##VIDEO ID:W2iHEkKUWAU## e e e e e e e e e call the the October 21st meeting of the school committee to session um if everyone will join join me into uh for the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge ALG FL flag of the United States of americe thank you all right we're going to start by reading the land acknowledgement we acknowledge that we are meeting on the unseated ancestral homeland of indigenous people who endured who whose enduring presence we humbly recognize we honor the wanoa people as the original stewards and the Herring Pond woak as the surviving tribe indigenous to these lands in our commit in our commitment to lifelong learning we acknowledge historical injustices to the native people of this land and vow to educate ourselves our community and our students on the first peoples and the hardships they endure we offer this as a small but essential step towards building building a culture of respect truth and accountability you and our first um no I thought I was in the meeting but now I'm not okay here we go we're going to do a moment of silence and that moment of silence if we'll uh we will take a moment to honor the memory of a remarkable educator and beloved member of our community Nancy come who passed away on September 14th at the age of 73 after k battle with cancer Nancy was not only a devoted wife loving mother and cherished grandmother but she was also an inspiring teacher who dedicated her life to sh shaping young minds born in Newport Rhode Island and a proud graduate of Roger High School Roger's high school she later pursued her dreams of teaching at Bridgewater State University her passion for Education led her to Plum South Middle School where she touched the lives of countless students and colleagues nany's dedication to her student students and her commitment to education will be remembered and cherished by all who had the privilege of knowing her as we take a moment of silence let's reflect on the impact Nancy had on our community and honor her pres her memory thank you thank you all for taking that moment out of our meeting um and now we have comments from community members do we have anybody wishing to speak during open okay perfect I will forego reading our statement then and then our next piece of business is we've got our student representative we have Lillian from um or lily sorry I bet you you don't like to think I'm being yelled at so no Lily sorry uh to give us the student Representatives um a report for pum South so thank you hello everyone so to start off congratulations to the boys cross country team who clinched their sixth straight Patriot league title great job by the athletes and coaches also congratulations to pshs Golfers Cam tutler and Lucas Bartlett who qualified and competed in the division one South sectional State qualifying tournament at a kushit River Valley Golf Club we had our Nas collaborative conference visit the week of October 6th at pshs the team was very impressed with pshs and they met with parents administrators teachers and students we'll have the report in about a month to share with the school Community Tuesday night last week we hosted the annual college fair at Plymouth North during the day staff wore t-shirts with favorite colleges to show support of the fair Juniors last week also participated in the PSATs during the school day at pshs we had the annual Captain's breakfast at South where North and fall sport captains joined together to hear speaker Rob Costa Rob was recently paralyzed yet is participating in an Ironman in the coming weeks his story about grit and not giving up was inspirational this Saturday stopped by pshs for some spooky fun the baseball team is running their haunted house fundraiser at the stadium at 6 p.m. pshs has gone gold and pink over the last few weeks we're proud to report we raised close to 2600 for going gold and over $750 towards breast cancer awareness the Southfield hockey team truly went above and beyond with both events PMA South High School was recently notified that seniors Colin Costa and Brody new house were named commended students in the 2025 National Merit Scholarship program a letter of commendation from the National Merit Scholarship Corporation was presented to both Talent seniors this past weekend both did the dance and cheer teams from South participated in the walk to end Alzheimer's also on the sports front winter sports signups will be Monday October 28th during K block and meet the coaches will be in early November the senior class had a beautiful day on October 11th for their October Fest celebration Colin Ducey and Jack Horvath were crowned cornhole Champions and finally congratulations to our pshs students and teachers who participate in AP courses we were recently recognized as a silver AP School in Prior years we had received the Bron bronze distinction the students and teachers make these things happen thank you awesome thank you does anybody have any questions no thank you so much for that report always so much going on so we appreciate it all right and then our next we have our solar project proposal presentation Dr blaz or want to do the introductions slides I have them on another set's another on the agenda bless you should have been two there was a power yeah here we go smart yep yes please so tonight we have Mike K Hill um who works he'll give you his specific title from the town um and Adam Taff who um we work quite a bit with when we talk about solar he does a lot of our energy um solar energy all sorts of different things contracts and through ever source and does a lot does a lot with us and helps us predict our budget from year to year to year um and then manages a lot of our solar power and an electricity on the back end that you don't necessarily see but I get to work with him and um and it just started working with Mike so um they here to talk about the solar panels that we talked about during our Saturday um they're more the experts than I was so um glad that you're joining us thanks great thanks for coming well good evening school committee members and thank you for having me uh my name is Michael kahill I'm the climate resiliency and sustainability planner for the town I know a very long title um I work in the department of energy and environment um I'm also here tonight with Adam teft who is working as the engineer on our project that we are proposing before you tonight tonight we're seeking your approval uh for the installation of solar car ports at both Plymouth North and Plymouth South High School so uh as you might know uh back in May uh the select board uh voted to approve our climate action adaptation plan um this is a plan that focuses on um 62 priority actions here in town um in five sectors building energy and infrastructure natural systems Transportation waste and health safety and preparedness it's an all-encompassing plan that's intended to be a road map for the town for the next 10 to 15 years on our gold towards climate resiliency uh not only reducing risks for our residents but uh capitalizing on the opportunities afforded with climate change so one of the actions one of those 62 actions uh action Bei 2. uh2a is identifying opportunities for microG grid and energy storage for critical facilities um this project is to uh we identified five crit critical infrastructure uh facilities in town um and we're looking to uh implement solar at those sites um and some of those sites will have a small micro grid uh we're hoping in the future um but this is right now to provide Renewables to those energy reducing energy bills uh so these are the areas that we're looking at uh Plymouth Public Library DPW headquarters Plymouth South High School uh this will also include Plymouth South Middle School uh Plymouth North High School in the Cedarville landfill and we're looking to do car ports at uh four of those locations rooftop solar at DPW and a landfill solar project at the Cedarville landfill so uh we can skip ahead at the other Town Projects uh first Plymouth South High School um this is an area that we already have a power purchase agreement in place and I'll let Adam speak to that a little bit more but you can see the solar panels there already on the roof of the building we're proposing here is carports behind the back of the school additionally this is Plymouth nor uh Plymouth South Middle School uh same thing this is right by the uh loading dock uh to the left of the building uh once again car ports providing additional energy to the school and this is Plymouth North High School uh located directly behind the building um next to the uh the football field down there and with that I will turn it over to Adam to talk a little bit about the financials thank you Mike I appreciate the introduction in um give me some context for the projects so the general thought here is um the systems would be entirely thirdparty owned and operated much like the current systems that you have in place now so those were done under what's called Power purchase agreement whereby you know the installer effectively you know the owner operator of the site and you simply buy power from the array at a set price for a period of 20 years so not only do it help reduce your costs in the short term but it helps lock in a fix rate over a 20-year period which from budgetary standpoint Point can be pretty valuable too so you know you have the the sustainability impact of reducing your power purchases from ever Source um you have the financial benefit of reducing your costs you kind of in the here and now and in the future um and also the uh you know the benefit of being able to park under a covered spot for you know for those folks who who would park in those areas so um it's really a trifec of benefits um in terms of the savings associated with each when the process so we ran was uh you know we put out the RFP for the projects hosted vendors at each site so they could see you know um sites for themselves they could ask questions to you know to myself and Mike and and the facilities folks really to make sure that everybody had a Level Playing Field you know same expectations same data um and also knowing that you know there other folks that wanted the job as well so um we conducted that process a few months ago we had an opportunity at Titan to review the results um ask questions of the vendors make tweaks where necessary to make sure that all the you know their assumptions were correct and in line with each other um and that's where you know basically you see the table here um you know we articulate out the different sites um and just based on what came in we're you know offering a range uh for the sake of this presentation for South High School Middle School and the North High School um so when you see going through the annual kilowatt hour production again you know we had some variance in terms of you know the the sizes that were proposed folks had some different ideas about how to best maximize the site but you know we we did um you know standardize across for the the savings calculations kind of how that would all flow um and then the solar dollars per kilowatt hour that's the range um relating back to the power purchase agreement so the price that you would pay per kilowatt hour from the array over that set period of time that's the number that you're looking at there um and then really your annual savings is just a comparison between what you're currently paying from ever source and your third party supplier Etc relative to what the cost per kilowatt hour would be from the solar array so um obviously you know we want to um make the recommendation for the high end of the range I think that's you know when we were investigating which vendors um had the best offer um you know we've made recommendations as to which those would be but they do represent on the annual savings the you know the higher end of the range so added together um you know the savings would be pretty significant for the for the district um looks to be approximately $200,000 a year or so um and then the lifetime savings is just a calculation of those numbers extrapolated out over 20 years and the systems would create power behind the meter basically that's just another way of saying that the systems would offset your energy consumption with ever Source we do have the ability to to go front of the in some cases but um you really get the most value from the projects when you do it the other way so that's what we would recommend um was there another slide that you wanted me to speak to sure um I should just note too in terms of format as well um what we would be looking at would be a 20-year lease of this of this area um so basically after that 20 years we could negotiate a further extension um of these of this uh contract uh we could negotiate to purchase the equipment or at that point we could uh revert the area uh have removed and revert to the regional conditions um so this is a 20-year agreement in place which is why the lifetime savings is generated over 20 years and I understand that this side slide is a little bit convoluted I apologize uh for the ranges that we're giving um but unfortunately we have three bids out yet we haven't selected the bid uh after we get approval tonight we will select the bid um so these are just a range of kind of what we're looking at and like Adam said uh we'll probably end up on the higher end of these an ranges okay good and then um I mentioned the uh landfill as well and just uh the two projects coming together uh what we'll be looking at lifetime uh cost between all five of those projects is somewhere between 5.3 and 10.2 uh million dollar in cost savings generated over that 20-year period oh that's awesome and then Adam I'll let you talk to timeline here sure yeah so the major timeline hurdles that we would be looking to meet on our end have to do with the incentive program funding being renewed for 2025 so at the beginning of the year eversource and the other Massachusetts Electric utilities will begin taking applications for these projects the dollars associated with this are they're all first come first serve so the idea would be to you know start moving that process along towards being able to have our application ready for the beginning of January um so you know again just a basic timeline here the idea would try to you know be to have the actual contracts with the vendors an execution ready format you know by the end of this year um you know so we can be first in line to try to get those dollars um you know the vendor will have to do some work on their end concerning interconnection applications with the utility before we have a valid submission into the program but um I can say just from experience over the last 10 years working with these programs especially when we're at the turn of kind of a new program where the incentives are being um actually enhanced over what they were previously over the last few years there definitely will be projects out there other than ours that are you know going to be vying for the same dollars so um you know you know I always have to walk the line between just being realistic with folks about how the timing and these things work and um you know obviously the town schools need to work to their timeline that they feel comfortable with but those are the steps that we'd be taking in the background is to get the contracts ready for Signature and also start preparing internet connection applications which need to precede our application into the incentive program so the idea would um really you know try to have all of this wrapped up by the end of Jan anuary on our side um but again making allowances for you know um perhaps unforeseen hurdles and things like that but that would be our goal um and one of the great things about this project too is I mentioned that there are five projects uh tied into this uh project that we're talking about um but those can all go out to bid individually so though if there's a single project that holds up for permitting for some reason uh it won't hold up the whole group of projects in general um and then finally on construction we have a wide range here from January to June uh working with the school department team uh we elected that construction would be taking place during the summer months so it wouldn't interfere with school business as well so correct y that was specified in the bid that construction would need to take into account the school calendar and activities at the school so you know you know obviously parking lots can be hectic so yeah that would be our goal so to summarize we'll be reducing our energy costs reducing our greenhouse gas emissions and providing C covered parking for uh for school um students and for uh um uh staff members thank you does anybody have any questions Dr senson I have a question and I'm going to tell you I'm asking you the question based on recollection I don't have any documents in front of me but part of the proposal for Plymouth South High School when we built Plymouth South High School was to have the solar covers for the parking lot and I was pretty excited about that and many of the teachers were as well because it's it's a nice it's a nice to come out to your car in a wet snowy day and be under the shade however it was NSTAR at the time they blocked it mhm they prevented us from going ahead and I don't know the reason do you know the reason um so I was that of all the projects that Plymouth has done over the last decade or so that was actually one that I was not involved with so I don't know specifically that said I it was shared with me that there you know there is a battery that's sitting there that needs you know to be connected to the facility and there's a cost associated with that and you know my goal would be to try to fold that cost into the solar project so it gets absorbed and that the district can finally take advantage of the battery because we know what that cost is now my guess would be it was probably interconnection cost related just the project not being able to afford at the time that that additional cost I see it relatively frequently um and I think so so that so so that that fact kind of begs the question when you file the applications again for this project of Plymouth South High School Endo Plymouth Middle School what are the chances it's going to go through we thought they were going to go through when we built the School sure so part of what we did in the RFP process was to give everybody a specified number to hold for the interconnection cost that we would likely get back from eversource again these numbers are based on available data that eversource gives us um and just having other experience interconnecting other projects in this area just so we know kind of what folks need to hold what I've seen in the past is that when people plan for these projects they don't hold adequate funding for that interconnection and then when that number comes back in the project economics start to fall apart pretty quickly so if there was a specific reason why eversource said no under any circumstance I would be surprised just because I've never seen that before there's always a price to be paid for interconnection just whatever it is um and you know I'd like to think that you know we're doing our best to plan for that if for some reason there was an interconnection cost swing when way or another the way that we control for that with the RFP is to say if there is an up or down swing and it could work in the school's favor it's not necessarily you know the other direction um that the those economics get folded on a dollar for dooll basis into the project and then the school can make a choice if for some reason those projects those costs are much higher which is you know I don't want to say it can't happen because it can um that the school would have a chance to take a a fresh look at the economics of the project and not be locked into it if for some reason they swung too far outside what you you know would find acceptable okay thank you thank you any other questions Michelle can I ask oh M Dr blazo Adam could you talk a little bit about um obviously you know we have solar Fields already can you talk a little bit about how this works in with our current solar plan and how this helps us yeah sure so town of Plymouth and the public schools have been very proactive in terms of participation with these programs that have come along um for the school side there is in a a large solar field in the town of Plimpton and another in East Freetown so those actually generate credits you're not physically connected to the array for those who maybe weren't on the board when those projects originated they're called net metering credit deals basically the array gets built it can be in an adjacent Town within Town Etc but long story short doesn't need to be connected to your facility as it produces power the utility meters that and then converts the energy production into a dollar value that then gets set aside and used to pay down eversource accounts so it's it's like you're getting the benefits of solar but you're doing it in more of like a virtual way they call it net metering so there are two large deals there that the town of Plymouth and Plymouth Public Schools have been party to um you know we've already taken time to analyze if you know quote unquote if there's space for the schools to absorb more energy based on those and the answer to that is yes I would want to make a couple adjustments as to where those allocations are how they're tailored to which accounts Etc um but that again that's you know if you're thinking about the different pieces of the puzzle here for sustainability for the town you have a number of you know high quality offsite projects and then you have a few that are onsite already generating power on the roof and this would be kind of a complement to that uh that strategy if that's helpful if you don't remember what year we're in of the the current plan do you yeah so those contracts date back to 2014 they're 20-y year agreements so um they're about about halfway through and uh for those who aren't familiar basically the town is and schools have been receiving um credits that have a fixed price associated with them and at times the credit's been as high as 25 to 30 cents per kilowatt hour that you've been paying 8 cents for so you've effectively chopped you know two-thirds of your costs down simply by getting those solar credits so um these programs historically have been very good for the district and helped manage those costs and and reduce them pretty significantly um and of course 10 years is a long time from now but you know we're always keeping our eye on kind of the next thing and how we you know how participate in the programs as they come along whatever is you know that can be incorporated into the portfolio here is you know really should be looked at um and eventually in a few years we may be having a conversation about additional offsite you know as the other the others retire so um that's definitely in in mind for us anybody else have any additional questions H oh sorry Mr Jackson um so there's a lot of new technology with solar coming up too so in 20 years if we decide not to release or buy this equipment what happens then so the vendor will take it all back at their cost okay so that's like you know of the three options that that Mike discussed the one I usually encourage folks to lean on as your primary would be the equipment comes off at their cost and the other power purchase agreements at the schools are in um at the North High School and South High School rooftop same language in there at the end of the term vendor takes them down okay thank you sure and there's some like fail safe in there if the vendor goes out of business somebody else is responsible yeah so that and again part of the RFP process for us is we're vetting the folks that respond is to make sure that you know they have strong financials behind them so um there's certainly no short no shortage of solar companies out there and just making sure that you know well capitalized that the funding sources that they get either on the debt or the equity side are are strong and you know um leave everybody with a high degree of confidence that they will be around during the term the question I get of course is always um well even like a company that might be well capitalized today you know what if fortunes turn Etc all of these projects are backstopped by Major lenders usually like the Bank of America's you know US Bank Goldman Sachs those are kind of the three big entities that provide debt to these projects and in the event the developer goes out of business ceases to do business in the ordinary sense the lenders have step in rights so you know it's a very very high value piece of equipment that by All rights it's not terribly hard to maintain so it's it's a fairly easy operation to keep going um in the event that that were to happen so that's that's the back stop at the at the end of the day if the developer proper that you know whose name is on the PPA goes out of business that's what would happen bank would step in they'd contract with a third party to do o andm and invoicing and that kind of thing thank you anybody else oh Dr Z I have a question through you to the central office um does our staff need to be trained I mean we already have solar panels but this is going to really Oh you mean yeah I mean with the exception of maybe M maintenance around it and snow removal I don't see anything substantial in terms of corre we're going to be touching the yeah there's no maintenance obligation to the equ equ of the system itself that's all incorporated into the power purchase agreement and covered by the vendor um you know we've specified 14t minimum height clearance again just to make sure that there's plenty of um like Ingress and egress out so there's you know no um issues with plowing or trucks like garbage trucks and things like that that might come through so operationally no there's really nothing that needs to be done um if there's some um is some you know I always recommend when you build a system like this obviously having Public Works folks involved and and um you know getting off on the right foot making sure that they have any questions or you know there's things that they want to address that the vendors made available for that that's you know pretty standard process for us so that's usually the extent of it thank you thank you else see and this is an action item if any have a motion to just want to accept the presentation and right okay I thought you were looking at me too no I have a motion thank you Mrs Jackson uh I just lost it um I move to accept the uh rfps presented by the town climate resiliency and sustainability perfect thank you I have a motion do I have a second Mr Morgan thank you any questions on the motion no one has questions we should be able to vote perfect it looks like we have um five voting in favor and one one absent and one abstaining so thank you so much we're really excited I think this is a great opportunity for us to expand our solar or the town and the schools to expand our solar portfolio so thank you for your work thank you very much much appreciated thank you both thank you thank you both thank you right right now we have blma South High School school Improvement plan this is fry this is f excuse me my voice here right hello everyone good to see you all um thank you for having me here tonight on behalf of Plymouth South um we're in the second year of our threee cycle with the school Improvement plan so the plan itself hasn't really changed obviously um but just the things I'm here to update you on the things that have been going on for the past year um so first I'd like to say look at some of the school committee members thank the council there the names are listed at the back and I always say one of the best parts of the high school is we have students on our committee so they always really give a good lens into all the different pieces that go on um so our 24 through 27 I can't believe we're talking that long um three-year midcycle update we had three main goals and I'll go over each one individually but what you heard Lily talk about our self-study was just last week was very successful it's a pretty big deal um so I'll get into some details from that um we've been working very hard on our digital portfolio um for our vision of a graduate and we've had a lot of different strides and we've started the portfolios and some of you may have seen some at the CCT showcase the tech program had started them we Blended them together we're all about the vision of the graduate which you'll hear me say the Five Pillars a few times and you may have seen those um and the neat part of that you're going to hear is that we're involving the students with choice of assignments so it's not just saying put this in a portfolio the teachers are giving options and then the students are going to decide what they align to um and the final goal is about um our El program which we're in the second year of um in prior to last year students in who were El Learners would go to Plymouth North so as a former El and Spanish teacher I'm very excited about this even though I can't speak Spanish anymore um but we have really made an intentional um work to make sure that students who want to get into the ccde programs and working with Mr Duffy and the Middle School were very intentional about that so that also we have some we embed our Dei goals into that goal as well so that's where we're at um for goal one I'd implore you Libby my personal clicker over here um we what happens with the self- study is it's hard to believe um we in 2004 was our accreditation visit the year before I actually came to Plymouth and we had a pretty difficult accreditation report we're were in a very very tough place then it's 10 years later and it's 2014 we had a tremendous report and we were fortunate that we had the building on the horizon cuz we were in pretty bad state with the facility we were about to lose our accreditation for our facility status so we were so fortunate to have the Plymouth Community Support the beautiful Plymouth South High School and really it's not just about the building it's about the opportunities that we provide our students and now fast forward to 2024 we were able to showcase the building the opportunities the programs from biomed to CCT we were able to cover so many different areas in the academic program and how much it's risen because back in 2004 as some of you remember there we separated Tech studies and academic Learners they were week about and Michelle a graduate and things like that and over the last 20 years we've been able to blend it and then standards rise for all so the documents on this slide they're three the first one Libby HS up is a look back I'm obviously not going to read it to you but it's a pretty nice summary of all the work that's been done by so many people um that are still employed and some have left um but it just kind of summarizes where we've come since 2014 and at the end it captures kind of the priorities for the future because we're far from perfect we still have needs and it highlights what those needs are and you'll see it stems from mental health needs um you know really ensuring that we're able to fund our schools appropriately and they're so proud of everything that's been done so that documents an interesting read the second one is the called the priorities areas for growth um and we had to pick as a staff um what our main priorities were so they see different numbers that's kind of neas Lang but those goals are what we're looking for in the next 2 to 10 years at Plymouth South um so that was an important document and the final um click the strengths in areas of growth this if you're born on the weekend I want to read some good Nas book uh it's all in here we had we um we put together over the last year a self-study document which is very extensive and it covers the key components learning culture student learning there's five of these and in each one what comes out of the study which I love is that it tell it kind of tells a story and it says this is what's going great and this is what we'd love to see so you'll see things in there like we'd love more common planning time we'd like more mental health supports we'd like you know our curriculum in one location in one consistent document and you work with the best part about neas is I like it personally better than some of the other organizations because it's peers evaluating your school so it's working Professionals in other schools in our community and it was funny I was at a youth sporting event this weekend and um I had a mom approach me that one of the team members worked in her district and said I want to go work in Plymouth so it was kind of exciting so I'm like great maybe we'll be hiring but um those three links just have a lot of information in there um and the visiting team was very excited um they really raved about our opportunities academically and in the tech studies program and the opportunities our students have um opportunities for student travel to curriculum to our AP program they raved about really because it's AP for all there's no prerequisite um they love the blending of the tech and the academic the growth over the last 10 to 20 years um and the inclusive culture at Plymouth South so we were very excited and I do have to tell this one story that you see our pillars are the mindful Learners effective communicators we have banners in the lobby we're all excited about the pillars and when I met with the students we had about 60 students involved as tour guides in focus groups and they meet without the staff they meet with the team and one individual Serenity she's in our stride program and she was one of the Stars at the Garden last year and I said to the the gym I met with the kids you're going to have questions dress nice things of that nature be here on time and she and I said you all know what these posters mean because that's the key to it all um we want these pillars to be what our students accomplish before they graduate and serenity if I had a video camera she said Mrs fry and she rattled off what we believe in that you really want us to graduate and be communicators inclusive it was magical it was like the best the last six weeks it was the best day but it truly showed us that the kids get it and they they help design these as well so everything we do we go back to those five pillars at Plymouth South um two other pieces that we in the past year since our last report we have a great survey that you do during this study students families and staff are surveyed and the data from that survey aligned with the strength and needs which align with what the report will essentially say so it's kind of nice to see it all coming together in that way and then what'll happen is in the next couple weeks um I'll get a after the report just to edit and proof with them if there's any clerical errors it'll go back to the group then it'll become public to the community and to all of you so we're excited with how it went um it the it was phenomenal the whole time and they noticed things that we know we're struggling with as well so in the mental health meeting we had a lot of our counselors and we really were talking about a lot of the needs and sadly one our adjustment counselor was tied up in a meeting with a student who was in a really bad crisis so we were able to get that student the supports but she wasn't even able to go to the the meeting because we had I said you know Joy you need to stay with this student here so but and we didn't try to obviously but they see how Paramount the needs are that we're seeing with our kids um these are just the documents of kind of the definitions that we've developed as a school community of what pel believes these pillars are and what we represent and you know the serenity story um she was a tour guide with one of the initial groups and it was just it was unbelievable I'm like if I could I should have had a video camera there so this generation videotapes everything I do not videos so um we also you heard Lily share got some great news about a week before this that we were you know I always say our AP focus is not about the t-shirts we've been having student design t-shirts for I think 14 years now and um it's really about exposing students that they can do it all they can be a hairdresser take a AP course they can you know do whatever they want and we try to make those opportunities and avenues come alive for them because so many kids are going to college and having reduced Financial um rates because of it and were just um told we were a silver status we'd been Bronze in the past so we just got that notification and this slide really explains what that is so it's not about a silver medal the 52% silver status is you know it shows really that students take at least one AP class and then the gold status is students who take three or more and they're entitled to get college credit for that and the final is the students that I I could never be where they take five or more AP classes which is a little bananas but you know out of eight total classes so uh but we're excited because the kids come back and tell us it's helped them stay focused whether it's at work in college because it really is a pretty scripted piece and the magic behind it is the teachers who spend hours and hours you know really preparing the students and take such pride in it as well um and that was a big piece of Nas because of the equity in learning and these are the five standards which really make sense and they've changed a lot over the years PRI the last like for example when North had their visit in I think 2019 and I was working over here it was a different standard they've now changed it again which I like better um where they have these five cogs and it's all based on student learning so if you see it's student learning is the Paramount piece and then all the supports that you need to have in place in order to make that work and it really it really does make sense so um and again it's peer review K people from other districts and we learn from those districts when they come here so that it's kind of where we're at but that will this goal will continue for the next couple years because we'll have to respond to all the different pieces that come in from the report so um the second goal is our digital portfolio and um if Li if you look down to the draft it's going to work this year um our portfolio draft um this is what it just kind of looks like and it's our grade nine teachers are well Libby I'm she's I'm driving her crazy with the the links um the vision of a graduate we began with the class of 2027 and there he is Dr Campbell I was last I kept his picture younger um um and if you look at the top there are the pillars mindful learner Communicator what the students will do is embed their work in there so they'll in their English class in grade nine there may be four assignments they can choose from and they decide are these my inclusive learner communicators and we want them to go across all the content areas so they're working on it Mrs debones in the library is one of our key people helping us design this and work with the kids they go to ADV iies to design them and then the teachers take it from there working with the students so we're still in the early stages but you know they're so electronically Savvy the kids like they're Way Beyond their principal obviously so um but that's what and they will design it their own so it won't just be a formalized picture Sor yeah no it's a beautiful but the public know so the the key is the the options and the student voice are the big piece behind that so we can move off Dr Campbell if we'd like um but it's funny when you hire new teachers they come to you with these portfolios with their you know show you about what they're doing the colleges are doing it a lot so it's something that it's very very similar um goal three is about our El program our numbers have grown and it's amazing how we've discovered how many students in our school speak English but their parents do not so as of not having the El program before we're working Mr carpenito is actually coming over next week to work with staff and um we're seeing that people are coming in we had a brand a student who's a newcomer register last week doesn't speak a word of English but the magic is our connections club which is led by Miss Diaz who's a native Portuguese speaker and is just like an angel on Earth and she she every Friday we have a group of our El Learners during kblock but also our students who speak English but Portuguese is their first language but they're fluent in English come and say hey go to the football game hey come make sure you come to homecoming so that bridge has happened um and it's funny our student um one of our students our tour guides is Pedro who was our first student who came over to ask the automotive program and he's had incredible success and he had been struggling with his attendance and now the buy into the automotive program is really what has kept him there so Mr Duffy I know brought him over to the eighth grade recruitment events that we have at the middle school so there's a lot of people the Middle School staff has been great we've had visits for our El students so we're really just trying to make sure that's a Paramount and two other kind of on the diversity front um blue mantis is an opportunity that's the company that um we're going to be having a digital Divas technology boot camp with North and South students at pumma South on the 13th facilitated through Dr Rogers um and it's really girls in the trades and the electronics and electrical and technology and we're really excited about it so that's coming up on November 13th so on a Dei effort there and the Northeastern University partnership is something I just had a zoom um on last week we're in the early stages but um Mr Fry and I had to go with Mr Domingos and Mr parcel to an event through the Mia um and sometimes those aren't great but this was outstanding we had to go it was in May and the northeastern if you click on that Libby um they have a whole group on anti-bias and really things in sports so taking the hate out of high school sports and we had these two trainers who are unbelievable so we're working to bring them in to work with our captains who are sophomores and juniors our seniors will kind of be ready to to leave at this time in the winter because this Situation's happening all around and it happens in an instant we want to try to be as proactive as possible with our leaders and kind to train the trainer and this um the center for study of sport and Society it's really really interesting to see what they're doing and they're making some really good strides and we went to a training and it was it was outstanding it really got us thinking in this lens um and you just want to try to be as proactive as possible in these different times when kids are in stands and in gyms and in games it's something that you just want to make sure they're using the right words and you know be proactive not reactive is always my philosophy so that's another Dei piece um and then we have we have a new flag display I'm very individuals as a lot of you know that we set a poll out to our students that we have we're actually up to 16 Flags now I believe of countries of origin so if you come look on the third floor of Plymouth South Miss Barrett told me the middle school kids are enjoying looking at all the flag it's really great so this is what it's all about um and it's country of origin um is our big push we've had students say I lived in another country I'm like nope you can't will Kenny want a few Flags you told me so um I said no well sorry but um so know that this is something that we hope will grow and it's just another Visual and a lot of the kids have commented on it so it's one of the the pieces we put into place um and this is just we've done so much work and it's continuing we actually have a trip next week to the elementaries with our strive program and our current strive kids going down to the elementary levels and the space with the breathe space that was done by our artists where students decompress and just the Partnerships where we've created this one model and then the sensitive areas in the lower grades and that's a real credit to the the strive staff people like Allison shaver Stephanie Fleming they're they're just unbelievable and it's growing it's not um just stopping here um and then on when you do a three-year plan you put goals in a year and a half ago and then there's other goals that we're working on too so I always include things that um this is our yellow Tulip Garden that we modeled after pcis that um artificial intelligence is something that we talk about a lot and I have no idea what to do yet but um there was a group this Summer that worked and a few of my staff members were on it too through Stacy and um we're trying to be you know I our English Department is really I they're phenomenal and they're really trying to educate the kids on why you shouldn't just use artificial intelligence not the get in trouble mentality it's more the how do we make them realize that this is this is their world I mean it is just so beyond the things we're seeing um and not in that students are are breaking rules without arcial intelligence it's just it's at their fingertips and it's it's pretty tricky so how to educate them about what real sighting of sources and things of that nature how to use artificial intelligence to benefit you because it can be a real benefit but I'm definitely not the lead on that but we are trying um we really are struggling with substance use and mental health a great deal as in everywhere um and it's something that our staff is working so hard but we're still really seeing students who we get appropriate supports but when their re-entry is what we really want to get better at because you know you don't say okay go back to pre-calculus now after you've been in mental health placement and then attendance um we been meeting with Mr janowitz um I don't know if you can see this slide but this is something we've created with his help that we're now having intentional interventions with our adjustment counselor guidance counselor and grade nine vice principal and we're having intentional meetings and kind of making a contract with the students about these are some things we're going to do and and little things that sometimes people don't realize it's that um mom is working and they miss the bus and how do you get to school um got to get little brother and sister on the bus and their bus doesn't come till 8:40 so we're there's some words on there that share you know these are some of the things that how what supports can we put into place for you as well so it's an ongoing conversation and it's obviously in conjunction with Dr Campbell's be present theme but it's something that we deal with I think every day but um and I really implore families to reach out that don't be scared of asking you know I have a girl her twin sister is gradu she graduated early and she's having her going to her military graduation next week I'm like that can be excused that's okay you know um we have a student he is in culinary and he qualified for the um Jack Daniels barbecue bake off or cook off he came in eighth in chicken and Nick wrote me a long letter and I said yeah we can give you a day so it's it's the back and forth not just it's not like this you know we have to obviously follow the rules but we have communications when crises go on at home at night something happens we work with people so it's really we're going to really be pushing the the communication so that's um um and these are the people who've been on our committee for the past few years we have next meeting next month and um that is pum South and I will say the the key to it all is the people back at that school the kids and the staff and the school Community because the parents were so influential it was nice to see on the the nas visit that we've seen years of families of kids and it was kind of fun to watch you know Mrs mcgilvery talk about her final one as a senior is 12 I can't believe it so um stuff like that but we're kind of in the midcycle but we're working really hard I don't know if people had questions anyone have any questions no thank you so much that was a oh sorry Dr sson I hate to bring us back to AI but I know have to ask you the question because I know less than you okay what you say you know L less than you about but it worries me yes it worries me because because it's so available y so when is it appropriate and when isn't it it appropriate right I think the teachers have tried to say to the kids you know if it's going to better you to do this project do some research and look at it you know there's simple things like we had a training and The Culinary teachers if you have 10 things in your fridge you put it into AI it gives you a recipe and so they talked about that it was funny with the kids I think it's if it can be used as a support not to just do an assignment if you have a paper on the Great Gatsby don't just put in what are the common themes of The Great Gatsby and have it write it for you and it was funny you'll find this interesting Jim the last year's scholarship committee so we added the essay a number of years ago and Mr Walker and um Mrs Gilligan from South and two teachers from North read all the essays together and they have a day and and they came to us and said they do it at South and they came in there's common words that come up Beacon and uh underlying and Bene like it's they had they're English teachers they're trained at this but it's don't use it to write your essay so one student wrote an essay it's about an influential person in their life they didn't even name a person so they knew that was AI so it's something don't do it to get the quick way out those are the easy questions when should they use it I think they should when they want to learn something about a topic and be if they're giving a presentation and they want to put something in about how do I present on a very complex topic you know in science class maybe it can give you some talking points that say okay these would be key areas you should focus on in your oral presentation not in your written paper that's a look look can look like a plagiarized work and and I know from I meet with the social principles I go to a meeting monthly and we learn from each other and there's there's been some press recently and I think we're all we High School principal get a little consumed in like policies and rules and I think we need to say you know you have to go to college and they'll expel you from college if these things happen and we back to the pillars we want to provide you with the tools to succeed at the next level and know that this can get you in a messy situation but I think and I'm not just speaking about Plymouth we're all kind of grasping at straws because it's it's not an easy did you you know plagiarize from this document because we don't know where it comes from so you know Dr scamell shared with me I don't want to overstep but a podcast that can be done Mrs bu shared with him it's unbelievable like a voice talking about you know things so um I think it's it can be a tool but it it's scary I mean it is really scary I mean there' have been really negative things done where people have imitated voices and you know it's it's a scary time um I do know some schools are going to to only completing work in class and I see that side I don't love it cuz I think in life you have work outside of class you know but I I really don't even know it's it's a lot so if I may Mrs Jackson um when it comes to AI I feel like what you're talking about is probably the best option because it is going to be a tool that they're going to use in real life and so you can't exclude it from their education because that's something they need to be educated on but why use it as you know like write your paper do your presentation did I miss anything right yes you know what I mean not not here's the prompt what do I do you know and I think um it's almost like cell phones I didn't bring up the cell phones because we've actually third year in we're succeeding kids put them away it's you know it's not a fight it's not a problem and philosophically I don't believe in banning them because they have to learn to function with a cell phone do they need to be on Snapchat 24 hours a day no but they are truly if you go around sou high school they they come into class they whatever check their notifications they put it away in the pockets they learn they get it back they write their homework down in their phone they have it at passing time the next class same thing so the breakdown is only when there's a substitute or something like that so we've kind of they know they have to function with it it's way easier than AI obviously because the their generation is going to it's it's here like it's it's not going anywhere you know so so I don't if I answer the question but I think how you can use it as a tool to succeed not to get away with someone else doing your work that's kind of like crass to say but it's that when a student has a paper do tomorrow and it's 11 o'clock at night we've all been it's like hey Post in Ai and just submit it and I some into the hands of the procrastinator really well and the um and it it's funny the having the school is saying okay we can we do most things in Google what these kids submit but they can write it in word and copy and paste it into Google and you won't know they've edited it through AI so there there's just so many ways around all the stuff so I'm going to retire before there's real [Laughter] decisions oh go ahead Dr and Dr Rogers with high school and middle school administration and academic Corners has had a working group trying to look at this and it's some of the training they've brought in it's really as Mrs fry said there's no escaping this we have to come to the reality there is no escaping AI in education it exists we've been using it in other ways but now it's something that we have to we have to come up with the I guess an agreed upon Solution on how it can be a thought partner not your personal assistant to do your work for you right and getting kids to understand and how where's where are those ties in the classroom and education so that we can get kids to understand that you still need to be a critical thinker Problem Solver about how can you use it to help you pose questions that you may want to Ponder and to your point Miss Jackson like that that side of intelligence to help them think about what they're trying to do right and I think to the be present Vision the there's nothing more valuable than being at school like attending school and so the more maybe we can ensure it's at school we've had so many parents since Co say hey if I go on vacation for three weeks they can just do it remotely it's it's not it's not the same so I think that push can help maybe with the AI I think because if they're present in school and learning and you know that's a huge component of it and that's the number one piece of any type of Student Success coming to school before anything else so and knowing how to use it properly I mean that's huge I mean I mean I've been I've used it sometimes just to clarify my own thinking yeah like I'll write a couple sentences and I'm like that's not what I'm trying to say like it is but I can't it doesn't it's more convoluted than I needed to say and then it just pops out and you're like that's exactly what was in my brain thank you so much AI um but you can also do to like create like Graphics so like you have to know how to use it cuz what you can do and what you can do in canva now with AI generator like it's amazing it's not it's not a new problem because we had cliff notes and we had other opportunities to to buy work absolutely now it's at your fingertips and so available absolutely yep it's a lot it's it's a lot so there but any other questions it's not a goal you notice I'm not going to it's it's you want to solve the world Dr rogers's goal yeah thank you so much really appreciate thank you all for your support the nas group was very they know how much the school committee Sports the school so that was a big component so it went really well was great thank you all right right our next thing we have is we have our CCT with Mr Duffy good evening everyone um before I begin I just want to thank again your continued support on behalf of the members of the college Career and Technical education faculty the students and the families um the programs that we're able to offer here are simply amazing and the opportunities that our students I get is is just top shelf um I have a few highlights for you from when I was uh with you uh probably about seven months ago couple of updates and at that point in time I talked to you a little bit about some grants that we were exploring some grants that we were waiting to hear on uh and we have some good news so I'll start with some some highlights um we have about 75 students again in our Coop that are out on Co-op uh for this school year and one of the strengths and the Hallmarks of our our programming is cooperative education to be able to send students out and get that work experience uh on the job uh with us this evening is Miss Marine kellerer um she's our Cooperative education coordinator and she has done a tremendous amount of work over the years to build relationships with local businesses and Industry uh south schore on the cape um even in the Boston and and we're very fortunate um for those relationships because were're able to place students and get that Hands-On work experience um we have some new uh employers that are working with us this year and you can see them on the slide um but again it it's just incredible uh that our our local businesses and Industry experts are willing to take our students on and help train them help their Workforce Development um if since this is a public meeting I would like to take the opportunity to advertise again like I did last year and if there are businesses out there and local businesses that can use our students um to help train them and provide them that opportunity please contact us and reach out to us um couple of highlights from skills USA and deca um this is highlights of the national competitions respectively for both um competitions um skillsusa we had several students Place silver and gold medalists uh including Miss K and Ellis who was a National voting delegate and made it to Atlanta um and we uh expect big things out of cun over the next few years as she looks to become a a state officer um in Deca uh we had a little over 20 students that qualified and made it to Anaheim for the International Conference so it's a sign of just two healthy healthy programs for our Tech students and how we're doing and these are these are National right these are the national conferences the number of students that made it uh to States and qualified um and at regionals and at districts um I left off the slide but uh numerous in terms of how well our students are doing um I'll give you a couple of Grant updates um last year I talked to you about a pending Grant and and you probably have seen the news but we were thrilled uh to find that through the ma Massachusetts skills Capital grant program that we were able to receive total funding to upgrade uh our television Production Studio at pumma South High School and it's huge uh that equipment came over from the old school uh which probably is 10 to 15 years of age agage um from industry standards starting to to see greener pastures if you will that project is just about complete um I I know that e e e e and one of the the major things that we'll be able to do is to put up a a pre-fabricated um metal um building on a on an existing 50ft X 50ft slab that's outside of our techwing um that slab was part of the original uh construction of the school um and we'll be able to complete that project and that clear span building will allow us to bring our HVAC our electrical our plumbing and our carpentry students together Under One Roof and work on projects together uh with a focus on clean energy skills um it's an equity Grant and as as uh Mrs fry was speaking about earlier our work at Plymouth South High School uh and working with our different populations and making sure that they have access to all of our programs um in terms of both of those grants uh the mass skills Capital Grant and the mass clean energy I'm really confident that we were awarded those grants because of the work that Plymouth Public Schools has been doing that rich tradition the history that's here in terms of um Career and Technical education and the recognition through those uh Grant awardees if you will uh of the work that's been going on here and the vision and the mission of the public schools to carry that on um it's a compliment I think that to the work that you've done here as a school committee to the administration um in the past in moving forward and looking for forward to to the work that we can do in the coming years there's a couple of other grants that I spoke to you about last year um that we're still looking at and we have one that is pending um we're going to go back at the mass Life Sciences Grant um which is really going to Target some work in CAD uh at Plymouth South High School in our engineering program at uh Plymouth North High School uh in mechatronics and some Advanced manufacturing technology skills uh we know that there's a need in the South Shore and in Massachusetts it's been identified through Mass hire um and we know that we can integrate those Advanced Manufacturing tech skills into existing programs that we have here in Plymouth Public Schools and expand and grow and evolve um without having to add a program we can take a lot of those skills and build them into what we are currently doing um we have a pending Grant another Massachusetts skills Capital uh grant for medical assisting and health assisting so medical assisting at PMA South High School and health assisting Allied Health at Plymouth North High School it's a big Grant uh we have our fingers crossed knock on wood we hope to get good news this school year here uh on that Grant and again it's a a uh uh in equipment in professional development Grant um and hopefully that we hear good news in the next six to eight months uh on that particular Grant um it's pretty much it that I have in terms of uh highlights for you this evening when I'm with you again next year um I'll go back to the other cycle where I presented highlights on certification certifications industry recognized credentials that our students have have earned um the the the work Force development and and I'll update you obviously on the remaining grants that we're waiting on including the work um on the clean energy Grant and the skills and the equipment and the building um as we hit those Milestones awesome thank you does anybody have any questions yes Mrs Jackson um so two things I just wanted to say that I'm very excited about everything that you're doing right now I feel like the things that you've done since you've been hired have really propelled the program forward and I'm just so excited about everything you're doing um I wonder if you could speak just for a moment I know there a big question when it comes to Acceptance in the tech program has been the guidelines and I know you've been doing some work also on you know alternative Pathways and I wonder if you could speak a little bit about how you're trying to level the playing field a little bit with that yeah so we we're we're trying to um really trying to look at through our admissions policies how we can ensure that we we we have um the opportunities provided for all of our students and families um I'll give you a couple of examples um the principal at at um at Harbor uh Mr Dez has reached out to me to see about building those connections between students that he's working with um at our Alternative High School and how we can Bridge um build a bridge if you will and and close that Gap students that are interested in the trades um but aren't at South High School are not at North High School and so that's a work in progress um the another option that that that we're exploring um I was talking with Adam blazel about this earlier this year and I'll be at a conference this Thursday I think it is the 24th um to learn a little bit more about it is after dark programming which um there are a lot of grants that are that that are currently exist I want to say there's still upwards of $40 million right now at the state St level uh for after dark programming so it's something that we need to learn more about to see if we can bring to to Plymouth Public Schools as well um because the after dark program can hit students that they could be a senior in high school um but they could actually participate in that after dark programming as a senior in high school in addition obviously students that are are people that are outside of high school that have graduated but we could hit our seniors um that are looking to get into a trade as well uh so trying to gather more information and learn more about those grand possibilities uh to see if we could bring that programming here thank you awesome thank you anybody else oh thank you for that great presentation I really appreciate and Mrs Jackson took the words right out of my mouth I think we're really excited about all the work that you're doing and the excitement that you bring to this so thank you for that really appreciate it thank you and now we have our field trips I'm assuming you're going to stay up here and with me this evening Miss Cassandra hanol and Miss Maria B they are instructors but also skills uh USA advisers okay um so basically what we're looking to do is our annual fall State leadership conference and our state leadership conference and our national leadership conference um skills USA is working to work with tech all of our Tech students we do enroll all of our Tech students and the skills USA program and we're working to bridge that Gap and add the um leadership and soft skills that we're really lacking in today's uh Workforce so skillsusa is having their fall State leadership conference which is all um community service based inter uh connected projects they're going to work with people from other schools to work on um different projects together to increase communication and teamwork and things like that um and then State and National Conference is more based on that uh Hands-On competition aspect of learning Hands-On skills um uh communication skills leadership skills Etc um to add anything to that um fall State leadership conference really does embody what we want our students to look like throughout the five pillars of the vision of The Graduate it shows us what our students can do and what they're capable of um it lets them really showcase those soft skills and build them in a place that's safe for them and where they can learn from students from across the state all the way from Western Mass when they've traveled nine hours to get to this conference we only traveled about an hour um it's really amazing to see what they can do when they interact with each other and how much they grow over the course of two days um same thing with the state leadership and National leadership and skills conferences they come out of those conferences completely change students I speak from experience I was very heavily involved in skills USA and it changed my life and that's why I'm back and if didn't that I wouldn't be back so I think it's the best thing that we could offer to our students and they would be um accompanied by both of us at all three of those conferences okay anybody have any questions can we do them all Dr Campbell So to that point so you'll notice that all nine of these opportunities which are a rich part of our our skills USA and deca programs were put in there individually in case you had a question and wanted to pull one out didn't want make an assumption that you but if you want to take a if it's the pleasure of the committee to take a vote on skills all of them okay yep we can we can make sure the electronic School Board goes through and and adjusts that accordingly so we had a motion and a second for just the first one we we'll adjust it accordingly for all of those unless you have a question about any of the okay Dr Thon I think I'll make a motion ready perfect yes I am if anyone okay yes go right ahead move the school committee approve uh the out of the field trip request for both Deca skills USA and skills USA national do we have to say out of state and I'm sorry do we have to say out of state does that matter there they're all yeah yes of course they are I just didn't know if it needed to be in the motion overnight trips have been provided okay I have so I have a motion do I have second thank you Mr Jackson any questions on the motion yes this is both for de hord SKS USA yes so it would be for Deca District it would be for Deca State y it would be for Deca Internationals again planning for the future de District competitions for South um States Internationals skills USA state conference skills for both schools um skills you say Nationals and um yes 8.1 through 8.9 that was my motion yes perfect anybody have any additional questions all right if Noone has any questions we should be able to vote yes maybe go perfect have so much fun and thank you so much and good luck thank you motion passes all right right now we are at policy adoption masc policy section KDC be Dr Rogers or Dr Campbell um Dr Campbell's policy okay just wanted to make sure so we we we we discussed this thank you everyone we discussed this at at the Saturday meeting but uh would like to to bring this to your attention for a consideration for an amendment to our current most recent KDC B policy regarding um social media so one thing that we had a lot of conversations about um was the use of comments and and as we talked about at our satured Retreat um the policy is only as good as how we can manage that right so rather than restricting all comments on our social media accounts which at the district level for a few accounts that we have that would be manageable with with the enormous amount of accounts that we have at the schools and whatnot it would be very difficult to to do that with Fidelity so that's a concern and we've also had some discussion um with our Communications Department regarding some of those concerns so trying to find um Middle Ground regarding this policy we came up with an an attachment that we would include in that policy at the end which reads public engagement through social media just so so for the public um we value the engagement of our community and recognize the importance of dialogue to Foster communication our social media pages will allow public comments however please keep in mind pleas please keep the following in mind one comments reflect the opinions of the individual users and do not necessarily represent the view views or policies of the school district to while we aim to foster a respectful exchange of ideas we do not actively monitor all comments just we do but we can't guarantee that at all times uh for specific questions concerns or feedback regarding School operations we encourage you to contact the relevant Department directly this ensures that your questions and or concerns are addressed accurately and properly we talked about administratively in the event that we were not to include comments on which came from from the committee as a recommendation to be very explicit with that in that post to let people know where to go to get answers so that people understand um how it's connected to the policy okay anybody have any questions I know we talked about this at our Saturday meeting so um if nobody has any questions as an action item anybody have any the will of yes Mrs Jackson I move that we accept uh masc policy section KD CB and we have a second oh thank you Mr Shaw thank you all right I have a motion in a second do have any questions on the motion all right seeing none we should be able to vote I don't know why I look up there like it's going be different than it's on my screen and we that passes unanimously so related to policies and we publicizing this so our masc is um the policy plumouth Public Schools policy menu is now up online MC so it's interactive and searchable now they actually took our Banner uh this year's theme banner and put it at the top which is really nice um so that's up there so in with this revision we will through our office make sure that they get that and they will update that accordingly so this is how that will work and our connections on electronic Schoolboard will go to masc so they can go directly to the interactive um policy manual that's there perfect awesome it's exciting it is yeah it's great it's been a long process so thank you all who've been really deeply involved in that so thank you for doing that all right our next thing we have is our uh 2024 masc resolutions and this is where we typically go through in our voting delegate to Mr sh right this year okay and you're registered we've got you all set I think so okay just want to make sure um and anybody else who's going to be going just make sure that we check with make sure with Trisha that we're all registered um okay sorry Dr Kimbell so I don't know you may have noticed that I got a little lot of hand I think this year with my my commentary so you have the resolutions in there which are I believe nine pages and my recommendations are are 10 I was going to say um I'm not going to I'm not going to go through that for you but what I did this year is I took the resolutions and kind of summarize them so that the general public wouldn't have to read this um just looked at like a benefits and challenges with that and then made some recommendations underneath so I don't know how you'd like me to approach that Miss badger in terms of the res the resolutions I could just go to like summarizing that or if you want to summarize in yeah I mean I think if we just start with one and we move down because we need an individual vote on each of them uh so yeah if we do it that way and that way um I don't know Miss sha knows that our you know just for for your for for you and I who is it are you Jackson are you alternate I can't remember who we are Al yeah so what will happen is sorry to cut you off and I noticed that it's not set up one but we can make note of that and make sure that that's in the the minutes perfect and as long as m sh has that too okay we could do we could kind of keep track and do one long motion like yes to one two we could do something like that as long as it is simple um in that way if it gets a little bit more complicated then we can break it out um but what will happen is the first round of votes you'll vote how the committee votes and then the second round we just kind of if there are second rounds of votes because if there's amendments or anything else like that on the floor what will happen is um we just you use your best judgment based on our discussion um and if there's an amendment that we would want to put out there be a part of you know you've kind of been part of the discussion so that's kind of how it works all right so uh resolution one is the development of an alternative to high school excuse me high stake mcast test so really um in this they're actually looking to dissolve so the masc board of directors has introduced a resolution advocating for development of an alternative to mcap the initiative emphasizes the access to high quality public fund education is constitutional right and calls for an educational framework that supports diverse learning styles or promotes holistic student development from preschool through higher ed um so the resolution urges Massachusetts to enact a moratorium on mcast testing effective immediately so that's really the the the point I wanted to emphasize there so um and we've we've had similar resolutions here before so this is just again this is just my my take on this so I I fully acknowledge um the benefits of developing an alternative to highst mcast testing I think that as someone who's been involved in it since its Inception involved in testing students that in in learning styles there is no one way where we can really um assess all Learners um having said that I do have concerns about throwing something out without having something in its place um without a more detailed framework on how a new system would be developed funded implemented I I think that we run the risk of um inconsistency and confusion the way that it's written so I would encourage the community to consider those challenges and seek more clarity um on aspects to this resolution the way it's written have any discussion on the committee side about resolution one and yes Mr bazano yeah it seems odd that we would adopt the resolution go there's a Statewide referendum on mcast right now anyway so I completely I mean all the everything that Dr Campbell wrote up I agree with on top of that it just seems like it's not the right time for the typ of resolution anyway good point I'd agree anybody else have any additional thoughts Michelle yeah what is the impact of the like the ballot initiative so I can speak to that yeah so B question two um if that passes students will still take mcaps okay but it will not be um a graduation requirement okay we'll still get the data so this is this is a a moratorium effect of immediately on mcast testing meaning it will stop entirely yes that's what they're that's what they're suggesting here with this resolution yeah okay yeah hence my reason for I I think think I think it's important to have something in place that help so that it helps us to support the students and not to have something in place um I think I think some development would need to take place before I would even support that myself other any other oh sorry um are there any other ways that we could compile data to see without the mcast testing I personally I do not like the mcast and I do not like high stakes testing um just as a general rule I do understand what you're saying though where we use it as a metric and it's a standardized thing that we use as a metric but is there any other way that we could compile that data without the mcast testing yeah so so the high stakes is 10th grade as she she pointed out so it's a graduation requirement um we do we do as a district a number of Assessments we do benchmark assessments we do assessments early on uh we have common assessments we have curriculum based measures there's multiple measures that we take um and of course exams there's a whole host that varies from school district to school district so the the the the question I guess to masc representing all districts is should there be a common measure right that that we have or multiple measures that we could use with students of diverse learning styles that we feel would be representational of that we are we by the um accountability standards that are set under through Ed reform and and everything that's in place we will always have to have a measure in place and the state will have something that will that will be dictated based on the Federal Regulations so um yes to to yeah there there is but I think it's more about having thatl Statewide agreement on what that would be because we're going to be held accountable to something and the state's going to really dictate that at the end of the day what that would be okay thank you you're welcome yeah anybody else i' I'd have to agree I mean I don't I'm not for High s test I think they're I think it's wild but and and I'd also love to see us do something truncated for the mcast because the amount of time that is spent in the classroom to take those or out of the classroom to take those exams is really just incredible um yeah so I I mean I do think we need some sort of Benchmark that's across the state but what that looks like and how we can make it much shorter I'd love to see [Music] happen all right do we so is the committee feeling comfortable about waiting till the end to do a resolution or do we want to do I mean a a motion or do we want to do a motion for each resolution what do we feel in what is the will um maybe we should do one for each resolution okay then I need a motion by somebody yes Mr Morgan I'll make a motion to recommending voting no on resolution one y okay I have a motion do I have a second a second Mr Pano any questions on the motion just a question yes Dr Dr and I hope this is this is inherent in the motion Dr Campbell noticed that the immediate termination of mcast is the main reason why we would vote this resolution down yes we're not taking a position on whether or not we think mcast is valuable exactly yes um Mrs Shaw do we have to form it in the affirmative like form the question the affirmative or no no as long as you understand the okay the um the will of the committee so if it's easier for you whatever yeah yeah no that's fine okay all right so then we'll start with you Mrs sha yes on this motion is to accept the superintendent recommendation yes to vote no all right so now Mrs Shaw yes Mr Morgan yes Mrs Jackson yes Mr Bano yes Dr J and I vote Yes so we will vote this down as our first your first go round all right so our next and we have resolution two all right Dr Campbell yes so resolution two has to do with um increasing the compulsory um age of attendance of the Brockton sponsored a resolution urging Mass legislators to increase the age from 16 to 18 um there's there are some obviously improve benefits to that uh in terms of reduced drop B rates and improved graduation rates and um and challenges in terms of um supports and infrastructure to support kids that that are struggling which is our job um I also put a link in there that the majority of States currently have a compulsory compulsory education age of 17 or 18 when you look at across the state so you know based on the benefits and the challenges though um I would my my advice would be to support the increase of the compulsory age anybody have any questions Mrs Shaw do 16-year-olds need parental permission to withdraw from school at 16 at 16 yes okay yes so yeah Mr Jackson um excuse me from a Dei perspective have we looked at how this affects some of our um diverse communities because I know that in certain cultures kids will leave at a specific age to work because it's a cultural expectation that they will go to work at a certain time to support their family I'm just asking I the I would say um no question that we have a higher percentage of students that that drop out of school from um certain demographics and high-risk students right and that that so by supporting something like this we're in we're increasing that number right because um well not increas in that number but we're we're we're it's forcing us to to to make sure that we continue to support them Beyond 16 for two years but um yes but our goal is is to get them all to graduate right yeah but yes it it certainly I think we have more students that are limited English and come from other demographics that may have a higher dropout rate than the aggregate for sure any additional make a motion that we support the superintendent's recommendation to increase the drop at age to age 18 okay have a motion as indicated in the resolution motion I have a second a second perfect Mr Bano any questions on the motion no well Mrs Shaw no Mr Morgan yes Mrs Jackson yes Mr Bano yes Dr sson yes and I vote Yes so that is six and uh wait how many of us are there right now there's five of us and yes one um opposed so that motion does pass um all right three resolution three yeah so resolution three is actually a resolution similar to the one the public schools safe storage of firearms so Framingham school committee uh put this resolution together again to urge uh secure Firearms practices and and to put some uh critical pieces in place which really aligns with uh smart program many of the things the Plymouth Public School does as a result of uh School committee's resolution that was passed several years ago so given the benefits of uh associated with promoting safe storage of firearms I would think it would be advisable to support this resolution anybody have any questions any desired motions I move that Jackson we accept the superintendent's recommendation to support this resolution if I have a motion do I have a second second thank you Dr senson any questions on the motion R and will with Mr Shaw yes Mr Morgan yes Mrs Jackson yes Mr Bano yes Dr s and I vote Yes so that was unanimous Perfect all right resolution number four resolution four is school bus stop arm surveillance act and enforcement penalties so this is uh pbd public schools sponsored a resolution advocating for enhanced safety measures to protect students uh boarding and disembarking from school bus um it is illegal as you know to stop uh to pass a bus that stopped especially when the when the stop arm is extended so uh this would Implement digital video violation detection systems on school buses to monitor uh and to record violations so this is something that PE school committee um is sponsoring um there's certainly benefits to that I think that we we know that this happens and um it's a very dangerous thing the the only challenge would be implementation costs which would need to be considered but given the benefits I do think it would be advisable to support that and it would be great if it came with some funding exactly um but I I I it's hard to say no to something like this yeah for sure anybody have any questions Mr Morgan um who's going to pay for the surveillance system yeah that's the that's the one question right mhm that's the part that's the question that would be really nice that if it came with additional funding from the state because it adds another unfunded mandate but it does right we create own fun mandate if we support this and it goes through and then it gets kicked back us agreed agreed yeah I mean right now how many cameras do we have on our buses six seven our district owned ones we have three I believe and our contracted ones I think there are six or seven for the arm like the right one like the this kind this would be no not I was going to say this you know maybe there's a you know depending or going way ahead of myself but yeah um yeah it always comes down to the funding it's not like the bus company's going to give it to us for free Dr senson I'm sure that there are many states maybe Massachusetts is one of them that uses uh video to monitor red lights and all those things and the you know the perennial question is does the car make the uh violate the the the does the car violate the light or does the driver violate the light and in this resolution it's the car that violates that yeah in this resolution it's the car owner but suppose I'm not driving my car yeah that's true that's a very good point Mrs sha um excuse me I just for clarification this resolution sounds like it gives us the ability to put a camera but it doesn't Force us to put a camera so like as far as unfunded mandate goes it wouldn't necessarily be a mandate it would just be something that we could choose to do would add um at least that's my reading of it so that was just Clarity oh Mr Jackson thank you um along with that question um is there a way to Loop this into a conversation with the bus companies I mean they're already who who pays for the cameras that are on the buses now it gets past we do okay we have a separate in our bid well we we pay have a daily rate for each bus okay we have a daily rate for each camera on the on the buses so we pay something like $2.75 or so per day per bus okay um for each camera so if we were going out to bid in the next if we go out to bid in the next 3 years it could be something we can include in the bid yeah um as a requirement or an alternate if we go out to bid if we were to purchase buses ourselves it could be something that we could have installed on our buses but again either way it's it's our cost on the end really yeah any questions Dr Zon I feel like you look like you have something to say no there's I'm sure there's an answer to my question because States all over this country have have enforced traffic laws using cameras y right yep but if I'm not driving my car why should I get why should I get the usually the cameras catch the driver too some pretty good resolution reference is just the vehicle not the owner yeah yeah that's true but usually like when you go through a toll like it gets your plate and you get it's a pay by plate but you can look it up on like the Massachusetts Co website and see the picture of yourself my daughter always smiles it's cute my I know that all right so what is what is the committee's thought on this or motion how would we like to proceed did we hear the superintendent recommendation yes that we would support it you know it's a safety to the point it's not something that Jackson enfor I um I agree that because it's not a mandate and it's more of a suggestion for implementation that it seems like a good idea but I also agree with what Dr soron is saying that I feel like I would be happier if there was an amendment here that also included the driver and not just the vehicle okay so do we want to I mean in the past we had have put motions where we've not voted until like without putting a motion gosh I'm sorry I'm losing my voice here um until like we've put the motion like an amendment on the floor and that's what we've been okay with voting on if there was an amendment on the floor if we did it or if they did it if someone else did it right didn't we do that like a couple years ago had some amend like suggested amendments that you would put on the floor yeah yeah like we could put an amendment on the floor we could hold off and abstain from this vote unless there's an amendment that we you know there's we could support I mean actually I mean this is sorry no the conversation that we've had yeah yeah nothing so it's really the will you all think so we're not taking any action on that's the question if we want to take any action or no action and just we can give Mrs Shaw the opportunity to um take in consider a or discussion and vote as she feels when she gets there based on amendments and things like that would that be something that I'd feel most comfortable with that I think so if someone would like to make that motion I can't because our committee is over there five people I I move that we keep the voting until the discussion is had on the floor so what I think if you use your best judgment on the floor um based on what's happening in the discussion if there amendments or okay I move that I will use my best judgment but taking no act taking no AC taking no taking into as written but take into consideration the discussion here yes for that's a good I like the way you saying it yeah it's like what Dr Campbell says y yes it's recorded Okay so we've been a motion have a second this is Jackson thank you any questions on the motion all right seeing none we'll go Mrs Shaw yes Mr Morgan yes Mrs Jackson yes Mr Pano yes Dr sson yes and I vote Yes okay perfect thank you and now we've got resolution five right yeah yeah so this is a lot of these I I say that there's benefits to support it but there's a lot of qu careful things so this really the Arlington school committee has introduced a resolution to advocate for legislative changes to align Municipal tax taxing Authority with local contributions so under the framew current framework you know the local contribution is determined by um property wealth um but municipalities are constrained by proposition two and a half which limits tax levies increase to 2 and a half plus New Growth so um the resolution calls for legislators to enact a law that would permit municipalities to increase their Levy limit by the amount that the the required local contribution exceeds the 2 and a half% threshold so this would would Empower municipalities to raise local revenues ensuring that they could adequately support education funding while maintaining fiscal stability so there's a there's benefits obviously to education by doing that but there's also challenges in terms of you know may lead to higher property taxes which would be burdensome on the local taxpayer resistance um and just you know there there are some challenges so um yeah I support the idea but it's also very concerning that that mean it would be I think there's a lot of questions that would need to be answered and and yeah so I'm not sure I I would really support it the way it's written entirely Mrs Jackson I was going to say I have a lot of concerns about this one not that I think the current structure is an advisable structure but I also feel like there are so many unanswered questions with this one that I'm not sure that I would want to that I would feel comfortable supporting this as it's written Mrs Shaw I want to know what Mr blaza thinks um I would love to fund education more really truly would but if you're allowing in my opinion if you're allowing towns to increase your tax levy Beyond 2 and a half% you are you're you could be pushing quite a few of your taxpayers out of town too so though I like the idea I don't think it's necessarily smart Dron there was a time when school committees had fiscal autonomy if we passed the budget as we all know whatever that line was the town had to pay for it sure education got enough funding but the animosity that grew out of that was pretty intense and this brings us back in that direction so I I don't think we should support this anybody else anything I also think it's an equitable thing if you're looking from Community to community AC I mean maybe we can do one thing impl but can you do that all across or can you do that or we can't do impl and what other communities can do so for me it's an equity thing across the state I don't know do I have a motion Mr Morgan I'll make the motion uh not to support resolution number five okay second and Mrs Jackson seconds it do you have any questions no all right Mr Shaw yes Mr Morgan yes Mrs Jackson yes Mr Bano yes Dr senson yes and I vote Yes all right moving on to resolution number six excuse me so resolution six is uh support of legislation to approve the physical health of rural School District so this was um done by Deerfield southernland Watley Frontier Regional school committee which I've never been that to that part um addressing the pressing Financial challenges faced by rural communities so um despite the increase in State education funding following the student Opportunity Act these districts have received less than 1% of the funding um so they're they're looking this resolution calls for legislators to enact a comprehensive comprehensive legislation that incorporates all recommendations of the commission's report which was was entitled a sustainable future for Rural schools and by doing so seeks to enhance funding mechanisms expand rural school aid grants and address the unique Financial challenges faced by these rural communities um this certainly benefits to rural school districts um obviously um they face higher per pupil operational costs due to low enrollment geographic isolation much like our challenges with Transportation um you know this could ensure St more stability for Rural communities we're not one of these um determining how to allocate funds fairly and effectively would be complex I think in this I think that ensuring that it achieves its goals would require careful monitoring and planning and adjustments and even with increased funding I think disparities May persist if the allocations are not carefully designed to address the needs of underresourced re uh rural District so I think it's it's my I guess advice is to support the idea but I don't know the mechanism to support the resolution necessarily as it's written Mrs Jackson that was my question the language seems a little ambiguous to me like I'm not really sure exactly what I'm supporting with this resolution um because it doesn't really say I mean I'm all for or giving more funding to the rural schools or helping them find a way to accomplish their goals but at the same time there's no framework or um nothing really spelled out in here that's like really speaks to how it all what exactly we're supporting Dr th very similar to M Jackson's comment uh I am not probably I have not read all of the recommendations from the legislative Commission on the fiscal health of rural schools I have not read those recommendations nor do I even know where to find them right and they're asking me to vote on them yeah yeah I could not vote on that anybody else so what is the will of the committee Mrs Jackson I I vote that we do not support resolution six okay do I have a second second okay I have a motion and a second do I have a question on the motion I'm just going to say I think that I will probably abstain only because I the concept of it makes sense so it's not that I don't support it but it's that I think we need more information so I would feel more comfortable if we did kind of what we did with question three um and kind of listen to what was happening and then uh kind of went in and gave a best guess so that will be my vote for justice and FYI anybody else have yes Mr Mr Jackson um just to that point I I do hear what you're saying but I'm not sure that there's going to be enough discussion on the floor to really comprehensively address the resolution no and I understand um I do agree with what you're saying though all right anybody else all right Mrs Shaw yes Mr Morgan yes Mrs Jackson yes Mr bazano yes Dr senson yes and I vote no but we the pass so how many there six of us today five to one perfect thank you all right thank you and now we've got resolution six that was six right so resolution seven is fully adjusting Chapter 70 aid for inflation um so this um we've talked about this here um through many budget presentations in terms of that uh that the Chapter 70 is not really um adjusted for inflation um and this resolution from the ever school committee proposes to uh catch up essentially from Chapter 70 funding and accurately reflect the the realized inflation since the enactment of the student Opportunity Act um so there was approximately a 6% shortfall in that funding necessary to maintain uh adequate purchasing power in schools uh during the last couple years and we've talked about that rate of inflation in our presentation so uh it calls for for catching up um certainly something that I support I do think that there are challenges to that understandably the money needs to come from somewhere um so again again it's another thing I think would have a budgetary impact someplace but it certainly something that the the the idea I support great anybody have any questions or aemotion Mrs [Music] Jackson um I like the idea of this I kind of would go along the lines of no action if because I'd want to see what happens on the floor I don't feel like there's a lot here to I'm concerned about where the money's coming from and what the trickle down effect is and the equity of the entire thing but but I also do agree that Chapter 70 is extremely underfunded and would really want to see that catch up but I want to see where it comes from before so I want to have that conversation and then I think Miss Shaw would understand what the will of the committee as a whole is anybody else any thoughts or a motion Mr bazano know think oh s we need a motion of some kind I will move for Action can we take no action we can take no action that's it and just move forward and move on okay so we'll go on to resolution eight I mean nine no resolution eight already rolled down sorry you may recognize this one it was written by the pth School need to take fing non Regional School District vot um I support this res right and we're done it so we've got a mo motion from Dr senson do we have a second B Mrs sha second all right no questions on the motion I'm guessing Mrs Shaw yes Mr Morgan yes Mrs Jackson yes Mr Fano yes Dr sson and I vot yes awesome perfect I look forward to seeing happens on the floor of that one yes you have to text us all to um resolution n resolution nine Tri County Regional Vocational Technical High School propos a resolution urging legislators to implement the tiered evaluation system for assessing School building costs under chapter 74 so really looking at um how that formula works for those types of buildings specifically through msba evaluating its projects at equal value so this certainly benefits we know um having built a comprehensive vocational technical school and one that wasn't there it there are certainly more costs that go into vocational education and sure that that reimbursement rate perhaps for some of that isn't the same um so I I do support the idea as I try to say here but I think there are other challenges to implementation in terms of feasibility to really assess the potential impacts the logistic requirements of a tiered evaluation system really to figure out those challenges and not just to you know Implement something without having a well thought out plan any thoughts any desires yes Mr Pano so are you saying don't support this or I'm not I don't I think there's more I think there's more challenges to figuring out the the like the devils in details with this um so I would I would almost abstain from a vote and hear more almost if you know if that were so we can take no action again if that's the will of the committee um or we can continue I feel like I would want to hear more before I need I like the idea don't we all yeah I agree I I do I like the idea too but I do think you know that it's that there's some complexities here that would need to be figured out so no action we're good with that moving forward okay awesome all right well it'll be interesting to see what happens there's some really interesting and really there's um detailed oh no oh is there one more oh there is 10 jeez I thought there was only nine yeah that's 10 and this one is really think complex too oh this is here I am I'm not making I'm not being committ um so this resolution Tri count Regional Technical High School to address increasing demands on chapter 74 so they're they're emphasizing that every student in Massachusetts should have an opportunity to pursue quality uh secondary Ed particularly in vocational technical fields we talked about that tonight agree with that um so the looking for an expansion of capacity of existing chapter 74 to collaborate with districts um requesting a special commission to explore changes to laws and regulations governing msba um enhancing funding structures eligibility standards and assistance to to um expand technical programs in schools I think it's great I do think that there's a lot that would need to be ironed out here I had more questions I think than opinions on this one in terms of the challenges of of really you know um the funding the logistics um just build a sustainability plan maintenance yeah it's very complex okay any thoughts from y Mrs Jackson um I'd be interested to see where this conversation goes just because this is something that's very near and dear to my heart like I really feel like there needs to be a substantial change to how we integrate people in these programs and I really feel strongly that something like this would be a great idea I just don't see the details in it yet that make me want to just say I want to fully support it but I don't I wouldn't readily vote no on it either agreed anybody else is this another no action I like it you have Mr know you're going to have so much fun to substain all right so we'll take no action looks like everyone's good with it all right well good luck hope it's going to be really fun on the floor and um yeah and anybody who hasn't who wants to go it's Friday the 8th right Friday the 8th and then Saturday the 9th I believe right or is it Thursday Friday I think it's Thursday Frid Thursday Friday um so inalar make sure that you're registered um I can never go it doesn't fit my schedule but I'm going to go for like a I think two hours this this time kind of excited to go well there's going to do they're going to be there's going to be a panel as part of it um that Mom's demand action is putting on that Dr Campbell and I are going to be a part of I think you're you're on the panel or like yeah that's what I thought I'll be there um that we're going to talk about our resolution and kind of like what we've been doing in the district so I think that's really uh going to be a exciting thing but yeah just make sure you're registered all right right now moving on from this our next piece we have if I'm able to is our superintendent report right back at you Dr thank you I'll try to be uh uh quick uh no place for hate uh committee uh Dr Rogers has been working uh hand inand for MLK weekend as you know it's going to be a Friday through Sunday uh opportunities um that that no place for hate is sponsoring so we will be supporting a student essay contest uh doing a performance through our vpa program at lunch and and as I said uh Dr Rogers has been doing uh a lot of work with the entire committee and miss Nancy Morris from the place for hate so look forward to to that weekend um we are working as many of you know already on a budget media series with our Ed TV amazing crew uh we're looking to put together um a a a a number of of six short videos which will be distributed from November through early December so we're looking at doing one on the the budget development process one on changing Stu student demographics and how that affects funding needs Transportation uh facilities and maintenance uh talk about our contracts and all that and then also what we do to promote transparency and engagement in the process so we we have some scripts going we'll be doing some recordings Dr bla d um and those will be going out through EDTV also done um had two other opportunities with the support of Miss Jackson and Miss Badger uh the local scene if you didn't if you've hav seen the the 45 minute uh show that was done um that went out I think last week if I'm not mistaken we also pushed it out through our our channels and and watd uh hosted us uh that's not too long after that I can't remember which day it was on a 30 minute show and we'll be doing um another visit this Friday to the local scene to continue the conversation sending around Transportation they allowed us to come back on multiple occasions to kind of dig deeper on some of the budget issues and and and talking points that we've brought up and we'll be doing that at ATD as well again trying to get the the word out and in smaller um varied formats and I think going getting outside of our district dist platforms which have been fantastic it's also helped us capture our larger audience because I actually heard commentary from people at town meeting yeah so that's great um so forward to that Dr blae and I blae Dell and I met with the massachusett association of people Transportation we'll be undergoing a transportation study in the very near future um and hopefully in the next few months we'll be able to get a report from them so I think it takes them five weeks to process once we go through that um so that we can look at not only our existing systems but also some hypotheticals of what it would take in order to change um any structure to our existing contracts or ownership of some of that so we look forward to sharing that when that's done as well I already mentioned the policy manual being up on um on MC which is great uh chronic absenteeism you heard Mrs fry talking about this we're doing a number of things and this is really a big District push uh we did a workshop uh at our last admin meeting really looking at actions and systems that are in place really looking at uh reviewing our data from last year um we've discussed um doing promotions um and Mr jitz has been instrumental uency officer on doing some promotions through Ed TV and trying to get the word out as well um we know that there are a number of reasons why kids are absent whether it's aversions barriers disengagement misconceptions about how much attendance matters so really trying to think about all of those factors and how we can influence that um so we had some great conversations and we're doing a lot a lot of our actions are connected to that uh we had a wonderful meeting that I took part in last Thursday at alanin Heights which will be happening monthly to help support treny absenteeism is there uh Dee winterson who is the director over there is fantastic we had uh school truy there admin YMCA High Point diversity committee chair and vice chair DD uh myself um it was and it was a great conversation we came up with a lot of specific things that we can do as a as a community at large uh to support that so that was great and we're going to continue to do that um learning walks and I know that people have already signed up so if uh they start tomorrow so if you're again if you're available to join us at hedge at 8:45 and wanted to participate in something that we've been talking about for four years now um that will not be the only opportunity we have two others schedule we have PCS and South middle and there'll be others over the course of the year as well these are the walks with our administrative team so I'm looking forward to those who participate to kind of share that process with you you can go into classrooms see things uh and what we've been talking about for a long time um and then today the last thing we had our right before we met uh for school committee we had the first kickoff for our volunteers and public schools program development so I may have mentioned mentioned in in the past that fouth has a wonderful program called VIPs The Volunteers in public schools it's 42 years in the making it's phenomenal they have over a thousand volunteers mentors that go into this schools and they have um just a wellestablished system so with mass service Alliance and the support of f with Public Schools we're trying to replicate structures here so we have a committee that met uh today of PTA members administrators uh community members we have the chamber on this and we will be creating the structures protocols and practices that we need kind of frontloading all the the specific techn work before we start doing Outreach so I'm really looking forward to what comes of this particular in the spring so uh really excited about that so that's all I have this evening M pck awesome all right thank you anybody have any questions no well if anybody has any um a burning desire to be involved in the budget discussion videos about a certain topic let us know we' be happy to have um we've just been talking about Dr Campbell and Dr blazel being kind of like the primary people but we'll switch out as we go if you have you know a certain love for something within our budget that you really want to talk about uh so please let us know uh as we're building that out um all right now we have retirements Dr Campbell yeah sorry my my electronic School Board is having a mind of its own I is give me one second I don't know what's going on here it like jumped way ahead so try to pull it up I feel like this is my opportunity that we have one retirement and I'm trying to get to it thank you we have one retirement to share it's Monica Gilmore uh School nurser Nathaniel Morton after four years who has retired effective December 31st of this year you Mr Bano yep on behalf of the committee and the district I'd like to thank nurse Gilmore for her four years of service for the district thank you all right now we have oh did it again uh Committee Member reports does anybody have anything they'd like to share any nothing no I have if nobody else has anything I just want to make sure and thank you Mr Morgan for bringing this up uh nsba is April 4th to April 6 we just need to remember we need a quorum for town meeting as we're making the decisions on whether people are go going um if you're up for election you're not able B to go just as a reminder but please do let us know if you're interested we want to make sure that you know we have a representation there but I think we're going to need a quorum in uh April so if we can maintain a quorum that'd be lovely so that's one thing and then I wanted to thank U Mrs Jackson um Mr Morgan and Mrs Shaw for attending caucuses um and making sure that we were able to get uh share our information about our bylaw change if the chart had passed uh or that that portion of the charter 21 article 21 had passed which it did not so um either way we're moving forward in the spring with a bylaw change and we'll just see what happens from there but thank you for going and another reminder that Springtown meeting we're going to we have 18 precincts to cover some of times they meet together and you can meet with three at a time which is nice or more but we are going to have to make sure that people are you know clearing a night are two because they're going to meet several times and we're going to need everyone on the committee to um pick up a few meetings to be able to get to everything you know it's wonderful that you know Dr Rogers and Dr Campbell and Dr blazel all go out and they take their time but I think it's really important that we we are there as school committee members so that's just my um soap box for this evening uh and then another you know we've already mentioned to you know a thank you to WD for allowing us to be on um the Kevin andi's um show as well as local scene I think it's really important and really great that they're allowing us to um partner with them in that way to get the word out cuz I like you have heard a lot uh being given back uh or shared with us um and then it was today I had an opportunity for work to go to the blue Futures conference and it was really nice to see our students there and uh a great group I thought it was much more um I think we had a like probably double the students we had last year than this year and it was nice to see more female students involved because it's engineering program it was really nice to see more of more uh diversity in that group and then I did want to I did get to go to Sweet surrender at Plymouth North and that was they what comic timing it was perfect at a at a lot of times even when you know things unintentionally broke on the stage they did a really great job just like going with it and rolling with it so you know I know it's not talent but work really hard and they do build off of some innate Talent I'd say um but sorry doc sorry Mr cable I know you're probably watching and yelling at me through the TV but they did a wonderful job that's all I have to share so thank you all right um the next piece we have is Plymouth building committee report Mr Morgan um yes we uh met uh last week um the Oak Street project for the town they're asking um about doing a construction audit because cost kept going up so they may ask billing commit to participate in that received an update from the town manager on Memorial Hall and the RFP is going to go out to do a top to bottom review of the building issues there and the feasibility study for repairs um we see an update on the fire station station 2 is essentially done except for some um doors that need to go in and the open house is scheduled for November 7th station 5 they're making progress but they're still behind schedule um School roofs um for federal furnace there's a punch list that of items that need to be looked at roof scans are supposed to be done and that's all I had thank you anybody have any questions thank you for that and then we have Personnel report actually printed this one so uh we have five certificated appointments 11 classified and two resignations to report this evening thank you and now we have our budget update um Dr blil um the item that's attached on the agenda is really what we had discussed at our Retreat or workshop on that Saturday um so this is just a transfer report that basically shows that any transfers that we had um really were just the reductions of the 10% that we that we had discussed um I'll work on trying to get this to regular L on on monthly so at least you can see that it's a little like has already been talked about you have you see this but it's really not in a clear form it's kind of embedded in the so I'm going to try and get this a little clear and put up some other reports for you to the public I thought it as well yes and it is posted um and like I said all of those are for the 10% reductions that we did for for salaries or other reductions that we had done um in order to pay for contracts as well thank you anybody have any questions I know we've already kind of talked it through but I do appreciate you taking the time to do this for us uh I think it it just continues to push forward our transparency that we're trying and getting that information out to the public and um giving them an opportunity to see what's what's happening uh so thank you for that and then we have our Capital Improvement and Equipment requests yes so um the town obviously has requested that we redo our 10-year Capital plan and then our FY 26 Capital Improvement submission um so there are two attachments to today's agenda um I'll spend I'll talk a little bit about the FY 26 Capital submission because that's really um more of the critical piece um the items that are on here are are ordered in priority um I'll go through them real briefly and if anybody has any questions but the first one is really in regards to feasibility and design for a new elementary school if we were able to move to the next step um if we're not able to move to the next step this item would be removed automatically y um the second item is HVAC repair one of the biggest issues that we have in this district is HVAC um so Mr derky our facilities director is really looking at how do we kind of change the practice and really looking at um he had a company come in and and do a an audit of what really needs to be done if you look at the audit audit um it's pages long it's millions of dollars so he's really trying to kind of Target um the priority needs first um next is the maned elementary school rubber roof replacement um you approve this last year and it was approved at Tom meeting however there was some additional scope when we went through the bid um where we had to do some brick work because the layer the the height of the roof came up too high to meet meet the window that's in the back there's some there's a window when you look at man and mat um in the back it's an old glass block window um it's when you do the roof work the roof comes up and then meets the window so they've got to do some work to raise the to raise the brick work to then the window so um that was discovered when they when we went to bid it this is this this 240 is just the additional funding not the yeah cuz it was much more yes yeah what we when we looked at the roof price all the bids came in exactly what we expected yeah and then this so this was additional and it wasn't cheap Mason rework is not cheap um the next one is looking at pcis fire alarm system full system upgrade um the system we have have some areas where it doesn't ring um so this is a it's to redo the entire system at at pcis um next one is pus South High School the maintenance garage um we have a lot of equipment stored at the maintenance garage at the back of plou South High School um this was not included in the renovation then when it was done so we have a a roof if you remember the old metal roof at the Old plma South High School um it has a same material there so um this will be looking to do some work there to repointing um we have a lot of our plows and so forth back there and if you look at the pavement back there um it's I live off a dirt road it's worth and living up that because it's some potholes in area back there um Plymouth North High School um this is looking at replacing the football field Turf um if you notice you probably can notice even when you go for graduation if you walk on South highs there's a little bit of Bounce to it you walk it North and it's like walking on concrete um we're at the lifespan of of that um we're about 12 13 years out from that being replaced so um it it's it's past time um let's see pcis um is really looking at the parking lots redoing the pavement asphalt um we've been patching that parking lot year after year after year and it's it they they're doing the best they can with people that are coming out so that really needs to be replaced at this time um districtwide there a next one is looking at roof assessments and preventative maintenance um again same type idea with the HVAC Mr Derk is really looking at how do we kind of address some of our Roofing needs um and he's he's having an assessment going on as well to to figure out what do we have to Target first so it be really looking at repairing roofs not replacing roofs um um the next two items are really again looking at we have some buses that are 13 14 years old uh not 13 they 2013's um so they're 11 years old 100 and something thousand miles on them um and these are the buses since we've done we're doing more and more Athletics and more and more field trips um last week we had 59 trips go out um so we're that's that we're not Contracting with first student that's that's Athletics and field trips and so forth um and 70 van is really looking at our special ed population and replacing some of the Vans and adding some additional um Federal furnace is in need of a multi-use tractor do lawn and snow um Plymouth North um when you walk in that door if you've noticed we've had in the past we've had some flooding in our main lobby and our custodians have done a great job cleaning it up but we really shouldn't have to worry about water being going into the front of Plymouth North High School after we've done just built it 12 years ago um so this is really looking at a slit drain right across the ENT entire front um and that does take some engineering as well there's one drain that's about this big if you notice where it says p yeah at the main entrance literally this big sorry and that's right um the admin building here um it's really looking at doing some building envelope not billing but build building envelope repairs um and the coupa as well if you go around if you walk around this building you'll see some areas that need some um cement need theing work need some work and if you go around the back you'll see some some woodwork that's gone not even just m it's gone um and then we obviously want to maintain the Koopa as well we don't want to lose that because that would be a lot more than we had to replace it um and we are in a historic district now too so that comes into play but what we're talking about is really not any major just some repairs um West Elementary School if you were to walk the sidewalks tennis court basketball court um that really the asphalt's in rough shape um South Elementary School years ago we added a a um parking lot on where the baseball field was um that was that was only a binder coat so if you were to drive on that you'll see start seeing some cracks so we don't want to lose that so that we want to make sure we do a final code on that as well so because we don't want to have to redo that again um the next one is looking at stairwell Renovations at Nathaniel Morton um this kind of goes in in regards to what we've talked about for years um in regards to doing a little bit at Nath Marton every year um now that we've got the roof fixed um and also we have have to meet with the we're going to we have to set up a meeting with the CPA to see if there's any CPA funds that might be available to us as well so um that's something that that Mr derky and I are planning on doing we just haven't done that yet um admin building looking at the generator here um and then South Elementary School um looking at HVAC units replacement and then obviously we're going to start getting we're really getting into that that window of ADA um because once we reach that 30% we we need to to start looking at that so um it's a long list it's $9.2 Million worth of items um all things that need to be done and we're not necessarily sure how how much we'll receive but this is what we would recommend at this time anybody have any questions this is an action item if we don't have any questions we just need to support or I mean I shouldn't I'm not going to put that I just need an action item need a motion from anybody yes Mr Morgan I'll make a motion to support the capital outlay expenditure as recommended thank you do have a second second L did you just second it okay thank you sorry Mr Bano um all right we have a motion and a second do have any questions on the motion see n we should be able to vote electronically perfect that that passes with one absens I mean oh sorry not one sorry unanimously one absent I can't read um all right maybe it's getting past my bedtime sorry guys all right next thing we've got anybody have anything for unfinished or new business you'd like to add for a future meeting no okay does anybody have anything they need to remove from the consent agenda I just yes Mrs Jackson One Small Change you just need to remove it out of the consent agenda is it a minutes oh the minutes yeah yes um it was the 99 minutes it's just that um we can do it when we're done we'll just remove the 99 okay and then anybody else need anything else removed also would like to remove the 923 minutes so I'll move both remove both sets of minutes from that um and then so we'll just so now I need a motion to approve the consent agenda um without the minutes included Mr ban motion to approve the consent to dungel with the two sets of minutes removed thank you Mo have a second Mr Jackson anybody have any questions on the motion no we should be able to vote all right that passes unanimously all right now we can go to the the pieces that we pulled from the content Center okay Mrs Jackson 99 uh just on the 99 minutes it's a small change that I meant to email so I apologize uh John Platt's name is spelled wrong perfect okay so and I know he would really want things to be done right on the minutes then I also have a change on page four um it looks like the sentence just needs to be finished uh it says that Dr Campbell advised and then that that they had um that they had and then didn't in it so we just need to say that they had not but one had been requested so it just like ended um and then a really super picky One 8 8.1 we just need a space after Mr Trophy there's like two words together there um for me any other changes for September 9th I and then I have um one really small thing on uh September M 23rd where 7.1 on the bottom uh Model United and it just doesn't have United Nations filled out but other than that they're fine so anybody have any additional so then I just need a motion to accept the minutes with the edit Mrs Jackson I move to approve the minutes with the noted edits do I have a second Mr Morgan thank you anybody have any questions on the motion seeing none we should be able to vote I know going on here it's not oh sorry sorry I was thinking it was separate so we can't because it's not separate okay Mrs Shaw yes Mr Morgan yes Mrs Jackson yes Mr Bano yes Dr s and I vote Yes perfect thank you instruction made all right and if no one has anything else then we can call the meeting to end at 9:27 thanks everybody have a great evening thanks so much I should also have said e