##VIDEO ID:vmUA7vC-CxY## e e e e little bit bit okay oh really here we go welcome everybody uh call to order the meeting of the swans school committee sorry regular session agenda for Thursday January 9th 6 o' um you are at swamp Scott high school and I'd like to call this meeting to order and uh before we do the Pledge of Allegiance tonight um today as said by President Biden is h a day of morning for President Jimmy Carter so may I ask we just have a quick moment of silence okay thank you very much and if you are so able let's please rise for the pledge pledge alance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liy and justice for all okay um anything for the love of learning not this evening there is a lot of love of learning but not tonight uh committee comments you know what Sam we're going to kick it off with you I feel like it's always me but I don't know no I'm not I'm not complaining um so first on this Tuesday we had our first um Deca competition um we had I think 19 state qualifiers this year which is the most we had in a while um yeah my nephew was telling me yeah he he we were all there it was great there 98 students that went on the field Tri w suits it was like two buses and then I think like some um some of the officers drove but yeah it was like packed we were we had a whole like section um it was in Danver I forget what the venue was called but um yeah it was a great showing and you know big props and shout out to you know Mr P and Miss C for organizing it they played a big role not only just the day but leading up to it and getting everybody prepared so um yeah I told you you guys last time that I would check in with um the principal regarding the prom date situation it is all good there's no there's going to be no um restrictions there is going to be a different selection process this year for senior prom I know it's it's different for junior prom but I'm sorry if I misled anybody last meeting um but yeah we should be good to go um last before break we had a um School advisory council meeting um with the principal and um myself Noel is on it as well um and one of the things that we touched on most recently was um underfunded clubs in the school um and after a conversation with Mr cohut and Mr Ford who's here today um we made it one of the goals for the group to um start a booster program for the robotics team as you guys all know I am on the robotics team um along with many others we have a pretty big team this year in comparison to years prior we had a pretty successful season last year um and so you know it's still in the works and we're just getting started out but it's really exciting that I can announce that um this is something that we're going to be working on moving forward so yeah a lot of stuff going on I could I just add a little to the de of field trip so every morning I get the list of substitutes that are teachers and staff that are out and substitutes and I that morning I didn't realize as the dec of field trip and I open the list I'm like like the high school there's like 15 teachers missing and I ran into Mr cohart room I'm like what's going on he's like oh the DECA field trip there's like a 100 kids I'm like oh my gosh and you know gosh bless uh Jamie mcy she had every one of them covered but I literally opened that document and was I almost had a heart attack so it was kind of funny but anyway that was that's wonderful 19 students any college news for me no not yet not yet unforunately I'm waiting I'm not as organized as Noel so she's she's she got everything done early but I'm still waiting right now so hopefully soon we'll it's so stressful waiting but it is what it is anything else no that's all great thank you very much Noel the flow is yours um I have no real updates but since I was last year I had the opportunity to go to the band Disney trip and I just would really like to thank the school committee for the that opportunity it was such an amazing trip and it was really a trip of the lifetime so I appreciate you guys hearing Mr Ro out and letting us take such a wonderful trip great fantastic thank you um have do you have College news yes I've heard back from five out of my nine schools and got into all five which is very exciting yes all right wonderful congratulations we look forward to hearing more news that's great all right Suzanne I have um nothing thanks okay John Amy um well I I want to give a shout out to we talked a little bit about it in our um but I want to give a shout out to our admissions group our College counselors here at the high school I know that they'll come to us with a big download at the end of the year which is always exciting um but uh I like to think that some of the success that we've had is because of the fact that uh they're no longer ranking like what all Elite schools do yes uh and because of that or not I shouldn't say because of that I would say that it's probably a contributor to the fact that we've got a kid into uh Dartmouth nice and I think an early into Northeastern we know that competitive that is um and I'm not even familiar with all the others but there is a pretty growing list so kudos to the admissions team and to you know for the administration for making that change it's nice to see happening excellent K nothing tonight and I will wait uh on mine as well okay uh reports and discussions superintendent so first up is and I know we have the votes later in our agenda but the first up is a field trip the first first B first robotics competition um in at UVM in Burlington Vermont and as we've talked about during budget season uh the cost of these um competitions is pretty steep so I'm excited to hear about the boosters um and would you like to present a little bit about the field trip or you just um my colleague in the suit may have um so we're planning on going to a a uh o wow I'm going to put that how many kids in the club now uh every day changes but right now we say there's a stable 20 to 25 in that range um not everyone shows up every day it's not like a track where you you kind of show up every single day we have some kids that are in track and swim and they're in and out but um our final roster is about 20 to 25 we have it slated for the trip for 20 to 25 uh give or take a room needs to be dropped that's fine but yeah we've had the large number since what Co is that what we can say I would say so um the kids are bringing their friends we we had I think three or four new members come in today just to help out wow um so it's it's a constantly developing uh team and then we have some core members like Sam and a few others that are really leading the charge and setting the tempo for everyone else well I will say preco I attended I think they were holding it at reading High School I attended a first robotics competition and my goodness a football game has nothing on a robotics competition and how interesting and exciting and I love when we see the videos on Instagram or or in the old days Twitter of the practicing in the hallways um it it's something that is I'm so proud of and how strong our team is here and so we bring it before the committee forly because it's an overnight trip and it's an out of state trip and we've done these before um but I don't know if the committee has any other questions any questions did they stream it they have in the past right you can actually watch it yeah how much is the competition how much is it to join how much is it per kid okay so to go to this event it's $300 per kid um the breakdown is it's about 220 per uh for the hotel for both nights um and then the remainder $80 was going to go split for two nights worth of dinners just so we can now have a nice night out team bonding um just to make things easier um typically what our dues in the past we we've had our dues have changed depending on what the needs of the team have been and how much fundraising we've done um this past uh fundraiser we've made U around $1,500 great um and our booster this or in our fundraising over this past one so we have a little bit of money to put into the robot um it's uh it's a complicated question because as I said we have four people new people who just walked in today I don't want to have them walk in and be like thanks for coming in that'll be $200 please um so we try to keep it open for students and then we charge them when we go on the trips so that's like your commitment is your all right you're on the team you're going to go to a trip and so that's where we ask that little extra money so we talked about having $220 we'll cover the the where we where our the transportation as well as the the the hotel stay and then the rest of the money will be the dues for the team and the registration fees are incredibly costly especially as you make it further into the competition I remember we were there was a flight one year so so one of the things we're working on is is trying to get more fund funding from the schools and from boosters due to the fact that the cost of of the competitions is Raising more and more every year since the pandemic all of our corporate sponsor ERS have dropped us essentially we used to have a really big thing with GE they'd send two mentors every year to help us and help Foster the kids and since the pandemic all that extra money has sort of drained so we are operating basically by begging people for money in the community and um I uh and so what we're hoping going forward is to establish something so that every for example last year we did over eight different fundraisers to raise that $6,000 needed to compete in that those first two competitions and there's an additional $4,000 needed to complete uh compete at States so that's $10,000 just in registration fees wow not including the robot so it is a lot of money but I believe it's really worth it I would say that anyone who is involved with the team will come out of it saying this was one of the most beneficial parts of my swamp Scott career and I would like to say that the the engineers that we have leaving the school I'd say are much more well equipped when they go through the robotics team can I just ask a question can you just explain to us and I'm just curious I mean I know one of my kids did it one of the like infancy years way back when what actually happens at a competition or Sam you can answer it too if you'd like yeah so competitions are essentially organized around um the teams who competing um teams you know really range in size um we're actually uh smaller team in comparison to some other teams out there um they're not just organized by school there a lot of them have um an amalgamation of like different schools together um so it really varies depending on you know size and resources when it comes to money um for the competitions especially there're essentially organized into District state or um championships and then um world championships um so each team needs to usually compete two District events um these have usually been Regional last year there was one in reading and then one in Rivier um but then the one in the reason we're going to um UVM this year is because the one in Reading got canceled um essentially they're not going to be hosting the event there anymore so we're going to required almost to um go to UVM if we want to get those um two events in um and a lot of higher level teams they they do two three maybe four even um District events um but talking about event specifically essentially um each year first robotics competition the organization that organizes um first robotics teams um releases a game um for us it was on Saturday they released the game um and you have six weeks to prepare and build a robot around that game um there's a lot of strategy a lot of engineering and math going behind it um and it's really a team effort every single year um and so after six weeks are up you have um sign up for the competitions and you show up um and usually it's three teams against three teams um you have a certain number of qualifying matches basically um each competition is set up where you have this qualifying matches where they're just randomly selected teams um you go and compete and then um based on your performance in those matches your points how many points you score and different things you do in the match it's different year-to year depending on the game and the different objectives that there are um they rank you and then at the end of the qualifying matches there's usually about 10 to 15 that you're able to play in and then total there's like close to 100 or something like that um there's a competition where um the teams form alliances um and they compete against each other um to win the championship for that event um and so there's a lot of you know stuff that goes on behind the scenes there's a lot more well you're the robot in between R yeah yeah something happens they're all in the corner working on the robot there's like ranking points um that are not just you know event specific but they're um they apply to your entire season so they depend on based on the amount of ranking points that you have you may or may not qualify to go to States or to go to the World Championships um States like we did last year in World Championships I think the last time was in 2019 um so basically that's how it's organized um you guys can look a little bit more into it but um there's a lot that goes into it um a lot more than you know they would even probably like to admit so what does the robot have to do this year so this year the game um is sent around two game pieces one is like a PVC pipe cylinder and then the other one's a ball um you can scor the ball in different um zones one of them is like a slot on the wall another one is this big um like trough in the middle of the field you can like shoot the ball up into it um and then there's like a cage in the middle of the field where you can um pick up the cylinders and score them onto that as well um it's different year to year last year there was these foam rings and you have to pick them up and shoot them into slots on the wall the field um yeah one year it had to be able to do a pullup or something yeah we have we have so we have to be able to climb every year there's some type of like climbing aspect as well so the robot has to be designed around all these different objectives so it's really difficult but awesome um it's pretty exciting sounds really great I can I ask some questions um so I don't know if if you guys know I don't know if you know um and Cheryl's not here what what commitment does our budget have for to the robotics team nothing which is why we put 10,000 in our request this year good um I was going to say you know we sponsor Athletics and we sponsor uh the you know the the Arts the you know the band remember we had this uh situation years ago with the music department and with drama and that's where I came up with the 10,000 and when you said Mr Crawford the $6,000 that's always stuck out in my head and I know when they went to the worlds I remember exactly where I was when they were saying you know where do we get the money we'll find it we're just paying for it um but we deliberately put that 10,000 in our budget going into FY 26 to have that set aside because that doesn't cover all the costs it's just a bucket of money that you would have to right to help I just want to preface the six grand that you initially pay all that does is register you for and then and then there's you know the additional cost for each event that you attend yes okay and then if you want to advance the next level let's say you you can qualify for the championship competition you have to pay more money and this is all outside of you know the robot you know every year that's not unlike Sports you know the better you are and the further you get the more it costs but it's it's it's difficult in that um you know you're competing against teams who have a lot more resources than you have a lot more students a lot more sponsors um and it's not regulated so you know you have a team like us who's you know has couple mentors um you know 20 kids most um versus teams with like multiple multis school teams you know who have like tens 20 mentors um and they have basically what's close to like unlimited sponsorships and you know each game each year the game gets more advanced and there's more things that you can buy um one aspect of the game that we don't like one aspect of first robotics that we don't like is the fact that it's you know each year becomes more we like to say pay to win and that like you can buy different kits and parts for the robot that make that give you an advantage that you otherwise have um do you do you think that the judges factor that in or they want to see how great it is they don't care what the for them it's it's it's it's all objective you know how you how you rank and how you play it's based on you know what you do I have a little bit of an interjection that while that is true for the overall um that's true for the overall we always focus on trying to get the most wins and getting that Banner so we we didn't mention that we had some success last year and we won we took home a banner so we didn't wi we were part of the winning Alliance in one of our events last year which was pretty awesome um but they have other they have other awards that as a team we don't focus on because we don't really have a good chance of achieving them on because they involve so much extra stuff to get them on like basically Innovative design uh there's one for being the most enthusiastic um yeah there's they they they have a whole bunch of awards that they give out for but the prize is is is winning the competition yeah when I say objective I mean like pertaining to the actual competition though there's a bunch of different Awards you can earn on the side should have mentioned that I think Mr Ford wanted to Mr Ford would you like to say something yes so I just I just wanted to add a few things that and these guys might be a little shy to say it but beyond that 10,000 they really need some more money in order to you know succeed and and if you go I just went into one of their practices I guess you could call it and there's such a such a positive vibe in the room between between the two teachers they have an advisor and they they had to kick the kids out all right because everyone wants to stay there it's not like you know I asked them what time their session was they said 2:45 to 4:30 at 5:00 they're kicking like guys you got to leave you got to leave people want to stay there right and when you have that much enthusiasm it's just something we we got to find a way to get behind it you know and try to keep the momentum because that died a little bit during covid and I just think that there's a lot of momentum that we could capitalize on here and keep the enthusiasm like Sam Sam's a great role model you know like he inspired me to get involved and when you have kids like that that he inspires other students to join it's just a great thing that I think we have to you know kind of keep the ball rolling and support like we do with all you know the sports teams when our football teams go into the Super Bowl this is this is their Super Bowl and right I just really want to you know just voice my my support and it's just go in I I suggest going into their room after school one day and you'll you'll see the positive vibes coming out of there it's really something to see thank you Mr for so I know that is not our job here to solve this but can we dovetail this with our Innovation Pathways and in the same way that Innovation Pathways has sort of a formal opportunity to to pair up with corporations like GE um It Seems like by having it come from the school level as opposed to our two teachers slogging away that you know it sort of I don't want to say legitimizes it because I don't want to take like I don't want to insinuate that it's not legitimate but to have sort of a like a a a real um like a process yeah I was thinking the same thing just opportunties been on I was on like an innovation I've been I've been bugging about more money from Mr cohut for come quite some time and he's he said that he's going to get he said he's been promising me some so um it's really nice to see it come to fruition um but uh they've been talking about getting robotics inside the Innovation pathway I teach a robotics class at the school um engineering applications we're talking about fitting it in so it grows more um but the the problem that I've had is it often gets kicked it it keeps on getting kicked down the line it's like oh yeah we're gonna we're GNA get this involved now we've been talking about the computer science uh the computer science pathway and how robotics could fit into that um and with Jean leaving I'm not exactly sure how everything's going to pan out it made me a little bit nervous I was like oh no where go she was our she was our main like cheerleader in that field so um so it makes me nervous when you say that in in the sense of trying to implement it into the pathway um just because I've I've been told that for the past couple of years and and we haven't made any progress so it's a little bit that it's just like okay but uh I'm a little bit nervous well I I I I guess this is a great time and it's a great thing that you're here tonight because you know we're in the middle of going into budget season and these are the things that we're talking about with um you know in terms of how what do we what do we want versus what do we need corre so I the short answer to your original question before Mr Crocker U explained a little bit more is that you know the Innovative Pathways is a program within the school day right now versus a robotics club and so that movement that you're talking about I'm glad you explained it a little bit more in order to move it into the a program within the school day is going to allow us to do more we have the career coacher uh coach and um you know the internships so we need to move move that forward and I am giving an update that we have three of eight interviews for the director of teaching learning we have three moving forward so we are moving that process along and I can just make sure that when they get to me as a final interview I can talk about incorporating robotics as another program so I appreciate that Insight thank you I mean Amy when you were when you were talking I was thinking you were talking about um sponsorships and using the connections from Innovative Pathways and the internships to to leverage those to reach out to those same corporations to see if there's possibility for sponsorship or having having a letter from the superintendent or the superintendent reaching out to some of those people as as in a more official kind of higher level capacity like to leverage some of some of your authority to to beg for sponsors or to or to reach out to GE and say we had such a great collaboration a few years back and we missed that and we need that again is there Engineers you can send to us because I do remember like when there was Engineers here for that program and and also you know it's depending a lot about the students like I know a long time ago when my son was in high school there was a couple fathers that were like unbelievable Engineers that were like you know mentors as well like and probably worked at G do you know what I mean right I'm just saying like even the ones that didn't just like gave their time and I think like you know when you have 20 kids you know maybe you have an engineer parent but if you don't it's like so great I just think I think we should use the power of the school to help to help make the make them make sponsors it's all good well do they have to wait or can no it's okay with everybody vote um Can someone please make a motion to approve the field trip of the high school robotics Club to a competition at uh UVM I will make the motion one second second all in favor I all oppose it carries unanimously Mr Crocker Mr wman thank you so much for coming thank you very much appreciate it thank you one last question absolutely Joe do you have kids in the club Joe do do you have kids in the club which Joe oh sorry Joe Ford do you have kids in the club what's that do you have kids in the club how did you get involved no uh I I I got involved because my hearing is very awful I my I got involved because I'm on the school advisory Council and I was sitting next to Sam listening to him talk and I also know from watching and participating in school committee meetings that he's a representative here and it just got me thinking that this is something that I want to get behind my new little pet project and he's he's an inspiring young man and he and I just just observing him intera with his with his with his teachers with the other students in there you know it's just it's something that you you want to support and Sam Sam Sam inspired me so thank you I appreciate that it took a little convincing too talking to the teachers these guys are so look it's dressed up in a suit look I mean this is this is important to these guys it really and you can you can just see the passion and they've they've done more with less which to me should be should be commended you know and like if I was a judge in this competition I I just I just kind of heard that there's some other programs that get donated a lot of money like I had heard $225,000 over a three-year period I'm not going to State the school because I'm I'm not sure how accurate it is but just if that's the truth these guys are at a real disadvantage and if I was a judge I would know that these guys aren't nearly getting the financial support and I judge them based on doing more with less and if you you know if you're judged on doing more with less these guys would win everything that they enter just because of their positivity and their their their commitment to what they're doing and it's it's nice to watch so why I got involved thank you so much thank thank you Mr oh thank you uh the next item on my agenda is the annual report from the noore education Consortium this uh remember is a Consortium of out of District programs that I present a report to you annually where we try to look at um utilizing this Consortium because if you go to page 21 you will see um The Daily rates and it is cost effective this is the as a member district there's 18 or 20 member districts this is the um organization that has a board made up of the superintendents uh of the member committee this is the one that I was chair of for four years and am now the chair of the facilities committee subcommittee but what I want to point out to you is the various programs um in the table of contents so they have the Kevin O'Grady school they have the NorthShore upper Academy the lower Academy the top seal vocational Academy and Recovery high school and then we have transition programs like Embark and sore and so for the Committees um knowledge I just want to share that we have 11 students that access the programs at Northshore education Consortium and the breakdown is that we have five students at the Kevin O'Grady School six students at the NorthShore lower and upper Academy so in various grade level and of those six students three are cost shares with neighboring districts so you can flip through this it's it's something that I present to you every year um it's very it's interesting because you know we are like the school committee of the Consortium and we have board meetings and the finances and all of that um but if you look on page 8 you'll see um the students a line graph of the students served by each of the districts so obviously P Lynn bler are up there you can see where we are um somewhere towards lower end but those are the member districts and I am hearing that potentially your Georgetown uh might join us as well um they have the same issues we have facilities programs where they're being housed um and so this is a really feel-good report that uh has to be done in this format and is submitted to the state annually and needs to be presented to the school committee so nothing needs to be done it's just to let you know that this is one of our outer District placement goto because of the fiscal um benefits of of utilizing this program okay just ask a question I U First this is great I mean for you know for those who have never read one of these reports I i' I'd ask you to do so it's a ton of information here for for this particular population I know uh last year a couple years ago we had uh there was some challenge with the actual physical plant U how's that all going there uh they have various buildings and um right now the Kevin O'Grady school is going under um a major HVAC project and and so it's moving along I I will say uh they're on track but it disrupts the Kevin ogrady school is the most significant needs right and it's really difficult to work around that there you know having it was great that I had experience with the elementary school challenges right and because I had a bit more knowledge but it's moving along and on track on time on budget but they have other facilities that have to be um looked at as well so they are they have just started to develop a multi-year um Capital plan which is something they haven't done before because we're all in education and you don't really look that far they have a great facilities Department who is now looking ahead at all of their needs in all of their buildings so um yeah and then just the last thing for me again just to to look at these daily rates is is so coste effective for uh not only our you know fellow communities but for our you know us here and OT comparatively to some of the U private schools out there so kudos to everyone involved yes that um I I have just a question was transitions like the store program always part of the Consortium or is that something new no they have been and they um they're based out of sal sal State I just didn't I many years I didn't realize they were part of the Consortium oh that's pretty awesome okay um and then I I Linked In the newer agenda that's in your folders uh not the agenda if you have a print out um a a brief superintendence update I wanted to update the committee on the director of teaching and learning search um so the week of December 16th we had the round one interview committee uh conducted eight interviews uh of those eight three were moved forward and um Mrs cols is coordinating the second round of interview in the coming week interviews in the coming weeks I believe it might be the week of the could be the 28th and 29th or 29th and 30th um one thing that was revealed after the first round of interviews is that these candidates uh are looking to begin on July 1 of 2025 um and that has created a bit of an issue because um when Dr bacon and I were meeting she initially gave me nine pages of responsibilities and things that she does and I reported to the committee not too long ago that we were doing okay in tasking out you know who did we think could take over some of these responsibilities in the interim uh Mr kishman met with the principles and went over the responsibilities in the job description and really started talking to the principles about the pieces they should own you know we were in a meeting previously talking about seal that should be embedded in everything we do the core work should be embedded in everything we do the mtss but that is the work work that myself and Mr kman continu to do and hold the principles accountable for well that nine-page document turned into 11 and now turned into 14 and so I'm here to say the reality is that we can't possibly keep all of Dr Bacon's responsibilities up to the standard that she had them at and so um what we have decided to focus on is the family engagement the core work the mentor program and the professional development but I will will tell you an example yesterday is when I met with Dr bacon on thei her last day she we had core um professional development going on for a cohort of teachers in elementary middle and high school and on Friday the 3D she told me that we didn't have enough facilitators for yesterday and so um and that these facilitators if I got them we're going to have to prepare I'm sorry Friday afternoon I knew there was no way I was going to let that happen so um or get that to happen in such a quick turnaround so uh we had to concede that yesterday those teachers did something else and we'll get back on track but you know we've got the coaching of Mr kishman going on we've got budget we've got bargaining um and I've got my daily responsibilities and so we're doing our best but I'm here to tell the committee honestly the best is all we're going to be able to do and by the time these candidates uh get to the third round of interviews my question is going to be can't you come on board in May I mean I know people have a 90-day clause in their contracts and I I'm concerned that these candidates start July 1 when everybody's on vacation in July they're not going to know anybody they're not going to be able to have conversations and so my goal is really to push to get somebody on board by May at the latest then you can go around and do kind of an entry plan meet with the principles meet with the teachers meet with the different groups and set your course for July when everybody's on vacation so um that is my plan as of right now um and I wanted to be as transparent as I could with the committee that we will continue to do the work that Mr kalishman and I are working with those principles that they need to step up I'm taking over mentoring uh there's only a few unscheduled um unplanned meetings uh that's really important to me because Jean worked really hard to revamp that program um and so there good news and bad news in here but we're we're going to continue to do the best great what do you think um what do you think is going to fall by the wayside I think uh Dr bacon was really good about having a lot of meetings with people to really hold them accountable and their feet to the fire can't possibly keep up the meeting schedule um none of us can we all have our all standing meetings going so from like a professional development standpoint or no curriculum moving that forward the data the um I ready data the mcast data the principles used to do it they said they can do it anyway so I don't think it's going to be glaring and I don't think the committee is going to feel it but I just wanted to be honest that when we were going over those nine pages I thought okay we can do this we now it's at 14 and it's a little bit more daunting and some of the stuff were we are saying that really doesn't belong in that department we should be moving it over to this department so we're doing that in between keeping everything afloat so okay the good news is the person coming in is going to have 14 pages of respons like already laid out for it's great it's a great it's a great road map it really is are you still feeling good about I'm sorry it just it makes me appreciate that Dr bacon was like two people yeah right really a talent right and are you still feeling good about the candidates very very strong the three are very strong we'd be lucky to get any one of them right now great what about um what about curriculum review I know that you know we were talking about um I think it was a new history yes we um that is all done within the budget it was done by Dr bacon before she left so everything that we have in there that was the minute we learned that she was leaving we wanted to make sure her budget requests were in there and so um they are great uh and then just an update on The UU Church uh in parking I had written this before this afternoon I got word that uh Max and I met with our attorney earlier this week to review the redline changes in the license agreement that the church's attorney looked at as of this afternoon I'd say by 3:00 we are in full agreement and they are just looking for um there's an insurance issue like they want to be insured and Max is following up on that but as far as we're concerned their side agrees with everything we our side agrees with everything and so hopefully that will be happening soon I know that will alleviate a lot of parking issues over at sces again um 45 spaces are what we're looking to use during school days okay that's my report great um I have a couple things uh chair school committee chair comment um Joe duette cannot be here tonight so I'm going to play the role of Joe duette um um swamp High School auditorium upgrade final stages so I'm just going to read this if you guys don't mind this is from Joe last week or two weeks ago hello everybody and happy New Year some as some of you may have heard town meeting approved $480,000 needed to install new theater light system National Grid is giving us a very generous grant for $200,000 with the requirement that the system be installed and working by March 31st of this year in addition the sound system that was approved by town meeting in FY 24 is finally arriving with installation being planned for the same time frame with that and the new camera system this Auditorium will truly be a gem of the town and the first reveal of this will be at the high school spring musical the part that we need to address is the obvious impact the installation will have on the use of the auditorium the timing is not deal as musical rehearsals will be in full swing this is somewhat out of our hands because of the opportunity to receive the $200,000 Grant to prepare for a worst case scenario one of the potential contractors suggested a three-week window with the auditorium is off limits he said it would be a dangerous work Zone with all theater lights being replaced and all electronic implements being pulled out thousands of pounds of speakers riggings Etc will be hanging from the ceiling uh again this is Joe talking I won't have the exact days of the install until the final contractor is approved and the parts are ordered so I think it would be wise for us to come up with a contingency plan for any users of the theater from mid-February through the end of March and then refine and confirm things as the dates become more definitive and he listed some dates on here so I can add some color to this um as the committee I believe I've shared with committee members was not probably formally here at a meeting is that um with the support of the select board chair and the previous Town Administrator they supported my idea of kind of keeping swans Scot Elementary School to the school department for this year and not allowing outside organizations to utilize that beautiful building I know it's not a popular decision but um I just think we're still closing out the building there's still things that need to be handled and just keeping it internal is important to us and it was nice to hear it was important to the town too it is a $98 million building um but in this situation we have already moved the National Honor Society uh induction program to SC because it is a school program we're looking at moving a band and um chorus concert to SCS as well um I think it is twofold of a benefit number one not everybody made it to our ribbing cutting some people have not seen that building and I think it would be an opportunity to really shine there the alternative is the Little Theater which is a very dark space at the middle school um I would much rather be in in in a cafetorium that has age a view of the woods with natural light coming in and we saw that it worked the complication there are chairs they're not going to sit at on benches and tables and so for these PL hands and rehearsals I I am opening the swamp elementary school knowing that they're going to have to coordinate with the extended tape program which runs till 6 and they utilize that cafetorium so I've been in communication with some of these folks that run these programs and that's where we're sending people so and we don't have like any other people that have rented out the space for dance or nobody like nobody's going in there yet no we need to move like the list yet so um no I'm you know we had like once a month we had that Nores harmonic they were going to find another space I think that email said I was just wondering any of those people just I I did have how about for how about for practice for the musical and stuff like the kids we haven't come to that yet but if they needed that depending on the time of the well I mean I couldn't use the cafetorium obviously because that the why I mean there's so many kids in there but it depends what time their practice is do they start at four do they start I just I was just was wondering what the what the status of was the Clark gym I have not heard any update on that no but I'm just saying for rehearsals or something like it's a place where students that are freshman and sophomore could walk to I was just trying to think like you know if that if that could be made available for rehearsal space if they needed it directly we accommodate whatever needs yeah um just so everybody knows I I did ask I push back a little bit with Max asked a couple questions um this is my question Safety and Security of students and staff during construction uh he replied during during the construction period until the room is deemed safe the auditorium will be 100% off limits to students and only open to staff who are involved with the installation conver conversation um any administrative or staff members that would like to access the auditorium during the construction time can connect with me or Max so they can kind of figure out how to do that my last question was about funding uh addition custodial staff time and expense and Max um excuse me Joe replied the installation should be should all be happening during times that custodial staff is in the building the extra work that might arise relates to the removal of elements being discarded we will be renting a dumpster from the project funds for disposal but it could be helpful to have an extra custodian to help move everything to that dumpster and we'll leave that up to Max so those are just my couple quick questions I think also superintendent like like we cored any workers that worked in during the day if they come in the building yeah yep great I have a question um a couple of weeks ago we approved a gift from um the name is going to escape me but that very um weather spoon Foundation weather spoon Foundation uh as a gift to the AV group is that the S is that the auditorium or is that the um uh the the room in the back which is more of the classrooms I believe it's the classroom was for his program anything else on this okay um secondarily um because it was mentioned last night at the select board meeting um two things one the next Tri share meeting will be taking place next Monday morning uh at Town Hall uh Miss Stella superintendent myself uh Mr kishman will be there from the school department and select board and finance committee from that side as well and then lastly just so everybody knows we are having a joint meeting of the select board the finance committee and the school committee um uh our next meeting which is January 23rd at 6 o'clock here at swans High School that'll be all three committees will will get together at that time um the last uh item from me actually came from the town moderator uh as everybody does know um the town does not have a permanent Town Administrator at this point and there are certain bylaws in place to mandate when a group is put together uh as part of that group there's one member or designate from the select board one member or designate from the school committee someone from the finance committee and then don't hold me to this but I believe two at llarge town meeting members um and uh we we we don't have to make a decision tonight we would we would definitely have to make that decision on the next meeting um so I'd like to open that up to anyone's thoughts or or comments I I do want to say right off the bat that I I just don't have the time unfortunately to uh participate in that I think it's an amazing opportunity for someone I I just know it this juncture I just don't have that with uh everything else with the negotiations and all that I just don't have that opportunity anyone else want to just chat about it does anybody have any recollection of what happened the last time yes I was on it you were on it Pam weren you I did I I did or you did interview or something I did a speed yeah I was like part of the I was part of the search committee that went through the resumes and background checks so is this for that yes yes yes so I can just tell you what uh Mr mclan sent to me today CU I asked the question um you know time commitment and all that um as far as time commitment and the time of meetings uh he said and I quote here it's up to the committee members to choose their timing if I recall from last time it was pretty intense for a short period of time ideally the committee would meet organize post a job description then process responses and select three to five finalists all within 90 days with a 30-day extension window if needed so it's it's pretty pretty intense I think once it's all decided it was it was it was a lot and then there was a break and then it was a real lot right and then there was a break like it was kind of interesting I mean it was it was a lot of meetings and it was when resumés started coming in and having to go through them and and check stuff a lot so when I watched the meeting last night there was some talk about um uh about nominating somebody who wasn't a board member um but an HR person um which I thought was interesting and I thought it made me wonder you know if we have resources you know people who are particularly um good hirers or um yeah see see part it's really interesting to say part of me thinks that I think initially you know as we discussed this I think I'd like to try to find someone from the committee um I mean this is one of the things we're elected to do uh I understand if it doesn't just doesn't work just given kind of the timing of everything um but that's my thought John what what do you what do you think so I I'm intrigued by it yeah uh to participate so I think um I'll put my name in if um you know it's it sounds like the timing will work right what what uh what you just said I'll second that I'm in favor I'm about to hit my heavy travel season and I'm so well I just I appreciate that you I I appreciate the um the particularity that you um that you your style of particularity when we were looking at um the new superintendent uh and the questions and the rigor that you brought to that right so I um if you brought that to that program I would I would be um it I mean we can certainly vote on this tonight or we can we can all kind of think about it and come back in two weeks what what's I kind of want to go with just a flavor of the board what everybody thinks I mean are you sure you want to do it or you just thinking about it I think we you're throwing your hat in yeah I'll do it okay okay I think wants I'm like yeah I think we got our person hour for vote does it have to be a formal vote Yes it has to be a formal vote all right I think uh Amy nominated him right I'll second it okay um all any conversation I appreciate it so do I right thanks all those in favor of John jantis being the school committee representative to the Town Administrator search committee raise her hand all those opposed John you're in congratulations congratulations to you thank you John for uh stepping up on that I appreciate it thanks um that's all I had as uh committee chair comments any subcommittee discussions comments so there's a policy subcommittee meeting on Tuesday okay and it kind of bounced around but uh this is this one we've been trying to put on with um Dennis and Jason the phone to try yeah just try I think we're very close to try to get that thing ironed out so um hopefully when we reconvene we'll have a more solid update okay um is there any public comment out there in TV Land let's see any hands I'll take that stunn silence no um two attendees and no putting you know please don't rush don't rush um unfortunately your time has passed you missed your window U so there's no public comment we already had actions and votes um let me just read through the consent agenda um actually this only as I learned there's only one item on the consent agenda so we don't have to do that um Can someone please make a motion to approve the regular session minutes of December 12th 2024 I'll make the motion second second second all those in favor passes unanimously and unless anyone has anything else can someone make a motion to adjourn I'll make a motion to adjourn I'll second it all those in favor we are out