[0:04] - Good evening.
[0:04] Welcome to the Melrose School Committee meeting of Tuesday,
[0:08] April 7th, 2026.
[0:11] Ms. O'Connor, would you, this is being streamed on MMTV
[0:16] as as well as live on the actual reel.
[0:19] MMTV channel.
[0:20] Ms. O'Connor, would you please call the role? Yes.
[0:23] - Ms. Driscoll? Here. Mr. Hartman? Here. Ms. Holleran?
[0:26] Here. Mr. Kelly?
[0:28] - Here. - Ms. Leo
[0:30] - Here.
[0:32] - Okay, so that is five present, one absent.
[0:34] So we do have a quorum, I believe Well, at least one member
[0:39] of the school committee is running late,
[0:40] so I'm wondering if there might be a motion
[0:41] to move the executive session to another part
[0:44] of the agenda. Move
[0:45] - It to after the, - After the announcements of the chair.
[0:50] Okay. Mr. Hartman moves to, to put the executive session
[0:54] after the announcement of the chair.
[0:55] Is there a second? Second by Ms. Holleran. All in favor?
[0:58] And that passes unanimously.
[1:00] So we will come to the executive session at the end.
[1:05] Alright, so now we will move right along.
[1:09] Oh, we have to do the Pledge of Allegiance, I'm sorry.
[1:15] - Allegiance to the five of the United States of America.
[1:19] And two Rebell for which stands.
[1:22] One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice
[1:26] - For all.
[1:30] - Sorry about skipping ahead there.
[1:32] Okay, so we are now on to public comment.
[1:37] This is a portion of meeting where anybody can come address
[1:39] the committee for up to three minutes.
[1:41] If you'd like to comment, please sign in.
[1:47] - Thanks. - Alright. First up is Lisa Covino.
[1:53] You are welcome to address us for three minutes.
[1:56] - Thank - You. Hi, my name is Lisa Covino.
[1:59] I'm a mother to a third grader at Hoover
[2:01] and another one who will hopefully join him in
[2:04] kindergarten next year.
[2:05] And I wanted to just come
[2:07] and speak briefly about two points.
[2:08] The first is to ask you to please consider
[2:11] to retain the three 30 pickup.
[2:14] That has been a compromise in my family
[2:16] and just wanna acknowledge
[2:18] that not every family has the option
[2:20] of two 20 or five 30, right?
[2:22] That is like two very different ends of the spectrum
[2:25] that doesn't fit for
[2:27] so many different families, including my own.
[2:30] That and coming out of private daycare,
[2:34] having the cost of one hour
[2:36] or even two hours for five days a week, 10 hours,
[2:39] that is the same cost that I'm paying for one child
[2:42] for 40 hours a week.
[2:45] So it's just really hard to have two kids 20 hours
[2:50] equal the same amount that I'm currently paying
[2:52] for private childcare.
[2:53] So just a perspective on it
[2:55] and I really appreciate everyone's thoughts there.
[2:58] The second is I just want to really encourage the committee
[3:01] to work with the teachers in finding the contract that shows
[3:05] how much we value our teachers.
[3:08] I cannot say enough amazing things about Hoover
[3:12] and we did look into switching a couple of years ago
[3:16] and made the specific decision not to
[3:18] because the teachers are so excellent
[3:21] and I know Hoover isn't the only one,
[3:23] but they are the life force of our community.
[3:27] The reason why we've stayed in public schools here in
[3:30] Melrose and plan to continue.
[3:32] So I just hope that we can acknowledge how amazing they are,
[3:35] how much they deserve,
[3:37] and really work with them on the contract.
[3:39] So thank you so much. I appreciate everyone.
[3:41] I know you're all volunteers
[3:42] and I really appreciate all that you do to keep the school
[3:45] up and running and as amazing as it is. Thank you.
[3:48] - Thank you, Kate.
[3:50] Next up we have apologies if I, I
[3:54] don't pronounce it correctly, Mr.
[3:56] Ae. I get it. Yep. All right. Got it. Yeah. Okay.
[3:59] You're welcome to address the committee for up to three
[4:01] - Minutes.
[4:02] Beautiful. Thank you so much for your time.
[4:03] My name is Michael Aliber.
[4:04] I'm a public educator
[4:06] for over 15 years in a neighboring district
[4:08] and I've been living here in Melrose with my wife
[4:10] and two children for the past 12 years.
[4:12] And my daughter currently is a Winthrop kindergartner
[4:15] and we utilize the education station 3 3 30
[4:18] pickup three days a week.
[4:20] And we also relied on the early bird program at Winthrop
[4:24] until it was canceled back in November,
[4:26] which has caused its own set of issues
[4:28] for us both working in education
[4:29] and getting to work on time ourselves.
[4:32] I wanted to speak tonight about equity access
[4:34] and the unintended consequences
[4:36] of eliminating the three 30 pickup.
[4:39] Eliminating the three 30 pickup
[4:41] we feel in our family will impact educators,
[4:44] healthcare workers, you know, day shift workers, families
[4:48] who don't need care until five 30
[4:50] and rely heavily on the cost effectiveness
[4:53] of the three 30 timeframe.
[4:57] Many families in many cases wouldn't be able to afford that.
[4:59] We have another daughter who will be
[5:01] Franklin Fox sooner rather than later.
[5:04] And we'll be relying on that, you know, before school care
[5:08] and after school care as well.
[5:11] You know, in context of losing the early bird programming,
[5:15] that loss has already, like I said, impacted our family.
[5:17] And I'm sure many other families I know roughly 25%
[5:21] of the population, I'm not sure if it's district wide
[5:23] or just at the Winthrop, relies on the three 30 pickup time
[5:28] and the potential, you know, shift in moving everyone
[5:31] to five 30 might cause some other potential
[5:33] staffing issues and things like that.
[5:36] I know there's been a lot of communication from the
[5:39] directors of the program with families about, you know,
[5:42] vacation programming, summer programming,
[5:43] the afterschool programming, the early bird.
[5:45] They were, you know, trying to find someone for the morning.
[5:48] But we're really, you know, asking that
[5:52] other options may be explored before just eliminating
[5:56] or phasing out the three 30 timeframe.
[5:58] 'cause like I said, our family very much relies on that.
[6:02] You know, we're very fortunate that we have friends
[6:04] and family and neighbors that are
[6:05] willing to help with the morning.
[6:07] We've been able to kind of piecemeal that together,
[6:10] but we just really ask that the board can considers,
[6:13] you know, examining and working with ed stations to kind
[6:16] of try to find an alternative other than
[6:18] eliminating the three 30.
[6:20] So thank you all very much for your time.
[6:23] - Thank you. Next up we have Mr. ****.
[6:26] You're welcome to address
[6:27] the committee for up to three minutes.
[6:32] - Thank you. My name is Neil ****,
[6:35] I'm a lifelong resident here in Melrose,
[6:37] and my son's in second grade at the Hoover,
[6:41] and I'm a teacher at Melrose High School.
[6:44] So the advocating for the, to please try to keep the,
[6:48] consider keeping the three 30 time.
[6:52] We'd have to, if, if it was to go into effect, we'd have
[6:54] to seek alternative accommodations for my son.
[6:59] It's simply just, you know, too expensive. Okay.
[7:05] We, we wouldn't need the, the two extra hours at five 30.
[7:12] And you know, I think it's important that, you know,
[7:16] Melrose consider that there are
[7:20] some families that need this.
[7:22] They, they need the three 30 option.
[7:26] So, you know, there are some higher income families
[7:29] that are not affected of course, or if they're
[7:31] fair affected, very little.
[7:35] There's a lot more people that I've talked
[7:38] to at the last moment that did,
[7:40] did not know about this tonight.
[7:43] So I want you to know that there's, you know,
[7:45] there's the 200 families that will be affected
[7:48] and there's a lot more families that didn't know about this.
[7:50] I try to get a few people down here
[7:53] and I think these, these issues
[7:57] that are here that are extremely important of course,
[8:01] but I think over the next year they can be remedied
[8:05] and I think we can, You know,
[8:09] find a way to, to, to do better
[8:12] and to not just, hey, let's just fix it by going to five 30.
[8:25] And I think that's about it.
[8:26] So I think you get the point,
[8:27] it's gotta, you know what I mean?
[8:28] It, so it's gotta affect us. So thank you very much. Okay.
[8:32] - Thank - You. Thank you very much for your comments.
[8:35] Ms. O'Connor, do we have anybody online? We do not. Okay.
[8:37] Is anybody else in the room like to speak? Okay.
[8:40] A motion by unanimous consent to close public comment.
[8:43] Public comment is now closed.
[8:46] We, our student
[8:50] representative is not here tonight.
[8:51] There's a track meet that she's at.
[8:53] So we will skip over that
[8:55] and move right into announcements of the superintendent.
[8:59] - Great. Thank you very much.
[9:01] Chairman Kelly, the first one
[9:04] and is a report in your packet tonight
[9:06] and there was an error on a slide that was presented
[9:10] to you on March 24th.
[9:12] So that error has been rectified
[9:15] and the slides have been updated.
[9:18] I'm certainly happy to answer
[9:19] any questions that you may have on that.
[9:22] - Just to be clear, it was a change from
[9:24] six to seven, correct?
[9:25] - Six, seven, yes. Yes.
[9:27] All the middle schoolers who are watching are laughing. Yes.
[9:32] Great. So moving forward. Sounds good.
[9:36] So the next, also there is a memo in your packet
[9:40] regarding the bus budget listening sessions that happened,
[9:44] the listening and learning sessions.
[9:45] So Mr. Kelly
[9:47] and I conducted three listening sessions.
[9:52] One primarily, or I guess all for educators.
[9:54] We probably had about 35 to 40 in attendance.
[9:57] We then had a very small group who participated in person
[10:02] and a very small group who participated online.
[10:05] So from there we also sent the, all of the information,
[10:10] the budgets, the listening session slides,
[10:12] and the feedback form to all educators
[10:15] and all families across the district.
[10:17] So pretty large number approaching close to, to 5,000.
[10:22] And we received 31 responses.
[10:25] So our feedback is a very, very small
[10:30] population of stakeholders who, who, you know,
[10:33] our sample size is pretty small.
[10:35] So with that said, you know, the meeting time
[10:38] that we had was great.
[10:39] We were able to have really nice one-on-one conversations
[10:41] with staff, with families.
[10:43] It was great to talk in a small group setting
[10:45] and to, to learn more and really share information.
[10:48] I did read every response
[10:50] and tried to look at the trends that came out of, of there
[10:54] from there, identified them and outlined them in the memo.
[10:57] I think that, you know, we did see
[10:59] that we had established some district priorities early
[11:02] on in the budget season.
[11:03] And as we analyze all of these,
[11:06] or the 31 responses that we,
[11:10] we did see some trends emerge that aligned
[11:12] with the priorities that we had established.
[11:15] So, you know, again, very small sample size that we got
[11:19] tried to analyze what, what we, what we heard
[11:22] and what people shared.
[11:23] And I'm certainly happy to answer any questions regarding
[11:27] the sessions or anything else.
[11:29] - Okay. Any questions for the superintendent?
[11:34] Ms. Holland?
[11:36] - Thank you. Thank you for putting this together
[11:39] and providing the feedback from the responses
[11:42] that you did get.
[11:43] If there is a family that missed this
[11:48] and would like to provide feedback moving forward,
[11:51] what's the best way to do
[11:52] - That?
[11:53] Sure. I mean, I would just always say like,
[11:54] I have an open door, door policy, open email policy.
[11:57] So it's certainly, I mean, individuals have emailed us with,
[12:00] with thoughts along the way, so I'm certainly happy
[12:03] to read those and, you know, take them into consideration.
[12:05] Great. Thank you.
[12:08] - Okay, any other questions, sir? Hartman,
[12:12] - Thank you.
[12:13] And thank you for putting together the, the sessions as well
[12:14] as the information that the public was able to, to reply on.
[12:19] I just wanted to, to acknowledge that it, it,
[12:21] it certainly mentions class size a lot
[12:23] as a, as a key priority.
[12:24] I think we've heard a lot about that
[12:26] and mentions populations of students that,
[12:29] that are facing barriers as, as another space for us
[12:31] to really be investing our, our focus and time in.
[12:34] And I just wanted to raise
[12:35] up some of those things that are in there.
[12:36] There's some really great feedback
[12:37] that the members of the public did provide.
[12:39] So I'd encourage people to really dig in on that.
[12:42] The team model and again, was another piece that was raised.
[12:45] These are things that were impacted
[12:47] by our cuts over the last couple years
[12:49] and so it's, it's understandable
[12:51] that people bring those forward,
[12:52] but I think it's, it's validating also to understand that
[12:54] that was, that was included in the,
[12:56] in the responses we did receive.
[12:58] - Agreed. Thank you. - Anyone else?
[13:03] Alright, moving along to the consent agenda.
[13:06] So the consent agenda tonight
[13:09] has the regular meeting minutes of March 24th, 2026,
[13:13] the Melrose High School, 2027 France field trip,
[13:18] a surplus memo on testing kits, a surplus memo on weed books
[13:21] and a donation offer.
[13:22] Roosevelt school playground.
[13:24] Would anybody like to pull anything from the
[13:26] agenda? Mr. Hartman?
[13:28] - I'll put the playground item.
[13:30] - Okay. We'll move the playground item to announcements
[13:34] of the chair.
[13:37] Okay. Anyone you wanna make a motion? Just I, oh,
[13:41] - I would like to pull something else.
[13:42] Okay, sure. The donation, the testing kits please.
[13:45] - Testing kits. Okay.
[13:48] That will go after playground under
[13:50] announcements of the chair.
[13:53] Anybody else want to, anybody going to France?
[13:55] Does anybody wanna pull that one? No.
[13:56] Alright, so we now have a consent agenda that is
[14:02] regular meeting minutes
[14:03] of March 24th, 2026 Melrose High School Field,
[14:06] France field trip in the surplus memo, weeded books.
[14:10] Anybody like to make a motion? So moved. Okay.
[14:13] Motion approved by Mr. Hartman. Seconded by Ms. Leo.
[14:16] All in favor and that passes unanimously.
[14:18] We'll come back to the other items at the
[14:21] conclusion of the meeting.
[14:23] So now we will go into our subcommittee work
[14:24] and tonight we have finance and facilities chaired by Ms.
[14:29] Driscoll.
[14:43] - Thank you so much. Thank you.
[14:46] First on our agenda this evening are the FY 27
[14:51] ED stations fees, which were discussed at our last meeting
[14:55] and brought forward again without resolution at the previous
[14:58] meeting for consideration at this meeting.
[15:02] I would certainly invite the superintendent,
[15:04] Mr. Kelly, to speak to this. Thank you so much.
[15:07] - Thanks so much. Good evening.
[15:09] And so, yeah, so in the packet you have a,
[15:11] a memo from direct approve for the United Stations program.
[15:15] We've received some feedback.
[15:16] Obviously we've heard some from some,
[15:18] some community members tonight that the three 30
[15:22] dismissal program is a program that many people do rely on.
[15:26] Just a point of clarification, I think it's, it's not
[15:29] that the, the district doesn't want
[15:32] to offer that as an option.
[15:33] It's that the implementation
[15:34] and logistics of that have been in significantly challenging
[15:38] to the point where Director Pru herself is,
[15:40] is covering at buildings in this time slot.
[15:42] So not necessarily something we're just looking to eliminate
[15:46] and move people to a five 30 time slot.
[15:48] It's the implementation of it
[15:49] that is increasingly getting challenging.
[15:52] But Director Peru has been meeting daily with her staff
[15:55] and looking at different options
[15:56] and in the memo you can see she's proposing to continue
[15:59] that next year with some evaluation of,
[16:00] of different parameters, different strategies
[16:04] to see if this is something we can continue
[16:06] to offer on a long-term basis.
[16:08] So I'd like to commend her for that
[16:09] because she did on, on pretty short notice, pull a lot
[16:12] of people together talking a lot of about strategies
[16:15] that, that could make this work.
[16:16] So she is proposing to continue that.
[16:19] It's not an unlimited space.
[16:20] Each school building in the, the pre-K
[16:23] through five areas have different space
[16:26] restrictions, different size classrooms.
[16:27] But she's proposing to make that work at a building level
[16:30] where there are some slot limitations.
[16:34] But each building will be able
[16:35] to offer a three 30 time slot next year, which I'm hoping,
[16:39] you know, I I commend director per and
[16:41] and I hope that that helps some
[16:44] folks in the community see that we are trying to work
[16:47] with them and, and partner on solutions that work for both.
[16:51] I'd be happy to answer any questions that you have.
[16:53] - Questions for Mr. Kelly or the superintendent? Ms. Leo,
[16:58] - Just a clarifying question based on what was in the memo,
[17:00] I think I saw that there's a five day only three 30 option.
[17:04] Did there used to be multiple different day choices?
[17:07] - There were. That's correct. Yep. Okay.
[17:09] So this is a sort of a bridge to the looking at evaluating,
[17:12] offering an option for
[17:13] families to continue with that three 30.
[17:14] - Okay. Thank you. - Very good.
[17:17] And just a reminder that we'll be voting on the programs
[17:20] and the pricing.
[17:22] So Mr. Kelly, just to ensure we're all on the same page,
[17:26] that second column on page 27
[17:30] of 55 in the packet, which has,
[17:34] that lays out the costs, the increases in column,
[17:39] technically column three,
[17:40] but the second financial column right.
[17:43] Increase. So that would reflect
[17:46] how much more parents would be paying this year
[17:49] over last year,
[17:51] - Correct? That's correct.
[17:52] - Okay. On an annual annualized.
[17:56] - Sure. So the third column would be the annual rate
[17:58] and then monthly rate.
[18:00] In our experience, families do like
[18:02] to see it broken down as a monthly rate.
[18:03] Perfect. See, just for budgeting
[18:04] purposes, which we've tried to provide.
[18:06] - Excellent. So just wanted to make sure we're all,
[18:09] like I said, on the same page.
[18:11] Is there any further discussion or question
[18:13] or are there questions for Mr. Kelly?
[18:16] Seeing none, is there a motion? Mr. Kelly? Motion to
[18:20] - Approve.
[18:21] - Motion to approve. Seconded by Ms. Raey Thomas.
[18:23] Further discussion. Seeing none. All in favor?
[18:27] And that motion opposed as?
[18:29] No, I think that motion carries unanimously with,
[18:33] with one absent.
[18:35] And I think I speak for all of us when I say that
[18:39] we're very pleased that you heard the community
[18:42] and the committee loud and clear and worked very hard.
[18:45] Please express our thanks to Director Pru for coming up
[18:50] with an option that may lead us
[18:51] to a different place next year
[18:52] or not as you propose in the future. Thank
[18:56] - You.
[18:57] Will do.
[18:58] - Thank you all for that. The next item is the 20, the FY 27
[19:02] budget categories recommendation.
[19:06] And I know we've discussed this a little bit in prior
[19:08] meeting, at least one prior meeting relative to
[19:13] that secondary piece.
[19:15] So if you don't mind Mr. Kelly, what I'd like
[19:17] to do is just offer that for many, many years in the past
[19:23] the committee voted salaries
[19:25] and non salaries, which had benefits
[19:29] and it had some challenges.
[19:31] The benefits at the time were seen as,
[19:34] you know, very little.
[19:36] In fact, I don't recall hardly any transfer among
[19:40] or between categories.
[19:44] So, so it, it did take some of the,
[19:46] the work off the business office,
[19:48] but there has since been discussion around
[19:52] being a little more granular so
[19:54] that we have a better understanding
[19:55] of what's happening at each of our levels.
[19:57] And so I would welcome you to please speak about
[20:01] that moving from eight categories
[20:04] to the seven categories please.
[20:06] - Sure. Thanks so much. So yeah, as you can see in the memo,
[20:08] we're proposing these seven categories
[20:10] and this truly aligns
[20:12] with the way we set up our line item budget.
[20:14] Each school and department has its own line cost center,
[20:17] and then our project codes align with dsi.
[20:19] So our, our chart of accounts is relatively modern
[20:22] for, for school districts.
[20:25] It's easy to track both ways, both internally on a,
[20:28] on a school side, as well as being able to track for end
[20:31] of your reporting with the DSI projects.
[20:32] So these, these proposed categories do align directly
[20:37] with our budget and the proposal
[20:40] to combine middle high school with secondaries is more,
[20:43] there are some shared staff there, both teaching wise,
[20:46] administrative wise that, so tracking that
[20:49] as one secondary category makes sense going forward.
[20:52] And I'd be happy to answer any questions people may have
[20:54] about the spending categories.
[20:57] - Ms. Leo, I just had a follow up question, Mr. Kelly,
[21:00] on the, the kind shared resources, both staff and curriculum
[21:05] and things in the current budget, how does
[21:08] that actually get represented?
[21:10] Like can you explain how it's a little maybe messier
[21:12] with the separate separation than
[21:14] with a single unified secondary code?
[21:16] - Sure. So for right now,
[21:18] for payroll purposes in the current eight eight categories,
[21:21] we have the, the payroll assigns.
[21:25] If a teacher is shared between two different schools,
[21:27] which is, it's, it's fine,
[21:29] but it's a little more complicated
[21:30] to track an audit payroll when you're paying from
[21:32] different lines for the same teacher.
[21:33] Not that we can't do it, we do it, you know,
[21:35] every two weeks, but it, it would help us align
[21:39] and budgeting wise to track spending, to not have to track
[21:41] so many lines salary wise.
[21:43] So it's, it's a, just a streamlining of
[21:48] teachers we know that are going to be in both places.
[21:50] - Sure. Thanks Mr. Hardman.
[21:53] - Thank you. And thank you Mr. Kelly for the explanation.
[21:56] I just, I want to ask some confirming questions.
[21:59] Make sure I'm understanding the, the difference between
[22:02] what, what the categories are versus
[22:03] what the line item budget represents.
[22:05] Right. Just so that the public understands as well.
[22:08] 'cause I think when we think about looking at categories,
[22:11] there's a lot of thoughts around transparency
[22:13] and what we're displaying and, and I wanna make sure that,
[22:16] that people understand that the line item budget is really
[22:19] where we're, where the proposal to spend is.
[22:21] And there's very detailed amounts of that. That's right.
[22:24] Correct. And the categories are the overriding categories
[22:28] that the school committee authorizes you to spend between,
[22:32] and that's sort of a separate piece.
[22:33] It allows some, some level of transparency,
[22:35] but the deeper transparency is in larger budget document,
[22:38] - Right?
[22:39] That's correct. Yep. And
[22:40] that is available online if anyone wanted to look
[22:42] and you can follow through,
[22:43] it rolls up right into the school committee categories
[22:46] as well as the dsi, you know, spending series.
[22:50] So it's, we track it both ways.
[22:52] It's in that line and a budget for anyone to look at.
[22:54] And you can see right down each school page has it right
[22:57] down to the, the penny is what's getting
[22:58] spent at the school or department.
[23:00] - Right. And so the school committee's responsibility is,
[23:02] is on the, the overall spends within the budget categories
[23:05] that we're discussing right now,
[23:07] the administration's responsibilities is the individual
[23:10] items within the line item budget.
[23:11] That's correct. And, and that's where we, we get
[23:14] to this place of the secondary, just in particular
[23:17] with the structure that we have, the schedules that we have,
[23:19] we have that opportunity for shared resources.
[23:21] Yep. Which, you know, I think just to be clear,
[23:24] you're presenting that as a, as a issue of potentially
[23:26] where you'd have to come back if you have a certain spending
[23:29] that crosses over too far between the buildings
[23:31] and ask us to authorize that spend change.
[23:35] Sure. It's not, not that there's an overspend
[23:37] or underspend, it's, it's a, it's an issue of just,
[23:40] you know, where things come in the middle of the year.
[23:42] It might have to just be exchanged and this alleviates that.
[23:44] But it is still, still very transparent in
[23:46] that larger line item budget document, right?
[23:49] Yes, that is correct. Right. Okay.
[23:51] Just wanted to clarify that
[23:52] and make sure that's very clear on
[23:53] what we're voting on versus what is in the packet
[23:55] and what's available to the public.
[23:59] - Further questions or discussion. See none.
[24:04] What is the will of the committee Chairman Kelly
[24:08] - Motion to approve the N-P-S-F-Y 27 proposed school
[24:12] committee categories as followed Franklin pre-K
[24:16] elementary secondary athletics slash extracurricular
[24:21] teaching and learning, special education
[24:23] and administration slash districtwide.
[24:27] - A - Second
[24:28] - Motion made by Mr. Kelly, seconded by Mr. Hartman.
[24:31] Further questions or discussions? Seeing none. All in favor?
[24:34] Opposed? That motion carries unanimously with one absent.
[24:38] And that concludes finance facilities.
[24:58] - That works.
[25:04] - Okay. So that concludes our subcommittee work.
[25:11] Hold on. Why don't we take a, a quick pause. Ms. Berman.
[25:14] Did, was there something that you wanted to go
[25:15] through on findings and facilities?
[25:17] - So we just are trying to ensure that our budget
[25:21] document is reflecting each of our conversations as we kind
[25:24] of go from week to week and meeting to meeting.
[25:26] So we had some additions that we had added to our,
[25:29] our budget book that we just wanted
[25:31] to highlight for you as the committee.
[25:33] And I guess we just didn't really put it on the agenda,
[25:35] so sorry about that.
[25:37] But we just had some slides to share just, just, just
[25:41] for the committee and the public of, of how this is,
[25:44] you know, a document that's going to change
[25:46] and evolve as we go through.
[25:48] - So do you wanna go through the slides right now or very
[25:50] - Quickly.
[25:51] It'll just be a few minutes. Yeah, so, all right, great.
[25:53] I'll kick it over to Mr. Kelly.
[25:54] - Sure, thanks. Just some information, you know, as,
[25:57] as the committee deliberates and,
[25:59] and has discussions about the budget.
[26:01] Just to recap, so the budget book was made available at the
[26:04] last meeting March 24th.
[26:05] That's now available on our district website.
[26:08] Just a little bit more information.
[26:09] We did add a few informational slides to the book.
[26:13] One being some, some of highlights, some
[26:15] of our DESI profile, which is available online.
[26:18] There's a link right in there.
[26:20] And just a few highlights as we go through.
[26:23] Again, as we discussed last time, our drivers,
[26:26] the key priorities that have already been mentioned tonight.
[26:28] Looking at class size,
[26:29] restoring team model at the middle school for grade six
[26:31] and seven, focusing on some high
[26:34] quality structural materials.
[26:36] And we are an MTSS multi-tiered systems
[26:38] of support districts.
[26:39] So focusing on some tier two interventions as well
[26:42] as using our, our current strategic plan,
[26:45] district-wide strategic plan.
[26:48] And for the budget, obviously pillar,
[26:50] current pillar number five is, is fiscal responsibility.
[26:53] So really using those two drivers as we,
[26:58] you know, shift from a past two cycles of reductions
[27:01] to looking at some strategic opportunities.
[27:05] And just two, two informational graphics here.
[27:07] So this is an extension of
[27:11] looking at the supplemental budget from our override this
[27:14] fiscal year FY 26 and how that now flows through to FY 27.
[27:18] Looking at, obviously we had,
[27:20] we've talked about the 17 additional FTEs, you know,
[27:24] that we are generously allowed to bring back
[27:26] and restore from the override funds.
[27:29] And that the override very generous,
[27:34] didn't restore us back to fully
[27:36] what was reduced over the past two years,
[27:38] but this does bring back 17
[27:39] and 15 of those positions are proposed for
[27:43] teaching positions at the classroom level.
[27:45] Two of them being one administrator at the high school
[27:48] and one at the the secondary level
[27:50] and one at the elementary.
[27:54] And then this also is just another look at
[27:56] what we were discussing too, budgetwise,
[27:58] there were the categories.
[27:59] Thank you for approving those.
[28:00] That lets us move forward with our,
[28:03] our school committee categories for FFY 27.
[28:05] This now looks at the DESI series.
[28:07] There's two slides in the budget book that reference this.
[28:10] And this just shows the increase from FY 26 to FY 27.
[28:13] Pretty considerable investment from the city into the school
[28:16] system, about a 12% increase going from the start
[28:20] of fiscal year 26 at the supplemental budget.
[28:23] And then where we proposed for FY 27.
[28:27] So that just shows the increase.
[28:31] And again, as we build our budget, a budget is a plan.
[28:35] We are things that we know, things we don't know.
[28:37] So we are looking at the things, the, the known things.
[28:42] And then unknown being, we're in current negotiations
[28:45] with our MEU, we have awaiting the,
[28:49] the legislative approval of the FY 27 state level budget.
[28:53] We have our cherry sheet estimates to go off of
[28:55] for things like charter school assessments,
[28:57] vocational school assessments, those are our
[28:59] city, city side expenses.
[29:01] But those are things that we watch as we move forward
[29:04] to FY 27.
[29:07] And this is just our gotta have some fun.
[29:09] Here's our, our mascots for the Melrose Public Schools. Very
[29:12] - Cute.
[29:15] - So yes, again, as the committee deliberates and,
[29:17] and has discussions on FY 27,
[29:19] we'd be happy to answer any questions.
[29:21] - Great. Thank you. I know we kind
[29:24] of jumped around a little.
[29:25] Does anybody have any questions before we move finally
[29:28] into announcements of the chair?
[29:29] Mr. Re, Thomas? Yeah,
[29:31] - Just there's that one slide that shows the impact
[29:36] of the, the override
[29:38] and then kind of where we're going to be putting that money.
[29:41] And that's not yet in our packet.
[29:44] - So this, we can certain we have Ms. O'Connor add this
[29:46] right into the, the minutes over.
[29:47] - That'd be great. Yes, that'd be great.
[29:49] Just if we can also load it into, you know,
[29:51] the budget book in some way so people can see it too.
[29:53] It's really helpful. That's a, I know, I,
[29:55] I can't really see it from here. Sure.
[29:57] - We can add it to our website too.
[29:59] - I'd love to study it. Look, thank you so much
[30:01] and I really appreciate all the work that you're doing.
[30:03] I know it's kind of always in motion and I'm, I'm excited.
[30:07] It's just such a relief this year that we have
[30:11] had the successful passage of the override, so we're not,
[30:13] you know, biting our nails about everything
[30:17] as we go through this budget.
[30:19] Thank you very much
[30:21] - Mr. Hartman.
[30:23] - Building off Mr. Thompson's comments as well.
[30:25] And thank you for the additional information
[30:27] as we head into next week where I think, you know,
[30:29] we'll be maybe looking at our budget for the, the last time,
[30:33] can we make sure that this is included in the
[30:35] packet for next week as well?
[30:36] As well as any additional information
[30:38] that would be helping us on navigating the budget into
[30:43] that final week and making sure that we have, you know,
[30:47] a clear delineation on, on what we're working through there.
[30:52] - Yes, we can do that. - Okay.
[30:57] Moving into announcements of the chair.
[31:00] Well first I think I'd like to congratulate you Ms. Berman.
[31:02] This is probably the fastest budget hearings
[31:04] that we've had in my three years
[31:06] here on the school committee.
[31:07] Must be your luck. We do have another meeting
[31:11] where we'll have the public meeting,
[31:13] but this is certainly going quite quick.
[31:16] So going into announcements of the chair,
[31:19] we have a handful of things to do tonight.
[31:21] First one just in order is our rolling agenda, Mr. Hartman,
[31:25] superintendent Berman, Ms. O'Connor
[31:26] and I have met to reconfigure some of the
[31:30] rolling agenda over the next couple of meetings.
[31:34] I think the, the big things is
[31:36] that we are gonna be doing policy reviews
[31:38] after the budget's concluded,
[31:40] which everyone within the policy
[31:42] and planning world has been hard at work trying
[31:45] to get our policies organized.
[31:46] So I do think that that'll probably be the next big
[31:50] thing after the budget.
[31:51] In addition to other things that are previously scheduled,
[31:54] does anybody have any outreach reports?
[31:58] - Okay. - Okay. Alright.
[32:01] So we do have a need for a couple of votes.
[32:04] The first one is to
[32:09] accept the donation report
[32:12] for the Roosevelt School playground.
[32:15] Would anybody like to make a motion?
[32:19] - Motion - To approve? Motion approved by Ms. Holleran?
[32:21] Seconded by Ms. Ozzie Thomas on discussion
[32:25] Ms. Driscoll? Yeah, I,
[32:26] - So - I had a question.
[32:27] How far along is this project?
[32:30] - So currently the, the leadership of the PTO is discussing
[32:34] with DPW parks about best place this potential could go.
[32:39] So it's, they're, I'd say still planning stages.
[32:43] - Okay. I just wanna make sure that when donations come
[32:46] before us, they are still in the planning stages
[32:48] and they have not been even started to execute
[32:52] because this is the purview of the committee.
[32:54] And I, I appreciate of course, everything
[32:58] that community members wish to do
[33:00] to support students in the district.
[33:03] I just wanna make sure that we
[33:04] as a committee are using our authority appropriately
[33:07] and for the safety and consideration of our
[33:09] - Students.
[33:10] Agreed. Thank you. I can't speak to the PTOs process
[33:11] of like fundraiser or anything like that,
[33:13] but for us, we're looking at parks
[33:14] and DPW about best place where this could go to, to,
[33:17] you know, let students have a enjoy
[33:19] the, the activity outside.
[33:22] - Okay. So we had a motion to approve.
[33:25] Does anybody else have any other questions? Okay.
[33:29] All in favor? That passes any abstentions ab Okay,
[33:34] that passes with five in favor and one abstention.
[33:39] Okay, next up. Somebody pulled testing kits.
[33:42] Ms. Driscoll. Yeah.
[33:44] - Happy to speak to that. What are these? Sorry. Thank you.
[33:48] I like don't speak acronyms. Sorry.
[33:50] - No, that's fine. Thank you. Great question.
[33:52] So the, and I would defer to Superintendent Berman for more,
[33:55] but it's, it's the materials they use for assessing students
[34:00] for special education supports,
[34:02] potential special education supports
[34:04] and Superintendent Berman can, can be a great resource.
[34:06] - The evaluation process for special education eligibility,
[34:08] many of these are test kits
[34:10] that are assessing cognitive abilities, academic abilities,
[34:14] different speech
[34:16] and language pathologists may use something.
[34:18] So, so our specific special
[34:21] education related service providers
[34:23] and they do have expiration dates
[34:25] and then new testing kits come out.
[34:27] So we purchase new ones and then we obviously need
[34:28] to dispose of the ones that are out of date.
[34:31] - Okay. That's very helpful. I heard the why.
[34:33] - Yes. - Is it a book?
[34:35] Is it a, like what is, is it a tangible thing? What is it?
[34:39] - Yes. So often, so often a lot of these have moved
[34:41] to online pieces, but like students are still writing.
[34:44] There's certain like protocols
[34:46] and different things that we will,
[34:47] but it's like, yes, it's a book.
[34:48] It's a manual. Okay.
[34:49] Essentially that someone
[34:51] who is assessing a student would follow
[34:53] and then there's like a scoring guide
[34:55] that goes along with it.
[34:56] So they're in like, like almost like binder type boxes
[35:01] and the person who's assessing come picks it up
[35:04] and borrows it and brings it back when they're done.
[35:06] So yes, it is actually a tangible thing
[35:09] that we are disposing of. Okay.
[35:10] - Now I can visualize it. Yes. I'm, I'm in my happy place.
[35:13] I, I I had to move outta conceptual into
[35:15] like, kit do you touch it?
[35:16] Like, so thank you for that.
[35:18] - Hey, any, any other questions about the kits?
[35:21] Anybody wanna make a motion?
[35:23] I'll Motion to
[35:27] prove by Ms.
[35:28] Driscoll, seconded by Ms. Razzi Thomas, any discussion?
[35:32] All in favor? Any opposition? Okay.
[35:34] And that passes unanimously. Okay.
[35:38] Alright, so now we are going to discuss the reasons
[35:43] for our executive session.
[35:45] The first reason to go in executive session is
[35:47] to conduct a strategy sessions in preparation
[35:49] for negotiations with non-union personnel.
[35:52] Can Kelly? The second is
[35:53] to conduct strategy sessions in preparation for negotiations
[35:57] with non-union personnel.
[35:59] Linda Chase and Mark Kurbo for the job share position
[36:03] of special education director.
[36:04] At the conclusion of executive session,
[36:06] we will come back into session
[36:09] and potentially consider
[36:10] what is occurred in executive session
[36:12] and then we'll likely adjourn for the night.
[36:14] So is anybody want a motion to go into executive session?
[36:17] Okay. Made by Ms. Razzie Thomas, seconded by Mr. Hartman.
[36:20] Ms. O'Connor, would you please call the role
[36:22] - Ms.
[36:23] Driscoll? Yes. Mr. Hartman? Yes. Ms. Hollerin? Yes.
[36:25] Mr. Kelly? Yes. Ms. Leo? Yes. Ms. Razzie Thomas? Yes.
[36:30] - Okay. We're now going into executive session.
[36:32] As I mentioned, we will come back in
[36:34] what I expect would be a very brief return
[36:37] from executive session.
[36:38] So thank you. We're back from executive session.
[36:42] We have two remaining items on the agenda coming out
[36:45] of executive session tonight.
[36:47] The first one is to
[36:51] address the contract with non-union personnel, Ken Kelly,
[36:55] that the committee addressed in, in executive session.
[36:59] Would anybody like to make a motion, a motion by Mr. Hartman
[37:03] to approve the contract for Ken Kelly?
[37:05] Seconded by Ms. Rossley Thomas. Any discussion?
[37:10] Ms. O'Connor, would you please call the role
[37:11] - Mr. Hartman?
[37:12] Yes. Ms. Holleran? Yes. Mr. Kelly? Yes. Ms. Leo? Yes. Ms.
[37:16] Rosie Thomas? Yes.
[37:17] - Okay. That passes 4, 2 0. Okay.
[37:21] Next up we have contracts for non-union personnel.
[37:25] Linda Chase and Mark Kbo for the job share position
[37:28] of special education director.
[37:30] This was approved in executive session.
[37:32] Would anybody like to make a motion? Okay. Motion by Ms.
[37:35] Leo to approve. To approve? Yes. Okay. Seconded by Ms.
[37:40] Holleran. Any discussion?
[37:41] Okay, Ms. O'Connor, would you please call the role Mr.
[37:43] - Driscoll? Yes. Mr. Hartman? Yes. Ms. Holleran? Yes.
[37:46] Mr. Kelly? Yes. Ms. Leo? Yes. Ms. Razzi Thomas? Yes.
[37:50] - Okay. And that also passes unanimously.
[37:53] So thank you for that. That concludes our business.
[37:57] Would anybody like to make a motion to adjourn?
[37:59] Motion to adjourn. Mr. Ajour by Ms. Razzi Thomas.
[38:02] Seconded by Ms. Holleran.
[38:03] All in favor and we are now adjourned. Thank you.