[0:10] I am gonna call the meeting to order.

[0:11] It is 6 0 3

[0:13] and we will start with roll call Dr. Welch.

[0:17] Present Ms. Collins here. Mr. Patel here. And I am present.

[0:24] And so now I am going to make a motion

[0:28] to enter into executive session

[0:31] to conduct strategy sessions in preparation for negotiations

[0:34] with non-union personnel,

[0:36] or to conduct collective bargaining sessions

[0:39] or contract negotiation negotiations

[0:42] with non-union personnel memorandum of agreement

[0:44] with EAN Unit A regarding specialty advisor stipends.

[0:48] And also to discuss strategy with respect

[0:51] to collective bargaining or litigation if an open meeting

[0:54] may have a detrimental effect on the bargaining

[0:55] or litigating position of the public body.

[0:57] And the chair. So declares, and he does.

[1:00] This is a legal update. Do I have a second? Second.

[1:03] Seconded by Ms. Collins. And now we'll do a roll call.

[1:07] Dr. Welch. Yes. Ms. Collins? Yes. Mr. Patel? Yes.

[1:11] And I'm a Yes. That's 4 0 0. We're now in executive session.

[1:14] We will return from executive session at approximately 6 45.

[1:20] Thank you.

[1:31] Good evening. Good evening.

[1:32] Welcome to the season Premier of School Committee.

[1:38] We have returned from executive session at approximately,

[1:43] at approximately 6 45 7.

[1:46] As as noted, we have a new

[1:51] TV in front of me tonight, so I am staring

[1:54] at a giant version of Ms.

[1:56] Brunell. This is gonna take a minute.

[2:02] All right. So we're gonna get started.

[2:06] Before we do public speak,

[2:07] we're gonna take a couple of things out of order.

[2:08] But first, we are going to do the Pledge

[2:12] of Allegiance, followed by a moment of silence.

[2:14] But before we rise for that Dr. Bash. Yes.

[2:17] Thank you. So periodically, throughout the year,

[2:21] we're going to be pleased

[2:22] to welcome standard bearers from our schools

[2:24] to lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance.

[2:26] And for those who may not be familiar with this, it,

[2:29] it's a very deep NAIC tradition.

[2:31] Each school, including our elementary schools,

[2:33] select a standard bearer whose recognized

[2:35] for strong character, academic commitment,

[2:38] and civic responsibility, the students entrusted

[2:41] with representing the school

[2:42] and caring for its American flag.

[2:44] Tonight we welcome senior class President AWAI Charia from

[2:48] Natick High School to lead us in the Pledge

[2:49] of Allegiance. Welcome.

[2:51] Please come on up Here.

[2:59] We will all join in after

[3:04] Pledge allegiance to the flag

[3:06] of the United States of America,

[3:08] and to the republic for which it stands,

[3:11] one nation under God invisible with liberty

[3:14] and justice for all.

[3:26] Thank you. Thank you.

[3:30] We take that moment of silence to honor all of our troops,

[3:33] both foreign and domestic announcements.

[3:39] Do you have any announcements? I do not.

[3:42] I have just one announcement.

[3:45] She doesn't want me to do this, but I have to do it.

[3:48] We have, Ms. Miller has joined us, the,

[3:50] the Assistant Superintendent of student services.

[3:52] If you've watched school committee member meetings

[3:54] before, if you've tuned in, you've not

[3:56] seen Erin Miller sitting at the table.

[3:58] So that's who there's Erin, we'd like to introduce her.

[4:00] Welcome to the table. And we also wanna welcome,

[4:03] and this is what we're gonna do

[4:04] before the, the first action item that we're gonna take.

[4:07] We also want to welcome Sue Schuler, our new Dr.

[4:12] SP's new executive assistant, who is also here in the role

[4:15] of recording secretary.

[4:16] She started this summer. Well,

[4:18] she's not technically in the role of recording secretary

[4:20] until we do the following thing. Ms. Collins

[4:25] Move to point Susan Schuler

[4:26] as the school committee's recording secretary

[4:29] for the 26 27 school year.

[4:31] Second motion by Ms. Collins, second by Dr. Welch.

[4:36] And any debate about that? No, no debate. All right.

[4:41] We're gonna take our, we do all roll call votes when we have

[4:43] any members who are virtual.

[4:45] So we're gonna do a roll call vote. Okay. Dr. Welch? Yes.

[4:48] Dr. Fesman? Yes. Ms. Collins? Yes. Mr. Patel?

[4:52] Yes. Ms. Brunell?

[4:53] Yes. And I'm a yes. 6 0 0 Sue, welcome officially.

[4:59] All right. Next we will do public speak.

[5:05] Public speak is scheduled for a period of 15 minutes.

[5:08] Each speaker will be, I have the sheet. Thank you.

[5:11] Each speaker will be permitted a maximum of three minutes

[5:13] during which time they can speak about topics within the

[5:16] scope of responsibility of the school committee.

[5:17] All remarks will be

[5:18] addressed through the school committee chair.

[5:20] Public speak is not a time for debate

[5:21] or response to comments by the school committee.

[5:24] I have three names on the list. And so one at a time.

[5:28] I'm gonna call the names up. Come to the podium please.

[5:30] You can introduce yourself. And I will start the timer.

[5:33] Ms. Hopkins.

[5:41] Good evening. I'm Mary Hopkins

[5:44] with Schools Beyond Screens Natick.

[5:46] We are one of more than 200 chapters nationwide. Matt,

[5:52] Thank you.

[5:53] Yeah, we, and also part

[5:56] of the Metro West Schools Beyond Screens Coalition,

[6:00] which includes Wellesley, Needham, Newton,

[6:04] Malden, and Brookline.

[6:07] It is great that Natick is

[6:10] beginning an audit of educational technology

[6:15] and tonight I'd like to use this opportunity

[6:19] to ask four questions that we hope

[6:23] the audit will address.

[6:25] First, using device management logs,

[6:29] the audit should determine

[6:30] what the cumulative daily screen time is for students.

[6:35] Home use should be included in the daily screen time

[6:39] evaluation for elementary school students.

[6:42] This will require teacher input rather than device

[6:46] management logs.

[6:47] Since homework is completed on home devices.

[6:51] The second question, the audit should look at

[6:55] how devices are used during unstructured time

[6:59] or as behavior management tools.

[7:02] How often is screen time used

[7:04] as a reward for finishing work?

[7:06] And what alternative options are

[7:09] provided for early finishers?

[7:11] How often are devices used during recess,

[7:14] during brain breaks and lunch?

[7:18] In order to answer these questions, the audit should use it.

[7:21] Traffic logs filtered

[7:23] for non-instructional instructional hours in addition

[7:27] to teacher and student surveys.

[7:30] Third, by using traffic traffic logs,

[7:34] the audit should evaluate whether our web filters are

[7:37] actually working or if students are bypassing

[7:39] them to watch movies.

[7:41] And YouTube, how effective is our YouTube filtering?

[7:46] Are students able to access entertainment through loopholes

[7:49] or teacher approved overrides?

[7:53] Finally, the audit needs to look for financial waste

[7:56] and closely analyze EdTech contracts.

[7:59] We should look at the total cost of ownership.

[8:02] What is the true cost per student for each tool

[8:05] when factoring in subscription fees,

[8:07] professional development, and IT support time?

[8:11] We need need to make sure

[8:12] that all active contracts include signed data privacy

[8:16] agreements, and

[8:17] that those are enforced. Thank you very much.

[8:21] Thank you. Before we go to the next person.

[8:44] Okay, Ms ing,

[8:54] welcome.

[8:56] Good evening. My name is Eunice M

[8:59] and I'm a native parent speaking Tonight on behalf

[9:01] of school Schools Beyond Screens,

[9:04] technology is frequently praised it as an educational tool,

[9:08] but at home we see how it displays genuine teaching

[9:12] and undermines real learning habits.

[9:15] In maths, my daughter has been assigned

[9:18] to watch instructional videos at home to learn new concepts.

[9:22] But if she is learning from a screen screen at home,

[9:26] what is the fundamental purpose of in-class?

[9:29] In-person class? The true value of a teacher

[9:33] is being there in the real time with a student's face,

[9:38] catching the exact moment of confusion

[9:41] and adjusting the explanation.

[9:43] A pre record video cannot observe a child,

[9:47] nor can it provide that direct human interaction.

[9:52] Furthermore, shifting all coursework

[9:55] onto Chromebox destroy essential cognitive skills

[9:59] maps requires manual step-by-step thinking on paper.

[10:04] Because students rarely practice handwriting anymore,

[10:08] they lost the physical habit.

[10:11] Spatial reasoning and stem.

[10:14] Similar required for rigorous problem solving.

[10:18] On top of that, screens are inherently

[10:22] distracting environments when everything is digital.

[10:26] Staying focused becomes an exhausting battle against

[10:30] constant taps, notifications, and temptation.

[10:35] When I request a physical textbook

[10:37] or print notes for my daughter's physical class

[10:40] to help her focus, I was told there were none

[10:44] because the class was lab based.

[10:48] Why should a parent have

[10:50] to fight an exhausting uphill battle just

[10:54] to get printed materials?

[10:57] Children learn differently.

[10:58] Not every student thrives in front of a monitor.

[11:02] I urge the school committee to address.

[11:05] Firstly, why are physical textbooks

[11:08] and paper notes treated

[11:10] as difficult exceptions rather than standard tools?

[11:14] Secondly, will the district offer low tech

[11:17] or screen free classroom options

[11:19] for students who request it?

[11:21] Thank you.

[11:24] Thank you. And Ms.

[11:28] Eckstein or Stein Stein Exte, please.

[11:36] Hi, I'm Marni Eckstein. I'm a Natick mom.

[11:38] I have a stepson at the high school,

[11:41] another stepson at Kennedy Middle School.

[11:43] And my 4-year-old son will be someday a Lilja kindergartner.

[11:48] So I reached out to the principal

[11:50] of Lilja earlier in the summer asking

[11:53] what kindergarten life is like for Lilja students

[11:57] and specifically about technology.

[12:00] 'cause I'm here to speak on behalf

[12:01] of the School's Beyond Screens Initiative as well.

[12:03] She said she responded.

[12:05] She said Technology is used thoughtfully

[12:08] and intentionally in kindergarten.

[12:10] Each classroom has six iPads

[12:12] that students may use in small groups

[12:15] or for occasional learning activities,

[12:17] rather than each child having their own individual device.

[12:22] While the words intentional

[12:24] and thoughtful we're very encouraging,

[12:27] my question is more basic.

[12:29] Why do five-year-olds need iPads at all?

[12:32] What are they learning on an iPad

[12:34] that they could not learn as well?

[12:35] Or even better from a teacher, a book, a game,

[12:39] a hands-on experience Technology can add something valuable

[12:44] when it allows a child to do something

[12:45] otherwise impossible,

[12:47] including providing essential support for a disability.

[12:51] And as children get older, there are real reasons

[12:53] to learn programming spreadsheets, word processing.

[12:58] But putting an activity on a screen does not

[13:00] automatically improve it.

[13:02] If technology is simply a quicker, easier,

[13:04] more entertaining replacement for human interaction,

[13:08] it begins to resemble junk food, convenient and appealing,

[13:12] but displacing something more nourishing.

[13:16] Also, we're told devices have safeguards,

[13:19] yet my stepsons at Kennedy

[13:21] and the high school have described students watching movies

[13:24] on Chromebooks without teachers noticing.

[13:27] This is not a criticism of teachers.

[13:29] It just demonstrates how difficult these devices are

[13:32] to monitor once they become part of everyday school life.

[13:36] It's also important to note that some parents

[13:38] who work in silicon Valley's tech industry have famously

[13:40] chosen tech free Waldorf schools

[13:42] for their own young children.

[13:44] Ne does not need to become Waldorf,

[13:46] but we should ask why The same people

[13:49] who created this technology are keeping their young

[13:52] children away from it.

[13:53] Before putting any screen in front of a five-year-old,

[13:56] we should be able to answer one question.

[13:58] What does this add

[14:00] that is more valuable than the human interaction?

[14:03] It replaces. Technology should have

[14:05] to earn its place in kindergarten, not simply be accepted

[14:08] because it's available.

[14:10] Thank you.

[14:12] Thank you. There's nobody else signed up

[14:17] on the public speak list.

[14:23] Save that for later. All right, we are gonna move on.

[14:31] We are gonna do the teacher student in METCO rep

[14:35] teach Mr. Jefferson, Mr. Jefferson.

[14:38] Mr. Wood

[14:39] Happens all The time. Thank you. I know. Thank you.

[14:42] Quite all right. I have nothing particular

[14:45] to add other than to simply say

[14:47] it's the most wonderful time of the year.

[14:50] Crisp fall, autumn air started in apples are on the trees.

[14:54] Football season has started. For those who celebrate

[14:57] and school has started,

[15:00] kids are back in the buildings, students are in the buildings.

[15:03] It's an exciting time

[15:04] and it is a also a time of renewal and fresh starts.

[15:09] And to that point, I would simply wanna make my elementary

[15:12] colleagues would be, would feel

[15:13] that I was remiss if I didn't mention that a lot

[15:16] of grace is gonna be needed this time of year

[15:17] as we are starting a new curriculum

[15:20] at the elementary and middle school levels.

[15:22] I'm sure new things are happening at the high school too.

[15:24] I don't mean to say otherwise,

[15:25] but it's, it's a, it's a time when teachers themselves

[15:31] are also learning and trying out new things

[15:35] and experimenting with,

[15:36] with new materials and new curriculum.

[15:38] And so it is exciting, but also challenging.

[15:42] And I do hope that as the group that just spoke

[15:47] will also realize that there's a, there's a constant tension

[15:51] between the needs

[15:52] and concerns that are brought by parents, by students,

[15:55] by faculty.

[15:57] And that wonderful blend comes together

[16:00] in a given school day

[16:02] and we are out there doing the absolute best that we can.

[16:05] So thank you. Looking forward to a wonderful year.

[16:08] It's nice to be back.

[16:11] Thank you. Mr. Penn or Mr. Steinman?

[16:15] Any student updates? No updates. Alright. Is Ms.

[16:19] Combes online? Do we have a METCO update?

[16:26] Hi. Good afternoon everyone.

[16:28] I don't have any updates in particular other than kind of,

[16:31] just to echo, well, Jefferson, I'm

[16:35] so blinking on your last name right now.

[16:37] I apologize. But just to echo

[16:41] the enthusiasm and the excitement for the, the school year.

[16:45] I know our kids are starting their days early,

[16:48] but they're really excited to be a part of Natick.

[16:51] And we are excited for a positive school year ahead as well.

[16:56] All right. Thank you. We will move to the consent agenda.

[17:01] The consent agenda for those who are unfamiliar is a group

[17:04] of of votes that we take all as one.

[17:09] We do not debate or discuss them

[17:11] unless a member of the committee chooses to pull one

[17:14] of those items out.

[17:15] So the consent agenda, I would take a motion.

[17:19] Motion to approve the consent agenda. Motion Motion by Dr.

[17:23] Fesman, seconded by Ms. Collins.

[17:27] All in favor, we're gonna do a roll call. Dr. Welch? Yes.

[17:30] Dr. Fesman? Yes. Ms. Collins? Yes. Mr. Patel? Yes. Ms.

[17:34] Brunell? Yes. And I'm a yes. 6 0 0 consent agenda is done.

[17:39] And we'll move to the Superintendent's report.

[17:42] We're gonna take a couple of things out of order tonight,

[17:44] by the way, but this is the first item on that list.

[17:47] Okay. Thank you.

[17:49] Welcome back everybody.

[17:51] So tonight we're launching something

[17:52] we're really excited about.

[17:53] It's a new segment of our meetings.

[17:55] We're calling it the MPS spotlight.

[17:58] And the purpose is to bring the work happening across our

[18:01] classrooms and schools and the people doing

[18:02] that work right here to the school committee, really

[18:04] to celebrate students in the great

[18:05] things happening in classes.

[18:07] We're pleased to begin with Game Changers

[18:09] out of Natick High School.

[18:10] And joining us tonight are seniors, Jake, Sophia, Nora,

[18:14] and Jude, along with Jason Hoy,

[18:16] our K 12 Director of Health and Wellness.

[18:19] I'll turn it over to them to share more about their work.

[18:21] They have a great deck. I didn't wanna steal the thunder.

[18:23] So welcome. All of you. We're so happy you're here.

[18:26] Come on up to the table. You can come to the table

[18:30] and you can pull any chairs.

[18:31] You need to get everybody a seat. Podium. No, no, no.

[18:33] Come to the you. Come sit. Come sit. Just make

[18:35] Sure they're green.

[18:36] Yeah. And pull up chairs,

[18:41] Everybody. So

[18:45] Before I Turn,

[18:46] Just make sure you get into my mic. Oh,

[18:47] Sorry. We also,

[18:48] We also have Sharon Moran, one

[18:50] of our health teachers with them.

[18:52] And Ms. Godin is, I don't know if she's viewing on Zoom

[18:54] or through Pegasus, but she's somewhere in

[18:56] The crowd Is Ms.

[18:57] Godden in the on the Zoom

[19:00] Live.

[19:01] That's all right. But

[19:03] before they let them introduce themselves,

[19:06] four fantastic seniors that have been part

[19:08] of our program now for a couple years.

[19:11] I'm gonna ask, they're gonna kick it off in a moment.

[19:13] They're gonna do a little activity

[19:14] and put some of you on the spot.

[19:15] So please, the school committee members

[19:16] and staff will you be willing, willing

[19:17] to engage with them a little bit.

[19:20] And I'll turn it over to them and let 'em kick it off.

[19:24] Hi, I am Nora. I'm Sophia.

[19:28] I'm Jude. I'm Jake.

[19:38] Can I help manage the slides? If you don't mind, Sue?

[19:42] Or just scroll as they go.

[19:46] Do you wanna sit over here? Yeah.

[19:54] Wait one second for Mr. Ho. Go.

[19:59] Okay. Raise your hand if you've ever had a friend in an

[20:01] unhealthy relationship

[20:02] and you weren't sure how to support them.

[20:11] Why do you think it's so common

[20:12] to freeze in these situations?

[20:15] I, yeah,

[20:19] So, okay.

[20:20] Just so you know, this is, this is great

[20:24] committee members if you would like to answer.

[20:26] We should still do the hand thing

[20:27] so we're not talking over each other.

[20:29] Would anybody like to answer this question,

[20:32] Ms. Collins? Because

[20:33] You don't wanna hurt 'em.

[20:35] Yeah.

[20:37] Okay. We'll do in the, in the sake of time, we'll do,

[20:40] if somebody's gonna answer, we'll do one person.

[20:42] 'cause I think we could probably all answer. Yeah.

[20:44] That's like the only one that's like, yeah,

[20:47] You can move on.

[20:50] So, unhealthy relationships

[20:52] and relationship violence is very common.

[20:54] So what our school does is we have a game changers program

[20:59] that's focused on preventing relationship violence,

[21:01] which includes dating, violence,

[21:03] sexual harassment, and assault.

[21:05] Our program collaborates with Northeastern University

[21:08] to train students using the MVP program

[21:10] and also to advocate for healthy relationships.

[21:13] The program aims to raise awareness,

[21:15] encourage more open discussions about these issues,

[21:18] and to challenge perceptions

[21:19] and societal norms about relationships.

[21:25] So a little bit more about Game Changers.

[21:27] It was founded in 2017

[21:29] through a grant from the New England Patriots.

[21:32] It was first originally just an extracurricular group open

[21:35] to juniors and seniors to apply to.

[21:39] It grew from 35 applicants in 2018 when it first started

[21:43] to just last year, a hundred with only 25 available spots.

[21:47] And those 25 available spots, you can see

[21:49] that the program is very competitive.

[21:51] So applicants are very passionate about the work

[21:53] that's done in the group.

[21:56] An example of this is a student life facilitation

[21:59] of a loved death workshop last year.

[22:05] Talking more currently about the Game Changers program.

[22:10] The course curriculum was proposed for this year

[22:13] and it ended up being approved.

[22:15] So this is the first year that's being taught

[22:17] as a class rather than just an extracurricular

[22:19] activity or group.

[22:23] What's important about the class is

[22:24] that rather than just having the program,

[22:27] it combines skills from the program as well

[22:29] as the Healthy Relationships class we offer at the school,

[22:32] which provides advocacy

[22:34] and leadership opportunities for violence prevention.

[22:37] The program is still partnered with Northeastern

[22:39] and the MVP training,

[22:41] but another important part about the program is

[22:43] encouraging students to become leaders.

[22:44] So the course includes peer-to-peer facilitation in

[22:47] sophomore health classes and capstone projects.

[22:57] So this is some, this is like a timeline of

[23:01] how the course has grown.

[23:04] So it began in fall of 2018 as just the extracurricular.

[23:09] And then in fall of 2020,

[23:11] healthy Relationships class started

[23:13] as just a one semester course

[23:14] with only 17 students enrolled.

[23:17] And then in fall of 2023, it expanded into four sections.

[23:22] And then it continued to grow into six sections

[23:26] each year in fall of 2024.

[23:28] And then by spring 2025,

[23:30] healthy Relationships Club was available

[23:32] for those underclassmen who were interested.

[23:35] And in fall of 2025, game Changers was approved

[23:38] as a course instead of just being an elective.

[23:41] And then now in fall 2026, it's expanded to 10 sections,

[23:45] including five intro classes to Advance

[23:48] and three Game Changers courses.

[23:52] Now, what is Healthy Relationships?

[23:54] The intro course is a discussion-based course

[23:57] where students have conversations about relationships con

[24:02] communication and emotional wellbeing.

[24:04] It promotes healthy relationships among peers, family,

[24:07] friends, and of course romantic partners.

[24:11] It encourages students to seek behaviors where their help,

[24:15] they're looking for help and they can go

[24:16] to a trusted adult for advice.

[24:19] We also encourage students to

[24:23] talk about their unhealthy relationships

[24:25] and recognize them among their peers, family, friends,

[24:30] and how they can help them.

[24:33] The advanced class builds directly on the intro class.

[24:36] You go more deeply into how social media, mental health,

[24:39] and outside pressures can impact these

[24:42] relations relationships.

[24:45] Students help under learn to understand how personality

[24:48] and emotions and past experiences influence

[24:51] their current relationships.

[24:53] And it encourages self-awareness

[24:54] and how personal experiences shape their communication

[24:59] and connections with oth others.

[25:01] And we encourage students to reflect on their experiences

[25:05] to plan for their future and post high school life.

[25:11] Now, what makes the courses unique?

[25:13] It's that they're not just a class, they're a community.

[25:16] They're a safe space where students feel comfortable enough

[25:19] to share personal experiences and new ideas.

[25:23] And we talk about real life, world experiences,

[25:27] and everything we learn is applicable to our lives.

[25:30] And overall, it's just a space where we can reflect, talk,

[25:35] think, and not just have to sit and listen.

[25:40] Now, this is some feedback from

[25:41] actual students who have taken the class.

[25:43] Every single one of them recommends

[25:45] that others should take that class too.

[25:50] A hundred percent. And these are some quotes

[25:53] from people who have taken the class.

[25:54] My personal favorite and one that connects to me is

[25:57] that this class has majorly improved my communication skills

[26:00] and inside and outside of relationships.

[26:06] Yeah, I think something that we wanted to sort

[26:09] of highlight is that as we've expanded,

[26:13] our impact has gone

[26:15] beyond just the Natick community and the high school.

[26:19] We actually had the privilege of

[26:22] presenting at the Healthy Youth Summit in front

[26:25] of over 400 students

[26:27] and teachers from other schools around Massachusetts.

[26:32] And sort of got to share what we do at Natick,

[26:38] which I think was special.

[26:39] We got a lot of, of positive feedback.

[26:42] Annika Reich, who helps run the summit, described it as,

[26:48] described us as sort of the model program,

[26:53] which I think is incredible honor and also a responsibility.

[26:59] But I think it's a responsibility that we

[27:02] as students have sort of embraced.

[27:05] If you wanna go to the next slide. Thank you.

[27:09] Last year, our advanced Healthy Relationships

[27:13] classes were tasked with making like mini lessons.

[27:17] So around 30 minute lessons that were sort of resources

[27:20] for other schools that they could take students

[27:23] and teachers could take and implement into their own their

[27:26] own classrooms, which I think is really special that we are

[27:30] sort of becoming

[27:31] that change in other classrooms around Massachusetts.

[27:36] And I think it's a testament to game changers.

[27:40] It's not really just a program where we are learning how

[27:44] to create change and we're learning how to be leaders,

[27:46] but we actually are being that change and we are embracing

[27:49] and taking initiative as leaders.

[27:53] And yeah, we put some of these mini lessons on there.

[27:59] I think something that's very unique is that they're all,

[28:04] they're all prevalent.

[28:05] I think everyone can relate to these.

[28:07] They're, they apply to everyone.

[28:10] They focus on topics that, that

[28:15] we see in our everyday lives,

[28:17] like technology and things like that.

[28:20] And schools all around Massachusetts are able to take these

[28:24] and, and apply them into their own classrooms.

[28:27] I know that after the summit,

[28:29] we had schools like Martha's Vineyard reached out to us,

[28:33] situate and a bunch of others.

[28:35] I, I can't name off the top of my head,

[28:37] but they had asked us to come to their, their schools

[28:41] and present to them and help them get to where we are,

[28:45] which I think is super special.

[28:46] And I know from talking to like the other students,

[28:48] like when we talk about like, where do we go next?

[28:52] I think being able to get into those classes

[28:54] and get into those schools

[28:55] and start making real change in, in other communities is,

[28:59] is something that would be really cool for us.

[29:05] So the overall goal of the program is just

[29:07] to have real connections, stronger relationships,

[29:10] and stronger communities.

[29:13] Thank you. Outstanding. Thank you for the presentation.

[29:18] So don't go anywhere yet. Mr.

[29:21] Hor, do you have anything you wanna add before we No.

[29:24] Any questions or comments from the committee?

[29:26] This is, by the way, you had your chance to ask a question.

[29:28] Now we get to do it the same. Anyone? Dr.

[29:33] Fugman,

[29:35] I just have to say how impressed I am by you all and,

[29:39] and obviously your classmates.

[29:42] These are hard topics.

[29:45] They're easier, not discussed as, you know,

[29:48] but you guys are tackling them.

[29:51] And I really think you're saving lives, improving lives,

[29:54] making lives of your classmates better

[29:57] because of your, the courage you all have.

[30:00] You know, I'm sure there's classmates of yours as well

[30:02] who are leading these conversations.

[30:04] So I'm just, just wanna say that that

[30:06] how impressive it is. Thank

[30:07] You.

[30:09] Any other Ms? Is that a thumbs up

[30:11] or is that a, you wanted to say something?

[30:12] Yeah, that was a thumbs up. That was a thumbs up.

[30:14] Thumbs up Echo. Dr. Fr, Dr. Welch,

[30:17] Thank you.

[30:19] First of all, thank you all for being here.

[30:20] This is really impressive to have the nu this number

[30:23] of high school students involved

[30:25] and then to have high school students come

[30:26] and present to this committee.

[30:27] So thank you all for your time and for being here.

[30:30] It's, it's very impressive of

[30:31] what you have done this evening.

[30:32] And also just the, the larger work that you've done.

[30:36] Just one question about the courses that you're describing.

[30:40] I know this was done in partnership with the university,

[30:42] but the coursework was developed locally, is that right?

[30:45] Yes. And there are, it's a sequence of courses.

[30:48] There's, is it two or three courses? Three

[30:50] Now as of, sorry.

[30:51] Thank you. There Are now three as of this year. Yeah.

[30:55] So Jen Godin initially proposed all three courses

[30:58] and did the bulk of the curriculum work alongside Mr.

[31:01] Hoy and I, and then I have been fortunate enough

[31:06] to teach the intro class with Jen,

[31:08] not together, but we both teach it now.

[31:09] So we've done a lot of collaboration on that.

[31:12] This is the first semester

[31:14] that the Game Changers Club is running,

[31:15] or excuse me, class is running.

[31:18] But that curriculum is all,

[31:19] for all three courses is developed in-house.

[31:22] The Game Changers piece is done in collaboration. Yeah.

[31:26] That's tremendous. And, and just such

[31:28] appreciation for your work on that.

[31:30] I would, it's it's really a continuum that kind

[31:32] of started, started small in the intro class.

[31:34] Yeah. Then to advanced and then now

[31:36] with the Game Changers class at the advocacy

[31:38] and leadership piece is kind of that extra added point to it

[31:43] that wasn't present in the first two as much,

[31:45] but this one now they have Capstone projects

[31:46] and they're going out to complete those as well.

[31:48] That's great. In addition

[31:49] To leading the classes as for sophomores.

[31:51] That's great. And so just,

[31:52] just one other question if I could, which is,

[31:54] these are elective courses, is that right? Yes. So,

[31:58] So junior and senior students can take them.

[32:00] Yeah, they're mixed classes. Advanced is predominantly a

[32:04] second semester senior year class Game Changers.

[32:08] You could be a junior or a senior,

[32:09] but you do have to take Intro to healthy relationships

[32:11] or have been in the Game Changers Club as prerequisites.

[32:15] But also, just to clarify, when it started back in 2022

[32:18] with the intro class, that was the only class

[32:21] and it was actually students that took the class at the time

[32:24] that advocated for more

[32:25] and wanted a second course, which I believe they came

[32:27] to school committee and did all of that.

[32:29] So, you know, while it started with the teachers,

[32:33] the students have been incredible in wanting it to grow

[32:36] and helping that process happen.

[32:37] And about, I don't wanna hold you to a precise number,

[32:39] but about how many students would be

[32:41] completing a Capstone project?

[32:42] Like an independent project

[32:44] I guess.

[32:45] Would that be in, I mean, I think

[32:46] that's gonna be in Game Changers.

[32:47] Okay. And I think, I don't teach it,

[32:50] but I think there's probably, but,

[32:53] but then there's next semester are probably between 16

[32:55] and 75 students or enrolled in Game Changers.

[32:57] Yeah. Would be my best estimate.

[33:00] And they'll all be doing a capstone project.

[33:02] Terrific. And in addition, the, the intro

[33:05] and the ad advanced are both offers offered

[33:07] at the honors level as well?

[33:08] Yeah. And to do, to receive the honors credit, they have

[33:11] to do, we'll call it a capstone,

[33:13] but a final project that's progressing towards a capstone.

[33:16] So yeah. That's great.

[33:17] So I'd say over at

[33:18] that point you're looking over 150 kids total doing some

[33:21] type of project based learning on the tail end of

[33:24] those courses that are semester based.

[33:26] So we're always looking to do more, but

[33:27] Yeah.

[33:28] That's great. We're in a good spot again.

[33:29] Well thank you for your work on that.

[33:30] Thank you for being here at Yield. Beck.

[33:32] Ms. Combes, I saw your hand up before. Is it still up?

[33:41] Yeah. Thank you for your patience. I'm on my phone.

[33:42] It's a little laggy. That's okay.

[33:44] I just just wanna echo what everyone else said that

[33:48] I think the name really fits the title of the course.

[33:51] It is a game changer

[33:53] and I think that's really cool work that you guys are doing.

[33:55] You guys are setting students up for success, especially,

[33:58] I wanna highlight our neurodivergent learners who

[34:02] often really need explicit teaching in certain, in,

[34:07] in a lot of social situations.

[34:09] So I know that I would've, I was a, a high schooler.

[34:14] I graduated in 2009, so it's been some time now,

[34:17] but I would've loved having something like this in school.

[34:19] So keep up the great work.

[34:23] Thank you Ms. Brunell.

[34:28] Thank you. I've been lucky enough to see all

[34:30] of you lead in different ways,

[34:33] whether it's on the field or on the rink.

[34:35] And to see you lead in this way with your,

[34:38] with your classmates, with your intellect, with your heart,

[34:41] with what is so meaningful is just, it just makes me

[34:45] so proud of all of you to know you

[34:47] and to just know the adults you're becoming.

[34:50] And it makes me want for more people to see this.

[34:54] So I wonder if you would ever consider doing something at

[34:57] the community senior center.

[34:59] I think that there are adults in our community

[35:02] that would probably just be so fascinated by

[35:05] what you've learned about relationships today.

[35:08] And yeah, I just think you have a lot, a lot of wisdom

[35:13] to share with people from a lot of different generations.

[35:17] So keep going and congratulations.

[35:20] So without anybody else.

[35:22] Oh, Mr. Patel, please. And then, sorry, just

[35:24] A couple questions.

[35:25] Those QR codes that were on the presentation, do they lead

[35:28] to some bite-sized lessons or a lesson plan?

[35:31] Is there like a YouTube channel for those?

[35:34] No, they are slide decks.

[35:36] So the QR codes all scan directly

[35:39] to the lessons that were created.

[35:42] We definitely would have to probably just trouble check

[35:44] and make sure that they're still active

[35:46] because I know sometimes that can happen with QR codes,

[35:48] but they are each meant to lead directly to the slide deck

[35:51] for that particular lesson, which has like all instructions,

[35:53] all guidelines and everything that should be done so

[35:56] that it's very user friendly.

[35:57] Students can just bring it to their schools

[35:59] or teachers bring it to their classrooms.

[36:01] That's awesome. And And that's

[36:03] what we used at the summit last year.

[36:04] So at the end of the presentation they put

[36:06] Up those slides so that kids have come up

[36:08] and scan the QR codes

[36:09] and they're looking at the lessons in lifetime. Right.

[36:12] That's great. That's great. Thank you. And follow up. So

[36:15] Mr. Patel, hang on for one second please.

[36:17] Sorry to interrupt. I just want is Pega Pegasus,

[36:19] are we still Okay?

[36:22] Can we check, just to pause for a quick second to make sure

[36:25] that we didn't lose the stream.

[36:31] They need to hear the

[36:32] Question.

[36:33] Next question's gonna be a banger,

[36:37] Even more exciting question.

[36:38] That one on record sounds like a good catch.

[36:43] In the meantime I'll sing. Oh, okay.

[36:47] I won't, nobody wants that.

[36:49] Someone just made a motion for you to not sing

[36:52] Singing Again.

[36:53] Here we go

[36:54] Back.

[36:55] Yeah. Against me not singing. Well how do you all know?

[36:59] I might be, I might have a beautiful voice.

[37:05] We added Shut No chances. That's true.

[37:08] Freaking out. I'm missing it. It's true.

[37:11] Generally not his sign.

[37:13] We're good. Okay, Mr. Brazel, please continue. Alright,

[37:16] So I'm seeing with, you know, with recent developers ai,

[37:21] I'm seeing a lot of relationships being replaced with ai.

[37:24] So I'm, I even have a friend who is starting to talk

[37:26] to Grok in a, even though he is married in a romantic sense,

[37:30] and I think mostly he's testing it,

[37:32] but I, I fear that this might be the future

[37:36] where unhealthy relationships are going.

[37:38] Sort of. Have you guys covered that at all?

[37:42] I don't think we've gotten into that yet.

[37:44] I think we're still in the human to human phase of things,

[37:47] but I'm sure it's gonna be, you know, it's something

[37:50] that we're, as these kids come through

[37:52] and younger generations come up

[37:53] and AI grows, like that's something that we're gonna have

[37:55] to end with at some point.

[37:57] Yeah. In all areas of it.

[37:58] Okay. Thank you. All right.

[38:01] So thank you for being here.

[38:05] I have one comment,

[38:07] one question, Mr.

[38:11] Hoy. Can you give a, is it true?

[38:14] So Game Changers was founded and it's just,

[38:16] but there was a grant, like a state grant

[38:19] and other districts were doing it right,

[38:21] but for the most part, many

[38:23] of those districts have fallen off.

[38:25] Is that true? Yeah. And so I don't know what that, what

[38:29] that number is, but I just, I think it's a testament

[38:32] to all the hard work that you and the teachers and the,

[38:35] and the interest level and the students

[38:36] that Natick has maintained a consistent

[38:38] and strong presence in the Game Changers program.

[38:41] I think it's a incredibly important program.

[38:45] Both of my daughters participate or one of them graduated

[38:49] and doesn't participate anymore, but was part of it.

[38:52] My, the, the other comment

[38:55] and slash question is in the spring, right,

[38:58] the spring is when the, when the love

[39:00] to death workshop happens.

[39:01] Is it the early spring or late winter? Typically

[39:03] We've done it in February because it aligns

[39:05] with Teen Dating Violence Awareness

[39:06] Month.

[39:07] Okay. So I would encourage anyone listening

[39:12] to come to that event, it doesn't cost anything.

[39:16] It happens in, it starts in the high school auditorium.

[39:19] It is one of the most incredible nights

[39:24] and events that the Natick public schools that I have seen,

[39:27] I've been lucky enough to be there for the past two years

[39:30] and I will be there this time as well.

[39:33] It is, it's a very difficult night.

[39:38] And so I would, and I would say

[39:41] after the initial presentation in this is what happens

[39:44] after the initial presentation in

[39:46] the high school auditorium.

[39:47] Everybody who is there breaks off into classrooms

[39:51] and the students who are participating in the program lead

[39:54] tough conversations about a particular, a true story.

[39:59] And I I will say, sitting in a classroom with, I forget

[40:03] how many were in my room, maybe eight

[40:05] or nine of us last year in a room led by students.

[40:09] It's an incredible amount of work

[40:11] and really, really interesting and tough.

[40:14] And I hope that we fill that auditorium this year.

[40:18] You, you, you'll maybe need more people,

[40:21] but that, that is the hope.

[40:22] Mr. Hoy and I had this conversation at the last one

[40:25] that we wanted to, so it's incredible work

[40:28] and I hope you're all proud of being part of it

[40:30] and it's something that you can carry with you

[40:32] after you leave the high school.

[40:34] So thank you for being here. Thank you. Thank

[40:36] You.

[40:37] You thank you. And for all this work.

[40:39] Thank you folks. Thank you. I really appreciate your

[40:41] Time.

[40:42] No pressure. Thank you so much for being here.

[40:45] And if you want send us the information,

[40:47] we'll make announcement here in the, in the February.

[40:49] Perfect. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much.

[40:52] Have a great night

[40:58] Job.

[40:59] I took a picture of you. They don't have,

[41:02] they have photography.

[41:04] Lemme bring this up so that, Yeah, do you wanna do it?

[41:08] Well it was on my, I'll just however you

[41:10] Wanna hit.

[41:11] Yeah. So we're gonna do one other thing out of order now.

[41:13] We're gonna, we're gonna jump down to the section seven,

[41:17] the business items to letter D,

[41:20] annual school resource officer report.

[41:24] Lieutenant Howard is here to answer any questions

[41:29] that might come up, but Dr. Bash. Yep.

[41:32] So Dr. Fergusons

[41:33] and Lieutenant Howard are gonna go over this,

[41:36] but I just wanna make the committee aware

[41:39] that the Natick public schools

[41:42] and the police department have an MOUA memorandum

[41:44] of understanding related

[41:47] to our school resource officers SROs.

[41:49] And that requires the district

[41:51] to present an annual report to the school committee.

[41:54] And to my knowledge, this has not happened before.

[41:56] It certainly hasn't happened since I've been here.

[41:58] As we really did quite a lot of work last year on this,

[42:01] we made a commitment to put this forth today.

[42:04] And so Dr. Ferguson is going to did

[42:06] that in the form of a memo.

[42:08] But there's very specific pieces that are in this memo

[42:11] that are called for as part of the MOU.

[42:13] So this is the inaugural sort of presentation of that.

[42:17] And that's the framing I wanted to give.

[42:18] And welcome Dr. Ferguson and Lieutenant Howard. Thank

[42:21] You very much Dr.

[42:22] Sp. So we shared a memo that I'm hopeful

[42:26] that you got to review briefly.

[42:28] This hasn't been done before.

[42:29] It's required by state law MGL 71.

[42:33] And really it's just sharing that we have a partnership

[42:36] with the N Police Department.

[42:38] The memo that I sent out earlier sort

[42:40] of framed this in terms of our safe

[42:42] and supportive environments that is a part of our

[42:46] strategic plan, but also part

[42:47] of a longstanding history in native public schools

[42:50] and partnership with the SRO.

[42:51] The memo outline how our SROs sort of are

[42:58] dispersed across the district

[42:59] and what their FTE allocations are.

[43:02] The memo also goes into some narrative about

[43:08] clarity on what responsibilities the SROs have

[43:12] with regard to our staff

[43:15] and students who are primarily focused on staff,

[43:19] primarily focused on maintaining our disciplinary procedures

[43:23] and the SROs often never part of that.

[43:27] We maintain control of managing routine behaviors

[43:30] and issues related to school discipline.

[43:33] Our SROs are partners with us, including Lieutenant Howard,

[43:38] who is involved in helping us continue

[43:41] to provide the structures

[43:42] and frameworks that we need for school safety.

[43:45] We collaborate on a variety of safety related issues

[43:48] that occur across the, the community

[43:52] and native public schools.

[43:54] And we have framed over the PA the past year

[43:58] or two, just how we want to be looking at the program.

[44:01] Continuing to do annual evaluations at the end of the year

[44:05] to ensure that the program continues to meet our needs

[44:08] and continues to support our community and con

[44:11] and we engage in continuous improvement

[44:13] of the partnership that we've developed.

[44:15] So part one of the things that we have to report

[44:20] to DESI is the number of

[44:23] police related incidents in our building.

[44:25] And the s the memo does outline

[44:29] that we do have a number of incidents that do occur

[44:33] in our buildings

[44:35] that sometimes the SROs involvement is required

[44:38] because they may cross into criminal conduct in some cases

[44:42] or referrals for, for hearings and,

[44:46] and summons in court.

[44:48] So that's outlined in this memo and,

[44:50] and fortunately those numbers tend to be very low,

[44:54] which is a testament to the work we continue to do

[44:57] around our code of conduct,

[44:58] but the close partnership that we have

[45:00] with the police department.

[45:05] Do you wanna add anything, Lieutenant Howard?

[45:07] No, I think that was pretty thorough.

[45:09] I'm here for any questions though.

[45:10] Okay. Anyone have any questions?

[45:16] Ms. Collins?

[45:18] Thank you. And welcome.

[45:21] Although we haven't gotten a formal report in the past,

[45:24] can you speak to whether you think things are improving

[45:30] or not in terms of, in other words, the police need

[45:34] to get involved more often than they used to or less often?

[45:37] Or is it just different?

[45:41] So I think over the course of the past few years, as long

[45:45] as I've been here, the chief

[45:48] and the school have really thought carefully about

[45:52] how we want to assess the program.

[45:53] And that very question is how do we determine measurements

[45:57] of whether the program is improving,

[45:59] whether we need additional resources.

[46:01] And this year we did engage in a very thorough process of

[46:07] engaging principals and administrators in the buildings

[46:09] to get that particularly question answered.

[46:11] And while I don't recall every aspect of that,

[46:14] the conclusion and the findings,

[46:16] we did identify ongoing need to develop

[46:21] better communication, better alignment across schools.

[46:25] Oftentimes we, the SROs don't have the same level

[46:29] of presence that they have at the middle

[46:32] school, at the elementary school.

[46:33] And so there are oftentimes efforts required

[46:36] to get coverage at the elementary schools

[46:38] when incidents occur.

[46:40] So we've identified a few areas that we would like

[46:42] to continue to improve.

[46:44] And certainly communication is always a big part of

[46:46] that as one would expect.

[46:48] But I would say overall, given the fact

[46:50] that we've built careful partnerships, we've been thoughtful

[46:54] and intentional about what we've done,

[46:55] we are assessing the partnership annually

[46:59] and we have benchmark meetings that occur

[47:02] to answer those particular questions.

[47:04] I think it's improving. Okay.

[47:08] And in terms of student behavior,

[47:11] I think that's a complex question

[47:13] because the SRO program was never designed

[47:15] to manage student behavior. It's,

[47:18] I, I guess I'm wondering student involvement in

[47:20] where police involvement is necessary.

[47:22] Is that, are we, I mean you hear about it in

[47:25] so much in other districts When I read the New York Times,

[47:28] thankfully I don't hear about it much here

[47:30] and I'm trying to figure out is it

[47:33] because of the relationships or

[47:35] because we just got lucky with our kids or what do you,

[47:41] or the fact that we're keeping big secrets.

[47:43] I don't think it's either of the last two, but no,

[47:46] It wouldn't be any of the last two.

[47:48] I think it's, I think it's a variety of things.

[47:50] I think it's the relationship we've built.

[47:51] I think it's trust, I think it's, you know,

[47:54] things like the strategic plan that's lifting the code

[47:57] of conduct is a real important part of

[48:01] supporting students supporting, improving student behavior.

[48:05] I think it's partnership with the families

[48:06] who are increasingly leaning in

[48:08] and wanting to know how they can partner with us.

[48:10] I think it's a variety of things

[48:11] that would answer that question. Thank

[48:13] You.

[48:14] Our goal is never really to get it to criminal level.

[48:17] We, we want to deal with it as it's occurring,

[48:20] but there are times that we do have to refer to the courts.

[48:24] But that's, it's clearly not our intent ever.

[48:28] No, I think the, the relationships

[48:30] that you've built are amaze me.

[48:34] Ms. Brune,

[48:36] Thank you.

[48:37] Just a couple of comments. One,

[48:38] I really appreciate the distinction between

[48:41] disciplinary action that should take place within the school

[48:45] and with school professionals

[48:47] and the role of the SRL, how those are very different.

[48:51] I think that's a really great

[48:52] clarification for us to talk about.

[48:55] I also really appreciate the acknowledgement

[48:58] that there is a lot,

[49:00] the presence at times in the elementary schools

[49:03] and how, how you're carefully monitoring that.

[49:07] I think that it's just programs like this are, are,

[49:12] have to be carefully monitored

[49:16] and the communication has

[49:18] to be ongoing in order for them to work.

[49:20] And so I'm very confident even with this improvement

[49:24] of this process, you coming to hear with, you know,

[49:26] real data about the court referrals or,

[49:29] or you know, arrests thankfully that were made.

[49:33] I think that's how, what keeps everyone safe.

[49:35] And so I just really wanna thank you for it. Last comment.

[49:40] Given all the work that you've done on the code of conduct,

[49:42] do you have a plan to

[49:47] give the SROs time to really think through the code

[49:50] of conduct and any changes that have been made?

[49:54] So There is, we have a structure

[49:58] for ongoing meetings with the SROs with the chief

[50:02] and Lieutenant Howard.

[50:03] So I think that's part of how we will continue

[50:07] to implement the code of conduct.

[50:09] I think obviously the first sort of tier of,

[50:13] of the work is around students and, and staff and families.

[50:18] And as I said earlier, the clear distinction

[50:21] that the SROs have with regard

[50:23] to discipline, which is really separate.

[50:25] But having them be part of understanding the community,

[50:28] understanding expectations that we have

[50:30] and knowing where they fit into the overall structure

[50:33] of the plan, the collaboration

[50:35] and the work that's happening in the buildings.

[50:37] That's an ongoing process

[50:39] and we have many opportunities to have that conversation.

[50:43] Alright. Any other comments or questions?

[50:50] All you, Dr. Welch please,

[50:53] Lieutenant?

[50:54] My question is about kind

[50:56] of the top tier most serious safety incidents

[50:59] that a school resource officer might deal with

[51:02] when supporting a school shootings, violent incidents,

[51:06] intruders, things of that nature.

[51:08] I would never ask you to disclose in a public meeting the

[51:10] precise details of a plan

[51:12] that might jeopardize student safety.

[51:13] But given that we have police officers in some cases

[51:16] that cover multiple buildings and

[51:18] therefore might be one of the officers responsible

[51:22] for building in which they're not present, to

[51:24] what degree do you feel like you have a procedure in place

[51:27] to address a safety incident at a building in a case

[51:32] where an officer is maybe between buildings

[51:37] in terms of their area of responsibility.

[51:40] So certainly we have our entire shift that's is ready

[51:43] and able to respond to any building at any time.

[51:47] We have, our officers are trained in these type of incidents

[51:51] that you, you speak of and

[51:54] they're all trained in the same manner.

[51:55] Okay. So while it's, while it would be great

[51:59] to have an officer at a school should something happen.

[52:03] If, if that's not the case

[52:04] and we have to respond to a school

[52:05] that doesn't have an officer, we're,

[52:07] we're ready and able to do that.

[52:09] Y you referenced the entire shift.

[52:11] I I'm assuming that implicit in that response is

[52:13] that it's not a single officer that would respond

[52:15] but we responding to one of those top tier incidents,

[52:17] you're talking about a we know

[52:19] you lot, lots of people respond.

[52:21] Correct. Understood. Thank you. I yield back.

[52:24] Alright, any other questions?

[52:29] No, thank you for being here Dr. Ferguson, we'll get back

[52:32] to you shortly.

[52:34] Yes, Lieutenant Howard, thank you for coming. Thank you.

[52:36] Thank you. Okay.

[52:40] Okay, so we'll move back up

[52:42] to the superintendent's report, item B opening

[52:45] of school update.

[52:47] And Ms. Menza is going to take us few

[52:49] through a few slides there.

[52:52] Good evening. You look

[52:56] familiar. Her person. Oh,

[53:00] Just waiting for my slides to pop up.

[53:04] Well I could just start

[53:05] by saying we've had a a very nice opening of school.

[53:08] This is, it's kind of hard to believe

[53:10] that we've completed our third technical week of school

[53:15] and it's been a joy to, to get in

[53:18] and see all of the happenings going on.

[53:22] And I'm gonna walk you through, depending on

[53:25] what pops up first here, I'm gonna walk you through some

[53:29] of the pre-planning

[53:31] and events that we did to make sure school got going

[53:35] and some just very brief pictures to show you

[53:38] of the joy in the buildings over the past few weeks.

[53:41] And then I do have a vacancy update for you to be able

[53:44] to tell you about the openings that we currently have,

[53:47] as well as just some basic staffing data from last year.

[53:50] Oh look, here we are. So the summer,

[53:55] you know, a lot of, I think sometimes people think all

[53:58] school-based people have some time in the summer.

[54:01] But here at central office we're quite busy

[54:03] 'cause we're preparing for the next year.

[54:06] And this first slide really shows you some of the work

[54:09] that the administrators in the district did in,

[54:12] in August at our administrative retreat.

[54:15] It happened over two days and we get together

[54:18] and there is a whole lot of time collaborating, planning,

[54:21] and talking and learning.

[54:23] This year our key focus areas we're talking about the

[54:27] strategic plan, operational plan, the school

[54:30] and district goals, our code of conduct

[54:32] and instructional priorities in our work.

[54:34] And there's just a, a, a picture of

[54:37] Mr. Cook delivering some an awesome presentation. This

[54:41] Is Matt. Is that you?

[54:42] Yeah. Mr. Gillis.

[54:44] Yep. There's Mr. Gillis. Wow. Alright,

[54:47] You were there.

[54:50] The next slide is just a quick little glimpse

[54:53] into some other work that we do.

[54:55] We had a new educator orientation.

[54:58] This was held at the high school

[54:59] and this year we welcomed around 50 ish new educators.

[55:04] We changed up the design of new teacher orient,

[55:07] new educator orientation.

[55:10] And we, it is one full mandatory day

[55:12] and one full optional day.

[55:16] And in the morning, part of the mandatory day,

[55:21] they get warmly welcomed.

[55:24] They get administrative introductions,

[55:26] they get some department presentations.

[55:28] That's, that's not too much information

[55:31] 'cause we, we, we surveyed that they get

[55:35] to have a quick meet

[55:37] and greet with the union reps.

[55:41] We give them lunch and we share lunch together.

[55:43] And then they go off to their buildings

[55:45] for a building based afternoon with their principal

[55:47] and building leaders with some time in their classrooms too.

[55:51] And then the day two is an optional day

[55:54] for a classroom prep admin, check-ins, team, organization,

[55:59] basically time they need to feel comfortable

[56:02] and ready to do the work.

[56:05] And we gave a survey out to our new educators

[56:09] around this experience in this kind of new format.

[56:12] And it was very much overwhelmingly positive.

[56:14] It got a scoring of 4.7 out of five, which is quite high.

[56:19] And more than 75% of of our educators took

[56:23] that survey.

[56:26] And they really talked about feeling welcomed,

[56:28] supported a lot of resources

[56:30] and most, most importantly, time

[56:32] to feel comfortable in their new space.

[56:37] We've making, we've been making a real effort to try

[56:40] to get some of the really wonderful things

[56:42] that happen in our district up on social media.

[56:44] And I encourage people to really take a look at that.

[56:46] It's a, it's a big focus that we're trying to do

[56:50] and it's pretty easy

[56:52] because there's a lot of awesome things in joy

[56:54] that happen in this district.

[56:55] And so just very briefly,

[56:57] you can just continue to scroll, Sue.

[57:00] Just some of the real joy that we see in our classrooms.

[57:04] People really eager to be back, really good

[57:08] vibes, smiles, laughter.

[57:11] It just reminds us that we're lucky to do the work

[57:14] and that kids are pretty awesome.

[57:16] So that's this part.

[57:18] Now if we could just jump through to the next slides.

[57:25] Wow, that is me. Very large on a screen.

[57:33] We've all been there. It hurt.

[57:34] Yeah. Woo. Now there's like eight of you in the room.

[57:39] Look around. Wow.

[57:41] I'm a theater actress, but TV not so much.

[58:02] No, I can see myself. Well now you guys are on tv.

[58:06] Okay, so here's just a very

[58:11] brief staffing and new hire overview.

[58:15] As you know, I am com I'm communications but I'm also hr.

[58:19] So this is the other hat that I'm throwing on.

[58:22] And we currently,

[58:23] we have very few vacancies I'm going to say.

[58:26] So this is awesome. So in unit A we have a 0.5 ML teacher

[58:31] vacancy and we have a 1.0 pre-K

[58:34] teacher slash special education teacher vacancy.

[58:37] And Unit S we have seven

[58:41] paraeducators that we still have vacancies for.

[58:44] This is very similar to last year.

[58:46] I believe we had eight last year

[58:47] and it's very, very common across the commonwealth.

[58:50] Para paraeducators are very, are difficult

[58:55] to fill all of our positions.

[58:56] So we're working on that.

[58:58] And then in terms of our non-represented positions,

[59:01] we have three building based sub vacancies still open,

[59:04] three cafeteria monitors

[59:06] and a a part-time student supervisor at the high school.

[59:09] So we're actually in very good shape for our vacancies.

[59:14] A lot of big effort in at the school level

[59:17] with committees and getting hiring.

[59:18] And I just wanna give a shout out to my awesome HR team for

[59:23] working to get everything filled for our teachers

[59:27] and students in schools.

[59:30] So for some, just some quick snapshots.

[59:32] We had, we hired 32 unit, a new hires, 20 unit S,

[59:37] four unit B and two admin assistants.

[59:42] And then if you go on to the next page,

[59:44] this is a snapshot from last year

[59:46] that I thought you might be interested in seeing.

[59:49] And it talks about our total separations.

[59:52] We had 184 separations from the district district last year

[59:57] we had 23 retirements.

[1:00:00] And then you can see in the chart,

[1:00:02] if you just scroll a little bit more, that'd be helpful.

[1:00:05] Thank you. I broke down our separations

[1:00:08] by unit at the top.

[1:00:11] So we have 44 Unit

[1:00:15] A separations.

[1:00:18] That's okay. What it, what what it was was fine.

[1:00:20] If you just wanna That's good. We can see it.

[1:00:22] Yeah, I'm, I wanna be able to see it.

[1:00:24] That's the problem. 44 unit A separations.

[1:00:28] Can you put it back to what it was?

[1:00:30] That was actually a little easier for me to see. Thank you.

[1:00:35] We had 29 unit S,

[1:00:38] that's the paraeducators and support staff.

[1:00:40] We had two unit B administrators

[1:00:43] and then the all other employee groups 109.

[1:00:47] And what that includes, just so you know, that includes

[1:00:49] substitutes, that includes ASAP employees, that includes

[1:00:54] cafeteria monitors, that includes tutors,

[1:00:57] that includes instrument people, that includes

[1:01:02] anybody that is not part of a bargaining unit.

[1:01:04] So it's a very large amount of, of employees.

[1:01:10] So that is just for your knowledge, just some

[1:01:14] of the movement that happens within a medium sized

[1:01:17] district from year to year.

[1:01:21] All Set. Yeah.

[1:01:22] Any questions from the committee?

[1:01:25] Wow, that's a large picture. Ms. Collins. Thank you Jackie.

[1:01:32] We, I'm, I'm having a, a senior moment here.

[1:01:36] We hired four unit B,

[1:01:40] but we only lost two unit B,

[1:01:42] So, so some unit B people moved within the units.

[1:01:46] So if we moved a position from unit A to unit B,

[1:01:51] that's counted as a new hire.

[1:01:54] No. So not on this. Not on this. It wouldn't,

[1:01:58] Okay. I'm just trying to understand

[1:01:59] How.

[1:02:00] But most of our movement in unit B was within other

[1:02:02] places in unit B.

[1:02:05] So and,

[1:02:12] and one out of unit B,

[1:02:15] it's kind of hard 'cause there's not many. Okay.

[1:02:17] Did we expand unit B under

[1:02:19] We, we did not extend, expand, thought, expand unit

[1:02:21] Be what I, but I just wanted to be sure that

[1:02:23] We did not, there was a lot of, there was not a lot of,

[1:02:26] 'cause there's not a lot in that unit,

[1:02:27] but there was some movement between units.

[1:02:30] Okay. And my other question is, of the Paris that we lost,

[1:02:35] we lost 20, I guess outright.

[1:02:37] We're still looking for, we hired

[1:02:39] 20 and we are looking for seven.

[1:02:41] Were any of those positions that opened up the result

[1:02:45] of somebody moving up to a unit A?

[1:02:49] It's a really good question.

[1:02:50] 'cause actually I know we're trying to encouraging

[1:02:52] In the contract and I'm just wondering whether

[1:02:54] Yes, it's actually give you,

[1:02:56] I can't give you exact numbers.

[1:02:57] That's okay. Yes, definitely a few. Okay.

[1:03:00] 'cause we're we tried to structure

[1:03:01] the contracts such that we

[1:03:02] Encourage, we Encourage that.

[1:03:03] And I just wanna know whether we're being successful.

[1:03:05] Yes, yes. And you know what Kayla Hurst does a a,

[1:03:08] that's a huge part of her job is to do a lot of that.

[1:03:11] She's the assistant director of hr, a lot of outreach

[1:03:13] and it's a big focus for us as well. Okay, great.

[1:03:16] Yeah. Thank you Dr. Fuman.

[1:03:20] So two questions.

[1:03:21] The first one is roughly speaking, how does both the new,

[1:03:26] the number of new hires

[1:03:27] and the number of separations compare to previous years?

[1:03:30] Is it like average or did we sep have more separations?

[1:03:35] Less separations. More hires. Less hires.

[1:03:36] So we definitely had more retirements Okay.

[1:03:38] Than ever before. And we,

[1:03:43] that is very well known.

[1:03:45] We had a lot of people moving, so we had a lot

[1:03:47] of people moving locations as in leaving for a separate,

[1:03:51] for a separation, moving to

[1:03:54] Florida.

[1:03:55] Yeah. Like to actual, like other states.

[1:04:00] But overall in general,

[1:04:02] the sep the separations are pretty on target.

[1:04:05] I mean we, we did have, there was a small uptick

[1:04:07] because of the amount of retirements.

[1:04:09] And I do foresee that maybe being a trend for a few years,

[1:04:15] but we'll, we're gonna see.

[1:04:18] And, but in terms of, of hiring it,

[1:04:22] it wasn't something that was really concerning to us.

[1:04:26] If that answers your question.

[1:04:28] Yeah. What, sorry, what about the hires, the new hires,

[1:04:31] was that a higher number than usual

[1:04:33] or was that, were the new hires kind of similar

[1:04:37] to the separations because you hire to fill spots?

[1:04:42] Yes. So it was slightly higher. Slightly

[1:04:45] Slightly higher.

[1:04:46] Retirement, slightly higher,

[1:04:46] but nothing that felt very overwhelming or concerning.

[1:04:49] And then my second question is,

[1:04:51] I'm assuming there's exit interviews.

[1:04:54] There are, yep. Any patterns, issues?

[1:04:58] I mean obviously you don't have to go case by case.

[1:04:59] You mentioned retirements, you mentioned people moving out.

[1:05:02] Neither of those things is concerning.

[1:05:04] People retire, people move.

[1:05:06] But any other concerns in

[1:05:10] any patterns of concern? There?

[1:05:12] There are no patterns of concern.

[1:05:14] I did, I did write a memo to the superintendent about this,

[1:05:18] so I'm happy to maybe bring this

[1:05:20] to your attention at another meeting if that's

[1:05:21] what the superintendent would like.

[1:05:23] But most of the, most of the feedback, there's no pattern.

[1:05:27] And in fact, a lot of the evidence points

[1:05:30] to people literally just making a life move and,

[1:05:33] and nothing out of real

[1:05:37] displeasure in terms of separation.

[1:05:40] And if I could ask a quick question

[1:05:43] or just maybe share my thinking.

[1:05:45] Sure. There was a time, especially

[1:05:47] after COVID where there was a, nationally speaking,

[1:05:50] there was this a lot, a big talk about the,

[1:05:53] the great resignation

[1:05:55] of educators leaving the profession altogether,

[1:05:58] including healthcare providers, including nurses,

[1:06:00] school nurses leaving the professional together

[1:06:02] to move to other professions.

[1:06:05] That is a concern.

[1:06:06] I was wondering if it's still persists, you know, do we know

[1:06:12] educators moving to other schools versus educators moving

[1:06:14] to a different career and to what extent is that?

[1:06:19] So I don't, I don't wanna misspeak

[1:06:21] because I haven't examined the data for that.

[1:06:23] I'm happy to do so. For you, I would say that

[1:06:28] there, there was evidence

[1:06:29] that some people were leaving the profession

[1:06:32] or taking a break from the profession.

[1:06:34] I don't, I can't say that

[1:06:35] that was the general feeling at all.

[1:06:38] I, I wouldn't do the data justice,

[1:06:40] but I will tell you that, that

[1:06:41] that was part of the data for sure.

[1:06:47] Can I add to that? Yeah.

[1:06:48] I would also match that with the fact

[1:06:51] that we had some healthy slates

[1:06:53] for the positions that we were hiring for.

[1:06:56] So while people may be leaving, we also were able

[1:06:59] to attract good slates of people

[1:07:01] to interview. Would you agree with that?

[1:07:02] I would definitely agree with that, yeah.

[1:07:04] More robust, Particularly the classroom teaching

[1:07:06] positions we had, we had plenty

[1:07:08] of applicants for classroom teacher quiz.

[1:07:10] Good pools, good pools, candidates, good pools.

[1:07:12] Yep. I'd even say better than the prior year.

[1:07:16] Dr. Welch, to the extent that you're able

[1:07:19] to answer either now or later, how does the total number

[1:07:23] of employees compare in September of 26 to the total number

[1:07:28] of employees in September of 2025?

[1:07:31] There's a small increase

[1:07:33] and that a lot of that is due to some

[1:07:37] of our MTSS restructuring work that we spoke about.

[1:07:40] But there,

[1:07:42] and then, if any, if anything else, it would be due

[1:07:47] to special education need,

[1:07:48] but it would, it is not large whatsoever.

[1:07:52] Okay. Thank you. I yield back.

[1:07:54] Any other questions? Committee members? Ms.

[1:07:58] Brunell?

[1:08:02] Thank you. The, I was curious about, well first of all,

[1:08:05] thank you for everything that you did for the opening day

[1:08:07] for, to the whole team to get, I mean, I honestly,

[1:08:11] going on the tour with you on that one day, I was like,

[1:08:14] I cannot believe that 5,000 ki kids are gonna show up at all

[1:08:19] these schools and it's gonna work.

[1:08:20] You know what I mean? It's just like, it's

[1:08:21] like magic what happens?

[1:08:24] The massive coordination.

[1:08:25] So I just hope that we all remind ourselves

[1:08:29] in the community what happens.

[1:08:30] And you all really appreciate the work that you

[1:08:33] and all the educators do in this district

[1:08:35] to make magic happen.

[1:08:40] My question is about the, the building based subs.

[1:08:43] Sometimes that is a good way to avoid

[1:08:47] increasing the sub budget throughout the year

[1:08:49] because you're not looking for, you know, subs that

[1:08:53] to come in every day that get paid the per DM P fee.

[1:08:57] What is the strategy to fill those particular spots?

[1:09:01] So I, I do believe that there are some,

[1:09:04] there's some people in the application pipeline for those.

[1:09:10] And honestly I think on the, on the scale of

[1:09:16] last minute resignations, last minute openings,

[1:09:20] when a principal has to balance between interview

[1:09:23] and hiring for, for teachers

[1:09:25] or Paris, that's gonna Trump interviewing

[1:09:27] and hiring for their building based subs.

[1:09:29] So there was some last minute moves

[1:09:32] and actually some, maybe some people that were hired

[1:09:34] for building based subs got invited to,

[1:09:36] to be in another part in the building.

[1:09:39] And so those are now their focus.

[1:09:40] So I have no, I don't have any concern about those being

[1:09:44] filled eventually, I think it was timing.

[1:09:49] Alright, Great. Thank you so much. Thank

[1:09:53] You.

[1:09:55] The next two on the superintendent's report,

[1:09:57] we hope to be quite brief.

[1:09:59] One is deputy superintendent Balone is gonna bring us

[1:10:01] through a proposed enrollment reporting.

[1:10:04] You didn't see the normal reporting

[1:10:06] for September enrollment in the consent agenda.

[1:10:08] So we're suggesting to switch that up a little bit

[1:10:11] and she's gonna go over that.

[1:10:13] Great, thank you. Typically we provide you

[1:10:16] with a monthly enrollment report.

[1:10:19] That enrollment report provides you basically

[1:10:22] with a data dump of the number of students who are enrolled.

[1:10:27] And that changes very little from month to month.

[1:10:32] We are required to submit to DESI

[1:10:36] our enrollment three times a year, October 1st March,

[1:10:41] and the end of year.

[1:10:43] We feel that this data, if we provide that

[1:10:46] to you at those intervals, will give you a much more robust

[1:10:53] data analysis.

[1:10:58] And then if there are any more significant changes

[1:11:00] throughout the year, we would bring that to you.

[1:11:05] The memo that we provided to you gives you substance

[1:11:10] around why we report to DESI at those times,

[1:11:16] which has to do with our funding streams for Title one

[1:11:20] and I-D-E-A-M-C-A-S participation

[1:11:28] as well as we use that for planning

[1:11:33] for the following year and that type of thing.

[1:11:35] So we're making this proposal that we come to you with

[1:11:39] that data three times a year.

[1:11:42] And then if, if there are any red flags, if any of

[1:11:45] that data changes significantly that we would bring that

[1:11:48] to you rather than come to you every month.

[1:11:50] I'm monitoring it monthly anyway, my team,

[1:11:55] along with Mr.

[1:11:57] Roach's team, run that report monthly

[1:11:59] and we're constantly looking at that

[1:12:02] because we need that data to make sure that we don't need

[1:12:05] to make any changes

[1:12:07] to staffing anyway.

[1:12:11] So if there are changes

[1:12:13] and we're red flagging that we would bring that to you.

[1:12:17] So the proposal is to do the enrollment report,

[1:12:20] The first meeting in October, the first meeting in March.

[1:12:23] And I always come to you in June anyway.

[1:12:27] I actually come to you in May with multiple times with

[1:12:32] potential enrollment numbers for kindergarten.

[1:12:35] And I would continue to do that in April, may,

[1:12:38] and June along with the June end of year report.

[1:12:43] Okay. Any questions?

[1:12:47] We can't see Ms.

[1:12:48] Brunell, but is she, does she have her hand up?

[1:12:51] She does not. All

[1:12:52] Right, we can move on.

[1:12:53] Thank you. Yeah.

[1:12:56] Okay. So the last piece on this report was,

[1:12:59] is a very brief technology update.

[1:13:03] I'm gonna wait for the slide

[1:13:08] While it's coming to be loaded.

[1:13:11] We have 12 indicators in

[1:13:12] or priorities in our strategic plan.

[1:13:14] And one of them 1.3 involves the use of technology

[1:13:18] and AI using it strategically.

[1:13:21] We have a five year vision for that. We have a core belief.

[1:13:23] This is actually something that kind

[1:13:25] of came up from the surveys

[1:13:26] where voice was definitely elevated.

[1:13:28] And so really what we wanted the committee to be aware of,

[1:13:31] especially as we heard three public speak,

[1:13:33] people very interested in this

[1:13:35] and we've heard from people about this, we are convening

[1:13:38] Mr. Cook, the director of curriculum instruction,

[1:13:41] and Dennis Roach, the CTO Chief technology Officer,

[1:13:44] are going to co-lead this,

[1:13:46] a committee on digital wellness and a learning committee.

[1:13:49] So this is gonna be convening stakeholder voice

[1:13:52] to just get talking about this

[1:13:54] and start planning for the next four years.

[1:13:56] Some of the things we wanna do this year

[1:13:58] is actually gather research.

[1:14:00] We wanna take an inventory, we'll take the,

[1:14:02] the speakers this morning

[1:14:03] or this sa earlier today into consideration,

[1:14:06] but start to build some baseline and data gathering

[1:14:09] and really provide a roadmap for the next four years.

[1:14:11] So I'm trying to set the stage

[1:14:12] that this year we're not gonna change everything we need

[1:14:15] to learn, we need to start gathering

[1:14:17] data and we need to hear voices.

[1:14:19] So that's the framing for this year. Next slide.

[1:14:24] We also wanted to give a brief update on middle

[1:14:26] school Chromebooks.

[1:14:27] So last year we decided

[1:14:30] to have those fifth grade Chromebooks stay at school.

[1:14:32] So we set it all up so they could be charged there.

[1:14:35] They didn't go home, so those kids were used to that.

[1:14:38] And so this year, middle school principals

[1:14:40] decided to do the same thing.

[1:14:42] The kids were used to that. And

[1:14:43] so we have now a lower school,

[1:14:45] at the middle school keeping their Chromebooks at school,

[1:14:48] which we think is great.

[1:14:50] It's early days. I don't know

[1:14:51] what day we are into school, but less than 20.

[1:14:54] And so those are the logistics.

[1:14:55] We're making the change, basically

[1:14:57] these kids are already used to it.

[1:14:59] It connects to this priority

[1:15:00] and we wanna make sure we're keeping those grade five

[1:15:02] to six, six devices at school.

[1:15:04] What it means for families. We've shared it with them.

[1:15:07] The high school, the middle school principal shared this.

[1:15:10] We do, we were very explicit about the fees

[1:15:12] that we still have that annual fee.

[1:15:15] And then financial assistance is available

[1:15:17] for anyone who qualifies.

[1:15:18] So nothing really else is changing.

[1:15:19] Other than that, those sixth grade Chromebooks are staying

[1:15:21] at school and so far so good.

[1:15:26] Yeah. Ms. Brunell has a question if, are you all set?

[1:15:29] Yeah. Alright, Catherine,

[1:15:32] Real quick.

[1:15:33] Does the state, does Desi have any recommendations on

[1:15:35] technology and amount of time?

[1:15:37] Like are, are we doing this, are you doing this alone

[1:15:40] or is there some support coming for the district?

[1:15:44] I think we're ahead. So thus far I'm not aware

[1:15:48] of anything coming from Desi.

[1:15:50] That's not to say there isn't some good research emerging

[1:15:52] or I'll say some good practice emerging.

[1:15:54] And that's why we're saying one kind of arm

[1:15:57] of the work this year is to actually learn

[1:15:59] what others are doing, perhaps partner with some people

[1:16:03] and do some research gathering as well as data gathering

[1:16:07] and then listening to our own local populations about this.

[1:16:10] So I'd say we're at in the front of it,

[1:16:12] but we are definitely not alone.

[1:16:13] There's many people taking this on

[1:16:15] as the voice around this is increasing.

[1:16:16] So, but no, definitely has no advice.

[1:16:20] Okay. I appreciate that, that you're taking it on

[1:16:23] and I hope that we can be supportive to this to, to you.

[1:16:27] And I really appreciate all this, the parent voice

[1:16:30] that we've gotten about this

[1:16:31] because it's good to know how it's hitting people

[1:16:33] and what they're seeing at home.

[1:16:36] Which leads me to my question about homework.

[1:16:41] What is the expectation for students

[1:16:43] that don't have a Chromebook at home to do homework,

[1:16:48] whether it's in elementary school or fifth

[1:16:52] or sixth grade? Do you have

[1:16:53] That Ms.

[1:16:54] Bebo and he's going to address that?

[1:16:55] Sure. So for fifth

[1:16:57] or sixth grade, students are not taking

[1:17:00] their Chromebooks home.

[1:17:01] So the expectation is that we are providing them

[1:17:05] with paper-based homework

[1:17:09] or if it is computer based and they don't have a device,

[1:17:13] and the same goes for elementary.

[1:17:15] If they don't have a device at home,

[1:17:17] then we are providing them with an alternative.

[1:17:20] And if parents are getting a different message than that,

[1:17:24] then they should, parents should be reaching out

[1:17:27] to their principal because that's not the message

[1:17:30] that should be happening

[1:17:31] and we need to support parents in that messaging.

[1:17:35] But the messaging is that if they don't have a device,

[1:17:37] then we should be giving them an alternative support.

[1:17:41] We, the, the technology based homework assignments.

[1:17:46] And for the most part, we are not, we don't do a lot

[1:17:50] of homework at the elementary level

[1:17:51] unless it's to be reading

[1:17:53] or practicing math facts, types of things.

[1:17:56] And some of our online type homework is just that.

[1:18:01] It's personalized assignments.

[1:18:04] That is to support where our child is

[1:18:08] and to support practicing like facts to move them forward.

[1:18:13] So if if that's the case that kids don't have access to

[1:18:18] that, then we need to find another way

[1:18:20] to support them in doing that practice.

[1:18:25] Thank you Ms. Collins.

[1:18:29] Yeah, I just wanna make the rest of the committee aware

[1:18:31] that at the chair's suggestion, Ms. Hopkins,

[1:18:34] who was the first speaker tonight at public speak

[1:18:37] and I met over the summer,

[1:18:40] she was representing schools without screens.

[1:18:44] And we're gonna continue that dialogue.

[1:18:46] So anything that we can work

[1:18:50] through together is, will be helpful.

[1:18:53] But they have, this is not the first time

[1:18:55] that they've been in touch with the school committees.

[1:18:57] No. All all I'm saying

[1:19:00] Thank you.

[1:19:02] And there will be spaces on that committee

[1:19:04] for people from the community.

[1:19:05] We really wanna get the different voices in the

[1:19:07] same room talking about it.

[1:19:10] Thank you for that.

[1:19:11] Other questions or comments?

[1:19:14] Seeing No, onward. Okay. Thank you.

[1:19:20] So we're moving into a section that we're, instead

[1:19:22] of calling it superintendent's report,

[1:19:23] we're calling it business items.

[1:19:25] Thinking there may be a little bit

[1:19:26] more discussion in these items.

[1:19:27] So we're sort of playing around with the agenda.

[1:19:29] So feedback welcome if it's, if that's not clear.

[1:19:34] So the first piece is I think quite brief,

[1:19:36] but just wanting to revisit the strategic plan could not be

[1:19:40] more proud of Jackie and team and,

[1:19:42] and really our leadership team, members of this committee.

[1:19:45] So many people who pulled this strategic plan together.

[1:19:49] It's, it's, it's launched.

[1:19:51] Those of you who've seen the publication, we're starting

[1:19:53] to make it visible.

[1:19:54] We're starting to have bound copies available to educators.

[1:19:58] We've given them to the select board.

[1:19:59] We have little magnets with our new logos.

[1:20:02] We're seeing it a lot more in our social media.

[1:20:04] So awesome work.

[1:20:06] We have a landing page, the one that previously used

[1:20:08] to update people now brings people

[1:20:10] to the more formalized launch plan.

[1:20:13] We're still going to be listening and learning.

[1:20:15] And so through school council,

[1:20:17] student educator conversation, cpac, elpac, et cetera,

[1:20:20] we have an a email where people want to engage.

[1:20:24] They can. So we're trying

[1:20:25] to make sure we're keeping the channels open

[1:20:27] because we want to make sure we're continuing

[1:20:30] to deepen our understanding.

[1:20:31] Even though we're launching a five-year plan,

[1:20:32] it's iterative and reflective.

[1:20:35] We are going to launch fall mid-year

[1:20:37] and spring state of our schools.

[1:20:39] So look forward to that. So this isn't ending.

[1:20:41] We we're gonna get some more TV happening,

[1:20:44] but we wanna make sure that we're very much out listening

[1:20:47] and portraying the work that we're doing.

[1:20:50] And then we'll be sure to report back here.

[1:20:51] So we just wanted to make sure that the committee can see

[1:20:54] that trajectory through this year as it

[1:20:57] as it continues to unfold.

[1:20:59] And we're happy to answer any questions or take any advice,

[1:21:01] but that's just an FYI

[1:21:05] Questions or comments on this topic?

[1:21:11] I don't think I see any. Okay.

[1:21:15] So the next item, and we're early in.

[1:21:17] This is a first draft of superintendent goals.

[1:21:21] I think in the past we've done this

[1:21:23] probably a month later ish.

[1:21:25] So tonight is the first read

[1:21:26] of those proposed goals for next school year.

[1:21:29] And I'm happy to incorporate the committee's feedback

[1:21:32] and bring them back for a vote.

[1:21:33] I hope at the next meeting.

[1:21:35] These goals align with year one of our strategic plan.

[1:21:38] And we've developed, though I haven't, it's not,

[1:21:41] it's really an internal document.

[1:21:42] You may not have seen this beautiful piece of paper,

[1:21:45] but this is actually for every single priority

[1:21:49] A, an operating plan.

[1:21:50] And it has who's in charge, who, when it's due,

[1:21:53] and what those big milestones are.

[1:21:54] Five to six per priority.

[1:21:56] So I show this to you, this is my job to implement I think,

[1:22:00] but it's deeply aligned to every single my goals for sure.

[1:22:04] Anything that's at the superintendent level to be overseeing

[1:22:07] as well as to the cabinet, our principles, et cetera.

[1:22:10] So we've done a lot of work to

[1:22:13] what I call hardwire the strategic plan year one

[1:22:16] down into all of our goals.

[1:22:18] And mine is as the district's leader, that's

[1:22:21] what these goals represent, is those things

[1:22:23] that would be appropriate for the superintendent to oversee.

[1:22:27] So this year also important to note is

[1:22:29] that I've combined the goals with the DSI focus indicators.

[1:22:32] If those of you who've been on the committee

[1:22:33] for a while know that I've done

[1:22:35] that usually in two different meetings

[1:22:37] and I put them in the same sort of document this year

[1:22:40] instead of bringing them forward separately.

[1:22:42] The framework includes a required student

[1:22:45] and professional practice goals,

[1:22:46] two district improvement goals and six focus indicators.

[1:22:49] That's the DSI requirement across all four indicators.

[1:22:52] Just to summarize very briefly,

[1:22:54] I'm hoping people had the chance to read,

[1:22:55] but it is a public document

[1:22:56] here for those who wanna go deeper.

[1:22:58] It's many pages. It's typical of my stop goal.

[1:23:01] One focuses on leading our instructional priorities,

[1:23:04] particularly equitable tier one instruction.

[1:23:07] Informative assessment.

[1:23:08] We've been talking about that for a while.

[1:23:10] The work includes aligning leadership goals,

[1:23:12] school improvement plans, professional learning

[1:23:15] and instructional coaching.

[1:23:16] We'll use learning walks

[1:23:18] and student learning evidence to assess implementation

[1:23:21] and make adjustments, including two benchmark learning walks

[1:23:25] that the central office will

[1:23:27] run in each school over the

[1:23:28] course of the year to show growth.

[1:23:31] Goal two focuses on deepening my direct engagement

[1:23:34] with student, staff and families.

[1:23:36] I'm establishing a more deliberate student engagement plan.

[1:23:39] I mean, so superintendent engagement plan

[1:23:41] that includes regular school visits, opportunities to listen

[1:23:44] and learn across the district.

[1:23:46] And what I hear will help as we kind of interpret

[1:23:49] and take a look at how year one implementation of

[1:23:51] that plan is being experienced by our staff and students.

[1:23:54] And community. Goal three focuses on establishing

[1:23:58] how well we're going to measure progress on this plan.

[1:24:01] So think about it, a five year plan, we need

[1:24:03] to be dip sticking to make sure we kind of know

[1:24:05] how this is going over the course of those five years.

[1:24:08] This includes developing student staff and family surveys.

[1:24:11] We've already hired a group to work with us on that.

[1:24:15] Establishing baseline measures,

[1:24:17] identifying meaningful indicators

[1:24:19] and beginning development of a public dashboard.

[1:24:22] This foundation will allow us

[1:24:23] to track progress consistently over the

[1:24:25] five years of this plan.

[1:24:27] And lastly, goal four,

[1:24:29] you can't have superintendent goals without a

[1:24:31] finance goal that Mr.

[1:24:32] Gilli and I will share, which focuses on deliver developing

[1:24:35] a sustainable FY 28 budget

[1:24:37] that maintains level services while limiting the increase

[1:24:40] as we have previously committed to 5% or less.

[1:24:44] That work includes stronger forecasting, close monitoring

[1:24:47] of personnel and major cost drivers

[1:24:49] and clear alignment between resources

[1:24:51] and strategic priorities.

[1:24:52] So I welcome the committee's questions

[1:24:54] and hopefully that's a satisfying overview

[1:24:56] to quite a long document.

[1:24:59] So just as a, a process for those who don't know,

[1:25:05] probably at our next,

[1:25:07] we're not gonna vote on these tonight at our next meeting,

[1:25:09] ideally we would vote

[1:25:11] and then at the end

[1:25:13] of the school year we will conduct the superintendent

[1:25:16] evaluation based on the goals

[1:25:18] that we vote on at the next meeting.

[1:25:21] So I don't know if everybody had a chance to read

[1:25:23] through this document yet,

[1:25:25] but certainly if there are questions or comments, feel free.

[1:25:28] Ms. Brunell has her hand up.

[1:25:33] Thank you. I think this is a great document

[1:25:35] and just shows how much the strategic plan is gonna

[1:25:40] guide your work over the next several years.

[1:25:44] And so that is, I just, I'm excited to see

[1:25:48] what comes from the strategic plan

[1:25:50] and just see how it's already influencing our

[1:25:52] district in terms of your goals.

[1:25:54] I guess I wanna, if I'm, you know,

[1:25:56] I had comments on a couple of 'em,

[1:25:58] but I, the most important one me is it is the fiscal goal.

[1:26:03] And I wonder if you would take a few suggestions. Sure.

[1:26:07] Just as suggestions, the,

[1:26:12] I wonder if the first line,

[1:26:14] sorry I'm reading on two different documents,

[1:26:16] but the first line is I think I would love

[1:26:18] to see something like at a minimum maintain level services.

[1:26:21] Because I don't wanna just assume

[1:26:24] that every year we're doing level services.

[1:26:27] There are times when a district needs to grow

[1:26:29] and we need to be bold and brave

[1:26:31] and say level services isn't gonna cut it this time

[1:26:37] I'll happily take that recommendation.

[1:26:39] I see. I love that.

[1:26:40] And it's gonna make it a richer document I think.

[1:26:42] And we're, we're still gonna do what we've done

[1:26:44] before, which is at minimum level service

[1:26:47] and that's some of those strategic allocations.

[1:26:49] So that's the same frame,

[1:26:50] but I'm happy to change the wording

[1:26:52] and I think you are making it much stronger.

[1:26:54] Okay. Thank you.

[1:26:56] Not, that's not a frequent comment

[1:26:59] that I received, so thank you.

[1:27:03] And then just one other layer

[1:27:05] and I don't know, I'm not gonna wordsmith it.

[1:27:06] I don't know why to say it, but I think what everything

[1:27:09] that I've learned in the budget sessions that I've done

[1:27:12] and the is the budget is not

[1:27:14] just managing school.

[1:27:17] Finances is not just the budget, right?

[1:27:19] It's the implementation and the spending of the, of it.

[1:27:22] And so I wonder if you could add something about

[1:27:26] the communication once the budget's passed

[1:27:29] and the implementation so that anything

[1:27:33] that is changing in FY 27 we are, we can

[1:27:38] now clearly the this, your evaluation happens

[1:27:41] before the summer, but I think we just need to

[1:27:45] add a dimension that says it's not just the budget

[1:27:48] that gets passed in February and March,

[1:27:50] but it's everything after it too.

[1:27:55] Yeah, well said.

[1:27:57] And I think that's gonna be easier now

[1:27:59] that we have a strategic plan.

[1:28:00] It's like a breath of, I have such relief now

[1:28:03] because it's a five year plan

[1:28:04] and it's just easier to budget frankly.

[1:28:06] So I think I see Jackie's head nodding. Matt's head nodding.

[1:28:11] Great. We're happy to add that.

[1:28:13] Thank you. And I support all the indicators

[1:28:16] and I support the rest of the document. Thank you.

[1:28:18] Thank you. Any other comments or questions? Dr. Welch?

[1:28:23] Just a, a, a thought Dr.

[1:28:25] Spas, we worked towards finalizing this, the strategic plan

[1:28:28] that we voted on at the end of last school year in the back

[1:28:32] had some really specific targets

[1:28:35] that we were looking to try to meet.

[1:28:38] As I look at the draft documents here,

[1:28:41] I certainly appreciate that.

[1:28:42] Like you wouldn't, you don't wanna cap the number

[1:28:44] of learning walks and say,

[1:28:45] well I've done, I've done three and that's it.

[1:28:46] I'm, I'm going home. But,

[1:28:49] but we maybe at some sort of quantifiable objectives

[1:28:54] to help the committee understand when we've gotten

[1:28:57] to at least a certain number

[1:28:59] or you know, words like regular, I don't want

[1:29:03] to pigeonhole you or, or give you a a minimum

[1:29:06] but also want to give us some guidance on

[1:29:09] what constitutes a a regular activity

[1:29:11] or what constitutes a a shared understanding.

[1:29:14] Do we have some sense of, of what we could come

[1:29:17] to an agree on now so that we have a better sense of whether

[1:29:20] or not we've met that goal in the future.

[1:29:23] I thought that the strategic plan did a nice job of

[1:29:25] that in the, I dunno if that's the appendix,

[1:29:28] but the, that back part where there were some specific goals

[1:29:31] around student achievement, finance, things of that nature.

[1:29:35] So I you won't be surprised to hear I actually have a,

[1:29:39] a detailed calendar with that exactly.

[1:29:41] Mapped out so I know exactly

[1:29:42] because I had to overhaul my schedule Yeah.

[1:29:45] To hardwire it to this plan.

[1:29:46] Especially moving to expanding my engagement in schools.

[1:29:50] So we have that. And I think

[1:29:52] the thing I'd like the committee to understand

[1:29:54] and why sometimes I don't put that detail in here is

[1:29:57] that I almost wanna switch the narrative to not

[1:29:59] how many learning walks I do necessarily,

[1:30:02] but the growth we see from the beginning to the midyear.

[1:30:04] Sure. Or kind to anchor it.

[1:30:06] So I'm gonna help shift some of that.

[1:30:08] But I'm, I've gotta split up a little bit of

[1:30:10] how I spend my time.

[1:30:11] So I think one of the questions I saw come in as well

[1:30:15] was kind of wondering about the

[1:30:17] superintendent engagement plan.

[1:30:19] I actually put as my first thing I'm gonna share with you

[1:30:21] what that engagement plan is.

[1:30:23] I've written it, but I feel like

[1:30:24] that's not what I wanna put in the goal.

[1:30:26] What I wanna put in the goal is

[1:30:27] that I'm gonna write the plan then I'm gonna kind

[1:30:29] of make sure it makes sense to

[1:30:30] people and then share it with you.

[1:30:31] But I definitely have it quantified.

[1:30:33] It's two benchmark learning walks per school

[1:30:35] and at least four in school visits.

[1:30:38] And then we are offering ourselves

[1:30:39] to be part of these learning walks.

[1:30:41] But we are trying to build the culture

[1:30:43] where the schools are taking that on.

[1:30:45] Yeah. Outside. 'cause that's an evolution of

[1:30:48] it being more owned locally.

[1:30:50] And so I think we're, I'm gonna be more clear about kind of

[1:30:53] that evolution in this but,

[1:30:56] but I definitely know the numbers

[1:30:58] and they're gonna be, they may be a little lower the next

[1:31:00] year as we see the schools take over some

[1:31:02] of those skills without us there.

[1:31:04] Sort of that gradual release. Yeah.

[1:31:06] But I hear your point, which is quantifying

[1:31:08] and well, well received. Received.

[1:31:11] Alright. I appreciate that. Ideal back Mr. Chairman.

[1:31:14] Anyone else? Okay, so we will at the next meeting

[1:31:19] have this on the agenda again with a vote

[1:31:23] and we can move on.

[1:31:25] Thank you.

[1:31:26] Okay. So the moment you've all been waiting

[1:31:29] for Dr. Ferguson coming back with the big eyes, I'm

[1:31:33] so excited about kind of his introduction of code of conduct

[1:31:38] and where it starts to turn into implementation.

[1:31:41] And we do have an ask of the committee

[1:31:42] that he's going to explain

[1:31:47] As he gets set up.

[1:31:48] I just wanted to say that I am gonna log off

[1:31:50] and I will certainly watch this presentation once it's on

[1:31:53] Pegasus, Dr. Ferguson, I'm sorry to be leaving now,

[1:31:56] but I have to go.

[1:31:58] Thank you Ms. Rene.

[1:32:03] Thank you Sue. Can we go to the first slide? Second slide.

[1:32:08] Second slide. Thank you.

[1:32:11] So I'm here to talk with you about,

[1:32:14] give you an update on the code of conduct

[1:32:16] and where we are in that process.

[1:32:18] At the end of this conversation,

[1:32:20] I know we've had the first read and I'll talk about that.

[1:32:22] This is the first read, I'll talk about that in a minute.

[1:32:26] But the ask is going to be when we

[1:32:30] make any updates or changes to our handbook,

[1:32:34] of which the code of conduct is gonna

[1:32:35] be part of the handbook.

[1:32:37] That it's the practice required by policy that we come

[1:32:40] to the school committee for that approval in two weeks.

[1:32:43] We'll be talking more specifically about the handbooks

[1:32:46] across the different levels and I'll provide more

[1:32:48] information on that piece.

[1:32:50] But much, much of the first few slides really is a review of

[1:32:54] what the process has been up to this point.

[1:32:56] We have over the course

[1:32:58] of the past few years have been looking

[1:33:00] carefully at our handbooks.

[1:33:02] We've also looked carefully at how we want to align

[1:33:06] our expectations across the different levels

[1:33:09] and at different buildings creating common language.

[1:33:13] And last year we launched the work around the code

[1:33:17] of conduct for the steering committee, which continues

[1:33:19] to be active this year.

[1:33:21] And the part of what we want to talk to you about today is

[1:33:25] how do we move from the initial drafting

[1:33:27] and framing of the code of conduct into implementation,

[1:33:31] adoption implementation,

[1:33:33] which is gonna require your approval.

[1:33:34] Next slide please. So as a quick recap,

[1:33:38] the steering committee started last year.

[1:33:40] It was co-led by myself

[1:33:42] and Team Cesarini, who's the

[1:33:45] assistant principal at Kennedy Middle School.

[1:33:47] And we brought a broad cross section

[1:33:50] of the district together.

[1:33:52] We had teachers, we had administrators, we had counselors,

[1:33:55] we had representation from the union, we had unit S,

[1:33:59] we had a variety of folks

[1:34:02] and we consulted very closely

[1:34:03] with our consulting attorney and Liz Magula.

[1:34:07] Next slide please.

[1:34:12] And that captures briefly, we had medical representation,

[1:34:15] we had multilingual representation

[1:34:18] and we had administrative staff as well.

[1:34:20] So that's just a quick snapshot

[1:34:22] of the folks who were involved in that.

[1:34:24] Next slide please. One

[1:34:27] of the quick things I wanna say about the code,

[1:34:29] and I'm sure you've had some time to peruse it, is

[1:34:33] how it was structured.

[1:34:34] And I know we've talked about the guiding principles

[1:34:37] that came out of their strategic plan,

[1:34:38] which included cultivating character, fostering belonging,

[1:34:41] and inspiring excellence.

[1:34:43] And when you take a look at the code, one

[1:34:46] of the things we wanted to center at the very start of

[1:34:48] that is helping our students learn about their

[1:34:52] rights and responsibility.

[1:34:53] In many ways, the code is not just a document

[1:34:56] that talks about discipline.

[1:34:58] It really emphasizes our responsibility to teach students

[1:35:02] about their own rights and responsibility

[1:35:05] and expectations for how to be engaged in

[1:35:09] and active members of the community.

[1:35:11] So it really is about teaching

[1:35:13] and teachings at the heart of it.

[1:35:15] And the spirit of the code of conduct is ensuring

[1:35:18] that we are building a safe, supportive,

[1:35:20] inclusive community,

[1:35:21] but at the same time balancing expectations, accountability

[1:35:25] and support for students.

[1:35:26] So that continues to be the heart of what

[1:35:29] that document is designed to do.

[1:35:31] Another piece of it that's really important is this idea

[1:35:35] of supportive accountability centers on ensuring

[1:35:37] that we're doing prevention work, we're doing teaching work,

[1:35:41] responding consistently,

[1:35:43] and we're reflecting on our practice both in terms of what

[1:35:46] student choices are in the moment,

[1:35:48] but also as a district

[1:35:49] that we are gathering feedback in response to what we are,

[1:35:55] we are noticing what we're seeing

[1:35:56] and how students are being held accountable

[1:35:58] and making changes as needed in the process.

[1:36:03] And so establishing common standards

[1:36:06] and if you've seen the code of conduct, you see that we have

[1:36:10] CDMs, which are classroom based infractions or discretionary

[1:36:14] and mandatory and helping us be able to take responsibility

[1:36:18] for how we hold students accountable

[1:36:20] and making sure we're doing that consistently,

[1:36:23] systematically with reflection as we go along.

[1:36:27] Next slide please. And so for some

[1:36:31] of the reasons why this was established, we were

[1:36:36] received ongoing feedback.

[1:36:37] I'm sure this has come from a wide group of reporters.

[1:36:41] Our students, and I'll talk a little bit about some

[1:36:43] of the student surveys that we did.

[1:36:44] But there were discrepancies across

[1:36:47] how disciplinary actions were

[1:36:49] were happening across the district.

[1:36:50] Some of it was anecdotal and we're seeing different things

[1:36:54] in different buildings, which gave us reason to really want

[1:36:57] to organize

[1:36:58] and coordinate our understanding of

[1:37:00] what was going on in the different buildings, then be able

[1:37:02] to develop a systematic response to

[1:37:06] those discrepancies.

[1:37:09] Schools continue to maintain appropriate practices

[1:37:14] that reflect their own identity and culture.

[1:37:18] We've encouraged students schools to maintain some

[1:37:21] of the tier one PBI structures

[1:37:23] that really highlight the culture

[1:37:26] and climate of their schools.

[1:37:28] And so that continues to be part

[1:37:30] of the expectation from schools.

[1:37:31] However, they are encouraged to tether that

[1:37:35] to the district's framework around

[1:37:38] student expectations and behaviors.

[1:37:41] The code currently will be incorporated,

[1:37:44] has been incorporated in all the handbooks.

[1:37:46] There are QR codes and hyperlinks that are available.

[1:37:50] And one of the things we've done in addition

[1:37:52] to developing the code, is really developing also a playbook

[1:37:56] that outlines

[1:37:58] and supports administrators across the district with

[1:38:02] resources for the implementation.

[1:38:04] Which includes lessons for advisory, lessons

[1:38:08] for pd, for teacher training, communication with families,

[1:38:12] a whole host of, of resources that will help

[1:38:15] with the implementation.

[1:38:17] Next slide please. So

[1:38:22] as I said earlier, our policy requires

[1:38:24] that the committee approves any changes to the handbook.

[1:38:29] And the code of conduct is one of such that I will,

[1:38:33] I'm bringing in front of you at the appropriate time

[1:38:36] for your consideration review and adoption.

[1:38:39] So it becomes formally a part of the handbook

[1:38:42] and raises the, the language

[1:38:45] and the code itself to a committee approved

[1:38:47] policy regulation that has the auspices

[1:38:50] of your your authority.

[1:38:55] Next slide please. So

[1:39:01] in terms of member checking, what we've, we've done,

[1:39:04] as I said earlier, is in developing the code, we

[1:39:08] provided surveys for students, for staff

[1:39:11] and for families.

[1:39:13] And we had good meaningful participation

[1:39:15] and engagement with families,

[1:39:17] really sharing their thoughts about ensuring that they had,

[1:39:22] we had a positive foundation for the work we've done

[1:39:25] that they're looking for consistency, they're looking

[1:39:28] for improved communication,

[1:39:30] making sure those expectations are accessible

[1:39:33] and really a balanced approach.

[1:39:34] Obviously I think when you are young person is involved in a

[1:39:39] an infraction, you wanna be sure that accountability is,

[1:39:42] is balanced with teaching

[1:39:44] and students have the opportunity to

[1:39:46] engage in a restorative process so that they can find ways

[1:39:51] of connecting back with the community

[1:39:52] or individuals that may have harmed Our students also voiced

[1:39:57] their enthusiasm for fairness, which is not unexpected.

[1:40:02] This is an age of development

[1:40:04] where fairness means a lot to young people.

[1:40:07] They're looking for greater participation in the process.

[1:40:10] Some con concerns about consistency

[1:40:14] and learning was important, not just consequences.

[1:40:17] So those were some of the, the

[1:40:18] student feedback that were received.

[1:40:21] And with staff, again, very similarly, there was need

[1:40:24] for clear expectations, accountability

[1:40:26] and support, shared responsibility, needing tools

[1:40:30] to help them manage what at times feels like growing

[1:40:34] challenges in student misbehavior.

[1:40:38] And so moving forward, I think the goal would be,

[1:40:41] as I said earlier, to outline the timeline we've

[1:40:46] adopted so far and the ask, which is,

[1:40:49] I think it was on the 31st, we shared printed versions

[1:40:52] of the code.

[1:40:53] The version one of the code in its entirety

[1:40:57] today would be the first read where we'll be talking about,

[1:41:00] I've already received some, some questions and

[1:41:04] and suggestions for changes to, to the code which will be

[1:41:09] taken into consideration and as appropriate implemented.

[1:41:14] And then on the 28th I'll be returning

[1:41:17] with the completed handbooks,

[1:41:19] which would be formally adopted

[1:41:21] and the codes adoption would be an important part of that.

[1:41:26] Alright. Questions

[1:41:29] or comments from the committee?

[1:41:31] And just to confirm, Ms. Brunell is no longer online. Okay.

[1:41:36] So if we do any votes,

[1:41:37] we're not gonna vote on this right now,

[1:41:39] but if we do, we will be.

[1:41:40] We're no longer virtual. So we can do in person Ms. Collins.

[1:41:45] Yeah, thank you Dr. Ferguson.

[1:41:48] I'm not expecting this for the initial install

[1:41:53] and I'm not sure whether my question is to you, Mr.

[1:41:56] Chair, to Dr. Pash, to Dr. Ferguson or to Ms. Valone.

[1:42:00] So I guess anyone can feel free to answer

[1:42:02] if changes are made or changes are proposed.

[1:42:06] Do you anticipate they will come

[1:42:07] through the policy subcommittee?

[1:42:11] Not that I'm looking for more work,

[1:42:13] but I'm just trying to understand what the process

[1:42:15] or do they come directly

[1:42:16] to the committee? I'm just trying to understand

[1:42:18] So I can take a shot at that.

[1:42:20] Please do. I think every year we bring the handbooks forth

[1:42:23] and we, my understanding of the policy is that we have

[1:42:28] to be able to confirm that everything

[1:42:30] that we have changed in handbooks

[1:42:32] follows and adheres to policy.

[1:42:34] So assuming that none of those edits make any changes in

[1:42:37] that, I would not think we need

[1:42:39] to bring it through as new policy.

[1:42:40] This one is more because my read of it again

[1:42:42] and it's quoted there, it's required when anything is

[1:42:47] pertains to required standards of conduct

[1:42:49] for employees or students.

[1:42:50] So unless it changed that I wouldn't

[1:42:52] Okay.

[1:42:53] I'm I'm not talking about the initial installation of a code

[1:42:56] of conduct or the student handbooks.

[1:42:58] I'm saying if you get to December

[1:43:00] and you realize that we need to change something, would

[1:43:03] that go through the school,

[1:43:05] through the policy committee or not?

[1:43:07] I think it would depend on what it is

[1:43:09] because I, I really That's fair.

[1:43:11] I really have a good depth of knowledge on, on the code

[1:43:14] of conduct and I really think it's implementation of policy.

[1:43:17] So let's think about the AC policies

[1:43:18] around harassment or other things.

[1:43:21] I actually think this is the vehicle by which we,

[1:43:23] through which we actually implement.

[1:43:26] So I think your, your question's excellent.

[1:43:28] And it's gonna be in my mind now to be mindful

[1:43:32] that we are always adhering to policy,

[1:43:34] which this document does.

[1:43:35] And if ever we have a question, we will bring it.

[1:43:38] But as long as it's just like status quo implementation

[1:43:41] of existing policy, I don't think we would,

[1:43:42] that's my honest answer, but

[1:43:44] No, I wouldn't expect that.

[1:43:45] Yeah, I I'm wondering if we need, if something surfaces

[1:43:49] that it's not written in such a way that it is

[1:43:53] Yeah.

[1:43:54] Implementable in the way that we intended it.

[1:43:57] Yeah. Yeah.

[1:43:59] So I think in, in which case I think it's a pretty

[1:44:01] straightforward document,

[1:44:02] but if, if it bumped up against any form of policy, we'd,

[1:44:05] we would absolutely consult the committee.

[1:44:07] Okay. Yeah.

[1:44:08] Again, I'm not looking for more things on

[1:44:11] My list.

[1:44:12] No thought partnership. Yes.

[1:44:13] All's set. I'm set. Dr. Welch,

[1:44:17] There are a couple

[1:44:18] of violations in the different categories that are specific

[1:44:22] to ban to grade bans.

[1:44:24] Is it fair to say that each violation that is reference,

[1:44:28] that references a grade band has a corollary

[1:44:30] for the other grade bands?

[1:44:32] Or is that not necessarily the case?

[1:44:33] It's not necessarily the case.

[1:44:35] I think in some instances where the grade bands exist, it's

[1:44:37] because there's certain laws that govern the type of action

[1:44:42] that would follow for a specific age range of students.

[1:44:47] And so in some of those instances ensuring that

[1:44:50] a great ban is governed by certain different laws Yeah.

[1:44:54] Compared to others is the reason why

[1:44:55] that distinction is, is put forward.

[1:44:58] Understood. And you,

[1:45:00] you made it very clear the materials here that there was

[1:45:03] an attorney or attorneys who consulted on this Correct.

[1:45:06] As well as your domain expertise and,

[1:45:08] and other folks Correct.

[1:45:10] In the district and just appreciate thoroughness

[1:45:13] and the, the degree to which this process brought all those

[1:45:15] different kinds of voices and,

[1:45:16] and areas of expertise together.

[1:45:18] Yeah. Thank so I yield back.

[1:45:21] Anyone else? All right.

[1:45:25] So we will bring, has the, I guess I have a question, Kath,

[1:45:28] has the policy subcommittee taken this up?

[1:45:32] The policy? Is the policy changing?

[1:45:35] No, we have not. Okay.

[1:45:36] And it, it's not, we don't see this at the moment.

[1:45:39] It's a change to anything. Right? It

[1:45:41] It's, it's just part of the handbook process. Right?

[1:45:43] It's part of the annual of handbook

[1:45:45] review that we need to do as

[1:45:46] The school committee.

[1:45:47] Right. Because there's, I was just looking at the policy,

[1:45:48] there's nothing in the, in the actual policy about code

[1:45:52] of conduct and it,

[1:45:53] it's about the handbook in its directives.

[1:45:55] Right. So no policy required, meaning

[1:45:58] we can put it on the agenda for the next meeting

[1:46:02] based on the timeline from Dr. Ferguson. Yes. Great.

[1:46:05] I just wanna mention, I appreciate kind of

[1:46:07] that conversation around this as we figure out the lanes

[1:46:10] because it helps us to frame this document as a document

[1:46:15] for every single one of our schools and students

[1:46:16] and staff to implement.

[1:46:18] That's a tool for implementation towards equity

[1:46:21] and that's what it's intended to be.

[1:46:23] It definitely infuses our values

[1:46:25] and it infuses, you know, our belief systems as well.

[1:46:27] So, but to your point, it's not policy.

[1:46:32] Okay. Thank you

[1:46:32] Dr. Ferguson. Let's roll.

[1:46:38] Okay, let's roll. We're going into finance

[1:46:40] and MSBA updates with mr.

[1:46:42] Which Mr. Gillis will guide us through.

[1:46:52] So we are combining a couple of these things here.

[1:46:57] We've got the memorial project architect procurement.

[1:46:59] Last week we met on

[1:47:01] with MSVA on the designer selection panel.

[1:47:04] There were about 13 of us. It's Mike in attendance.

[1:47:08] Is my, is my mic not on? No,

[1:47:09] You just need it Closer.

[1:47:10] Closer, thanks. Is that better?

[1:47:12] Great. We met last week on Tuesday the eighth with the

[1:47:17] Mass school building authorities designer selection panel.

[1:47:20] We reviewed the seven applicants, the architects firms

[1:47:24] that applied for the job to be the architect

[1:47:27] for the new memorial school.

[1:47:28] Project three were recommended to go forward.

[1:47:32] Two of the three that we had locally,

[1:47:35] our top two went forward.

[1:47:38] There's 13 other people that were on the committee.

[1:47:43] Not all of them were in attendance,

[1:47:44] but there were 13 committee of 16, 13 were in attendance.

[1:47:48] And the third ranked firm was different than ours.

[1:47:52] But we're still, we're still pretty happy with,

[1:47:54] with the outcome 'cause we think all firms could,

[1:47:57] could do the job for us.

[1:47:59] We have another meeting on the 22nd,

[1:48:01] that's when the interviews are.

[1:48:03] And those three firms are AI three architects,

[1:48:06] which some people might know is they've, they've done

[1:48:10] the Kennedy School, the high school, and the Wilson School

[1:48:14] and I believe Ben Hem of late.

[1:48:18] So pretty much all the schools this century.

[1:48:21] We also have a little HVAC repair project going on right now

[1:48:26] that's in the study phase and getting cost estimates.

[1:48:29] Jillian Wilson Martin is really leading

[1:48:32] that on behalf of the school department.

[1:48:35] I, I serve as the safety net

[1:48:37] and I think some folks here would remember when we,

[1:48:40] when we came through with the statement of interest

[1:48:43] and it's kind of going along the, the same process

[1:48:45] as the core project is just a lot, lot quicker.

[1:48:49] Jillian has done a good job securing some grants

[1:48:52] and some other funding from the town.

[1:48:55] So instead of $300,000 for the design work to come up

[1:48:59] with a new HVAC system at the Littler school,

[1:49:04] it'll, it'll cost the taxpayers about $50,000.

[1:49:07] And that got voted last week as well

[1:49:10] by the finance committee unanimously, which is, is a nice,

[1:49:14] nice credit to the work done on the project.

[1:49:18] And if folks are looking at it, they could scroll through

[1:49:21] and see the designer selection panel

[1:49:23] and how people voted on that as well.

[1:49:26] Put that in there for reference there.

[1:49:28] Any questions on the update of

[1:49:31] the core project at Memorial School

[1:49:34] or the accelerated repair project at the school?

[1:49:41] Any questions on those things? Dr. Fuchs? Just a quick,

[1:49:45] I think I know what I'm looking at, but

[1:49:46] That table with how everyone voted.

[1:49:50] So each firm that got the highest

[1:49:54] choice got three points, then two points and one point

[1:49:57] and the highest points. Okay. That's

[1:49:59] Right.

[1:50:00] Correct.

[1:50:01] So I learned something.

[1:50:06] So the three firms that were

[1:50:08] selected Oh, I see.

[1:50:13] So one of the firms that were selected is one that neither

[1:50:17] of you na people voted for. Okay.

[1:50:21] Right. So the, the,

[1:50:22] the building committee had also reviewed and,

[1:50:25] and we had a subcommittee and we talked about it

[1:50:27] and we, we reached a, a consensus on who,

[1:50:32] who was our top choice, our,

[1:50:33] our second choice and our third choice.

[1:50:36] And so basically, you know, it's nice to see for people

[1:50:40] that look at, at architects in their design work,

[1:50:43] quite a bit of time that they were, we're largely in accord.

[1:50:47] Like we, we both had our, our top two firms were their

[1:50:52] top two firms as well overall.

[1:50:55] And the third firm was a little different,

[1:50:58] but that's, that's okay. Yeah.

[1:50:59] But your first choice got the most points.

[1:51:02] Your second choice got the second,

[1:51:04] so it was pretty consistent.

[1:51:05] Do these points carry over into No, no.

[1:51:09] It starts from scratch interviews.

[1:51:10] Right. So it, it's the three that interviewed

[1:51:13] how well they interview, answer the questions.

[1:51:15] And again, it's the same, same three people myself,

[1:51:19] the superintendent and the school building committee chair

[1:51:22] will, will represent Natick on the, on that panel.

[1:51:25] Presumably a similar process where you would all vote

[1:51:28] for your top one or,

[1:51:30] Yes.

[1:51:31] Great. Good luck. Thank you.

[1:51:35] Anyone else? Mr.

[1:51:39] Gillis, if you would like to do all the rest

[1:51:42] of the agenda items all at once, that's great.

[1:51:44] Go for it. I dare you.

[1:51:48] Alright, let's, let's go to

[1:51:52] FY 27 financial and capital update.

[1:51:54] So the capital update is, there's nothing in writing,

[1:51:56] but it's, it's pretty simple.

[1:51:58] The five year budget requests have been sent out

[1:52:00] to the principals and the directors.

[1:52:01] They're due back October 21st for most, since most of our

[1:52:07] principals and directors are returning.

[1:52:08] This is the same process as last year.

[1:52:10] We're here to support them as usual

[1:52:13] and then prioritize as we, as we come up with a list

[1:52:17] for the school committee as well as what's

[1:52:19] what the town can afford.

[1:52:21] And for FY 27 folks will recall we voted the budget

[1:52:26] here at the school committee level back in March

[1:52:29] and it went to town meeting in April and it passed.

[1:52:33] And we, while that, while that was going on,

[1:52:36] we were working on the strategic plan that got completed

[1:52:39] and then the school committee voted it in their last

[1:52:41] meeting on June 15th.

[1:52:43] And that starts the five year plan of FY 27.

[1:52:47] And so we have some, some adjustments to make here,

[1:52:50] both from the budget process

[1:52:52] and from the strategic plan process.

[1:52:54] So the first one in regards to the budget process,

[1:52:56] when the budget book came out on February 1st,

[1:52:59] we discussed it on February 9th.

[1:53:01] We also discussed user fees

[1:53:03] and the, the, the field trips

[1:53:07] that were in the budget at, at what we believed

[1:53:10] to be fully funded got discussed.

[1:53:13] And we wanted to leave some, the school committee

[1:53:16] and the administration wanted to leave some money in there

[1:53:20] for financial assistance

[1:53:22] but move the money out of, out of field trips

[1:53:26] and move it into the athletic program.

[1:53:28] So we didn't have to increase athletic fees.

[1:53:31] And so what's it on page one here is a chart that it,

[1:53:35] that shows the original appropriation,

[1:53:37] the recommended transfers out

[1:53:39] and then the transfer into athletics.

[1:53:41] And you'll see that there's no,

[1:53:43] no overall change in the bottom line

[1:53:45] and there's still money for, for field trips.

[1:53:47] It's just, it'll go back to what I'll call

[1:53:49] before FY 24 where the field trips were largely paid

[1:53:54] for by the, the parent users

[1:53:57] and the PTOs who often donate money

[1:54:00] to support the field trips.

[1:54:02] Another note, we are taking some

[1:54:04] of the field trip payment registration online

[1:54:08] that's gone up this week

[1:54:09] and training for staff is also gonna happen this week for

[1:54:13] how to run reports and get stuff out of there.

[1:54:15] It's actually pretty easy. It's a dropdown menu.

[1:54:19] I have complete confidence in our staff to be able

[1:54:21] to, to handle this.

[1:54:23] I'm sorry to interrupt, Mr. Yellow, Mr.

[1:54:25] Chairman, I don't have this attached to the agenda.

[1:54:28] Is this attached to the agenda or is it only on the screen?

[1:54:30] It's attached to the agenda if you it Under

[1:54:33] Which item?

[1:54:34] A, a FFY 27 financial and capital update. No object.

[1:54:39] Are you looking through Granicus

[1:54:40] or how are you getting there?

[1:54:43] This Is, I'm looking at it on my screen.

[1:54:45] So I'm just, I'm curious,

[1:54:47] This is the agenda that was in

[1:54:49] your email to the committee? No, it

[1:54:53] May not maybe hit the research through the Natick if you,

[1:54:56] you did it through like Natick ma

[1:54:58] This is the agenda link

[1:55:00] that was in your email to the committee at the end of

[1:55:02] Last week, right?

[1:55:03] That's the public, right? That's the, okay, so if you go

[1:55:05] through granicus now you can, it should be,

[1:55:08] we should make sure it gets updated on the live

[1:55:09] site granite.

[1:55:11] This sometimes happens with the GRANICUS stuff.

[1:55:14] If you go through your Granicus account you can see it.

[1:55:16] Yeah, it's supposed to be the same on the town website,

[1:55:20] but sometimes there is a caching

[1:55:23] or delay where it doesn't actually show up on that.

[1:55:25] We should see if we can't rectify that. That's a town thing.

[1:55:30] But

[1:55:32] I went through the NPS site. It works

[1:55:35] Through the NPS site.

[1:55:37] It can, you know what, we can, I can,

[1:55:39] we're emailing it right now, we can just email it for now.

[1:55:41] Yeah, thank you. But we should make sure

[1:55:43] that everybody else can because the, it's the same system

[1:55:46] that shows it on Natick MA as we have at school committee,

[1:55:49] but sometimes they get outta sync somehow.

[1:55:52] I'm a software engineer but not for that particular product.

[1:55:55] So Mr.

[1:55:59] Gillis, you may me proceed please

[1:56:03] If you want to email it to him 'cause I can't Yep.

[1:56:05] Okay, sorry, let me go back.

[1:56:09] I was in the process of emailing.

[1:56:11] So there's the, the bottom of page one, there is the chart

[1:56:15] that shows the money coming out of each field trip account

[1:56:20] and going into the athletic contracted services account.

[1:56:25] And because we did not raise the athletic fees,

[1:56:27] even though the, the costs of

[1:56:30] of the athletic program continue to rise.

[1:56:33] So the next was the strategic plan and this transfer request

[1:56:37] and, and funding update.

[1:56:39] So again, I kind of gave you that, that timeline.

[1:56:42] And we have some, we have some items here that,

[1:56:46] that we've identified.

[1:56:48] It's about $138,000 for what I'm gonna call

[1:56:52] early phase one of imp implementing the strategic plan.

[1:56:56] And I'm gonna call it early phase one

[1:56:57] because we spent a, a lot of the summer

[1:57:00] going over these things.

[1:57:02] But we also had the startup

[1:57:03] of school implementing a new budget,

[1:57:05] staff turnover and all those things.

[1:57:07] And as we get new information, there's probably gonna be

[1:57:11] some other adjustments and some ideas so we can make the,

[1:57:15] the entire five year strategic plan come to fruition.

[1:57:19] So this is, this is the first pass.

[1:57:22] It might not be the last pass for FY 27 for FY 28.

[1:57:25] These things will be built into the budget

[1:57:27] and we'll identify, identify them for you.

[1:57:30] So in the chart there

[1:57:32] that you're looking at panoramas the first one,

[1:57:35] they're a professional like survey company to get a lot

[1:57:39] of community feedback, which was one

[1:57:40] of the things in the strategic plan

[1:57:42] and then the funding source

[1:57:44] that we're asking to pay for that.

[1:57:45] And it's a transfer

[1:57:46] and the strategic plan number of 4.3,

[1:57:49] we've got some training and consulting.

[1:57:51] Some of the folks here might

[1:57:53] remember ISSA from previous things.

[1:57:55] She seems to be a really good match.

[1:57:57] Some of that will be at the school committee level, some of

[1:57:59] that will be at the central office level.

[1:58:02] And then we've got some stipends for staff.

[1:58:04] We're asking staff to do additional work.

[1:58:06] We're not taking things off their plate,

[1:58:07] we're adding things we,

[1:58:09] and so we've got about $51,000 worth of stipend work

[1:58:14] for for staff there.

[1:58:17] Kudos to my colleague Sue Aloni with the Title IV grant

[1:58:21] and Erin if she helped with that as well in regards

[1:58:24] because we're able to have federal grant money,

[1:58:27] pay a couple of those stipends.

[1:58:29] We've got some other technology upgrades and and safety

[1:58:34] and security and Renaissance communication

[1:58:36] and code of conduct module upgrades that kind of align

[1:58:40] with our changes in those programs that Dennis

[1:58:44] has already been working on.

[1:58:45] And so that's what we have.

[1:58:47] It comes to $138,450, 19,500 of that.

[1:58:52] No funded outta grants. No.

[1:58:54] And then private school tuitions we're off to

[1:58:58] a good start again this year.

[1:59:01] That one account looks like it can, it can handle

[1:59:04] making all these, these transfers.

[1:59:06] And so I recommend those transfers be made.

[1:59:08] And if you wanted the particular line items organ object,

[1:59:12] it's, it's down there below for you.

[1:59:15] So this is a transfer requests

[1:59:18] that we recommend the the school committee vote to approve

[1:59:22] so we can make those changes in

[1:59:23] our budget and budget reports.

[1:59:27] Any questions? You have a quick question.

[1:59:29] Sorry if I missed it. Panorama, is that, are we doing,

[1:59:31] are we using them now for an SCL assessment or

[1:59:36] I Can speak to that.

[1:59:37] I'm gonna defer to other people.

[1:59:39] We actually are seeking someone to help us write surveys

[1:59:43] that will align to our strategic plan

[1:59:45] for student, staff and families.

[1:59:46] That would be repeatable year over year would show growth.

[1:59:49] We absolutely want voice and it's a time to do it.

[1:59:52] So this is an organization

[1:59:55] that's really good at that, right?

[1:59:57] Writing reliable, valid surveys.

[1:59:59] We put it out to bid and we got or quote

[2:00:02] and we got three, we interviewed them,

[2:00:04] we were very well aware of kind of what they were offering

[2:00:07] and this is who we selected. So

[2:00:08] It's not a preexisting survey

[2:00:09] of theirs, it's them helping.

[2:00:11] It may start with an existing

[2:00:14] and then I think we're, we're gonna kind of,

[2:00:16] it's like a Venn diagram.

[2:00:17] We wanna work with ESA to help us figure out,

[2:00:20] and it's kind of what I talked to in my goals

[2:00:22] where we're gonna develop

[2:00:24] what those measures should be over the

[2:00:25] five years to progress monitor.

[2:00:26] And we absolutely envision Natick fy it,

[2:00:29] I call it we're kind

[2:00:30] of putting a natick touch on the surveys but,

[2:00:33] but really using their base

[2:00:34] because they have strong surveys that are valid

[2:00:38] and reliable that matter.

[2:00:40] And so we don't wanna like dilute that

[2:00:41] but at the same time we wanna get enough questions in there

[2:00:43] that kind of reflect the progression of our own plan.

[2:00:47] Good. Thank you Ms. Collins. Thank you.

[2:00:52] I have a few things so feel free to cut me off

[2:00:54] and round if you'd like to.

[2:00:56] I will,

[2:00:58] I'm ready.

[2:00:59] FY 26. It's not your job

[2:01:03] but do you happen to know whether free cash has been

[2:01:05] submitted for certification?

[2:01:08] Last I heard it was not submitted for

[2:01:11] Certification.

[2:01:12] Okay. Thank you. Again, it's not your job.

[2:01:16] I wanna make that really clear. Sure.

[2:01:17] It's not being held up up here.

[2:01:23] The capital update,

[2:01:28] I just wanna make sure everybody remembers that.

[2:01:33] An article went through town meeting,

[2:01:34] I think it was last year to move the due date

[2:01:37] of the capital plan to January one

[2:01:39] because of the move on fiscal budgets

[2:01:44] to February one.

[2:01:45] It used to be December one.

[2:01:47] So just you got a little bit

[2:01:49] of breathing room if, if you need it.

[2:01:53] And I don't wanna give it away unnecessarily.

[2:01:58] The one thing sec

[2:02:04] panorama I think is a good use of money

[2:02:06] because it is really hard to write a good survey

[2:02:09] and if you write a bad one, people still expect you

[2:02:13] to act on it even though you may not have data that

[2:02:16] you can understand.

[2:02:18] But in terms of the financial budget and,

[2:02:20] and this is a question I don't have an answer,

[2:02:24] but two of the things that have popped up in the mom's group

[2:02:27] because yes I live in that morass

[2:02:31] recently have been field trips and athletic fees.

[2:02:34] Some, we as a committee

[2:02:37] and we as a school administration need to figure out how

[2:02:41] to communicate these things out better.

[2:02:46] I don't have an answer

[2:02:47] but I just want to keep it, you know, something that we need

[2:02:51] to keep in the forefront

[2:02:54] because you know, once it hits the street,

[2:02:58] people spin themselves in knots

[2:03:00] and hopefully we can at least point back to,

[2:03:04] well this was updated this day, that sort of thing.

[2:03:10] Do you wanna start? Yeah, then

[2:03:12] I'll go.

[2:03:13] So I, I think, I think that's a fair assessment and, and,

[2:03:17] and a little lesson learned for us here.

[2:03:20] You know, we're generally following the process

[2:03:23] but maybe the process wasn't so great.

[2:03:25] So, you know, tomorrow, assuming this gets voted we'll,

[2:03:29] we're gonna have an attachment that goes on top

[2:03:31] of the FY 27 budget book that

[2:03:33] that tells about the update right at the beginning.

[2:03:36] So when they scroll through pages, you know,

[2:03:38] that's gonna be the first thing they see

[2:03:39] and then the rest of the book would,

[2:03:40] would stay the same instead of redoing the whole book.

[2:03:43] And I guess, you know, having gone through it now and,

[2:03:48] and some stress that it caused some folks,

[2:03:50] when we make a decision

[2:03:52] during the budget process next year

[2:03:54] we will, we will do that.

[2:03:55] We'll, we'll update it then.

[2:03:57] I'm not trying to throw shade,

[2:03:58] I'm just saying going forward we,

[2:04:00] I I I find it help We can avoid hopefully.

[2:04:02] I I find it helpful, constructive criticism

[2:04:05] 'cause we don't, we're not doing this

[2:04:07] to add stress to people.

[2:04:09] We we're trying to be transparent and helpful

[2:04:12] and sometimes, you know,

[2:04:14] because we live in it all the time, we,

[2:04:16] we might forget a little bit

[2:04:17] that the average person down the street

[2:04:19] is not living what we're living.

[2:04:23] Can I add a couple things? One is that we did send out

[2:04:28] and engage today quite a lot of detail around field trips.

[2:04:31] So that is out. Again, I agree with everything Mr.

[2:04:33] Gillis said, but just there is a communication out today.

[2:04:37] Two is there is a process whereby the budget book is usually

[2:04:42] amended by the town as well as the schools in the fall.

[2:04:44] So I'm so glad to hear people are in our budget book.

[2:04:47] That's actually exciting. But,

[2:04:49] and we will be doing an amendment.

[2:04:50] I agree with Mr. Gillis.

[2:04:52] There might be an opportunity to do it earlier

[2:04:53] but I, I feel like it's worth noting this is the normal time

[2:04:56] when people are amending those for those

[2:04:58] who don't live in town meeting land.

[2:05:00] And then I do wanna make sure people are aware

[2:05:03] that this year we did improve the website

[2:05:05] to put a dropdown page.

[2:05:07] If you Google Natick public schools fate fees,

[2:05:10] there's a great page on there that kind

[2:05:12] of really does outline the process, the forms, these pieces.

[2:05:16] It's right there on the website is another resource

[2:05:18] for people to take a look at.

[2:05:19] But feedback well received,

[2:05:21] I think this is something we never do, intend

[2:05:22] to cause some pain

[2:05:24] and this one was a bit painful, so thank you. Okay.

[2:05:26] And one last question if I might. 118,000 and what,

[2:05:33] Lemme scroll.

[2:05:34] I haven't been able get into the nine 50.

[2:05:36] Nine 50, thank you. I haven't been

[2:05:37] able to get into the school.

[2:05:39] 1 18 9 5 0 9 5 0. I'm helping. So

[2:05:44] Very, very well.

[2:05:45] Thank you. Shine over here.

[2:05:46] We're flying dark 'cause we can't get online. Anyone

[2:05:49] Else?

[2:05:50] Any other questions? Yes.

[2:05:55] Alright, thank you. Motion.

[2:05:58] Oh, Okay. Wait, Dr. Welch has a question

[2:06:01] and then we can talk about a motion.

[2:06:03] So the, the amount that we are transferring

[2:06:05] total is not the amount that's,

[2:06:08] but we are we being asked to approve the amount

[2:06:10] that is on page one, which is the, what is the balance

[2:06:14] between field trip support and athletic support.

[2:06:17] And some of this is going from

[2:06:20] field trip support to athletic support.

[2:06:21] That's one item to approve. That's

[2:06:24] One item to approve And then the second item

[2:06:26] to approve is, is the, the chart down the bottom.

[2:06:29] The 118,950 in transfers.

[2:06:32] You don't need to approve the 19,500

[2:06:35] in the entitlement grants.

[2:06:36] Right. Okay. And so,

[2:06:41] you know, dues and memberships, contracted services.

[2:06:46] I mean, I, I know what the names of the categories are.

[2:06:49] Yeah. What, what, what is inside those boxes?

[2:06:53] Just in plain language?

[2:06:55] So the school committee only has a handful of line items.

[2:07:00] And so dues and memberships is largely it,

[2:07:02] but they'll, it's also the line item that we have,

[2:07:06] have historically used to pay for consultants

[2:07:09] and training with for the, for the school committee.

[2:07:13] Same with the superintendent's office.

[2:07:16] You know, for the surveys will be run through the HR office

[2:07:20] because it's also our communications office.

[2:07:22] So that, that line item is typically for advertising,

[2:07:25] but we have it in there as also for,

[2:07:27] in this case, contracted services.

[2:07:30] The equipment is, is the IT line item.

[2:07:32] That's, that really hasn't changed.

[2:07:34] And then districtwide curriculum, salaries for the stipends,

[2:07:38] because all that work is district wide.

[2:07:40] It's not, not, not really school based.

[2:07:43] And, and how are we paying for it is the,

[2:07:45] the OUTTA district tuitions for private schools.

[2:07:48] We're off to a, a, a good start this year.

[2:07:51] We ended last year. Well.

[2:07:53] So that, that is really some kudos to some good management

[2:07:56] and good fortune from the special ed department for doing a,

[2:08:01] a good job keeping our program strong enough

[2:08:03] to keep the kids in district.

[2:08:05] Yeah.

[2:08:07] Okay. Alright. That's helpful. Thank you.

[2:08:09] Alright, I am ready Now. Ms. Col. Ms. Collins.

[2:08:12] Ms. Collins, please

[2:08:15] Move to transfer

[2:08:17] $61,607 from

[2:08:23] the field trip sections

[2:08:27] of Benham Brown, little Jim Memorial Kennedy

[2:08:31] and Wilson to high school athletic

[2:08:35] contracted services as described in the,

[2:08:40] in the slide

[2:08:44] Second Motion by Ms. Collins and second by Dr.

[2:08:47] Fugman. Any debate question,

[2:08:51] comment or just debate? No.

[2:08:54] All right. Ms. Chairman, as a point of order,

[2:08:56] do we need a date on Ms. Collins' motion?

[2:08:59] She did you say, you said in your

[2:09:01] motion the report, right?

[2:09:02] Yeah. So did you have the date of the

[2:09:05] I did not have the date because

[2:09:06] again, I'm flying blind here.

[2:09:07] The memo that I have is dated August 26th, 2006.

[2:09:12] Is that what you would like? That

[2:09:13] Is exactly the date I was looking for.

[2:09:15] Thank Dr. Welch. Yes, I accept the friendly

[2:09:17] Motion.

[2:09:18] Okay. So that, that motion includes aug, August 26th.

[2:09:22] All in favor? Anyone opposed?

[2:09:26] 5 0 0. Ms. Collins

[2:09:31] Move to transfer

[2:09:32] $118,950 from

[2:09:38] the section of the line items

[2:09:43] noted on the last page of the memo dated August 21st

[2:09:48] to the

[2:09:54] notated bottom of the last page to the

[2:09:59] accounts as described

[2:10:04] in the middle of the page.

[2:10:06] It's not my most elegant,

[2:10:08] But it's one of the best ones.

[2:10:11] Top 10 Motion right there.

[2:10:12] Second Motion by Ms. Collins, seconded

[2:10:15] by Mr. Patel Patel,

[2:10:17] any debate? All in favor? Would

[2:10:21] And would Ms. Collins accept a

[2:10:23] friendly amendment to note that the

[2:10:24] You can clean that up. Go ahead,

[2:10:25] Buddy.

[2:10:26] That, that the memo is dated

[2:10:27] August 26th, 2006. Oh, I thought

[2:10:29] I said That.

[2:10:30] Would you accept it? I absolutely do. Mr. Patel? Yes.

[2:10:33] All right. The friendly amendment is accepted now.

[2:10:37] All in favor? Anyone opposed? 4 0 0.

[2:10:41] Dr. Foxman Stepped outta the room for a moment.

[2:10:45] All right, keep on rolling.

[2:10:50] So the next one we have is the FY 26

[2:10:52] fourth quarter report.

[2:10:53] This is the end of closing out last year.

[2:10:56] And as you can imagine,

[2:11:00] we had a pretty good year financially override passed.

[2:11:05] We, we were fortunate

[2:11:06] with the way some things worked out for us.

[2:11:08] We were about $109 million operation, about

[2:11:13] 95,000 of that, 95 million of that was the general fund.

[2:11:16] About 1.7 million was grants

[2:11:19] and nearly 12 million was revolving funds.

[2:11:22] Those percentages are pretty close to what, what we've done

[2:11:25] historically with the grants being a little

[2:11:27] lower than recent years.

[2:11:30] So we're gonna return $224,000 and change to the town.

[2:11:36] So we spent about 99.8% of our budget

[2:11:39] and 0.2% was unspent in return of the town.

[2:11:43] And yes, $224,000 is a lot of money.

[2:11:46] But we were able to, to do some other things

[2:11:49] that we did weren't always able to do as the year ended

[2:11:52] because some things worked out pretty well for us.

[2:11:55] Like we spent less money on subs

[2:11:58] and that's a, a credit to the, the, the HR director for

[2:12:03] working with the principals to help reduce those costs.

[2:12:07] We had, we were able

[2:12:08] to spend a little less money than we anticipated on tuitions

[2:12:11] because that turned out to be a good year.

[2:12:15] And I kind of break it all down in there.

[2:12:17] And I I see we're getting close to nine o'clock, so

[2:12:20] I'm going to jump ahead

[2:12:22] and then talk about grants, which we're able

[2:12:26] to carry over grants.

[2:12:28] Most of the federal grants have a two year lifespan.

[2:12:31] The state grants are generally one year.

[2:12:33] And so we're able to carry over a little more

[2:12:36] into FY 27 from our FY

[2:12:40] 26 grants in the FY 2027 federal grants we

[2:12:45] recently started applying for

[2:12:46] and started receiving them Revolving funds were pretty

[2:12:49] steady overall, but we have some, some good news

[2:12:52] with the circuit breaker fund.

[2:12:55] Like I said, we had fewer surprises,

[2:12:59] or shall I say, students that were on the watch list

[2:13:04] that had to go out than we expected.

[2:13:06] And this is, this is quite different than like just a little

[2:13:09] over two years ago where we had

[2:13:12] about $550,000 in new expenses from January

[2:13:15] to June one year.

[2:13:18] So the state also gave us a fifth quarter payment.

[2:13:23] I know there are only four quarters,

[2:13:24] but that's the state being the state.

[2:13:27] When they decided they had money

[2:13:28] to fully fund the circuit breaker program, both

[2:13:33] for the tuitions and the transportation expenses,

[2:13:36] that money came out in August last year for the prior year.

[2:13:39] And so there was a

[2:13:43] few hundred thousand dollars,

[2:13:44] I don't remember the exact amount.

[2:13:45] I wanna say it was three 80 something that, that we got

[2:13:48] that we weren't expecting.

[2:13:49] That also helped the, the fund balance there as well.

[2:13:56] You know, the food service program still continues

[2:14:00] to do well because the state

[2:14:03] gives us a free lunch reimbursement for the program.

[2:14:05] And our participation has gone up.

[2:14:09] Ev continues to rise slightly

[2:14:11] and we've worked on trying to improve the quality

[2:14:14] of the food through our vendor Aramark with higher quality,

[2:14:17] higher cost foods work worked in throughout the year

[2:14:21] to make sure we can keep, keep that participation up,

[2:14:24] but also sustain it.

[2:14:26] We used the state granted recently

[2:14:31] 'cause it wasn't, you weren't allowed

[2:14:32] to in the past we're allowed to replace cafeteria tables

[2:14:36] with the school food service program, where

[2:14:38] before you could only use it for kitchen equipment.

[2:14:40] So we replaced the cafeteria tables at Wilson.

[2:14:45] We added some tables at Behem

[2:14:48] and we replaced the calf tables over at Brown.

[2:14:51] So it was, you know, we were able

[2:14:53] to take advantage of that as well.

[2:14:58] The ASAP had a pretty good year

[2:15:00] and so did, so did the

[2:15:04] pre preschool tuition program.

[2:15:06] Had a pretty good year. We didn't have to kind of charge all

[2:15:11] of our administrative overhead

[2:15:12] because our budget was in pretty good shape

[2:15:15] and so we didn't, didn't need to do that.

[2:15:18] I'd like to thank Matt Suic, our new budget manager

[2:15:22] and grants analyst, and Alison Asanko

[2:15:25] and Jason Abia for all their work at the end of the year

[2:15:28] to help us get everything through.

[2:15:30] It's, it's been continues to be good working

[2:15:32] with the town comptroller, Michelle Laramie

[2:15:34] and her staff as we, we wind down the air,

[2:15:37] close out the books and get the town what they need.

[2:15:41] So, so that, you know, we're not, we're not ever the ones

[2:15:45] that are slowing any things down

[2:15:47] and it's a good working relationship and I appreciate it.

[2:15:51] So back you can see the attachments

[2:15:55] and back up to the, to the reports,

[2:15:58] some examples if anybody ever wanted

[2:16:00] to see another particular funder grant,

[2:16:02] we can run the reports for you,

[2:16:04] but at this point I'll, I'll take any questions.

[2:16:09] Questions? None.

[2:16:13] I would just say thank you for responsible budgeting

[2:16:17] and even better administration of the money and

[2:16:22] Happy to share that with all the people I mentioned.

[2:16:24] And there's a lot more people that were probably forgotten,

[2:16:27] like, like the principles.

[2:16:28] It's a group effort and you know, it's nice to hear

[2:16:33] that we not only are trying our best,

[2:16:35] but actually being really good partners to the town.

[2:16:42] So I think it's great work. Everyone else

[2:16:46] Second that Second the great work.

[2:16:49] All right, shall we?

[2:16:52] So are, are you tired of my voice

[2:16:53] Yet?

[2:16:54] Yes, I know. I mean, no,

[2:16:57] I, I heard Yes first, so I'm

[2:16:59] Gonna, is this time for a

[2:17:00] motion on whether we're tired or Mr.

[2:17:01] Gill's voice?

[2:17:05] We have a memorial education program process update

[2:17:08] and I'm not sure if the superintendent wants to do that

[2:17:10] or if she would like me to do it.

[2:17:12] Sure, I'm happy to. I just need the slide.

[2:17:18] It looks like this one,

[2:17:23] I mean I can present it from here.

[2:17:26] As you all know, when we looked in the spring, we presented

[2:17:31] and the committee came to some nice decisions about the

[2:17:33] scope of our ED program,

[2:17:34] which is the next piece of feasibility.

[2:17:37] Mr. Gillis talked about the hiring of the designer.

[2:17:39] That's well underway.

[2:17:41] The next piece will be for us to deliver our ED program.

[2:17:45] And it has not been lost on me as we've been working

[2:17:47] through this, that this is a very critical document

[2:17:50] that's gonna really outline what we build

[2:17:53] and it's really the document

[2:17:54] that the school has quite a lot of say on.

[2:17:57] And so that will first be presented

[2:17:59] to the school committee on,

[2:18:00] this is our suggestion on October 19th.

[2:18:03] So we said we deliver it in the fall.

[2:18:05] This is that plan in motion. Mr.

[2:18:08] Brand, I believe reached out to people

[2:18:10] suggesting a special meeting on October 26th.

[2:18:13] I'm hoping that's been scheduled

[2:18:15] because we're suggesting that could,

[2:18:17] that meeting could serve as a public hearing to hear voice

[2:18:20] and kind of exchange

[2:18:21] and interact with the plan that we're going to put forth

[2:18:24] and that the school committee could vote to support

[2:18:26] that on November 2nd.

[2:18:28] I think Mr. Gillis could give context.

[2:18:30] I'm not sure all school committees vote on these things.

[2:18:33] He's seen it done with a vote or without it.

[2:18:35] We would like the vote because I think it's really important

[2:18:38] as we go to advocate for money in the future

[2:18:41] and for this project that we have

[2:18:43] the school committee aligned

[2:18:44] with the school district in terms of that recommendation.

[2:18:47] So this is, I think, a very, very important part

[2:18:50] of our fall work,

[2:18:52] which will culminate in a vote on November 2nd.

[2:18:54] And then after the vote ed program will be shared

[2:18:58] with the building committee so it can re its review can

[2:19:01] align with kind of this timeline.

[2:19:02] So we've already notified them of this suggestion.

[2:19:05] So those are the dates. I think we have 'em hardwired into

[2:19:07] the schedule, but I wanted to make it clear

[2:19:09] that commitment is gonna show up in the fall for you

[2:19:12] and there'll be some reading

[2:19:13] and kind of exchange around that.

[2:19:16] Can I ask what is the scope of that conversation?

[2:19:20] I know that when we first voted on a,

[2:19:23] on the educational program,

[2:19:27] we actually end up spending a lot

[2:19:28] of time talking about the preschool

[2:19:30] and how much

[2:19:33] of this is about the elementary school, how much

[2:19:36] of it is about preschool?

[2:19:38] It's literally about the memorial building. Okay.

[2:19:41] Nothing else now. 'cause you gave us the scope.

[2:19:44] You know, we, we know the number of kids, we know the number

[2:19:46] of preschool classrooms.

[2:19:48] So it's really about the configuration of that

[2:19:51] and kind of the values inside of that.

[2:19:54] So it's, right now it's an 18 page document.

[2:19:57] I'm assuming we'll give you a good solid pre-read of

[2:19:59] that much like we did with the code of conduct so

[2:20:02] that you'll be able to kind of take it and notate it

[2:20:05] and then we'll probably also provide it in a simplified,

[2:20:08] simplified like deck for digestion of kind of everybody

[2:20:11] with the link to that doc draft document.

[2:20:14] So it, to answer your question,

[2:20:15] it's really the memorial project now.

[2:20:17] It's not everything else was kind

[2:20:19] of decided the scope we wanted for that building.

[2:20:21] Yeah. And now it's like, what are we gonna build there?

[2:20:24] So we'll include the four classrooms, preschool

[2:20:26] Classrooms too.

[2:20:27] Oh yeah. I mean Matt has already has a, a document

[2:20:29] that's like in Excel spreadsheet of exactly how many rooms

[2:20:32] and what all the details which represent the ED program

[2:20:36] and how it'll include special ed programming,

[2:20:38] multilingual learner programming,

[2:20:40] storage space, all the things.

[2:20:42] So that's what the team, quite a broad team, Ms.

[2:20:46] Bel, Mr. Cook, Karen Gani, the principal and Mac Gillis

[2:20:50] and Erin are the, are are kind of that main group.

[2:20:53] I poke in from here to here and there when I can be helpful

[2:20:57] and not slow them down.

[2:20:58] So they're, they've done some really great work.

[2:21:00] 18 pages doesn't sound like a lot,

[2:21:02] but it's a tight document coming your way soon.

[2:21:05] We, we've been working on it.

[2:21:06] It's gonna be longer than that.

[2:21:08] Oh, shut. Okay. I said 18 in, in this meeting.

[2:21:12] We'll see how much it grows approximately

[2:21:14] 18. Are you gonna read

[2:21:15] It word by word out loud in our next meeting?

[2:21:18] Yes. In my best Steven Wright voice.

[2:21:20] Yes. So, so just so everybody is clear, not just us,

[2:21:24] but anybody who's watching now or in the future,

[2:21:28] although when you're watching it in the

[2:21:29] future, it will be your present.

[2:21:31] But we will, again to recap,

[2:21:35] we're gonna hear a presentation in October.

[2:21:37] October 19th. We are gonna have a special meeting

[2:21:41] on the 26th of October.

[2:21:42] That will just be this topic

[2:21:44] and it will include a public hearing

[2:21:46] for anybody in the public who wants to come

[2:21:49] and ask questions or make comments on the presentation

[2:21:51] that happens on the 19th or share their thoughts.

[2:21:54] And then in our normally scheduled November 2nd

[2:21:57] meeting, we will vote.

[2:21:59] So as part of the process, we wanna give people plenty

[2:22:02] of notice and heads up

[2:22:04] that this topic will come up multiple times over the

[2:22:06] next month and a half.

[2:22:10] Any other comments on this one, Dr. Welch?

[2:22:13] And for all of this,

[2:22:14] but particularly that meeting on October 26th, that

[2:22:17] that's something that we could include in engage

[2:22:19] Yes.

[2:22:20] And

[2:22:21] Whatever social media accounts we use to communicate.

[2:22:24] Yep. Whatever we can do to get people to come to

[2:22:26] and engage with that meeting.

[2:22:28] That's right. I'm happy to support and,

[2:22:30] and I'd love to see us too.

[2:22:32] Excellent. Right. And if, for those who haven't noticed,

[2:22:34] or as part of the Engage newsletter that comes out,

[2:22:38] there is a school committee section now

[2:22:42] and it will include things like this

[2:22:47] and hopefully people read it.

[2:22:49] It's actually a great newsletter that

[2:22:53] I've enjoyed reading, so read it.

[2:22:59] All right. Matt, are you gonna say anything about this one?

[2:23:02] So there is a, we had a post occupancy evaluation

[2:23:07] with MSBA regarding the Kennedy project.

[2:23:10] And they were,

[2:23:11] they were very interested in getting our feedback on

[2:23:13] what it was like, what the lessons learned were

[2:23:17] and what it's like being in the building after a few years

[2:23:19] and what would you do differently this time around.

[2:23:22] So we had a pretty robust discussion with them last week.

[2:23:25] Four folks from MSBA, myself, the superintendent,

[2:23:29] the principal of the Kennedy School,

[2:23:33] Steven Miler, the chair.

[2:23:35] Why do I feel like I'm missing somebody?

[2:23:36] Jamon were you, were you in that one? You were there?

[2:23:40] I, I'm not sure if facilities was there,

[2:23:43] but we, we had a pretty good discussion about things

[2:23:45] that we liked, that we didn't like

[2:23:47] that we would do differently.

[2:23:48] They had a few suggestions from what they saw.

[2:23:51] We, we were in agreement on some of those things

[2:23:53] and so it was good exercise as we,

[2:23:58] we go into planning the the next school building, you know

[2:24:01] what, what, what we can do just a little bit

[2:24:03] better, a little bit differently.

[2:24:05] Not so that we're like Kennedy,

[2:24:07] but so that we can make it the best memorial possible.

[2:24:12] Comments, questions.

[2:24:16] Alright, that means my turn. That's a wrap.

[2:24:21] I'll be quick. Saturday.

[2:24:24] This Saturday weather permitting is Natick days

[2:24:27] school committee has a table.

[2:24:28] We are stationed right outside of town hall right next to

[2:24:33] where the select same place as last year.

[2:24:36] Four members of the committee.

[2:24:38] I, we have a, we have a spreadsheet.

[2:24:42] Jamon volunteered to bring a table in a tent. That's great.

[2:24:45] We have to have weights for the tent by the way.

[2:24:49] Can't be staked into the ground.

[2:24:51] I see a couple people have signed up. I plan on being there.

[2:24:56] You can, we can also take a gallon of water or something

[2:24:58] and duct tape it to the, it's a good tent that I went

[2:25:01] to the meeting a couple of days ago

[2:25:03] that they will not let you have a tent

[2:25:05] unless it is weighted down and you can't stake.

[2:25:10] I plan on being there the whole day.

[2:25:13] There are some slots still available if anybody wants

[2:25:16] to come hang out with me,

[2:25:18] but you know, from one to three I can come

[2:25:21] and help set up as well.

[2:25:24] It happens, our table happens right next

[2:25:26] to the varsity girls tennis team table, so I will help with

[2:25:30] that table is where my daughter's one

[2:25:31] of the captains of that team duty.

[2:25:33] Yeah. So I'll be there all day anyway.

[2:25:36] Can I borrow that for a quick second? Thanks to Ms. Miller.

[2:25:39] We have a, a lot of really cool

[2:25:43] natick from the new strategic oh my God.

[2:25:46] The magnets that we'll be giving out.

[2:25:48] And last year, if you remember anybody remembers,

[2:25:51] we had a really fun activity where students came

[2:25:54] and wrote the names of teachers who they loved.

[2:25:57] And we posted here for a little bit. We have a, Ms.

[2:26:00] Brunel and I were talking, we have two other,

[2:26:02] we're gonna do two different craft projects this time

[2:26:05] and they're gonna be really fun and exciting.

[2:26:07] So please come to to Natick days. It's a great day.

[2:26:11] And anybody who wants to from the committee who wants

[2:26:13] to come be at the table, please do. And

[2:26:16] The raffle, We did not do a raffle.

[2:26:20] Oh, we did do a raffle. Did we?

[2:26:21] Last year We did it for

[2:26:23] To do.

[2:26:24] Yeah. So we're gonna, yes. Okay.

[2:26:25] We're gonna have a raffle where people can, the people

[2:26:28] who we pick out of the raffle will get to recite the Pledge

[2:26:32] of Allegiance at a school committee meeting, which

[2:26:35] big honor and so much fun.

[2:26:39] All right. Policy subcommittee. Yes.

[2:26:43] We have updates. We met last week on the ninth,

[2:26:46] and I will try and get through this quickly.

[2:26:49] There were two topics on our agenda.

[2:26:51] The first was some high level discussions on what will be

[2:26:57] policy, ECAF about cameras.

[2:27:02] We noticed we had some graffiti

[2:27:06] and such problems last year.

[2:27:08] So we've installed some outside cameras and such.

[2:27:11] But we realized we don't have policies

[2:27:13] to, to guide us.

[2:27:17] So the chief was there, Dennis was there,

[2:27:19] we had a robust discussion, but nothing has been decided.

[2:27:21] They're working on a draft and will come back to us.

[2:27:26] The second is, of course,

[2:27:27] yet another emergency off of Beacon Hill.

[2:27:30] It's the protect act file, ACL

[2:27:35] file letters.

[2:27:38] It's a policy that was adopted by the governor

[2:27:43] when she signed it, beginning of August.

[2:27:45] And we were theoretically supposed to approved it

[2:27:49] before school started.

[2:27:51] Well that wasn't gonna happen.

[2:27:54] So we discussed it this week.

[2:27:58] Sue has graciously provided a redlined version

[2:28:01] and she left it in just in redline so

[2:28:04] that people could see what was being taken out.

[2:28:06] It's essentially taken from the state, the state guidance

[2:28:11] and a little bit nais if we're using that as a verb.

[2:28:18] We have procedures that cover most of this.

[2:28:23] And so we were ahead of the game.

[2:28:25] So it's not a big change of behavior, it's just we have

[2:28:29] to put it in the policy book.

[2:28:31] And there's just one

[2:28:35] edit that needs to be made.

[2:28:39] The, the line that begins, these procedures are designed,

[2:28:43] you took out the word but at the end

[2:28:48] to include but are not limited to.

[2:28:53] You passed it up a little higher. Here we go.

[2:28:58] Middle of the, no, like 30% down the right above. I

[2:29:03] See it. Sue,

[2:29:04] No, I'll show you afterwards.

[2:29:06] Okay. Right above the, the bullets list of

[2:29:10] that one sentence. Yep, that's the

[2:29:13] One. That's the section. Yes.

[2:29:15] What did I do? You took out the word,

[2:29:18] but, so it should read included

[2:29:20] but not limited to and Oh, right

[2:29:22] Here.

[2:29:23] Yeah. Yeah. Okay.

[2:29:28] So this is the first read.

[2:29:30] We will come back again next meeting

[2:29:34] and hopefully vote this so that we are in compliance

[2:29:37] with state law.

[2:29:38] Great. And I'm sure Sue can answer any

[2:29:42] questions you might have.

[2:29:44] Does anybody have any questions? Dr. Welch,

[2:29:48] The document makes a number of references

[2:29:49] to law enforcement officers in the course of trying

[2:29:54] to respond to situations like this.

[2:29:56] I know some districts in developing policies

[2:29:59] have a partnership with their local law enforcement.

[2:30:04] To what degree does the policy need

[2:30:05] to distinguish in its guidance between law enforcement when

[2:30:10] that refers to, let's say, ice officers

[2:30:15] and law enforcement as it refers

[2:30:17] to the Natick Police Department when we're trying

[2:30:19] to coordinate with them so

[2:30:20] that the instructions are clear to staff?

[2:30:23] Well, The policy itself does not need to, to do that.

[2:30:27] Our procedures is where we would distinguish that.

[2:30:33] And what it really comes down to in terms of the policy

[2:30:39] is criminal,

[2:30:43] like civil arrest and whether

[2:30:46] or not the warrant is signed is a judicial warrant.

[2:30:50] And we would basically never ask our building based

[2:30:55] staff to make any sort of determination.

[2:30:59] And that's what our procedure will tell us to do, is

[2:31:02] that they immediately contact central office, take a copy

[2:31:06] of it, send it to us, we get our lawyers on the phone,

[2:31:11] and we are in partnership with our Natick police

[2:31:17] partners to support us around that

[2:31:22] for the safety of our students and our staff.

[2:31:24] Yeah, understood. Also in Massachusetts, our,

[2:31:29] what we call police officers deal with criminal law.

[2:31:33] Yeah. They don't, they don't deliver civil warrants. Yeah.

[2:31:37] That's left up to constables. Okay.

[2:31:39] So anything that's criminal and,

[2:31:43] and it need, it's just a distinction, as Sue said, it's

[2:31:48] between a criminal warrant and a civil warrant.

[2:31:52] Yeah. And some places like Florida

[2:31:55] where they use sheriff's departments, they do 'em all.

[2:31:58] So it's the same people and you have to be very careful

[2:32:00] Who are serving a warrant. Warrant

[2:32:03] Both criminal and civil court.

[2:32:04] Understood. So just to put a finer point on it, now

[2:32:07] that this law is passed and we're developing policy in

[2:32:10] accordance with this, if immigration enforcement officials

[2:32:13] present themselves at a school as part of our response plan,

[2:32:18] does that include coordinating

[2:32:19] with the Native police department in any way?

[2:32:22] It does. Okay. Yep. Thank you. That's it? Yeah.

[2:32:26] Okay. Anything else, Kathy?

[2:32:30] No. So this will come back at the

[2:32:32] following, at the next meeting,

[2:32:34] Can I make a request? And

[2:32:35] That's one of the reasons that on the last page of this,

[2:32:40] it says ECAF security cameras in schools are in development

[2:32:43] because that's the section we are developing.

[2:32:47] But when it was developed at the state level,

[2:32:49] they assumed everybody already had that policy.

[2:32:54] So one request not related to this policy, generally

[2:32:58] to the policy subcommittee, to the extent

[2:33:00] that it's possible at this time, last year,

[2:33:02] if I remember correctly, we tried to give sort

[2:33:05] of a general high level schedule of

[2:33:07] what policies the policy subcommittee would be addressing.

[2:33:11] Can we do that? It doesn't have to be at the next meeting,

[2:33:14] but, so the whole committee knows.

[2:33:16] Yes. The big, not the maintenance so much,

[2:33:17] but like the big ones

[2:33:18] That's in the works, we're going

[2:33:20] to be scheduling a meeting every month

[2:33:23] and Ms. Collins

[2:33:25] and I are working on that lobbying outline for the year.

[2:33:29] Perfect. So yeah, again, it doesn't have

[2:33:30] to be the next meeting, but,

[2:33:32] But it will include this sections stuff from sections I

[2:33:36] and J that are maintenance. Maintenance.

[2:33:37] Perfect. As you

[2:33:38] and I had already, already had in motion,

[2:33:41] Everybody has a chance to notice. Yep.

[2:33:43] That's, that's so the whole committee can sort of see what

[2:33:46] that work is gonna be before it comes.

[2:33:47] Exactly. Right. But we won't just give you the new things.

[2:33:51] Perfect. We'll also give you the maintenance piece. Great.

[2:33:54] Okay. Should we do the, is there somebody

[2:33:57] who can represent the budget subcommittee?

[2:33:59] Ms. Brunell is not here as the chair.

[2:34:01] I'm happy to punt it, but if there is an update from the

[2:34:03] budget subcommittee that someone feels comfortable

[2:34:05] giving, we can have it.

[2:34:08] If not, we can wait for the next meeting and do it.

[2:34:10] Is there anything urgent, I guess is the question?

[2:34:13] Yeah. The only thing I would say is

[2:34:15] that this select board on Wednesday night at their meeting

[2:34:19] is discussing the financial principles.

[2:34:24] And so I'm going to be there for that.

[2:34:26] But love anybody else that wants to be

[2:34:29] There, I'm gonna try to be there as well.

[2:34:30] They're really, really important.

[2:34:31] I don't want something to pass kind of beneath. Yep.

[2:34:37] The c as it were. So that's the only one, unless Ms.

[2:34:41] Dr. Welch has something specific. Okay.

[2:34:45] All right. Anybody else on this

[2:34:47] side of the table with a budget?

[2:34:48] Okay, so future agenda items.

[2:34:50] The only one thing I wanted to, to share

[2:34:54] that will be on the, a future agenda sometime probably,

[2:34:58] you know, in this, in 2026, the natural

[2:35:01] and synthetic turf field study group finished its work.

[2:35:04] The final report is on like natick ma.gov.

[2:35:09] I shared this, the, the sort of the website

[2:35:13] that the field study group had with all of the,

[2:35:17] it's also on the town website.

[2:35:19] It has all of the interviews, all

[2:35:22] of the information that was collected.

[2:35:23] And now that same page has the final report.

[2:35:27] I would encourage people to look at it so that when

[2:35:32] the part of it that is relevant

[2:35:33] to the native public schools comes up, which, similar

[2:35:37] to the memorial program, we will have a series of meetings

[2:35:41] and include like a forum

[2:35:43] or a hearing as part of that for the public.

[2:35:45] But all of that data, all of

[2:35:48] that information is on Natick Town website now.

[2:35:52] So people can, it's a lot of information to consume.

[2:35:56] So if you're interested in,

[2:35:57] the final report is like eight pages.

[2:35:59] So it's actually a real, I think I'm a little biased,

[2:36:01] but it, it's a, it's a nice condensed report,

[2:36:05] but there's a lot of, there are a lot of interviews

[2:36:07] and a lot of research and a

[2:36:08] lot of other things that are included.

[2:36:10] So that's coming. Can you

[2:36:11] Just give us a cliff notes?

[2:36:12] Are we getting turf field or not? Just kidding.

[2:36:15] Well, the word turf can be used as natural or synthetic.

[2:36:19] So yes, maybe, but what kind is still up for debate?

[2:36:23] So that is a topic that will come up

[2:36:26] and so I'm just encouraging people to take a look at that.

[2:36:29] One more business item. Does anybody have a motion? Motion

[2:36:33] To adjourn.

[2:36:34] Second. Oh wow. Okay. Motion by Ms. Collins.

[2:36:37] Seconded by Mr. Patel. All in favor? And you opposed? No.

[2:36:42] 5, 0, 0. Our meeting is adjourned. Thank you everybody.

[2:36:43] Goodnight.

Natick School Committee September 14, 2026

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