[1:15] Okay. Good evening. Woo! Is loud. Okay. Um. I call the order of the meeting of the Hamilton-Wenham Regional School Committee on Thursday, September 17th, 2026 at 7 p.m.. I feel really loud. Do you guys? Is it really loud? It seems it. But it doesn’t seem loud.

[1:35] Okay. Just in my own head. Oh, wait. I wonder if it’s echoing in the zoom. Maybe. Ah, hold on. Could be it. Yep. I think it might be okay. Um. All right. First off, we have an opportunity for citizens comments. I’m going to look to the room.

[1:58] It looks like there is not anyone in the room that’s offering citizens comments that correct? Okay. Um, looking on the zoom, I do not see anyone on the zoom. Um, and so at this point, at 702, I will go ahead and close the zoom. Um, and we will end citizens comments. Okay.

[2:27] Um, next up we have, um. Next on the agenda is a community outreach. Um, I really feel like I’m just like, so echoey at all, right? If it’s not bothering anybody else, I will just cope with it. Okay. Um, so this we have this is somewhat of a new agenda item that we’re having on the agenda this year.

[2:54] Um, just giving an opportunity for people to talk about, um, committee members and others to talk about where you what opportunities you’ve had to be out in the community, what functions you’ve attended, who you’ve seen. Um, also to talk about things in our inboxes. Um, and any other outreach that we have.

[3:14] Um, so does anyone have anything in particular? I will be at curriculum Night at Buker. On the coming week. Yeah. Yeah. Excellent. Um, I did want to shout out. Um. They are. Um, I know Julie is coming. Amy and Julia have been, um, putting out some information on the school committee. Uh, school committee Facebook page.

[3:42] I noticed that, um, they have been putting out information. I don’t know if other people have noticed that. Um, but that’s new, and it’s an opportunity for people to get really concrete information about what school committee is currently doing. Um, and they have been doing that, I’ve noticed, which is good. Um, in our inboxes.

[4:01] Um, I think we had some concerns about, um, the, um, new fields about, um, some concerns about the PA system. Um, and I know that Eric is working proactively with, uh, citizens to make sure that that gets ironed out. Um, anybody else have anything else they want to add? I don’t think there’s much else in our inboxes.

[4:29] Right now. Yeah. Okay. Um, next up is, uh, a portion of our school committee protocols. I think Jen is going to read that. As elected members of the Hamilton-Wenham Regional School Committee. We, including the superintendent, set. The. Trust that has been placed in us to ensure that the students of the district receive the best education possible.

[5:00] To that end, we hereby commit to the following in the conduct of our business, the School Committee will establish a vision, create policy group a budget, and ensure accountability to sustain continuous improvement in teaching, learning and facilities.

[5:26] Members agreed to leave the day to day operations, including business transactions, to the superintendent and staff members of the School Committee recognized that authority risk only the majority in its decisions. Thank you. Um, next up, we have a portion of the portrait of the excuse me, of the portrait of learner Tom. Uh, all graduates of the Hamilton-Wenham Regional School District will be able to independently use their learning to think critically.

[5:47] Students will employ a systemic approach to collect, evaluate, analyze, and interpret information to identify creative solutions to complex problems. They will apply unbiased, evidence based thinking that demonstrates a global perspective and consideration for the impact on others. Thank you. Um, next to Eric for the superintendent’s report. Great. Pretty straight forward this week.

[6:12] We are excited to have, uh, smooth opening this year. We are ironing out a few little bumps with, uh, some transportation things, but other than that, um, we are excited to welcoming quite a few new families this year. Um, to the to the district, across the district with a lot of new students that are new to the district, which is exciting.

[6:34] Uh, to be the third year in a row that our enrollment will be up. Uh, probably one of the few schools in the area that that’s happening in. Uh, so that’s exciting. I want to thank our teachers and our staff members for, uh, just a great opening.

[6:50] I’ve been around to all the buildings popping into classrooms. Um, things are moving forward. This week is really the the week that we jump right into our organized curriculum and start to move the ball forward. So kids are diving deep in already. Uh, so really appreciate the work that our staff has done to get ready.

[7:09] Uh, it’s literally a group effort to get all this moving forward on time. And so thank you everyone, and we look forward to continuing continuing our smooth opening and, uh, moving into some of the open houses that are to have already occurred.

[7:25] The middle school and the high school have had their open houses, uh, elementary opening next week. So those are fun opportunities. Uh, they both the first two have been packed already. So that’s, uh, that’s nice that people are there coming out and meeting our teachers and, uh, being part of our schools. That’s all they have. Thank you.

[7:45] Does anybody else have anything? Questions for Eric? Okay. Thank you for that. Um, next up is the consent agenda. Um, people have items that they want to hold from the consent agenda. I, I actually do. I’m sorry. Um, I need to hold the 2627 class dues. Anybody else have anything else? Okay. Tom? Yep. Uh, I motion to approve the consent.

[8:15] Agenda. Warrants and minutes only. You have a second. Second. Second by Kristen. Um. All right. There is no discussion on the consent agenda. All those in favor? That is unanimous. Of the four members present and the motion passes. Um, I am sorry to hold the class dues.

[8:38] I just, um, normally I would have asked you earlier, Eric, but I just was. I was preoccupied, and I realized I just couldn’t really remember the details about how it works in terms of which class. I know. We discussed it in years past, but they pay into it.

[8:53] And how does it work? Like, if what does it pay for were the kids? Tell us a little bit about the class dues. Can you? So really finding student activities across the district for our community, across the school, for various classes. So each of the four classes sets out every year to raise funds.

[9:15] Um, technically, our seniors generally end up raising the most funds and kind of digging into the most areas to raise money so that they can have their prom and their senior events. Which just as, uh, people may know, get very pricey sometimes in the $30,000 range.

[9:33] Um, this is this was an opportunity the committee voted in last year to help really just say we were going back to families anyways and pay for this and buy this and buy that.

[9:49] So we tried to make it a one time fee, and then the other fundraisers that they’ll try to do will be outside of school, not, you know, the keep going back to your family to get some money. So, um, it helps to defray costs for things like dances. Uh, initial start ups for any events they might want to run. Um, it’s all student activities based. Once the money is in the student activity fund, it. The students and their advisors determine how it’s spent.

[10:08] Um, and as you as you probably know, they they do roll it each year, freshman year to sophomore year in hopes to cut down the fundraising by the time we get the seniors so that they can afford all the, the, uh, events and activities, and they run between 30 and

[10:24] $50,000 a year. By the time you get to a senior year and paying for everything, it’s like running away. Yeah. So. Yeah. Um, and this year, they were going to keep the cost. The same kids have been doing a pretty good job with their outside fundraising as well.

[10:36] Thank you I appreciate that. I just. Um, anybody else have anything else? No. Thank you. Um. All right, Tom, do you have a motion? I put a motion forward to. Approve the 2627 class dues. Second by Jen. Is there any further discussion? All those in favor? That is unanimous.

[11:04] Of the four members present and the motion passes. Okay. Um, if, uh, the committee next on new business. If you look on our agenda, we have a facility summer project updates.

[11:33] Um, if the committee is willing, I’d like to push that to a little later in order to allow Curtis, um, to get here, to give that, um, so, um, is that fine? Without objection. Okay. Um, so, um, looking to item B, appoint the superintendent as NCC board member. Um, Eric, I’ll let you speak to that. Thank you.

[11:59] The Northeast Consortium is based in Beverly, and they are, uh, a school, a a number of schools, five different schools that that act as places for us to send, um, students. With, um, IEPs that have needs that are beyond our district. Um, and we usually have between eight and a dozen kids in the consortium, but, um, we buy in as members to save money. And once you buy in as a member, the superintendent is expected to be on the board of 21 of us now. Um, members.

[12:22] So the NCC is part of their accounting is asking school committee just to appoint superintendents to, uh, to to be the member of the board representing the district. So it’d be pretty straightforward motion to to appoint the superintendent as the NEC board member for the Hamilton-Wenham Regional School District. Okay. Um, uh, let’s start off with a motion.

[12:51] Uh, I a motion to approve. The appointment of the superintendent as an NEC board member. Second by Jen. Anybody have any questions? Is there any discussion? Okay. All those in favor? That is unanimous. Of the four members present and the motion passes. Okay.

[13:23] Um, next up, um, Eric and I wanted to bring forth this discussion of the MSBA call. Um, and letter. Um, I’ll let you start. I might chime in to. Thank you. The MSBA. Uh, about a month ago, the MSBA reached out to us and asked if we would, uh, jump on a zoom call with them to talk about, um, the Cutler School project.

[13:43] And they were doing some due diligence, trying to figure out a direction, what, you know, from the perspective of they’re looking at all of the school projects they have and trying to fit the projects to the money. If you remember, we submitted sois back in April. You approved them.

[14:03] We submitted the sois for all three elementary schools once again. Um, in that process of the submission. Um, the MSBA reaches out and connects to schools to really get a feel for the reality of the situation. Um, this is an opportunity they’re not offering us to to come into the to the, to the, uh, process.

[14:24] But they did want to do their due diligence and try to figure out as a community, after everything that happened with the previous MSBA project, where we were at.

[14:45] So this memo, um, that I put in as a draft memo that they asked me to put together after the conversation that we had had, Dana and I were on the call. Uh, he was on the call just to to kind of give them an idea of where we’re at.

[15:01] And, uh, part of that whole conversation was whether or not we would be ready to move forward with the project if they, you know, if they were to decide, yes, we want to bring, you know, we want to invite us in when we were ready. We are not. And I just think we committed to a process last year, and we should stick to that process.

[15:16] Um, we talked to them a lot about, you know, moving things forward, how we would get to town meeting between now and April to try to figure out we just don’t have the time to get all the ducks in a row. Um, we talked to them about the RFP that we presented in May.

[15:32] Talk to them about the postcard that we sent out, trying to get a feel for a deeper commitment from the from the community. Um, and they they were understanding. They were very appreciative of our honesty. Um, I just I just wanted to bring it to the committee. Dana and I talked about it and felt it was important before sending this letter back for committee members to see it. Comment and get it all.

[15:52] Uh, yeah. I mean, I think the only thing I wanted to add just for the committee to really understand is my understanding on that call with the MSBA is they, you know, in terms of being ready, like, are you ready to move forward? They were coming to us basically saying they don’t.

[16:16] They see the Cutler School as continuing to be ready. They are continuing to identify the needs at the Cutler. And that’s not the only readiness that we need. We also need the community to be ready.

[16:38] And so I guess I just wanted to make sure that committee, because I heard that on the call, that they were very clear that they’ve they see the school itself, the facility itself. Um, you know, still the same concerns and the level of readiness is still there.

[17:02] Um, so I just wanted to say that and that and just to be clear that it was the committee, the MSBA said to Eric, we really need you to draft a letter expressing this. So this was this was that’s the direction that this went at the MSBA needed us to say, this is what’s going on so that they could. So I just wanted clear everybody to understand, though, that. It’s important to note two. They said three times, maybe more.

[17:18] This is not an invitation. It’s not a commitment. Right. We’re just doing some due diligence to see where you’re at. And as Dana said, it is clear to the MSBA that our biggest need is the Cutler School. So I think that’s why they were reaching out to see really where we were at.

[17:32] Um, which is positive potential for staying in the pipeline. We would apply again in late March or early April, and stay stay within that pipeline with all three of the elementary schools. Yeah, yeah. Um. All right. That being said, I don’t know if anyone has any questions about any of that.

[17:55] Um, so, Eric, are you this. I think you said this is a draft. So are you looking for us? I know that they’re looking for they. Because I saw that they are looking for this letter. Yeah. So, um, so. Some of the, uh, the way it’s worded is specifically requested by the state.

[18:12] Other is I, I wrote myself to be able to just get something together. If people have comments or, uh, suggestions, I am wide open here. Other than that, this just outlines the conversation or I think where you’ve been at. And then, um, just thanking the MSBA for the conversation and. I. Okay. Yeah.

[18:35] Did they have any advice on how to get the community behind a project like this? No, they will not. They won’t venture down that road. They know. I mean, no, not at all.

[18:56] Um, but I mean, they I feel like Eric did a very good job of explaining the process that we the process that we have created and that, I mean, I, they don’t sort of tip their hand very much about that, but it felt like that that was that the fact that we have a process in place to move forward seemed well received, I would say. But, um. I have a question. Do we now continue to file? Sois. Correct. Okay. Okay.

[19:21] I mean, it would come to the committee. Committee. It would vote, but. Right. We would bring them forward. Okay. Um, similar to what the high school roof. We other size might come forward. Like, I’m going to just say it all out. The buca roof is next. Literally falling apart on us. Right.

[19:38] Um, that might come forward at a different time, but so is for the. The building project. Yeah. Do they march early April? Usually. And then we find out generally late October. Uh, sometimes a little bit earlier, but usually, usually they wait until their board meeting in October and let districts know.

[19:56] So as with the past year, like there’s no harm in continuing to submit them because then hopefully all the timelines at some point converge. Right. Like every time we submit, we get an opportunity to highlight the things that we’re doing to put this in play, which is something they, they, they’re looking for.

[20:12] I mean, they’re looking to see or I’ve had probably 20 meetings with the MSBA and it was all about what had to be done so far. You know, we talked a lot about things like the forums and trying to educate people and try and get information out there so they know our our process, our past process.

[20:30] And I think this was a good opportunity for us. It was and we did start a process. We’re still moving down that road and we think we want to continue to do that. Um, because that’s what we that’s what we transparently said to the community. This is what we want to do. And this is how.

[20:44] So I think it was important for us to be honest with them and say, we need to keep going with the process that we started on back after the after the failed vote. Yep. Okay. Anybody else? Um, I don’t think we have a motion on the table.

[21:02] Is that right? Correct. Do we need a motion to approve the letter, please? Okay. Uh, I motion to. Approve the. Uh. MSBA letter from Eric. Second. Second by Kristen. Is there any further questions? Yep. Sure. Your name is going to have to be added to it. I learned this afternoon. Okay. They just want school committee chair. Yep. No. Yeah.

[21:28] I amend that to have your in the motion. Um, yes. That sounded like a friendly amendment. So that’s okay. Yes. I motion to approve the MSBA letter that will come from Eric and Dana as chairperson of the school committee. Do we have a second to the amendment? Second. Okay.

[21:48] Second question. Um, okay. Um. Uh, so does anybody have any questions or comments about the letter itself? No, I think it’s fine. Discussion. Nope. Okay. All those in favor? That is unanimous. Of the four members present and the motion passes. Okay. Thank you for that work, Eric. Um. All right.

[22:20] Um. Okay. So I’m trying to just look at sort of our order of events here. Do we want to go ahead and start talking about your goals? Eric. Okay. So. Yeah. Yep, yep. Good. Okay. Okay. Thank you. Um.

[22:52] As part of the process of superintendent evaluation, superintendents are required to put together goals annually. Um, to be presented to the school committee for discussion and or adoption at some point so that we can have a baseline for evaluation when it comes time. And we often may and June.

[23:15] This is, uh, a set of goals that I really tried to connect to a number of things to connect to this new strategic plan that we put in place the 2026, 2031 strategic plan, trying to stay connected to the goals that we’ve we’ve agreed to for year one. Uh, while at the same time thinking about some of the things that committee members have said to me through last year’s evaluation process.

[23:35] And I’ll get to that in a second. But it is a kind of a compilation of a number of things, not just, you know, these are the goals and this is connected to the strategic plan.

[23:52] This is really about, um, trying to make shifts that school committee members have asked for over the last process, but then also taking a little bit of a risk myself to, uh, try something a little different than I usually do. Which brings us to the, uh, student goal, student learning goal. Superintendents are required to have a student learning goal. Um, so goal number one is a student learning goal.

[24:09] And talking about. Um, I don’t have any direct access to going into a school and saying, we’re going to do this and this and this and this, um, this goal really, uh, gives me the opportunity to piggyback on top of the work that the high school is doing right now.

[24:28] Uh, closely working with Brian and his team to continue to look at the focus points that we started, uh, two and a half years ago. Looking at the gaps between student diabetes and their peers.

[24:48] And this gives me an opportunity to kind of get down deep into the school level of stuff rather than up here as the superintendent overseeing, uh, just gives us the opportunity to develop a closer connection, get involved in different types of meetings that I otherwise would not be involved in, involved in being on the kind of on the ground level of seeing what things that are being in place.

[25:04] Um, it also works in conjunction with another goal which which I’ll talk about in a second, but this one is really trying to set a number, which I’ve not done in the past. I think it was, uh, Jan Carr that may have said, okay, now let’s look at it from a percentage perspective.

[25:21] What kind of change can you make? So this is, uh, my first kind of shot at that. I would looked at it from a number of perspectives. I was like, okay, we have a number of new curricula in place that gives us the opportunity to kind of ride that and look on, look at that level.

[25:36] But the high school is really the place everybody’s been looking at since, uh, since MCAS doesn’t have as much value as it has. We’re looking at other ways to give value, but it also connects to the strategic planning process of, um, you know, meeting those new graduation requirements and trying to help kids meet those

[25:54] bonds as, as we go through the four years of high school. So that’s what this one is designed to do. Um, uh. I can you it’s not up there. I don’t know if that would be helpful to, um. You could unplug mini. It again. Sorry. It’s just not. The screen is not. Okay. We lost the screen.

[26:16] Got power. Sorry. It was up there. There we go. We’re back. Okay, so what I did this year was mirror. Last year’s, uh, process. Which standards are aligned? Uh, trying to make sure that I covered all four standards that are noted at the top.

[26:49] The standards are a requirement of the state. Uh, they are part of the rubric that the state, uh, distributes. For now, I think nine different groups across schools. So this just gives me an opportunity to dig into data at the, uh, high school level, work with the principal and assistant principal to dig into some of the things that are happening

[27:10] on the ground and be more a part of it, rather than, uh, overseeing it. Do you wanna do this one at a time with questions or. Yeah, let’s I mean, we’ll see what.

[27:27] But yeah, if people I mean, obviously we can always go back to something, but if people have questions about this goal, um, let’s go ahead and ask that. Um. I just have maybe more maybe this is more of like a, a procedural question. But now having kind of seen a whole cycle of a school committee here, um. It just for Tom’s benefit, it literally takes a year. As soon as, as soon as something happens the second time you, you’re. Like, oh.

[27:52] I see where the pieces fit together. Um, so. And I’m sorry if this is a silly question. So at the end of the year when we do the evaluation, this is the document that we are. the baseline. Yep. This is the baseline document.

[28:10] And then you have your ongoing update that your progress report essentially where we do that okay. And then and I’m sorry again another fundamental question. But these are basically the DC driven sort of goal buckets so to speak, that they want us to evaluate you on. Correct.

[28:33] However, when with that we can populate it with sort of our own district’s priorities. And in this instance, they all sort of are stemming from the strategic plan, basically. Okay. So their standards just look at where it says align standard, standard one indicators see as assessment. So my job now is to connect it to the rubric the superintendents around assessment looking for proficient or exemplary.

[28:53] I would you know for needs improvement. Uh so I have to make those connections which is what happens in the indicators of success and the evidence, the 30 or 40 pages of evidence that you’ll get. Yep. In April give you the opportunity to go back to the baseline document, look at the evidence and see, uh.

[29:10] Did we meet this goal? Goal? Did we not meet the goal? What do we do from here? So okay. Yeah. All right. Thank you. Yeah. No, I think that’s it’s important. It’s important to I just so for full disclosure, I did send Tom today.

[29:32] I send him the rubric because it’s it’s you kind of it’s it’s really important to create a the goals now because this is what we’re using in the spring in order to. Yeah. Um, so yeah. Um. And the one thing that’s consistent across all the rubrics, whether you look at the principal rubric, teacher rubric, occupational therapist, rubric, they’re all they all have the same for standards.

[29:51] Okay. We’re all looking at the same for standards. Some of the indicators underneath might be different. But uh, mine are much more kind of from the oversight perspective because I kind of looking at all of the different levels throughout the district, not just not just focused on one school or one population.

[30:09] Yeah, it’s just a lot of nomenclature. I think the first time through would like these words have specific meanings in this context. So just to kind of wrap your head around that, you know, so. Um, so I had some questions about the specifics of the goal. I, I’m looking at it more closely now.

[30:27] When I first read it, I really thought it was specific to the high school, but it looks like there’s six through 12. Yeah. So so tell me a little bit about that because I felt like it was high school based. So the the things that we’ve worked on, the instructional frameworks.

[30:45] So instructional practices framework, each of the building has their own instructional practice framework. So part of my kind of conversation, it’s a secondary level was we’re seeing this level of growth at the middle school. How can we sustain that as we cross over. So I need to I need to reach backwards.

[31:02] So some of the data is going to come from the middle school. So I wanted to make sure that that was specific. I didn’t want to suddenly have a surprise down the road saying why do you have middle school data in here? But I just think it’s good for us to look longitudinally at that data as we study what happens

[31:17] to the high school? Um, they’re very similar in the way they’re set up in this kind of content based structure. But things change when you get into the high school level. The complexities change when they start to get more levels to different classes.

[31:34] So we want to look at it from a number of perspectives. But the the two things that go hand in hand are the Instructional Practices framework and the common planning time, because we do that by department. So I don’t know if people are familiar with the curriculum. Leaders at the secondary level are responsible for sixth grade through 12th grade.

[31:53] So I’m trying to just not run away from the middle school side of it, but try to get focused on one core group of kids, okay? Okay. Um. I mean, I, I, I mean, you all. I think we always have I for me, it’s really, I think we always have in your goals. And I’m glad to see it continuing.

[32:17] I think that data informed that indicator of the data informed decision making is just really important. And I think I mean, I think it’s always been there, but I’m glad to see it’s continuing because that’s, um, okay, people have other questions about the school. Okay.

[32:42] Um, how are we going to evaluate you on completing these? Are we not know what you’ve completed until like you do the first presentation on the next presentation on your superintendent goals? Yeah. So I just don’t there doesn’t seem to be a lot of deliverables in many of these to the actual committee. Yeah.

[33:01] In the midyear report, the formative I want to give you that level of data. They’ll be the first kind of here’s where we’re at. These things are complete. Most of the screener data won’t be complete because we don’t do the last one until May. Right.

[33:15] Um, so it’ll be kind of here’s where we’re at, here’s where we’re moving towards, and here’s what we need to be. Uh, so you’ll see the first one right around that early February mark, which is the, the what they call the formative, just to say, here’s the evidence to date. So you can start looking at it, digging into it.

[33:26] So that’ll be my job to be able to translate this and, and give you a, an overview of what’s actually happened on the ground. So it’s also from the perspective of not being in the building every day.

[33:39] I have to kind of make it a point to be there, be in the room, see what’s going on, be in those meetings, see how those are functioning like common planning time for us is something that’s another goal. You’ll see it come up in the both the elementary and secondary goals this year, because we’re really working to get our teachers time to have a conversation.

[33:56] I want to be part of that. I think that’s an important piece of this so that I can report out on it. Um, the deliverable is end up really coming down to are we closing the gap between students on IEPs and their peers? That is literally the focus of, you know, the big outcome, if you will, of this goal with all the

[34:14] other pieces under. I don’t think I would expect that gap to close over the course of a single year. It’s possible we’ve done it at the middle school. Okay. Yeah.

[34:38] I to Jen’s um, question, which I don’t know that this is it’s not really that it’s more just challenging, I think for the committee in terms of evaluation, I don’t think it’s it to Jen, I think this is kind of what you’re saying is that we might not actually have the hard data until after the committee would have had the final data, which is which is okay.

[34:54] I mean, like in other words, um, well, I’m just saying, like, the school year won’t be quite over. So students may have in other words, some of this is like the grades, you know, there. I mean, I’m okay with that.

[35:13] Like I’m I think it I’m okay with that as long as for me as long as this data still gets reported out, whether that happens in, you know, the end of June or whether it happens again at the beginning of August, like just so that like, we will have the information from you on how to fill out the boxes. But I mean, like.

[35:28] Last year, we looked at in two ways, looked at it from like the seniors who go earlier and then everybody else was kind of coming twice. Yeah. No, I mean, I think it should be the whole I actually think like we don’t want to squish it into what our needs are for the committee.

[35:42] I mean, it makes sense for students from a student point of view to have the complete year to finish your story. Specific to student outcomes. Yeah, that was exactly. Um, so yeah. Are we ready for goal to.. So goal two is the second year of, um, improving instructional leadership.

[36:08] We worked last year with our principals to get them, um, to understand the district direction when it when it comes to, um, digging into improving instruction. What what does that look like? What are the things that you’ll do. So this is kind of part two of it. And continuing to help them, uh, monitor what’s going on in their classes.

[36:29] We did I did two walkthroughs today with elementary school principals. We talked about some of the things that we saw that were aligned with the instructional practices, which we agreed upon in the summer and brought forward to our teachers on opening day. And, uh, principals jobs now are to integrate that throughout their school year.

[36:50] Looking at coherence, we had spent a lot of time really putting the ducks in a row. MTSS CLA new math. Uh, now a new science curriculum. So all of the ducks are starting to get come into a row. So now we’re talking about coherence.

[37:06] And what does that mean? Um, we are not in any level of coherence yet, but but that’s part of the process that we’ve had to walk through there. It was three parts. It was unveiled a couple of years ago. We really looked at it from the belonging. We want to make sure kids feel comfortable that they’re here.

[37:25] Then the content, what type of content are we putting in place with high quality instructional materials that are kind of now required by law? As many of you probably remember from earlier? And then the third piece is coherence.

[37:43] How do you connect the dots for people across all of these new spectra that you’re putting out in front of our teachers and our staff? So that’s the work for this year. Um, it is complex because it’s slightly different at each of the levels. But we started talking about it during the summer retreat.

[38:00] Um, we looked at it from the perspective of, and it just used as, as an example, we were looking at the skillful teacher work that we use for our baseline professional development. Every person who gets to the second year, every teacher is required to take the skillful teacher course.

[38:19] The vocabulary in that course is the vocabulary that we’re using instructional and in our classrooms to start to begin to create that coherence, along with making sure the pieces that are in place, the high quality materials. So we’ve done a lot of this work.

[38:35] Now, how do we make it all, uh, fit across the the timeline of a school year for kids and beyond? Um, go back to the district goals. There are things like the MTSS handbook that will help us to develop some coherence for connecting the dots with tier one, tier two and tier three supports.

[38:55] As we continue to build through those, uh, we send a, the principals a weekly reflection every Friday afternoon. Um, just about what they’re doing next steps. Okay. On opening day, you were working on this, this and this. How did it go? Tell us what you did.

[39:17] The next one, uh, is about, you know, what would you have changed? And then last leadership team meeting, I brought in a, uh, what? We called it a quiz. It was just kind of fun to say. All right? When you’re when you’re looking at coherence, a what does coherence mean to you? And your facility, your building and the people in your building? How are you making sure that you’re starting to move towards coherence? What

[39:32] are the things that you are personally doing as the leader in the building? What are the things that your teachers will be doing? So we’re we’re trying to continue to feed them the information slowly enough through the school year to keep this work going.

[39:49] Um, every one of the principals will bring Smart goals forward just like this that are connected to their rubric, but also to the district goals in the strategic plan. Um, we’ll do mid-year checks just like you would. Do you get evidence for me at mid-year? They give me evidence in mid-year. Uh, we talk a lot, though.

[40:08] We meet after every walk through. And the question today was, what did you see? Tell us what you saw. So today, I’ll give you an example. We’re a Buker.

[40:25] Uh, we went to a for math classes in Buker two, uh, fourth grade and two first grade just to do some comparative walkthroughs of what’s happening already on the fourth day of launching curriculum. And how do you see the instructional practices in play during a classroom already? So one of the things we talk about is clarity. Our teachers working to be clear in what they’re doing with the with the curriculum.

[40:43] So, um, these are the conversations that will happen all year long, not just kind of at the at the mid-year mark, uh, we are talking about a shared playbook of instructional practices. Clarity is one of those. And that’s kind of where we’ve all decided to kick off.

[41:00] Um, we’re jumping into other pieces of that puzzle, even things like scaffolding for kids that might need something more. Um, and we’re looking at trying to help people understand that scaffolds and supports are, um, opportunities for kids to get to understand something they might not understand or to get deeper with something they understand, not, um, you know, lowering the bar for, for kids so they can, you know, feel like they did something.

[41:20] We want kids to really reach and strive, um, because that’s how we’re going to learn. That’s how they’re going to learn. So part of the instructional practice is the high expectations, the clarity checking for understanding and scaffolds. Those are the things we look for. Are teachers checking for understanding.

[41:34] Give me a thumbs up in the classroom. Talk to your partner, your shoulder partner and then tell us what you talked about. Those are all opportunities for teachers to check for understanding. Each of our curricula has, um, exit tickets. Another way for our teachers to check for understanding.

[41:51] So we’re working with our principals to to connect the dots for all the work that we’ve done in the last five years, uh, across the, across the district. And again, um, this is work that you could kind of put on, on its own and forget about it, but I think it’s the most important work that we do.

[42:10] So it’s definitely why I keep it in the front of the center of my goal is to. So how are you? Is it time for questions? Yeah. Go ahead. How are you evaluating like teachers or teaching it. But are students retaining it. Yeah, that’s part of the conversations that we’re asking principals to have with their their teachers.

[42:30] You know, what what types of things. Um, one of the questions on the quiz and leadership team meeting the fifth, the last question was, how are you going to know that your kids know what’s happening? That’s hard. Yeah, it’s really hard. It is. It is hard when you’re not the classroom teacher.

[42:44] It’s even harder when you’re in the classroom. Uh, every once in a while, you know, each each building has got a number of classrooms you got to get in and out of for many reasons, not just instructional reasons, but. So they’re all around and about. So that I think is the trickiest part of the question.

[42:58] How do you know that kids know, um, and our teachers are really good at at following up and trying to keep, um, the process moving forward while also taking the time to stop and say, hold on, this, these, you know, three kids aren’t getting help and you’ve seen them.

[43:15] I’ve seen them take advantage of ESPs in the classroom and say, okay, take these three kids. We’re going to do this, this and this, and you’re going to do this, this and this. Uh, just just to help kids along where they might get stuck.

[43:29] We were in a classroom today just helping kids, first graders understand, you know, greater than. So, you know, in, in in the beginning of the class, they’re all I have no idea. You know, I don’t know what that means. By the end of the class, as you walk around 21 kids, you’re like, oh, I know what that means.

[43:40] I mean, that’s bigger. So, um, you can see it in the classrooms, but I think it’s a deeper it’s deeper than that. It’s the complexity of of trying to understand how kids learn and people’s are curious now to see what the state’s going to do with the end, of course, assessments, if those will be valuable or not, nobody

[43:59] will know. But I think it sounds like they’re going to just only lean into high school kids again. So yeah, we use our that’s why we use our own, um, assessments along the way. Yeah. Well, I mean, and it’s not just two students know it at the moment.

[44:17] Are they retaining it? Do they know it in two months. We run into that problem in college all the time. Um, okay. Other people. Have. Questions on goal. To. Read something new for me this year. Um, I want to engage with students and I try to link this one with the secondary.

[44:51] Uh, initially part of the complexity of my job is a getting out in the classrooms, which is, as you guys all know, important to me. I’m in classrooms every single day, uh, in schools and classrooms. So that’s important. Part of what I do.

[45:05] Um, now, how do I get deeper and I’ll be able to have these conversations with kids at the kid level to be able to say, okay, tell me about your experience. Tell me about what you’re learning in biology.

[45:19] How is that going? What? So trying to, uh, develop and this is what I’m thinking about, like using the same set of questions for different groups of kids across the school year to get a gauge of how things are moving forward.

[45:34] You know, um, you know, one of the interesting things I did with teachers, I ran a book group with a small group of teachers this summer, and something that came out of it was, the schedule keeps getting in my way, and I would not have known that if I didn’t do that book group.

[45:51] So that kind of spun off to say, what if I did that with kids? What types of things can I learn about what’s happening? Um, and then sharing that information with the leadership team both at either the level, the elementary and the secondary levels? I just think this would be new for me. I haven’t gone to that depth here.

[46:08] I mean, I’m talking to kids all the time, but it’s this is more of focused conversations about their experience in the Hamilton-Wenham Regional School District, not just academically either. I think it’s important to get the bigger picture, if you will. So that’s that’s basically what this goal is about. It may morph a little bit because I, I’ve been talking to one of the principals.

[46:24] He’s like, all right, we got to figure out how to make sure we get X number of kids each time you want to come. So 14 sessions is a, uh, a big number, but I think we can hit it seven per seven per semester, seven groups per semester. They’ll give us, depending on number of kids that actually show 80 to 120 students across the six to 12th grade.

[46:42] And then depending on how that goes, we can slide it down to elementary. Maybe next year. A little new stretch for me. Questions I just really like the fact that you were bringing social emotional learning back into the picture. It is a missing link.

[47:07] You know, when they start to think about MTSS, tier one, tier two, tier three, now they’re talking about SEL tier four. Like extra piece of the puzzle. And everybody now is stepping back into that. And you saw how it’s integrated into the, the um strategic plan. But you’ll see when the principals through their school level goals, you’ll see that shine brighter.

[47:28] Um, well, I and I, I mean, I just I mean, one of the things about being in a small district like we are is that something like this can happen, and you can get, um, like, connected with a big chunk of the students, not just a tiny representative sample, but a significant number of them.

[47:49] So, um, all right, anybody else? Okay. All right. Goal for this is really oversight of the strategic plan, which is my part of my job. Um, uh, the development of the strategic plan was important for me this year. Um, as you know, we did it differently.

[48:07] We did not farm it out to a consultant. We did it internally. It was important to make sure we did it. Well, um, I’ve received a number of compliments from people within both, um, the government side say, wow, this is really deep document. There’s a lot here. Um, lots of work.

[48:27] And again, I appreciate the work of the people who are on the strategic planning committee because it wasn’t just school people, it was people from every walk of life in in the community.

[48:44] So this is really keeping an eye on the strategic plan, making sure the initiatives and the goals are are working for us, making adjustments at the end of the year, we’ll we’ll certainly adjust as we go to say, you know, we got here faster. So we might have to speed up another initiative from the from another year. Um, so just managing all that, just some facility stuff that will happen.

[48:59] The technology needs assessment and some big items on the table this year. Uh, the PLC common planning time. Uh, opportunities for us to build that and grow. That is another big piece. This one kind of connects back to the other goals that are on the list, based on the connections to the strategic plan. Questions? I.

[49:27] I don’t have a specific question about this, but something popped into my brain regarding goal three as we went on that. I wonder if, um, that is something that the Communications working group can encourage the high school like student newspaper to maybe cover that you would like to connect with students this year because I think, I don’t know,

[49:46] I’m assuming the students really all read that and that they’re engaged with it. Um, but I think that would be really I’m looking forward to seeing the results from that, I guess, to hearing about the results from that. So sorry. I backtrack just to three, moving back to four, um. Gave me time to get.

[50:01] I think. Yeah, I think that’s fine. Yeah. I don’t know, we’re we’re invisible tonight. Oh thank you Jen. If you’re just tuning in. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Sure. So go five is, uh, one that is important to me.

[50:35] I started last year in trying to bring more information to the committee that was relevant, based from, based on things like happenings at the state House, uh, meetings with state legislators, meetings in, uh, the public spaces, like mass math association, school superintendents, um, work with, with even groups outside of that, like the Mass Superintendents Network.

[50:58] I was involved in that after my initial three year program with, uh, kind of new superintendent program, as they called it. Um, so I stayed connected to that through the Math Superintendents Support Network. Uh, still a member of the mass legislative committee on the state side, uh, still a member of a subcommittee of the graduation think tank subcommittee, although we’ll probably end up dissolving that.

[51:16] And then, um, the North Shore roundtable this year, I was elected president of North Shore Roundtable, which is a group of 22, uh, North Shore superintendents who meet monthly to work on things like our our legislative advocacy, what our platform is, do we have opportunities to that? We have we develop time for

[51:35] luncheons with our legislators so that we can kind of get a captive audience and have the discussions on the needs about the school level. There are some big things coming up in this next session. Uh, they’re closing out the 195th session. This is the end of that session.

[51:52] They’ll open up the 196th legislative session, which will go for two years. Um, we’ll be part of that. Get involved in it. The chapter 70 commission is ramping up really quickly. We want to be involved in that. And part of that.

[52:08] Um, so I thought this was a good goal to keep in the front and center as we move forward, both, um, from the legislative side, but also from the budget side and the community. colleges keep people in the know of of what’s happening. Everybody have. Questions? Um, I have a more general question. So I don’t know if anyone has a question about goal five.

[52:38] Um, so, um, I think for the past few years we’ve had, um, or you’ve had a goal that’s more facilities, like a specific facilities based. And I think it’s appropriate that that isn’t here. I think that’s okay. I given however, I guess I’m wanting to make sure I’m kind of flipping through to making sure.

[53:01] I think that typically most of the facilities often falls under management and operations under standard two. I guess I just want to make sure, on the off chance that there turns out to be a lot of things to manage with our facilities this year.

[53:22] We started just just making sure I’m just sort of flipping through to make sure that we’ve got operating right. I, I just want to make sure there’s like just even I’m again, I’m sort of stuck in the logistics of like, you know, in golf or I’m looking we’ve got the standard two indicator a environment. I think that’s where it would go.

[53:38] And then the and the strategic plan obviously has some stuff. So I just want to make sure there’s a place in the in the event that you were to have to say manage a large facilities issue this year, that there’s a place for us. There’s two places. To speak to that.

[53:57] Someplace they’ll come up. It is here and go for. one piece of it. Curtis does 98.975% of it. Yeah. Um, but. Uh. We, um, also will do it when we present out on the district goals. Those were. Very specific. So you’ll see it in two places. Yeah.

[54:16] Um, no, I just yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. No. And I just want to make. I’m literally just talking about just in terms of, like, the unwieldy ness of the process, making sure that there’s an appropriate place, um, for that. So. Okay. Um. anybody else? Okay. Um. So I assume you’re looking for a vote this.

[54:41] Evening if people are ready to vote to accept them. If not, give me some feedback and I’ll come back next meeting for the final. All right. Let’s take a motion and we’ll see where. We go. I motion to approve. Superintendent Tracy’s goals for 2627. Second. Second by Jen.

[55:05] Are there any further questions? Any other comments or discussion? Okay, looks like we’re ready to vote. Um, all those in favor? That is unanimous. Of the five members present and the motion passes. Thank you for that. Okay. Um, so looking at our agenda, you guys remember that we, um, skipped item A, um. And now I think we’re ready for our facilities.

[55:37] Uh, summer project update. Welcome. Sir. Uh, good evening, everybody. You can just. Yeah. Just so you can just present this. I have a hard copy up here. Um, so tonight, um, I’m just going to go through some of the highlights from the summer. We had quite a lot of projects underway.

[55:57] Um, and, uh, I just was asked to come in and kind of update folks on, on where we’re at. And, uh, obviously we can allow this to lead some discussion if we so choose. Um, starting with the Cutler parking lot and utility upgrade. So, um, last year we had the water main break twice at Cutler.

[56:18] It was once I was away, Vinnie got to quarterback that one. And it was prior to that over the last summer. So we decided it would be an opportune time to go and get that replaced.

[56:36] Um, so we replaced a four inch water main with a six inch water main with hopes of future if we need to expand the building or whatever we decide to do with that site, we’ll have the appropriately sized water main running to the school. Um, so we accomplished that. And then at the same time, while we had the parking lot already dug up, we said we should probably fix this. So they did a complete reclaim of the parking lot.

[56:53] We improved some of the walkways. We added a walkway, really trying to help facilitate faster bus pick up and drop off times. Student pick up drop off Times for parents. Particularly in the winter time, that sites are pretty difficult.

[57:09] So adding some of those paved ramps allows us to have areas where we can snow blow salt. Kids can get out of the cars and hopefully get them into the schools faster, um, that was a pretty good project. That came out really nicely. We’re really I’m really happy with it.

[57:28] Um, beyond that, um, probably another very large project is a high school roof replacement. So we are on schedule, which is amazing. We had a really good summer for weather. Uh, only a couple rain days. Uh, 918, which is tomorrow will be a substantial completion. Uh, over the weekend, they’re going to start mobilizing, and we’ll be on the punch list.

[57:45] Um, knocking on wood. So far, the new roof has held up pretty well. We haven’t seen any leaks. Um, but, you know, in here unread. I do have the auditorium ceiling, which I’m sure many of you are aware of.

[58:04] During the project, as they were up on top of the auditorium roof, pieces of the plaster came down, and so we had to close the auditorium to get that repaired. So this was a lot of work myself, Vinnie. We worked together with the OPM and Cape Way Roofing. Who’s the general contractor? Uh, we’ve got a vendor lined up, um, staging lined up. I was given the go ahead today.

[58:22] As soon as this meeting ends, I’m going to sign a copy of that and send it over to Cape Way to get that ball rolling. Approximately a month from when they start is how long it will take to get that finished and completed.

[58:38] So, um, you know, obviously that’s something we didn’t foresee happening, but the rest of the roof project went pretty smoothly. Uh, one of the bigger things, which is, uh, I’m happy to, to discuss, is the library air conditioning. So that is well underway.

[58:59] Uh, they were actually were able to do a lot of it with not having to punch as many holes and things as I thought they were going to have to. Uh, and that’s slated to finish up next week on the 24th.

[59:15] So, uh, we’ll have a nice air conditioned space for the future to be able to have, you know, gatherings and, um, you know, we are also kind of in that vein looking at replacing some of the rooftop, uh, failed exhaust fans. So there’s 18 of them right now that just aren’t working, aren’t performing. And, uh, in correlating that data with some of our, uh, indoor air quality testing, we’ve found that a lot of those are in areas where, like, we had higher levels of CO2 with students in rooms.

[59:35] So, we expect to be able to improve the air quality significantly once we get that done. Um, onto the Ed Fun Sports complex. We’re just if you can believe this or not, we’re over a year owning this and there’s still items that we’re getting fixed. Uh, the lighting is still not quite right.

[59:50] Um, there’s been many late nights. I’ve been up there with Musco. Um, me and the former Addie Craig were up there in March and again over the summer. And a third time over the summer. Um, and so they’re not quite meeting the lighting plan as of right now. Uh, we are continuing to work with Musco reps on that.

[1:00:07] Um, it’s just going to be one of those things where we have to continue to tweak kind of the way the lights are pointing. Um, we’ve fought a lot of irrigation issues on the back fields, which seems kind of trivial, but we spent a lot of money getting those grass fields put in and getting them,

[1:00:24] uh, ensuring that they’re being irrigated properly is very important. So, um, we had to essentially install a new pump. We’ve had to go back there a few times. We actually had to do a change order to install some blow off valves so that we could clear the lines.

[1:00:42] Uh, that has been working now, like for the most part. Um, I haven’t heard anything new. So, you know, over the next year, as it continues to take, we’ll be able to move athletics more and more back there. The idea would be next year, both fields being able to use the entire fall.

[1:00:59] Right now we’re kind of shuffling sports teams between one and letting one rest. The spring will do the other because that grass is still very new. Um, we did some other stuff. There was some safety netting as part of the punch list, items that came up. Some of the turf had pulled away from the field.

[1:01:14] We had that repaired over the summer as well. Uh, over at Winthrop, we did some abatement, so we had some asbestos tile that was starting to bubble. And so I talked with Eric and Vinny. We made the decision to abate that. It’s approximately 1800ft. It was two classrooms, rooms, 106, 107. We also did a refresh on those rooms.

[1:01:34] They look really nice. Um, the new tile that we put down is a non waxed tile. It holds up really nicely. And for us on our end, you know, that’s that’s a day’s worth of work that our guys no longer have to do to go in there and strip and wax. So um, we’re very happy with that.

[1:01:48] Teachers are very happy with it. And, uh, we’ll see how that holds up. It’s our first time putting it in an elementary school, so that’s the ultimate test. Um, we also did, uh, we refinished all the gym floors, the elementaries, they were overdue.

[1:02:07] So security wise, uh, we have all our intrusion alarms working that were installed. We had some issues, uh, before the end of the year with phone lines. Um, as we were working through the IT department was trying to figure out phone lines we were paying for, but no longer using.

[1:02:22] And so in that effort, some of the phone lines that were servicing our alarms were cut. Uh, we were able to get a cellular dialer, put on those with an internet backup. So they’re all working now. Uh, Winthrop’s install actually finished today. They have to go in and do one last little tweak tomorrow. So all of our schools will be protected.

[1:02:40] Um, we won’t have any repeats of last summer where the fifth graders decided to spend the night. So, uh, what they do, the alarms going to go off. On that note, we did add a few more cameras out front of Buker for some blind spots, as well as Winthrop. The install Winthrop is not done yet.

[1:02:57] There was some, uh, they call them gooseneck because of the Stubbins architecture design cameras, if we put them in, would have had blind spots. So we actually have to bring them down a little bit more. Probably not going to go with that 1950s era vibe, but it will. Uh, each one of those has four camera heads on it.

[1:03:16] So it gives us actually technically 12 more cameras that we’re going to be able to look and see some blind spots that have been problematic in the past. Um, so in terms of the vestibules, I know that was one of the things we absolutely wanted to get done this summer.

[1:03:30] Uh, we’re working on the work right now. Me and Vinnie have been working on that with the lawyers. Um, so, I mean, that’s going to be a little bit of a larger project than we initially had thought. Um, we’re going to have to bring in a design firm and make sure that we get it done correctly.

[1:03:43] So on to the life safety stuff. Uh, fire suppression. We got three and five year, um, inspections performed at central Winthrop and Cutler. Uh, these are inspections that hadn’t been done. I had seen no objective evidence of that since I’ve taken this position. Um, those are a little bit more intrusive.

[1:04:01] They drain the system, they go in, they look in the inside with cameras. So checking all the heads. Um, they’re replacing gauges. Checking. Um, just different things. Valves. And, um, you know, we did end up putting quite a bit of money into central.

[1:04:16] There was a number of issues that came up as a result of that. Um, you know, that’s kind of why you do these things so you can find it. We want to make sure if in the event that we need this life safety equipment is going to work and operate appropriately and correctly. So, um, that was done.

[1:04:33] Um, in response to an event that happened, I believe it was in Winthrop or Wakefield. There was an unfortunate accident with a student who was who got killed by a fallen tree. Eric and Vinnie asked me to go out with our vendor to assess trees around each of the campuses.

[1:04:49] We ended up taking around a dozen trees per campus that we thought were dangerous. Um, and that kind of occurred over the summer. So even you can see if you walk out back here, some of the ones that were around between the buildings here were removed. Um, as a result of that, uh, divider curtain. So this actually finished slightly ahead of schedule.

[1:05:07] It finished yesterday. That’s the new one that we put in in the gymnasium. Feedback has been really good, although it is very slow to operate. Um, and the idea of that is so that the cable doesn’t bind back up and cause what happened the first time where it was cutting the actual structure of the, of the

[1:05:22] unit. So, um, but it looks good. Um, teachers are happy with it, so I’m happy that that’s done over at Buca. We replace 94 windows, um, all along the other side of the school here.

[1:05:39] Um, I just remember going in for, like, parent teacher conferences and Miss Garrett’s room in the cloudy windows. And so when we had the opportunity to do that, we took care of that. So, um, Myles River, the multi room, that curtain was kind of falling apart. We had that replaced uh over a Cutler.

[1:05:56] We had to do a number of it’s you know no one ever sees this because they just assume the heat always works. But there was, uh, circulator pumps. Um, that we had to do some rebalancing on. Um, and at the same time, we had to replace the main shutoff valves that actually were frozen open. We couldn’t close them, which is a problem when you go to service those.

[1:06:14] Um, but that was done over the summer. We completed 353. That number actually included the 67. Had some IT ones in there, but we completed 353 work orders. And just to give context to that, the same time period last year, we completed 228. And then the first year I was here, it was 190.

[1:06:34] So we’ve almost doubled the amount of work orders that we were able to do over the summer. And that includes things from like painting classrooms, refreshing, like doing that type of work to electrical outlets to plumbing to HVAC work. Uh, pretty much anything moving, um, setting things up for teachers.

[1:06:49] So I’m really the the team really did a good job of that this year. They really they hit the ground running and, uh, yeah, I’m very proud of the work that they did. So that’s pretty much it.

[1:07:04] I mean, that’s it for like the big projects, just kind of getting a little bit down, a little bit more in the detail with work orders. I don’t know if any of the members have any questions. Yeah. Go ahead. Two. Yeah. That’s okay. Yeah. Um. Are we replacing the trees that we cut down? I’d like to at some point. Yes.

[1:07:24] Yeah, yeah. No, I’m not a big fan of just cutting down trees to cut down trees and like, the one that we cut down the willow tree that was back here. That one that still breaks my heart. But it was it was rotting. So, you know, it.

[1:07:45] And, um, my other question, does this what the fire suppression. Because weren’t we going to have to do like, massive work on the Winthrop system? I thought. The high school, high. School that’s not included in this. No, we did not get to that this summer. Okay.

[1:08:01] Uh, we had to do some work to the sprinkler system because of the roof project. Um, we had actually removed some gooseneck, so I just didn’t think having vendors tripping over each other would be. Um, I have a question. Um, I think Amy actually asked it last. I just want to make. She’s not here, so I just want to ask kind of for her about the auditorium ceiling. Yeah.

[1:08:21] Um, just making sure that we are certain or we’ve evaluated that there’s not a structural issue there, that it’s. Yeah, we had so we had the plaster out yesterday. Vinnie and I walked with them and we looked at it.

[1:08:37] We went up and looked at the how it was tied into the the ceiling and everything looks really good up there. Um, it’s been evaluated. Our engineers have looked at it for the project. We don’t think that there’s really anything to worry about structurally. Um, this more has to do with, um, just some cracking that occurred over time.

[1:08:55] It’s 65, almost 70 years old at this point. They were banging around on the roof. I think that if we go and I think talking with the plasterer, the repair will hold it. I have no concern over it. Okay. Thank you. Okay. All right. Yeah, yeah. Just want to thank Curtis and his crew for work.

[1:09:17] It’s non-stop. It is. Every day I see Curtis at some point every day, and it’s. What are you doing? It’s like I’m doing five other things that I didn’t have my list earlier than that one. Uh, appreciate the work. They’re always moving, always trying to get something done somewhere. Sometimes before kids and teachers come in.

[1:09:35] Our maintenance people start work at 5 a.m. just so they can get some of the things done that might need to be done in classrooms. Um, this is not going to get these numbers aren’t ever going to go down. They’re just going to continue to increase.

[1:09:47] So I think it’s important for people to know that there are some substantial projects that are going to come our way. We’re looking at, uh, even things like all the HVAC units are, are at end of life across the entire district. So all of those things are going to start to, to play into work.

[1:10:04] That will have to be done at some point. And a roof on the back of school. Another fairly substantial project. They’ll have to look at. Um, so we’ll have to weigh that out with, uh, the communities and, and with the people on the government side to see how to, how to best proceed with that.

[1:10:20] But great job this summer. Um, Curtis is here at midnight. Some nights he’s here at 5 a.m.. Some days, uh, was on the field one night. Uh, he was texting me at 10:00 at night saying, we’re adjusting the lights. They’re up on him. I don’t even know what you call it.

[1:10:39] Up on adjusting the lights that are at the top of the 80 foot poles. Uh, in the dark, trying to just make sure that they’re not shining the neighbor’s yards and things like that. So, uh, appreciate that, you know, thank you. And beyond to. Um, lucky to have the team I have and the support.

[1:10:56] So it’s it’s like you said, this is we got a lot of big things coming. And coming. So. But thank. You, thank you. Thank you, thank. You. Great. All right. Um. I talk about our state. Yeah. All right. Um, much appreciated all that work. Thank you.

[1:11:21] Next up, we have, uh, Vinny’s going to talk to us about, uh, prior year invoices while Vinny is getting set up. I’ll just tell you, uh, Curtis, I was in an airplane and I was flying home, and I could see we were going over to him, and I got an amazing view of the high school roof. It is so white and beautiful. Yesterday I saw.

[1:11:38] Did you ever go up, wear sunglasses? Yeah, I heard I said. Yes. I had yesterday without sunglasses. It was. Yeah, yeah, it was very white from the sky, very. They got a long record for the budget presentations. I’ve done in the budget. I got a new computer, so it’s just set up different. It’s not working. Just on.

[1:12:22] I do the search one more time. Um. There you go. Oh. What happened to. Uh, the new computer? I haven’t I gotta find the picture. We’re all sad. Uh, so I’ll be quick tonight. I am here to just seek your approval. Uh, to pay prior year invoices with current year funds.

[1:12:50] Uh, Massachusetts general law explicitly prohibits the processing of prior year invoices against current year appropriations, unless we have approval of our overseeing body, which in the event for a regional school committee is obviously you guys are regional.

[1:13:10] I’m sorry, the case of a regional school district is you guys, our regional school committee, um, now, just to talk a little bit about some of these invoices, I will take blame for a few of them. Um, during our normal year end closure process, the business office literally picks up and reviews every single open purchase order, uh, matches them up with invoices that we processed and try to determine if we’ve received all

[1:13:27] those services, and if we’ve paid out everything that’s due to the vendor. And if we have, we make the decision to close it instead of keeping it open and rolling over to the next year. There were two invoice, uh, two purchase orders that we thought we had processed payment for and closed them.

[1:13:43] Unfortunately, after we closed the books, you can’t create a new purchase order and you can’t go back and open a new one. So unfortunately, those two items are on this list. The other roughly 15 items on here.

[1:13:59] Are there various reasons why they didn’t get in? Uh, most of them is because we did not create or the budget holder, uh, did not create a purchase order in FY 26. Uh, I can sympathize. A lot of these were at the end of the fiscal year. What’s going on then? Absolutely everything.

[1:14:13] Uh, everyone’s trying to wrap up the year. All of our educators are trying to get all of their lessons plans in, get all their supplies and materials so they can carry out those lessons plans. Uh, where and we’re also trying to get in all those additional services for those students.

[1:14:30] So we’re making decisions with students in mind. Uh, and then unfortunately for me, I work in the business office. Obviously, the money part of it is foremost in my mind. I always make sure that there’s a purchase order and appropriation.

[1:14:48] Uh, but I acknowledge that sometimes with educators, students are first in their mind and then after they’re acknowledging the purchase orders and where the funds come from. So unfortunately, some of these items did not have a purchase order in FY 26. And we now need your approval to pay for them in FY 27. I do recommend that we process all of these invoices. These are vendors we ordinarily use.

[1:15:06] They did perform all of their services and they are just not receiving payment because we don’t currently have an appropriation without your approval. So I can answer any questions about any individual invoices or take any feedback.

[1:15:27] I just wanted to make sure I understood one thing so it looked like there are two of them that you were saying that the that were the actual, uh, invoice is after that looks like that Carolina and Seven Hills. Correct. We incorrectly closed the invoice purchase order. Those are the ones. Yeah. Okay. Okay. All right. Exactly. You called them right out. Sorry. Yeah. Um. Okay. Um, anybody else have questions? It’s okay.

[1:15:56] So we normally do this twice a year. This year it is a little bit earlier only because some of these vendors have been hounding us for money. So we decided to bring them forward a little bit earlier. Um, just to forewarn you, tomorrow I could receive an invoice from the prior year.

[1:16:15] Uh, so there might be another presentation later in the year for additional invoices. But at the moment, this is all of them that we have. What do you know, when do we typically. We usually do it in November. December. Yeah. Um, but I’ve already probably fielded at least, you know, ten phone calls.

[1:16:31] And it really is just a decision we make on when do we think we may have received them all. It’s really just kind of like a gut feeling, um, that this is all of them. But I have no actual knowledge that it is all of them until they come in the mail. Okay. Um, all right, go start with the motion.

[1:16:50] Yeah. So I motion to approve the prior. Year invoices being paid out of this year’s budget. Second. Uh, second by Julia. Uh, anybody have any further questions or discussion? Nope. Okay. It looks like we’re ready to vote. All those in favor? That is unanimous. Of the four members present, and the motion passes. Thank you. Thank you.

[1:17:17] Renee, you didn’t have it written for me this time, though. Yeah. Sorry. Don’t. Don’t worry. He’ll come. He’ll come up with some good ones at some point. Yeah. With all the numbers. Dollars and cents. Yeah. Um. Okay. I’m just making sure I didn’t.

[1:17:37] I know we went out of order. I’m making sure I didn’t skip anything. Okay. Um, Committee reports, um. Uh, capital finance. We’re meeting Monday. Okay. Um. All right. Policy. It looks like it’s to me because the rest of us are not here. Um, but I’m gonna look at Eric.

[1:18:08] Yeah, um, we did meet, and we reviewed the two policies that are on your, um, agenda. So two policies that I talked about earlier in the year that they would be heading our way. And here they are. We brought them to policy subcommittee, uh, reviewed them. Any changes are in red.

[1:18:30] Um, the first one is the Protect act policy that we were required to put in place. Uh, September 1st, um, as usual, the legislative bodies don’t understand that we have to follow a process like they do, that we can’t just whip up a policy and throw it on the books.

[1:18:49] So, um, if you go back to meetings where I stated publicly that we were going to follow the law, uh, we are we are following the law. This is a, uh, policy that’s required. It came to us with help from MASC, who worked with some of the state agencies to to get the policy in place. Um, there is one change.

[1:19:11] We have two reads of this, so I noticed it, uh, this afternoon as I was reviewing the agenda on the cross-references, cl g as a policy, we don’t have anymore. Just we’ll just need we’ll take that out for the next read. But the rest of the policy was approved by the policy subcommittee. Um, yeah. So this is just a first reading, right? So, yeah.

[1:19:37] So this is just an opportunity for everyone here to provide any feedback, ask any questions. Um. It’s important to note, too, that the PROTECT Act is bigger than just schools, but we just have a piece to it that we had to respond to. Is the PROTECT Act. PROTECT Act just in Massachusetts, correct? Yeah. Massachusetts law. Yep.

[1:20:04] Whose passed during the summer, signed on August 5th by the governor, given to us around August 16th or 17th, two and a half by September 1st. So it’s really moved pretty quickly. Well, thankfully we have it. Yeah. So we have everything in place. There’s a second piece of this.

[1:20:23] That is the procedural piece which I met with this leadership team last week. Uh, this past excuse me Tuesday and gave them the procedural. We went through the procedures like, what do you do if an agent shows up at your school? What does a judicial warrant look like? Why do you accept nothing but a judicial warrant?

[1:20:37] So we went through all of that process as well. So this is the policy that’s required by the law. Yeah. And I mean, when I those were the questions I had about for you were more about the procedure, like because I mean, it sort of just says except as required by state law, you

[1:20:59] know. So, um, yeah. So because obviously there are. There’s a wide variety of circumstances that could be happening in any. Yeah. The only real changes at ACL at top, it’s the new policy for us. Yeah. Um. all right. So this will um, unless people have other feedback, this will come back for a vote. Yeah. Next meeting. Yeah.

[1:21:26] Okay. Second one. Second policy. JF b b school choice is a policy we have on our books. There was a request by a member to add the phrase to align it with the law, to add the phrase inter, so that we are aligned with the law. We have done that.

[1:21:51] And that came about as a standard review. The some of these policies that you’ll see in the next months are, uh, have to be reviewed either annually or every two years.

[1:22:10] So, uh, some of these will just pop up to the subcommittee, the policy subcommittee, they’ll review them on one of the changes that, uh, policy subcommittee made was inter-district, so that it matched the if you go on the DC website, the actual legal terminology. Yeah. And I just I mean, we had a that was I believe it was Amy that brought that to the group.

[1:22:26] But we did have a good discussion about just just for clarity, that school choice can has a lot of meaning to the general public. It can mean. So this would just clarifying that we’re talking about what specifically what we’re talking about, which is the inter-district school choice. And then um, so that was just the recommendation of the committee subcommittee. Whether or not the policy.

[1:22:50] Is the same. Yeah. Okay. Thank you. Okay. Well, unless anybody has anything else, those will both come back on our next agenda for. A vote. For a vote. Yep. All right. Um, moving on. Um, negotiations. We have nothing right now. I was wondering when we may begin a process. Just out of curiosity, as. Um.

[1:23:19] Not like in a rush, per se. I’m just, I. Don’t I. don’t care. I don’t know, am no good. I know, I know. Yeah, um. Yeah. Yeah, we do have a teacher contract, right? It ends this year. Yeah. This year. So that’s one. The custodial contract is also will be on at some point. Right.

[1:23:39] Office personnel. Office personnel as well. Yeah. If they’re all lined. And technically.. And those are three separate agreements. Yes. Yes okay. And they have so three different bargaining units with different representation. Um. , for. Okay. Yeah. The office personnel falls under the Juara. Okay. So generally the agreement. Same group of people, just a separate contract. Okay.

[1:24:03] Uh, the custodial union is AFL-CIO. Um, excuse me, ask me. Sorry. Ask me. Um, same thing, but they asked me group. Uh, they’ll they. Binnie and I negotiated the last one with permission of the committee. Okay. So that we didn’t have to. They all happened around the same time. So it gets a little crazy. Yeah.

[1:24:22] Um, food services, the same thing. Another smaller group. Um, that falls under. Ask me that. We did last time with the permission of the committee, so. Okay. They’re just smaller groups. They’re easier to to manage the process. That’s fine. I was also more just thinking for the logistical purposes, just of calendaring, you know, all of the. Yeah. You know.

[1:24:43] Yeah. It’s worth I mean, having a conversation about maybe we can just have that conversation through Eric about. Yeah. Whether negotiations wants to just think about talking about the schedule. Right.

[1:25:02] Because because having done it last time and kind of running up to the end of the fiscal year, I mean, it goes I don’t know, I was just thinking, but plus just my own. Calendar, either side. can request to begin. Yeah. Okay. All right. Okay. So that’s something to something to discuss. Okay.. Okay. Um, I’m just making a note. Okay. Um, next up, I think we, I think I saw an email from you, Julie, about the secretary report.

[1:25:32] Well, I yeah, I didn’t have time to actually figure out which ones I had, but I looked at the list of the missing executive sessions. I have at least four. Okay. So we’re making. Some progress, making some progress. And I have one that I feel like I submitted that I already wrote out. So so five I.

[1:25:50] Would say. Yeah, um, I just and because I went through all my notes and I went through all the agendas because I would usually write like the notes on the agenda, but, um, those were all I could find.

[1:26:06] 2023 well, the ones that you have, you can decide and send them as a draft to Janelle. And then she will have them. Yeah. Um, and. Yeah. And if you could maybe at the next meeting if maybe you guys could just come up with a list of the ones that are officially missing, as opposed to just not having been reviewed yet. That’d be good.

[1:26:22] But you guys have the you have the list now, so you know which ones you’re missing. Okay, good. Thank you for doing that work. Sure. Um, and I will say that, um, the last is that maybe that was in negotiations, I can’t remember. Oh, it was in policy. Um, I just took the the notes.

[1:26:46] I mean, I just really wrote it up. Like, moments after the meeting and pushed something to Janelle. So at least, like it was, I was like, that’s the way to do it. Like, at least it’s there. It might not be beautiful, but it’s got the information there.

[1:27:08] Um, so, um, and I know that that’s harder at executive session when we’re there at like 10:00 at. Night. It’s not as easy. A few more minutes. , but every room is true. Um. All right. Anybody have anything else on that? Okay. Um, I don’t have a ton for my chair report.

[1:27:26] I do want to just, um, remind people to take a peek at the Misc conference, which is from November 4th to sixth. I don’t know if anybody has looked at it. Um, but it is local. It’s, um, Peabody or Danvers. Danvers. Danvers. Um. The Hilton now. It’s changed names several. Times, but. I want to just call it the Fern cross. Yeah.

[1:27:48] Yeah, the old Fern Croft. Yeah. Um, anyway, it’s, um, the conference just. I don’t know if I’ve mentioned it while you’ve been on the committee, but it’s, you know, it’s typically been on the Cape, and it’s kind of a bigger deal to go.

[1:28:03] This is gives us any and all of us an opportunity. So please do go on to the Miss MASC site, take a peek and then just let Janelle know and you can sign up for. We’ll sign. You up. Yeah. Yeah yeah. There’s there’s you can choose out of three days. You can choose one, 2 or 3 days.

[1:28:21] It’s a good event to connect with peers from other places. Superintendents go as well. It’s a joint, uh MASC. Mass. So I plan to attend this year. Um, since it’s in our backyard, it’s a it’s a good opportunity if you’ve never been. And, um, we have budgeted for that for members, so. Okay. Um.

[1:28:40] Yeah. Um, and I don’t know, I actually don’t know if the time I there is there is a deadline. I don’t know what. It is. I’ll send it out tomorrow. I’ll send it out to everybody tomorrow. I’ll have. It. Yeah, but would recommend, um. And, um. I don’t. Think I have anything. Else. All right.

[1:29:02] Um, does anyone have topics for future meetings? Budget, calendar? Okay. Is that next time? Um, yes. At a minimum, it should be the final, but at a minimum, it’ll it’ll be a draft. Okay, but. I’m hoping it’s the final. Yeah. Great. Kind of running out of time. So tell me show you.

[1:29:23] Yeah. No no no, I mean, it’s it’s super helpful to get it all out there so. That I’m hoping to get the draft on the October 1st meeting. Yeah, so that we can finalize it before we start kicking down the budget door.

[1:29:40] That’s going to open right up and mid-October for us at the district level. And then we’ll bring it November into. Yeah. No, I think to Kristen’s earlier point, the sooner you get everything on the calendar, the sooner it. Yeah. Um. Because I know we have to work with the union. Yeah, exactly. Yes. All that. So. Um. Okay. Anybody have anything. Else? All right. Motion to adjourn at 8:30 p.m..

[1:30:07] Second. Second by Kristin. All those in favor? And we are adjourned at

School Committee 9.17.26

Transcript