[9:52] ready. I'm going to open up the regular
meeting of the Nisha Regional School
[9:56] Committee at 6:30 p.m. tonight on June
10th, 2026. This is our organizational
[10:02] meeting. It's actually the first meeting
of the next session. Um and we will be
[10:06] introducing new members shortly. But
before we do that, uh please join me for
[10:10] the pledge of allegiance
[10:15] to the flag of the United States of
America and to the republic for which it
[10:20] stands, one nation under God,
indivisible, with liberty and justice
[10:25] for all.
Probably the second time for most people
[10:29] today.
Okay. So,
[10:35] uh, moving on. Uh, we are going to our
agenda. Basically, the way that it's
[10:39] going to work is that we need to do our
reorganization first.
[10:43] There's no telling how this will, um,
how long this will take, but we'll do
[10:46] our best to move swiftly. So, just
because we have new members, um, what I
[10:51] would like to do first is just give them
a moment to introduce themselves. We
[10:55] have three to four new members actually.
Um, and so we'll start over here. just
[11:00] introduce ourselves yourself, tell us
where you're from and and anything else
[11:03] that comes to your mind, but don't feel
free, you know, feel compelled to go on
[11:07] and on.
>> Okay, perfect. Hi, I'm Lexi Fton. Um I'm
[11:11] from Lancaster. I have kids that are
five and eight [clears throat] um in uh
[11:16] Mary Rollinsson and I'm excited to be
here.
[11:21] » Uh
[11:24] okay. Hi, I'm Lenny Goldner. I'm from
Stow. Um, I've lived in Stow for more
[11:30] years than I can even remember. I've
been on other town boards, but this is
[11:34] my first foray into the school
committee.
[11:37] » Welcome.
>> Hi everyone. I'm Joel McCarthy. I have
[11:41] uh two kids, a first grader and a fourth
grader here at Florence Sawyer.
[11:45] » And we do have a new student
representative who we're going to talk
[11:48] with a little bit later, but just a
quick introduction.
[11:50] » Hi everyone. Um, I'm Libby. I am from
Bolton and I'm going to be your new
[11:54] junior representative. Uh, yeah.
[11:59] Okay. So, just so that everybody knows
who's here in the room, we do have new
[12:03] members. Um, so what we're going to do
next is we're going to use this fancy
[12:07] tool
that Alita has hopefully given all of
[12:11] the voting members.
So, um, the first, uh, position that we
[12:15] are going to nominate and elect is the
chairperson. The regional agreement does
[12:21] call for the previous chair to run this
operation at first. That's why I'm
[12:26] talking. Um, the next position that we
will vote on is the vice chair and then
[12:32] we will vote on the secretary. And the
job of the secretary, just so everybody
[12:35] knows, is to basically manage our
executive session minutes. Um,
[12:40] historically, we have tried to have the
leadership of the school committee
[12:45] represent the three towns.
This is probably good practice, but it
[12:50] is not necessarily mandatory. It is not
in our bylaws. because it's not required
[12:54] by law. It is just a practice that we
tried to abide by. We thought it was
[12:58] good practice. It's not mandatory. Just
want to put that up there. So, when we
[13:04] vote, we are going to vote by secret
ballot just to avoid any kind of um
[13:09] uh I don't know convincing your neighbor
to vote a certain way. So, we vote by
[13:14] secret ballot. But it is very important
that you put your name on the ballot.
[13:19] Everybody understand what I mean?
Because after we are done voting, we
[13:24] will send the votes to Alita. Is that
okay, Alita? Um, we're going to send the
[13:29] votes to Alita. Alita will announce who
uh won, but she also has to announce who
[13:35] we all voted for.
[13:39] So, uh, the way that this works is we
can take nominations
[13:44] and we will take the nomination of as
many people as need be. So it doesn't
[13:49] have to go one at a time. And so um
nominations for chair are now open.
[13:56] » So I I'll nominate Leah Vivarito to be
chair first again.
[14:00] » I accept. Thank you.
>> Do you need a second?
[14:03] » You do not. Thank you.
>> Uh any other nominations?
[14:09] Feel awkward asking.
[14:14] » Okay. Well, going once, going twice.
So, at this point, you guys can vote.
[14:21] Make sure you write your name and the
person you're voting for.
[14:35] » And then you can pack them to your right
or left depending on where it is for
[14:40] you.
[14:48] Yeah.
[14:53] [clears throat]
[15:08] » Yeah.
>> So, yeah, take you can take your time.
[15:16] voted for Leah.
Leah voted for Leah.
[15:22] Joel voted for Leah.
Lenny voted for Leah.
[15:29] Lindsay voted for Leah.
[15:34] Scott voted for Leah. Jillian voted for
Leah. Shant voted for Leah.
[15:41] Lexi voted for Leah. Sharon voted for
Leah. to count.
[15:45] » All right. Thanks, guys. I will continue
to work for you and for everyone. Best I
[15:50] can.
So, uh, next we will open up nominations
[15:55] for vice chair.
Matt.
[16:00] » No. So, Matt would then have to accept.
>> Um,
[16:05] » you don't have to.
>> Uh, no. I'm okay. Thank you, Mr.
[16:14] Appreciate Lindsay. [laughter]
[16:18] » So, I'd like to nominate Jillian Shuda
for vice chair.
[16:22] » I would accept.
>> Okay. Any other nominations?
[16:27] » Nominate Scott Powell.
>> I was also going to nominate Scott
[16:30] Powell. [laughter] I was very flattered
that Scott Powell was going to nominate
[16:33] me.
>> That was very like it's truly an honor
[16:37] to be nominated. So, thank you.
>> I'm open to it.
[16:40] » Yes. Okay. Any other nominations?
>> Uh, may I may I now present my
[16:46] acceptance if you wish?
>> Only because I really feel like I feel
[16:49] like Scott I think Scott. All right.
Maybe next year though.
[16:55] » Any other nominations?
All right. So, super ballot. I know it's
[17:01] ridiculous, but go right now.
[17:10] And
[17:17] then pass on down when you're ready.
[17:30] Thank you.
[17:42] Lenny voted for Scott.
[17:49] Scott voted for Scott.
Jillian voted for Scott.
[17:55] Leah voted for Scott.
Lindsay Scott.
[18:03] Matt for Scott.
[18:07] Sharon for Scott.
Shawn Dart for Scott. Lexi for Scott
[18:15] for Scott. All votes are counted.
>> Wonderful. Congratulations. Thank you
[18:19] for taking up the mantle. Thank you.
Appreciate it.
[18:24] » Um, okay. So, the last position is
secretary and I'll open up nominations
[18:29] now.
And I'm going to nominate Shondor to be
[18:33] secretary. Shandra, do you accept?
>> Sure.
[18:36] » Thank you so much. Are there any other
nominations?
[18:40] » Going once, twice. Okay, here we go. So,
go ahead and place your votes.
[19:05] controversial.
>> I do appreciate Alita giving us many
[19:09] ballots.
Maybe
[19:11] » we would need those.
>> They were run off. [laughter]
[19:14] » Exactly. There was one year.
>> Oh, really? [laughter]
[19:28] Secretary Leah for
[19:33] Lenny for Shandor.
Joel for Shandor.
[19:40] Lindsay for Shandor.
Shandor. Sharon for Shandor.
[19:46] Lexi for Shandor. Jillian for Shandor.
Shandor for Shandor.
[19:55] Scott for Shandor.
And
[19:59] Matt for Shandor. all.
>> All right, congratulations on uh the
[20:05] committee leadership is now in place for
the next year. So the three of us will
[20:10] take the lead, but you guys are equal
and very important powerful members. So
[20:16] um always remember that uh I think of
myself as kind of the organizer and
[20:20] chief. That's just like my job is that I
organize. So anytime you guys need
[20:24] anything, you know where to go. Um so
moving the agenda now to the next item.
[20:29] As you guys can see, uh, it is public
comment. I understand that we have some
[20:33] friends in the gallery. If the camera
cannot see it, we have quite a few
[20:36] people, maybe 30 people. I'm not
counting, but, um, it might feel like we
[20:42] have a lot of people to speak, but I
think that we've narrowed it down to
[20:44] just a couple or maybe three. So, if you
guys want to come up each of you at a
[20:49] time and feel free to take up your three
minutes, um, explain to us whatever you
[20:53] want to know. And um I don't like to cut
you off. So if you're at like 3:20, I
[20:59] won't. But if you're at like 6, I'll
have you. Um so the other rule of our
[21:04] policy is that if you if you begin
repeating information um for no
[21:10] particular reason, that's where we try
to ask you to just move the agenda to
[21:13] the next person. Um but I'm sure you're
very organized and well prepared. So
[21:17] I'll turn it over to you guys. Whoever
wants to be first can feel free to step
[21:21] up, state your name and the town that
you're from.
[21:23] » Okay. Hello.
>> Hi. Hi.
[21:25] » Um, thank you all for having us. I am uh
Ruth Merrick. I am from Lancaster. I
[21:32] live in Lancaster with my husband and
our three children. Um, as of next year,
[21:37] my next year, I'll have one at Marie,
one at Luther Burbank, and one at the
[21:42] high school. So, um, I am also the cook
for Luther B [laughter] and Mary. Yeah,
[21:49] Mary and Luther. So, um, tonight there
are a few points that, um, we just
[21:55] wanted to address and call your
attention to, um, about the RFP and, um,
[22:01] the witness proposal. So, um, the
cafeteria is currently running at a
[22:06] surplus. Um it um what they're trying to
do is um we made $2.1 million in um the
[22:16] school district makes $2.1 million in
revenue and we spent about $1.8 million.
[22:23] uh the profit that they're proposing of
saving from the cafeteria is onetenth of
[22:30] 1% of the school budget of going full
wetins if we all stay in the positions
[22:38] we're in. Um we
[22:44] currently the food service staff um
majority of us are made up of community
[22:49] members. Um those that are not living
directly in one of the three towns live
[22:54] in one of the surrounding towns who have
served in our kitchens for 25 30 plus
[23:00] years. We are
we love this community. We are part of
[23:06] this community. We are parents. We're
retirees in town. We know your children.
[23:12] We know what they like, what they don't
like. We work with community. We work
[23:17] with teachers. We work with staff for
friends kids who need special
[23:23] accommodations or special things. Things
that Witson's isn't going to know or
[23:27] isn't going to understand. You ask a
Wson's employee when they are just a
[23:32] revolving door. What does the bird lady
coming mean for the second graders mean?
[23:38] They know nothing of what that means for
the kitchen staff that we have to shut
[23:41] the doors and be quiet and we try to be
respectful of what's going on. They
[23:45] don't know that kind of stuff. They
don't know what's happening when we say,
[23:49] "Oh, hey, reminder. There's the great
birth festival going on. We need to
[23:54] accommodate less meals for less kids."
So, those are some things that
[24:00] we are
when you pluck out
[24:04] part of the community and you turn it
over to a company. We're not a company.
[24:09] We're a school and we are part of the
school community. And I thank all the
[24:14] support of the teachers,
the unit A members, unit C members who
[24:19] have come to show that we're one
community and that we are here all for
[24:25] the same purpose, to serve the kids we
love, to feed the kids we love, and
[24:30] having this company come in that pays
less for their employees. They pay their
[24:37] employees $15 an hour. We're already the
lowest paid employees in the district,
[24:43] the kitchen staff. And so when you're
looking at trying to save onetenth of 1%
[24:50] of the budget based off of the food
service department and you're bringing
[24:55] in people who aren't going to know any
of the things that we know in this
[25:00] community and they're not going to they
care about the money, they care about
[25:05] the dollar. we care about the kids and
about the community and the things that
[25:10] are going on. Um,
so it's immoral to me that we're saving
[25:18] money at the expense of our future
employees. Somebody asked me, "What does
[25:23] it mean if
um like how does it look different if
[25:27] we're hybrid? You all get to keep your
job, but the new employees don't get the
[25:32] benefits that we get. the new employees
aren't going to be part of the union.
[25:37] That could become a revolving door. It
could become like they're and also
[25:43] you're breaking the divide
of the food service being part of the
[25:48] community of the staff like and we are
no longer
[25:53] members and we get emails from parents
that of special you know accommodations
[25:58] that their kids need. They mail Lori
right now in our school. Other schools
[26:02] they email the managers. Well, Witson
takes over. They that's broken. They
[26:07] email Witson. Anything needed gets
emailed to them. And so, just when you
[26:13] consider this, I just wanted you to see
a face and know that we're all here and
[26:19] we want to serve our community. So,
thank you for your time.
[26:24] [applause]
[26:36] Um, good evening. My name is Tiana
Nelson. I live in Lancaster and I have
[26:40] two kids in the district, one of Mr.
Burbank and one MRE. I am also one of
[26:45] the food service employees at the high
school and I've been following this
[26:48] discussion of privatizing our jobs with
a lot of concern and honestly confusion.
[26:53] Um, I was told originally that the
impetus for this move was to try to save
[26:56] money. Um, in the last meeting that I
was here about, the superintendent said
[27:00] this was the putting out the RFP was due
diligence to make sure that the district
[27:04] is saving money where we can. And I get
it. I too have to budget. It's expensive
[27:09] to be around here these days. Since that
time, as Ruth mentioned, um, I've heard
[27:14] that we are actually making money. We
are not a drain on the school district.
[27:18] We are a
um we're members of the community who
[27:23] care about our schools and our kids and
want to make sure that they have fuel to
[27:26] get through their days. Um many of us
are parents who have or have had
[27:31] children in the district. And we're not
doing it for the money. We're doing it
[27:34] for our kids and our community. And we
would like to continue to work for our
[27:38] kids and our community and not a
for-profit company whose biggest concern
[27:41] is by nature the bottom line. Um that's
not who I want in my kids cafeteria. Um,
[27:48] additionally going through with this
plan is going to create an inequality
[27:51] indications. New employees, again, as
Ruth mentioned, will have lower wages,
[27:54] worse benefits, and no rights or support
to bargain for better. Um, starting
[27:59] wages at Witson's are the state minimum
wage. We can do better in fast food
[28:02] right now, and our new colleagues
deserve to be on the same footing as the
[28:06] rest of us. We should be raising
everybody up, not creating a second
[28:09] class of employees who have to give up
more to get even less.
[28:13] Um, finally, this does honestly feel
retaliatory and anti- labor and honestly
[28:18] petty. Um, the RFP was issued after the
NRA filed for arbitration on our behalf
[28:24] and the district is not living up to its
responsibility to bargain. It's telling
[28:28] us that we're not bargaining even though
we're going to the meetings and not
[28:32] getting information back. Um, we're at
this asking for concessions from the
[28:36] lowest paid employees in order to scrape
a few extra dollars into an already
[28:40] existing surplus. This is not who I want
to be as a district. We can and should
[28:44] do better. Um, as a parent and community
member and lunch lady, I am opposed to
[28:50] this very much.
[applause]
[29:08] » Good evening, members of school
committee. uh newly reelected
[29:12] chairperson Vivivero, Superintendent
Downing. Um my name is Kevin Keveny. I
[29:18] am president of the NREA which is the
collecting bargaining um unit A and C.
[29:24] I'm also resident of Bolton. Um two of
my children have come through Sawyer
[29:29] Emerson and the high school and they are
now paying taxes
[29:34] um and uh taking good care of themselves
thanks to the education they got in this
[29:38] district. Um, as the final piece, um,
the final comment, I I I just have some
[29:44] points to bring out about what we've
been dealing with and going through. Um,
[29:48] you've heard from Ruth and Tiana about
the situation, about them working in the
[29:52] district. I would like to address from a
union perspective what we've been
[29:56] dealing with. Um, and the first sentence
that came to my mind is I don't get it.
[30:03] What game is the district playing with
food services? We sent a letter, the
[30:07] NREA sent a letter to demand a bargain
over changes in working conditions to
[30:10] food services and extended day on
December 1st, 2025. And the district
[30:15] lawyer um legal counsel, Mr. Mike
Macaro, reached out to meet us to for a
[30:21] meeting on May 12th, 2026.
That's 6 months after our initial um
[30:27] letter sent to the chair of the school
committee. On February 9th, the extended
[30:32] staff are no longer to be going to be
outsourced for an email from
[30:36] Superintendent Downey.
The school committee was scheduled to
[30:39] vote on the outsourcing of food services
on May 13th, 2026, but the vote was
[30:44] postponed by the superintendent to avoid
the unfair labor practice charge
[30:47] deadline imposed by the Massachusetts
Department of Labor Relations um of May
[30:52] 14th. The reasoning was since the school
committee had not voted to outsource
[30:56] food services at the time of the
investigatory meeting, the investigator
[31:00] decided that the OP hinged upon the vote
of May 13th. On May 12th, our MTA
[31:06] representative Travis Bab was contacted
by Mike Macaro to discuss the situation
[31:12] with food services. As a result, the
school committee vote was postponed May
[31:16] 13th because we were now in discussions.
With no vote by the school committee,
[31:21] the unfair labor practice complaint
expired on May 14th.
[31:26] Tonight, the superintendent will
introduce a measure to outsource food
[31:29] services, making it necessary for you,
the school committee, to create an extra
[31:32] meeting to vote on this issue once the
school year is over. This creates an
[31:36] extra demand on your time to vote and
decide the fate of food services. Early
[31:41] this afternoon at 12:48 p.m. the
district lawyer emailed um me and Travis
[31:46] and claimed that the NRA and the
district were at impass. We responded to
[31:51] the district's initial proposal. They
asked for concessions on June 2nd. Yet
[31:55] there have been no formal proposal.
There was no there's been no formal
[31:59] proposal by the district except that the
current UNCC food services staff can
[32:03] remain and through attrition will all
become Witson's employees. Food service
[32:07] is one of five units within the entire
UNCC contract. Pulling them out would
[32:12] take deep negotiations that would have
ramifications on the secretaries,
[32:16] custodians, instructional assistants,
and extended day providers. These are
[32:21] all games. It is clear that
superintendent wants to outsource food
[32:24] services for what reason? To increase
profits that are already up at 127,000.
[32:32] Food services consists of employees who
live in our communities and contribute
[32:36] to all our school communities. They know
the students and their dietary needs.
[32:40] Under Witson's, they would become at
employees who would be placed anywhere
[32:43] in the district or even outside the
district. Look around the room. Look at
[32:48] the people who come to support our food
service employees. We are truly a
[32:52] community and we are colleagues
committed to caring for our students. It
[32:55] doesn't add up that the motivation of
the district is to squeeze a larger
[32:59] profit than $127,000.
um to um out of by outsourcing food
[33:05] services. The RFP allows for Witson to
replace our UNCC employees with their
[33:10] own employees who will not be part of
our community. They will come in at
[33:13] their appointed start time, do their
work at less pay, and punch out at the
[33:17] end of their shift. Is this the kind of
school committee you want to support? So
[33:22] we and others strongly urge you to vote
against the RFP with Witson's and the
[33:28] ultimate outsourcing of our food
services staff. Thank you for your time
[33:32] tonight. [applause]
[33:44] Sorry.
So, I just want to let you know that
[33:49] we're at 15 almost at 15 minutes, but
I'm going to give you the floor, sir.
[33:54] So, just introduce yourself, but please
keep it to 15 minutes if you don't mind.
[33:58] So, you can keep the not the meeting.
>> Sure. Thank
[34:03] uh my name is Ross Wolski. I'm a parent
from Lancaster. Uh, I came to the
[34:08] meeting tonight to speak about the food
services contract. That's item six on
[34:12] your agenda tonight. I've been following
the request for proposal process and I'm
[34:16] very concerned about how it was
conducted. As you know, there's only a
[34:20] single proposal from a single vendor and
it's from the same vendor that's been
[34:25] providing the limited cafeteria services
for the past few years.
[34:29] When your board authorized issuing this
RFP on November 5th, you were told that
[34:34] the RFP would be drafted, reviewed by
the dees, and posted before the end of
[34:39] 2025. That did not happen. I contacted
the DS dees and obtained their records.
[34:46] The dees was only starting its review in
January and continued through March 5th.
[34:52] During the review, the dees raised a
number of concerns about the drafts.
[34:58] They were concerned about the
requirements that preferred vendors with
[35:01] existing contracts and about the length
of time the district was allowing for
[35:05] vendors to develop proposals. Still, in
the finalized RFP, the district allowed
[35:11] only one month for vendors to respond to
the RFP, which is the minimum allowed by
[35:16] the TESSE. Though it took more than five
months for the district to prepare and
[35:21] release the RFP, vendors were allowed
only a single month to become aware of
[35:27] the RFP, to review the RFP, to ask
questions, and to make a proposal for
[35:32] managing the cafeterias in four
buildings across three towns for 5
[35:37] years.
The RFP was released on Combi's website
[35:41] on a Friday night at 700 p.m. Hopefully,
vendors found it very quickly because
[35:46] any vendor who wanted to respond was
required to attend a mandatory
[35:50] conference at 10:00 a.m. on Thursday.
There was no reason for the mandatory
[35:54] conference to be three business days
after the RFP was posted. And this isn't
[35:59] typical. When the district posted an RFP
for the before and after school
[36:03] programming in January, they allowed two
weeks between the posting and the
[36:07] meeting instead of three business days.
If vendors had any questions again about
[36:13] operating four cafeterias across three
towns for 5 years, vendors had just 5
[36:18] days to ask them and then just two more
weeks to finalize and submit the
[36:23] proposals. This extremely condensed
timeline favored just one vendor,
[36:27] Witson's, who as you know was already
providing services to Nishoba. They were
[36:32] certainly aware that the RFP was coming
that they had access to data on the
[36:37] district that no other applicant did and
they had the inside track to preparing a
[36:42] proposal. As you know, Witson's was the
only vendor who responded. They surely
[36:47] were quite certain that their proposal
would be the only one in front of you.
[36:52] No other vendor had time to drop the
proposal and anyone who cared to try
[36:56] knew that Whitson's had the inside
track. I'm going to assume that you're
[37:00] going to closely review the track record
of this vendor and you'll hear some
[37:05] things that will be concerning. Just two
years ago, the Boston Public Schools
[37:09] chose not to renew their contract with
Witson. Their concerns are about food
[37:14] quality and freshness.
Just last year, Burlington Public
[37:18] Schools ended its contract with Witson.
They chose to terminate their contract
[37:22] after just two years and go back to
in-house cafeteria services
[37:27] this spring in Melver, New York, because
if you haven't been told, Witson's is
[37:31] not headquartered in Massachusetts.
They're headquartered 200 miles away in
[37:35] Hot Rod, New York. In Melbour, New York,
they met with parents to to discuss a
[37:40] survey regarding food concerns.
According to their local paper, the
[37:44] surveys results included complaints
about spoiled milk, inconsistent food
[37:48] tastes and quality in the different
buildings, as well as a lack of vegan
[37:52] options and a desire for friendlier food
service. Remember, this is going to be a
[37:57] 5-year contract for the only cafeteria
option our children will have 180 days a
[38:02] year.
Finally, you'll surely be told about an
[38:06] incident at Long Meadow High School. The
head coach hired by Woodsons was charged
[38:10] with sexual mis misconduct on the job in
the school's cafeteria. When asked about
[38:16] the incident by a local paper, the
administr administration pointed out
[38:20] that it's Witson's job to handle that
employee.
[38:24] It took 5 months to draft an RFP.
Vendors were allowed just 30 days to
[38:29] respond. And you may tonight just be
given seven days even to make a
[38:32] decision. We'll all be stuck with that
decision for 5 years. As you consider
[38:37] this new contract, you're simultaneously
reviewing a settlement between the
[38:41] district and its food services and
extended day staff regarding unpaid
[38:45] overtime. Do you think that the workers
as individual Witson's employees would
[38:51] have successfully litigated that
settlement or do you think they'd be out
[38:54] of luck? Members of the school
committee, please ask yourself. Are you
[38:59] making a decision on a food services
provider because it's best for the
[39:02] staff? Because looking behind me, I
don't think they're here to be fans to
[39:06] me. I don't get the impression that
they're here to tell you that. Are you
[39:11] considering this contract because you
think the individual towns asked the
[39:14] district to consider this? That is what
you were told on November 5th. It was
[39:19] suggested that this came out of
conversations with the towns.
[39:22] » So, I'm going to call time.
>> I have literally three three paragraphs
[39:26] left. Can I
>> You're at six.
[39:28] » All right.
>> We understand though. We appreciate you.
[39:31] We appreciate your POINT OF VIEW.
>> [applause]
[39:42] [applause]
>> EMAIL OR COMMENTS, PLEASE FEEL FREE TO
[39:46] DO THAT if you'd like to enter them into
the record. That's another way for us to
[39:49] hear everything that you had to say. Um,
but we appreciate everything that was
[39:52] brought to the table and we understand.
Um, I do want to let you guys know that
[39:57] from an agenda perspective, we are going
to move to the student representative
[40:01] report. Then we have to move into
executive session for other matters and
[40:06] then we're going to come back and hear
the presentation about the food services
[40:10] contract. You are definitely welcome to
come back into the room at that point in
[40:15] time, but during executive session,
everybody just has to leave. So, I just
[40:18] I wanted to give you a little process
update. Okay. Um, we expect that
[40:22] executive sessions could wrap up around
8:00 PM at the latest.
[40:28] Okay, so thank you for that everyone.
Um,
[40:32] till later. Uh, and interesting news
over here. We have our student
[40:36] representatives and Maria, I'm going to
let you give us your report if you have
[40:40] anything to share other than introducing
your new partner.
[40:43] » Everything to share about what just
happened
[40:46] » or just like
>> you can give your you can give your
[40:49] reporting.
>> I don't know. I don't know if you want
[40:50] to map into this.
[40:55] » Um, so
>> your report is your report.
[40:58] [clears throat]
>> Hi everyone.
[40:59] » So unfortunately unfortunately or
fortunately for some of us school is
[41:04] almost over and I don't have much to
share besides finals is coming next week
[41:12] starts on Friday and it's Thursday next
week. So good luck to everyone. We're
[41:16] all tired. We all
um so obviously just introduce herself.
[41:22] Olivia gonna be the upcoming junior
representative and do you have anything
[41:26] to say or
I'm just really excited for summer?
[41:33] » We have a lot of teachers in the room so
they agree.
[41:38] [laughter]
[41:42] » I haven't started your essay so
[laughter]
[41:48] So, um, just so that you guys know, at
this point, we normally open it to the
[41:52] floor for the school committee to ask
the school the student representatives
[41:57] about anything kind of within our
purview, anything that you would want
[42:00] more elaboration on. And I'm going to
start to set a good example or hopefully
[42:05] uh you said you're entering finals.
>> Yes. We I believe implemented a new
[42:10] system that happened during midterms and
now you're seeing [clears throat]
[42:14] through finals I think. Have you started
yet?
[42:16] » Uh no, it starts on Friday.
>> Friday.
[42:19] » Um how are you feeling about the new
schedule change on that? I personally do
[42:24] not like it and I don't I've we've
talked about this with the
[42:29] superintendent and within our student
advisory group and I just I mean
[42:37] » can you difference Maria? Oh yes, of
course. So, normally our old schedule,
[42:43] old schedule, we would have the morning
off and we would start around, actually,
[42:48] I don't know what time we started. Start
>> 9:40.
[42:50] » 94.
>> 9:40. Thank you, Miss Hara. Um 9:40 and
[42:54] then we would have a period of our exam
and then after a period of just review.
[43:01] And now we starting in the morning at
7:40 and we end at 11:00. So, we're
[43:05] having an early release. And in my
personal opinion, I just think there's
[43:09] more um cons and pros of the new
schedule. I would understand why some
[43:15] people would like it. I just I just
can't I I just think um me and Olivia
[43:20] are actually talking about this. Um a
lot of kids do study until late night
[43:26] and then waking up early and having to
go straight to an exam is it's just not
[43:31] the best. And also I personally study
better in the morning. So going into
[43:37] school early and having that time to
study, like it just helped me so much.
[43:42] And you can't do that now. I can't go in
early and study. Nor can people sleep in
[43:48] till later. So, you know, there's Do you
do you have anything to
[43:53] » Yeah. Um I also I really appreciated
last year coming in as a freshman. Um I
[43:57] remember I went to see Dr. Tollson the
morning before my physics exam because I
[44:02] was very confused on our velocity unit.
And so it gave a really good opportunity
[44:06] because the school library would be open
in the morning like in the morning. So
[44:10] if I needed assistance for any like from
any of my teachers, they would be there
[44:14] and they would be available for the
help. So I could feel my like my best
[44:17] and most confident in that moment. Um, I
also don't I don't want to draw any
[44:20] conclusions, but I do also know that a
lot of students will draw more towards
[44:25] energy drinks and more artificial
caffeine um as a stimulus for themselves
[44:30] during exams. Um, cuz I know like me
personally, I agree. I'm 100% a late
[44:34] night studier. I like that's when I'm
most active. And if I have to wake up
[44:38] early to go and study before like a
quick review period and then go to my
[44:42] exams, I'm going to get a lot more like
groggy and just not fully awake enough
[44:47] to take a a very important exam. Um, so
I know I personally have asked my dad to
[44:52] provide me with energy drinks to get
through these days. Um, and I know how
[44:56] awful they are for everybody. And I I
feel like having a later schedule might
[45:01] provide the students a with better
confidence in their abilities as well as
[45:05] access to a healthier body during their
exams.
[45:09] » I appreciate that answer. I would tell
everybody or just remind everybody that
[45:13] this not something that the school
committee is in charge of. It's like an
[45:15] operational matter, but um we do
interface with the school uh student
[45:19] council. So maybe this is something that
you guys can put on your agenda for
[45:24] September to talk with the student body
and see if there and Dr. Buon obviously
[45:29] to see if there are ways to improve the
deficits that you see.
[45:34] » Do you guys have any other questions for
them?
[45:37] » Madam Chair,
>> yeah,
[45:38] » Maria, I believe we're already doing
that
[45:41] » from our advisory meeting last time. We
talked about that. Going to bring it to
[45:45] the student council first meeting.
>> Excellent.
[45:49] » Yay.
Um, anything else that you guys want to
[45:52] talk about or ask or wonder
[clears throat] for next year?
[45:58] All right. So, remember that they're a
resource for you all? They are here
[46:02] pretty um consistently which we really
appreciate and they do normally provide
[46:07] um a pretty comprehensive report as it
going on at the high school and the
[46:11] district and we appreciate that. So, if
there are no other questions for the
[46:16] students, when we move to executive
session, you guys will step out
[46:19] [clears throat] and you do not need to
come back unless you really want to.
[46:23] That is an allowance [laughter]
to
[46:27] love having you here at the full
meeting, but they go along. So, it's
[46:30] always up to you if you can stay or if
you just need to go. That's great.
[46:35] All right, everybody. Um, so I am
actually going to move us into executive
[46:40] session and Alicia sent me the motion
and I just want to get it absolutely
[46:45] right. So bear with me.
[46:53] » Um, all right guys. So, next agenda item
requires that I move us into executive
[46:58] session at 7:07 p.m. pursuant to Mass
General Law Chapter 30A section 21A3 to
[47:05] discuss strategy with respect to
collective bargaining or litigation if
[47:08] an open meeting may have a detrimental
effect in the bargaining or litigating
[47:11] position of the public body of the chair
players which I do. This will be for
[47:16] both unit A and unit C. collective
bargaining uh executive session will
[47:21] include the school committee,
superintendent Downing, assistant
[47:24] superintendent Ross Malcurren, assistant
superintendent friend, director of
[47:27] student services, director of human
services Jessica Murdoch, and district
[47:32] legal counsel Mike Mccurro. This meeting
uh or executive session will return to
[47:37] open session at the conclusion of that.
Do I have a second?
[47:42] » Hi, Matt. Got it. Um any discussion on
the motion?
[47:47] All those in favor, you can just raise
your hand.
[47:49] » Oh,
[47:52] helping the veteran here figure it out.
Joel,
[47:55] » yes.
>> Matt,
[47:56] » yes.
>> Lenny,
[47:57] » yes.
>> Lindsay,
[47:58] » yes.
>> Scott,
[47:59] » yes.
>> Myself, yes. Sharon, yes. Shandra,
[48:02] » yes.
>> Jillian, yes. And yes.
[48:05] » All right, we are in executive session.
[2:14:18] All right, we ready to practice.
[2:14:31] [laughter]
>> We're going to rock and roll any. All
[2:14:34] right, here we go, guys.
So, welcome back everybody. We are going
[2:14:38] to move the agenda now. Obviously about
an hour behind schedule. Sorry for that.
[2:14:44] Um we have our finance and operations
report.
[2:14:47] And what we're going to be looking at
next is the food services management
[2:14:51] contract and rock has a presentation for
us.
[2:14:56] » I just did
[2:15:03] that. All
[2:15:13] right. So, Ros, your presentation is
being pulled up.
[2:15:16] » Yep.
>> And I'll just let you
[2:15:18] » Sure.
Are we all set with Nikki?
[2:15:22] » Yeah.
>> Okay.
[2:15:25] » Um, so, Billy, last fall we shared our
intent to issue a request for proposals
[2:15:30] for food services. Our primary goal is
to explore potential costs of new town
[2:15:35] assessments. At that time, committee
members raised important questions about
[2:15:40] the impact on our staff and the
wellbeing. So now we're here to review
[2:15:43] the RFP results and discuss how
potential uh contracts affect our
[2:15:48] current employees, our budget, and our
towns. They help uh guide us, our legal
[2:15:52] counsel, Mike Macaro. Attorney Mike Maro
is here with us tonight and has been
[2:15:57] involved with us throughout this entire
process. Uh we appreciate your guidance
[2:16:01] attorney Marorrow as you're with us. So
I will turn it over to assistant
[2:16:06] assistant superintendent Karen to share
an update with you at this time.
[2:16:10] » Thank you and thank you to the school
committee uh for your time. Uh so within
[2:16:14] this presentation we'll be providing
important
[2:16:18] need to know I am not
>> Did you turn it on
[2:16:24] the side?
>> What would we do without it?
[2:16:31] So
with the assistance however so thank
[2:16:35] you. Uh so within the presentation we'll
be going through uh the important need
[2:16:39] to knows for the school committee about
the status of the RFP um and the
[2:16:43] potential uh benefit to the district uh
based on the response.
[2:16:50] So just as a uh review of the process.
So our process began with notice to the
[2:16:54] district community about the RFP. So in
December uh through February, we used
[2:17:00] the state's mandated template to build
our RFP which was posted at the
[2:17:04] beginning of March uh right after we
received approval from DESIE. There's
[2:17:08] back and forth on evaluative criteria um
and other things that we were adding
[2:17:13] into the RFP in addition to the template
that is pro that is mandated uh by the
[2:17:18] state. So after that we did have our
pre-proposal conference. I'll talk about
[2:17:22] that a little bit more in the site
tours. Um and then proposals were due in
[2:17:27] April and they were evaluated. So um
currently and last month uh there's
[2:17:32] ongoing NREA bargaining meetings with
our legal council and then currently
[2:17:37] we're here in June uh for an update.
So
[2:17:42] uh we had four potential uh submitters
attend the pre-proposal conference in
[2:17:48] tours. uh one food service company
submitted a proposal that was Woodson's
[2:17:54] um so the non-pric proposal so it's just
as a review for the committee at the RFP
[2:17:59] you're going to get a non-pric proposal
on qualitative and then you're going to
[2:18:03] get a price proposal and uh the way that
the uh desi template and process works
[2:18:10] um is if you have more than one rated as
highly advantageous across the board uh
[2:18:15] you then have to look at the price
proposal
[2:18:20] So price proposal is stated as a fiscal
guaranteed return and the guaranteed
[2:18:25] return is essentially what the expected
revenues are less the expenses that are
[2:18:30] based within the RFP and data and
information available uh to the
[2:18:35] submitter. The guaranteed return is for
life of contract which is a three-year
[2:18:39] contract. You have to go out every 3
years. Uh you can't extend beyond that
[2:18:44] uh with the state.
[2:18:48] Superintendent D.
>> So when we talk about what the impact is
[2:18:52] on the employees based on the terms of
the contract,
[2:18:56] um employees have the choice to remain
employees of the show regional school
[2:19:00] district. So no employees will be at
risk for losing their current services
[2:19:05] positions with the NOA Regional School
District. Um those employees do have uh
[2:19:12] the choice to work for Witson's and the
programs for which are outlined in the
[2:19:16] RFP.
um and Witson's will have the right and
[2:19:20] the responsibility for the new hires uh
due to attrition as part of the RFP
[2:19:25] contract.
[2:19:29] So going back to what the guaranteed
return is. So a logical question at this
[2:19:34] point is what happens with that
identified uh maximum return?
[2:19:39] uh those dollars have to stay within
food services and our investigation of
[2:19:44] how other districts mostly regional
school districts use these funds.
[2:19:48] They've shared some methodologies uh for
charging utilities or the hours a
[2:19:52] custodial position assigned to the
cafeteria um as examples. So we provided
[2:19:58] some of those examples here um based on
that 375
[2:20:03] maximum there's a potential of uh food
service utilities and custodial staff.
[2:20:09] We would have to use those methodologies
to be more specific. um as we open the
[2:20:13] books on FY27.
Um but obviously that still allows for
[2:20:18] approximately 125,000 to be applied to
equipment repairs, annual maintenance um
[2:20:24] to avoid that those costs end up in the
operating budget.
[2:20:29] So again, as we said, brief update and
we're ready for questions and
[2:20:34] clarifications that may come.
>> Thanks, Ross. Ecker,
[2:20:39] » uh, what questions do we have about this
proposal? Go ahead, Julian.
[2:20:46] » So, we
as a [clears throat] school committee
[2:20:49] have not actually seen the contract, but
that will be made available to us.
[2:20:53] » Yes. So, we will, right? So, as to not
get ahead of ourselves, right? Um, so a
[2:20:58] draft contract would have to be
generated on the DESIE website.
[2:21:01] » Okay.
>> That will be provided to you all uh for
[2:21:04] review and then prior to
questions or whatever the process may be
[2:21:10] based on the chair's agenda
>> and then we could ask questions. Yes,
[2:21:13] » that would be I don't want to say yes.
Uh Mr.
[2:21:17] » That would be up to the chair. Correct.
>> Thank you.
[2:21:22] » Question. So the savings the $375,000
savings would that all have to stay
[2:21:28] within service?
>> Right. So for example, uh Mr. Mr.
[2:21:33] Golder, we could not say use that to
offset the cost of our bus contract.
[2:21:43] » Any other questions?
>> I have just one more. Keep going. Feel
[2:21:47] free.
>> Um, so the $375,000
[2:21:52] guaranteed return. Um, I feel like I've
heard like maximums and minimums. So, is
[2:21:58] this this is a flat number guaranteed
return or
[2:22:02] » correct? Okay.
>> When we say return, that's right. So
[2:22:06] that's based off of expected revenues
>> and the the the presentation of what our
[2:22:13] costs are within the district and their
application of what they know about food
[2:22:17] services within schools, right? So they
have to build their assumptions,
[2:22:20] » but they say guaranteed 375. Where we
end up applying that over the costs that
[2:22:26] we identified in the RFP are up to us.
It just has to stay within food
[2:22:29] services.
>> Okay.
[2:22:33] I have I probably just one more
question. Do not apologize.
[2:22:36] » So, we only received one bid,
>> correct?
[2:22:41] » Is that
typical? Do we know why the other
[2:22:46] companies who came to do the tours opted
not to bid?
[2:22:49] » Um, I don't know cuz that wouldn't be
something I would ask them. I wouldn't
[2:22:52] seek that information. I think there's
some
[2:22:56] uh procurement gray area there to reach
out to somebody and say, "Why didn't you
[2:23:01] Um, so I would say that I don't I I
don't know why they they would not have.
[2:23:08] I mean, we're
>> okay. My concern and the reason I ask is
[2:23:14] with a single bid, I just wonder how
much insight we really get into
[2:23:20] sort of is that fair market rate? How
advantageous is that really? You know,
[2:23:24] we don't have another vendor to compare
it to. So, how are you assessing that?
[2:23:28] So I would say it's close to our
previous guaranteed return. Now our
[2:23:32] previous guaranteed return was built off
of sort of assumptions long ago as we
[2:23:38] were self off. So we also expanded our
schedule. So our our part of that is our
[2:23:43] staff were were were paid more and
taking on new processes. They were
[2:23:47] allowed to to use more time. So that's
now changed. Um and that's built into
[2:23:53] the RFP now. So I think it's still a
fair number.
[2:23:56] » Okay. Um, yeah, if I felt like it wasn't
a fair number, I would say so.
[2:24:00] » Okay. I have other questions, but after
I think a lot of them would be maybe
[2:24:04] answered having the contract. So, I
pulled off, but I guess for now
[2:24:08] » because the contract has not yet been
written it if and that would but that
[2:24:13] would be negotiated by you, Ross.
>> So,
[2:24:18] the two there's a two-part, right? So I
would take the information in the RFP
[2:24:25] response, put it into the Desi template
system. It would generate a draft
[2:24:30] contract. You would see that contract.
We would follow a similar process as
[2:24:34] last time if the the committee so
chooses in which you would be
[2:24:38] authorizing the school uh the
superintendent
[2:24:42] with legal counsel to enter into
contract finalization.
[2:24:47] And can you talk just a minute about
timelines at all?
[2:24:52] » So typically you would want the contract
to be done by July 1 because that's the
[2:24:55] start date. Um that that's typically the
start date. Y
[2:25:00] » okay. Um so
I obviously can see the date on my
[2:25:06] computer right now. Um you know we have
an obligation. We have a multi-tiered
[2:25:12] obligation here that the school
committee is responsible for
[2:25:18] » to look at this from every angle. So
that's ongoing um in various forms.
[2:25:24] » If we weren't to hit the July one
deadline, is it like what does that
[2:25:29] mean?
>> So I've already notified Jesse um school
[2:25:32] nutrition that we're not there yet. Um I
didn't hear a response. I would do the
[2:25:38] same thing to say here's our next
timeline. Let me know if this is an
[2:25:43] issue and I would certainly communicate
it back to Superintendent Downey who
[2:25:46] would share it with you uh as the chair.
>> But we're trying to move at a at a fair
[2:25:50] rate [snorts] nonetheless.
[2:25:55] » Any other questions? I know I do have
one last question.
[2:26:01] If you know I think about um sort of
busing for example as you know a vogue
[2:26:08] toward outsourcing this you know when I
was growing up all that stuff was done
[2:26:12] you know in house and we can move it
out. We've obviously seen transportation
[2:26:15] prices um really deeply impact our
budget. It's hard to bring it back in
[2:26:20] house once you've taken it out. I wonder
if you have
[2:26:25] an idea or a plan if this didn't go
well, how do we exit if we've, you know,
[2:26:30] we have heard of other districts. I also
did that research and saw that other
[2:26:33] districts have ultimately decided that
it's not a good fit.
[2:26:38] » Um,
>> so if there was ever a concern with any
[2:26:40] contract, I would reach out to legal
counsel to discuss. Most legal count uh
[2:26:45] contract things you can work out within
>> I guess
[2:26:49] » with the provider with the vendor but
I'm talking about contracts that might
[2:26:53] be about for software licensing or you
know other things. I I think in this
[2:26:58] case we'd reach directly out to
>> I think my question is more
[2:27:01] philosophical in the sense if we can
look at the three-year budget and say we
[2:27:05] get this guaranteed return that's
wonderful. Is there a risk in the longer
[2:27:09] term fiscally if we you know cease
getting guaranteed returns but we've
[2:27:13] lost the institutional knowledge to
continue offering those services inhouse
[2:27:18] do you know what I mean and we've become
sort of beholden to our vendor
[2:27:21] particularly if we only have you know a
single big procurement we don't have
[2:27:26] other vendors who really want to come in
it might be hard to say well you know uh
[2:27:31] Aramark wants to come in and take this
with him so you better be doing a good
[2:27:39] Without speculating,
>> I would say um that you know for the
[2:27:46] reasons identified and and spoken to by
Superintendent Downing that we did not
[2:27:52] execute an optional year on the current
one, right, in favor of producing
[2:27:56] something different.
>> We would want that to go the full three
[2:27:59] years and then put that out. Maybe that
was a factor in why there was only one.
[2:28:04] uh and we would see a different result.
I think typically and I could maybe
[2:28:08] follow this question up at the next
meeting uh by talking to other school
[2:28:12] districts. Typically on a three-year
full cycle, you'll see more.
[2:28:16] » Oh, that's good.
>> I promise that wasn't my last.
[2:28:22] » Oh. Um what I've heard you say, Ross,
and I've heard you say it a couple of
[2:28:26] times, is that
adopting this contract would not require
[2:28:31] any of our employees
to leave.
[2:28:36] » Correct. So, Superintendent Downing
covered that uh slide. So, yes. So, I'll
[2:28:41] put it back up. So, they're not at risk
for losing their food service position.
[2:28:47] Obviously, uh they would stay NHOA
employees
[2:28:50] uh under the unit C contract. the the
RFP is stated and therefore the contract
[2:28:56] would be stated that new employees
um would be hired by Witson's and work
[2:29:03] for Witson's.
>> How um how usual is this? So I don't
[2:29:09] know if uh Miss Murdoch has the sort of
return on or the the the total number
[2:29:15] but um we do have a significant amount
of employees that have been with us for
[2:29:20] a while but we've also seen that on the
low on the less experienced end we've
[2:29:24] seen more turnover. So I think about
I don't want to quote exact numbers but
[2:29:31] I would say 30 to 40% of our people have
been with us for five or six years or
[2:29:36] less.
>> Yeah. And I think about a quarter have
[2:29:38] been with us for two years or less in
food services.
[2:29:41] » And how many districts are moving in
this direction in our area like our
[2:29:46] comparable districts? Is this kind of a
methodology that many districts are
[2:29:50] using or
>> so comparables is hard uh because size
[2:29:54] location
budget. I will say regionally um around
[2:30:00] us Harvard, Berlin, Boilston and
Northro, Southborangquin
[2:30:04] have all within the last 5 years moved
to uh a contract specifically whether
[2:30:09] they've kept their employees or not uh
or done an attrition model. I don't know
[2:30:14] the nature of their contracts, but
>> those are available on
[2:30:19] » what's that?
>> Those are available those contracts.
[2:30:22] » Yes. It' be easier just for me to ask
though.
[2:30:24] » Yeah. Y
>> okay. Um yeah, I mean I think that that
[2:30:28] anecdotal information might be useful.
>> Y I I do know that GR and Dunville made
[2:30:33] this change the way we're proposing
within the RFP
[2:30:37] six or seven years ago. Um maybe a
little bit less and they do still have a
[2:30:42] handful of employees that still work for
the school district.
[2:30:44] » Interesting. Y and and to follow up on
Leia's question about you know the um
[2:30:50] status of the employees that are you
know with the town would that in any way
[2:30:55] affect their salaries benefits union uh
protection any of those things
[2:31:02] » if they stay with the region school
district if they stay in the employees
[2:31:06] they're still under the unit city
collective bargaining agreement
[2:31:09] » and any and any iterations of that
moving forward y
[2:31:13] » until retirement
or they decide to leave
[2:31:16] » or they're no longer Yeah.
>> So there's no like expiration date at
[2:31:21] this moment in this contract that
doesn't expire by virtue of this RFP.
[2:31:28] » No, because our No employees that are
covered by the UNC collective bargaining
[2:31:31] agreement would stay covered by the Yes.
[2:31:37] » So this is an important um first look
especially because some of us are brand
[2:31:41] new but um this was helpful.
I'm sure you guys still have questions.
[2:31:48] If if something percolates, as always,
send them to me. I'll compile them and
[2:31:54] bring them to Kirk so that he can get
answers for you in the interim.
[2:31:58] [snorts] Um, but obviously, this is
something that we're going to continue
[2:32:00] to discuss and and that the nature of
this will require us to have additional
[2:32:05] meetings into the summer.
Okay? So, I'll be communicating with you
[2:32:09] guys about that.
Just want to ask attorney Maro if you
[2:32:13] wouldn't mind sharing sort of next
steps.
[2:32:22] » Good evening. Yeah. Uh so next steps
right now uh as you've heard um we have
[2:32:28] been meeting with the NREA uh members of
the UNCC. Uh we've shared with them the
[2:32:34] information about the RFP uh what the
response was. We've had a few meetings
[2:32:40] with them already. Um, as you heard from
some of the members of public comment.
[2:32:44] Uh, there's communication uh today to
try to schedule uh further meetings. So,
[2:32:49] uh, those are ongoing discussions. Uh, I
imagine we'll be scheduling those. Um,
[2:32:54] and there's a group of us that have been
meeting with them and we'll continue
[2:32:56] those negotiations. Um, as they proceed,
we'll dictate, you know, where we come
[2:33:02] back and what we share with you. So,
>> so how hard to pin it down and and
[2:33:06] that's appropriate.
>> Yeah. I can't can't give you a time
[2:33:08] frame right now. I don't think we have a
date scheduled yet, but uh we're talking
[2:33:11] with the union about uh another date.
[2:33:18] » All right. Thank you for your
presentation. We appreciate it. It's
[2:33:22] good information for all of us.
Um so guys, we're going to move the
[2:33:26] agenda now to just some housekeeping. Um
we have the school committee kind of um
[2:33:32] calendars and subcommittee assignment
surveys, stuff like that.
[2:33:37] Let me start with the meeting calendar
first. So I think Alita has produced as
[2:33:41] she always does a draft of that for us.
Um she asked me to look it over and I
[2:33:48] did. I think that there was just one
change and that was in the month of
[2:33:51] November.
Um
[2:33:55] so what that would do is again put a
meeting
[2:33:59] um while you're at the conference the
superintendent conference.
[2:34:03] » Yes. Yes. And there were the
restrictions was around like Veterans
[2:34:07] Day was preventing it from any other
way.
[2:34:10] » Yeah. And
what I am
[2:34:14] in court is the mask conference is going
to be in Devon I think this year.
[2:34:21] don't have to go to hyenas. So,
[laughter]
[2:34:25] so um I have um I have been um selected
to be on the NASS executive board next
[2:34:33] year and so we have executive board
meetings. Yeah. So we have executive
[2:34:39] board meeting on that evening of the
conference. It's always the annual
[2:34:45] executive board meeting is always that
evening of but since it's in Devon who
[2:34:49] knows maybe there's a way to
>> I think it's rejected it's in
[2:34:54] » Oh dang
>> Danver was it still not as far as Hayana
[2:35:01] » sorry
>> I was hoping for evidence I was
[2:35:03] » I'm more fixated on the on the fact that
you were chosen to be on the executive
[2:35:06] committee. Well, Madam Chair, and and I
have been uh as of this morning,
[2:35:12] selected president of the Worcester
County Superintendent.
[2:35:15] » All right, Kirk. Congrats.
>> We'll be doing some good work with
[2:35:18] Worcester County and engaging with our
our state leaders through that network
[2:35:22] as well.
>> Wonderful. So, hopefully that allows you
[2:35:24] to still attend our meeting.
>> Yes. [laughter] Yes. But but that
[2:35:29] November uh meeting uh I may not be in
attendance, but we have two amazing
[2:35:35] assistant superintendents that can
certainly
[2:35:38] set my place for that one meeting.
>> Um so guys, just glancing at this
[2:35:42] calendar. Um I did look it over. It
looked good to me, but do you guys see
[2:35:46] any issues?
So I just want to make sure the reason
[2:35:50] we're doing the we're swapping the
virtual and live meeting in November is
[2:35:54] because of the
>> um because we have two backtoback
[2:35:58] virtual meetings. Yes.
>> Right. Normally we do the live one first
[2:36:01] and the virtual which is swapped in
because
[2:36:06] » but I when I learn of my obligation to
that one
[2:36:11] » we can inform you and you can shift it
back at the beginning of the year as you
[2:36:16] see fit. So, the governor's order does
still allow public bodies to meet
[2:36:20] virtually. While that is still allowed,
this is the method that we're using. I
[2:36:25] think it probably works best for us busy
people. Uh, but this is something that
[2:36:28] we could discuss at the workshop in
August as well.
[2:36:32] » If I may point out for our new members,
uh, after January 1st, it or meetings,
[2:36:38] we we pick up the rhythm a little bit.
So, our workshop on the 13th, followed
[2:36:43] by the 27th,
the 10th, and then the 24th.
[2:36:48] Then there's the public hearing for the
budget on the 3rd, and then the next
[2:36:54] school committee meeting to vote the
budget on the 10th. So, it's a condensed
[2:36:57] time. And so, I'm just forecasting that
for you um on the calendar.
[2:37:04] » All right. So, this can always be
changed, but we want to try to move it
[2:37:09] or do I am I at liberty to just
establish it?
[2:37:14] » So, be it.
>> All right. So, um, now we can move the
[2:37:20] agenda again to talk about subcommittee
assignments. So,
[2:37:26] I'm going to send you guys all a survey
by email. I'm the only one who has
[2:37:30] access to the spreadsheet.
you can identify your top choices for
[2:37:35] subcommittees. I will also in that
survey attach the subcommittee
[2:37:40] explanations
so that you can try to use your skill
[2:37:44] set and your interest level to put
yourself strategically on two of the
[2:37:50] subcommittees. That's kind of where
we're at right now. So, we normally
[2:37:54] serve two functions outside of the
regular meeting. Subcommittees meet once
[2:37:58] a month and so they're and they're all
virtual. And so you would then it would
[2:38:02] then put you on a one week one meeting
per week schedule.
[2:38:07] So that survey will come by email.
Please be on the lookout for it. You
[2:38:10] want to fill it out because in August
you'll be you'll be kind of alerted to
[2:38:13] what subcommittees you're on. All right.
So that's up. And then the planning
[2:38:18] calendar. So
Alita, do you have that?
[2:38:23] You could pull up. So we have this
really fabulous tool that actually some
[2:38:26] of the subcommittees have adopted as
well. Um and even um I feel like the
[2:38:32] student council we talked to them about
adopting it as well. So this planning
[2:38:36] calendar is is very useful. It projects
out what we have scheduled um across all
[2:38:42] of the meetings and then because there
are some things that are statutoily
[2:38:47] required or just things that we normally
do at a certain time already baked in
[2:38:52] because Alita just does this great copy.
And then we have this parking lot on the
[2:38:56] left where we can kind of register the
things that we don't want to forget
[2:38:59] about, but we're not totally sure where
they should go. So Alita, if you scroll
[2:39:02] down a little bit, you can uh show the
committee this document. And Alita, I
[2:39:07] think, has has this publicly shared.
It's on the website on our school
[2:39:12] committee website because it's not just
for us. It's also for the public. And we
[2:39:15] add to this Kirk and I do it our weekly
Wednesday meetings. anytime you guys
[2:39:20] want something on the C on the on an
agenda. Um, every single uh meeting
[2:39:28] always has an agenda item that says
items for next agenda. So, you can bring
[2:39:33] it up at a meeting or if it just comes
to you or you talk to a constituent and
[2:39:37] they have something that you that they
want to add or have you talk about,
[2:39:40] reach out to me. And I normally just put
it on the planning calendar either in
[2:39:44] the parking lot or I'll say, "Oh, that
could totally fit in the April meeting
[2:39:47] because
um if it's something that's outside of
[2:39:49] our purview, then we'll have that
conversation so that you understand why
[2:39:53] it might not be appropriate." Um and
that's basically the planning calendar.
[2:39:58] Any questions?
>> I think uh this year planning calendar
[2:40:02] is linked on the website, not that one.
>> Yeah, the next one is
[2:40:06] » we shall fix.
>> No, yeah, I didn't put on until last.
[2:40:11] Yeah,
>> you're the first to know.
[2:40:14] Alita will fix the link and then the new
one will be up there. The old one's also
[2:40:17] useful. Do you want to bookmark?
Um, we're almost done. Can I get another
[2:40:24] 8 minutes or so out of my committee
here? Thumbs up. Everybody's okay with
[2:40:28] that? Okay, great. At 9:00, we have a
norm that we'll just take. Some people
[2:40:31] actually vote to leave and do leave and
that's fair. Um, but I like I love what
[2:40:36] you say.
So, that is kind of school committee
[2:40:39] management.
uh my email and my cell phone are always
[2:40:42] available to you. So just let me know
over this next um few days if you have
[2:40:46] questions. Next item here is the consent
agenda and I'm going to make a motion to
[2:40:53] approve.
I'm going to move to approve the consent
[2:40:57] agenda of June 10th, 2026. Do I have a
second?
[2:41:00] » Second.
Any discussion on the consent agenda?
[2:41:06] All those in favor?
Any opposed? Abstain.
[2:41:14] » Did you vote, Lenny?
>> Yeah. Um, can I vote? Was I Was I?
[2:41:19] » Yeah, you can actually vote. Even though
the consent agenda is addressing things
[2:41:23] from meetings prior to your joining, you
can still vote. If you reviewed the
[2:41:28] materials and you feel confident, you
can also abstain.
[2:41:31] » I'm not sure what's in the consent.
>> No, that's okay.
[2:41:33] » So, maybe I should just let you play it
safe and I
[2:41:37] » Fair. Okay.
>> Yeah. So, the consent agenda materials,
[2:41:40] I think Alita
will put them the the meeting minutes,
[2:41:44] the draft meeting minutes will always be
in the materials, but some of the other
[2:41:48] things you might not be aware of, like
the adopted rubric for classroom teacher
[2:41:52] evaluation that was at the previous
meeting.
[2:41:55] So, we adopted a procedure to just tuck
everything into the consent agenda
[2:41:59] that's not controversial that we can
just do a blanket approval at the
[2:42:02] following meeting.
Uh, anything, by the way, that you want
[2:42:06] to ever pull out of the consent agenda
because you think it is the
[2:42:08] controversial item, all you have to do
is ask for something to be removed,
[2:42:12] we'll pull it out and then we can
approve the consent agenda without it
[2:42:15] and then we can have a separate vote on
that more controversial thing.
[2:42:19] All right. So guys, I have no further
update. We do have one small new
[2:42:24] business item which we're happy to bring
to you and that is the audit advisory
[2:42:28] presentation.
Um, and and is that a good
[2:42:32] characterization? Sure. [laughter]
>> Very exciting.
[2:42:36] » This is by the way mandatory in the by
the regional agreement that we have this
[2:42:39] committee this advisory that Scott Ket
is in charge of. He has members from the
[2:42:43] public who join to help us and it
basically is an oversight element to
[2:42:48] make sure that our auditing processes
processes are up to date and being
[2:42:52] managed.
>> Have specified obligations in the
[2:42:55] regional agreement that spells out what
we're supposed to be doing. And um so on
[2:43:00] May 27th, the audit advisory meeting met
for the fifth and final time in fiscal
[2:43:04] year 2026 where our um ad auditor Mr.
Tony Rosselli, the head of Rosselli
[2:43:10] Clark, uh provided information to us
about our audits and based on that
[2:43:15] meeting, I developed a statement which
the other members of the committee have
[2:43:19] approved. The statement goes as such.
The audit advisory committee has
[2:43:24] reviewed the required elements of the
public financial health report including
[2:43:29] audit results, auditor performance, cost
trends, and overall financial stability.
[2:43:36] We confirmed that recent audit findings
were appropriate, recommend continuing
[2:43:41] with Roseli and Clark for the upcoming
cycle, and endorse a $50,000 audit
[2:43:46] budget for fiscal year 27. Based on
multi-year data, the district's
[2:43:50] financial health remains stable.
>> Well done.
[2:43:55] » Thank you. Audit advisory committee and
the chair
[2:43:58] » presentation of the year.
>> Yes.
[2:44:01] » While [laughter]
um are there any questions from the
[2:44:05] audit advisory uh audit advisory?
>> Okay. So again, the audit advisory is
[2:44:11] another one of those subcommittees that
if this is something you're fascinated
[2:44:14] about, one time we had an auditor who
sat on the committee and that person was
[2:44:18] very well suited to it. Scott has picked
up the mantle and is doing a fabulous
[2:44:22] job. Um, so if anybody else is looking
to take it over, you could wrestle away
[2:44:27] from Scott, but just make him do it.
[laughter]
[2:44:32] » He's doing a great job. Thanks, Scott.
Um, so we have no unfinished business,
[2:44:36] so I'm going to move to adjourn. Do I
have a second?
[2:44:38] » Second.
All those in favor.
[2:44:41] » All right, guys. You made it your first
meeting. Well done.