[1:30] Cool.

[1:34] » All right. Uh good good evening

[1:36] everyone. Like to welcome everyone to

[1:38] the uh September 28th, 2026 meeting of

[1:41] the Plymouth School Committee. I will

[1:43] call the meeting to order at 7 p.m. Uh

[1:46] if you everyone please join me in the

[1:47] pledge of allegiance.

[1:51] I pledge allegiance to the flag of the

[1:53] United States of America and to the

[1:56] republic for which it stands, one nation

[1:59] [clears throat] under God, indivisible,

[2:01] with liberty and justice for all.

[2:05] >> Thank you for that. Next, I'll read our

[2:06] land acknowledgement. We acknowledge

[2:08] that we are meeting on the unseated

[2:10] ancestral homeland of indigenous people

[2:12] whose enduring presence we humbly

[2:14] recognize. We honor the Wampaoic people

[2:17] as the original stewards in the Herring

[2:18] Pond Wampaoic as a surviving tribe

[2:20] indigenous to these lands. In our

[2:22] commitment to lifelong learning, we

[2:23] acknowledge historical injustices to the

[2:25] native people of this land and vow to

[2:27] educate ourselves, our community, and

[2:29] our students on the first peoples and

[2:31] the hardships they endured. We offer

[2:33] this as a small but essential step

[2:34] towards building a culture of respect,

[2:36] truth, and accountability.

[2:39] Uh next up, like to hear from uh the

[2:43] public. So, we have a few people signed

[2:44] up to speak tonight. Uh, first up, we

[2:46] have Miss Kathy Babidi.

[2:54] [clears throat] Thank you. On behalf of

[2:56] the Plymouth Education Foundation, we'd

[2:57] first like to thank you and recognize

[3:00] the Plymouth Public Schools for their

[3:01] wonderful u campaign for gold goal for

[3:04] hope. We have decided we're tomorrow we

[3:07] will be sending um a check for $1,000 to

[3:10] the Southshore um hope um I'm sorry the

[3:13] Cellshore Action for Hope um and ask

[3:15] that that donation be included with the

[3:17] school's donation because as they say it

[3:19] takes all of us. So we're hoping that our donation along with yours will

[3:23] really make a difference. The only other

[3:25] thing while I'm here is we're I just

[3:27] want to flag we are having a support our

[3:29] schools trivia night in November.

[3:31] 5th is going to be the American

[3:32] Legion. We'll be sending that out this

[3:34] week. Everything's all set to go and we

[3:36] hope we can only accommodate 15 teams,

[3:38] so we're hoping to have a great night

[3:40] and and raise some funds. Thank you.

[3:43] >> Thank you.

[3:45] >> All right. Next up, we have uh Dale

[3:48] Weber and Carrie Cooper Magcguire from

[3:50] Cobra.

[3:59] [snorts]

[4:01] Thank you, Mr. Chairman. For the record,

[4:03] I'm Dale Weber, president of the

[4:05] Collective Bargaining Relief Association

[4:08] with the acronym of COBRA. Tonight, I'm

[4:10] here representing the 78 Plymouth First

[4:13] Student School bus drivers of COBRA.

[4:17] As you are aware, First Student is one

[4:18] of your contractors, and we understand

[4:20] that dynamic perfectly. We also know

[4:23] that a solid working model built on

[4:26] mutual respect with all parties to that

[4:28] service benefits everyone when a

[4:31] peaceful and harmonious relationship

[4:33] exists. It is in that vein that we

[4:36] appear before you tonight to deliver a

[4:38] courtesy communication that we are

[4:40] approaching a somewhat strained

[4:42] relationship due to the collective

[4:44] bargaining with first student and their

[4:47] strong desire to implement a software

[4:49] update to their school bus camera

[4:51] monitoring system.

[4:54] We are nearing [clears throat] the

[4:55] finish line on our new 5-year contract,

[4:58] but are stalled out over this matter.

[5:01] perhaps you could assist us in getting

[5:04] us to the finish line. We currently have

[5:07] seven cameras installed in each school

[5:09] bus that delivers the precious cargo

[5:12] that we transport to and from school

[5:14] each day. Your students,

[5:17] we are okay with that system. We are not

[5:20] long haul cross-country truck drivers

[5:23] hauling heavy cargo 12 hours a day. We

[5:26] are a group of parents, grandparents,

[5:28] and neighbors who adore their cargo,

[5:31] your students.

[5:33] We see them first thing in the morning

[5:35] and last thing after the dismissal bell

[5:37] sounds. But we are troubled by this new

[5:40] system of school bus monitoring called

[5:42] samsara,

[5:45] which by the way,

[5:47] the definition of samsara is the cycles

[5:50] of birth, misery, and death caused by

[5:52] karma.

[5:54] We want to focus tonight solely on the

[5:56] misery this is causing our drivers.

[5:59] It is an AI based camera recording

[6:02] software system that stores its data in

[6:04] the cloud which is more easily

[6:07] accessible than the se seven camera

[6:09] system we are familiar with and have

[6:11] accepted for years. But now an eighth

[6:15] camera will be installed and mounted

[6:17] directly in front of us, capturing the

[6:20] driver's face and sends alerts if the

[6:24] system detects anything even remotely

[6:27] related to a distracted driving

[6:31] impression.

[6:32] Have any of you ever driven a school bus

[6:35] full of students? There are and have

[6:37] been for [clears throat] years, excuse

[6:40] me, distractions all around our drivers,

[6:44] let alone the traffic hazards they

[6:45] encounter. But through all that, our

[6:48] Plymouth drivers have an excellent

[6:49] safety record. Samsara also loops in the

[6:53] other existing cameras

[6:55] of all the students on the bus and again

[6:58] stores it in the cloud-based data that

[7:01] is more easily accessible than the

[7:03] system we currently are familiar with.

[7:06] We look at this as an overreach and an

[7:08] invasion of privacy and are sharing this

[7:11] information so that you are aware of the

[7:13] implications this intrusion may have on

[7:15] you and the extended population that you

[7:19] serve. I could go on, but I want to

[7:21] introduce to you to Carrie Cooper

[7:23] Maguire, a Cobra Stewart and school bus

[7:26] driver, who can tell you more about the

[7:28] boots on the ground impacts this system

[7:30] is distracting our drivers about. Thank

[7:33] you.

[7:35] Carrie,

[7:36] >> thank you, Dale. Thank you.

[7:41] Good evening, members of the school

[7:42] committee. My name is Carrie Cooper

[7:44] Magcguire, and I'm the proud union

[7:46] stewart representing our 78 first

[7:48] student school bus drivers in Plymouth.

[7:51] Thank you for the opportunity to speak

[7:53] about the proposed use of SIMSAR and AI

[7:56] technology on our buses. Our objection

[7:59] to adding AI monitoring alerts inside

[8:02] the cab without a clear safety benefit

[8:05] that outweighs the distraction and loss

[8:07] of privacy. Our drivers share one

[8:11] priority, getting children to and from

[8:13] school safely. We take the

[8:14] responsibility seriously every day,

[8:17] which is why I'm asking you to listen to

[8:19] the drivers before First Student adds

[8:21] this system to our buses. Our buses

[8:24] already have GPS monitoring, seven

[8:27] cameras, and a five-star system that

[8:29] tracks our speed, hard braking, rapid

[8:32] acceleration, and idling. Drivers work

[8:35] hard for their five stars, and we take

[8:37] pride in them. We already have extensive

[8:40] training and tools to promote and

[8:42] measure safe driving. The overwhelming

[8:44] message that I have heard from drivers

[8:47] on AI monitoring feels that it is

[8:50] intrusive. Every driver that has spoken

[8:53] to me is concerned about the facial

[8:57] scanning and having ordinary movements

[9:01] such as taking a drink of water, rubbing

[9:04] your eye, or yawning, all of which will

[9:07] alert the AI system and alert our

[9:10] manager considering the demands of the

[9:13] job. A driver is operating a large bus

[9:15] full of children, watching the road and

[9:18] mirrors, listening to dispatch, and

[9:20] responding to what's happening behind

[9:22] them. In addition, an alert inside the

[9:24] cab would distract us from the road and

[9:26] the children. We [snorts] recognize the

[9:28] value of a forward-facing camera in the

[9:32] road ahead.

[9:34] We ask the committee to support Cobra

[9:36] drivers asking to implement only a

[9:38] forwardfacing camera without the

[9:40] driver's face, facial scanning or inc

[9:43] alerts. Our existing cameras and

[9:45] monitoring system already provide

[9:47] accountability inside the bus and on the

[9:49] road. The seven cameras currently on

[9:51] each bus would feed through the Samsara

[9:55] program, meaning that student footage

[9:56] would be stored on [snorts] an AI

[9:59] system. It would change from a physical

[10:03] tape being removed from the bus to a

[10:06] storage on a national database.

[10:09] Please consider the people behind the

[10:11] wheel and support our request for

[10:12] forward- facing cameras only. We

[10:15] [snorts] are proud of the trust families

[10:16] place in us. Let's keep the focus where

[10:19] it belongs on the road and the children

[10:21] in our care.

[10:23] >> Thank you both.

[10:24] >> Thank you. [clears throat]

[10:31] All right, next up we have uh Collins

[10:33] Fay Martin.

[10:39] » Hi Collins Fay Martin, Gunner's Exchange

[10:42] Road, Plymouth. I wasn't actually going

[10:44] to talk about Sincara, but since I just

[10:46] educated myself on it, um I'm a, as I

[10:49] mentioned last meeting, I'm a special

[10:52] education attorney um who resides here

[10:54] in Plymouth. Uh I think we all most of

[10:58] us share the concerns about the flock

[11:01] cameras that have gone viral and raise

[11:04] um privacy concerns. That said, as a

[11:07] special education attorney in my wealth

[11:09] of experience, I can tell you having a

[11:12] camera doesn't need to be AI, but at

[11:14] least having a camera recording the

[11:16] driver's face and frankly what's going

[11:19] on behind the driver is very important.

[11:22] Keep in mind, most of these don't

[11:23] include audio recording. It's typically

[11:26] just video, but I ran into an incident,

[11:28] not in this district, in another

[11:29] district where on a van there's only an

[11:33] outward- facing camera, but my my

[11:36] client's coming home telling his parent

[11:38] that the driver is getting into um

[11:41] verbal altercations with pedestrians.

[11:43] It's not cap it's not captured on a

[11:46] forward- facing camera. it would have

[11:48] been captured. At least the the

[11:49] aggressive facial expressions, the hand

[11:51] gestures would have been captured on an

[11:54] internally facing camera. We also have

[11:56] some shady things that go on on school

[11:58] buses. So having a an inward facing

[12:01] camera, even if it's not AI, is wise. Um

[12:05] that said, what I did come to tell you

[12:08] about

[12:10] this this week in special education in

[12:12] Plymouth is the observation law. So,

[12:15] what I have run into um is Stacy Rogers

[12:20] specifically has been obstructing

[12:23] parents right to observations consistent

[12:26] with the observation law. Um [snorts] to

[12:29] which I reminded her, this goes to all

[12:33] kids, not just special ed kids. I

[12:36] reminded her that the DESIE advisory on

[12:38] this very topic specifically states that

[12:42] school districts and parents have

[12:43] reported that typically observations are

[12:45] between 1 and four hours. While useful

[12:47] as a general rule, the department

[12:48] recommends that district policies and

[12:50] practices specify that the duration and

[12:52] extent of observations will be

[12:54] determined on an individual basis.

[12:57] Districts should avoid rigid adherence

[13:00] to defined time limits regardless of the

[13:02] students needs and settings to be

[13:04] observed. the complexity of the child's

[13:06] needs as well as the program and

[13:07] programs to be observed should determine

[13:10] what the observation will entail and

[13:11] what amount of time is needed to

[13:13] complete it. So the response from Stacy

[13:18] Rogers is that the district's position

[13:20] remains the same. It is arbitrarily

[13:22] limiting parents to two hours um

[13:26] regardless of what the individual

[13:27] student needs are. I have advocated I'm

[13:31] not particularly concerned about the one

[13:33] student. I'm concerned about how this

[13:34] impacts all students. The fact that

[13:36] we're making arbitrary decisions just

[13:39] because Stacy Rogers can is not

[13:41] appropriate. It's not collaborative.

[13:43] It's not individualized for sure. So, I would ask that the district take a

[13:49] longer look at what its own internal

[13:51] observation policies state. And I would

[13:54] also ask that the district take another

[13:56] look at its observation requirements

[13:58] because they have there is a a a

[14:01] document floating around that's not

[14:03] consistent with the observation law and

[14:05] the fact that I had to come here today

[14:07] to inform you guys. This is stuff you

[14:09] should be hearing from Stacy Rogers

[14:11] herself. It should not be somebody from

[14:13] the public having to come and out this

[14:15] situation. And I could come back here

[14:16] every single month with another topic or

[14:19] 12. Honestly, I could. I just I prefer

[14:21] not to. I would just really like

[14:23] collaboration from the district and it's

[14:25] such a small sideshow of an issue. Um I do encourage the school committee to

[14:31] encourage Stacy Rogers to be more

[14:33] collaborative with families. Thank you.

[14:35] >> Thank you.

[14:38] I don't think we have any anyone else

[14:39] wishing to speak tonight. Think we're

[14:41] good. All right. [clears throat]

[14:43] All right. Next up, we'll move on to our

[14:45] uh high school representatives. We have

[14:47] two uh two young ladies joining us for

[14:49] the their first uh meeting. Welcome both

[14:52] uh Noro O'Neal from Plymouth North and

[14:55] Maline Cox from uh South. Um I'll let uh

[14:58] Maline if you want to go first.

[15:00] >> Yes. Good evening. Um this last week we

[15:03] hosted a club fair for all grade nine

[15:05] students on September 21st. Upperassmen

[15:07] encouraged our grade nine students to

[15:08] get involved in many clubs and

[15:10] organizations at PSHS.

[15:12] As well as we have unified basketball

[15:14] kicks off tomorrow at 3:30 with a game

[15:16] against Marshfield and other and all

[15:18] other fall sports are well underway.

[15:20] It's hard to believe midway point of the

[15:22] first quarter was Friday.

[15:24] Congratulations to Camden Lan who was

[15:26] named condemned student in the 2027

[15:29] National Merit Scholarship Program.

[15:31] National Merit condemned students placed

[15:33] among the top 50,000 students in the

[15:35] country who entered the 2027 competition

[15:37] by achieving high scores in the 2027

[15:40] preliminary SAT. Through this award, it

[15:42] is more than evident that Cam will

[15:44] continue to have incredible academic

[15:46] success in the years ahead. We had a

[15:48] tremendous going and gold week last week

[15:50] at PSHs hosting an openhouse picture

[15:53] day. Due to the creativity for our

[15:55] events and the generosity of our

[15:56] community, PSHS was able to raise over

[15:59] $3,600 for this incredible cause,

[16:01] surpassing last year's totals. Um, last

[16:04] week was a was scheduled to be our

[16:06] homecoming dance, but due to mother

[16:07] nature, we decided to move all

[16:09] festivities to the weekend of October

[16:10] 16th.

[16:12] Um the basketball team of no the

[16:14] baseball team is hosting Scarefest

[16:16] Saturday, October 24th from 6:00 to 8 at

[16:19] the PSHs. The proceeds will benefit the

[16:22] trip to Dodgertown in April. A great

[16:24] deal of local businesses are supporting

[16:26] the event through the trunk or treat.

[16:27] Swing by to support. This year's college

[16:30] fair is October 15th at Plymouth North.

[16:32] We encourage students and staff to wear

[16:34] college gear on the 15th. BSAT for

[16:36] juniors is also on the 15th. The white

[16:38] coat collaboration for juniors in the

[16:40] biomedical program during klock on the

[16:43] 21st of October. All fall sports

[16:45] captain's lunch is October 7th at South.

[16:50] » Thank you for that. All right, next up,

[16:52] Nora.

[16:53] >> Good evening. Last week at Plymouth

[16:56] North was the Go Gold fundraiser. Go

[16:58] Gold is an initiative that raises funds

[17:00] for children fighting cancer. We raised

[17:03] $1,340.

[17:05] Plymouth North will be hosting college

[17:07] visits during all four lunches as well

[17:09] as KB blocks. These visits allow

[17:11] students to speak with a representative

[17:13] of the college or university and get

[17:15] insight about what each school has to

[17:17] offer. A full list of the visiting

[17:19] colleges, university, and armed services

[17:22] can be found on the Plymouth North

[17:23] website.

[17:25] On October 8th, the Plymouth North

[17:27] Student Council will be sending students

[17:29] to Seamask, the Southeastern

[17:31] Massachusetts Association of Student

[17:33] Councils. At Seamask, students will

[17:36] build leadership, communication, and

[17:37] teamwork skills. The Plymouth North High

[17:40] School varsity homecoming game will be

[17:42] held on Thursday, October 8th. The

[17:44] Eagles will face off against the Whitman

[17:46] Hansen Panthers at 7:00 p.m. The

[17:49] homecoming dance is Friday, October 9th

[17:51] from 6:30 p.m. to 10 p.m. Early bird

[17:54] tickets are now available on Goofan for

[17:56] $15 until October 2nd. Parents and

[17:59] students can see Mrs. Walcott in room

[18:01] 331 with any questions. Parents and

[18:04] members of the class of 2027 can visit

[18:06] the Plymouth North website or view the

[18:08] PNHS daily bulletin for important

[18:11] up-to-date yearbook deadlines and

[18:13] information.

[18:15] A parent page is offered by Principal

[18:17] Parcelin. This page provides information

[18:19] on anything happening at North. This

[18:22] page may also be found on the PNHS

[18:24] Facebook page as well as the website and

[18:26] is a great way to stay informed on all

[18:28] things PNHS. Thank you.

[18:30] >> All right. Thank you. Thank you both. if

[18:32] you have any questions for our rep

[18:33] representatives.

[18:36] All right, thanks again. Like I said,

[18:37] you guys are welcome to stay as long as

[18:38] you want or leave as early as you need

[18:41] to.

[18:43] All righty. Uh next up, our uh first

[18:47] thing on our main agenda tonight is an

[18:49] update from our special education uh

[18:51] parent advisory council. So, come on up.

[18:57] » Thank you so much. I appreciate it.

[19:11] clicker [clears throat] will should work

[19:13] if you hit the right button.

[19:14] >> This one

[19:15] >> that'll be you.

[19:15] >> Oh, [laughter]

[19:17] >> good evening. Uh,

[19:20] thank you for inviting us tonight and

[19:22] letting us present. My name is Holly

[19:23] Gay. I serve as the chair on the

[19:25] Plymouth CP pack. Um, I'm Shandandy

[19:27] Cardier and I I'm the community

[19:29] development officer on the board.

[19:32] >> I am Stephanie Howie and I am the

[19:35] treasurer.

[19:37] >> And not with us tonight, we have five

[19:38] board members. Uh, we have April Burr

[19:40] who's a vice chair and also acts as our

[19:43] secretary. And we also have Nikki Felton

[19:47] uh new to the board this year and she

[19:48] serves as our CPAC uh district liaison.

[19:52] She's going to have a big focus on

[19:53] collaborating with the school's uh PTAs

[19:55] this year. So, we're real excited.

[20:00] So, uh, Plymouth CPAC, acronym for

[20:03] special education, parent advisory

[20:05] council.

[20:07] Like to emphasize the special education.

[20:10] A lot of times people hear the acronym

[20:12] and think the letter C, PAC, and

[20:14] sometimes when they're looking up CPAC,

[20:17] they might miss us. So, it's special

[20:19] education parent advisory council.

[20:23] Um, our mission is through our advisory

[20:26] and participatory role, the Plymouth

[20:28] CPAC provides a bridge between families,

[20:31] uh, the Plymouth Public School District

[20:33] to collaborate for safe, inclusive,

[20:36] equitable education for all students

[20:38] with disabilities.

[20:41] We empower families, foster

[20:43] collaboration, and promote a culture of

[20:45] respect, understanding, and high

[20:48] expectations for all learners.

[20:54] What is CPAC?

[20:56] Well, we are a parentled council that

[20:58] serves both as an advisory and

[21:00] participatory role in special education

[21:03] to the district and the school

[21:04] committee. Advising on the special

[21:07] education programming and safety of

[21:09] students receiving special education,

[21:12] bringing families together to engage in

[21:14] meaningful conversations

[21:16] to gather feedback, concerns, and input.

[21:21] So basically um the vehicle the way we

[21:25] do that is we have monthly meetings. We

[21:27] have public meetings um usually hosted

[21:29] here in the Mayflower room. This year

[21:31] they're scheduled to be the fourth

[21:33] Wednesday of every month depending on

[21:36] holidays. Um we have that information

[21:40] posted on social media on our CPAC

[21:43] website and you can also find it on the

[21:45] Plymouth Public Schools special

[21:47] education page.

[21:49] In addition to our public meetings, we

[21:52] also meet with our liaison, uh, Stacy

[21:56] Rogers, which is special education

[21:58] director. And this year we'll be meeting

[22:01] with Ashley Shaw and Megan Parker as our

[22:03] school committee liaison. Last year we

[22:05] had Katherine J Jackson who was

[22:07] fabulous. Um, so basically what we do at

[22:11] those smaller meetings outside of our

[22:13] public meetings is we're bringing the

[22:15] input, the voice from the parents back

[22:17] to directly to the school committee and fulfilling our advisory role.

[22:25] Um,

[22:29] CPAC is comprised of board members

[22:31] there. There's five of us currently on

[22:33] the board. Uh, voting members and

[22:36] general members. Uh voting members is

[22:39] basically if you've uh attended two of

[22:42] our public meetings within the last 12

[22:44] months excluding uh elections, you'd be

[22:47] a voting member. And a general members

[22:50] uh anyone that comes to one of our

[22:52] public meetings in the last 12 months,

[22:57] how to become involved?

[23:00] Um, you can attend our our monthly

[23:02] public meetings

[23:04] and again that will lend your voice to

[23:06] our district leadership meetings.

[23:09] Follow us on social media and on our

[23:11] website for information and resources.

[23:14] Uh we're very fortunate the district um

[23:17] coll has collaborated with us and we are

[23:19] part of masspack and so being part of

[23:21] masspack we have um the opportunity for

[23:25] the all access workshops which are

[23:28] available monthly now that calendar goes

[23:30] up every month and they have great

[23:32] workshops such as understanding the IEP

[23:36] um topics on bullying

[23:39] all different types of topics that you

[23:41] can look on the calendar register

[23:44] watch when is convenient with you and,

[23:46] you know, become more educated so you

[23:48] can better advocate for your child and

[23:50] understand special education.

[23:52] Uh, if you can't make it to our

[23:54] meetings, you can always email us,

[23:56] message, uh, provide us with any input,

[23:59] feedback, feedback, um, questions,

[24:01] concerns.

[24:03] You could join one of our, uh, CPAC

[24:05] spin-off caregiver gettogethers. Um, we

[24:09] kind of have those sporadically. Maybe

[24:11] it's a get together for coffee. We've

[24:13] had our sensory swim social. That was kind

[24:17] of a fun thing to do.

[24:20] H [clears throat]

[24:21] so looking ahead uh we have a continued

[24:24] focus on engaging parents in special

[24:26] education discussions and building

[24:28] strong working partnerships

[24:31] working towards goals that are specific

[24:33] to our district

[24:36] uh that are recognized and developed

[24:37] through our continuum of discussions and

[24:41] through our partnerships.

[24:45] And this is a a phrase that really I

[24:47] think resonates with us is that when

[24:49] parents and school districts collaborate

[24:51] um student outcomes significantly

[24:54] improve

[24:55] and at the heart of our mission is the

[24:57] individual students. So really at the

[24:59] heart of our work is trying to engage

[25:02] parents, give them the tools they need,

[25:05] [clears throat]

[25:05] understand the complexities of special

[25:07] education, but have those conversations,

[25:11] you know, with the district with our

[25:13] teachers so that we're becoming a

[25:17] unified team and and trying to, you

[25:20] know, get ahead of issues and and really

[25:22] create the best education plan that the

[25:25] individual child needs.

[25:28] Um, and like somebody already mentioned

[25:30] earlier, it takes all of us. If that if

[25:32] that line isn't true for special

[25:33] education, uh, [laughter]

[25:36] then I don't know what is. So, um,

[25:42] I'd say thank you and

[25:46] come to one of our meetings or find some

[25:49] of our resources.

[25:50] >> Yes.

[25:52] >> Questions,

[25:53] >> provide input. [laughter]

[25:55] >> All right. Okay. Yeah. Thank you.

[25:57] >> Yeah. Now it's our turn. All right.

[25:58] Questions or feedback from the

[25:59] committee.

[26:00] >> Um

[26:02] >> I would love for at least one of you to

[26:06] talk for a minute about how being

[26:07] involved in the group has really helped

[26:10] you. um if you don't mind sharing

[26:12] something cuz I think like being a

[26:14] liazison for the school committee I've

[26:17] seen like the the impact of the

[26:21] programming that you have in educating

[26:23] and uniting families who might otherwise

[26:26] feel alone or overwhelmed by navigating

[26:30] the system on their own. Um, and without

[26:33] having to share too much, you know,

[26:35] maybe you could speak to the impact that

[26:39] the group has had, whatever you feel

[26:41] comfortable with because I've seen it

[26:43] myself.

[26:44] >> You guys know I like to talk.

[26:46] >> Just kidding. Um, [clears throat]

[26:48] >> oh you can say [laughter]

[26:50] well personally um coming into the group

[26:54] I was able to understand more um special

[26:58] education

[27:00] it is very individualized but there's so

[27:02] many different experiences that everyone

[27:05] has and when we are in a room together

[27:07] and talking you can kind of figure out

[27:09] that there's a lot of commonality or

[27:11] needs that are shared across families

[27:14] that when we do get together and we're

[27:16] able to bring that to the district. It

[27:19] is more not more important, but it

[27:21] allows us to communicate that better and

[27:23] clearer. So, that's something that was

[27:25] important that I found of coming to the

[27:28] meetings and being able to just talk

[27:30] with families and caregivers. Um,

[27:34] so that's been huge. And personally,

[27:37] within the last year, um, I have seen a

[27:40] lot of collaboration that's occurred.

[27:42] And so it's been nice to see changes

[27:45] being made from things that we have

[27:46] talked about at our meetings, at our

[27:48] public meetings, and then bringing them

[27:50] to our district um monthly meetings,

[27:52] too. Not to say that there aren't, you

[27:54] know, more things to work on or things

[27:56] to go over, but it's been um really nice

[27:59] in that way. But it's opened my eyes to

[28:02] not just my own individual experience,

[28:04] but

[28:05] >> we have three completely different

[28:08] experiences right here at this table.

[28:10] And it's beautiful that we're able to

[28:12] all like come together and be there for

[28:15] one another, but then also try to be

[28:17] there for whoever else wants to come and

[28:19] talk to us too. And we are very

[28:22] welcoming I feel. [laughter]

[28:24] So please come to the meetings.

[28:26] >> I mean absolutely. And just on top of

[28:30] that is I'm a big believer in knowledge

[28:33] is power and the more you know on both

[28:36] ends um the better outcome that you're

[28:41] going to get. Like before I was a

[28:42] special education mom. I had no idea

[28:45] about any of it. [snorts] Um I also

[28:47] didn't know much about how the schools

[28:49] ran. So, it's like my individual kid, I

[28:52] bring that info up and that can help

[28:56] others who may not be going through the

[28:58] same thing. But my biggest thing that

[29:00] I've noticed is as well is people don't

[29:03] know what your specific child needs

[29:07] unless you bring it to the table and

[29:09] you're, you know, educating everybody on

[29:12] both ends what that looks like and what

[29:14] that child needs. So,

[29:17] I have I'm a huge advocate outside of

[29:20] just the school. So just coming in and

[29:22] being able to, you know, talk to parents

[29:25] that need that information or feel

[29:28] alone, like there may already be things

[29:31] that have happened at one school and a

[29:33] parent's already like conquered that,

[29:35] you know, all that input could be talked

[29:37] about and discussed and, you know,

[29:39] spread throughout the district or even

[29:41] like helping these families feel less

[29:44] alone is huge.

[29:48] >> And I'm sorry, one more thing. And

[29:51] coming into things, you always feel like

[29:53] you're going to have a fight, especially

[29:54] from like a [clears throat] medical

[29:55] complex child parenting. And it was

[30:00] really refreshing this past year, like

[30:02] having so many ears like listening to us

[30:05] and what we need and then seeing actual

[30:08] changes has been huge. So, thank you for

[30:11] that.

[30:12] >> Uh that that's great. Um

[30:13] >> I was just going to say thank you for

[30:15] sharing. I appreciate it. I've seen the camaraderie and the growth and the

[30:20] warmth and acceptance and I think it

[30:22] would help a lot of families to be a

[30:23] part of.

[30:25] >> Yeah, I was and thank you all for you

[30:27] know you and the rest of the board

[30:28] members for stepping up and doing that.

[30:30] I know you get something out of it but

[30:31] you know it it it it is important and

[30:34] helps a uh a lot of people. I know Holly

[30:35] you've been on it for years since I was

[30:37] the leazison on

[30:39] years ago. So it's good that we're

[30:41] getting more people actively involved

[30:43] and yes I definitely encourage the the

[30:45] public. I think the majority of the

[30:46] school committee has or has had kids on

[30:50] IEPs or other things. So, I think we're

[30:52] all very uh appreciative and you know

[30:55] recognize the importance of what you

[30:56] guys you know do. The the one question I

[30:59] would have and you your comments kind of

[31:00] both answered I think yes, but I'll put

[31:03] you on the spot of is what we're doing

[31:07] working are you guys getting the support

[31:08] you need? you have the engagement you

[31:10] need from you whether it's a school

[31:12] committee or administration you know for

[31:14] you guys to you know further your your

[31:16] objectives

[31:19] >> I think um Stacy uh Rogers acting as our

[31:23] liaison she's very responsive

[31:26] um attends all of our meetings if we

[31:30] have a question or an idea she's right

[31:33] on top of it uh Katherine Jackson was

[31:36] our le liaison last not only attended

[31:38] our leaders leadership meetings but made

[31:40] it to a lot of our public meetings. And

[31:41] so we're very excited to um have Ashley

[31:44] and Megan this year as our liaison. So

[31:48] that respect um you know we've we've had

[31:52] meeting spaces and our flyers printed

[31:55] and our information shared and questions

[31:58] answered and out of the box thinking and

[32:03] yeah so we're um I think we did a lot of

[32:08] organization last year and we're kind of

[32:10] over that hump now. And so, um,

[32:14] [snorts] as we stated, we're kind of

[32:16] focused on just furthering our our

[32:18] partnerships and more growth and

[32:21] bringing more parent voice and really

[32:23] getting the message out that that's the

[32:25] heart of the CPAC is the parents voice

[32:28] and everybody has a different

[32:30] experience. We don't even we don't

[32:32] always agree. So, it's really important

[32:34] for parents to come and share ideas um

[32:37] so we can get the results individualized

[32:40] for the kiddos. Thank you. All right.

[32:42] Yeah. Yeah. Forever obviously work

[32:45] through your leaison if there's anything

[32:47] that you know the committee can do more

[32:48] to support you. But appreciate it.

[32:50] >> One question.

[32:51] >> Yeah. Mr. Smartos.

[32:53] >> So what percentage of um families are

[32:55] part of uh CPAC? Like when do you have

[32:59] that data like how many families could

[33:02] join? I mean we're not going to get 100%

[33:03] but where are you guys as far as

[33:06] percentage of families? Um it it kind of

[33:09] fluctuates and I think it depends on

[33:12] you know we the topic or the workshop we

[33:15] might run and if it's convenient you

[33:17] know for parents to come on we have both

[33:20] in person and virtual

[33:22] um I think all CPACs not specific to

[33:26] Plymouth struggle in that in that area

[33:28] and you will see that fluctuation but

[33:31] even people that might not come to the

[33:32] meetings regularly we find that they

[33:35] know where to find us they can check in

[33:36] with email and all of that,

[33:38] >> right?

[33:39] >> Different avenues.

[33:40] >> Yeah. So, someone might not be coming

[33:41] regularly, but they know that this is

[33:44] available.

[33:45] >> I mean, you think there's enough? Yeah.

[33:47] Anything we can do for awareness, Chris?

[33:49] >> Through the chair, if I may.

[33:51] >> Yeah.

[33:51] >> So, to that, a few things. Thank you for your leadership in in your advisory

[33:56] because it's [clears throat] a great

[33:58] partnership and I really appreciate uh

[34:01] this board and everything that you do.

[34:03] Um, regarding outreach, um, we at the

[34:07] meeting in the spring, we talked about

[34:08] doing a promotional video. I have a

[34:10] meeting set this Wednesday with EdTV,

[34:12] the folks that are running this meeting

[34:13] tonight, to do a promotional video to,

[34:16] um, hopefully get some of you on camera,

[34:18] too, to help with that and kind of

[34:20] >> promote CPAC, you know, the benefits to

[34:23] the community, to our families, you

[34:24] know, what it is and, um, you know, what

[34:26] you can get for it as an individual and

[34:28] how you can contribute to that process.

[34:30] So, look forward to doing that with you.

[34:32] And I also appreciate that CPAC will be

[34:35] um a representative on our strategic

[34:37] planning committee as well. So um again

[34:40] making sure that uh no voice is is left

[34:43] out during that process. So really

[34:45] excited about that.

[34:46] >> Yeah, we're excited about that.

[34:47] >> Yeah,

[34:47] >> I think those are two great things.

[34:49] That's I mean to get awareness. So but

[34:51] thank you for all the work you guys do.

[34:53] And I would just note that you know when

[34:58] thinking of data I think while data is

[35:01] important we'd have it at you know the

[35:03] administrative level what's hard is

[35:07] parents based on where they are in their

[35:09] journey right so as we heard from your

[35:12] individual stories based on where you

[35:15] were in your journey is when you decided

[35:17] to seek out the the group. So, it's

[35:20] great that you have that lived

[35:21] experience for families to lean in on

[35:24] and utilizing

[35:26] um opportunities like the video and the

[35:30] promotional materials you have will be

[35:33] definitely beneficial. But whatever you

[35:35] do, don't get discouraged because even

[35:37] if it's just one other family that

[35:39] you're helping, it's it's super

[35:42] important. So, thank you.

[35:44] >> Absolutely.

[35:44] >> Yeah.

[35:45] I feel like a lot of times it's if

[35:48] you come up and you're having a struggle

[35:50] specifically, that's when they'll reach

[35:51] out and but that's what [clears throat]

[35:53] we're here for as well. And

[35:55] >> to have all the stories from other

[35:57] families, we know how to help with that.

[36:01] >> Awesome, Michelle. Um, I think that, um,

[36:04] I'm happy to hear that there will be a

[36:06] representative on strategic planning

[36:08] because I think I've realized more and

[36:09] more that like you don't you don't know

[36:12] until you know and then you don't think

[36:14] of it until you know. So it's like even

[36:17] just to have that

[36:21] voice to say, "Hey, you know, let's

[36:24] think about this population when we're

[36:27] specifically and putting the spotlight

[36:29] on that when we're talking about ways to

[36:31] improve the schools and ways to build

[36:33] community and ways to um build lifelong

[36:37] learners and make sure we're including

[36:39] all populations in that um and making

[36:42] things more accessible to everyone and it's just I people don't mean to

[36:47] forget because they feel guilty when you

[36:51] point it out, but it needs to be pointed

[36:54] out and and it's and everybody needs to

[36:56] understand that you really you don't

[36:58] know until you know. So,

[36:59] >> it's good that you're here and it's good

[37:01] that you're going to be there. So, I'm

[37:03] happy to work with you this year.

[37:05] [clears throat]

[37:05] >> Yeah, good point.

[37:07] >> All right. Any parting thoughts? Very

[37:09] good.

[37:10] >> Takes all of us. [laughter]

[37:12] >> Thank you. Thank you all.

[37:14] >> Thank you.

[37:19] » [clears throat]

[37:22] » All right. Next up, we have the the uh

[37:26] first installment in our budget

[37:28] education uh series. This one is about

[37:31] understanding school district revenue,

[37:33] grant limitations, cost containment

[37:35] measures, and future fiscal planning.

[37:37] So, Dr. Campbell and Dr. Blazil,

[37:41] >> thank you very much. get my glasses

[37:43] situated so I can actually

[37:47] see what I'm doing. So, good evening

[37:49] everyone. So, you know, as you just

[37:51] said, tonight marks sort of the launch

[37:53] of the educational budget series. So, uh

[37:56] the goal of our five-part series is is

[37:58] pretty simple. It's really to provide as

[38:01] much transparency

[38:03] uh to our fiscal conditions, to the

[38:06] fiscal process as possible. So before we

[38:08] enter the FY28 budget cycle, we want

[38:12] everyone in PL to clearly understand how

[38:14] school funding works in Massachusetts,

[38:16] where our revenue comes from, how costs

[38:19] grow, and what proactive steps we've

[38:21] taken and and will continue to take um

[38:25] you know, as we stretch every dollar

[38:27] that we have available to us. So

[38:28] tonight, we'll kind of lay the

[38:30] foundation of our financial framework

[38:32] and historical efficiency.

[38:35] Um so you know as we you know our

[38:39] discussion tonight is kind of broken up

[38:40] into three main sections. First how

[38:42] we're funded. So we'll sort of explain

[38:46] how chapter 70 chapter 70 state aid

[38:49] local tax appropriations special

[38:52] education circuit breaker and why

[38:54] operational costs naturally grow faster

[38:56] than revenue. Um we'll get into

[38:59] additional funding realities. uh clarify

[39:01] some common misconceptions grounded

[39:03] around grants and revolving accounts.

[39:06] More specifically, why grant funding

[39:08] cannot legally or practically solve

[39:10] certain operational deficits. And then

[39:12] we'll get into some past efficiencies

[39:14] and uh fiscal outlooks. will review

[39:17] concrete cost containment measures we've

[39:19] taken and implemented from solar energy

[39:22] to in-house transportation to

[39:24] specialized indisted

[39:27] programs and discuss why you know pure

[39:30] efficiencies have kind of hit their

[39:32] limit as we enter FY28.

[39:37] So to kind of understand our budget

[39:39] we'll first look at where our money

[39:42] comes from. So these are really the the

[39:45] primary revenue streams. So the the

[39:47] largest two being municipal

[39:48] appropriation or a local tax levy. Um

[39:51] this is our largest funding source which

[39:53] is derived from Plymouth town property

[39:55] taxes uh which is governed by

[39:57] proposition 2 and a half. So, you know,

[39:59] we can only ex exceed um last year's

[40:02] taxing uh by a certain percentage. And

[40:05] then chapter 70, which is state aid, and

[40:08] that's calculated by Desi by enrollment,

[40:11] student demographics, and the town's

[40:14] local effort capability. There are

[40:17] secondary uh and specialized funding

[40:19] streams that are part of our budget

[40:20] including special education circuit

[40:22] breaker which I'll get into in a little

[40:24] bit uh which is state reimbursement

[40:26] program for extraordinary high-cost

[40:28] special education services. There are

[40:31] federal and state grants uh restricted

[40:33] grants like title one and IDA tied

[40:36] specifically to fally manded programs as

[40:39] well as chapter 74 funding uh for CCT.

[40:43] And then we have revolving funds and

[40:45] fees uh which are user supported

[40:47] accounts like our prek tuitions tech

[40:51] revolving accounts, athletics, building

[40:53] rentals and food services. And then also

[40:56] which is very uh supportive of us is

[40:59] donations from local nonprofits are our

[41:01] PTAs and other groups that are providing

[41:03] resources

[41:05] uh that support the programs in our

[41:08] schools.

[41:12] So we want to directly dive into chapter

[41:15] 70 state aid. So how it's performed over

[41:17] the last eight years and what that means

[41:19] for Plymouth taxpayers.

[41:21] So if you look at this graph and I I

[41:23] have a table after this as well. Sorry

[41:26] it's clicking. There we go. If you look

[41:28] at this graph in in FY20 chapter 78

[41:31] state aid funded 26.31%

[41:34] of our total operating budget. Um, fast

[41:38] forward to FY27, present day, and state

[41:41] aid covers just 23.53%.

[41:45] That's a net drop of 2.78%.

[41:48] Um, in the state's relative

[41:50] contribution. So, while the state a

[41:52] dollar amounts have grown modestly, they

[41:54] failed to keep pace with the total

[41:57] district operational costs, which is

[41:59] important to to highlight.

[42:08] Can you Thank you. Um, here's the exact

[42:11] numeric breakdown. So, in FY20, you can

[42:13] see our total operational budget was

[42:15] 100.2 million and chapter 78 aid was

[42:18] 26.37

[42:20] million. By FY27, our total budget

[42:24] reached 133 million while state aid rose

[42:28] um to 31.32 million. So, you notice that

[42:32] while our total um operational needs

[42:35] grew by over 32 million, state aid only

[42:38] increased by less than 5 million over

[42:40] that entire 8-year period.

[42:47] So,

[42:50] this sidebyside comparison kind of

[42:52] reveals the core that core structural uh

[42:55] challenge that we're facing in Plymouth.

[42:56] So, our total municipal school budget

[42:59] again expanded by almost 33% or 32.8%

[43:04] or $33 million over that 8-year period,

[43:07] while chapter 70 grew by 18.8%

[43:11] or just under 5 million. Um, so this

[43:13] divergence creates that winding

[43:16] financial gap that local property tax

[43:19] must bridge um otherwise.

[43:23] So to kind of summarize, so far our

[43:25] budget base has expanded um to meet the

[43:28] inflationary

[43:30] realities in student needs um over that

[43:32] period of time from 100 to 133 million.

[43:35] State aid has grown at a moderate base,

[43:38] excuse me, at a moderate pace at best um

[43:41] adding just under $5 million. So

[43:43] consequently, the state funding ratio

[43:45] has declined, meaning that Plymouth

[43:46] taxpayers are being asked to contribute

[43:49] a larger percentage of public education

[43:51] costs every year.

[43:54] So looking ahead, oh that's my slide.

[43:58] All right. So looking ahead, while we

[43:59] must be realistic in our revenue

[44:02] projections, we, you know, we can't

[44:04] assume a sudden windfall in state aid

[44:06] unless the Commonwealth alters its

[44:08] statutory uh funding formula, and that's

[44:10] being looked at under committee, but

[44:12] that's going to take some time. So, you

[44:14] know, we can anticipate um I think a

[44:16] good prediction would be that to

[44:18] anticipate state aid stabilizing year 23

[44:21] to 24% of our overall budget, we've

[44:23] typically go with level state aid from

[44:26] year to year. Um meaning that local

[44:29] revenue is the primary vehicle that's

[44:31] going to support essential school

[44:33] operations.

[44:34] So, um

[44:36] you know, that's that. Um so you know

[44:39] why you know just for the public to

[44:41] understand like why do school districts

[44:43] AC you know not just Plymouth but across

[44:45] Massachusetts face these recurring

[44:47] structural deficit it really comes down

[44:49] to again fixed costs and we'll get into

[44:52] that at the next meeting even greater

[44:54] what those are but fixed costs outpacing

[44:57] capped revenues. So, our primary costs

[44:59] such as our contractual cost of living

[45:01] adjustments, step increases, state

[45:04] mandates for services, health care,

[45:07] utility inflation, and you know, they're

[45:10] naturally growing 4 and a half to 6% a

[45:13] year. Um, even to maintain level

[45:16] services, and we've seen that in our

[45:17] budgets, right? Um uh and then with a

[45:20] revenue cap, you know, municipal revenue

[45:22] being constrained by Proposition 2 and a

[45:24] half, uh new growth being capped, uh the

[45:27] state aid is is capped by that formula

[45:30] limit. So when you have expenditures

[45:32] that are growing at 5% and revenues

[45:34] growing at three, that structural gap is

[45:36] going to open every single year,

[45:39] compounding over time. And that's where

[45:40] we see ourselves getting um you know,

[45:43] it's [clears throat] getting even

[45:44] greater as we move forward.

[45:47] I mentioned circuit breaker

[45:49] reimbursement be one of the larger uh

[45:51] sort of funding uh you know formulas

[45:54] that support us in special education. So

[45:56] I want to examine that a little bit

[45:58] because this is a critical state

[45:59] reimbursement for us for extraordinary

[46:01] high cost to student services.

[46:04] So um

[46:08] my clicker's on a delay. There we go. So

[46:12] state circuit breaker program reimbures

[46:14] districts for highcost special education

[46:16] services that exceed what's called a

[46:19] statutory threshold. So as you can see

[46:22] here in FY20 if you look at the um the

[46:25] bottom row our total eligible high-cost

[46:29] special education expenses were just

[46:31] under 7 million. It was at 6.84 million

[46:35] uh which generated 8 excuse me 2.85

[46:38] million in state reimbursement. So

[46:40] 41.76%

[46:42] of that by FY26 those eligible costs

[46:46] have reached over 10 million 10.43

[46:50] generating 4.7 million in reimbursement

[46:53] or 45.1%.

[46:56] So you know being that's pretty

[46:57] consistent in terms of the percentage.

[46:59] So even with state reimbursement

[47:00] Plymouth Public Schools is still

[47:02] responsible for you know 55 to 61% of

[47:05] these high-cost expenditures.

[47:08] um you know just over 6 million or 6.38

[47:11] million in in FY26.

[47:15] Just another way of looking at it. So a

[47:17] visual highlighting those two trends.

[47:19] First, our total eligible special

[47:21] education costs crossed the $10 million

[47:23] threshold for the first time in FY26.

[47:26] Um second um you know while

[47:28] reimbursement dollars have increased the

[47:30] gap um between the total cost and the

[47:34] net district responsibility you know

[47:36] that continues to expand for us as well.

[47:43] Um so just to kind of break that up a

[47:45] little bit more um in terms of how

[47:49] circuit breaker is calculated. I know

[47:51] this is hard to see on the screen in

[47:53] here and hopefully the slides are um are

[47:55] in electronic school board too but um

[47:58] the states again sets a a claim

[48:01] threshold. So only costs above this per

[48:04] pupil threshold are eligible for

[48:06] reimbursement

[48:07] um add up to about 75%. So notice how

[48:11] this threshold has increase. So if you

[48:12] look at FY20

[48:14] on the bottom row,

[48:17] um it was $48,352

[48:20] per student. So once you reach that

[48:23] expenditure for expenses for a

[48:25] particular student, you could put a

[48:27] claim in. Okay. Um by FY27,

[48:32] that cost that that threshold rose to

[48:34] 54,906.

[48:37] So there's been a 13.5% increase to that

[48:40] threshold over time. So a claim is no

[48:42] longer eligible unless it exceeds 54,906

[48:46] and then it's based on a you know the

[48:48] difference of that and a percentage of

[48:50] the total expense. So on a positive note

[48:53] the state law did expand circuit breaker

[48:55] to cover out of district transportation

[48:58] uh moving from zero and 20 to you know

[49:01] 68 to 75% present day. So that provides

[49:04] some key support for specialized

[49:07] transportation. So that is a good thing.

[49:08] But um again it's a it's an expense in

[49:11] the and that threshold has risen

[49:13] [clears throat] over time as well.

[49:18] So this kind slide kind of synthesizes

[49:20] that entire funding story kind of into

[49:24] one. Uh so between FY20 and FY27 our

[49:27] budget again has grown by almost 33

[49:30] million. State aid has only grown by

[49:32] under 5 million. uh which means that

[49:35] state aid covered just 15.1% of our

[49:39] growth or a dollar out of every $6.60 in

[49:43] new operational costs. So Plymouth

[49:46] Municipal Property Taxes have to

[49:48] shoulder the remaining 84.9%

[49:52] or $5.60

[49:54] out of every $660

[49:58] again. So it's just fall it's falling on

[50:01] the local taxpayers.

[50:03] So, you know, a question we frequently

[50:06] hear is, you know, why can't we use

[50:08] federal state grants to kind of sort of

[50:10] fix some of our budget shortfall? So,

[50:13] there's really, you know, a few reasons,

[50:15] you know, important reasons and fiscal

[50:17] reasons for that. So, first is

[50:19] restricted versus unrestricted. So,

[50:21] grants like IDEIDA, special education

[50:24] grant, and title one, which is for uh

[50:26] low income, uh are legally restricted to

[50:29] specific student support programs. uh

[50:32] they can't pay for standard classroom

[50:34] teacher salaries or building you know

[50:36] utilities and heating obviously so

[50:38] there's limitations there and

[50:40] restrictions. There's also federal

[50:42] non-supplanting rules uh particularly

[50:45] with title one for example. So federal

[50:47] law would forbid using grant dollars to

[50:49] replace existing local funds. So doing

[50:52] so u would be a violation and result in severe penalties of course. And then

[50:57] there's that one-time grant clip. So,

[51:00] you know, grants you depending on the

[51:01] grant, it could be a one-year grant, it

[51:03] could be a multi-year grant. Uh, we do

[51:05] have some grants that are three years.

[51:07] Um, but funding permanent staff with

[51:11] temporary grants is very risky, but also

[51:14] creates a se severe fiscal cliff when

[51:17] those grants end and it's something that

[51:19] you have to be very careful about. So,

[51:20] that's just to kind of let the public

[51:22] know.

[51:24] Similarly, you know, we have revolving

[51:26] accounts and Dr. Stella has reported on

[51:28] these quite a bit but you know our

[51:30] revolving funds like athletics building

[51:33] rentals our prek tuitions and the

[51:36] circuit breaker carryover which we use

[51:37] as a carryover those are dedicated

[51:40] reserves so they provide you know

[51:42] short-term cash flow buffers and and Dr.

[51:44] Blazelle spoke to how like an example of

[51:47] transportation we've used that buffer

[51:50] quite you know significantly this year

[51:52] to to to address the the contract. So

[51:55] again, it provides a short-term cash

[51:57] flow buffer, but um so buffering an

[52:00] unexpected, you know, enrollment spike

[52:02] in a certain program, you know, may be

[52:04] the case or transportation. But, you

[52:06] know, relying on one-time reserve

[52:09] balances uh to fund baseline operations

[52:12] only makes a structural deficit and and

[52:14] guarantees a state a steeper cliff once

[52:17] those reserves are depleted because you

[52:19] need to account for those the following

[52:21] year. So, it's very risky uh to do that

[52:24] and and should only be done in desperate times.

[52:30] Um I think it's important to kind of

[52:32] highlight some of the proactive steps

[52:34] that we've taken um for at least a

[52:37] decade now. Uh Plymouth Public Schools

[52:39] hasn't just asked for more funding. Uh

[52:41] we've aggressively audited our

[52:43] operations to generate internal savings,

[52:46] you know. So, some of the key

[52:48] initiatives that we've done really um

[52:50] harnessing rooftop solar um as well as

[52:53] solar leasing uh the solar fields to

[52:55] dramatically cut utility costs. Um,

[52:58] we've recently signed a Amoresco

[53:00] performance contract. Um, you know,

[53:03] helping to self-fund like building HVAC,

[53:05] LED lighting upgrades through energy

[53:08] savings and kind of putting those

[53:10] investments. I mean, putting those

[53:12] savings back in and investing them into

[53:14] our buildings, further, you know,

[53:16] reducing our energy uh, needs and costs.

[53:21] transportation route op optimizations.

[53:23] We've had multiple assessments of that

[53:26] um in the last few years and really

[53:28] looking at um our tiered busing to

[53:31] consolidate and and be as efficient as

[53:33] we can without um you know jeopardizing

[53:36] the quality um of services of course and

[53:40] then Medicaid um you know really getting

[53:42] our staff to maximize um you know what

[53:46] they're doing on their part to do the

[53:48] medic the Medicaid claims our nurses our

[53:50] special education staff who do all of

[53:53] these services, the health services and

[53:55] related services uh to get those claims

[53:58] because it's money that comes back to

[54:00] the town. And we're very fortunate to

[54:02] receive some of those funds that

[54:04] supports

[54:05] uh the really important programming that

[54:07] we're doing for our kids both in special

[54:09] education and in our health offices.

[54:13] Um so just kind of highlight one of

[54:15] those and I'll highlight the solar and

[54:17] we've done this in the past. So this is

[54:19] kind of proof of that you know

[54:21] stewardship over the last decade. So for

[54:23] the past 10 years from 2016 to 2026 you

[54:28] know without our solar power purchase

[54:30] agreements um our estimated electric

[54:33] costs would have exceeded $21.1 million.

[54:36] So through those solar fields and the

[54:39] net metering credits that we've received

[54:40] our uh net payments were only 11.4

[54:44] million. So we've generated almost 8.5

[54:47] million in net cost avoidance over a

[54:49] decade. So imagine what you know what

[54:52] we'd be going without or asking for uh

[54:55] from the town if we needed an additional

[54:58] 8.5 million to to cover our electric

[55:00] bills. Um so you know in 2026 alone

[55:04] solar saved the district you know 1.51

[55:07] million. So I think it's a great

[55:09] example. Um, transportation is another

[55:13] area that we continue to be very

[55:15] transparent and look at um our

[55:19] efficiencies and how we can sort of

[55:21] maximize our um our our pool of uh vans

[55:25] and really looking at um I know we did

[55:27] the study for our our bus study, but

[55:31] also looking at our our vans and how we

[55:33] can maximize opportunities to do some of

[55:36] that um internally. I don't know if you

[55:38] want to speak to this one more

[55:40] specifically. Sure,

[55:41] >> Dr. Blaze.

[55:42] >> Um, one of the things that you've

[55:43] noticed over the past couple years is we

[55:44] have bought some some vans um to provide

[55:47] our own uh specialized transportation.

[55:50] Um we did that with Esser funds. Um and

[55:53] we've been trying to continue to buy one

[55:55] van per year um with capital. So what I've been doing is really looking

[56:01] at if we were to take over more van

[56:03] routes, what would that look like? What

[56:05] would that cost us? Um, so if we did

[56:08] internally, if we were looking at this

[56:10] year, um, if it's if a driver took

[56:14] insurance, it would cost us about $338

[56:17] per day. If the driver didn't take

[56:19] insurance, it would cost us just under

[56:21] $200 per day to run a van. Um, whereas

[56:25] if we are looking at van poolool, we're

[56:26] currently paying them $338,

[56:29] just over $338 a day. Um, oh, actually,

[56:33] no, I think that's a little higher.

[56:35] Sorry. Um it is next page $343

[56:40] per right now for Vampoo. Um so we would

[56:43] actually start s we're really just

[56:45] starting to save money if a driver took

[56:47] insurance. Um next year is where we

[56:49] start to see a little bit of a

[56:50] difference. Um it next year we would pay

[56:53] someone three we would pay $343

[56:56] versus 204 depending on if the driver

[56:58] took insurance or not. My glasses are

[57:01] not large enough so I'm actually messing

[57:02] up the vanool numbers. There we go. Um,

[57:06] so basically if we look at Vanpool, um,

[57:09] we're actually paying 359. Um, first

[57:11] student next year we paying 436. So we

[57:14] would be starting to save a larger

[57:16] amount of money when we if we start

[57:17] taking it over next year. Um, and that's

[57:19] by leasing a van. That's not by

[57:21] purchasing a van. So that actually

[57:22] includes the lease cost as well.

[57:26] >> Thank you.

[57:28] >> Stell spends a lot of time on

[57:29] transportation.

[57:31] Um I think uh perhaps one of the most

[57:34] impactful efficiencies which is also

[57:36] good for kids and families is the is the

[57:39] um the building of our specialized in

[57:41] district program. So um you know when

[57:44] our high need students are placed out of

[57:46] district and you know primarily

[57:48] collaboratives in many cases you know

[57:50] those tuition average almost $79,000

[57:54] per student plus you're looking at you

[57:56] know $30,000 sometimes in specialized

[57:58] van transportation. Uh, Nathaniel Morton

[58:01] is our newest and I just want to

[58:02] highlight that. Um, and it's gone off to

[58:04] a great start and been in there recently

[58:07] myself. So, at Nathaniel Morton, we've

[58:08] created an additional Strive program to

[58:10] educate students right here in our home

[58:12] community. It's just an a new addition.

[58:15] Um, so when you look at purely

[58:18] financial, I'm just talking about the

[58:20] finances right now. If you look at the the finances of the Stride program,

[58:24] so sending

[58:26] 12 students uh to an out of district

[58:29] collaborative would cost almost

[58:30] $950,000,

[58:32] right? And after circuit breaker

[58:33] reimbursement, which I talked about

[58:35] previously for um the threshold cost,

[58:38] the net cost to Plymouth would be

[58:40] $730,854.

[58:42] Right? So instead by, you know, when we

[58:46] have an opportunity to to to educate our

[58:48] kids here in Plymouth, to staff it

[58:52] properly and keep kids um in their

[58:55] community, um funding a a program with

[58:58] 12 with two dedicated teachers, five

[59:00] dedicated par profofessionals, a speech

[59:02] language pathologist, plus the

[59:04] availability of all the other resources

[59:06] that already exist in the school. that

[59:09] cost us $373,615

[59:13] you know so over the last 12 years or so

[59:16] and I've been here for this is my 19th

[59:18] started my 19th year um you know due to

[59:21] decline we had almost 9,000 students

[59:23] when I started here we're you know we're south of 7,000 now but in that

[59:29] time you know we don't have a lot of

[59:31] space in our buildings as you all know

[59:33] and people like how is that possible but

[59:35] in that time since Dr. Rogers has been

[59:38] here particularly our department, you

[59:40] know, under her direction has been able

[59:42] to develop a continuum of services and

[59:45] programs from preK through age 22 for

[59:48] our students requiring more specialized

[59:50] support, which is a wonderful thing. Um,

[59:53] so this has helped keep students in our

[59:55] community that otherwise would have had

[59:57] to look elsewhere. Um, but additionally,

[1:00:00] it has helped to cost avoid well over $8

[1:00:03] million.

[1:00:05] um probably more than that but just you

[1:00:07] know conservatively. So you this is one

[1:00:09] example we have 280 students that are

[1:00:11] take that are benefiting from our

[1:00:13] programs. So the math is good the

[1:00:17] quality of programming is good. Uh it's

[1:00:20] and it's good for Plymouth. So again

[1:00:22] another way we're investing and also

[1:00:24] trying to be good stewards of our

[1:00:26] taxpayer dollars. So, you know, now

[1:00:29] we're we're talking about like sort of

[1:00:31] def moving forward and kind of

[1:00:33] distinguishing our choices as we move

[1:00:35] forward. And we're going to get into

[1:00:37] greater details in in a lot of things,

[1:00:39] but you know, as we begin preparing for

[1:00:42] FY28 budget, you know, it's really

[1:00:44] crucial that we kind of use, I think,

[1:00:47] precise language when we're discussing

[1:00:49] our financial decisions. So there's

[1:00:51] operational efficiencies which we've

[1:00:53] been talking about this evening. You

[1:00:54] know, cutting costs without impacting

[1:00:57] student services, solar leasing, bus

[1:01:00] route optimizations, bulk purchasing,

[1:01:03] collaborative purchasing. Um those are

[1:01:06] great examples. Service reduction, you

[1:01:08] know, that's where cuts that directly

[1:01:09] impact programs and classrooms. So,

[1:01:11] increased class sizes, elective

[1:01:14] reductions,

[1:01:15] um staff eliminations, those are things

[1:01:18] that fortunately we have yet to have to

[1:01:20] deal with. Our class sizes have gone up

[1:01:22] in some cases, but it's typically

[1:01:23] because the enrollment has gone down.

[1:01:26] We've always maintained a cap of 22 preK

[1:01:29] to two and 25 uh beyond that. That's

[1:01:32] sort of the soft cap that we've we've

[1:01:34] used and we've talked about that

[1:01:36] publicly and and here um as a group. And

[1:01:40] then, you know, beyond that, you're

[1:01:42] looking at structural changes and

[1:01:43] certainly not a proponent of any of

[1:01:46] this. And you see, we've seen this in

[1:01:47] other communities. You know, fundamental

[1:01:48] redesigns of how things operate. School

[1:01:51] building consolidations, grade

[1:01:52] configurations, schedule overhauls.

[1:01:55] These are things that other communities

[1:01:56] have had to deal with. Um, these are

[1:01:58] really sort of the three buckets of

[1:02:00] decisions you're making. Um, when you

[1:02:03] look at this is a slide that I presented

[1:02:05] last year in our budget. This table I

[1:02:09] really feel is demonstrates our

[1:02:10] commitment to our staff and ultimately

[1:02:13] our students um over everything else. So

[1:02:16] uh you may recall this from last year

[1:02:18] table shows the shift from 26 to 27 this

[1:02:22] year. So note that our total salary

[1:02:24] increase was 4.14%.

[1:02:27] That added, you know, just over $4

[1:02:29] million to our overall budget. This

[1:02:31] shows our commitment to honoring the

[1:02:33] collective bargain agreements um and our

[1:02:35] the staffing of of our of our our

[1:02:38] buildings. Uh to balance that

[1:02:42] um with our strict town allocation, we

[1:02:45] pull back non salary items. So notice

[1:02:48] that supplies and materials are a

[1:02:51] negative growth of you know 1.77%.

[1:02:54] We squeeze squeeze materials out so that

[1:02:56] we wouldn't have to squeeze out

[1:02:57] personnel. We had to make significant

[1:02:59] reductions in non-personal lines. So our

[1:03:02] overall non-personal

[1:03:04] non-s salary lines went up less than

[1:03:06] 1%.84%.

[1:03:08] That includes contracts, contracted

[1:03:11] services. So we have you know we have

[1:03:13] squeezed blood out of a stone to get the

[1:03:16] number to that. Um so just again for the

[1:03:19] public to keep in mind these are lines

[1:03:21] that include all of our contracts

[1:03:22] including transportation, special

[1:03:24] education placements and other

[1:03:25] contracted services. um which as we know

[1:03:28] have increased considerably. So I think

[1:03:31] this confirms that you know

[1:03:32] non-personnel line items have been

[1:03:35] squeezed um as tight as as possible. So

[1:03:39] I think

[1:03:44] there we go. Sort of a takeaway for this

[1:03:48] evening. Uh I think a decade of

[1:03:50] aggressive cost containment on our part.

[1:03:53] solar, you know, amaresco contracts, our

[1:03:55] buses, our in district investments means

[1:03:59] that, you know, we virtually zeroed

[1:04:01] non-personnel efficiency dollars left to

[1:04:03] squeeze out. And as we head into FY28,

[1:04:07] level service costs will likely exceed

[1:04:10] that baseline revenue growth. We we can

[1:04:12] anticipate that for sure. So balancing

[1:04:15] our future budgets is really going to

[1:04:17] require a conscious community decision

[1:04:19] regarding local municipal tax

[1:04:21] investment, service reductions or you

[1:04:24] know other other decisions you know. Um

[1:04:27] so um that's where we are tonight in

[1:04:30] terms of kind of give laying the

[1:04:32] groundwork and as a reminder we you know

[1:04:35] um we will continue to do this next next

[1:04:37] meeting. We're going to get into budget

[1:04:39] constraints. We're going to dive into a

[1:04:41] lot of those um the operate large

[1:04:44] operational costs and mandates and

[1:04:46] non-negotiables.

[1:04:47] Uh meaning thereafter we'll get into um

[1:04:50] a lot of the major cost drivers,

[1:04:51] personnel, employee benefits, kind of

[1:04:54] the structure behind our buildings and

[1:04:57] the details behind that. Um we'll we'll

[1:05:01] spend time looking at special education

[1:05:03] expenses and transportation across the

[1:05:05] district. and then hopefully by meeting

[1:05:07] five having conversations about, you

[1:05:10] know, kind of pulling that all together

[1:05:11] and and and hopefully having a a better

[1:05:14] direction as community as to uh where

[1:05:16] we're going as we design FY or proposed

[1:05:19] FY28's budget. So, happy to um answer

[1:05:24] any questions, but for the public, this

[1:05:26] will go on our website. Um we'll put all

[1:05:28] of our budget presentations on the

[1:05:30] website. This is Dr. Bldale's finance

[1:05:32] page, our contact information. Um,

[1:05:36] again, budget constraints, mandates, and

[1:05:38] non non-negotiables will be the October

[1:05:41] 19th discussion. Um, happy to answer any

[1:05:45] questions.

[1:05:46] >> All right. Yeah. Thank Thank you, Dr.

[1:05:47] Thank you so much for doing this. I

[1:05:48] think it definitely helps the public and

[1:05:50] I think it probably helps. I'm sure each

[1:05:52] of the committee members get something

[1:05:53] out of it as well. Start with Miss

[1:05:55] Jackson and Miss Bryant. [clears throat]

[1:05:57] >> Thank you for your presentation. I feel

[1:05:59] like it really did a good job in

[1:06:01] highlighting

[1:06:03] um like what overall goes into the

[1:06:05] budget and I think going into like the

[1:06:07] mandates especially the unfunded

[1:06:09] mandates will paint an even broader

[1:06:11] picture of what we're obligated to um

[1:06:15] impact and you also did a great job in

[1:06:18] pointing out how this will impact the

[1:06:20] students. Um I would love to talk about

[1:06:26] why this matters to the people who don't

[1:06:28] have children in our d in our district

[1:06:31] but also are still paying for these you

[1:06:34] know as people face rising costs who

[1:06:37] might be on fixed incomes

[1:06:40] um I think it's important to also talk

[1:06:43] about how having a good school district

[1:06:46] impacts them and um why it matters to

[1:06:49] them. Yeah, I can think of a whole host

[1:06:52] of reasons, right? One, we're we're we are um investing in our future um consumers in this

[1:07:03] community, the future contributors to

[1:07:05] this community. I think um strong

[1:07:09] communities that support education have

[1:07:12] lots of strong outcomes as a community.

[1:07:15] Um when when you see that decline and

[1:07:20] resources suffer and schools suffer,

[1:07:23] ultimately um your um property taxes

[1:07:28] suffer, which is a a just a perpetual

[1:07:33] issue, which [snorts] further reduces

[1:07:35] your revenue, which further reduces the

[1:07:38] available resources for a community,

[1:07:40] which affects all sectors of our town

[1:07:43] municipal budget. So, um it's really

[1:07:47] important to invest in education

[1:07:48] regardless. Um and I think we are very

[1:07:51] mindful of um the tax burden on people

[1:07:56] and do everything we can to not ask for

[1:07:59] anything that we don't think is

[1:08:01] important. Um but I can tell you when I

[1:08:04] first started here

[1:08:06] 18 years ago, we had we didn't have the

[1:08:09] programs that we have now. We had very

[1:08:12] few kids that took world language. We

[1:08:14] had a a very um very very minimal visual

[1:08:19] and performing arts program. We had

[1:08:21] students that weren't fully scheduled at

[1:08:24] the high schools. I don't know why, but

[1:08:27] they weren't. Um so the resources

[1:08:29] weren't going in the right place. we

[1:08:32] through the support of this town and

[1:08:34] this community um and the and the

[1:08:36] collective work and and the credib

[1:08:38] building the credibility I think with

[1:08:40] the schools uh we were we've been

[1:08:43] supported generously

[1:08:46] um and have built something I think in

[1:08:48] the last dozen or so years that is we

[1:08:50] we're really proud of and and the

[1:08:52] community should be really proud of and

[1:08:54] it's good for kids. Um, I worry about

[1:08:59] what happens if we can't continue that

[1:09:01] and what that would do to the next

[1:09:02] generation of kids that go through PLT.

[1:09:08] I think that's a great point Miss

[1:09:11] Jackson brings up and I think it's would

[1:09:14] be beneficial to add that that lens of

[1:09:20] those who don't have someone in the

[1:09:23] district to possibly meeting five. I

[1:09:26] have to say this presentation,

[1:09:29] my time here has been honestly the most

[1:09:33] helpful in regards to peeling back the

[1:09:36] layers of what goes into the budget. you

[1:09:40] I think that it's difficult when you

[1:09:43] appear at town meeting or you appear at

[1:09:46] the select board and have to discuss a

[1:09:50] fragment of the overall budget that

[1:09:54] appears so large and people not

[1:09:56] understanding which parts of the budget

[1:09:59] is a must. Which part of the budget that

[1:10:03] the administration fights for? which

[1:10:07] part of the budget that you have grant

[1:10:10] writers and programs that seek out

[1:10:13] additional dollars will be very helpful

[1:10:16] in people understanding what type of

[1:10:18] impact that that this makes. So, I'm I'm

[1:10:22] honestly looking forward to the other

[1:10:25] four meetings in the series. I think

[1:10:27] it's just important to remind the public

[1:10:30] where I'm just coming off of my last

[1:10:32] campaign that districts across

[1:10:35] Massachusetts are fa facing all of the

[1:10:38] same problems, right? So inflation,

[1:10:41] rising gas prices, that attributes

[1:10:43] directly back to busing and

[1:10:45] transportation and increased cost of

[1:10:48] outsourced special education, increases

[1:10:50] in healthcare. all of those things that

[1:10:53] just in this presentation alone you've

[1:10:55] addressed to a point. Um I would say

[1:11:00] um what I think I would find beneficial

[1:11:03] if on slide three as well as you know

[1:11:07] the upcoming slides if you could be

[1:11:10] specific about which of those funding

[1:11:12] and and I mean when I say specific I'm

[1:11:15] talking about me as a non-math girly

[1:11:18] like I I hate the numbers but I was very

[1:11:23] interested in how this was all broken

[1:11:25] down if in Slide three, you can

[1:11:29] highlight what are those pockets of of

[1:11:31] dollars that are stable that are like

[1:11:35] those guarantees that we expect every

[1:11:37] year because it's part of our makeup.

[1:11:40] And then which are those that we're

[1:11:42] moving and we're fighting for. So you

[1:11:44] made a point to talk about the grants

[1:11:47] where we would not want to um hire

[1:11:51] someone based on a grant because then

[1:11:53] the the dollars aren't as stabled. And

[1:11:56] then I think slide 14, anytime I bring

[1:11:59] um we talk about transportation, I think

[1:12:03] it's important to note that over the

[1:12:05] past 10 years, specifically within, you

[1:12:08] know, Quinsey, Bronx, Wemouth, and

[1:12:10] Plymouth, we've seen 160% jump in the

[1:12:14] rate of homelessness. And I bring that

[1:12:17] up specifically because women and

[1:12:19] children are the most

[1:12:21] underrepresentative

[1:12:22] and underounted

[1:12:24] um number in regards to homeless. And

[1:12:28] based on Mckitti Bento, it goes directly

[1:12:31] back into the funding sources and having

[1:12:34] to budge children into their home

[1:12:36] schools or to have to um get additional

[1:12:41] dollars in funding for children to

[1:12:43] maintain the programs or the needs

[1:12:45] within our district. And I just say that

[1:12:48] because again, it's one of those musts.

[1:12:51] It's not a choice. it's a must that that

[1:12:55] we have to do as a a state and you know

[1:12:58] just good humans. So, um I think this

[1:13:01] series will be very helpful and help

[1:13:04] inform people

[1:13:07] who live in Plymouth, contribute to to

[1:13:10] um the

[1:13:13] funding of of our schools to understand

[1:13:16] what it is that we're dealing with, why

[1:13:18] we asked for what we asked for and what

[1:13:22] on the administration side, as well as

[1:13:24] the decisions we hope to support and

[1:13:27] inform um are up against. So, just

[1:13:30] wanted to share that. And this this was

[1:13:32] great.

[1:13:36] » Yeah, I think this was uh very

[1:13:38] informative. So, thank you. Um and I

[1:13:41] think a further step would be for, you

[1:13:44] know, for the residents who elect us to

[1:13:46] that to view a presentation

[1:13:48] um to go a little deeper if you can to

[1:13:51] see how, you know, this happened, right?

[1:13:55] Prop two and a half has been around

[1:13:56] since 1982. And the equation did predict

[1:14:02] uh what your property taxes would be,

[1:14:04] but it also didn't allow towns to move

[1:14:07] the lever in good times and bad without

[1:14:10] politicizing the issue and voting for an

[1:14:12] override where, you know, I know we're

[1:14:15] in uh you know, the public sector, but

[1:14:18] if you had your own private business,

[1:14:20] you could spend when you needed and not

[1:14:22] defer. So you'd have to spend triple and

[1:14:24] you wouldn't have to sure you'd have a

[1:14:27] management discussion, but they made it

[1:14:29] so volatile with Prop 2 and a half

[1:14:31] because I believed in the fiscal

[1:14:33] oversight of it even though I was 12

[1:14:35] years old when they passed it. But

[1:14:36] [laughter] I it just it didn't move with

[1:14:39] rising costs, right? So when we go to

[1:14:43] look at a budgetary shortfall and we're

[1:14:46] faced with which door do you take,

[1:14:48] right? If all those doors are locked,

[1:14:50] it's because they were locked from the

[1:14:51] inside. I mean, chapter 70,

[1:14:55] the the cost per pupil might look great,

[1:14:57] right? Because of the volume of money

[1:14:59] going through the system, but

[1:15:01] Massachusetts is like 8 to 10% behind in

[1:15:05] state aid than other states. They put a

[1:15:07] lot of pressure on local municipalities,

[1:15:10] >> and then that pressure comes home to

[1:15:12] roost when every other cost is going up.

[1:15:15] >> And you can't tax your way out of it. I

[1:15:18] mean, there's a threshold for

[1:15:19] everything. So, I I think it's important

[1:15:21] when you're showing like you're

[1:15:24] literally dealt this hand because you're

[1:15:27] not going to turn your back on the

[1:15:28] services of educating the children of a

[1:15:31] community. I don't care if you're an

[1:15:32] empty neester. No one in their right

[1:15:34] mind would would agree with that. But I

[1:15:37] think we are going to be at a point

[1:15:38] where, you know, something has to give.

[1:15:41] And maybe it's on a state level. I mean,

[1:15:43] I talked in another meeting about, you

[1:15:46] know, ways that we funded the school

[1:15:48] building program, right? We need some

[1:15:50] more innovative talk on a state level

[1:15:53] that can offset that sort of it's it's a

[1:15:57] ticking time bomb for local

[1:15:59] municipalities. We're not going to just

[1:16:00] think our way out of this. So, I I think

[1:16:02] when when you make these presentations,

[1:16:04] it's great, but I think people have to

[1:16:07] go deeper to understand that um you

[1:16:11] know, there's ways we got here and we

[1:16:13] can't just repeal Prop 2 and a half and

[1:16:15] then what? You're just going to that's

[1:16:16] basically an override for everyone in

[1:16:17] the state. You can't do that. But

[1:16:20] there's going to be some um different

[1:16:22] approaches to how we create revenue

[1:16:24] streams

[1:16:26] for local municipalities that aren't

[1:16:28] always based on a volatile override

[1:16:31] discussion.

[1:16:32] >> Um and I I don't have that answer. I

[1:16:35] mean, we'll we'll work at it all of us,

[1:16:36] but it's uh this is the way to start

[1:16:40] talking about it. So, thank you.

[1:16:43] >> Awesome. All right. Anybody else? All

[1:16:46] right. Thanks again, Dr. Kemp.

[1:16:48] >> Thank you.

[1:16:49] All right, next up we've got the

[1:16:51] superintendent report. So back to you

[1:16:52] again.

[1:16:52] >> Oh, there you go.

[1:16:55] >> Uh [clears throat] brief one this

[1:16:56] evening. So strategic planning

[1:16:58] committee, our uh strate strategic

[1:17:00] planning committee has been established.

[1:17:02] Uh sent an initial welcome letter out um

[1:17:05] I believe yesterday uh or Saturday, I

[1:17:08] can't remember. I'm losing track. Uh we

[1:17:10] have a very diverse representation, 27

[1:17:12] in total, students, parents, teachers,

[1:17:14] school committee, administration, and

[1:17:17] our CPAC support for this process. Uh

[1:17:19] our initial meeting will be next

[1:17:21] Wednesday, October 7th. Uh so really

[1:17:24] excited to kick kick that off. Uh FY28

[1:17:28] budget and capital planning. So we have

[1:17:29] a meeting tomorrow afternoon with um

[1:17:31] town leadership. So, we hope to get a

[1:17:34] greater sense of uh where we are in

[1:17:36] terms of um FY28. Um

[1:17:40] we'll see what we learn. So, look

[1:17:42] forward to to that meeting tomorrow

[1:17:45] afternoon.

[1:17:46] Um [clears throat]

[1:17:47] and I'm going to end with a video, but

[1:17:50] just as a reminder, we also have our

[1:17:51] school committee retreat this Saturday,

[1:17:54] uh 8:30 start. Um so um and so we should

[1:18:00] be done by I would think no later than

[1:18:02] noon based on that. Um and then lastly

[1:18:05] and and Seth's going to cue this up for

[1:18:08] us I believe. Um very pleased that our VIPs program volunteers in Plymouth

[1:18:13] Public Schools um you know years past we

[1:18:16] spent a couple of years working learning

[1:18:19] from uh Felmouth which is in their 40

[1:18:21] maybe their 40 43rd year at this point.

[1:18:24] who started with eight volunteers and

[1:18:25] grown to over a thousand. Um had an

[1:18:28] opportunity to have a grant with Mass

[1:18:30] Partners uh MA um Mass Service Alliance

[1:18:33] working with Felmouth. Um and and we

[1:18:37] have a a a good starting point. Um we

[1:18:40] had a great up celebration last spring.

[1:18:43] So our EdTV staff put together this

[1:18:46] great video which we're going to be

[1:18:47] using to kind of highlight this and to

[1:18:49] promote participation. Plymouth

[1:18:50] Independent is also working on a piece

[1:18:53] uh which should be published uh very

[1:18:55] soon. So I just wanted to end with this

[1:18:57] short video so you can see uh in the

[1:18:59] public can see what VIPS is all about.

[1:19:06] I truly enjoy volunteerism. I really

[1:19:09] have I tell people my whole life I've

[1:19:11] had two jobs. One that paid me, one that

[1:19:12] [music] didn't.

[1:19:13] >> I'm retired. I have time. I enjoy

[1:19:16] children. And I [music] thought, I ought

[1:19:17] to do something helpful and useful. And

[1:19:20] so this fit the bill exactly. It's as

[1:19:23] little or as big of a commitment [music]

[1:19:25] as you want. There are endless

[1:19:27] opportunities ahead, which is really

[1:19:29] fun.

[1:19:32] [music]

[1:19:34] For many years, we have talked about

[1:19:37] trying to create something [music] that

[1:19:39] would be like a lasting relationship and

[1:19:41] a bridge between our residents and and

[1:19:44] public education. So [music] we started

[1:19:46] this program called BIPS volunteers in

[1:19:48] Plymouth public schools.

[1:19:49] >> We have such a rich town [music]

[1:19:52] community and we all have so much to

[1:19:54] offer each other. We have a growing

[1:19:56] senior population but we also have a

[1:19:58] growing population of young families in

[1:19:59] Plymouth and it just bridges both of

[1:20:01] those communities together. There are

[1:20:03] many members in our community that

[1:20:05] [music] have passions whether it's

[1:20:07] sewing or playing cribage or ma jang or

[1:20:11] former teachers [music] that have all

[1:20:12] this knowledge and they are looking to

[1:20:15] share it with our staff [music] and our

[1:20:17] students. I've been retired for 12

[1:20:19] years. I was a military clothing

[1:20:22] designer. Someone [music] contacted me,

[1:20:24] I think it was Angela, and said Indian

[1:20:27] Brook is having a show um at the end of

[1:20:30] the year, Willy Wonka. would you be

[1:20:32] willing in helping with costumes?

[1:20:33] [music]

[1:20:34] I did a couple of prototypes. We went to

[1:20:36] the school. They loved what I did. They

[1:20:38] took kids out of class to try on the

[1:20:40] costumes and they were [music] so

[1:20:42] excited and giggly and it just fulfilled

[1:20:46] as a grandmother like, "Oh, wow. This is

[1:20:48] what I want to do for my own

[1:20:49] grandchildren." [music]

[1:20:50] >> That was super helpful and important.

[1:20:52] and the kids got to learn different

[1:20:54] skills from her. For some of the kiddos

[1:20:56] that might not [music] get to do

[1:20:59] individualized things or or special

[1:21:01] things to be able to feel like they're

[1:21:03] [music] special cuz they're working with

[1:21:04] this important person who's coming into

[1:21:07] the building.

[1:21:07] >> Some of our students learning might not

[1:21:09] be their favorite thing or it might be a

[1:21:11] little bit more challenging. So [music]

[1:21:12] finding that hook and finding that

[1:21:14] little niche that maybe they didn't know

[1:21:16] that they liked sewing or knitting, the

[1:21:18] kids look forward to seeing their, you

[1:21:19] [music] know, senior partner and it can

[1:21:21] really excite kids about school. The

[1:21:23] value it brings to the volunteers is it

[1:21:25] gives them a sense of being [music] part

[1:21:27] of something larger and I think it also

[1:21:29] gives them an understanding of what is

[1:21:31] happening within our schools. I went to

[1:21:34] Manet Elementary School to work in the

[1:21:36] kindergarten classrooms. A lot of

[1:21:39] children need a little bit more one-

[1:21:41] on-one. [music] Just another person

[1:21:43] there to talk to them and ask them

[1:21:45] interesting questions about their lives.

[1:21:47] They ask very interesting [music]

[1:21:48] questions about my life. The enthusiasm

[1:21:51] and just the innocence of all the kids

[1:21:53] is just great.

[1:21:54] >> It is extremely extremely rewarding. I

[1:21:57] enjoy learning [music] from them what

[1:21:59] they're going through, some of the

[1:22:01] issues that they uh think about or worry

[1:22:03] about, and it gives me a better

[1:22:04] perspective. I'd say there really is no

[1:22:06] limit [music] to why you can't belong to

[1:22:08] this program, especially if you have

[1:22:10] some time. The scope of the program is

[1:22:12] such that you [music] can start with

[1:22:13] kindergarteners and go up to high school

[1:22:15] students and you can find your niche

[1:22:16] with any of those age groups [music]

[1:22:18] doing what you like, but something that

[1:22:20] they'll probably appreciate as well. I

[1:22:22] volunteer for about an hour and a half,

[1:22:24] so total, you know, with driving it was

[1:22:27] [music] maybe 3 hours altogether. The

[1:22:29] benefit to those 3 hours was far greater

[1:22:32] than the time. It's not a [music] huge

[1:22:33] time commitment. You may want to come in

[1:22:35] once a week, once a month. You may want

[1:22:37] to work directly with students or not.

[1:22:39] Just because you're a part of the VIP

[1:22:41] program doesn't mean you need to commit

[1:22:42] [music] to something that is 5 days a

[1:22:44] week, 180 days. We're looking for people

[1:22:46] to find something that they're

[1:22:47] interested in, something that they're

[1:22:48] passionate about, and try to make that

[1:22:50] [music] connection in our schools and match them the best we can.

[1:22:53] >> We are looking to expand this program

[1:22:55] for the upcoming [music] school year.

[1:22:56] And if you are interested in joining, we

[1:22:59] would love to have you come on board.

[1:23:01] Please visit the Plymouth Public Schools

[1:23:02] [music] website for more information.

[1:23:12] » So, I just want to thank Seth and Ed TV

[1:23:15] for putting that together. I think it's

[1:23:16] a great promotional video, but again, it

[1:23:18] just and those that's a small example of

[1:23:22] the many volunteers and and sort of the

[1:23:24] impact it's had on them. Um, they've had

[1:23:26] a greater impact on us. But getting back

[1:23:29] to like also your conver your question

[1:23:32] Kathy about like the importance of you

[1:23:34] know getting our community in our

[1:23:36] schools to really have a great

[1:23:38] appreciation for the kids and the staff

[1:23:41] and what's going on. So um opening the doors not just the the

[1:23:46] window but opening the doors to our

[1:23:48] school. So it's been a I'm just so

[1:23:50] excited that it's it's you know we got

[1:23:51] the ground get it got off the ground

[1:23:53] last year and look forward to how it

[1:23:56] expands this year.

[1:23:57] >> Yeah. No, great great program. Great video. I love that.

[1:24:02] >> Very cool.

[1:24:03] >> Thank you.

[1:24:04] >> All right, let's keep rolling here. Uh,

[1:24:06] next up we have retirement

[1:24:08] announcements. Dr. Blazel,

[1:24:09] >> we have one retirement this evening. Deb

[1:24:11] Travers retired from Plymouth North from

[1:24:14] Project Growth on September 23rd.

[1:24:17] >> All right, Miss Jackson.

[1:24:18] >> Thank you to Miss Travers for her 19

[1:24:21] years of service to the district and we

[1:24:22] wish her good luck on her next chapter.

[1:24:27] Thank you. [clears throat] All right.

[1:24:29] Next up, we have uh just our uh report

[1:24:32] out. So, uh any committee member uh

[1:24:34] updates.

[1:24:36] >> I have packed this week.

[1:24:38] >> Oh, upcoming. All right. Thanks.

[1:24:41] >> I um attended safety committee. Um

[1:24:44] although I won't report out on

[1:24:46] everything that we talked about, I just

[1:24:48] want to say that I'm always impressed by

[1:24:50] the collaboration that we have across

[1:24:53] agencies with the police, the fire, the

[1:24:56] administration, the tech support teams

[1:24:58] that we have here

[1:25:01] um and the schools and how everybody

[1:25:04] works together to ensure the safety of

[1:25:06] our students.

[1:25:08] >> All right. Thank you, M. Jackson.

[1:25:10] Anything from Michelle or Mr. Schmz?

[1:25:14] this week.

[1:25:15] >> All right. Thanks. Um, I've got a

[1:25:17] building committee uh report. Um, I see

[1:25:22] highlights of last uh excuse two weeks

[1:25:25] ago meeting was uh the they are

[1:25:28] evaluating designer bids for uh uh the

[1:25:32] updating the visitor center. Um there is

[1:25:35] uh oh for the uh new DPW administration

[1:25:38] building, they're evaluating design and

[1:25:40] cost options. that phase of the project

[1:25:42] you go through the end of the year and

[1:25:43] then they'll start fig figure out what

[1:25:44] they want to actually design and go out

[1:25:47] for funding for and most relevant for us

[1:25:50] um for the uh elementary school project

[1:25:54] um AI3 has been uh selected as the

[1:25:56] architect and they're going in the in

[1:25:58] the contracting process now so I think

[1:26:01] anyone will know what the when that's

[1:26:04] finalized I know it's in AA3's hands at

[1:26:06] this point

[1:26:06] >> right they were still waiting on a few

[1:26:09] contractors to get back to them,

[1:26:11] subcontractors to get back to them. Um,

[1:26:13] so hopefully we'll hear something this

[1:26:15] week. I'm hopeful, but I know we have a meeting with them and CHA on October

[1:26:21] 5th.

[1:26:21] >> Yeah. Perfect. All right. So, yeah, we

[1:26:23] should have an update by the next

[1:26:24] meeting. And lastly, the next building

[1:26:28] committee meeting is actually scheduled

[1:26:30] for to actually at Nathaniel uh Morton.

[1:26:33] the committee is actually wanting to

[1:26:34] take a look at that you know all the

[1:26:36] improvements that have happened to that

[1:26:37] building the last um uh you know over

[1:26:39] the last uh year or so especially even

[1:26:42] over the summer. So it's kind of given

[1:26:44] that you know rather than setting up a

[1:26:46] separate tour made the decision why

[1:26:48] don't we just actually meet there and

[1:26:49] we'll kind of let the committee you know

[1:26:51] see the building kind of showcase it and

[1:26:53] then we'll actually have our our next

[1:26:55] meeting there. So kind of excited about

[1:26:56] that one.

[1:26:59] >> That's all I got. Uh next up back to you

[1:27:02] Dr. Dr. Bzel for uh personnel reports.

[1:27:05] >> So we have uh [clears throat] two

[1:27:07] certificated appointments during the

[1:27:09] month of September, four classified

[1:27:11] appointments during the month of

[1:27:13] September, and we have three

[1:27:15] resignations um between September and

[1:27:17] the beginning of October.

[1:27:19] >> All right, thank you for that.

[1:27:22] [clears throat] All right, uh we're

[1:27:23] cruising right along here. We are at our

[1:27:25] actually un uh unfinished and new

[1:27:27] business. any unfinished business or new

[1:27:29] business any uh members would like to

[1:27:30] bring up for uh this meeting or future

[1:27:33] meetings.

[1:27:35] All right, and we brings to our consent

[1:27:38] agenda. Pretty uh routine agenda here.

[1:27:40] We've got some uh minutes, some bills to

[1:27:43] pay and some homeschooling plans and

[1:27:46] some disposal of some old books.

[1:27:50] Any uh anything needs to be pulled or

[1:27:53] any questions or concerns on the consent

[1:27:55] agenda?

[1:27:57] If not, I will entertain a motion.

[1:28:00] >> A motion that the Plymouth School

[1:28:02] Committee approve the consent agenda as

[1:28:05] presented.

[1:28:06] >> All right, we have a second.

[1:28:08] >> Second. All right, Michelle seconds. We

[1:28:11] can vote.

[1:28:16] [cough]

[1:28:22] » Was it not letting me vote?

[1:28:25] >> Dr. Camp was an initiative.

[1:28:27] >> Sorry, I thought I clicked it. No,

[1:28:28] [laughter]

[1:28:30] >> we've taken so many votes.

[1:28:32] >> I know there. Why isn't it doing

[1:28:34] anything?

[1:28:36] All right, where am I?

[1:28:43] No, I'm still not getting it. Who else?

[1:28:46] Hold on.

[1:28:49] All right,

[1:28:50] log it back in.

[1:29:03] Now we got it.

[1:29:06] All right, that passes unanimously.

[1:29:10] Um, with that, we are at the end of our

[1:29:13] uh agenda. So, we were a little behind

[1:29:15] schedule and now we're ahead of

[1:29:16] schedule. All right, so I will call the

[1:29:18] meeting to a close at 8:27 p.m. Thank

[1:29:21] you everyone.

School Committee - September 28, 2026

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