[0:11] I call to order this meeting of the

[0:13] Dober school uh school committee. Today

[0:16] is September 22nd, 2026 and we are

[0:20] meeting in the sorry Dover Sherborn

[0:23] Middle School Library. The time is now

[0:25] 6:31.

[0:27] So first on the agenda is community

[0:29] comments.

[0:31] Uh we have provided a virtual link for

[0:33] those who wish to make a comment but for

[0:35] whom it is not possible or preferred to

[0:37] attend in person. Are there any

[0:40] community comments? Okay. Before I

[0:44] before you go um I want to read

[0:47] something. Um please remember that

[0:49] community comments are an opportunity

[0:51] for members of the school committee to

[0:52] listen to members of the community. As

[0:54] chair of this meeting, it is my

[0:56] responsibility to facilitate this

[0:57] communication between the public and the committee um present this

[1:01] evening. I personally believe the

[1:03] communication is a critical element to

[1:05] assist the members of um this elected

[1:08] body to effectively effectively

[1:11] facilitate this discussion. I encourage

[1:13] anyone providing comments to consider

[1:15] that the volunteers that comprise this

[1:17] committee are your neighbors, friends,

[1:18] and fellow community members. We welcome

[1:20] all points of view, but I would

[1:22] respectfully ask that all you treat

[1:24] these committee members in a manner

[1:25] consistent with that in mind.

[1:27] Collectively, we are here to support the

[1:28] administration who in turn assist our

[1:30] educators and support staff to educate,

[1:32] care for, invest in, and inspire our

[1:34] children. Um, community comments are not

[1:37] a forum for answering questions or

[1:38] engaging in debate. We respectfully

[1:40] request that you please make your

[1:41] comments brief, no more than 3 minutes,

[1:43] and that you move the discussion forward

[1:45] by adding new information. Please try to

[1:47] avoid repeating points that have already

[1:49] been made. One of the public uh once the

[1:51] public comment section of the meeting

[1:52] has concluded, we'll move to uh other

[1:55] business and unsolicited comments for

[1:57] the community will no longer be

[1:58] permitted. This is standard operating

[2:00] procedure and school committee meetings

[2:01] across the three school districts. If

[2:03] you desire more information or have

[2:05] specific questions, contact information

[2:07] for committee members is on the district

[2:08] websites. And I will note that generally

[2:11] we um limit these to uh do residents.

[2:15] understand you're an adult resident, but

[2:16] we welcome your comments.

[2:17] >> Appreciate you

[2:17] >> respectfully.

[2:19] >> Dear elector,

[2:20] >> uh wherever you feel comfortable, maybe

[2:22] just in so we can sort of see you.

[2:24] >> Actually, I can put the the phone down.

[2:26] >> Okay.

[2:28] >> Uh so, good evening. My name is Joey

[2:29] Ford. I'm an independent educational

[2:31] watchdog and reform initiative. I call

[2:33] myself parent data force. Um, so I go

[2:36] district to district throughout the

[2:38] state and I try to find patterns um and

[2:40] just uh bring some helpful information

[2:42] from u what I'm discovering at different

[2:45] places and bring it back to the

[2:46] committees and hopefully uh giving you

[2:48] guys some valuable information to work

[2:50] with and only better yourselves. Um so

[2:54] my latest project um I'm I've submitted

[2:57] uh so far 43 different public records

[2:59] requests to different districts asking

[3:01] them for their settlement agreements. So

[3:03] this is for like special education,

[3:05] regular education, stuff that involves

[3:07] um educ students, not the educators

[3:10] themselves. I don't want anything to do

[3:12] with staff or anything like that. That's

[3:14] something else. So this would be like

[3:16] memorandums of understanding, memorandum

[3:18] of agreement, uh mediation agreement,

[3:20] stipulations, consent agreements, side letters, similar

[3:23] written agreements, that sort of stuff.

[3:25] Um Superintendent McCoy, I I sent it to

[3:28] you and it should be in your inbox. I

[3:30] just want to let you guys know it's this

[3:31] isn't meant to be like something

[3:32] hostile. I'm doing this simply for like

[3:34] research purposes um and to be able to

[3:36] compare the different districts. Uh DO

[3:38] Sherban has a very well-known reputation

[3:40] for being one of the best uh districts

[3:42] in the country. Um so I really want to

[3:45] see how you guys compare to some of the

[3:47] less wealthy districts and um just

[3:49] seeing how things operate behind closed

[3:52] doors. Uh, as a special education parent

[3:54] myself, I understand that a lot of these

[3:56] contracts, you know, they're not

[3:57] something that's done maliciously or in

[3:59] bad faith, a lot of the times these

[4:00] things are done to to get children what

[4:02] they need. Um, but just to help other

[4:04] parents and really get an understanding

[4:06] of how these things work. That's why I'm

[4:08] doing this. So, I just wanted to let you

[4:10] know so you're not like, "Oh my god, you

[4:12] know, we're under attack." Uh, I swear I

[4:14] got peace.

[4:15] >> Thank you.

[4:15] so much.

[4:16] >> Thank you.

[4:18] >> All right. Any other comments? Any other

[4:22] online comments?

[4:25] Thank you so much.

[4:28] >> Okay, with that, I think we'll close

[4:30] community comments.

[4:33] >> All right, next on the agenda are the

[4:35] superintendent comments.

[4:36] >> Thank you. Um I only just want to um

[4:39] have a specific thank you this evening

[4:41] to our chering community for a smooth

[4:43] opening of school. Um so thank you to

[4:45] our parents, our bus drivers, our

[4:47] leaders, our educators of course, and

[4:49] our students. Um it's been a great

[4:51] positive opening of school. I've had an

[4:53] opportunity as has Heather to get into

[4:55] some classes to attend the all school

[4:57] assembly. Um so lots of positive great

[5:00] start and we're going to keep that

[5:01] momentum going. So thank you Dr.

[5:02] Rinimman.

[5:04] >> Thank you Miss Atkinson for all of your

[5:05] hard work. Um and other than that just a

[5:08] reminder that open house is on Thursday

[5:09] at 5:30. So it's your turn to re your

[5:11] time to return to school and and meet

[5:14] the teachers. So we look forward to

[5:15] seeing you then. Otherwise, happy to

[5:17] take questions, comments, feedback about

[5:19] anything.

[5:21] >> No, we got a great update in the joint

[5:23] school committee meeting. I feel like we

[5:26] >> Well, you're up to date

[5:27] >> up to date on all the happenings and I

[5:29] agree with the smooth opening. All

[5:30] right, next.

[5:32] >> I can just say I wanted to thank you for

[5:34] the weekly Y. I think this is a great

[5:35] initiative and I saw you had a lot of

[5:37] hearts on it and uh I hope people read

[5:40] it and like it and submit questions. Um,

[5:43] I'll have suggestions of course later,

[5:44] but uh, I think it was a great way to

[5:47] have a targeted information, like a

[5:50] small snippet of something that people

[5:51] are asking about. So, thank you. I think

[5:53] that's

[5:54] >> I usually don't get a lot of positive

[5:55] feedback, but I did get a lot of

[5:57] positive feedback from staff and from

[5:58] families and a lot of hearts, you know,

[6:00] it's just like being social. Why do I

[6:02] only have so many hearts? But

[6:04] >> no, I think it was a great initiative.

[6:06] Thank you.

[6:07] >> The moose was popular.

[6:09] >> No one's claimed the moose.

[6:11] Yeah.

[6:12] >> See,

[6:13] >> I remember the first when we first

[6:14] launched Parent Square, there was like

[6:16] this

[6:17] >> uh self-consciousness about people not

[6:19] liking the post.

[6:21] >> I assume we've gotten over that.

[6:23] >> We're getting there.

[6:24] >> Yeah,

[6:25] >> there probably is not a lot of activity

[6:27] editing for.

[6:29] >> It's a great forum though.

[6:32] >> Thank you. All right. Uh next on the

[6:35] agenda are financial reports starting

[6:37] with the warrant report.

[6:39] >> Yes. Thank you. Good evening everyone.

[6:40] Um in your packet tonight are um your

[6:43] approved boards um closing up fiscal

[6:46] year 26 and then what we've done to date

[6:48] to fiscal year 27. And I will continue

[6:51] to thank Jesse for stopping by uh town

[6:54] hall and signing.

[6:55] >> It's actually being passed along to

[6:56] goalie this year.

[6:58] So thank you.

[6:59] >> Yes. Next time I get the email to sign,

[7:03] I will sort of loop goalie into the

[7:06] process and we will have a smooth

[7:07] handoff like this did for me.

[7:09] >> Yeah. Great.

[7:10] >> Thank you.

[7:13] >> Um and moving on to um your budget

[7:17] closeout. So this is the sort of where

[7:19] we ended fiscal year 26. You had a

[7:21] pretty good synopsis when we um last met

[7:23] in June, but things happened over the

[7:25] summer and we we closed the books. Um

[7:27] and so tonight in your packet I provided

[7:29] sort of a summary of each of the um

[7:33] budget categories, salaries,

[7:34] expenditures and out of district. As you

[7:36] can see salaries um we were right at

[7:39] budget. There are some variations that I

[7:42] explain um at a at a high level.

[7:44] Remember you can go back into your

[7:46] monthly report if you wanted to dig into

[7:48] um more of the specifics but I tried

[7:50] just to hit the highlights. Um, on the

[7:52] expenditure side, I think the the

[7:54] driving force there was if you go back

[7:56] up to salaries, we actually took outside

[7:59] services um for our SLP, our speech

[8:02] language pathologist, and turned that

[8:04] into a a position in the contract. So,

[8:08] the when we built the budget, we thought

[8:09] it was going to be outside services. So,

[8:11] you see the savings there of about

[8:13] 50,000. That helps um take care of the

[8:16] $48,000 negative. So, you've got to look

[8:18] at that as we had it in the budget. We

[8:20] just didn't we have it in different

[8:21] places now. Um other than that,

[8:23] everything else was here and there when

[8:25] we did transportation services last

[8:27] year. Remember, we did a contract and so

[8:29] we had a higher number in the budget

[8:31] than where we settled. We left that in

[8:34] there and it really helped you not have

[8:36] as big of an increase in fiscal year 27.

[8:38] So when you see the 20,000 in

[8:42] transportation, it was really because we

[8:43] had had a reserve um that we didn't have

[8:46] to use at all. um looking at out of

[8:49] district. So that's where a lot of our

[8:51] um volatility was and as you know um the

[8:54] way that the town budgets we have all a

[8:56] circuit breaker to fall back on when we

[8:59] have the unexpected happen. So we did um

[9:02] dig into that a little bit but also keep

[9:04] in mind we made a conscious decision

[9:06] last year not to increase the budget for

[9:09] all the placements because we knew there

[9:11] was going to be a placement that was

[9:12] going to age out. it was a a larger

[9:15] placement. So, we didn't want to gross

[9:17] the town's budget up too much knowing

[9:18] that we would have circuit breaker to

[9:20] cover it. So, we knew in going into this

[9:23] if nothing else changed, we were going

[9:25] to be negative almost a half a million

[9:27] for that one placement. So, take that

[9:29] into consideration when you look where I

[9:31] say we're over $800,000. We already knew

[9:34] we were going to be almost $500,000

[9:35] over. So we did have a little bit of

[9:37] unexpected um but it was also offset by

[9:40] a little we had some negative unexpected

[9:42] and some positive unexpected. So at the

[9:44] end of the day we are still turning back

[9:46] to the town um $778,000.

[9:50] Keep in mind that's also even net of um

[9:53] almost the $437,000

[9:57] that we kept at the region to start

[9:59] building the circuit breaker preserve

[10:02] for those students um that are aged 6

[10:05] through or 6th grade through 22 who

[10:07] reside in do who's now being accounted

[10:10] for at the region. Um so all in all that

[10:13] was it was a good year um and that we

[10:15] didn't you know some years we don't we

[10:17] have very little circuit breaker that we

[10:19] turn back um to the town. So that will

[10:21] be the last year you see numbers like

[10:23] this your numbers are going to be much

[10:25] smaller when we start start talking

[10:27] about fiscal year 27 and budgeting for

[10:29] 28 because you're only responsible now

[10:31] for the prek through five and we have

[10:33] very few placements at that age group

[10:35] because of the wonderful special ed

[10:37] programs that we have already built into

[10:39] the school itself. Don, Don, just for

[10:41] the newer people at the table or for

[10:43] those of us who might need a refresher,

[10:44] can you explain how do budgets for this

[10:46] and that a turn back of $700,000 is

[10:48] actually planned?

[10:48] >> Exly. So, as you know, you you almost

[10:50] got a million9, so $1.9 million in

[10:53] circuit breaker reimbursement. When the

[10:55] town does their budget, they assume

[10:57] you're getting zero circuit breaker. So,

[10:59] they're budgeting for everything. And

[11:01] it's always been a conservative

[11:03] methodology that they've used because if

[11:04] you've been in do long enough, you'll

[11:06] realize that the town always uses some

[11:09] free cash towards the budget every year

[11:12] to sort of offset what they're being

[11:14] taxed to the uh taxpayers. Um and a lot

[11:18] of that was that comfort level of

[11:20] knowing that the circuit breaker was

[11:21] there. So we always have these big

[11:23] turnbacks and when you used to look at

[11:25] the the numbers when they would present

[11:27] like in the blue book um it would say

[11:30] okay do's budget is 12 million but last

[11:33] year's actual is you know 9.5 and it's

[11:37] because that budget number is always

[11:39] grossed up assuming there's no circuit

[11:42] breaker but your actual that report is

[11:44] reported is taking that circuit breaker

[11:46] into account. So there's always that

[11:48] delta there that always bothered me. um

[11:51] both on school committee and where I sat

[11:53] because I felt like it was misleading um

[11:57] to the public. So we were always uh

[11:59] pressuring them to put an asterisk next

[12:01] to it and say this is net circuit

[12:03] breaker, this is not net circuit

[12:04] breaker. So now that will actually sort

[12:07] of go away because do if you remember

[12:10] this year when they presented it looked

[12:11] like they had like a million dollar

[12:13] reduction and that's because the circuit

[12:14] breaker thing is now gone. They we we

[12:17] can't budget that way anymore.

[12:18] >> You said it's like gone but it actually

[12:20] is gone. There's no circuit breaker,

[12:21] right?

[12:22] >> No, there is circuit breaker, but it's

[12:24] not. It's um everything is net now.

[12:27] >> So, the way that we had to budget at the region is like we said, okay, you

[12:32] owe us $2 million for out of district,

[12:35] but we know we're going to get $1.2

[12:36] million in circuit breaker

[12:38] >> from the state.

[12:39] So, we're only we're

[12:41] only going to assess dover for $800,000

[12:45] and that's the assessment whereas before

[12:47] we would put the whole $2 million in the

[12:49] budget. Got it.

[12:50] >> Right.

[12:51] >> Yeah.

[12:51] So, the money is still there. It's

[12:52] just it's just sitting in a different

[12:54] way. It's cleaner. Yeah. It's a little

[12:56] bit cleaner.

[12:57] >> Yeah.

[12:57] >> Um and as long as I have enough money in

[12:59] the region to pay for everything. Yeah.

[13:01] So, it's it actually cleans up the

[13:03] accounting a little bit and it it then

[13:05] what happens is that and we had um you

[13:08] know we had been telling the towns this

[13:10] was going to happen especially at Dover

[13:12] because that was a guaranteed turnback

[13:15] in free cash that they always then

[13:18] turned around and applied that free cash

[13:19] to the budget.

[13:21] >> So now they don't have as much

[13:22] flexibility to do that but the budget's

[13:25] lower.

[13:26] >> So it sort of

[13:27] >> so it all sort of yeah it sort of washes

[13:29] out. So this will be a transition year

[13:32] uh for 27 to see how it all plays out.

[13:35] Um it was important to us at the region

[13:38] to at least have some additional circuit

[13:41] breaker other than what we expected to

[13:43] get this year which is why we had worked

[13:45] with both town and the town of Sherburn

[13:47] and retained the circuit breaker

[13:50] reimbursement in the fourth quarter.

[13:52] that was that comes remember the circuit

[13:54] breaker always came to the region then

[13:55] we had to turn around and give it back

[13:57] to the towns because they were

[13:59] accounting for the out of district and

[14:02] that's when the department of ed said

[14:04] what are you doing you need to account

[14:06] for the region age kids at the region

[14:10] >> so now we still get circuit breaker and

[14:12] we identify by this is dovers and this

[14:15] is sherburns and we have different

[14:16] accounts in our general ledger now for

[14:18] do circuit breaker and sherburn circuit

[14:20] breaker Um but we don't have the

[14:24] methodology that do used to have where

[14:26] we had all that fall back in case things

[14:28] on the the unexpected happened. Um so

[14:30] that's why we try to hold some. So we

[14:32] have like I said it feels um comforting

[14:35] to know that in Dover we're starting

[14:37] with what we assessed do plus this extra

[14:41] 437,000.

[14:43] Um, but it will it will make your budget

[14:45] a little easier to understand because

[14:48] that was always a big number on top of

[14:50] your in district and it was was

[14:52] confusing to the public because I was

[14:54] like, oh, why is the do school budget so

[14:56] big, right? So now it really will

[14:59] represent um sort of your

[15:02] >> population

[15:03] >> your population

[15:04] >> and the true cost on both sides now.

[15:08] >> Yeah. at the region and at um the dober

[15:11] >> what percentage of our special education

[15:13] needs are actually met by circuit

[15:15] breaker

[15:16] >> versus our own taxpayer fund.

[15:18] >> So it is a um formula that is based on

[15:21] each individual student.

[15:23] >> Oh okay.

[15:24] >> So it is calculated by each out of

[15:26] district student

[15:27] >> and the needs in the in the specific

[15:28] needs.

[15:29] >> So there is a threshold. So you have to

[15:31] the town has to pay the first um we say

[15:34] $54,000

[15:36] right? So, whatever cost that we have

[15:37] for an out of district student, um the

[15:40] first $54,000

[15:42] is the town's responsibility. After

[15:44] that, the state reimbures you 75%.

[15:48] >> Okay?

[15:49] >> Um and then on top of that, about four

[15:52] years ago, they've added transportation

[15:55] into that formula. Um and that's been

[15:57] the unknown as to what the

[15:59] reimbursement. It should be 75, but they

[16:01] don't always have funding for the 75. Um

[16:04] but that was a huge benefit to all

[16:07] districts because even in do our out of

[16:10] district transportation could be

[16:11] somewhere up to like $400500,000.

[16:14] So the fact that we were getting any

[16:16] reimbursement now is huge. And if you

[16:19] had a student who say um was at $50,000

[16:23] you add transportation that gets them

[16:25] over the 54 then you qualify for um some

[16:28] circuit breaker reimbursement.

[16:29] >> And we're and you said we're aging.

[16:31] there's a student that is has a higher

[16:34] than expect or higher than normal

[16:37] um funding requirement that will be

[16:40] aging out and so the expectations are

[16:42] lower.

[16:42] >> Yeah, that the student did age out

[16:44] >> um in fiscal year 26. So we'll give you

[16:47] your um sort of this is what we

[16:49] budgeted, this is where we stand when we

[16:51] meet in October. Um and we'll do the

[16:54] same for the region. Um, but now you'll

[16:56] just be seeing a much smaller piece of

[16:58] the population because the the the do

[17:02] residents who are sixth grade and older

[17:05] now the regional school committee

[17:06] meeting

[17:07] >> committee will be talking about them.

[17:09] >> This is um this is a big change and

[17:13] sounds complicated.

[17:14] >> Yeah.

[17:14] >> Do you think there needs to be

[17:18] a method of communication to the general

[17:20] public to sort of

[17:23] >> I don't I don't think so. I don't if if

[17:25] you look at it in comparison to the

[17:27] total budget for the dope town of do

[17:29] it's it's not it look it seems big for

[17:32] >> there's not going to be a a sticker

[17:34] shock like in a good way but like

[17:36] >> because they've already seen it they've

[17:37] already seen it in action when they

[17:38] approved the fiscal year 27 budget.

[17:40] >> Okay.

[17:41] >> So that's already rolled out. We didn't

[17:42] get any questions.

[17:44] >> Okay.

[17:44] >> Um and I think they did provide if you

[17:48] remember Michael Blanchard the town

[17:49] administrator said they're going to

[17:50] change their accounting. this is the

[17:52] numbers you're going to see and it

[17:54] really from the edit from the at the end

[17:56] of the day it doesn't the money is still

[17:58] the money it's not changing it's just

[18:00] where it's being accounted for and

[18:02] there's a little bit of a change and

[18:03] that it's not grossed up anymore

[18:05] >> I see can we give the presentation

[18:07] together as with the region so it's over

[18:09] I think the hard part's over with now we

[18:11] did that in fiscal year 27 so now we'll

[18:13] just be ready to roll um the the issue

[18:17] we're going to have is what happens when

[18:19] we don't have enough money from the that

[18:21] the towns have already given us at the

[18:23] region. When we when we exhaust all of

[18:26] that,

[18:27] >> what to do?

[18:28] >> We're going to have to figure out how we

[18:30] go back to the towns to ask for what we

[18:31] still need.

[18:32] >> They're going to have to keep a reserve.

[18:34] >> Yeah. Well, we'll probably have to like

[18:37] we'll have to fund it and then add an

[18:39] additional assessment when the region

[18:41] does their budget for 28 saying you

[18:43] didn't quite give us enough now you got

[18:44] to give it to us in the 28 budget. So

[18:47] cross that um that bridge when we come

[18:50] to it. Um but that is what you know

[18:53] we've been counseledled by the

[18:54] department of ed who asked us to please

[18:56] change our accounting and that we really

[18:58] should build up a year's worth of

[19:00] circuit breaker for each town at the

[19:03] region level so we have that safety net.

[19:05] So, we'll try to strive towards that.

[19:07] But, as you know, um you know, the towns

[19:10] are under financial pressure. So, to

[19:12] have extra money that is just sitting

[19:15] there for I'm going to say a rainy day

[19:16] fund, but

[19:18] >> we might have other needs for that. So,

[19:20] it'll just be a um sort of a

[19:25] building.

[19:27] Yeah. But, I mean, I feel really good

[19:28] that Dober agreed to give us

[19:30] >> Okay.

[19:30] >> as much as they did. We should be

[19:32] hopefully in a good spot. But you can

[19:34] see how much you can be over. So ex

[19:38] ignore the one placement that we knew.

[19:40] We were still hundreds of thousand

[19:42] dollars over we thought where we were

[19:45] going to be. So that's where it gets a

[19:46] little scary.

[19:47] >> This is a a residual call from a cold

[19:50] last week. I promise.

[19:53] » All right.

[19:55] Anything else?

[19:56] >> That is it. That's And then so we'll

[19:57] start talking about 27 in October and

[19:59] then you'll actually get your fiscal

[20:01] year 28 budget in November.

[20:03] >> Great. Thank you.

[20:04] >> Um I have another budget budget

[20:05] question.

[20:06] >> Um

[20:08] how do we or do we plan like long-term

[20:12] planning for building maintenance and

[20:14] like facility improvements that might be

[20:16] necessary like at some point we'll need

[20:18] a new elementary school. I don't know

[20:20] when.

[20:21] >> Well, I think it will not be. So it's

[20:24] fairly new,

[20:25] >> right? But

[20:26] >> in the world of schools.

[20:27] >> Yeah. So we have a long range capital

[20:29] plan and we do a fiveyear. So when you

[20:32] get your budget book, there'll actually

[20:33] be a five-year um outlook of capital.

[20:36] >> Okay.

[20:36] >> Um so I think what we had on potentially

[20:39] for fiscal year to ask for 28. So we're

[20:42] in that sweet spot right now with

[20:43] Cherine where it's just it's over a

[20:46] little over 20, you know, 20. It was

[20:48] open in 21. So we're like 25 years. We

[20:51] haven't had to do major capital. So the

[20:54] biggest thing we did was we've replaced

[20:56] all the floors and we did that in um

[20:59] segments, right? one is she can't do it

[21:01] all in one year, but it also helps um

[21:04] sort of give a more constant request.

[21:06] So, we've had a we've had one or two

[21:08] years here where we don't have anything

[21:10] that we is critical because if you

[21:13] listen to the town talk right now, they

[21:16] are in a huge capital crunch right now

[21:18] with everything else they're doing. So,

[21:20] Chering was able to not add to that

[21:23] plate because the region has to add to

[21:25] that plate. So, we've made a conscious

[21:27] decision to say, what can we do to sort

[21:29] of help this process and and some of put

[21:31] some of our stuff off and we're not

[21:33] doing any harm to the building at all.

[21:36] There's still life in everything that we

[21:37] have. So, um I forecast one more year

[21:41] where we're going to just have probably

[21:42] with one small project I think we'll

[21:43] bring forward and then we will start

[21:45] doing the larger like replacements of

[21:48] your HVAC. But you there is a 20-year

[21:51] long range capital plan that we have in

[21:53] place that gives us a road map. um to um

[21:58] what's forecasted to be added as a

[22:01] useful life.

[22:04] » Great.

[22:05] >> Good question.

[22:06] >> Yeah, it's really well done. It's really

[22:08] helpful to see all the all the things

[22:10] coming up like the rules and everything.

[22:12] Yeah,

[22:13] >> we're fortunate that we haven't had I'm

[22:15] not going to say anything.

[22:18] >> Knock out some more.

[22:18] >> I'm done. I'm done.

[22:20] >> Okay, we have no discussion items

[22:22] tonight. So, we're going to move into

[22:23] action items. And the first on the

[22:24] agenda is the Chering School improvement

[22:26] plan. It's the second read.

[22:30] Thank you. Good evening.

[22:35] First, I want to note that I forgot to

[22:37] put the school's name in the header. It

[22:38] really is ours. My version has it

[22:40] corrected, but assume that it could be

[22:43] >> No, we we fixed that.

[22:44] >> Oh, you did fix it for Thank you.

[22:48] >> Um, we started working on our

[22:50] improvement plan last spring with the

[22:51] help of our school advisory council. So

[22:53] kudos and thanks to that group that

[22:54] helped us work on that. And then um over

[22:57] the summer, Allison Gullings, who's the

[22:59] principal at Pine Hill, sorry. And um

[23:02] and I worked to make sure that our goals

[23:04] are very similar um because I think it's

[23:06] very important that the schools are

[23:07] similar when it makes sense and yet each

[23:10] maintain our uniqueness.

[23:12] Um I jumped right in. I wanted to give

[23:14] you an update for since we started. And

[23:16] I know Beth gave us a welcome, but um I

[23:18] think it's kind of interesting to look

[23:19] at some of the new um because this has

[23:22] been a very new year for us. Um we have

[23:26] 473 students, which we had about 458

[23:30] last year, so we're up a little bit,

[23:31] which is exciting. Um as Don will

[23:34] recall, when we opened the building, we

[23:35] had over 600 students. So, it's it's

[23:38] just interesting to look at the eb and

[23:39] flow of the population, but we have um

[23:42] two new specialist teachers, one new

[23:45] special educator, five new classroom

[23:48] teachers, um a new preschool special ed

[23:51] coordinator who we share with Pineh

[23:53] Hill, um a new assistant principal, a

[23:55] new office person whose name

[23:56] conveniently is Kelly. Makes it a little

[23:58] bit easier when you call in. So, it's

[24:00] the same name as our previous office uh

[24:03] admin. um eight new educational

[24:05] assistants and 20 new students. All the

[24:08] kindergarters are new, so they don't

[24:10] count, but 20 new students had moved in

[24:12] and two registrations that came in this

[24:13] morning.

[24:14] >> Oh, wow.

[24:14] >> So, we are just we are flying. Houses

[24:17] are are selling and people are

[24:18] enrolling. And thank you for your

[24:20] generosity in supporting us as we look

[24:23] to um add classrooms. Last spring, you

[24:25] remember this is a long discussion we

[24:26] had back and forth. We had um seven new

[24:29] first graders and six new second graders

[24:31] move in um over the course of last

[24:34] spring and into the summer. So, we are

[24:36] grateful to have that extra space in

[24:38] those rooms. So, thank you.

[24:39] >> Do you expect that we can make that

[24:40] permanent? That was the biggest hit

[24:43] decision I think that we've made as a

[24:44] school committee so far. People loved

[24:46] it.

[24:48] >> We we start the dance in November.

[24:51] >> Yeah. Okay.

[24:52] >> With placement. Yeah. So, we'll we will

[24:53] look at how many students in each grade,

[24:55] what makes sense. um how many you know

[24:58] if we've got four now do we roll the

[24:59] four do we change to three but yeah

[25:01] we'll be looking at this spring

[25:02] >> think about we talk about the

[25:03] immigration out migration so if we took

[25:05] 20 new students in that's going to make

[25:08] your numbers project right higher

[25:11] assuming that that might be the trend

[25:13] >> so that's all worked into the formula

[25:15] when we look at so we don't even we look

[25:17] at we use the numbers that are in the

[25:19] school right now to run the numbers but

[25:23] what patterns is going to make those so

[25:25] those numbers are going to look

[25:26] different than what we have. We don't

[25:27] just roll up second to third. We look at

[25:29] the projections and the three-year

[25:31] history and the one-year history and

[25:34] then we take the highest and that's how

[25:35] we build the budget.

[25:36] >> Yeah.

[25:37] >> So if we are Yeah. If we

[25:39] >> fifth grade and ex and exiting fifth

[25:41] grade

[25:42] >> and exiting fifth grade is very large.

[25:44] >> They have they have five they have five

[25:46] classrooms, right?

[25:49] >> Yeah. That's great. Let's we'll have to

[25:52] solve for that one tonight, but um I

[25:54] know that

[25:54] >> that's on our October meeting, the

[25:56] study. So

[25:57] >> Okay, perfect.

[25:58] >> Yeah, perfect.

[25:59] >> All right. Thank you. Um so with those

[26:03] lots of new it's given us a great

[26:04] opportunity in the building to think

[26:06] about how we do things and what

[26:08] opportunities we have. The simplest

[26:10] example I can give is that in the

[26:12] office, one of the things we do, we

[26:13] still keep paper folders for every

[26:15] student and um they are sorted by class.

[26:19] So all of the kindergarters and with the

[26:20] kindergarten teachers and the first

[26:22] grader with the first grade teachers and

[26:23] our new admin was coming in and I said,

[26:25] "Well, one of the things you need to do

[26:27] is you'll have to graduate everyone. So

[26:28] you're going to take all the

[26:29] kindergarters out and put them into all

[26:30] the first grade folders." And Moren

[26:32] Markell, who's our new assistant

[26:33] principal, said, "Why?"

[26:36] Because that's how we do it. And she

[26:38] said, "Well, why don't you just go A to

[26:40] Z for the whole grade and then next year

[26:42] all you have to do is change the label

[26:44] on the front of the drawer."

[26:47] >> Right. So, it's also so it's little

[26:49] things like that. Um, and it's big

[26:51] things looking at curriculum. I was in

[26:52] Christine's uh grade level team meeting

[26:54] today and just it's such an opportunity

[26:56] to have so many new staff and new adults

[26:58] in the building to look at what we're

[27:00] doing and is that a best practice. So,

[27:02] it's been very exciting as we get

[27:04] started.

[27:04] >> Another reason for my weekly why.

[27:06] >> Yes.

[27:07] >> Questioning why we do things the way we

[27:09] do and should it stay that way.

[27:10] >> I love that.

[27:12] >> Yeah, absolutely. So, back to the school

[27:14] improvement plan and my excitement. Um

[27:17] the first goal uh near and dear to

[27:19] Heather's heart is our ELA curriculum

[27:21] review. Uh you many of you have lived

[27:23] through the math curriculum review. So a

[27:25] lot of this is familiar. Um we are

[27:27] piloting two programs as you know we're

[27:29] piloting uh fish tank and emerge. And

[27:33] across the two schools so for example in

[27:37] first grade if we are doing fish tank

[27:40] pineill is doing emerge

[27:43] all the way across. So that way we get

[27:44] lots of data across both schools and um

[27:48] lots of student results. So many grades

[27:50] we have two we always have at least one

[27:52] but often two teachers who are piloting

[27:55] as well. So we're getting lots of data

[27:56] and looking at that. So that whole first

[27:58] goal is the work that we will do which

[28:00] will the the structure will match very

[28:03] much what we did with the math pilot. So

[28:05] you'll get updates from us and we'll

[28:06] have the teacher input and student

[28:08] results. The big question that I heard

[28:10] from parents was the worry that if I was

[28:11] in a pilot classroom, um, my student

[28:14] would get a a different experience than

[28:17] everyone else. And we go back to

[28:19] everyone is taught the standards. So

[28:22] whether you get them through Emerge or

[28:24] whether you get them through our current

[28:26] ELA program, everyone will have the same

[28:29] instruction and experience by the time

[28:30] we get to the end of the year. So, and

[28:33] all of the pilot teachers are being

[28:35] supported by Priscilla Stefan, our

[28:38] literacy coach. So, it's been very

[28:40] exciting.

[28:42] >> Um,

[28:43] >> yep. Do we uh the comment by go to see

[28:46] or we

[28:48] >> Okay. Um, I think that is a question

[28:50] that comes back, but the question that

[28:52] has come back a lot too is are we fixing

[28:55] something that's broken and like why are

[28:58] we changing? we just change math and so I this is just a conversation that

[29:03] questions that are asked. So I think in

[29:05] a future weekly why that could be a good

[29:08] uh a good topic of just explaining

[29:10] because we had all these presentation

[29:11] that Denny did and all but not everybody

[29:15] loves Sherburn TV or Sherburn TV as much

[29:17] as I do. So I'm not sure uh that

[29:20] everybody saw but a quick tidbit just to

[29:22] explain that. And then my other question

[29:24] is when I I read the

[29:28] I guess I'm just

[29:30] wanting more clarity on how

[29:33] I don't see like how you I see observe

[29:38] classroom a lot of observation but is

[29:41] there like a standard test that gets

[29:43] passed to all three and we see okay who

[29:45] does better like how does how do we

[29:47] evaluate which one I'm assuming student

[29:50] engagement like I'm just wondering and

[29:53] I'd like more detail on that if

[29:55] possible.

[29:55] >> Yep. So I can do short answers to just

[29:58] feed your curiosity a bit and then we

[30:00] can come back with more. Um so the the

[30:03] first the why is um we have been working

[30:06] in uh with ELA programs referred to as

[30:08] Lucy Cawkins or the uh units of study

[30:11] which was um a a strong ELA program when

[30:14] it came out and it has great advantages

[30:17] to it and many disadvantages to it. It

[30:20] also happens to be a program that's no

[30:21] longer approved by the Massachusetts

[30:23] Department of Education. Uh which would

[30:25] be a really good reason not to use it

[30:26] anymore. Um I am personally very excited

[30:29] that we're going to look at this more

[30:31] comprehensive way of teaching which is

[30:32] called science of reading. So it's a

[30:34] whole philosophy which we can go back to

[30:36] slide decks which Denny presented but um

[30:39] basically it's a much more holistic look

[30:40] at how we read, write, use our speaking

[30:43] and language skills uh which are all

[30:45] part of the department of ed. And so

[30:47] these two programs are approved by the

[30:50] department of ed and ways to get to

[30:51] that. Did I miss anything? Do you want

[30:53] to throw anything on that?

[30:54] >> What I guess I guess maybe I read

[30:56] through the lines from L Ro's questions

[30:58] like what is how do we determine which

[30:59] is more successful?

[31:01] >> So we have a few different measures for that. Um we are using um some common

[31:07] assessments that we have um for that um

[31:10] assess uh fluency and comprehension. Um

[31:14] and then we also have um some uh the

[31:19] teachers that are piloting the program.

[31:22] We have um both um some quantitative and

[31:24] qualitative um data from them as well as

[31:27] far as the rubric that is being used

[31:29] about what um needs to go into um a high

[31:33] quality instructional material. And so

[31:35] it is um they have to kind of talk about

[31:39] um the engagement of students, the

[31:40] supports that are given, the um

[31:43] usability of the materials, the pace. So

[31:45] there's all those kinds of criteria um

[31:48] that we will be assessing as well kind

[31:50] of ongoing um as as frequent as a weekly

[31:54] basis. Um and then we have um meetings

[31:57] to try and um talk about those points

[32:00] with the teachers that are that are

[32:02] piloting across the district. Um so we

[32:04] have some um of that uh quantitative um

[32:08] data that we are using um but some of

[32:10] that qualitative as well.

[32:13] >> So

[32:15] thank you.

[32:15] >> It's about the how the teacher can

[32:18] implement it how the ease of teaching it

[32:20] or like the ease of understanding for

[32:22] the children.

[32:23] >> It's we are asking both you know how are

[32:26] the students engaged? What was the

[32:28] learning that the students got out of

[32:29] it? Um, so we have questions um that are

[32:32] talking about the implementation but

[32:34] also the learning that's taking place.

[32:36] Um, and we ask it regularly for for both

[32:40] programs at each grade level.

[32:42] >> But there's no testing like is there

[32:44] like do you test? Cuz my question I

[32:47] guess where I'm trying to get to is what

[32:50] if that program that we have right now

[32:53] >> that is not acceptable by the state

[32:56] anymore. um what if they get better

[32:58] grades with that program and that turns

[33:00] out that uh and how do we see if it's a

[33:04] better program? So during our our pilot,

[33:07] we have a baseline assessment in um in

[33:10] Dibbles which um assesses their uh

[33:13] fluency um and um their comprehension

[33:18] and so everyone takes that whether they

[33:20] are pilot classroom or non-pilot

[33:22] classroom um and then they are they we

[33:25] will look at those results again um at

[33:27] the end of the pilot as well. So that'd

[33:29] be one one measure that we're looking

[33:31] at. Okay.

[33:31] >> Um as far as how each of the the emerge

[33:36] classrooms do the um fish tank

[33:40] classrooms do and um the classrooms that

[33:43] are not piloting this year.

[33:44] >> So there's a whole rubric that sorry

[33:46] Tinder we're doing a whole there's a

[33:47] whole rubric that we go through um that

[33:49] looks at student performance engagement

[33:52] teacher engagement and so there's a

[33:54] whole metric from the state that helps

[33:56] us to figure out which curriculum best

[33:59] meet the needs of our students. So it's elaborate and long. It's the same

[34:04] rubric that we use with the math

[34:05] program.

[34:06] >> Oh, okay. Stay tuned. We'll keep Yes,

[34:10] student data is part of it.

[34:12] >> I just worry that like we're fixing

[34:13] something that's not broken, but it is

[34:15] broken because the program is not

[34:16] acceptable. So,

[34:18] >> well, unfortunately, because of

[34:20] politics, the program has evolved to

[34:21] include science of reading. But because

[34:23] there are certain companies with agendas

[34:26] and there's a wait list to be audited to

[34:28] determine if you meet the state

[34:29] criteria, Lucy Caucus has not been

[34:31] audited yet. So it's not on the list. So

[34:33] that's where we have to choose something

[34:34] else.

[34:35] >> The work that we've been doing with

[34:36] kids, thanks to the teachers bending

[34:38] over backwards and adapting the program

[34:40] and catching up with the new materials

[34:42] is meeting the needs of kids. But

[34:43] because it's not on the state um list of

[34:47] acceptable programs yet or if ever

[34:50] because of politics, we are turning to

[34:52] something else.

[34:53] >> Right? So we've started with that and

[34:54] then we've pieced on empowering writer,

[34:56] we've pieced on foundations, right?

[34:58] We've added all these pieces that we

[34:59] felt were missing from the core program.

[35:01] So we have this

[35:03] multi-armed ELA program that is based

[35:07] here in Lucy Caukins, but those other

[35:08] programs as well. So wouldn't it be nice

[35:10] if you had just one big

[35:12] >> clear program with a really clear

[35:14] vertical alignment? I think that to me

[35:15] the piece that's missing is that really

[35:16] clear piece about this is what happens

[35:18] at each grade level.

[35:19] >> Okay.

[35:20] >> So that's that's the goal.

[35:21] >> That image really helped me.

[35:23] >> Okay.

[35:26] » Around that very nicely.

[35:27] >> No, I did. It did. act like I understand

[35:29] better what you do. Thank you. No

[35:31] problem.

[35:31] >> I appreciate that. My question on goal

[35:34] one.

[35:34] >> All right. Ready for goal tool?

[35:37] >> I don't have questions.

[35:38] >> All right. Well, sorry. Um goal tool is the one that um is our

[35:47] chance to look at um all of the changes

[35:50] we made in the schedule. We did a lot of

[35:52] work last year. Teachers did a ton of

[35:54] work last year to make changes. Look at

[35:56] time on learning. look at minutes in

[35:58] classrooms and on content. And we've

[36:01] added in our health and wellness. We're

[36:03] adding in music workshop. We've cut back

[36:05] on Spanish. Um we've there's a lot

[36:08] that's happened and uh we're expanding

[36:10] library and technology. So, we really

[36:12] want to give ourselves the grace and

[36:15] time to this is a goal for this year is

[36:17] to live this schedule and look at what's

[36:19] working, what isn't working. We've

[36:20] already made some tweaks and changes.

[36:23] um we're looking at, you know, halfday

[36:25] Wednesdays and how do we use those and

[36:28] how do we look at professional

[36:30] development that is matched to the needs

[36:32] of the school. So this is just a big

[36:33] piece to like let's just live it for the

[36:36] year and then as we go along what

[36:39] changes do we need to make? We've

[36:40] already started with changes for the

[36:41] schedule for next year like oh that's

[36:42] going to change too. um let's live music

[36:45] workshop, right? So, it's that

[36:47] opportunity to just to do that work,

[36:49] live that work of from last year.

[36:52] >> This might be coming at the curriculum

[36:53] night.

[36:55] >> Um

[36:57] knowing how big of a community

[36:58] discussion the Spanish decision was.

[37:02] >> Is there an opportunity to sort of

[37:03] refresh what parents should expect the

[37:05] overall curriculum to look like to say

[37:07] like this is

[37:08] >> for Spanish?

[37:09] >> No. holistically cuz we reduce Spanish

[37:11] in favor in favor of adding other

[37:13] things. And it'd be nice to to kind of

[37:16] give that nod to what is being added and

[37:19] why we're so excited for it.

[37:20] >> I agree.

[37:21] >> And why it's required.

[37:23] >> Why it's required. Yeah. Um I lied. I

[37:26] actually had a question on my second

[37:27] page, but um I was wondering because

[37:30] there a lot was said too about the

[37:33] changes in the schedule to accommodate

[37:35] transition times and that time was

[37:36] wasted and this survey was passed on to

[37:39] the teacher where they were um telling

[37:43] you what their ideals would be and the things is are we going to compare in

[37:48] your evaluation of it? Like are you

[37:50] going to reissue that same survey and

[37:52] see if that effectively met their needs?

[37:55] I think is that part of the

[37:56] >> we'll do a similar survey. I think there

[37:58] were some flaws in the way that we

[37:59] gathered all the data in that one but

[38:01] we'll be looking at those pieces. So

[38:02] there's um an example of these

[38:04] transitions which is because there

[38:06] weren't many but it seems to be a piece

[38:07] that's like people are hanging on to is

[38:10] you might um in the old schedule have

[38:12] come out of lunch and you had this like

[38:13] weird 10 minutes before you had to go to

[38:15] Spanish, right? And it's just kind of

[38:17] the way the whole blocks roll through

[38:18] because most of the items in the

[38:20] schedule go in 45minute blocks. Um,

[38:22] except lunch didn't exactly and now it

[38:25] does. So there's like so those weird

[38:27] 10-minute pieces like

[38:29] 10 minutes. Well, if it's winter time in

[38:30] your first grade, you're getting your

[38:32] snow pants off and on, right? But in

[38:34] other grades, so there's like those

[38:35] little some of those little weird 10 15

[38:38] minute pieces have been

[38:40] absorbed other ways by moving pieces

[38:42] around.

[38:43] >> So changing like when specials start and

[38:45] end.

[38:46] >> I think it stayed in people's mind

[38:47] because that was the argument used um

[38:50] during the presentation too.

[38:51] >> Yeah. It was It's real. Yeah.

[38:53] >> Yeah. Um Okay. And the other thing, the

[38:56] other I know you said at the end of the

[38:58] year we're going to live our It just

[38:59] seems like a lot to wait till the end

[39:02] like will you update us you think

[39:04] quarterly or half the year or this is um

[39:07] >> Yeah. So we'll um we'll need to have a

[39:09] lot of

[39:11] um our responses and reactions to this

[39:13] sooner. We start rebuilding the schedule

[39:15] in March. Okay. So like when we start

[39:17] doing placement and then we start

[39:19] there's also a parallel scheduling

[39:21] committee. So a lot of that work starts

[39:22] up in the spring.

[39:23] >> Okay.

[39:25] >> And there might be small shifts to the

[39:26] schedule but I think when we were

[39:27] discussing this we all agreed that we're

[39:29] going to have to live with the new

[39:30] content content areas and specials being

[39:32] what they are for at least a year.

[39:34] >> I don't think it's fair and to to decide

[39:36] now that oh we need less technology than

[39:38] we anticipated with not even having met

[39:40] the standards through June yet.

[39:42] >> Oh no totally. But if you feel like it's

[39:44] always good to communicate if it works

[39:45] well.

[39:46] >> Yeah. Oh yeah. So I think they'll be

[39:48] looking at different pieces at different

[39:49] times. And has the the health and

[39:51] wellness has that launched?

[39:53] >> So how how many times a week are the

[39:56] different like roughly how many times a

[39:57] week are the different or month are the

[39:59] different grades

[40:00] >> getting I just I miss Mr. K. I haven't

[40:02] seen him all year.

[40:06] » So two parts to that. So everyone has

[40:09] six specials now. So everyone has one day a week where they have a double

[40:13] special all the students health and

[40:15] wellness sits on top of that and um Jim

[40:19] splits between Pineh Hill and Chering.

[40:21] So roughly he's at Pine Hill Monday,

[40:24] Tuesdays and with us Thursday, Fridays

[40:26] and then his whole schedule is broken

[40:29] into nineweek chunks. So he'll be with

[40:32] K2 and I'm going to get his grades

[40:35] wrong.

[40:36] three of the grades, K2, four, let's

[40:38] say, for now, he'll do nine weeks with

[40:40] them. So, he'll go in and do a half an

[40:41] hour lesson um in those classrooms. And

[40:45] then the next nine weeks, he'll do the

[40:47] other three grades. So, he flips like

[40:49] that through the year.

[40:50] >> Okay.

[40:50] >> Um so, if you don't have health now, you

[40:54] will in nine weeks have a half an hour

[40:57] health lesson once a week.

[40:59] >> Okay, that makes sense. Thank you. Um

[41:01] and

[41:01] >> the time is filled with other stuff now.

[41:03] >> Yes. Yeah, it's in the classroom time.

[41:04] Yeah.

[41:04] >> And this was just curiosity. What is

[41:06] character strong?

[41:09] >> It's a good one.

[41:09] >> It is a good one. So, Character Strong

[41:11] is the curriculum curriculum that we

[41:13] adopted. I'm sorry my back. Um that we

[41:17] adopted um last spring. Okay. It's um

[41:21] Pineh Hill and Chering use it as well as

[41:23] the middle school and high school. Um it

[41:26] is a social emotional curriculum which

[41:29] we heard from teachers and parents alike

[41:31] that we needed to bring something in.

[41:32] Responsive classroom is a way of framing

[41:35] your day and framing your classroom and

[41:37] how you

[41:39] respond and react to your peers and

[41:42] others. Um, character strong is that

[41:44] piece that like the unit for September

[41:46] is kindness and it's all about how to be

[41:48] kind and it's um kids are the ones

[41:52] talking to your kids and so the they're

[41:54] very engaging and there's lessons and

[41:56] games and it feels very much like

[41:58] responsive cluster but it's that very

[41:59] specific piece about like someone is

[42:01] saying at a table all by themsel how do

[42:03] you go over and say hi right so it's

[42:05] like that really basic how to how to be

[42:06] a kind person the next one all of

[42:08] October is respect so it's we're slowly

[42:11] rolling it out it's set up So, you do a

[42:12] few pieces in September and then by

[42:14] October it'll be full-on um character

[42:16] stroke.

[42:17] >> Wonderful.

[42:18] >> It's exciting.

[42:19] >> How have the Have um

[42:23] have the afterchool language programs

[42:26] been a hit yet?

[42:28] >> They have not signed They've not started

[42:30] yet.

[42:30] >> They haven't started or how's

[42:33] enrollment?

[42:33] >> So, we not It's sort of low. I'll be

[42:36] honest.

[42:36] >> It's It's what?

[42:37] >> Low.

[42:38] >> It's low.

[42:38] >> Yeah.

[42:39] We're running um

[42:41] >> we're have oneonone one-on-one tutoring

[42:43] time on Spanish.

[42:44] >> Not quite it. So they'll they'll run a

[42:46] class with at least um eight and we've

[42:48] asked them to run a class with at least

[42:49] six.

[42:50] >> Okay.

[42:50] >> Um so we are doing um uh K2 French, K2

[42:56] span Spanish, and then 35 French and 35

[42:59] Spanish. Um so we're running all of

[43:01] them. Um but we definitely have still

[43:04] space. Okay. Um, I think the Christine

[43:07] Dey is was sending out I think Friday

[43:08] she sent out a are you you know we're

[43:11] still looking people want to sign up.

[43:13] Um, and so we're we're running

[43:17] everything that we published.

[43:18] >> Yeah.

[43:19] >> Um, I will say I think at Pine Hill was

[43:21] the only place we had to we had to

[43:23] collapse too because we didn't have

[43:25] enough. Um, but we are running

[43:27] everything that was shown. Now, it could

[43:30] be that we'll still run them in the

[43:31] winter because this, you know, we'll be

[43:33] able to to either continue but also add

[43:36] new sections. So, it'll we'll just sit

[43:38] back and see. I know that part of

[43:40] community eds um drive too is to bring

[43:43] other new things too. So, I think she's

[43:45] worked really hard to add some new

[43:48] classes um and we're, you know, seeing

[43:51] great response to I think there's weight

[43:53] list for a couple of the classes. So I

[43:55] think it's variety but we definitely um

[43:59] have offered that for those who want to

[44:01] participate and then I think the the

[44:03] information went out through parent

[44:04] square of if you don't want to do it

[44:06] after school here's some other

[44:08] >> options that parents have if you want to

[44:10] sort of fill that in.

[44:11] >> I think it's an important initiative.

[44:13] I'm disappointing that attendance is

[44:14] low. I suspect it'll grow.

[44:17] >> Yeah.

[44:17] >> But it was a very difficult decision and

[44:20] I know we promised this to the community

[44:23] and it's really it's like I'm really

[44:24] impressed that when I when I saw it come

[44:26] through I was really pleased that it had

[44:28] and um

[44:30] >> well global global child was here before

[44:32] we had

[44:33] >> um in school as much. So it was a

[44:36] relationship that we had

[44:38] >> and they predominantly then um

[44:42] >> uh administered classes through public

[44:45] schools. So NATIC has I think a pretty

[44:47] big global child program. They have lots

[44:49] of languages. So that's why we did the

[44:51] survey to see what people wanted. I will

[44:53] say the results back from Cherine were

[44:56] like 73% wanted Spanish. Um and then the

[44:59] second language was French which is why

[45:02] we added French. whereas Pineh Hill it

[45:05] was almost like 50/50 Spanish and

[45:08] French. Um so that met that was great

[45:11] that we could do um the same languages

[45:14] in both because that was sort of the

[45:16] desire of of the clients of the

[45:19] community. Um so I I be curious to see

[45:23] hopefully I mean it's a well established

[45:26] program. Um they have their own

[45:28] curriculum. I think that the issue I

[45:31] struggle with is how that's going to

[45:32] work in with what our kids already know

[45:36] with Spanish and what it how it

[45:38] incorporates with what our um Spanish

[45:42] program is still doing. So it's not

[45:44] conflicting to a student. So that will

[45:48] time will tell for that. But um that and they know that they have to adapt in

[45:54] the older grades that you've got

[45:56] students that already have some bases.

[45:58] So I think their first sessions will be

[46:00] just like let's find the help we need

[46:03] and they will um amend their their

[46:05] curriculum um appropriately

[46:07] >> and French is going to be all new

[46:09] because

[46:10] >> French is all new

[46:12] >> and really it's the it's the art of

[46:14] learning the language is what brings to

[46:17] the so the your brain development right

[46:19] that's why we brought um plus back or or

[46:22] any world language into the school was

[46:24] the the benefits that you were supposed

[46:26] to see in math and ELA just making your

[46:30] brain sort of learn that foreign

[46:32] language. So any of it's beneficial.

[46:37] >> So yeah, I'm sure we'll be I'm sure um

[46:39] community ed'll we'll look at, you know,

[46:41] get a survey and just see people like it

[46:43] and I'm sure the numbers will tell us

[46:45] that too. Um but yeah, everything's

[46:47] running and um just looking for a space.

[46:51] I think just to uh piggyback on the

[46:55] enrollment and everything, but I think

[46:57] just like we're testing this new

[46:59] schedule for at least a year, we should

[47:01] not take these numbers as an indicator.

[47:04] >> Nope, we're we're not and we were ready

[47:06] for more. So, we were we were nervous.

[47:08] Um so there is there is capacity um and

[47:11] then there's capacity, you know, um with

[47:14] the to even double. So, we're we're in

[47:17] good shape. And then my other question

[47:18] on that topic is um who runs the the

[47:22] community ad is it us the

[47:24] >> it's the region

[47:25] >> the region

[47:26] >> um because the comment that we hear and

[47:29] that we totally agree with. It's like

[47:32] they don't want to get paid like this

[47:33] system that they have is so hard.

[47:36] >> So it's a brand new system.

[47:38] >> Oh is it?

[47:38] >> Yes. So we moved to Arbiter Scheduling

[47:42] which is where you sign up and then the

[47:44] payment is going into Unipay which we

[47:47] use for so much which the town we do

[47:49] taxes. So it is like it's two systems

[47:53] now um but we lost our old payment

[47:56] system which was um

[47:59] >> embedded in the registration. So we this

[48:02] is both two brand new well brand new

[48:04] system for Arbiter. So, we've had to

[48:06] build the schedule. Um, and then we

[48:08] added it to UniPe. So, any feedback you

[48:11] have, let let me know.

[48:12] >> Okay. I'll write you an email with how

[48:13] hard it was because you could register.

[48:17] >> Trying to pay took me like

[48:18] >> Yeah.

[48:20] >> It shouldn't It shouldn't be that hard.

[48:23] >> But it shouldn't be that hard though cuz

[48:24] you just go to Uni and there's a

[48:26] >> You couldn't find You had to put D for

[48:30] it to pop. But if you put Dover,

[48:32] >> you had to put Dover Dash server for it

[48:34] to pop up. No, not even. It's the only

[48:37] like we had to find the trick to like it

[48:39] was

[48:39] >> Yeah, I know. Because you can't link the

[48:40] place. It takes you to you pay and you

[48:42] have to come.

[48:42] >> But it said like copy this and put it

[48:44] there. So if you did that, you couldn't

[48:45] pay. So anyway, I'll send you an email

[48:47] separine.

[48:50] Christine's hearing it as well.

[48:52] >> Oh yeah.

[48:53] >> But you know what? By the time you

[48:55] figure it out though, you'll be great

[48:56] cuz everything here at the region, we

[48:58] pay on to pay. There's no practice. I'm

[49:01] surprised I hadn't gotten a complaint

[49:02] from my household on that cuz I'm

[49:04] normally the form guy.

[49:05] >> Maybe you haven't paid yet.

[49:06] >> It's possible.

[49:08] >> It's finding um Dober to finding the

[49:11] link cuz you town of Dover, but you

[49:13] can't go to town of Dover. But you Oh,

[49:15] yeah. I pay my excise tax. I need to pay

[49:17] for town of Dover now. So,

[49:18] >> yeah. But thank God Don pays attention

[49:19] to every detail because she realized

[49:21] that my family paid for parking twice.

[49:23] >> They can get a reimbursement.

[49:25] >> There you go. for

[49:26] >> I split up

[49:26] >> high school parking.

[49:27] >> Oh, high school parking

[49:29] >> by accident parking.

[49:30] >> We didn't know. We just wanted the print

[49:33] to go through. So, we pressed send 12

[49:35] times.

[49:37] >> So, we will work we'll try to work out

[49:39] those kinks, but Unipe is something that

[49:41] we use every day here at the region. So,

[49:45] >> you'll be you'll be ready to roll. But I

[49:47] know it's confusing cuz even when I go

[49:49] sometimes to see what the site looks

[49:50] like from the user end,

[49:54] you have to type weirdly to get Dover

[49:55] Sherbert to show up.

[49:56] >> It sounds as bad as Aspen,

[49:58] >> right?

[49:59] >> That's true. Perspective there.

[50:00] >> Yeah.

[50:01] >> Or August.

[50:03] Yeah.

[50:04] >> Yeah.

[50:05] >> All right. What goal number three got?

[50:11] Um so goal three is looking at um

[50:13] increasing student engagement through

[50:15] active responsive learning. Um so that

[50:17] is looking at um how are our students

[50:20] engaging in their learning. Um it

[50:22] actually ties nicely the work we've been

[50:24] doing at the leadership meetings. Um all

[50:26] of the um school leaders are working

[50:29] have been working I think every

[50:30] Wednesday since we started the school

[50:32] year at looking at how we um align our

[50:34] observations and look at student

[50:36] engagement. What does that look like in

[50:37] the classroom? Um are we engaged or are

[50:40] we compliant is really one of those big

[50:41] questions. So we're doing that work at

[50:43] our level. Um, it's also including a

[50:46] screen time audit, which I'm very

[50:47] excited for.

[50:48] >> Yeah, that's wonderful.

[50:49] >> Um, because I've got any number of

[50:51] kiddos who go home and tell their

[50:52] parents that they were on their iPad all

[50:53] day, and I can 100% guarantee that they

[50:56] were not on their iPad all day. Um,

[50:58] partly because they haven't been out in

[50:59] some classrooms yet. Um, but it's just

[51:01] that piece of like how much are we using

[51:02] and are we using the screens

[51:04] purposefully, right? Is it what's what's

[51:06] the purpose of that? So, Heather's

[51:07] leading up that group, Heather and

[51:09] Brandon are leading that one up. So, I'm

[51:10] looking forward to that one. Um and then

[51:12] looking at all of the ways that we do

[51:14] instruction. So it's using pieces from

[51:16] perhaps a pilot lesson. How do we use

[51:18] that in the classroom? Use a strategy

[51:20] across. So a lot more um interprof

[51:22] professional development. We found that

[51:24] um when we do that as a district when

[51:26] you have a local expert or a local

[51:28] person within speak and train it's uh

[51:30] very powerful. So we'll be looking at

[51:33] projectbased learning and um looking at

[51:36] engagement across the school. So we'll

[51:38] be sharing that with you. Um we will

[51:40] continue our learning walks. If you

[51:41] recall, that was one of the goals from

[51:42] last year.

[51:43] >> We I'm sorry. You just tell us a little

[51:44] more what is a learning walk.

[51:46] >> Absolutely. So, um learning walks can

[51:49] take different forms. Um generally it's

[51:53] an opportunity when um a coach or Moren

[51:57] or I will lead a group of people who are

[51:59] interested in looking at what does

[52:00] engagement look like in a kindergarten

[52:02] classroom or how do I um what's

[52:05] engagement look like in a in a book club

[52:07] in third grade and you have three or

[52:09] four teachers who are interested. it

[52:10] might be the other third grade teachers

[52:12] and we as a group um decide what we're

[52:14] looking for. We go in and we watch a

[52:16] classroom and then we come out and we

[52:17] talk about it and discuss and perhaps

[52:19] that teacher who is teaching joins us.

[52:21] Um or it may be what does um grammar

[52:24] instruction look like in fifth grade if

[52:26] I'm in kindergarten. So, it's it's

[52:27] finding all these pieces that people are

[52:29] interested in, gathering groups and

[52:30] going in to observe and and watch

[52:33] classrooms. Usually a couple of

[52:34] classrooms. The hardest piece of it is

[52:36] arranging coverage. believe it or not,

[52:37] it's just the logistics of getting it

[52:39] set up so that I can steal two teachers

[52:40] to go watch a third teacher, but then I

[52:42] need pe people with those, you know,

[52:44] it's one of those pieces, but we did

[52:46] them last year and got great acclaim

[52:48] once we got people ready to to jump in.

[52:50] So, it's good.

[52:52] >> Yeah. Thank you. Um, the last questions

[52:56] on that one. N uh the last goal is

[52:59] different uh from Pine Hill. This is a

[53:01] chering only goal right now. Um, think

[53:04] of who are the people in your

[53:05] neighborhood is really what this comes

[53:06] from. So, we're going to use our school

[53:08] advisory council who asked for homework

[53:10] so they'll have homework. Um, and it's

[53:12] looking at making those connections

[53:13] across uh the community. Who are the

[53:15] people in Dover and Sherburn and Boston

[53:17] who um want to come into the schools or

[53:21] might be interested in coming to share

[53:22] what their professional or personal

[53:24] experience would be? You might have some

[53:26] tinkerers in third grade and we have an

[53:28] inventor in town. Wouldn't it be nice if

[53:30] we could set up a time for them to meet

[53:32] and share ideas and make connections? We

[53:34] might have um a retired teacher in town

[53:37] who wants to come back and read to a

[53:39] classroom. Perhaps there's someone who

[53:40] said they should have been a teacher and

[53:41] they want to come back and read to a

[53:42] classroom. Um so this looking at those

[53:44] connections for who's in the community

[53:46] and what desires do we have in the

[53:48] school to connect or reach out to. Um so

[53:52] we we'll see how that plays out and what

[53:55] opportunities arise from that. So

[53:58] looking at that and

[53:59] >> it sounds it sounds like something that

[54:02] maybe would have fostered something like

[54:03] Girls on the Run, which was a massive

[54:06] success.

[54:06] >> Yes, it was.

[54:07] >> Um really that was a really special

[54:08] program and the stroll like the the

[54:12] integration now with the woman who is

[54:14] the the CEO living in Dover was like

[54:16] such a serendipitous street. It's like

[54:18] really cool.

[54:19] >> Yeah, it was a great great piece.

[54:23] >> So there we are.

[54:24] >> Wonderful.

[54:24] >> I think we'll be busy.

[54:25] >> Yeah. So I respectfully request your

[54:29] approval of our school approval.

[54:31] >> All right.

[54:33] Um so

[54:38] action then. So may I have

[54:43] do I do this? I have a motion.

[54:45] >> Motion to approve the checkering school

[54:47] improvement plan. Second read.

[54:49] >> K. So moved.

[54:51] >> We have a second and we're going to take

[54:53] a roll call because goalie is virtual.

[54:55] So, goalie supper.

[55:00] » Goalie suppair. Yes.

[55:02] >> Kevin yes.

[55:05] >> Kate Kate Cook, yes.

[55:07] >> Rosowski, yes.

[55:08] >> And Jesse Hill, yes. The um action item

[55:12] is approved unanimously.

[55:16] » Thanks.

[55:17] >> Y. So the second action item tonight is

[55:20] the appointment of the MECO leaison to

[55:22] the school committee who is Sally Princy

[55:25] who is joining us virtually.

[55:28] Anything that you'd like to add?

[55:32] >> No, I would just like to thank Sally for coming back and Sally I don't know

[55:35] if there's anything you'd like to share.

[55:37] >> Uh so I just wanted to thank you again

[55:39] for uh appointing me the co leaison. I

[55:42] really appreciate this opportunity to

[55:44] continue again this year. As a MECO

[55:48] family and also a member of the Meco

[55:51] Parent Council, which is our group of

[55:53] parents that meet once a month, I feel

[55:55] it's very important that we're able to

[55:57] have this role and be able to go back to

[56:00] our families and inform them of all the

[56:03] decisions that are being made in our

[56:05] schools because I'm not sure they would

[56:07] have the opportunity to, you know, get

[56:10] this information otherwise. So, we

[56:12] really appreciate the role and thank you

[56:14] for appointing me again, Mr.

[56:16] We appreciate your time. Um, all right.

[56:20] May I have a motion to approve um, Sally

[56:23] Fernstein as the Metcoison to the school

[56:26] committee?

[56:27] >> Kevin Milky. Motion to approve.

[56:30] >> Do we have a second?

[56:32] >> Spooky second.

[56:33] >> Wonderful. Um, now we're going to do

[56:35] roll call. Um, starting with goalie.

[56:38] >> Goalie. Yes.

[56:40] >> Kevin.

[56:40] Yes.

[56:41] >> K.

[56:42] Cook. Yes.

[56:43] >> Spasky. Yes.

[56:44] >> And Jesse Hull. Yes. The motion um to

[56:47] appoint Sally Fernstein as the

[56:49] Metalazison is approved unanimously.

[56:52] All right, moving.

[56:54] >> Thank you. Um next on the agenda is

[56:57] consent items, which is the approval of

[57:00] building rental fees, the approval of

[57:02] FY2027 non-resident tuition, and the

[57:05] approval of DSC minutes June 22nd, 2026.

[57:10] June 2nd, 2026. Does it make sense for

[57:13] Don to give you a little bit of context

[57:14] about the first two?

[57:17] >> Yeah. So, um, we looked, um, across all

[57:20] three districts at our building rental

[57:23] rates. Uh, we try to do it like every 3

[57:25] to four years. We also, one of the main

[57:28] drivers was the new turf. Um, we wanted

[57:30] to make sure the rates that we were

[57:32] charging at the region made sense. So,

[57:34] when we open up that can of worms, you

[57:36] want to look at everything. We also took

[57:38] some time to look at our neighboring

[57:40] communities to see where we stood with

[57:42] what we're charging. Um, and we also

[57:45] realized that there probably was a

[57:47] benefit mainly at the region. We don't

[57:49] see that many non-town groups use

[57:52] Cherine or Pineh Hill. Um, but we did

[57:55] segregate and have two sets of rate. So,

[57:57] if you're in town group, you you pay a

[57:59] lower rate than if you're an out of town

[58:01] group. Um we are also one of our biggest

[58:04] um uh renters is the the basketball the

[58:07] youth basketball program and you know we

[58:10] realized that there was some handshake

[58:12] agreements at some of the schools and

[58:13] the the rates weren't really what we

[58:15] posted. So we wanted to clean all that

[58:17] up. So we um also took time to make sure

[58:20] what is the fair rate to charge per hour

[58:22] at all of our gyms. Um so that was also

[58:24] another piece that we wanted um to sort

[58:27] of clear up. The last piece is that on

[58:29] weekends when um school's not open, you

[58:32] cannot uh rent the school without a

[58:34] custodian being on staff. And obviously,

[58:36] we just did a new contract for the

[58:38] custodian, so we need to keep pace um

[58:41] with their pay rates and what we're

[58:42] charging. So, that was the other piece

[58:44] that switch. So, we're asking um each of

[58:47] the committees to approve the rates.

[58:49] Your rates are exactly the same as Pine

[58:51] Hills. Um the only difference is there's

[58:53] some spaces they have that you don't

[58:54] have vice versa. So it looks a little

[58:56] different but we've kept the rates the

[58:58] same across both communities. Um on the

[59:00] non-resident tuition annually because

[59:03] you are running the connections program

[59:06] and we have students from uh Sherburn um

[59:09] tuitioning in you have to as a school

[59:12] committee know what that tuition rate

[59:14] is. We follow our protocol is we follow

[59:16] the uh uh per pupil expenditure based on

[59:20] the DESIE reported um it's actually

[59:24] coming from our end of the year report

[59:25] but based on their website what our

[59:27] fiscal year most recent fiscal year 25

[59:30] is right they're still trying to do the

[59:31] 26 we're actually doing 26 now um and so

[59:34] that is the base rate keep in mind that

[59:37] if there are additional services that

[59:39] those students um um obtain in addition

[59:42] to if they have um specified educational

[59:46] assistance support that is added to this

[59:49] base rate. Um so this is the base and

[59:52] then we add to that based on each

[59:53] individual students IEP.

[59:56] >> Well, I'm not familiar with that

[59:57] program. What

[59:58] >> the connections program?

[1:00:00] >> Is that basically a a Sherborn student

[1:00:02] family could opt to send their kid to

[1:00:04] >> No, you don't opt special education

[1:00:06] program.

[1:00:06] >> Special education.

[1:00:07] >> Yes. Yes. Yes. So you'd have to qualify

[1:00:09] and the team uh of educators and parents

[1:00:12] who meet would have to decide that is

[1:00:13] the appropriate program for them versus

[1:00:15] sending them to a collaborative or

[1:00:16] another.

[1:00:17] >> But some don't some do families choose

[1:00:20] that all the special education comes

[1:00:21] through do

[1:00:22] >> for that specific program

[1:00:25] >> that program.

[1:00:25] >> Yeah. So Sherburn students who attend

[1:00:27] there are considered out of district for

[1:00:28] do. So they pay a fee to come.

[1:00:30] >> But there are dober students in the

[1:00:32] program.

[1:00:33] >> Sure. Okay. So connect well. Okay. So

[1:00:35] connections is a special education

[1:00:37] program.

[1:00:38] >> Exactly.

[1:00:38] >> Sherburn doesn't offer it. So we allow

[1:00:41] >> it was at Sherburn when it when it

[1:00:43] started.

[1:00:44] >> Okay.

[1:00:45] >> Um and then the numbers were such that

[1:00:47] there was a larger cohort of Cherine

[1:00:50] students and so we moved the program

[1:00:53] because Cherine used to tuition in

[1:00:55] students

[1:00:56] >> to Pineh Hill.

[1:00:57] >> I see.

[1:00:57] >> Um and so now the role is a reverse. So

[1:00:59] you guys created your non-resident um

[1:01:02] tuition fund. Um, and now they're the

[1:01:04] funds that go in there. And if you

[1:01:06] remember, I mentioned that as a

[1:01:07] potential funding source when we added

[1:01:09] these two classroom educators

[1:01:11] postbudget. Um, that is a a a a

[1:01:15] revolving fund that we have access to to

[1:01:18] fun things that happen during the day.

[1:01:20] And so we could say, okay, part of one

[1:01:21] of the connections staff members, we're

[1:01:24] going to charge to that fund. Um, so

[1:01:26] it's it's definitely a nice um sort of

[1:01:30] um uh fund to have set aside for things

[1:01:33] that we need to do that we might not

[1:01:35] have budgetarily available. Um same

[1:01:37] thing Sherburn used it twice over the

[1:01:40] time that they had um the connections in

[1:01:42] their prek program. So just back in the

[1:01:44] day, Dober didn't have a prek program.

[1:01:46] We actually tuition prek students into

[1:01:48] Pine Hills, right?

[1:01:50] >> PreK program. So, um, with that money

[1:01:53] twice, um, Sherburn's added, um, staff

[1:01:56] or sections after budget because it it

[1:01:59] sort of gives you that low.

[1:02:00] >> Does Sherborn have some special

[1:02:01] education just not as robust as do? Is

[1:02:04] that why we or is it is the connections

[1:02:06] does all do all those students

[1:02:09] participate in connections via Miss

[1:02:11] Windsor's class?

[1:02:12] >> No, no, that's prek. It's just

[1:02:14] integrated prek. Yeah, connections is a

[1:02:16] K actually K12. We have a a strand K12

[1:02:19] for connections. So it's a specific

[1:02:21] identified learning disability that the

[1:02:24] connections program serves. Okay.

[1:02:25] >> And it's better to have them together

[1:02:27] the students from do and Sherburn

[1:02:29] because it creates a bigger cohort and

[1:02:30] it also makes resources more efficient.

[1:02:32] >> For sure. Totally get it.

[1:02:33] >> Whereas Mr. Sherburn has of course an

[1:02:35] array of of services as well.

[1:02:38] >> That's a very specific

[1:02:39] >> It's a specific type of

[1:02:40] >> Exactly. Because you have other special

[1:02:42] education students.

[1:02:43] >> That's what I was trying to figure. So

[1:02:45] this is just

[1:02:45] >> the service is a specific part of the

[1:02:47] population and

[1:02:48] >> Exactly. Right.

[1:02:49] >> Thank you. John, I just want on this

[1:02:51] topic, I just want to make sure so that

[1:02:53] I understood what you said. The 24,646,

[1:02:57] you gave them that data, then they put

[1:02:59] it on their website and you base

[1:03:01] yourself. Is that the actual cost?

[1:03:03] >> That's the actual cost based on we file

[1:03:05] annually um our end of the year report.

[1:03:07] So the state takes that information. So

[1:03:09] you can go on to the desi website

[1:03:11] >> and it's the

[1:03:12] >> and you can see yes, it's the dos in

[1:03:14] district per pupil cost.

[1:03:15] >> So that's the Okay, good.

[1:03:16] >> Yes.

[1:03:17] >> Thank you. um and that's when we set up

[1:03:19] the motion to create sort of the

[1:03:22] non-resident that is the basis on which

[1:03:24] we said we would charge tuition. I will

[1:03:26] say that the um just got an update um

[1:03:29] this week or last week that the

[1:03:31] department of ed has um uh developed a

[1:03:34] new tool for um programs that bring

[1:03:39] tuition in students to special ed. So I

[1:03:42] have to see how this is going to impact

[1:03:43] that. But in the interim this is what

[1:03:45] we've always done. But now I think that

[1:03:48] more and more that's happening where

[1:03:51] programs in a public school then will

[1:03:53] tuition in from others cuz it's right

[1:03:54] cost effective. You've got the the

[1:03:56] cohort of students. And so I think

[1:03:58] Department of Ed is probably saying we

[1:04:00] need to probably look at this a little

[1:04:02] bit closer and here's this calculator

[1:04:04] that you're supposed to use if you

[1:04:05] tuition in um someone into your public

[1:04:08] school into your district from another

[1:04:10] district. Um so

[1:04:11] >> isn't it the point of the collectives?

[1:04:14] >> The collaborives.

[1:04:15] >> They're collaborives. Yes. Well, so the

[1:04:17] collaborative um pool, right, so that

[1:04:19] they can run programs because you've got

[1:04:21] a cohort of students. Yes.

[1:04:24] >> But it's still better for us to do it in

[1:04:25] district. We had enough in both schools

[1:04:28] to be able to to combine, but sometimes

[1:04:29] we'll have one in Dover and one in

[1:04:31] Sherburn and that's rely on the

[1:04:32] >> if we were to bring them in from non

[1:04:34] Dober or Sherurn districts that would be

[1:04:36] >> Yeah. So we the right now the agreement

[1:04:37] that we have was just between the two

[1:04:39] committees. Do and Sherburn agreed

[1:04:42] >> um to do this pool. At this point, we're

[1:04:45] not accepting students from other

[1:04:47] districts.

[1:04:48] >> Yeah.

[1:04:49] >> And then just on the um building rental

[1:04:51] fees,

[1:04:52] >> um I had a question.

[1:04:56] Why don't outside group pay for

[1:04:58] custodial service during the week?

[1:05:01] >> Um cuz during the week we have um

[1:05:04] custodians work until 10:00. So there's already someone there. The

[1:05:10] reason why you pay for custodians so

[1:05:12] that there's someone there when the

[1:05:13] building to have the building open on

[1:05:15] the weekends

[1:05:16] >> until 10 o'clock at night. We have a

[1:05:18] full complement of custodial staff

[1:05:20] there. They're there anyway, so we don't

[1:05:23] charge.

[1:05:23] >> Sure.

[1:05:24] >> Yeah.

[1:05:25] >> But it arguably adds to their workload

[1:05:28] to have this group come or

[1:05:29] >> um Well, we don't have very many outside

[1:05:32] non-Town groups. Our our predominant

[1:05:35] group are the youth um sports programs.

[1:05:38] Okay.

[1:05:38] >> Yeah. And so that's gener I mean, you

[1:05:40] know, we we um if we charge the

[1:05:43] basketball for all the times that

[1:05:45] they're here during the week, they

[1:05:46] probably you probably pay $5 $600. I I

[1:05:49] don't know what you pay now, but it's a

[1:05:51] huge So, it's a way that uh our guys are

[1:05:53] there anyway. It's not a little it's no

[1:05:55] extra work. And if something happens, we

[1:05:58] have someone's trained in the building

[1:06:00] um who can take care of it. And then

[1:06:02] it's just whatever the cleanup is

[1:06:04] afterwards. But um as long as we don't

[1:06:06] have to bring someone in who's not

[1:06:08] scheduled to be in, you don't get

[1:06:09] charged.

[1:06:10] >> Okay.

[1:06:10] >> Thank you. Did you say that there was

[1:06:12] there is currently space available for

[1:06:15] like more groups to book?

[1:06:17] >> No.

[1:06:18] >> Okay. I thought

[1:06:19] >> I mean we're not Are you looking Are you

[1:06:21] actively seeking? We are not We do not

[1:06:23] do this for a fundraiser. We do this but

[1:06:26] No, but we're not looking. We want to

[1:06:27] serve those

[1:06:29] >> Okay.

[1:06:29] >> um groups that need the space, but we're

[1:06:31] not looking to expand it.

[1:06:33] >> Okay. I do know that field space is

[1:06:36] limited in the town of Bover. So they're

[1:06:37] always looking

[1:06:38] >> Well, field space that's mainly here,

[1:06:40] right?

[1:06:40] >> Yeah. Yeah.

[1:06:41] >> We don't do any field space at either

[1:06:43] one of the elementaryaries.

[1:06:45] >> Got it. Right.

[1:06:46] >> Yeah.

[1:06:46] >> Okay.

[1:06:47] >> So, there's a whole another different

[1:06:48] rental fee schedule for the region that

[1:06:52] covers the

[1:06:52] >> turf. Got it. Okay.

[1:06:55] All right. Any other questions? The

[1:06:56] consent items? We can approve all of

[1:06:58] these at once. So, do I have a motion to

[1:07:01] approve um all the consent items listed?

[1:07:04] The approval of the building rental

[1:07:05] fees, the approval of the FY2297

[1:07:08] non-resident tuition, and the approval

[1:07:10] of the DSSE minutes from June 2nd, 2026.

[1:07:13] >> Can we go?

[1:07:14] >> Oh, wait. Sorry. We're doing the minutes

[1:07:16] at the same time.

[1:07:17] >> Yeah.

[1:07:17] >> Yes.

[1:07:18] >> Oh. Um, aim wasn't here. It was uh Sarah

[1:07:21] Jardine.

[1:07:22] >> No, it was Lauren, wasn't it?

[1:07:24] >> Huh?

[1:07:24] >> Was it Lauren Hot or was it Sarah?

[1:07:26] >> Sarah. Sarah. So with that edit

[1:07:30] >> with that edit and just my name is

[1:07:32] misspelled but other than that

[1:07:34] >> um

[1:07:35] >> it's very important.

[1:07:36] >> We apologize

[1:07:37] >> on number three.

[1:07:39] >> Great.

[1:07:40] Thank you.

[1:07:41] >> Mhm.

[1:07:43] >> With those edits included.

[1:07:44] >> Sorry.

[1:07:45] >> No, that's Thank you.

[1:07:47] >> Um do I have a motion to approve?

[1:07:50] >> Oh yes. So the wrong second.

[1:07:53] >> Kate Cook second.

[1:07:54] >> Wonderful. Um okay, we're roll call.

[1:07:56] Goalie

[1:07:58] >> goalie sair. Yes.

[1:07:59] >> Kevin Bookie. Yes.

[1:08:01] >> Kate Kate Cook. Yes.

[1:08:03] >> Rosman. Yes. Yes.

[1:08:04] >> And Jess. Yes. The um items are approved

[1:08:07] unanimously.

[1:08:09] Um the only remaining items we have to

[1:08:11] discuss tonight is that we will have our

[1:08:13] next meeting on October 20th. There is a

[1:08:15] 5:30 start. It is not 6:30.

[1:08:19] Um and then we can adj

[1:08:22] >> um can we just confirm? So, in our

[1:08:23] meeting from June 2nd, uh,

[1:08:26] Superintendent, you mentioned that the

[1:08:28] final report for the class sizes was

[1:08:30] going to be presented.

[1:08:31] >> I don't know if it'll be the final

[1:08:32] report, but there will be some data.

[1:08:34] There were some personnel changes that

[1:08:35] we weren't expecting this summer, which

[1:08:37] kind of ate up.

[1:08:38] >> Okay.

[1:08:38] >> A lot of our

[1:08:39] >> But that'll be a discussion item next

[1:08:41] week, like how your your work is,

[1:08:43] >> how we're progressing.

[1:08:44] >> Yeah. A path forward like I um I just

[1:08:47] want to make sure we don't lose traction

[1:08:49] on the discussion that started last

[1:08:51] year. and then continue through the

[1:08:53] summer so that we get to a budget

[1:08:55] decision where we haven't made choices

[1:08:58] on class sizes and funding needs for

[1:08:59] that.

[1:09:01] >> You also mentioned you would have the um

[1:09:04] the data framework and that like in your

[1:09:07] goals that was something for October the

[1:09:10] PK12 data framework identifying the

[1:09:14] measures the district will monitor. Do

[1:09:16] you like come back?

[1:09:18] >> So I will do that on in my calendar.

[1:09:19] I'll have that ideally done by October,

[1:09:22] but I won't be reporting back to you

[1:09:23] until

[1:09:24] >> January.

[1:09:25] >> Okay. So, you report back not in January

[1:09:28] and then in April

[1:09:29] >> at the joint at the joint meetings.

[1:09:30] >> Oh, that makes more sense.

[1:09:31] >> Yeah, good question.

[1:09:32] >> It should be in your calendar.

[1:09:33] >> Thank you.

[1:09:34] >> Should be.

[1:09:36] >> It's in the calendar. Yeah.

[1:09:37] >> October 20th.

[1:09:38] >> Yep.

[1:09:39] >> All right. Um, our meeting has come to

[1:09:41] an end. It is now 7:40. May I have a

[1:09:44] motion to adjourn?

[1:09:46] >> Or else, please Kate Cook. So, uh,

[1:09:50] second.

[1:09:51] >> Thank you.

[1:09:51] >> All right. Roll call. Goalie.

[1:09:53] >> Go. Yes.

[1:09:54] >> Kevin.

[1:09:55] Milk. Yes.

[1:09:56] >> Kate.

[1:09:57] Yes.

[1:09:57] >> Lance.

[1:10:00] >> Lanceki. Yes. Sorry. Yes.

[1:10:03] >> Our meeting has now been ajour.

Dover School Committee Meeting 9/22/2026

Transcript