[0:40] Everybody ready?
[0:46] I would like to call to order our school
committee meeting for April 9th. If
[0:51] you're able, could you please rise and
have the Pledge of Allegiance.
[0:57] I pledge allegiance to the flag
of the United States of America,
[1:02] and to the republic
[1:04] one nation under God,
indivisible,
[1:07] with liberty and justice for all.
[1:15] Thank you.
Um so, our first order of business on
[1:19] first meeting after elections is to have
a reorganization, elect officers for
[1:25] uh the school committee.
Uh
[1:27] and I am only serving now. I am vice
chair until now, and I am serving just
[1:31] to get the meeting started.
So, in that role, um I will welcome any
[1:37] nominations for chair.
I nominate Sue Panini.
[1:42] Panini.
[1:46] Is there a second?
>> I'll second that.
[1:50] Uh I will then turn over the role of
chair to the uh most senior person, and
[1:56] that would be Christopher Benson.
Christopher
[2:03] Can I get all in favor?
I. I.
[2:07] All opposed?
So it's unanimous.
[2:12] Thank you.
[2:15] Uh, I now would like to entertain uh any
nominations for vice chair.
[2:23] I would like to nominate myself for vice
chair.
[2:27] Do I have a second?
Second.
[2:32] Any other nominations?
[2:37] Hearing none, all those in favor of uh
electing
[2:42] Kim as vice chair, please say I.
I. I.
[2:46] Opposed?
[2:50] Congratulations, Kim. Thank you.
That's unanimous um and uh
[2:56] the third office that needs to be filled
is clerk.
[3:00] Um we have Christine that has served as
that. I've tried to be in touch with her
[3:04] and did not hear back. I only
started trying in the last day
[3:08] knowing I'd be doing this. So um I if
it's okay uh want to wait until we hear
[3:13] from her and then maybe at the next
meeting uh we can officially fill that
[3:17] position.
Does that work for folks? Mhm.
[3:20] Yeah.
Okay. This is where we do the chair
[3:23] shuffle.
Have the vice chair come up beside the
[3:27] chair.
[3:34] Just take your
name tag.
[3:37] Oh.
[3:50] With that then, the first thing I'd like
to do is to say thank you. Uh thank you
[3:54] for trusting me for to serve in this
role.
[3:57] Um and I want you to know that I really
believe that the correct verb is serve.
[4:03] Um that I see a chair as serving the
committee.
[4:08] And
what I mean by that is I think that the
[4:11] chair really needs to be the person that
facilitates us to
[4:16] capture our mission and which is the
mission of the school. And that's the
[4:20] foster our excellence for every child in
every classroom every day.
[4:24] And I think it is the role of the chair
to make sure that we
[4:30] um
set agendas, get input, um have the
[4:34] right amount of information, and create
an environment where people really speak
[4:39] to one another,
and listen to one another,
[4:43] listen to the community when they want
to speak,
[4:46] uh so that we have the information that
we need to make those decisions that are
[4:51] not always easy ones.
And um I really pledge to do that while
[4:56] I'm in this role.
Uh and again, I thank you for giving me
[5:00] the opportunity to do it. I know that we
have some difficult decisions. These are
[5:05] tough times,
but I am very heartened by the different
[5:10] life experiences, professional
experiences, and perspectives of this
[5:14] board. And I believe that if we really
work together and share our thoughts,
[5:20] and uh work towards those goals that we
will be able to navigate these times
[5:24] together. So, thank you.
[5:33] Uh with that, I do want to officially
welcome our new members. And I wonder
[5:37] maybe if we start uh with Shawn if you
would introduce yourself
[5:43] um to
the folks that are here and the folks
[5:46] that are watching us uh on the cable Uh
and just because you don't we don't have
[5:53] name tags today so everybody knows who
everybody is.
[5:57] Good evening. My name is Shawn Mockler.
I just want to thank you for being here
[6:01] tonight
and thank you for everybody who voted
[6:03] for me and entrusted me to be part of
this committee.
[6:09] Hi, I'm Leah Machado.
Thank you. I'm happy to be here. I'm
[6:14] looking forward to working together with
everyone
[6:17] to do what's best
for the district.
[6:21] And thank you.
And then we have one member that is not
[6:24] able to be here tonight
who's Kristen
[6:28] but she will be joining us at the next
meeting and so she will be able to
[6:31] introduce herself then.
[6:36] At the same time I also want to say a
thank you to our colleagues that are not
[6:40] with us tonight that have served on the
board
[6:43] for both
Jess and Alan.
[6:46] They too are people that
as
[6:50] our new colleagues and the people that
remained on the board, I've had the
[6:54] opportunity to talk with everyone and
including Alan and Jess and I want to
[7:00] say that I know that everybody is here
for the right reason as was Jess and
[7:04] Alan that they really want to serve our
students and our community and I want to
[7:09] thank Jess and Alan for the time that
they did serve
[7:13] and put in all of that hard work that
you all are going to get to see that
[7:17] needs to be done as to serve on the
committee. So thank you Jess and Alan.
[7:30] » [laughter]
>> I was just going to let her keep going.
[7:35] Thank you so much. That was supposed to
be the last sentence of my
[7:39] thing Uh, thank you for trusting me was
and by the way, I will mess up.
[7:44] And it is not intentional. Kim. That's
right. Hi, I'm Kim Radlon.
[7:49] Um, and like the other new elects, um,
I'm really happy to, um, be here to
[7:55] serve the district. I've worked in
Middleborough Public Schools, um, for 14
[8:00] years prior to my current job, and I'm
really excited to be back working with
[8:05] the district. Um,
so I thank everybody who voted for me
[8:09] and put your trust in all of us. And you
know, we're we're heading in the right
[8:15] direction. So, I'm really excited to be
here.
[8:18] Thanks, Kim. And I apologize.
>> No, you're good.
[8:23] Um, we're going to go a little bit out
of order, um, and allow our
[8:28] student representatives, Jackson Collins
and Mason Texeira, to give their reports
[8:32] so that they can get back to what it is
that they need to do in the evening to
[8:36] be ready for school tomorrow morning.
[8:41] Uh, all right. So, normally we'd start
with some district-wide announcements,
[8:44] but we don't have any right now. So, I
just want to say welcome to all the new
[8:47] school committee members. Uh, I'd like
to introduce myself. My name is Jackson
[8:51] Collins, and I'm one of the school
committee representatives.
[8:56] I'm Mason Texeira, and I'm the other
school committee representative, and I
[9:00] will kick off our report today with the
stuff from the MEC. Uh, they want to
[9:06] wish you all a happy April, and their
new word of the month is creativity.
[9:10] Uh, ways their students are showing
creativity in their classrooms is
[9:14] they're making recycled art. They are
turning cardboard boxes, plastic
[9:18] bottles, and egg cartons into robots,
costumes, and sculptures.
[9:22] They are writing stories, and they are
storytelling. So, they're creating a
[9:27] storytelling extravaganza with random
pictures, poems, and they create what if
[9:33] stories, and they spend time in class
writing to show their creativity.
[9:38] Uh they do a lot of things, inventive
projects, emotional art, word play,
[9:44] creative writing, and even drama. So,
they are taking creativity to heart
[9:48] during the month of April.
Their field day is scheduled for
[9:51] Thursday, May 28th. If it rains, it will
be held indoors. Volunteer sign-up
[9:56] letters will be going home the first
week back from April vacation.
[10:01] If any parents want to volunteer, they
need to have a valid CORI license.
[10:06] If you have one, you'll receive more
information in an email letting you know
[10:10] what to expect. Um these licenses do
expire, so please check and make sure
[10:15] that yours is current. If you do not
have one and you want to be part of
[10:18] field day, you can bring a license into
the main office and you will be able to
[10:22] fill out that form. Only parents with
CORIs are allowed on the field, and more
[10:27] information will be posted in the PE
news section, so stay tuned.
[10:31] Report cards will be available to are
available to view in Aspen as of April
[10:36] 6th, and the paper copy was sent home on
April 7th with all students.
[10:41] Uh kindergarten information night for
incoming kindergarten families was April
[10:46] 8th from 6:00 to 7:00 p.m.
[10:52] Okay, and now we're moving on to uh MKG.
Uh MKG just wants to extend a
[10:56] congratulations to their amazing drama
club for their outstanding performance.
[10:59] They certainly have talent at MKG.
Some upcoming MCAS dates is May 4th, the
[11:05] math session for grades 3, 4, and 5. May
6th, the math session for grades 3, 4,
[11:10] and 5.
May 12th, the um science session for
[11:14] grade 5. And then May 14th, the second
science session for grade 5.
[11:19] On Thursday, April 2nd, the first grade
students were visited by uh Caldecott
[11:25] award-winning author and illustrator
Brian Lies. The MKG staff and grade one
[11:30] students would like to give a huge thank
you to the MKG PTA for sponsoring this
[11:34] amazing enrichment opportunity.
Grade 2 students wrapped up their trip
[11:38] around the world. Their students worked
hard to produce travel brochures for the
[11:42] parent presentation on April 2nd and
3rd, and they are so thrilled that many
[11:45] parents came to join.
The mathematicians have started finding
[11:49] and using fractions in real world
situations such as baking and measuring.
[11:53] Fourth graders have been busy this
weekend while it's been raining cats and
[11:56] dogs. Ask your child what idioms are and
why authors use them in addition to
[12:00] other figurative language.
Students in fourth and fifth grade have
[12:04] been learning about the art of making
sound for movies and films.
[12:10] To switch over to the HPB on April 6th,
there was a PTA meeting.
[12:16] Um, it was an MCAS information session
for the upcoming MCAS tests.
[12:21] Um, tomorrow, April 10th, is the art
festival from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. The
[12:26] theme is Candyland glow in the dark, and
it features hands-on activities such as
[12:31] model magic, sand art, face painting,
and more. Bring cash for t-shirts and
[12:36] snacks, but entry to the event is free.
On April 17th, there's the neon glow fun
[12:42] run fundraiser. Please register your
child with the sign-up in the bulletin,
[12:47] and the HPB lobby has set up a donation
box for clothing to support Cradles to
[12:53] Crayons. So, please consider
contributing to this meaningful cause.
[12:57] Your donations will make a big
difference.
[13:00] Um, and then normally we move on to
Nichols Middle School, but we don't have
[13:04] any major announcements from that, so
we'll just be moving right on to MHS.
[13:09] So, at the high school, we want to
congratulate all students that
[13:12] participated in the instant decision day
for Massasoit Community College last
[13:16] week. We're proud of them.
And job well done to all of the AP
[13:20] students who participated in their AP
mock exams over the past few weeks for
[13:24] both math and science.
Congratulations to all spring athletes
[13:29] as they have started the spring season
despite the weather.
[13:32] And good luck to the cast and crew of
SCW's production of the play that goes
[13:36] wrong. We're looking forward to your
play this weekend with shows at 6:00
[13:40] p.m. on both Friday and Saturday. This
is the annual winter comedy that the
[13:45] drama club produces
every winter. Uh congrats to the student
[13:49] council for the breakfast with the
Easter Bunny event that was held on the
[13:54] uh previous weekend and where kids from
throughout the community got to come,
[13:59] have some breakfast in the calf, and
take photos with the Easter Bunny.
[14:03] Uh please plan your Sunday dinner here
at MHS
[14:07] there at MHS as the class of 2028 host
their annual pizza bowl. The event will
[14:12] begin at 4:00 p.m. and will conclude at
6:00 p.m. and on this Sunday. So, please
[14:18] come and taste a variety of pizza from
the Middleborough area and you will get
[14:21] to vote on who serves the best pizza.
Quarter three now ends on Friday, April
[14:27] 17th,
we leave on break and quarter four will
[14:31] begin the Monday we get back from break.
So, keep that in mind as grades will
[14:35] close very shortly. Um especially for
seniors because quarter four will be
[14:41] about a month. So, get your grades up
now.
[14:44] The spring SAT will be held on held at
MHS on Saturday, May 2nd. So, be sure to
[14:51] register for that exam if you are a
junior.
[14:54] Uh please reach out to your school
counselor with any questions and
[14:59] student council elections have begun for
the next um
[15:03] student council executive board. The
elections for the class board will begin
[15:08] after break. And then after that, the
elections for the new school committee
[15:12] rep will be held. And I believe it was a
meeting the week I want to say the date
[15:19] was the 22nd that I predict the meeting
would be where you will all get to meet
[15:24] the new school committee rep for next
year.
[15:34] All right. So, we just wanted to touch
base with the new board and discuss how
[15:37] we can work together as students and
school board. One of the main reasons we
[15:41] became school committee reps was to make
sure student voices could be heard. As
[15:44] the school committee reps, we are
responsible for not only reporting on
[15:47] student ongoings in the district, but
also making sure that the voices of our
[15:50] students in our district are heard.
My first ask of this board is to
[15:54] continue to ask both myself and my
co-rep and any future reps our opinions
[15:58] on issues, policies, and any other
debates the school committee faces.
[16:03] We are the student representatives on
the school committee and we believe that
[16:06] the students' voices are just as
important as the parents. We ask you to
[16:09] remember that we are here to provide the
students' opinions on issues and implore
[16:13] you to use us as a resource.
[16:17] The student advisory committee is
another option you have for getting
[16:20] students' opinions on issues. The
student advisory committee, which
[16:24] henceforth I will refer to as the SAC,
is a committee consisting of five
[16:28] students from the high school. The
members consist of the members-at-large
[16:32] from the freshman, sophomore, and junior
classes, as well as the two school
[16:36] committee reps here today. Our purpose
is to share the voices of the students
[16:40] with the school committee.
We read through policies, we skim
[16:44] through handbooks, and we provide
insight into everyday life at the
[16:47] school. Most importantly, we gather
student input that can be shared with
[16:51] the committee at a meeting or via email,
whichever is easiest.
[16:56] If the school committee is reviewing a
policy that affects students, one of the
[16:59] student reps will request to review it
with the SAC during the first read
[17:04] process
to make sure that the students' voices
[17:08] can be heard in the decision-making
process.
[17:10] If the school committee is debating an
issue that would affect the student
[17:14] population, such as the mask mandate
during COVID-19 if anyone remembers that
[17:19] and the pending cell phone ban for the
upcoming school year. The SAC will meet
[17:23] to discuss and will share their opinions
at the next school committee meeting
[17:27] where we hope you will all take our
voices into consideration when making
[17:30] your decisions. Um
a friendly reminder just according to
[17:36] the law that creates the advisory
committee, the school committee must
[17:41] meet with the SAC at least once every
other month. Uh we're very excited to
[17:45] work with all of you and we want to
create a new relationship between the
[17:49] students and the school board. The SAC
exists for the school committee to hear
[17:54] the students, the members of the
community that serve that cannot make
[17:57] their voices heard in the ballot booth.
In this transition into a period of
[18:01] transparency, please do not forget about
us, the SAC and do not forget the
[18:06] students within the school that you
serve. Um are there any questions about
[18:10] the SAC at all?
Um the last thing
[18:15] » I I I do.
>> [laughter]
[18:17] » Um it's actually something I've I was
thinking about uh earlier in the year
[18:23] and that is we we do often uh change the
order of the agenda. Um we think we're
[18:29] doing it as a favor so that you are not
sitting through all of the deliberations
[18:34] and I wondered whether um that was
something that you think we should not
[18:40] do. That you should remain so that if
there is a um a discussion that's going
[18:44] on that a student perspective would be
helpful that you would be able to
[18:49] um provide it within the context of the
conversation rather than at the
[18:53] beginning out of the context of the
conversation. Uh good question. I think
[18:57] it really depends on the meeting. There
are sometimes where Jackson and I will
[19:01] stay to hear a certain um agenda item
read. Um if there's a discussion item,
[19:08] we want to hear opinions for, we will
stay.
[19:11] Um
Lately, the school committee meetings
[19:15] have been very budget filled, which has
led to us not staying for most of them.
[19:20] But, as the
budget
[19:23] um process winds down, Jackson and I can
continue to spend more time as we get
[19:27] back into more
um policy and especially the uh
[19:32] superintendent search. So, I think
it really would depend from meeting to
[19:37] meeting, but that is the sort of thing
that once the agenda's posted, we can
[19:41] let you know.
Thank you.
[19:44] Any other thoughts or questions? The
last thing um was the superintendent
[19:50] search packet that we have here. I
talked to Sue, but once
[19:55] um the committee is approved or changed
or if you need anything from the schools
[20:01] for
anything for the committee, you can
[20:04] reach out to both Fran and ourselves.
So, thank you. We certainly will.
[20:10] Uh and thank you both for uh the ways
that you have uh
[20:14] presented what your information is from
the round the district. Uh I think that
[20:19] you've done it in a very professional
way and I'm really appreciate it.
[20:25] Um so, I did put together I I
knew that
[20:30] at least the newer members would not
have your
[20:33] um
laptops yet or Chromebooks. So, I did
[20:37] put together a packet of information uh
that's before you that we're going to be
[20:41] referring to as we go along this
evening.
[20:44] Um
Uh so, if you open up and the first one
[20:47] that I want to refer to
is uh
[20:52] charting the course.
Um and again, uh
[20:55] for the new members, uh this is
something that is required within the
[20:59] first year uh and you will see I just
want to highlight that on May 16th,
[21:04] there is
one of these sessions that's going to
[21:08] happen in Marshfield, which is closer
than
[21:10] uh some of the others
uh that you might want to think about
[21:13] going to. Uh last year Shannon and I
went together to one and uh
[21:19] I will speak for myself,
>> [laughter]
[21:21] » uh having a colleague from the school
committee in the town together so that
[21:26] you could kind of discuss different
things together of how that applies
[21:29] within uh our school committee, I found
very helpful. So,
[21:35] um you might want to think about signing
up together if you
[21:39] So, I just want to bring that to your
attention.
[21:41] Also, behind that you see um something
that Anne had sent around also, which is
[21:46] the Middleborough School Committee
operating protocols.
[21:50] And that was uh
approved at our last meeting or the
[21:55] meeting before uh as it it is based on
our policies.
[22:01] Uh and the thought was of bringing this
together the information together in a
[22:07] way that uh we can all read and then
sign at the end that these are our
[22:11] obligations, these are the ways that we
are to conduct ourselves while we're
[22:15] here.
I don't know that you have had enough
[22:19] time to really take a look at it to for
me to send around the paper to sign now,
[22:23] but I I leave it up to what you
what you wish. We can wait until the
[22:27] next meeting um so that you can really
review it and then sign or we can sign
[22:31] it at the end.
Uh what's your pleasure, everyone?
[22:36] Thoughts?
I'm fine for tonight, but should we wait
[22:41] for Kristen or
It's a good idea.
[22:45] Want to wait till the next meeting so
that Kristen would be with us and do it
[22:48] also?
Yeah.
[22:50] Okay.
And that's what we will do.
[22:55] Thank you.
[23:02] All right, next on the agenda you see
um rules and procedures for
[23:07] public comment.
Uh
[23:11] so
over the past year
[23:14] um there has been debate
uh around aspects of our
[23:20] policy around public comment.
Uh and specifically around the idea of
[23:26] the 3-minute rule.
Uh you will find in your in your packet
[23:30] that um
thanks to Shannon
[23:33] who is on our policy subcommittee. Um
she pulled out for me just just the
[23:38] guidelines for public comment um which
speaks to many different things, but the
[23:43] uh you will see
further along where it speaks to um
[23:49] that uh individuals can get up to speak
that they have 3 minutes, that they
[23:54] shouldn't come back more than once
uh and many other aspects of it. The one
[24:00] part that seems to have been a
that people have
[24:05] challenged
um and that I know that it has been
[24:09] spoken about during uh this election
season was whether we should maintain
[24:13] the 3-minute rule.
Uh also people wonder about how is it
[24:18] that we can change it if we decide if
that is the desire. So behind it you
[24:25] will see um
that
[24:29] I have also um
copied and pasted what it says is the
[24:34] policy for um
for policy adoption. What has to happen
[24:38] to change a policy?
And you'll see it really is a process
[24:42] and rightly so.
Um it takes review. It's a legal
[24:46] document um and you know
it's something that we really need to
[24:52] abide by
and making quick changes is probably not
[24:57] the best idea. Typically, the people
that are responsible for looking at any
[25:01] kind of
uh policy changes that it is decided by
[25:05] the school committee whether we want to
or not. It can be brought forward by the
[25:09] superintendent.
Um it can be as from feedback that we
[25:14] get from staff members or community or
whatever, but brought to this board to
[25:18] determine whether we want to um
change a policy or not. So, it's not
[25:23] something that we can uh do immedi- uh
effective immediately.
[25:29] And so, what I wanted to do was to
knowing
[25:33] uh that this is um something that has
really and sometimes gotten in the way
[25:38] of um our meetings because people have
strong feelings about it. I wanted to
[25:42] open up for discussion. Uh if this is
something that we want to officially
[25:47] review. Um and so, that is what I'm
doing. I am opening it up for
[25:51] conversation.
[26:01] Does anyone want to speak?
Leah?
[26:05] Chris or Well, I was going to make a
motion, but if anyone wants to speak
[26:08] first,
I'd rather that happen.
[26:12] I would like to amend this policy. Um I
don't think that in my opinion that
[26:18] there should necessarily be a time limit
for anyone who's voicing their concerns
[26:22] at a school committee meeting,
especially when it has to do with their
[26:26] children or the budget, you know, any
anything. Um
[26:30] I would also like to see back and forth
dialogue between the community and the
[26:37] school committee. You know, even if it's
just acknowledging someone's comment and
[26:42] you know, making sure we
table it and get back to it when we know
[26:46] the answer just
so we revisit it and
[26:50] you know,
have that back and forth. It's just It's
[26:54] silly when you comment and everyone just
sits in silence. It's just It just
[26:59] doesn't feel right. So, I yeah, I would
like to see this happen.
[27:04] Anybody else have thoughts that they'd
like to share?
[27:06] Yeah, I agree. I I think we should look
at the 3-minute rule. Um
[27:10] not sure what it should be, but I think
it's worth investigating to see if
[27:13] there's maybe a better fit for this
committee in the community.
[27:22] And then just in keeping
you know, obviously with there's still
[27:25] discussion items that are open for
discussion as well. So, I just want to I
[27:29] just want us to keep that in mind, too,
when we look at revising the public
[27:31] comment aspect of it is that we're still
open for the discussion items to have
[27:36] that, you know, that back and forth
dialogue.
[27:39] Um and also, too, just to utilize email
or reaching out to school committee
[27:43] members as well. I mean, I think
sometimes that might be underutilized
[27:46] for us, and I just want to make sure
that
[27:49] everyone is aware of how to get in
touch, you know, with all of us if there
[27:51] are questions. And I know some parents
are more comfortable maybe reaching out
[27:54] to Chris more than someone else, or, you
know, they have people that they might
[27:59] be more comfortable with. But I want to
make sure that, too, we're utilizing all
[28:02] the tools that, you know, that we do
have when we look to revamp this policy.
[28:07] Can I ask a question? Of course.
>> Okay. So, how does that work? So, if a
[28:11] parent reaches out to a specific school
committee member, or, you know, reaches
[28:16] out to the entire school committee,
how do we How are we supposed to then Do
[28:21] we respond as a group? Do we respond
individually? Then do we discuss it?
[28:25] Like, how does that work?
So, I I again, we can't We can't read We
[28:30] can't comment or reply all. Okay. Cuz
that would be a violation of the open
[28:33] meeting law.
>> Yeah. And the same applies to social
[28:36] media, too. So, I just want
that I mean, I know it's not something
[28:38] we actually put on the agenda to review,
but as far as responding to anything on
[28:42] social media, um as a school committee
member, because then the opportunity for
[28:46] me to comment, and then maybe Sue
comments and then maybe Chris comes and
[28:50] then all of a sudden we're there's three
people commenting or we have a majority
[28:53] of Right. Okay. Which could also be
considered a violation. So,
[28:58] um I would say in my own personal
experience if a parent reaches out and I
[29:01] can help them then I appoint them in the
right direction of what I can do
[29:05] or try to answer if I can. If I can't
then I know I need to put them, you
[29:09] know, in touch with someone else. Okay.
So, it's really just depends on the
[29:13] situation or what the question is I
think for me. I I mean I won't speak on
[29:17] behalf of anyone else but that's just
been my experience. Okay.
[29:22] Hi. Hi.
Uh my experience also I agree with what
[29:27] Shannon is saying and and
there are we do have protocol around
[29:31] when someone if it's about a a specific
my child issue directing it to the
[29:36] person
and you can follow up and make sure that
[29:39] that they got responded to and whatever.
Um
[29:43] what
my experience is also been that if I
[29:47] start hearing three, four
five different people contacting me not
[29:54] about an issue
um that's when I will go to the
[29:58] superintendent and say
aside from each individual little thing
[30:03] it just feels like there's something
bubbling up here that is an issue.
[30:07] Um can we talk about that and is there
something, you know, that we need to
[30:12] address and we still need to bring it
back to the superintendent
[30:17] uh and and then at some point
a larger issue not around a student but
[30:22] a larger thing can be discussed at if it
gets to that point that the school needs
[30:29] And I think you know, as we're
going to talk about the policy and like
[30:33] Shannon had said, you know, really
looking at when
[30:38] people are coming up for public comment
and I know kind of sitting here and not
[30:44] being able to have a conversation back
and forth.
[30:47] And when we're comment
having comments on things on the agenda,
[30:51] but they haven't been presented yet. We
can't really have a conversation back
[30:55] and forth because they haven't presented
the information yet. So,
[30:59] kind of figuring out how maybe
tabling that
[31:05] kind of discussion piece until they
present and then coming back up and
[31:10] having that discussion. So, sometimes
there are those points when
[31:14] we can't really have that back and forth
because it's not our presentation to
[31:17] even be answering questions about
because they haven't had it yet. So, I
[31:21] think all of that, you know, as we go
over this, I think that's going to be a
[31:25] big part, you know, of the conversation,
too.
[31:33] Chris. Oh. Oh.
I was going to have a motion a motion
[31:37] get on the table before we go to public
input.
[31:42] Okay. So, my motion in
July, we tabled a proposed change to
[31:48] policy BEDH
and then we've also been provided
[31:52] BEDH-E.
I would make a motion to refer those
[31:56] both back to the
policy subcommittee for review and
[32:02] hopefully with the recommendation to
delete rule number three in BEDH
[32:09] or rule number one in BEA BEDH-E,
which is the three minute.
[32:15] Is there a second?
Second.
[32:18] Um this is my first request as the vice
chair, can you get motions down because
[32:23] I will never be able to get them down.
Um
[32:26] Yes, there are a lot of letters, though,
so you might have to repeat that.
[32:30] » [laughter]
[32:34] » Yeah.
[32:38] Oh, no.
[32:44] E D E T E T and then this is the match.
>> Okay.
[32:49] And then we can push that to a division.
And did I hear a second?
[32:53] I second it. Thank you.
Okay, any further discussion here before
[32:58] we go to um community?
[33:03] Anyone from the community who wants to
have input?
[33:08] I have You're in the dark. I have a hard
time seeing [laughter] you.
[33:13] Okay, if you would mind stating your
name. Sarah Lord.
[33:19] Hi Sarah.
[33:28] Can you hear me now? Oh, can I ever.
>> [laughter]
[33:31] » Um just a
comment for the microphones. If everyone
[33:36] could just be mindful of their
microphones, we can't hear a lot of you.
[33:40] Um so it comes in kind of blurry or I
think it's just too far away. So like
[33:44] Chris I heard and Shawn I heard, but
everyone else kind of and I asked other
[33:48] people so it wasn't just my hearing. Um
thank you.
[33:52] I just want to comment on the 3 minutes.
So I was coming to the school committee
[33:56] meetings when they started um enforcing
that. That's when I started speaking out
[34:01] and I think part of the issue is it was
done as a way of controlling parents
[34:06] from sharing. From my opinion and from
the public opinion. I think it was the
[34:10] timing of it. It was never something
that happened until a lot of people
[34:15] started speaking out. So people have
seen it as a way of controlling parents
[34:19] and the community and I think that's why
maybe the intention isn't that, but
[34:23] that's why it was used before by
previous chairs.
[34:27] Um so I do think it's important to
remind people that you don't come up
[34:32] here if something's on the agenda.
That's clearly stated every time. Um and
[34:36] you save those comments for that
particular item. But to come up here and
[34:42] most people don't break the 3 minutes,
but I think just telling people they
[34:46] have a limit is
it's not okay. And I like I said, it was
[34:51] used as a control method before by
previous chairs and I think that's why
[34:54] it needs to go. So, thank you. Thank
you. Helpful.
[35:01] Good evening. Welcome. Welcome all the
new members. Um yeah, I just had maybe a
[35:05] couple of clar-
>> but first, could you state your name?
[35:07] » me to Oh, I'm sorry. Pat Rooney, uh
uh second grade teacher at the uh
[35:11] Brookline school.
Um
[35:14] couple of things I and um I appreciate
Ms. Redlon's comment about that. We need
[35:19] to speak on like when those items come
up cuz like I'm looking at the school
[35:24] choice.
We have no idea what that's about. Is
[35:26] that a pro? Is that a negative? Is it a
thing? What are we doing? How we doing?
[35:30] So,
usually
[35:33] and and not having been to a lot of
committee meetings before for the school
[35:37] committee, when I was watching recently,
it's like when do you talk? When do you
[35:41] not talk? When can you ask a question?
When can't you ask a question? And then
[35:43] people would have note, we're not
commenting on that right now.
[35:46] Um that dialogue between
the board and the
[35:51] and the uh
public is important. Um and I'd like to
[35:55] sit there and not answer those questions
for the past several months. That
[35:59] doesn't seem like
you know, we're working together.
[36:03] And we're supposed to be having all this
um
[36:06] transparency.
That doesn't That's not transparency. No
[36:09] one's answering the questions.
Um
[36:13] we heard emails going back a little bit
that I got emails that must have said,
[36:17] "We want to redistrict." I heard a lot
of pa- What emails?
[36:21] How many did you get? Did you get two?
Cuz that's emails. Did you get a
[36:24] hundred?
Where did this idea come from? People
[36:27] say, "Well, I a lot of emails about uh
you know, for it."
[36:30] Okay, well, not to doubt you, but
what emails are those? How do we know
[36:35] you got
[36:40] I got
Uh-uh.
[36:42] No, that's okay. Don't go away.
Uh did did that turn the mic off? Is
[36:46] that what happened?
[36:59] I just don't know why.
Um so,
[37:02] you know, just [snorts] that kind of a
when people say, "Oh, well, I got these
[37:05] emails about this that the public wants
to do this."
[37:08] Okay, but that needs to be transparent,
too. How many emails did you get?
[37:12] One person has an idea that they want to
change the schools. That's not a
[37:16] that's not a public comment. That's not
a public demand. You know, what 30
[37:21] people did?
There's 1,200 students, 1,200 parents, 3
[37:25] 400 parents.
The other ones that you wanted to listen
[37:28] to prove it. So, it's not just, "Well, I
heard this for it." But just that
[37:31] transparency there.
Um
[37:33] and then I did that public comment
should be on each of the agenda items.
[37:37] As things come up, that's when the
people can make those comments and kind
[37:40] of say, you know, "Oh, yeah, that's a
great idea." Or "This needs to be looked
[37:44] at further." Or "Where did this come
from?"
[37:46] Who made you know, why are we discussing
this now?
[37:49] Why haven't we discussed this before?
So, but if it's just public comment and
[37:54] then
we haven't discussed those things that
[37:56] are on the agenda that I'm sure people
want to discuss.
[38:00] And I'm sure that you'd like to hear.
Because you get the positives, you get
[38:03] the negatives, you get the for's, you
get the against. So, so I I like with
[38:07] the board where you guys are looking at
that to try to change that. Go back to
[38:11] the way things are so that there is that
transparency that, you know, everybody
[38:15] knows what's going on.
Whether we like it or not doesn't
[38:18] matter.
Everybody knows what's going on.
[38:21] And that's where people can make their
decisions.
[38:23] Thank you. Thank you.
Um I do
[38:26] uh want to provide some information um
and hopefully we'll reinforce it um as
[38:32] we're going along.
There are two different times that we
[38:37] call for
uh
[38:40] the public to get up and give us
feedback or provide information. One is
[38:45] called public comment.
And in that section
[38:48] you can get up and speak to anything
that um is within the purview of the
[38:54] committee, whether or not it's on the
agenda.
[38:58] Open law open meeting law does not allow
us to speak to anything that's not on
[39:03] the agenda.
So, that is why often we'll
[39:08] the response will be um we're not going
to be able to speak to that right now,
[39:12] but we'll follow up later.
The second time is as you've said is
[39:18] during the agenda. At that time, it is
the agenda. So, that's why we stop and
[39:24] we ask for
uh any kind of public feedback or input
[39:29] and that is when we can always have back
and forth
[39:32] um information going flowing back and
forth because it's on the agenda and we
[39:36] will not get into any kind of open
meeting law violation.
[39:41] Does that help? Yes. Thank you. You're
welcome.
[39:47] Hi, Lauren Hook. Hi, Lauren.
Uh Summer Street. So, I just wanted to
[39:52] uplift with Pat, right? Pat just said.
Um
[39:56] and I've had this conversation with both
I can glean and Sean when we had some of
[40:00] these meetings about
um
[40:03] you know, you don't know what an agenda
item is and so I don't know if it's part
[40:08] of the law or just the policy of
where public comment thought like lies
[40:13] in the agenda and if it could be moved
back because that could also
[40:18] um
like reduce some of the times that
[40:21] people feel they need to get up to speak
if
[40:24] some of their questions are answered
throughout the agenda previously. So.
[40:29] Thanks. Good idea.
[40:35] Any more?
Oops. Sorry.
[40:39] Hi Katie. Katie McMenamin, um North
Street. Um I watched all the incredible
[40:44] speakers that spoke at the Ways and
Means hearing.
[40:48] Um so the three-rule for me um
limits passion.
[40:53] Um having to hear them kind of rush
through their speeches because they were
[40:57] limited at that thing. I just don't
think that should be here. I think here
[41:01] is where should be a safe place, excuse
me, safe space and we should be able to
[41:05] hear that passion. Um so my votes for
the new uh School Committee members kind
[41:10] of lean towards, okay, who also agrees
that maybe that three-minute rule should
[41:15] be looked at. So just another parent
saying, I'd appreciate that being looked
[41:19] into.
Thank you.
[41:25] Other thoughts?
We can still discuss before the vote.
[41:29] We can.
I just want to
[41:32] uh
let everyone who's watching or who's
[41:35] here tonight thank you for being here
tonight. Now uh the agenda usually comes
[41:39] out on the Tuesday before the Thursday.
If there are things that people want as
[41:44] discussion items and they feel
passionate about,
[41:47] you can email well, I'm I don't want to
speak for everybody, but you can
[41:50] certainly email me and I will voice it
to the superintendent, the chair and the
[41:55] vice chair and fight to get that as a
discussion item because
[42:00] staff,
taxpayers and parents,
[42:04] you all have a voice that should be
heard every meeting
[42:09] and
on any issue. So please reach out to me.
[42:13] I'm happy to read your emails and
forward your thoughts along to the
[42:17] chair. Thank you. Thanks, Chris. And uh
if I might piggyback on that, uh
[42:23] the agendas, even though they come out
on Tuesday,
[42:26] um we really work on them the week
before. So, anytime you want something
[42:31] on an agenda um
that you feel passionate about,
[42:34] certainly email Chris if you want, but
uh as chair you certainly can email me.
[42:41] All right, so I don't want to speak for
you. That's okay. I appreciate that.
[42:46] All right, any other conversation?
Go ahead, William. I welcome emails as
[42:51] well. Please Please reach out. That's
why we're here. So, utilize us.
[42:56] Reach out.
[43:01] All right, so uh
Kim, would you mind reading back the
[43:07] motion?
Uh a motion for
[43:13] policy BEDH
and BEDHE
[43:17] to be referred back to the policy
committee for review.
[43:21] And it was motioned by Chris and second
by Shannon. Thank you.
[43:26] All those in favor? I. I.
Opposed?
[43:32] That's unanimous.
Thank you.
[43:36] So, following up on that, um
and I wanted to do all of this before we
[43:41] had public comment.
Uh you will see in your packets behind
[43:45] that that there is a policy There's a
policy for everything.
[43:50] Uh
there is a policy to suspend policies.
[43:56] Um which allows us to um
temporarily
[44:01] suspend some aspect of a policy. And I'm
going to read it so that it uh those
[44:06] that don't have the paper in front of
them will know.
[44:10] It says the operation of any section or
sections of Middleborough School
[44:12] Committee policies not established by
law or contract may be temporarily
[44:18] temporarily suspended by a 2/3 vote of
the committee members present at any
[44:22] regular or special meeting. Any action
to suspend policy must be reviewed at
[44:27] the next scheduled meeting and will be
so noted on the agenda for that meeting.
[44:32] Uh what I interpret that to mean though
I will bow to Shannon's knowledge of the
[44:36] policies
um is that we can uh vote to suspend
[44:41] some aspect of a policy, but it's only
for that night. If you want it to
[44:45] continue, you review it again at the
next meeting.
[44:50] Uh
and so with that in mind and hearing all
[44:54] of the input that has been given both
previously and tonight, um I would
[45:00] entertain a motion to
uh suspend the 3-minute rule what we
[45:05] have come to lovingly call the 3-minute
rule
[45:09] uh
uh for tonight's public comment. Second.
[45:15] Any discussion?
[45:19] All those in favor signify I. I.
Opposed?
[45:26] We also have that as a unanimous vote.
Thank you.
[45:31] So, we now move into with all of that
done, we can move into public comment
[45:36] and I want to reiterate one more time
that public comment is for the time
[45:41] if there what you want to talk about is
not on the agenda.
[45:46] Um this is the time that you can speak
to it. We can ask clarifying questions.
[45:52] Um
but we cannot have a conversation about
[45:56] it if it's not on the agenda because of
open meeting law.
[45:59] Uh if you wait until the agenda item
uh, that it refers to, we will always
[46:06] stop [clears throat]
and make sure that that the public is
[46:09] given opportunity to give input.
You can
[46:12] if it is on the agenda, you can do it
during public comment also.
[46:16] Um, but it might be a way to streamline
um, how we get through these meetings.
[46:22] So, having said that, uh, is there
anyone like to speak for public comment?
[46:26] Hello. Um, there was no Tiger Times this
past week, so I just wanted to mention
[46:31] that the Nichols Middle School PTA,
we're having a textile bin drive on
[46:35] Saturday for Earth Day. So, it's 8:00 to
12:00 um, this coming Saturday. Help us
[46:41] fill a textile bin. They're going to be
dropping off a big trailer and uh, we
[46:46] get funds from that that we can use for
the students and teacher appreciation.
[46:50] And then next Tuesday, we have a
McDonald's fundraiser for Nichols Middle
[46:54] School PTA. Um, from 4:00 to 7:00 at the
Middleborough McDonald's on Tuesday. No
[47:00] code needed. Any way you order accounts,
uh, and we get 20%. So, thank you.
[47:06] Thank you.
And thank you for what the PTA does.
[47:17] Relax, I'm on your side.
Uh,
[47:22] James Dupont, 118 Elm Street East for
the for the minutes and the record. I'll
[47:26] leave a copy of my uh, remarks.
Uh, just to put it in in the context of
[47:30] why I'm here and with whom you are
dealing, I served 18 years on the
[47:35] Bridgewater-Raynham Regional School
Committee. I served as a town selectman
[47:39] for a number of years after that. And
uh, despite the fact and there being
[47:43] three new members here, all I'll say is
possibly in about 2 weeks, I'll be the
[47:48] new member of the Bridgewater-Raynham
Regional School Committee. But, never
[47:52] never can tell. Maybe the voice of Bugs
Bunny, Mel Blanc, will beat me.
[47:57] Good evening, uh, Madam Chairman,
members of the Middleborough School
[47:59] Committee.
I come tonight to deliver a message
[48:03] regarding a matter of grave and
immediate importance to the students of
[48:06] the Middleborough district,
their school committee,
[48:10] and the administration staff of the
Middleborough School Department.
[48:14] The issue is twofold.
First, it concerns the decades-long
[48:18] practice of underfunding by the
Massachusetts State Legislature of the
[48:22] various categories of so-called local
aid,
[48:25] which is all of you know is a
significant factor in setting the
[48:29] the tax rate
in the local property tax, and hence how
[48:32] much the property owners are asked by
you to pay.
[48:37] Prior to fiscal year '81, the first year
in which Proposition 2 1/2 was in
[48:40] effect, which I helped put on the
ballot,
[48:44] the cities and towns before that simply
put another nickel on the local tax rate
[48:49] to make up for any shortfall in local
aid, and went on with things.
[48:54] After Prop 2 1/2 took effect, the cities
and towns were limited in how much they
[48:58] could raise the prior year's levy.
Consequently, many local services,
[49:02] mostly education,
were annually paired back due to the
[49:07] annual recurring shortfalls in state
money being returned to the local
[49:10] governments.
This brings me to my second point.
[49:14] Where does so-called state revenue come
from?
[49:18] The answer is it comes from every
resident and business in every city and
[49:22] town, including Middleborough.
Why isn't that money being returned to
[49:27] you,
the people who actually need it for
[49:30] day-to-day things like police, fire,
seniors, and most importantly,
[49:36] hear this that word, most importantly,
schools.
[49:41] It's been my experience that our state
legislators have not made full funding
[49:44] of local aid a priority.
Members of the majority party bemoan how
[49:49] tough things are this year in Boston on
Beacon Hill. And you're already hearing
[49:53] that.
And I will just
[49:56] make a footnote. $8.3
billion
[50:01] B billion dollars in the rainy day fund.
And they're telling you how tough it's
[50:06] going to be.
And the governor only put in for a 2.5%
[50:10] increase in chapter 70.
So, the members of the majority party
[50:15] bemoan how tough things are this year on
Beacon Hill. Well, the minority party
[50:18] members shrug their shoulders and say
there isn't anything I can do about it.
[50:23] Last year Rainham's annual budget
process resulted in the failure to pay
[50:26] the regional school district's
assessment after failed prop two and a
[50:30] half override, a large layoff of school
employees then followed.
[50:34] 41
31 the next year and possibly more this
[50:40] year.
[50:42] Makes you wonder why I'm running for the
school committee, I suppose.
[50:46] A resident I discussed this with said it
sounds like bad management.
[50:50] I responded that it wasn't bad
management, but rather a shortfall
[50:53] caused by our state legislators not
fully funding chapter 70. I've been
[50:57] tracking chapter 70 since 1973.
[51:02] I have checked it every year.
Never once fully funded.
[51:09] I want to repeat that for the record.
Chapter 70 never once fully funded.
[51:16] When he responded that it
to that I said that it wasn't bad
[51:20] management, but a shortfall caused by
our state legislators,
[51:24] he responded by saying it sounds like
our local government mismanaged their
[51:27] relationship with our legislators. And
yes, I'm looking at you.
[51:33] As long as our state reps and state
senators can get lauded for getting us
[51:36] half a loaf,
then the residents and businesses will
[51:40] be told to make up the difference and
you,
[51:42] the elected members of this committee,
you will take the brunt of the public's
[51:47] ire, not the governor,
not the state reps, state senators,
[51:52] the people at this table who've been
elected to conduct education in this
[51:56] town will take the brunt of the public's
ire when taxes go up
[52:00] and educational opportunities go down.
Madam Chairman, this leads me to the
[52:06] conclusion that the time has come for
all local elected officials to demand
[52:10] their respective state legislators
change their vote on local aid and aid
[52:13] to education from the current here's
what's left
[52:18] to here's what the town of Middleborough
and its schools legally are entitled to
[52:23] under Chapter 70.
After that,
[52:28] if the state then has a shortfall, let
them raise taxes.
[52:32] Let them do massive layoffs to make up
the difference.
[52:36] I want to thank you, Madam Chairman,
members of the School Committee, and
[52:38] I'll leave a copy of my remarks with the
secretary. I'm not asking for a vote or
[52:43] anything. I've been to 19 different
communities with this exact statement.
[52:47] This is somewhere between Paul
Paul Revere and Don Quixote.
[52:51] Those children are counting on you
people to deliver for them. And I had
[52:55] one thought that I would share with you,
that if you come to an override
[53:00] situation,
how about we do this?
[53:03] What if you the tax collector sent out a
tax bill to everybody in in town for
[53:09] what Proposition 2 1/2 would allow you
to do, and then send them a separate
[53:14] bill for how much the legislature
shortchanged you?
[53:18] And maybe you could have an override
vote in November the same day that those
[53:22] legislators are on the ballot. I want to
thank the committee for their time, and
[53:25] good luck to the new members as well.
Thank you. Thank you.
[53:31] » [applause]
[53:36] » Katie McMannamin again. Um just because
someone else had mentioned the PTA, that
[53:41] kind of sparked Um, I'm on the Max PTA.
Um, so this Sunday, April 12th, from
[53:47] 11:00 a.m. until 8:00 p.m., Papa Gino's
in Middleboro will donate 20% of the
[53:52] proceeds to the school.
Um, there's more information about that
[53:56] kind of all over online or you could
certainly reach out to me and I'd be
[53:59] happy to share with you.
Um, and if there's any parents
[54:02] listening, um, just a reminder to sign
your child up for the dance-a-thon and
[54:07] fun race. That's it. Thank you.
Thank you, Katie.
[54:14] Anyone else?
[54:18] Thank you all.
Um, all right. We will move on to
[54:23] discussion items
uh
[54:26] and to the superintendent's report.
Good evening. So, every year uh the
[54:32] committee must
uh make a dis- uh decision on school
[54:36] choice on have a discussion on that in
the spring.
[54:40] Um, and you will need to have a public
hearing. We'll do that at the next
[54:43] meeting.
Uh, you only have to have hold a public
[54:48] hearing if you are going to say no to uh
school choice.
[54:54] So,
uh we currently are not uh school choice
[54:59] and so last year they held a public
hearing
[55:02] uh to vote that. We do have school
choice kids because in the past we were
[55:07] uh open to school choice.
We have to have that open for siblings.
[55:12] We do not have any siblings coming in
next year.
[55:16] Um, so I just bring this as a discussion
item.
[55:19] No vote tonight. And if you decide that
uh well, we'll hold the public hearing,
[55:25] you'll vote either yay or nay on whether
we become school choice. Any questions
[55:30] on that?
Do we have any
[55:34] perspective
siblings coming in the future.
[55:40] Like if we vote no and close the door
today,
[55:43] would the siblings going forward not be
eligible? No, if the if a
[55:47] there's just none
coming into the district next year, but
[55:52] it it's grandfathered in for any student
in Celina.
[55:56] » And and a decision is made each year, so
if a sibling was I mean have a new
[56:01] student who wanted to come in each year,
we we take the vote based on what our
[56:06] capacity is.
Pretty much correct? Correct.
[56:13] Questions? Thoughts?
[56:18] I thought I might see you again. Yeah,
this is a good one. No, I just have just
[56:22] a couple of points that we're we're
talking about
[56:26] RIFs with teachers,
um
[56:30] which is going to bring up class sizes,
um increasing those.
[56:35] So, if we're not replacing teachers that
are going to be laid off or we're not
[56:39] replacing them in with vacancies, and
we're going to allow and I'm saying we
[56:43] are or not, just saying if we allow
school choice, we're now increasing
[56:47] those class sizes more.
Um
[56:51] we don't know, you know, do we have a
ceiling? We We do have in the contracts
[56:55] that we have class size we try to keep a
class size reasonable.
[57:01] Um and you know, I'm not saying there's
100 kids who want to do school choice,
[57:05] but
you know,
[57:06] any kid above 24, 25, 26 in the
classroom is a lot.
[57:11] So, a school choice could affect that.
Um is there a ceiling? Do we say like
[57:16] right now we don't have we don't have
room, we don't have teachers, we don't
[57:18] have
We don't have room in the inn right now,
[57:21] right?
Um
[57:23] so, you know, we also have a lot of
move-ins that are going to be coming in.
[57:27] So, just thinking about that that
you know, if we're going to allow the
[57:30] school choice, and there's money in
there, but will that school choice money
[57:33] go to salaries?
To hire teachers, to help in the
[57:37] classrooms when our class sizes do go
up, either through school choice or with
[57:42] our movings that are coming. You know,
not just September, they're going to
[57:45] come October, November, December. Um so,
just something to keep in mind, that's
[57:49] all. Thank you.
Thank you. You want to make a comment?
[57:52] Sure.
Yeah, they These are for out of district
[57:55] students.
Uh and the reason that the committee has
[58:00] in the recent past voted no was exactly
for that, enrollment and and capacity.
[58:06] It wasn't there, so we said no.
[58:11] Thanks for that clarification, Mike.
Mhm.
[58:14] Other questions about school choice?
[58:19] And then, Mike, I assume you will be
bringing that back for for a vote?
[58:22] » Public hearing, yes.
>> For a public hearing. Mhm. All right,
[58:25] thank you.
[58:28] Budget update? Yes, the next item is a
budget update. Um
[58:32] this is a brief update, so for the new
members, uh I invite you to
[58:39] set a meeting or try to get a hold of
me, set a meeting, so we can go over the
[58:43] budget in detail. It is
quite lengthy and not for uh
[58:49] a meeting here.
I will get you all the information, but
[58:52] I would love to sit down individually
and go through it. But, um this is an
[58:57] update we've been obviously going
through this for the last few months, so
[59:01] I have a little PowerPoint here.
Um we normally uh set our budget with
[59:07] our budget drivers, which are all the
things that we need uh to have a level
[59:12] service budget,
which um
[59:16] is our continuous district improvement
uh and the strategies that we use for
[59:20] that.
We have to budget for fixed costs,
[59:23] contractual um obligations, and salary
increases.
[59:28] Uh special ed tuition and services, we
must uh budget for those.
[59:34] The ever-changing technology.
Uh curriculum costs, we have a
[59:39] uh item in our budget for a new ELA
program that we're discussing now.
[59:44] Uh we do try to maintain lower class
sizes. We're struggling this year
[59:48] because of funding,
but that is a goal uh and does drive our
[59:53] budget. And lastly, we must uh budget
for transportation for our students.
[1:00:01] The three uh constraints that we find
when found when we're building this
[1:00:05] budget uh was the special ed uh
increases.
[1:00:10] Two, uh our alternative funding sources.
And we'll get into that if you're new
[1:00:16] member, uh that may be a new concept.
That we have funds that are not
[1:00:22] uh within the general fund that we use
to offset.
[1:00:25] And last, um
as you heard the gentleman, we are
[1:00:29] having the declining financial support
from the federal and state and local
[1:00:34] levels.
[1:00:37] So, constraint number one in special ed,
this is just a brief uh look at the last
[1:00:41] 4 years of our special ed out of
district tuition costs.
[1:00:48] And you see how it rose from 23, 24
to the current budget that we're looking
[1:00:53] at, 26, 27, and almost doubled over that
4 years from 2.6 million
[1:00:59] to almost 5 million.
In the middle column, we have the number
[1:01:02] of students.
And uh you see that that isn't going up
[1:01:08] in a great number, but the dollars are.
So, it's the cost of these tuitions that
[1:01:13] are really uh going up.
[1:01:18] Second constraint, uh Uh, as I said, we
have alternative funding sources. The
[1:01:23] problem is we've been using those
uh, and we have brought them down.
[1:01:28] Uh,
and so, um,
[1:01:32] we have uh, facility rentals we reduced
by 650,000 that we used last year
[1:01:39] uh, or the current year
that we won't be able to use next year.
[1:01:44] Uh, our school choice we reduced by
112,000.
[1:01:48] And then, um,
every year we look at the current budget
[1:01:53] to see if we have money, uh, this is a a
legal
[1:01:57] um, payment that we could prepay
tuitions
[1:02:01] uh, for next year if you have money at
the end of the year. And I um, that is
[1:02:06] starting to look a little better. Uh, so
that is good news. I'm I'm trying to
[1:02:10] keep an eye on that.
But last year we used 355,000.
[1:02:15] We paid for tuitions for students
um, at the end of last year for this
[1:02:20] current year. And hopefully, uh, as we
get closer, and we're almost there,
[1:02:25] we'll have some more money. Right now I
have zero budgeted, but hopefully I can
[1:02:29] put some towards that.
Which will help offset our deficit that
[1:02:33] I'm going to get into
soon.
[1:02:36] The last is the federal, state, and
local funding.
[1:02:41] Uh, we had a grant, a migrant grant, uh,
and we fully expended that this year, so
[1:02:46] that is gone.
Uh,
[1:02:49] mentioned earlier again is our Chapter
70 funding funding is down
[1:02:54] due to the assessments and charter
enrollment. Uh, so we need to keep an
[1:02:57] eye on Chapter 70.
Um,
[1:03:00] some more
maybe better news, we got a
[1:03:04] uh, email from the state saying that
Title II and Title III
[1:03:08] may come through with some funding.
So that 80,000 may be
[1:03:14] lowered a little bit.
Uh, and then our federal grant
[1:03:17] reductions in our title uh, grants,
title one and IDEA,
[1:03:22] are to be reduced by we're projecting
82,000.
[1:03:29] So, this is our original,
um,
[1:03:34] uh,
level service budget. And it's broken
[1:03:37] down, again, this is really high level
and this is why I'd like to meet with
[1:03:40] the new members so I can get into a
little more detail than just two line
[1:03:43] items for salaries and expenses.
Our salaries total,
[1:03:49] uh, that we need for a level service
budget is 37.8
[1:03:53] million.
And our non-salary, our
[1:03:57] expenses are 12.2 million.
And our total, uh, request is 50 million
[1:04:04] uh, 57,431
dollars.
[1:04:09] So, I go back to these offsets because
this is really where we,
[1:04:12] uh, found our budget shortfall. Um,
last year we used, uh, and I won't go
[1:04:18] through each and every, uh, line, but at
the bottom you see in fiscal 26 we had
[1:04:24] the ability to use 6.7 million
to offset, um,
[1:04:30] our budget
and lower that of what our request would
[1:04:34] be.
And because we've drawn those down,
[1:04:36] you'll see some zeros in the far column
in 27 because, as I said, prepaid
[1:04:41] tuitions, the migrant grant are gone.
Um, and the facility, uh, rental
[1:04:48] is, uh, gone down. So, we are only able
to use 5.2 million versus 6.7.
[1:04:55] Uh, and so that's a 1.5 million dollar
decrease in,
[1:05:00] uh, funding uh, that we have outside of
our general fund.
[1:05:04] So, if you take the, um, level service,
uh, budget that we've built, it's got 50
[1:05:10] million, 57,000,
and you subtract what we are able to use
[1:05:15] in the alternative funding sources of 5
million.
[1:05:20] Our new request, again, this is level
service from last year for current year.
[1:05:26] And we are um we would need 44 million
uh 836,262.
[1:05:35] So, I bring that up to the top.
And the middle column is what we are
[1:05:40] being allocated
locally, which is a 1.8 increase. Uh
[1:05:46] you've I'm sure heard uh
the town is having uh similar funding
[1:05:52] issues like we are. Uh so, our number is
42 million 550,000.
[1:05:58] Again, it's a 1.8 increase. So, from our
level service, what we need
[1:06:04] to do exactly what we were doing this
year next year,
[1:06:08] we have a shortfall of 2. almost 2.3
million.
[1:06:14] As I said, we've been doing this for uh
almost 3 months now.
[1:06:19] Uh and so, we've had different
uh iterations and changes as time goes
[1:06:25] by and
uh as usual, uh the the longer we go,
[1:06:29] the better
uh the budget looks and we get better
[1:06:32] news. You always
uh have to be fiscally uh conservative
[1:06:37] to start. Uh but, how to get that 2.2
million in the beginning was uh cuz it
[1:06:42] was actually um
a different number. But, we were looking
[1:06:46] at 29.5
position in reduction back in February.
[1:06:53] Um last month,
um with some different funding sources
[1:06:59] um
and changes, we uh lowered the number
[1:07:03] total positions of 24.5.
You could see the breakdown um in the
[1:07:09] different areas.
Um and I also tried to see or look at
[1:07:13] the historical of
attrition in those areas to hopefully um
[1:07:19] we'll have attrition from now to the end
of the year.
[1:07:22] And hopefully not
uh have to eliminate um
[1:07:27] a lot of the positions will be
eliminated, but it won't be people.
[1:07:32] So, uh most recently um
and tonight we're looking at
[1:07:39] since we got some more news, um we were
able to use
[1:07:44] uh
or find some more money on the
[1:07:46] non-salary.
Uh and I also added a line you see a
[1:07:51] blank down there for anticipated
vacancies.
[1:07:54] I did not have that knowledge on 212 or
39. And uh we picked up a couple that we
[1:08:00] know are going to
materialize, so I added those.
[1:08:06] Uh but the number total has gone to
23.5.
[1:08:11] Uh so right now that is what we're
looking at in terms of positions. Uh
[1:08:16] along with the non
um
[1:08:19] position non
people and the expenses that we were
[1:08:24] able to reduce
and we're able to balance the budget
[1:08:27] with that reduction.
So, if you take the the reduction of the
[1:08:33] 2.3 that I talked about out of the total
uh request
[1:08:41] uh we still have the offsets that didn't
change at 5.2 million. We do now balance
[1:08:46] there to the 42,550,000
that was allocated locally.
[1:08:53] Not the greatest news, obviously, but
it's getting better and hopefully it'll
[1:08:58] continue, but um in the next month
either way, we're going to have to uh
[1:09:04] vote a balanced budget to that for the
town meeting, which I believe now is
[1:09:09] June 1. June 1st is the town meeting.
So, they giving you a deadline of when
[1:09:13] they need the budget for the town
meeting?
[1:09:15] » have a I don't have a deadline. I was
given one
[1:09:18] at least a couple of weeks, so I would
think
[1:09:21] that it would be prudent to vote
uh at the first meeting in May.
[1:09:29] Okay.
Lastly, this is what you will
[1:09:33] actually vote on uh is not that 42
million. You will vote on that, but it's
[1:09:39] the total operating budget
uh cuz there's a number of things that
[1:09:43] go into this, so there's a separate
transportation budget that the town sets
[1:09:47] aside, and that's the 4.4 million that
you see uh on the second line.
[1:09:52] Um, and then
uh the next three lines really at are
[1:09:58] the offsets, and they add up to that 5.2
million. It's just a different way I
[1:10:02] broke it out because the circuit breaker
is such a large amount for the 3
[1:10:06] million.
And the IDEA is another million.
[1:10:10] Uh and then the other all the other ones
at the 1.2, 1.3, those three lines add
[1:10:16] up to that 5.2 million that I mentioned
earlier on the offsets. So, our total
[1:10:21] budget,
what we spend, is the 52.2 million,
[1:10:27] and at the meeting, that is the number
that you will vote, but it does include
[1:10:32] the operating budget of 42 550, which is
what you'll see on at town meeting.
[1:10:40] And with that, and again, this is
kind of a high level.
[1:10:45] Uh so, I do want to meet with everybody
who's interested in getting into
[1:10:50] much more detail cuz it is 52 million,
and I kind of did it in 5 or 10 minutes,
[1:10:55] so.
Uh but I will take any questions.
[1:10:57] anybody has. Do will um everyone have
access to the um
[1:11:01] get the new folks access into the budget
line items?
[1:11:05] Yeah, so when I when I upload the um
because it did change a little bit. It's
[1:11:08] online right now, but I want to I'll
have uh Shawn uh upload the new.
[1:11:14] And that's what I'll go over with the
new members if they'd like to. It's
[1:11:18] uh but that'll be online.
Uh
[1:11:21] and then I could go over that and back
up to
[1:11:26] uh this presentation.
Uh
[1:11:28] if that is uh
the wish of the new members or
[1:11:33] current members if you
Want to refresh
[1:11:35] » nothing to do and you want to become a
new
[1:11:41] Chris, did I see you moving toward the
mic?
[1:11:44] Yeah, just so
um things of have obviously improved a
[1:11:48] little bit.
But if things improve in the future
[1:11:53] one of the priorities would be retaining
student-facing staff. Correct.
[1:11:58] Yes.
[1:12:01] Other questions or thoughts from the
board?
[1:12:07] Uh difficult situation.
Uh
[1:12:10] one thing though I think that uh
Mike did not
[1:12:15] underscore enough.
And that is that um yes, because of the
[1:12:21] town's circumstances, they came back
and um
[1:12:25] gave him a number that was 300 400
>> 400 400,000 less than the original
[1:12:32] number that we were given. We were given
a number
[1:12:36] then it went up
and it went up again.
[1:12:40] And this is 400,000 less than the first
number.
[1:12:44] And I really do want to give uh So,
Chris and I are on the budget
[1:12:48] subcommittee.
Uh and so we meet with him on a regular
[1:12:52] basis, um
getting his thoughts on the details and
[1:12:56] um
providing questions that we've heard in
[1:13:00] various from various people and
uh to get clarifications. And I really
[1:13:05] do want to give uh Mike the credit he's
due of how he is really trying to work
[1:13:11] this budget as best he can under very
difficult situations and in that 400,000
[1:13:17] it did not So you saw that number of um
positions
[1:13:22] didn't that were going to be eliminated
didn't go up with the 400,000. As a
[1:13:26] matter of fact, it's come down.
And um that is a much credit to the work
[1:13:32] that he's been doing.
Thank you, Mike.
[1:13:38] All right. Anybody else here first?
[1:13:41] Hello. Hi folks, how we doing tonight?
Um I want to say uh hi again to um the
[1:13:49] school committee members. So I've spoken
to quite a bit. Um welcome
[1:13:52] » provide your name first, please?
>> sorry. I'm Alexa Sparrows. Uh Weir
[1:13:57] Street and also a first grade teacher at
the Mary K. Gould. I also hate the
[1:14:02] feedback, so forgive me if I'm speaking
a little close um
[1:14:06] speaking a little bit slow because of
just the echo. Um so I'm here with a
[1:14:11] couple of questions. Um the first being
the new number that the town came back
[1:14:18] with. Um does this is this
is this it basically? Or is there a
[1:14:24] chance that they could come back
to us saying there's even a greater
[1:14:30] shortfall? Not that I want that, but I
didn't know if that was a possibility. I
[1:14:34] think it's always a possibility, but I'm
confident that we have our number. Okay,
[1:14:40] as I cross my fingers. Um the second
thing is I noticed I can't remember what
[1:14:46] the name of the slide was, but when you
were going over the facilities rental,
[1:14:53] it was
$715,000.
[1:14:57] I'm assuming that was So, of course, it
was fiscal year 26. Is that
[1:15:03] funding that we had gotten as a school
district?
[1:15:07] That is the money that we receive when
we rent the buildings for any
[1:15:12] outside usage. Okay. I just I hope I'm
not echoing someone else's comments.
[1:15:18] Previously, forgive me if I did.
But, it seems like we got a substantial
[1:15:24] amount of money
from fiscal year 26, and I'm looking to
[1:15:31] fiscal year 27 as $84,000.
That's That's $631,000
[1:15:37] lost. So, I was just curious as to
how we lost that rental. Is this the
[1:15:44] pool at the complex? Is it other things?
This is not
[1:15:51] revenue in. Okay. This is expense. Okay.
So, this year we spent $715,000.
[1:16:00] I can't do that again next year.
>> No, no, no, no, no, no. I understand. I
[1:16:03] wasn't sure if that was money that we
got as a rental fee or, you know, if
[1:16:07] people rented our facilities.
Originally, that account
[1:16:12] was close to a million dollars. Oh, wow.
And we
[1:16:16] And we allocated and spent 750. Okay.
So, now I'm down to like two, and I
[1:16:22] can't
I want to be conservative and not drain
[1:16:27] it Yes.
>> totally. I understand. No, I was just
[1:16:29] clarifying question. I didn't understand
it, so I apologize. No, that's not a
[1:16:33] problem. Thanks.
Another thing is, when we were looking
[1:16:36] at anticipated vacancies, if I could
please see that slide.
[1:16:42] Thank you. Mhm.
[1:16:47] Okay, so um I do see the journey. I do
see how fortunately we started at 23
[1:16:54] positions down to 14 as teachers and
then
[1:16:58] um of course the total number is 29 and
1/2 back in February and now 23 and 1/2.
[1:17:05] Um
so my question is for clarification,
[1:17:08] when you have 14,
I'm assuming full-time
[1:17:13] positions
um and then you have average attrition
[1:17:17] 15. Is that 14
including the
[1:17:23] including the attrition or is it
potentially could be lower?
[1:17:30] So,
actually
[1:17:34] there's
we're proposing 14 positions and
[1:17:38] normally we lose 15. Okay. However,
it doesn't normally
[1:17:44] unfortunately doesn't normally work out
that
[1:17:48] those 14 are the ones that are
being proposed to be reduced.
[1:17:54] There's so many different things with
certifications and grade levels and
[1:17:57] different things like that. It's just to
give an idea that
[1:18:01] with
with 15 um
[1:18:05] normally in a year in attrition
that 14 could be
[1:18:11] much less in terms of people
versus positions. So, that's good news.
[1:18:17] But if they all hopefully fall out the
right way, we'd be in good shape.
[1:18:22] And my question is what were the
anticipated vacancies?
[1:18:27] Um
are they a specific I I I don't feel
[1:18:31] comfortable Got it. No, I'm sorry. I
don't mean to put you in a position. I
[1:18:34] just didn't know if it was like uh,
could potentially
[1:18:39] be teachers. So, that's why I was just
curious. Um, the second thing is, maybe
[1:18:43] the third, I lost count. Um,
the ELA curriculum, I know a lot of
[1:18:48] folks, um, in education know this,
general public don't. There's the Prism
[1:18:53] grant. Um, I know we're hopefully
looking into grant funding to help
[1:18:58] supplement the cost of, um,
of our ELA curriculum. Um, forgive me if
[1:19:05] I'm incorrect in the number, but was it
$200,000
[1:19:08] that was budgeted for curriculum?
Correct. Okay. So, my question is, if
[1:19:16] potential,
um,
[1:19:19] we purchase an ELA curriculum that
everybody agrees is of the highest
[1:19:23] quality for our students,
um, that also includes books and not all
[1:19:29] on a screen.
Um,
[1:19:31] my
question is,
[1:19:35] let's say we get that grant money. I've
heard it doesn't cover the entire cost.
[1:19:41] Um, but could that money, if we're given
that grant, potentially be rolled back
[1:19:47] into, say, a job or two?
That's already been taken into account.
[1:19:52] Okay.
>> Um, and so, we have some,
[1:19:56] um,
of those,
[1:19:58] um,
non-general fund, the offsets. Mhm. We
[1:20:03] have some more money there, but I I went
back to this slide because
[1:20:08] I cut title two and title three grants,
eliminated 80,000. Mhm. We got word we
[1:20:13] might get that, and that can be used for
the ELA program, also. So, I'm Things
[1:20:18] are looking better. Okay, wonderful. I'm
glad to hear that. Um, I know ELA
[1:20:22] curriculum is not on the docket, but I
just want to say thank you for, um,
[1:20:27] having the committee to look at the ELA
curriculum. Um, I wish it was done in
[1:20:33] the very beginning because I think it
would have saved a lot of time and
[1:20:37] effort and we could have made some very
good decisions early on.
[1:20:42] And as a first grade teacher, I want my
children, my students, both my children
[1:20:49] who I gave birth to and the students I
teach
[1:20:53] to have an ELA curriculum that's being
taught with books in front of them and
[1:20:58] not on a screen. So I'm just putting
that little plug in.
[1:21:03] And then the last thing is that
transportation budget that we have
[1:21:11] that is a separate budget, correct?
>> Correct. Okay.
[1:21:16] For those folks who
weren't aware, this is not myself
[1:21:22] praising myself just to make you and the
public aware.
[1:21:26] I went with three fantastic educators to
the Ways and Means Joint Committee and
[1:21:33] and also other folks that support us
too.
[1:21:37] And one of my colleagues who spoke did
bring up the issue with transportation
[1:21:43] costs. It's funny when we stop and look
at it. When you have regional school
[1:21:49] districts, they get 80% of their
transportation costs funded simply
[1:21:55] because they're regional school
district. If you consider the size of
[1:21:59] Middleborough, how big we are, our town
alone is almost even bigger than some of
[1:22:06] these regional school districts. So we
took it to the state level. hoping that
[1:22:13] they do listen. There were over 100
folks that spoke there from school
[1:22:18] districts across the state and other
people who just support us. It'd be
[1:22:23] amazing to see if
they rethought things and helped us out
[1:22:28] with the budget on the transportation
among other things.
[1:22:31] Um so, thank you for answering my
questions.
[1:22:35] Um thank you again to everybody who
takes their time to do what they have to
[1:22:39] do as a school committee member. Mike,
thank you. I know you've been thrown a
[1:22:43] lot and I know probably dread seeing me
come up to the microphone.
[1:22:48] » Not at all.
But, you know, if there's there's no ill
[1:22:52] will, I promise you. I just ask hard
questions as a parent and a teacher. So,
[1:22:56] thank you. Um have a good night, guys.
Thank you.
[1:23:03] Sandy Smiley, 15 Spencer Street.
And um I'm a former special education
[1:23:09] teacher. I have uh taught in very, very
rural districts, so I totally understand
[1:23:17] the concept of
Middleborough being such a large space
[1:23:21] and how transportation
can literally, not to use a pun, um but
[1:23:26] I'll use it, drive the bus
um in terms of budgeting. I've also
[1:23:31] worked in a large metropolitan school
district that had the audacity and
[1:23:37] foolhardiness to think, "Ooh, we'll save
on transportation by putting all of the
[1:23:43] kids at their home school, whether that
building is accessible to a child that
[1:23:48] uses a wheelchair or not." And that
lasted about 20 minutes um and caused a
[1:23:54] great deal of problems. So, I know that
is a huge
[1:23:58] um not very easily controlled. So, I
hope the state does pay attention. My
[1:24:04] question has to do with special
education. When I have come to your
[1:24:09] board meetings, your committee meetings,
and listened to reports from the
[1:24:15] departments, I've been
amazed and really impressed by the level
[1:24:21] of both human support that you have
budgeted for and provided and
[1:24:29] um
software and other kind of program
[1:24:32] support at um
materials and things.
[1:24:36] So my question is I was really surprised
when I saw
[1:24:40] that one large chunk of increases was
because of out-of-district special
[1:24:46] education students. I understand how
those other places can be
[1:24:53] making their their costs go up and that
we can't control that.
[1:24:58] But I was surprised at the number of
students and I realize 33 is a very
[1:25:04] small number in terms of the total
number of students, but I mean we had to
[1:25:10] twist arms, legs, and practically, you
know, hog-tie people to get any student
[1:25:16] allowed to go out of district. So I'm
just curious
[1:25:20] not breaking confidentiality, but
what is the nature of the kind of
[1:25:26] out-of-school placement? Just to kind of
educate myself.
[1:25:32] There's a number of them. I'm not
uh
[1:25:36] well-versed in that. I can get you that
information. Uh I will tell you that we
[1:25:40] are
main focus is to
[1:25:44] uh
limit those and keep the students here.
[1:25:48] Mhm. Um so we are working on that. It
has been a major focus, but um the
[1:25:54] disabilities range from all all kinds.
Uh but I can I can uh and I think we did
[1:26:01] have a presentation for our from our
acting uh sped director uh who went
[1:26:06] through all those and and we can go
through that again, but I I I don't I
[1:26:10] can't comment on Okay. a lot of those.
If I could add to that um because it was
[1:26:14] for the budget subcommittee, it was uh
that uh we asked the same question
[1:26:18] immediately. Um if that was a place that
we might be able to bring students in
[1:26:23] and the information that was shared of
the extensive nature of the
[1:26:28] disabilities, it it's not because we're
not using the right methodology or
[1:26:33] something like that. It's not that at
all. It's something is more
[1:26:37] all-inclusive that to set that kind of
environment up to
[1:26:41] meet the needs of that student in this
district would cost more for
[1:26:45] that student than it would be to send
them off to another place. So, um
[1:26:52] I I believe after after listening to the
um
[1:26:56] the discussion, that it's not a place
that we would be able to bring students
[1:26:59] back into the system.
Thank you. Thanks, Anne.
[1:27:11] My question is on the facilities. Do we
have a
[1:27:15] school committee subcommittee on
facility rentals, Mike? Yes, we do.
[1:27:19] Okay.
Big different about $700,000 difference
[1:27:23] there. Um
we have all all kinds of basketball
[1:27:26] programs in town, dance recitals in
town. Um where are the kids going if
[1:27:31] they're not renting our facilities? We
have baseball starting up, right? We
[1:27:35] have all Oh, no, we're we're renting our
facilities. We have We have the balance
[1:27:38] up to 1.2 million in there. We started
using it more than what we were bringing
[1:27:44] in and we can see No longer doing it.
All right. So, the facility rentals
[1:27:48] aren't covering themselves, then. Oh,
no.
[1:27:52] I'm sorry, say that again?
So, in other words, we're renting
[1:27:56] facilities, but we're not making enough
money to cover the cost of renting those
[1:27:59] facilities.
No, I wouldn't say that. We We are
[1:28:04] paying
We were paying for some salaries out of
[1:28:09] facilities rental.
Um and so, as I said, we did the balance
[1:28:16] was up to a million, and over the last
couple of years, we were paying for
[1:28:20] salaries that used to be paid out of
general fund.
[1:28:24] So, we were
paying for those,
[1:28:27] and now we can no longer do that. I have
to move those people back to the general
[1:28:31] fund.
All right. So, is that money then
[1:28:35] that money kind of accumulated then over
the years and paid and now we've hit the
[1:28:39] bottom
and it just it looks like we're making
[1:28:42] like we're making $700,000 in facility
rentals, but we're not. That's a that's
[1:28:47] many years that have accumulated. We
were able to take out of it, but now
[1:28:51] it's Correct. kind of zeroed itself out
and we're just I wouldn't say zero. I
[1:28:56] wouldn't allow it to go
>> not zero.
[1:28:58] I got to leave something in there. Yeah,
yeah. [laughter]
[1:29:00] All right. Well, thank you. Yep.
>> [clears throat]
[1:29:06] » Mike, just a touch. So, it wasn't the
715 in one year. That was built up and
[1:29:12] we had delayed some of the payment we're
feeling now by using those one-time
[1:29:16] payments going forward.
Correct. Okay.
[1:29:24] Anything else for Mike?
[1:29:28] Okay. Moving on.
We ask about subcommittees. That's next
[1:29:34] on the agenda.
Um,
[1:29:36] so, again,
the agenda that was
[1:29:41] uh,
this is the topic that's typically on
[1:29:45] the agenda for right after we have the
elections of what the the subcommittees
[1:29:49] are are and
who might serve.
[1:29:53] Uh,
so, in your packet, you'll see there is
[1:29:56] a list of our current subcommittees and
who up until
[1:30:02] the time of the elections, who has
served on it.
[1:30:05] Uh, you'll see I'll just quickly, um,
read this the
[1:30:10] that we've referred to many times
already this evening,
[1:30:13] uh, which Shannon and Jess served on,
um, lots of time that's been spent
[1:30:18] because our policies hadn't been
reviewed for many years. Uh,
[1:30:22] it's very important because it's uh,
there are many laws that we have to that
[1:30:26] are always changing that we have to make
sure, uh, are incorporated into our
[1:30:31] policies. Uh, very important and
detailed information that has to be
[1:30:36] discussed and, um, and then language
written that then goes to legal,
[1:30:42] uh, and then comes here for our, um,
review and decisions.
[1:30:48] Next is a We ended up during the year
last year because when Zeke left and we
[1:30:54] went down to a smaller committee, so we
were a committee of five. Um, so, um,
[1:31:00] populating all of these subcommittees
was, uh,
[1:31:03] was not easy.
Uh, so, we combined to the master plan,
[1:31:08] facilities and equipment, uh,
subcommittee, which Alan chaired and I
[1:31:13] was on.
Uh, we did not get to the master plan.
[1:31:16] We worked, uh, predominantly on, uh,
looking into questions about the
[1:31:21] facilities that came up in a variety of
different ways.
[1:31:25] Uh, public and student relations, that
was Chris and I, but, uh, because we
[1:31:31] were also on the budget,
uh, as well as others, uh, there are
[1:31:35] some things that we did regarding
communication and it was something that
[1:31:38] was a definitely a priority that came
out of our retreat last year, but,
[1:31:43] uh, it is not one that we made a lot of
progress on.
[1:31:46] Uh, and you'll see underneath there what
what the intent was for that committee.
[1:31:52] Uh, budget committee.
Again, you've heard a lot about that.
[1:31:56] That was Chris and I.
Uh, negotiations.
[1:32:01] Uh, we have a variety of different uh,
unions that we need to do negotiations
[1:32:07] with and we need to have
typically two people at those
[1:32:12] negotiations.
Sometimes if it's a
[1:32:16] small one we can get by with one.
And that was Jess and Chris.
[1:32:22] And then superintendent evaluation
that was
[1:32:27] Jess and Shannon.
Last year when we populated these we did
[1:32:32] it originally last summer. We did a
retreat. We determined
[1:32:38] we did it a bit of a self-assessment. We
determined goals and priorities and from
[1:32:43] that came
what the individual
[1:32:47] committees were and what their charge
was.
[1:32:50] And then
the chair
[1:32:53] reached out and asked people
what where they wish to serve and then
[1:32:59] these were populated in that way.
In thinking about where we are now
[1:33:05] um
again um
[1:33:08] uh
where we have our all our new members
[1:33:13] uh
a thought that I have and I'm I'm just
[1:33:16] putting this out as a thought
uh and then
[1:33:19] whatever the wish of the board is
um
[1:33:23] I do think that we might want to
wait until we have the retreat to
[1:33:28] formally go through things again this
you know if we did it early this summer
[1:33:33] and then
um
[1:33:35] really get a sense of what you might
want to serve on.
[1:33:38] Uh though there are some that are of
immediate need
[1:33:43] uh and
Mikey you know or anyone else who can
[1:33:49] help me
if you think I am misstating
[1:33:53] um
policy and protocols
[1:33:57] uh
we have Shannon and we
[1:34:00] and Jess is not with us any longer and
Shannon might not
[1:34:06] be with us
uh in physically for a little while.
[1:34:10] Um
[1:34:12] I know we just spoke about wanting to to
look at
[1:34:17] uh the policies.
I do wonder this is, you know, ideal and
[1:34:22] reality.
Um not having someone here immediately
[1:34:27] to help with whomever else wants to
serve on that board, I wonder if we can
[1:34:31] put it on the given
that we're also looking at uh suspending
[1:34:36] uh
the one that we really want to take a
[1:34:38] look at first, I wonder if we can hold
on that one until uh the end of the
[1:34:44] school season and then uh you're able to
look at that along with some other ones.
[1:34:49] Uh
master plan and facilities,
[1:34:53] uh
[1:34:55] actually, Mike, I know that you uh there
are some things that are coming up that
[1:34:59] we need to discuss immediately. Is that
true?
[1:35:02] Yes.
Um so that is one that we're going to
[1:35:05] need to think of quickly to populate a
second person on that subcommittee or or
[1:35:11] the first person, which is me.
Um
[1:35:16] public and student relations, again,
even though that's something we want to
[1:35:20] we know we want to do, I do wonder if
that is one that we can hold till the
[1:35:24] summer or where we have some time to
regroup.
[1:35:27] Uh
budget, I think Chris and I can continue
[1:35:30] on budget. Uh
just on the subcommittee, everything
[1:35:34] comes back to the committee anyway,
and finish that.
[1:35:38] Negotiations is one.
Uh you told me was that was a stipends
[1:35:44] one?
That's not like a Is that a different
[1:35:47] subcommittee? Stipends? Is it something
else? I can't Um it's not a
[1:35:52] subcommittee. It's just
uh we need a
[1:35:56] committee member
on
[1:35:59] when they talk about
stipends either athletics or for
[1:36:05] non-extracurricular.
Um, and so they meet it it
[1:36:10] they don't meet that often we have in
the past few years cuz they've totally
[1:36:13] revamped it.
Um, so it's not a
[1:36:17] heavy lift, but we do need one rep
>> There's not enough there. And the next
[1:36:21] time that group would be meeting would
be It was yesterday. We couldn't do it
[1:36:27] cuz it was Jess.
Uh, so they moved it to next month.
[1:36:31] Okay.
Um, and as far as negotiations we are we
[1:36:36] done with any negotiations that need to
be done for the rest of the school year?
[1:36:40] No, we have uh we just got a notice to
start food service.
[1:36:45] I'm sorry. Food service. Okay.
[1:36:49] And that will finish it up.
And superintendent evaluation um won't
[1:36:55] begin until next year.
Uh, so my thought is
[1:37:00] at the next meeting given this
uh that
[1:37:04] And is that too late for the stipends
and negotiation one
[1:37:08] to populate that sub those subcommittees
if we wait till next the next meeting?
[1:37:15] Um,
I if someone if someone would just be
[1:37:21] available for the stipend
uh it doesn't have to be a
[1:37:25] uh a standard Okay.
And we can maybe we can talk about that
[1:37:29] after this And I can work with them as
to when someone would be available and
[1:37:33] we could go from there.
[1:37:37] Uh, so we would be and the uh when we
need
[1:37:42] a a group for you to meet with about
facilities, when does that need to
[1:37:47] exist?
That one's
[1:37:50] immediate. Okay.
Uh
[1:37:55] can it wait till the next meeting or do
you need it tonight?
[1:37:59] It could wait I think till the next
meeting. I'm meeting with the attorney
[1:38:01] tomorrow morning
um to start the conversation what I'll
[1:38:05] bring back to the committee.
[1:38:09] And negotiations
Chris, are you still on negotiations?
[1:38:15] I can't. Uh so yeah, uh two chairs ago
put me on negotiations and then the
[1:38:21] previous chair informed me that legal
um
[1:38:24] told me that I could not participate as
a member of MTA.
[1:38:28] So I was replaced with Al. Okay.
And so do we need that person now?
[1:38:36] Tonight? For this one, yes, because uh
food service is connected to that. So
[1:38:41] but if it were a custodial or the admin
assistants
[1:38:45] uh
Chris could sit on that one or those
[1:38:48] two, but the ones
uh with the ESPs, food and teachers,
[1:38:53] he's not
uh
[1:38:55] able to do that.
[1:38:59] Okay.
Um so this is my thought. I don't know
[1:39:03] if we can do this this evening.
Um if it is okay with the board
[1:39:09] uh that I speak with individuals and see
if we can just temporarily fill these
[1:39:13] positions until we um regroup uh this
summer and um and more formally set up
[1:39:20] our subcommittees. So I'm open to any
other idea.
[1:39:27] Yes. So if I may, so just with the
suspending of that policy for this
[1:39:31] evening, obviously it needs to be
reviewed on the next agenda.
[1:39:34] Um so with that, are you going to review
put it on the agenda as such that it's
[1:39:39] noted that we did review it and was
suspended for this meeting, but we will
[1:39:42] put that on hold until there is a
redistribution of the subcommittees.
[1:39:48] Correct. I put the review on hold and
and revisit the suspension each um each
[1:39:54] meeting. So, the 3-minute rule will
stand until the subcommittees developed
[1:39:58] and has had a moment to review the
policy. Okay.
[1:40:03] Other thoughts?
[1:40:07] Okay, next
Are you moving to your
[1:40:10] your Sorry, I I understand why it needs
to be suspended, but then every meeting
[1:40:15] I'm not suspended, tabled, but every
meeting will suspend it or vote to
[1:40:19] suspend it. Okay. Yes.
Okay.
[1:40:25] Okay. Mhm.
Okay.
[1:40:27] All right.
That is the end of the subcommittee, but
[1:40:30] you're going to be hearing from me.
Um
[1:40:36] All right. Next on the agenda
[1:40:44] is the superintendent search.
Um you know, probably the two most
[1:40:49] important items
uh that we are working through right now
[1:40:54] is the budget and the superintendent
search.
[1:40:58] Uh I don't think that typically, though
I've not been on the school committee
[1:41:02] long,
that um the first meeting of the new
[1:41:05] board has uh
uh
[1:41:09] heavy lift items on the agenda, but
because of the importance of the
[1:41:15] the superintendent search
uh and some pressing
[1:41:20] um decisions that we need to make, uh
we really needed to dig in on this one.
[1:41:26] So, in your packet
you will find clipped
[1:41:30] uh together uh three different
timelines.
[1:41:37] Uh and let me give you a little context
for it. Um, at our last school committee
[1:41:42] meeting,
um, at the very end of it, um, we were
[1:41:47] given the superintendent
uh,
[1:41:51] what is now labeled the original
superintendent search timeline revised.
[1:41:56] Uh, it had been revised, um,
when it was given to us, but it's the
[1:42:01] original one that we had we received at
that time.
[1:42:05] Um, when we had, uh, Shawn Costello from
MAS came and did the presentation on the
[1:42:12] superintendent search,
uh, we had told him, uh, that we really
[1:42:17] wanted to, uh, expedite the search,
uh, and, uh,
[1:42:23] have a superintendent in place for the
upcoming year, and he was given a
[1:42:28] deadline, um, of July 1st to have,
um, the superintendent, the new
[1:42:37] superintendent begin the tenure.
Uh,
[1:42:41] and and that was something everybody
wanted, uh, when we had first talked
[1:42:46] about doing the superintendent search
back in,
[1:42:50] I don't know, Mike, when
when did we know we wanted to launch the
[1:42:54] search back in, I don't remember the
dates, I think January or February,
[1:42:59] February.
Um, we we thought that that was doable,
[1:43:03] but because of circumstances of when we
closed, um, our relationship with the
[1:43:08] past superintendent, that got pushed
back.
[1:43:11] Um, and as a result, we ended up with
the timeline that you have in front of
[1:43:16] you that says, um, the original.
When, um, those of us that were on the
[1:43:22] committee at the time afterwards started
looking at it, there were a few of us
[1:43:26] that began looking at the dates and
wondering whether or not it was
[1:43:30] reasonable,
um, for us to accomplish all of this
[1:43:35] knowing that
it was of utmost important to us that we
[1:43:41] get community input, that we get
stakeholder input, the teachers, the
[1:43:45] staff, all various kinds of input. Um
and that we wanted it to go smoothly.
[1:43:53] Um if you've been involved in searches
before, you know,
[1:43:58] you set times and dates but they never
stay exactly where they are. Often it
[1:44:02] gets moved back. And we didn't want to
miss uh
[1:44:06] at least I will speak for myself. I
didn't want to see us misstepping
[1:44:09] because we were trying to get it done by
July 1st.
[1:44:13] Um
so on
[1:44:17] on [clears throat]
Sunday
[1:44:20] well, maybe it was Monday.
Um when I realized I would be at least
[1:44:25] starting this meeting. Um I reached out
to Sean uh Costello and said, uh can we
[1:44:33] look at pushing the What about What if
we push the
[1:44:38] uh start date for the new
the new superintendent back to August
[1:44:42] 1st? At least give us a little
uh wiggle room cuz if you see on the
[1:44:46] original one, so for example um
we it says April 2nd uh a designee meets
[1:44:54] with the consultant to confirm deadline,
set up the schedule for focus groups on
[1:44:59] approving survey and determine the
scree- screening committee composition
[1:45:04] and recruit plan which just
appropriately did, but we've not really
[1:45:09] had time to look at any of that. Um
and then according to this timeline, we
[1:45:16] would be starting online surveys on the
between the 6th and the 15th. Well,
[1:45:22] today, you know, we're already behind.
Um and then on the 10th,
[1:45:28] which is tomorrow,
um, start recruiting volunteers for the
[1:45:32] screening committee. So, it already felt
like we were falling behind and that it
[1:45:36] was it felt
I will tell you Monday it felt very
[1:45:40] overwhelming. So, uh, I did contact
Shawn and asked for that, um, August
[1:45:46] 1st.
And so, you will see,
[1:45:49] um,
that you have another
[1:45:54] timeline, which I've now pulled all my
stuff
[1:45:57] uh, apart. Hold on.
You have another timeline that's behind
[1:46:03] that that says with the August 1st.
[1:46:09] When he gave that to me, he his initial
I said, "Would that work?" And he said,
[1:46:16] "I have to tell you." Well, first I
asked him if we could go to September
[1:46:19] 1st.
And he said, "So, you're just not going
[1:46:22] to get the candidates that you want if
you go to a September 1st date. Um, they
[1:46:28] they will already have gone and and
taken positions."
[1:46:31] Um, and I said, "Well, okay. How about
August 1st?" And he said, "Yes, you
[1:46:36] would have a you'd have a better pool
there if it was September 1st."
[1:46:41] Um, but not an ideal pool because of how
late it is in the season that people are
[1:46:46] already ready to move on.
And he came back to me with a
[1:46:51] another suggestion, which you will see
behind it.
[1:46:55] And that is
he said, "I really believe, um,
[1:46:59] and then he
called me back again.
[1:47:03] Oh, no, he emailed me and said that he
talked to his colleagues later about our
[1:47:07] circumstance, and our circumstance being
where we are,
[1:47:11] many new, um, members of of the board,
um, that haven't been in the
[1:47:16] conversations about this,
um, that we have the positions that are
[1:47:21] open in leadership
um or in interim positions.
[1:47:26] I he recommended that we consider
hiring an interim
[1:47:33] um superintendent
and starting the for a year
[1:47:38] and starting the
um search for the permanent
[1:47:43] superintendent end of September.
Um
[1:47:47] with the goal of having that person be
in place
[1:47:51] at the ideal time next year, which would
be July 1st.
[1:47:55] Uh so um I said that I would bring that
to this group, which is uh I know that
[1:48:02] this is a lot um for our first time
around here.
[1:48:06] Um I have talked so Mike
has been our acting superintendent.
[1:48:12] Different people have used different
titles, but uh that is the title that
[1:48:16] he's been operating on and from the very
beginning when we spoke with him, it was
[1:48:21] uh because we thought that it would be
for a um short period of time.
[1:48:27] Uh this would extend it um through all
of next year.
[1:48:31] Uh there's a lot on his plate with far
as the budget is concerned uh
[1:48:36] going forward in the facilities and all
of those things. Not to say he is
[1:48:43] absolutely able and willing and he has
done a fabulous job and willing to
[1:48:48] continue on.
Um
[1:48:51] uh so the question would be
um which direction [clears throat] do we
[1:48:55] want to go?
Uh and as I I'll throw in one last
[1:48:59] thought.
Uh and that might make this a little
[1:49:03] more palatable in terms of the chunks of
information we're taking in and
[1:49:07] decisions we need to make.
It might be that the first decision
[1:49:11] would be
do we want to go with the idea of
[1:49:14] starting a
search
[1:49:19] the end of next September
with the idea of putting someone in
[1:49:24] place that would hire a superintendent
whose tenure would begin next July. We
[1:49:30] can start with making that decision
um tonight which would offload a little
[1:49:35] bit of all of that we should be doing if
we're going to go forward with it.
[1:49:40] And then
um
[1:49:42] have a conversation about
uh interim versus acting
[1:49:47] uh and the complexities of the decision
of that of that decision.
[1:49:56] To not I'm not saying whether which one
to go with
[1:50:00] just for people in general
this is the last one with starting in
[1:50:06] September and
doing the whole process through the year
[1:50:10] that's a typical
search process and search timeline.
[1:50:15] Um Correct.
What
[1:50:18] we would be doing whether it's July 1 or
August 1 is definitely an expediated
[1:50:27] compressed timeline.
Um so just comparing what would be
[1:50:32] typical versus obviously what we are
also you know looking to do
[1:50:39] which yields very different pools that
we're looking at.
[1:50:47] Other thoughts?
[1:50:51] I have thoughts but
uh can we hear from the people first?
[1:50:55] And then I'll share.
Sure.
[1:50:59] Anyone like to speak to this?
Hi, I'm back.
[1:51:04] Um
okay. So I have a few questions. I know
[1:51:07] that we don't want to rush this, make a
knee-jerk decision. I get that.
[1:51:13] Um
[1:51:16] Mike, you've done a great job
considering everything that's been
[1:51:20] thrown at you.
Uh
[1:51:23] it Please, do not mean this I hope this
doesn't come off as offensive. It's
[1:51:28] nothing with you.
Um but our
[1:51:32] former superintendent had been MIA for
the entire year due to being on leave.
[1:51:39] Um and now we're hearing that
yet another school year
[1:51:44] we could be without a
[1:51:49] Again, Mike, no disrespect. A true
superintendent that's been hired in that
[1:51:54] role. So, in my mind I'm thinking 2
years, wow.
[1:51:58] Um and I know some school committee
members who are running for this
[1:52:02] position ran on the idea that they're
going going right into that
[1:52:06] superintendent search.
Um
[1:52:11] if we were in this position where let's
say hypothetically we take our time
[1:52:18] and
maybe you cannot answer this question,
[1:52:23] but would it be Mike being as the
acting superintendent, is this another
[1:52:33] potential candidate? And my question is
if it's another potential candidate, how
[1:52:38] are they going to be selected? Under
what credentials? Who is going to make
[1:52:43] that decision? Um
because
[1:52:48] we've been a district in flux
uh with
[1:52:52] administrative positions kind of coming
and going and different messages and
[1:53:00] so on and so forth. I was really hoping
that we would just go all in and really
[1:53:08] hit the ground running looking for a
superintendent. Again, this is speaking
[1:53:13] as a teacher and a parent for my
children's education.
[1:53:18] And um if
I just want to respond to your question
[1:53:23] uh that you asked. So, um unfortunately,
you don't have this, but what um
[1:53:30] the timeline for choosing an interim
superintendent search timeline, it would
[1:53:36] be conducted in the
uh by mask by Shawn.
[1:53:40] Uh and it would involve uh many of the
same steps, but not as intensive. So, it
[1:53:48] includes a community survey, post the
position, um
[1:53:54] and then we would be meeting to review
the survey and determine questions to
[1:53:58] review applications and select
interviewees.
[1:54:02] Uh
and this is his recommendation, and also
[1:54:05] this can be added to. So, I
that pro- it would be a process. It
[1:54:10] wouldn't be just one person or a couple
of us saying, "Yeah, let's hire that
[1:54:15] person." It would go through a similar
very truncated process uh for someone,
[1:54:20] and typically
um there is a pool of for interims of uh
[1:54:25] superintendents that for a variety of
reasons uh
[1:54:30] very often they're people with some
experience that they don't want to have
[1:54:35] a full uh go they they see this as
something that they do, or there's a
[1:54:41] variety of reasons why, but they're
people that would have the same kind of
[1:54:44] experience and credentials um that uh
for superintendent.
[1:54:51] Okay. And if that was to happen, when
would that potential decision be made?
[1:54:57] Would that before be before the start of
the academic school year? Could we see
[1:55:02] an interim in like October? No, July.
This he he believed he could do
[1:55:09] by July because it's not in the in a
typical the one thing that for example
[1:55:15] that is not in the timeline
of hiring the regular the full-time one
[1:55:22] is things like site visits is usually
always part of hiring and I don't
[1:55:27] believe I I see that in this. So, there
are
[1:55:30] specific things like that that you
wouldn't do for the interim so you can
[1:55:33] truncate it a bit. Um and it would be
his hope that he would be able to have
[1:55:38] someone here for July going through a
real process.
[1:55:43] Thank you. I just have never been a part
of this conversation before so that's
[1:55:47] why I had different questions. Um
moving forward
[1:55:53] we do need again Mike no disrespect but
I never want to come off like I'm coming
[1:55:58] off the wrong way but the culture of the
district
[1:56:02] this whole school year has been
different. Um we feel it. So, my hope is
[1:56:11] whether it is an interim situ- or or
acting superintendent whatever you want
[1:56:15] to say whoever is selected is an ideal
candidate for a not rushed
[1:56:21] superintendent search. I just am hoping
we're not delaying
[1:56:27] uh
delaying the process. That's all. So,
[1:56:30] thank you so much for clarifying those
questions.
[1:56:36] Sue, just sorry Sarah.
What is the We know what the cost is for
[1:56:42] the actual superintendent search is
11,500.
[1:56:45] Do we have a cost and Sean may have
presented this and I maybe just forgot.
[1:56:50] Um is there a cost associated with an
interim superintendent search in
[1:56:53] addition to
the regular superintendent search?
[1:56:56] » He said it he they would do it for the
same fee.
[1:56:59] Together.
>> So in addition okay. So all all 11,500
[1:57:03] in. Yeah, it does not increase it does
not increase the cost. I just think that
[1:57:06] was important to know. Thank you.
So as someone who watched the last
[1:57:11] process,
I think we really need to be careful
[1:57:15] about rushing this. Uh we need to open
this up much further than just
[1:57:21] uh the the zip code. Um so I really
think we need to consider having an
[1:57:26] interim somebody that knows they're not
here long term unless they choose that
[1:57:31] to apply for that later. But I think if
we're going to hit the ground running
[1:57:35] now and try to get a permanent placement
in July, it would be foolish. It would
[1:57:39] just be repeating old patterns and I
think we need to get out of that
[1:57:42] mindset. We've a brand new board. I
think we have a great acting
[1:57:47] superintendent. I think we need to just
take a bit of a breath and make a make
[1:57:53] those choices
in a timely manner, but not to just rush
[1:57:58] and hit the gas and say, "Well, we need
this. We need this. We need this."
[1:58:01] There's a lot of issues going on, but I
think this is such a big um decision and
[1:58:07] we've seen it go wrong before. So I'd
really like to take time with this. So I
[1:58:10] think an interim is definitely the way
to go.
[1:58:13] Thank you.
[1:58:19] I just want to comment towards the new
members. When you guys were running, I
[1:58:22] heard and read about you stuff. I don't
think any of you would surprise me as
[1:58:26] superintendent. Are you?
Cuz it sounds like, "Oh, we got new
[1:58:29] members. We're going to put it off." I
think they knew exactly what we needed.
[1:58:34] Right? You know we need new
superintendent. You need time to
[1:58:38] I don't know what. Learn more about the
schools? I think you ran because you
[1:58:41] know that there's an issue in the
schools. So I don't think waiting
[1:58:44] because a new board
They knew what they were getting into.
[1:58:48] They knew what they wanted to take on.
This isn't and I don't feel this is
[1:58:52] rushed. We've been talking about this
for what? A month and a half, two months
[1:58:55] now?
What is Mr. Costello's timeline if we
[1:58:58] start in July? Is it a two-month
process? Cuz we're going to be ready for
[1:59:00] September with the new superintendent,
right?
[1:59:03] And now we're going to wait another
year.
[1:59:06] I don't know why we're waiting. His His
timeline sounded pretty quick. I can't
[1:59:10] remember exactly his timeline. I know it
was busy.
[1:59:14] He did talk about that.
But we knew the timeline, and we thought
[1:59:17] we'd get a good pool of candidates. I
don't know if it was July 1st or if it
[1:59:21] was June 1st that we were meeting.
And now we're saying, "Well, we're going
[1:59:25] to wait."
And I do agree with the fact of
[1:59:29] yeah, we shouldn't rush into it, but are
we rushing into it? Is three months by
[1:59:33] the state rushing into it?
If that's their program, is that how
[1:59:37] they pick superintendents? That's not
rushing into anything. That's their
[1:59:41] policy. That's how they find
superintendents.
[1:59:45] So, I I I don't know why we would wait.
We're in trouble. We need help. And
[1:59:49] again, no has me He's doing double duty.
[1:59:54] But the schools need something.
And we can't, you know, waiting another
[1:59:58] year. Okay, well,
then what are we doing?
[2:00:02] And we're still going to interview for
an interim, but we're not going to go as
[2:00:05] far with the interviews.
Well, then aren't we kind of rushing
[2:00:08] into that, too? Where did this person
come from?
[2:00:11] Are they just because they were a
superintendent, that means, "Oh yeah,
[2:00:14] we'll put them in there for a year."
That means we can't move forward for a
[2:00:18] year. We can't move forward on programs.
We have the ELA that we're talking
[2:00:21] about. We want the new superintendent
about the restructuring the schools.
[2:00:25] And we're going to wait another year.
I just
[2:00:29] I think Mr. Costello made a good case
that this was the program. This was how
[2:00:32] you picked the superintendent.
I
[2:00:35] If I just may clarify, he
he said if we want to do it that
[2:00:39] quickly, even during the presentation,
that he would
[2:00:43] build a timeline that did it, but the
normal timeline is longer and includes
[2:00:49] other aspects.
Okay. Thank you. You're welcome.
[2:00:56] I can I just have a couple questions
clarifying. So, there's an $11,000 fee
[2:01:01] for the search. And so, we're already in
budget issues. We're going to do $11,000
[2:01:07] this year if we do interim and then
$11,000 for the search next year? No. Um
[2:01:12] he offered to do all of it for the same
all 11 months.
[2:01:16] Um so, then my other question or thought
to consider is
[2:01:21] you know, some of the things that we had
discussed and I think you know, the
[2:01:25] previous comment also just mentioned
this is we weren't going to think about
[2:01:30] reconfiguration
and some other building issues with
[2:01:35] interim superintendent. We wanted to get
a full superintendent in here before we
[2:01:39] had these conversations.
So, now if we have another interim, are
[2:01:42] we going to wait a whole another year to
start having those conversations about
[2:01:45] our buildings again?
Um and just continue pushing things off
[2:01:49] for further years. So, just my thoughts.
Thanks.
[2:01:58] Also, for clarification,
um not really following the original
[2:02:05] hiring of the previous superintendent
and the process um
[2:02:11] until it got towards the end.
When you have a superintendent,
[2:02:18] what process goes on in terms of um
evaluation?
[2:02:25] And
like with anything else,
[2:02:29] whether you get an interim or whether
you hire a full-time
[2:02:34] superintendent, I'm assuming there's
going to be an evaluation period. And if
[2:02:41] they're not cutting it, then
they're going to be held accountable.
[2:02:47] So, to me, having worked in districts,
if that process,
[2:02:54] if you do as good a job in search,
regardless of the amount of time, as you
[2:03:00] possibly can, and then you stay on top
of evaluation based on what you have
[2:03:08] learned apparently from
where there were shortcomings and
[2:03:13] difficulties and things that didn't
work,
[2:03:17] then it seems to me
that you'd have a a better outcome.
[2:03:23] And and I empathize with those staff
members, it's going to be
[2:03:30] very difficult, I would imagine, to keep
morale up
[2:03:36] if there are unanswered questions or
there are un-
[2:03:42] um resolved projects like reorganizing
uh the elementary schools
[2:03:50] that have to be put on hold. That's
that's really going to be difficult, and
[2:03:55] I think whatever decision you make,
that impact on staff needs to be
[2:04:04] really thoughtfully considered.
Thank you. I got a good point.
[2:04:13] Colleagues on the board,
[2:04:16] so is there a way to maybe put together
like some kind of survey that could sent
[2:04:23] out to everyone with
the thought process, the two different
[2:04:27] timelines,
what would be the reason to consider
[2:04:30] either or, and see what the majority of
people think?
[2:04:36] Uh um
are you saying
[2:04:43] the
whether people want an interim or the
[2:04:49] by the time we do that we will lost the
time
[2:04:52] So the surveys that are supposed to go
out
[2:04:55] and by the time you did that we would
have blown this timeline that we we
[2:05:00] wouldn't be able to
is my thought although people can
[2:05:05] because we'd have to develop develop it
get it out but maybe you have a a
[2:05:09] different
if you're looking at these dates
[2:05:12] to get this done but maybe you have a
different thought.
[2:05:16] Okay.
[2:05:26] Is there someone up there? I'm sorry.
It's dark up there. I don't see. I
[2:05:30] couldn't tell if you were sitting or
standing.
[2:05:33] Is that a short joke? No, [laughter]
cuz the thing's in my way so I couldn't
[2:05:38] see.
Um hi Eva Crawford
[2:05:42] resident here in town 172 Center Ave.
Um also retired teacher here in
[2:05:47] Middleborough Public Schools.
Um I've been through two interim
[2:05:52] superintendents.
So I know
[2:05:56] what that feels like as an employee.
Um so I would caution you to
[2:06:03] really think everything through
before you make a decision. I've also
[2:06:08] been on a superintendent search
committee
[2:06:11] 20 years ago.
[2:06:14] Um so I understand very much the process
and how long it takes. Um
[2:06:22] I just want you guys to make the best
decision possible because this is not
[2:06:26] just about staff this is about our kids.
Absolutely. And I don't know any teacher
[2:06:31] who
does not want the best for their kids.
[2:06:36] You know,
our staff is wonderful.
[2:06:39] So, we really
hope that you really think this through.
[2:06:45] Okay, thank you.
[2:07:06] I understand when when you said about
this um survey and how com-
[2:07:11] comprehensive and how long it would take
and everything. And this is probably
[2:07:15] maybe even a stupid thing to suggest,
but
[2:07:19] you're in a lose-lose situation, quite
frankly.
[2:07:23] So,
the best you can hope for, or if I were
[2:07:27] in your shoes, would be at least to send
out by Monday one question to staff. And
[2:07:35] that would be the question, should we go
interim, should which will take this
[2:07:39] kind of timeline and lay out that
timeline, or should we go
[2:07:44] um the longer
or should we get a full-time
[2:07:48] superintendent with a compressed three
three month um
[2:07:53] search proce- process?
At least give them, to my my way of
[2:07:59] thinking, and this is just my opinion,
the respect of asking that question of
[2:08:04] them. And I mean staff from
all the way
[2:08:08] across the board.
Um
[2:08:11] get back those answers.
And then you at least know where they
[2:08:16] all stand, and you can come back to them
with what your decision is and your
[2:08:20] rationale for whichever it is. But I
think
[2:08:25] they're going to feel blindsided,
um
[2:08:29] and then that's going to make the whole
process harder. Um
[2:08:35] So, I I'm I'm glad I'm not in your
shoes.
[2:08:40] Thank you, I think.
[2:08:45] I just had a question, uh Kim, you
brought something up about the pool, and
[2:08:49] I I don't know if you can answer this or
not, I just don't have any experience
[2:08:52] with this, but I think you want the
strongest pools possible of candidates,
[2:08:56] right?
So, was that what you kind of indicating
[2:08:59] is that, hey, the normal process starts
in September, you know, cuz it was
[2:09:03] vacated, and that allows for a larger
pool or stronger pool, I guess, of
[2:09:07] candidates.
Are we kind of Do you think we're past
[2:09:11] that point? So, it's kind of like you're
not at the bottom of the barrel, but
[2:09:16] like maybe those candidates that we
would want, they're already kind of in
[2:09:20] a, you know, last interview type of
process that we think would be a good
[2:09:24] fit for this district, so it kind of
really narrows that focus at that point.
[2:09:29] Right. So, a lot of districts who are in
a superintendent search right now are
[2:09:35] kind of finalizing their searches. So,
a lot of superintendents are being hired
[2:09:42] right now. Um so, or we might obviously
will be getting ones that are still
[2:09:47] looking for jobs. Um we might be getting
ones who are being let go from districts
[2:09:53] and then looking for jobs
at the end, or who might have put in
[2:09:59] last-minute notice and then leaving
positions, um
[2:10:07] I mean, somebody might see our post and
be like, okay, awesome, yep, want
[2:10:11] Middleborough, and then put and put in
their notice. I mean, it could be a
[2:10:14] unicorn, who knows, but um you know, at
this late stage in the game, this is the
[2:10:20] hiring time versus the posting time for
a superintendent. Um whereas in Sep-
[2:10:27] late September, fall is usually when
you're posting and that's usually if
[2:10:32] somebody is leaving
a position or it's that towards the end
[2:10:36] of their contract or things like that,
it's the last year, then the the
[2:10:40] district's already prepping for that. Um
and they know that is coming, so.
[2:10:47] I also would add to that, um
which I think is
[2:10:51] absolutely correct, but it
in addition to that,
[2:10:57] the amount of time that we really want
to get the community and the
[2:11:02] teachers and the staff, everyone's
um information and really think through
[2:11:09] what we consider the best fit for
Middleborough at this time.
[2:11:16] And
um I just worry that we have a lot of um
[2:11:22] bullets on here about do fo- do a focus
group next week, send out the online
[2:11:27] survey next week. Um and is it really in
a in
[2:11:32] will we have enough time to thoughtfully
consider who we are looking for with the
[2:11:38] right kind of input that's also
alongside of what you're saying, that's
[2:11:42] also my concern. Yeah, absolutely. I
mean, looking at the timeline, if we
[2:11:46] were to
start now for the August 1st, we would
[2:11:50] be
putting out, you know, after break,
[2:11:53] putting out um surveys,
doing community forums the week of,
[2:11:59] you know, May 7th,
and then on Monday, May 11th, we would
[2:12:05] be, you know, kind of looking at that
and then immediately posting
[2:12:10] 3 days later. I mean, that's not really
giving a whole lot of time to even be
[2:12:14] able to review the surveys that the
communities
[2:12:18] you know, the information they're giving
us.
[2:12:22] So, whereas if we're doing that process
throughout the fall,
[2:12:26] that's giving us, you know, a lot of
information and a lot of time to get a
[2:12:29] lot of get the community input.
[2:12:39] Other thoughts?
I know, it's hard.
[2:12:42] Can I chime in?
Certainly. All right. Uh yeah, so
[2:12:46] in my experience, usually the way and
we're in a different spot,
[2:12:50] usually the year starts in September
where you have a superintendent who's
[2:12:56] they're in their last year of their
contract and they're going to retire
[2:12:59] and that's when you start your search.
So, we're definitely behind that given
[2:13:03] our circumstances.
Um I think it's
[2:13:07] I mean
any number of candidates can look really
[2:13:10] good on paper. I really want someone
who's here for Middleborough and we're
[2:13:15] sure is going to be here for
Middleborough and understands the staff,
[2:13:20] the families, and the this all the
stakeholders.
[2:13:23] Um and I'm hesitant to do that in such a
a quick search.
[2:13:28] Um in terms in my experience are usually
experienced superintendents keeping even
[2:13:33] keel. Um
and I think one bonus that we haven't
[2:13:39] talked about yet is if we have an
interim superintendent,
[2:13:43] then we don't need to have
an acting end business manager doing two
[2:13:47] jobs at once. Um and I don't think
uh the state's going to cap spending on
[2:13:54] transportation, special ed, and other
costs and I don't think they're going to
[2:13:57] add more
funds to us. So, I think having a
[2:14:01] business manager who is full-time
looking at the books and monitoring the
[2:14:06] budget is incredibly almost as important
as whoever we pick for our
[2:14:11] superintendent just in these next few
years where things are going to
[2:14:15] they're going to be tight again next
year and for the foreseeable future. So,
[2:14:19] I think that's an important piece that
we need to consider.
[2:14:25] And if I could add to that, guess I'm
adding today.
[2:14:28] Um,
couldn't agree more with one addition
[2:14:32] and that's the added bonus of having an
acting superintendent
[2:14:38] um, on the staff working with the
interim and it would be my desire that
[2:14:45] whoever whomever as we go through that
interview process that we
[2:14:49] pick a team player that recognizes that
he's got a good teammate, he or she has
[2:14:54] a good teammate who's done this for a
while and will be able to provide the
[2:15:00] institutional knowledge
um, and information about the culture
[2:15:04] and all of that
um, to help guide in in a way that might
[2:15:09] not happen in other circumstances.
[2:15:18] I would just really love to see some
community input even if we have I would
[2:15:22] love to see community input on this
because this is such a huge thing
[2:15:27] for our town.
You know, [clears throat] and
[2:15:30] I completely value what you guys are
saying as educators. I mean, you've been
[2:15:34] involved in it, you know firsthand.
Um, but I still just feel like everybody
[2:15:39] should have some kind of input even if I
like that quick survey. I mean, let's
[2:15:45] just hear what people say.
You know, because then everybody's
[2:15:49] they're going to be involved. So,
whatever decision is made, it wasn't
[2:15:53] made by just the seven of us.
We have more input, you know?
[2:16:00] Understood.
[2:16:06] So,
how do we want to proceed here?
[2:16:13] If I may say, I I think too with
to Leah's point as well as that this was
[2:16:18] on the agenda. I think if people I mean
people here have spoken. If they wanted
[2:16:23] to come and speak or had any questions
about the superintendent search
[2:16:27] as we presented at the last meeting, I
think tonight would have been a good
[2:16:30] opportunity for them to come out and
raise those questions.
[2:16:34] Um obviously not understanding that we
were going to go through this process of
[2:16:38] presenting an, you know, an interim
superintendent, but I think,
[2:16:43] you know, if we did proceed with an
interim superintendent search
[2:16:47] and then we are going to launch a
community survey
[2:16:50] with that, I think that will give them
an opportunity to answer like to ask a
[2:16:54] lot of the questions. But is your
question more whether we should proceed
[2:16:56] with an interim superintendent or just
go right into Yeah, and the
[2:17:00] superintendent search. And I feel like
if it was stated like that on the
[2:17:04] agenda, maybe more people would have
come, you
[2:17:07] If if that's, you know, the point. Um
sometimes people can't get here, you
[2:17:11] know, so for something like this.
It cuz I mean I wasn't aware that we
[2:17:15] were kind of behind the eight ball with
the timeline. You know?
[2:17:19] I did I wasn't aware that we were going
to be thinking about an interim until um
[2:17:24] a little mid
I don't know.
[2:17:27] Yesterday afternoon. When he got back to
me, yeah. And and
[2:17:31] whoever said lose-lose, I guess I would
call it a rock and a hard place.
[2:17:35] Um
I I
[2:17:37] I
empathize with
[2:17:40] the different
perspectives on this.
[2:17:43] Um
and
[2:17:46] I just want to know what we think is
realistic.
[2:17:51] Um
so if we put out a survey
[2:17:57] which in of itself, I don't know where
I I'm not that um
[2:18:02] knowledgeable about how that process
works and and you know, how do we give
[2:18:06] people the context to understand what
they're answering.
[2:18:09] Um and then we get it back and then we
would meet um
[2:18:14] when
to make a decision of how we go forward.
[2:18:19] Um
I'm just trying to be realistic that we
[2:18:23] don't miss that we
shoot ourselves in the foot because we
[2:18:26] ended up
understanding the reason for it. I I it
[2:18:30] Um so I'm not
[2:18:34] for me that the having the input
for our next superintendent
[2:18:41] our next full-time superintendent is of
utmost importance.
[2:18:46] This timeline does not allow it.
That's I guess what what um
[2:18:52] concerned me.
[2:18:56] So I think one thing that might
influence that, uh if item nine, the
[2:19:00] April and May 2026 school committee
meetings Mhm. cuz they were
[2:19:05] they were discussions that we would be
meeting next Thursday at one point.
[2:19:10] Um if we knew are we meeting twice in
April, twice in May, then that might
[2:19:16] give us time to put out a survey. Uh
what I was going to recommend to put out
[2:19:21] a survey
to to Leah's point. Okay, so if we put
[2:19:26] out a survey now
um
[2:19:31] and
What what would you see as a turnaround
[2:19:36] time on a survey? What's I'll answer
your question.
[2:19:39] Uh I think when Mike and I were speaking
uh that we thought the best time for the
[2:19:45] next meeting was
April 30th.
[2:19:51] I
I really don't I shouldn't do this off
[2:19:53] the top of my head.
Hold it.
[2:19:56] Yeah.
Uh that we would have a meeting on April
[2:20:00] you would said meet for this Friday.
Mhm. April 30th.
[2:20:04] Um April 30th, then May 14th, and May
28th.
[2:20:09] So, if we put out a survey
for 7 10 days, and then we can review
[2:20:14] that on April 30th and make a
determination then. Would that still
[2:20:18] give us enough time?
Enough time for what? To either
[2:20:26] go with the interim or try to tackle the
expedited timeline. Okay. So, if you
[2:20:32] look at the
uh timeline for the August 1st,
[2:20:36] um
we would need to have the screening
[2:20:41] committee composition and recruitment
plan
[2:20:45] already done.
Um
[2:20:48] and start recruiting the
um volunteers for the screening
[2:20:54] committee on April 27th,
which I'm sure it can go a couple day I
[2:20:59] mean
uh
[2:21:02] and
have a
[2:21:06] community
[2:21:11] So, to me uh the the things that would
be challenging, first of all, is
[2:21:17] um
we need to know from this group who
[2:21:20] wants to
if you're able if you're able to to go
[2:21:24] to these meetings that are mandatory for
the two designees the for the um
[2:21:30] the interviewing and going, you know,
there are um
[2:21:36] the May 11th
is is something that everyone needs to
[2:21:41] the designees or all of us need to go
and take care of the
[2:21:47] focus groups and the survey responses.
[2:21:54] So, if we met on April 30th, then it
would just cut down that April 27th
[2:22:03] to the 8th. It would just cut that down
really to 1 week rather than
[2:22:07] I mean, yeah, if we're going off this
timeline, then this timeline we can't do
[2:22:12] it anyways because
April 2nd we should have already
[2:22:17] had all that done.
There there is a There So, a schedule
[2:22:22] for focus group they have the room.
They have the questions
[2:22:27] that were determined by
Jess and Shawn
[2:22:32] back then. So, those are done.
Um
[2:22:36] I tried to get a copy of the online
survey,
[2:22:39] but
Shawn is now on vacation.
[2:22:43] So, I couldn't get it from him and I
wasn't able to um
[2:22:48] There were a couple of other people that
were involved and they didn't have them.
[2:22:50] So, we
we don't have that to approve.
[2:22:55] Uh
And I have the composition as in that
[2:22:59] they determined is in your packet. So,
we could
[2:23:03] we could approve that tonight.
[2:23:08] So, Sue, was the online survey approved
prior to the election?
[2:23:13] Or it was not approved?
Going by the original timeline.
[2:23:18] The original timeline
it was done Yes. So, it was already
[2:23:23] approved, the online survey? Approved by
one person from the committee. Correct.
[2:23:29] So, is there any to reapprove that
online survey so we're not jeopardizing
[2:23:34] a newer timeline? Or Are you hoping to
get an opportunity now as the chair to
[2:23:39] approve again the same survey? Um
[2:23:44] I I think it would be nice for the
committee to see
[2:23:47] what's being asked.
[2:23:51] I'm not saying that legalistically. I'm
not I I don't know.
[2:23:53] » no. I I'm just I just want to get a nice
word out.
[2:23:55] » I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I
I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I
[2:23:57] I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I
I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I
[2:23:58] I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I
I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I
[2:24:02] But that's This is one person's thought.
That's So, if you all feel differently
[2:24:06] that we can go forward with those
surveys and not having really had a
[2:24:10] chance to have
um take a look at it.
[2:24:19] I mean, we really wouldn't put those out
until after the 30th anyways, cuz we
[2:24:23] wouldn't know if we're doing this or
not.
[2:24:26] Till the 30th.
[2:24:29] Cuz this would be if we're doing
I think they were saying going forward
[2:24:33] now within the the original.
[2:24:38] Cuz we the survey you
you're talking about is to send out to
[2:24:42] say do this
timeline or an interim. No, this is the
[2:24:47] online survey that will that is going to
um
[2:24:51] give the information
the superintendent search. I think we're
[2:24:56] talking about two different surveys.
>> Yeah, two different surveys. Right.
[2:24:59] Yeah. But we wouldn't
>> What you're talking about would be which
[2:25:03] timeline we pick.
>> Yeah, right. Exactly.
[2:25:07] But do we need to send out the survey
that Sue's talking about?
[2:25:12] We don't send that out until And that's
just to That's just to the committee,
[2:25:17] like to approve. I I'm My question was
more has it been approved already? Does
[2:25:21] it need to be reapproved because having
more eyes on it and then approving it
[2:25:25] again is going to now obviously delay
that Yeah. But we would have time.
[2:25:30] Yeah, no. And if people are comfortable
with it going out with not because of
[2:25:35] someone already approved it.
Again, up to you folks.
[2:25:46] I think to Chris's point 7 to 10 days is
a bit of time. Maybe if we shrink that
[2:25:50] time frame down just a little bit. 5 to
7 days max and then we can go from there
[2:25:55] so that
if we shrink that time that 7 to 10 day
[2:25:59] timeline down that Chris suggested to
maybe 5 to 7 days before April school
[2:26:03] vacation
and then we have that time before April
[2:26:07] 30th meeting that
that might be the way to go. I still
[2:26:10] think that's plenty of time to answer
one question and for you know, for staff
[2:26:14] and for parents.
I'm shaking my head even though I heard
[2:26:17] like three or two words.
So,
[2:26:20] I'm sorry I didn't understand. So, just
shrink So, if you were were to send a
[2:26:23] survey out of whether or not we want to
follow the interim superintendent search
[2:26:26] timeline or the
the full like put the full-time
[2:26:31] superintendent search timeline. We send
a survey out but we shrink the timeline
[2:26:35] down to answer the question within 5 to
7 days Okay. prior to April school
[2:26:39] vacation commencing and then prior to
that April 30th meeting. And who will we
[2:26:45] send what what groups do we send?
First of all,
[2:26:50] is there somebody that's willing to help
put together that survey and should
[2:26:54] there be contacts
information that goes with it so that
[2:26:59] there's an you know, understanding of
what the choices are?
[2:27:03] Anyone willing to work on that?
>> I'll help so. I just don't know how to
[2:27:07] do it if someone knows how to do it.
Would it be Shawn? That did it. Okay, so
[2:27:11] yeah.
I'll help. Okay. Yeah. Um
[2:27:15] and we would want that to go out when?
[2:27:19] Probably as soon as possible.
Yeah.
[2:27:24] Okay.
[2:27:26] And to what groups?
[2:27:31] I mean parents, staff.
[2:27:36] If there's some students that want some
input. Yeah, it's probably a good thing.
[2:27:41] Um
as our representatives will say, a good
[2:27:44] thing to um
if we can
[2:27:48] And when would we say that the um it
needed to be returned by?
[2:27:53] I'm not just asking you. I think people
really need it we need to if we're going
[2:27:57] to send it Monday, today is Thursday.
[clears throat]
[2:28:00] Um
Friday before break because I think once
[2:28:03] people leave for vacation then it's kind
of gone.
[2:28:07] Okay.
I think five days is more than more than
[2:28:10] sufficient.
[2:28:14] And once the packet is is ready
um does anyone So Leah and Shawn are
[2:28:21] going to work on it well, I don't I
think Shawn will
[2:28:26] do the mechanics of it, the um
the body of it. Do
[2:28:31] you want to circulate that or how do we
what do we do?
[2:28:39] Yeah, once you kind of write up whatever
it it'll say then you can just kind of
[2:28:43] send it to us just to
I would recommend that if possible that
[2:28:49] we include the timeline
um with it so people understand what
[2:28:54] their what their choices are. Yes.
[2:29:03] All right, should we put this into a
motion?
[2:29:08] Want me to take a stab?
Um I'll entertain a motion
[2:29:13] uh
that we the uh school committee will
[2:29:18] disseminate
an online survey
[2:29:21] to
parents
[2:29:28] teachers and staff
that asks them whether they would prefer
[2:29:35] to go forward with an expedited
superintendent search
[2:29:42] or
have an interim superintendent
[2:29:47] for next year.
[2:29:56] Anyone want to amend that?
[2:29:59] Just add includes students.
I will Are we going to survey them or
[2:30:06] are we going to speak to the students?
[2:30:13] How would they get a survey?
Excuse me? How would the students get a
[2:30:17] survey? Is there a different way or It's
Google survey, so they have all have
[2:30:21] access. The same. Okay.
>> We might want to limit, you know,
[2:30:24] obviously not kids in kindergarten.
We can determine but maybe
[2:30:30] we determine what level of students if
we want high school and up or
[2:30:35] Or the representative boards. Correct,
yeah. From the Yeah, from the school
[2:30:39] committee from the student committees,
yeah.
[2:30:41] I didn't hear that. The student
committees.
[2:30:44] » Yeah, yeah, maybe the student maybe the
student advisory committee.
[2:30:46] » Yeah.
[2:30:51] Want to read that back to us, Kim?
Sure.
[2:30:55] A motion for school committee to
disseminate an online survey to parents,
[2:30:59] teachers,
staff, and the student advisory
[2:31:02] committee whether they prefer an
expedited search or an interim
[2:31:06] superintendent.
[2:31:09] Do I hear a second?
Second.
[2:31:13] All those in favor?
I. Let's discuss. Oh, sorry.
[2:31:18] Uh I am all for the survey, however, um
I just want to strongly voice my opinion
[2:31:25] that we should go with the interim
superintendent search timeline based on
[2:31:29] my experience and the points that I
brought up earlier. But, I will vote I
[2:31:33] in favor of the survey going out.
I agree with you, Chris.
[2:31:39] Any other comments from anyone?
Hi.
[2:31:43] Um if when you if the wording on the
survey, can you just maybe put the
[2:31:48] footnotes just to some of the things
that were talked about tonight about how
[2:31:51] the cost doesn't go up cuz I think the
budget issue is going to be
[2:31:55] a big part of it. Like for people
thinking it's going to cost double. So,
[2:31:58] can is there any way to put
like a paragraph before people choose
[2:32:03] just to have some of those pieces of
information?
[2:32:07] Perfect. That's a very good point. I
think in the context of what we were
[2:32:10] talking about um
there's some different points that we
[2:32:14] should make sure and that is one of
them.
[2:32:19] Uh Alex Cook, 32 S. Main Street. Um I
will say I understand why you choose to
[2:32:24] go to the student advisory committee,
but I will also note that advisory
[2:32:28] committee is only made up of high school
students and I think that does a
[2:32:31] disadvantage to the lower grades. I
would suggest maybe
[2:32:36] um I'm not 100% sure if the middle
school still has a class president
[2:32:40] system, but I would suggest maybe
including those representatives because
[2:32:45] it does disservice them to only speak to
an advisory committee of only high
[2:32:49] schoolers. Not This is not take input
from the lower grades. Thank you.
[2:32:55] Thanks, Alex.
[2:33:01] Can I just ask one more question? You
know, I'm in favor of the survey.
[2:33:06] But, the intent is you know, okay, so
this goes out and
[2:33:11] it there's going to be one group that's
going to sit there and say yes or no
[2:33:15] they're going to pick one of those two.
At the end of the day, does this come
[2:33:18] back to this board to vote on which
direction?
[2:33:22] So, I guess the cautionary tale would be
if they said, "Hey, let's take let's go
[2:33:27] the expedited route. Let's get the
full-term superintendent."
[2:33:30] But, then this group decides to vote and
say, "Hey, we want to put the interim
[2:33:36] um in motion."
Now, you're kind of going against what
[2:33:40] the popular vote said. So, it's just a
cautionary tale. I can see it both ways.
[2:33:45] I think the survey should be done, but
I'm just trying to think through the
[2:33:47] entire process and and what could
possibly happen.
[2:33:56] » [clears throat]
>> Other thoughts?
[2:34:02] I I will add to that.
It's the
[2:34:05] Oh.
Sorry. One more thing I'm thinking about
[2:34:08] the survey and who it goes out to. Um
you know, I know we said parents, but
[2:34:12] there's some parents of kids that
would be impacted by this that
[2:34:18] aren't going to get that survey because
they're not in the system yet, but they
[2:34:21] would be, right? So, like thinking about
kids that have preschoolers
[2:34:25] um that if this decision is made for
another interim versus waiting a year a
[2:34:32] expedited search
that wouldn't have a say um because
[2:34:35] their kids are right on that cusp of
not being in school to be counted in
[2:34:39] whatever email system there is. So, just
something to consider.
[2:34:48] Um
one thing I would um ask you to consider
[2:34:53] is to educate the public on what this
timeline is going to look like and what
[2:34:59] it all entails. Because someone's going
to say it's an interim, it's going to be
[2:35:03] 4 months, but what does that look like?
So, if if you give them some more
[2:35:07] information, they might be able to make
a better decision.
[2:35:10] Thank you.
[2:35:17] Anyone else?
Anyone else from the board?
[2:35:24] Um
[2:35:27] On the Did we put the dates on there?
So, it's going to go We think
[2:35:32] and I'm not even positive that we
I'm hoping that Sean can
[2:35:37] Who's that?
[2:35:40] You have no thoughts? I I don't know
that Sean can do this by Monday.
[2:35:44] You know, there's there's
So,
[2:35:46] uh
[2:35:48] there's that. Okay.
There's a lot
[2:35:52] There's a lot going on. Today's
Thursday. Tomorrow's Friday. Mhm.
[2:35:56] Um
[2:36:02] If this is not able to be
done by
[2:36:07] a certain date,
I don't know. I just I I feel that we
[2:36:11] are really tying ourselves up in some
real big
[2:36:14] unlisted timing knots
that are going to hurt ourselves. Mhm.
[2:36:27] Does that change anybody's thoughts? All
right.
[2:36:30] Um so,
[2:36:33] all those in favor of uh
creating and sending out a
[2:36:38] survey, if possible, on Monday,
um please say I.
[2:36:45] I. I.
Opposed?
[2:36:52] And we have it.
[2:36:56] All right.
Whoops. Sorry.
[2:37:04] Uh next, as we talked about, is uh
April and May School Committee meetings.
[2:37:10] Uh
What are folks We already have School
[2:37:13] Committee meet- meetings scheduled for
May 14th and May 28th.
[2:37:18] Um, we know that we're we really are
going to need another
[2:37:22] um, meeting
uh, and the one that we are thinking
[2:37:25] about is April 30th.
Uh, which we need both for budget
[2:37:30] reasons as well as for the search
questions.
[2:37:34] Uh,
does April 30th work for you folks?
[2:37:41] I'm going to say no.
That's probably wise.
[2:37:46] So, I'll abstain from any vote.
[2:37:50] Okay, and Mike, this I've not done
before. How do we check on room
[2:37:55] availability?
Uh,
[2:37:57] Anne
talk to Paul and
[2:38:00] Okay. Tim. Okay, thank you.
[2:38:05] All right.
Next is the consent agenda.
[2:38:12] Mike, approval well, approval of
warrants. I just thought before we
[2:38:18] approve these warrants, Mike Mike give
us a little
[2:38:22] how we get to this point with these
warrants that showed up in your
[2:38:26] drives.
Yeah, so I'm already in trouble.
[2:38:30] There were warrants that I was supposed
to bring for you to sign. So, what
[2:38:34] happens is every
uh, all during
[2:38:37] every day, we're paying bills and
setting up warrants
[2:38:42] uh, that a committee member needs to go
in and sign.
[2:38:46] Um,
so there is a warrant in my office that
[2:38:50] was supposed to come with me so somebody
can sign it.
[2:38:53] Uh, so I do need someone to come
tomorrow
[2:38:56] and sign. Um,
but we build the warrants, it's all the
[2:39:00] bills for the month
and you go through them, review them,
[2:39:04] sign off on them, and then they come in
this form
[2:39:08] uh
on the agenda
[2:39:11] after the fact. Uh
so, the ones that are on this are
[2:39:16] uh from previous, but we we do have a
warrant. I don't know if you're
[2:39:20] available tomorrow to go over to Forest
or someone.
[2:39:26] Cuz if you can't, so I'm I'm off work
tomorrow, so I can go That would be
[2:39:29] cool. I got to
go into Boston tomorrow.
[2:39:31] » Yeah.
What else am I doing?
[2:39:35] So, that's the process. It It's
every 2 weeks there's a warrant to be
[2:39:40] signed. It has every bill, every backup,
all the invoices.
[2:39:45] And then
if
[2:39:48] they get them to me like they did, I can
bring them here, save some time.
[2:39:52] Um but, we'll do that. So, that's how
the warrant process goes, so that the
[2:39:57] board is aware of what we're spending
uh on a daily basis.
[2:40:02] And also involves some uh
series of checks
[2:40:08] uh different kind of checks.
Uh
[2:40:10] the department head signs, you sign.
Purchase Yeah, the whole requisition,
[2:40:16] purchase order, everything goes through
a
[2:40:19] uh a checks and balances and really a
number of approval
[2:40:23] for the payment.
And and then the school committee
[2:40:26] members sign them before they come to
the full board.
[2:40:31] Um so, uh a movie that we
we uh approved the warrants
[2:40:39] uh that have gone through that process
that were in your uh that were in your
[2:40:43] uh
drive.
[2:40:45] I have a second?
Second.
[2:40:48] All those in favor? I. I. I.
And that's unanimous.
[2:40:55] Uh
and so, we're down to information.
[2:40:59] Uh Middleborough High School Speech and
Theater workshop is uh June 12th and
[2:41:04] 13th.
Middleborough High School class of 2026
[2:41:08] have online
sales
[2:41:12] um they're happening that you you saw
in your um
[2:41:17] in your drive.
Uh I also wanted to note that we got an
[2:41:21] invitation from um
Miss Sacha from Meg to
[2:41:27] go to the space camp on Tuesday. Um and
and those are wonderful events as well
[2:41:33] as uh a request that maybe that she
could come to a bring the kids to a
[2:41:39] future uh school committee meeting which
I think would be fabulous. And so I I
[2:41:43] will pursue uh getting them here for
that.
[2:41:49] With all of that, I'll entertain a
motion to adjourn.
[2:41:56] Someone has to say so moved.
So moved.
[2:41:59] And second? Second.
All those in favor? I. I.
[2:42:05] Thank you and good night.
[2:42:09] Bye. What time are you
I mean on Wednesday I'll drop the kids
[2:42:12] off in the morning and
Any time. Are you
[2:42:15] you're at
school?
[2:42:17] » Yeah, I'm at Yeah, I know.
No, they're usually at Oh. Forest. So if
[2:42:21] you brought them over to me Oh, okay.
Oh, I forgot to bring you the money.
[2:42:24] Okay.
I'll um I'm going to do it. I'll Yeah,
[2:42:27] I'll try to get there
Get them off the bus and get them back.