the committee on finance and law will come to order Dr dallo uh present Mr shave present uh Mr Vier is present first item on the agenda special education expense Services see attach memo assistant superintendent moan thank you um as you can see en closed you'll see the memo for the legal services for special education and student services uh for the FY 24 for uh for January 2024 we have a service charge of $2,697 110 therefore total to the year we have spent $3,228 from the budget of $50,000 a year you take that 13,000 away we currently still have a um legal service balance for special ed of $ 36,9 7714 thank you assistant superintendent morning any questions from the Committee hearing none uh motion would be to receive motion to receive and place on file seconded motion has been made and seconded all those in favor I I the chair votes I motion passes item number two Taunton High Culinary Kitchen see attach memo okay assistant superintendent monan if you will absolutely so here we have um the Taunton High School commercial kitchen and this is awarding of the bid so in June of 2023 in the long range planning committee subcommittee meeting the subcommittee approved the recommendation to contract with Compass Group architecture which is also called CGA for the purpose of developing the high school commercial kitchen bid documents and project management in addition to developing these um comprehensive set of drawings and comp complation of documents CGA would utilize the online uh project management platform project dog to solicit uh more of the bids now a lot of times you're going to say probably like okay why is that that we're doing it this way than not the traditional ones that we open here now similar to what we have done in the past with like a m we use project dog due to the complexity of this project that is the reason why we chose to go or that's the recommendation was to use CGA to um and and solicit bids through the online platform so the project went out to bid on Project dog on December 6th at 2 p.m and the general bids were due on January 25th at 2 p.m. the construction period will begin in June and requires that all work be completed and not merely sub uh substantially complete by the end of August on August 31st so as you can see I've also included in there as well is um the the um table that had there the strategy to utilize project do proved very successful there were seven General bids which included an alternate bid for the freezer cooler um Edition were electron electronically submitted on Project dog and again please see the attached project dog um General list the the bids could not be electronically viewed until the bid timeline was closed on on January 25th at 2 p.m. and please know that these bids are opened electronically and in the the people that have bid on it will view it going electronically so based on reviewing of the bids performing our due diligence and forther recommendation of CGA I'm recommending that the Taunton High School commercial kitchen project inclusive of the alternate one be awarded to Collins construction company in the amount of 1,134 5288 as they were the overall lowest and most responsive bidder and please know that this is not going to be charged under the school budget it will be charged to Esser uh question how did they uh how did they come to the conclusion what was the due diligence process that Compass Group architecture uh used to come to this conclusion just like they we do here right we go ahead and review the bids make sure that all the bid documents are um are included you'll make sure there's a bond you'll make sure that all the items that we normally do when we do the process as as when we open a bit here school committee usually says we advise the the um Administration to do their due diligence we work with CGA he and I worked together we reviewed the bids and again we did bid on we did agree that this was the the most lowest and most responsive bidder so so for the viewers at home and people have been watching the school committee uh for a long time so there's a clear understanding generally bids are submitted here to this committee this committee opens the bids they review the bids then they refer them to the administration and the architect y then the architect and the administration then comes back to this committee and makes a recommendation is the architect or the contractor usually present at at the meeting when the bid is awarded like for example here tonight not all the time and many times when we open a bid here we don't have the um and very seldom I should say I don't want to say never very seldom do we have people that um submitted bids in the audience I you know it's a it's a pretty substantial contract it's it's $1.1 million so I uh you know respect the process that you use but I think going forward that maybe we should consider a written uh written policy on how these take place that way we're consistent uh every time I don't know if there was a reason superintendent cabal why this process no again it's because of complexity you're dealing with gas lines electrical lines you're dealing with the underground work um it was a very complex project when you're dealing with a commercial kitchen um that is going to be industry standard so that was the reason why uh we felt that this project was above and beyond the facilities director Mark frus to put the bid together and we contracted with CG GA CGA has a very strong reputation here in Taunton I believe they've done work they actually oversaw the project at Mahi and their recommendation was Project dog there's a way to electronically solicit bids because it gets emailed out or distributed to a a greater a greater cast of contractors and it resulted in seven bids so overall the process worked uh well but I do agree I mean 99.9% of the time we're going to be bringing bids here and opening them the way we traditionally do but because of complexity of the project knowing the cost of the project they wanting to get know um you see the range from 1.5 million to 1.1 million so we we were able to save you know $400,000 us utilizing this process so I think the process worked and it's something that again um maybe moving forward when we do discuss this in long range plan that we that we make it clear on if we're going to use a project a program or platform like project dog that the committee has a clear understanding on how it's going to work and maybe we invite the committee to attend online if I could superintendent cabal I would like to say that please know that this project dog is in compliance with all of the inspector General's all mgl um laws for the construction piece so please know that this is used quite often across the Commonwealth and across the country um they use the central register where I normally post all bids everything is done and actually it's much um it's e not easier but it's it's aligned with all of the IG requirements especially with plan holders so if there's an addendum that goes out it automatically will send any addendums to any of the plan holders so there's no there's very little room for error any uh any questions from uh the board Miss shs um just a clarification because I know that these documents are online so under the vendors number one is substantially lower than everybody else so I'm assuming a that they're not bidding the what was what was in the details and B they weren't a responsive bidder I'm going to I just want you're not a responsible bidder so yes so usually what we do is we look to see if they had all the stuff that is aligned with the contract um with the bid and they were not so that is the reason why yes thank you Dr D Mr chairman yes uh so in the superintendent's memo to us the last paragraph is where I'm a bit confused used uh I'm recommending the Taunton High School commercial kitchen project inclusive of alternative one be awarded to C Construction Company in the amount of 1.1 345 28.8 as they were the overall lowest and most responsive bidder so does that mean that that 173,880 million I'm confused it is inclusive of alternate alternate correct what it's asking if you look on the on the grid here on the tab you will I'm I'm sorry okay Dr Dello the 1.13 4528 figure is the general contract bid in the amount of $96,400 18 okay so that means it's in that means the all one was included in the $1.1 million figure so why all right so what what is alternative sales what do what do they do yes alt one alt one is an addition to the general bid so alt one is the addition of the um walk in freezer fridge so the overall project bid is the remodeling and updating of The Culinary Kitchen and then the alter Al alternate one is the addition to the um Walkin freezer fridge so we are adding another 173,000 584 to the 1.1 345 28.0 no that is inclusive that so again the general contract bid of um of 960,000 plus the alternate one bid amount of 174 which will include both of those will include the total bid which we're recommending for approval so so if so my question is why colins construction coming in at 96,9 448 and then add the 173 584 to make it the 1.13 45280 eight why this this is very confusing question was there more than one at that meeting was there more than one yeah presented what happens so alt one is like all right so when we did the um when we did the baseball field we do the general baseball field an alter alternate one could be the scoreboard alt two could be the lights so those are additional stuff okay and so everybody bid on the general upgrading of The Culinary Kitchen which was the general contract bid and then the alternate one bid is the addition to the freezer walk-in freezer fridge so there're two separate bids there's a bid for the general construction and then there's a b specific alternative sales is a different company it has nothing to do with the alt bid which is the 17400 he's looking at the number one vendor which is called alternate sales oh I'm sorry yes that is okay my apologies uh okay now I understand what's going on here I apologize secondly uh was there anyone present from tot public schools in the capacity as Mrs monan and Mr frus at the bid opening even though it was electronically no and that's not normally what we have done in the past it does I again I have the information from Project dog and how they do it all and I could get information for you if you need further but it is again please know that this is all aligned with Mass general laws and the um inspector General's office yeah I I appreciate that Mrs monan but the duties of the school committee is exactly budget and uh I will be voting no on this because there was no one present from Tom Public Schools thank you Mr chairman thank you m shavs one other question with your example you talked about the ball field was this the only alternative yes okay so so everybody has had a chance to speak uh before we vote I I know that we're use an Essa funds I know Bristol County Savings Bank uh is making a contribution to this as well again I think we should have a policy in place going forward if we are not going to uh utilize regular customary practice but I also don't want to hold up um you know the Culinary Kitchen so uh I need a motion a motion to accept this a motion to approve approve it yes uh the chair will second all those in favor please signify by saying I the chair votes I all those oppos the motion passes two to one okay and I just want to direct record to show Mr chairman on no cuz there was no one from public ta Taun Public Schools present at the bid opening thank you Dr deal item number three bills payable FY 24 in the amount of 1,128 n459 any questions from the committee Mrs shabs okay um a couple of question questions through page one and Page four there are a lot of medical supply expenses that are coming from Amazon have have we thought about a possibility of finding a vendor that would give us it cheaper than everybody going to Amazon I do have to say that when it's these here these the psycholog um psychological mental health supplies these are sometimes little trinkets at times it could be um it could be what is it called now stress ball thank you stress balls it could be things like that fidget toys thank you very much um so it's not MediCal correct please know that yes it's just that that's the line that hits with um for Desi my next my second question is on page five with the interpreters are we paying per minute per hour um they on their base State interpreters for $ 37,2 31 how did they charge us we do have a contract with them I am not going to say that I do I do recall all of it but I can go back and get that information for you so and share that with you yeah because I was wondering like do we pay like you know by the call by the you know if we're paying by the minute like how is it done so that whoever is using it would know how to use it maybe more appropriately we do we do ask that anybody that uses the interpretive services to contact UM the El department and um the the admin assistant is very good about doing the proper working the proper channels and making sure that we are using that um correctly but again I will be happy to share that information with you Mr chairman motion be in order to approve the FY 24 bills payable for the amount of 1,1 12894 194 and on discussion do I have a second on the motion seconded okay on discussion Mr chairman I'd like to be recorded as voting present on page 22 um one second please uh Pride Inc in the amount of $7,777 I'd like to be recorded as V voting present since I serve on the finance committee and a board of directors thank thank you Dr Deo any other questions comments from the committee okay hear none all those in favor please signify say I I the chair votes I the motion carries motion would be in tion toj seconded motion has made in second all those in favor I chair votes I meeting is adjourned all right good evening everyone and welcome um I call the meeting order if you could please join us in the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge aliance to the flag the United States of America United Na [Music] indiv by the dawn to the night what so proudly we held at the Twilight last gleaming who brought stripes and bright stars through the perous fight or the r parts we watch were so gallantly streaming and the rockets R GL the bombs bursting in gave prove through the night that our flag was still there oh say does that star spangled then I yet way or the land of the free and the home of the [Music] brave Mrs F would you like to leave us an indication yes Lord as we begin this session let us acknowledge your goodness and mercy and ask your blessings on all our deliberations we thank thank you for this opportunity to be of service to our community and to the young people entrusted to our care amen thank you okay um Mrs Fagan if you could do the roll call and we will just note that chairman Dello is joining us via Zoom this evening okay yes good evening Mr Reus is absent Mrs Mrs shavs present Mr palowski present Mrs Fagan is present Miss Santos present Steven Vieira present Mr uh Laura present chairman Dello present and mayor o Connell present thank you approval of the minutes for Wednesday March 6 2024 as submitted second motion and second all those in favor I I I opposed none opposed so voted and now we have the student advisory committee report we have three students with us tonight um Isaiah Wendell I don't know if just you are going to speak but if you are if you could introduce the other two students thank you Marl Connell as Marl Connell said my name is Isaiah Wendell and I'm part of the student advisory Council for tunon high school I'm Denzel chuku and I'm Jessica chuku before beginning with all the great things that are happening at Taunton High School I would like to thank our assistant superintendents Mr barata and Mrs moan for taking the time to visit Taunton High School this week Mr barata went around the classrooms walking through one of mine actually teaching us about the upcoming solar eclipse um which was greatly appreciated additionally Mrs Mahan sat in on our student advisory um meeting today that we hold in school um it is always a pleasure seeing members of the administration in our school um on to things going on in Taunton High School spring Sports started this past Monday and team tryouts are happening this week we wish all the teams a successful season the 10th grade mcast English test is approaching it will take place on Tuesday March 26th and Wednesday March 27th 2024 to encourage mcast testing a pep rally will be held on Friday we wish all the students who are taking or will be taking the mcast this year the best of luck um our Junior promo take place on May 2nd at the Venus deelo in Swansea Massachusetts I'm sure it'll be an excellent event for all our students to enjoy um additionally our guidance counselors are currently in the process of meeting with students to finalize their course selections for the upcoming school year this process will continue over the next few weeks Additionally the skills USA State competitions is upcoming in April I want to wish all the students that are participating the best of luck um our school's afjrotc program will be attending the military ball at south wester high school on March 28th um also we would like to wish the best of luck to the students participating in the upcoming Deca ID CD C's and lastly um on Thursday at 6 o'clock Taunton High School will be hosting a college night for our Juniors their and their parents and Guardians in the Taunton High School auditorium as always thank you and have a great night thank you Wendell excellent job I mean Isaiah I'm sorry a lot of uh exciting things happening and uh we wish our students the best of luck in everything that's going on the sports and you know the skills um and I think it's really great that you're having an mcast pep rally so we're wishing everyone the best of luck in their mcast test as well all right thank you guys is there any public input this evening there was no public input okay thank you we will go right to the superintendent's report superintendent cabal thank you Madame mayor so if you don't mind I'm going to go out of order so I'm going to cover the professional development Day first and then I'll Follow That by some great news uh regarding mcast so the timing is perfect and then as you notice we have quite a large audience here this evening uh so I'm sure we'll spend enough time paying our respects the outstanding efforts of our wrestling team so first and foremost I am pleased to report that the district held its final full day of professional development on Friday March 8th the day began with a mandatory session for all to Public School Employees titled establishing and maintaining respect within the workplace the session was led by attorney Jamie Kenny and Miss Jean hurdle a well-known experience and respected trainer and investigator specializing in domestic violence bullying workplace violence and discriminatory harassment altogether the district held a total of 43 professional development sessions with all segments of our population so all seven unions were represented included our non-union or non-aligned employees a total of 825 employees participated in the professional development day on March 8th taon High School taon Alternative High School and taon public Virtual Academy staff attended a presentation by rowned guest speaker Jimmy cases he is the author of culture eyes attendees learned cashes cases' four principles to maximize student learning and remember that every child deserves to be part of something great cash is also held an afternoon session for district administrators I want to thank the high school for securing Mr cashes with funding through its bar Foundation Grant uh fifth seventh uh five through seven grade social studies teachers participated in investigating history training with Consultants at the Mountain Middle School the opportunity was funded through a grant secured by the district at Freeman Middle School all our elementary teachers were given a reorientation to our wonders curriculum resources which was needed as the initial roll out to this curriculum took place just prior to the covid shutdown feedback from the sessions was very positive I want to thank the assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction Chris Bara executive director for human resources Cheryl buts and our instruction leadership team and coordinators for all our all their hard work in putting together a rewarding and successful professional development day uh my email and my phone has not stopped uh I have not stopped receiving messages by people throughout the district saying it was one of the best professional development days that they've had in years some great news regarding mcast and I'm very excited to share this uh I think our last school committee meeting we heard an outstanding presentation from the high school and their school Improvement plan and we just heard about a tremendous professional development day so on the curriculum and instruction side I'm very proud to announce that the tton public schools achieved a total of 16 perfect scores on the mcast Massachusetts comprehensive assessment test mcast that was conducted in the fall in the spring of 2023 five students High School achieved perfect scores in English language arts six students across the high school Freeman Middle School East H elementary school in po Elementary School achieved perfect scores in math and four students across the high school and Freeman School achieved perfect scores in science tarton also had two students who achieved multiple perfect scores a freshman student earned the perfect score on both the English language arts and science and a senior student during the perfect score on all three tests I want to extend my congratulations to all our students their families their teachers for this impress impressive accomplishment I will personally be visiting these students in their schools in pres pre presenting them with a uh a token of our appreciation for their outstanding achievement next we have our wrestling team so what's I cannot speak about enough about the community and the culture that exists in our wrestling team CU what started tonight as recognizing two individuals for becoming state champs turned out into an event we're recognizing the entire program so this is a program that achieved a 14-6 overall record they had 402 individual wins which included 289 pins we want to congratulate seniors John mandaville Ethan Harris who broke the school winds [Applause] record but I can't help but think that there's someone sitting out there who's going after that record Ethan you set the B High Gabriel Laskowski Robert Tran Jaden Fletcher brayan aalos yenz and Isaiah ail this team also includ also achieved cape card Invitational Champions they were the holy o Champions they finished second at the Marshville holiday championship and took second in the hakak they also had seven hakak Allstars and five individual hakok Champions Michael Laskowski was a champion John mandaville Gabriel lasowski Ethan Harris was a champion at the 190 pound division William Buffington Kingston dasta Elijah Propet was a champion at 215 pound division at the Massachusetts or the MIAA division one cth sectional championships they were a threp winning three consecutive championships is no easy feat congratulations [Applause] seated amongst us we have six division one self sectional individual Champions I mean these names just keep repeating themselves Michael Laskowski Jr John mandaville Senor Gabriel Laskowski senior Ethan Harris Senor and Elijah Prophet senior so again senior leadership or leadership at the highest levels setting a strong foundation for the underclassman that will soon be following them they were top four in division one they were we have one division one state finalist in John mandaville we have two division one state champions and Ethan Harris and Elijah [Applause] Propet one all state finalist in Ethan Harris one [Applause] all one all state finalist in Ethan Harris oh sorry one all state Placer and Elijah Propet and I only think it's fitting as this is women in leadership month that we have two female wrestlers who play second and fourth respectively [Applause] congratulations I have a few more things that I'd like to share but I'm gonna pause this time if coach Adon is here this evening Adon if you'd like to say a few words on behalf of the squad and Mr arivan ell you're welcome to set to the podium too thank you Mr cabal Mayor oconnell school committee thank you very much for having us today I just want to say one thing about this group and they are such a fantastic group of student athletes they are everything that you want them to be they go all over the state they went all over New England and they are the pride of our city and I'm extremely extremely proud of them um our coaching staff coach galette coach vicory and Coach choke when adilson came in to take over this program we were struggling we had nine kids how many years ago was that 1 13 years ago we were talking about disbanding this program we now have over 60 kids we've won three straight South Division sectional championships division one championships and we've got a vibrant middle school program that's going on that's just going to continue this for years to come so I'm very very extremely proud of this group [Applause] adson um uh I always like to thank this school committee uh Mark rvanelli our training staff Chris and Lauren um and the THS Administration for all the support these past few years um we've had a great season a lot of highs and lows um especially compared to like seasons in the past but the team held on and finished strong um a big congratulations again to Ethan Harris and Elijah Propet our first school state champs um for wrestling at ton [Applause] high as well as Ethan he broke our school record for 151 wins um that's big we're hoping that someone beats it next year there's there's a couple there's come some competition um also Mike Laskowski John Manville Gabe Laskowski for all being sectional Champs um as a group our team has won three sectional titles in three years and we could do without our not only our Varsity wrestlers but also our JB wrestlers that's why we didn't just want to um highlight just the kids that one sex uh state titles it's the it's a team effort they don't they can just practice with each other they have to practice with everybody else that's here so we try to make this a family we have everyone show up they show up every single week a lot of teams by the time section is over they have five kids go to practice we had 30 to 40 kids every single day um we just kind of want to highlight that um it's a full team effort myself and other coaches had a great time with our athletes getting through it it all um and this year has been a year of first for us again we had two uh state champs we had two girls uh Fiona Laughin and Danielle Hayne she's not here right now that both placed in the girl state tournament this year for division one um and then we also had our first wrestling baby with Coach vicory having his third child in the middle of the season um so go for this all right so I'm just gonna um call out every kid um you guys get this shake everyone's hand uh Jason Adelman up uh Kevin arujo Isaiah AAL watch your Stu guys uh Anthony Barbosa Antonio brandow Andrew Brown William Buffington good job well done congratulations good job keep it up huh uh Kingston D Costa keep it [Music] rolling Austin F Jaden Fletcher Brian Hayne Ethan Harris Thomas Hoy Fiona Laughin Gabe Laskowski Michael Laskowski sorry Shane Lind Richard masonet Antonio Maldonado brayen mandaville John Manderville Michael meley Josh millerick Elijah prophet Landon Rodriguez Jackson Royster Jason satre uh Cody trulson Anthony Vieira Ashton Vieira and then Jason Westgate I just want to add one thing and then I also just wanted to add one thing um this is the first year where we had our middle school program so each Middle School had their own team this year um I think we had about 60 kids that signed up and we currently have our youth program going right now at ton high with about 30 kids show that show up weekly so we can't wait for the [Applause] future and Mr cabal um Elijah is only a junior he's coming back [Applause] well well maybe this will add some motivation for next year so again I commend the team I haven't seen this type of camaraderie since the 2001 Patriots came out together for the Super Bowl back in 2001 so to see you all show up to support two of your teammates know it really reminds me about what is all what is great about sportsmanship what is great about sports and how it brings kids from all walks of life together but I also want to take a moment to recognize with the state that I'm excited to share the success of two high school student athletes at at the MIAA state division one wrestling tournament last month Ethan Harris and Elijah profet both won their respective weight classes Harris topped the 190 pound weight class and Profit the 2115 pound weight class each student athlete won five matches in a single elimination breakout bracket format to win the championship T high school as a team plays fourth overall out of 50 schools missing out on the podium spot by just one and a half points while Harris and profit went on to compete in the All State Tournament Harris plays second and profit play six the MIAA division one state championship for Harris and profit Clos out in a St an outstanding gear for our wrestling program under coach Adon Galo as on behalf of the school committee and the to Public Schools I have a small token of our appreciation if you don't mind coming up e and [Applause] conations not the state championship trophy but a little some Hardware congratulations thank you and all this hard work all this support not only do we have Champions on the classroom not only do we have Champions on the mats on the on the on the on the turf we also have Champions who are leading the this work I am thrilled to share something that I don't think many of you know of regarding our athletic department our teams not only our teams not only our team members have been recognized by the Massachusetts Secondary Schools Athletic Directors Association msada for their exceptional contribution to inter inter Scholastic Sports the M msada they recognize the adults that do the work behind the scenes so the to Public School District athletic director mock out of vianelli has been honored with the prestigious Richard E Lewis award this Accolade is a testament to his unwavering dedication in significant contribution to inter Scholastic Sports in Massachusetts so Mr Elli on behalf of the ton Public [Applause] Schools as many of you know Mr Arelli be retiring at the end of this year so little gratitude thank you thank you you're welcome but anyone who understands and knows ta and Athletics they realize that mock can't do it alone so we also would like to recognize head trainer Christine kurr as she has been awarded the athletic trainer of the Year award the award highlights her dedication and exceptional service in the field of athletic training administ as well as Administrative Assistant Sandy Alman she also received the administrative assistant award so on behalf of the top Public Schools [Applause] congratulations little conratulations Mr cabal if you don't mind um I know you give me a hard time when I say how very fortunate I am um I have been fortunate in my 22 years here to be associated with Christine and Sandra and without them we've been together for my whole time here and without them this wouldn't be possible and I am forever grateful thank you thank you and I couldn't think of a better way to conclude my report thank you super I couldn't either it's always the best night at school committee when we can recognize our student AC students accomplishments so we really appreciate you guys being here thank you for all the hard work you do and for making Taunton and Totton Public Schools so proud and to the coaches of course and I see a lot of proud parents here can't do it without your support either so thank you all right and I guess we'll move on oh okay uh motion for a five seriously five minute recess second motion second all those in favor oppos none opposed so voted thank you can we get a motion to Comm out recess second Motion in second all those in favor oppos none oppos so voted thank you okay we will move now to administrative business the Staffing report and Taunton Public Schools Staffing [Applause] update Che it on that um are you going to do the same thing for the to and public school Staffing update it's a it's the same report that I provide you all if you have any questions that information right yeah I I want to do both at the same time okay yeah please part of the motion yep okay motion and second all those in favor all right oppos so voted okay uh subcommittee reports Unit A subcommittee Mrs uh 3132 24 Mrs Fagan yes we um you met with the uh I'm sorry that's the tea right Mr lab management yeah joint Labor Management and um they they've raised some concerns with us and we referred all those to Administration that's the report okay accept the report as presented second motion motion and second all those in favor I oppos N opposed so voted thank you now we have finance and law subcommittee from 32024 uh chair Dello mayor I passed the gav to uh Mr Vieira so he will be reporting out thank you madam May the finance and law subcommittee met today at 6:24 p.m. uh and the first item we discussed was special education expenses uh it was noted that $2,697 two was spent in the month of January total to dates $1 13,22 88 86 cents the remaining funds 36,9 774 cents a motion was made and seconded uh all voting in favor of accepting report item number two was a memo regarding THS Culinary Kitchen uh commercial kitchen bid was awarded to come comp group uh architecture project dog uh bids were posted on 126 23 at 2 p.m. bids would close 1 125 2024 at 2 p.m. uh June start of construction August 21st project should be substantially complete there was seven bids total one alternate uh which included a walk in freezer the bids were open and reviewed uh the total cost the project including the freezer 1,1 34528 eight it's going to be charged to Esser accounts I believe we also received a donation from Bristol County Savings Bank uh process uh through project dog uh has been approved by the IG uh question Dr Dello is if there were any Taunton Public Schools representative present when uh the bid was open the response was no I know we had other discussion that if we are going to use project uh going forward we should probably have a policy in place on how we're going to do that as opposed to regular customary practice so uh motion was made in seconded and the vote was two to one Mr de Dello Dr Dello excuse me uh voted no as a result of no pts uh representative being president at the open of uh the bids item number three bills payable on the warrants uh motion was made and seconded to pay bills in the amount of 1 m289 45.94 Dr dealo voted present regards to Pride Inc line item which he serves on the board of directors on page 22 the vote passed three nothing that concludes my report motion to accept the report second on that motion in second all those in favor I opposed no opposed so voted we will move on to new business first is the student Opportunity Act thank you Madame mayor so uh as required under the student Opportunity Act uh we have to engage the community and solicit feedback regarding how they believe our current plan is being carried out regarding its Effectiveness and also to identify a potential new evidence-based practices that we should Implement as far as uh the when we submit the revised student Opportunity Act plan so I'm happy to report that our survey concluded this evening so of the original Three priorities expanding capacity to address social emotional learning came in as the highest uh rated priority in our original plan the second highest rated priority was early college programs that focused on un underrepresented uh students and and the third com the third priority was expanding F day access to high quality prek kindergarten for foure RS so of the original Three those those were how they came in as viewed by the public regarding the next four priorities that we asked the public to weigh in on and again this students voted teachers voted and caregivers voted the highest priority was to provide or they would like to see added to the student Opportunity Act plan was supporting Educators Implement high quality instruction curriculum uh number two was to develop more effective family Community Partnerships number three was to continue with our acceleration eies and four was to have more co- teing professional development practices for our students with disabilities and our English language Learners So based on this feedback we will complete or revise our plan and bring it to the committee for approval at the at the April meeting okay thank you superintendent gabal do we need to is that just informational there's no need mayor excuse me excuse me I'm sorry was there was there a number of a total number of respondents I don't know if you said that I or if I missed it I I didn't check before the meeting but I know it was well over 300 okay thank you thank you you're welcome okay thank you uh we will move on to number two which is the FY 25 annual appointment of superintendent to Reed's collaborative board of directors so I I'll refer you to the third paragraph uh as you're aware I serve on the Reeds collaborative board we've been a member uh for many years of the Reeds collaborative and this year I served as the president but what's required is on an annual basis the committee must take a vote to appoint me to serve on the board so in the third paragraph I provide you with the motion so if if the committee agrees and someone is willing to make a motion that is seconded uh to appoint me I would be happy to continue serving and fulfill my term as president for the second year so moved second motion and second on discussion I just want to uh thank you and congratulate you for serving as president um motion and second all those in favor I opposed n opposed so voted okay now it's the Reeds collaborative quarterly report which is informational only no action necessary um do you need to comment on that superintendent all I'll say is I provided you with an update on where we are on the calendar process so as of now all our collective bargaining units are reviewing the calendars and we've asked them to provide us with feedback uh on the calendars by March 25th I can tell you already that based on the feedback that we're receiving uh the calendars that we shared with them are going to look a little different but one calendar will have two days of professional development learning and additional day allocated for convocation before students start school uh second option will be a traditional calendar where professional learning and convocation takes place two days prior to students beginning school and the third option two days of professional development learning and one day of convocation prior to the start of the school for students along with two additional early release days in March for professional development so I'm sorry superintendent uh that that's number four are you doing number four I was doing four okay okay um number three did three go with two or I don't think we three was informational purpos okay gotcha oh all right thank you very much okay so uh the calendar that I'm most excited about is option three uh because to to have two early release days for students where staff will remain behind to participate professional development uh is something that I think we need to probably take a look at and do more of so again I'll bring the recommendation forward based on all the feedback that we received from the unions at the at the April meeting very good okay Mr viea thank you Madame do you think it'll be at the first or the second meeting in April first thank you superintendent okay question mayor please uh yes so there's so there's been some communication from various uh members uh from the school Community uh what have we done in the past with the day before Thanksgiving and what was the other holiday the day before Christmas um what's been past practice on that for the teachers for the teachers I'd have off the top of my head Mr Dr dallo I I can I'll have to get you that information because I don't know off the top of my head because I'm a yearound employee so I usually work those days but I'd have to do some research and get back to you okay i' appreciate that thank you thank you mayor okay you're welcome all right uh next is YouTube content management update uh just some information I wanted to share with the committee and also make the public aware now that I would like to inform you of the changes we're making under our manager agement of instructional and educational YouTube content as we continue to prioritize the safety and the well-being of our students in the ever evolving digital landscape in response with the instructional technology department reporting a growing number of students attempting to access inappropriate content on YouTube through their District Google accounts we are empowering staff with the authority to approve content for students so when a staff member goes to utilize a YouTube video in the classroom a box is going to pop up and and then they will have to approve or check if it's appropriate to be used so if a student goes to YouTube and does the same thing they're not going to have that Authority only the staff members will have the authority to approve the videos that they're watching on YouTube so again it's going to prevent students from accessing inappropriate content and then that'll also ensure that all staff are vetting the content that they're reviewing before they share it in class so again another safety measure that we're putting in place so this permission change took place on March 15th and we believe it will help to create a safer online learning environment by ensuring students only have access to educational and grade level appropriate content so we want to thank our new IT director Jennifer Ashley for bringing this to our attention for jumping on this right away and taking Swift action to prevent students from accessing inappropriate content okay very good if there are no comments or questions um there's no action necessary Miss Miss Santos um and I don't know if this applies now but I'm just um as someone who's taught dual enrollment at T High High School BP the content because it's through staff right we weren't given staff permission so it was really hard for me to show specific content to classrooms as a college educator because of those restrictions and so I'm just thinking of like early college and all of those things not knowing if they'll have access to be able to bypass those security measures too so I just wanted to bring that up yeah we'll make note of that if that becomes an issue okay okay thank you Miss SOS retirement of nurse manager Karen Regan so in your packet I just provided you with a quick little memo our nurse manager Karen Regan has informed me of her intent to retire after an impressive 42-year career in nursing including eight years here at the to Public Schools Karen joined the nurse Karen joined us as a nurse manager in 2015 and brought a tireless work ethic and dedication to the position her leadership and expertise were invaluable to US during the covid-19 pandemic she put together a lead team of five nurse managers in response to covid to keep everyone informed with the latest information and guidelines she continues to provide the school staff Administration and the greater School Community with recommendations and updates from the state in in addition to her essential work connected to covid-19 Karen also helped us strengthen our relationship with Mana Health Community which resulted in the opening of a student based Health Center so Karen is an outstanding nurse She's Been instrumental I don't know how we would have gotten through or how and I know she assisted the city as well during Co so she again tireless worker she set the bar very hard a high and she'll be surely missed when she retires at the conclusion this year so just again just wanted to share that with the committee okay uh thank you superintendent she certainly has had a very impressive eight years and was really instrumental in our partnership during Co so we greatly appreciated [Applause] her unfinished business oh I apologize um uh so if this works with new business I just wanted to uh inform the committee um as chair of the high school subcommittee I'll be coordinating with superintendent CW for a series of of meetings uh going forward uh subject to availability uh the first meetings will be uh followup with the high school advisory councils um we met earli near in the year uh we want to arrange a meeting where we can get back together with that group of students and and you know hear about uh how we progressed with all the concerns that they've had in the year additionally we're going to have meetings uh initial advisory meetings with the three middle schools um they've got their advisory councils together we haven't had those meetings yet um and then the final meeting or meetings uh will be with the uh principes Andor their designes of the high schools and the middle schools so that we can Pro provide them with an audience to hear their concerns uh regarding uh primary needs needs that they have at their school uh from a a space point of view you know if there's anything that they need any programs they're trying to implement uh for which they may not have adequate space within their buildings uh we we want to hear those concerns so that we can you know begin to collaborate and work on those things thank you thank you Mr pelowski Mrs schops thank you Madame mayor similarly um I'm the chairperson of the special program subcommittee and I will be convening my subcommittee to go over um the special programs that we currently have which is an extensive list um Mr caral and I had gone through it last week and create an action plan on how we can effectively um distribute this to parents caregivers and students so there is multiple places within the district that they will be able to access this information um so we're hoping to meet um Onna before um the mid um April thank you very good thank you okay now we will move to unfinished business comments please mayor oh sure May sure on uh Mr poi's uh subcommittee on the space issue uh I I brought it to I I don't know whose attention I don't know was a superintendent but anyway do we have a space committee uh for initiatives such as Mr psk has just mentioned we don't have a necessarily a space not necessarily a school committee committee but within your Administration it would probably fall on the if it's depending on how it falls it would either be special programs long range planning or curriculum and instruction dep it it can hit multiple committees so I guess it would depend on what the outcome is of the discussions and where it gets referred to for further examination yeah okay so I I didn't mean to be part of a school committee subcommittee piece I mean within the administration does does that exist does a space committee exist with the footprint of taunt Public Schools so we do not have a committee to examine space that typically would fall on the director of facilities or the assistant superintendent for finance and operations uh to conduct a a planned occupational capacity study or to review our enrollments but typically that poc in space typically falls on the long range planning because that deals with our facilities gotcha thank you you're welcome okay if there's nothing further we will go to unfinished business uh the first item is coaching for change presentation which will be May 1st 2024 yep just informational and this is a followup to the request from the school committee to uh ask coaching for change the CPAC and task to bring presentations before us so I can take the second one if you like okay I I was going to say is the second one related then to the first one yeah the second one was just to make the committee aware that we have reached out to CPAC and we are waiting their response okay and is there any um any business on the action item update okay seeing none we will uh I note that there is no press here this evening and if there's no further business I will take a motion to adjourn motion to adour motion and second all those in favor oppos n opposed so voted thank you everyone job good night