this government meeting is brought to you by eastworks and our local cable subscribers we'll call the uh meeting order of the uh Southampton local school committee it is a regular monthly meeting Wednesday April 10th 6 p.m. we have four out of five members present at the moment with our fifth one potentially coming in but she's tied up on negotiations first item on the agenda is approval of the minutes of March [Music] 13th they were included in the packet no to approve there's a motion to approve by Kim is there a second I can second since I'm here but I can I second if I'm abstaining okay second seconded any discussion none all in favor I I opposed abstaining me ta sh motion passes 2011 we'll wait to see if Dylan gets back back with the uh March 20th and 27th minutes open time for the public okay um I don't we don't have any warrants for tonight no announcements or correspondence principal's report okay um here's the principal report of April 10th our Ela mcast testing is almost completed we have a few makeups that were doing this week and we still have the week after vacation if we need to use it our math mcast will begin on April 30th grade 4 students uh presented their trunk project on Thursday March 28th many parents attended this great event for grade four students were very proud of their work um Storyteller John porino performed Monday April 1st for all grades preschool through sixth grade this was funded by the Southampton cultural Council and the north PTO it was fantastic to have him I don't remember ever having him before but I guess he had come to nor us years ago the kids really responded well to him it was it was very engaging um many students participated in the viewing of the eclipse on Monday April 8th the Norris PTO funded the purchase of viewing glasses for students and staff it was a great event I I left it up to teachers as to what they were comfortable with and um many took their kids outside or if they didn't take them outside they did um things on their um showed videos n NASA streaming um and and other things to sort of educate students about the Eclipse which was great uh quiddit was held yesterday April 9th it was fantastic day for students and staff the staff once again beat the students in the nighttime game have the students ever won not to my knowledge not since I've been there and how long did that clock run over time to allow the teachers to uh to catch up yeah the clock stopped for about 3 minutes um and an update on school choice we offered we offered six kindergarten spots so far and we have a waiting list going so um we are checking in with families who are on the census who we think are supposed to be coming who haven't registered yet before we take some off of that waiting list um but the families that we did offer to so far are very very happy there's a couple pictures there from the eclipse on Monday and our enrollment went up by one student we have 48 6 uh 480 students so we um lost one gained two so it was for alog together we gained one so we're at 480 any questions to the best of your knowledge your incoming uh kindergarten children are any of them on existing IEPs yes well yeah we have I think we have 2 I'm sorry let me rephrase that question are any any of your incoming um potentially going to use that open out of District placement spot that's there we have a budget issue yeah no not that okay we have 26 kiddos from preschool coming to kindergarten our own preschool coming to kindergarten that's a lot so other questions no okay uh we'll pause there we'll go back and take up the March 20th and March 27th minutes if there's no objection we can take them up as a packet so we can look at March 20th okay 2 e um second sentence here uh sorry can you send one more pack down they're here sorry that's what he was fighting with the copy or what yeah it was sorry thank very much the second line on that e so I know the account number to be correct but I know my handwriting on the next line was a little illegible so I could read as Foundation Reserve grant for a total of $51,500 $5,150 that makes a lot more sense now I will fix that and is it in call in fact the foundation Reserve Grant yep okay that's what I focused on so everything so the fight so everything but the total is correct so we'll menend the uh March 20th minutes the reflection like the dollar amount to be $5,150 and it was my recollection that Mary Jane rickon was present at that meeting and Dr Bonville you are present at the public budget hearing correct MH okay those are the things I could have remember did we did we move the minutes yet not for this set okay um I move to approve um March 20th as amended and March 27th as presented is there a second second discussion all in favor I I opposed abstain t uh motion carries 301 uh back to superintendent's report sure so we have some new faces in central office so um Rachel erson is a payroll benefit specialist along with Jennifer Raymond and Kim Musa Musa is the new Executive Administrative Assistant um and she just started working um on the 1 um and she does have an interesting background because she used to be a teacher and an assistant principal and then was the data specialist so uh her unique background is going to be very beneficial for us especially as we transfer over to the Harper's database um we did meet with with Pam thoron she's from a company that um is a resource for HR businesses um and you pay an annual fee and they answer any related HR related question at any time with their attorneys um and they can also do on the job training and mentoring and um Rachel and Jen would like that to start sooner rather than later so we are just trying to um come up with a contract I'm just waiting on their side um and then we'll we'll we get them trained and ready to go they're also going to do an audit I'm not sure how much that's going to cost but we really need one it's kind of an HR off audit to find out um if we're in compliant with everything and we're not uh but just to see how extensive um and what areas to focus on that will be really helpful as well U so I did meet with mass minin uh Abby the uh the person who wants to be our assistant business administrator in Cammy L um and Abby does want to be our assistant business administrator um we did interview I don't know five people maybe for the business administrator last week and we're going to have round two of interviews coming up the week after vacation um and uh although these people don't have school experience uh business experience in the schools um a couple do have mbas and have very um vast backgrounds in very ious accounting and um business background which which is wonderful let's see oh yeah so actually we found most of these people through zip recruiter so that's just a good thing to know um you Mass didn't really provide us with any viable candidates neither did masc or masbo uh School spring we did find had one candidate so uh we will keep you posted and as soon as round two interviews are done I'm already doing reference checks um we hope to call a meeting of all five School committees so we can approve that business administrator and get that person on board soon sooner rather than later at least uh to come in periodically while they give their notice uh pre audits just happened and I think they're finalizing that and um Mary Jane will report out on that in May um so as you know the wordington agreement is expiring at the end of June and uh they've already made other arrangements um and we're just trying to finalize details in regards to like Snap and Power School uh to to completely separate from them uh but that seems to be going very smoothly as well uh it's mcast time and uh we did have a few difficulties uh but suar did a great job of ironing those out with Pearson so um thank you for principles for all the patience there um SOA plan were submitted which need uh revisions every 3 years uh and Mary Jane could tell you more about that next month uh but it's just really how are they're going to use State funding to increase student achievement in particular in particular science of reading that's the um that's the focus of an increasing literacy as well um and a couple years ago we started the an online handbook for the uh it's for the elementary schools and the high school but there's all sorts of general laws and general policies and things like um parental rights uh non-parenting rights that who doesn't have physical custody um special ed 504s so we do have one online resource that will have all this information and then they'll be a little link to each individual um elementary school that's specific so um we're almost at the stage where principles will be looking at their own handbooks and just cutting out a lot of the stuff that can be found on the online handbook um so just so we're consistent across the board but other than that um I think that those those are the highlights we've just been busy with central office budget payroll grievances type of okay issues uh questions I have questions do uh on the business administrator I just have a couple questions on that one is mass munic able confident and willing to take on someone who has no school bus business administrator experience to really to train them up on that issue especially given the complex nature of our budgeting process and two has there been any conversation with Jay solivan at Desi about hiring a business administrator with not only no school experience but no Regional School experience as well yeah so Jay is aware of that and it will be C La mik will be doing the training and she said she'd be more than happy to do on on the ground training as long as the person is willing um and she will gladly share all of her expertise with them but they knew it would be very difficult to find anybody with school experience so finding somebody with regional experience wasn't going to happen so yeah and Mickey has a call Friday um with the state again um just to let them know where exactly mass munin is right now but um mass munin will um in order for them to stay on with us next year we have to either do a procurement process for because it's such a large quantity of money or if we have some accounting um contractors in place they can piggy back off of that so Mickey's working with mass m defend in the state for that but yeah they they are aware I know I wish I wish that wasn't the case but that we had somebody who was a previous School business administrator but no such luck good question yeah so Jessie being aware and Jessie being on board are two different things to me so is Desy on board with this idea well it's not their place to be on board it's our school committee's place to be on board okay but des's also been showing us an awful lot of Grace lately and so I don't want to necessarily do something that's going to get us into hot water with them so I just wondered like have we asked has has their opinion been asked for on this yeah we've discussed it because they know the difficulties we've had in securing a business administrator yeah so one of the other things that we had talked about though was if we couldn't find a qualified business administrator the um potential to contract that workout to a firm has that idea been put aside yeah so the there are very few firms that do that and the firm that's well known to everybody um people have decided that would not best meet our needs to go that route um so instead of investing so much money into a contracted service to train somebody from scratch that we can have longterm here made more sense right and we couldn't there's no retired business administrators or retired superintendents who are interested in taking we offer we we advertise it as full-time part-time part hybrid just to get anybody through the door so um with the people that are interested would be our fulltime okay y um and then I know that I had um sent you an email and asked about whether the district physician was going to stay and I know you said that he was considering it do you know when you're going to have an answer on that no I can uh Rachel's been working with him and EXC me what's the question if the district physician is going to continue with us for next year um thank you I'm just concerned no concerned isn't the right word but it would be better to know sooner rather than later so we don't repeat what we did last year with high ing someone like a day before school started okay thank you yep I will I will reach out right now good question are you good I'm good okay um so I know I know Mickey's not going to be here because uh he had to be in West Hampton so um I'll ask this question because it came up at the select board last night the um we the town of Southampton hasn't had an update yet as to where we stand with the grants and that as it relates to the to the north School and Us closing our books and being able to get free cash certified if we do you have an update on when that's going to be reconciled and if not is there any way somebody could communicate in writing or email with our Town Administrator and give him an update that he could share publicly just so we have you know a Target date that we're shooting for that somebody puts in writing yep thank you anything else on superintendent report okay uh chair's report the um as far as uh the ADC subcommittee related to the search for the new superintendent met it seems like two weeks ago now but maybe it was last week met recently and then um made a recommendation to the ADC committee that we temporarily suspend the search for superintendent until September no later than September 16th to start and that we move forward with the naming an interum superintendent um to start uh when a you know a start date to be negotiated but to go no further than um July June 30th of 25 um there everybody should be aware that there's a placeholder of April 25th for a meeting of all School Committees of which I know two of our committee members will be out of state and unable to attend um and we can take that up later under new business as an option uh but we're going to need a quorum and we are only waiting for whether or not there's one potential candidate and we're waiting for them to confirm that they actually want the position so we're waiting for a returned phone call at some point other than that I think everybody has a good update on on what's going on in central office and the continue ongoing work that's going to be for multiple years at this point any questions for me yes is the candidate for the interim position or the permanent interum okay uh Hampshire Regional school committee the last meeting update to sure so um see we did a few things I I think like the biggest thing that we talked about is um with with a lot of the challenges that we've had with um the business office we desie is a lot more aware of Hampshire Regional School District now and one of the things that came up as a result of of working closely with them is that the um the Hampshire Regional Regional agreement is approximately 30 years out of date and so there's significant work that needs to be done on that um so Margaret Larson and Glenda crusto have been working with desie just to do like preliminary work to figure out what is it what is it that we need to do and like how do we go about doing it um and so it's not just the regional agreement that needs to be worked on uh the union 66 superintendency Union that we thought was dissolved actually hasn't been because desie hasn't signed off on it so that has to be addressed and the all districts agreement also like we have to get the all districts agreement and the regional agreement like everything has to kind of line up so there's some work that needs to be done there um and then also in talking so those are like the must dos um what's the timeline I mean that that's not an overnight thing well no it isn't an overnight thing but for everything to be in place for fiscal 26 this all has to be done by December 31st of 25 yeah of 24 to be in place because fiscal 26 starts July of next year right but don't those agreements all have to be voted on individually by the individual towns yep so if they're not ready for this May special town meeting in the fall maybe maybe but that just so that's so that's you know that is stuff that has to be done because the last time the regional agreement was updated was like 1992 and then in 1993 like a whole bunch of major changes were were um introduced and we've just never caught up to that um and then the other thing that Jesse is recommending uh Jay Sullivan has talked about this with um with Margaret and Glenda is um to work on the idea of full K to2 District regionalization so they are interested in recommending that we we look into that look at I said it before you did this yeah no I'm all for it I I would love a up or down vote to the citizens of Southampton to either regionalize or go on our own one way or the other it to the masses and let them vote right so that was that was a big thing we did we talked about a couple of um a couple of of policies but nothing nothing huge um Mo an hour and a half of the meeting with executive session so oh what happened there well I tell you yeah I know but that's all I have that's all I have on that any questions no uh PTO update me again yeah so PTO met Monday night and it was the their um I'm going to call it their recruitment party they had um they had a nice they had a nice little spread um of food and they had they had a bunch of new people come to the meeting so that was that was encouraging that um that there might be people who would be willing to take up um if not board of directors jobs maybe you know new new volunteers to work on a lot of the events and the fundraising stuff so that was really that was really good um and they you know once again they they funded a bunch of um staff requests and some requests to offset um the cost of busing for some field trips and that kind of stuff so yeah it was a good meeting that's my favorite that's my whole my favorite school committee job is going to that meeting so come June I'm still going to be asking to be the one to to go there any any questions on P Alisa can you give us a update on school council I can TR uh we met I don't remember the date um I think it was the second uh we are finishing up the school Improvement plan we are adding a technology goal and then Margaret did a really nice job um going over everything that we've talked about for the budget so far and what was proposed and what was voted on and kind of outlining for the people on the council an understanding of how the budget normally works I said this was kind of an off year but uh and it was really good and our next meeting I believe is May 28th is that a Tuesday yeah May 28th is our next and final meeting of the Year okay um collaborative for educational so they met about 3 weeks ago and went over the tuition for like the updated summer program in tuitions for HEC Academy and Mount Tom academy uh fiscal report review for the year and then the executive director Todd gaza's um evaluation so that was most of the meeting um and then I think next is just getting his next contract um circled back and tidied up and finished for him to continue on as the executive director so that was that meeting they meet they skip a month and they meet at the end of May so I don't know who I'm not moving forward on the me the meetings so I think you guys have to figure out in June you figure out okay yeah who will report to the collaborative okay uh select board update uh Capital committee Comm did meet and I believe we we were able to move forward three out of the five requests from Norris uh the one of them being the structural repairs to prevent the Bell Tower from collapsing and the replacement of the or the complete overhaul of the gymnasium floor strip it all the way down to the wood and build it back up um which I guess gets done like every 10 or 15 years it hasn't been done the whole time I've been there and I've been there 10 so oh maybe every 11 years and we were unable to fund the carpets we uh Margaret and I made a decision to remove the ask for laptops from the capital committee we think that um the ass the ask the ask for the laptops got it from that um we I think there's enough room in the budget for what we're going to do if if we're sticking with what we put in for uh books if we don't have a project there that's more than 50% of the funds and we think the the we're proposing that the balance could come out of uh maybe what's in our revolving accounts for the laptops when we get there in September to take that back up okay there five things and that was four what what was the other one I'm I'm looking oh the parking lot we passed on okay cuz um being the right to farm community we thought a dirt parking lot would be absolutely fine we don't need the black top especially there's a water tax coming on black tops with the storm water more to come on that one in the town meeting the structural thing and the gym floor correct yeah and then we we're going to come up with a creative plan for the laptops okay and that goes to the town meeting to that'll be on the warrant articles yep so it has pass there it passed last night at the select Bo to move them forward oh okay so great thanks those are good things the furnace one of the things that the what the furnace was there a furnace issue no it wasn't furnace that wasn't unnown okay no what parking lot there was a the to seal the cracks and fill a couple holes I don't know which part it was a generic ask thought per parking lot repair fill in all cracks and apply sealant overall pavement repaint markings yeah that's what that was for so would that be the front lot the back lot and the side lot especially the front lot yeah can you please turn off the volume on the microphones I I thought you had the master control no they have it at the studio um the the other thing is the budget is moving along there is a gap right now of $212,000 for the whole community um the three options on the table right now are to uh use um operation stabilization money which does not have unanimous support of Select board to do an override which doesn't have unanimous support of the select board or to cut 212,000 which doesn't have unanimous support so more to come on that but there will be a meeting Tuesday night um to try and figure out what that difference is good news is is we got an update today from the state um there's some potential increased funding coming that might help shorten that Gap with if the $14 per pupil stays there that'll be another $33,600 to the Norris budget that won't have to come out of the taxpayer side they come out in Chapter 70 so stay tuned on that um I think that's it for the select board other than you know the I think the uh we did a really good job with the budget on our side Norris's side and I think uh I would encourage all voting parents or concerned people with Norris to show up on May 7th to support the budget for for both schools so um at some point we're going to have to vote on line item transfers for the 23 and 24 stuff we don't have any of that yet um skipping out a new business uh discussion authorizing the chair to act on behalf of the committee on the April 25th so this is where I don't I um I had this thought I ran I did run it by Margaret she wasn't opposed to it I don't know what everybody thinks about it first Kim and Margaret are unable to make the April 25th meeting so I would need a firm commitment for both of you to be there if there's a question then I'm wondering if we if we somehow were some sort of vote to empower either myself as chair or the vice chair to act on behalf of the committee have you run this by Kimberly no I can be there on so April 25th that's Hampshire Regional um it's a public meeting so probably 6: to 8 I have to double check to see if I work till 6 at night every other Thursday I work till I work late um I have to see okay I should be able to see I double check I get home but I don't have nothing in front of me this is like be there right now I'm not opposed to that happening but I think we need Council will tell us if we're allowed to do that well I'm more of the opinion we take the vote we tell Council what our vote was and tells them we have to change it I mean if if if it looks like we're going to have Quorum then it's a mute point and we're good but um we can also be the only committee that doesn't vote and as long as the other four communities vote in favor of it doesn't matter what our vote is anyways even as the long largest stakeholder well we we will have no say just just ask the very leading rhetorical question am I corrected assuming there is one candidate for the interim superintendent position and if we were not to approve that candidate we would not have a superintendent necessarily in place for July 1 of this coming year that is correct so and the only other piece of information that that is publicly known is that this person has the unanimous support of the masc or the msac masc masc that's all we know about this person it has I believe that all District's meeting was in a public session right it was so we know that that superintendent has substantial Regional experience as well that's what we've been told what do you define substantial has see I will strike that word has Regional School District experience as a superintendent yes um I believe they have multiple years as superintendent but it was the last 3 years of their career as a regional superintendent I think they have 10 years together as a super only three of which was at the regional level um so what is it we couldn't do the no it's the search committee we're in AED MC we have we have hired them as our consultants for this and so they were working on this um in chant when we tried for the permanent both so that if one didn't work out we could pivot to the other and that's what we've ended up doing and then I would just say again because the uh the thought here because this is a unique circumstance where normally you would have three or more candidates and the screening committee would act an executive session but the screening committee needs to report out a minimum of two people otherwise it's a selection committee if they only name one person they've done the work in secrecy so if we don't have three candidates we only had one um for this interm that identified so we can't do it that way the way we would traditionally vet them to make sure everything's good to then come out in public with some more confidence and uh of that nature um and to find a full-time superintendent this is this is just they're indicating this is the the wrong time of year to be looking current superintendant are more concerned about shutting down their schools finishing the year and all that and then take a month off and then they'll start the search process in August and they also don't want to leave their own districts in the Lurch by suddenly leaving now and then having you know if we were finding someone with experience then them having to scramble so I'm just going to I'm going to make a motion to authorize the chair of the Norris school committee to vote on beh half of the entire school committee for the purposes of appointing an interim Superintendent at the August excuse me the April 25th all districts meeting should a quorum of the Southampton school committee not be present second discussion all in favor I I opposed so moved Kimberly says you can't do that then yeah we won't do it um I think that was clever okay all right so is there under new business is there anything else any other member wants to discuss that can't wait till our next regular meeting um well I'd like this to be something we talk about at our next regular meeting so I think I need to bring it up now um so we need to update our medication policy and that something that we talked about a few months ago and I haven't haven't heard anything um since so I would like to have a draft um updated medication policy at our next our regular monthly meeting in May so that we can vote on it in June and have it ready to go for the start of the next school year so Dean um I'm asking that you um have that ready for us for our next regular monthly meeting um discussion no okay all right that's reminded me of something else it is there anything else that anybody wants to bring up under other that can't wait till our next regular meeting well sort of it has to do with the health is it the health the the the food one the policy that you brought to us is it the wellness policy where are we at with that so this is where we're at it's very lengthy all the principals and central office have gone through it with the fine tooth comb and there's a lot of changes technically now it needs to go back to the nurses and the wellness committee which they haven't they're supposed to be meeting which they haven't to discuss those changes to see how they feel about that that has not happened yet because I haven't even thought about wellness policy since this whole central office thing so that's going to and I don't see that being resolved by even if the nurses looked at it like tomorrow it it there's going to there will be a need for further discussion I guess might just only concern with that and this is if if it can be dispelled great with part of the house Ways and Means budget that there was inclusion for continued funding for free school Universal free school lunches y because our wellness policy is not in compliance with existing standards does that not having a up updated policy does that put us in Jeopardy of losing either state or federal funding for lunches for the next school no not at all and you haven't had a wellness policy that's been in place ever in 20 years so okay there's no humongo rush for that no the um it's all all schools regardless of W's policy question y all right so we'll add those two as ongoing but just so we don't lose track of them right so medication policy for the first read next month and vote in June mhm okay yep um so what was the name of the F policy the wellness policy it's a wellness yes ongoing business uh reconsider the fiscal year 25 academic calendar which was accepted by this body on February 15 20124 um we can I uh so on behalf of the committee on March 27th I sent an email to Stephen schmuck s c m CK he's the vice president of operations for the New England Louisiana and Florida Regions for Durham busing and you don't have to type my entire email that I'm about to read into the record just reference that dated email email uh Stephen uh Rachel erson forwarded your email to me can I ask that the Durham school services please provide us with a copy of the fully executed contract we're unable to locate it U um with and with all the turnover within the central office we aren't even confident that we are budgeting the proper amount that would would like to avoid any shortfalls in our budget second just to be clear it is my understanding that Southampton noris prek K through 6 shares all 11 of its buses with Hampshire regionals grades 7 through 12 and that for each day of service both parties pay 50% of the daily rate we are based on 180 school days and our charged for additional days should we use them further we are permitted to have a difference of up to 10 days from uh from each other without additional charges being incurred thus elementary schools could start on August 28th to allow the younger kids to adjust to school and then hit the ground running on education on September 3rd while the higher grades may not need this transition time should Southampton have school on a day that Hampshire Regional does not then we are charged 50% of the daily rate and on the back end when Hampshire Regional has a school day that Southampton does not they are charged 50% of the daily rate and we are not both groups pay 50% for 180 days during school year if this is incorrect please let me know and once you share the contract if you could point to the specific language in there that supports your view I would appreciate it Steven wrote back the following day uh thank you very much for reaching out uh for further Clarity and review I am sorry to hear about the turnover we have had uh over a decade of great partnership with the hrsd and however we can support the transitions we are here um I pulled the exe executed agreement which encompasses the bid specifications also attached on page 17 item K copied below is does Define how we address split calendar days after reviewing this section I would change my original response to be we would Bill 50% of the bus rate for the day that only one of the tiers ran this applies up 10 day up to 10 days during the school year if the alternating days exceeded 10 days we would then Bill 100% of the charge I hope this is the answer and documents you were looking for sounds like you will be able to alter those starting days Within the cost parameters you were hoping for so the committee had asked to get something in writing from them I submit that that is at least a written response that satisfies it so with that being said I did ask Alisa to um update the for a draft update the proposed start time for Norris to be uh teachers report on the 28th which is a Wednesday students report on the 29th and the 30th then have that Monday off as the holiday and then we continue on and then in June back the end of school up from the 17th to the 13th which would be a Friday I thought we were talking about students starting on the 28th no yeah it was supposed to be a three day then a 4 day then a five day I'm open to whatever that is not the instructions I gave Alisa because I wasn't going off my notes yeah I thought I thought it was historic or normally we've done the first of school a 3-day week for the kids the second week of school is a 4 day week for the kids and then I just did what John asked me to do I wasn't thinking about what the discussion was but I do understand what you're saying yeah and I think that was also the recommend that was the preferred calendar from the association if I was not if I remember so if we back it up I mean um so teachers would start that Tuesday then right but it does mean that if we U right now now if if we only back up 2 days again I'm this is strictly what I what I asked Alisa to do um we end on the 13th which is a Friday however if we utilize our five days then we are going out to the following Monday because there's a holiday in that next week so if we were to back up no matter what we'd be done on the 20th which means if we use all our five days we'd have a holiday on Thursday and then we back in on that Friday for half day but it is what it is cuz we have to have 180 days nobody would be there the last day of school well and I just noticed that although the color coding is correct in June which is the purplish color on the 13th and the holiday is indicated on the 19th on that box where it says event or holiday I didn't change last day of school for staff it says the that would need to be updated I updated the top part I didn't update the bottom part yeah sorry I can go back and do that yeah well this is just a draft but I mean I would if we we've already approved one so if we're going to make a change can can we talk about it tonight and see if we can come to an agreement so that we can vote on a a amended version yeah I think parents are going to want to know sooner or later exactly they are for travel plans I mean PTO asks me when I'm there and so so so I've been thinking about this and there's a couple things um if we diverge from the rest of the district right and we do our own thing does this move us further away from like the mindset of maybe regionalization like is this going to set a precedent that we go off on our own on some things and well I I say no but here's why I say that is because I think I think the elementary schools across the district should be on this schedule and here's here's why cuz the younger kids need more time to transition oh we're back in school we got a settled down we got to fall so those first two or 3 days they're not a waste it's like let's get reprogrammed that we're in school we're back in school where the older kids don't need that then on the reverse end up at the regional like last year my daughter was in seventh grade and the last two weeks of the year she only had to go 3 days because it was finals and she didn't have testing she wasn't there anyway she was already home by herself so it would you know the argument of the uh I can't have my older kids at school while my younger kids are home doesn't really no I meant I meant more just for being a cohesive unit because and the other aspect of that too is I was thinking about like I've worked in districts where you know at the beginning of a school year there's a convocation and if if you're start if you're having different start dates you're not going to have that and we don't know what someone coming in you know in the superintendency do they want to do that is it important do they have a great program that they want to run and so if we if we are different then that and we we're if this is going to set a precedent that every year we would do this then that would preclude that and I just I just wonder if okay that's an unintended consequence two points on that if yeah just because I think it's a great great question great point but I thought about the same thing yeah I thought the same thing um first one I I've heard from other schools that they wanted to push their start back dates back as well and that they were told they couldn't um so I think realistically this may set off a wave of changes of calendars to to be in alignment with that and two if we get to the point of regionalization the contracts are so vastly different currently that this whole discussion is going to have to be rehad no matter what because we can't do a convocation for the entire District currently because Norris's contract says he can only come back one day before school starts and it has to be in the building and then Hampshire Regional can't start before August 28th anyway so it's kind we already have this issue of each contract is different so I think if we hit the regionalization we're going to have to worry about this is going to be the this is not going to be the big uh it's more just the mindset of Are We one cohesive District or are we all no we're not okay fair enough I just today we're not all right just thought I'd put that out there as a consideration I'm a little worried of families that have kids in both Elementary School and at Hamshire Regional having like very different schedules for start and end for school dat I don't know if historically they've been together where you have now like you know a a week separating the start days for you know say you have like a seventh grader and a fourth grader like very different start and end dates um is just being extremely inconvenient for families but I don't know how that would go down so I mean I guess I I kind of go along with Dylan because I'm pretty sure it was the Westampton Elementary School that they they wanted to start they wanted to start on this where teachers com in on 28th starting 29th which is in alignment with the Hampshire Regional contract as it states but for I wasn't I wasn't there I don't know um historically because the the school calendar for the seven six years now going on my seventh year on this school committee this is always a bona centia when it gets to the school committee level because it's the school committee's responsibility to set the calendar and vote on it um but the way this District does it which isn't necessarily a bad idea but the principles get together and create a unified front and submit that one forward and then it usually flows through but it started with us with the number of half days and then it's like okay but then this year the way the calendar Falls and it's like well we're not even going to start till September and the response that we initially got was that's how Hampshire Regional I believe staff wanted it when they did when they surveyed the unions you know starting back on the 27th with kids on the 28th staying the 29th and the 30th not making 30th a half day or a holiday for a long weekend is what the Southampton Teachers Association recommended so I also take the other approach that while I don't want to plate to the union when I can be in agreement with them and not cause an issue MH I I kind of want to support them and you know they are either the first or they're the second biggest Union in the district right do we know why the Hampshire Regional can you explain I'm missing why the Hampshire Regional calendar is deciding to start after the they can't they can't buy contract start before the 28th and there's two professional development there's two days they have at the beginning of the year so Hampshire Regional the earliest they could start would be the Wednesday Wednesday Thursday would be teacher day students would return on Friday and they said why we're not going to start school the Friday before a long weekend with students yeah yep so the other question I have about this where we're why can't they just fix that contract sorry wow anyway um is is this this idea that we can have different days of buses running or not running is this going to are we limiting this to the start and end dates of the school year or is this going to fall into it's only raining in Southampton even though there's a blizzard up in Chesterfield so Norse will have school but Hampshire won't the only only time that we we have contemplated invoking that Clause was at the initial stages of Co when we had the two I think we had the two week shutdown and then noris was able to open back up because we did the HEPA filters and all that stuff my dates might be off a little bit here but that was going on and then the school committee cuz the noris committee was fighting to do everything we could to keep the schools open until the governor mandated the shutdown and we contemplated cancelling either the February or the it must have been the April vacation and that's when this Clause came up by Bobby Jones at the time saying you from a busing standpoint there's no cost you can cancel your vacation and have school that week without Hampshire Regional having because they believe Hampshire regional had already gone remote which again older children have different abilities so I'm saying though for us though are we are we if we change this calendar are we saying this is just for the start date in like the end date we're not this isn't this isn't now saying to the superintendent you have five different decisions to make on snow day and you've got to no I I would I don't think that would that would cause chaos I know that's why I don't want to cause cha put that in the calendar right I mean we could say in the event of such and such we reserve the right to cancel April vacation in the beginning and I'm not proposing we do that but that would be there but you don't know when the snow Storm's going to hit right okay right so the other to piggy back off that two questions one are there any existing professional development days on the calendars that don't line up or half days that that don't line up such that we are already within our 10 deviations um no cuz our half days Hampshire Regional has school it just a matter what time they second run are there any closed profession are there any days that Norris is not open to students and Hampshire Regional is or vice versa because of non-aligned professional development on the calendar okay and then the second one is do you know if the interpretation of that what's your interpretation job of up to 10 days if we were to move this back three days to the start let's say students return the 28th which I understand it's not what you asked the Leisa to do but we asked students to return on the 28th which would be 3 days in August and then it would be 3 days at the end of the year is that 3 days of schedule deviation or is that 6 days of scheduled deviation only three for us and three for him so each each 10 yes okay okay it's not 10 are you sure that we can only have 100 call it 10 call it five I'm only asking for 3 days so if the if the wellness of the body is not to change anything then let's just jump to that and I think we're just trying to be careful six though would it be six days because now you've got three on each side that would be which is still not 10 I would go with the five and five but again you're the you're the attorney I'm only the Bean Counter I sent you you're really good account just yeah no I know I didn't the will of the body I this is an agenda item so if a parent want or future School Committee Member wants to weigh in I think you should just vote and this is just a round about insane discussion going on state your name for the record Jennifer Johnson um if it's three if it's six it's still under 10 it's just like this whole mindset is Bonkers to me absolutely Bonkers like it's a calendar go with what our teacher Association wants which is what has been in the previous years the 3 four five whatever or even two four or five but to put this much thought into a calendar when all of the other things in this District are so screwed up this is mindboggling to me like well just to address that though I think the point to think about here is is in especially in the professional development issue if there's St where different schools are not running even though it's 180 days what this calendar was made by all those people so other than those first three days all of the other days should line up not always they've not always L not always have Hampshire regional's professional development lined up with thth Norris's which have not lined up there's been times where there's been deviations between the five schools and if you if we take six of them and there ends up being five more deviations there's going to be a financial impact I agree with you on that I'm not that's why we're asking the question just just so you're aware no and I understand that and I understand that question to that point but I guess this is just a poor assumption on my point that if this calendar that was already approved and no one has ever even thought about deviating from these things because it was a question you had to get from the bus company would assume those five or 10 days are not built into that calendar already because nobody even knew they could use them prior to this so that would be where I would going through at that point that they didn't set it up within their head already okay we have 10 days that we can deviate for professional development or anything else that we've already built into the calendar when you had to literally go ask the company for a contract that is apparently not in central office where it's supposed to be to make sure that this was not an issue so I could be over speaking for the principles that made the calendar but I would assume they didn't even know about this that they didn't built it in to the calendar already but I could be wrong I think there is like if the idea that we want to someday like I'm all for the three four five like that's what I think makes sense and would be great for the kids and I in support of doing what this um the Teachers Association teachers Association wants but I also want to be thoughtful about if we want to someday be regionalized like staying as a region um being thoughtful about how this affects families on either end making plans how this affects if you have campshire Regional older siblings watching younger elementary school kids and at the end of the school year in June like just thinking about all the different implications of changing a schedule I think it's important to be thorough and thoughtful that's true but that's also not the point of your school committee your school committee is for the Norris school it's not to look out for everyone's babysitting jobs and taking care of their kids and everything else that's not that's not the job being thoughtful about the families which we I've talked to lots of families that have kids at both schools and one of their sticking points was by the time that count you get to that point kids that have sports in the older grades and the in the high school and stuff have already been practicing for weeks no one is going still on vacation then and I personally don't think real Regional Iz ation is the best plan we have all of the kids we pay the biggest amount of money what is the draw for us to be regionalized okay so so I'm going to move just go ahead tell me your thoughts just express your thoughts without make the most I I think we go back to what the conversation's been since the beginning which is parents teachers return on August 27th yep students return on August 28th yep the the tentative last day of school for students would be June 12th and last day for teachers would be June 13th is it is it one day after they say one day after one day after so the mistake on here is um it said the 18th and it should have been the 16th yeah I've been here now updating it all okay [Music] okay and then then June 19th and then in the event that we have to go out to 5 days it would push us out to June 20th with teachers on 23rd yeah good luck if we want five days correct okay so the motion is that for calendar year 2425 that teachers first day is a is Tuesday August 27th yep um students excluding kindergarten kids excluding preschool would be preschool would be August 28th and then that would make the last day of school June Thursday June 12th for students and June 13th for staff provided no use of snow days and for preschool to start on I don't know what that date is you know and I did want to question that so here it says September 9th is the first day for preschool when we were starting possibly on the 29th but normally if we're starting if the students are starting on the 28th preschool should start on the 4th September 4th so can we do that yeah okay so preschool September 4th We'll add to the motion that preschool first day is Wednesday September 4th the motion made by Dylan is there a second throw my voice well second I need to update it in real time seconded discussion all in favor I I I opposed abstain motion carries 40 0 um okay is there anything else or ongoing business that we need to discuss hearing none somebody want to make the motion to ad motion to adjourn by Kim seconded by Dyan no discussion all in favor iOS meeting ends at 1 minute P 7 e