we please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance in National an I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America the stand naice see by the dawn to the light what so proudly we held at the Twilight last gleaming who's brought stripes and bright stars through the per fight or the real parts we watch were so gly streaming and the rockets red glare the bombs bursting in gave prove through the night that our flag was still there oh say does that star spangled then I wave or the L of the free and the home of the Brave Mrs Fagan Lord as we begin this session let us acknowledge your goodness and mercy and ask your blessings on all our deliberations we thank you for this opportunity to be of service to our community and to the young people entrusted to our care and um Dr DEA asked me to read a thank you note dear members of the school committee and superintendent all thank you all so much for your participation and support during a very difficult time from the family of a still bores thank you secretary Fagan okay and roll call Mr Reus present Mrs shavs present Mr palowski present Mrs Fagan's present uh Miss Santos is absent Mr Vieira present and M doc Mr Laura called you Dr Laura I heard that I just I just elevated you and Dr Dello present thank you and mayor oconnell is also absent this evening thank you secretary Fagan next up we have the approval of minutes of June 18 2024 move approval of minutes as dated and recorded second motion all in favor I I opposed eyes have it next up we have the student advisory committee report I don't believe we have a student representative today I spoke with Isaiah earlier this week he he's working yes he's a hard worker and I can understand that so we'll move on we have public input uh we don't have any public input uh sign in tonight so here you go superintendent for our records uh next up we have the community impact team summary presentation I'll turn that over to superintend cabal thank you chairman deelo so almost the year ago I believe it was during our convocation back in August uh we initiated a very ambitious program where we instituted five Community input teams to address concerns that were brought to our attention in May of 23 by our tea members and also members of the public regarding concerns or needs not being met in the school department so our ambitious proposal to address those concerns was the formation of of community input teams Community input teams that were chaired by facilitators who did not have an affiliation with the to public schools and co-chaired by members of our leadership team so rather than go through the reports I put together a slideshow or slide deck and you also have the report in your packet we I will summarize the key findings that were shared by the facilitators and the co- facilitators regarding the work that they that took place through some of the cits the work work went through December other cits continued meeting throughout the fiscal 24 and one of I believe one of our cits will continue meeting in fiscal 25 to continue the work as they just simply ran out of time and because it was a large Endeavor as we'll talk about it as we go through so in your in the slide deck you do have a table of contents that provides you with a breakdown of the presentation our vision and our mission which this fiscal year we will be going through uh our strategic promise 3.0 that'll be work that will'll be starting soon and I'll be sharing with you in the near future and we have our strategic promise objectives the four buckets in which all the work that takes place in Aton public schools has to touch these four buckets so the first CIT was the handbook review regarding student discipline and restorative practices the facilitator was Joe petner along with leadership team member Stephanie hoy and there were a total of 17 school department employees and stakeholders who signed up to be part of this community input team in the objective was to standardize student conduct codes across the elementary schools the middle school and the high school the key recommendations were to develop clear conduct codes for all School levels to reference relevant student discipline laws in the Massachusetts General Law And to clarify complaint redress redressal of hierarchy and also details on suspension and alternatives to a Contin continuity of learning so with our restorative justice practices making sure that students depending on the consequence that there is some form of restorative and alternative to suspension where it's warranted so it doesn't mean that we're no longer going to suspend students if a student warrants a suspension they will be suspended but if there's an opportunity for a student to do something to or give something back to the school give back to the community and learn from it and that is something that we will we will pursue or we will add to our handbooks so because our handbooks are unique and our handbooks address different levels of students and they're developmentally and age appropriate depending on the grade level the handbook updates will be ongoing there will be new policies and that you will see coming before the rules committee that will be be embedded in the elementary handbooks the Middle School handbooks and then obviously in the high school handbook before gets approved so this will be work that'll be ongoing throughout the course of the Year and that the school committee will be involved in so again we will continue to revise and seek approval for updated policies and I believe it is also time for the to public schools to work with the masc to look at our policy manual and make any updates or any adjustments because I believe it's been nearly 10 years since we last updated our policy manual so that's something Mr Bara and Mrs Hoy and Mrs morahan now that we'll be bringing to the school committee in the near future because it is time for a very comprehensive review the therapeutic learning programs entrance and exit criteria so the facilitator here was Paul zinny who's a former superintendent and Amy moan who makes up the leadership team and there were 10 members who participated in this CIT and their charge was to evaluate and enhance a therapeutic Learning Center Program to better serve the students with social emotional educational disabilities the key findings the TLC provides a service for students with social emotional educational disabilities most students again most not all we want to we want to get to all that's why we had the CIT most students show progress and can transition to the general education setting so what that means is we have a number of students in the TLC program at the elementary middle school level some students for whatever reason they're not meeting their goals they're not meeting their benchmarks they are not able to mainstream with the general education setting and the general education classrooms but for for a large number of students they are able to make that transition which over a period of time should lead to students being fully mainstreamed in the general education setting so the key recommendations was to establish additional therapeutic Learning Center classrooms to implement consistent behavior management strategies and most important is what we also discovered is that the the level of the ability levels of our educational assistance and some of our teachers there are discrepancies and we need to make sure we're getting everybody on par by providing robust professional development so what will be the next steps and I tried to outline it in a way that makes sense and most of these items can be addressed in fiscal 25 so for the 2024 2025 school year know through the 240 Grant so this is outside of the fy2 appropriation through the 240 Grant we'll be able to hire floating assistant who will be able to provide classroom coverage should assistance be absent or should assistance be needed another CL classrooms to provide additional supports for students who are disregulated for fiscal 25 we will also schedule weekly staff meetings this is something that they've done in that they did in the past but for whatever reason it wasn't being consistently done so consistently for fiscal 25 there will be staff meetings with the educational assistants as well as the instructors and the administration and the leadership team members who are most appropriate to serving that role one thing that was observed is using food as a reinforcement for behavior that will no longer be allowed it also goes against our nutrition code in for fiscal 2425 to ensure all classrooms Implement over planning and clear behavior management strategies so if a student finishes their work they'll be an assignment waiting for the student we are also asking I'm also asking for the instruction to be more Hands-On for the students in these programs to to believe that we can replicate what's going on in the classroom where a student was not being successful in a therapeutic learning model I believe kind of goes against what we're trying to accomplish or what we're trying to do in these in these programs so by over planning making sure that there's enough work to keep the students engaged and I want to clarify it's not busy work it's meaningful work standards based instruction aligned with the standards that the students will be and the staff will be utilizing and also making sure that the behavior strategies are consistent from room to room so that way when a student trans moves from one room to the other they know that the expectations are going to be consistent they're not going to from teacher to teacher again provide ongoing professional development for staff on student Management in at the high school level will be to hire a high school establish a high school classroom and then for fiscal 26 again for fiscal 26 as we enter the budget process in October which is not that far away for fiscal 26 we'll begin budgeting for an additional TLC classroom at the Chamberlain Elementary School and you'll see that as we go through the budget process the taught in Alternative High School reevaluation and expansion again that was led by Paul zeni and leadership team member Chris Bara that had the most participants with 24 and the objective was to strengthen and expand the credit recovery program to improve student outcomes and address the behavioral needs separately the key findings is that the credit recovery program has a high success rate in helping students earn the necessary credits to graduate I believe year to dat over 700 students in the 10 years that the taught and Alternative High School has been in existence over 10 over 700 students have earned the high school diploma thanks to this program and I believe we'll start to see similar results with the creation of the Virtual Academy and there is a need to develop a separate behavioral program to address issues distinct from the credit recovery process and that is something that been that we've heard loud and clear I think what's great about the Alternative High School is that it Services students with severe social emotional needs students who have severe anxiety uh concerns and being in large classrooms so I think now we're at the point where we need to evolve and have a separate program that addresses more of the behavioral concerns similar to the TLC program at the middle and elementary school at the Aton Alternative High School so key recommendations to adjust the schedule to align with Traditional School day to explore a new curriculum called springpoint learning to hire additional staff and enhanced security measures which Mrs moan excuse me assistant superintendent moan has already taken steps and something that I don't know it's going to be very popular when you talk to principal Delaney the students during student ad advisory but we'll discuss it is a potential name change to the school so for fiscal 25 what can be implemented this year uh the schedule change principal Delaney can work with his staff to implement a schedule change principal Delaney and his staff will expl Explore springpoint Learning and with regarding to hiring staff and security measures for fiscal 25 the director of facilities under assistant superintendent Mrs moan will explore the existing space to identify new classroom space new learning space we've already secured a quote for 125 Yonder cell phone cases there are approximately $30 a case so that's about $4,000 to outfit every student with a Yonder case at the Alternative High School to hire two for fiscal 26 again when we start the budgeting process for fiscal 26 to budget for two full-time teachers in math and English language ODS and through the budget process and potentially with conversations with the city with on the School spending side we can budget for security guard and then we can also discuss having an additional full-time resource officer at the tot alter of high school whether we absorb that through indirect cost or whether that's something we build into the budget that's a conversation we can have during budget season and for fiscal 27 if we expand and add that program to address the behavioral needs of the students then we'll have to have a conversation regarding additional academic support and the potential of hiring an assistant principal and then my recommendation whether you want to make that motion tonight or you want to make this motion at a later date would be to refer the possibility of a high school name change to the high school advisory subcommittee I think that would be the most appropriate place to start then have that conversation with the full committee based on the conversation with the principal the staff and the students any questions conversation regarding this piece I know I'm moving quickly continue the social emotional learning mental health supports so this was facilitated by Amy Balon Amy moan and Stephanie H from leadership team and that was a rather large group as well with 22 CIT members and the objective was to integrate social emotional learning seal throughout the school culture in daily routines to forcer a supportive and inclusive educational environment the key recommendations with the pilot trauma informed approaches at select schools so again pilot let's see what works well let's use some evidence-based practices and see if it produces the outcomes that we desire introduce restarted practice program conduct and I always want to preface and I want to go back to restart of Justice we started a practice program it doesn't mean that students are not going to be disciplined with detentions or disciplined with suspensions but there if there's an alternative route we want to explore what are some proven restorative discipline practices that get students to buy into the school and feel like they're part of the community part of the school we want to conduct a needs assessment for the elementary school safety and belonging and weedu this committee has done an outstanding job I cannot commend you enough every time we ask for additional teachers to reduce class sizes you say yes during the budget process so we will continue to be strategic where we notice large class sizes we will be strategic in recommending teachers to certain buildings or certain grade levels in order to maintain that 20 to 24 Stu student teacher ratio and right now in our district we are I believe at a 19 to1 student to teacher ratio throughout the entire tent schools so some key recommendations are next steps in the spring of 24 we initiated a trauma-informed approach pilot at the Elizabeth pole Elementary School and the Benjamin a Freeman Middle School we implemented restorative practices in A needs assessment that will be conducted this fiscal year 2425 conduct the needs assessment for elementary school safety and belonging so conduct A needs assessment for elementary school safety and belonging both during structured and unstructured times un structured times would be lunch and recess where we see a large number of the discipline referrals to the office during those unstructured times hallway passing as well after school before school how kids conduct themselves how to be a student a student in school during the day and during those nonstructured uh times and during future future budget Cycles to hire additional K2 teachers so that we can reduce the class sizes at the K12 level ideally with the the recommendation was I believe was to get down to about 18 to 22 per class the anti-bullying and car education program so this was the last program this was led by Paul zeny and assistant superintendent Brenda moan that had 10 members and the objective was to promote a cohesive approach to fostering a positive School climate through integrated and consistent practices the key recommendation was they found this CIT and its members found that there was a lot of overlap with some of the previous cits so what they felt was to merge this CIT the anti-bullying efforts with the student discipline and the restarted practice CIT because again of the overlap and they also suggested and recommended to ensure consistent management of Behavioral issues across all grades in all schools we've done a great job when it comes to our academics in our curriculum when the student moves from east to Elementary to Chamberlain they're using the same curriculum and we're also finding is that they may be one or two lessons off from where they were when they moved from one part of the city to the other part of the city what we need to do a better job of at is making sure that we are speaking the same language just like in curriculum and instruction we're speaking the same language across all our schools when it comes to discipline disciplining our students or how we address behavioral issues so again integrated updated policies which was the handbook CIT so the next steps will be to reflect the updates in the student handbooks bring them to the committee for approval and then Implement a districtwide restorative justice or restorative discipline practices throughout the top Public Schools and what I can always this is one quote that always resonates with me because we're a small group the leadership team is just a me a team of six this is a team of nine and it's through the actions of a small group that some really large and impactful action can take place that really benefits the students and benefits our school community so if you have any questions I'd be happy to entertain any questions preferably from my chair versus here uh and we can have a conversation about any of these cits that I can back sure have everybody a second to get back to their seats thank you superintendent cabal open it up to the committee for questions Mr chairman yes Mr Laur superintendent could you speak a little more about the clar clarify complaint redressal hierarchy what's the idea with that that would that would be on the the handbook review in the beginning where it says clarify complaint redressal Ary as far as we talking about chain of command chain of command that's what I so so typically typically um putting on my classroom hat and this is going back to the 1900s so bear with me so most student discipline I think Mrs shabs will will will attest most student discipline issues stop at the classroom level right has the teacher contacted the family has the teacher worked with the family or has the teacher held uh held the the detention with the student and if that's not working then it be then it would be next in the high school level could be the department head or could be the associate principal so we so student discipline should start at the classroom and then progressively make its way through the office of the assistant principle the principal and if needed the director of student services and in some cases it does make its way to my level as superintendent so it's pretty much following the chain of command that making sure that those systems are tight throughout the school system that parents teachers aren't bypassing and that everyone is doing their role when it comes to managing student Behavior at the building level I hope that answers your question yeah it did now secondly as far as a community- based program now we're talking about outside agencies also being involved within the educational um system to address issues with students social emotional disabilities whatever it may be are we utilizing other resources in the community we do but not as well as we probably could so we have brought in Consultants uh for example we brought in playworks playworks came in and trained all our all our lunch recess assistance and how to manage and how to supervise a classroom how to sorry how to manage and supervise the recess area how to engage the students in productive activity so that students are engaged so that's that would be a community organization I can also say that Mrs Mrs Hoy in her work as overseeing student student affairs she works very closely with the uh with the courts so making sure that we're leveraging the courts when appropriate and when and when needed so it is going to be a comprehensive approach and what we do want when it comes to the educational side is using evidence-based programs not some vendor who comes in and says I got the I got the next great greatest thing is we want to make sure that we do our due diligence that we visit schools that have utilized these programs or these practices similar to what we did with the with the reset spaces we visited a number of classrooms and saw how the res reset spaces work and then brought it back in a way that makes sense and ta and that's what that means thank you I like the format I I really support all of the implementations and new processes that are going through my question is uh is your Administration working with the tea representatives to ensure that they're on board as far as what I'm trying to say is them coming to us saying we don't like this we don't like that we don't like that are were they aware of these so proposed changes and additions so so um what I will say is when you look at the 17 members and if you remember when we launched this initiative it was during convocation day so we had 900 School Employees in the auditorium so the tea is well represented on each of the cits and this is a public document and you also bring up a good point I will share this this this PowerPoint and the report I will share with all Union lead leadership from the ttaa to the tea and they'll get a copy of this report to make sure that they understand what the findings were and what what the recommendations were and that these are the initiatives of the steps we're going to be taking moving forward so thank you for that recommendation thank you superintendent thank you chairman anyone else yes Mr VI uh I just wanted to thank you superintendent for all your hard work on the sen new team and everybody else who uh participated the one thing that stuck out and resonated to me was uh the poor Behavior not being rewarded with Happy Meals anymore I know that was I know it sounds silly but it's you know there was a lot of a lot of complaints uh in the public eye so that will be right a huge Improvement to time Public Schools thank you and and part of the reason why we do these audits or we do this work is uh as much as I like to be everywhere in the district and my team everywhere in the district we can't be everywhere all the time so when we when that was noticed and that was observed that was a consistent practice that's something that we need to put a stop to and teach our kids know what is the reality to expect in the real world when they move on from elementary to Middle School to high school to University or whatever they postsecondary Pursuit you're not going to be rewarded with food good Mrs shs um I'd like to say also that I think this was a great um presentation put together um I like the fact of auditing what is going on um I like that um the facilitator the main facilitat wasn't someone that was from the district which I think is important because then we get Buy in from from the different unions that um Mr Laura was talking about in that um you know you've got someone that um doesn't have a connection that's going to be impartial and really look at it and then I like the buyin of being able to allow members of the you know the other unions to be be part of it because then you will get the Buy in so if you've got 22 members I mean that's a that's a lot of people coming together I mean and they're giving up their time to really look at things under a microscope um and so I thought the I thought the next steps um and the key recommendations were very clearcut and very definitive which really showed that there was a lot of thought going on there was a lot of um really um investigating what was going on in the different areas and really coming up with things that would benefit both um both our schools our students our programs and we can only get better if we continue to do this so I thought this was outstanding thank you and as with most doents that I create or the leadership team creates this is a living document so we will revisit this document probably sometime in December November when we're halfway through the year and I'll provide you with an update on where we are great uh this side of the room anybody Mr Laura back to you thank you Mr chairman just want more quick remark if I could superintendent um the principal at the um the toel Alternative High School he explained to me a couple of times of the amount of of emphasis or work that he and his team have done to uh work with students who may drop going to school and he was explaining to me a couple of times how he and his team went to the home repeatedly over and over and over and get the student to come back and that is something that I think is positive for that environment that there are some students not many but there are some students who simply drop out give up on everything and and because of their efforts that they repeatedly visit the student to reens sure that it's okay to come back that you are acceptable once again they might go through a tough time on a decision making era but it was really quite well to hear that uh he and his team do work extra hard to make sure that those kids feel part of the program and I think that's why it's very important that that objective and and if you haven't read it just again read it again and know the therapeutic needs of the kids that you just described now Mr delane's team the Integrity of that program is making sure that the therapeutic needs of the kids are being met it's not a traditional Alternative High School in the sense that students who have been incarcerated that have to be integrated into the public schools are going to T Alternative High School those students who again suffer from anxiety students who suffer from other diagnosed medical needs know they've been able to be very successful as you've heard through advisory at the T alter of high school but we also know that there's a need when it comes to the behavioral side so if we are able to expand that program without impacting the Integrity of the current program that'll be a huge success for the Toton Public Schools it'll better support Toton high school and it'll better support the Totten Alternative High School which in in reality supports our community yeah thank you for addressing that thank you Mr Laura I just have a couple of uh points to make so uh referring back to the masc the U the the really nice system they have online which is drop down and all kinds of references yeah I think we should tap into that a little bit more and I I think you mentioned that we hadn't done it in 10 years well I've only been here eight years we did do it once because I remember was a very tedious task in jod Al and Jordi Fury with two members I don't remember who the third one was that took some of those changes on so I think it's a resource that especially our new members uh could could tap into it even myself I don't use it enough you know so maybe a reminder that yeah a refresher that we have that tool available because we do pay into that a few thousand dollar a year uh which is which is was is okay by me uh the other thing I wanted to mention was to Mr Laura's Point uh he's talking about the Alternative High School which a kids are their Dropout of able Ages which is what 16 years old 16 and a half 10 10th grade so they have to complete the nth grade of high school so okay so that also happens with our elementary students and our middle school students they just don't want to go to school and since we're you know commending Mr Delaney and his team we have to commend some of our community facilitators that go into the homes and really sit at the kitchen table and hear the parents who sometimes don't speak English fluently uh use a second language and and get those those youngsters to come into school for whatever reason they don't want to come into school so it's definitely a team effort and you know when we commending Mr Delaney and his team for the dropouts that could potentially drop out and never come back it also exists with our our little elementary kids and middle school kids too that are not of Dropout age and the last thing I I'd like to mention is as Mrs sha says it's great that we have folks that are not related to The District do we commend these folks in any way with some type of appreciation uh certificate or acknowledge them at a school committee meeting because I think that's important fac yeah every every volunteer every person that volunteers whether it's 20 19 or whatever so if someone wanted to make that in the form of a motion we could issue a letter and a uh certificate to all the members of the community input team including members of this school committee who I need to commend who gave up your time in addition to all the time you place during during our meetings and your professional requirements so if you want to entertain that as a formal motion I'd be happy to complete that task I'm good with that I would make that as a motion second that so Mr Laur moves the motion Mr verier Seconds it all in favor I just one more thing if I on discussion Mr um also now what kind of numbers are we talking about 20 people 22 people 24 people maybe a little meet and greet a little at the cafeteria probably 100 right around 100 we have five cits some had 10 some had 2 some are duplicates though right some some folks are duplicate 50 to 75 people maybe like at the end of the year have a little I wasn't really going that that angle Mr Laura I I love H parties and food but I don't think we I was angling that just a thank you letter and a citation that was the motion just to be clear what we're voting on yeah okay yes state of appreciation that's great Mr lur appreciate it you can you can foot the bill uh Mrs sh one last thing I wanted to point out um um Mr gal went over it pretty quickly but I'm the math person so my my brain is going 700 students that have earned a diploma is a big amount I'm trying to figure out statistically what what it means to our dropout rate but it has to be pretty significant so I mean I think um that shows what a great job that program is doing and principal Delaney is doing with his staff there because that I mean that's a lot and since we're still on discussion uh I also like the piece of the consistency about disciplines throughout the schools we use the same formula or task that we need to do whether it's uh you know an elementary school on the east side or west side it's consistency so there's a motion on the floor by Mr lore seconded by Mr Vieira all in favor opposed eyes have it thank you next up we have uh superintendent report back to you superintendent cab thank you so I did I have uh I believe three items that I want to share with you in my suers report so as you even though we're halfway through July summer summer school program has been in full swing so I'm happy to share that the toon Public School summer program is officially under the way having started on Tuesday July 9th and the program will conclude on August 8th elementary school programs are operating at the gallagan fredman Elizabeth pole M and there are a total of 338 students enrolled across all locations gallagan is host is housing students from Bennett Chamberlain students are at fredman and East Hunton students are attending a program here at e pole several recent graduates are working as peer tutors and Junior teaching assistants at the elementary school locations the program directors and coordinators report the peer tutors have a great rapport with the students and have been very impactful as mentors to the young young students in their care teachers have spent time working on physical education participating in a student student Olympic Games and the program is also focusing on social emotional learning school counselors and social workers are using cells data to find to find building wide Trends and structure lessons in teach in teaching appropriately students are also participating in a space which makes me excited in science experiments across various locations at the middle school level the middle school programs are currently housed at Freeman and Parker middle school and there are 126 students participating in the program at Freeman middle school students are working on English language arts and focusing on reading comprehension a plot structure and character analysis in math students are learning fractions ratios geometry and expressions of equations a Parker from Martin in Parker students are taking six different classes culinary stem physical education book club investigation convention and Greek mythology programming at the high school continues to help approximately 140 students in credit recovery so they remain on Pace for graduation students are working in four core discipline areas math science Ela social studies as well as Wellness the special education programs are all running out of the Moki Elementary School for students in K3 with 64 students also I'm sorry with 64 students there and at tton high school for grades 4 through 12 there are 73 students at both locations students are actively engaged in maintaining their current skill levels structure and routine each week will'll focus on a different theme such as wonders of the ocean or the excitement of a Safari Adventure students enjoy thematic crafts or to enhance learning and motor development and have some structured academic time to reinforce their skills I'm also happy to report to the committee and to report to and share with the public that the new student enrollment is open online online or in person so parents have that caregivers have that flexibility enrollment for new students is open both online and in person at the family welcome center registration began on July 2nd the family welcome center is open on Tuesdays and Thursdays for registration grades K7 registration is available from 8:00 a.m. to 2 p.m. and grades 8 to2 registration is from 8:00 a.m. to 12: p.m. the bilingual Community facilitators are available at the family Welcome Center to assist families with the registration processes as well and the online registration portal is also open in processing full registrations and I also believe in August in August manate health will open their offices again so families that are registering and in need of Health Care immunizations or physicals they'll be able to access manate healthare as well and then also very excited about this because I believe every building except for maybe the Ley Elementary School the msba has played a role in either constructing or renovating so one of our very own Elementary student wins the Massachusetts school building authority uh post the contest my ideal school so I'm pleased to report that Easton Elementary School student Alana longren is the grand prize winner of the Massachusetts school building authority my ideal school art competition the main objective of the my ideal School contest is to encourage students and teachers to discuss how a well-designed and constructed School in Massachusetts can enhance student engagement and support 21st Century Learning the cont test was open to all first grade students currently enrolled in a Massachusetts Public School Alana's depiction of her ideal school will be on the cover of the Massachusetts school building authorities annual report I'll make sure each member gets a copy of that report for the competition students were asked to design and then draw or paint their Ideal school and then write a short essay about their design Alana's ideal Easton Elementary School is a bright rainbow colored building with areas for art gym cheer football drama a library and especially gymnastics which is one of her one of her personal favorites Alana was joined at a special ceremony at the State House by her teacher her favorite teacher Nicholas Bole Nicholas is also serving as a coordinator here for the summer school program at pole who she appointed principal of her ideal School her her design was one of thousand submitted to the contest the msba board of directors now the selection down to 600 students with State Treasurer Deborah Goldberg personally picking 10 regionals Regional finalists including the grand prize winner so congratulations to Alana and her family and very proud to see that toau in public schools and our students are being recognized on a state level and with that that concludes my report very cool that's uh quite a uh quite an accomplishment for one of our students huh it's really nice we should bring her in and recognize her also Superintendent at our first school committee recognition she will be there you got it uh wishes of the committee question motion will accept the report second all in favor I I opposed eyes have it thank you thank you superintendent next up we have administrative business I don't see anything in here do we have anything to no so no action taken on administrative business I believe there's a memo that should have been that's in the packet that should be discussed at this point regarding the curriculum revision for 2425 okay we'll put that oh I'm sorry it's on the new business my apologies it's on okay so we're just going to no action taken on administrative business uh next up we have subcommittee reports first up we have joint Labor Management Unit A subcommittee chairman F okay notice by the date that we had this meeting on June the 5th we inadvertently looked it over so I'm reporting on it now so the tea uh subcommittee met with the joint lamb Labor Management of unit a um listen to the concerns and excuse me it was myself Dr Dello and Mr Vieira we listened to the concerns that were voiced by the tea and we referred them to the administration they also informed us they had done a survey which they had sent out to us that we could look over the results of the survey they did too and that's our report thank you secretary Fagan I mean chairman Fagan uh wish of the committee motion to receive the report and place it on fire I second that all in favor I I opposed eyes have it next up we have Finance in law and that's me chairman Dello uh earlier this evening we met with uh uh secretary Fagan no I'm sorry Mrs shavs and Mr Vieira as part of the subcommittee including myself uh we reviewed the following items first up we um awarded a bid my agenda is not here okay I'm sorry first up we uh talked about use of facilities a memo was attached by superintend uh assistant superintendent Monahan concerning some events that are taking place in the future uh the wishes of the committee were to receive and place on fire unanimously uh next up we have a pest control award uh that we uh bids that came in we awarded of the four vendors uh the uh lowest overall lowest and most responsive bidder was Flynn pest control for a monthly cost of $710 at a yearly of$ 8520 and it ranged from 710 a month to all the way up to $1,625 a month for a yearly cost of 195 so Flynn I believe is still has always been doing business with us uh was awarded the bid unanimously for the amount of yearly 8,520 next up we had uh special education expenses and a summary was provided to conclude FY 24 we budgeted $50,000 we expensed $37,800 cents the um remaining balance which was uh used up in another line item of $1,825 uh was just rolled over to another item and the question was posed as far as going forward if 50,000 should remain the same Target and uh was said very comfortable and continuing with $50,000 for the legal expenses uh for special ed uh that was voted unanimously to receive in place on file and last but not least we had two warrants FY 24 in the amount of 3 million $1,833 181 a few questions were asked one specifically that was referred uh via motion I believe or uh just to Administration theer DM stuff ad uh there was uh a couple of um uh colleagues that would take business trips on behalf of Tom public schools and my concern was they they're putting together a bunch of receipts some 10 12 uh receipts uh sometimes that could be lost and they reimbursed based on those receipts and we propo we proposed uh to refer to Administration to set up a per DM if possible by by uh Mass General law guidelines whatever it may pertain to uh based on the GSA rates that's meaning which city they're going to would uh you know influence the amount they're allowed to spend up to uh so that was referred to Administration a couple other questions regarding uh use of funds which were uh answers were provided uh and the last but not least I voted present on uh item on page 29 to Pride Inc uh which I serve on the board of directors and a co- Treasurer and just for the folks at home that was an amount to Pride Inc of $22,100 we had bills payable for fy2 in the amount of $ 54,4 54 and if I just just flip to that quickly just to make sure didn't ah a question was asked regarding a liability insurance risk policy uh that covers the Athletics for the entire Academic Year uh 9,850 I think is a great deal and once again the fy2 was voted unanimously to approve and place on file and that concludes the finance and law subcommittee report wishes of the committee motion to accept the report and adopt the recommendations of the finance and law subcommittee second on that all in favor I opposed eyes have thank you next up we have new business uh curriculum revision cycle 2425 Visual Arts and wellness superintendent this is just to make the committee aware uh that for fiscal 25 we will be undergoing uh two curriculum revision cycles for visual lots and for wellness as the memo indicates from Mr Bara that the curriculum subcommittee which is chaired by Mrs Santos along with Committee Member Mrs Fagan and Mr shavs they have been T tentatively notified of the revision so they'll be serving on these committees so this is just to make the committee aware that we will be again revising these two curriculums and that future dates and future meeting times will be shared with Mr Bara and there will be a small working group that will assist of school committee members uh I I would assume there be some students involved some parents some other stakeholders and some staff as we go through the curriculum Vision process for those two disciplines okay thank you superintendent cabal um wish the committee yes Mr is anything Performing Arts out now this new curriculum or that discussion been had no but I'll get I'll have Mr bar prepare an update where we are Performing Arts okay okay thank you move acceptance of the report and it it be placed on file second on discussion Mr chefs can we get an update of the actual curriculum revision cycle as to what different curriculum come up in particular years so we know what's coming up that a motion the Motions already I'm sorry Mr sh amend the motion part of the motion maker accept that yeah yeah and I will also okay all in favor I I I opposed eyes have it thank you uh under uh new business um during the next school committee meeting I will uh meet with the superintendent and secretary Fagan prior uh to possibly uh set forth a use of facilities uh review to may be referred to rules so we're not taking any action tonight it's not on the agenda just to make everybody aware that the superintendent myself and secretary Fagan uh will meet uh on that for the August 7th meeting superintendent thank you uh if you just give us just one second uh secretary fan well this is just an older one we have a uh a medical leave of absence already gone by the board but it's a man and that put her position instead of his make theix okay okay yeah it's minor clerical uh modification we refer to the June 18th uh meeting so that's great so next up we have unfinished business uh action item updates first up we have the legal RFP update superintendent cab so in your packet you have a memo from Mrs minahan U that she provided me regarding where we are with the RFP so as requested by the school committee uh through the form of a motion Mrs moan created or developed an RFP the RFP was put out and shared with the several legal firms we expect the rfps to be back sometime ear early August and I believe I believe that we discussed having the rule subcommittee review the rfps as well as the finance and law review the rules review the rfps and then my leadership team will review the rfps and then we'll come together and based on our thorough reviews and our due diligence we can narrow it down to one or two firms or we can narrow it down to one firm and then have the inperson interview or interviews and then move forward with the firm that will oversee all our Labor Management and also represent the school committee is there anything else that I forgot or that we should add Mrs Moran that I may have missed in the memo that's of importance I would so that a form of this is just this is just for information this was something this was something you already authorized us to do and I just wanted you to know that we did move forward with it and that it has been it has been published and it has been shared with several legal firms so will the uh actual interviews be public with the law firm when we've interviewed for rfps they haven't been public they've been done in subcommittee but that's always something that the school committee if they chose to do they could I mean I I I I would kind of recommend that because we would in this case not have a open meeting or a violation if we met um you know if more than three of us meet on a subcomittee right I mean if we have six meetings WE Post we'd post the meeting sub the subcommittee would right uh the the eight folks couldn't take action that's what I'm trying to say right the subcommittee is the subcommittee so should I mean if we come down to one or two candidates towards the end should it be a public interview would like me to get some advice get legal advice to recommend I can I can let me get some recommendations on how I think I think it's Unique I think it's Unique I think it's it's it's some folks we're going to rely on you're talking about the finalist correct right the finalist yeah or or finalists public interview which means that not only us as committee members but the actual public could ask some questions too just and just to note too I mean the the public the in-person interview that's an option for the school committee it's not required if you so you could go through the RFP process and identify someone or identify a firm that you feel that the committee feels is Head and Shoulders above the other firms and appoint the RFP to that person if you so Choose Or you could find one or two firms or one firm that you feel about and then schedule the inperson interview that's an option that was written for the RFP the reason the reason I brought that up because sometimes we dealing with law Fir and have 400 you know lawyers on staff right and you know you don't know who you're dealing with and I think it's important we've had the pleasure of having attorney David gay with us for so long and I mean we know him on a personal level on a professional level and we can rely on him right we're not going through uh a secretary a assistant or whatever we go right to to the to the attorney so that's my concern I just don't want to go with a law firm that's 300 400 lawyers deep and before we get some action you know well uh you know I'm not a specialist in that someone else is but BL BL Mr Vier yeah I think that dialogue is great I think we should wait so we get back and kind of take the situation as it presents itself rather than sure okay we can approach this one as soon as we know that would be my thought options okay sounds good so that's the legal RFP update number two action item update and haha what can we get off of here anything not yet but what I can say I think in my Su in my weekly memo that I provide the committee can't find my action item we're going to see a lot of items coming off Fast and Furious so the the outdoor dining area and the food truck that'll be coming off soon uh as I shared in my weekly memo um the food truck is currently being wrapped so it's been constructed so that should be coming off soon uh the tot and high school awning I'll share some photos with you uh they've already done at least one or two coats and they're starting to power wash the Limestone window sills so that should be coming off soon and I believe the rest can stay on great all righty so that's just for informational purposes uh press time I don't see any press in the audience before we adjourn I just want to wish our colleague uh Mr palowski a happy birthday one day belated but it's still your birthday week happy birthday and uh for the good of the order nothing else motion to adour order second all in favor I opposed eyes have it we are Jour good night happy birthday naan --------- good evening the finance and law subcommittee uh shall come to order I'll start with a roll call Mrs shavs present Mr Vieira present chairman Dello present first up we have the use of facilities a c attached memo Mrs Monahan as you can see we have um three organizations that requesting use of our facilities again this is just normal stuff that we put forth in front of you and some fees have been waved because they do community service wonderful uh just a quick question uh LGI what's that stand for the LGI is a classroom and Chon high school it's a lecture size classroom that's the one that's kind of uh correct yes when we've been in before okay great thank you okay wishes of the committee uh receive and place on file seconded all in favor I I opposed eyes have it thank you next up we have the pest control award uh C attached memo back to you Mrs mon here sure uh like we do every year we do go ahead and request um quotes for our Pest Control within our schools as you can see we received four quotes and that our current Vanda Flynn Pest Control they were the lowest and most responsible bidder for the monthly cost of $710 yearly cost of 8520 of course that is the lowest bid where you have the most expensive bid which is modern pest control which is 19,500 a year so um a motion would be in order to uh recommend awarding the pest control service to bid to Flint pest control as they were the overall lowest and most responsive bidder in the amount of 8,520 so mov all in favor I I opposed eyes have it thank you next up we have the special education expense uh update uh back to you Mrs monam these are the last two charges that we will receive for FY 24 and again $50,000 was our budget May uh 2024 the bill was for $841 June Services were $636 7.78 where we did go ahead and have Services rented year-to dat of 37,1 18744 where that balance of 12 a little over $112,000 was going went back into the budget and has been spent I'm sorry has been spent of course yes okay good you all right so um based on this 50,000 fy2 seems reasonable again yes and that's what we did do for fy2 okay great uh wish of the committee receive and place on file second all in favor I I opposed eyes have it thank you next up we have bills payable let's start out with FY 24 uh FY 24 in the amount of a 3,1 121,50 3381 uh wishes of the committee motion to approv in the amount of 3,121 1833 81 is there a second second on discussion Mrs shvs you I have a couple um on page one under Amazon Capital Services what is that Homeless other Student Activities that is charged to a grant so that purchase that we did or that was a credit um that is a grant that we have and it was through the state for the homeless population are they buying something at through Amazon yes we buy backpacks we'll buy we and you'll see them right behind saw one I came in today yeah okay so that okay so it's school supplies for these kids hygiene everything like that yes anything that they need okay excellent so I see it a couple of other times on page two correct also um the other one that I had on page 10 the Collins construction what was what was the Improvement of the building for the 93,000 that is our commercial kitchen that's you're going to start seeing the the um invoices for the commercial kitchen okay I had that same thing highlighted Mrs shs don't forget going to be yeah okay educational Partners it's a professional development for outside provider on page 14 for 41,000 sorry on one second that is investigating history um they are outside uh PD that we are providing for our teachers and also the second one is um a summer Institute for 18 which is um the science as well so the 11,000 is the summer Institute correct okay and you said for science science um page 19 the hide Paving what I know we had mentioned before for but what was that Paving for the high Paving is for the Martin we're starting we did the um beginnings of the the multi-t so they did the surfacing for the multi court so for Martin correct now on the next page is that a continuation of Hyde because we have 35,000 and then on the next page on page 20 there's an 89,000 correct so they had two different work um that they had to do in phases that we had to to work on that yes so that's phase two correct it's final grading it's called this is a big one yes a big warrant here so it sure double checking problem I think that may be I think that may be all that I have yes okay great my questions uh I have just a couple of items myself well page 10 was already discussed by Mrs shops a question uh on on it appears on page six and Page 38 regarding per DMS and there's a multitude of individual charges for meals and so forth do we have a per game amount established when people are traveling or is it we do it's by the city ordinance and it does have and I don't remember the numbers right off but yes we do have a specific amount for each meal and you require receipts or is it absolutely okay um so in the higher red Arena because of course I sit there we have a purum based on the GSA um based on city and so forth so you can spend up to that amount you don't require receipts would we ever want to entertain that I mean it's just it's just seems like you know there's there's what one one individual has like 12 receipts another individual has 13 or 14 receipts and and the worst part is sometimes you lose receipts and you don't get reimbursed for them because you can't find the receipt I mean I know a lot of people use credit cards but uh sometimes people pay cash and I'm just trying to make it easier on our folks when traveling on uh univer I mean uh school school business right so have we ever I can definitely look into that work with the city and see if that is something that's that can be entertained or if it's something with the city ordinance that we have to follow through yeah all right something well I I mean what whatever it is uh whatever makes it easier for our traveler I'm just get concerned I mean both these Travelers one has 10 or 12 the other one has another 10 or 12 receipts they range from uh $999 cents to uh $45.75 and and these are meals right so they're on on you know TPS business they're at a conference whatever and you know they're worrying about uh basically saving every little receipt to get reimbursed if we do it by the federal GSA uh where it goes by city of course you know you can't eat in New York City for you know $20 for for a lunch but you could eat and taunt for $20 so to speak you know so I I just think it's easier we don't have that many Travelers I mean it just kind of make it it smoother and if they don't use it they don't use it I mean you know they they can they can star for the whole day but they'll get that amount amount back you know okay if uh my colleagues would like to move that motion um sure motion to uh refer um to Administration secondly come backend per DMS and come back with a recommendation sure great thank you so that's one observation on the War uh the other one is on page 20 and just quickly let's see what it is here okay yeah Jim dorsy replacement of equipment $50,000 what what project was this that's the continuation of the HVAC grant that we have amongst um a few of our schools so I think there's one more outstanding invoice okay great so that's the most recent school is Bennett correct they're working on Bennett right now okay great so that's all I have for that but I I would like the make of the motion Mr Viera to kindly amend to include that I will be voting present on page 29 uh voucher number 23099 to Pride Inc in the amount of $22,100 the board of directors and and co- Treasurer so if the maker of the motion kindly amend so amended is there a second great okay so that's it all in favor I opposed eyes have it now on to fy2 the bills payable of FY 25 in the amount of $ 54,4 54 motion to approve in the amount stated $ 54,4 11154 seconded okay and just before I call the vote I want to make sure I don't have any notes on that uh I do I do um so on page one it's the insurance agency for athletic insurance bond in the amount of 9,850 that is our yearly Insurance um policy that we have for our student athlete insurance covers the entire Academic Year yes wonderful okay that's all I have all in favor I I opposed eyes have it good that concludes the finance in law motion to adjourn motion to adjourn all in favor I I opposed eyes have it we are adjourned