##VIDEO ID:AGMPuwzcg8I## this government meeting is brought to you by eastw works and our local cable subscribers there's your hand okay good evening uh I'm Dylan modley Vice chair of Southampton school committee it is is now 6:00 p.m. call the regular scheduled meeting of the Southampton school committee to order uh four members present uh chair John lumber is not present um being as that it is September 11th I'd like to take a moment of silence to beginning of tonight's meeting in remembrance of those who who were lost during that tragic event as well as those who were lost and gave their lives in the ensuing conflicts [Music] thank you um moving on to our first uh order of business is the approval of minutes from June 12th 2024 I have one correction that I want to make under um new business items C where it says the the last line it says the committee voted unanimously to approve the appointment I did not vote in favor of the appointment so that needs to be corrected okay uh voted four to one 31 Margaret wasn't 3 to one okay anything else do I have a motion move to approve as amended I second motion made by Kim seconded by Jen any discussion hearing uh none all in favor of approving the minute as amended I I I I'll abstain uh motion carries uh three in favor one extension public comment you in the bad it isn't hearing none uh circulation of warrants I believe do we have warrant or those are all done electronically now we all signed so we're good uh those went around I believe last week uh announcements correspondence who the school committee did receive a letter from a Community member regarding potential hearings on toxic chemicals MH yeah I got that today right so I just note that that was received I'll allow uh Mr Lumber to respond should he choose as chair and just note that that was received by the committee okay just for a second what is the procedure on that are we supposed to respond if something comes through like that to all of us or does John respond to those things the chair is technically the official spokesperson for the committee okay if you wanted to engage in an individual conversation with a constituent that is always in 100% your right to do so um I just would ask if you do reply do not reply all because that would create an open meeting violation because we would have a quorum of five committee members on that email change so if you had questions for this indiv individual about that specific thing or questions about that you are of course welcome to email them and follow up from there but okay than yeah I'm going to I'm going to R back to her because I'm a fellow breast cancer survivor um but that would be a more personal thank you for you know this and that's right but John would reply officially okay principal report okay uh here's the North School principal report for September 11th uh just a little recap of summer school the students who needed extended Summer School uh Year services attended Summer School from July 8th to August 3rd thank you to the teachers and staff who endured the summer heat to make learning fun and engaging our custodians also endured some very hot tempts this summer preparing our building for students and staff and I know that you some of you were able to come for the walk through at the end of August and I think it was sparkling um our school adjustment counselor Beth Gordon submitted her retirement letter and she'll be leaving in November the position was posted over the summer just to I didn't have this information in June um we have hired a new adjustment counselor um I don't want to announce I could announce her name is Shante Roa actually and she'll start November 6th so um they'll have a couple weeks of training together before um Beth Gord leaves and then our preschool um SLP speech language path pathologist resigned in June and we are continuing to look for a replacement and hope to have someone on board soon I did hire try to hire three different people over the summer um it was posted we didn't we got four applicants and of the four applicants uh that we interviewed we I I offered it three different times and people did not accept the position uh maybe because it's point 9 they wanted more money um I you know it just it just didn't work out for their schedules um and so it's still posted and now we're looking at possibly Contracting out for that service and I know the preschool started last week so it is um something that we're trying to move on quickly that's a lot more expensive isn't it to contract yes it is yes it is so did you actually receive feedback from people about the pay not being enough or or is this are you surmising uh no I I think that for a09 position um there were three candidates one it didn't work out with her schedule so say you apply for the position you know that it's part-time it doesn't exactly say how part-time it is in the posting once you get through the application process then you realize it's point9 and it's Monday through Thursday and half a day on Friday that didn't work with their daycare situation with their young children um and then one was someone who works year round on a contract so is thinking they're going to make a lot more money than 184 days at 0.9 so that was a problem and then the last one um didn't I don't think wanted to leave in the middle of a school year it's the beginning of a school year but didn't feel like when it came right down to telling their boss that they were going to leave they couldn't do it so said I'm sorry I can't accept the position is it possible to put0 n in the job description because I'm wondering if people aren't wanting to go for it I believe it says 0.9 it just doesn't say Monday through Thursday full time you know half day on Friday I maybe I should change that so that when you apply you know yeah yeah okay what is going to be done for the kids that currently need services in preschool I am looking at having our two we have two slps in our building already that serveice and we're going to have to spread the wealth okay I'm looking at that now I really thought I was going to have some I can't stand having to look all oops Margaret I know I know I am all right so I I'll keep going um last year when we were in the preliminary stages of looking at our entrance and exit criteria for our neurodiverse students and their IEPs we took a look at our special ed programming of all students and as we know special ed regulations uh require us to provide students with supplementary AIDS and services within their General Ed classroom if their needs can be met and they can make progress on their goals within this setting we should be measuring progress of students within the General Ed system with supports and services within their classrooms before pulling them out for services at the same time we were looking um about we were looking at the new IEP and implementation for this year typically at Norris our special ed students were our special ed services were happening outside we were pulling students out of General Ed and servicing them in the seag grid outside of the General Ed classroom um and uh we quickly knew we needed to solve the problem therefore we discussed concentrating students who needed support into the same classroom so that the students education their special ed teacher and their General Ed teacher could work together as a team and so that more students with disabilities could be supported within their classrooms which is best for everyone we knew that students who continue to need system some students would continue to need that systematic and explicit reading instruction due to reading disabilities in grades three and up and were likely to continue to need those services in small groups um you utilizing that methodology dictated in their IEPs always of course following the IEP our individual teams began discussing this idea with families in their IEP team meetings one student at a time and um and then the families were were told and parents were excited about the support within the classroom with limited pullout sessions so far it seems that many are excited about this work and it's a great opportunity so it's not that what we were doing was wrong and it's not that wasn't decided at team meeting it was all decided at Team meetings but now we're trying to include students in General Ed with the support inside the classroom rather than pulling them out unless they need that explicit reading instruction um it's a shift we're doing some professional development uh we had a faculty meeting on Monday with Lisa deer who is a guru um in the area she's not from the area but many people have utilized her services in this area and we're also following up with a full day of professional development October 15th for all of my staff and then the 16th and the 17th she's going to be um someone from her from to teach Global which are her colleagues will be visiting the following two days to work with grade level specific teachers in General Ed so we're helping the General Ed teachers and the special ed teachers to support all students in the classroom um it's a really huge Endeavor and it was started like I said last year once we started looking at every single IEP individually and what was best for students so you may hear about that um we're excited about the work and so far um the special ed teachers going into the General Ed classroom and helping those students has has worked out wonderfully our enrollment is at 478 students we have um 475 plus three dropin and two out of District students um our professional development I just told you about actually I got ahead of myself the PTO ice cream social was held on September 4th it was a great event so well attended I just heard Chris Falls tell me that she drove by and the traffic was everybody was parked everywhere as usual um we had our first fire drill yesterday and all students and staff did an amazing job evacuating the building firefighters visited the preschool and the kindergarten classes prior to pulling the alarm to let them know that it's just a drill it's not scary and if they had any questions or concerns they answered them um everyone was aware that it was happening before it happened I also sent home a follow-up letter to let the parents know that it did happen yesterday um I haven't received any complaints except for one you know correspondence is fine um and so far the opening of the school year has been has been really good I feel like everybody's on point so really excited about the school year so Alisa after um the tragic event in Georgia have you had Parents concerned about reunification strategies or anything like that that we need to be you know thinking about for I have not received any um concerns about that although we do work with the Southampton Police Department to update our policies and our procedures about um lockdown and reunification and we do we are working with them now to schedule those dates um we did a reunification drill two years ago on a half day I think I don't know if you knew about that but um you know it's something that we we should schedule another one last time we didn't have kids maybe we can get kids to come this time right right was on a half day in May and they didn't want to they didn't want to come they wanted to be with their friends so yeah thank you any other questions in the principal's report I was just wondering what's going on said it was a major overhaul in how IEPs are done has there been any schoolwide training on that is there expected to be what's the plan yes so um a couple of the teachers I don't know was he talking to you or me I'm sorry I think he was looking at you but you go right ahead totally fine I didn't want to over um a few of our teachers went last year for an overall training and then um this year we have my educational team leader is going to provide a 1-hour overview for all staff on the half day which is September 25th 23rd or 25th I can't I keep getting that date mixed up for some reason 25th okay and then our new assistant superintendent of curriculum instruction assessment sent out a bunch of opportunities for people to sign up for professional development and we have some money in Grants to pay for it so I have about seven special ed staff that have signed up to get that training so it's sort of all happening you know at the same time we had some IEP meetings today we sent out a letter today to families of students who have IEPs along with the parents rights brochure that we always give to families so if you didn't hear anything it's because you probably don't have a student that has an IEP um so we're trying to sort of coordinate that and then my my educational team leader ETL is also willing to do a parent Workshop um for those who are interested to come and learn about the new IEP so it's all happening is the change recent in the I APS it's starting this year for everyone yeah so it is recent yeah anything else no okay um superintendent report I'll introduce uh Dr VTO Peron our new superintendent I think this is our first meeting with you so welcome glad to have you welcome and um take it away Dr Pro all right uh so I did share a report with you and I'm just going to hit the high points and of course anything you have for questions please ask um the I I did want to follow up a little bit uh we we hired Amy Drake and this is part of my report uh as the new director of people Services uh she was formerly working at lpvec which was in West Springfield the lower Pioneer Valley educational collaborative and so in my role in West Springfield I uh worked with her and she's she's a dynamite individual brings a wealth of experience to the role and she also went through all the trainings that desie was putting out um in her former role so she is uh very conversent in the specifics of the new IEP uh with the focus on data and the need for teachers to be able to um take data and use data to generate goals that are um measurable and help students move forward in a positive way so I I we had an all admin meeting today where all the principls vice principls and the central office leadersh ship team met and so a little bit was talked about with the new I AP and PD uh and the opportunities that we Face uh moving forward to make sure that um the students who IEPs are coming up for review and and uh uh signatures in the in the fall um are going to be in a good place but as we move forward we're going to be able to prepare more thoroughly for those uh IEPs that are coming up in the the winter and the spring um and we can certainly we could bring Amy Drake in here to talk about that if if that's something that you're interested in um Amy started three whole days ago uh but she rounded out the team of the director levels uh da Scara is here with us tonight and um because the budget was part of my report I wanted to give Dawn an opportunity to introduce herself and be here uh to answer any questions or to kind of give her um how many days is it now for you two weeks two weeks all right she's a veteran are all right I mean she hasn't hit two months yet so we'll we'll cut her some slack but she's been on board really uh focused on the business office and identifying what needs to uh happen in order to dig us out of the things that were uh dauntingly challenging Us in the past but also to set the stage for a clean fy2 and a new FY 26 um Michael fet our new uh assistant superintendent uh came on uh August 12th and he has done an amazing amazing job wearing multiple hats as uh Amy came on board and Dawn came on board so he was able to really uh use his experience from East Long Meadow as the uh uh the director of pupil services or sped director actually there uh to help us transition to Amy and her tenure here so we're feeling really good about the direction that the central office team is going uh I am very confident in the people that we've uh assembled we have a great team a lot of positive energy going on and we took that on a road show um the first week of school brought them brought everyone to the uh the the schools to introduce uh the team and to share some slides with uh with the schools and the The Faculty the principles to really uh help them understand our vision and what we want to do and what we want to be for them because ultimately you know on my white board at the at the office it says what can I do to help that's the philosophy that we have at the central office what can we do to support and provide resources to the principles so they can do similarly for the teachers and the students so that's kind of the mindset we're bringing and it's really uh a keep it simple message that we're putting out there around collaboration and communication transparency and community and everything underpinned by uh a real solid belief and compassion for what we're doing and how we're doing it um the it's not lost on us that there are challenges in the financial side of the business office but we I feel have put together a really strong team we understand the challenges ahead of us and we are putting a plan together and Dawn is doing an amazing job kind of digging in and identifying what needs to be done what resources we need to bring to bear to move us in that positive direction as we go through the 2425 school year and prepare for the the next fiscal budget so I I I don't know if it's appropriate or not but if Dawn you wanted to step up to the microphone and just introduce yourself say hello is that okay all right it is broadcast live broadcast oh my goodness but we do know you so if you don't want um hello thank you for the opportunity um V and I wanted to say that um I'm really looking forward to being back at my Al water um I won't say what year I graduated it was a while ago um and uh this morning three students came in to interview new I don't know who else they interview did they interview you they they are interviewing uh I asked I invited them to interview the central office team cuz one of the things that I heard is that no one really was knew us knew the central office team what we did why we were here Etc so I wanted the students to really have a um an understanding of who we were uh what our role was and how we support them through our UH responsibilities at the central office okay so that was that was very interesting and one of the things I think that I talked with the students about at that time was really it's what between what's between your ears that will Propel you forward in your own selft talk so right now I have to really live um by those words because everything that I'm doing I'm uncovering one problem after another after another and it's very daunting and um I think the hardest thing is that my um focus has always been truly how can I help and how can I help the principles how can I help um the school committee and right now I'm not able to deliver the information that people are looking for I think the principles really want to know some basic things what is my budget what have I spent what's the variance what do I have left to spend and those B that basic information doesn't exist right now the previous um year I think this last year it people describe it as fairly traumatic um and and it's had a lasting impression on um principles and others who need information from the U financials or about the financials and what I want to say about that is we have to recreate all of 2024's numbers um much of 2024's numbers and in school um the prime the majority of the expenses are in is in the salary line codes are in the salary line codes and that because mid year we switched payroll how we were paying people it went from the infinite Vision we went from the system that um the the school was using to Harkers so Harkers payroll service they're paying so everybody got paid um and what has to happen now is it has to get back from Harkers into the general ledger the general ledger is just the term used to capture all the financial data and some of the financial data isn't in there for 24 at this particular point in time we should be report we should be closing the books and Reporting out on what happened in 24 and we are not prepared to do that because 24 numbers aren't in yet so it means asking for more extensions from Desi it means recreating information um or it's not recreating it it's just putting it into the into the system and it's just long and laborious the only thing that I can um can compare it to is if you hadn't kept track of your home finances for a year and you had to recreate re-enter every check you wrote Every electronic transfer that you got it would take a long time and that's that's truly what we're facing um however what we're trying to do this year they were doing that last year and they were focused on 23 and in focusing on 23 they tried to keep 24 going but they fell behind because a lot of the staff left during that period I don't know that I'm telling you anything you don't already know but just to say a lot of Staff left at that point so they weren't able to keep going forward and looking back and so what we're trying to do now is keep 25 clean to try to keep 25 going forward while we're looking back and we've already found some problems with 25 it has to do with how things were reported and brought forward and it's a lot of detailed Financial stuff but suffice it to say that that um we are we have I've identified things in the two two day two weeks and two days that I've been here I've identified areas now what we have to do is develop a plan for how are we going to clean up those areas and cleaning up those areas is going to take a while um I am new to the school environment but I have a history of financial experience and of complicated you know digging out of some complicated situations so I have confidence that it can be done um but because I am new I'm also veto to thank him for providing resources to augment um the resources that we have for example I'm um in order to follow the proper lure I'm working with maso the Massachusetts Association of school business administrators and following a training program for for through them which will helped me learn the things that I need to learn for for my license additionally it it provides a plethora of people with whom to speak regarding well this is the situation here what would you do you have 10 years you have 20 years of experience how would you handle this and after their draws um come back from the floor they say wow I can't believe that this is a mess and I can't I've never I've never encountered all of that and it is true it is it's really um it's unbelievable the amount of work that has to be done and so however they're saying well one person will say oh I know a person here who's done this why don't you talk to that person so that's what I've been doing is connecting with the people who may have been through something similar or may have the skills to help um us as we formulate a plan um so that's that's that the one thing that's actionable tonight for you that I would bring to you is um a request to process the warrants on a bi-weekly basis the municipalities uh process their warrants bi-weekly basically um in line with the select boards uh by weekly meetings and what that does is it allows um the timing of the invoices to to capture things more more more timely so for example in at the high school we are we we have an invoice that's come through now um and in some of the towns we've had invoices that have come through that come through with finance charges that come through with late fees because of the timing once a month of going to you and asking for your approval is not really working well and it would be easier for you in terms of what you review because you'd be reviewing half as much but you'd have to do it twice in a month um and it's it's I think a way to increase the accuracy within the central office and to reduce any excess fees now those fees aren't going to add up to you know build the library but they there's no reason that we should be paying um finance charges or late fees so I guess tonight I don't know um what your policies are I don't know if you have a policy on that per se but those we've approached other um School committees and those School committees that don't have a policy and therefore don't have to go through a policy review have have approved have reviewed it talked about it in their meeting and and moved on it in that session um so far Chesterfield Goan has and Westampton has um we're going to the Bloomsburg U meeting uh soon so uh and then did approach um Tom clear or voo and I approached Tom clear regarding Hampshire Regional they have a policy so it has to go through the policy review so there has to have a first read a discussion and a second read so I'm not sure what the situation is here but if you have any questions regarding the concept that You' like to address those is central office staff that has to prepare these are they okay with doing it twice a month in fact um in fact Teresa Turner I don't know if any of you that work with her Teresa Turner is the one who prepares it and she has come to me and asked about this as well um and she said that she does think that it would it would um facilitate well certainly it would facilitate the work she has to do with the town accountant who prepares the warrants for the select board um well I'm fine with it unless we have to do the policy thing are you looking up I'm not aware of a policy I haven't reviewed our policies I'm not aware of it I don't think that's specific specifically the timing of the issuance of the warrants I mean it's always been a paper issue right I mean it used to be we only got in the room at the same time with the with the usage of Doc you sign right I think that's I think it's much I would consider that an administrative procedure right and not a policy so I don't believe that would even be within the purview of the committee to vote on I think if the business office sends them out bi-weekly and requests signatures and approval then that's what they're going to do yep there you go so we just have to be sure we're checking our email to know check your email right and so what we'll try to do is we're working with the towns to understand the select board schedule and when they need so if the select board meets on a Monday night they need the warrant they need it all signed by the previous Friday so it means that we back it up so it allows you time sufficient time to review it what are you what is your typical review time do you want 3 days notice what do you have now I'm not sure I even know that I don't think we have a set I think I think the request in the past has been within 48 hours if possible um I mean a 72 would be great but I think because our select board meets Tuesdays oh your select board meets Tuesday so it would probably need to be the Wednesday prior I would guess or the Thursday the Wednesday or Thursday prior I can find that out and then we'll we'll let you know um Don I'm sorry to interrupt if I could make a suggestion you know John's not here um but I would agree that it doesn't I don't think it's a policy and if it's a procedure that we are initiating at the business office then you could just communicate that with the chair and let him know and I think that would y yep all right okay so that's great I appreciate that um in terms of the you know more questions or general questions regarding the budget um does anybody have any questions about that I think we're all pretty aware of the situation that you have walked into and so good luck and God speed thank you thank you I think so we're very happy that you're here thank you so much me too while we're pausing on that point you know Don you've been here two weeks on this veto you've been you're a veteran at this point by two months in um you know I I we're all very aware of the fiscal challenges we walked into we know fiscal you know it sounds like fiscal year 23 still hasn't been fully reconciled yet um I would appreciate an update if not in October by November at the latest of exactly what we expect for timetables regarding um not saying to get it done but what are we looking at for reconciling 23 where are we looking at certifying end for 24 uh and kind of have a picture of where are we at and writing the ship so that we can because we'll be talking budgets before we know it absolutely and that's that's part of the transparency piece that we really want to make sure that um as we identify things we let we let the chairs know and then they communicate um but certainly timelines and and benchmarks um deliverables are going to be communicated out okay thank you would you would you excuse me I mean would be okay if I were to just leave thanks for coming down see you I have a back issue needs resolution so well I can still walk I'm going to try to walk out with my Pro thanks thank you D thank you so much and thanks for being so welcoming it really makes a difference appreciate that good thank you oh just so everyone knows the door needed to be closed because the the chorus is starting rehearsal and that the the sound does carry down the hall so while we have this pause here just Dawn left I'll direct this to you veto where are we at with um Desi and I know the last time there's lots of meetings going on with Jay olivan and everything about potential receivership where do we stand in that yeah so so my understanding around rece receivership is that's more of an academic I should say Financial Financial involvement intervention there you go so so really one of the things one of the first things I did um as I was even just considering uh the application was have a conversation with u my retired business manager Carrie Sheen who I respect very very much I worked with him for nine years and and um he gave me some really good advice about reaching out and communicating and making sure that I had an understanding of the reality of the situation so that I'm going in with my eyes open um and part of that was ensuring that as I came on board and we got the team together that we are bringing resources on to support the um Dawn in the role that she has and one of those resources was um carer Sheen himself who is Contracting with us to uh to work on grants just focused on 24 grants and that's his Focus he uh and and Jay Sullivan are um very good uh have a very good relationship let's put it that way and he and I met with um with Jay and we had a conversation about what's next and what we need to do and of course the first things he talked about was making sure that we hit those deadlines for requests for extensions and so that is what Dawn is working on uh we are identifying the end ofe report that's due we need an extension for that we have had conversations with the Auditors and we've already discussed the need to look at um end down the line and getting extension for that so we're putting all of those pieces in place um we've gotten all the grants written to move forward and uh in the ideal uh we're going to identify those things that need to be addressed we are going to file for the extensions that are necessary to keep us in good standing with desie and we're going to apply the resources necessary to eat that elephant one bite at a time and that's really what we're looking at is we have to Grant is one piece that we need to focus on accounting um and Ledger entries that were never made that's another thing we have to focus on so we're putting in place uh contract workers um with specific skills either retired uh business managers like Carrie or an accountant from a firm who is who are working on those projects to get us in the place we need to be um again with respect to the state and desie all the meetings I've had have been nothing but supportive and a a a handout for resources and uh this past Friday I met with the acting commissioner in uh at the superintendent's Roundtable and we had a really good conversation and I was able to tell them how thankful I was for the resources and the support that we're getting from the state because what and what he said to me is we don't want you to fail right not me personally we don't want you to fail and so they're going to do everything they can to make sure that we have the resources and the support we need to dig ourselves out of this hole we're in but to also move forward in a positive way great thank you did I answer the question PR we we'll talk again in a month just budget question are the contracted services that are now in place like staying or were they only brought in because there was so much issues to go through and then once it's all fixed they're they are not FTE they're not they they weren't budgeted in that they are a position that's going to stay in central office no um what I learned when I came in was that the central office budget was augmented to address the financial issues that were in place we are using those resources to do just that okay and we're being very mindful of the need to communicate and build trust with our stakeholders including School committees thank you MH so we got Point C still left our favorite organization here report Jers report oh yo you're you're uh finishing out your superintendent report oh um Point C oh the souer suar it yes Su it so I I I heard many different things when I came on board one of the first things I did was I sent a Google form to the principles to asked for input similarly I sent one to all the teachers in the district and asked for their input thematically identified those things I identified those things that needed to be triaged with immediate Effect one of them was suar it which was a contract uh of an you know an external entity to come in and run uh the it for the district I heard from the principles and the teachers that there was concerns about uh the uh how quickly they got work done how efficiently it was done and how effectively it was done and those concerns I shared in a meeting with the leadership of suar it Adam suar and his uh number two as CFO and we sat down in my first 10 days uh and we met to discuss those concerns quite specifically I I shared with them the outstanding tickets that had not been completed in the months over the summer I I shared with them the specific complaints that I heard from teachers and principls and I said in no uncertain terms that I understood why the former superintendent contracted with them because what she said to me was I I would I signed this contract because I didn't think that it was tenable for you to take over all this stuff and have that to worry about too and that made sense to me in the moment um so uh after that meeting I quite literally I I call it ringing someone's Bell I let them know that they are on notice for the the uh performance of the text and for the director that's assigned to the building uh and basically I said if as we move forward we recognize that we're not making progress then uh we're going to I'm going to speak to the lawyer about getting out of the contract uh and if we're not satisfied with the performance we are not going to renew a contract with them uh I am meeting with uh in fact it's tomorrow I'm meeting with a principal and one of the teachers who uh who focuses on on technology in that building and uh was one of the uh persons that replied to me that there was significant concerns with the the contract and with the company so I'm meeting with that teacher and the principal tomorrow and uh all alls I can say is that they understand and they being suar that there are significant concerns that they are on notice and that we are going to make a decision um by the end of the year whether we're going to continue with that or not everyone I've talked to retroactively has said we appreciate that but yet we're still having ticket concerns we're still having so um my quandry is it is an integral part of what happens in instruction uh in each of the buildings and so I have to make sure that there's a transition plan if we determine not to continue with them and uh kind of an emergency plan if um we pull the plug on them we have to have something else in place technology is too important to what we do day in and day out in the classroom in the um administrative offices and with respect to reporting to desie who ran the it before suer like we had a director we had a technology yeah I'm my understanding there have been uh a couple it directors that have uh run the show um I know a couple names but we had an IT director they were stationed in the library at the high school and for whatever reason a year or two ago they so how I only ask these questions because I'm new to the committee in general so this suar it is was last year I know and the year before two the two or three year ago I think it might have been three I think it was like wasn't it like fall of 21 that yeah I think that sounds right the IT director left and decision and when does this contract end it was a one-year contract signed in by uh the former superintendent it back the end back in 202 oh when she left that's what that's what I was referring to I'm sorry so that we still had it Services going forward going cuz her concern can you remind me what the value of that contract is I I could find it for you but I don't know it off the top of my head you the top of your head if that if you know there was a lot of discussion is it better to have someone in house is it you know and so I imagine that will probably Bubble Up Again from you guys because I don't know and he doesn't know cuz he wasn't here was there a problem with the it manager I don't I'm not saying like but like no no no the it we can I think you can see direct no I understand okay so she left people inconvenient time and we needed to okay okay backfill that immediately and there concerns about being able to find a replacement okay and and sorry and it was something she recommended as well yeah the former person she did recommend there was I mean to be fair suer prior to the contract being King and did presentations to all the school committees it was a very well done well presented I think at the time and all the Committees were in support of bringing suar in so it was not a unilateral decision that was made it was something that was done based upon the need of the time and and many school districts are going in that direction I think it's a cost savings with respect to a contract because usually thex you know you can bring more text on board there's more capacity within a a a company that has 15 texts that they spread out over the course of three districts or whatever the case may be um but in actuality in the in the real in the real world with what's going on in the buildings and I just had a meeting today with the principles and there are similar complaints so I'm going to revisit my conversation uh with with Adam and his his uh CFO but you know they're really they're nice people they're good people they're they're in the buildings and but it's just we want what we we need what we need to have happening right so going forward if they we pulled the plug that's your a decision and B contingency plan to figure out yeah ultimately uh you know ultimately the the the onus is going to fall on me I would say but the decision is going to be a collaborative one right right right I just mean like yeah and again it's it's recognizing what we actually need and then can we duplicate that with an IT director and two texts right across five districts and five schools that's really the question any other questions on superintendent report M okay uh next the information yes this is wonderful great information um chair's report John's not here he didn't send me anything to say Hampshire Regional school committee so we did a lot of what we did tonight you know just kind of reviewing what's happening at central office and you know what's what what we need to do moving forward and address some of the same policies that we're going to be looking at we proved a couple field trips so our students are continuing to do fantastic things new student reps I got to know who are the new student reps do you have new student reps yes um well one is one is Alia State Alicia cologne Garcia and Keegan Butler and they are both um and which is unusual they're both from the same town sometimes that happens um but yeah 12th grade 11th grade great that was always my favorite part of thank you for I could not remember her those were always the best best part of those meetings where the student reports um any questions for Hampshire Regional oh uh let me add also um I completely forgot because it was quite the topic of conversation I I forgot shutting it out about the cell phone policy um because there is continued concern about whether or not taking all the phones and putting them into Yonder pouches for the entire day is the appropriate way to deal with um the ISS issue there was concern about whether or not that really constitutes a pilot or not because of the expense associated with it um but it was determined that school committee had given our principal hostes the you know the leeway to make some decisions in consultation with staff to develop the type of pilot that she wanted to develop and in consultation with staff they determined that it was best to just go Whole Hog as a pilot with the yando patches uh and so far uh the feedback from a lot of students has been wow I'm getting a lot done so they're already in place that's good it's in place it's for everyone for everyone and it's mandatory it's mandatory so except for if a student has an IEP or 504 that might require them to take photos of a board you know so of course you know that you know we we adhere to all those 7 through 12 7 12 um I know the seniors would like some senior privileges associated with that that may come later but you know we're doing this right now there was some concern after what happened to Georgia that you know students wouldn't be able to be contacting their parents in case of emergency which has its pluses and minuses if you're in the emergency response area having to deal with cell phones in that area so um you know I I I think that it so far so good I know that the principal is very pleased with with the way it going and that applies to administrators as well they are they are not carrying their phones about and the teachers are not either think I said oh the other the only other thing I'd say is that one of the suggestions was you know could we put a little shoe bag or something in the each room and then the students drop them off well teachers do not want to be responsible for thousands of dollars worth of of Bones sitting in their classrooms and so this takes it out of the teachers hands it's very Equitable across all grades in all classrooms and we'll see I'll give you an update at the next our next meeting I'll be interested to hear cuz my brother teaches at a middle school um in the town we grew up in and I had asked after our meeting I think it was in June like what their policies were and my sister also is a principal um and he they used the Yonder B and it's a a choice it's not mandatory oh interesting but he said a lot of his kids choose to use it it um and my sister when she worked in Lawrence had them and it was mandatory and she's like it's the best thing it is very interesting just after that meeting um I started seeing a lot more articles about it and States doing State mandates on including Florida and California you know there there are a number of places where they are mandating it I to say I'm starting to read the book The anxious Generation all about that yeah y y so right thank you anything else no PTO PTO met last night and they are already off and running with their community activities you know the ice cream social happened last week they've already started fundraising activities and planning more um they're starting the year with about $30,000 in the bank but that's also about what they spent last year so you know they know they're going to have to refill but at least they start with um the funds for like a lot of the beginning of the year stuff uh a bunch of teacher um staff requests were uh approved and they also every year they do stiens for the teachers so um full-time teachers get a $100 stien and um teachers who work less than full-time get a pro-rated stip of $100 just to help defay some of the class cuz we know that teachers put a lot of their own money into classroom stuff um it's a new board of directors they they've taken the Reigns um they're doing themed meetings which is nice like last night's was um pumpkin spice and everything nice next month is Apple tastic or something doing they're doing a lot of uh social media um advertising for meetings and stuff and their next meeting is October 8th at 6:30 at noris did they have a good turnout they did actually it was it's so nice because like usually you get like the board of directors and like a person right you there the board how that goes yeah I know right so no last night they had they had the board of directors and they probably had a good six or seven other parents I mean they it's really they're doing a really good job they've done a lot to promote it and they're they're working really hard and um I tell you the smell of all they brought they brought treats last night too so there was a lot of big goods and stuff and they were the table right behind me and it smelled really good so yeah questions school council school council so I will be sending out a email soon to parents looking forward to volunteers to serve on our school council this year Margaret are you still perfect Margaret will be the representative and then we are going to be looking for a Community member as well so if anyone is tuning in and would like to serve on our school council we will be meeting on Tuesdays about once a month um after school at 3:30 to 4:30 and it's really fun it's just a really great way to understand what's happening in the school it is as a parent who did it it's very yeah useful awesome thank you uh collaborative is meeting September 25th so I'll have the next update for your next meeting um select board update don't have one budget I think we covered is your anything pressing that we need to discuss tonight I I really wanted to give Dawn an opportunity to speak um Title Nine policy updates we're doing a first read of policies ACR ACA and [Music] acab um does anyone want to talk about these at all or do we just want to accept this as a first read and I mean the the only really substantive thing to say is that we received an masc version and we received a version from uh dupe law office and Kimberly dupe uh excuse me Kimberly roach our attorney um reconciled those two versions and that's what we're we're working on and um Kim Musa my amazing Executive Administrative Assistant made sure that that made sure that each of these documents reflects um the Southampton uh school district and so uh that's about it okay so we'll take this as a first reading and put it on next month's agenda for uh ratification MH great um other oh do you want to talk about that or do you no something else uh nothing big so I for he's looking at me like what say that you're like no no no no no nothing big really um I forgot to bring a field trip request form for the students in fourth grade to leave the state of Massachusetts and go to the state of Connecticut to the Connecticut Science Center in I believe it's December I had I had the paper on my desk and I forgot it before I went to the principal's meeting today um so I could probably bring it to the next meeting but I think that the parents would like permission slips prior to the next meeting maybe so is that something that you can approve or do you want me to wait may I ask a qu clarifying question uh just thinking about my experience at West Springfield and East Hampton um if it's out of state and within a certain amount of Miles sometimes it doesn't need that level of approval and I don't know if that's the case here our practice has always been to approve any out of state any out ofate understood um I think if you if you give us some more detail we probably can do that so the cost of it and you know anything that you would have written down I know I don't have it who's going what grade how many approximately how many kids how many kids approximately how many kids is that 62 64 what's the approximate cost that I don't know yeah that's okay um being funded partly by PTO parents and PTO where is at the Connecticut con Science Center is in y as long as it falls within the budget and you are comfortable with this I'm perfectly comfortable this is pretty standard right don't they do this yeah every year they love it well not necessarily contic Science Center every year but every couple of years I think Mr Gold has taken them yeah I Mo we approve the field trip for fourth graders to the Connecticut Science Center second motion made by Margaret seconded by Jen to approve the fourth grade class to travel to the Connecticut Science Center on December that sure the date December something 2024 I will give you all the information as soon as I have it that's okay all those in favor I I opposed motion carries unanimous sorry my apologies um other other business that cannot so we have a under our budget uh G which should be B probably uh we're going we have other business that cannot wait until the next reg scheduled meeting uh I was approached by Dr Peron uh yesterday about a or might have been even today about a memor memorandum of agreement between the school committee and the southam Teachers Association specifically regarding a additional paid day off for the 2425 school year for the teachers who were requested who were moved from the fifth and sixth graders and the third and fourth graders who kind of flipped wings of the building is that correct um that MOA was previously discussed at our last meeting or that issue was discussed at our last meeting um I've circulated the copy of that memorandum of agreement uh I am declaring that that because this is a 2425 school year issue any further delay of this would substantially impact the committee's ability to properly negotiate a grievance issue with the uh Association and as such cannot wait for the next regally scheduled meeting and thus Falls within our agenda um I will state because this is a memorandum of agreement and potentially does impact collective bargaining we cannot have any discussion regarding the contents of this memorandum the basis of it as I is as I explained and I will go through it in a little more detail specifically it is to give one additional paay day off that has to be approved by the principal um in order to take it if it cannot be taken there will be a discussion between the principal and the staff member about when an appropriate day is it should not fall uh budding a school vacation week or a long weekend I believe was a consideration as well it is not considered a continuing past practice or as a precedent for any similar situation that may occur in the future and it is a full agreement of the parties to enter into this agreement um I my is my understanding that Administration and the uh and the Teachers Association both are in agreement that this is a resolution that would satisfy the requests of the teachers in the building so at this point I would accept a motion for an up and down vote only on approving the chair to sign the agreement on behalf of the school committee so moved second so moved uh motion made by Margaret seconded by Kim all those in favor I I all opposed hearing none uh motion carries unanimous L thank you the field trip is December 6th 9 to3 within school hours and it's $27 per student and the parents are paying all right thank you great thank you um ongoing business security upgrades update yes okay it's 90% completed all the cameras are in um everything is wired and hard and Hardware is in place one of the issues that we have are the the motion sensors um front entryway let me see adding audio feature of the front entrance with cameras the whatever is happening right now with the doors it is and and it's not the magnet it's something else it's like a sensor it's not it's too sensitive right now so that if the wind blew and the alarm was on and it shook the door a little bit that the alarm would go off so they're fixing that um based on something for um but the new door contacts are going to be added in two motion detectors in installed in the hallways and that should be in the next few weeks trying to work with the company to say can we can we get this finished and then they're going to be doing sort of like a overview for myself my admin team the custodians and my secretary so that we know how to use the system the system is not up and running yet shouldn't say that out loud but anyway you to say any other questions so is it sensitive enough that if some like kid or something after hours came and like pulled on it would would that make it shouldn't it shouldn't but given the situation the maget right um but if it were to be breached I I don't know I right now it's it can't be opened because we replaced all the magnets because we had that issue last year where the magnets were not the poundage of the magnet or something that it was I cannot explain it wasn't hard wasn't it had worn off over time and we real iiz that when someone was able to open the door um now it's more of a a sensitivity issue with something else that doesn't have anything to do with the magnets I I think it's probably important to say that the building is secured when the doors are closed and locked correct and they're no longer are able to um Brute Force the magnet because those magnets have been replaced exactly right I think it's important that people hear that and understand that yeah me too I know we also installed the lock down alarm system oh yeah the lights will there be any Communications or has there been Communications that have gone home to parents not yet but there will be okay there will be those aren't currently functioning either right not 100% no would they go but we have tested them and they do right so there are blue lights on the inside of the building and the outside of the building and during a lockdown situation only not a shelter of place but a lock down a true emergency those lights will be flashing and it will indicate and I will teach the parents and any visitors that if the blue lights are flashing not to approach the school not to drop your child off that we're in a lockdown situation they won't go off during a fire drill no they shouldn't okay only during a lockdown okay any other questions okay any other ongoing business where are we at the van the van maybe I should have asked thank you for asking sorry we were ahead we are ahead of schedule on the van meaning we thought that the van would be back at marot Ford a little later than it was yep so it was earlier but now it's out being detailed for all the bells and whistles and it needs to comply with with the transportation of preschool children um and we are going we are supposed to have it back before the October 1st deadline that I've been given by Miss hotz at Hampshire Regional she needs the van back that we're borrowing so we're I we are supposed to have it back before then okay today is September 11th so they told me I would have it before in a week and a half so I'm hoping Hing to get it back in a week and a half and just my ignorance is that like a 14 person van with a um it's a nine um we only transport about six you know we only be able to transport because of car seats and it's uh for preschool only and I have a van driver yeah great and it will be red which we talked about I can't wait I think I forgot that it was red it be nice you won't miss it and it's still going to have the nor stuff on it right it will okay yes it do I hear a motion to adjourn you do is there a second I would second motion to adjourn Kim seconded by Jen all those in favor moot carries motion meeting is adjourned at 706 p.m all right I was I would just like I know we used one inest e