[1:02] All right.
[1:03] I call this meeting to order at 7:03 PM Welcome
[1:06] to the Framingham School Committee meeting of Wednesday,
[1:08] August 19th, 2026.
[1:10] Call this meeting to order at 7:04 PM
[1:14] school committee meetings provide American sign language,
[1:17] Spanish and Portuguese interpretation via Zoom.
[1:20] You can find the instructions on how
[1:21] to access live interpretation on the agenda
[1:23] on the school committee's website.
[1:25] And when you register to join via zoom, a reminder
[1:28] to all members in attendance to speak slowly, to allow time
[1:31] for interpretation, as well as speak into the microphones.
[1:34] Otherwise, those on Zoom cannot hear those in the room.
[1:38] In attendance tonight we have District one, rich Robles,
[1:41] district two, Lorena Tovar, district three, Jen Mosha,
[1:44] district four, Adam Freberg, district five, Judy Steyer,
[1:48] district six, Brent Lewis, attending remotely,
[1:51] district seven, Kyle Shepherd, attending remotely,
[1:55] district eight, Jessica Barnhill, district nine,
[1:57] William LeBarge, student Advisory Committee member Jolene
[2:00] Zang, mayor Charlie Suski will not be in attendance.
[2:03] Tonight from the district, we have superintendent Dr.
[2:06] Tremblay, executive Director of Finance
[2:07] and Operations, Lincoln Lynch, Lynch,
[2:12] And the assistant superintendent pre-K
[2:15] to 12 education and ludi.
[2:17] This meeting is live on FEC TV Framingham
[2:21] and can be viewed live on Facebook on the Framingham
[2:24] Public School's Facebook page.
[2:26] Our recording of this meeting will be archived on F-E-C-T-V,
[2:32] Framingham and school committee websites.
[2:33] As soon as possible, meeting materials can be accessed on
[2:38] the school committee's website page.
[2:40] With tonight's meeting date, members
[2:41] of the public can participate via Zoom,
[2:43] specifically during public comment.
[2:45] To join the public comment portion, specifically join
[2:50] the meeting for public comment, join through Zoom
[2:52] or by calling the number located on the agenda.
[2:55] That number is 3 0 5 2 2 4 1 9 6 8.
[3:01] And the webinar ID is
[3:02] 8 1 4 0 4 5 5 6 5 4 0.
[3:08] Tonight's agenda includes public comment announcements from
[3:10] the chair, student advisory committee remarks,
[3:13] update on Farley geothermal expansion project,
[3:16] vote on the school committee.
[3:18] Oops, vote on the school committee's appointments
[3:21] to the blue ribbon Public Pool Commission
[3:24] vote on the superintendent's proposed 2026
[3:26] to 2027 school year goals.
[3:28] Superintendent of schools update assist the
[3:31] superintendent for PreK to 12.
[3:32] Update executive director of finance and operations.
[3:36] Update subcommittee reports including finance and operations
[3:39] and policy approval of gifts and minutes adjournment.
[3:43] Okay, public comment. We're gonna start at every regularly
[3:46] scheduled school committee meeting.
[3:47] We reserve 15 minutes for members of the public who may wish
[3:49] to speak on a topic within the school committee's purview.
[3:51] Guidelines for public comment are located
[3:53] on the school committee's website.
[3:55] All comments will be accepted as advice
[3:57] to the school committee, but may
[3:58] not be responded to tonight.
[4:00] If you request follow up, provide your contact information
[4:02] and indicate in your remarks if you would like follow up.
[4:05] If the matter is in the school committee's purview,
[4:07] we will respond If in the superintendents, he
[4:09] or his office will respond.
[4:12] If you're participating via Zoom,
[4:13] you can utilize the raise hand feature
[4:15] and participate via audio if by phone.
[4:18] Star nine if you'd like to speak when you're recognized.
[4:21] Again, the call in number (305) 224-1968.
[4:26] Webinar ID
[4:28] 8 1 4 0 4 5 5 6 5 4
[4:32] remarks including any personal attacks
[4:34] to anyone including members of the administration
[4:36] or members of the school committee will not be tolerated.
[4:39] We'll have an additional public comment
[4:41] portion at the end of this meeting.
[4:42] First step, we have Chris
[4:44] Maloney welcome.
[5:00] We're not getting audio, so maybe the mic next to you
[5:03] and just hit the green button.
[5:06] Thank you. Sorry. You can start again.
[5:11] I'm Christine Maloney. I'm the president
[5:13] of the Education Association of Framingham.
[5:16] There's a moment at the end
[5:17] of August when the quiet changes the halls
[5:20] that echoed all summer begin to fill again with footsteps,
[5:24] with laughter, with questions, and,
[5:27] and inevitably do we have homework
[5:30] before the first bell has even rung.
[5:32] And suddenly a school is a school again.
[5:36] But a school is more than walls, more than schedules,
[5:39] more than Stu standards, more than assessments.
[5:43] A school is a promise.
[5:45] A promise that every child who walks
[5:47] through our doors will find someone who sees them, someone
[5:51] who believes in them, someone who says, you belong here.
[5:56] And that promise is kept by people, by educators who plan,
[6:01] prepare and show up every day.
[6:03] By AIDS and assistants who know
[6:05] that sometimes the most important lesson
[6:08] is simply helping a child make it through the day
[6:12] by office staff who are often the first friendly face
[6:16] and the calm voice when everything else feels like chaos.
[6:20] By specialists, counselors, nurses, librarians, custodians,
[6:25] cafeteria workers, administrators
[6:28] and support staff, all the people
[6:30] who make learning possible.
[6:33] We begin this year
[6:34] as the education association of Framingham.
[6:38] It is a new name, but the heart behind it is not new.
[6:43] The heart is the same educators standing together
[6:46] for students our schools
[6:48] and the belief that public education is worth fighting for.
[6:53] So as we begin this year, we ask this committee
[6:56] to remember something simple.
[6:58] When you see a classroom, see the person who prepared it.
[7:02] When you see a successful student, see the people
[7:06] who helped them get there.
[7:08] And when a di, when the difficult budget discussion start
[7:11] and are placed before us, remember
[7:14] that a position on a spreadsheet is a person in a school,
[7:18] a teacher, an aide, an assistant, a secretary, a specialist,
[7:23] a counselor, a member of the team who shows up every day
[7:27] and makes the promise of public education real
[7:31] because children don't experience a budget as a number.
[7:34] They experience it as the adult who was there.
[7:38] The adult who listens, helps, encourages
[7:41] and believes in them.
[7:42] So tonight, as we begin another school year, let's celebrate
[7:46] what is possible, new classrooms, new friendships,
[7:50] new challenges and new opportunities.
[7:53] And let's remind every child in Framingham, you matter.
[7:57] You belong, we believe in you.
[8:00] And let's remember the best way to demonstrate
[8:02] that we value public education is to value the people
[8:06] that make it possible.
[8:07] Thank you.
[8:16] Anybody on Zoom? Alright,
[8:19] anybody else in person for a public comment?
[8:23] Seeing none, we'll go to the next agenda item.
[8:27] Alright, announcements from the chair.
[8:29] The school committee met an executive session
[8:31] and met on August 5th in executive session pursuant
[8:35] to MGL chapter 30 a section 21 A seven, exemption seven
[8:39] to comply with or act under the authority of general,
[8:42] any general or special law
[8:44] or federal grant in aid requirements for review
[8:47] of executive session minutes under MGL chapter 30 a section
[8:50] 22 for minutes from December 31st, 1975
[8:54] to December 31st, 2011,
[8:56] to address a records request pursuant
[8:58] to MGL chapter 30 a section 22 G two
[9:03] school committee meeting met earlier tonight in executive
[9:06] session pursuant to MGL chapter 30 a section 21 A seven,
[9:10] exemption seven to comply with
[9:12] or act under the authority of any general
[9:14] or spec special law
[9:16] or federal grant in aid requirements for review
[9:19] of executive session minutes under MGL chapter 30 a section
[9:22] 22 for minutes from 1994
[9:24] and 1999 to address a records request pursuant
[9:27] to MGL chapter 30 a, section 22 G two
[9:30] and to discuss strategy with respect
[9:32] to collective bargaining
[9:34] because an open meeting might have a detrimental effect on
[9:36] the bargaining or litigating position
[9:38] of a public body and the chair.
[9:40] So declares pursuant to general law, chapter 30 a,
[9:44] section 21 A three specifically for units A, B, C, E, F,
[9:49] N, S, and T.
[9:51] Right. Next up, student advisory remarks.
[9:54] Turn it over to our rep, Jolene Zang. Welcome.
[9:58] Thank you Madam Chair.
[9:59] I hope everyone had had, has enjoyed their summer so far.
[10:04] As we approach the first day of school on August 26th.
[10:07] I only have quick remarks to share.
[10:11] As of yesterday, August 18th schedules are out on aspen's
[10:14] for both middle school and high school students.
[10:17] Students can log into their accounts
[10:19] and click on the my info section
[10:21] and then press on the current schedule
[10:23] to view their school year schedule.
[10:27] Freshman orientation is on August 24th, SE
[10:31] seniors will be there to help incoming freshmen
[10:34] to their homerooms and the Framingham high school clubs will
[10:38] be shown to the freshmens at the back gym of the school.
[10:44] And as of sac, as of right now
[10:48] for SAC, me and Mr.
[10:51] Pave are planning to hold a meeting for the incoming members
[10:55] to discuss about future projects.
[10:57] And I think that's it. Thank you.
[11:02] Alright, thank you so much for your report.
[11:04] Any questions or comments?
[11:12] All right, seeing none, we hope you have a
[11:14] great day back at school.
[11:16] It's coming fast. Thanks for your report.
[11:20] Alright, we'll move on
[11:22] to we have update in the Farley geothermal expansion project
[11:25] with Heat and Eversource, it's HEET and Eversource.
[11:29] I'm gonna turn it over first to Lincoln
[11:31] and the city's sustainability coordinator,
[11:33] Sean Laws welcome.
[11:34] You can come up and sit please.
[11:39] Thank you. Madam Chair, his, Sean,
[11:42] do you wanna do a little intro?
[11:44] Of course. All right.
[11:48] Apologies. Hey everybody, my name's Sean lz,
[11:51] I'm sustainability coordinator for the city of Framingham.
[11:54] So happy to be here. And so appreciative
[11:56] of our collaboration with the school department.
[11:58] As you're aware, you know, working
[12:01] with the school department, the Farley building had a
[12:03] partial geothermal conversion as part of phase one of the,
[12:07] the geothermal project.
[12:08] And we're actually in one of those rooms
[12:10] that's being cooled right now through geothermal
[12:13] based on the size of the initial pilot project,
[12:17] we weren't able to include the whole building
[12:18] and so it was always a discussion if we're able
[12:20] to look at expansion, how can we kind
[12:22] of tackle the rest of the building?
[12:24] And so we're now working with Heat
[12:26] and with Eversource on the expansion project.
[12:27] And so they're gonna be here to tonight to talk about some
[12:30] of the upcoming, you know, improvements to this building
[12:34] and timelines, schedule, all that sort of stuff.
[12:37] So I think with that said, Lincoln,
[12:39] unless there's anything else, I'll turn it over to the Heat
[12:41] and Eversource team for them to jump into the presentation.
[12:43] Alright, thank you.
[13:02] Good evening everyone.
[13:03] My name is Isabel Ella, science director at Heat.
[13:06] Heat is a nonprofit with a mission
[13:08] to evolve the thermal energy system
[13:11] to meet the needs of the future.
[13:13] Today I'm excited to talk about the expansion
[13:16] of this geothermal network
[13:18] or phase two from the current pilot or phase one.
[13:23] Our partners in this project are the city
[13:26] of Framingham Eversource
[13:28] and the engineering firm Salas O'Brien.
[13:31] Because we will hear from our different partners,
[13:33] we kindly ask that you save the questions to the end
[13:36] of our joint presentation
[13:39] and we wanted to briefly clarify that today we just want
[13:44] to share an update of this work
[13:46] and we're not seeking any vote at this time.
[13:50] Next slide. So briefly,
[13:54] we will talk about the different roles of our partners.
[13:56] We will talk about what is happening
[13:58] here in the Farley building.
[14:00] We will provide a brief overview of the design
[14:03] and then the proposed utility work, the plan
[14:07] for neighborhood communications.
[14:08] And then we have, we hope to hear from any questions
[14:12] that you may have or discussion.
[14:14] Next slide. So briefly,
[14:18] what is different in this second phase
[14:20] or expansion project of the geothermal network?
[14:24] So Heat is a prime recipient of a grant from the Department
[14:28] of Energy for the construction phase of this second loop.
[14:33] And we are partnering with Eversource
[14:36] who has a significant cost share in this project.
[14:40] The engineering firm, Sal O'Brien is doing the design
[14:43] and the city of Framingham is our design partner
[14:46] and we work very closely with all of them.
[14:50] This award started in October of 2025
[14:55] and it goes until March of 2028.
[14:59] So briefly, what is, how are our roles in this project?
[15:04] Heat is leading all the work behind the building
[15:07] or the building modernization work.
[15:10] So everything so-called behind the valve
[15:13] and Eversource is, is leading all the utility work.
[15:17] So everything related to the bore field, the mains
[15:20] and services and so on.
[15:24] Briefly, next slide.
[15:28] So what is happening here at the Farley building,
[15:31] as Sean mentioned, a third
[15:32] of this building is already on geo
[15:34] and the main message here is that the entire
[15:38] building will be on geo.
[15:39] So there are nine remaining rooftop units
[15:43] that will be converted to the geothermal network.
[15:46] We expect efficiency gains in the H HVAC system
[15:51] and all the equipment
[15:53] from this building will be located actually
[15:56] inside the mechanical room.
[15:59] There was also a comprehensive building assessment
[16:01] that was already done through Mass Save.
[16:06] And with that I will pass it on to Jim Emman from Sal Orion
[16:11] that is online and he will speak to the design
[16:14] of the project.
[16:18] Hello everyone. Can you hear me okay?
[16:20] Yes we can. Okay, great. Thank you.
[16:23] My name is Jim Lum and I'm from Sala O'Brien.
[16:26] I'm a a senior vice president with sala
[16:29] and we are the engineer working
[16:31] with all the partners here on the geothermal system.
[16:35] What you see on the right is a proposed bore field location
[16:40] and there's two possible bore field
[16:42] configurations that we're looking at.
[16:44] The particular one that's shown right here
[16:46] is a vertical Boer field configuration.
[16:49] You can see those blue fingers that go out.
[16:52] They would have bores all along there
[16:54] with stricken piping connecting them.
[16:57] And that would all feed back to the pump house building.
[17:01] And from the pump house there would be piping that would run
[17:04] to the southwest corner of the school.
[17:08] As you can see there, run up the side of the school
[17:11] and then into the ceiling space
[17:15] and make its way over to the mechanical room.
[17:18] The pump house itself will have the same aesthetics
[17:22] as the phase one pump house, which is a
[17:26] precast structure with a brick facade.
[17:30] The location that is being shown right there is the
[17:34] general location for that.
[17:35] We're working that into the handicapped parking
[17:39] spaces that are there.
[17:40] So there'll be plans that you, you can review when
[17:44] that time is, is is near.
[17:48] If you go to the next slide, so
[17:53] as I mentioned, there are two different configurations
[17:56] that we're looking at.
[17:58] The one on the right is the one you just saw, which is
[18:00] the vertical straight down bores, the gray area
[18:04] around the bore field.
[18:05] The blue lines is the approximate limit of disturbance
[18:10] that would be required for each configuration.
[18:13] So again,
[18:16] on the right is straight down vertical on the left is
[18:19] what we're calling incline bores.
[18:21] They're basically three lines of bores
[18:23] and they go off in different angles into the ground.
[18:28] They're not vertical. So the top row will actually be
[18:31] heading to the north.
[18:33] The middle row would be straight down
[18:34] and the bottom row will be actually heading
[18:37] to the southwest.
[18:38] So you can see there a little bit difference.
[18:41] There is a difference in disturbance,
[18:43] but they have, each configuration has its own
[18:46] pros and cons as well.
[18:49] But either way, they will be feeding back to the pump house,
[18:52] which will have all the mechanical equipment
[18:54] for the infrastructure outside.
[18:56] And then the black line will feed back to the building over
[19:00] to the mechanical room.
[19:03] Next slide. I will hand it back
[19:08] to Isabelle.
[19:09] Thank you.
[19:11] Hi everyone, my name is Lean Hayek
[19:13] and I'm here representing Eversource geothermal team.
[19:16] As Isabel mentioned,
[19:17] Eversource will be working on the utility
[19:19] side of the project.
[19:21] We'll be working on running the bore fields
[19:23] and the ambient temperature loop.
[19:25] In terms of our current plan for the construction,
[19:30] we have a, a preliminary timeline that's shown here.
[19:33] This is the timeline that was submitted as part
[19:35] of the DPU grant, sorry, DOE grant.
[19:39] Our current milestones are as follows.
[19:41] We'll have the design package ready in November,
[19:44] which afterwards we will proceed with the bid
[19:47] for the construction.
[19:49] We anticipate contract award
[19:51] to be in the January 20, 27 timeframe and
[19:54] accordingly may will be when construction
[19:56] of the different elements starts.
[19:58] So that would be the mains and services.
[20:00] So that's the ambient temperature loop as well
[20:02] as the services to the customers.
[20:04] The Pumphouse construction as well
[20:06] as the bore field drilling with the, the,
[20:09] the expansion project has an in-service date of January
[20:12] of 2028.
[20:15] As we work on this timeline, we've been in close cooperation
[20:18] with various stakeholders here at the city of Framingham.
[20:22] The DPW has a water
[20:23] and sewer project that's currently ongoing that kind
[20:26] of in intersects with various locations of the loop.
[20:31] So we've been in coordination with them.
[20:33] We are, you know, optimizing the timeframe
[20:36] for design changes and any winter work that'll be ongoing.
[20:40] Next slide please. So the work that's going to be
[20:45] around the school is primarily going to be the bore,
[20:48] the borehole construction as Jim has mentioned
[20:51] and shown in the plans.
[20:52] There's also be the underground piping connection, so
[20:56] that's the ambient temperature loop.
[20:58] There'll be temporary construction staging
[21:02] and then all the disturbed areas will be
[21:05] fully restored Throughout all this work,
[21:07] we'll definitely work with the, with the school
[21:09] and all the different stakeholders as we did in the pilot
[21:12] to ensure that there's safe school operations,
[21:14] minimized disruptions, restore all impacted areas
[21:17] and ensure to deliver this project to,
[21:20] to everyone's satisfaction.
[21:23] Next slide please. In terms of board field construction,
[21:27] I'll go through this very quickly,
[21:28] but very similar to the pilot, there'll be
[21:31] several phases including site prep, traffic control,
[21:35] and here specifically we'll be sure to work with
[21:38] with the school and with the local police to ensure
[21:41] that you know, traffic schedules are maintained.
[21:44] There's not major disruptions to to school schedules
[21:47] or you know, parking as well.
[21:49] To minimize that there'll be the borehole drilling,
[21:52] the installation, pressure testing,
[21:54] and then final grading and restoration.
[21:57] So as mentioned we'll be working with all stakeholders
[22:00] to ensure that minimal impacts.
[22:04] Next slide please. Finally, as you know,
[22:09] we mentioned, as I previously mentioned, we'll be working
[22:12] to replicate kind of the restoration experience of the pilot
[22:16] where there will be law entry restoration that's compliant
[22:19] with all requirements, any reseeding, irrigation
[22:23] of any reseeded, you know, plants until
[22:25] the vegetation is established as well as pavement
[22:28] and sidewalk restoration, which again will be coordinating
[22:31] with the DPW because there's going to be some overlap there.
[22:35] Next slide please. And then lastly, similar to what we did
[22:40] with the pilot, they'll, they'll be notification center
[22:44] residents who are potential participants of the pilot,
[22:46] but not only them, we'll also be working with any, you know,
[22:50] residents or stakeholders in the area where
[22:53] that could be disturbed by any level of con construction
[22:56] to inform the, of our construction schedules,
[22:59] provide any information, any updates, and hear feedback.
[23:02] So we'll be working very closely with, with the local,
[23:06] local, with the neighborhood.
[23:09] Next slide. I think that's all we have for today.
[23:13] So we can open the floor for any questions
[23:15] or input. Thank you very much.
[23:18] Right, and thank you so much
[23:19] for coming in your presentation.
[23:20] Are there any questions? Go ahead Adam.
[23:26] Thank you Madam Chair, great partnership
[23:28] and thanks for giving us an update tonight.
[23:31] We're sitting in one of the best screen regions in the city,
[23:33] if not the best when it comes to, you know, the fuller roof
[23:36] and the new building there
[23:37] and the potential for more beyond what you've already done
[23:41] with geothermal and and charging stations
[23:43] that Sean and the team have led.
[23:44] I'm curious about what's next and how it works with
[23:47] or without the geothermal project.
[23:49] Meaning we have a study ongoing
[23:51] for solar on this building's roof as well
[23:53] as we've talked about studies for
[23:56] par canopies across the street at McCarthy.
[23:58] I'm curious, it doesn't have to be on, on,
[24:00] on you two, Sean or Lincoln.
[24:01] Anyone else can answer just how this all connects
[24:04] or doesn't connect to the overall, you know,
[24:06] energy efficiency work in this region as well
[24:10] as the cost savings that comes from adding solar when it's
[24:12] operational to this building too,
[24:18] while Sean's coming up.
[24:19] I'll start just really quick, but there are weekly meetings
[24:24] and the collaboration has been really good
[24:27] and everyone is aware of the projects
[24:31] and both of them happening kind of at the same time.
[24:33] So I think we've done a really good job just making sure
[24:36] we're all aware of what's going on and we plan accordingly.
[24:40] So if you wanna add
[24:42] Yeah, I, I think just to add to that, I think, you know,
[24:44] one of the important pieces, obviously there's a lot
[24:46] of different parts of the property
[24:47] that are gonna be touched both by the geothermal project
[24:50] as well as the solar battery storage generators.
[24:53] So that's been one of the huge co coordination points,
[24:56] you know, making sure electrical isn't
[24:58] conflicting on the rooftop.
[24:59] We're looking at, you know, as we look at potential upgrades
[25:03] for capacity for the building.
[25:05] And then in addition definitely like site work-wise,
[25:07] coordinating those bore field plans with some of the other,
[25:12] you know, new features like battery storage
[25:13] and generators that might be in the same area.
[25:16] I think on a broader scale, definitely
[25:20] chance transferring more of this building
[25:22] to being fully electric, the solar is only gonna be
[25:25] that much more powerful in helping to offset costs.
[25:29] And so I think that's,
[25:30] that's something, you know, that's in our mind.
[25:31] And I think also one of the great things
[25:33] that has been explored in this, this project is the fact
[25:37] that even though we are converting a lot of the building to,
[25:40] you know, it's at this point almost gonna be fully electric.
[25:43] There's gonna be some minor, you know, energy uses
[25:46] that won't be, but even with that,
[25:49] the demand impact is really not that significant given
[25:52] that we're taking a lot
[25:53] of very inefficient electric
[25:55] resistance heat out of the building.
[25:56] So it's gonna make, I think the
[25:58] systems work better together.
[26:01] Fantastic. Great, great answer.
[26:03] Great progress and,
[26:04] and I, I'm sure the coordination is really helpful.
[26:07] I, I see you have something else to say,
[26:08] so I'll just give up just so I don't have to talk again.
[26:11] My last question would be to, to Sean and,
[26:13] and Lincoln is, you know, to to, to get to that final piece
[26:16] of the solar puzzle, the funding's still not there.
[26:19] We have the funding for the studies,
[26:20] but when do you think the committee will be ready to vote
[26:23] to ask for city funding for the, the capital aspects
[26:26] of the the Farley roof solar?
[26:29] Yeah, so I, I think as I understand now
[26:32] that design is still underway
[26:34] and so I think there are some critical elements
[26:38] of coordination between
[26:41] that design incorporates a lot more than just,
[26:43] just the solar part of it, right?
[26:44] Like it's kind of a whole
[26:45] resiliency solution for the building.
[26:47] And so we've had some really great discussions talking
[26:49] with Link and with the, you know, the building team,
[26:53] what is the appropriate way to procure that is,
[26:56] does it mean looking at the solar individually
[26:58] and trying to pursue that part of the project on its own
[27:01] and then pursuing generator and battery storage separately.
[27:04] I think we're trying to work through that.
[27:05] At the same time we're also planning these different
[27:07] elements with the, the geo project,
[27:09] but we are, you know, link, I don't know if there's anything
[27:12] to add there, but I think we're trying to map that out
[27:15] as close as closely as we can while this is
[27:17] moving forward at the same time.
[27:24] So briefly in terms of geothermal energy networks, as part
[27:29] of the DOE study, we are tasked
[27:33] to make a concept of
[27:35] what if we had geothermal energy networks
[27:38] in Framingham at a wider scale, how would that look like?
[27:42] What would be good places to do that?
[27:45] What would be good, you know, businesses to connect to?
[27:48] And we have already actually made some progress in talking
[27:52] to stakeholders that are interested in that.
[27:55] Just even today we talked to Verizon, they, we are exploring
[27:59] how we could use their facilities in
[28:04] potentially the start of another network.
[28:07] So that's very early stages.
[28:08] But what we do have in the study is that we are going
[28:11] to create a concept of how could geothermal energy networks
[28:15] grow in the city of Framingham.
[28:20] And then just lastly, from a utility perspective,
[28:22] I know there's been also some overlap with the project,
[28:25] you know, the planning for both projects like
[28:27] with Eversource Electric, with the electric work orders
[28:29] and that sort of work.
[28:31] So we've also been playing a role in kind
[28:34] of facilitating some of that communication to make sure
[28:36] that, you know, none of the projects are negatively impacted
[28:39] by, you know, any delays
[28:41] or design changes in one versus the other.
[28:44] Great, thank you.
[28:45] Again, I know this coordination takes a lot of work
[28:48] and I know this, the solar project
[28:49] and the geothermal project at all
[28:51] will connect in some form in that you know,
[28:54] the same roof can't be used by by both
[28:56] or organiz or both items.
[28:58] So thanks to Eversource for that work
[29:00] and look forward, the school committee's already voted
[29:02] to request the money for capital in the past.
[29:04] We had to kind of put it on hold until
[29:05] this next final study.
[29:06] So I'm ready to keep on moving that project forward along
[29:09] with the great geothermal work that we've already voted
[29:11] to support your easements and everything else you need.
[29:13] So thank you again for coming tonight.
[29:15] Thank you. Thank you, Thank you.
[29:18] We're gonna go out online to Brent with his hand up.
[29:23] Thank you so much and thank you for this presentation
[29:25] as we look forward to I, I'm so excited for this expansion
[29:29] of geothermal but as we look forward
[29:31] for our capital investments,
[29:32] are there opportunities in the future with this current plan
[29:36] to expand into McCarthy
[29:39] or would that require additional bore fields
[29:41] and additional investment of that nature
[29:45] Take a shot at that?
[29:47] So that's a great question.
[29:48] I think so originally we would actually,
[29:51] we were actually planning to utilize the, some
[29:54] of the McCarthy property as the bore field
[29:56] that would serve this expansion loop.
[29:58] We ended up moving that over in front of you know,
[30:01] the Farley building as you saw on the plans.
[30:03] I think probably one of the challenging aspects of
[30:06] that would be just timeline wise.
[30:08] Recently there was an air source heat pump project
[30:10] that was done for McCarthy, which is now serving the,
[30:13] the majority of the classrooms in that building.
[30:16] It still has spoiler heat doing a lot of the common areas.
[30:20] So I, I think really I think potentially in the future
[30:24] geothermal might be a solution to cover the remaining parts
[30:27] of the building that are still on fossil fuel.
[30:30] But I think the way that the schools have approached that
[30:32] really makes sense in terms of a zero over time, right.
[30:36] You know, adding AC to the building allowed them
[30:39] through heat pumps to also offset natural gas heating use in
[30:43] a lot of spaces and then it's
[30:44] really tackling that last piece.
[30:46] So it was a long way of saying yes potentially,
[30:49] but I think it's probably gonna be, you know, a while,
[30:52] you know, while down the path.
[31:00] Any follow? I think that's helpful. Great.
[31:02] Alright, are there any other questions Ms Mosha? Jen,
[31:06] Thank you.
[31:07] So I know that this is all, you know grant
[31:10] and grant funded whatever,
[31:12] but does it cost us anything to run it?
[31:16] Will it ever cost us anything to run it?
[31:18] No, I mean the only costs I can think
[31:20] of are maybe custodial overtime if either groups
[31:24] or anybody needs access to the building
[31:26] after hours. But other than that, no.
[31:28] Even after the grant portion is done,
[31:32] No, Just to clarify.
[31:35] So it is, there is the cost for you know,
[31:37] running the equipment on the building
[31:40] but that you know, you're offsetting the use
[31:42] of the old equipment that we were you know,
[31:44] running previously.
[31:45] So there is the energy consumption
[31:47] of the new equipment which is gonna be much more efficient
[31:49] than you know the rooftop units.
[31:51] And also there's variable air volume boxes throughout the
[31:54] building that use electric resistance for reheat.
[31:58] So those are all coming offline
[31:59] and they're gonna be replaced
[32:00] with much more efficient systems.
[32:03] Excellent. So no additional costs
[32:06] that we're already paying now. So yeah,
[32:08] So I just wanted to mention the geothermal network is the
[32:12] most efficient electrification method for heating
[32:15] and cooling and
[32:17] because of that we expect energy efficiencies, savings.
[32:22] Thank you. The maintenance should also be
[32:24] minimal compared to other systems.
[32:27] I'll mention as well that as part of this grant we have
[32:32] training, we are planning training for maintenance for
[32:37] staff that are in the first loop and in the second loop.
[32:42] So any staff interested in that training for operations
[32:46] and maintenance from the school, we are planning
[32:49] that currently so we
[32:51] Should be able to maintain it internally rather than
[32:52] having a subcontract out
[32:55] Eventually we want to build that workforce locally.
[32:58] Yes,
[33:00] Thank you.
[33:07] Alright, great partnership, great report. Come back again.
[33:10] Yeah, love to have you back.
[33:11] Thank you so much for being here.
[33:12] Do you have any questions for us?
[33:14] I did just want to highlight
[33:16] and apologies for not mentioning this at the top
[33:18] but definitely I know the heat
[33:20] and I resource team will be coming back at some point in the
[33:22] near future regarding updated site licenses, customer
[33:26] customer agreements related to moving the project forward.
[33:29] So this is kind of a introduction to that
[33:31] and I'm sure we'll have an update soon
[33:33] and you know, work with Lincoln and Bob
[33:35] and team to come back. We'll
[33:37] Get you back in.
[33:38] Sounds good. Awesome. Thank you all so much. Thank you.
[33:40] Appreciate it. Thanks so much. Alright.
[33:48] Alright we're moving on
[33:49] to vote on school committee's appointments
[33:51] to the Blue Ribbon public pool commission.
[33:54] I was notified earlier that Kyle Shepherd is going to recuse
[33:56] for this whole entire section.
[33:59] Are there any other recusals before we begin? No.
[34:04] Okay. So the seats that we have there for one current
[34:07] or former swim coach
[34:08] and we also have another seat appointment for one current
[34:11] or former swim parent.
[34:14] All applicants were invited to attend tonight meeting
[34:16] and will and to attend tonight's meeting.
[34:18] We'll be given an opportunity
[34:19] to speak for two to three minutes.
[34:20] If you came in after the opening I might have missed you on
[34:23] the attendance so I'll just go through the list
[34:25] and call you up in a moment.
[34:28] Can you two to three minutes introduce yourselves
[34:30] and tell us any information
[34:32] you would like the committee to know.
[34:34] We do have your application materials that were forwarded
[34:36] to us that were included in our packets
[34:39] for prior review.
[34:42] Sharon Ville and Audria ADA withdrew their applications.
[34:46] So there's been some slight adjustments to the the roster.
[34:50] Gina Levo. Okay.
[34:52] Gina Levoy, Paula McCurdy
[34:54] and Alicia Valente could not attend tonight's meeting
[34:57] but are still interested in being considered.
[35:01] So the list of applicants.
[35:05] So I have, I have actually why
[35:07] don't just take attendance right now.
[35:09] Annette Barnett, Annette, Wendy, Brad Fish,
[35:14] Arnold Cohen,
[35:17] Sharon Withdrew, withdrew.
[35:19] Dan Dan earlier.
[35:21] Dan Jacqueline Edwards
[35:24] absent, What's the name?
[35:28] Okay. Kaitlyn Powers saw you work together.
[35:33] I have Kate, Charles Schneider,
[35:39] Jennifer Theil, Alicia Valante can't be
[35:44] present and Naomi Walker.
[35:47] Okay. What's that?
[35:51] Ask if they was still, if they
[35:52] weren't here. Are they still?
[35:54] Yeah, so only the only the two withdrew.
[35:56] So we have Sharon Ville withdrew and Audria uc withdrew.
[36:01] The others would still like to remain for consideration
[36:05] so we'll have everybody come up.
[36:06] First up Wendy you wanna, you're first on my list.
[36:09] I know it's kind of out of order but I have you in different
[36:11] buckets on my list.
[36:12] So welcome. Thanks for coming. Thanks for your interest.
[36:18] I'm not gonna time you but like two to three minutes. Okay.
[36:20] Okay. Yeah, I mean I think most is in my application
[36:24] but I am the current swim assistant swim coach at Lifetime,
[36:27] which is a US club team.
[36:30] Previous to that I was an assistant coach at the
[36:32] Metro West YMCA.
[36:33] That's a little close isn't it? Sorry.
[36:37] I was an assistant coach at Eastly High School, fresh out
[36:40] of college for a couple of years.
[36:43] I have worked at both the Petty High School,
[36:45] which is in New Jersey and the Harvard
[36:46] University swim camps.
[36:49] And my first foray into coaching was when I was 17
[36:53] and I was the head coach of my rec team.
[36:56] So kind of like the frogs
[36:57] but where I grew up, I was a a swimmer
[37:00] and a coach going into my senior year
[37:02] and then I was the coach after senior year.
[37:05] In addition, I've been a lifelong swimmer.
[37:07] I was a former D one athlete at Dartmouth College
[37:10] and I'm a current master swimmer so I still compete
[37:13] in swimming today.
[37:14] That's it. Thank you. Awesome, welcome
[37:17] and thank you Arnold Cohen, the first bucket
[37:20] that just if you're wondering what lists this is the lists
[37:25] that are in the coaches bucket.
[37:26] So in this order, Arnold Cohen welcome.
[37:31] Hi, thank you for Just push the button.
[37:33] There you go. Hi, thank you for having me.
[37:35] Here I go by Arnie.
[37:37] So it's Arnie Cohen, formerly it's Arnold Cohen.
[37:40] I've been involved with aquatics my entire life.
[37:43] I swam in high school
[37:44] and Framingham both in high school level
[37:47] and in the rec team.
[37:49] Worked with the beaches in Framingham, both as a lifeguard
[37:52] and swim instructor way back in
[37:54] the eighties and early nineties.
[37:56] And then was fortunate enough to have the opportunity
[37:57] to start coaching the rec team back in the early nineties.
[38:01] Left for a while while doing other aquatic things
[38:04] And then when my kids were younger
[38:07] they needed a new another coach so I had the opportunity
[38:10] to coach that team again.
[38:12] So I've been doing that since 2005 I think.
[38:15] But in my role as an aquatics, I've been operating pools,
[38:18] running programs, helping with building facilities,
[38:24] not necessarily the construction part
[38:26] but trying to figure out what goes
[38:27] into the different components.
[38:29] And I think I have a decent skillset
[38:31] that could help with this project.
[38:33] I've lived in framing my entire life except for moved
[38:36] to Framingham when I was really, really little,
[38:38] like a few weeks old.
[38:40] So it's something I'm hoping that I can help with
[38:43] and I still coach the freemium team.
[38:46] We went from 180 kids in the program
[38:48] and we're a keep tech When that program left
[38:51] or the pool closed, we now only have 50 kids on the team
[38:54] 'cause we just don't have the pool space for it anymore.
[38:57] So it's something I'm very Adam
[38:59] or very really want to help get some kind of pool back so
[39:03] that we can grow that program
[39:04] and offer swimming to the community
[39:06] and something that everyone can have an opportunity
[39:08] to use. So thank you.
[39:11] Alright, thank you very much. Welcome up.
[39:14] Next up Caitlyn Powers.
[39:21] Good evening school committee as was introduced.
[39:24] I'm Caitlyn Powers. I am a teacher
[39:27] over at Natick High School.
[39:28] And up until last school year I was the head coach
[39:31] of the Natick Boys Women Dive team.
[39:32] During the winter for the last 11 years, we thankfully got
[39:37] to go on to have a few very successful seasons previous
[39:39] to the Pandemic and we also, similar to Arne's programs,
[39:44] we also were a Keefe tech team where we were displaced
[39:47] with the Keefe tech closure.
[39:49] Prior to that I was a swim instructor from
[39:54] age 14 for 16 plus, not 14, oh no, 14.
[39:58] All the way through into my early thirties,
[40:00] I worked at Milford High Schools,
[40:02] one of the swim instructors there.
[40:04] I also ran one of the Massachusetts DCR pools in Milford,
[40:08] the Casey Pool by Milford Regional Medical Center.
[40:11] I ran that pool from summer of 2009 through summer of 2016.
[40:16] I supervised lifeguards.
[40:19] I knew the pool mechanics inside out, oversaw part
[40:22] of the pool reconstruction at one point, just
[40:24] as being an observer that was there.
[40:25] And got to see what that process looks like
[40:27] of building a pool kind of from the ground up over.
[40:29] Again. I'm a product of community pools.
[40:34] I swam as a Milford high school swimmer.
[40:37] The Milford High School Pool in particular is a very big
[40:39] community pool with swim lessons and so on.
[40:42] I did all my swim lessons through and through.
[40:45] And while I'm a newer resident to Framingham specifically,
[40:48] I really value the importance of having a public pool
[40:53] for kids to learn to swim.
[40:54] 'cause it's a valuable life skill.
[40:56] A place where the community can come together
[40:58] and everybody can just have a good time.
[41:00] So thank you very much for your consideration.
[41:02] Thanks so much. Jacqueline Edwards is not here, right?
[41:07] Jacqueline Edwards. Paula McCurdy is not coming.
[41:14] And then Naomi Walker not here.
[41:18] All right Dan, you're up next. Welcome.
[41:22] We're now on the parent side of this, just
[41:24] for your own organization
[41:26] for the vote. Welcome. Hi.
[41:32] Well you've heard the term soccer mom.
[41:34] So I'm an official swim dad.
[41:37] I've been a swim dad for about 15 years.
[41:40] Been a resident Framingham for 26 years.
[41:43] So in addition to the, what I sent
[41:45] for my application, I'll just tell you a little story.
[41:47] How did I get into swimming in the first place?
[41:50] We built the swim pool at our house.
[41:53] And at the time, my daughter was four years old
[41:55] and probably the biggest fear a parent would have is
[41:58] drowning in your own pool.
[42:01] So we embarked on a series of swim lessons at Metro West Y
[42:05] and one lesson led to the next lesson, to the next,
[42:08] next thing you know, one of the coaches, like a Wendy,
[42:12] she taught one daughter as well, picked us up
[42:16] and said, Hey, you should join the swim team.
[42:18] And you join the swim team.
[42:20] You know, we need some parent help timer.
[42:22] All right, so now become a timer.
[42:24] You look to an enjoy the role of timing so much.
[42:28] We really need a an official.
[42:30] So there was only one official at the time at the Y
[42:33] and I became an official, went through all the training
[42:36] and became eligible to host and run swim meets USA official.
[42:41] And during my time there, I also became the
[42:43] parent committee leader.
[42:45] So turned into a fundraiser.
[42:48] We, we raised tens of thousands of dollars,
[42:50] especially during the COVID years.
[42:51] So we were running meets during those times
[42:53] and we, you know, earmarked all
[42:56] that money towards the campaign that the Y had,
[42:59] but also towards the kids.
[43:01] So we were able to make sure that every kid was able to
[43:03] get a kickboard and the, the equipment
[43:06] that they needed at a low cost.
[43:08] And so I just kept going
[43:11] and my daughter kept swimming, went into college swimming.
[43:14] So I've been a big advocate of swimming.
[43:17] The y generously gave me a volunteer, the a year award
[43:21] 2016 for all the work we did is, is swimming.
[43:25] And before I retired
[43:26] and moved on, I I made sure
[43:28] that we trained enough parents, timers, officials.
[43:31] So when I left we had approximately 20
[43:34] officials running the team.
[43:36] So that's kind of my, my gift to them
[43:38] to make sure they could keep it going.
[43:40] Unfortunately, the Y no longer has a team
[43:43] and I think the wise vision
[43:45] and mission has changed more than your line of work,
[43:50] school functions and things like that.
[43:52] So pool became less important for them.
[43:55] And so as a result of that,
[43:56] the kids on the team have split off the different clubs
[43:59] and Framingham definitely needs a pool.
[44:03] I'd like to see a pool that is accessible to all,
[44:07] not attached to a unfortunately a school.
[44:10] 'cause I've, I've seen a number of pools where you,
[44:12] nobody can get in, but people that go to school there.
[44:14] So we want to make sure residents can use the
[44:17] pool as well as the kids.
[44:19] So if you have any other questions
[44:21] for me, I think that's about it.
[44:23] Okay, thank you so much. Alright, next up Charles.
[44:40] Thank you Madam Chair and members of the school committee.
[44:44] Quick introduction. So my name is Chuck Schneider.
[44:47] I've been a resident of Framingham for 20 years.
[44:50] A member of town meeting for eight years
[44:52] until we became a city.
[44:54] I was a former competitive swimmer swimming
[44:56] for Natick High School and a bit in college.
[44:59] I've been a swim coach, a lifeguard, a swim instructor.
[45:03] My daughter Sila is an incoming freshman
[45:06] who will be swimming for Framingham High School this fall.
[45:09] And who has been swimming
[45:10] for Arnie Cohen on the Framingham Frogs
[45:12] for the past four seasons.
[45:15] In addition, last year in her civics class at Walsh Middle
[45:18] School, my daughter and her team advocated
[45:21] for bringing a community pool back to Framingham,
[45:25] including surveying the community, reaching out to local,
[45:28] state and federal representatives about funding
[45:30] opportunities and contacting the city council, which is
[45:34] what spurred the creation of this Blue Ribbon Commission.
[45:39] As I'm sure you know, as everybody said,
[45:41] a community pool would be an asset
[45:42] in a benefit to Framingham.
[45:44] Making access to the community, more equitable for everyone,
[45:48] eliminating the need
[45:49] to rent pool time from other communities, which
[45:51] as Arnie mentioned earlier, had a direct impact on the frogs
[45:55] and its dwindling numbers.
[45:57] Also provide opportunities to teach kids about water safety,
[46:01] how to swim, et cetera.
[46:05] In closing, I felt the effects
[46:07] of not having a community pool while my
[46:10] daughters swam for the frogs.
[46:11] And I will feel it more
[46:13] as she continues her swimming career for the high school.
[46:17] And besides that, now that she's out of that civics class,
[46:20] I would like to continue the work that my daughter
[46:23] and her group started if I'm appointed
[46:27] to the, to the committee.
[46:28] So thank you.
[46:30] Thank you. All right, up next. Annette Barnett.
[46:36] Welcome.
[47:00] Oh hi, my name is Annette Barnett
[47:04] and I've been a resident from Framingham
[47:07] for more than 20 years.
[47:08] I have two teenage boys and some say I'm a mermaid.
[47:12] When my boys were very little, I took a parenting class
[47:15] and in that class they told us there were
[47:17] only three things we need.
[47:18] We were required to teach our kids
[47:20] and one of them is how to swim.
[47:23] So that probably sets the stage for why I am
[47:25] so passionate about bringing an accessible community
[47:28] pool back to Framingham.
[47:30] Over the years, either as a family
[47:32] or on my own, I think I've been a member of
[47:35] or affiliated with just about every pool in the area.
[47:38] Framingham, YMCA, Clearbrook Longfellow,
[47:41] lifetime way wayside.
[47:42] Keith Atkinson, suburban LA Fitness,
[47:45] Metro West Medical Center Physical Therapy Pool,
[47:47] and now the Westboro YMCA.
[47:50] Because of the pool availability, my boys learned to swim,
[47:53] attend multiple camps,
[47:54] and participated in Framingham's, amazing,
[47:56] amazing youth swim team, the frogs.
[47:59] I've also been a water aerobics instructor,
[48:01] so I've experienced pools as a parent and instructor
[48:04] and a recreational swimmer and a member of the community.
[48:08] I wasn't necessarily looking to join a city committee,
[48:10] but when this opportunity came up I thought my particular
[48:13] combination of experienced skills
[48:15] and passion for this project might actually make
[48:17] me a valuable addition.
[48:19] In my past life I worked in corporate purchasing in both
[48:21] retail and manufacturing with a special focus on new builds.
[48:26] Those projects started with site sourcing
[48:28] and continued all the way through opening day.
[48:31] My roles focused heavily on product procurement,
[48:34] scheduling and delivery.
[48:36] By making sure we met specifications, budget
[48:38] and opening deadlines.
[48:39] I worked directly with vendors on product requirements,
[48:42] pricing negotiations
[48:43] and making sure what we ordered was
[48:46] what was delivered on time
[48:48] and met the speci specifications we had agreed upon.
[48:51] With a focused on cost benefit analysis
[48:53] and best scenario ROI, basically, I'm a really good shopper.
[48:57] We can buy almost anything at a really good price, whether
[48:59] that's an off the shelf item, like a vest
[49:02] or window for a snack shack.
[49:05] I also bring the perspective of a parent
[49:07] of a multi-sport varsity athlete at Framingham High School,
[49:10] which I think will be valuable as we consider the needs
[49:12] of the FHS swim team.
[49:14] I applied to this committee 'cause I wanna help bring the
[49:16] vision of a new Framingham pool to life.
[49:19] I wanna bring my experience
[49:20] and my voice to the table so
[49:22] that we build the best pool we can
[49:23] for the people of Framingham.
[49:25] That means the FHS swim team and the frogs.
[49:28] It means laps, swimmers, families,
[49:30] and young children learning to swim.
[49:31] It means seniors, it means people looking for water,
[49:34] exercise, rehabilitation, and therapy.
[49:36] It means uses we probably haven't even thought of yet.
[49:40] I would welcome the opportunity to work
[49:41] with everyone in the Blue Ribbon Committee to figure out
[49:44] how we can get as much as possible from our wishlist while
[49:47] working within whatever financial, physical
[49:49] and practical parameters we have.
[49:51] And some days a long time,
[49:53] president Framingham resident and a mermaid.
[49:55] I very much look forward to doing water aerobics in
[49:57] the new Framingham Pool.
[49:59] Thank you for your consideration.
[50:02] Alright, anybody here that I missed?
[50:06] Okay, so we're gonna do this in two groups.
[50:09] The first group will be the coach group,
[50:11] the second group will be the parent group.
[50:13] Unless there's any objection, we'll do majority wins.
[50:17] Whoever gets the most vote wins.
[50:19] If there's a tie, we will just have the one
[50:22] people who are tied.
[50:23] Go to the next round and we'll do a repeat round. Okay.
[50:27] All right, so I'll read it off if
[50:28] anyone wants to write 'em down.
[50:29] There is a master list on the agenda with all of the names,
[50:33] but I'm just gonna read 'em as I have 'em on buckets
[50:36] because our appointment specifics were outlined
[50:39] in the, in the ordinance.
[50:40] So in the first group, it's Wendy, Brad Fish, Arnold Cohen,
[50:45] Gina LaVoy, Kaitlyn Powers, Jacqueline Edwards,
[50:50] Paula McCurdy, and Naomi Walker.
[50:53] Okay, so in a moment I'll ask you to say the name of
[50:56] who you're voting for
[50:58] and I will just say that some of these are in both.
[51:01] We do have a couple people that are in both buckets.
[51:04] So Jacqueline Edwards, Paula McCurdy, and Naomi Walker.
[51:07] I have in both buckets.
[51:10] And those are the three that are not
[51:11] Here.
[51:12] Those three are not here. Okay, so again, Wendy, Brad Fish,
[51:16] Arnold Cohen, Gina Levoy, Caitlyn Powers,
[51:18] Jacqueline Edwards, Paula McCarty.
[51:19] Naomi Walker, group One Coach Bucket. Okay.
[51:24] All right. So say the name of the person you're voting for.
[51:27] We'll go. District one.
[51:30] Kailyn Powers. Kailyn Powers District two.
[51:41] Do Want take mine.
[51:43] Oh, here we go. Arnie Cohen.
[51:48] District three. Jacqueline Jacqueline Edwards.
[51:52] Yep. Okay.
[51:55] District four
[52:00] Button's only Turning Red on, can I use your mic?
[52:05] Turn their mics off.
[52:10] Caitlyn Powers. Caitlyn Powers. Got it. Okay.
[52:18] District five. Wendy. Brad Fish. Wendy. Brad Fish.
[52:22] District six.
[52:24] Caitlyn Powers. Caitlin
[52:25] Powers.
[52:28] District seven is recused. District eight. I'll go.
[52:31] Kaitlyn Powers. District nine.
[52:36] Caitlyn Powers. All right.
[52:39] 5 0 5 1 1 1.
[52:42] Alright, next group we have Dan Dube.
[52:46] Dube is that you pronounce your last name Dubay, right?
[52:49] Chuck Schneider. Alicia Valente. Annette Barnett.
[52:53] Jennifer Al. Naomi Walker.
[52:56] Jacqueline Edwards, Paula McCurdy.
[52:59] So this is the parent bucket.
[53:03] Is that one on also? Okay.
[53:06] Okay. Alright. District one. Chuck
[53:11] Snyder.
[53:12] District two. Jacqueline Edwards.
[53:19] District three. Annette Barnett,
[53:22] District four.
[53:24] Dan Dube. District five. Jacqueline Edwards.
[53:30] District six.
[53:32] Dan Dube. District eight. Alicia Valenti.
[53:37] District nine.
[53:40] Jacqueline Edwards.
[53:41] All right. That puts her at three. She wins.
[53:43] Jacqueline Edwards.
[53:45] Alright, thank you all so much for your willingness
[53:48] to participate and I hope you stay inclu, you know,
[53:51] present in the, in the conversation
[53:53] and help with the advocacy piece.
[53:55] 'cause I know you're, you're heavily rooted in this
[53:56] community as well, so appreciate it.
[53:58] Appreciate all your work. Thank you.
[54:01] I do have a question. Do you guys all know each
[54:03] other? I don't.
[54:05] It's a big swim. It's a big swim community.
[54:10] Okay, so we'll pass those.
[54:11] So love to have you back those, for those of you, Caitlyn
[54:15] and Jacqueline who's not here, but
[54:17] we'd love to have you back.
[54:19] And then also is she withdrawing?
[54:22] I, I mean she just texted
[54:23] Me so, okay.
[54:24] I dunno. Does she know that she won? She
[54:26] Said Jackie.
[54:27] Jackie Edwards.
[54:28] I don't know if she, you might wanna
[54:29] reach out to her because,
[54:32] Sorry I did.
[54:33] I didn't hear back. Alright,
[54:36] She, well she's in the last right now, but I just,
[54:38] I will not make it.
[54:42] Sorry, Can you just text her back
[54:44] and ask her if she wants to formally withdraw
[54:46] and
[54:50] Okay, so we're gonna hold off.
[54:52] Does she know she won?
[54:57] Okay. We definitely want her then.
[55:05] I dunno when she'll answer,
[55:06] but I'll sit here until she does.
[55:11] So just to fill people in.
[55:13] So Jacqueline Edwards texted Wendy Brad Fish saying
[55:16] that she doesn't know if she can Well she just sent her a
[55:19] message and we're waiting to hear back
[55:20] that if it sounded like she might not be
[55:22] interested after all.
[55:24] So we're just gonna wait and, okay, we'll come back.
[55:29] I guess I know. Do we just take a recess?
[55:32] No, It's fine.
[55:35] Continue on. I could always come back.
[55:39] I'd hate to have to do this
[55:40] again and make everyone come back.
[55:46] What if we move on to another thing
[55:48] and we can come back if they can wait. Okay.
[55:51] Wendy, if you don't mind just waiting around
[55:52] and like if we're gonna just go on to our next topic
[55:55] and then if you do happen to hear back we can kind
[55:57] of go back and pivot and, okay,
[56:01] sorry, that's never happened.
[56:06] So we'll go on to the next one's.
[56:09] Kind of a lengthy one, but, all right,
[56:11] vote on the superintendent's proposed goals.
[56:13] So 2026 to 2027 school year goals. Turn it over to Dr.
[56:16] Tremblay. A presentation
[56:17] and vote on the superintendent's goals is required
[56:19] by the superintendent's contract in section four.
[56:22] With that, I'll turn it over to Dr. Trembley.
[56:24] Welcome. Thank you Madam Chair. Good evening everyone.
[56:27] Thank you. I'll try to be brief on the
[56:28] discussion this evening.
[56:30] And Joanna, thank you for putting that up on the screen.
[56:33] I'm going to share the,
[56:35] that you recall the goals were presented previously as a,
[56:37] as a slide deck presentation.
[56:39] They've now been formatted into the Department
[56:42] of Education elementary secondary education's document tool.
[56:47] And as I pointed out in an earlier communication just today,
[56:49] so you may not have had time to review this.
[56:51] So if we need to push this to a vote at the next meeting,
[56:54] I understand, but not,
[56:56] there's not been substantial changes since the previous
[56:59] presentation on the goals.
[57:00] However, I did incorporate school committee feedback.
[57:05] I think all of it, if not all of it, at least most of it.
[57:08] And so significantly is this first goal,
[57:10] the district improvement goal,
[57:12] which really focuses on our out of district
[57:16] student placement.
[57:19] In, in some, I'm not gonna read it all to you,
[57:21] it is available, but I'm gonna just in in some here is
[57:23] that we have acknowledged
[57:25] that we have a extraordinary expense
[57:28] for students placed out of district.
[57:30] We know it's a goal of the district to have our students
[57:33] learn learning in district.
[57:37] An example of that, for example, is our 18
[57:39] to 22 program at Farley, which has continued to grow.
[57:43] That's a great opportunity for our students
[57:45] to be educated in their home community.
[57:46] It's also a cost savings
[57:48] and we expect that we'll continue to grow
[57:51] that in-district programming.
[57:53] We also recognize there may be students
[57:55] who are better served in and out of district placement.
[57:58] So this, this goal now aims
[58:00] and I want to just to extend some appreciation to a member
[58:02] of the school committee who did give me this, this feedback.
[58:05] I had an opportunity in since getting that
[58:07] to get input from the director of special education.
[58:10] And this is a collaborative goal in that regard.
[58:13] But this really begins to look at the root cause.
[58:15] And it's not to say that we haven't been looking at this,
[58:17] we pay very close attention.
[58:18] But given that we are likely among the top five,
[58:21] if not the second highest outta district spending in the
[58:24] commonwealth of Massachusetts, there's certainly a cause
[58:27] to take a hard look at what we can do better
[58:30] for our students and also considering and unpredictable
[58:33] and untenable financial climate going forward.
[58:36] So that's the nature of what this goal is.
[58:38] So there's three specific subparts to this.
[58:41] And the timeline is as follows.
[58:44] Really it's, it's to begin to look at the root cause
[58:46] with a plan to, this would be ongoing as a goal,
[58:49] but to find out, for example, students
[58:52] who are entering the district, are they entering the
[58:55] district with an existing OUTTA district placement?
[58:57] That would be something to consider, right?
[58:59] So we were sort of inheriting that outta district placement.
[59:02] And do we have the services present here?
[59:04] We do, we do have a lot of of services that we provide
[59:06] to our students, but are they the right services
[59:10] that we're providing to our students?
[59:11] So something we wanna look at, lack
[59:12] of appropriate in-district programming is, is that point
[59:16] behavioral or safety needs our students?
[59:19] Is there a lack of effective academic progress?
[59:21] And then also considering perhaps legal
[59:24] and board of special education appeals considerations
[59:26] among other relevant factors.
[59:28] So the first part of this new goal
[59:29] that's being presented here, again based on member feedback,
[59:33] was to, by September 15th,
[59:35] to implement a standardized process for
[59:37] documenting the primary factors contributing
[59:40] to all new out of district placements.
[59:42] So baseline data would be collected between July one
[59:45] and through to June 30th, the end of the school year.
[59:48] I understand that the end of the school year would extend
[59:51] beyond when this evaluation is done,
[59:52] but the, the intent here is to capture a
[59:57] official school year from July one to June 30th.
[1:00:00] A second subpart to that one is by January 15th.
[1:00:03] So around the midyear presentation would be
[1:00:05] to create clear program descriptions for each
[1:00:08] of our sub-separate programs that include entry
[1:00:11] and exit criteria
[1:00:13] and targeted professional learning de design
[1:00:15] to increase staff capacity
[1:00:17] to support students in the least restrictive environment.
[1:00:20] And then finally the subpart to this is by the end
[1:00:22] of the school year, develop and implement a special
[1:00:24] education capacity improvement plan,
[1:00:26] addressing the priority areas identified
[1:00:28] through the out-of-district analysis.
[1:00:30] That plan specifically will identify programming
[1:00:32] or service gaps, recommended programmatic changes, staffing
[1:00:37] and expertise needs, professional learning needs,
[1:00:40] resource availability and financial implications,
[1:00:43] implications and implementation timelines
[1:00:45] for the 27 28 school year.
[1:00:47] So this is a goal of the special education department
[1:00:50] and I'll partner closely with Director Lori Bruce on
[1:00:53] that one final note is
[1:00:56] also getting member feedback on this is to have
[1:01:00] more updates, more communication from the director
[1:01:02] of special education around this
[1:01:04] or special education in general,
[1:01:06] as is also referenced in other goals in this document,
[1:01:10] as one of our identified subgroups, as you know,
[1:01:13] that language has been added specifically
[1:01:15] to some of the learning goals.
[1:01:16] I'm not gonna read all those to you this
[1:01:18] evening unless you need me to.
[1:01:19] This again, it's not changed since the previous iteration
[1:01:22] except that we did identify
[1:01:25] specific English learning students
[1:01:26] and students with disabilities given the feedback
[1:01:28] that has come from the school committee.
[1:01:30] And so that is now included in terms of
[1:01:32] what percentage increases our targets that we've set for,
[1:01:37] for 26 27.
[1:01:38] So the other sort of related point to this
[1:01:42] and then I'll, I'll pause for any questions.
[1:01:45] I think otherwise the goals are, are
[1:01:46] as they've been presented is the dropping off
[1:01:51] of the class of 2030 goal, which I had had on here initially
[1:01:55] and as I pointed out in my email,
[1:01:56] but just to share with the public.
[1:01:59] As this committee well knows
[1:02:00] and as many in the community know,
[1:02:01] I've been tracing the class
[1:02:02] of 2030 since they began in kindergarten.
[1:02:05] They're now entering their 10th year in school, their
[1:02:09] incoming freshmen.
[1:02:11] I think it's gonna be very important for,
[1:02:13] I know it'll be very important for me to continue
[1:02:14] that relationship with them through their commencement,
[1:02:17] which has always been part of my plan in the district.
[1:02:19] And I'm fortunate to have the opportunity to see that
[1:02:21] through to fruition.
[1:02:23] I really believe that by building relationships
[1:02:25] with the students and getting their feedback, whether that's
[1:02:29] through personal conversations, the advisory
[1:02:31] that I mentioned in a previous goal, which is still
[1:02:34] existing, getting anecdotal information from surveys,
[1:02:38] anonymous surveys which can be codified to find out
[1:02:41] what worked for our students over these nine years in the
[1:02:45] district or now, you know, coming to their,
[1:02:47] their 10 years in the district.
[1:02:49] What has worked, what has not worked,
[1:02:50] what are those educational challenges that we as a team,
[1:02:53] as a district can take on given that student voice.
[1:02:56] I really believe it's really important
[1:02:58] work to continue to do.
[1:03:00] And so while it's not framed specifically in this document,
[1:03:05] largely 'cause it was difficult
[1:03:06] to measure the qualitative side of that aspect,
[1:03:09] I just wanna point out that even though it's not here,
[1:03:12] like many things that are not in this document
[1:03:14] that exist in the strategic plan
[1:03:16] for the district is still a priority.
[1:03:18] So I just wanted to put that caveat there as I had was,
[1:03:21] was had included that previously,
[1:03:23] but that now has been removed from this document
[1:03:26] and wanted to give some explanation as
[1:03:27] to why we do believe the OUTTA district is an appropriate I
[1:03:30] do district improvement goal
[1:03:32] and then again the professional practice goals
[1:03:34] around policy development.
[1:03:35] These are areas for artificial intelligence specifically.
[1:03:38] And then the cell phone policy.
[1:03:40] We're still waiting to see whether
[1:03:42] or not there will be a, a legislative action on that.
[1:03:45] But in the meanwhile, getting input from our students,
[1:03:47] from within the community, from our parent community,
[1:03:50] our caregivers, around both of these important policies,
[1:03:53] with a plan to present that to the policy subcommittee
[1:03:56] by mid-year to give that feedback.
[1:03:59] And then the student learning goals,
[1:04:00] which I described briefly just a moment ago,
[1:04:04] in which I presented in greater detail at a previous
[1:04:07] meeting, a stand as they were presented the first time.
[1:04:10] So unless there are any questions, I'll just leave it there
[1:04:12] for, for review or discussion.
[1:04:15] Okay. Jen's up first.
[1:04:17] I don't have so much as questions, but comments.
[1:04:20] I want to say thank you for really listening to
[1:04:22] what our feedback was on some of your goals,
[1:04:24] and I can see how they've been input here.
[1:04:26] So I appreciate that because I really think this year has
[1:04:29] to be really data driven
[1:04:31] and really expectation based on that.
[1:04:34] So I appreciate that. And as far as your class
[1:04:39] of 2030, I hope you still continue to make
[1:04:41] that a personal goal, whether or not it be on here or not.
[1:04:45] I, I think it's important. 'cause I, I think that's
[1:04:47] actually something that's been great that you've
[1:04:49] done all these years.
[1:04:50] 'cause I remember going years ago
[1:04:51] that I did reading with you with that class.
[1:04:54] So I, I think it's a great personal goal
[1:04:58] and I hope you continue it.
[1:05:02] Thanks for that. I, I, I, I agree.
[1:05:03] It's, it's a pretty special connection I think that I have
[1:05:06] with the class, and I'll be reading to them,
[1:05:09] and as freshmen in high school now in one big assembly,
[1:05:11] that'll be really interesting.
[1:05:13] But having a connection with the class is important to me.
[1:05:16] So you, you have my word.
[1:05:19] I'll just echo what Jen said.
[1:05:20] I agree with everything she said.
[1:05:21] I really do like the effort that you've made
[1:05:23] with the class of 2030.
[1:05:24] I think relationships, you gotta build the bridges
[1:05:26] before you need them, and just the relationships
[1:05:28] matter, that whole piece.
[1:05:29] And I get that maybe it doesn't fit cleanly in here,
[1:05:32] but I just, I do think it's, it's great.
[1:05:33] It's a nice attribute that you bring to the community.
[1:05:36] And I've worked for six, seven superintendents,
[1:05:38] and I think that, that this, this is the,
[1:05:40] where the work is, it's really important.
[1:05:42] And although it doesn't line up maybe
[1:05:44] with our assessment tool that we use,
[1:05:46] I think it's a nice thing
[1:05:47] to incorporate in your practice as well.
[1:05:49] Thanks. Anybody else? Superintendent's goals.
[1:05:53] Go ahead, Judy. Judy Rocks, paper, scissor. No, go ahead.
[1:05:58] Judy. Judy.
[1:06:01] Yeah. Thank you, Bob,
[1:06:03] for the work you put into these goals.
[1:06:05] They're like, they're really, these are substantial goals.
[1:06:09] But I have a couple questions on the first goal.
[1:06:14] Is it, is it, am I understanding that the, that the analysis
[1:06:19] and developing the capacity improvement plan as is, is the,
[1:06:23] is the pro end product of that goal?
[1:06:25] Or is there any,
[1:06:27] any other measurable outcomes we might see this year related
[1:06:31] to in-district capacity
[1:06:33] or, you know, out of district placements or costs?
[1:06:38] Yeah, I think there's, there's sort
[1:06:39] of two things going on.
[1:06:41] I would say this is, this is not an end goal.
[1:06:43] It's a baseline goal. So it's established, what do we have?
[1:06:46] It's, it is an inventory.
[1:06:47] Like what is, what is existing, what are those systems?
[1:06:50] I mean, the measurables there would be exiting an
[1:06:53] entrance criteria for programming.
[1:06:54] That's a really important one that may not be so clear
[1:06:58] that we need to work on.
[1:07:00] But as you think about this in alignment with, you know,
[1:07:03] the tech collaborative that you represent on the board
[1:07:05] and the accept collaborative, you know, by having our 18
[1:07:08] to 22 program here in at Farley
[1:07:11] and expanding that, what does that mean for our relationship
[1:07:13] with the accept collaborative?
[1:07:15] And similarly with tech collaborative,
[1:07:17] there's programs that swab off.
[1:07:18] So I think there's a baseline right now, I would think of it
[1:07:21] as year one as being an inventory of what we have.
[1:07:23] What do we offer? Who's eligible?
[1:07:25] How many students are there?
[1:07:27] And can we do something in-house differently?
[1:07:29] That's what I would view this as.
[1:07:30] I think it's step one of a multi-year plan, right?
[1:07:33] We've really not dug into that.
[1:07:34] So that's why it's the, the metrics here.
[1:07:36] The deliverables would be an analysis of report of sort
[1:07:39] of the state of the, of the, of,
[1:07:41] of the programming condition report.
[1:07:43] Okay.
[1:07:46] I have a question about the cell phone and AI policies.
[1:07:51] So could you explain what aspect
[1:07:53] of your professional practice you're hoping
[1:07:56] to strengthen through that?
[1:07:57] Is that policy development or
[1:08:01] It, it is, what I, what I've learned and,
[1:08:03] and continuing to learn in my own professional practice here
[1:08:06] is ways to inform policy.
[1:08:09] And an example of that is, and I may have referenced this
[1:08:12] before, so I apologize if I'm repeating myself.
[1:08:15] Our EV policy, so we have a, a policy in the district.
[1:08:19] And one way that that came to life
[1:08:21] and why you, maybe I have haven't heard much about it
[1:08:24] or seen much about it.
[1:08:25] And I really believe it's
[1:08:26] because it had the opportunity
[1:08:28] to garner buy-in from the users.
[1:08:31] And so it was a learning experience for me to say, well,
[1:08:33] let's take all of the existing EV for, right?
[1:08:37] So the electric vehicles
[1:08:39] and our charging stations, which are somewhat limited.
[1:08:41] And we knew we had Uber drivers
[1:08:43] and Lyft drivers that were taking advantage of the overnight
[1:08:45] and working with Sean earlier about how can we set
[1:08:48] and working with buildings and grounds and withdrew
[1:08:50] and the buildings and grounds department in particular,
[1:08:52] who's a user and saying, how can we set policy that doesn't
[1:08:57] undo what our staff and our families would use,
[1:09:01] and how do we get voice?
[1:09:02] So by having open forum conversations with current users,
[1:09:06] aspiring users of EVs
[1:09:08] and how that would work, we built for the really, I, I,
[1:09:12] I don't think it exists in the MASC guide.
[1:09:15] It, it's really phenomenal
[1:09:17] and it's, there's not a lot of fanfare about it,
[1:09:19] but there was a lot of work put into it.
[1:09:21] I mean, multiple iterations.
[1:09:23] So to answer the question, I do view this
[1:09:25] as a professional practice goal
[1:09:26] because these are two very significant policies
[1:09:29] that are really going to light a wick, if you will,
[1:09:32] in the community, particularly around cell phones, whether
[1:09:35] or not the state goes forward with legislation.
[1:09:38] We've already begun work on this.
[1:09:40] I always say the, we, I mean, I've begun work,
[1:09:42] but I'm working with, with people.
[1:09:43] In fact, I have a, a an educator who's an aspiring
[1:09:46] administrator who's looking for a project to learn
[1:09:49] how to be a leader.
[1:09:51] And so we're working together on this
[1:09:53] and we've, we had a number of vendor meetings
[1:09:55] with those cell phone cases, like yonder pouches.
[1:09:57] Well, it turns out there's like 10 different
[1:09:59] brands of these kinds of things.
[1:10:00] But locking up a cell phone is one aspect,
[1:10:03] but really what are the impacts
[1:10:04] of not having a cell phone on a student's person?
[1:10:08] And how do families feel about that?
[1:10:09] And how do students feel about that?
[1:10:11] How do teachers feel about that?
[1:10:12] We've had discussions with Brockton Public Schools,
[1:10:15] Brockton High School, as an example, uses this
[1:10:17] as a requirement for all of their high school students.
[1:10:19] How do they do that without adding staff? What's procedural?
[1:10:23] So AI similarly, in short, I would say the,
[1:10:27] this is a professional practice goal
[1:10:28] because I'm approaching policy recommendations
[1:10:31] to the policy subcommittee
[1:10:33] that it collects input in a very different way.
[1:10:36] And it's something I'm still learning to do, to refine.
[1:10:38] And the ev charging policy was an example
[1:10:41] of sort of tiptoeing into that.
[1:10:42] These are much deeper,
[1:10:44] and the opportunity to be at the high school sort
[1:10:46] of lined up with that 2030 class allows me
[1:10:49] to be in the presence of students
[1:10:51] and staff at the high school
[1:10:52] to get their direct feedback in real time.
[1:10:54] So I really do think, for me, it's how
[1:10:56] to shape policy effectively, to minimize the, the resistance
[1:11:02] by getting earlier buy-in
[1:11:03] before presenting it to a policy subcommittee.
[1:11:06] It's a long answer to your question.
[1:11:07] No, but that's, but that's why it lands there. That's,
[1:11:09] That's a good explanation.
[1:11:11] Answers my question.
[1:11:13] Yeah. Thank you. And I had one more comment,
[1:11:16] if you don't mind, which is about the third goal
[1:11:21] fives separate student learning outcomes.
[1:11:23] Seems like a lot to me. Is it too much?
[1:11:28] I think all of us is, is a lot,
[1:11:29] but I think it's all important.
[1:11:31] And as I look on this, and I reflect on this,
[1:11:33] and I did, again, I appreciate the comments about taking it
[1:11:36] all in, you know, some of it, I try to be careful not
[1:11:39] to just throw sort of low hanging fruit to say,
[1:11:42] here's a goal I can easily obtain.
[1:11:44] Right? That's not what the work is.
[1:11:45] And I've heard very clearly,
[1:11:47] and I've felt this way, that we really need
[1:11:49] to do a better job with, with teaching and learning.
[1:11:52] And we, we, we have great leadership
[1:11:54] in the district to do that.
[1:11:55] Now we're really poised, I think,
[1:11:57] to make a significant change.
[1:11:58] So is it a lot? I think it is the hardest part of this,
[1:12:02] and working closely with Anne
[1:12:03] and with the Office of Teaching
[1:12:05] and Learning is, you know,
[1:12:07] we can't name every single grade level in every
[1:12:09] single subgroup.
[1:12:12] So we try to get a, a sort of an sampling across elementary,
[1:12:16] secondary, and then also
[1:12:18] focusing still on our chronic absenteeism
[1:12:20] and our high school graduation rate,
[1:12:22] which we know is a significance importance.
[1:12:23] What's not presented here this evening is the data
[1:12:26] dashboard, which will have more information.
[1:12:28] We talked about that previously. So I think it's a lot.
[1:12:32] I I know it's a lot.
[1:12:34] And especially, I'm not the one sort
[1:12:35] of delivering this instruction.
[1:12:37] I'm not the one in front of students,
[1:12:38] so it's gonna be having me be very attentive working
[1:12:41] with Anne, being in schools, working with our principals.
[1:12:45] So yeah, there, there's a,
[1:12:46] there's a better than average chance
[1:12:48] that I'll be progressing or making some progress on these
[1:12:51] and not necessarily meeting or exceeding.
[1:12:52] And I'm eyes wide open with that realization
[1:12:55] because it is an awful lot.
[1:12:56] Yeah. I appreciate the acknowledgement.
[1:13:00] You're welcome. But thank you.
[1:13:02] These goals are, they're, they're so, so great, Bob.
[1:13:08] I'm really happy to see them. Thank
[1:13:09] You. Thank you for that.
[1:13:11] Thank you. Up next we're gonna go to Lorena
[1:13:13] and Kyle, I just wanna acknowledge, I do see your hand,
[1:13:14] you're up next, but Lorena's first,
[1:13:21] Thank you so much Dr.
[1:13:23] Trumble for incorporating all the feedback that was shared.
[1:13:27] I really appreciate it, especially the quick turn around
[1:13:30] after I sent in my comments.
[1:13:32] So thank you. I have a thought
[1:13:34] and I, I just, I'm always thinking about how to
[1:13:39] engage our community and include community and, and,
[1:13:42] and have, you know, more participatory processes.
[1:13:47] So, but I don't know if it's appropriate giving the laws
[1:13:50] that we have to follow, et cetera.
[1:13:52] And I, I'm just thinking about the CPAC group
[1:13:57] and whether it would be appropriate to, at some point
[1:14:00] as you, you know, not right away, I know that this is
[1:14:03] to figure out baseline information,
[1:14:05] but I think that their experiences
[1:14:12] in our district with special education could also help
[1:14:15] inform a lot of, a lot of the realities
[1:14:18] that are, that are happening.
[1:14:19] So, so I think just a thought,
[1:14:22] and I, again, I'm not sure if it makes sense
[1:14:23] or if it's appropriate, whatever, but I just wanted
[1:14:25] to to point that out.
[1:14:28] And yeah, that's basically all I have. Thank you.
[1:14:31] Thank you for the updates.
[1:14:33] Looking at the student learning goal.
[1:14:35] I, I actually think that these percentages make sense.
[1:14:39] I think having five looks like a lot on paper,
[1:14:44] but I think the percentages
[1:14:48] are pretty attainable.
[1:14:50] So yeah, so I think, I think
[1:14:55] it will be a good, a good year.
[1:14:57] So thanks for that feedback.
[1:14:58] And credit to the teaching
[1:14:59] and learning team, just for helping me
[1:15:01] to really establish reasonable targets
[1:15:03] and what we want to have a hundred percent right.
[1:15:05] The goal would be always,
[1:15:06] we want a hundred percent of our students.
[1:15:08] We know that it's going to be compounded over time.
[1:15:10] It's gotta be sort of incremental in that the question is,
[1:15:13] you know, what is that increment?
[1:15:15] And I, I appreciate the comments
[1:15:16] and I think the idea of engaging the,
[1:15:18] the special education parent advisory council on this
[1:15:21] particular goal is a, is an excellent suggestion.
[1:15:25] I will be convening a meeting along with members
[1:15:28] of the central office team in October, September,
[1:15:31] I think it's October, October early October
[1:15:34] with our PTO leadership, kind of, sort of like the,
[1:15:37] the old days of the town wide PTO.
[1:15:39] And then we morphed into a citywide PTO,
[1:15:41] so the PTO president's meeting,
[1:15:43] but also with the special education
[1:15:45] and our dual language pack
[1:15:47] and our English language learner pack.
[1:15:52] Thank you Anne. Tweeting in my ear.
[1:15:55] But we'll have that in October.
[1:15:56] We're gonna give some ground rules about donations and all
[1:15:59] and, and policy around that and how you manage raffles
[1:16:02] and all the things you can
[1:16:04] and cannot do in public education.
[1:16:06] So I think that would be a great time
[1:16:07] to also engage our partners.
[1:16:08] So thank you for that suggestion
[1:16:09] and for all the feedback that you provided.
[1:16:11] I do appreciate it.
[1:16:14] Alright, we're gonna go out online to Kyle.
[1:16:18] I thank you Madam Chair and thank you Bob, for these,
[1:16:21] for these, this, these updated goals.
[1:16:24] I have a comment and then a question on
[1:16:26] the district improvement goal.
[1:16:28] I was really happy to see this, this goal.
[1:16:30] I mean, I, I think you've, you've indicated that you know,
[1:16:33] that you're, this will be your last contract
[1:16:36] that you're gonna move on to other things.
[1:16:38] So we're gonna have another superintendent at some point,
[1:16:40] and I, I would like to see all
[1:16:42] of these district improvement goals from now until then
[1:16:45] be things that make it easy for that person
[1:16:47] to notch some early victories.
[1:16:49] And I certainly think that this, that this goal will,
[1:16:52] will leave them with the, with the data
[1:16:55] and the clarity to, you know, make decisions
[1:16:58] and score some wins and, and win over the community.
[1:17:00] So that's, that's my, my comment,
[1:17:05] my question is on the AI policy
[1:17:08] and procedure development, you know, there are,
[1:17:13] there are two sort of implications here.
[1:17:14] Two sets of implications. I put 'em in two buckets.
[1:17:17] One is the, the student facing challenges
[1:17:20] and the district facing challenges that are around
[1:17:23] academic integrity, right?
[1:17:24] You know, using AI to write papers
[1:17:26] and you know, that, that sort
[1:17:29] of, that sort of thing.
[1:17:31] But there's also the fact that we
[1:17:33] as a district have climate goals
[1:17:35] and we're adopting a technology that has a climate impact.
[1:17:40] We have as a community, I think a, a set of ethical values.
[1:17:43] And there is a,
[1:17:45] there are questions about these large language models
[1:17:48] and the, the, the use
[1:17:51] of artists work without their consent, the,
[1:17:56] you know, some other, you know,
[1:17:59] ethical implications of the technology.
[1:18:01] And I'm, I'm, I'm wondering are, are we,
[1:18:04] when we're developing this policy,
[1:18:05] are we planning on only looking at the
[1:18:08] academic integrity side of things?
[1:18:10] Or are we looking at the technology holistically and,
[1:18:13] and looking at all of those things that we have commitments
[1:18:16] as a school district and as a community to, to care about?
[1:18:21] Yeah, that's a really thoughtful question.
[1:18:23] I think the, the intent
[1:18:26] to start is the academic integrity.
[1:18:29] I, I, I think there's, in, in speaking
[1:18:31] with students at framing high school last year, there seems
[1:18:35] to be a general understanding that
[1:18:37] teachers are setting boundaries for using AI
[1:18:40] as a thought partner, maybe brainstorming and,
[1:18:42] and giving space for students to engage this technology.
[1:18:47] I think that's one aspect of it, the sort
[1:18:49] of academic integrity.
[1:18:50] The other piece, as you mentioned is the, the sort
[1:18:53] of the climate impact, the, the cooling that happens
[1:18:55] and the back end of something that we nobody sees, right?
[1:18:58] When it's AI is happening, there's, there's technology,
[1:19:02] there's energy that's being impacted and likely,
[1:19:06] and we know in neighborhoods
[1:19:08] and in places across the country
[1:19:11] that are impacting life livelihoods.
[1:19:14] That's a deep impact.
[1:19:16] I'm not sure we can get to that level
[1:19:17] of impact in this policy,
[1:19:19] but it's surely something I'll consider, again, the nature
[1:19:23] of what we're looking at is a little bit more shallow.
[1:19:24] It's more about setting ground rules for, you know,
[1:19:28] making sure we're not violating, you know, copyright
[1:19:32] and students' original ideas versus having generative ai.
[1:19:37] I think that's where we're gonna start,
[1:19:38] but I, I appreciate the question
[1:19:39] and I think it's important for us to consider where we can
[1:19:42] to the extent we're able to, to manage our impact on the,
[1:19:46] on the sort of climate footprint here.
[1:19:50] Thank you. Alright,
[1:19:53] up next we have Rich, thank you Madam Chair.
[1:19:57] Bob, thank you for, you know,
[1:19:59] getting these calls with more numbers.
[1:20:01] I, I'm genuinely excited about this
[1:20:04] because even if we don't meet these percentages
[1:20:07] that we now have, we'll be able to assess
[1:20:10] what got in the way why this didn't work.
[1:20:12] And that's just, you know, something
[1:20:13] that we haven't done before.
[1:20:15] And Lorena, I have to acknowledge your challenge
[1:20:17] that you had, you know, for Bob to have metrics
[1:20:20] and for us to measure these things even with more rigor.
[1:20:25] The one comment that I had, maybe it's a question,
[1:20:27] is on the student learning goals.
[1:20:29] The fourth one, I'm so glad to see this that is addressed
[1:20:33] to third graders because that really sets the path,
[1:20:37] you know, educational journey, I should say,
[1:20:39] for these students and to see that we're gonna do something
[1:20:42] for our EL students.
[1:20:44] It's, it's huge here.
[1:20:46] And not knowing what your strategies are,
[1:20:49] I really would suggest that this is a moment where we need
[1:20:52] to engage families as much as possible
[1:20:54] because we're gonna be raising the bar for these students.
[1:20:57] And I think this is where families need to feel also,
[1:20:59] that this is not just to pass the grade.
[1:21:02] This is not just for you to get an AON exam.
[1:21:04] This is really for your overall education.
[1:21:07] And I think this is where parents also need
[1:21:09] to be more engaged and raise the bar for their engagement
[1:21:12] with their own students, their own kids.
[1:21:17] Ian's telling me not to give it away. We do have, it's a,
[1:21:19] it is an excellent suggestion
[1:21:21] and I'll be speaking in the announcements later about, some
[1:21:25] of that gets to a communication strategy
[1:21:26] and then Anne has sort of something that will dovetail with
[1:21:29] that, that will get you very excited
[1:21:30] that I can't speak about, oh, we're not watching, I'll,
[1:21:34] I'll, yeah, just give a little bit
[1:21:35] of a preview seed out there.
[1:21:37] It's excellent feedback.
[1:21:38] We do need our parents as partners
[1:21:40] and student attendance is another example of that, right?
[1:21:43] There needs to be communication from me personally from
[1:21:46] teachers personally to family saying, you know,
[1:21:48] looking at Adam, Adam needs to be at school today
[1:21:51] or Adam wasn't here, that would never be the case.
[1:21:53] But Adam, that's why I pick and pick on you.
[1:21:55] Adam wasn't here in school today
[1:21:57] and he was really missed in class.
[1:21:59] You know, what can we do to make sure Adam is here tomorrow?
[1:22:01] That level of belonging
[1:22:02] and engagement is where I hope to get to
[1:22:05] and we have some communication strategies using Parent
[1:22:07] Square to as a lever
[1:22:09] that I think can help us move the needle on that.
[1:22:14] Alright, thank you so much Adam, you're up next.
[1:22:17] Thank you Madam Chair on your AI policy
[1:22:20] and procedure development goal.
[1:22:22] Really, really like it.
[1:22:23] I also hope that we don't need to wait till your evaluation
[1:22:26] to have, you know, the draft policy.
[1:22:28] You know, this is one of these things that we,
[1:22:29] that we collaborated with with your office to
[1:22:32] update the handbooks
[1:22:33] with some new guidance this school year, which is great.
[1:22:37] I do think that we can be ahead of the curve
[1:22:38] with other communities and have an AI
[1:22:40] policy sooner rather than later.
[1:22:41] So I'd encourage you to, to, you know, prioritize, you know,
[1:22:44] getting the, the committee
[1:22:45] through the policy subcommittee process a draft.
[1:22:48] I also don't want that written document
[1:22:50] to cause the district to miss out on doing some
[1:22:54] new AI work in a couple ways before then, right?
[1:22:57] You don't need a policy to use ai, right?
[1:22:59] It's already being used. And I also separate AI
[1:23:03] and the school district operations on the operations side
[1:23:05] for, you know, central office
[1:23:07] or technology help desk type innovation and efficiencies
[1:23:12] and the curriculum and the classroom side too.
[1:23:14] So I think there's a lot that can be done here.
[1:23:16] And I encourage your, your, your goal
[1:23:18] to be broad intentionally
[1:23:19] to look at both the classroom instruction aspects
[1:23:23] and also operations throughout central office
[1:23:26] departments on what can be done.
[1:23:27] There's other government organizations partnering with AI
[1:23:31] companies building internal network ais
[1:23:34] to help their help desk to help their
[1:23:35] technology get, help their employees.
[1:23:37] You know, maybe there's something like that
[1:23:38] that could come that maybe not.
[1:23:40] I really want your focus to be more on the,
[1:23:42] the classroom aspect and the,
[1:23:43] and the, you know, the school building by building aspect,
[1:23:45] but it's a blended approach
[1:23:46] and there could be some financial impacts both up and down
[1:23:50] and some efficiencies that I'm sure will come from this.
[1:23:53] So very innovative and I just, again, will,
[1:23:56] as I started the conversation, you know, would love
[1:23:58] to have progress far before your evaluation.
[1:24:01] You know, whether it's adopting a policy far before then,
[1:24:03] or more initiatives around this, this topic.
[1:24:06] There's a lot of of great examples out there
[1:24:08] of the government organizations, municipal state, beyond
[1:24:11] using AI in, in,
[1:24:13] in the right ethical way to help their communities.
[1:24:16] Thanks for that. My preference is always
[1:24:17] to under promise and over deliver.
[1:24:20] So here this is indicated as on or before midyear report.
[1:24:24] So just so it wasn't the end of the year.
[1:24:26] Well we have this from a previous policy
[1:24:28] subcommittee meeting that we have this as a placeholder
[1:24:31] for October to be reviewed, which would mean between now
[1:24:34] and then there would be a draft composed.
[1:24:37] Excellent. Thank you very much.
[1:24:38] You're welcome.
[1:24:43] Anyone who hasn't spoken yet.
[1:24:46] Okay. Anybody for round two?
[1:24:53] Alright, seeing no further comments, is there a motion
[1:24:57] to accept the superintendent's goals as presented?
[1:25:01] So moved. Vote by Jen. Second. Second, second.
[1:25:03] Second by Rich. Any discussion?
[1:25:10] All right, roll call vote. D one. Yes. Two yes.
[1:25:15] Three, yes. Four. Yes. Five, six.
[1:25:20] Yes. Seven.
[1:25:22] Yes. Eight. Yes. Nine yet. Unanimous.
[1:25:28] Thank you all very much. And once again, Madam Chair
[1:25:30] and members of the committee, I appreciate everyone giving a
[1:25:32] lot of thought to this and the input to drive me
[1:25:35] to write more detailed goals that hold myself
[1:25:38] and our district accountable,
[1:25:39] but ultimately the benefit are our, our children.
[1:25:41] So I I, I'm grateful for the feedback.
[1:25:44] I know this is later than usual, putting goals forward,
[1:25:47] but we're already hard at work
[1:25:48] and I thank you for your support.
[1:25:49] Alright, thank you. And you're gonna take on the next
[1:25:52] section as well for with superintendent's update.
[1:25:54] Right.
[1:25:56] Excellent. Thank you very much. First I want
[1:26:01] to thank our, I don't know if this is probably in Lincoln's
[1:26:03] report too, but we, we can say it twice.
[1:26:05] To thank our buildings and grounds team
[1:26:07] for preparing our schools.
[1:26:09] Had a chance to speak with our, our leadership there
[1:26:12] and talking with some custodians
[1:26:13] during our new talent orientation.
[1:26:15] The schools look fantastic
[1:26:17] and there's great work that's happening with playgrounds
[1:26:19] and all the buildings being
[1:26:21] prepared for the start of school.
[1:26:22] And just a, a huge shout out to our buildings
[1:26:24] and grounds team for the work they've done over the summer.
[1:26:27] I'm sure Lincoln has more he would add to that,
[1:26:30] but there's a short window,
[1:26:31] there's a particularly short window this
[1:26:33] summer to get that work done.
[1:26:34] And I'd be remiss if I didn't acknowledge the great teamwork
[1:26:37] of the entire b and g team.
[1:26:39] So thank you. Also, I wanted
[1:26:41] to acknowledge our new talent orientation.
[1:26:43] The last three days have been very busy.
[1:26:46] Many of us at this table, certainly
[1:26:47] with the FTA leadership was also present.
[1:26:50] Many from the human resources department,
[1:26:53] particularly Tiago Gadens who really led the charge along
[1:26:56] with the entire HR team and so many others.
[1:27:01] We had staff that were engaged with a q
[1:27:04] and a for, for, you know, new teachers
[1:27:07] or teachers new to the district who were here
[1:27:09] for their second year, giving their lived experience
[1:27:12] summaries in a, in a forum forum today.
[1:27:15] And facilitated so much of our work that was happening
[1:27:18] with conference style breakout sessions
[1:27:21] with new teachers in the district.
[1:27:24] It was the smallest group of teachers
[1:27:25] that we've had in recent years, not surprisingly,
[1:27:28] which speaks to two things.
[1:27:30] One is staff retention, which is,
[1:27:32] I know is a report that was requested.
[1:27:34] We can give, will give continuing updates on that.
[1:27:37] So staff retention is improving in that regard.
[1:27:39] And also the budget, the reductions
[1:27:43] that we had itself didn't have as many positions.
[1:27:45] So about 65
[1:27:46] or so, were in attendance I think, over the last three days.
[1:27:49] And to any of those staff members
[1:27:51] who have joined the Framingham Public Schools
[1:27:53] who may be watching tonight's meeting, though I,
[1:27:55] they're probably sleeping given the work
[1:27:57] they've done in the last three days.
[1:27:59] We want welcome you formally here
[1:28:01] with the school committee present
[1:28:03] and a shout out to the Department of School Nutrition
[1:28:06] for providing the meals during those three days.
[1:28:08] Really, if you hadn't had a chance to see it, it's,
[1:28:10] and we will share a video.
[1:28:11] I think Tiago is really proud to show a video
[1:28:14] that will get out to the committee to see just what happened
[1:28:17] of a highlights reel over the last few
[1:28:19] days has been really impressive.
[1:28:21] Today I had a chance to give a presentation
[1:28:24] and followed by one
[1:28:25] of our music teachers from Brophy Elementary School,
[1:28:29] I Dallas, I ial, right?
[1:28:33] Ial, right? She was singing today.
[1:28:37] She sang just beautifully.
[1:28:38] It was, it was just it, it took everybody
[1:28:40] to stand at the end of her presentation.
[1:28:42] So just to thank you to IAL
[1:28:45] and for that remarkable presentation and just a gift.
[1:28:48] The, as you may
[1:28:50] or may not know, the first day of school is August 26th
[1:28:54] for grades one through 12
[1:28:56] and September 2nd for preschool, pre-K and kindergarten.
[1:28:59] Our calendar is
[1:29:00] of course on our website on the first day of school.
[1:29:04] Myself and Lincoln and Anne and Courtney
[1:29:07] and who else is coming with us?
[1:29:09] Amy, Amy Ina, ina.
[1:29:11] We're all gonna drive around and welcome our, our staff
[1:29:14] and students to the extent we can.
[1:29:15] We do that every year and just drive around to all
[1:29:17] of our schools in the morning.
[1:29:19] So really excited to welcome our students,
[1:29:21] our staff back officially on August 26th.
[1:29:25] And if you weren't aware,
[1:29:27] also Fox 25 on Friday is hosting a zip trip from
[1:29:31] Framingham Commons.
[1:29:32] It's bright and early. We'll be there at 6:00 AM setting up
[1:29:35] and we'll be on tv, I think thus
[1:29:37] and other features, the mayor will be speaking
[1:29:40] and others will be speaking.
[1:29:41] The marching band will be featured on there.
[1:29:43] We have an athletics team that will be represented as well.
[1:29:48] That's seven to 10:00 AM Feel free to stop by
[1:29:51] and say hello to us.
[1:29:52] We'll be on the Framingham Commons. You can't miss it.
[1:29:54] It's a big tent that says Framingham Public Schools on it.
[1:29:58] We'll see you there if you're looking for something
[1:30:00] to do early in the morning on Friday.
[1:30:02] And then finally, just a communication strategy
[1:30:05] that I'd like to highlight for the school committee.
[1:30:07] I recognized as part of our budget process last year,
[1:30:10] we weren't able to go forward
[1:30:12] with the communications specialist as it was proposed.
[1:30:16] And there was discussion about that.
[1:30:18] But yet committing to communication, being
[1:30:22] critically important to the district.
[1:30:24] I want to acknowledge Amy Kane,
[1:30:25] who's also here this evening, who's taken on that with me,
[1:30:28] with all of us really.
[1:30:30] But some, some things to look forward to.
[1:30:32] Amy has come up with this concept of
[1:30:34] what this core Vision 15 schools, one Framingham.
[1:30:38] And so this strategy centers around a unified message
[1:30:41] reinforcing that every student in our district receives
[1:30:44] equal support, resources, opportunities.
[1:30:47] And this will be part of our, as I alluded to earlier,
[1:30:50] student attendance, communicating
[1:30:53] and getting our parents to be partners in our work.
[1:30:55] Making clear in, in very accessible language
[1:30:58] what our strategic priorities are.
[1:31:01] Those increases we want to see of our students.
[1:31:03] Having our parents be partners in that
[1:31:05] and they too, wanting to see the needle moved
[1:31:07] and engaging that in a very, very different way.
[1:31:09] So some of those key communication highlights, one
[1:31:13] of which is predictable twice a month updates
[1:31:16] a consistent Wednesday schedule
[1:31:18] for major district communications featuring a
[1:31:20] superintendent's newsletter, which we're calling,
[1:31:22] or Amy has affectionately named the FPS Pulse.
[1:31:26] A alongside routine operational updates,
[1:31:29] parent square reminders and contact updates.
[1:31:33] We're really gonna be pushing Parent Square is our,
[1:31:36] it's our adopted tool as the committee knows it's accessible
[1:31:39] to our families in multiple languages for
[1:31:41] that two-way communication and engagement.
[1:31:44] And we'll be having an opt-in opportunity for parents
[1:31:47] or families, caregivers, anyone in the community of interest
[1:31:50] to sign on to a, a distribution.
[1:31:53] So when we're visiting a school
[1:31:55] or when I'm seeing something amazing happening in one
[1:31:58] of our schools, we can post that like a social media post,
[1:32:01] but through our, through our
[1:32:03] channel, through Parents Square.
[1:32:05] So we're really excited about upping our communication game
[1:32:08] and really bringing the entirety
[1:32:09] of the community on board with our goals.
[1:32:12] And then secondly and finally is our targeted social media
[1:32:16] campaign, which I mentioned a bit about,
[1:32:18] but this is an eight week rotating Wednesday campaign
[1:32:20] highlighting key strategic priorities including student
[1:32:23] wellness, academic innovation, family partnerships
[1:32:27] and staff appreciation.
[1:32:28] That'll be, of course consistent
[1:32:30] with school committee policy available in English,
[1:32:32] Portuguese, and Spanish.
[1:32:34] So the goal of all of this is a streamlined plan
[1:32:37] to ensure consistent, multilingual,
[1:32:40] and transparent outreach across both daily operations
[1:32:43] and district-wide initiatives.
[1:32:44] So great credit to Amy for taking time over the summer
[1:32:48] to develop a communication strategy
[1:32:50] and for helping me to take on that tremendous lift.
[1:32:53] And that concludes my report, Madam Chair.
[1:32:57] Alright, we'll open it up for some questions.
[1:32:59] Adam, you're first.
[1:33:01] Thanks. Really great to hear those communication updates,
[1:33:03] thanks to you and Amy for that.
[1:33:05] Can you reiterate
[1:33:07] or elaborate on what you just said about, for those
[1:33:08] who don't have Parents Square, how can those
[1:33:10] who don't currently have kids in the district
[1:33:13] learn about all these things
[1:33:14] happening in the school district?
[1:33:16] You've seen some emails over the last couple years about,
[1:33:18] you know, hey, there was a press release on that
[1:33:20] and there didn't need to be, but
[1:33:21] how can I still get something if I'm not a parent
[1:33:23] and don't have access to those communications?
[1:33:24] That's really important since we all represent the entire
[1:33:27] community, whether they have kids in the school
[1:33:29] currently or or not.
[1:33:30] And I know there is a pathway,
[1:33:31] so in a way I'm giving you a kind of a platform
[1:33:34] to remind people about how to get on
[1:33:37] that appropriate list. Well,
[1:33:38] On Friday at our, at our, you know, the zip trip,
[1:33:40] we'll have QR codes
[1:33:42] and things available for people to sign up on the spot.
[1:33:44] One push for that is that every school, Amy's been working
[1:33:46] with school leadership
[1:33:48] and with sort of ambassadors, if you will,
[1:33:50] at all the schools and at every school
[1:33:52] event we need to be out there.
[1:33:54] And we're hearing from a lot of our staff as an example of
[1:33:57] that at the forum today that I mentioned
[1:34:00] where teachers were talking with teachers about ways
[1:34:02] to engage families to a person.
[1:34:05] Everyone suggested Parents Square
[1:34:06] because you can communicate in English
[1:34:07] and receive it in your preferred language.
[1:34:10] So I think it's a matter of becoming comfortable
[1:34:12] with the app on your phone
[1:34:14] or getting it as a text or as an email.
[1:34:16] And then choosing whether you want an end of the day digest
[1:34:19] or you want real time communications.
[1:34:22] Amy and I were going back and forth on
[1:34:23] the superintendent's communication.
[1:34:24] Now I might think it's great to post the new talent
[1:34:27] orientation and here's a something I, you know,
[1:34:30] look at all these amazing people in the great job.
[1:34:32] But to use a captive audience through Parents Square
[1:34:35] and push it out to the entire district,
[1:34:37] not everybody necessarily wants to know that.
[1:34:40] So we're trying to get to this space where,
[1:34:41] how do you opt in to getting that?
[1:34:44] Because getting it on Facebook
[1:34:45] or on X, which we don't use now, but or on Facebook
[1:34:48] or on any other social media platforms,
[1:34:51] it also creates fodder for, for negativity.
[1:34:54] And I don't think there's a space
[1:34:55] or an interest in that either.
[1:34:57] What's great about Parents Square for any of those
[1:35:00] who use it is you have an opportunity to appreciate
[1:35:02] or not appreciate.
[1:35:04] So that's your option. Yes, this is great.
[1:35:06] Or you say nothing.
[1:35:08] And that's the land that we want to be in.
[1:35:10] So we don't have comments for that reason.
[1:35:11] People have plenty of other spaces
[1:35:13] to air their grievances as we all know.
[1:35:16] So the way to, to do that to, to your point, is
[1:35:19] to just expand awareness.
[1:35:22] We have a number of people that I see it often will sign on
[1:35:25] to our community distribution.
[1:35:26] So we have members of our community who are signed on
[1:35:29] to Parents Square who are not staff or educators or parents
[1:35:32] or caregivers in the district.
[1:35:35] So we need to do a better job
[1:35:36] communicating how to get there.
[1:35:37] So the way to do that is in person, at every single event,
[1:35:41] open houses, back to school nights, wherever we can be,
[1:35:45] get the message out, here's the QR code, scan it,
[1:35:48] everyone's on their phone, get it as an app
[1:35:50] and then scroll through.
[1:35:51] And that's how we'll get the word out.
[1:35:53] Great, thank you. 'cause
[1:35:54] that's exactly what I was looking for.
[1:35:55] A lot of people don't know that even exists,
[1:35:56] that there's a community offering newsletter type process.
[1:36:01] A lot of people also, you know,
[1:36:03] aren't gonna go to school events.
[1:36:04] So just continue to brainstorm about how you can partner
[1:36:06] with City PIO and others like that to, to get the word out.
[1:36:10] And that's, I'm sure you all, you already do on,
[1:36:12] on a daily basis, but you know, you can't rely on,
[1:36:15] on the people that we want to reach only going
[1:36:18] to a school event, but maybe
[1:36:20] that the farmer's market or something else. Thank you.
[1:36:23] Thank you.
[1:36:28] Oh, go ahead.
[1:36:33] I was hoping that we would hear an update on staffing
[1:36:36] and whether our schools are fully staffed.
[1:36:38] I know that the dual language language
[1:36:41] programs have been struggling a little bit,
[1:36:43] so I'm just curious where we are.
[1:36:46] District by also,
[1:36:48] We had a request as, as you know,
[1:36:50] I think you requested it, the, the staffing report.
[1:36:53] We typically provide that, you know,
[1:36:54] when the school year has begun,
[1:36:56] but we have across bargaining units, I
[1:36:59] provided it to the school committee.
[1:37:00] I dunno if it's in the packet or not. I don't
[1:37:03] Think I received the request in time.
[1:37:04] I wasn't able to put it forward.
[1:37:06] Okay. I was listed. Yeah,
[1:37:09] So we do have, we do have that.
[1:37:11] So looking at, we can either go down by school
[1:37:14] or by bargaining unit about percentages where we are.
[1:37:17] But just to answer your question, so where we are as, as
[1:37:21] of date with progress, we'll,
[1:37:23] we'll on the hundred percent scale,
[1:37:25] so a hundred percent means we're fully staffed
[1:37:27] and 0% means we have nobody.
[1:37:29] So Fuller Middle School we have, we're at about 85 point,
[1:37:33] this could have changed today.
[1:37:34] So it's changing 85.71%.
[1:37:37] Harmony Grove, 88%, I'm just gonna round to the,
[1:37:40] to the left side of the decimal.
[1:37:42] 80% at Hemingway, 100% at King,
[1:37:45] a hundred percent at McCarthy, 100% at Potter Road,
[1:37:49] 50% at Thayer.
[1:37:50] Again, based on scale, you're looking at two people. Right.
[1:37:53] So based on the size of that, in terms of what was posted,
[1:37:57] what was, what was waiting to be filled,
[1:37:59] Stapleton we're at 66%, 67%, Walsh, 94%.
[1:38:04] And then overall departments are at 69%.
[1:38:07] Offices are at a hundred percent.
[1:38:10] And our connect programs at a hundred percent staffing.
[1:38:12] Okay. So we're doing well we're, we know we're, we're,
[1:38:15] we're working at it to find those
[1:38:17] vacancies. Did I get that?
[1:38:19] No, I was just wondering if that's based on the,
[1:38:21] the positions that they were trying to fill
[1:38:23] or overall staff.
[1:38:27] I think that was on the positions that
[1:38:28] were trying to, okay, right.
[1:38:28] Perfect. Yes. Yeah, because
[1:38:30] I was thinking about there like, it was like,
[1:38:32] there's like 50%, two people, so that's why I got
[1:38:35] Yeah, right, right.
[1:38:36] Positions that they're, I'm sorry, the positions
[1:38:38] that were vacant, they're trying to fill.
[1:38:39] Yeah, I should have made that clear, right.
[1:38:43] Was trying to stay, But again, we can provide
[1:38:47] that if it's not already been provided.
[1:38:48] I thought it was, so I, no, I think
[1:38:49] It was emailed.
[1:38:50] Actually, I, there was another one that was in draft form.
[1:38:54] Okay. And this will be updated.
[1:38:56] Yeah. Okay. HR has been released straight out
[1:38:58] with a new talent orientation,
[1:38:59] but we'll provide those continued updates to the committee.
[1:39:02] Sure.
[1:39:05] Alright. Anybody else?
[1:39:13] All right. Seeing no, no questions, no comments.
[1:39:15] Thank you for your update.
[1:39:16] Appreciate all the work you're doing.
[1:39:19] Thank you very much. I'm sorry I went on so long tonight.
[1:39:23] Not a problem. Alright Ann, you're up.
[1:39:26] Next assistant superintendent, pre-K to 12 education update.
[1:39:30] Thank you so much. Good evening.
[1:39:32] My main update tonight will be about the proposed
[1:39:36] Massachusetts change
[1:39:37] to the Massachusetts graduation requirements.
[1:39:39] But as Joanna's pulling those slides up for me,
[1:39:42] I'll just make a very quick announcement that last week
[1:39:48] families, no Monday families should have received an email,
[1:39:52] a parent square communication with registrate,
[1:39:56] a registration code for the MCAS family portal.
[1:39:59] If their child had taken MCAS this past spring.
[1:40:03] Those registration codes were received.
[1:40:07] We received those from the department of elementary
[1:40:09] and secondary education right now.
[1:40:12] Hopefully families were able to access that portal.
[1:40:15] The portal went live on Friday.
[1:40:16] We waited until Monday to,
[1:40:19] to send out those registration codes.
[1:40:22] Number one, we wanted to give the Department
[1:40:25] of ed a few days for that to kind of,
[1:40:28] to work out any kinks or issues.
[1:40:30] And also we didn't wanna send out a communication on Friday
[1:40:33] and then have families not have any access to support
[1:40:36] for the duration of the weekend.
[1:40:38] So we waited until Monday morning,
[1:40:40] we sent a communication on Friday afternoon telling them
[1:40:43] that it would be coming on Monday morning.
[1:40:45] Hopefully families are able to get in to the portal.
[1:40:49] We don't have any control over the portal,
[1:40:51] we can't control the registration codes,
[1:40:54] but if they're having any issues,
[1:40:55] they can contact the school or the help desk
[1:40:58] and we will do everything in our power to assist.
[1:41:01] I also wanted to make families aware that the, the office
[1:41:05] of technology has added those registration codes
[1:41:09] that were sent home, that were communicated home.
[1:41:12] Those were added to the Aspen portal.
[1:41:15] So families can log into their Aspen,
[1:41:18] their child's Aspen portal,
[1:41:20] and the code will be right there on that main page.
[1:41:22] So that's another way families can get access to that code
[1:41:26] down the road if they haven't already set up the account.
[1:41:29] But with that said, I will move on.
[1:41:32] It's actually a pretty good segue to be talk.
[1:41:35] Oh, those, those results are preliminary right now.
[1:41:38] I should also add that on.
[1:41:40] The official results are not released until late September.
[1:41:44] So for now, that's what they have access to.
[1:41:47] But it's a good segue
[1:41:48] because now we will be talking about the proposed changes
[1:41:53] to the graduation requirements.
[1:41:54] So, perfect. You know me so well, Joanna, thank you so much.
[1:41:58] I just wanted to start by saying
[1:42:00] that this is really a follow up to a memo that I shared
[1:42:02] with you back in June regarding the kind
[1:42:07] of finalized proposed graduation requirements.
[1:42:10] But all of this goes back, kind of ties back to
[1:42:14] a ballot initiative from 2024 that eliminated the MCAS test
[1:42:18] as a graduation requirement.
[1:42:20] MCAS is still have to take this opportunity
[1:42:23] to plug this MCAS is still required for students
[1:42:25] to take in grades three through eight
[1:42:27] and the high school as part of our school
[1:42:30] and district accountability system.
[1:42:31] It is just no longer a graduation requirement.
[1:42:35] The Department of Ed then developed a new competency
[1:42:38] determination requirement, which you all approved back in,
[1:42:42] I think it was November of 2025.
[1:42:44] But simultaneously, while all of this was going on,
[1:42:47] governor Healy formed a graduation council that worked
[1:42:51] to develop a new set of graduation requirements.
[1:42:54] And they worked for about a year and a half
[1:42:56] and released those recommended requirements in June.
[1:43:01] I just need to say none of this is official at this time.
[1:43:04] This is pending legislative action.
[1:43:06] So what I'm sharing with you is what we're preparing for.
[1:43:09] But none of this has actually taken effect at this time.
[1:43:12] It would require legislative action.
[1:43:14] But as I start to go through this, you're going to hear some
[1:43:18] common threads tied back to what,
[1:43:22] to the conversation you had with Dr.
[1:43:24] Trembley about his goals.
[1:43:25] So there's a real connection between what you're going
[1:43:28] to see, components you're going to see here,
[1:43:30] and components of Dr.
[1:43:32] Tremblay's goals. Next slide please.
[1:43:36] Just as a quick reminder, there are seven big buckets,
[1:43:39] mass core, which really is the kind of like the set of core
[1:43:44] courses that students are required to take in order
[1:43:46] to graduate end of course assessments, I'm calling them EOCs
[1:43:51] and of course, assessments little
[1:43:56] kind of confusing.
[1:43:57] How is this different from MCAS tests?
[1:43:59] I'll explain that a little bit more in a bit.
[1:44:02] A culminating experience
[1:44:03] or capstone, the My Cap, which stands for my career
[1:44:07] and academic plan,
[1:44:09] but with an additional component
[1:44:11] of work-based learning experiences, completion of the FAFSA
[1:44:15] or fafsa, the addition of these kind
[1:44:20] of embedded com curriculum components in financial literacy,
[1:44:25] AI and digital literacy, as well
[1:44:27] as optional seals of distinction.
[1:44:29] And I'll talk briefly about those on the coming slide.
[1:44:32] So next slide please. First I'll talk about mass core.
[1:44:37] Mass core really is, like I said, just how many ELA courses,
[1:44:41] how many math courses, science
[1:44:42] and so on do you need to take?
[1:44:44] And we already, at Framingham High School lineup very well
[1:44:48] with Mass Corps.
[1:44:49] The only real difference, there are some nuances,
[1:44:52] but the real, real main difference is
[1:44:54] that we do not require, currently four years of math,
[1:44:56] we only require three years of math.
[1:44:58] So there is that fourth year requirement
[1:45:00] that would be an addition for
[1:45:03] if these graduation requirements are pushed through.
[1:45:07] Also the end of course assessments, I mentioned
[1:45:09] that earlier, they would be designed
[1:45:11] and scored by the state.
[1:45:14] Sounds pretty similar to MCAS.
[1:45:16] I think the, the greatest way to talk about the difference
[1:45:19] between these right now is
[1:45:20] that these would be done at the end
[1:45:22] of the school year in which students took the course,
[1:45:24] not in a prescribed year of their high school career.
[1:45:28] So math, there might be one at the end of it,
[1:45:32] the Algebra one course,
[1:45:33] and then another one at the end of the geometry course.
[1:45:37] We don't really have any details about that,
[1:45:39] but that would be the difference.
[1:45:40] But they would be created by the state
[1:45:42] and scored by the state.
[1:45:46] The other questionable piece here is right now
[1:45:49] with the CD requirement that the policy
[1:45:52] that we have in place right now, part of the requirement was
[1:45:55] that the districts
[1:45:57] and schools develop their own mastery assessments.
[1:46:01] And so the question will be, will those go away when the end
[1:46:05] of course assessments come in.
[1:46:06] I've had some mixed responses from the
[1:46:08] Department of Ed about that.
[1:46:10] And I think part of it has to do with the rollout
[1:46:12] and you know, making sure that the, the end of course,
[1:46:14] assessments have been validated
[1:46:16] before they start allowing schools to kind
[1:46:19] of phase out the CD requirements.
[1:46:21] But time will tell. A lot of what you're going
[1:46:23] to hear me say is, we don't know yet.
[1:46:26] So I apologize in advance.
[1:46:27] I'm sharing with you everything we know at this point.
[1:46:30] Next slide please. So
[1:46:36] part of the demonstrating mastery, beyond the end
[1:46:39] of course assessments is also
[1:46:40] what they're calling a capstone project
[1:46:42] or a cul culminating experience.
[1:46:45] So either a portfolio
[1:46:46] or some end of end of your career kind
[1:46:50] of demonstration.
[1:46:54] Again, we don't know details about it,
[1:46:56] but what we do know is that those would be developed
[1:46:59] by the school district
[1:47:00] and they would be scored by the school district
[1:47:02] for all graduating students.
[1:47:05] And obviously that would be a huge lift.
[1:47:08] We don't have that in place right now.
[1:47:10] We don't know how, what the expectations would be,
[1:47:12] what the standards would be, what the requirements are,
[1:47:15] what the reporting requirements will be.
[1:47:17] We would have to develop the, the
[1:47:20] requirements within our school and then also the rubrics
[1:47:23] or criteria for success.
[1:47:27] And then we would have to figure out who is going
[1:47:29] to support students in developing those
[1:47:32] and then scoring them.
[1:47:33] So that's a lot of work at, but time will tell. We will see.
[1:47:37] Again, none of this is in place yet.
[1:47:39] We're just preparing for it. Next slide, please.
[1:47:44] I mentioned earlier my cap.
[1:47:45] My cap is actually one of those five student learning goals
[1:47:48] that was referenced earlier.
[1:47:49] So it's actually excellent that this is one of our goals.
[1:47:52] So three of those goals were related to three of Dr.
[1:47:55] Tremblay's goals were related to high school.
[1:47:58] One was ninth grade retention.
[1:48:00] You know, the number of students that are, were trying
[1:48:02] to reduce the number of students
[1:48:04] that are not promoted to 10th grade.
[1:48:06] Another one was graduation.
[1:48:08] And the third one, I think it might have been number two,
[1:48:10] was the My CAP experience.
[1:48:14] They all tie together.
[1:48:16] Ultimately our goal is that every student graduates from a
[1:48:18] high school ready for college or career.
[1:48:20] And so if you're not successful in ninth grade,
[1:48:23] that already sets you up
[1:48:24] for a very challenging high school experience.
[1:48:26] So ninth grade retention that had in my book,
[1:48:30] that had to be a goal.
[1:48:31] We have to make sure we're addressing that head on
[1:48:34] my cap is part of the graduation requirements here.
[1:48:36] So we want to take advantage of these years
[1:48:39] that we have right now
[1:48:40] before anything takes effect, so
[1:48:42] that we are putting this into place
[1:48:44] and we're in a really solid place when students do need this
[1:48:47] as part of their graduation requirement.
[1:48:49] So making it one of Dr.
[1:48:50] Trimble's goals helps us, you know, it's all tied together.
[1:48:54] And then third, of course, we want all students to graduate.
[1:48:57] So focusing on graduation rates is,
[1:48:59] is very important as well.
[1:49:01] FAFSA and FAFSA are listed in here in that middle column.
[1:49:06] FAFSA is the finance free financial aid
[1:49:09] application at the federal level.
[1:49:11] FAFSA is the state level one for,
[1:49:13] for students attending school wishing
[1:49:15] to attend a state school there.
[1:49:18] The, I do have some personal concerns about this one
[1:49:22] because this requires all families
[1:49:24] to complete either the FAFSA or the FAFSA
[1:49:26] or a formally opt out.
[1:49:30] And that means there's gonna be documentation for required
[1:49:33] for every single family.
[1:49:36] And I do have some concerns about that.
[1:49:38] More, again, as more details are shared
[1:49:42] as we learn more about how this documentation is,
[1:49:45] is managed, we'll know more at this point.
[1:49:48] Again, it what you know is what I know,
[1:49:51] but it, it does raise some questions for me
[1:49:53] and I haven't yet received any answers
[1:49:56] that make me feel comfortable.
[1:49:58] And then finally here, state seals of distinction.
[1:50:01] Right now we have a seal of Biliteracy for language,
[1:50:05] which we, we have an outstanding program here
[1:50:09] in in Framingham.
[1:50:11] And so this now allows for other options for ai,
[1:50:16] financial literacy, those kinds of things.
[1:50:18] In other core areas,
[1:50:20] we don't know what those will look like.
[1:50:22] We don't know how they'll be measured,
[1:50:23] how they will be determined.
[1:50:25] I will say the seal of Biliteracy is a big lift in terms
[1:50:29] of resources here.
[1:50:30] A lot of time and staff resources
[1:50:32] to administer the assessments.
[1:50:35] Well worth it. But if there are multiple seals
[1:50:38] of distinction, we just will have to figure out
[1:50:40] how those will be managed as well.
[1:50:43] Next slide. So where, where do we stand?
[1:50:48] We're in really good shape in terms
[1:50:50] of the mass core requirements.
[1:50:52] We're in really good shape in terms of my cap.
[1:50:54] We are also in pretty solid shape
[1:50:57] for things like financial literacy
[1:50:59] because we have full on courses at Framingham High School
[1:51:03] and Financial Literacy, which means that whatever we need
[1:51:06] to embed in our students' experience across all
[1:51:11] students, we'll be able to do.
[1:51:12] We have the curriculum, it's just about
[1:51:14] streamlining that down.
[1:51:15] That will be most likely embedded into the My Cap
[1:51:18] curriculum, which with the new monthly
[1:51:23] advisory block that the high school has built into the
[1:51:26] schedule, we're set up for success for delivery of that.
[1:51:28] Same thing with ai.
[1:51:30] They're already working on some curriculum there.
[1:51:32] And then the digital literacy.
[1:51:34] So those will be built in the challenges.
[1:51:37] We don't know what, we don't have any frameworks from the
[1:51:39] state, so we don't know what standards are expected.
[1:51:42] Again, we don't know how this is going
[1:51:43] to be documented and reported.
[1:51:46] The the area where, oh, fafsa, we do provide support
[1:51:50] for families with FAFSA now it would just be that we have
[1:51:54] to make sure every family, we have to track every family
[1:51:57] to make sure that they would be submitting the paperwork
[1:52:01] or formally opting out.
[1:52:02] Operationally, there will be a lot of challenges.
[1:52:04] You heard me talk about the the number of resources
[1:52:07] that would be needed, staffing time,
[1:52:10] and a lot of questions that we still don't have answers to
[1:52:12] that hopefully we will have answers to.
[1:52:16] But a lot of this will be tracking, thinking about
[1:52:18] that capstone project, how are we going
[1:52:19] to monitor every student as they are taking that capstone or
[1:52:23] or completing their portfolios or culminating experiences
[1:52:27] and the, the work-based learning that has to be part
[1:52:30] of my cap now how are we ensuring
[1:52:31] every student is getting that?
[1:52:33] So there will be a lot of tracking components that we have
[1:52:36] to figure out how we'll manage those technical pieces
[1:52:39] as well as supporting students in
[1:52:42] meeting those expectations.
[1:52:45] The math is going to be the biggest one in terms of
[1:52:49] staffing, I would say.
[1:52:50] So if you would go to the next slide please.
[1:52:53] I've worked with the high school
[1:52:54] and we've determined that 70% of of the students,
[1:52:59] like thinking about last year's graduating class, 70%
[1:53:02] of students met the four year graduation requirement on
[1:53:05] their own, even though it was only a three year requirement.
[1:53:08] And even some of that remaining, 30% of students
[1:53:11] might have taken a half semester.
[1:53:13] So they had three and a half credits,
[1:53:15] just not the full four credits.
[1:53:17] So what we've calculated is
[1:53:18] that about 180 students would need a, that fourth credit,
[1:53:23] whether it's a half credit
[1:53:25] or a full credit in order to meet
[1:53:26] that graduation requirement.
[1:53:28] So by the time this takes effect for our students,
[1:53:34] their senior year, we're really looking at what is
[1:53:37] that fourth year class going to be for seniors.
[1:53:40] The good news is that the first class that this takes effect
[1:53:43] for are our incoming eighth graders.
[1:53:46] So when we think about that, it seems like a long way off.
[1:53:49] We have to be planning for this,
[1:53:51] but those 180 students in their senior year,
[1:53:54] maybe their junior year,
[1:53:55] but typically students are taking math classes ninth,
[1:53:59] 10th, 11th grade.
[1:54:00] It's really in 12th grade that we have to worry about
[1:54:03] making sure we have enough staffing
[1:54:06] to support an additional 180 students taking a math class.
[1:54:10] So that's about three or four years away,
[1:54:12] maybe the 20, 29, 20 30 school year.
[1:54:15] But we are planning for that, we're thinking about that now.
[1:54:18] And we're also thinking about additional pathways
[1:54:21] for students to take their fourth credit of math so
[1:54:25] that all students are not kind of forced into a class
[1:54:27] that maybe wasn't something they wanted to pursue,
[1:54:30] but is something that they're interested in.
[1:54:32] And, okay, next slide please, Joanna. Thank you.
[1:54:36] So what are we doing right now?
[1:54:38] Kind of what you've heard we're we're taking,
[1:54:42] we're we're taking assessment, evaluating our current state
[1:54:45] and what we need to do
[1:54:46] and preparing in the small ways that we can right now,
[1:54:49] without knowing fully what the implications will be, again,
[1:54:54] a legislative action must be taken.
[1:54:56] We're also paying close attention to anything
[1:54:58] that we hear from the Department of Elementary
[1:55:00] and Secondary Education
[1:55:02] because we want to take advantage of any
[1:55:04] of the opportunities they provide
[1:55:06] to get additional information so that we can continue
[1:55:09] to prepare the current rising eighth grade,
[1:55:13] the incoming eighth grade class.
[1:55:15] They will be required if this passes as it is,
[1:55:19] as it's recommended, they will be required
[1:55:21] to meet the Mass Corps graduation requirement.
[1:55:25] But the incoming seventh grade class would be required
[1:55:28] to meet all of those requirements.
[1:55:30] So there's a little bit of a phasing in,
[1:55:33] but again, this is coming rapidly.
[1:55:34] And when you think about end of course assessments
[1:55:36] that would begin with maybe algebra one
[1:55:39] or ninth grade English, we need those soon
[1:55:42] because if the current eighth graders,
[1:55:44] or I'm sorry, current seventh graders would be the first
[1:55:47] group to have to take those tests in two years, we have
[1:55:50] to have the test in place and we don't yet.
[1:55:53] So that's next slide.
[1:55:55] That kind of leads us to this final piece,
[1:55:57] which is we're gonna do
[1:55:58] what we can right now looking at Pathways for Math
[1:56:02] strengthening, strengthening our really solid my CAP
[1:56:06] program, but then also taking advantage
[1:56:08] of any opportunities we can with the Department
[1:56:10] of Elementary Unit and secondary education, determining
[1:56:14] what resources they might provide, what training, hoping
[1:56:17] that they will release some curriculum frameworks
[1:56:20] for those embedded curricular aspects.
[1:56:24] And otherwise just kind of keeping our ear to the ground
[1:56:27] and seeing what other people are doing.
[1:56:28] So with that, I will take any questions that you have.
[1:56:40] Sounds, I don't see any hands,
[1:56:42] anybody? No.
[1:56:46] All right. Well thank you.
[1:56:47] So I'm just gonna, because Rich brought this up. Oh, rich.
[1:56:50] Oh, Brent. Brenda is Brent. Sorry, go ahead Brent.
[1:56:53] Not a question, but I just wanted to say I was able
[1:56:55] to access the AM CA portal for my kids earlier.
[1:56:58] Yes, it's very easy. The data was there, so it works.
[1:57:03] Excellent. Thank you so much. I'm so happy
[1:57:05] That we can concur over here.
[1:57:06] Get two more, two more happy customers.
[1:57:08] Good. Excellent. Thank you.
[1:57:11] But I would like to share if I, if I may only
[1:57:14] because Rich brought this up,
[1:57:15] and if any of my coworkers are listening,
[1:57:18] I promise you I'm not gonna reveal the whole thing.
[1:57:21] But Rich, you talked specifically about
[1:57:23] how get more parental involvement, family involvement,
[1:57:26] especially in that third grade literacy goal.
[1:57:32] I'm going big on this one, I'm going massive on this one.
[1:57:35] I don't just want caregiver involvement.
[1:57:37] I want the entire city involved.
[1:57:39] So I'm just gonna put that out there and just wait.
[1:57:42] Hopefully at the next meeting I'll be able
[1:57:44] to give you more details, but more to come.
[1:57:47] But we're going big on this one
[1:57:48] because literacy is at the core of everything. Let's
[1:57:51] Go, Let's go.
[1:57:54] Alright, any other questions or comments?
[1:57:58] Alright, thank you so much Anne.
[1:57:59] We look forward to hearing updates.
[1:58:02] Next up we have executive director
[1:58:04] of finance and operations updates.
[1:58:05] We'll turn it over to Lincoln.
[1:58:07] Thank you, Madam Chair. Good evening everybody.
[1:58:10] First on the agenda tonight, just a capital project update.
[1:58:13] We had some major capital projects going on this summer
[1:58:16] and we are looking like we're gonna be completed all of them
[1:58:21] before the start of school.
[1:58:22] So we have two new pre-K playgrounds, one at Harmony Grove,
[1:58:26] one at McCarthy.
[1:58:27] We resurfaced the back gym at the high school
[1:58:31] and we installed a a limited use limited application.
[1:58:36] It's an elevator at King, so all of those are
[1:58:41] almost completed and they're on pace to be done
[1:58:45] before school starts next week.
[1:58:46] So shout out to the Buildings
[1:58:48] and Grounds team, our city partners helping us out as well.
[1:58:53] While all those projects are going on, we're still going
[1:58:56] through the process, the MSBA core program
[1:59:00] with the elementary school,
[1:59:02] and then two accelerated repair programs through the MSBA
[1:59:06] for roofs for Brophy and Potter.
[1:59:09] And then as you heard earlier,
[1:59:10] we have geothermal phase two going on
[1:59:13] and the Farley solar design work, which is very,
[1:59:17] very close to be completed.
[1:59:19] And I know Mr. Furberg, you asked earlier, as soon as
[1:59:22] that's done, we will hopefully have somewhat
[1:59:25] of a cost estimate that we can bring to the committee
[1:59:27] and then go from there as far as a capital request for that.
[1:59:30] So look forward to doing that. And that's, that's really it.
[1:59:34] We, we will have some discussions on FY 28 capital
[1:59:38] in the next couple months or so with the B
[1:59:40] and g subcommittee and this full committee.
[1:59:42] But more to come on that. Any questions on capital?
[1:59:47] Okay, wonderful. Next, I am looking for a vote tonight
[1:59:52] to approve the creation
[1:59:55] of 59 student activity accounts.
[1:59:57] This happens every year based on dusty guidelines.
[2:00:00] So in your packet you have a memo with the list of 59,
[2:00:04] and then you have the account statements
[2:00:07] of purposes for all of them.
[2:00:09] So hopefully you had a chance to look at that.
[2:00:12] And then again, during the year,
[2:00:14] if there are new student activity accounts,
[2:00:17] I come to you for approval.
[2:00:19] So you have seen all of these,
[2:00:21] but every year we have to do these.
[2:00:23] So we do not get a finding on our student activity audit.
[2:00:28] So I ask for a vote.
[2:00:31] Okay. So you have motion to approve the current listed
[2:00:33] student activity accounts
[2:00:34] and the creation of student activity account
[2:00:36] for the class of 2030. So
[2:00:38] Moved Rule by Jen, seconded by Willie.
[2:00:40] Any discussion? Second? Jen has a question.
[2:00:45] Thank you. I actually a few questions.
[2:00:48] One, I I, of course
[2:00:50] 'cause I started scrolling through this, it's like going
[2:00:52] through TikTok, it get lost.
[2:00:56] I saw KKFB
[2:00:58] and BSU had more than one form to create.
[2:01:04] I don't know if it was duplicated,
[2:01:05] I don't know if it was from different years, which led me to
[2:01:09] wonder how often do they have to be renewed?
[2:01:11] Do they have to be renewed?
[2:01:13] Because some of these are dating back to like 2023. 2021.
[2:01:17] So I guess my question is, how often do these clubs have
[2:01:21] to renew the ask?
[2:01:25] Once. Just once.
[2:01:27] Once it's asked and you approve it, it's in, then
[2:01:29] That's it.
[2:01:30] And how often do they get closed if
[2:01:32] they're no longer functional?
[2:01:34] Yes, we, during our audits, we close them out.
[2:01:37] We're actually based on the last meeting we had when the
[2:01:41] auditor came, I'll be requesting
[2:01:43] to close a few in the very near future.
[2:01:47] Got it. And can there be more than one applicant?
[2:01:52] Yes. Application for the same thing? Why?
[2:01:56] I don't know. It's something that has been in there
[2:01:58] for years and the auditors seem to be okay with it.
[2:02:03] Okay, thank you.
[2:02:09] All right, so we have a motion on the floor.
[2:02:10] Any further discussion? Any questions? All right.
[2:02:14] Motion to create the student activity accounts.
[2:02:18] District one? Yes. Two abstain. Three.
[2:02:26] I'm gonna abstain. I'm gonna say it in
[2:02:29] like abstain, right? Three, four,
[2:02:32] Yes.
[2:02:33] Five yes. Six. Yes.
[2:02:38] Seven. We're gonna keep going. Eight, yes. Nine. Yeah.
[2:02:43] Okay.
[2:02:45] Sorry.
[2:02:50] Alright, PESS.
[2:02:54] Great. Thank you. All next on the agenda is an FY 26
[2:02:59] operating budget update.
[2:03:01] We are very close to closing out FY 26,
[2:03:03] which is a lot earlier than we normally do.
[2:03:07] Operating budget purchase orders have all been
[2:03:09] paid and closed out.
[2:03:11] We are still working with grants to do a few journal entries
[2:03:15] to close out some grants
[2:03:17] and move the funding to year two of some of the grants.
[2:03:22] But other than that we are very close
[2:03:24] and I'm hoping the next meeting
[2:03:26] or two I can come back with a final number of
[2:03:30] what we'll be carrying in Circuit Breaker
[2:03:33] into this current year.
[2:03:34] FY 27 our, our budgeted number is 500,000.
[2:03:38] My projections right now show between 600
[2:03:41] and 700,000 that we'll be carrying over.
[2:03:44] So we'll be able to use that to balance the budget
[2:03:46] and then actually have a little bit
[2:03:48] of reserve if there's any unanticipated tuition
[2:03:52] or transportation costs.
[2:03:54] So good news on that. Okay.
[2:03:59] No questions. We'll go to the last one here. FY 27.
[2:04:03] It's in full swing.
[2:04:04] We had requisitions entered
[2:04:07] before staff left for the summer.
[2:04:08] They've become purchase orders.
[2:04:10] We are have been placing orders
[2:04:13] and getting deliveries so we should be ready for the start
[2:04:18] of school as far as supplies, materials
[2:04:20] for classrooms and for our school.
[2:04:22] So the process we use for the summer has worked
[2:04:27] and we're looking forward to next week.
[2:04:31] Just to go off a little bit on that, it kind
[2:04:34] of leads into FY 28 that we're getting ready
[2:04:37] for FY 28 workbooks
[2:04:40] and master budget books are, are ready to go out.
[2:04:43] We're gonna give principals
[2:04:45] and directors a couple weeks to get settled down
[2:04:47] after the start of school.
[2:04:48] But in the very near future we're gonna be starting FY
[2:04:52] 28 budget talks.
[2:04:54] So we're closing out FY 26, starting 27,
[2:04:58] and now we'll begin FY 28.
[2:05:01] Probably in about a month. Maybe I,
[2:05:03] I hope a little bit less per the charter.
[2:05:06] The budget process has been expedited, so if
[2:05:09] that doesn't get pushed out like it did last year, you know,
[2:05:14] we definitely wanna start FY 28 soon.
[2:05:17] There's a lot of unknowns.
[2:05:18] We have I think seven unions we're gonna be bargaining
[2:05:22] with for contracts.
[2:05:24] So we look forward to starting those, continuing those
[2:05:29] and moving into proposals for FY 28.
[2:05:34] That's it for me. Thank you.
[2:05:36] Was a question? Sure. So I was looking at 27
[2:05:40] and I know I probably say this every time I say this report,
[2:05:44] the incumbents are really LA lo can't even talk
[2:05:48] large for like early ed.
[2:05:49] We're already 72%, 123%
[2:05:53] for communications and And we're only a month in.
[2:05:58] Yeah. So yes, we talk about this every year. Yes we do.
[2:06:01] But so those are contracts that we have for the full year.
[2:06:04] So on day one we encumber as much as we can, so Got it.
[2:06:08] Like early education specifically, those are our three
[2:06:11] private public partners for pre-K.
[2:06:14] So that's what we spend throughout the whole year.
[2:06:16] So we just have one PO for each vendor
[2:06:19] and then we just pay it off every month.
[2:06:22] Communications, same thing.
[2:06:25] Communications did come in a little bit higher when,
[2:06:28] if you remember when we budget back in October
[2:06:30] and we update November, December,
[2:06:33] sometimes costs escalate throughout the year
[2:06:36] so we'll just have to cut back elsewhere to balance.
[2:06:39] But if we have full contracts for the year, we put
[2:06:41] that PO in right away.
[2:06:42] Got it. Yep. So like early education, we shouldn't see
[2:06:45] that go much more than that. 72%?
[2:06:50] No. Nope, you won't. Okay. Alright, thank you.
[2:06:55] You're welcome. Alright, we see Brent
[2:06:56] with a hand up out there.
[2:06:58] Go ahead Brent.
[2:07:00] Thank you. I just wanted to take the opportunity
[2:07:02] to say I was excited to see the bus transportation
[2:07:05] announcements go out today.
[2:07:06] I know that was something that was a big lift
[2:07:08] and required some adapting of processes on your end.
[2:07:12] So I just wanted to say thank you to you and to Angela
[2:07:14] and her team for getting that information out there.
[2:07:17] Yeah, echo the thanks 10 days
[2:07:19] earlier than last year, right? Yeah. Yep.
[2:07:21] When you said you would Great.
[2:07:23] Awesome. So if I, thanks Brent. Yeah, thanks Brent.
[2:07:27] Appreciate that. But really the huge shoutout goes out
[2:07:30] to Angela and her team.
[2:07:32] I mean she's been working 12, 14 hour days to get this
[2:07:36] process expedited this summer and to get all that out today.
[2:07:41] So I'm sure families have been in there and looking
[2:07:44] and the phone calls will start tomorrow, but that's okay.
[2:07:47] We're there to answer the calls.
[2:07:49] And as mentioned, we assigned all eligible students.
[2:07:54] So all eligibles have been assigned buses.
[2:07:58] We had the opt-out form.
[2:07:59] I think we had over 300
[2:08:01] or so families opt out that were eligible.
[2:08:04] So that is a huge help.
[2:08:06] We sent that into messaging on Monday and again today.
[2:08:08] So any families out there that are listening
[2:08:11] that are eligible have been assigned to a bus
[2:08:13] that don't need it, please fill out that opt-out form
[2:08:17] that helps us take your child off the bus
[2:08:19] and put somebody else on the bus that needs it.
[2:08:23] So we look forward to next week and
[2:08:26] and getting the buses out there, our brand new buses.
[2:08:28] So if you see our drivers give 'em a wave,
[2:08:32] they're really great, great people.
[2:08:35] They've all come back from last year to this year, so
[2:08:39] Angela's doing something really, really special over there.
[2:08:42] So all the credit to her and her team. Alright,
[2:08:45] Thank you Angela.
[2:08:46] Thanks. Anybody else?
[2:08:54] Okay. Thank you all. All right, thank you so much.
[2:08:59] We went through all of them, right? Okay.
[2:09:02] Yes. All right. Subcommittee reports, finance
[2:09:04] and operations, BOO to report on warrants.
[2:09:06] It's all yours.
[2:09:08] Thank you Madam Chair.
[2:09:10] For the warrants total, we have a total
[2:09:12] of $6,204,604
[2:09:16] and 99 cents.
[2:09:18] And a payroll total of
[2:09:20] $9,901,033
[2:09:24] and 94 cents on the date of July 13th,
[2:09:29] July 20th, July 27th, August 3rd
[2:09:34] and August 10th.
[2:09:36] Thank you.
[2:09:40] All right, policy. Thank you.
[2:09:43] We were supposed to meet yesterday,
[2:09:46] but we had some un unforeseen circumstances we weren't
[2:09:51] able to meet, but we will be meeting again in September,
[2:09:55] but we still have two policies to go over tonight.
[2:10:01] From our last meeting on June 16th,
[2:10:03] we reviewed several policies based on
[2:10:06] recently updated DES C-N-M-A-S-C guidance, including ECAB,
[2:10:10] access to Building and grounds in JFBB,
[2:10:12] Massachusetts Interdistrict School Choice Program.
[2:10:16] They were both approved for the first reading
[2:10:18] and our last meeting on July 15th,
[2:10:22] the ECAB access to buildings and grounds.
[2:10:25] This was reviewed and updated based on recent M-M-A-S-C
[2:10:29] guidance and was further updated
[2:10:30] to reflect current practices JFBB,
[2:10:33] mass Interdistrict School Choice Program.
[2:10:35] This was updated to reflect the vote
[2:10:37] to not participate in the inter inter-district school choice
[2:10:40] program and will be reviewed annually along with the vote.
[2:10:45] So I am looking to approve policies, ECAB, access
[2:10:49] to buildings and grounds in JFBB,
[2:10:51] Massachusetts Interdistrict School Choice Program
[2:10:54] for a sec, for the second reading.
[2:10:57] So moved. Moved by Ms. Barnhill.
[2:11:00] Second. Second by Mr. Freberg. Any discussion?
[2:11:05] No. Do roll call Vote District one? Yes. District two?
[2:11:10] Yes. District three? Myself? Yes. District four?
[2:11:14] Yes. District five?
[2:11:15] Yes. District six?
[2:11:18] Yes. District seven.
[2:11:21] He said to keep going if he drops
[2:11:23] Off.
[2:11:24] Oh, sorry. District eight? Yes. District nine.
[2:11:26] Yes. Passes unanimously. Thank you so much.
[2:11:30] Alright, any other subcommittee reports? Go ahead, rich.
[2:11:35] Yeah, I'm happy to report that the diversity, equity
[2:11:38] and inclusion subcommittee we met on Thursday
[2:11:41] and we have finalized our goals
[2:11:44] that will be included in the package when
[2:11:46] we're ready to vote on them.
[2:11:47] So.
[2:11:49] Sure, go Ahead. So I watched your
[2:11:51] meeting and thank you.
[2:11:52] It was very informative. It was nice to have Josh on there.
[2:11:55] The only thing that I saw missing, which was really
[2:11:57] concerning to me, was there was absolutely no talk
[2:12:00] of antisemitism in our schools
[2:12:02] and how that would be addressed
[2:12:05] and how the district,
[2:12:07] Josh's piece would maybe have some PD training on
[2:12:10] that within our schools and stuff like that.
[2:12:13] And that was really concerning to me.
[2:12:18] Thank you for the feedback.
[2:12:19] Is there something that you would like us to include
[2:12:22] and a goal related to that?
[2:12:25] I think it would have to come more from Josh's piece.
[2:12:27] There should be some training within our, with our teachers
[2:12:30] that deals with antisemitism.
[2:12:32] It is alive, it is well in front of and public schools, just
[2:12:35] because we're not hearing about it and open sessions
[2:12:40] and things like that does not mean it's not alive.
[2:12:43] It very much is.
[2:12:46] All right. We can pro Bob.
[2:12:47] Maybe you and I can work together to provide that feedback
[2:12:49] to him or you can Sure.
[2:12:52] I'll share that feedback to him. Yeah. Yeah. All right.
[2:12:54] Thank you.
[2:12:56] Thank you. Alright,
[2:12:59] Any other subcommittees with updates?
[2:13:08] Okay. Approval of gifts, field trip in minutes.
[2:13:11] We'll start with gifts. So we have gifts for Walsh adult,
[2:13:15] ESL plus partnerships.
[2:13:16] District Cameron.
[2:13:18] Early education items include funds in support
[2:13:21] of school programs, English classes,
[2:13:23] and student PBIS, incentive activities, backpack supplies,
[2:13:26] office and facilities, furniture
[2:13:28] and equipment, lunchboxes and water bottles.
[2:13:30] Is there a motion to accept? So move. Second.
[2:13:33] Move by Willie. Seconded by Jen. Any discussion?
[2:13:39] Alright, roll call. Vote. Approve the gifts. District one?
[2:13:43] Yes. Two. Yes. Three. Yes. Four. Yes. Five.
[2:13:49] Six. Yes. Seven. Eight. Yes. Nine.
[2:13:54] Yes. Okay. Open session minutes to approve the May 6th.
[2:13:58] 2026. Open session minutes. Is there a motion? So moved.
[2:14:02] Moved by Jen, seconded by Willie. Any discussion? Roll call.
[2:14:06] Vote. District one? Yes. Two. Yes. Three. Yes. Four. Yes.
[2:14:11] Five. Yes. Six. Yes. Seven. Eight.
[2:14:16] Yes. Nine. Yes. Okay.
[2:14:20] Executive session minutes to approve updates
[2:14:22] to executive session minutes
[2:14:23] and redactions as approved in executive session from 1994
[2:14:28] to 2011.
[2:14:29] To address records request pursuant to MGL.
[2:14:31] Chapter 30, section 22 G two. Is there a motion? So move.
[2:14:36] Second. Moved by Willy. Seconded by Jen. Any discussion?
[2:14:41] Roll call. Vote. District one? Yes. Two. Yes. Three. Yes.
[2:14:46] Four. Yes. Five. Yes. Six. Yes. Seven.
[2:14:51] Eight. Yes. Nine. Yes. All right.
[2:14:54] Additional public comment, check the zoom.
[2:15:02] Okay. Okay,
[2:15:06] I will spare you all that.
[2:15:09] Call number (305) 224-1968. Webinar id.
[2:15:13] 8 1 4 0 4 5 5 6 5 4 0. Adjournment.
[2:15:18] Accept a motion to adjourn. So moved. Moved by Jen. Second.
[2:15:21] Second by Willie. Any discussion? Roll call. Vote.
[2:15:25] Discussion? No. Hand roll Call vote. District one? Yes. Two.
[2:15:29] Yes. Three. Yes. Four. Yes. Five. Yes. Six.
[2:15:35] Yes. Seven. Eight. Yes. Nine. Yes.
[2:15:38] Our next school committee meeting is on September 2nd, 2026.
[2:15:42] This meeting is adjourned at 9:18 PM
[2:15:47] Great night.