Molly uh suuchi I'm going to hand this back over to you for an intruction um I know that this was um the the product of a lot of hard work as I know that um was previewed last time the some of the biggest changes were to um dress code as well as to the disciplinary section um but otherwise I'll let you give the sure thank you um I know I believe I sent this out in email to all the committee members with the draft last week but as um as Jen mentioned we we really took feedback um that we received last year from from a whole host of folks we received feedback from the school committee um regarding the dress code we received feedback from just about everyone regarding um discipline procedures and and our team really leaned into that work the administrative team and others really the equity committee really leaned in um and what you'll see are a lot of edits um a complete rewrite essentially of our District dress code um we worked that through our administrative team through our Equity committee which is a representative committee um and of course our attorney um also had input in that process uh similarly with our our Behavior discipline section you'll see um a not a full rewrite but you'll see um an addition of um potential consequences for violations of behavior um and quite a bit of new language in that section as well some of the other uh areas you'll see changes to is you'll see that the sexual harassment section is deleted um the Title Nine laws have changed and changed and changed um a lot this summer we may even see new changes to those as of August 1st um they they that is what we're we're following and using and so sexual term sexual harassment is no longer applicable to sex-based um discrimination sex-based harassment um and so we we're kind of at a an interesting spot because what you'll see is a link in our handbook um or a spot for a link in our handbook we are unable to update our procedures until we update and revise our school committee policy um so we have a couple of action steps to take but at the recommendation of our District's attorney what you'll see is that section essentially pulled out of the hand and late and once those are updated will be linked um on our district website what's linked now is uh what was our past practice so that will remain until we are able to update those procedures and we'll go into depth on that section quite a bit when we um when we get to the policy committee and have a chance to update there um outside of those major areas um you know some little things some some minor language or additions to things that were missing or clarifications that needed to be made um but we we've really um spent quite a bit of time on our handbook and are are hopeful to answer any questions but hopeful to have that approved so we can get that in the hands of students and families pretty quickly so any any questions and I and I do think um Shan and Jen sent some very detailed feedback that it was really helpful to really consider and think about as we were doing upd so thank you for that it was long for me it was the longest I've ever I've ever seen you know trying to keep our keep our handing but they they told us early on that this was going to be because literally they were changing things you know almost daily so um that is of course why that section of course we get this way because they they kept it for over a month I believe yes well over a month it was you know back just want to make sure I that out there so before I say I just want throw it out back out to the committee ising question since Dr just mentioned that I was wondering I don't know if it's easier for you guys to work on this during the summer months or maybe we're at the mercy of the attorneys is would it be better to you know for approval from us to students is in should we you know pull it back to Spring is that a better timeline typically presented to you and hope to have it approved in June okay um and so this year be primarily because of the changes coming with Title 9 and I believe it was 26 States who appealed it was it was still ongoing we knew we weren't going to be able to finalize that section and so we were waiting and then it got bumped and bumped so typically we present hand to in June for review and approval so that we can um not have it in POST stand two weeks before the start of school so this is this is an unusual timeline so I was thinking about in terms of you know your time and kids in the building or kids not I mean I know summer is extremely busy for all of you um so I was just kind of thinking what would work best for you as a team no thank you we typically start reviewing it in um mid to late winter and it takes us a while to go through that process um and then get a draft to our attorney usually for if we have major remissions we usually you can see I mean well done I can see the significant amount of work that you all put into our team worked hard on that yeah and I believe our attorney gave us they said that our handbook was very thorough yes so like oh good he had lots of feedback as well but he it was thorough and he gave us a lot of feedback that's abs so maybe just be nice yeah so what I would I would just mention is that last year um du I we also ended up reviewing in August um but what I will say was what was wonderful is at that time there were some concerns expressed about like dress code dress code and some other things and what we did at that time is we had approved it with the caveat that like Hey we're going to approve this because in order for the school to function we need a handbook in place um but with the commitment that that was going to be worked on for up years so like what I do want to really recognize is huge Kudos that Not only was that commitment made at that August meeting but then that was followed through with group meetings because there were a lot of folks involved in that address code discussion I know you've got a lot of feedback on dis you know disciplinary or Clarity around disciplinary procedures as well as you know what exactly was considered a a behavior that needed correction um and so that also came out of the August meeting as well as further feedback um but I mean it's just fabulous to see that collaboration coming out of that meeting and all the work that went into it so like yes to your point shaa like it is a long time to get it done and you know unfortunately just because you know we wait for legal approvals we had to wait till August this year because otherwise we would have been ready in June but I think it's just huge that you know if we have that sort of collaboration between the school committee and everyone Administration to get these things done so huge thank you because I know that there was a lot of moving pieces to get all this coordinated to get all this Rewritten um so yeah there any other questions or comments okay seeing none I would entertain a motion to approve the student and family handbook for 2024 2025 as R so move second motion by Shan and second by Heather one last check on questions or comments seeing none all in favor abstained and I say yes so that is unanimous you are welcome so we can get that published all right Dr C I'm going to hand this over to you it is your time to shine hope I don't disappoint um thank you madam chair so uh you know know particular you go two months without having a meeting course while you know so I really justed Pi some of the first and foremost um it's been posted and um has been communicated up Sean paper uh in collaboration with Sydney Payne Foundation um donate are going to donate 100 Supply fill backpacks to TS and so um that is just um obviously just a wonderful thing and I know that they're doing it in some other we're not the only school I believe that there are several other schools so that was a it was a nice little surprise um and certainly people have been very appreciative and um you know thanked ORD really is of course the se's paper and the uh the foundation um if you walk through the buildings and again we're not completely ready but they they are just fantastic shape um they look great STS did a lot of work and as I get down through my list here you'll you'll understand why um again they are they are small in numbers but they are Mighty they these buildings both buildings look look fantastic I think they done a great job I always bring up the pre-maintenance right preventive maintenance because you know that is for me as a former business manager facilities person is that you know the air hand and all those things if you're not cleaning those things out if you're not doing those type of work you're going it's going to you're going to pay for it literally later so all of that all that work has been done ke far of course was our facilities director has done a great job orchestrating um certainly there been well this year has been the first year in about four I think that we've had um some when I say substantial more than say one um change leadership um so obviously we've met you introduc to Cory and but we also had um Emily salti um tender her resignation and to accept the position in cab RIS bar but for the quab Regional School District where she um lives so that was it was it was a great move for her and you know we thank it for all of her wonderful efforts and I'll tell you if you were to go through how to open a building during the middle of Co and then move a fifth grade to and fro um I I'll tell you it should be at least a metal or a small statue buil at some point so um we we thank her for all of her hard work here but Marcy W won paron me the assistant principal agree to uh step up in the in role of of principal um into kind of an interesting dynamic because you know when you're an inter room you get to move back to the position of course that you you know that you had which is the assistant principal they decided to uh not make the assistant principal's position um interim you too many interims running around it just becomes hard and you you want someone again I don't want to use the Expression you know they burn the boats and they Landing but you want someone who's going to be here invested really kind of uh you know take a flyer on themselves and we found fantastic candidate we'll introduce case to miss putam next school committee with with Mary here too you know because you want to you know have the both here so they can um you know give you their hellos so we're very very lucky we had quite a pool of candidates and it was uh very and I think that when it's a when it's a not inter room position um what what we know is that we we receive a very I think you see a stronger pool at times because you know they they want a full or at least an opportunity for a fulltime so um case's done a great job and she's got a lot of experience but I'll let you know we'll save that for another day um but change of roles in central office all yeah there's been a couple of new quot new faces but literally everyone in central office with the exception of an Marie um is doing something new right well Felicia technically I am to I took off Medicaid yeah they so um and so so um anyway we're we're we're going through some growing pains in central office um and we're you know getting through it again the level of minist trivia to the state and because of the state and feds is quite a bit so quite a Lear learning curve but given the folks that we have in there I I don't I don't doubt for a minute that they'll be up to speed so we're we're taking things slow um probably a little too slow for the Department of Ed's um you know favor but um we'll worry about that later um I'm Gonna Save okay that one for that so A couple different things we have been exceptionally busy um you know utilizing the AR funds right for drainage templon the rural Aid monies that we received you know uh just really to to uh really to start um improving a lot of our common areas I'm going to use that very Loosely so the library of course was in was in it was in progress at the end of last year but is now complet and that is a space that is just phenomenal I just I was just showing a few folks that just it's unbelievable and it's so gigantic um but uh we'll have well over 70,000 um you know uh ebooks right um available for both middle and high school students and and they can do this all online now so yeah the question was asked to have librarian yes we do but that Librarian Is Not the traditional librarian that we probably all have a picture of um these folks are doing just the doy Decimal System I tell you and and so bolks it took it took some you know was books weren't coming coming coming and going as much as we would have liked so now that they're online so I give the example if we if we had two copies of Tom Sawyer prior right in hard then we now have two electronic copies of Tom Sawyer so if a third person you know they're going to have to wait till the book is returned virtually so it it really operates on that same on that same uh basis and also with the help of the the Massachusetts um libraries I think it's either Association we we now have access to 70,000 Works across the state of Massachusetts because we have Library if we did not have that position we could not access those um those those taxs so that's a big deal you see what we're doing on the fields I mean we talk about it a lot we've kind of recaptured um the land to the left of the uh the baseball field which will eventually be a softball field um and practice you know practice space again our Varsity or our softball well varsity and J JV softball players are the only team that cannot play on campus it's just it's always been at least for me kind of a you know an issue and I and so we want to definitely bring them up on campus and U so that way I'm sure that the parks and red folks would love it too because it it opens up their feels and it just becomes a lot a lot better um what something we we talked about a lot is the lore field um by the wind turbine is is underway um and they have seted the strip the materials and start they started a process of fixing the drainage in the in the field there so in a year all things being equal and a lot of good luck coming with weather Etc in about a year we should probably a little bit more we should be able to use both um both spaces which is is a huge deal on a lot of fonts but primarily is that we we have we have got to take some excuse me uh we got take some traffic off of our main athletic field we have to it just it's it's being used way too much and we're eventually it's just going to not be able to hold up so um and we want we want our we want our athletes to be on camps that's that's where we want so we talked about the library you know the parking lots if you you know again it seems to almost be an afterthought I almost like forgot to throw this on the list um we added a parking uh parking lot behind the uh well the ceter entrance and along the stone wall central office um well we we fixed the a drainage C because it was start to wash out but that will also be parking for Central so we in probably in total have increased staff parking by 30 some odd um spots reason why that's important because when you start graduating kids of 100 for class and I said this last year last year's 60 four or 65 graduates that number is we're not going to see that number in a while not seeable so we're about 100 we're over a 100 almost every grade all the way down to the eth grade and Beyond so those kids drive so all of a sudden youve got you go from 60 potential kids driving now you have 90 and then you get Juniors who are coming up and so you you now almost doubled you know the you know the number of kids who are driving and by the way our kids don't drive a lot of our kids don't drive just for fun our kids drive because they've got to get to work and we know this because a lot you know oh here's a car and have fun yep that's fun but they're actually utilizing that to either get brother and sister around or go to work so it's important that they have a place to uh to be and the high school has got a whole system worked out we have little stat tags and I don't think we have one here I was going to bring it but well all right so we got we got staff tags and so we're we're official so just so you know um so uh let's see you putting something up I'll just keep done very very um so you know we talk Talking um about the MVP we had a bunch of bunch of brand new high schoolers up here during our Warrior Leadership Academy um led by some of our very best seniors and it was always fantastic they doing tie Dy why I think this table is sticky I'm sure we'll check it out later uh but U it was it was in the kids I had three kids when I was saying glow say I feel better about coming I was nervous which is interesting because they're just right down the hallway you know if you think of it from a you know spal you know perspective they're literally just down the hallway and they've been in the high school hallway to take some class but they weren't high school and now they're high school so it was it was good to hear that I'm glad that they feel comfortable and it was a good it was it was a good time okay the other part is that one of the things I want to definitely let the folks know is that when when anytime someone change when change happened here you know one of the things that I do is evaluate you know the whole system of thing so when change happens it's always a good time to look at what is working and what is not and so when the PPS director Matt moved on and of course we we Cory it and Cheryl mouso was our was our stent secretary for I believe 12 years and she moved on we we started to look at our we look at systems and we're looking at capacity and you've heard this plenty of times but we do look at it all and so you know there there were some tweaks here and there that we made and that some that are coming but one of the things that we did is we looked at Ashley Nigel's job right so Ashley nigle as you know is the by by title the assistant people get us direct okay when we hired her that's what we hired her for and you know we we we have this idea that there would be this capacity to be the assistant PPS director and also handle all the social emotional um you know things that go on and of course you know supervise psychologist Etc coth and what happened is that we had far more you know mental health concerns issues or opportunities the way you look at it where a lot of what what she did um was much of that was almost all mental health you know and oddly enough which some people find different is that she was also a huge part in our um our physical security uh plans because guidance counselors generally get trained to run prepare classes Etc about what do you do when emergencies happen because a lot of it is psychological piece but is also the physical piece Etc and she is a trainer in that and then also what happened is Mariah left right so Mariah was our nurse leader she moved on so we had this Gap we had this gaping goal so like what are we going to do so we we decided to re-evaluate what what her role her title was and and what she actually did and did they match and they did not so and you know and we're still working out sort of The Kinks in terms of a job description Etc or just you know where the roles are but we decided to again this was done and I will say this PRS so I invited you here not toce him but so we could hear W so um ultimately what we want to do is you know we want to change her her title to the head of Health wellness and safety because that's truly where she has done um you know as I as I was saying to Cory earlier in the week is that she didn't sit through a lot of IEP meetings or or any of those type of things she didn't have the time because the capacity wasn't there because we had all these other pieces we never thought that we would have three School psychologists three bcbas but on top of all that the the workload that requires three and and three and we do and we know this because we we've talked a lot about social emotional wellbe being kids just in general not just because of K but just in general so that is one of the things that we've you know we've been working on not only with Ashley uh Matt prior to to leaving but um but just in general looking at the things that she actually did versus the things that we were just saying that she did she will of course be she's well not you may know this but she'll she's still in the PPS office she still going to be um you know I'm sure for you know for the foreseeable future of course right-hand person in terms of like she knows the fol she knows the place she knows the structures Etc but we really do want to um we don't want to operate in a situation in which a role if you're not providing if you're not being if you're not able to do that then we don't want to call it something because then the expectations um you know obviously uh can get worked a bit and especially if folks change over right and you go like you're the assistant PPS director so I've never done one you know one thing in terms of PPS to register so we wanted to make sure that we recognize that also I just I also just want to say this is not an additional position nothing has changed literally nothing has changed money hasn't changed time hasn't changed the person hasn't changed everything's the same we have changed her title to best meet um what she's actually doing you know um uh every day every single B um in terms of the reporting structure because of those things we I moved her under Molly so she reports technically in terms of being evaluated under Molly um because it made sense to do those things we could have honestly kept them could have kept this position in either or but given the transition it just made sense and we need to re you know revisit data and we can always do that but it made sense given the time of when this conversation started um that that we would Place her in m in terms of the supervision La I think think that's it did you talk about the ad rat I don't but yes I will so thank you for REM REM forg sometime so the admin Retreat we try to you know generally we we just we just hung her down and uh into Molly's office and we have an admin Retreat um but we reached out and we asked um the wonderful Folks by the way at Great Wolf Lodge if they would just allow us to I don't know take up a small corner of of of you know their wonderful building if we could just have the just to change the location and they very graciously said absolutely no cost or anything like that so um we we have some interesting pictures and um given what we do we put them on a little scavenger hunt um so I want you a picture I don't 10 or 12 administrators running around Lodge um either getting a picture with a bear um a high filing spy playing ski ball um trying to get a high score so you know that was just like you know kind of a little ice breaker Etc and of course we all got our traditional years which is very very important um but it was great just to get off campus and go sit up you know in a different spot you know and to uh you know just to be able to get away and to have administra Retreat and so that's what we did for two days the beginning of August um as we would all little deal um so it was a great opportunity I promised never to show these pictures but of course you I love so um probably will be showing them a lot um but other than that I think I think I hit out thing okay yeah um I mean I have to issue a complaint that um you did not participate in the Clause out um our photographer our photographer took several pictures and he one and one point like this like this I felt that I was too dignified to do pause um you know so I me I am the district I don't think it's appropriate to do Clause okay so anyway yeah I know yeah so it was a good time um and uh but yes that's that's what we did fantastic looks great yeah yeah thank you I mean I know that that took probably a little extra coordination it did but they were great to us they were really good to us we had our own sign we had sign we ask for we just wanted to just be able to say that you know make some water you know and we can in electricity we' be good but I see you up there in the pictures excellent very thinking what did I sign off I came from the middle school so good um no perfect um any questions or comments direct see so just a reminder when you do get that job description written that does have to come back for us it's not a new position so I don't really consider us needing to approve the position but about the job description itself well we were I I tell you that I was I was on the fence but when to we don't have meetings set up yet I'm just I'm just so I didn't want to wait say until September October to have meetings for us to go through the official process without me talking to staff so I was really kind of itations first um but yeah I mean by all means bring bring it up here because you need to move the business forward like we said it's not a new position but it is a new it is a let me rephrase that it is a rewrite of an existing job description so that it appropriately reflects what's done but just so we can do eyes cross I think one thing I just want to add is that I and I know we don't talk about you know Personnel I just want to say though Ashley is so wonderful and I think we can all agree to that and I hope that any of the feeling is that she was okay with and that she's not trying to to leave you know I hope so no we we've had an open conversation about what we were saying she was doing and what she was actually doing and there just wasn't enough daylight you know to do both and so so instead of going a another position which again would be maybe something that both we decided to least at first call this position what it is um without cying poverty so to speak and then that'll be something we can you know we'll definitely talk about but I would say this is that we have established um our spent shares a lot more you know a lot more strength than we have in the past again Terry was our only sped chair in this district for many many many many years and so now we have a sped chair in in every bill just two just two the high school and the elementary so they become an important part of the te again they are they are part of the NDA they are teachers but they become those those did not exist um boy no no more than say three years ago four years ago I think it provides a lot of clarity your parents and the community when a title reflects what someone actually does so I think it's fantastic that you took the opportunity with changes coming in to say okay how do we how do we not only make these great changes with new folks coming in but also look at what's happening across different folks and say all right how do we make sure it's clear to our community what different people are in charge of because I'm you know I'm sure when you open up that directory and you're looking for someone you got to make sure you reach person so that's great all right back to our agenda here um we didn't have anything unanticipated so school committee comments I'll just open it up to the group in case there's anything that anybody wanted to bring up for discuss not yet I know it's August we're all just just getting back into the swing of things um I'm going to just overall just say you know subcommittees they were they did not meet over the course of the summer um and uh Danielle's not here as our legislative representative so with skip over those items unless somebody had some unless somebody knows about legislation that they wanted to bring up in Danel off no okay all right um so moving through those items down to correspondence we did um get a message through um skillshare um or thrill share sorry um so just to um bring that up um the message was um from Lynn blur and it said um I think it came directly to me hi Jennifer is there any way the committee could discuss setting up a before and after school program for fifth graders my granddaughter will be transitioning over to Middle School this year I'm her guardian and she typically gets a daycare voucher however they couldn't find a program or any residential programs in the area where she could go before or after school it would be extremely appreciated if anything could be put in place exclusively for the fifth graders um and I did send over a response um thanking her for her message um included that my son is a rising sixth grader so this is something we through I did say I want to be transparent that the fifth grade after school care is not a program that we have funding we're Staffing for in the 2024 2025 school year it is not the first time this has come up and I can certainly ask our financing facility subcommittee to continue reviewing this as a possible Opera in the district right out the offering for fifth grade is limited to after school activities like intramural sports I provided a link of an old Friday memo showing some of some of the available after school activities um there's typically a late bus providing transportation for kids participating in these activities and I believe that most of these are done by about 3:30 or so and suggested contacting Middle School administration um for further information and hoped that they would find a solution that works well for their family um so I was going to make sure that this is the topic that comes up it's not the first time I've heard a request for because it it dates back to that transition where the fifth grade used to be in the elementary school and used to go to be eligible for the extended day program then they moved back up here and extended day program does not extend up here because we don't have the Staffing or the the funds or the resources today but we'll continue looking at that and assessing the need and um having conversations about it I know that there's a lot of discussions about budgets for for this coming year is going to be a big topic um so I'll make sure that that gets brought there um any questions or comments about that I just had a question is um the extended day program is it full yes I I mean I made that assumption but I just wanted to clarify and that's you know watch yeah yeah great question yeah it is full and it's not eligible because the time difference as well so you think about because I'm thinking to myself I'm like you know it's too bad we can't turn around and you know send a b but there talk differences between school and it's already fil so this is where my branch is yeah y yeah we all do that out loud thinking I agree I have the same I have the same question um so yes we'll make sure that that gets brought up all right um so our next meeting is coming up on Thursday uh September 19th and we do not need Executive session correct okay confirm it um so I would enter there we go made a motion second second by Sean all in favor and I say yes so thank you everyone