[0:00] Do you guys need it, actually?
[0:02] Good evening, everyone, and welcome to the first meeting of the year of the Brewster School Committee. Um, as required by open meeting law, the district is videotaping this meeting. Anyone else intending to video or audiotape? The meeting must inform the chair.
[0:23] Uh, seeing none, I'll call the meeting to order. We do have a quorum of our full committee. We are joined this evening by superintendent Glen Brandt, Assistant Superintendent Vicky Saldana, assistant superintendent of finance Beth Regalbuto.
[0:45] Wonderful. You got it.
[0:47] And, um, our principal, Steve Gudaitis and Stony Brook principal Carolyn Casper.
[0:54] Good evening.
[0:54] So thank you, everyone for joining us. We will start with public comment. Public comment is permitted for up to three minutes per speaker on matters within our authority, but not on the agenda. We may not respond to comments, but we may choose to put it on a future meeting agenda. So are there any public comments? Please come forward if you would and introduce yourself.
[1:26] So I speak into here. So my name is Sherry Wardell. I live at 15 Pinewood Drive in Brewster and I have a son. He's five years old and he goes to Stony Brook Elementary School. He started yesterday, and I just wanted to bring attention to the fact that I believe all of the elementary school within Cape Cod. So Harwich Elementary, Ezra Baker station have Brewster Sandwich in Falmouth schools. They all have one thing in common they all have a school resource officer. But NASA does not for the elementary schools. Why is that? Right.
[2:09] Um. Excuse me.
[2:14] You might think it's a small town and nothing happens here. But it's far from the truth, right? Stony Brook or Sandy hook. Uvalde, Texas. Brewster, Massachusetts. They're all small towns, right? There was an incident as early as last week. Um, there was a there was a shooting at Westwood Hills Elementary School in Virginia. If you Google Stony Brook or Eddie Elementary School, if they have a police presence, it says no. Um, Stony Brook also, as far as I know, has no interior security cameras. That's a safety issue. And it's a modern day necessity. I feel grateful to say that my son goes to the Nauset School District. It is known to be an ideal school system to have your children attend. But we have to do better. Um, I understand that this may be a budgeting issue, and you may all have children and can relate to this, but what's the price tag that we put on our most vulnerable to be safe at school? The world we live in is not 1974, when Stony Brook opened, or even 1996 when Eddie Elementary opened. Our times have changed, right? We must recognize that we need to be proactive and not reactive when it comes to school safety. And I hope that this is something you guys will seriously consider. Thank you.
[3:42] Thank you for coming.
[3:44] Thank you.
[3:46] Okay, we will move on with the agenda. First up, our next up is chair's report and I will be brief. Uh, here we are. Like I said, start of our school year. And our first meeting here together and looking forward to a very productive year. Um, over the summer, we did hold a retreat meeting at the end of July. We did a lot about our budget process and, uh, would like to acknowledge Robert Tobias, our liaison from Fincom, for his input and contribution to our meeting. We also spent time speaking about the efficiency and regionalization study that had been presented to our town on June 4th. And we did our reorganization in that meeting. And just to make note of a couple particular changes, we do have a new, um, representative on negotiations and that's Maria. Um, new to communications committee is Colby Diprizio, and our new policy person is Betsy Cowie. And thankfully, we have some welcome continuity with Steve Leibowitz continuing on Cape Cod collaborative and wellness committees and transportation. And there's that too. Well, this is not a full list. So some things that we didn't get to the to completed our retreat, but I think we'll circle back to this is just some group norms because I think predictability is an asset. We can function a lot more effectively when we know what to expect. And one thing that was brought up is how long should our meetings be? And for people that have been in sort of never ending meetings, it's really nice to try to have a time frame. So. So we will, um, lock that down. But I'm thinking two hours should be ample time, unless perhaps we're in budget season. So we will be meeting the one time a month. Occasionally there's a need for an additional meeting. Usually that is during the budget process. Um, and then as far as agenda topics to expect, we have more coordination this year with the other elementary committees in Norset for regular topics as spearheaded by our superintendent. So for example, tonight on the agenda, there's the strategic plan update and the English Language Parents Advisory Group. Those are topics that are this month on every one of the Norset Elementary Committee agendas. And then just to make note, in addition to that, I would expect that we will have three regular topics. Um, the first being the efficiency and regionalization. We have some momentum, we have some urgency, and we will be keeping this on the front burner. You'll see. We'll have more on that later. Um, second of our regular three will be facilities update. And you know, we all know our challenges at some of our buildings. We need to be strategic about allocating funds and monitoring what the greatest needs are. And the third thing is building usage. There are multiple groups that use our buildings, whether it's a Rec programs for both kids and adults. Many community groups. We have very busy schools. We will be wanting to keep track of all of that. Um, let's see what else. We're glad to be onboarding two new members, Colby and Betsy, and look forward to the annual Mass School Committee conference in November. And just a couple of dates to mention September 15th. We are all invited to Brewster's Volunteer Appreciation Dinner, which is nice that they hold one. Um, and then September 16th is the Eddy Open house and September 17th, Stony Brook open house. So that is it for chair report. And we will move on to principals.
[8:27] Great. Good evening. Nice to see you again. Um, Carol Ann and I put together a somewhat abbreviated compared to previous, uh, meetings because we have a new strategic plan that is being rolled out. So we thought, what better way than to just tell you what's changed since last time we met? So we have we'll work together. You'll see a few photos from the first few days of school, and we've both made some, um, some hires in the last few months of school and over the summer.
[9:09] So, um, Carolyn, do you want to start since you're first? S6:
[9:58] And at Eddie, we hired five new Paraeducators. If you recall, we had a lot of conversation about Paraeducators and their importance in our schools. So we had, um, several retirements. And so thanks to the committee, we were able to have sufficient paraeducator support in our classrooms. And we've been able to spread IEPs and student needs out across classrooms. So thank you for advocating for that on our behalf. And, um, so we have our onboarding. Five new folks made some terrific hires. Um, we had some late resignations right at the end of the school year. So we did hire two new special education teachers as well as a new PE and health teacher, our cafeteria manager, Patti Taylor, who's been in the district, I think for 31 years, is retiring on her birthday, um, on October 2nd. And we've hired Richard Fuller, Richie Fuller to replace her. So he's being cross trained at the different Nauset schools in the cafeterias, and will begin officially in about two weeks at Eddie. Um, and then, like Carolyn said, a shared BCBA00, I should have. Yes, A BCBA board certified behavioral analyst. Um, and the Bcba is someone who is, I'll say, an expert in human behavior and antecedents and consequences and how we can support students with significant behavioral needs to remain in the school and in the least restrictive environment. So Colleen Detora is her name. She'll work at Eddie at Stony and the preschool as well as Orleans Elementary. And so she consults with teachers, with special education teachers. Um, acts kind of like a coach almost to paraeducators and gives them feedback. And today was her first day with us at Eddy and she's been at school. Um, and then Jonathan John Allard is our shared head custodian and today is his fourth day on the job and he's done great. He's jumped right in. Um, so I think I speak for both of us when I say we're really pleased with our, our new hires. They've been terrific. Um, there's been a lot of summer PD. We, our, our staff have been very busy. Um, we've staff have been trained in everything from de-escalation strategies through safety care to professional development around executive functioning and how to support students as an organization in the classroom. A lot of work. thanks to Assistant Superintendent Saldanha around our Ela curriculum, which is not new anymore. We're entering our third year of expeditionary learning, so there was a lot of different work happening, ranging from interdisciplinary work in science and social studies, connections to the scope and sequence of instruction and pacing, looking at updated modules and really trying to pinpoint how we can target writing and grammar instruction across the curriculum. Multi-Sensory reading instruction, sensory integration use for all students, and some PD around restorative practices. So we've had some busy folks this summer because learning never ends. We are lifelong learners. Um, and then some upcoming events that we included. Uh, Katie referenced our open houses next week on Wednesday at Eddie and Thursday at Stony Brook. We've got picture day next week at Stony and the week after at Eddie. Um, and then in October we have our first, uh, walk, ride and roll school to school day down the bike path, um, from the intersection of underpass and Yankee Drive. Uh, and we walked down the path together to the schools, which is great. We have our, uh, our next all PD all day PD day on October 9th, and then Indigenous Peoples Day on October 12th.
[14:08] Um, do you want to talk about this? S6:
[15:42] And Eddie, a lot of similar facilities work. And similarly at Eddie, our two custodians, um, Ashley Lopes, Dennis and Kyle Anderson really stepped up to take on a lot of the duties in the absence of a head custodian. Um, so they really did a terrific job doing some updates. So we had an interior security cameras installed, uh, within the building. Our hallways and classroom paint walls were painted. Our gym floors were also refinished. We're on an every other year refinish for the gym floors. Our fire prevention system was also upgraded in the kitchen. Um, there was some repair and replacement of sink drains and pipes, something to note, which I did list in there. Is that what we discovered from the plumbers when they came to do those repairs is that many of those drains are at end of life age appropriately for the building. We're at 30 years old. Eddie is now 30 years old. And so they are just kind of starting to disintegrate. So as they start to, um, to rupture where the plumbers coming in and replacing some of those drains. So that's just something to make note of. Um, we are actually starting today resurfacing and repairing the playground surface, which is terrific. Um, various inspections. Uh, and thank you to the Brewster DPW, um, and to the Stony Brook staff who came over and trained our custodians and using the ride on lawnmower and helped do a little additional training. So some very nice, uh, cross department assistance, which is very much appreciated. Uh, and then on the next two pages, you can see the enrollment, um, as of yesterday. Um, and Stony Brook is at 229 students and Eddie is at 209. Um, one thing, uh, just of note at Eddie is we had 11 new students enroll, um, that were unexpected. They weren't at Eddie last year. Um, so they moved into the district. Um, and so in total, we sit as of yesterday at 438 students between both buildings.
[18:02] We do have one more new thing. Um, we have a finally, um, so that the, the image that is on the report was just one slide. So as the kids came to school, it was all of the teachers, um, ID pictures, which they were not happy with, but um, you know, they were, oh, I like just to get them excited about their last year's teacher and oh, here's our, this year's teacher. So we've already been updating it with We won't have as much information in writing because of my age group, but like we just, I just put up, um, pictures from last from the week and so what they've already done and stuff like that. So they're very excited about that. Okay.
[18:44] Any questions?
[18:45] Okay. Thank you very much. Questions.
[18:48] Steve with the Behavioral Analysis Analyst. You mentioned splitting time, the two schools and Orleans.
[18:58] Was that the case previously? S5:
[20:05] But she's also still in the building because she also has some pre-K, um, time as well. But she's also at the middle school.
[20:12] Is it the middle school.
[20:13] Was the fifth.
[20:13] Day. Okay.
[20:14] She's amazing.
[20:15] Yes.
[20:16] It's already been extremely, extremely helpful.
[20:18] She's been great.
[20:19] Which is fine and a great use. But yeah, we're paying the entire freight on that.
[20:23] We are not, we're not. Okay. No. Good question. So the model last year was that Brewster paid the full salary, right. Um so the model this year is that the Bcba is a district employee. Okay. Um so it's split between the districts.
[20:38] Did I get that right? S3:
[20:42] You got it right. She's not.
[20:45] Thank you. Were there other questions, Betsy?
[20:47] Um, just a very brief comment. Um, the lawn reseeding in the front, I know was a gift from the Nazi Youth Alliance with some extra funds that they had. So I just wanted to briefly shout out Nia for that.
[20:59] Thank you. And I would also echo the thanks to the Brewster DPW, because there were many points in time over this last year. Lots of it. Playground related or cleanup that yes, we.
[21:12] We blizzard.
[21:13] Relied on them and they came through NYA and DPW.
[21:19] I have one.
[21:20] Just one question. Yeah. Did we get the basketball hoops fixed at the school.
[21:25] Is not repaired yet.
[21:26] No.
[21:27] It is not. And that that is, uh, on me. We had no head custodian and it just fell through the cracks. So it is on his to do list. Okay.
[21:36] It's not cheap.
[21:38] It's not cheap. Correct. But we will get it done.
[21:41] Okay.
[21:42] I'm putting my recreation hat on, which is fair enough.
[21:44] Absolutely.
[21:45] And I'm going to say that it really has impacted the way we can do programing.
[21:48] We're on.
[21:49] It.
[21:49] Okay.
[21:49] Thanks.
[21:51] Thank you for bringing that up that we will check back next month then.
[21:55] Great.
[21:56] Okay. Sounds good. And just one other comment. We do monitor enrollment, um, as we go along. And you'll see there's a, an extra column. So month to month we will look at September numbers compared to current numbers because they do sometimes change. And the total of 438 is really consistent with what we've had the last few years. So. Okay. Thank you very much. And moving on to Superintendent Brandt.
[22:25] Uh, thank you everyone. Good evening. There is a report in your packet that I'll speak to in just a second. But just to say that we are up and running day three, obviously, in the books. Uh, the unofficial kickoff to our school year happened last Wednesday, in which we welcomed approximately 500 full and part time staff together for convocation. Thank you for those that were able to attend from our school committees across the district. It is one of the many rare times, many rare times in which all staff come together. And that's true in any school district. It's not just here in Nauset, but but it's also a great and important time to come together to regroup, to welcome officially our new staff, of which, uh, as I was talking, I think with was with Beth today. We're total hires across the entire district is north of 50. So there were a lot of, there's a lot of onboarding of new people. Um, and also a chance to celebrate those that have many, many years of service here in NASA, which I've come to learn. We have great longevity in our schools and. And then officially, of course, we welcomed back students. Uh, grades one through 12 on Tuesday and kindergarten, um, yesterday. So by all accounts, we're off to a good start. And of course, that's kudos to the summer work that goes in by many our school leaders, our staff, and our district leaders as well too. So, um, off to an exciting start for this year. Um, shifting to the superintendent's report just to go in order here. Um, I thought it was important as we, as we do launch the year to bring some focus to, and this is the first item around planning for our school committee meetings, not just Brewster, but all of our school committee meetings. Um, I've had the pleasure and good fortune to work in a number of different districts. And I can tell you it's, um, it's, uh, it's always a lift to try and ensure that the information that's going out in, uh, in line with the school committee meeting is, a you know, it's a tall order. There's a lot of moving parts, especially as you get into the year. And that's with one committee. We obviously have a few more than that here. And so it is important to me that we do our best through my office to ensure that information that's going out is going out in a timely manner. Sometimes, of course, there's exceptions to that, but also in a way that I can feel good. Even though it's your meetings, it is not the superintendents or administration. It is the school committee meetings. But we want to do our very best to make sure that what we're putting out there is accurate and in line with your agenda items. So after going through last year and reflecting upon, um, you know, we had some challenging circumstances as you, as you all were well aware of last year and things were coming out at the last minute. But, um, every effort here will be to try and sort of corral our planning around what I've offered here in the agenda. So, um, as, as the chair said, we're, we're meeting regularly. Not that we didn't last year, but we've added some some meeting time to try and be planful well ahead of when these meetings occur. That's not to say that last minute agenda changes can't and do happen. Of course they do. But. But it is challenging to make sure there's enough time again, especially if information is requested on a particular item. Um, again, because we have quite honestly, not just, you know, the number of committees we have, but also just being able to shift focus to that if there's a late addition to the agenda. So my hope is, is that planning ahead, albeit it may be up to two weeks or so, will be enough to have both. The chair On behalf of the committee, comfortable and the administration ready to prepare whatever it is that needs to go out the door, the agenda posted will be consistent. I think members of the committee are well aware. We do have open meeting law that draws the line, so to speak, in the sand where when that agenda needs to be posted. But Jen Snowden, um, who I know, you know, or will get to know who, who works directly on behalf of and with myself and the school committee works hard to get those agendas out there, usually well in advance of two business days ahead of when the meetings happen. Um, my goal will be to, with Jen to get information that is back up or supportive information, presentations, memos and the like in general to the committee members ahead of time. Um, I think it's only appropriate that school committee members have a chance to see information that's coming before the members of the community do. Um, everything that's flowing to you, of course, is public record and it will be available. But I think that it's, I just think that there's a, a professional courtesy, if you will, to allow school committee members to see what's going out the door before the, the world does. Um, but in terms of the community, um, and the availability of that information, the goal will be to make supporting documents and materials that have. The School Committee has received approximately one business day before the meeting happens. Um, I've confirmed this. There's no there's no violation of open meeting law relative to that. In fact, there's no obligation to have any material available to the public before a meeting happens. But I do think that it's helpful for the community members who are really closely following the work of the committee to have access to that. And you can see the statement that it's my intent to include in our school committee agendas that just draw attention to where people can find the information. And we are, like so many other things with our director of communications, who's now on board, going to work hard to really ramp up and make widely available on our district website, all of the supporting documents for the school committee meetings, not just Brewster, but across the board. Um, so hopefully that will help things keep flowing and ahead enough time to allow members the chance to review that and still provide the opportunity for members of the community who are, who are interested in the work of the committee, shifting to newness that comes with this year. The second item is around our school leadership. And in the packet, there's two documents that. And you saw these as part of the joint Committee last last week, but I just thought it would be important to. For those who are watching this meeting and our Brewster residents who are following along, who may not have followed the joint meeting, I've included a copy of the organizational chart for the public schools. One thing that came became quite clear last year is a lot of questions and curiosity about who serves and what role, particularly at the Central Office. And so hopefully this is one of many efforts that will help clarify that. We also have, um, the exciting opportunity to welcome a number of new leaders to our district and to our schools. And you can see a specific focus on our new leadership, um, as we launch the school year. Uh, third item is enrollment. And so obviously, of course, been some discussion around that, but, um, thank you to our principals for reading focus to that. I've given you a snapshot of enrollment that is, uh, that is, has to be considered unofficial right now as of this week. And you can see across the board across the other schools what that's looking like. I say unofficial because there's lots that can change in the first week or two of school. Students who were on the rosters who may have moved and our schools didn't know school students who may have enrolled at the last minute. So I think it's highly likely that there will be shifts for this. But for those that may be sort of not in the know about this, the official enrollment date is October 1st. That's the date that the Department of Education has set, and it's been that way for years and years in which enrollment is captured, literally captured across school districts in the Commonwealth. And from that point forward, that's the date that we use as part of our budget conversations. That's the data that is available on disease website. So that's the key date that becomes official. And that official enrollment. It usually even though the data is submitted to DC on October 1st, it usually takes them a little bit of time to certify that enrollment. And so, um, it's important that we don't, we don't socialize that until it's certified from the Department of Education. And that usually doesn't happen until the second or third week in October. Once that is, of course, we'll make sure that you, you receive that. And last but not least, school choice. I know that we are just getting the year underway, and this is not probably on anyone's mind, but but it is on mine after going through last year. And that is to say that, um, I think we have an important opportunity to reconsider how we approach school choice across all of our seven schools, across all of our five districts. We've not done it in necessarily a consistent way. Um, and we should be. And so, um, it's my intent to just sort of flag this to say I'm thinking about this and that in November with a little more time as we get this year launched to come forward to all of our school committees to establish a time frame and a plan that is in line with, with the Department of Education expects um, and such that all of our, all of our districts should be, you know, following that same approach. So nothing on that yet. But we'll get there as the, as the year unfolds. Um, and I'm happy to take questions on any of those items or anything else that may not have covered this evening. Thank you.
[31:20] Okay.
[31:20] Thank you. Does anybody have questions for the superintendent?
[31:25] Um, I have two questions, if I may. I'm sorry. This is hard to look at you and also talk to the microphone. So I'm going to speak this way. But I'm talking to you. I understand the um and they're kind of logistical questions, but my first one, um, I was just wondering, uh, on the Nauset website, the current like the 2026 2027 dates are not there yet.
[31:54] Um, do you have an anticipated or like an expected timeline for those dates? S10:
[31:56] The school committee like this that the school committee page.
[32:01] Uh, those so I don't know exactly know when, but hopefully very soon that is being worked on right now is a complete redesign of all of the school committee pages. It will have a different look, and so I am hopeful that that will go live any day now.
[32:17] So and then, if I may, one more. Thank you. Um, the other question. So on the student enrollment slide that you linked to. Yes. Um, I was actually shout out, I was looking at this yesterday evening in preparation for this meeting. It was great. Um, but I was noticing some discrepancies with the totals listed, um, for the booster numbers. I emailed Jen to get explanation, but I wasn't quite following what she was saying. Um, so you mentioned that it was school choice, but I don't know how there would be school choice at the elementary level.
[32:50] So there's a couple of things here. First off, this data, the principals brought forward their data. We gathered we gathered this directly from the schools. And I should have pointed out that on that chart, it may be apparent to some, but not all. There is a comparison with last year's October 1st number. So if you see those there, you can compare that. There could be a few possible reasons for discrepancies. So we will we will sort that out. And when you see this data as we go forward, um school of choice is not in the mix here. It is in some of our schools, but not here. Um, so we'll have to sort that.
[33:24] If I may. The primary discrepancy is the um for Stony Brook numbers because October 2025 includes preschool numbers. Um and what we're looking at for this year, the 183, there's no way we went from 222 down to 183. So, um, that's what's not consistent there.
[33:49] Thank you.
[33:51] Thank you for that.
[33:53] Okay. Other questions for the superintendent.
[33:59] Seeing none. We'll move on. Thank you very much.
[34:02] Thank you.
[34:04] Next up on the agenda, we need to take a vote. When we reorganized at our summer retreat, we did not elect someone to be the recording secretary.
[34:22] Um, do you have that name that we will be voting in tonight? S10:
[34:25] We we have a new person who will be doing all of our minutes. My understanding is she won't be attending, but we'll be watching them afterwards.
[34:34] It's Gina Gonsalves.
[34:35] Thank you. So Gina Gonzalez will be, um, taking our minutes. And would anybody like to make a motion to vote her in as our recording second. Okay.
[34:51] All in favor? S3:
[34:52] Chair votes aye. Any opposed? Okay. Passes unanimously. Gina Gonzalez, thank you very much. Uh, next up is the strategic plan and the update for year one. And who are you going to.
[35:06] Yeah, certainly. I'll start off and Vicki can join in again. Some of this I know is repetitive from the Joint School Committee. But thinking about this through, again, the lens and the focus of Brewster folks in this case who may be joining in. So, um, as you know, we had a fairly robust presentation at the joint committee, uh, last week. It was just last week last Wednesday. Uh, and, um, and that included that information, as you know, included both the slide deck as well as a fairly extensive memo that sort of covered the story or brought us through the beginning of that work last year. Um, those that were involved, the meetings that took place and where we got to as school year last school year wrapped up, uh, as mentioned at that last meeting. And just as a friendly reminder, all of these documents as well are linked again on the document that you have in the school committee packet for this evening and for any members at home who might be just tuning into this. There are hyperlinks that are a part of that are at the top of the document. That is strategic plan in this in this material tonight. So you see the full strategic plan, this link there. And just as a reminder, it's extensive, but it, it provides a broad overview of this draft plan. And I think that that's important to underscore. We're considering this draft. This ultimately becomes a strategic plan of the NASA public schools. And it's a strategic plan that is not that of the administration's, but again, one that the school committees, respectively, and collectively have to approve. Um, and and you'll recall through that discussion last week, we talked about Vicky and I talked about what our plan is to move it from where we are today as we launch this school year through until the end of October. October 28th specifically, which is when we have our next joint School Committee meeting. And it is the plan and the hope that we will be providing a document, a plan rather to the Joint Committee. All of our school committees for their approval. We have been working on. And what's new in this in this particular document that you did not did not see at the Joint Committee is going a little bit into the you know, if that was at a 20,000 foot view, we're now moving down into the 10,000 foot view, so to speak, in terms of keying in on what the action steps are that were identified with the help of our school leadership team in the summer, as those that they felt were most pressing and most of a priority going into this school year. There's a lot of things that a good work and good ideas that I think have been collected and captured through a fairly robust information gathering last year. Um, but it's simply impossible to tackle them all. And we're not going to do that, but we are, we are keying in on a couple of specific action steps for year one this coming year. And we've been working to identify the more granular, if you will, um, actions that we think will be important and necessary to help realize those priorities. So that's what you see in front of you this evening. Um, our, our intent is to, um, go on the road, uh, both with our staff with, of course, our school committees and with the broader community in the coming weeks to share the details of this plan, the direction that it's going. And through that process, take certainly feedback and thoughts to help, um, to help around this plan out. And as we bring it forward for approval. So you can, you can get a sense here of the details, for example, one A clearly define and implement a coherent pre-K to. 12 MTSs framework for mental health, social emotional learning, student support, intervention and accountability. So that's one of the priorities that was identified. And underneath that is the various various action steps. Um, so, um, we're, we're excited about bringing this forward to our educational communities. Lots of discussion to come in the coming, I guess six weeks or thereabouts.
[39:07] Vicki, would you add anything? Do you think they may have left off? S11:
[39:46] Thank you, Vicki, and thank you. You threw it in there. Um, MTSS is multi-tiered systems of support. So thank you for for clarifying that. Um, also thank you to Marie, who I think was our committee rep on this project. And Robert Tobias is a community rep. Much appreciated. Um, any questions about the strategic plan? Okay, so moving on. Next up we have, uh, the efficiency and regionalization update.
[40:21] I'm happy to start if you'd like. Uh, and certainly, um, chair can add in. So, uh, we had the steering committee. That's the we of this as a friendly reminder that that steering committee for this study included representation from, uh, all towns from our, uh, select boards, uh, our town managers or administrators across the four towns, school committee chairs and myself as superintendent. Uh, we had the first meeting a couple of weeks ago, I guess now, after a little bit of a pause over the summer. That was, I think, our first meeting over the summer and really talked broadly, speaking, about what the next steps might be to consider. Uh, one of the things that came out of that meeting, um, in terms of discussion, no action steps, was, uh, to try and get a sense of whether or not there's a, will, an interest in moving into, call it a second phase, part two, 2.0 of the study, specifically to explore further about what exactly the efficiencies, what exactly the possibility of regionalization might look like, and what would that what would, what would accompany that? So, um, that was, uh, that was one piece of the conversation that at our last meeting, uh, no specifics in terms of next exact steps, but that is something that we need to reconvene that group with. We don't have a date currently right now. The other thing, though, that I think becomes, uh, pressing and certainly something that I think becomes my job is in this role as superintendent, is to really hone in on the information that was gathered through that study around our facilities. Um, you know, the whole idea of regionalization and going down that path is far more than any one person, and certainly far more than the superintendent. But what is, what is in our purview? And what I think is my responsibility is to really bring, uh, bring focused attention to the current state of our school facilities, in this case, the Brewster schools. But this applies across really all of our, our districts, the middle school as well. And, um, bringing attention to what was identified in that report. Um, because there are a lot of things that clearly we need to attend to in order to ensure that our school facilities are appropriate to support teaching and learning going forward. And we know that bringing about improvements to these facilities is a long journey. It takes time. It's not as simple as being a homeowner. And you need to, you know, replace your your sink in the kitchen. Um, we're talking about a magnitude of dollars. We're talking about the need to engage other town boards and of course, the community at large. So that's where I see the most, uh, most important, uh, urgency from, from my stance where I'm at. And in the coming weeks, it will be my goal working with the consultants to really, that's a long report. If you've looked at it, it's hundreds and hundreds of pages, but we can we can hone in on the specific, um, data that was put forth around our two elementary schools here in Brewster. Um, and, and similarly in the other communities to really make sure that not just our school committees, but also our community members are well aware of the, um, the things that need to be attended to and how urgent some of those things are than others. Um, the other question, of course, around what happens next relative to those buildings is one that's beyond just an individual school committee beyond myself, but certainly in partnership with the town. And I think, um, uh, Katie, you said it right, where there's momentum around this, I think it's important to capitalize on it and we need to keep the conversation going. And I appreciate the thought to do that regularly at these meetings. I think that's really important. Um, and I'm sure you might have some things to add.
[44:10] Thank you. Yeah. Just thank you for those comments. And obviously it impacts the entire Nauset district. But just to give a little bit of focus on where we are in Brewster, current status, Stony Brook facility needs to be addressed. Right? The Hvac and the roof. There were multiple scenarios presented by the consultants back in June. Um, is there a renovation? Is there a rebuild? We don't need to know yet how we'll address Stony Brook, but we do know we need to address it. And so, you know, in looking at what are those next steps, Brewster continues to have about 50% of the Nauset Elementary population. In every scenario, Brewster will have an elementary school. Um, we may be open to consolidating two schools. Um, and I know we've talked about this. It came up at town meeting as well. That money put in to maintain aging buildings is often um, in exchange for programing. So we really want to, you know, make smart choices on that. Um, what we do need to decide is if we want help with funding, whatever those repairs, new build might be going through the mass school building administration, which is just what we did for the Nauset High School and for the high school. I think it was something like 30% of the total cost was was from MSBA. So we need to decide if we want to apply for that funding. And if we do want to engage, just to remember, it is a very long timeline. The the window for applying with the statement of interest is from mid January to mid April. And so if we decide that that's what we would like to do. Um the next step and again this is just process. No decisions made. But the next step would be to have a joint meeting with the select board to see if we have consensus. The MSBA requires that any statement of interest be submitted jointly. Select board and School Committee. So that's what we would be looking at. Um, so it would need. If we want to pursue this, we would need to vote it and submit it together. And what happens? What we've done in Brewster in the past is, um, when it's our chance to inform the community of what where we are. And that can be done at Fall Town meeting. Some recent examples of reports that were brought forward at town meeting. Um, there was a short term rental task force that reported out. There was a drummer boy park task force that reported out. And, and when those kinds of reports are presented, they're generally brief. Um, there may be questions and discussion. And then at town meeting, there's a motion to accept or approve whatever that report is. So, so that's just sort of an overview of if we want to move forward, We're kind of and we want to pursue in the way that other things have been done in the past to present a town meeting. Um, it shortens our time frame because the town warrant closes, I think, October 19th. So, um, that's just an overview there. And anybody have comments or questions? Steve.
[48:06] I would certainly be in favor of moving forward on an MSBA discussion there. Um, I can't help but think about the efficiency and regionalization without also thinking about the report that's now about 15 months old on Stony Brook itself. And costs are probably significantly changed since then. Um, based on the current Environment. Um, and time is going to be money on these things. So I think there's an urgency to, uh, to really push forward on what a decision is going to be for us that is in the best interest of our students in Brewster. And then in a broader sense on the regionalization piece.
[48:59] Thank you. Steve.
[49:02] Um, I'm wondering, and I will totally admit to ChatGPT right now. Um, but, uh, whether there was any precedent for precedent for the high school or whether it's something we would consider utilizing the accelerated repair program element of MSBA to address immediately some of the concerns I know I mentioned, um, at our other meeting, but, you know, kindergartners going to school in a 90 degree building with no air conditioning, um, you know, the roof leaking, things like that, that truly are very urgent, um, while still pursuing MSBA funding for, you know, the larger scope.
[49:40] And turn that over.
[49:41] To I can I can respond to that. So that accelerated repair program is very limited in terms of what it addresses. And unless they've changed that, that includes roofs, windows and boilers. Um, and, uh, in terms of the boilers, I think that they're pushing more towards thermal energy. So that's a whole other, that's a whole other direction. But most importantly, um, and this happens from time to time if schools do receive funding for the accelerated repair program, but then down the road during the life of that, uh, the payback, if you will, of that, um, they decide to enter, they decide to do construction, uh, and those and that building ceases to exist, for example, ceases to operate. Um, or those things are changed or removed, i.e. new windows are put in, but five years later they're taken out because they're doing. In addition, all of those funds have to be paid back, or a portion of those funds have to be paid back to MSBA. So, um, we need to though, identify whatever those necessary Band-Aids are, uh, to use that term. And I don't mean to try it with that, but, you know, to prioritize if we have water penetration, which we apparently do in at least one part of our building, we need to we need to figure that out. And as I've come to learn the hard way that needs to be done by the administration of the school system. So we're going to have to do that. Um, that'll be a short term fix, but I think equally pressing right alongside that is we need to know that even at the best case scenario, there's a support for the community to move forward with an MSBA application. Um, we still need to have a parallel track of. So what happens if we don't get in? Or even if we do get in the first time? What is the plan for that 5 to 7, eight year window period of time? Sorry that we need to keep these buildings operating. So this is a really critical time period for I think, both, um, And in terms of, you know, the air conditioning or would those things be on that? You know, it would be ideal if we knew where we were going relative to how many schools we're going to have in Brewster and what that looks like. But I think that that's the central question, I think, in terms of exploring that. So I think we need to get a better, bigger picture on that first before I think advocating for, you know, a significant infrastructure improvement as opposed to maintaining what we have to make sure that the teaching learning conditions are reasonably reasonably maintained to what they are right now.
[52:08] Thank you Marie.
[52:11] So I'm going to I could open up a can of worms, but unless I choose to go to three other individual school committee meetings, we should hold a joint meeting of just the elementary schools. And why I say that is, I know Orleans Elementary School is in dire straits as well, and being the closest to us could impact how we decide when moving forward. And I, as much as we have a very tight window of time for us in Brewster in terms of thinking about MSBA, and I know if I'm correct that Orleans is not eligible for miss A, there's something they're not eligible for because of the size of school.
[52:55] That actually has that that has been floated around. But that's that's actually not been determined.
[53:00] So.
[53:03] And, and we and we voted in, we're voted to be here for Brewster kids. I get that. But we're also part of a bigger system. And so I need to have some kind of a better picture of the bigger picture. In other words, if all four elementary school committees got together and had this conversation around some of these issues to hear about each other, that then we can all make a better informed decision. That doesn't negate the next town's attempt to do something. If we both. If four towns and I'm making this up. But if we all in our little bubble decided to move forward, that would that we would end up all competing against each other. Or would it just. To me, I could feel better about making decisions if I know what's happening in like what the state is. And I know just anecdotally from talking to colleagues how bad Orleans elementary schools and I've been in that building. So it's just a suggestion. But as part of this bigger picture thing, I think we just need to know more about our neighboring towns as because of the potential of some kind of, I don't.
[54:24] Know. So, so you, you certainly bring up a good point. And this is it was a challenging part of the steering committee, too, because each town is in such a different position, whether it's, you know, larger or smaller student population, um, SDM to use that as an example, their school is in pretty darn good shape, so they would not be looking to do that. Wellfleet. Um, they love their little school. So I think that's pretty clear that they're not looking to, um, to join in schools. And um, my understanding is that as we, because we are not a region, right as elementary, we are not a region. So we need to approach MSBA as individual towns.
[55:15] Is that correct? S10:
[55:42] Yeah.
[55:43] And of course, one difference that we have here in Brewster is that for a number of years now, we've had these conversations about, do we need two elementary schools? And so in a way, we have more options, right? We have a greater amount of the student population. We do have things to consider just within our borders. I think some of the concern is, is identifying where different towns are. And we know our citizens have been raising this issue for a long, long time. We had the most feedback from when the consultants did report back to us. I think that's what I mean as far as momentum, right, that this has been on the, um, on at least on the horizon, if not right on the front burner for quite some time. So we know that there are things we need to pursue. Plus Stony Brook has been limping along with Hvac for, for a long time. Um, yeah, I, I'd be interested to hear other people's comments, you know, if we decide to explore broader regional questions. Um, I, I do feel like you mentioned that we, our primary charge is were elected by citizens of Brewster to take care of our Brewster schools. So, um, other thoughts, comments. Yeah.
[57:13] Betsy, if I may, just to clarify, um, what we were speaking about before, it does look like the, uh, 2025 cohort of the accelerated repair program. The MSBA added a heat pump conversions to their list. It is. It's their doors, windows, roof, whatever. And then the 2025, it looks like they did add heat pump conversion. So that is now, you know, another the, the other thing, um, that they do need it. That's all.
[57:44] Um, and as far as that, I don't believe we can apply for both. Is that correct. We need to, to pick our lane. We can't go for accelerated repairs while we're getting in line for the other.
[57:57] Yeah, yeah.
[58:01] So um, do you want to speak at all to if we were to put in something and Orleans puts in something.
[58:13] Uh, I think probably maybe best to at a future meeting, I think understanding again that where MSBA is at. or not? Where M is B is that. Or rather with their position would be. Or their take on our four communities and our situation here. And I'm very hopeful that we will have that information, certainly by the next time that this committee meets. And hopefully we will be able to have scheduled a steering committee as well to in the next couple of weeks. I'm hopeful.
[58:41] Okay.
[58:44] Um, I, I, I can understand you want to hear from other school committee members. Um.
[58:55] I a little time on my hand. I might go sit in the audience at Orleans school committee. You never know. Been known to do that in the past when I had time.
[59:05] So.
[59:05] Well.
[59:06] I might do that.
[59:07] Excellent. And just again, I think there's a clear sense of consensus and readiness here in town. Um, then there may be another towns. So, um, as far as the overall time frame that I was mentioning, if we want to pursue this with MSBA to actually take that action step to put in a statement of interest, it would be good if we could do it prior to our fall town meeting, because then we can follow that process of, of getting information out to people, um, which would require us to have a joint meeting with the select board. And so do we. Do we need to have further discussion before we meet with select board? Um, I think the next joint committee meeting you said at the end of October. Right.
[1:00:04] That's right. Yes.
[1:00:06] Yeah. The 28th. 28th.
[1:00:11] And so the other thing that's tricky hearing from the School committee. That's one piece, but it's also needing to hear from the town select board. Right? Because it has to be a joint proposal.
[1:00:25] Well.
[1:00:30] We don't yet. We have we have the start of that punch list of, of, of the things that are really in bad shape. We know the roof, we know about leaks, we know about.
[1:00:53] But is that like formally written up somewhere for us to like sit and have that conversation with town with, with select board? S2:
[1:01:19] Any thoughts? I mean, I'm certainly willing to schedule another meeting for us. I don't know that it's, um. By trying to help Orleans come to consensus, we may miss our window.
[1:01:33] So the other the other the other concern I have is after listening to town meeting this past spring, there was a lot of misinformation about numbers, a lot of misinformation about the assumptions about our two schools. We cannot fit into one building right now the way it is. And I mean, the the choices are like also very expensive. So it's, it's not just a matter of like, do we decide to fix stony irregardless, because it's a physical building that is the property of the town and shouldn't just be let to fall to the wayside and. but, um, will we get the support? I mean, there's just those are the kinds of things I heard a lot of. And I just would before we go before a town meeting, we'd really have to strategize about how we message this because there's a lot of misinformation. And the, the night of town Meeting is not the night for us to impart the wisdom of this committee on, on folks on the town meeting floor to make to make a vote. It's before then. And in order to get the support for whatever whatever we decide to do, I think it's really important that we have all our ducks in a row. That just brought up a lot of, um, red flags for me at town meeting from, from hearing from folks that were on town floor and about the misinformation that was implied, um, that we passed a lot of things that night. And when it came to school, all of a sudden it came to a screeching halt. And there were a lot of Comments and questions and a lot of information that wasn't really accurate. Not not from us, but coming from folks on town floor. And it wasn't the time to have those discussions and inform folks to, to be able to sway a vote, right? I mean, luckily it passed and we were, but it's been a long time since there's been that much and I understand people, the finances and the overrides and everything and, and layers. So I just want to make sure that we're like really giving a lot of good information before we quickly take it to a town meeting vote and then get hammered, or people say they're wrong. That's all. That's that's my only I understand about timeline, but I don't want it to blow up in our face because we rushed it. And then the misinformation was out there like, why are we fixing a building if we're all going to, you know, all these things that well.
[1:04:10] And so you bring up a lot of good points. First of all, I think we've all heard a lot of that misinformation over the years. It is really challenging. Um, you know, there's old stories out there that somehow votes were taken in years past that never were taken. Uh, and true to form, when the more inaccurate the comment is, often that's what gets put in the paper. Um, but this idea of using fall town meeting, it's not budget time, it's not passing that it's providing information. So the report actually does go in the warrant. We have no control over how, you know, did people read the short term rental task force report. I don't know how many people read it. Um, so from that standpoint, it's more it's an opportunity to have more information. Um.
[1:05:07] Yeah. there's a lot of concerns. Do you have other comments as far as.
[1:05:11] Well, I was just going to say, um, I think it's important as we go through this to keep in mind that, um, the decision to, notwithstanding the interest of looking at what other communities may want to do, Orleans or others, but if we're just looking specifically at Brewster, um, it's not that this is all going to be figured out even with the decision to say, let's, let's get behind an application for MSBA. And as it relates to Brewster, you have two schools here. It's simply it is simply raising the white flag to say we have some significant building condition issues. We're looking to partner with the only grant program in the state to help offset costs. And presumably, if there's an interest to explore possible consolidation of two schools here in Brewster to one, all we're doing, if we were to go down that path is to signal to say we're we're looking. We want to look at everything. But it's not making the decision up front that we want to go from two schools to one. It's not making that decision now. That's a decision that will be even if the community was to be invited in a year and a half down the road, you know, once there's another, dare I say it, another study that has to be done that will really, really hone in on and lay out the data to make a really informed choice for, for folks to say, all right, we keep the two schools operating and here's the cost to do so. Or maybe there's a different model and here's what that would look like financially. Having been through this not that long ago, it's still quite fresh in my mind that data becomes very persuasive and is laid out in such a way that I think anyone who sort of follows the story will take a step back and say, okay, this, this, whatever this is, will be the right decision for us. Um, going through the town meeting process brings more attention to it, but as I understand it here in Brewster, it's a. It would be seeking the support to say, okay, we we probably are on board with this application to let's figure out our future for the Brewster Elementary schools. And we're going to hopefully get invited into this program to do so. So.
[1:07:22] And, and that's a really good point. It's not saying, here's the plan. It's saying we want to pursue something for funding. Betsy.
[1:07:31] Um thank you. Yeah. I was just asking for I'm a little confused. Um, is the October town hall, would we be voting asking people to vote on something? Would it be merely presenting information like in the packet? Would it? I guess I'm not totally clear on what exactly. Like why we want to get what ducks in which rows.
[1:07:56] Okay.
[1:07:57] So if we decide, yes, we want to pursue this even though we don't know what exactly that would be, as the superintendent was saying, um, for us to pursue it, we have to do it in conjunction with the select board. Uh, the town meeting is in November. I think it's November 16th this year. And, um, it is an opportunity to get the information out. It's October 19th is when the warrant closes. So that printed booklet that would have the report, um, we need to decide if we want to have, have a report in there. And what does that demonstrate. You know, a recap of the study. Here's what we've been doing since then. Here's what next steps may be. So even though the actual statement of interest isn't due until somewhere between January and April.
[1:09:00] Can I just follow up quickly? So I guess I'm, um. If I could understand a little more clearly, because, Marie, everything you were saying, I was like, yes, I agree completely with your sentiment. What is the danger of having a report where we're not asking people to take action? There's no vote. Um, yeah. What's the what, what would the hesitation be with that? Because to me, it seems like a good opportunity to, you know, to your point, Marie, like get information out there and just kind of publicize the fact that we're thinking about it and we're trying to save money and we're exploring avenues for being fiscally responsible. So what is, what is the downside.
[1:09:42] Of having that report? You mean?
[1:09:44] Yeah.
[1:09:45] Well, um, I don't see a downside to having a report. Are you suggesting having a report without having had any consensus between us and select board.
[1:09:56] Like.
[1:09:57] Um, just based on Marie's comment about.
[1:10:02] Okay.
[1:10:03] Is that what you mean?
[1:10:04] No, about the comment about like, we don't want to move too quickly. You know, we don't want to blow things up by bringing things to the town too soon.
[1:10:14] So is it I just want clarification. If we move forward and met with the select board to see if they were on board to apply for MSBA, that's one thing. Then this deadline about town meeting is another thing, but they don't have to both be in sync right now, right? We want to meet with the select board. We want to see if they're on board to go go move forward with the MSBA application.
[1:10:42] Mhm.
[1:10:43] So that right. That's not rocket science. Let's move forward. But the deadline for putting something in town meeting pull it in the in the printed warrant I'll say is to repeat the information from the Regionalization Efficiency Committee because we haven't gotten. I'm just. What are we putting in that. What's going to town meeting that we want to. We don't want to miss the deadline.
[1:11:13] That's the.
[1:11:14] Part that I'm.
[1:11:15] Fuzzy on.
[1:11:15] I think the best recent examples are the short term rental task force and the Drummer Boy Park Museum. So it's not so much. There's no money attached to it. Right? There's, it's just getting consensus of the community and having it as part of our permanent record of this is.
[1:11:34] What are we getting? I'm just what are we getting consensus on? Because we haven't gotten to the point where we're applying to MSBA yet. We haven't gotten to the point where we're meeting with the select board. So what is it that we're putting in the town meeting warrant that we're asking them to get on board on? That's the part that I'm unclear on. Okay.
[1:11:51] So let me try it again. So if we have not had a joint meeting with Select Board. We will not be putting anything in the warrant where we're. Because we haven't even agreed to submit a statement of interest.
[1:12:09] Okay. I all right.
[1:12:10] So do we. So we would have to. So what you're saying is we have to. In order. So that that statement of interest in the in the warrant would be to move forward with MSBA.
[1:12:26] The what would be in the warrant would be a plan to submit a statement of interest. It's not the statement of interest is what, like 40 pages, 30 or 40 pages. It's not as huge as the next steps, but.
[1:12:37] And that's.
[1:12:38] The. And that would say that the select board and the Brewster School Committee have jointly agreed to move forward with this intent to submit. Is that or whatever you're.
[1:12:49] To seek funding for improving our school facilities?
[1:12:53] Yeah.
[1:12:54] The, if I may, the application itself. The statement of interest has to be. The select board and the School Committee have to both vote to authorize the Superintendent of Schools and the Town Manager or town administrator. Whatever is in play to submit that statement of interest. So there is the need to bring this in any community forward for those discussions and ultimate approval. That's the current pathway that has to happen. The town meeting aspect.
[1:13:20] Yeah, that's what I'm a little.
[1:13:22] Unclear.
[1:13:22] On.
[1:13:23] But Betsy.
[1:13:24] If I may. So are we asking the town to vote on anything or is it f y? I read it if you want. Don't read it if you don't. But at no point does the town vote on it.
[1:13:38] It sounds something like, is there a motion to accept this report? So it's official business. I feeling like maybe we're getting too hung up on the town meeting part. Um, and so the only reason I brought it up is just because it it happens in November, even though we wouldn't be doing a statement. Let me ask you this does. What do committee members think? Do we need to have another meeting to discuss this further? Would that feel better or be more clarifying or, or look towards a joint committee meeting with the Select Board to discuss further? I'm certainly open to suggestions.
[1:14:22] It would make more sense to move forward quickly with meeting with the select board around whether or not, because whether or not they agree are agree. That has to happen. If we want to even think about applying for MSBA money. My reservation about the deadline to get something into the town meeting in in November is we we don't have a lot of time to meet with the select board yet. Everybody is. There's a lot of stuff happening. And so I feel like we're putting the cart before the horse. Like, why can't we wait until Spring Town meeting when we've already met with the select board and have come to that agreement? If we go, if we put it in the warrant and this for whatever reason, the select board, I mean, I don't know. Don't think it's it warrants getting that building fixed, whatever for whatever. Then then we then what are we what are we reporting out to the town? That's that's my only that's my only concern, not my. We should move forward with the select board. But I'm just worried that the town thing and the deadline is coming up way too quickly.
[1:15:34] And what is it that we're really putting in there that's going to give us any leverage at this point? S3:
[1:15:35] And in this context, we as a school committee are not operating alone. It's a requirement that we operate with the select.
[1:15:43] Right, right.
[1:15:44] But um, but if we wait till spring meeting to present this.
[1:15:49] To.
[1:15:51] The.
[1:15:51] Town. To the community. We've missed the window and we can get in line next year. Right. Like.
[1:15:58] But.
[1:15:59] Okay. That's where I'm still confused.
[1:16:02] Okay. So, Steve, go ahead. But let's spend a few more minutes and see if it makes sense that we need another meeting or we feel like we can have this discussion with the select board.
[1:16:14] Just from a technical process point of view. If we vote to do this and the select board votes to do this, is town meeting necessary to do anything?
[1:16:28] Well, we can.
[1:16:29] I mean, it's good to have the approval for for things, but if the School Committee and the select board say we want to put forward a statement of interest, is anything else necessary to do that?
[1:16:41] It doesn't require a town meeting vote.
[1:16:45] Okay.
[1:16:46] Yeah. It's more sort of a process of, look what we're going to do, look what we've agreed to. Everybody's in the loop, but maybe that can be handled with some other community.
[1:16:56] So that's.
[1:16:56] Why.
[1:16:57] We wouldn't miss the deadline if we didn't talk about it. Town meeting. It's more about making sure we have that joint meeting with the select board, and then we wouldn't miss the deadline.
[1:17:07] So so I'm hearing yes, let's pursue a joint meeting with the select board.
[1:17:13] Does that make sense? S13:
[1:17:15] And then I think we've got some consensus. That's fabulous. Thank you all. And really good points. And it's a complicated issue and and lots of questions. Um, would people be willing to have a select board meeting on September 28th that's there that they meet on Monday. But I think that's probably too soon for us. So the next one would be September. Monday, September 28.
[1:17:46] I think I have something.
[1:17:48] So joining the select board at their meeting here. Yeah, I can do that.
[1:17:53] Thank you. Okay.
[1:17:55] Great. So we we have a tentative plan. Thank you all. And this is why we have to keep it on our agenda every single month because there's a lot to figure out here. So. Okay. Thank you. Um, so moving on. Next up we have updates from our assistant superintendent, Victoria Saldano.
[1:18:16] Thank you very much. I just wanted to give you just a couple of highlights of what's some things that are coming up this year. Um, and the first thing that's on the list, I just wanted just to bring to your attention and for our families as well, is that we have a wonderful, um, English language parent advisory council that is across all our districts. Um, and it's led by our, um, English language learner teachers and in partnership with the families. And it's really a group that, um, supports multilingual learners and their families, but it's really open to all families. And one of the things we are hoping to do this year is to really encourage all families to come to the meetings, because we feel it is such a wonderful opportunity for, um, for us to kind of gather, um, with our across the different schools and the towns, especially since our kiddos all go to the same middle school and high school and, and really just build some community partnership. Um, we'll be sending out some, we'll be sending out agendas to everybody so people can see when the upcoming meetings are. And also we'll be planning some community activities. We're thinking of doing things like a potluck, you know what I mean? Just to bring the families together. We sometimes try to meet, um, at coffee shops like the Snowy Owl, you know, just and just think it's a great opportunity. So I do hope that our families do take advantage of, of this. Um, the next item. Any questions about this particular one? Um, the next item on the agenda are just a few highlights I'm very excited about. We have so many wonderful things happening this year. Um, just wanted to highlight just a couple of things and I hope you see a strong correlation to our strategic plan. Um, some of the things that will be continuing to focus on this year is that we started last year is the enhancement of our health curriculum. So the, our PE and health teachers partnered with me and a consultant that we've been working with who we're very lucky to have, who actually, um, she and her partner who have, um, the consulting firm are actually who wrote our frameworks for health and PE when this came out. So they're very, very knowledgeable and have been a wonderful source of support. Um, they provide professional development for our PE and health teachers around various topics of how we can enhance our PE and health classrooms and have been where we work this summer. Um, to build some lessons for our health curriculum. So we'll be piloting them this year in our K through five classrooms. And um, and once that is complete, I will be bringing the lessons to school committee for approval because, um, it is in your purview of any new curriculum that is being brought forth to be able to review it. Um, but I think that, um, um, you will find them just as engaging and wonderful as, as I think our PE teachers are. One of the other things we'll be working on focusing on this year is really, we kind of focus on nutrition standards last year and, um, physical activity and movement and the areas that we are going to look at next. And this is going to be in partnership with our nurses and our mental health team as well. Um, has to do around personal safety for the middle school and high school, sexual health, mental and emotional health, and substance use and misuse. There's some the standards do a really great job that kind of breaking it down. That's developmentally appropriate. And we really don't have a comprehensive, strong program that kind of addresses all these different various standards. So we'll be working with our consultant to develop those in partnership with the folks I just mentioned. And of course, as anything, we'll be bringing it forth to the school committee as well. Um, the other thing that I wanted to just to mention, because it's some conversations we had last year, especially when we were talking about some of our Mcat scores, um, is we're with, we've had a group of some of our elementary teacher leaders. We had representation almost from every school, um, looking at our mathematics instruction. And, um, one of the areas that we kind of identified that we really needed more systematic and stronger approaches around mathematic fluency. We do have a math review that is scheduled to start next year. So we figured that instead of trying to bring, um, a whole new kind of approach, which would have been a heavy lift for our teachers who are still kind of working on their Ela curriculum. Um, we identified a, a resource which is called math lab, which is research based that put information about it. Um, and it is a supplementary, um, um, program for students that really kind of supports some of the fluency, um, approaches that we have. And it's really meant to complement what teachers are doing during instruction. It's very much focused on conceptual understanding of fluency versus like the drill and kill approach, which is not always effective. And, and the teachers are piloted felt that this would have been a great addition to our math classrooms. And you do it for about 10 to 15 minutes, um, 2 to 3 times a day. And it's really geared towards students in grades 2 to 5. So, um, and we're going to be piloting it this year and gathering some feedback. Um, one of the things that we'll also have is some great data around how our students master fluency. We really don't have a way to kind of gather that information, which is going to be really helpful for us when we look at our do a math review next year. And then the last thing I want to just to highlight for you is also, um, the two last things is just we have, um, we're going to be engaging in a science curriculum review this year, which is in alignment with the review cycle that I shared with you at the end of the year. Um, this will be for K through eight. We thought it would be a wonderful opportunity for us to kind of just have an opportunity to look at how science teaching, um, is approached, what curriculum resources we have. Are they still the most effective for our students and to have some alignment with the middle school? So we're going to have a large working group with representation of teachers from each, um, from different levels and different buildings, as well as our special educators and other folks that kind of teach curriculum. And as again, I'll keep you updated on the process as the year goes through and anything that is selected, I'll bring it up in front of the school committee at the end of the year. And then the last part, which kind of came up is our focus on writing. So we will be actually really taking, dedicating some professional development, um, days this year, as well as some building based coaching to really take a look at our writing instruction, which again, kind of came up as an area that we needed to take a closer look last year due to our data. Um, so we are going to be, and there's a new law that got signed in by Governor Healy, which kind of it's the first in its form where a law around education has been put forth. Usually they're more like recommendations. But, but it will really make sure that we are in alignment with the new expectations. And again, also, the teachers have requested some support and professional development around our writing instruction. So we'll really be able to capitalize on our collaboration time that we have established, where teachers have an opportunity to meet across grade levels, across all the schools, and again, to really take a look at how we approach writing instruction. So, um, and then there's a couple of other things that are listed, but I'm happy to take any questions.
[1:26:02] Thank you Vicki.
[1:26:08] Any questions for Vicki? S11:
[1:28:06] No, just that there's, uh, pieces that are unique to each school that complement the district position and the consistency across all of the schools in Nauset and sort of reflects the nuances of each building.
[1:28:23] So we're hoping it will help with streamline of communication and information to you.
[1:28:28] Okay. Thank you. And so that has been distributed already to all the families. Or it's hot off the press.
[1:28:36] Hot off the.
[1:28:37] Press. Off the press.
[1:28:37] Yeah, we'll have it.
[1:28:39] They'll be posted. Both will be on our website under the family tab. Um, if it's.
[1:28:43] Not newsletters as well as a link. Mhm.
[1:28:47] That's great. It's a really helpful document. So thank you. Okay. Any other comments questions for Vicky? Betsy.
[1:28:55] Just a quick question. As part of the Family Success Guide, there is you know what? I actually don't need to ask this question. It's okay.
[1:29:03] Okay. Don't worry.
[1:29:04] About.
[1:29:04] It. We will.
[1:29:05] Move on.
[1:29:05] Then.
[1:29:08] Okay. Uh, next up we have facility update, which was somewhat covered in the principal's report.
[1:29:19] Is there any addition to that? S10:
[1:29:29] Okay, great. Moving on. Next up is Beth Regalbuto.
[1:29:35] Yes.
[1:29:36] For our year end reporting, please.
[1:29:38] Sure. Sure. So I appreciate your indulgence. Um, the goal has been, as the superintendent mentioned, is to try to get information to the committees. Um, as the goal for me anyway is to be at least 48 hours before the meeting happens. Um, however, we didn't make it this time around and so, uh, but, you know, I'm not giving up. We're all new to this, so, um, I'm on month four. Um, we're in the process of building an amazing financial team and we've got a lot of people learning a lot of things. And we also have this fantastic opportunity. I like to tell the superintendent every day, thank you. Um, as we're doing a full accounting system conversion, um, that is going live on October 1st. So we are really, um, you know, doing a lot of things at once. And I'd like the information to be as accurate, as informative as possible. So I've tried to include a fairly detailed memo with it and some detailed spreadsheet, but we can go over each and every one of, um, you know, the schools individually and talk about that. Um, I've had the pleasure of closing out the FY 26 school year. Um, and I do want to take this opportunity to thank all of the work done by the teams who came before me, because I'm really just bringing it home for everybody right now. Um, so why don't we start with both? Both Stony Brook and Eddie, um, are closing with a strong financial standing, and we actually have the opportunity to consider, um, doing some prepayments if, if we, um, so choose at the end. So why don't we start with Stony Brook? And if you want to go to the Um. Back of the Stony Brook sheet. You're more than welcome to look at every single line of the detail. In fact, there'll be a quiz after this, but, um, I. Let's just go to the summary table at the end. Um, and we can talk about where Stony Brook stands.
[1:31:38] And then after we go over both of these, we'll talk about what steps the committee could consider and votes that might be required.
[1:31:48] So at the end of the Stony Brook sheet is kind of a little um analysis, um, of where the school committee budget was. We spent the last probably since I've been here a month and a half or so. Um, looking at what do we need to transfer, um, releasing encumbrances, putting together the remaining bills for June 30th and getting a balance. So by the time we were done, um, we had already applied some offsets to um the budget. So we had some tuition, revolving expenditures that we applied. We applied some circuit breaker funding and some rural aid, and we had already made a few transfers earlier in the year. And by the time we did all of this, Stony Brook came out with really $133 to the negative. That was before applying some additional offsets that we had available. So we applied for and received extraordinary relief, which must be used in the year that it's received. So for Brewster, in total, we had $43,203 in extraordinary relief. So I split it where it was needed between the two schools. So for Stony Brook, I applied the $2,000 of extraordinary relief, which gave you a positive of just over $1,800. And the other news that we had is we hadn't gone ahead and applied any of the title one funds yet To, um, to offset the expenses that we had. So, um, we have received $89,226 in title one grant funding. Uh, we split that between the two schools, 0.5 and the different funding lines, which frees up more money that would be available. So in the end, we were able to add another $44,613 in offset. So when we when we're all said and done, we have $46,480 that we can prepay FY 27 expenses, which would be things like three months worth of special education, transportation, or three months worth worth of, um, tuitions if we have them supplies, there are things that we can apply and take some pressure off for if we choose not to. That money goes back to, to the town and, and, um, you know, it's the same thing. We're still taking pressure off of, um, the budgets in any way and we can use that going forward. So that is Stony Brook.
[1:34:34] Does anybody have any questions on that one? S2:
[1:34:39] Does.
[1:34:40] Oh okay.
[1:34:40] Only extraordinary relief. Yeah. Got it. I there is circuit breaker money as you notice at the bottom. And in most cases here I've been holding off if we don't have to use it and leaving that as another potential offset funding source for FY 27.
[1:34:59] Okay. And so when you're asking or suggesting we could do multiple months of special ed transportation as an example, that would be something paid now for the next three months.
[1:35:10] Yeah, it's paid. Before we close, we would use these encumbered funds and we'll, pay. We'll do an estimate of what our our three months would be for.
[1:35:18] Before we close this out. Right.
[1:35:20] That's why it will require a vote.
[1:35:22] Okay.
[1:35:25] Okay.
[1:35:26] So would you like me to go over the other one and then we can have any questions? Yeah, it's a similar discussion. So, um, if we take a look at Eddie, we had, uh, pretty much the same scenario. We went through the same exact process. Um, we had, uh, obviously different offsets for tuition revolving same amount. We split the circuit breaker in the rural aid available at the time and the transfers, uh, in the end. Eddie had, um, a deficit of 39.6 with my glasses on. I can't see 640. Um, and so we applied the other portion, most of the extraordinary relief to Eddie to bring them to a similar amount of about $1,500. Um, there, then we added the 0.5 of the title one funding available, which brings them to a very similar position of about $46,000 that they have available to prepay for FY 27.
[1:36:27] Okay.
[1:36:29] Any questions Steve?
[1:36:31] So just from general observation about FY 27, would you make a recommendation that these funds are would be well used for fiscal 27 based on what we know about it at this early point or too soon to say.
[1:36:57] It's too soon to say, but I never think it's too soon to take pressure off a budget. If you have the opportunity to do it, that that would be my recommendation. If you can do it, do it. And then, um, we'll do an analysis and really look into it, and the next time I come will be reporting pretty much on the first quarter. So we'll have a much better sense of how it's going.
[1:37:20] I guess the follow up would be, I think for us, have we applied those funds to the next fiscal year in the past, or have we always reverted to the town or mixed bag?
[1:37:37] I can't quote exactly what year, but there were multiple years during Covid where we were able to prepay things like.
[1:37:46] Utilities. We were able to prepay the special transportation, some supplies and things. I don't think that was the case the last year or two, but yes, we have done it before.
[1:37:58] And it does seem to make sense to me that utilities being a really good example right now that.
[1:38:06] I'm not sure we can do utilities. I know I'm not sure utilities would be one of the one of the categories. But again, if you take pressure off somewhere else, you freed up money that can go to that. If there's if that's a situation.
[1:38:18] I think it might have been oil for heat.
[1:38:23] I'm not going to say no, but in this case, we are going to follow the rules for a pre-payment.
[1:38:29] Okay. So could you state those rules and then we can.
[1:38:32] So you can do things like I mentioned, you can do special ed transportation three months only you can do. Um, if you have a, you know, special ed, um, stabilization fund, you can put money in there. Um, if you have, um, what did I say? Transportation or did I say so tuitions out of any kind of special ed out of district tuitions is another option. You can do supplies like paper, things like that, that those can again, three months worth is right around the sweet spot.
[1:39:02] Um.
[1:39:07] Robert, Please.
[1:39:13] Thank you Katie. Just a comment on special ed Reserve. That's what I wanted to comment on. Have the committee consider funding about $90,000 of available funds towards the Special reserve.
[1:39:29] The stabilization fund.
[1:39:36] So I, I think I don't know the answer to that and I should, but I don't know yet if you do have a special. But that is a different. It does have a level. So it does have to be no more than 2% of your operating budget. So I don't know where you're at. You can't go over that in the in that stabilization fund. So that's just something to think about.
[1:39:55] Okay. And I don't recall.
[1:39:57] I will, I will find out the budget. So you could say, you know, if you're not at your 2%, then I could, you could make that suggestion. It doesn't matter. All you're saying is you do authorize prepayments, but if you if there is room available, you could suggest in your motion that we fund some money towards the stabilization fund as well. Okay. It doesn't matter. Whatever.
[1:40:22] Okay. So so we need to take a vote tonight so you can close the books. Yes. Okay.
[1:40:27] And it can be broad. Yeah.
[1:40:30] Just a brief question. Could you remind me, please, what the conditions were for the extraordinary relief?
[1:40:36] So that is above and beyond. Um, the so circuit breaker is the special education costs. There's a, a floor, you know, at a certain amount that the um save like 50,000 of a, of a tuition, anything above that is reimbursed by the state at a percentage, usually around 75% or so. Um, by circuit breaker, then there's expenditures that are above and beyond and you have to apply for that. And so those expenditures are in the remaining pot of money that the state has available. And they divvy it out based on those expenditures that they consider extraordinary for special ed. Got it. That's why it has to be used in the year that you get it.
[1:41:17] Thank you.
[1:41:19] Okay. Other comments or questions?
[1:41:25] So is there a motion to approve using available funds as presented tonight to prepay fiscal year 27 expenditures
[1:41:38] that could include special ed transportation and tuition, as well as, um, adding to the current stabilization fund.
[1:41:49] Second.
[1:41:50] Okay.
[1:41:52] All in favor? S13:
[1:41:54] Any opposed? Chair votes. Aye. Unanimous. All right.
[1:41:59] So the other thing. Thank you. The other thing I do have to ask in your packet also are transfers. So the transfers that are presented in front of you. There are lots of transfers, but the ones that are in front of you are based on policy. And uh, Desi who the MDL that requires a vote by the school committee when we transfer between desi function codes. Um, so that's because the budget is presented in a certain way. And so now I'm asking you to, um, shift money between that. So um, those require a vote of the committee please.
[1:42:35] So I move that we approve the ETI and the budget transfers as written.
[1:42:40] Second.
[1:42:41] All in favor.
[1:42:43] Aye.
[1:42:44] Opposed chair votes. Aye. It's unanimous. Okay. Thank you.
[1:42:49] Okay. So you're all you're all set. Thank you.
[1:42:52] Thank you very much. That's great. Okay. Um. Moving on. Reports and information. And, this is the part of our meeting where sometimes we have a report from a particular committee or liaison role.
[1:43:11] Um, is there any report this evening? S8:
[1:47:02] Okay. Great. Thank you superintendent.
[1:47:05] I just if I could just to clarify that policy, I think it's important. I just was double checking that. So, uh, the policy j e reads normally the principal will submit for school committee approval in October a list of proposed fundraising activities. Proposals submitted after October 1st must receive the approval of the appropriate School Committee before fundraising begins, and then proposal will be based on consultation with faculty and such. So that October 1st date is really just. Which makes sense. It's an effort to try and get a landscape view of all of the fundraisers that might be planned for the school year to try and smooth them out. But just to clarify, it doesn't mean that one couldn't be couldn't happen after October 1st as long as the School committee in this case, Brewster approved.
[1:47:45] So great. Thank you.
[1:47:47] If just if I may, I think the particular language that is tricky for them is the 0.2 there, where it says they are intended to raise less than $1,000. So correct me if I'm reading that wrong, but if they have a fundraiser where they're expecting to make over $1,000, that that would not fall under the purview.
[1:48:01] I read that as proposals that arise later in the year may be approved by the superintendent and reported to the School committee. So I think we've got two different possibilities or pathways here. One, the School Committee itself could approve. Secondly, the superintendent could approve and report it to the School Committee if it meets those conditions. So if there's a smaller I read that as if there's a smaller fundraiser or it's consistent with past practice and something done before the superintendent of schools under this language could approve it. If it's something bigger and a new new a new proposal, I think that this could come before the School Committee for approval. I think that would be the way to navigate that.
[1:48:38] Okay.
[1:48:38] To add a little historical context to the reason why that even exists, because I remember it's because lots of sports teams would like all of a sudden decide, oh, we need a fundraiser. And they didn't like. And then it wasn't exactly in line with its way of looking at things, to say the least, and it kind of got out of control. And so this kind of brought everything into the you have to. You can't just do a car wash because you feel like it, because you need money for uniforms. You got to you got to follow a procedure. And the procedure is such that it has. There has to be in line. So that was the reason why that policy even came to fruition many, many years ago.
[1:49:22] Thank you for that context, and thanks for the report. And the current fundraiser, as mentioned, is mum's is the time. Okay. Steve.
[1:49:33] Yeah. Just a quick thing. Collaborative met last night. And one of the things that we did is that we approved the policies related to the Protect Act that was signed by the governor. I don't know if there's anything that we need to do regarding that specifically.
[1:49:48] Do you want to say more about what that is.
[1:49:51] Uh, yeah. Is basically that without a judicial warrant, um, members from Immigration and Customs Enforcement are not allowed on school grounds during student hours.
[1:50:10] We, um, we did talk about that with, um, at the joint last, uh, last week. And we from our perspective, Vicky, please add in if you'd like, but from our perspective and checking with council, what we have currently is a district is in line with those expectations.
[1:50:26] I just want to be sure we didn't need to do anything.
[1:50:28] Yeah.
[1:50:28] No thank you. Here.
[1:50:29] Yeah.
[1:50:29] We established procedures last year because there was um, there was a similar um guidelines that were published last spring by the state. So um we do have we, we put it under visitors to school. Um, so we do have guidelines around like if um ice shows up at the schools, what does the school steps and I'm going to take a look at the guidelines again, just given the new regulations. See if there's any language changes that need to be made. We'll bring it forth if there is. But but like as Doctor Brandt said, the attorney said that that we are very much in alignment. That particular um, um policy that we had a vote in was just more, again, to have language semantics that we're really using the language that the state has put forth in terms of legality. But in terms of our processes, we're we're.
[1:51:20] Well, the one clarification thing I had asked last night was, you know, in defining school hours, is that a bell to bell? And the response I got last night is when students are on the premises, you know, drop off, pick up time, things like that.
[1:51:39] Thank you. Thanks for bringing that up. And Vicki will let us know if there's any change. Okay, great. Um moving on. Last item is approval of minutes from our June 11th meeting.
[1:51:51] May I just I see the future agenda items on here. I'm curious what that is.
[1:51:56] It's just if if we're talking about what next, what we'll discuss next. Is there something that you want to.
[1:52:02] I would I would just.
[1:52:03] Be agenda.
[1:52:05] If I may, through the chair. Madam chair, I would be curious just to get some more information for the committee on just regarding the SROs around, um, the specifics about which schools have them. Um, potentially how they're funded just so we could have kind of a baseline for understanding the way that other communities on the Cape are handling that issue.
[1:52:29] Okay. And that's, you know, pertinent because when we do have a public comment, we can put something on the next agenda.
[1:52:37] It's also in the strategic plan. There's going to be some major work on that. If you looked at the strategic plan and the safety, there's a list of all the things that um. Right. That we are planning on addressing in terms of safety. And so it's something that's on the radar just, just so, you know, it's, it's, it's in sync with what's in there for this year.
[1:52:59] Great.
[1:53:00] Thank you.
[1:53:01] For us. So I met today with a committee that I didn't know I was on, but I'm on superintendent's evaluation. But that's fine. Um, so in further agenda items, we're going to have to put on time to spend looking at the tool so that everybody is in sync with, we don't want to do it at a joint meeting because trying to talk to that many people at once about a tool, it would just make more sense to have it at a smaller meeting at at the local level. So that was instructed to us today by the co-chairs. So I'm not sure when that would fit in, but we definitely will need to have at least some time to review it, to look at it and to get everybody on the same page.
[1:53:44] For future agenda items. Okay, great. Thank you. Um, all right. Now I think we're on to our very last thing, which is meeting minutes from June 11th. Does anybody have comments, questions or accept? Move to accept.
[1:54:02] Is there a second? S13:
[1:54:03] All in favor?
[1:54:05] Aye.
[1:54:05] Chair votes I. We are unanimous. And look at the time we said two hours for our meetings. And here we are. So is there a um. I will follow up. We've tentatively said um September 28th would be an added meeting, a joint meeting with the Select board. Our next scheduled meeting for for this committee is the 15th of October, and I'll take a motion to adjourn.
[1:54:35] So moved.
[1:54:37] Second.
[1:54:38] All right.
[1:54:38] All in favor?
[1:54:39] Aye.
[1:54:40] Okay. Thank you everyone.
[1:54:41] Thanks.