##VIDEO ID:K6Odkoaau08## thank you good evening everyone thank you for joining us I call the meeting to order if you could please join us in the pledge I pledge aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the rep for it stands Nation God indivisible with liy and justice for all say can you see by the dawn early night what so proudly we H at the Twilight last gleaming who BR stripes and bright stars through the perous fire or the parts we watch were so G streaming and The Rock rare the bombs bursting in air gave Pro through the night that our flag was still there oh say do that star spangled then wave or the land of the free and the home of the bra Mrs fan will lead the invocation thank you 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 I also have an obituary so I'm going to be asking for a moment of silence for Mr Teddy beavers who passed away at the age of 75 at the West Roxbury Virginia medical center was the husband on October 11th excuse me he was the husband of Beverly Packer beavers of tarton born in West uh Virginia he was educated in Baltimore schools he served his country in the US Navy during the Vietnam war and had resided in Taunton since 2013 a member of the Taunton Rifle and Pistol Club he enjoyed shooting he also enjoyed traveling with his wife fishing volunteering at the Council of Aging and his cherished time that he had with his family and his beloved grandchildren he survived by Lee Beth Clark of Taunton rosn de Primo and her husband Tony of Norton and Shauna bigam and husband Peter of Kingston he also leaves four grandchildren one of whom is Tim clar who is um a member of the Taunton Public School System he is the director of grants for us he also leaves many he leaves siblings uh many nieces nephews and cousins so um appreciate a moment of silence for uh Mr Teddy beavers and our sympathies are extended to his family family and keep please keep him in your thoughts and prayers thank you I have one other announcement um M mayor okang if it's okay um I just want you to know that our colleague Mr Steven Vieira uh had emergency surgery this past weekend um he's in the hospital over at he was at sturdy and please keep him in his thoughts and prayers your prayers to thank you of course thank you Mrs Fagan okay roll call please yes Mr Reus presid Mrs shabs present Mr palowski present Mrs Fagan is present Mr Laura president miss Santos is absent of course Mr Vieira is absent Mr Dr Dr Dr Dello present mayor o Connell present thank you approval of the minutes of October 2 20 uh 2024 as submitted motion and second on discussion Mrs schs yes um after the conversation was had this is on page nine after the conversation the second paragraph talks about Mr Laura and what he had brought up there was a response by Mr delar ruso and then there was a response by me and then there was again another response by Mr deluso and that's missing from here it's at about I I looked at it online it's 1 hour and 29 minutes and 55 seconds into the so that there's a whole section like that isn't um here that I'd like to be added in okay so if we could uh yeah approve the approve the minutes with the addition that will be posted uh when it is corrected corrected yes okay so motion and second thank you for bringing that to our attention all those in favor opposed n opposed so voted okay and we have the student advisory committee report from Isaiah Windell thank you Marl Connell good evening everyone I am pleased to present the following updates and events from our student body ban sock fundraiser our ban launched their sock fundraiser today this initiative is aimed at raising funds for our upcoming for their upcoming events and performances we encourage everyone to participate and support the band PSATs PSATs will take place on Saturday October 26th students are preparing for this important testing date which serves as both a practice for the SATs and an opportunity for scholarships WPI math team field trip the math team is looking forward to their upcoming field trip to WPI which will be a valuable experience for students to engage with math professionals and compete with other schools new food truck arrival our School's new food truck has arrived completed with complete with a shiny brand new wrap and it is an exciting addition and we are looking forward for our students to utilize it utilize it throughout this school year and forward National Honor Society meeting candidates for the National Honor Society will have a meeting on Friday to review their responsibilities and confirm their participation in this prestigious program BCC field trip next Tuesday selected students participating in the early college program will visit Bristol Community College this trip will provide valuable exposure to college life and opportunities for earning college credits College visits suffix University visited on October 9th along with Bryant University on October 11th and concluding today Bryant College visited us at the college and career center with a great turnout from students where students had a chance to learn more about the programs offered and ask questions on the admission process for all of those schools football updates we've increased safety measures during football games to enhance the atmosphere and ensure a positive experience for both players and Spectators girls soccer senior night senior night for our girls soccer team is this Friday we invite everyone to come out and support the team as they celebrate their senior final season girls volleyball pink out last night girls volleyball pink out was a success raising awareness and support for breast cancer awareness month this team the team and attendance were decked out in all pink to show their support tiger tots return our tiger tot program has resumed as of October 7th this program brings young children into our building allowing high school students to engage with early childhood educa education Hands-On I would like to thank you all for your continued support for our students activities and events thank you okay thank you Isaiah we're always pleased to hear about how connected and engaged students are so thank you okay we will move on to oh comment mayor thank you Mr Wendell so on the uh field trips to colleges what what's the average participation any idea how many students are traveling to these sites I don't have an exact number but it's usually a school bus or so with um pretty full yeah with the additional Staffing okay great thank you than you okay thank you uh is there any public input this evening there is no public in okay thank you and we will move on to E which is the fy2 preschool updates superintendent cabal so thank you at this time I'd like to invite a director of special education uh Amy moan and director of student services and Transportation uh Stephanie Hoy to the podium and as they're preparing to give their presentation I also want to remind the committee that this is something that this this committee has fully supported going back I believe over a three or four year period where this is an investment similar to what you've done with the chapter 74 programs you have invested in the staff that have allowed us year to date to create six new prek classrooms we're potentially a seventh on the horizon so U again great investment supports our kids and it really helps students get a head start in their education and we've noticed and you'll hear in the presentation we've noticed a substantial difference from students who have attended our high quality prek programs when they enter kindergarten they are way ahead of the curve but again I'll let Stephanie am me because I can't do this presentation Justice you just did it so thank you um so just thank you all we're Steph and I are always happy to be here to present um great great news for you for us to you guys um so this is um I'm very happy to be here because preschool is very near and dear to me I've always liked that was a former preschool teacher and this work actually started preco through a CIT with um the former sped director special education director and the former um student services person so Kathy Perry and Judy actually started some of this work I was on the CIT as a special ed administrator and I was on the CIT as as as a principal so um this is this is great this is just all great news so um let's get this show okay so as with anything we do um you guys know our um strategic plan and our promises everything we do ties into one of these things so this is really focusing on Fam Family engagement Community part partnership and then curriculum instruction and assessment planning oh sorry thank you so a little bit of where we started um so prior to our work that we've done we had had a preschool building the Ley preschool and there we have 10 integrated halfday classrooms educating students ages 3 to 5 years old on average yearly enrollment is 350 students on average so students may come for half days two days a week three days a week four days a week but half days um which was great and is great because that works with some families but for others families it's challenging because of their needs in terms of daycare work schedules and things like that oops okay so here's where we are today so through all the work we've done all the support from the committee we now have three pre kindergarten classrooms so pre kindergart it is the year before students are eligible to enter kindergarten so it's 5-year-olds that have turned five past September 1st or later and fouryear olds so four to 5y olds so that this those three classrooms opened up in September of 2020 with the new opening of the mhee elementary school following that in January of 2022 we have one pre kindergarten classroom at the Chamberlain one at East taon pole and now potentially we've identified a space at um Bennett Elementary scho School each prek classroom serves 20 students total there's regulations and class size laws regarding Early Childhood so 20 students that is 15 general education slots and five special education slots um for it to be an integrated classroom oops are you going to do this thank you I was panicking about that um so we do have a parent who um has is sharing his experience as a parent and their child um in preschool thank you every day he strives in you know it's great you know hearing speak about you know music class art class and I would love his teachers and every day he's asked us you know if he at school tomorrow every single day he comes home you know he tells us what he's learning he'll mention something new so I I think it's amazing the atmosphere and The Vibes here at the have been amazing your children are in a safe en volent you're getting the best out of the teachers and they're going to be work to the to their best every day maximiz their ability so if you happen to be in this building if you go down the hall over there that's where you'll find our preschool classroom pre kindergarten classroom they look like just a little bit shorter kindergarteners um and they just have so much to tell you so it's just like really um re is that okay thank you um it's just really cool to see the little ones um it's just so cute in in in the buildings and they're learning and they're really part of the school culture and climate um they attend lunch they go to the cafeteria they get their specials some of you know art and music um so it's just really nice so as a team am I is a SL so our vision really is to continue to expand prek high quality prek instruction within our district in order to provide Equitable Early Childhood um Services as you know the governor is on board with this everybody's on board with this and at the end of the day I think Mr cabal you said it nicely that it benefits our students as they enter into kindergarten and kind of sets them ahead a little bit thank you thank you so as uh superintendent cabal had stated earlier thanks to all the work that not only our predecessors have done prior to us but all the work that you have supported as a committee and superintendent as this team um as a as a team we have done a lot and we've really increased the number of kids and given them access to prek however can't do it alone and we want to continue to make sure that we are accessing funding that's available to us to make sure that we continue with that goal so you might have heard in some of our superintendent reports updates over the last several months the common uh Commonwealth preschool partnership initiative which is uh cppi and that is basically the department of Early Education and Care funds districts across the state to develop Partnerships between school districts and local Early Education and Care programs to expand the access to highquality preschool within our district or within districts so when they're saying that they're um supporting Partnerships is they are asking us as part of a cppi grant process you'll hear us talk a little more about that Grant process in a second they'd like us as a district to identify two Early Childhood programs or partners that we can do some of this work with so we have actually identified and started working with Head Start and the YMCA as part of these programs this is a little bit about the grant to to give you a little bit basic information um it offers opportunities and available to districts in high needs to support the local coordination investment in Access of high quality preschool so removing any barriers that families may have to be able to look at high quality programming the grant program also aims to provide three and four year olds in a district with Equity Equitable access to highquality preschool ensuring that we have multiple provider options to choose from so one of the things that Amy is going to describe right now is some of the work that we're doing is we have a lot of families who are at the YMCA preschool programs or daycare or we have families that go to Head Start and how do we offer them the same level of access that we offer our students that attend our attend our prek programs here within taunt Public Schools what is that partnership going to look at like because at the end of the day they're all our students these are kids that will be walking in our kindergarten classrooms the next the following year so the grant levels that playing field for kindergarten Readiness across the district and it establishes uh curriculum in similar goals regardless of where a child is enrolled so the goal really is whatever is happening in one program is really happening across all programs so for the purpose of our grant is whatever is happening at TPS should be happening over at the YMCA and at the Head Start program so when you are awarded CP the P CPI Grant you're making a commitment to one of these areas we are committing to all three areas at this point so expansion of access to Quality preschool so expanding the number of classes but not only stopping there also expanding those that are working with our students so you see that social workers Community Resources removing Transportation barriers uh mental health supports that's all part of this encompassing idea of making sure that we have access to all supports for all students that we are working with building local Alliance quality so making sure that our curriculum across both our partners and ourselves are aligned and that we're working together with professional development with our teachers both at headart the YMCA here so that all the information that our teachers are gaining they are as well so that there is not only an alignment with curriculum but in alignment with professional development and then lastly and Amy will speak to this a little bit is Equitable access to our special education and inclusion so w with this grant it will allow us to really do some out of the- boox thinking with how we provide special education services for our students already identified um as having a disability at the preschool level this became very clear of the need when we were dur during covid um when we were in shutdown and remember how we there were certain rules with Early Childhood regulations and public school where you couldn't Cross or mix families had to make very difficult decisions whether the full day daycare preschool that had start or the YMCA Old Colony Y is able to offer or coming in for the two and a half half day program two days or three days a week to get this so the student can get the special education services so now that we have this grant we've been award this grant we will be able to create an itinerant team that we will go into Head Start and we will go into the Y and provide those services for the students it will also allow us to go in and evaluate students so because again these are removing barriers our families that are working nine to five jobs don't always have the ability or the accessibility to bring their student into the lety school or into our early childhood Diagnostic Center for an evaluation or they need full-time care so yes they want those services but what do they do the rest of the day because they have to choose and then that caused for disruptions a lot of our young people struggle with Transitions and what are we asking them to do essentially four transitions in a day they're at they start their day at say Head Start they leave at a certain like midday to come to lety school they get their services they go back to lety they go back on the van back to Head Start um the why or Head Start so we've disrupted that flow of services for them and that flow of routine which can be problematic for some of our students especially those with certain disabilities so this is just going to be this I'm very excited about this part because this is going to create more opportunities for our families and then as a bonus for Taunton Public Schools it's going to create more space and opportunities for our families that want to have their students to come to that type of program so again it's providing more opportunities removing a lot of barriers for our families and also making it affordable for our families because that's the other thing too you to say so being part of a cppi district is no small task I will tell you we probably get 25 emails a week on this subject um and there's a lot of moving Parts because you're working with a lot of different departments and everybody wants to meet with you so there's been a lot of work behind the scenes so we thought it would be nice just to give you a little bit of timeline of when this started as far as the cppi um grant information to where we are now and where we're going back in the fall of 2023 we developed taunton's Early Childhood leadership team the leadership team is is a multidisciplinary team and it it has educators um I think we had some former school committee members at that time we could use some more we were happy to have more and Educators within the district we have our partners also attend so YMCA representatives from the Y representatives from Head Start also attend we have early intervention we have taught in housing um we have the city actually we have the grant writer for City Hall is also on this EC um leadership team so we parents we have it it's really multidisciplinary because the idea is that you're getting as much feedback from as many stakeholders as possible to to Really create this robust program um so we started there and then we did a preliminary needs assessment so us us with our Consultants that we're working with we uh did the very best we could to reach out to families send out surveys um surveys were at the Y they were at Head Start you know private daycare as we took them and we made sure our teachers were also um giving us feedback with surveys and it was just basically needs like what are your needs what are the obstacles as a parent what are the obstacles do you have your child en enrolled in any type of prek or early childhood education program and if you don't why um so we gathered all that information as well and we at that point had already identified Our Community Partners as I said it was YMCA and Head Start and then we needed to identify our priority areas and you heard us go through our priority areas earlier um especially the focus on special education January of 2024 after we gathered all that information we write a report uh we submit a planning Grant uh we waited for a little bit but we were awarded the expansion implementation planning Grant and that was great news that was back in May of 2024 and then in September of 24 we were task with finalizing a budget of $250,000 so with the with the $250,000 part of that budget is not only professional development some of the itinerant staff that Miss Moran had mentioned but also a program director now that's going to take this and and really push it to the next level because as much as Amy and I love doing this work we can't do it alone so um so that is our NE that's where we're at right now and October 2024 top Public Schools received the official award letter from the governor uh we were very excited about that and uh we're looking forward to our what we'll be doing now is basically we'll be meeting with our early childhood leadership team to expand the needs assessment we need to do a little bit more work on that and then also complete a strategic plan what is it that we're looking for for these programs and then once we have that we actually apply for the same Grant but fy20 six and that will be for a significant amount of more money and that will assist us in making sure that we can start increasing prek within our district but also gaining the staff that are necessary to make sure that we're working with headart and with um the YMCA in in creating a robust EMP uh teachers professional development social workers anything that they may need their itinerant team so that will come in the spring when we have to reapply for the grant and if we're lucky enough to be awarded the grant we our fingers are crossed because we've been doing a lot of work on this um we can really see lots of our fruits of our labor so we're very excited about that so next steps I kind of went ahead but uh um higher preschool project coordinator conduct monthly meetings we will continue to meet with our early childhood leadership team on a monthly basis conduct more Community focus groups pre- staff and Community Based providers will attend professional development to align curriculum and resources continue to identify prek expansion opportunities in our schools and then of course apply for the FY 26 implementation grant that will allow us to continue expanding prek as well establish an itinerant team to Ser as students in our partner sites YMCA and Head Start and if and if any of you would like to join the leadership team to do the work on this just send us an email we'd love to have you and and that's it and to this is our why this is our why and to reiterate there's nothing gives me more pleasure than to seeing these little people walk by my office every morning because one of the biggest things I missed um is seeing little people on a daily basis in that capacity and if you're ever in the buildings that have any of our prek programs we definitely encourage you to visit them it's puts an automatic smile on your face so thanks for your time we appreciate it okay thank you ladies for the presentation so I will open it up if there are any comments or questions Mrs schops thank you for that presentation just a question on the curriculum is the curriculum provided by the state or are we creating the curriculum in house what are you using we have curriculum we I'm going to just look at Chris to make sure we have wonders curriculum at the preschool level that what you're using W and that's what we use yeah so one of the things that that out of the needs assessment and working with with our partners is that money the grant money as they we could also help support that curriculum at the Y by giving them access to it correct purchasing it them y okay excellent thank you you're welcome uh Mr en and then Mr Laura thank you um I don't want to be a naysay but say we don't get the grant do we have like a backup plan just in case that it doesn't happen so if we don't get the grant then we'll probably be speaking more about how we can do that from our operational budget a little bit but however um the Consultants that we've been talking to the amount of work that goes into play right now um they have explained to us that they don't necessarily give you the implementation Grant with a $250,000 if they don't have the intentions on moving you forward and other districts that have received this grant for 10 years they've been receiving this funding so we feel like this is something that could we could sustain you know once we go this far and and as we have with any Grant uh we'll make sure that we build into our budget should we anticipate funding is not going to be there we'll build into our budget know the funding that would be needed to sustain or move these positions into the budget should the funding go away or should the funding Sunset Mr Laura thank you Madame mayor good presentation thank you very much for the that um now you were saying three four year olders can attend the program but right now we only have four and five year olders is that the way I understood no the full day pre kindergarten classrooms at mhee Chamberlain East Taunton and pole are prek which are four to five year olds we serve three to five year olds at the Ley preschool and the cppi grant would would so we're doing prek uh four four and five year olds however the uh cppi Grant will support um all kids at all preschool age levels so that's where that three and four year olds come from so now what about head and YMCA do they take younger than that based upon need they they they have an infant toddler program um at the Y I don't believe Head Start no so just just the just be the why but they would not receive any for that those classrooms they don't they're not cppi classrooms they're not El because it's preschool age it's early childhood education which starts at three at three yeah now what type of instruction these individuals who are training these youngsters the certifi have to be certified to teach any discipline so for preschool for for preschool like the why and they do have a certification um I don't remember the licensing agency I used to be one of those teachers but it was a different name back then I don't it's off the top of my head but they do require certification and they do require like we have to do pdps they do require that recertification process also uh most Preschool teachers that work there have at least a minimally Associates and have gone through a like a very credential program through or Bachelors thank you it's a good program you're welcome okay Dr DEA thank you mayor uh so thank you for the presentation as uh Mr vus was concerned about the funding is this tied to student Opportunity Act uh so I know that you said some districts have been doing this for 10 years of course uh I'm just concerned what do this tied to this funding do you know superintendent uh this is part of I believe Governor hey's U Administration and grants and funding that she's made available it is right but it's coming from somewhere right the state okay all right thank you so now do the does it cost anything for the families the the F so we can the families so it would be a a preschool cost right for the families however the amount of money that we would be receiving we would also utilize for sttip and for assistance so that if there's a family on a needs basis would absolutely get scholarships or STI or or some sort of assistance to attend school so that if if someone doesn't have that access that's not the reason they're not coming to prek okay so we're not yeah and currently our prease uh fees are on a sliding Scale based on income good and one other point so uh Transportation are we providing Transportation or they're too young to be only for students that are uh students with disabilities at this time student with disabilities and one last comment you you talked about especially with the special education piece a a child being a head start coming to TPS and then going back to Head Start right so you talked about freeing up space uh I I lost something there that's okay so that student so we have to abide by numbers so at the Ley preschool our class sizes are at 15 because we have eight general education slots and seven special education slots so we always have a waiting list and then we we always if you talk with the principal there we have to worry about our special education slots as we find and qualify students with disabilities as creating an itinerate team where we go on site to um the why or to Head Start that student that's would have normally come over here and take and have taken one of those seven seats now creates another vacancy to allow more students in the public school that they don't need the Head Start or the Y program okay does that make sense no no it does yes sorry I kind of no there's a lot of information so just want to make sure I get it right so we're so we're building we're we're we're servicing students in our Community better and we're also allowing more opportunities and more choices for our families of what they want their preschool their child's pres School experience to be like got thank you so much thank you Ma okay thank you superintendent just real quick in closing so I believe I was on slide 10 we will be uh we're in the process of developing a job description and that will be going before rules for the three readings uh to make sure it gets approved and we'll be using the grant funding to hire a preschool project coordinator administrator that will be funded through the grant and again I just don't sometimes think this committee gives themselves credit because again we're ahead of the curve when it comes to servicing our three four and five year olds so again I want to commend you publicly for supporting this Vision last year we had over 500 three four and five year olds in the to Public Schools receiving access to high quality instruction medical needs are being met through our nursing staff and also receiving meals so again it goes beyond the ABCs and the one 123s we're really caring for our kids and as one of the school board members mentioned in a in a recent conversation now we're a comprehensive school system and we support all our kids we have multiple programs Athletics Performing Arts know the Arts including a robust soon to be a very robust prek program so I I commend you for all the work it's hard keeping up with those two ladies but they keep me on my toes and uh and the work the work that they are doing is commendable in addition to their day job so thank you very much for your outstanding work yeah happy day thank you all right we'll move on to the superintendent's report uh this will be this will be brief so I'm very proud to announce that because of last year's success with my residency program where I embedded myself in a building for a month uh this year uh twice a month on Tuesday I believe it's the second and fourth Tuesday of every month I will be embedding myself in one of our schools so I have my first residency at Park middle school and my second residency will be at the benett elementary school followed by the high school so I continue to keep the committee updated and during my time there I meet with the principes we conduct walkthroughs we visit classrooms I we I speak with students similar to what we do with Isaiah to learn what's working well in the building what could improve and I get a sense of the level of instruction the rigor that's taking place in the in the buildings uh next um this one I love this I love this program and I want to thank Dr Dello for helping to coordinate this through the university and through Taunton High School so taon high school we were pleased to welcome visitors from the Madera Island which is the home to my favorite soccer player in the world Ronaldo so we had five students in their teacher who won the primiero atlantico junior competition which is a national science competition sponsored by flaud fla is the lzo American foundation for development in Sansa Viva which is Live Science the contest aimed to promote scientific and technological culture and appreciation of the Atlantic Ocean as a valuable and sustainable resource part of their prize for winning this contest was to visit the United States as much as the students from Madera appreciated the visit here I think our students and our staff that got to meet the students uh it was again it was just a mutually beneficial Exchange program uh they got to meet they got to visit classrooms they got to see our chapter 74 shops in action they got to attend the football game and for every student in the teacher that was their first football game and to see the kids holding an actual football you would have you would have thought I gave them a golden egg it was really a great experience so thank you Dr Dello for helping to coordinate that and for you know taking the students at tten high into the football game it was a it was a great event and I personally loved this group was the first group that I can recall that actually had female participants who won in the science program and I there's nothing better than seeing females who have a passion for Math and passion for science or a passion for stud them all right Isaiah you stole my thunder uh the food truck it's amazing super excited can't wait to have it up and running and um personally I'm hoping I get to drive it and uh and hopefully serve some food that's Mrs Fagan's that's Mrs Fagan U maybe Mrs Fagan can help with the menu but uh very excited to be one of the few uh high schools in the Commonwealth that actually has the food truck and to give our kids that industry practice of what it's like to actually work an actual restaurant on Wheel so again I commend commend you all for having that Vision to support our chapter 74 program and we're looking forward in the near future once we've completed our medical pathway Center our Early Childhood Center the food truck and the commercial kitchen uh we plan on having a ribbon cutting and having the school committee city council our elected officials see what the investment in education the fruit that is produced and that concludes my report thank you superintendent mayor if I may uh I just want to publicly on behalf of Bridgewater State University thank uh Taunton Public Schools uh the superintendent's office Isaiah and the students that receiv received the students uh that visited the magnitude of this is that they're coming from a district that has 300 students to a high school that has over what 2,800 students so uh it was just an eye-opening experience I just want to share that last year's group one of the uh students has been accepted to a very prestigious Aviation uh Science Program uh dealing with NASA eventually so these are experiences that show these kids that there's a lot more out there than what they're you know visible to in their little small part of the world so it's all a great collaboration and thank you to Tom public schools on behalf of Bridgewater State sorry I forgot to mention that the students their award-winning science project was creating filters from banana trees that removes microplastics from washing machine water and preventing plastic from ending up in the ocean which was pretty amazing impressive thank okay thank you uh you have another Motion in second all those in favor I oppos N oppos so voted do you have another item under sorry so I'll I'll be quick because this was a carryover from the last meeting so chapter six of the governance course so we we are nearly halfway complete with the book uh chapter six focuses on the importance of establishing strong governance culture within the school board and it also talks about how it's uh how the public or those viewing the meetings can tell right from the onset whether or not a school committee is high functioning or not high functioning based on the manorisms and professionalism the mutual respect demonstrated by the members it also talks about how it's important to have established Norms which this this committee does we have our Norms that we review during our annual retreats in the this chapter also focus on three critical areas governance principles Norms which I mentioned and also protocols so again I thought it was an excellent chapter and I saw a lot of a lot of similarities to the work that we do although we're not perfect I did see a lot of similarities in this chapter so a lot of the work and a lot of the principles and the Norms that we try to adhere to as a group okay mayor if I may I think the superintendent has the teachers book the teachers versions books you have these amazing cliff notes that I can just see over my shoulder so he should share those cliff notes with us and that we don't have to read it I I will thank you all right the study the uh readers guide all right excellent thank you superintendent cabal uh next we have administrative business Staffing report any business with the Staffing report receives and placed on file Motion in second all those in favor oppos none oppose so voted and then Taunton Public School Staffing update yeah very excited and I need to commend the work of um Director of Human Resources Shannon Turner we are 96% staffed when it comes to tea classroom teachers so we we are 4% away from reaching 100% And as you'll see most of the positions that are vacant are districtwide positions and I believe we have six buildings that are fully staffed where every classroom has a teacher so very proud of the work taking place in the HR department and we will not be satisfied until we are 100% that is our goal this year received and placed on F second motion and second all those in favor oppos none opposed so voted and then we have the mcast referendum impact summary is that just informational or I'll just go over it real quick for the committee uh so I believe it was the last meeting the question was raised about question two and the impact and what question two actually stands for so I did a little research based on information that's been shared with me by the Massachusetts Association of school superintendent and question two if passed question to a pass would remove the requirement for high school students in Massachusetts to pass the grade 10 mcast exams in English mathematics and science in order to receive their diploma it is important to note that this question does not affect mcast testing at other grades or its role in the state's accountability system meaning kids will still have to take the mcast and schools school districts will still be rated on the mcast scores as part of their accountability with the state so the pros for eliminating the mcast graduation requirement increase flexibility so with the Statewide requirement without the Statewide requirement individual districts would have more flexibility to determine graduation standards allowing for a more localized and potentially Innovative approach for assessing students to and student achievement uh experts also believe that it would reduce testing pressure or testing anx iety there's also been a lot of discussion regarding Equity Advocates argue that the mcast requirement disproportionately impacts marginalized groups such as students of color English Learners and students with disabilities eliminating this requirement could address concerns about Equity by providing alternative Pathways to graduation uh this was something that we experienced during covid with our special needs students as we were allowed to demonstrate uh multiple ways where students met The Graduate duration requirement to different competencies and also an opportunity for broader assessment model so the passage of question two could encourage the development of more comprehensive assessments that reflect a wider range of students skills and competencies Beyond standardized tests so those are the pros the cons would be a loss of uniform standard so one of the pros was that each district could create its own localized assessment for graduation so one of the cons is you're going to have three 300 different localized standards for graduation so what would a diploma from T and high school mean compared to a diploma say from Bridgewater reham because they'd be us utilizing different standards so that could that could be one of the one of the cons uh could also increase potential inequities in the absence of a Statewide requirement schools May adopt the varying standards that could unintentionally marginalize certain student groups and then also the impact on accountability MC has been the key component for Massachusetts educational reform efforts for the past 30 years we we are leading the nation we have high accountability we have high standards and we are leading the nation when it comes to education in Massachusetts and and one of the cons is there is no immediate replacement so if this gets approved in November we will be scrambling between now and the end of June to put together an accountability system by which we will use to measure students who graduate so again that's an unbiased opinion weighing the pros and the cons you have the information and hopefully when you go to the voters box you make an informed decision that benefits all our students okay thank you superintendent receives in place on fire motion second all those in favor oppos n oppos so voted subcommittee reports special programs Mrs shops thank you mayor conell I'd like to inform you that the special program subcommittee convened on Tuesday October 15th at 4 pm present um present at the meeting was myself Gil enus superintendent John cabal and Communications um Personnel Cynthia Johnson um Lou lur was unable to attend the purpose of this meeting was to provide an update on the ongoing efforts to enhance the district's website by incorporating comprehensive information about the special programs offered for students this will make it easier for parents and caregivers to assess uh to access the information online Miss Johnson led the discussion regarding the advancements in social media the district's website and in Communications um she provided an update on the integration of the information from the student support and special program booklet that was originally presented in April of 2024 by Amy Monahan and Stephanie Hoy um into the district's website she emphasized the significant changes to the website by showc casting the before and after web pages Miss Johnson highlighted the extensive effort dedicated to aligning the content with the district strategic plan and ensuring its accuracy she provided detailed information explaining that each page contains the program's organization the supervising departments alignment with the Strategic objectives grade span program description and hyperlinks for references she also emphasized the need to include hyperd links to clarify various abbreviations and mentioned an upcoming glossery of terms to Aid users um Miss Johnson stressed the importance of prioritizing the incorporation of at least 33 programs across various sections of the district's website so she provided an overview of both finished and draft Pages illustrating the substantial scale at the task at hand additionally Miss Johnson emphasized her Reliance on a range of Administrators principles and department heads to provide the essential information for developing or updating each page a process that demands a significant amount of time so the discussion also include the potential transition of the district's website to parent Square it's the current District communication tool that they're using parent Square now offers a new website resources and it's more userfriendly both for the creators and for the user this significant investment may require review from the school committee um in the future nonetheless the ongoing website improvements to the district's current website are valuable as the district will need to provide this information for a new website regardless um she also shared the latest school updates and Parent Access Data regarding regarding the communications via parent square and impressive 99% of the parents or Guardians have provided their cell numbers or emails to receive immediate notifications either from the district from a school or through uh from teachers through the platform there's approximately 98 family records in the district that are missing and secretaries are working on verifying and updating this information so finally Miss Johnson indicated that all Communications from the district are now translatable to any Google language ensuring that this information is accessible to All Families um it is recommended that Miss Johnson present to the school committee as a whole at one of the January 2025 meetings to showc the Showcase these recent updates to the district's website the special program subcommittee ended a 505 thank you Mrs sh oh there's one there you go so that's one that she had been working on yes so the buttons are more user friendly um it's easier to access the the the the different areas and her goal is that when you press a button if a parent has to a caregiver has to fill out a form that it will go to all the different places that need it versus them having to print it and then deliver it to different places or going to one one area in the school and not in another place that needs it so it's a much bigger um undertaking than we initially thought um so I was was very impressed with what she had done yeah okay thank you Mrs shav thank you if there are no questions or comments motion to placed on pile do you do you usually do that or make a motion to accept the report to accept I'm sorry okay motion to accept the report by the committee Motion in second all those in favor oppos n oppos so voted thank you and then we have the high school advisory subcommittee Mr palowski uh thank you madam mayor uh the afternoon we had a meeting of the high school subcommittee the subject was to hear the school Improvement plan for Freeman Middle School an attendance from the administration was assistant superintendent of curriculum Christopher barata superintendent John cabal for the high school subcommittee was myself and Mrs Fagan uh Mr Vieira was absent due to illness we were also joined by Dr Dello uh principal Dr Sarah Buckley gave the school Improvement plan uh she shared with us uh the the free Middle School's uh very ambitious achievable goals uh for fiscal year 25 um specifically goals for the school uh around improving students uh writing scores um implementing the Mind Up social emotional learning curriculum across the board um goals towards improving attendance and reducing chronic adism uh and a final goal of uh reviewing the current schedule uh forming a committee to get options for new schedules that would best suit the needs of freedom and middle school students uh so the most impressive thing about the uh the presentation was at every step of the way every goal uh that freed M school has it was very clear that the staff and Dr Buckley uh put the students first in every uh decision that they make and all their goals are towards uh making sure that they got the best education possible for their students so we thank Dr Buckley and the entire staff at Freedman Middle School for the school Improvement okay and that is concludes my report thank you m to accept the report is submitted by the chairman of the board Motion in second all those in favor I oppos None oppos So voted and lastly we have finance and law Dr Dello thank you mayor earlier this evening uh the finance and law subcommittee met part of the committee is Mr sha myself and Mr Vier unfortunately was ill and absent uh first item we discussed was disposal of surplus equipment uh multitude of pieces of uh tools and equip that uh is now Obsolete and unsafe for our students and staff and have uh we nously voted to allow uh the school department to put it on the city of Taunton gov deals that was unanimously voted uh to do that next up we had the Taunton High School softball field renovation bid award uh last meeting we had three bids submitted I'm sorry four bids submitted the lowest and most responsible bidder was heick Landscaping Construction in the amount of $2,795 th000 with a $50,000 alternate uh included for uh electrical work at the baseball field the bid was $795,000 higher than what we had initially anticipated uh but the nesra engineering company has worked with himick and assured us that uh the outcome will be above above and beyond our expectations unfortunately things have gone up so um we did accept the $2,795 th000 bid uh again voting anly uh next up we had the facilities update uh Mrs Monahan uh went over the facility duude and the outstanding items that have been taken care of and still uh to be worked on uh nothing out of the ordinary just normal process once again voted unanimously to accept the facility's update and last two items were the bills payable for FY 25 in the amount of 1,95 one 1, 9562 th62 there were multiple questions asked concerning the warrant nothing out of the ordinary but just making sure all the pennies are accounted for Mrs shavs does a great job also on that piece uh and that was V unanimously to accept the warrant for fy2 and the last item was the FY 24 warrant uh for 96,9 194 and once again two items were questioned accounting for the pennies and voted unanimously to accept the warrant and that concludes my report thank you Dr DEA is there a motion to accept motion to accept the report by the committee and seconded motion second all those in favor oppose none opposeed so voted okay there is no new business list I have something I'd like to bring up okay sure Mrs shs thank you um in light of the um lawsuit that is going on with Hingham with the student and the AI I'd like to see if we could put this on an agender to discuss what our policies are going to be for AI and make sure that in our student handbooks we have the necessary um wording to protect ourselves from such a lawsuit um because according to what I've been reading and following um a lot of the the the wording that was put into the handbook was put in after the student um got disciplined for using it so want to make sure that we um make sure that we are not open to a similar kuko situation and I also want to make sure that there's consistency with how we deem it being used or the school or the teachers that we have a consistency because we don't want to have we don't want to open ourselves up for a similar type of lawsuit second so would your motion be to refer it to a future agenda either a future I don't know if this could be a school committee as a whole or does this go to a subcommittee what would you think so I'm in the process that would probably makes sense to go to rules okay because it'll be a policy and it'll impact the high school handbook and uh without going into great detail this is work that we are already scratching the surface on yes okay so I'll make a motion for it to go to the rules and then have them bring it back to the school committee as a whole okay so motion and a second all those in favor opposed n opposed so voted all right unfinished business the development impact on enrollment letter to City yeah in your file uh in your package you should received a copy of the letter that I addressed to city engineer Michael patod and director of planning and conservation Kevin scanland I will keep the committee informed as I receive um feedback from their departments regarding a future meeting in their availability okay and then we have the city council meeting regarding to Hamilton Street I would just um ask you to go to paragraph four that begins with this afternoon so there will be a meeting on Tuesday October 29th 2024 at City Hall and the city council chambers to to discuss the two hamilt Street two Hamilton Street property in the vote that was taken by the school committee on October 2nd I forgot to add the time that meeting will take place at 6 pm and if you are able to attend please RSVP with Wendy dine she can be contacted uh on the mainline or you can reach her by email which I include in the memo okay thank thank you superintendent M yes okay okay and then we have the action item update any business with that the only item that can come off is the food truck on 97 motion to remove the food truck from the action item update second motion and second all those in favor oppose not opposed so voted there is no press oh sure area all set no we're still awaiting the awning uh I believe that's the last item and then obviously the the furniture but the awning is doing thing holding up that project so should we be removing it that's why I brought it up uh we usually leave it on until it's okay but I have no problem making reducing the list after the mow so well you only have five items there I mean that's my suggestion I don't know if the maker the motion wants to resend the motion because we have an item still outstanding to like part of the motion well I believe the motion was just voted on did did we did we go to vote I'm sorry there was a motion in a second to remove this was about the food truck remove the food truck and I believe it was voted to remove it just the food TR wait a minute hold on a second oh just the one item food truck not the entire The Culinary got I'm sorry I thought the whole thing had to come off no problem got you just the TR and that motion was voted on voted yes okay I was link to the draw I don't this should be bus we kind of blasted through our little book there that you have us reading but I would urge my colleagues to please pay attention to that chapter there's a lot of things that end up happening and you see it really around the country too this bitterness going on between people I don't think you get anything done when you do that and I think that we need to be more consider the fact that we're all different individuals we all have different opinions we can respect opions and when the school committee makes a decision I'm sorry whether you're happy with it or not if it's the decision of the committee you go along with it so I I just thought that was stuff we could have talked about a little bit um some the men I knew had had read this they were supposed to and Melissa would have brought it up because their turn their turn we read it but there was a lot of of that what we read in there that really resonated with me and one of the things I've said before and I'd like to say it again I like the time when we could agree to disagree and we could still be friends and I I don't want to walk out of here and and have to say that person's not my friend anymore because I consider you all my friends so and family so I just think that we should be cognizant of that but if you didn't read the chapter that summary was there but there were things that I know that we talked about years ago and I remembered when we were formulating the whole thing that we did there and it and it's worked well but I think every now and then we have to revisit it and make sure that we're sticking to our guns and that's probably not even something you can say right now but you know what I mean we just got to stick to what we're doing okay all right thank you one Politically Incorrect thing apologize thank you Mrs F thank you okay so we'll move on there are no press here and so we'll take a motion to adjourn motion second all those in favor oppos none oppose so voted thank you everyone --------- ##VIDEO ID:Hfdvfoif9n4## uh good evening the finance and law subcommittee shall come to order I'll start off with roll call Mrs shavs present uh Gregory Dello present uh first up on the agenda we have uh disposal of surplus equipment requests and that's from the TA and high school CTE Department uh Mrs Monahan please thank you Dr Dello um as you'll see in the packet there are multiple me uh multiple items that are asked to be put to Surplus which will then go on to gov deals for sale the first one is a Powermatic jointer model uh from 2009 $400 uh estimated value the next one is a Powermatic drill press there are four of them in fair condition um a next one is lagona band saw from 2009 in fair condition there's one of them a Delta radial arm saw model from 2009 in fair condition and then there is a saw top 12in table saw with extension model from 2009 in fair condition a Powermate 2011 um plan planner that is in fair condition with estimated value of $2,000 uh then the lagona 18 band saw from 2009 Powermatic LA from 2009 there are four of those and those are the items that are no longer being used at Taunton High School in um the CTE program wonderful I make a motion that we accept this and put it on file and let them um what did you say you're going to post gub deal and then that's where they get sold correct okay wonderful I'll second the motion just a quick discussion so we have new equipment that came in well it's been they haven't been used in many many years they're over 10 years old so there are items that have been phased out and have been replaced and maybe a safety issue too with the old why they're not being used right now yes because that's that I mean I'm sure um somebody that out there could be using it but that's stated for our students good good uh so I did second the motion all in favor I opposed eyes have it thank you next up we have the Taunton High School softball field renovation bid award C attached memo uh Mrs Manan thank you um I I don't like to read things but I think it's best to read it too so people would understand so uh just La at the last school committee meeting we opened up the bid for the softball renovation project and we received four bids Green Acres landscape construction Heim lick Landscaping Nell compor Corporation and Yard Works and you'll see the bit amount there and the um the lowest bid is going to heick landscaping and Construction Corporation which includes and excuse me that one was for 2.7 $2.8 million um and that includes a $50,000 for the alt work which is electrical work at the baseball field so nesra nesra has previously completed projects with heick and that are similar in scope and magnitude because of heick being the lower bid that is the one that I am recommending um to award the bid so when we originally projected the cost to be about $2 million but the lowest bid came in at an increase of $795,000 which again includes the ultimate for the $50,000 electrical work at the baseball field so the school committee previously approved the funding of this project to be charged to our revolving account um So currently you'll see there our revolving account balance is three 3,572 and Below you'll see that our last three years of Revenue and expenses and not revolving so as you can see there that um right now we have a revolving Revenue at $2.4 million this year and uh revolving expenses at 1.8 million so we are in a strong financial position to approve the bid for 2,795 th000 over the last three years we've averaged about $2 million in Revenue and about $1.7 million in expenses resulting in a hefty revolving account balance of $3.6 million and this includes uh funding a capital Improvement plan like the football stadium in FY 23 even with the proposed additional expense of $795,000 I do anticipate we will maintain a balance of $3 million by the end of this fiscal year therefore I do recommend that we award the bid in its entirety of $2,795 th000 is to heick landscaping and Construction Corporation thank you Mrs shvs I make a motion that we award the bid to heick Landscaping in its entirety for the $2,795 th000 uh second on discussion so uh the $50,000 alternate for baseball field uh is that okay to include in this I mean absolutely because it is an alternate that was part of the scope of work that they could bid all um all the bids came in that was a considered to be an item that they could they bid on it as well because an ad alt is you can add it or you don't have to it's not a part of the bit okay and who who uh were they the ones that did our baseball field heck no heck did um who heck did was it green did the baseball that was before me the tennis cours the tennis courts I and NZ like did say nzar has worked with them in other projects as well did Green Aces do our softball baseball baseball that's right that's right got familiar okay so okay I I just you know I'm one of those I don't mind spending money I don't like spending money but I don't mind spending money when it's great quality work so you're comfortable with that I'm fine with that too so uh the motion's been seconded all in favor I I opposed eyes have it thank you next up we have the facilities up see attached memo back to you Mrs monam the director of facilities Mark frus provides us with a monthly um facility dude which again it is the maintenance software that both the city and the staff School staff enter any facility issues that need to be addressed um attach you will see the work comparison from July 1st through October 9th with the total amount of work orders entered is 586 orders and of those four 586 464 work ers which is 77% of all work orders for these City buildings so the the school department has the most and then again if you look at the spreadsheet the chart that um director facilities Mark frus did provide us you'll see there um how many open per school and how many closed tickets per School great I make a motion that we accept the report and place it on file I'll second the motion all in favor I I opposed eyes have it next up we have Bill payable we'll start off with fy2 in the amount of 1,900,000 for this gdw government instructional technology is this still um that is for the that is all for the business department okay um instructional equipment for the business department okay and then also a part of that too is the Google workspace for Education which is a yearly renewal which is that 34,000 that that amount there okay that's what I wanted to know yeah okay on the next page on page nine that Collins construction what building are they doing the Improvement that it's 286,000 that is the commercial kitchen you'll see a few the yes all of Collins you'll see that coming up again um for that's the commercial kitchen hopefully that'll be completed by the end of October okay and that is charged to a grant yes okay on page 18 that com compan um playground is that for Tiger tots that one is for um which one is how much is that one for sorry about that 68,000 68,000 will be the um the the tiger tots and then excuse me the 68,000 is the playground there's a second playground up here um off to the side playground uh page 24 um what's this pickup Patrol pickup I looked at I looked at it online it's a piece of software so how does that I was interested in how it's working out what is it's working out this is the second year has actually used it here and they uh it brings out to see how where child's parent is there at pickup line the child could is sent right down it is a software that moves this the line for pickup very quickly and Paul has really loved it and has shared it with other schools as well so is this a is this a district um service or it's um it's for this school only that's using it right now School the poll um on the next page page 25 you have $51,000 for athletic equipment which I I don't argue the athletic equipment the only thing I was wondering is similarly that we had all of the Surplus materials are these being replaced um and are there materials that are going to go to Surplus or these these items that are things we didn't have and we're now purchasing them they're not usually we don't usually deem the uniforms or anything like that Sur this could be all of the supplies that is could be it could be uniforms it could be additional um balls or whatever it would be so that is a part of the equipment itself okay and also sometimes it's customary to have the equipment refurbished like the helmets the the helmets and yep that makes sense okay the last one I had was on oh no that's on the next one that's it for this one thank you bet great I I just have a couple uh actually on was the same as Mrs Sha's question on page three so we have uh the billing starting for the uh Associates for Human Services for 125 so this is this is a monthly cost this is a little bit different than the other provider coaching for change correct so this is just a flat fee this is a monthly charge for task okay and I know last time I there was some concern I had some concern about the internships and so forth I'm sure that we'll get uh updates accordingly on that because you know I don't want to wait till till May to get an update from from someone that we're paying $100,000 to yeah just for clarity would the update be from my Administration or update from task what whatever you feel preference I mean if you want to reach out to them and give us an update I mean again I just don't want to wait till till May to get a report like we did last time which was wasn't really complete I mean um so we how about then uh would would you can't make a motion right because you're the chair so would somebody make a motion for a monthly update from task I'll make a motion for a monthly update from task Absolutely I'll second the motion all in favor I I opposed have it so we motion is made and confirmed uh next one up I have was uh page four so the food truck builders that's for uh food truck correct I saw it riding around the city yesterday or today uh so it's it's rolling it's registered I saw Mass plates on it I believe we are it's not up and running just yet we're just parading it around for marketing purposes reason being is that the food truck needs to have a commercial k up and running for the food truck to be up and running so once we have the commercial kitchen done with the renovation we will go ahead and um start up the food truck okay so we get some and just so you know the first visit we're planning is to Bristol County Savings Bank which we'll invite the school committee because Bristol County saving banks provided us with funding for the food truck that'd be very very nice absolutely good and I just one more I had page nine which Mrs Sha's already asked page 16 let me just go quick [Music] uh what is page 16 oh the GATRA the $6,000 so is this a monthly or is this paid per use uh so we've allocated some funds um to provide GATRA passes for our students so we have an open po Al um encumbering the funds and um director of student services and transportation Stephanie Hoy will go and request additional passes from G ET for the house offices at the high school okay so we're getting these are actual passes that are being used we're not paying for some that's not being used absolutely not great okay so uh I guess the motion be in order I make a motion to approve the warrant in the amount of 1,900,000 of 29 296,000 9.94 I just have one question which was on the uh school security for 18,000 what school was that it was for the high school security booth for the put yes we put on some shielding on the Windows okay thank you that's all I have and I just have one item uh WB Mason 258 19520 so this was all delivered by June 30th it was encumbered June 30th and then once it's received which is what we we're doing now we then pay for it okay because it's it's referring to FY 24 right correct it was um this is big furniture items that we had for the high school library for the um the main men main entrance there main lobby so again those were ordered encumbered and now they've been received so that is why we're paying okay great right which we had a pleasure to see uh last Wednesday was absolutely beautiful yeah very nice very comfortable very accommodating I think our students going to love it m i make a motion that we approve the warrant for 26,900 oh 6,9 and 94 I'll second the motion all in favor I I opposed eyes have it motion to adjourn be in order i' make a motion that we adjourn second all in favor I I opposed eyes have it we are adjourned thank you