[1:26] And families who are facing the challenges that dealing with life threatening illness can cause. Our students described Camp Sunshine and their experience from the week as incredible, fulfilling, impactful, magical and life changing. We're hoping to continue this experience for students in the upcoming school year. This trip has been so impactful on our students that three recent 2026 GB graduates made the trip up to Maine on their own to volunteer. A true testament to the impact that Camp Sunshine can have. So I believe both of our student reps went on.
[2:06] Now, is that correct? S1:
[2:09] I did not know.
[2:10] You didn't know? I didn't, you did. Okay, so it sounds like you guys had a wonderful experience. It was really nice. Yeah. That's excellent. Well, um, I can't wait for this trip to come back around to us. I know that, um, at some point during the year, we will, um, to hear from Miss Palmer when she comes in to present the field trip request. So thank you. Uh, okay. And then the second, um, piece of good news is that the shade structure at small union is officially complete. Um, this has been a long time coming. A lot of people, um, participated in making this happen. So I just want to give a big thank you to Sherry and to Collin, um, for making, dealing with this on the school side, I know it was not easy and there were a lot of hiccups. Um, Jill Jarvis, Jason Silva and Dunstable CPC all really came together to plan and fund this project. And so what you see now is a beautiful shade structure with some outdoor classroom seating as well. Um, so I know the students are all very excited and the teachers as well. So I just wanted to give a shout out to everybody who worked on that and to say thank you.
[3:24] Alright.
[3:25] Excellent. Okay.
[3:31] Anybody else? S1:
[4:04] Okay.
[4:12] Thank you.
[4:16] Okay. So I'm going to read a line, and then you just repeat after me. Okay. All right. I make up here and will faithfully discharge the duties of student representative to the Groton-dunstable Regional School Committee in accordance with the Constitution of the United States. Mass general laws and district policy. To the best of my ability.
[4:37] Do you have the folder in front of you? S2:
[4:38] Okay.
[4:40] I will faithfully discharge the duties of student representatives to the Groton-dunstable Regional School Committee. In accordance with the Constitution of the United States, Massachusetts general laws and district policy. To the best of my ability.
[4:55] I further affirm that as a non-voting student representative to the School Committee, I shall accept the responsibility for my role in fostering equitable and high quality education for all students in our school district.
[5:07] I further affirm that as a non-voting student representative to the School Committee, I shall accept the responsibility for my role in fostering a goodwill and high quality education for all students in our school district.
[5:19] I shall support the school committee's mission to connect and communicate with our community and formulate a strategic vision with yearly goals for continuous improvement for.
[5:30] I shall support the school committee's mission to connect and communicate with our community and formulate a strategic vision with yearly goals for continuous improvement for DRC.
[5:43] I shall serve as an advocate on behalf of our students and our schools to advance our district's vision, fostering excellence for every student in the areas of academic skills, knowledge, citizenship and personal development.
[5:54] I shall serve as an advocate on behalf of our students and our schools to advance our district's vision, fostering excellence for every student in areas of academic skills, knowledge, citizenship, and personal development.
[6:07] Excellent. Thank you very much and welcome back. We're very happy to have you back. And I apologize for not checking with you beforehand to make sure you have access to the folder. Okay. Uh. All right. So, um, we're going to do the same thing. And do you have it in front of you? Okay. All right. I will faithfully discharge the duties of student representative to the Groton-dunstable Regional School Committee. In accordance with the Constitution of the United States, Massachusetts general laws and district policy. To the best of my ability. I will faithfully discharge the duties of student representative to the.
[6:45] Committee in accordance with the Constitution of the United States chooses general laws and district policy to the best of my ability.
[6:53] I further affirm that as a non-voting student representative to the School Committee, I shall accept the responsibility for my role in fostering equitable and high quality education for all students in our school district.
[7:04] I further affirm that as a non-voting student representative to the School Committee, I shall accept the responsibility for my role in fostering equitable and high quality education for all students in our school district.
[7:17] I shall support the school committee's mission to connect and communicate with our community and formulate a strategic vision with yearly goals for continuous improvement. For GDRD.
[7:27] I shall support the school committee's mission to connect and communicate with our community and formally, a strategic vision for yearly goals for continuous improvement for g, d, r, d.
[7:37] And I shall serve as an advocate on behalf of our students and our schools to advance our district vision, fostering excellence for every student in the areas of academic skills, knowledge, citizenship and personal development.
[7:49] I shall serve as an advocate on behalf of our students and our schools to advance district vision, fostering excellence for every student in areas of academic skills, knowledge, citizenship, and personal development.
[8:01] Excellent. Thank you so much, and welcome to both of you. Um, so if you guys want to each just say introduce yourselves a little bit and then, um, you can do the student report.
[8:13] Yeah. So before I give a little introduction, I do want to thank both the School Committee and Mr. Arena for giving me the opportunity to be the representative. Um, for my senior year last year, I had a great time being the rep. It was such an awesome opportunity for me to take. And I'm very excited for this year. So for those of you who don't know me, my name is Micah Parenthese. I'm a senior at GD. Um, some I guess facts about me. I am currently the class president for the class of 2027. I play lacrosse, I run cross country, and overall, I'm just super excited for this opportunity and to continue being a rep for you guys.
[8:56] Welcome back.
[8:58] Um, hi, my name is Guy Lumba. I'm a junior at G.D. on student Council. I'm class secretary and, um, I'm part of a bunch of clubs and I'm also a student rep on the Dei subcommittee. So yeah.
[9:16] Excellent. Well, we're very happy to have you here. Um, and we're looking forward to working with both of you this year. Um, you can, I know last year might be you and Danielle kind of split it up. So it's really up to you guys like how you want to do it if you both want to attend or if you want to alternate. Um, either way, we're happy to have you both or either of you, um, whenever you can make it. So, um, throughout the year too, if there's anything specific that in advance of meetings like you are interested in hearing about, please let me know. Um, we're happy to add, you know, agenda items. So, um, okay.
[9:59] Do you, uh, do you have a or together have a student rep report to give tonight? S2:
[10:51] Did you say 60, like six 0 or 16?
[10:54] Six zero.
[10:55] Wow. Okay.
[10:56] Yeah. Um, the clubs encompass academics, athletics, service, performance and visual arts, music journalism and writing, um, as well as many other opportunities. Um, some other news is yesterday, uh, we got two guest speakers. One was for our 10th through 12th graders. Um, the speaker was provided from mass partnership for youth and the, um, talk was on respect. He spoke about topics surrounding respect, integrity, positivity, and the many core values that G2 represents. Um, I thought the assembly was a great way to finish the opening few weeks of the year, and it really helped to remind our students what, you know, core values GD really stands for. Um, the ninth graders, uh, had a speaker come and speak on the topic phenom. So phenom stands for process over outcome. Uh, honest self evaluation, emotional control, navigated self-talk, overpowering adversity, and embracing failure and mastering mental imagery. Um, these two speakers are going to speak to the other groups. So they're basically going to switch in a couple of weeks. And then each grade is going to get, uh, a talk from both speakers. Um, some super exciting news is GD has received the national banner recognition from the Special Olympics once again. So the national banner recognition is the highest level of recognition in the Special Olympics Unified Champion Schools program, and it celebrates schools that demonstrate excellence and inclusion, advocacy and respect. This achievement reflects the commitment of the athletes, part of the athletes, partners, students, coaches, volunteers, teachers, staff and admin. So I mean everybody involved with the Special Olympics, um, and unified programs. Um.
[13:11] Um, it kind of commemorates and awards everybody who works together every day to create a school community where everyone belongs, everyone is valued and everyone has the opportunity to participate. Um, for our last topic, I've got a lot of sports past few weeks has had plenty of games. fall has, I believe.
[13:40] A lot of sports. A lot of sports. Um, starting off we have boys and girls soccer, so they play. Shepherd Hill next Thursday I believe they played tonight. Um, I'm not sure who. Against or how that went. I think the games were at four uh, boys cross country or sorry girls cross country unfortunately lost to Oakmont yesterday and they raced Neshoba next Tuesday. Uh, boys cross country is currently undefeated and races Neshoba next Tuesday as well. Boys golf is doing great too. They also are currently undefeated. They took on air Shirley tonight and they play North Middlesex tomorrow. I believe. Um girls field hockey lost to Lunenburg unfortunately on Monday. Uh, but they play Westborough tonight and North Middlesex tomorrow. Girls volleyball has won seven of their eight games this season. They're looking to pick up their next win against, I believe it's Montachusett Tech on Monday. And then for football, they unfortunately did lose to North Reading last Friday. And they play Summerville High School this upcoming Friday. And just a couple, um, upcoming important dates. Uh, on Tuesday, which was yesterday, we had our building a positive school culture assembly, which I just talked about. Uh, Friday, October 2nd is our homecoming football game versus Greater Lawrence. And then Saturday, October 3rd is our homecoming dance. And that wraps up my report for the night.
[15:17] Excellent. That is a lot of a lot of really good things going on. Excellent. Okay. Um, so with that, if, um, if you guys are finished with the student rep report, You're welcome to stay if you need to head out for homework or what have you. Feel free to do that whenever you need to do that.
[15:40] Okay? S2:
[15:40] Thank you, thank you, thank you. Thank you very much. Um, okay. So next we have I'm going to turn it over to Doctor Bruno. Um, you have sort of an update on um some policy changes.
[15:54] Correct. So um tonight is the first read on policy related to the Protect act that was um codified into law and passed into law in August of this year. And, uh, we talked about this a little bit at the previous meeting and then also went through the model policy and procedures at our policy subcommittee meeting last week. Uh, the Protect acts, the Protect act, the policy, um, which is two pages here, um, just really outlines, um, that civil civil arrests are prohibited on on school grounds, during. During operating hours, during arrival pickup, any after school activities, etc., which is very similar to um, previous attorney General guidance that was given over the last year and a half regarding any civil arrests or, um, immigration officials on campus. So, uh, this policy, this two page policy kind of outlines, um, the model policy that, that all, um, school committees are adopting across the Commonwealth.
[17:22] And then the second part of this is again, model procedures that are outlined S4:
[17:54] What the procedures does as well is it identifies a district senior administrator, which is myself and then school and senior administrators, which are the principals in each building as a primary contact.
[18:15] Okay. Um, so I will open it up to the committee if anyone has questions on this.
[18:25] I have a Question. Yes. It's just really regarding the language of release of information. It kind of relates to the conversation we had last time about the high school handbook, the release of protected information to third parties and in the Protect Act.
[18:45] Model procedures draft. There's, um, it's very clear language that the district is not allowed to disclose identifiable information to third parties, but that the language feels so similar but different to the high school handbook. And so I was just curious if there's a way to clarify the two, because the intention is very different, but the language reads the same. Yeah. And I think that third parties is just like a general term, but being able to quantify what that is like, what information is being disclosed, when, to whom, under what conditions, right. For what purpose? It feels like a reminder of why that was a question last time. And maybe some updates about how that is being clarified in the high school handbook, so that there's not concern that somehow we're saying one thing over here and something different over there.
[19:34] Right. So we addressed that through the modified language. So both of those questions were addressed with our attorney. And we updated some language and actually included some language into the, um, the, the draft, an updated draft of the Protect act to, to handle that clarification. Um, let me just see if I can find the language and read it.
[19:59] Is it so which document? I guess just so I can take a look at it or we could all take a look at it.
[20:05] I wonder if this is the the final version that's in the folder.
[20:10] Are you looking at the policy or the procedures.
[20:14] I think it was added. Let me see.
[20:22] It was added very recently. Here we go.
[20:34] That's the student records edition. Oh, yeah. So, um, regarding directory information, a clarifying statement was added to the directory information section that the district will not release directory information to law enforcement authorities engaged in civil law enforcement, except in accordance with 603 CMR 2307.
[20:57] So that that's in the handbook.
[20:58] You're saying no, no, no, that's in that's in the procedures draft of the Protect act. We added a statement.
[21:09] So that should be on the final draft. That's in the folder.
[21:22] So maybe I'm not looking in the right spot because I don't see that. But maybe.
[21:26] I'm not. Either that or we haven't. We haven't put the updated final version in. In the folder. Okay.
[21:34] I'm just looking right now to.
[21:51] I'm on page nine of that document.
[21:57] Okay. So yeah, it looks like that was the last section. The last paragraph on page nine is where they would insert that statement. Um okay.
[22:11] So that that's that statement should be added to.
[22:16] Okay.
[22:17] The draft policy first reading.
[22:19] So well, it's not in the policy, I don't think. I think it's just the procedure.
[22:22] Right? S4:
[22:23] The policy doesn't say anything about it.
[22:24] But no, it would be in the procedure document.
[22:26] Right. Yeah. And so you're saying that that piece that that revision is being. Yes. It still needs to be added to the after the second paragraph under protection of personally identifiable information. Yes. Right. Okay.
[22:40] Yeah. Um, so for the purposes of.
[22:45] But so then does that also mean that the handbook language is being updated to match what's here so that there's some consistency?
[22:53] Yes, yes.
[22:55] Okay.
[22:55] Yeah.
[22:55] So there's and will be given that update.
[22:58] Yes. That that's already, that should have been already given to you in an email today.
[23:10] Maybe, but I didn't see anything before I left at 630.
[23:13] So but yeah, it was very recent.
[23:16] Student Record Handbook statement. There was a I don't know if it was shared with everybody. It might have just been sent to me. Um, this evening, the handbook. But I don't know that the handbook to the handbook has been updated per our last school committee meeting. I don't know that it's been updated to include this statement from attorney McEvoy. So there might need to be, like, an additional update on the handbook.
[23:46] No, he reviewed both at the same time. Okay. Okay. Yep.
[23:50] Can I. This is the handbook?
[23:51] Yes.
[23:52] So maybe this is nitpicky, but I'm gonna ask it anyway. The May release to third parties and it says the examples is it is there. Um, maybe this isn't necessary and it's too detailed. But is it, would it. So e.g. suggested that that's not a, that that's not a complete list. Right. Like that's for example. And that's not a complete list. And so if it's not a complete list, I feel like that is a problem. Whereas maybe you just want to like change it to I e, which means like that is therefore right. And so there's that part. But then there's also like, well then for the purpose of what? Right. Like, I feel like so many people are really concerned about like protected information and privacy issues. And I just would want to make sure that there's not a whole lot of confusion or risk of assumptions be having to be made about why information is being shared with like the photographer or school photographer versus a yearbook. And I understand like I heard last time, right? But I'm here and literally nobody else besides Judy is. And so I'm not sure that everybody A will either read it, but when or if this were to come up, I just feel like to be as clear as possible about what the purpose of that disclosure is. But maybe that's too in the weeds.
[25:13] Well, there's there's a lot more to the language. So to the rest of the read is also additional language that's being added, including disclosure of records to third parties and what is and is not, and how consent is granted. Okay. Um, so it's, it's, it's very comprehensive. And we went through it, like I said, with our, with our school's attorney to make sure that all of the language is in place around student privacy. Okay. So this is the additional section, um, that starts.
[25:47] That outlines the details of it.
[25:49] All right. Disclosure of records to third parties. New. This is a new section. Okay.
[25:57] No third party shall have access to information in or from a student record without the specific informed written consent of the eligible student or the parent.
[26:05] And we haven't gotten the those that revised language for the handbook yet. Right.
[26:10] I'm sorry.
[26:10] We haven't gotten that. The revised language for the handbook, or have we.
[26:13] This is this is it. This is so. This document highlights the changes that went into.
[26:21] The revised changes. This is. And then this is the whole thing.
[26:24] I don't think the committee has gotten it yet though. So so no. So no. But yeah, it it'll be sent out tomorrow.
[26:32] Yes.
[26:32] Okay.
[26:33] These these changes were just were just finalized. The language was just finalized today.
[26:39] Sort of along those lines. Um, as I was reading the, the procedures, I wondered if we, um, had the procedures outlined for this act sort of checked against and reconciled with other acts or other sort of policies and procedures that may be related to like the visitors policy, privacy policy, the SRO policy, those kinds of things. Um, just to make sure that they're all saying the same thing. I didn't go personally and look up all the different policies, but just wondering if there was a process by which that will be done or has been done.
[27:13] So can I respond to this first? So actually, at our most recent policy meeting, we actually had a conversation in relation to the Protect act for that purpose. So um policy key, which is visitors to schools is currently like in the process of being looked at and reviewed for the purposes of potentially revising it. Um, and so now that this law has been put into effect, you know, as of last month, um, it will also be looked at through that lens because we were already looking at it like in June. So we will continue what we were working on, but also now with this additional information. Um, but the discussion that we had at policy was that, um, at an upcoming school committee meeting, like whether it's the next one or the following, um, there will be a presentation to kind of pull all of these policies together and kind of give us an overview of really what are our, you know, protocols and procedures related to, you know, visitors coming in, third party people coming in from, um, you know, outside to the school buildings during the day. And, um, to the extent that is possible, talk about like security measures and protocols as well. Some of that stuff isn't necessarily something that we would want to discuss publicly, but the pieces that are for public knowledge, then we can discuss that and get a presentation on it. Okay.
[28:48] Yeah. And the Protect act is specific to, um, any civil law enforcement. So and it's not there's nothing in the model policy in this first read that would be inconsistent with any of our visitor policies or anything like that. Okay. Or crisis plans, etc..
[29:07] I also had a question about the. There was a mention about the SRO MOU and just because I don't know for sure what, how the SRO would sort of play a role. I mean, it's all sort of law enforcement related.
[29:36] So I'm curious, like, what is our SROs role? If something like this were to happen? Is his responsibility to protect the students first or protect the whatever the law is that that is being carried out? S4:
[30:02] I would also imagine that you know, the Protect Act dictates like when law enforcement can come on property and it really is only with a judicial warrant. Um, and so, you know, the SRO would be there to uphold like district policy and to ensure that that happens, that, that no, nobody, no matter who they are, is coming in without proper authorization.
[30:43] And they would be, you know, probably in as good of a position as anybody to be able to look at whatever the officers have in front of them and be able to determine, is this or is this not sufficient? Is it a like an actual judicial warrant or something else? S4:
[31:02] So my last question is it's also sort of now dovetails with this, which is there was a section in here, in here that I thought maybe could use a little bit of cleaning up around sort of the, um, let's see, it was with who like contacts the attorney, is it the district or the, or the school? Um, or I think there's the way that it describes it at the top is a little bit different from how the bullet point sort of calls out who is responsible for which. And I wonder if we could just clean that. We don't need to talk about that in detail right now, but.
[31:35] Are you speaking about the procedure or the policy.
[31:36] Procedures?
[31:40] Okay. Yeah. So I mean, I would suggest, um, maybe like connecting you sending maybe like your thoughts like in email or something along those lines. Um, and that way, like they can ensure that they're looking at exactly like what you are referencing. Um, for policy purposes, we will. So this is tonight is the first read on the policy. So the procedures are put in there. Um, just so that the committee can have a sense of what those procedures look like. Um but the policy is what we will vote on. And so if there are any questions specific to the policy, I think it would be important to also discuss those tonight so that next time we're prepared to vote on it.
[32:29] Does anybody have any specific policy related questions.
[32:37] Um so when I read the policies, it seemed pretty generic. Like we will have a procedure for this. We will have a procedure for that. And so it's not intended to be more than that, right.
[32:48] Correct. Which is truthfully the way that most policies operate. There's not a high level of detail. Um, in some of our policies, we, we have chosen to go above and beyond that, Just I think to clarify, you know, if there was confusion around a certain issue or if there had been previous previous practices in the district that like weren't.
[33:14] Desirable, what have you, um, we've taken the initiative to kind of expand those policies, but typically school district policies are fairly generic like this. And they pretty much track what masc provides to us. Um, it just, you know, says exactly that, like there should be a procedure in place for this and it should be available to the public here and there should be a contact person. And so it kind of gives the bare bones framework for what the procedures need to cover, but it doesn't get into what those procedures are.
[33:53] In particular, with something like this, where I think it's such a. current moving, fluid topic. Um, you know, the legislature just passed this law, um, back in August. And so it's likely that, you know, over the next school year, there will be, you know, maybe some revisions to it or, you know, some bumps along the way. And so, um, you know, the Department of Education and MAS and MASS, they will kind of work with school districts throughout the year to, to ensure that the policies and procedures are operating the way that they're intended to.
[34:40] Okay. Any other questions on the policy?
[34:45] Okay.
[34:46] Sorry, Lisa. Um, I'm looking at the guidance. Um, and I guess, um, maybe this correlates with the policy as well. If it's um whether it's deemed necessary or not necessary when um, the, these law enforcement individuals are here. Um, and it's determined that the student, um, does need to leave. Um, at what point um, are we um, ensuring like when the safety, do they not get to take the student until a parent is here? Does, does somebody from here leave with the student. I mean, like, what's the.
[35:36] I, you know, because things move pretty fast just, um, out outside of the school, um, with, um, with these kinds of things. So I was just a little curious like, um.
[35:50] Yeah. And that's, that's part of, that's part of the escalation protocol. You know, if if there are if the warrant is produced and then, um, there are procedures in place to make sure that there are no disruptions. Um, and then also communication following.
[36:08] Do you understand what I mean though? So like, um, so if um yeah, we're not disrupting other students. They're here. They think they're doing, you know, maybe they are doing, you know, logistically what they're supposed to be doing, but if they're not or if they are, um, what's are, are, are part of the part of the sequence of events that, um, the student doesn't leave until the parents here doesn't, you know, um, or.
[36:44] Ideally. Yes.
[36:50] You know, ideally, yes. I mean, the first part of this is, you know, if, if, um, you know, the, the immigration officer will report to the office and then produce the appropriate identification and paperwork. And we've connected with our school's attorney and then, you know.
[37:14] The steps after that, um, would be appropriate and would be legal.
[37:23] If that meant contacting the family and the student.
[37:31] It's just, it's very I would imagine it'd be very scary for any student. Um, if that escalates to that level and um, that for the staff here and for other observers seeing that take place and somebody leave and not knowing, um, where that individual is Individuals being taken to and whatnot. So I'm just trying to connect the dots. How? Because we don't always know where you know, where they're going. Um, but at a minimum, a parent, um, realizing this is happening, um, it's, it can be life changing for them. So if there's some mechanisms, I don't, I don't know if it's possible, you know, for, um, you know, us as an institution, you know, kind of supporting our students, right to, to the end of the.
[38:26] Um, so I don't know, hopefully I'm making sense when I say this, you know.
[38:31] Well, and, and part of the procedures too is, is, um, how do you communicate and what do you communicate with respect to, um, you know, any kind of incident like this that's in there as well.
[38:49] Okay.
[38:51] Okay.
[38:53] We good? Okay. Uh. All right, so this will come back next meeting for a second read and a vote. Um.
[39:06] All right. So next, um, Marion, do you have a report this evening? I do, I just have two quick things. First, I wanted to make sure that everyone was aware that we are not mailing home family reports for MCAs this year, as we've done in the past. Uh, the state no longer mails us those fancy. Uh, 11 by 17 pages that are printed in color. Um, but they have made all of the information available to parents. Um, there's a news post on the district website from September 8th with a letter that outlines what families need to know to be able to access their registration code in school brains, and then where to go on the website to activate that code and get access to their student scores. I would encourage everyone to go to that news article from Luke Callahan and read it and figure out how to access your students results. If you do still need a printed copy, you can contact your school's office and they can get one for you. Um, the official results statewide were released, I think yesterday. Um, we got embargoed data before that. And so as a district, we have already begun the process of looking at and analyzing this data. And Jeff and I will present a full report on that data at our next meeting. Um, and then secondly, I just wanted to thank the town of Dunstable for hosting Jeff Lisi and me last week at their Citizens Academy. Um, we had 10 or 12 residents, um, who came to hear all about the schools. Um, we gave them a lot of information and answered a lot of good questions about curriculum and about budget. Um, and it was a good way to spend a Thursday night. Okay.
[40:47] Okay.
[40:51] Okay.
[40:51] Sherry. The budget, guidance and priorities coming back.
[40:58] Um, was there anything that you wanted to say about it, or are we.
[41:03] No. Other than, um, the updated language was provided in the packet and, um, the wording to incorporate, uh, the making budgetary decisions based on a long term.
[41:20] Yeah. So I, um, I put both versions in the folder, um, for the committee to kind of look at and consider, um, so the, the document that is titled, um, it has like blue font in it and it has revised in the title that's like the new language. It has the new language, and it's just that one sentence in that first section on budget funding. Um, and then the other one is, is exactly what you guys, what everybody saw at the last meeting. So I put them both in there. So everyone can kind of consider those, uh, to determine which you would feel comfortable with. Um, voting tonight.
[42:12] Does anyone have any thoughts? Yeah. Christina.
[42:17] I prefer the revised personally.
[42:20] Okay.
[42:22] Lacey, just to be clear, does the, um, the revised version kind of had the part about statistical data, but it was, it showed up like on a different page. I think that is just a paging issue. Oh, yeah. I think it was meant to be included.
[42:39] Yeah. It looks like maybe just the spacing.
[42:44] I just want people to be aware that that is part of the revision.
[42:48] Yes. Yeah. Uh. That's weird. I don't know why it did that, so I'll have to play around with it. Um, yeah, the margins are something happened there with the spacing. Um, but yeah, so if that's what we vote on tonight, then we can just tweak that. So it all appears on the on single page. Um all right. Does anyone else have any thoughts or questions. Anything that you feel like is.
[43:15] Should be addressed, um, or added or changed.
[43:24] Okay. Would someone like to make a motion on the budget guidance?
[43:34] I make a motion to approve the um um FY 28 budget budget guidance. As indicated in the packet. Second o the. The revised one. The newer one.
[43:53] Okay. Second.
[44:00] Any discussion? S9:
[44:03] All in favor? S9:
[44:18] Timeline, the budget calendar, or is that something that, um, the thing is, uh.
[44:26] It wouldn't hurt to.
[44:29] As long as it's okay that if things get changed, you know, because inevitably, you know, dates might get shifted around here or there, so I.
[44:38] Don't know what. Or even an addition.
[44:41] Exactly. Yeah, exactly. There could be additional, um, meetings. So if you don't need us to vote on it, I that's fine.
[44:47] It's always included in the budget book. Um, is updated as it is. Um, at the time we do the budget book. So it would include all the meetings at that. So that's fine.
[44:57] Okay. All right. Excellent. And I would expect we probably will add, you know, a few meetings in there. I know in October we'll probably have at least one joint meeting with both towns or joint meetings with both, with each town separately. Um, however that ends up happening, usually we have some kind of a joint meeting in October, so, uh, right.
[45:26] Um, okay.
[45:30] We have meeting minutes to approve, so I will entertain a motion to approve meeting minutes from our September 9th meeting as presented in the packet.
[45:39] So moved.
[45:40] Second.
[45:40] All in favor? Any opposed? Okay.
[45:48] And does somebody want to do the warrant? S8:
[45:48] It.
[45:50] Motion to approve one payroll warrant totaling $2,887,108.60.
[46:00] And nine AP vendor warrants totaling $1,740,118.
[46:08] 20, S8:
[46:18] So moved.
[46:21] Is that a second?
[46:22] Second.
[46:22] Okay. Any discussion? Okay. It's money. So we'll do a roll call. Rowe. Yes. Arnie. Yes. Myself. Yes. Rosanna.
[46:30] Yes.
[46:31] Christina. Yes. Justin. Yes. And. Rebecca.
[46:34] Yes.
[46:35] Okay.
[46:37] Can I ask a.
[46:38] Quick.
[46:39] Circle back to the MCAs stuff? Just so that because, um, the email that came out said that the code, like the kids personal portal code or whatever it's called, would be prominently displayed. It's actually under student documents. So parents have to scroll down to student documents to click open the thing. So it's like multiple clicks. So just so parents know, like, because I was looking at it for a while and I was like, I'm definitely doing something wrong, but I just had to keep scrolling. And so just to look for it under student documents and it'll say, it'll clearly say like portal code document or something like that.
[47:15] So expect a phone call from me tomorrow because.
[47:18] I'll walk you through it. Yeah.
[47:20] Oh, boy. Nothing's easy.
[47:23] I briefly looked at it and couldn't figure it out. So I am coming back to it.
[47:28] Yeah.
[47:29] Well, that's how I felt. And then when she when Marianne mentioned I was like, oh, right, I didn't I wasn't able to figure that out. So I just went through and that's where it lives. So.
[47:38] Okay.
[47:38] Thank you.
[47:40] Uh, all right. Any liaison reports tonight? Yes.
[47:43] Just real quick. Friday night is the PTA is hosting the rock and roll Back to school night, rain or shine, uh, at the field in front of fluoro.
[47:53] Rain or.
[47:54] Shine, from 530 to 7.
[47:57] Nor'easter or no nor'easter.
[47:59] Looks like Friday should be okay.
[48:02] Uh, in that spirit, I'll say like the PTO, the middle school PTO just had their third annual welcome back party this past Friday, and it was a rousing success. We had like 100 kids there. It was great. Yeah. Good time.
[48:15] That's awesome.
[48:18] How about that book fair? S6:
[48:22] That was the whole thing. Yes.
[48:24] It was successful, but very stressful.
[48:27] Uh, okay, well, along the same lines, uh, Swallow Union is hosting its Back to school color run on Friday night. I don't know if it's rain or shine. I I'm assuming as because you said the weather is probably okay. I think it's probably happening. Um, but that's always a great time. They do food and the kids do, um, grade level races with colored chalk thrown on them. It's lots of fun for everyone. There's a dunk tank. So yes. Yeah.
[48:56] Um, I met with Nicole over at the Council on Aging and, um, there's an artisan fair happening on November 5th from 11 to 2. Um, it's a holiday craft fair. Um, all of senior seniors put together, um, some of their art. She said, um, there's a lot of very talented people there. Um, there is a cost to buy the items. Um, she also talked about how the bingo was incredibly successful back in the spring. They intend on doing it again next spring. They are low on cards for birthdays, and we're hoping that the students might be able to revisit doing that. And she asked if, um, we could or others could follow them on their, um, on, you know, on the Facebook page. She also said that there's, uh, yoga with Jenny. Um, and they're bringing a teacher from Acton who's very popular and that's, um, next Friday and every Friday following at 11:00, there's a cost of $5. You have to be over 60. Um, and, um, she wanted to give a very special thanks to they have I, when I was sitting with her, I noticed outside there were these beautiful raised flower beds. Um, and a young man who's a high school student here and he's an Eagle Scout. Um, I'm going to hopefully not mess up his name, but it's um Abby Chechik. Um, and he designed them so that they were, um, accessible for wheelchairs And, um, you know, people being, having mobility challenges, um, they would love to come to the plays and just ask that, um, that they get as much notice as possible so that when they can post it in their, um, you know, their information, but um, I'm happy to post the fliers as well. We did talk about the intergenerational meal and hopefully to hopefully looking to maybe potentially plan, um, like a save the date and try to get something out in January even so that we can continue to make that a really great experience. There's just a couple more things. There's a, um, senior tax worker program. Um, and it allows people within the community who are of senior age, um, $1,000 per, um, per year is taken off your taxes. Um, it's worked through the assessors town office, and there's no income guidelines. And then, um, there is um, for anyone here or out in the community that needs any type of um, wheelchair crutches, um, commodes, um, walkers, whatnot. Um, used to call over to the senior center because um there's a gentleman there. His name is Will and he takes care of all of that. So, um, which I think is pretty, pretty great. So, um.
[51:58] Lastly, um, there is a um, tax relief for elderly and disabled individuals and the Council on Aging really does a lot to, um, to support, um, helping people get qualified for masshealth, um, food assistance, fuel assistance, which will be really, um, a, you know, difficulty coming up in the near future. And then lastly, Gibbet Hill does this wonderful Thanksgiving holiday dinner. Um, and, um, information is coming out at the end of October. Um, you have to go into the Council on Aging to register anyone who's homebound can call and will again, this gentleman will, he will help people to register and our wonderful police and fire bring food. Um, for those who cannot attend to the families. That's it.
[52:52] Thank you.
[52:53] I have one more quick thing. I'm sorry. Lots of great things going on. Um, if you have room in your calendar, we would love to see you on October 8th. Here in the pack, we have a workshop, um, that's being presented by Lisa Drennan. It's called belonging Beyond the classroom where you can be, um, a big part of our community and learning how to foster disability inclusion and what that looks like for all members to belong to part of our community. The time is 7 to 9. That's when the presentation will be. If you come early, we have a resource fair with lots of amazing local resources that, um, different community members can learn about and hope to see you there.
[53:38] Excellent. Thank you. Okay.
[53:44] Any other liaison updates? S10:
[53:45] Are all of these events somewhere on a calendar on our website, like color run and rose thing?
[53:51] Like I.
[53:52] Can't hear.
[53:52] Yeah. It's funny that you that you mentioned that because I feel like every year there is, um, like overlap and I always think, you know, it would be great if we could like stagger them if people wanted to go to like more than one. I know that they're on like each school's calendar, but I don't know that they're on that. All of them are on the district calendar. They may be. I don't I don't know the answer to that.
[54:20] Does anybody know the answer to that? S8:
[54:20] Question? Well, I do know that the building administrators are tasked with providing that information to Luke, and then it gets uploaded that way. And there's some inconsistency in how that happens. Um, but the, the district like the populated district calendar, right? The one that I don't do it. So I'm not going to say it the right way, but like the one that you can sort by just by building, um, is much more variable, um, just based on the resources that are available in each particular building and how that can get, you know, transferred over to the IT department. And so, um, it is, I will say, like at the middle school, it is a constant, um, refrain that information is not on the district calendar, but or is there in piecemeal and um, and so that might be something that we can chat more about, like how we make that more consistent, especially given that that's one of the pieces of support that goes away the fastest because it's like, you know, it's, it's not low priority to parents, but there's so many other things that the limited staff that we have needs to do. That's one of the quickest things to fall off the table. And yet parents really want to know what's going on. So, you know, figuring out how to balance that might be helpful.
[55:43] Um, the, the question was, um, do all of the events for each of the school buildings, like is it somewhere on a calendar? And so it's on.
[55:51] Yeah. The district calendar is populated by, I think the central office. And then each building's calendar, um, is populated by the or fed by the district administrators is what, how it's been explained to me, um, by Luke.
[56:08] So yeah, I'm looking at the calendar right now and it does have some information, but it's like the PTO meeting and the school committee meeting and like things like these things should be on there. You know, for the community to be able to find and know that it's happening.
[56:23] Yes, I agree also because.
[56:27] And I don't know how the calendar works, but maybe also finding a way that if someone reserves an area that that is shared across the board as well, because it does, it does put a conflict for some of the activities. Um, so just food for thought. I don't know how the calendar works, but it is, it would be nice if everything was displayed, um, just to make it a little bit easier because as I'm speaking as myself, for a parent of three kids and different buildings, it's a lot to juggle. Um, so one spot would just be be great.
[57:06] Yeah, I agree. I think, I think there are a lot of reasons. Um, that that would be very helpful. And I, and I know, like with the event that CPAC is doing to. I think that it's it's overlapping with Floros open house, right? So I think down the road, it would be great to if, um, on the back end, maybe not something that's like on the website, but on the back end, maybe there's some kind of a shared calendar system that, you know, somebody, you know, CPAC can upload their events and the school buildings can do theirs. And that way when you go to schedule, you'll be able to see, you know, if there are any conflicts and hopefully pick a night when there's not.
[57:46] Well, moving forward, we are right next door. I know it's a long day for for people to attend both, but it's going to be a great event. So if you can make it over some, some of the vendors have raffles too, so it might be a nice little way to, to get out of flow row if you're there for the open house and come on and pop by.
[58:08] Lacey. One of the things I was thinking about is like the library. The Groton Public Library has a system where you can reserve their conference rooms and it matches kind of like what you're describing. And so each there's a calendar and it will tell you if the rooms are available for all of the day, part of the day. And it's, you know, you can do by all of the rooms. And then you can also filter by specific rooms. And I wonder if that's something to maybe chat with Toomey about, about how to make that a little bit more transparent because it's the same thing like the middle school PTO will often try to schedule events, but without knowing what all of the other things are that are going on, it makes it really difficult to avoid overlapping with CPAC events, for example, or for building events or. And so something how that works, I'm not sure, but I know the library has a system that does it.
[58:57] Yeah, I think that's an excellent point. Um, okay. My last thing that I just wanted to let everybody know I'm working on, uh, this month staff spotlight presentation. I'll have that ready to go for the next meeting. Um, we got quite a few. Just absolutely phenomenal nominations this month. Just very thoughtful. Um, you know, recognition of, of the wonderful work that our staff does. Um, so I'm excited to put that together and to share it with everybody. Um, it will probably be ready to go for the newsletter, the school committee newsletter coming up this coming weekend. Um, and then we'll share it at the school committee on October 7th. Um, so anybody that is thinking about doing a nomination, um, you can submit them, the link is available online. I can share it again through the school committee Facebook as well. And, uh, we'll be accepting nominations for October starting now. So thank you. All right.
[1:00:02] Any new business tonight? S9: