##VIDEO ID:SuPX-Y0f120## good evening everyone I'm calling the Nork school committee meeting to order today is Wednesday January 15th 2025 I'll start this meeting the way we always do by reading our mission statement the Norfolk Public Schools offers a safe joyful and challenging learning environment that meets the needs of our diverse students through school family and Community Partnerships we provide an education that inspires lifelong Learners and cultivates caring and productive citizens of our Ever Changing world I have a roll call please Peter schal Lauren Divas Grace lockhead madora champagne Lisa Sheldon Ang move on to public comment we have six speakers tonight um we are dictated by a policy we follow very closely so as there are six speakers you each have two minutes to speak if you could come up to the microphone introduce yourself once you do that I will hit go on my little stopwatch when you hear it ring if you could just please respect our time limits and stop speaking so we could stay on schedule um we do encourage people to present their remarks in a respectful manner um so our first speaker is bur dagens War yep um hi my name is bur duin Warf I uh live at 31 Robin Road here can't hear you sorry I am B tuens Warf I live at 31 Robin Road my two oldest children go to FK thank you and my youngest child uh will be going to kindergarten in the fall um I wanted to speak because I was here last school committee meeting and heard a lot of um parents concerned about the changes to the uh Health framework it's not a curriculum that is here yet and I just wanted to respond because I am a transgender man and so I do have some thoughts on the topic the first time I looked through the framework I actually teered up a little bit because my kids have struggled some in school feeling othered feeling that they don't belong and I'm in favor of some of the topics that will be covered because I'm very tired of kids being the only people right now who are allowed to talk about lgbtq families in school I'm tired of my kidss having to be the ones telling your kids that gender identity and sexuality are things that people subscribe to when your kids tell mine that our family is weird I'm tired of it be having to be my kids that are telling them they're not when your kids tell my kids that gay is a bad word I'm tired of it being my kids that have to tell your kids that it's not a bad word I would like for them to be able to just be kids I would like for trained Educators to explain in age appropriate ways that there are families that have two dads there are families that have two moms there are people who do identify as a gender outside of the way that they were assigned at Birth that doesn't mean that you have to believe that it's a thing that you want your kids to do but it is a fact that there are people in this community who are trans there are adults and their our children I don't want my kids to have to be put in the position where they're defending our family structure and my identity and that's where I'll stop there thank you does it can you actually hear me better if I if I do that hi um my name is Susan seavoy I live at 45 Myrtle Street um first of all I want to thank all of you being on the school committee and um I want to thank everybody who's part of the school administration all the people who work in the schools the school Personnel I myself am a public school employee I know how hard the work is day in day out we don't get to go to the bathroom when we want to um I appreciate so much everyone's position and I appreciate people being here to listen to one another and that's what what I'm asking for I'm asking that we listen to one another that we as a community come together and we work this out we respect one another we listen to people who are living the experience of whatever they're living we all have our own we own Liv experiences I want to ask that we strongly support adequate funding of our public schools because they're absolutely critical to the well-being of our democracy I want to ask that we consider how important it is to update our extremely outdated Health framework it's time it's past time so I'm here to inform myself I'm here to understand the process I'm here to listen to people I'm here to listen to everybody truly I think that's what we need to do we need to listen to one another as a community and that's what I'm calling for that we have civil dialogue and that we have our listening ears on I didn't think I'd end like that but next we have Jack [Music] oliv hi the following is from the Oracle of Desi the department of Ed Elementary and its secondary education quote we view the school committee as the publicly elected or appointed equivalent of a board of directors of a corporation which in this case is a school system the school committee has oversight and responsibility for the school system it sets the direction in which the system must go and establishes criteria to determine its goals and policies are being met also the board must be responsible to the community it serves the board is a legislative body that develops evaluates and oversees education policies the superintendent serves as the school committee's chief executive officer and educational adviser also the school board must be responsible to the community it serves it is a legislative body that develops evaluates and overseas education policies the superintendent is the professional educator chosen by the board to implement policies and to provide professional leadership for the district end quote in any Corporation when the CEO does not follow the directional guidance of the board of directors the CEO is fired I've seen this happen myself there's never any question about who is in charge with regard to the new health and physical education framework Massachusetts schools are not required to teach sex education but instead allows local school boards to make such decisions and if sex education is offered the curriculum is not required to include sexual orientation or gender identity parents and Guardians can exempt the children from any portion of sex education as with all framework school districts must decide at the local local level which curriculum and materials educators will use to the school committee you were elected to do a job you need to step it up by documenting enforcing District policies and Community input and do it with a sense of urgency that has not been evident to date you are not a rubber stamp you are the board of directors so act like it to the district administrators stop pushing optional woke policies you want and calling them inclusion tell every child to to live with and respect everyone and move on Focus all resources on our terrible declining mcast scores thank you we have Jen sorry I had to take my coat I have to leave to get a child um very strange sitting on the side of the table um hello Jennifer win Hemlock Lane dear nor fork Public Schools admin Administration team and school committee I'm speaking today to publicly comment on the wonderful chus program offered at Freeman Kennedy School but most of all I would like to publicly acknowledge and thank Mrs Mary museal the teacher my daughter decided to join chorus this year and it has been the best experience for both her learning musical terms in theory as well as vocal skills it was also a very positive experience socializing with peers my understanding is that in a short few years this program has grown into a large course Ensemble of 80s something children which is quite impressive for a school system this size um it's very uh it's quite an accomplishment for a school program and it is no doubt due to Mrs musil's gifted Talent at teaching music and having fun while these are all fine compliments they are not what bring me here today with the need to speak at public comment I come here today to express my amazement at the winter chorus concert performed last month at the Freeman Kennedy School the music was delightful and both the audience and the students smiled and laughed throughout it was infectious and perfect for the holiday spirit the musical choices were inclusive and just the right amount for a school slash night work uh school work night even my husband whom if you know isn't always the most um amused person smiled and laughed at many of the special moments this musical choreographer that accompanied the songs was also very well done Mrs musil as a gifted music teacher in Norfork Public Schools is lucky to have her and we are grateful for the chorus opportunity thank you very much it was really special so anybody who has young children um I would if you can encourage them to take horse um I would do that and I still have time okay okay oh so with that I will say that um as a school committee being a former school committee member we did look at a lot of options and we are tasked with be making um recommendations that are the best for the students and that is why we decided to go with the expansion thank [Music] you uh Benjamin spr good evening Benjamin spr 264 Main Street thank you for the opportunity to speak again tonight I want to address several CR several critical concerns about the inclusion of gender identity in the curriculum in the broader priorities of our school district first I find it troubling that Desi claims gender identity is not part of sexual health despite its explicit classification under Practice 6 Sexual Health 5.6 sh in the Massachusetts health and physical Frameworks if this material is being taught I would hope it's being delivered by a certified health or physical education teacher as general education teachers are not qualified to teach Sexual Health standards this raises questions about the district's adherence to professional teaching requirements and des's own guidelines second I question why this material is being prioritized as supplemental education when a district has one of the lowest mcast scores in the surrounding towns shouldn't we first focus on fulfilling our primary education responsibilities ensuring Proficiency in reading math writing and science before allocating resources to these programs third I want to address the financial implications we may be facing yet another budget shortfall this year yet funds are being directed towards programs like this what surveys or data show this curriculum is necessary I as a parent have not received any survey regarding social emotional learning or its perceived needs for my children is bullying truly a significant issue in our schools if so what data supports this decision transparency and accountability are essential when spreading spending taxpayer dollars lastly I find it downright weird that the district is introducing Concepts involving gender identity to under to Children Under 12 years old these are highly sensitive and complex topics why is there such a focus on sexualizing young children instead of addressing their foundational academic needs this kind of approach not only undermines parents trust but also risk creating unnecessary controversies I want to make it clear that if the district continues to deny opt out op for these lessons I and others are prepared to pursue litigation to enforce compliance with Massachusetts general laws chapter 71 section 32A this is a legal right not a suggestion and non-compliance will have consequences I urge the committee to prioritize academic achievement ensure transparency in decision-making and provide parents with data and opportunities for input regarding supplemental programs anything less is a failure to serve the primary mission of our schools thank you for your time and attention and finally we have Jan Oliver uh John Oliver 7 Hill Street um I wanted to say first um Express the the Gratitude I have for everyone who has served on this committee you've been elected um by Norfork to lead um our school charges and I also want to extend that appreciation to our school administration and teachers as well as the school building committee um the time has come for action so I appreciate that action has been put forth um our teachers and administrators have been making it work for a long time they will continue to make it work but we need the space we need to give the space so our children um can benefit from having a good educational experience so that they can have um something other than music on a cart Tech on a cart potentially art on a cart um so that they can have a full curriculum um and so I'm very thankful that people volunteered their time to do their due diligence and have put forward the best option we have available now um so I hope everyone will take a chance to I know we have differ viewpoints take the chance to learn from them learn what the Committees have done they have done a lot of work it's been seven years in the making and The Time for Action and to move forward for our schools for our town for our future is now thank you thank you to all the public commenters tonight we appreciate your engagement if you didn't get to finish and you feel like you have more to say you can always email the committee and we happy to continue the conversation moving on to correspondence there is none the school committee chair report we have a remarkable gift to approve uh we have a gift from the Norfork PTO in the amount of 14 4,694 and this says it's for the museum of science kits Jen wolf gave a little bit more more detail on that she says it's uh the youth engineering curriculum enhancements that will provide engineering lessons to students in all grades um and that's so great because engineering is such an important field these days so I would be looking for a motion to accept this gift so moved a second any further discussion uh Beyond I that may be one of the largest gifts we've ever received so thank thank you such a cool initi all those in favor what I do I lost from that we're going to move on to committee and liaison reports now so I will hand it over to the policy committee sure um policy met on Friday the 10th um and discussed a few things so we have a few things to bring forward um for some actual action today which is great um first and foremost we've been having some discussions around um School fundraising um fundraising events happening within the school um and the policies that we have currently around those items um as we took a deeper dive and looked at what we had some of those were kind of in congruent um or redundant to a certain extent so we have brought forward a couple of things um to look at first and foremost we have um policy kha which is Exhibit 2 we have made an incidental change to some of the language in that policy um adding item three under the second paragraph We can't hear anything back here I I will do my very best but your microphone is on I'm not sure that this really amplifies me that much again I apologize I will I will try to talk as if I am telling my children it's time to go to school so all right um certainly for tonight unfortunately we have what we have so I will try to project as will everybody else um so sure exhibit two is policy kha there's an incidental change to the language to include item number three under the second paragraph heading fundraisers that involve direct marketing to students are um is has been added into the Lexicon of what is not permissible under fundraising this is an incidental change and so we are bringing it forward for a vote this evening um before we discuss a vote um I I would say that there's also a policy that we're looking to remove that is redundant to this policy so those are the two votes that we're looking at for policy so I guess we can we can kind of proceed as the chair would deem fit as far as votes are concerned but we'd be looking for a vote to add the incidental change to policy kha looking for a motion to accept the policy as written so move a second that would be I have to be Peter Peter you have to second this one CU they're part of policy so about the incidental Chang to the public schools okay I second any further discussion so this it was just this one this this is just the incidental change yes which exhibit was that again exhibit two but it is okay thank just number any further discussion on the incidental change no all those in favor I right okay moving on to the next item we have the first reading of um policy JJ student fundraising activities so this is a bit more than an incidental change so we will be bringing forward um this on a a few different occasions um this is just the first reading there's no action associated with this but again it does go to um fundraising within the schools so no vote question on it um the activities that publicly reward are recognized individuals our classrooms our grades do we do that with coin Wars that everyone loves like it's coin war that would we wouldn't be able to do that anymore or I don't know if they're like have to be restructured it would have to be restructured we had a lot of discussion about that during the policy meeting and based on um feedback that we received with the previous fundraiser and conversations that we had we felt that it was best to be consistent um and so we would have to look at how to re uh adjust those so that they don't individually reward classrooms um and we have engaged with the PTO and school councils to try to look at different ways for that great any other first reading discussion okay um next we have the oh I'm out of sync we have a new do we have this as an exhibit exhibit four form yep it's a fundraising form for um any proposed fundraisers within the school that would create essentially a checklist for anyone who was looking to initiate a new fundraiser or I guess even sort of this will be sort of a blank slate situation so any fundraisers going forward um the individuals proposing those or the organizations proposing those typically it's a school partner would need to move through this checklist with the administration well in advance of um the commencement of a fundraiser um to make sure that all of the policies in play around fundraiser ERS are being met and adhered to um so again there's no action on that uh the next item we have is policy KH JJ um we are looking for a vote to remove the policy because it is redundant to all of the other fundraising policies um we have in the only thing included in this policy that was not originally in kha is I believe what we have added to kha yeah I think what the confusion was that um many years ago Norfolk uh chose to merge two policies that were separate previously through the mask um organization there's a policy around public solicitations and fundraising in the schools and a separate policy for fundraisers that involve students so we have policy khaa is around public solicitation JJ is fun student fundraisers prior to covid we had updated policy kha we had not updated JJ which we we've just brought for to you for first reading so because we are separating those policies out this joint policy is redundant so we're looking to remove that and keep the two other policies separate so I would be looking for a motion to remove policy kjj I will move to remove this if you second we can still talk about it second further discussion it it's completely redundant it is they took the two separate policies and merge them into one um but that's confusing because if you're running a student fundraiser uh or a fundraiser that involves student participation there's one set of guidelines public solicitation so that would be norfol lions or other agencies running a fundraiser that their advertising or working through the schools has a different set of guidelines so uh We've separated them back out because it's clearer and easier for management which makes this policy redundant does that make sense and some things when we went through originally in revised Kaa some things are governed by Statute and thus not required to be in a policy does that make sense well for example activities relating to sectarian religious matters that's not in the other policy right that was removed when the school committee voted the first revision of kha because that's governed by Statute got it any further discussion all those in favor I I um and then final matter for policy update um given as I said the policy committee met last Friday which was uh January 10th given the um dialogue around the health education Frameworks and the fact that there was going to be an update this evening um that was also on our agenda just to assess the logistics of of what that process was going to look like but then also whether or not there were any existing policies that may need to be reviewed and kind of incorporated into that dialogue as we're moving through the process that I think ingred is going to lay out shortly um So currently we have uh policy iham which discusses health education and the district's commitment to including health education as part of its curriculum um and also that references um health UC A's inclusion in chapter 71 Section 1 as a required aspect of public education in Massachusetts um in addition we have another policy um IH AMR which is the existing policy around um health education exemptions within the district um as part of what we're going to be doing moving forward you know assessing the new Frameworks um the policy committee is committed to coordinating with outside Council to see if this exemption procedure um would benefit from or be available for I guess uh updates or modifications that may address some of the feedback we're receiving from the community so at this point um this will remain on our agenda I I would imagine for the foreseeable future and discussions around both policies would likely remain on the agenda as well as we seek feedback from outside Council to see what is permissible and in addition um feedback from from desie to the extent that that may or may be forthcoming I guess um because I know that it is still a relatively new topic for most districts in the Commonwealth and I don't think that the questions that we have received are specific or independent to noric so that is where we stand in that process is it potentially that we'll be looking at a reading of the policy in February is that what you're I don't know that we'll have it in February but as I when I give the health update we are not teaching the new standards at this time and don't anticipate rolling those out until next fall so we would have this policy in place and uh ready for review and adoption prior to the implementation of new standards so you're currently looking at making it concurrent to the framework no I think it'll be done before that but it's probably going to take more than one meeting to finalized that we have to get it through legal council and get direction on that but the policy regarding op out Provisions I'm sorry I didn't mean to finalize it in one meeting oh okay I was just asking if we were if what madora was alluding to was whether we're going to have a discussion of it at the next meeting or a first reading like a draft reading that's what I was asking I think um that might be an ambitious time frame just realistically speaking considering that we're coordinating with outside individuals and you know I I think that there is a understanding that this is something that should be looked at and you know I think right now our next step is to receive feedback from outside Council that would probably be what happens at the next meeting that we have um beyond that at that point we can have a discussion surrounding what changes could be feasible what changes might be able to be incorporated into the existing policy and you know the adoption process would follow from there so I I think that it would be March disingenuous to say it would be in February um and I think that you know certainly March April seems like a more realistic time frame but I think you know regardless of the time frame we are committed to looking into it to doing what we can to make sure that everybody feels you know we can do what we can within our the parameters we're given to make people feel comfortable so is that it for policy that is it for policy budget all right well we just had um our budget subcommittee meeting sorry we were a little bit late um I don't know how much detail I want to go into the budget um information as it looks like after the superintendent report we have a more extensive budget update um so there's going to be a whole lot of information again this year is not going to be really any better than last year it likely will be um worse but um I think we are looking at um trying to come into request at the town with like an aggressive number that we can um hopefully feel confident that the quality of education is going to be maintained um you know Miriam and ingr both had a bunch of um insightful um recommendations in regards to budget cuts and and um shifting things around again they they'll go into more detail um so I'm just going to let Mar lead the charge shortly nor for building committee back on oh yeah no updates for the building committee um so yes building committee update um I'm not going to go into all of an exhaustive Forum right now but I'll just give high level updates um on where we are um so as hopefully everyone here knows we have a B vote coming up on February 1st um early voting will begin on Tuesday the 21st and run through um Monday the 27th the times uh that they will be open it's on um the town website as well as the building website um so this vote is a debt exclusion vote for $ 4,345 th000 and4 no $ 34,42 um and that is for schematic design through bid documents for the proposed Freeman Kennedy expansion uh we have another Community Forum next Tuesday on the 21st that's going to be 7 o'cl at H um also in the library there um there's also a presentation that will be given by ingred um and hopefully a couple of the building committee members can be there as well on Wednesday the 22nd at the senior center here in Northfork um I will say there has been an uptick um in community engagement which honestly I think is great um and we've been able to compile um a relatively robust FAQ that we're going to I will you know kind of bring us through a lot of the questions tonight um I will say that some of the questions we grouped kind of thematically rather than you know verbatim so hopefully if you don't hear you know the exact language you used you you'll hear the themes um and we'll get to those answers I will say also that um we're going to be posting that on the Norfork building website those FAQs and if there are questions that are not answered by us we tried to be pretty thorough but you know we want people to be as informed as possible so continue to submit questions you can submit them to me directly madora ingred I'm sure we have our building Committee website um our email so please you know don't be shy um and we'll continue to update and get that information out um because we want people to be honestly as informed as possible before the vote I think that's really important so um what I will do now um is is take the questions that we received um and moderate a bit of a Q&A um with madora and um ingred who are both on the committee with me um and yourself don't don't be shy I I will also not be shy in adding any feedback that um anybody you know I I feel is needed um so just to kind of move it along I'll address them to each of you but you can jump in at any point so um so the first question is what funds are being requested and voted on in the special election and what is the expected impact to the taxpayer If These funds are approved so madora could you answer that one sure um so as you just very specifically stated um we what is currently being requested is um I will shorten it to approximately $4.3 million um the purpose of those funds is to fund schematic design through Construction document Generation Um ideally the goal would be that at the end of that Pro I mean it's not the it is the stated goal um at the end of the expenditure of those funds the town would be then be presented with a firm construction bid for the completion of the final project in its entirety similar to the process that was followed for the fire station so it would eliminate any unknowns about the overall final cost of the project to proceed in two phases um what is included in the process is essentially um what it sounds like it is all of the um we we take it from a highle design at feasibility into the nuts and bolts design of what the process would look like so the fees include the architect fees but in addition to that all of the subcontractors that would be employed by the architect to finalize the design including civil engineers landscaped Architects Structural Engineers mechanical engineers building code cons building code Consultants um an accessibility compliance consultant acoustical Engineers technology consultants and you know any other you know of the remaining laundry list of folks who come in to make sure that the building is functioning the way that it needs to be functioning in addition to that um approximately $900,000 which is I'm remembering that from a document so approximately is approximately slou sure notes taken um approximately $900,000 is also attributed to the retention and utilization of an owner's project manager as part of the $4.3 million we are required to retain an OPM as as they're called in shorthand due to the scope size and cost of the project that is a statutory requirement the OPM comes in to represent the interests of the town and School District throughout um both the design phase and eventually the construction phase should the project move forward this $4.3 million is part of the overall soft costs associated with this project it is not in addition to the projected overall cost of the project it is a component of the overall projected cost of the project um if this debt exclusion is successful the average homeowner in norfol would see an increase in their tax bill of approximately $170 annually that reflects only the debt exclusion for the $4.3 million it is not it does not it is a component of what will eventually the entire exposure would be from a tax perspective but that is just the first step so I think that answers question number two qu well you asked in question number one the same question but yes I jumped ahead so um and that would be reflected in the fiscal year 2026 tax bill perfect thank you um so what is included um in the project cost estimate so we've gotten a lot of questions about you know is Furniture technology overhead all of that um ingred can you sure start with that one so the total cost for the Freeman Kennedy Expansion Project was estimated uh just in August 2024 at 3 37.9 million um the estimate was developed in anticipation of the project not beginning until um late spring and with the delivery date of the fall of 2027 so it does include in the estimate um uh an estimated construction escalation cost um Additionally the hard construction costs for the building include all of the costs associated with building the two-story addition to the Freeman cedy that connects the back two wings of the school as well as all of the equipment that would be necessary for a new preschool playground um modifications to the existing roadway the soft cost estimate the Majora talked about earlier includes the design costs for schematic design through the development of construction uh documents and that will allow the town to enter um with a a bid in hand before bringing the project forward so that you know the um actual cost uh additionally soft cost include all of the furniture fixtures and technology equipment for the additional classrooms thank you um so we've had a lot of questions um over the years and this year about um the enrollment growth and um the projections that were done um so madora can you talk a little bit about the demographic studies I think you were part of here for all sure yeah that's that may be aging me but sure happy to um so the demograph there have been three demographic studies completed to date regarding um current demographics and future projected enrollment growth in in the Nori public Public Schools um initially an organization called nesdc completed two studies for us one in 2019 and one in 2021 um both of those studies reflected and anticipated growth in enrollment um and as we watched enrollment over those years in between the two we saw it matching fairly closely um to what the projections were um more recently in 2024 um as part of the school building committee um work that has been done on this issue um a different organization was retained to provide a second set of eyes on the demography um and we retained demographic analytical advisors um so all of the reports that have been generated so far are available on the um the Expansion Project website um findings of all three of the studies have been very consistent the the most recent daa studies provides demographic projections through 2035 and anticipates an increase of 24 students into the school system over the next 10 years um so the da study notes that all children in noric um that not all children in Nori typically attend the Nori Public Schools um however uh based on an analysis of private and and homeschool data that that we were able to review and and through some surveying that was done I believe as well um the study predicts that we will not see an increase in homeschooling and outplaced children thank you ingred within Nori um are educated in an alternative setting that has been a consistent number and is projected to remain a consistent number um and typically we see those those school age children being um either homeschooled or they're receiving uh private schooling so um in short three studies over the past seven years all consistent with growth all projecting growth um of around 200 you know additional students over the next 10 years in addition to the existing student population that we currently have today yeah and I will say they as madora said they are online and they're incredibly thorough so if you're looking for some dry reading or really interested in stat keep um so there have been a lot of questions about um if we could solve for some of this problem with um increasing class sizes or potentially adding par professionals to assist with those larger classes um to make up for the difference ingred can you kind of explain our thought there so we have looked at this if we uh if the district chose to raise uh class sizes in grades three to six to the maximum class size of 25 um and the maximum class size of 21 in uh grades kindergarten through two we would be able to accommodate just under half of the anticipated new enrollment growth um it would require if we were to choose to do that uh it would require that art and music instruction continue to be delivered on a cart at H Olive day and would would also prevent the restoration of a technology or computer lab at the lower schools um the change in class size also would put Norfolk significantly above all of our neighboring communities who um if you go to the website and you look at our Baseline and Benchmark report you can see the average class size in the region is between 19 and 20 also if you look across the state only 25% of elementary students across all of Massachusetts are currently being educated in classrooms above 21.1 students so norol students would be above all of our regional Partners as well as above significantly above the state average um uh additionally our we have two major chart schools in the catchment area for Norfolk their class sizes are lower than what we would be uh looking at in Norfolk and the district would certainly be at risk of losing students to local Charter Schools when students exit the district the state aid and funds for those students follow the student so we would be at risk of losing significant funding out of the annual operating budget uh we could consider hiring additional paraprofessional staff members to support instruction I think it's important to note par professional staff are not licensed Educators um they because of that they are not able to analyze student assessment data they are not able to design lessons or instruction or um interventions for students that might be struggling and what they they were blessed in Norfolk that we have some fabulous pair of professionals that have been with us for a really long time they deliver instruction that is developed and designed by the classroom teacher so when you increase class sizes significantly there's a significant burden placed on the teacher in terms of Designing overseeing the par professional staff and delivering instruction um additionally over the last 5 years we've had a really difficult time filling substitute and Par professional positions we currently have three vacancies open for par professionals that we've been trying to hire and staff um since September um that's not unique to Norfolk that is true across this uh region and area um again if we increase all class sizes to the maximum allowable we would still need to identify new space for an additional 100 students that we are expected to receive in the next 5 to 10 years um and L larger class size do negatively impact curriculum and instruction um I know there's a couple of uh questions that people had um around uh Desi's recommendations for class size the department of Ed did put together a policy statement on class size they were looking at the the value return of moving to to what they defined as small class sizes also Al looking at the original study done years ago the star study on the impact of class size and achievement in that study class small class sizes are defined as 13 to 17 and larger class sizes are 19 to 22 we do not have any classes that qualify as small class sizes um additionally um uh you know just years ago I when I first started teaching I taught first grade uh I had 26 students we don't deliver instruction the way that many of us received instruction in schools most instruction is delivered in small groups our our new literacy program is relies on guided reading instruction when you have a class of 20 students and you have small reading groups they're meeting regularly with the teacher as you add additional students that adds additional groups it does decrease the amount of direct instruction students receive on a day-to-day basis from their qualified licensed Professionals in the classroom I think one point and I'm I'm not sure that this has been made but just to I I I am not a educator so I will I will defer um to uh the data and um the feedback from from Dr allardi on this I know that this is the class siiz issue is something that has been discussed at the school committee level every year since I have been elected to the school committee and that was in 2018 and I know that it was discussed prior to that it's discussed as part of the budgeting process every year um from the standpoint of it is it is always a question of you know how how many teachers will we need to accommodate incoming classes what will that do to impact the quality and delivery of instruction um this has consistently been a theme not just around the question of space and demographics and enrollment studies but just around the overall quality of Education that we're delivering as a district and it is something that the committee has always been focused on um in addition to that I do want to clarify as we consider as a building committee and as the committee as a whole was looking at what the the need would be to meet current and anticipated growth over the next decade there's I there's no perception at least there has not been on my part that we are moving to a situation where we will have class sizes lower than what we are seeing currently which are already defined as larger class sizes we are trying to prevent a situation where they get bigger and bigger and bigger to the point of being unmanageable and and to the point where the the quality of instruction is is significantly impacted I don't think that we will see in Nori a day when there's a class size of I mean the small class sizes were 13 to 17 I don't think that that is a thing that is going to happen the goal of the committee is to as I said prevent a worsening of the situation that we are already seeing and to be able to appropriately accommodate all of the school age children who show up for class so just clarifying no that's very helpful um so there's been a lot of questions around preschool and what we are required by the state to provide and what that means for I know a lot of you know we have a pretty long weit list in Norfork to get into preschool um so with the proposed addition of to or proposed expansion of freemen um will that accommodate parents in town who want to send their children to preschool um and what are the recommendations from the state or what are we required to do sure so um currently we have six preschool classrooms um the proposed addition space would have seven so there's an additional classroom we are required by law to provide preschool programming to students as of their third birthday who have disabilities um and require that programming currently we have a weight list of 70 Families Our programs are delivered in an integrative in in an integrated setting with which means that approximately half the students in every preschool classroom are students receiving Services through special education the other half are classified as peer models um with the additional space we would be able to meet what we anticipate uh for growth in the preschool population requiring Services we are expecting with that projected growth of 200 students that we are going to see growth in the number of students entering the district at age three who have um specialized needs it would allow us to bring in some additional peer models into those programs there's a flex space in the design that we could add an eighth classroom or restructure the the layout in the next design phase should we need that eth classroom but no it will not allow all students who have interest into the district we will not be able to accommodate everyone off of the wait list although we hope to move more families in um um we are not exceeding the state requirements we are meeting the state requirements for preschool okay um there's some relatively specific questions around how space is being used so we try to go through these quickly um how much of the addition is going to be dedicated to administrative space rather than learning space um uh it's it's a limited amount there is I I think the building committee did a really thoughtful job of planning how to address this uh this space problem that we have in the growing enrollment the intent is to move the special education office suite over to the building Edition um and put them in the first floor with the preschool under the law again because we provide preschool programming for students as of their third birthday who have disabilities the special education director oversees the preschool programming so she would serve uh by moving that office suite as the administrator on site overseeing and managing the Early Childhood Wing the clerical staff that support the special ed director would also move into that suite and would be responsible for managing entry to the school and all of the clerical tasks associated with that um so without increasing Staffing we are relocating that office um additionally there's about four small offices for our speech and language therapist OT um physical therapist the district bcba that are located in that small office suite but the vast majority of the space is classrooms for preschool so seven classrooms and an indoor sensory space a conference room for parent IEP meetings um so the next question is about before and after school programs or sack um I'll give both of you a break and I'll answer it since sack is near and dear to my heart and I know all about it um so at H sack um uses the art room as well as the cafeteria um so they don't have their own space at the Freeman Kennedy um there's a small classroom right off of the gym um that is used for that programming as well as the gym um during the day that program that space is used for early childhood education or programming through North for wck not education per um and so sometimes sack at the Freeman also will use the cafeteria and Library depending on what programming they have going on but um all shared spaces they don't have a unique space um so ingred this is one that we've gotten a lot recently how um will the district afford to staff the additional classrooms when the budget is already tight yeah this is a challenge so I think there's a couple of things that are important to note I think um at the state level there's a lot of advocacy around increasing Chapter 70 funding because this the cost of education has dramatically increased over the last 20 years and the formula has not kept kept up with it so um many many districts are experiencing difficult budget years because State funding is not matching the growing um educational costs however um what we would be looking at is as we open uh in 2027 the new space would not be immediately fully occupied there would be a few open classrooms again we're building for the projected need um uh in the next 10 years we anticipate in that first year we would need an additional full-time custodian um to maintain the square footage that's consistent with the ratio that we have now for cleaning staff um for square footage we anticipate we need three additional classroom teachers um to address the enr growth in the general education population we also know that we would need to increase our current music art and physical education Staffing probably by 0 2 which is an additional day in the schedule uh to meet the needs of the new classrooms that we're adding over this period of time between now and 2027 we are projecting an increase of 55 students um and those 55 students the district receiv state aid primarily through Chapter 70 on average per pupil we're receiving $3,600 um and that's just looking at the last couple of years in state aid per pupil so an additional 55 students entering the district is is expected or anticipated to result in close to another $200,000 of state aid uh the new building again um uh as far as Staffing costs we think that's going to with the custodian and all of those positions it will uh again estimated with the um Cola increases for all those positions the cost to be about 346 ,000 um so 200,000 in additional state aid we may also be eligible for additional State grant funding there's grant funding that offsets the cost of Early Childhood programming and then some will just be costs that that the town has to respond to in terms of the growing population of students that we are educating um has the district considered modular modular units and would that be more cost effective umora can you talk to that sure um so yes is a short answer um but I will go into to more detail um so modular units initially were considered in 2017 as part of the original um space study that was conducted um they were ruled out at that point for a variety of reasons I was not part of that space study I can't speak to it personally I was not yet on the school committee um however as we moved forward through the process and began to identify what um options might be available or might be considered to address enrollment and the space needs um at fall town meeting in November of 2023 um it was requested and determined that um a study a full feasibility study of modular options would um be a more than reasonable um thing to do given the projected costs of of a permanent building addition to to this structure that we're currently in and given the additional Capital items that the town was dealing with thinking specifically of increases in taxes to um the average homeowner from the public safety building and obviously the fire station that had not yet really come to fruition yet but was being pipelined so the school building committee was tasked with looking at um pretty much any viable option um in alternative to a permanent building addition and specifically enumerated in their charge was looking at modular options so um there were three possible Arrangements that were explored for modular Solutions um including a two-story modular um structure connected to the back of Freeman Kennedy um a standalone twostory uh located along the back roadway off of Freeman Kennedy so to orient everyone as to where we are now that would have been connected basically back past these windows a freestanding two-story unit back sort of behind this building generally in that direction um and then the third option was a single story modular um building that would have been located on the front athletic field so where most of you parked sort of between the school and where the wreck fields are there is a an open space that is where that would have been located um the building committee worked with the um retained Architects through a feas ility process that looked at all three of these options at um a couple of different finish levels so you know the relative finishes being what the sighting would look like what the windows would be made of you know sort of what the longevity of the building would look like essentially um the the materials associated with those builds um estimated costs for the modular options that were looked at ranged from $28.5 million to $ 32.2 million for the lowest level of finishes those structures had a life expectancy of 10 to 15 years um and then the range for the higher level of finish that was considered was um $3.4 million to $ 34.9 million for a higher level finish with a life expectancy of 20 to 25 years um based upon that feedback other options that were reviewed and um the projected costs of a permanent building addition the building committee elected to move forward with recommending the permanent building addition priced at $ 37.9 million an estimated price but with a life expectancy of 50 years um the Nori building committee voted unanimously against recommending a modular solution based largely on the relatively high cost when compared to a permanent solution but the lower life expectancy relative to the expenditure of funds thank you and I know there's a lot of numbers being thrown around and I want to reiterate it's all on the website um but we've heard you know some people still aren't aware so we really trying to get information out as much as we can so I appreciate bearing with us um and going through these so why was it only an average of 25% used for soft cost we can probably take this one pretty quickly sure great um so soft cost as we talked about earlier include a a number of different items including design fees Furniture uh fixtures Equipment Technology and contingency funds um some fees like the the larger fees like the OPM are not established because of the process of qualifying interviewing and selecting an OPM um and that process hasn't occurred yet um again the fees were uh the contingencies and fit items building fixtures all of that will is going to be influenced by the design choices made in the next phase uh but uh at this phase uh of the project the we are using an estimate which is a standard industry estimate between 22 and 25% of the overall cost of the building dedicated to soft costs uh we're using the upper end of the range primarily because this addition is being connected to an existing structure so sometimes there's more unknowns that happen when you're um than you have in a new build in terms of the connection and um Ada pieces so 25 is the higher uh than average estimate um but we're going with that at this point um this will be refined again as we move into the design phase and an OPM is interviewed and selected um so as we've said a couple of times this is designed through um the bid documents so how many bids um will be sought uh madora can you Pi that one so this will be put out to bid in compliance with Massachusetts state procurement law we don't select a certain number of bids we put it out to bid and qualified contractors um construction professionals are allowed to bid on it um this is a qualifications based process so the in the event of multiple bids you would be looking at working with the qualified lowest bidder it is not straight low bid I want to make that clear as well um a project of this scope and size in Massachusetts is governed very strongly by statutes um chapter 149 is one in particular but you know there are some others as well that dictate how a public project like this can move forward through the bid process um so we would receive as many bids as qualified biders were willing to submit um ideally that would be multiple bids so that we have an opportunity to to review and assess um the qualifications of of each of the biders um so this next one I know is what that we discussed as a building committee I didn't answer the full question was that did that get I think there was a question about what options the town would have if bids came in significantly over what was projected that was me not asking the question but I I I mean it's it is a very appropriate question um in any situation but certainly given the amount of money we're discussing um at this point at that point because we are breaking the debt exclusion process up into two separate phases so designed through construction documents and then a subsequent phase relative to the construction bid should bids come in significantly higher than are are being projected I mean I put a fair amount of faith in the estimating process but you know obviously these things can happen the town would at that point have an opportunity both at town meeting and again at a ballot to make a determination to hold on the project if they wanted to at that point um you know I mean we would have spent money on the schematic design the town would have at its disposal a full set of schematic design and construction documents for a future project should a future board you know elect to move forward with that as a suggestion um but there is if this balloons to the point where it was something that was not palatable um there is an opportunity for the town to take an off-ramp I guess um I I think that yeah that beyond that that's just me and I think the other um two possibilities depending on how much over the anticipated bid price the the bids come in the the town could also opt to review and go back to the design phase and see if reductions in scope could occur um if uh structural or design changes could happen that would result in additional cost savings um you could opt to reduce the contingency fee that's part um but that does increase owner liability but there are several different Pathways that the town could go to consider either again reducing the price or delaying or postponing the project M I mean and I do think it's fair to note as well this design phase is where the value Engineering Process could be taking place as well um to the extent that if it was seeming as though costs might be escalating there are you know through design up until the generation of the full construction documents opportunities to look at the project and you know scale back during design should it be a situation where we feel that you know things might be for whatever reason through external contributing factors cost might be escalating so and just to take The Optimist point of view and C it could come in less and we could be could um so um again thank you um we discussed this relative length during the building committee meeting um I don't recall the exact date but um inred you did some work on this so can you speak to um leasing space potentially from another town yep that was another option that the building committee looked at um in order to help us study the the viability of that we did look we are members of the boo collaborative which is a regional special education collaborative there are 18 members so 18 of our neighboring districts are also part of boo um the enrollment in Boo has grown and in the past year um actually just opening in September boo least 60,000 Square ft of um space from the wpo public schools to move and relocate programs so we looked at um what boo uh ended up negotiating for that lease um there are a couple of different factors uh there were quite a few buildout costs because most of the space available that would be that large is older buildings that are in need of upkeep um you know um to in order to meet codes and occupancy requirements so boo did have to spend about $650 Upfront for renovations in order to make the building um uh uh meet the required codes beyond that on average for each of the 10 years the lease of space and again they did 6,000 was $850,000 annually um uh you for for each year of the contract it's it varies little but that's the average we would only be needing um 40,000 square ft approximately so the lease you could just estimate from that being between 600 and 650 on annual uh as an ual cost however the other factors that we discussed and considered with that if we were to consider leasing a third site or a building that is out of town there are significant additional Staffing costs that come into play so you would need to hire another administrator who would be on site to oversee the building um a full-time school nurse you would need to um additionally hire two maintenance staff you required to have a custodian in uh the school during the day as well as somebody to clean at night CU we can't clean when the kids are here um food service so we would have to have the ability to school serve School meals um during the course of the day which is a full Food Service team additional cost for transportation back and forth um viability to the district could not move grade any of the grades from K to six because then again you would need an a a physical education program you would need a school library you would need um art and music teachers on site the only uh potential that we could consider would be moving the preschool again we have six preschool classrooms there would be significant additional Staffing costs and then on top of that because we provide preschool as of a child's third birthday if they have disabilities all almost over 50% of our students are receiving speech and language therapy occupational therapy physical therapy or other related services our current staff would not have time in the schedules to include travel to a a third site and back so we would have to increase those positions in order to accommodate that um because their schedules are full currently um when you look at all the additional Staffing costs you're looking at 1.5 to 1.8 million annually um looking at that as a 10-year lease you're looking at 15 to 188 million to lease space um that at the end of 10 years we still don't have a solution a permanent solution to the the growing enrollment um so it w the building committee although they considered that it seemed a very high price to not solve the situation and in 10 years be faced with the same challenge that we're facing existing uh currently additionally it would require families who are residing in norfol paying taxes to live in the town to have their students educated in an older facility outside of the Town um security questions concerns um all all align with that so that option was ruled out by the committee for both fiscal reasons as well as practical imp implications we are almost there I promise um so similar question but in town did the building committee look at the possibility of creating an early childhood preschool program in another location in town that's existing um ingred since similar we also looked at that and we discussed that um with uh the Town Administrator was part of our building committee um there are very few properties owned by the town that could accommodate that size of a facility um the uh engineers and Architects we work with throughout this process also indicated that bringing a current facility to existing code for schools um is often uh a renovation is often more costly than a new build um additionally a third site would potentially resolve the space problem we have at H all of day but it wouldn't address the the projected increase in enrollment and the lack of space at Freeman Kennedy so we would also have to look at a temporary modular or alternate solution at the Freeman Kennedy School cost of two building projects exceeds what we project in the single solution we're proposing um uh again the a third preschool site would have all of the additional challenges in terms of Staffing that we discussed you would need a kitchen you would need food service you would need an administrator you'd need a nurse um some of those are difficult to fill but they're also costly positions so that was also ruled out um and finally as far as the questions that we've received thus far um if the expansion pro project does not pass what how will the District address enrollment growth sorry I'm getting tired um well I I mean I think sure um if if this project does not pass um the district will need to continue to seek ways to manage enrollment growth while pursuing you know other possible expansion options um I think that anyone who is part of the building committee um but I know specific I can only really speak for myself knows that we have looked at all of those options and they they don't provide a a cost savings is you I mean that's essentially the issue um in the short term um class sizes would increase um special subject instruction um would continue to need to be delivered on a carts or you know not in an instructional classroom as those spaces continue to be repurposed and utilized for classroom instruction at the H allive Day School um uh similarly the auditorium at the HL of day school has is being utilized as essentially office space for um teachers at this point so there are not music I mean they're all on the stage they're they're all on the stage so you know for any parent of an older child such as myself who recalls the day when you would do sort of the big expansive kindergarten memory show or the Wizard of Oz production that the um the kids used to put on those those don't happen either obviously those are nice to have not necessary but just kind of painting the picture um so uh in addition to that at Freeman Kennedy um you would continue to see space the the space crunch continue to get worse as the enrollment growth moves from HL of day up into the upper grades at Freeman Kennedy um the maker space and um music classrooms would likely need to be repurposed as uh instructional classroom space um to at least initially try to accommodate that growth um and the science lab which has already been converted into an instructional classroom would continue to be used as a classroom and not as a science lab so um that would be probably in the relatively short term you know the first few years um subsequent to that the district would need to come back to the town and again have a discussion about how to solve the problem um whether that was modular units that have already been sort of reviewed and assessed or a second ask for a permanent build Edition um ultimately with an influx of 204 students into the school district there is no longer any way to at a certain point there is no way to creatively manage or creatively utilize any of the existing space you simply have no space and at that point at whatever point that might come you would be looking at um additional escalations in costs associated with the project and you know the whatever iteration of the school committee or School building committee might exist at that point would again come before the town and you know be be requesting additional funding it is not I think an issue that is going to resolve without a solution um so thank you for bearing with us um that is what we have received to date um through again reaching out to us personally or the building website but continue all questions please continue to ask um would love to see everybody at the forums and um please educate yourself and vote there is one other question that we are working on um there was a question about the uh operating costs of new addition um our facilities director has been working with the town to develop that estimate because not all of the facilities operational costs are carried in the school budget um but the rough estimate looks like it's about 150,000 um to 160,000 for annual operational cost that would include cleaning products heat uh utilities um all of the um general maintenance and and that number once it's solidified will be added to the document okay great and again this will be posted on the website um and any more questions will continue to add to it so please continue to engage and thanks for bearing with us thank you all right moving on to King philli I will just do a quick update because I know we are running long but some of these actually are directly relevant to us so our three towns have an lpac which is an English language parent advisory Council and their next meeting will be January 22nd at the rodri school in Ram it's the second meeting for the group and the focus of their meeting will be forming friends ships and belonging um they're also going to be doing learning walks at KP middle school which I thought was great that our sixth grade math and science teachers from this school plan Bill and rentham will be participating in learning walks in vertical conversations with KP Middle School Math and Science teachers that will assist in aligning curriculum and developing deeper connections between the elementary and middle school staff KP is also figuring out now that the mcast is not a requirement for graduation they're figuring out what is their competency determination so still working on that so that is the main update from KP and then we have any liaison updates um CPAC yes CPAC I'll give a brief update CU I think everybody's hearing from me um but I will say the next CPAC meeting is tomorrow right here 7 P.M in the library um so please if you have any questions or want to educate yourself um everyone is welcome um just a couple highlights that iare readings um are underway and should be wrapping up mid-February so always a highlight um there is a free IEP workshop on the 22nd um that's held with the Federation for children with special needs that's going to be virtual I don't know I didn't write down the website so um if you have questions feel free to reach out to myself or CPAC or attend tomorrow and ask a question um and the CPAC will also have a booth at the um Regional Community Resource spare at KP Middle School on February 26th so super high level but again more information tomorrow night so please thanks update from the PTO they just approved that $155,000 Grant to fund the youth engineer and curriculum enhancements um which is so amazing and we're so appreciative on January 24th is Heritage night and we and they invite all to participate and attend last year there are over 300 people there really showcasing their backgrounds and cultures and different Traditions that they have and everyone had a great night they are selling Red Sox tickets and the third and fourth grade movie night is at the end of the month and then zi with my sweetie which is for second graders is in February the news from the PTO any other leaz on updates um yeah just an update from the noral community League um they have a couple um really fun fundraising events coming up um the next one is my Valentine and me which is a date night for sons and caregivers um it's a bowling party on Sunday February 2nd um tickets typically do sell out um but I just checked and there are some at least you can register online um to do that if you'd like and then they also have um it's a shamrock shuffle dance um which is really fun it's um parents and and kids um that's in March I need to double check the date I had that up I think yeah there it is sorry March 7th um and you can register for all of these through the norfol community League um website any others no great I'll pass it on to you all right we're going to start first with the budget update um uh Mariam Goodwin uh Goodman our uh business director is here to share uh where we are tracking so far as of the end of the 2024 school year or 2024 F calendar year great thank you so uh as you can see this is what your current uh budget looks like your fi 2025 approv budget was 155 sorry this is what your original appr budget was was 15658 in the categories um that you see this is a revised budget as you are aware at norfol toown meeting um you were given an additional allocation of $ 69,8 um for the ELA curriculum as well as a portion of an additional um grade one teacher for um additional Chapter 70 that was received after the budget process was finalized so your total budget as this point is 15 Milli 73416 uh I'm going to talk to you about it in different categories of expenses uh by the Desi categories in the 1,000 series you can see on the leftand side um the the items and offices that are um included in the category and on the right hand side you can see where the balance is at this point in time where I'm anticipating it will fall at the end of June uh and any comments in this case um we're looking at a negative balance of 19,8 4 with an offset or reclass from our revolving account for um administrative services that our offices provide for our Sac program such as uh payroll and and um Staffing uh human resource and uh purchasing um so we're looking at an adjusted balance of $196 to end the year in that category uh in our instructional category uh which is our 2000 series our largest area of spending um you can see that is currently in the negative um adjusted to the tune of negative $10 15,834 the Ala curriculum as I mentioned at the to meeting um we will be reclassing expenses to um these are one-time expenses from a uh non to uh non-resident tuition revolving account uh onetime expenses that will be reclassed this year so so that money is not available for um use in future years uh we have a new grade one again the amounts are included in there and two new El Paras uh to support our newly enrolled students um at this point we anticipate that deficit being used um being um offset by the money that we will um be getting from the Bay State shelter we haven't received we've received a grant that um of of um time at this point we have but we will be getting $104 a day for each student um in enrolled per day so we are anticipating that at this point that will be about $120,000 that we would receive as of the before the end of school the end of the school year um for students that are enrolled in the um and still living in the shelter through the end of March uh so if all of the students that are there today are still there at the end of March we anticipate the 120,000 would come to the district to offset that at this point in other student services um you can see a deficit of $121,400 we are transporting that we didn't anticipate um we also have a digital bus that we're paying for um and it would appear that our operations and maintenance could fund a good chunk of that um deficit are we are projecting um a balance of just under $130,000 in operations and maintenance uh we will be repassing custodial expenses to our Sac program and as well as our school lunch revolving accounts um so that's um why you see that balance there uh fixed charges is a small balance of $3,100 million for insurance and contractual benefits and then we get to our programs with other districts uh in our 9,000 Series so um we're looking at a a negative balance um of $158,800 from our uh special education stabilization account which the school committee and the select board approved the use of $125,000 um we're also receiving um a reimbursement of $889,000 we already have um that we will apply towards this account for circuit breaker um we've re we have a new 101 Aid that was uh required for a student that we are required to pay for um after after the budget was finalized we found out about that our tuitions were higher than we anticipated slightly um and we have two additional students that we outplaced that I referred to when I talked about Transportation um so at this point um we have an option to apply for What's called the circuit breaker extraordinary relief program um and the department of Ed offers this program to districts who meet an eligibility criteria of having a year of tuition that exceeds the prior year by 125% so if our expenses in this category exceed 125% of last year's expenses we would be eligible for that and you can see what we spent in FY 24 was $196,000 and what we're projecting in FY 25 is $54,000 and as well in excess of the 125% so the department put will put out a claim form in March and ask what districts might be eligible for this and might want to submit a claim um the the funding is uh pulled from the Department they have a $5 million pool for funding for Extraordinary relief claims and it's based on the number of districts that actually apply for the extraordinary relief so I don't have an estimate at this point I can only tell you that if we were to get um full funded it would anticipate I would anticipate that amount to be about $157,000 um we won't know that until March when we know what districts have applied and how many um how many how much money the state has to pay for all of those districts because once they identify that um that the percentage that each district would get would either be the max or it would it would be reduced based on giving a little bit to everybody does that make sense so that's where we are in the 9,000 Series um all told your total bottom line unfortunately at this point is a $252,000 $858 again we anticipate that between the circuit breaker extraordinary relief money and the additional shelter money uh based on the assumptions that I just talked about we anticipate that that would be bring us back to the black to a break even hopefully more than a break even but that's where I am as of right now so talking about revolving funds revolving funds are um specialized for that purpose for their fee based program so we take in fees for these purposes that you see on the left and can the expenses can only be used for those purposes we've already anticipated using $401,000 that I've built into the previous slides right now as of the end of December the balance in all of your revolving funds is $968,000 program to operate independently but things like music revolving which is a fee based as well which is fee based um would be used to offset the following year um we do these grants these are grants from the federal and state government um Federal these are all federal grants yes the majority of them um to the tun of 354,000 that's your balance at this point in time they entitlement grants you can see um the two new grants for this year uh that we just recently applied for one being mckin vento which is a um Federal program for homeless students and the emergency homeless shelter support Grant which is um funding the expenses that we have that are associated with um teachers uh servicing students so teachers and also the renovation of the um old cable Studio which we renovated over the December break and our special education offices have moved and relocated to that area which frees three offices at each ol of day and and then you can see the balances in each of those grants um we also as I spoke about we have circuit breaker funding um that this 89,000 will be used for FY 26 um and 125,000 of the sped stabilization fund is being used for this current year so so it hasn't actually been posted yet the expenses haven't been posted yet but um those are the balances at this point and we will um be offsetting those costs $214,000 and then our gift account um thank you to the nor PT PTO who had U have a generous gift that you approved tonight that's wonderful you have 39,2 $77 as of the end of December um for additional um enhancements to instructional programs and other things like that um happy to answer any questions you all have might have I have a question uh but it may be just Miriam because I think you're still relatively new to the district it may be for ingred have we ever apply have we ever been in a situation to apply for the extraordinary relief circuit breaker CL we have not um the majority of our students we've worked really hard to build in District programs and most of our students receive services in District and our costs have been pretty consistent this is uh an unusual situation and would be the first time that we're applying for those funds yeah and in 17 years that I've been doing this job in the state of Massachusetts I've only applied for it once okay and it was 17 years ago how did it how did it go actually I got 430,000 I was looking for that was for Franklin so all right um so okay thank you I question anyone thank you all right um the next subject uh under my report is a discussion of the health curriculum and the process that we will go through for the review of the health curriculum uh materials and Frameworks so as I think every everybody is well aware um the Mass state of Massachusetts updated their Comprehensive Health and physical education Frameworks um through a pretty extensive process last year um the proposed Frameworks were put out for com public comment um and then were're voted on by the Board of Education over the summer this year our district is in the process of implementing a brand new Ela curriculum program which is very demanding and uh it's a lot for all of our teachers that are putting in a lot of time to make sure that they are delivering the instruction consistent with the new program and there's a lot of professional development our Focus has really been on supporting that successful implementation providing PD for our teachers um and making sure that we are uh successful with this new Adoption as a result we are not as a district implementing the new Frameworks until next year we also are part of a region Regional system so our students that uh are with us through K to 6 obviously go to King philli for grades uh 7 through 12 the Frameworks are written in grade level band so standards are assigned to prek to2 grades 3 to 5 and then grades 6 to 8 um because of that and because we want to make sure that all of our students have a vertically aligned I don't know why sorry I apologize um vertically aligned curriculum we are meeting and working collaboratively with rentham and plan Bill we are going to start by looking at the standards that are grade 6 to 8 we actually have the first meeting scheduled on Friday uh we will be meeting with the the middle school health Educators um and staff as well as our physical education staff um our director of health and wellness regionally and uh our our adjustment counselors to the first step of the process is going to be to take a look at all of the standards in the new Frameworks we're going to be going through to identify what are we currently teaching what are um areas and what grades are we teaching the current stand or the standards that are overlapping from the two documents identifying what is new and then beginning discussions of where the new standards should land so again they're written as bands 5 to8 we need to determine are they Landing in grade five are they Landing in grade six or what is that um scope and sequence going to look like it is important that we work collaboratively with Ransom and planville because all of our students will enter in seventh grade and we want to make sure that their uh education that they receive at the elementary level is is parallel for counterparts so that when they come together the seventh and eighth grade uh curriculum is aligned and and makes sense so we're Beginning by looking at the grade 6 to8 standards then we will work on grade 3 to five with our uh Regional Partners as well um and then looking at the pre- 2 um once we go through the process of of mapping the standards we'll be going back to look at what materials do we have the new new health standards do have a significant emphasis on healthy choices safe choices there's significantly um more content around nutrition um making uh safe choices so we're going to look at what are we currently using to address these standards and where do we have gaps and where may we need additional new resources and materials um once we've identified that we will be reviewing what's recommended by the state of Massachusetts and um trying to identify high quality materials to address the new standards um that we aren't currently teaching once we complete that process which I expect will be around probably probably may we will be bringing recommendations to the school committee for the proposed scope and sequence as well as all the new curriculum materials um the school committee will have a chance to review those materials we'll have uh will'll probably provide an update of our progress in March and then the school committee would review and vote on those new materials um I think it's important we recognize that there are components in the new health uh Frameworks and standards that people have questions about very different viewpoints on I think it is very important and we are committed to making sure that there is lots of opportunity for parents to engage to come to receive updates to look at the materials um and make informed decisions for their children um we uh the presentation to the school committee as I said will will have the new resources available um once the school committee votes and we have an adopted curriculum we will have a curriculum night for parents to come in um ask any questions that they might have I do think there are some questions out there and some um misinformation we are always available to meet with anybody who has questions about what's currently being taught or um what what we're looking at or what the process looks like um we are most likely we'll do an update for parents maybe a coffee sometime in March to update on progress um we are many people probably noticed we've rolled into a new um District website and a new Web format some of uh Adrien worked really hard with our district technology staff to design that and to bring the content over um but we will be building out the curriculum page we anticipate that all the materials um for most of our curriculum programs will be accessible through that website um and through that page so that parents can you know review the content at at any point um happy to take any questions that people might have yeah um ingred thank you for the update ahead of the meeting I connected with you and with Lisa because I wanted to share some Reflections about the framework and and uh last the December meeting as well so I have to put my thoughts down because I have a lot of thoughts and I'm going to read through it just bear with me let me say my peace and we can move forward from there but I want to say up front that each and every child in our district is precious they're valued and worthy of respect regardless of their family background and any other factors of identity or beliefs so the thoughts I'm sharing here are really geared entirely towards the need as we've acknowledged for improved transparency with our parents as well as mutual respect for the very different beliefs that are within our community since we last met I gave a great deal of thought to both the death Desi Health framework as well as concerns raised at the December meeting from parents about parental notification I've read through the emails that parents sent to the committee and have met with other parents outside of that to discuss their individual viewpoints and beliefs around gender identity and sexed related lessons at the elementary school age levels so before talking about the comprehensive framework I just want to comment about the issue that arose in November because it's related to the framework several parents became aware that there were certain lessons imminently planned that included a very brief explanation of gender identity as a spectrum a child can identify as a boy a girl neither or both that's that's exactly what was planned for the lesson uh as parents found that out they began to message the committee expressing a sense of betrayal at not being notified in advance and requesting that their children be taken out of those particular lessons that were planned the district did remove the mention of gender identity from the time from the lessons for the time being noting that these topics may be reintroduced in the future as we look at the those components of the Comprehensive Health framework so it seemed to be a surprise that a lesson like that would be considered controversial given it's very short um but in reality it is controversial because not all in the community believe that gender fluid should be taught to Elementary age students some feel strongly it's best discussed in in the privacy and safety of the home before any classroom wide discussion takes place the beliefs that these families hold whether religious philosophical or even biological should be respected along with everyone else's in our community we recently renamed the annual Halloween parade in response to differing religious beliefs it stands to reason that we would afford the same level of consideration for this which is truly a deeply personal subjective and sensitive topic for many families so I think there's been a loss of trust with some parents that we as a committee need to repair in a thoughtful manner so I do think going forward the schools should make parents aware of such content regardless of whether we spend five minutes or five hours on the topic we should structure lessons and content in a way that we can allow parents to review the material that they know the materials there and if they decide to they can opt out of those particular lessons without any penalty or adverse you know implications to the students themselves so that's kind of related to the upcoming Desi framework and the plans that you're making for that update to the general um Health the Comprehensive Health framework I've spent hours up leading up to this meeting trying to understand the overall framework the department of education materials Mass General law and as well as some proposed legislative bills such as the healthy youth act that's related to the framework based on what I've read currently my understanding is that this Comprehensive Health and physical education framework is an updated set of Standards from desie for K through 12 that districts can use as a guide for planning curriculum it encompasses a very broad set of categories which you alluded to ingred that's we're talking about physical health Fitness Nutrition hygiene safety relationships sex ed Sexual Health gender identity among even more topics so I tried to find you know kind of what what our you know what the framework mandates or doesn't mandate and I cannot find language that states that the framework as a whole is mandatory or legally binding such that all schools have to adopt it in full without question there's no there's also no deadline by which schools must implement the framework and logically I don't see how this framework could be mandated because it includes both state required topics such as fsad and health as well as elective or voluntary topics such as sex ad sexual health and gender identity there are bills that have been introduced into legislation that would make the framework law in total by mandate mandating sex ad which currently isn't a mandatory topic but those to date have not yet passed so at most when we're talking about this framework I think it's the most accurate description of it would be that it's partially mandatory so all the language that I see reads that it's voluntary noting that districts that adopt the framework have discretion over how to implement the standards including the design of the curriculum instructional strategies AC activities lesson plans materials and defining the associated parental notification and opt out policies I also understand School committee's role is to partner with you and the district in the decision about the adoption of the framework and the associated curriculum plan that the district proposes and in terms of Parental notification and opt out I understand desie recommends that we limited only to sexed related lessons however they also do cons ConEd that districts have full discretion to include topics that are sensitive in their Community such as gender identity and in you know as part of the overall optout policy I'm happy to share my thoughts and the references that I use to come to those conclusions I'm not a lawyer obviously but I came to the conclusion by logically looking at all of the information that's out there I'd been under the impression that school committee has little or no input into steering direction of this but what with what I understand now I really do think we're putting the cart before the horse by having in-depth discussions of curriculum plans with other districts because I think we need to slow down and have an open discussion as a committee with you about what aspects of this framework to really have a common understanding of what aspects of this framework are obligatory versus m versus voluntary and also set the direction overall for what we feel is right for the district and the school committee has input into that as I understand so there's a few areas I'd like us to contemplate as we do that so are the are some of the topics recommended for K through six simply too aggressive or mature for some of the young students in our system which ones why or why not how are we contemplating logical boundaries to help teachers ensure they aren't becoming Arbiters of a child's gender or sexual orientation and that they're not in inadvertently introducing conflict with their parents are we I'd like us to look at resources and to see that we have an ideologically balanced set of resources supporting the topics in the framework do any of the ones desie recommends cross the line from objective education into social activism or very deep sexual content um as we don't currently have a SE said curriculum in this District I did note that also chapter 71 says that we should be taking public input into the development of that curriculum so I'd ask also what is our plan with respect to that what are the consequences of not adopting the framework noting again that there's no deadline set by the state of Massachusetts for adoption and if we did adopt this framework we have to ensure it's structured in a way that it's transparent clear and enables opt out for of topics lastly I think that given our extreme budget constraints our concerns about a academic performance the mcast mcast scores that we just saw the continued increase in class sizes academic support needs the Norfolk shelter support that we need to give to newcomers it gives me pause about how much time effort and money the district should be putting towards this versus our core academic needs so I I recommend we take some steps as a committee and I'm requesting some steps be taken two of them are already acknowledged and I really appreciate that and I think that it speaks volumes for the committee and for you and GD and Vicki first you've already said that you've paused these lessons until we have these deeper discussions and have a framework in place for notification and opt out and the second thing that we're already doing is reviewing our existing policy to ensure that we have clear guidelines around this and that it's inclusive for parents who have differing beliefs in this community to enable them to understand the information and decide for their families whether they should be part of the lesson or not and then the last two things I want to say is that before we spend more time and resources on this comprehensive curriculum I just want a future agenda topic for us to clarify our common understanding of what's mandatory what's voluntary and discuss that broader question about the timing of adopting the framework in full or in part and I think I want to say strongly that we should be really focused right now our energies and resources on the core academic needs that we're constantly seeing and talking about especially in ela and math I think it's the most important thing we can be doing for our children right now and at the December meeting we discussed the need to revisit academic goals B based on that flat and declining report we saw from the mcast report so I'm asking for another agenda item as well to discuss the district's current current goal setting for academics and assess where we can refine those goals and potentially refine how we're measuring those goals so thank you so much for letting me just say my piece um appreciate it and gives you back the mic sure so thank you for sharing your thoughts and I think as you uh mentioned a couple of the things that you um are asking for things that are already in process so um we are not and had not planned to implement the new standards this year um until we go through that review process um and the policy subcommittee is looking at um potential Ops out to to recognize the the different viewpoints people have um as far as the academic growth that has been our exclusive and primary focus throughout the school year and we are going to be providing a benchmark and Baseline um report update on some of the academic IAL and and what uh what you can expect to see and what we're targeting for this year um at the next coming meeting as far as the work with the other districts um the school committee certainly will have opportunities for input whenever we do a curriculum review we always send out parent surveys and also gather Community input um as part of the process we are currently operating with very dat Health Frameworks so in all areas uh nutrition physical education standards um and we do need to move those forward because that is part of a total uh comprehensive education so the intent of working with the other two districts is to kind of look at the Frameworks the new Frameworks the crosswalk what's new what are we currently teaching where do we have significant gaps and share that with the committee so as I said we'll be coming back uh with an update in in March open to any other conversations you want to have as part of that process um but I think it's important that we have data to bring you um to to support those conversations in terms of what we have currently where we see the biggest gaps what the needs are um and and what um next steps we might be able to take so I don't know if other people have that yeah I just have a question kind of built off of that um when we talk about the curriculum for the health um would that be something that is mainly spearheaded teaching by like our um physical education um educat multiple people people administrators um the uh assistant superintendent for curc instruction from King philli uh as well as planville our uh Regional Mental Health director uh I mean our regional not building it like actually implementing it once it comes in um I think that's a that it's a really good question Lauren I think that's part of what we have to look at as well um because every district has different models we do not have uh designated health teachers um some of the standards are currently covered through our physical education program others are covered we do not teach sex education in Norfolk at this time um the only unit that we have and it does have a parent notice is around um changing bodies it's usually taught in fifth grade um during covid when kids weren't present we did it in sixth grade because we didn't think that was a great virtual unit um so that is taught in combination with our um uh physical education teachers and School nurses but the the new Frameworks do have different content and I think we have to again look at what would be the recommended scope and sequence um and how are we going to deliver that instruction who's going to provide those lessons so that again we would need to come with recommendations for discussion with the school committee okay um some of the elementary schools do have a designated health class we do part of the discussion with like why it's kind of waiting till next year is that we have the ELA roll out and it's a lot but I think next year we're going to be looking at a new math curriculum correct so it's just kind of like a domino effect the majority of these will not be taught in General Ed classrooms I mean right now the the physical education and the health standards are T primarily through our um physical education program uh but we do have to look at that and we always when we're look at new curriculum have to balance what the demands are currently on teachers and um you know we work with our our teachers collaboratively as well to look at that well that's like my sensitivity too you know what they're going to be proposed to be you know not just teaching but also the um professional development and learning how to teach this in the conversations that um might come up so I'm interested do do we have I mean I don't know if you can maybe Vicki's a better one to jump this off of of like what like what curriculums were're looking at and comparing so like we as a committee could get a head started kind of yeah we haven't even had again we haven't even had that discussion right now we're using the spark program primarily for our nutrition and fad standard but that's also part of the collaborative discussion what's out there what have people seen success with that we we'll engage in in that that conversation um and again the intent is to bring the committee an update so as soon as we have some suggestions um or potential programs we can certainly share that with you so that everybody can review and and look at them okay yeah I I I mean I think some of the updates are are going to be really good and I am incredibly sensitive to the fact that there are some um controversial topics that could potentially come up I'm I'm encouraged by you know Peter and I'd love to get kind of more information from like a desie point of view on again like written correspondence of what is required what is not what um you know because if the responsibility falls on the school committee um with the advice and guidance of of the admin to kind of tailor a specific curriculum for the needs of the district then I'm definitely um interested in picking and choosing or you you know I can only speak for myself but um kind of seeing what we as a district want to implement um kind of pulling back to the um the policy committee with the opt out um I haven't fully looked at what we currently have but I know there with with this change there are certain districts who have implemented opt-ins um and I do want to encourage our policy committee to to look into that option um I'm guessing it's something that has to be run by legal counsel but considering other districts have already legally implemented it I I would think that there are many Avenues to take in that concern um and I think that would be a good approach also um in regards to kind of protecting the district because with an opt out obviously like communication at home could get missed with an optin you kind of like if you don't return your permission slip then you're you don't take part in it kind of thing so it it kind of no no parent could kind of turn around and say well I didn't receive this you know so that I feel like that might help to kind of protect the district a little bit but that's my two cents I'm hoping and hopeful that um a policy like that can be looked into I I do also think as you said we are um looking at the new health Frameworks and we are designing and will bring forward recommendations for um a program that is intended to meet the needs of all students and there are different viewpoints so I think that um Community feedback the parent surveys that we do will be really helpful in giving the uh uh committee information from from broad perspectives of what parents are feeling about these topics and what information they're seeking so um that will be part of it too I had one thing to say but I think Grace you were speaking earlier and and didn't get to finish what you were saying um well now my question seems a little silly so I can probably take it offline um but I'm interested in knowing the makeup of the other organiz and Laur you kind of touched on this the other districts um because we don't have a health instructor what does rentham have what does planville have how does that go up into the middle school so I'll take that offline with you and we can check I and we'll bring that to the update um right now rentham does have a health dedicated health teacher planville does not and I think that's also what makes some of the curriculum decisions that we're making more complicated because all of our students go to 7th grade together and they have a health class so we do have to have some conversations about how kids are coming into that um and we all have different models so it is a little bit more complicated yeah and I think with a topic like this that is so emotional and sensitive right I want to make sure that our students are coming into the middle school with as close as they can to everybody else because I do think you know I have gone from rthm to KP Middle School it's an experience right so I do think it's important to try to get as close to Baseline as we can but obviously working with everybody to make sure and we do that with other curriculum programs to make sure that there's alignment so I but we do also use different curriculums too we do but we have a same common set of Standards so that's a little bit of uh different than it within this um content area um yeah just to I I think this some of my own thoughts but reiterating a lot of this I appreciate the fact and you know again because I'm long in the tooth for a school committee member at this point I've been through a few different curriculum adoptions over the years and understanding that um that this ultimately you know any any change to the curriculum would be a substantial change to the curriculum it would be adopting new materials that would not move forward we appreciate the collaboration I appreciate the collaboration and I appreciate being informed about changes to a curriculum that hasn't been updated since like the early 2000s something like that so 20-year-old nutritional recommendations being updated I can definitely get behind that um but also understanding that you know it's done collaboratively and ultimately the school committee does vote I mean it it is not you know these are recommendations that are made we work collaboratively with the district to understand why those recommendations are being made and what the materials involved might look like and what educator feedback looks like and administrative feedback looks like um but ultimately yes this is a decision that is is made by the committee um and then in addition to that certainly you know as we mentioned in our policy update earlier um interested in seeing what we can do to creatively address concerns that have been raised around some of the subject matters um that are being discussed but also um you know want to note again as a parent of older kids one of whom has long since left the left the district and one who is preparing to leave the district um having worked through the changing bodies conf ation twice now and the opt out that is offered as part of that um I I would like to say that whatever you know choice any parent makes around that it has been communicated very well um it has been a very respectful process the entire process is is handled extraordinarily efficiently from an optout perspective and it is heavily tracked um and and monitored to make sure that curriculum is not delivered to a student that should be opted out um and that students who you know I mean it is it is not it is a form that you've it is form we send the letter right before we like two weeks before we teach and we make the um all the materials available so it's not something you have to know is coming up three months from now and regardless of the choice you are making with respect to your student there is an action as I understand it that is involved in saying yes or no y already in the process that is being observed by the district so I I just want to make that clear it is it is not um it's not the wild west of of opting out and exemptions it's it's a heavily tracked and very respectful process so just putting that out there um happy to as part of the policy subcommittee continue to try and address the um various concerns that we've received from any number of folks um over the past few months as as this topic has come to the Forefront so that is and I do think I just want to Circle back to um the beginning comments that um Peter shared I think we all share the common goal of wanting to make sure that all of our students every child who walks through the door feel safe welcome and respected at school so I think there are a lot of different opinions on this topic but we do share a common goal and I think with open dialogue transparency and conversation um we can find a way to implement the new health Frameworks that meet the needs of all of our students um and that um you know is efficient and effective um for for our children I think I just want to Echo that because I've talked to people who are fully supportive of implementing the new framework and people who have serious concerns about it but the Common Thread that everyone agrees on is the transparency piece and how important that is and no parent should be surprised by what their child is learning in school um and every student should feel welcome and safe in school I think that's what I've heard across the board in my conversations with people with all different views on this um the standards themselves I think the big concern for a lot of parents is it seems to blur the line sometimes on what conversation should be had at home and what should be had at school and people are going to have different opinions on that what is appropriate at certain ages for some kids might not like they're for for second grader two they want to discuss stereotypes Prejudice discrimination equality and inequality um and gender role stereotypes um they want to talk to third through fifth graders about cocaine um lots of different things in here where if you read them I think a lot of people can't picture how is this even going to be taught so I think having those lessons upfront this is what we're teaching this is the lesson this is the video we're going to use um you know some parents might say this doesn't work for my family and I it's not coming from a place of hate or not coming from it's some people say I I see what you're doing there I want to have that conversation with my child at home so I think just going through this process and just being really committed to you know some parents feel very strongly about the values they want to instill in their children and how they want to teach their children certain things um and then others may look at a lesson plan and say I was really nervous about that but I see how you're going to teach it now and I'm okay with it and in the same token would look at it and just say I'm going to opt my child out and it sounds like people are committed to addressing a wide range of viewpoints and respecting all of them um and I did like what you say because I noticed in the notes we would vote and then have a community Forum um but it sounds like we do an informational um coffee and a parent discussion there's lots of ways that we gather feedback from the public what I what I referring to there is that whenever we have a new curriculum we often once it's adopted we'll have a curriculum night so until we know what we're teaching or what the curriculum's been adopted we wouldn't do that because we don't know what materials and we wouldn't have the materials available for people to view but having a parent coffee and Gathering uh Community input is part of the process throughout yeah because I I've said for the past three years that I just think parents are the experts on their kids and you know they have the right and the privilege to have certain conversations with them as they see fit and we never want to surprise parents about topics their kids are being introduced to um but it sounds like um referring to what Peter said just getting that legal clarification down so we're all at the same starting point with the same understanding because I look too and then in some some press releases say voluntary and then others say mandatory and I'm like these are only two months apart which one I did call of the Department of Ed uh and the response that I got was that districts have the um ability to choose how and the materials not the if but I will continue to pursue definitive information sex head is not sex head is an exception sex head local districts have the right to select there you go I mean all of the language that's been discussed thus far has been an assumption that the framework in its entirety is going to be implemented at norfol I understand you don't want to stop the trend with the districts and you want to continue that work with the districts I I can't stop you from that but I am asking that we have the conversation we should have had before you started that process which is we as a committee and you as a superintendent what do we what's our common understanding of this framework from a required versus voluntary standpoint and what do we think's the right direction and vision for this District I feel like we need to have that conversation to feel that we're all you know on the same page and frankly we may not all be on the same page even after that conversation we can certainly do that but I think that's that should have been the first step before going headlong into we're we're implementing this because it's mandatory and we're talking to all the districts and so I just I would like the opportunity for us to have that conversation if you want to do that in parallel to the districts we we can certainly do that and and again that's a different process than we've followed in the past generally the Educators review the content and bring forward re recommendations for discussion um certainly happy to to look at that um you know your recommendations and the conversations but the work that we're doing with the other districts is not jumping into implementation where like we haven't even unpacked the Frameworks to to think about where would it logically make sense so we don't have anything to really discuss yet um we're just looking at the document together and having some preliminary conversations about what does this look like what are we doing now what's different what could that look like so I don't see that as um being too far ahead of the the committee we can certainly have a I think those things can H happen parallel yeah I think I've I've watched other school committees that have started that have gone through this process and very open to it one of the things that I'm I'm recognizing and why I'm asking so strongly that we have some more upfront conversations is these School committees are getting the entire you know implementation plan 48 hours in advance and they're being asked to vote the thing in and it's difficult for a school committee to really have critical thinking to review the materials including the actual materials because some you know the videos for example some of them are pretty intense uh we need to have that open conversation and so these committees are put in a position of approving or not approving with near 48 hours to review what the district has put together and they're being told that everything is mandatory and that's not correct we certainly make sure you have more time you know we always try if we have a significant report to get it to you way in advance so that you have time to unpack it so I I appreciate it I wouldn't want to vote on something with you know substantial without time to properly review so I do think I mean as as well I and again this may be colored by my personal subjective experience right um [Music] I I suppose in reviewing the Frameworks in reviewing the legal standards and and having experienced this before you know mean this Committee in all curriculum has a certain degree of discretion in applying any curricular standard um and that I I guess I I A A different perspective on the process is that I I'm looking for information on on what the curriculum might look like in implementation so that I can sort of see it and understand you know how that would change or perhaps not really fundamentally change what it is that's happening now as as it's going to be proposed so that we can understand as a committee through some feedback from rentham and Plainville as well what this might actually look like internally um I personally haven't felt like I was being told to do anything um and so I just I want to kind of put that out there it's it is it is a process that I think everyone on this committee and and the community as well will benefit from to see what what in actuality updated curriculums look like what is being presented what is available for adoption and it helps to what is already being taught in seventh and eth grade like we don't need to recreate the wheel so if we know these standards are already there they may not be Elementary standard so it's you know in the past the committee has has requested that we come with recommendations from from the educational team for you to consider but we can certainly um do the as I said do these two things parallel sure just jumping off of what madora said sorry if I I just wanted to say I mean at personally for me in my experience on the committee I have placed a high degree of value on the feedback from the educational team it certainly I am not an educator I I do not have any degree in education let alone a doctorate or the experience of the teaching staff that typically and administrators who typically comprise the curriculum review teams that have been set up historically to look at any new curriculum adoption um and so I value that feedback it is not the only information that I consider when we are discussing the adoption of a new curriculum in any capacity but I think that it is you know certainly I have never had the impression with respect to an issue of curriculum that this committee is not paying attention to what they are doing either this committee or any iteration of the committee I have sat on up until this point um but I think that it is very helpful to have the perspective of the Educators um who are going to be delivering the curriculum incorporated into that thought process and you know I I think it's important to understand the logistics the various parties that are involved in this conversation whether that is the district other partner districts that we may have other districts in the Commonwealth the department of Ed and take all of that into account but ultimately understanding that yes it is it is the discretion of the school committee to vote or not vote for any substantial change to a curriculum sorry I was um just jumping off of that because you mentioned like um would it be possible when we're discussing these things maybe at the next meeting and maybe I should ask Vicki um to see what our current uh like Health curriculum y is because I mean you can see the new Frameworks and I can read through them but I can't compare them to what I mean I could but it take me a whole lot of time so that's what we're trying to work on and to bring you from this regional meeting is the comparison of the crosswalk what's new what's different okay yeah I would love to see that and we can certainly get you what we're what we're using currently okay and and I am def definitely interested in seeing like what they kind of come and recommend in regards to like where certain topics fall in terms of age because I feel like the Frameworks themselves have they're wide band are like 3 through 6 through 6 through like there's a lot of development and some and I didn't even know about like the cocaine part but like a thir yeah again like I'm just interested to see like where certain topics um and and probably have a lot more kind of feedback or opinions once once we have can I just make a request and yeah um it might be silly to say but I just you know as we go into this in a health framework like yes I know you know this was mostly focused around the identity and sex ed but I also think like we're a diverse committee for a reason um and we all come to this meeting and come to our daily lives with different lived experiences and so like we may say you know cocaine and like laugh under but but some of us have been a lot of the communities have been impacted by these things and so I just hope that you know we're trying to do the best for our kids as a whole and that's really hard because we all come with different you know lived experience I know that was not meant to be disrespectful I just wanted to point out just because you know you never know how something's going to hit someone and the stuff sensitive like even the the health framework with the food and like all of that and so I just want to make sure that we're all and I know we all are but I'm saying it just maybe I think if we just look again I didn't mean to disres cocaine thing or anything I was just like if we're imple like even mentioning that to like first graders like everything to be age appropriate and so I think that's that we're all in agreement it's just we all come with different backgrounds we all feel like we need to educate our kids on certain things because of what our lived experience right I mean we all have different opinions just as like every Community member in this community has different opinions and different backgrounds and everything so again I'm I'm you know here to represent everybody and I'm I'm interested in kind of where things will fall what's recommended and then I think we we can have like a much bigger broader discussion about um those pieces once I can kind of visualize are like I do think anytime we're talking about something that is highly sensitive or people have strong feelings about the more discussion the better um and so I don't think anybody's opposed to that um and and I would strongly encourage if parents have thoughts or concerns or or or worries or strong beliefs that they reach out because we get information from surveys but we also get information from conversations and it's really helpful um to hear from from different perspectives and different viewpoints um but I do think as as Grace said it might be also helpful as we are working through the process and making recommendations around where things might fall a lot of it there's research behind that we can share and you can consider too in in in looking at why we're making particular recommendations um so we would would support that I think generally when the committee when any of our curriculum committees make recommendations we try to give all of the data what parents said uh that's usually reported in the presentation um what what research uh we looked at what you know we try to give you as much information too um and can do that in advance um for discussion prior to a vote yeah going back to what Peter said in regards to like um I don't think you would just come up and like present it and expect us to vote so just reiterating like the more time we have to digest it and ask questions because I feel like I have a hard time coming up with like thoughtful questions right at the moment but I look at it for a month and have time to to consider it and again we can so you know pick off of the community who you know shares feedback to us it's like maybe they have questions that they would rather us ask and present so F the more time the better oh my gosh I have another update you sleep um let me are we ready to talk about the Bas shelter can we move on quickly all right so um I just wanted to update you that we have over the December break uh we have had had more students uh move into the base State more families move into the base State shelter um the the back uh modular unit opened so uh more families have moved in I sent out an update to the community we uh over the past two weeks have had approximately 12 new students joined we are seeing more students uh exit so that the overall number we have I think it's between 32 and 33 students currently divided between the two um evenly divided between the two schools um we are watching those numbers closely we do have as maram alluded to earlier we hired staff in anticipation we have a a full-time two full-time L teachers and two full-time bilingual Paris um supporting the program so we're appropriately staff right now uh we're continuing to monitor those numbers and working closely with the state to keep updated uh as of the last update we do have a meeting tomorrow uh with the um State uh for an update but as of the last conversation this it is still expected to close in June um the we did complete the renovation project that was funded by the state to move our special education offices which creates a small um three office suite that we will use as an additional um English language Lear classroom this year to accommodate the uh growth and enrollment um and we we will benefit that moving forward as you know we're out of space at holid day so if the shelter closes as expected in June um that space will be available for us to use next year um at each all day happy to take any questions or if there's anything I forgot from the last update that you had list but I think that covers it okay that's it for me we have to vote on our minutes from December we've all had a chance to review I would be looking for a motion to approve the minutes from our December 10th meeting so moved any further discussion all those in favor I and then the next school committee meeting is scheduled for February [Music] 11th does that still work for everyone let me now I think it's fine it's a Tuesday right yeah it's a Tuesday and then is there anything else any it's a bold move at 9:24 I just want to say really quick thank you especially for people who who came to to listen and hear us talk and Flash out ideas um I'm proud to work with this committee because I think we all come here with different viewpoints and we all listen and we're all respectful and we're all working really hard to try and address everyone's concerns in our community um doing that publicly live reacting in very in real time is not always easy so we appreciate you coming and engaging and listening let us letting us do the work sometimes it may get messy sometimes it may go smoothly but I think everyone here is looking out for the best interests of the kids in nor fork so thank you thanks to our teachers here tonight who threw the Short Straw on the longest meeting so holy than Tracy and John looking for a motion to adjourn so moved any further discussion no all those in favor