[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.

Melrose School Committee April 7th 2026

Transcript