[0:00] 2023 Spokeswoman Rita Ora,

[0:03] for the record,

[0:05] is eight of us

[0:06] present, which was an omission.

[0:08] Is Nancy obedient and Christine

[0:11] Kim everybody else is from

[0:16] next door because we could stand

[0:21] only on the spot as well.

[0:23] I certainly just to the flag

[0:25] of the United States of America,

[0:28] to the Republic for which

[0:29] it stands, one nation

[0:31] under God, indivisible, with liberty

[0:33] and justice for all.

[0:42] But on the agenda of this, the student

[0:47] report, and I want to

[0:49] welcome Sarah Johanson,

[0:51] who's the new president.

[0:53] I don't know what they call you

[0:54] in Saudi Arabia soon.

[0:56] I just. Representative.

[0:57] Okay.

[0:58] Thank you and good evening, everybody.

[1:00] I'd like to thank all of you for this opportunity

[1:01] and for welcoming me here tonight.

[1:03] to working with all of you here.And I look forward

[1:05] You allow me to briefly introduce myself.

[1:07] My name's Sarah Johansen.

[1:09] I'm a senior at the electronics and engineering

[1:11] shop, and I live into three,

[1:13] I believe I'm a very committed member of the shopping community

[1:15] because I participate in a multitude

[1:17] of extracurriculars.

[1:19] I play on the tennis team.

[1:20] and I'm currently employedI'm a part of Skills USA,

[1:22] through the Cooperative Education Program,

[1:24] a diversified technology.

[1:26] There are a lot of great things going on here at MIT,

[1:29] tremendous successes in our athletics so far this year.

[1:31] And I'll talk a little bit

[1:33] about all of our teams and how they're doing.

[1:35] Soccer is going to the state tournamentThe Varsity Boys

[1:38] in 11 and 42.

[1:40] The boys and Girls cross-country

[1:41] team are doing pretty well as well.

[1:43] The varsity football team

[1:44] is currently undefeated at seven and all, and they won their second

[1:47] straight league championship on Friday

[1:48] by defeating Greater Lawrence.

[1:50] For the first time in school history,

[1:51] the teams ranked by the Boston Globe

[1:53] and Top 1020 statewide rankings.

[1:55] an undefeated season of 17 And oh,The golf team finished

[1:58] and once again, our prime CFC champion

[2:00] has won three of their last five games.Varsity Girls Soccer

[2:03] And if the little Catholic today the volleyball team

[2:06] in a very long time, with the record of 16is having their best season

[2:09] winning the first league championshipand one

[2:11] since 2007,

[2:12] the cheerleading team is preparing

[2:14] weekend as competition season startsfor a very big kickoff

[2:17] High on Saturday and tri county on Sunday.at Wilmington

[2:19] They just announced.

[2:20] Also on the Sunday, Boston Globe

[2:22] once again, one of the division one, Walter Markham Award

[2:25] for Best Vocational Athletic program in the state of Massachusetts,

[2:28] winning over 68% of our games played last year.

[2:31] Congrats to all of the team's coaches

[2:33] and our coach, the Athletic director.

[2:36] Most impressively, we had 300

[2:38] competing in four sports this year.student athletes

[2:40] on, our clubs and activitiesWhile this has been going

[2:42] holding events and fundraising.have been very busy

[2:45] We have our pep rally recently, homecoming

[2:47] and a homecoming dance with the Spirit week

[2:50] we had another successful trunkand Saturday

[2:52] or treat event which many people attended.

[2:54] we raise money for suicide prevention,And if any of you were there,

[2:57] even though it's raining heavily outside

[3:00] and this week is anti-bullying week, the orientation

[3:02] leaders are spreading awareness and prevention.

[3:05] The drama club will be performing 12 Angry Men

[3:07] on November 9th and the auditorium at 630.

[3:10] And the annual turkey ball game will be held

[3:11] November 15 at 6 p.m.

[3:13] to raise money for local food pantries.

[3:15] The fall fair will be held on November 18th.

[3:18] A few other things going on

[3:19] is the junior PSAT.

[3:21] This last week, over 200 students participated.

[3:23] This is a little bit of a new program for the juniors

[3:25] and I think so far it's going very well.to be doing it,

[3:28] grade students had a fun field trip atNinth

[3:31] the Museum of Science last week.

[3:32] I know a lot of it enjoyed it.

[3:34] And there's an ongoing extension of the masonry shop

[3:36] and renovations to the HBC art shop.

[3:39] I believe the students and staff

[3:41] have been touring the middle schools at the Shashi Road Show.

[3:44] We visited Gorka and Bedford so far and we have Burlington

[3:47] hits Tewkesbury and Wellington to go.

[3:49] to visit the Billerica TheatersI was lucky enough

[3:52] and I think it's been a great success and we've gotten

[3:53] a lot of great feedback.

[3:55] to be a student here at Shashi.In closing, it's a great time

[3:57] let me know if you have any questions.With so much going on, please

[3:59] Thank you.

[4:01] Thank you.

[4:01] Thank you. Thank you.

[4:03] We are reflections.

[4:08] Something good company I want to say.

[4:10] Welcome to the state of Maine.Great, great.

[4:12] And this is a welcome to get involved in.

[4:14] We appreciate

[4:16] if you do

[4:19] you have other

[4:20] you you know you're not going to be aroundobligations

[4:23] for this trip.

[4:29] All right.

[4:31] Next on the agenda is public comment

[4:33] and I believe can read in as here

[4:36] I am right now, please for the camera.

[4:39] Gotcha.

[4:41] Great.

[4:42] Just California, where we have a three

[4:44] minute

[4:46] time.

[4:46] This continues.

[4:49] So, Carol Redding, I'm a parent.

[4:52] I'm going to skedaddle

[4:53] after this because I have chicken at home.

[4:55] The oven.

[4:57] So I'm here for two reasons.

[4:59] One, I do have to say, I just you know,

[5:01] I am here as a parent.

[5:03] I'm recently new to the school council

[5:06] within the school building.

[5:08] you know, I care a lot about this school.And I

[5:10] You have some amazing staff.

[5:12] The outcomes for this

[5:14] kids here are varied, which is fantastic.

[5:17] And I hope that the current administration puts,

[5:22] you know, as much love

[5:24] and heart into our athletics programs

[5:27] as well as technology.and our other avenues

[5:31] But I'm here today to talk about

[5:32] the dress code policy.

[5:35] You know,

[5:36] superintendents have a specific job

[5:38] in school, committees have a specific job,

[5:41] and school councils have a specific job.

[5:44] The job of the school committee

[5:46] is to create policy.

[5:48] The job of the superintendent

[5:49] is to create procedure around that policy.

[5:53] So how do we move about the building?

[5:55] Who's in charge of what?

[5:57] Who's doing what?

[5:58] How does it look? Right.

[6:00] I never want to hear a superintendent

[6:03] say to a school committee,

[6:05] Well, I've relaxed that policy

[6:07] because that's not their right to do

[6:10] whether that's school choice,

[6:12] whether that's any school policy.

[6:15] You are the creators of policy,

[6:19] which is the dress code policy

[6:21] as an advocate, as an educationalright now

[6:24] advocate, does not pass the ACLU

[6:27] sniff test. Why?

[6:30] Because it talks about midriffs

[6:32] on girls as an advocate

[6:35] and I've already told the superintendent this,

[6:37] I will be pulling your data

[6:41] on how kids are

[6:43] disciplined at the end of this school year.

[6:46] If girls are denied faith,

[6:49] denied access to public education

[6:52] because they're showing their midriff,

[6:55] I'm going to have an issue with that.

[6:56] And so probably will the ACLU,

[6:59] because it's not it's sexist dress code.

[7:01] It's going to be sexist,

[7:03] classist and racist.

[7:05] And this one is sexist if you need it.

[7:09] There is no health and safety code

[7:11] that says a belly or a back is a risk.

[7:15] And so, you know,

[7:17] I think you need to go back to the drawing board

[7:19] because policy falls on you.and look at this

[7:22] And I'm concerned about the girls.

[7:25] I think it falls after some really,

[7:29] some allegations that took place.you know,

[7:32] And so when we now focus

[7:33] on the girls again, it sends a terrible,

[7:36] terrible message.

[7:38] So I hope as a school committee,

[7:40] you're going to think about this

[7:42] and you're going to look at it.

[7:44] My daughter just got a job at IMG.

[7:46] She's going to UMass Boston.

[7:48] She's part of the cheer team

[7:50] she participated in in schools.

[7:53] And she did it all with a crop top line.

[7:56] Thank you.

[7:57] Thank you.

[7:58] Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

[8:00] Thank you.

[8:01] Thank you.

[8:04] anybody else on a comment.I don't believe we have

[8:08] So onto

[8:09] the next item, which is

[8:15] your assistant principal,

[8:16] Kevin, you're up first.

[8:22] All right, That's good.

[8:27] I'm going to leave out.

[8:28] I mean, I got two crazy kids in my house

[8:29] with my grandmother, so.

[8:31] Well, maybe my mom there.

[8:33] Good evening, everybody.

[8:34] My name is Kevin Caruso.

[8:36] I'm the assistant principal of student

[8:37] affairs.

[8:39] committee chairperson.I'm also the wellness

[8:42] So I was asked to come speak a little bit

[8:45] about the Wellness committee.

[8:49] So I just have a little bit of background.

[8:50] The Wellness Health and Wellness

[8:52] Committee is actually governed

[8:54] by the Department of Public Health.

[8:56] They have regulations

[8:58] 105 EMR 215 that outlines

[9:01] the scope and purpose of the Health and Wellness Committee.

[9:05] And so the basic purpose under

[9:08] the regulations is to recommend, review,

[9:11] support school district

[9:12] policies, Addressing school nutrition,

[9:14] nutrition, education,

[9:16] physical activity,

[9:17] affecting students, physical,and related issues

[9:20] social and emotional health

[9:23] and other regulation.

[9:24] It must meet at least four times per year.

[9:27] we're just going to meet oneSo. So right now

[9:29] time for each quarter.

[9:32] that you have to have minutesAnd then it has

[9:34] As far as the general scopeand that's pretty much it

[9:37] and sequence of the Health

[9:39] and Wellness Committee

[9:41] members is myself

[9:43] as the Chair, Nancy,

[9:45] and as the school committee member.

[9:47] Liaison.

[9:48] Brian Davidson, Social Studies

[9:50] Department General Esko Business Manager

[9:53] Christina Neal Wellness Teacher.

[9:55] Patricia Noonan Health Department Chair.

[9:57] Bonnie Backup Food Service Manager.

[10:00] And Elizabeth West, the school nurse.

[10:04] So last year was really the first year

[10:06] that it was kind of revived.

[10:08] It was not my understanding from COBRA.

[10:10] That was one of the committees that

[10:12] kind of fell off the tracks.

[10:14] So last year we just really kind of wanted

[10:17] the community, really kind of understandto establish

[10:19] our role

[10:20] in terms of what

[10:22] we would be doing moving forward.

[10:25] We we took a look at the food

[10:27] service and nutrition aspect of Joshie

[10:31] and finally back to our food

[10:34] service managers were doing a great job

[10:36] with with the food service.

[10:39] She's

[10:40] with the with the menu.being very creative

[10:43] Kids are in what's free now.

[10:45] So the kids are eating the food lines

[10:48] and the help with the long lines we created.

[10:51] We're going to create or we create a grab

[10:53] and go station

[10:55] to go

[10:57] permanent.

[10:58] But we're going to, I think, purchase

[11:00] a formal station.

[11:01] Will a mobile card serving card,

[11:04] a mobile serving card for the grab and go.

[11:07] And they also purchase software

[11:09] that will allow nutritional values

[11:11] to be posted on the website with the school menu.

[11:13] So I know that was something that

[11:15] a lot of people were asking for.

[11:17] So the food service and nutrition

[11:19] is doing very well.

[11:22] And like I said, this year

[11:24] look at the different areasstill continue to kind of

[11:26] within the Health and Wellness Department's

[11:30] food service.

[11:32] Another big piece of

[11:33] that is the Health and Wellness

[11:35] Curriculum Association.

[11:37] That's something that the Health

[11:38] and Wellness Committee will have asked,

[11:41] you know, guidance with and support over

[11:44] to the current highlights

[11:46] things that the schools are doing

[11:48] related to health and wellness.

[11:50] for seniors, the strengthAs we added electives

[11:53] and conditioning course at team games,

[11:56] we have a very well

[11:58] run diversion program for students

[12:01] who either request help for substance

[12:04] use or it's part of a consequence

[12:06] for getting caught here

[12:08] with drugs or alcohol.

[12:11] Our fitness centers open

[12:13] every day after school

[12:14] is fully supervised till 530.

[12:16] Kids are welcome to do that as well.

[12:20] And then obviously our health and wellness

[12:22] curriculum follows.

[12:24] It follows the frameworks and they do a great job

[12:27] at kind of addressing

[12:29] contemporary topics for teens.

[12:32] We put up Substance

[12:33] Awareness Night last year

[12:37] and, you know,

[12:38] talk about doing that again this year.

[12:41] And then we also

[12:42] in the capital ramp are vape detectors

[12:45] and have those in the bathrooms

[12:47] and those are kind of up and running.

[12:50] So those are the highlights.

[12:51] Another big

[12:54] highlight for health and wellness

[12:56] in general is the state itself

[12:58] passed new frameworks,

[13:00] K-through-12 frameworks.

[13:02] You may have heard

[13:05] people talking about that,

[13:06] but at the high school

[13:08] level, it's actually a minimal change.

[13:11] Some of the additions

[13:12] for the high school,

[13:14] increased education around the dangers

[13:16] and presence of human trafficking,

[13:19] on healthy relationshipsincreased education

[13:22] and increased education around

[13:24] important nutrition topics.

[13:26] So over the next year, year and a half,

[13:28] the school will kind of review the new standards

[13:32] with ours and kind of work the narrative

[13:34] to make the most sense of

[13:36] kind of how that would fit in.

[13:37] So if anybody have any questions,

[13:42] we can probably question

[13:45] you guys on a regular basis.

[13:46] Have a salad bar. Yes, every day.

[13:49] And we do great that

[13:50] they mix up the options.

[13:53] Like I said, they're very creative,

[13:54] you know, different protein

[13:56] and all different types of stuff.some days

[13:58] So it's great.

[14:01] It's supposed to be on that committee.

[14:02] Someone from the community,

[14:07] because all of you guys seem to be available.

[14:09] that was something that we talked about.So yeah, that

[14:12] But we wanted to at first just kind of

[14:14] internally kind of square away.

[14:16] But that that's something that we can add on as we go.

[14:19] It just said that, you know,

[14:21] it wasn't specific

[14:22] like you have to have these people,

[14:24] but it was just in general

[14:26] because I was on it and Duxbury

[14:28] was actually the town nurse.and our community member

[14:32] That's how we

[14:35] that's something that we can look at.

[14:38] What else,

[14:40] if not, thank you.

[14:41] Once again, thank you very much

[14:46] luck and

[14:48] good luck with the kids next year.

[14:50] Next on you to director of academics Dana.

[14:55] Yeah, thank you.

[14:57] Thank.

[14:59] Okay.

[15:00] So I haven't been asked

[15:01] to speak about our task force

[15:04] you will all kind of packet

[15:09] that has a purple cover

[15:10] that says 2023 and as a result

[15:13] I will

[15:15] through every single reportI'm not going to go

[15:17] but this is a comprehensive review of all of our impacts.

[15:19] So can take a look at it in more depth

[15:22] when you have the time.

[15:25] So the first highlight is the John and Abigail Adams scholarships.

[15:28] We had 86 recipients in the class of 2024.

[15:33] So our current results won't come out

[15:36] until these 11th graders are actually seniors.

[15:39] So the last spring test,

[15:42] we won't know their results for a little bit.

[15:44] We also are the 17th highest school

[15:48] on the accountability rating.district in the state

[15:51] Just incredible.

[15:55] So for our overall results,

[15:57] we have 99% of our students met

[15:59] the state competency determinations.

[16:01] We only had three failures

[16:03] and two medical excuse us,

[16:05] you'll see on the right hand side are the score ranges.

[16:09] There's not

[16:09] really the state doesn't really define a failure.

[16:12] They define it as not meeting.

[16:15] And there are two there are a few scores

[16:16] in the not meeting category

[16:18] that actually get students

[16:20] their competency determination.

[16:22] So that's why I broke it out there about

[16:24] between a sale and not meeting.what is the difference

[16:26] They want that all together now and at a certain point

[16:29] the not meeting becomes enough.

[16:34] So this graph, Shaheen

[16:37] has had the second highest percentage

[16:39] of students with accommodation.

[16:40] So if you look at this graph, all of the figures

[16:44] see all of our spending districts are in

[16:45] yellow,

[16:47] all vocational schools are in blue

[16:50] and Shaheen is in purple

[16:52] and the state is in red.

[16:54] So we had 69% of our students on ELA

[16:58] meet or exceed expectations

[17:01] and our percentage of students who access

[17:03] accommodations on the ELA test was 36%.

[17:07] So in comparison to our district,

[17:10] although we don't have the highest percentage

[17:13] who meet or exceed expectations,of students

[17:15] we have one of the highest incidents

[17:18] of students using accommodations.

[17:29] So we have in L.A.,

[17:31] we had a higher mean student growth percentage

[17:34] than all of our spending caps.

[17:36] So student growth percentage

[17:37] is measured based on the student's

[17:39] previous scores

[17:41] and how much they grew to the next test.

[17:44] So this is something that she always does

[17:47] very, very well.

[17:48] You bring our students in

[17:49] and we prepare them well.

[17:51] We obviously get all of our sending

[17:53] communities and we are second

[17:57] in the vocational schools

[17:59] of students.

[18:05] So the next sheet you will see

[18:07] is just a little bit more of a detailed

[18:10] outline of how we did on each question.

[18:14] Again, it's I won't go through it.

[18:16] I'll go through the highlights which are on the next page.

[18:20] All right.

[18:22] So in terms of math,

[18:26] 96% of our students met

[18:28] the state competency determination.

[18:31] We had 13 failures and one that,

[18:33] of course, you saw

[18:37] what we do tend

[18:38] to find on math and biology

[18:41] since they're subject matter tests,

[18:44] a lot of the disabilities manifest

[18:46] a little bit more on a subject matter

[18:48] test than skill based assessments,

[18:51] because remember,

[18:53] and that's the information recall

[18:55] that you've any working memory

[18:58] challenging in those subject areas.

[19:04] So you'll see here again, we checked

[19:06] I kept everything consistent on

[19:09] sending districts are in yellow,

[19:12] vocational districts are in blue,

[19:14] state is in red.

[19:16] So this number is a little bit different

[19:18] that 33% of our students with accommodations

[19:22] with different on math and English,

[19:24] have different disabilitiesbecause students

[19:26] and they require different accommodations

[19:28] for different assessments.

[19:30] I want to know one thing on these graphs.

[19:34] These are all school based data.

[19:38] So if you go into Edwin

[19:39] or Stephanie and look at any of these

[19:42] reports we took,

[19:44] Burlington High looks very high.

[19:47] So if there's any difference

[19:49] you see in this school versus

[19:51] the district, that could be it.

[19:53] Also, every sending

[19:55] district needs to get in touch

[19:57] with any students that at any

[19:59] sort of private school or parochial school

[20:01] and offer to test them.

[20:03] So sometimes there will be like a couple

[20:05] extra students reported

[20:07] through this testing.

[20:09] So again,

[20:13] our mean student growth percentage,

[20:16] we are right up there with

[20:19] the other vocational schools

[20:20] and our sending districts.

[20:22] And to have this be over

[20:24] 50% is pretty incredible.

[20:30] So math test analysis summary.

[20:33] We scored above the state on 70%

[20:35] of the test questions

[20:38] we've solved with the triangle questions,

[20:41] and that's something we know you do well

[20:43] and we should continue.

[20:45] But overall we work with the performance

[20:48] as we were on the question.

[20:51] One thing

[20:52] I do want to note about the math test

[20:57] section,

[21:00] so there's two flags here.

[21:03] One is for the next gen and class

[21:05] and one is for both legacy and test.

[21:09] So if you go back one slide,

[21:12] so on these next gen

[21:14] this is sort of what students see.and impacts,

[21:17] They have to use all of these tools

[21:20] to input work pairs.

[21:21] This is actually a system of equations,

[21:24] so they have to graph two lines

[21:26] and then they have to shade.

[21:28] So this is a question

[21:30] from the next gen cast in 2023.

[21:33] So what's the next slide?

[21:35] This is comparing to what used to be.

[21:38] So students used to have to pick

[21:40] the correct answer

[21:42] rather than creating it themselves.

[21:45] And if you don't create and get correct

[21:48] both parts of that question,

[21:49] you don't get credit for that question.

[21:52] So the test has gotten much harder.

[21:54] And getting to that minimum proficiency

[21:57] is definitely more challenging than it used.

[22:03] That's

[22:06] all right.

[22:06] So overall in biology,

[22:09] 96% of students

[22:11] met the state competency determinations.

[22:13] We have 14 failures

[22:15] and one medical excuse over

[22:22] the percentage of students

[22:23] meeting and exceeding expectations.

[22:26] We are right in the top.

[22:27] There was 64%.

[22:31] And again,

[22:31] if you look at our students with disabilities,

[22:34] we have a higher percentage of students with disabilities

[22:36] than most of these schools,

[22:38] and we are performing well.

[22:44] So because during COVID,

[22:47] they did not they gave out the waiver for the biology exam.

[22:50] They stopped testing for file.

[22:52] They just did math and English.

[22:53] There's no student growth percentage.

[22:55] But I did note that we did

[22:57] improve over last year.

[22:59] Last year was the first version

[23:01] of the new biology test,

[23:03] so we're continuing to improve

[23:06] it. So that's very

[23:07] positive for us.

[23:12] The biology test item

[23:13] analysis summary is very impressive.

[23:16] They scored at or above the state

[23:18] on 95% of the questions

[23:20] and we only scored

[23:22] below the state on two questions

[23:24] and it was by one percentage

[23:25] point and two percentage points.

[23:28] And the state will give you an overall

[23:30] domain and cluster

[23:33] group, the standards together.

[23:35] we scored well above the stateAnd in our in biology

[23:38] average in every domain and cluster. So

[23:43] this is another

[23:44] just example of the difference

[23:46] in the legacy of MCAS

[23:48] versus the next student.

[23:49] about double stranded DNA.So this is a question

[23:53] And you can see that students

[23:54] need to pick a multiple choice here.

[23:57] If we go to the next

[23:59] this question has three parts.

[24:01] Students have to

[24:02] write paragraphs

[24:04] about three parts of this question

[24:06] and get all three parts correct

[24:08] to get credit for the question.

[24:10] Same topic, same strand

[24:12] from the cast database.

[24:16] Okay, so in your packet

[24:18] you do have three additional reports.

[24:21] I just wanted to provide these so that you can

[24:24] see the data at your leisure.

[24:28] I did sort of go over the highlights,

[24:32] we're very happy with our scoresbut overall

[24:38] and we do have plans

[24:41] for remediation.

[24:43] So for any of our students

[24:45] that did not pass on the first try,

[24:48] we have an in-house coordinator, Ms..

[24:51] who is absolutely incredible.Jessica Riley,

[24:55] She has created so much documentation

[24:59] and support for these students and created

[25:01] programing to be able to support them

[25:04] that we've really seen a significant

[25:06] positive impact.

[25:08] who remediated last year testEvery student

[25:12] as we had no seniors

[25:13] who are in danger of not graduating

[25:16] the competency determination.because everybody met

[25:18] So in junior year, we

[25:20] we have these individual student reports

[25:22] that we use to prep the students.

[25:24] We specifically

[25:25] look at the areas that they were weak and we tailor

[25:28] the instruction to their needs.

[25:31] We have one on one meetings

[25:32] with every student who would not pass,

[25:35] and we were in contact with their parents.

[25:37] We created a new class this year

[25:39] called Conceptual Biology.

[25:42] who is unsuccessful on the biologySo any student

[25:45] impasse is in that class preparing

[25:47] to take the February in case

[25:50] we schedule

[25:51] so that we can provide themstudents into cohorts

[25:54] for providing full support.pull out support

[25:57] Right now during related for our juniors,

[26:01] we also have afterschool support

[26:03] and we're going to run our boot camps again.

[26:05] Last year we ran an impasse

[26:07] boot camp in February and April.

[26:09] It's pretty well attended.

[26:12] Right now we're working on analyzing

[26:14] the scores of those students who participated in that

[26:16] to see if we can find any correlation

[26:18] between the two.

[26:22] So this is just an example of the document

[26:25] that I just the Brady created.

[26:27] That's a student exam analysis.

[26:31] Essentially, this is provided

[26:33] to the student parent

[26:35] and the person prepping the student

[26:37] for that subject matter test

[26:39] specifically what the student needsso they can know

[26:41] to do to be able to meet competency.

[26:48] This is also hours and class calendar.

[26:52] You'll see that it has several review dates.

[26:55] There's several afterschool workshops, it includes the boot camps

[26:58] and all of our test things.

[27:04] Are there any

[27:07] are there any questions about

[27:09] I know that was a ton of information

[27:11] and a ton of paperwork

[27:14] as you also have to give a shout out to Jeff

[27:16] McGrath, who helped me

[27:17] compile this data and create these graphs.

[27:20] Very talented and

[27:22] appreciate.

[27:25] Going to two quick questions.

[27:28] the first one that I had,So you largely answered

[27:30] which is

[27:32] in the context of the upcoming

[27:34] likely upcoming ballot question

[27:37] about mass testing

[27:38] and whether it should be capped or not.

[27:40] There's been a lot of discussion

[27:41] about what percentage of kids around the state

[27:44] are denied a high school diploma

[27:47] based on caste,

[27:48] but they have passed all their high school requirements.

[27:51] From which have you said the

[27:53] the general trend and attrition

[27:55] has been zero?

[27:57] It has.

[27:59] We do have a different population

[28:02] than we have had in the past

[28:04] and there is a possibility that we may go

[28:07] the mixed up route of our students

[28:11] and then that has all throughout

[28:13] that does not lead to a diploma, that does lead

[28:16] to a certificate of completion.

[28:19] We are working very hard with all of our students

[28:22] to try to avoid that.

[28:25] But some students have circumstances

[28:26] that may require an education up to age 22,

[28:30] and they would be the students who would be eligible

[28:32] for an m consult.

[28:35] And this is more probably anecdotal,

[28:37] but the other part of that debate

[28:39] that's going to probably play out,

[28:40] assuming that the ballot question is

[28:42] a live one, is

[28:45] teaching staff,

[28:47] even though this

[28:49] classes 20 to 30 years old

[28:52] now, are still concerned

[28:54] in some cases, understandably, that it takes them away

[28:57] from the amount of time

[28:59] within the school curriculum.that it takes up

[29:02] And it would seem in a vocational school

[29:05] where we have half the time

[29:07] spent on academics,

[29:08] that might be a compounded problem.

[29:11] Any just general feedback

[29:12] or from the staff's perspective,you have on that issue

[29:16] it is certainly compounded

[29:18] out of vocational school.

[29:20] We students have

[29:22] a variety of options education

[29:23] and we are a vocational

[29:25] technical school, so students

[29:27] usually have a goal in mind when they come here,

[29:29] and getting through the

[29:31] CAS is usually a big hurdle to that goal.

[29:34] So we understand on the academic side that freshmen

[29:37] and sophomore year for English, math

[29:40] and science is a lot of our curriculum

[29:43] unfortunately is driven towards

[29:45] passing that test.

[29:47] So it is unfortunate,

[29:49] but it is the nature of where

[29:51] these kids want to go

[29:53] and how we can help them get there.

[29:56] Credits in opinion

[29:59] might change in education of 30 years.

[30:02] Like I think I'm consistently

[30:04] France gets away from kids

[30:08] staff that can be redeployed to better

[30:10] so I mean I would be interested

[30:12] to see where that goes because

[30:15] I don't know.

[30:15] I just yeah, it's like it does.

[30:20] I'm not a big fan of caps.

[30:22] I do think it takes it.

[30:25] It does require a lot of attention

[30:27] from school districts.

[30:28] And even in the past years

[30:31] that were really poorlythey've had questions

[30:34] vetted,

[30:35] that sort of indicate

[30:37] that the test is too antiquated.

[30:40] They also don't pay for copyright.

[30:42] So all of the questions that are in

[30:45] exams are really, really old.these English

[30:48] And it's hard

[30:50] for students to even connect with

[30:52] because they're like reused scripts

[30:54] or scripts that they've already purchased.

[30:55] The copyright for.

[30:58] Okay, I just

[31:00] to comment a little bit of historyI forgot

[31:03] because when we first did

[31:05] test, it was only the tech schools

[31:08] that were fighting against it and we fought.

[31:11] But after two years, our kids,

[31:13] all of the tech schools

[31:15] were beating every other school,

[31:18] you know. So

[31:20] I don't think it has harmed us that we,

[31:23] you know, the way we went because we went through

[31:25] every single question on that exam,

[31:26] on the very first exam we did,

[31:29] you know, and said,

[31:30] are we missing something that,

[31:33] you know,

[31:33] in their regular education?other kids are getting

[31:36] And the only thing was poetry, which I noticed

[31:39] everybody is lousy on anyway,

[31:41] everywhere in the hallway,

[31:44] you know, at one point,

[31:45] you know, and I argued with the head

[31:47] of the English department at the time,

[31:49] and he said, Hey, it's poetry.

[31:52] I said, It's the English language.

[31:54] All they had to do

[31:56] was tell you what it meant.

[31:59] So you don't teach poetry as it wasn't rhyme.

[32:01] It wasn't any of that.

[32:03] It's it's to make kids aware

[32:06] that they can't be afraid of poetry.

[32:07] It's just like anything else.

[32:08] Sure, we can figure it out. And.

[32:11] But now I'll go to the scores.

[32:13] I'm a little disappointed in math.

[32:15] Especially.

[32:16] Especially because

[32:18] for the longest time we were in like,

[32:21] the top grade

[32:22] of all schools in the state, you know?

[32:26] So when I see, you know, we come

[32:27] below Bill Ricker in math and it's like I,

[32:32] I mean, Bedford has always

[32:34] either been even with us or beat us.

[32:36] So, you know, just by a little bit,

[32:39] but not much, you know.

[32:42] So I was a little disappointed in that.

[32:44] And, you know, and and I like comparisons,

[32:47] but see, and that's what we always do

[32:49] as compared to other years.

[32:52] There's no comparison to other years.

[32:53] not sure you can really compare itAnd this one, I'm

[32:56] because of the last three years we've been through has been

[32:59] help. But

[33:01] so I would

[33:02] just like to see those scores go up.

[33:04] I you know,

[33:05] I fought on the app

[33:08] on the floor,

[33:10] you know, for to get rid of outcasts just like everybody else

[33:13] and this type of school.

[33:16] And like after three years, you know,

[33:18] the Department of Education came to us

[33:20] and said, are you still fighting this?

[33:23] we just don't like the notion of it.Now? Say, Yeah,

[33:25] You know what I mean?

[33:28] Our kids have excelled at

[33:30] teaching, stepped up to the plate.

[33:31] So it showed that, yes,

[33:33] we can do this only, you know,

[33:35] 50% of the time kids

[33:37] are in an academic classroom.

[33:39] all of the schools in the area,They can beat out

[33:43] which was amazing to me.

[33:44] You know,

[33:46] So and I'm not sure

[33:48] if what they intend to do with this

[33:50] test is correct.

[33:52] You know, I mean, I,

[33:54] I don't really like this type of testing,

[33:56] but you have to have some way of

[34:00] of measuring

[34:01] the standards, you know,like when students met

[34:03] with the children that you knowand I have a problem

[34:06] because

[34:07] I don't believe we ever had

[34:10] I don't know in the last few years

[34:11] if we've ever had a student

[34:13] not pass the test.

[34:15] So is it still possible that you can do it by

[34:18] what was it, a file or something?

[34:20] You'd Absolutely. Yeah.

[34:21] You can do a competency portfolio.

[34:23] Well, we can do

[34:25] and that's part of the reason we putcohort appeals

[34:27] all these kids in a cohort

[34:29] part of the appeal process.is because that's

[34:31] if you're going to put in for an appeal,Also,

[34:33] you have to show that students have participated

[34:36] in a remediation, right?

[34:38] why we're so big into this piece.So that's

[34:40] One thing I will say

[34:41] about where we're landing,about your comment

[34:45] a lot of vocational

[34:46] schools are prepping their students.

[34:48] 180 days for these tests.

[34:51] They pull them out of shop, they pull four

[34:53] for all three tests.

[34:55] I spoke with Minuteman recently

[34:57] because their scores increased drastically this year.

[35:01] if we were to shift that way,And we as a community,

[35:04] that would drastically change the way we do things here.

[35:07] And I don't think

[35:09] the direction we want to go.

[35:10] you know, we are prepping these kidsBut I just

[35:13] in less than half of the time

[35:16] in a lot of these vocational schools

[35:17] have started to backpedal

[35:19] and take away more time out of shop

[35:21] to try to do this prep.

[35:22] And we're really committed to not to do that.

[35:26] I wouldn't suggest that

[35:28] I'm so just, you know,

[35:29] looking at the next gen questions,

[35:32] when will those go into effect?

[35:34] They already are very.

[35:35] So yeah.

[35:36] Do you have any concerns with those

[35:39] seem to be taking this test

[35:41] that for several years

[35:43] they were taking their math on Zoom.you know

[35:46] Are you worried about that?

[35:50] So our teachers are excellent

[35:52] and they are able to figure out

[35:54] the deficits of students and students.

[35:56] Do you have deficits right now?

[35:57] We all have deficits from Calvin.

[35:59] Any student in any public education

[36:01] has a deficit somewhere.

[36:04] I'm it's more

[36:06] that it's very challenging for students

[36:08] to almost navigate the platform

[36:11] and you know if they had on that one where they had

[36:14] to pick the line in the slope, if they had just moved the line

[36:17] or stepped up one point,

[36:19] that entire question is wiped out.

[36:21] So we really work

[36:23] hard on the interventions to

[36:25] just like a couple more points.to get them

[36:29] But it has changed the way we prep them

[36:31] and that in the tests in general.

[36:34] So because our population has changed,

[36:38] we are seeing students with more need

[36:41] and more intensive

[36:43] remediation needs.

[36:47] I just to comment,

[36:49] I'm always proud of the science schools

[36:51] because

[36:53] my hat's off to the State Department.

[36:55] I was part of this whole process

[36:58] in preparing to your comment.

[37:00] when I knew it was time to talk about thisYeah,

[37:02] back in 2007, it was the first time

[37:04] it came on.

[37:06] I was kind of nervous.

[37:07] The people I work with is like, Wow.

[37:09] We thought, Oh my God,

[37:11] to what's going to happen here?what are we going

[37:12] Because it took the individuality away.

[37:16] for four months, you can't do that.If I wanted to teach Bradley

[37:19] So I said, okay, I embrace that.

[37:22] And this is the I always tell the kids,

[37:25] the standards that you need to know.these are

[37:28] And if you do it, I want you to do well.

[37:30] And I think our staff

[37:31] does an incredible job.

[37:33] Get them there in the time

[37:35] the time we have to work with.

[37:36] And, you know, I don't want

[37:38] we never taught to the test.

[37:39] We always did the curriculum.

[37:42] And from what I my standpoint, all the people I work with

[37:44] get the curriculum done.

[37:46] And they were in my field,

[37:47] the my kids went into that test ready to go and yes.

[37:50] And the other side.

[37:51] thank you so much because I our studentsDanika,

[37:54] yeah we have so many opportunities

[37:56] if they don't make the grade to help them out

[37:59] and I'm going to say a tough you to fail you know know

[38:01] and so I know the state keeps

[38:03] show about this next gentweaking this thing

[38:05] because I hear about people who work with

[38:08] the next gen is the

[38:11] in my opinion the test was fine

[38:13] let's make it a little more challenging.but the state says, yeah,

[38:16] before they get to a math problem,You know, the fact that I mean,

[38:19] they have four choices and the kids are lucky.

[38:21] Guess I'll go with C today, you know,

[38:23] now you got to work out the thing

[38:25] and you know, like

[38:26] and all the other stuff that now they make you think about a little more.

[38:29] So that's what the state started to trick out these kids.

[38:31] But, but I mean I know what they are

[38:34] and that I know and I don't want to do it.

[38:36] M.A., I kids need vocational time

[38:40] but thank you for everythingand that's most important,

[38:42] and all the staff that's doing it.you're doing

[38:45] I think

[38:46] we can hold our heads high, you know?

[38:48] Yeah.

[38:48] Thank you.

[38:50] All right.

[38:51] I know that currently are

[38:53] presenting to students any accommodation

[38:56] accommodations is in the low thirties.

[38:59] What was it, two, three, five, ten years ago

[39:03] It was more in the, like low twenties.

[39:09] I can get you the exact data.

[39:10] Didn't need to adjust one think

[39:12] because around 2536 we we hover around

[39:17] but it depends on the specific tests

[39:19] like so our general population right now is a

[39:22] is a little bit over 36% like it's a pretty

[39:26] and that's just a piece

[39:28] that's not final fours.

[39:30] So based on the test

[39:32] I would say it's about it's increased

[39:35] probably by about 10%.

[39:37] So you know from like you

[39:41] realize

[39:42] it's not like I think

[39:45] I have one more thing to present on.

[39:49] So this conference is called

[39:52] the Education 2.0 Conference.

[39:54] Conference is held in Dubai,

[39:56] in Vegas, twice a year.

[39:58] I got it.

[39:59] I was glad in contact with

[40:02] because I

[40:03] received a nomination for an Outstanding

[40:05] International Leadership Award.

[40:08] I was one of 4700 nominees

[40:10] and the panel narrowed it down to 1567.

[40:16] So I was contacted,

[40:18] I interviewed for the award,

[40:20] and I was passed on to round two

[40:22] where I had to submit a report,

[40:24] written application

[40:26] based on those five categories.

[40:31] And so I won the award.

[40:42] So I'm one of 70 people.

[40:44] Businesses recognized that the conference,

[40:47] and that's out of four category.

[40:49] So I'm one of 15

[40:51] in this International Outstanding

[40:53] Leadership Award.

[40:54] I'm going to travel to Las VegasSo in March

[40:57] and receive my award

[40:59] and I get to sit on a panel

[41:01] on the topic of upskilling

[41:03] and reskilling for career transitions,

[41:05] of evolving industries.meaning the demands

[41:08] So I'm pretty proud and excited

[41:11] to make The graduate work.

[41:13] If you want to go, I'll go with you.

[41:16] Don't worry.

[41:17] I already

[41:19] cover your desk.

[41:21] I asked if she needed to go to Vegas

[41:23] to be your handler.

[41:25] Well, that's awesome. Do

[41:29] super strategist and everything.

[41:31] So thank you once again.

[41:34] I think it.

[41:43] Okay,

[41:45] you want the next item,

[41:47] which would be approval of the bill the role

[41:51] the should be approved

[41:53] the bill of how it will span

[41:55] the total of 1200 dollars

[41:58] which means second discussion

[42:01] of all those in favor.

[42:02] I proposed the house

[42:07] and will we approve the metal McAvoy Bill,

[42:10] But are we approving the 1424 and the 1166?

[42:14] Did we not approve that to 58?

[42:16] Because no, we didn't think he was

[42:18] criss crossing the bill.

[42:20] Sounds like I sent out a new bill today.

[42:22] said to us when they took theThe thing they

[42:25] 1166 and

[42:27] whatever the top Democrat

[42:29] 11 individual, 1152.

[42:31] So that's not even when

[42:33] they took out the postage. Now

[42:37] 1152 11 extension.

[42:42] So you're doing the motion on that?

[42:43] Yes. I'm just going to I'll second

[42:46] I want you to file discussion all in favor.

[42:49] All right.

[42:50] I always, you know,

[42:54] move them or the cleanup bill

[42:56] for $709.50 second,

[43:00] you know, the second

[43:02] discussion is a quick one.

[43:03] You sort of clarification question for Tony.

[43:06] In light of the issue

[43:08] that led to this particular bill and firing,

[43:12] do you anticipate

[43:13] this is going to be an ongoing

[43:16] involvement by the firm

[43:18] getting closer to resolutionor is the issue

[43:21] so that hopefully

[43:23] that will be indeed the case?

[43:24] You don't foresee a need them unless

[43:27] there is a change in

[43:30] service delivery.

[43:31] Okay.

[43:32] So for I think for now, I think we should be.

[43:34] Good morning.

[43:35] All right.

[43:35] Thank you

[43:38] for that.

[43:39] It's not

[43:41] you know, and so

[43:54] we didn't

[43:56] have any more motions

[44:06] and hopefully will on

[44:22] this.

[44:23] They make a comment.

[44:25] I'm going to say it's Danica,

[44:26] because when you ask

[44:28] what the percentage of the students and how

[44:31] and then if you notice that,

[44:33] how many of our ascending schools come below us,

[44:36] and even though they're children

[44:38] that need help as much.

[44:41] Yeah, we have

[44:43] we do very well.

[44:44] You do excellent with our student.

[44:47] We also find kids in these services

[44:49] that have been found

[44:51] right here.

[45:17] You think you wanted us to them?

[45:20] We were already in the middle of motion.

[45:23] and the motion was made and seconded.Yeah,

[45:28] discussion on the last billAnd we had some

[45:36] with Third Avenue.

[45:39] And on that part,

[45:41] although in favor, I opposed that.

[45:45] I was next

[45:49] to the individual problem.

[45:50] That was September 26, 2023.

[45:56] So the minutes of second child with Cheryl.

[46:01] Any discussion on whether or not

[46:03] just an observation

[46:05] for people who don't see

[46:07] every committee meeting,

[46:09] it should be noted that

[46:11] Cheryl raised similar issues

[46:13] or raised and pulled a comment tonight in.

[46:16] The superintendent already indicated

[46:18] he would set a process in motion

[46:19] for addressing the issue

[46:21] related to the dress code policy

[46:24] that should be mentioned in later comments.

[46:27] Yes, since you brought that up, I know

[46:30] I talked about well,

[46:32] Jessica is

[46:33] the principal was one of the main people that has to do with that

[46:35] with the school council.

[46:37] And I think we're going to bring her in next month at the meeting.

[46:41] A better discussion.

[46:42] how she's happily marriedBut I guess, you know,

[46:45] now and enjoying her honeymoon still.

[46:48] Right. Thank you.

[46:50] And would you also have any discussion

[46:51] on the minutes, if not all in favor,

[46:54] I suppose?

[46:56] Unanimous.

[47:00] Okay.

[47:00] Next is the business manager's report.

[47:05] So I haven't done anything.

[47:09] So what's going around is the year

[47:12] the budget report by department.

[47:14] So notices will change every time you see me.

[47:17] Hopefully so.

[47:18] We're about 26% of our budget

[47:21] has been spent,

[47:22] which aligns with where we are.

[47:24] The fiscal year.

[47:27] Like I said, many of the overages

[47:29] are just because of salary

[47:31] that needs to be moved around.

[47:32] But otherwise we're in pretty good

[47:35] standing in all departments.

[47:41] I wanted to tell you is that we didAnd then the other thing

[47:43] sell the 1968 Ford F 100

[47:48] for 9200 and got deals

[47:51] and then the Roadster, the 1927 Roadster,

[47:54] we sold for $15,411.

[47:58] So the truck had 47 bids,

[48:00] the Roadster had 68 bids.

[48:03] So we came in at about 24,000

[48:06] and the funny thing is the truck,

[48:08] it was the person who sold it to us.the person who bought

[48:11] So we got the truck back. Yes.

[48:14] And the other person that

[48:16] one drove all the way from Minnesota,

[48:19] I believe, to tell about the Roadster.

[48:23] So that was a that was a

[48:25] first for me to auction off vehicles.

[48:27] And Julia Santos is our purchase.

[48:30] She did a really good job with everything, and it worked out great.

[48:33] So now that deal cost us the check

[48:35] that money

[48:36] will go back to automotive because they did

[48:39] when they were refurbishing them.put money into these vehicles

[48:41] So go back to their revolving thing.

[48:44] About 24 cases in 24 came in two sales.

[48:47] One sale was about 9200,

[48:49] the other was about 50,000.

[48:51] They'll take a percentage. Yup.

[48:53] So they take 12.5%

[48:55] and then the difference

[48:57] will come to us and we'll put it back

[48:59] unless somebody has an issue with that.into automotive revolving

[49:02] But they did put money into those vehicles through the year.

[49:04] to have them out of the way.Yeah, and they're happy

[49:07] especially the Roadster didn't have a top,The storage is difficult,

[49:09] so it always had to be inside.

[49:11] So it was kind of rotated around our garage.

[49:14] So those are the main things to me.

[49:15] The other stuff

[49:17] we're going to talk about,

[49:18] the budget concern and that,

[49:20] but that will come under Tony.

[49:21] But we work together on a couple of things

[49:23] for the budget timeline

[49:25] and then the auditing stuff will come from you.

[49:28] So all my updates are kind of embedded

[49:30] in your updates

[49:32] unless there are any questions from me about anything else

[49:34] I got this in the mail.that I'm just sorry

[49:36] We all get used to mail.

[49:38] I guess politics and I, as we read it,Yeah,

[49:41] you know, the term caught my eye

[49:43] and it said members are askingand I'm sure everybody

[49:46] committee authority in the budget process?what is the school

[49:48] And I think what's going on here is what you are

[49:50] you're doing an incredible job

[49:52] because stuff like this didn't

[49:53] happen before.

[49:55] So I'm not going to read this.

[49:56] Everybody can read it on their own time.

[49:58] But you're giving us

[50:00] a bullet point to

[50:01] current year to date expenditures

[50:03] of the conferences, and that's awesome.

[50:04] You know what's going on?

[50:05] You're telling this 26% of the budget

[50:07] is spent, the approved budget of just

[50:10] the budget projection

[50:12] of all remaining expenditures.

[50:14] So people ask, do members especially, you know, what do we what do we do?

[50:18] And I'm the chairman of the Budget Committee, get involved with this.

[50:20] And I know we're almost in budget deficit, believe it or not,

[50:23] and I'll leave you with oncebecause they say, sit here

[50:26] you elected to office, you have been told there are five seated seasons of the edge

[50:29] fall, winter and budget season.on a spring, summer,

[50:32] So and I know

[50:33] this year, knock on wood, it's going to go

[50:35] real smooth, right, ladies and gentlemen, very soon.

[50:37] So that's something people could read it.

[50:39] that Tony and I are already discussing.Thank you for all the work

[50:42] and some things are going to doBudget season

[50:44] that we didn't do last yeardifferently this year

[50:46] and maybe some more visuals that I can create

[50:49] to compare to previous year.

[50:51] So we've been talking about it a lot already

[50:54] and in a few minutes we'll start tonight was input

[50:56] from this whole group and we'll

[50:58] try to get some suggestions

[51:02] in real time.

[51:03] But it has not been working.

[51:06] It's been working great.

[51:08] Yes, I sent me an email

[51:09] to get yours, to check yours, but

[51:12] DocuSign is working for us.

[51:14] Paying for something a little bit helps

[51:16] You have a lot more customization than when you use that.

[51:19] We think it sends to us.

[51:21] So until it has outside it.

[51:23] But we'll keep sending it out

[51:24] to for people, sign it.

[51:26] Yeah, it stops.

[51:27] Great. Great preamble.

[51:28] Sorry. Yep.

[51:29] Yep. Until you get

[51:30] And then the same thing with the

[51:32] the payroll one is only two signatures.

[51:35] So yeah.

[51:36] You the question of of payphones.

[51:39] The payphones.

[51:40] Yeah. Getting rid of those.

[51:42] been trying to reach the company.Bob Lawler's

[51:45] They're going to remove all the payphones from the bigger from the building.

[51:48] Just for the record,

[51:49] I don't think I use a payphone since 1990.

[51:52] I know, but if you want to use one,

[51:55] do your children know how to use pay to work?

[51:58] Because we paid for the set.

[51:59] You paid.

[52:01] That goes the same category.

[52:02] You want me to show you how to use?

[52:03] It can be.

[52:04] I can show you. Okay.

[52:05] You have to stick money in it. Yes,

[52:08] that's in the shoulder.

[52:09] The other

[52:12] things are paid for.

[52:13] Okay.

[52:14] I set the phone to my right hand tap on

[52:17] and we set the phones out. Run.either to get them

[52:18] I go to the phone and I see kids.

[52:20] They look at me.

[52:22] I said,

[52:23] When I grew up, the phone rang.

[52:25] You ran for it.

[52:26] What do you mean?

[52:28] Walk down the hall or to be in a closet

[52:30] talking to the pay

[52:32] phones will be revealed soon.

[52:34] We'll take you there

[52:36] and you might be somebody

[52:39] else.

[52:41] You were the only one.

[52:42] Wouldn't have been told about the Cigarets

[52:44] and how much I can't use

[52:46] with your automotive students.

[52:48] Did you share the sale information with them?

[52:50] They actually helped load

[52:52] everything up on the trailers in the.

[52:54] That's when they came.

[52:55] They were part of it. Yep.

[52:56] They all came out and pitched in was that

[52:59] it was a good experience in real time.

[53:02] Any questions?

[53:05] I want you. I do.

[53:07] All right.

[53:08] And if you don't? So

[53:11] we've kind of

[53:12] given a few hints to some of the stuff that's in this tonight.

[53:14] And I do apologize.

[53:16] because I wasn't exactly sureThere are some repeats

[53:19] about what our student representative was reporting on

[53:21] and what did I get in our presentation.

[53:23] we quickly get all of that stuff.But we can

[53:25] I didn't want to give everybody an October 1st

[53:27] is kind of a defining moment,

[53:29] if you will, for school district funding.

[53:31] I think most of you know

[53:33] that our reimbursement for Employee 25

[53:37] will be based on our first numbers

[53:39] for this year.

[53:40] these are unofficial at this time,So again,

[53:43] but our October 1st numbers were 1306,

[53:46] which is a slight increase over last year.

[53:49] We are still a little below

[53:51] where we were 2021.

[53:54] We are almost at the same exact number we had in 2020.

[53:57] We were ahead of where we were at 2019.

[53:59] So again, there's some trends there.

[54:02] If you look, most of our enrollment

[54:04] and it still records unofficial.was pretty stable

[54:06] Bedford's unofficial number stayedActually,

[54:08] exactly the same.

[54:10] by about four students,The records went up

[54:13] Burlington's went down by about 12,

[54:16] so experience went up about

[54:19] 12, 12 or 13.

[54:22] And Wilmington 12.

[54:24] Wilmington was teaching

[54:28] Wilmington's went up one.well, Wilmington,

[54:30] So again, we've seen some pretty,

[54:33] pretty consistent numbers.

[54:35] Um, and later in the presentation I'll share,

[54:37] but I'll share it out now as well.

[54:38] The town managers are scheduled to come in the week

[54:41] after Thanksgiving again to have a conversation

[54:44] about hopefully we finalized some stuff on our budget timeline.

[54:47] I'll also share these numbers with them.

[54:49] then they'll be verified, approved,Hopefully by

[54:51] certified, whatever term the state uses.

[54:54] And I can again

[54:55] also be shared with them as well so that they can see

[54:58] how their numbers have increased

[54:59] or decreased since last year.

[55:02] As far as our enrollment.

[55:04] And we are down a little bit

[55:06] from September and September,

[55:08] we had 315 kids.

[55:11] By the time we captured this, enrolled

[55:12] the enrollment numbers for October 304.

[55:16] And again, I pulled this just last week,

[55:18] so it doesn't quite jive with the October

[55:21] 1st numbers were a little bit off.

[55:23] We have, at this point in time

[55:25] all of the ninth graders that have appliedaccepted

[55:28] and we're about 320.

[55:31] We did that so

[55:32] that we had in 10th gradeat number of openings

[55:34] and again increasingly

[55:36] at grade two, three, 26,

[55:38] 11th grade

[55:39] classes, obviously our strongest at 331.

[55:42] And then grade 12 is

[55:44] is pretty similar in size

[55:46] to our 10th graders

[55:48] means that total to 300 and

[55:51] and 1304 students for the month of October

[55:55] co-op update We're up to 182 students.

[55:59] It's up from 175 last month.

[56:01] We are supporting 265 local

[56:04] employers, students

[56:06] that work 28647 hours to date this year

[56:10] and over $170,200 placements.

[56:17] We have five students

[56:18] from Bedford participating,

[56:20] 83 from Billerica, 13 from Burlington, 44

[56:23] from Duxbury and 37 Wilmington.

[56:26] So that 182 out of our 327

[56:29] seniors is about 56%

[56:31] currently participating.

[56:33] We we've had a lot of inquiries.

[56:36] I know Mr.

[56:37] Smith has been busy meeting with students, meeting

[56:39] with business and industry.

[56:41] So again, we were close.

[56:43] We were actually above 75% last year.

[56:46] I think that's our target again this year

[56:47] to try to get 75% or

[56:49] more of our seniors are on up

[56:52] before the end of the school year,

[56:53] which is a pretty awesome accomplishment.

[56:57] Applications

[56:59] and I have

[57:00] that I'll talk about afterwards.some stuff

[57:01] that was at everybody's stationIt's in everybody's

[57:04] when they came in.

[57:07] We as of this morning

[57:10] were at 206 applications for next school

[57:14] to next year's class of freshman

[57:16] class, the class of 2028.

[57:19] We were at 89 this time last year.

[57:22] So there are

[57:23] there are quite a few things that have gone into that.

[57:25] And I actually maybe I'll touch base on some of these things.

[57:28] Right now we have created

[57:32] and I utilizing a new recruitment

[57:34] video that Mr.

[57:35] Acevedo and design and visual

[57:38] work on with one of his former students.

[57:40] And I was going back and forth about showing it to every

[57:44] I could send it to everybody if you want to see it.

[57:45] It's about 20 minutes long.

[57:48] So I didn't think that was a great use of our committee.

[57:50] Time to sit here and watch that,

[57:52] but I'll gladly share it out of people

[57:53] want to do something for the memory

[57:57] somebody might have posted on Facebook.

[58:00] Yes, I saw it somewhere yesterday.

[58:01] Emailed you that.

[58:02] Yeah, I actually you're right.

[58:03] I think Mr.

[58:04] Bednall had put it up on Facebook, so

[58:05] you can search you can search the school's

[58:07] social media account or if people want, I can also email it to them.

[58:10] And that's easier.

[58:11] One of the other things that we've done

[58:14] for our groups that are going out,

[58:17] a lot of our attending schoolsa lot of our excuse me,

[58:20] have adopted similar policies

[58:21] that we have around cell phones.

[58:24] So we have a slide

[58:25] at the end of the presentation with a QR code on it.

[58:28] And as we've been telling students

[58:29] to take their phone out

[58:31] and scan the QR code, we realize that

[58:33] that probably wasn't the best look for us.

[58:36] So what we've done is

[58:38] this is actually a direct link

[58:40] to the application portal to our students.

[58:43] So again, I left a few for everybody.

[58:46] If you want more of them, please let me know.

[58:48] We have plenty of them printed.

[58:49] some of you are approachedBut again, I know

[58:51] neighbors, whatever it is,by community members,

[58:54] this will take them directly to the new online

[58:57] application portal.

[58:58] Um, I also went and looked

[59:01] right before I came out

[59:04] and believe it or not, those

[59:06] in those application

[59:08] numbers are already out of date.

[59:10] At 415

[59:11] we were up to 215 applicationsthis afternoon

[59:15] and out of that 215, 140,

[59:17] 145 of them are listed as verified, meaning

[59:21] that the application

[59:23] has been viewed for accuracy, verified as complete.

[59:25] And the next thing is for us to contact

[59:28] gathering information on all students.attending schools to start

[59:31] 55 of them were classified as started,

[59:34] meaning that the student had registered or created an account, or the parent

[59:37] had registered to create an account but hadn't finished

[59:39] the application

[59:41] and 12 of them were listed as incomplete,

[59:44] meaning that some of the information

[59:46] or it was an invalid entry.was entered incorrectly

[59:48] put their date of birth in wrong or theAgain, if the kid

[59:51] or graduation of their attending school, whatever it may be.

[59:54] And then we have three that are pending,

[59:55] which from my understanding is

[59:57] they're currently in the system

[59:59] working on the application.

[1:00:01] So again,

[1:00:03] from when I pulled it

[1:00:04] this first thing this morning to this afternoon,

[1:00:06] we gave almost ten applications,

[1:00:09] which I think is pretty awesome.

[1:00:10] Awesome.

[1:00:11] And the other thing

[1:00:12] that we've been working on

[1:00:14] and it is our intent to distribute

[1:00:15] that is an infographicthis at Open House on

[1:00:20] that kind of gives some people some draft general information

[1:00:22] about who are as a school and what we do

[1:00:25] to get information on electives

[1:00:28] or secondary plans,

[1:00:30] syllabi, literacy, concurrent

[1:00:32] enrollment, scholarships, core values,

[1:00:35] class size and vocational programs.

[1:00:39] So we are

[1:00:40] we are working on creating something

[1:00:41] that is a nice visual

[1:00:44] of who we are as a school community.representation

[1:00:47] And our ultimate goal

[1:00:50] is to eventually make a like a die cut card.

[1:00:54] It has this information on the back of it, but we're not quite there.

[1:00:57] This is kind of step one in that process.

[1:00:59] we're trying to really help our gameBut again,

[1:01:02] and make sure that we have information

[1:01:04] that we can distribute to our

[1:01:05] and the students that are interestedour sending communities

[1:01:07] in our programs.

[1:01:10] And so, again, this is a this is a recap.

[1:01:14] We did

[1:01:16] move to a new application portal.

[1:01:19] It's run by a company called Go to CTE.

[1:01:23] It is very intuitive.

[1:01:24] we can see from the results it's very easyWe found that, again,

[1:01:27] for parents and students to get into

[1:01:29] to do all of these things.to create accounts

[1:01:32] And it's it also will

[1:01:35] streamline our process for application

[1:01:38] of applications, acceptance of studentsreview

[1:01:40] that have been accepted overand transferring students

[1:01:43] to the app and platform

[1:01:45] that we use to manage student records.

[1:01:47] So all of that stuff

[1:01:48] came online October 1st.

[1:01:50] It's been working really well.

[1:01:52] There's a lot of features

[1:01:54] to this program that we never had before.

[1:01:56] and saw the number of applicationsLike I can go in

[1:01:59] by school, by community,

[1:02:02] by the application status.

[1:02:05] So it's

[1:02:06] I think it's going to really be a super helpful tool for us

[1:02:09] to look and see

[1:02:11] which communities

[1:02:12] have we reached, which ones do we need to we need to spend some more time

[1:02:15] with, you know, how

[1:02:18] how impactful is the stuff

[1:02:19] that we've done up

[1:02:21] to this point

[1:02:22] as that we've been out to two schools,

[1:02:24] we've been out to Bedford

[1:02:25] and we've been able to build record

[1:02:29] watching the data come through the portal.

[1:02:32] Wilmington took off

[1:02:34] and we had 45

[1:02:36] or 50 applicants from Wilmington

[1:02:38] almost right out of the gate

[1:02:40] and slowly

[1:02:41] the record of kind of caught up with them.to experience

[1:02:43] right in that 60 range.They're all kind of

[1:02:46] We haven't really seen

[1:02:48] as big of a bump with our Bedford or Burlington numbers yet,

[1:02:51] as we get further into the season,but we're hopeful that, you know,

[1:02:53] we will see some more applications for them.

[1:02:57] What is the presentation?

[1:02:59] that all the eighth graders in the schoolIs that something

[1:03:01] are required to attend can choose to attend?

[1:03:04] Or is it just at lunch?

[1:03:05] What is it?

[1:03:07] So we've been lucky in that we've been given

[1:03:09] we've been given a lot of time.

[1:03:11] So when they went to Billerica,

[1:03:14] I want to say they've had PSAT that day.

[1:03:16] So we actually had two different time slots,

[1:03:18] so we had half the eighth graders for one time.

[1:03:20] So I have the ability on time.

[1:03:22] But at this point

[1:03:24] we have been

[1:03:25] given access to all of the kids.for the most part,

[1:03:27] So an assembly that's in

[1:03:29] an assembly fashion and again,

[1:03:31] some moments a little bit longer, some is a little bit shorter.

[1:03:33] The video is set up

[1:03:34] there's a portion of it that plays.so that there is

[1:03:37] a dedicated group of staff membersAnd then we also have

[1:03:40] that are then going out with the students,

[1:03:41] you know, and they all talk about this.

[1:03:43] about the different clustersThis section's

[1:03:45] programs is information on academics.of our shot

[1:03:48] This information on clubs and activities

[1:03:50] is information on athletics.

[1:03:51] So the staff kind of interject themselves into the conversation

[1:03:54] and know students participate as well.

[1:03:56] So we're trying to make it way more interactive

[1:03:59] instead of, you know, an old

[1:04:01] or grumpy white person standing up and talking

[1:04:03] about all the things that the school does.

[1:04:05] We're trying to actually engage the kids

[1:04:07] and showcase the things that we do.

[1:04:09] So and it's again,

[1:04:11] it seems like it's been well received.

[1:04:12] And so now the results

[1:04:15] and we're giving out those who are.

[1:04:18] Yes, it's

[1:04:19] actually just for the first two visits, we didn't have them.

[1:04:22] We have done that.

[1:04:23] coming up this week thatAnd we have some visits

[1:04:26] we did.

[1:04:27] Host John Glenn Middle School

[1:04:28] from Bedford on Wednesday,

[1:04:30] October 18th, and that happened

[1:04:32] a week or so ago.

[1:04:33] They were in the building for the morning and it also happens.

[1:04:36] with a presentation to them.We went over that afternoon

[1:04:38] There we are.

[1:04:39] We've been back and forth.

[1:04:41] We've had a couple of conflicts of national seminars.

[1:04:43] Burlington has agreed to send

[1:04:44] the eighth graders over here,

[1:04:47] have every date that they've proposed

[1:04:49] has kind of fallen on our day for us,

[1:04:52] which really doesn't work.

[1:04:53] So we're still trying to work something out.

[1:04:54] We hope to get them in here before Thanksgiving.

[1:04:57] And again, that will be the first time

[1:04:59] that we've had all of their eighth graders.

[1:05:00] Obviously, the only

[1:05:02] clarification

[1:05:04] was the John Glenn visit over here.

[1:05:07] Yes, it was it it was last year.

[1:05:09] Everybody came out. Oh, really? Yeah.

[1:05:10] they sent me an email that a few kids.As far as I understand,

[1:05:13] Oh, yeah.

[1:05:14] A the much earlier this year.

[1:05:17] Yeah.

[1:05:17] We're trying to get out in front of that.

[1:05:19] I also have a,

[1:05:20] I have a phone call scheduled to talk to.

[1:05:22] I'm trying to also broker getting handguns,

[1:05:26] eighth graders over here as well.

[1:05:27] I look today it is about I think it's about 42

[1:05:29] or 43/8 graders, a handful.

[1:05:32] And again,

[1:05:33] those are students that select us

[1:05:35] without ever seeing us.

[1:05:37] They do hear our presentation.

[1:05:39] do the roadshow there. ButWe do it to go to go

[1:05:41] and to showcase what we doand to get them over here

[1:05:44] and although none of us

[1:05:46] know, they go to

[1:05:48] I think it's Lincoln for middle school

[1:05:50] and then they go to high school

[1:05:52] in Bedford.

[1:05:52] So a lot of them do choose to come here

[1:05:56] for whatever reason.

[1:05:57] But again, to try to get them here and really showcase what we do,

[1:06:00] I think will help us as well.

[1:06:03] So visits to schools

[1:06:05] Against the record was October 11th,

[1:06:08] Bedford was last Wednesday, the 18th.

[1:06:10] Tomorrow will be Burlington.

[1:06:12] This Thursday will be out of hands on

[1:06:14] Friday will be our experience

[1:06:16] and then the Tuesday

[1:06:18] before Thanksgiving will be in Wilmington.

[1:06:21] So we had a busy week this week and we going to break

[1:06:23] and then we get one more out of that.for a couple of weeks

[1:06:27] But again, we have

[1:06:28] we have been given access to all present

[1:06:30] in all of the schools, which I think is

[1:06:31] again, is a big win for us.

[1:06:34] Upcoming events.

[1:06:36] This past Friday, Senator Feingold was here.

[1:06:38] it is if you already join meI know, Charlie,

[1:06:41] for his visit,

[1:06:43] about vocational school admissionswe had a nice conversation

[1:06:46] of funding and hoisting regulations and some other things

[1:06:49] had some questions about.that that the senator

[1:06:51] So that that was that was good.

[1:06:54] Yesterday, I hosted Matt Hanson,

[1:06:56] who is the new town manager from Bedford.

[1:06:59] He was here.

[1:06:59] He spent an hour and a half

[1:07:01] an hour, 45 minutes here.

[1:07:02] It's a nice conversations about,

[1:07:04] to kind of support the community.you know, things we can do

[1:07:06] And he had he had come to the role

[1:07:09] and work with Great Wall.from Gainsborough

[1:07:11] So he was pretty familiar with what we do

[1:07:13] and how we do it and left.

[1:07:15] he had a great experience and is very,And it seemed like

[1:07:18] very interested in doing some things in

[1:07:20] as we move forward,

[1:07:22] next Monday, I'm going to host

[1:07:24] Cushman, who is the new super in Bedford.

[1:07:26] He will be here

[1:07:28] again for a campus visit

[1:07:32] next Wednesday is Senator Friedman.

[1:07:34] and I know I've sent this informationAnd I think

[1:07:36] people are welcome to join us if you like,out there, really

[1:07:38] to November

[1:07:39] Sunday is a community open housefestival with that

[1:07:42] and November 27th

[1:07:44] manager scheduled to come in hereI have the town

[1:07:47] and again, hopefully

[1:07:48] we can finalize some stuff

[1:07:49] on a timeline to share with them,

[1:07:52] give them an update on where we are as far as capital requests go

[1:07:54] and where we are in the budget cycle, and also share the enrollment

[1:07:57] numbers for the sending communities within that time.

[1:08:00] I also want to solicit

[1:08:01] input and feedback from them

[1:08:03] and have them share, you know what?

[1:08:06] What are their community timelines

[1:08:07] as far as when their budget subcommittees are going to meet

[1:08:10] where they need us to be,

[1:08:11] when we need to be ready to present

[1:08:13] to help support the communities as well.

[1:08:16] And then the last event on the air is

[1:08:18] this has been rescheduled two or threeI've been working,

[1:08:21] times already, but the base commander

[1:08:24] from Hanscom and Colonel Enriquez

[1:08:28] is very

[1:08:29] interested in coming over,

[1:08:30] wants to talk about ways

[1:08:32] that the school can partner with Hanscom and the things that they're

[1:08:35] outreach, things that they have going on.trying to do in some of the community

[1:08:38] So I'm sure one of these days that it'll happen.

[1:08:42] I'm sure she's a busy woman.

[1:08:44] That's going to be a demanding job that she has there.

[1:08:47] And every time you set something

[1:08:49] up, you know, a day or two before

[1:08:50] I've gotten an email saying, Sorry,

[1:08:53] I can't believe you came out.

[1:08:54] So fingers crossed

[1:08:56] she'll be here on the 27th and we can

[1:08:59] you can kind of close the loop on that.

[1:09:02] And Danica

[1:09:03] and I'm glad you asked at the last meetingalready talked to this,

[1:09:05] you wanted the numbers are on exceeding and meeting in person meeting.

[1:09:08] So those are in there as well.

[1:09:10] And I know Danica went over all of that stuff already

[1:09:13] on project updates.

[1:09:16] So I had had a suggestion

[1:09:18] and Charlie and I talked about this a little bit

[1:09:21] about ways to kind of update people on some of the things that

[1:09:24] that were done over the summer.

[1:09:27] And we had a conversation about, you know,

[1:09:29] during a school committee meetingdo we really want to spend time

[1:09:31] who all walk around the building and see that

[1:09:33] see some of the renovations were done.

[1:09:35] So my

[1:09:37] I think what kind of Charlie and I came to what my suggestion would be

[1:09:39] if there are people that want to see

[1:09:41] like we renovated the dean's office we've

[1:09:43] we've started to renovate the HBC programyou know

[1:09:45] if you're interested in seeing that stuff,

[1:09:48] I think it may make sense for us to kind of

[1:09:50] have something outside

[1:09:51] of the meeting setting.

[1:09:54] I don't know how much interest there is in that.

[1:09:55] And if there's an item that I took out

[1:09:57] and I might be insulted

[1:09:59] if people don't want to see that stuff.

[1:10:01] But if you're curious and you want to know,

[1:10:03] I know we've talked about it.

[1:10:05] We budgeted for a lot of that stuff.

[1:10:06] It was a capital request.

[1:10:08] wanted to make sure happenedIt was things that we

[1:10:11] to support programs and in

[1:10:13] offices and different

[1:10:15] that we provide within the building.different services

[1:10:17] So please let me know

[1:10:20] and we can work on that.

[1:10:22] I was on the phone this morning

[1:10:24] with the architect about the pool repair.

[1:10:26] This might have been a questionI think added

[1:10:28] to the last meeting too.that you would ask

[1:10:31] So we have one

[1:10:33] change order that's already been executed.

[1:10:36] So we budgeted $175,000 for that project,

[1:10:39] the capital last year.

[1:10:41] The original contract amount

[1:10:43] was issued for $380,000.

[1:10:46] We had a change order for $31,995.92

[1:10:53] to repair the block wall

[1:10:55] and had all the damage to him.that we uncovered

[1:10:58] They have not finalized

[1:11:00] the second change order.

[1:11:02] And again, I was hoping to

[1:11:03] because he told me I have the meeting.and I called him this morning

[1:11:06] I just didn't work out.

[1:11:08] But we currently

[1:11:10] so our our current expenditures on that project

[1:11:12] so far are $411,995.90.

[1:11:17] So we still have about

[1:11:19] $50,000 left in our original budget.

[1:11:22] And from talking to the architect today,

[1:11:27] I don't know how much

[1:11:29] the additional change is going to be,

[1:11:31] but they had to

[1:11:32] they have to add

[1:11:34] horizontal numbers

[1:11:36] to that wall to attach the panels

[1:11:38] to because of their original plan and how they will attach.

[1:11:42] But is it going to work now that we found out

[1:11:44] it's not actually

[1:11:45] the structural components of the building?

[1:11:48] So again,

[1:11:49] as soon as that information becomes available,

[1:11:51] I will share it. I'll

[1:11:53] and the exciting thing

[1:11:54] that I wanted to share with everybody is this.

[1:11:57] So I asked our drafting students

[1:12:00] and they did a really awesome

[1:12:02] job of this for

[1:12:03] to come up with a concept drawing

[1:12:06] for what

[1:12:07] a masonry expansion is going to look like.

[1:12:09] So again, the colors aren't finalized.

[1:12:12] the students had a little little creativeThis was

[1:12:14] freedom to come up with.

[1:12:16] we want a white building out thereI don't know that

[1:12:18] because it probably won't look like that for very long.

[1:12:21] But if you look it, it does kind of show

[1:12:23] a rendering from the parking lot.

[1:12:25] You can see where the existing doors

[1:12:27] and windows are on the on the building.

[1:12:29] The two views on the side, One of them is looking out into the kitchen

[1:12:33] and you can see the garage door to one side of it.

[1:12:36] if you were standing in the addition,And the other one would be

[1:12:38] looking back towards the shop,

[1:12:40] those two, two or three columnsyou can see that

[1:12:43] that are there are going to have to stay

[1:12:44] because those are those are structural supports for the building.

[1:12:48] So I am going to I'm going to give this

[1:12:50] to the masonry instructors for them to display

[1:12:52] during open house.

[1:12:54] But I didn't want to share it

[1:12:55] with you first to give you an idea,

[1:12:56] this is what we're doing.kind of a concept,

[1:12:59] We do have sign

[1:13:00] design and engineering documents for that

[1:13:03] which are all still in progress.

[1:13:06] We are looking at

[1:13:07] hopefully sending bids out.

[1:13:09] was the end of November 1stI believe the timeline

[1:13:11] part of the summer

[1:13:13] so that we can potentially start

[1:13:15] working on that project after the first the

[1:13:19] elementary kids to be able to be in

[1:13:21] the space was being building. Yes.

[1:13:25] So we'll be able to build that

[1:13:27] that freestanding structure.

[1:13:28] is on the wall between the two spaces,And then what we'll do afterwards

[1:13:32] until summertime, depending on wherethe wall may not come down

[1:13:35] and how that timing works out.

[1:13:38] Yeah, yeah.

[1:13:39] Those doors are.

[1:13:40] Yeah, exactly.

[1:13:41] There's all the overhead door is going to be there.

[1:13:42] So they get the thing coming up

[1:13:44] and I just wanted to share this is the project

[1:13:47] that we're doing with the Record

[1:13:48] Housing Authority.

[1:13:50] I believe it's Mason Street Eagle.

[1:13:52] Rick, I may have the address wrong,

[1:13:55] but again, just just to update people.

[1:13:57] These were from last week.

[1:13:59] So you can see the first and second floor up.

[1:14:02] The students are working on the roof

[1:14:03] trusses here.

[1:14:05] This is what the project looks like from the

[1:14:07] from the street, from the front view.

[1:14:10] Had some pictures of the students

[1:14:11] working on the second floor deck

[1:14:14] and they are framing

[1:14:16] one of the outside walls.

[1:14:20] And here some will work with the floor

[1:14:22] that they're putting in place. Butjoist in the other things

[1:14:24] again, it's a habitat build.

[1:14:27] It's full record housing authority.

[1:14:29] This is the habitat build something as well.

[1:14:32] We actually have been a pride believe

[1:14:33] Duxbury has one.

[1:14:35] I don't know that they had finalized

[1:14:37] all of their plans and permits and stuff.

[1:14:39] and they're going to do it this week.I know they have reached out to us

[1:14:43] Is it this week?

[1:14:44] We're working has to balance deadlines and works and yeah,

[1:14:46] and I did have a conversation with John Curran about

[1:14:49] they have an RFP out.

[1:14:50] I believe that

[1:14:52] will end up being through Habitat.I think eventually

[1:14:55] So we're hoping that we can line up

[1:14:57] worth most projects for that activitya couple of years

[1:14:59] and some kind of

[1:15:01] so that we have a budget that we can,have them in the pipeline

[1:15:04] they'll have time to get everything done,you know, and again,

[1:15:06] and get all the site work doneget the foundations

[1:15:08] and then be able to climb out there and

[1:15:11] do what we need to do for

[1:15:14] housing.

[1:15:14] And that is that affordable

[1:15:16] housing that, yes, going up there.

[1:15:18] Yeah.

[1:15:18] So that particular law and it's

[1:15:20] kind of hard to see any of those pictures with that gray house behind

[1:15:23] it is a two families

[1:15:25] at the housing 40th bar and renovated

[1:15:28] There was an old garage

[1:15:31] on this property that they tore down.

[1:15:33] So my understanding

[1:15:34] is the way the lot was zoned to,

[1:15:36] the way the lot was, was laid out,

[1:15:38] they're able to split that lot

[1:15:40] and create the space.

[1:15:41] Oh, is that going to be a gym family, too?

[1:15:43] It no, it's a single family because it's small.

[1:15:46] If you get

[1:15:47] it doesn't look like it in the picture.

[1:15:49] But not it's not a it's not a really big house.

[1:15:51] Yeah.

[1:15:52] Yeah.

[1:15:54] And the other thing too and again, I know Mr.

[1:15:57] Fiore and I have talked about this a couple of times,

[1:15:59] if there's specific things

[1:16:00] that people want to see me add to this, you know, please

[1:16:03] let me know again.

[1:16:04] I am trying to

[1:16:07] find the key.

[1:16:08] that I think people are interested inAnd on the things

[1:16:09] and are are pertinent entirely to what we're trying to do.

[1:16:12] But if anybody has any suggestions,

[1:16:14] feel free to share them with me.

[1:16:16] Should be an email on whatever it may be

[1:16:19] and I will make sure that we include that

[1:16:21] in any of the updates that we do this.

[1:16:23] All right.

[1:16:26] Now, I'm going to close out of this

[1:16:34] and look,

[1:16:37] I appreciate this.

[1:16:50] So the other piece that I wanted to talk about and kind of wrap up

[1:16:53] with a little bit here is

[1:16:55] Jenna had handed out

[1:16:56] are actually I'm sorry I left them

[1:16:58] at everybody's station.

[1:17:00] Jenna and I sat down and kind of laid out

[1:17:02] the things that we knew we needed

[1:17:03] to start budget season

[1:17:06] and kind of some of the dates

[1:17:07] and events that we anticipate

[1:17:09] to wrap up budget season.

[1:17:11] Now, I think both of us

[1:17:13] would like to hear input from.

[1:17:15] I know we have members of the Finance Committee

[1:17:17] here at the Facilities Committee here.

[1:17:18] of the Budget Committee here.We have members

[1:17:21] One of the

[1:17:22] things that's on here and again,

[1:17:23] I would like feedback from all of you

[1:17:25] that this is something different.because I know

[1:17:28] We had talked about the idea of doing

[1:17:31] the capital budget dinner in January

[1:17:34] before the January school committee

[1:17:36] instead of December,

[1:17:37] but I know it's traditionally been done in December,

[1:17:40] and if the committee wants to stay

[1:17:42] in, if we want to stay true

[1:17:43] to what we've done in the past, that's

[1:17:47] and we're

[1:17:47] just trying to talk through some ideas and see

[1:17:50] and get some feedback from all of you

[1:17:52] so that we can finalize this

[1:17:54] and get you all to finalize this.

[1:17:56] And then again, share this out

[1:17:58] after the next committee meeting

[1:18:00] with the town managers as well.

[1:18:01] what happens on the capital budget andSo refresh us on

[1:18:05] so based on

[1:18:07] my vast experience at the last one,

[1:18:11] we come forward.

[1:18:12] we have collected of the capital requestsBy that point in time,

[1:18:16] from lead teachers department heads,

[1:18:20] and we've gone through themdirector levels,

[1:18:23] and really kind of,

[1:18:26] I guess, called them down,

[1:18:28] whittled them down to what we think, what we think is appropriate

[1:18:31] for this coming year's budget.

[1:18:35] One thing that Jen and

[1:18:36] I have talked about that

[1:18:38] this year is we want to dowe plan on doing

[1:18:41] the operating budget in the capital budget development

[1:18:43] the same time

[1:18:45] so that we have a really good handle as to what impact

[1:18:48] those two numbers have on each other

[1:18:50] so that when we get to the end where

[1:18:52] we're close to more at our target

[1:18:54] what we think is a reasonable excuse.

[1:18:57] So again, part of this is based on that

[1:19:01] we were talking about the potential

[1:19:03] to move it to January and have it

[1:19:05] the January's full committee meeting,before

[1:19:06] because by then we'll have this week

[1:19:09] we and we hope

[1:19:10] we intend to have the Chapter 17 numbers, which will

[1:19:13] hopefully that'll be the final piece that we need to have

[1:19:16] and know that we're on target.all this stuff come together

[1:19:19] We want to be

[1:19:22] that's that's a piece of it.So I mean, that

[1:19:24] You know, we're going to start November

[1:19:26] 1st internally.

[1:19:28] People will start submitting stuff.

[1:19:30] We're going to

[1:19:31] we're going to have everything due back to us by December

[1:19:33] 1st, by the middle of the month.

[1:19:36] Our plan is to have a draft budget

[1:19:38] and operating in a council draft budget

[1:19:41] by December.

[1:19:43] So again, if

[1:19:44] if one or both of

[1:19:45] those committees would like, you know,

[1:19:47] we'd like to plan a meeting in December and we at that point

[1:19:50] we can come back and show you where we are

[1:19:52] as far as the draft process goes.

[1:19:54] If you want to meet before

[1:19:56] then and have input into things that you think

[1:19:58] should be a priority, I'm not quite sure.

[1:20:02] I know

[1:20:03] we'd like to have people be more involved

[1:20:05] and have more say

[1:20:07] that this is a more inclusive process.in the issue

[1:20:10] And what we did, I think it should be.

[1:20:11] I mean, if you're trying to like

[1:20:14] just look at the timeline, that's the pieces

[1:20:15] that are being passed years.

[1:20:18] But I mean, that's what honestly, we would show up

[1:20:21] and based on the first time we saw the budget.

[1:20:23] So, I mean, if you're saying on to

[1:20:24] it doesn't give you a whole lot of time.two based,

[1:20:27] I think there should be some

[1:20:29] you know, to Brian's point about like,

[1:20:30] the meeting there should meetyou know, having a capital,

[1:20:33] at least two

[1:20:34] or three meetings in between here.

[1:20:37] And so we don't run into the same issue we had last year.

[1:20:39] But when you guys had that meeting with the town managers,

[1:20:42] because clearly in the past there was some discussion

[1:20:45] about preliminary information, understanding their timelines.

[1:20:48] So I think like this is like a,

[1:20:51] you know,

[1:20:52] a baseline one, but

[1:20:53] I think there should be policy meetings, you know,

[1:20:56] bring in the capital cities in there, and there should be like

[1:20:59] at least a couple of meetings in between

[1:21:01] to talk about draft stuff.

[1:21:03] So, you know, we're not just

[1:21:05] showing up on 227

[1:21:06] to rubber stamp budget basically the year.

[1:21:09] well communicated, all that.So it's well vetted, it's

[1:21:12] So then also, you know, if there is discussions

[1:21:15] with the town managers, you know, basically

[1:21:17] nobody is getting a call

[1:21:21] from the town managers,

[1:21:22] basically like there was last year.you know,

[1:21:25] So if there is questions around that and if there is past years,

[1:21:28] it's been communicated out.

[1:21:30] We're talking about that before.

[1:21:31] This is about that.

[1:21:33] that's why we want to bring itAnd that's the and again,

[1:21:34] to this group tonight and ask for that

[1:21:36] that exact input to know.

[1:21:38] was a good starting point.I think Brian's email

[1:21:40] I think that's a good because the capital

[1:21:41] one is a good place to start.

[1:21:44] joint meeting and that can be the kick offI think that's a good place to have a

[1:21:47] to basically to say where we going with

[1:21:49] and like a bunch of planning meetings

[1:21:51] whenever you think also it's

[1:21:53] you're ready to present data.

[1:21:54] I don't know if it serves a purposeI just want

[1:21:56] to have the committee subcommittees meeting

[1:21:58] if you're not ready yet

[1:22:00] why if it's not the next two weeks,but that's

[1:22:03] maybe it's the week after,

[1:22:05] probably sometime before the November school committee meeting.

[1:22:08] I know we have we have the preliminary

[1:22:10] FY 25 numbers

[1:22:12] that were in that five year plan for planning.

[1:22:15] We can start there now.

[1:22:17] I know we've already been talking to directors

[1:22:20] to get that information updated.and, you know,

[1:22:22] And what we've found already is some of that stuff was

[1:22:25] has already been taken care of. And was.

[1:22:26] But is it for this year?

[1:22:28] You know, and we were able to

[1:22:29] we've already started to go through the list and kind of find out

[1:22:33] what we want to do.

[1:22:34] I think you may not have a real kindSo, I mean,

[1:22:37] of finalized draft,

[1:22:39] but we will have some information.

[1:22:40] So, I mean, if that's if that makes sense

[1:22:42] I think know, the next couple of weeks,and it's the kick off,

[1:22:45] you can get those two committees together and say,

[1:22:47] you know, here's our starting point.

[1:22:48] This is what we have.

[1:22:49] And, you know, from

[1:22:51] do you think we should prioritize?your perspective of these things,

[1:22:53] Are these things that you think are more important than others?

[1:22:55] for us to hear that early onI think it's important

[1:22:57] so that as we're meeting with those people

[1:22:59] and talking through what they request, we can say,

[1:23:02] yeah, you know, this is

[1:23:04] this is something we can do not we have to hold off on this.

[1:23:06] This announcement for is a year or two,

[1:23:08] depending on what it is.

[1:23:10] That's kind of a message you want to send

[1:23:12] if you're basically going to meet with these people.

[1:23:14] Basically, you know, you're

[1:23:15] trying to get a new school built.

[1:23:17] I can tell you Burlington work

[1:23:19] is that's going to be a big thing in the next five, ten years

[1:23:21] or so far behind some of the schools. Yes.

[1:23:24] So you got to partner these people.

[1:23:25] So you want to have a good communication, good relationship with them.

[1:23:28] I feel the more openness you're going

[1:23:30] to have, you're going to build that.

[1:23:32] if it's Duxbury, Burlington,So it doesn't matter

[1:23:35] you want to have that ongoing

[1:23:37] transparency package.

[1:23:39] So I think that's just,

[1:23:40] you know, the town manager and finance committee

[1:23:42] members. You

[1:23:46] know, I think that's

[1:23:47] that's a very valid point.

[1:23:48] How many of the towns

[1:23:50] have new town managers?

[1:23:52] But there's one to Wilmington,

[1:23:55] I don't think Wilmington named one.

[1:23:56] There's no we have we have an excellent.

[1:24:00] Tell me you're still doing the

[1:24:02] collecting

[1:24:03] when they're going to have the new one.

[1:24:07] What does that look like?

[1:24:08] Which is Bedford has it's new.

[1:24:10] So it's got to go to a new town

[1:24:12] manager and answer any superintendent.

[1:24:14] I didn't ask that because I know like

[1:24:17] we were the new ones last year

[1:24:19] and that was some of our struggles.

[1:24:20] So, you know, it could be good

[1:24:22] them not have those same strugglesneighbors and and help

[1:24:25] you know, sharing our information.by being,

[1:24:28] I think I said to you earlier, you know,

[1:24:30] as soon as we

[1:24:31] have numbers to share, I think we should share, you know, as soon as it's

[1:24:34] reasonable to share the press

[1:24:36] and operating work together.surge for capital

[1:24:38] And I'm not a budget person, but those two things

[1:24:41] sound like they make sense to go together.

[1:24:42] I think it's fine to have them together and they work together.

[1:24:45] We sometimes delayed when we reported

[1:24:47] a big capital expenditure,

[1:24:49] and I think that was to our detriment.

[1:24:51] It sounds like that won't happen again

[1:24:52] just because it didn't happen last year.

[1:24:54] We don't want it to happen again.

[1:24:56] of putting it together,But I like the idea

[1:24:57] you know, 100% finalized,even if it's not,

[1:25:00] you should be able to say, this is where we stand.

[1:25:03] There is this big expenditure in

[1:25:05] whatever, you know,

[1:25:06] so that we can work against the town.

[1:25:09] And I

[1:25:11] you're meeting with the

[1:25:13] town managers within the next weeks,

[1:25:16] right up to Thanksgiving.

[1:25:17] And that sounds so it's sad

[1:25:19] because then you'll know their timeline.

[1:25:20] Definitely so you'll know it's at 123

[1:25:24] right now a

[1:25:25] And like the General advisory Committee

[1:25:29] and they've always had that dinner so.

[1:25:33] Well I mean are they going to be alerted if they do the dinner?

[1:25:36] We could do that.

[1:25:37] So the suggestion was to do the dinner

[1:25:38] instead of a dinner or something.in January

[1:25:41] Yeah, they would. They would. Absolutely.

[1:25:42] And that was a change

[1:25:45] because they also have

[1:25:45] a lot of input into it.

[1:25:48] And again, if if, if, if,

[1:25:50] if it makes more sense

[1:25:52] we can make it work for them.to everybody,

[1:25:53] To some of you know, we were just you know,

[1:25:55] we're child anatomy differently to things.we're really again

[1:25:58] That's just

[1:26:00] plain science

[1:26:03] I think let's try to do this

[1:26:05] If you're comfortable with this

[1:26:06] with this time timeline.

[1:26:08] Yeah yeah that was last year was weird.

[1:26:12] It's not like we're always going to it in December to get it right.

[1:26:15] If we just take our time

[1:26:17] and we share with everybody

[1:26:19] out of top managers

[1:26:21] in the January,

[1:26:22] I think we could have the dinner

[1:26:25] and everybody knows what's going on.

[1:26:26] But that time we know

[1:26:28] internally our internal planning, you know,

[1:26:31] you'll have an idea how much capital

[1:26:32] we'll get to go for.

[1:26:34] Hopefully Chapter 70 is out there

[1:26:38] and we have an operating budget.

[1:26:40] So what's the rush?

[1:26:41] I mean, so I went,

[1:26:43] I went and looked at the years

[1:26:45] before last year again.

[1:26:46] new governor insurance got delayed.I mean, we all know, you know,

[1:26:49] So it's always the same day that that chapter

[1:26:53] 70 number gets released at the end.

[1:26:55] It's so I want to know

[1:26:57] what day it fell on for the last

[1:26:59] the previous eight years.

[1:27:01] And that's where I came up with that one to date.

[1:27:03] Now, I may be off a day or two. I know.

[1:27:05] Or maybe it gets delayed being released by.

[1:27:07] But that is

[1:27:09] that's the most accurate

[1:27:10] prediction that I can make based

[1:27:12] what what I saw is a pattern

[1:27:14] in the past year

[1:27:16] when we had the same governor in office, and that's when they were released.

[1:27:20] So I think to Brian's point, it's

[1:27:22] not just to have meetings and meetings.

[1:27:24] I think there's a skeleton.

[1:27:26] I think it's to get away from previous years,

[1:27:28] but I think it's to be more prepared so.not if there was anything,

[1:27:32] I think this was a good scalp,

[1:27:34] a good baseline.

[1:27:35] But I think it's, you know, to

[1:27:37] Brian's point about like, you know,

[1:27:38] is to meet more frequently.having a meeting

[1:27:40] But meeting with there is purpose.

[1:27:42] So it's basically well

[1:27:43] what Janet and I want to hear from.and I think I think that's

[1:27:45] You know, again, I agree.

[1:27:47] I don't think we should have to just have a meeting but

[1:27:49] also from the capital and from the budget

[1:27:52] subcommittee standpoint,

[1:27:54] what information do you need and when do you need it?

[1:27:57] Because that also is going to guide our process

[1:28:00] so that we make sure have that stuff ready, you know?

[1:28:03] So again, the November meeting, if we want to get together,

[1:28:06] have kind of a preliminary conversation about this is what we see for Capitol.

[1:28:09] these are the requests we currently haveThese are

[1:28:11] that make sense.

[1:28:13] You know, if you want know, we want to

[1:28:15] if we want to have the meeting in December.

[1:28:17] And, you know, again, around the time

[1:28:19] the draft is prepared to say, okay, here, you know, here's

[1:28:22] what we have at this point in time based on the feedback,

[1:28:25] the information we got on council, I mean,

[1:28:27] I think those things make sense.

[1:28:29] But I know both of us also want to hear,

[1:28:32] what makes sense from your standpoint.you know,

[1:28:34] So because

[1:28:37] we need that input as well,

[1:28:39] especially to feed your meetings in between

[1:28:41] the ones that I

[1:28:44] just thought

[1:28:45] about looking at like, you know,

[1:28:47] that was doing this prior to youbecause we had the same person

[1:28:50] and we never thought about likefor 20 years

[1:28:53] looking at what other schools do,

[1:28:55] like maybe long term to basically say,

[1:28:57] what is your budget model like going out

[1:28:59] and surveying like some of your peers?

[1:29:03] The superintendent, business manager saying

[1:29:05] this is what other schools do

[1:29:07] and coming up with the best practice as maybe

[1:29:10] and maybe that wouldn't be for this year

[1:29:11] but maybe looking at for future years to say,

[1:29:14] okay we looked at 12 different

[1:29:17] vocational schools or a number I don't know that

[1:29:20] 12 that like maybe half a dozen and say

[1:29:22] this is their budget process and we're reviewing

[1:29:25] coming up with the best practice.

[1:29:27] Maybe something is for a future

[1:29:28] years, maybe as a project project.

[1:29:32] This is the final kind of

[1:29:34] piece.

[1:29:35] At least I didn't ask you, but we have we started asking what people think.

[1:29:38] But it's like coming up

[1:29:40] and saying, what's the best practice

[1:29:41] of what other schools are doing and basis

[1:29:43] stripping it down and saying, okay,

[1:29:45] not saying we haven't done anything wrong for the last 20 years.

[1:29:47] I'm saying maybe now it's time

[1:29:50] to change the superintendent business standard.

[1:29:52] Now is the time to come back and look

[1:29:53] and see what other schools are doing and come back

[1:29:56] maybe for next year

[1:29:58] to run as the chair based to say

[1:30:00] what's best practices going forward

[1:30:01] and just living it for one year,

[1:30:03] going in front of the towns and the finance committees.

[1:30:05] Now I can anticipate

[1:30:07] better what they're looking for.

[1:30:09] So I want to go in with

[1:30:10] way more information than I did last.

[1:30:13] They always like to have that year

[1:30:15] to year comparison, so I'll make sure

[1:30:18] all those things are very clear this year by some categories.

[1:30:21] And I have a Tony,

[1:30:22] I think share that 100 page budget

[1:30:24] books from a sister school.

[1:30:27] Yeah, yeah.

[1:30:28] And he's like, I like this like,

[1:30:30] I like the first 20 pages.

[1:30:32] I don't know about hundred and 40, but the first 20 looks good to me.

[1:30:35] Find somewhat something in between.

[1:30:37] So we've already thought of ways to make it better this year.

[1:30:41] I think this is not much different.

[1:30:43] I mean, I worked in three other schools and we've used multiple.

[1:30:46] we went through two or three iterationsSo, you know, again,

[1:30:48] when I worked at Greater Lawrence.of how we did budgets differently

[1:30:51] I mean, this is is very much in line with what everybody else does.

[1:30:55] Yeah, I'm not saying it's going

[1:30:56] be drastic change, but I'm just saying

[1:30:58] when you change over base

[1:31:00] de defacto CEO and CFO

[1:31:02] yeah it's like a meeting time.

[1:31:04] It just we've looked at some stuff

[1:31:06] and some different formats from different schools.

[1:31:08] I mean we've, we've been doing that

[1:31:09] which ones make sense and how is thisand kind of talking through

[1:31:13] to try to organize things this way.and does it make sense

[1:31:16] I think it's I think, you know,And I mean, it's

[1:31:18] I don't know that we're going to have the perfect solution to.

[1:31:22] But I'm all in favor this time, I think.

[1:31:25] And I'm more than happy

[1:31:27] to have a meeting on budgets.

[1:31:29] But there's something that I know I don't want to have a meeting.

[1:31:31] Have a meeting. I don't. You mean Tory?

[1:31:33] And can't you want to have the same thing with.

[1:31:36] Yeah, the Budget Committee.

[1:31:38] I want to go through the whole thing.

[1:31:39] So we're confident that we got to we have gone over this.

[1:31:42] We are happy.

[1:31:42] What's going on capitals Brian.

[1:31:44] I mean everybody.

[1:31:46] Yes, we're all in this together.

[1:31:48] I know, I know. You just want me.

[1:31:49] You have no kids. You are just too.

[1:31:51] Well, yeah, we looked at it for 30 minutes

[1:31:53] and doe everybody knows that.

[1:31:55] in front of going to open the town.But it's sort of the time

[1:31:58] You're ready to defend everything?

[1:31:59] Yes, I know.

[1:32:00] I know. I know that. And then.

[1:32:02] And I've learned so much through this process.

[1:32:04] Yes. Sometimes I want to know, you know,

[1:32:06] we're buying and stuff like that.how many pencils

[1:32:09] But hypothetically, anyway,

[1:32:11] so yeah, let's give it.

[1:32:12] That's like my first year on the first time.

[1:32:15] Like you show up in February and I get like, you know, for

[1:32:18] I get this huge thing, you know, howthe first meeting,

[1:32:20] I supposed to give you?

[1:32:22] Like, it's like, you know, kind of like,

[1:32:24] like tombstones.

[1:32:25] I did have one other question that I wanted to pose here.

[1:32:28] if people wanted to think about this,And again,

[1:32:30] we don't I don't think that the story finalizes the.

[1:32:32] But so on this proposed timeline,

[1:32:34] we had the 27th

[1:32:36] as the public hearing for the budget,

[1:32:38] which is the schedule school committee

[1:32:39] meeting for February.

[1:32:41] My question would be,

[1:32:43] do we want to have a separate

[1:32:45] public hearings like two weeks before

[1:32:48] that just to approve the budget

[1:32:50] and get it out earlier?

[1:32:52] I don't know

[1:32:53] if that's a priority for people or not,

[1:32:55] but that's just another suggestion

[1:32:57] to put out there based on last year's it.

[1:33:00] I mean, I think it's going to be a pretty quick meeting.

[1:33:02] Doesn't seem to be a long, drawn out process

[1:33:06] for the public hearing.

[1:33:08] But again, that would also,

[1:33:09] but I think that would help us.I think, to be not direct,

[1:33:14] That information is now

[1:33:15] we've conducted the hearings, It's public.

[1:33:18] Our assessments have been certified by the committee.

[1:33:20] Everybody's voted on.

[1:33:21] And then, you know, after that date that that information can then

[1:33:24] be disseminated to all our town managers as here

[1:33:27] is our finalized budget by 25.

[1:33:31] I know that that constitutes

[1:33:33] an extra night for people, but

[1:33:35] I don't think that's the worst idea.

[1:33:38] I think that's something to be entertained for.

[1:33:40] We talked a week or so,

[1:33:42] maybe a report back on the field.

[1:33:45] Okay, I could just say,

[1:33:48] yes, that's okay.

[1:33:49] Our town, you think

[1:33:53] is caring.

[1:33:54] You could let us know as the Budget

[1:33:56] Subcommittee schedules meetings,

[1:33:58] a lot of the rest of us know when they are.

[1:33:59] I know we can speak at them,

[1:34:01] but it would be nice to be able to listen.

[1:34:04] dinner will be the same night.And the capital budget

[1:34:07] Is this genuine?

[1:34:09] Yes, that was that was our plan.

[1:34:10] Yeah. Yeah.

[1:34:12] You may not wish that Charlie showed up

[1:34:14] people was going to be 30 minutes to ourfor the audit

[1:34:18] but that's on that that

[1:34:21] that's why I brought it back up

[1:34:24] last night.

[1:34:26] I'm sorry.

[1:34:28] All right, so on the 27th,

[1:34:29] are you changing this or.

[1:34:31] No, I just.

[1:34:32] I just asked for input on it,

[1:34:34] and I was just thinking

[1:34:36] earlier, the thing is, I have a

[1:34:39] I think the public hearing really should be

[1:34:43] well, should be before

[1:34:44] we approve the budget.

[1:34:46] And I don't know

[1:34:47] if I like it be in the exact same meeting.

[1:34:49] I know we've always done it that way,

[1:34:50] but I, I really don't like that.

[1:34:53] they give us their inputI mean, because I mean,

[1:34:56] and someone actually came and gave us their input.

[1:34:58] Not that we've ever had people do that,

[1:35:00] but people actually came and give us input

[1:35:02] and then we voted to,

[1:35:04] you know, like 5 minutes later.

[1:35:05] It doesn't make sense.

[1:35:07] I mean, it's such a

[1:35:09] just for whatever it's worth.in our community

[1:35:11] So it is intense pointing to practice.

[1:35:13] I think in our community.

[1:35:15] The budget hearing normally

[1:35:17] is a separately scheduled night

[1:35:20] with no other agenda items.

[1:35:22] The Senate separate appointment, but that's

[1:35:23] because there's a norm or two school committee

[1:35:25] meetings a month estimate.

[1:35:27] But for us to do it that month

[1:35:28] seemed to be reasonable.

[1:35:31] Yeah.

[1:35:31] we can have the public hearing on the 13thSo I mean,

[1:35:33] and then come back to the regular.

[1:35:35] I know that's a weird month because we have the vacation week in there.

[1:35:38] I think normally the school committee

[1:35:39] meeting would have been earlier, but, but

[1:35:42] we can always come back on the 27th and like the budget

[1:35:44] and I think that's a good point.

[1:35:47] Has a public hearing without a vote

[1:35:50] and then we get reviewing

[1:35:51] the thing I agree it Ryan

[1:35:53] I mean it's you're you're basically

[1:35:55] if you do put them in the same meeting

[1:35:57] from all the other businessbasically detracts away

[1:35:59] so you're reviewing the budgetsyou're trying to do

[1:36:02] and then you're also having people come in and ask questions.

[1:36:05] That's a huge line item in itself.

[1:36:07] So that basically it's the whole whole

[1:36:10] meeting that should be 2 hours

[1:36:12] and consume hour and a half of access

[1:36:14] to do it yet 60 minutes.

[1:36:16] But I think it's a patty bread substance

[1:36:21] used. Okay.

[1:36:22] Well We will add that to the timeline

[1:36:24] and let's give it a shot.

[1:36:26] I know it changes. Good.

[1:36:28] Right. Well, thank you.

[1:36:29] Any other questions, folks,

[1:36:32] or. It's a number of budgets,

[1:36:33] but just on the MSP stuff,

[1:36:36] I have not heard anything back.any I have,

[1:36:38] Yeah.

[1:36:39] So we we had a decision.

[1:36:41] They discussed that at the meeting

[1:36:44] but the password is for an MSP.

[1:36:47] I mean going under the pretense

[1:36:49] that we're going to get rejected

[1:36:52] like are we going to put up money

[1:36:53] for like a higher consultant,

[1:36:55] like a facility study or.

[1:36:57] Yeah, yeah.

[1:36:58] I think that's a good conversation Now. ItI mean I think,

[1:37:03] we, we can we can build that

[1:37:06] again

[1:37:07] to hear priorities

[1:37:08] as to what people think is appropriate.

[1:37:10] I think to do that know

[1:37:12] as we go through the processdefinitely help us

[1:37:14] guide us for 2.1

[1:37:16] and then that committee we had from last year

[1:37:18] the equity. Okay.

[1:37:21] Any updates on that

[1:37:22] or we haven't yet this year, I'm sure.

[1:37:24] I mean, I can take the tally. We can.

[1:37:26] I know we met the mentally,

[1:37:29] but I, I again,

[1:37:30] I did some research as some stuff

[1:37:31] to bring that one over.

[1:37:33] Whenever you're ready we can

[1:37:34] we can touch base again. Okay

[1:37:37] we also interested

[1:37:41] not move on

[1:37:42] which is the subcommittee reports.to the next thing

[1:37:45] with the policy subcommittee.I'll start out

[1:37:47] I know Christine couldn't make that

[1:37:49] she make the earlier meeting

[1:37:51] and she volunteered

[1:37:52] Karen to give us the report.

[1:37:55] So we are churning forward,

[1:37:57] as you may or may not remember,

[1:38:00] our liaison is retiring.

[1:38:03] So we've been having a meeting

[1:38:05] with two people from a massive

[1:38:07] which has worked well.

[1:38:08] We have one policy

[1:38:10] that needs a little bit of tweaking,

[1:38:13] so we're working on that for next time.

[1:38:14] We have three that we're going

[1:38:16] to present at the next meeting

[1:38:17] and we have two more to go.

[1:38:19] They are the two biggest, so it won't be a two

[1:38:22] meeting event in five years,

[1:38:24] three or four or even a five meeting event

[1:38:25] to get those two, those last two

[1:38:27] and but we are still on track

[1:38:29] and our goal is to be done in December

[1:38:32] or January.

[1:38:36] I want to thank all you ladies that are on that,

[1:38:38] because it certainly

[1:38:39] is something to endeavor

[1:38:41] and a lot of time

[1:38:43] and staff has been a great help. Her

[1:38:46] new person whose name I apologize,

[1:38:48] Felicia Alicia has been doing,

[1:38:50] has stepped into big shoes and is doing a good job.

[1:38:53] But we miss Dorothy,

[1:38:54] so we want to get as much done

[1:38:57] under Dorothy's guidance as we can.

[1:38:59] Thank you.

[1:39:00] Thank you for the next of the Audit

[1:39:02] which again, Christinesubcommittee report,

[1:39:05] volunteered to have on this one

[1:39:07] at 2:00 this afternoon.

[1:39:09] about helping us out again.She feeling good

[1:39:15] So I guess, you know,

[1:39:17] kind of our prior

[1:39:19] auditor notified us late this year

[1:39:21] that basically we were there dropping the business line.

[1:39:24] So I kind of like

[1:39:26] you guys in a tough situation

[1:39:27] the end of the year.

[1:39:30] So I've been busy.

[1:39:32] So just so people understand, it's not under audit,

[1:39:35] things are not covered under 30 Bif you're getting a CPA,

[1:39:38] so technically you didn't really have

[1:39:40] to put in a bid in that manner.

[1:39:42] So audit firms are exempt from that.

[1:39:45] So we did

[1:39:48] put out a process to do that

[1:39:50] like a 30 B, but after discussing it,

[1:39:53] it really should have gone through

[1:39:56] because if you read the RFP,

[1:39:57] it actually says

[1:39:59] that the hiring of the CPA firm

[1:40:01] that does the audits is basically approved

[1:40:03] by the school committee.

[1:40:05] So for future times,

[1:40:07] if we go through this process again, the audit committee

[1:40:09] will actually go through and again,

[1:40:11] that may end up having more members long.

[1:40:13] Patty can join the audit committee

[1:40:18] as well.

[1:40:20] So we would basically go before that process

[1:40:23] to review

[1:40:24] our fees and we kind of learn from that.

[1:40:28] So basically we met, you know,

[1:40:30] we had the two firms that had responded.

[1:40:34] Hopefully

[1:40:34] if we go through this one as contracts,

[1:40:37] because it's a three year contract,if we decide to meet

[1:40:40] you really you should be doing a RFP every three years.

[1:40:44] We'll know that for next time.

[1:40:45] Hopefully we'll get more bids,

[1:40:48] have a more thorough process next time.

[1:40:50] But we did get to firms that did apply.

[1:40:55] You know, they narrowed it down to guys, narrowed down to one.

[1:40:58] There was some discussion about

[1:41:00] if the other one should be reviewed, which we did meet

[1:41:03] with the audit subcommittee

[1:41:05] and we considered them all else equal.

[1:41:08] There was some concerns around because you've, of all things

[1:41:11] considered equal, you can't really bring

[1:41:13] well actually came with this

[1:41:14] because the jury's out for 30 Bbecause it's cost

[1:41:17] but that was kind of a deciding

[1:41:18] factor was the one that was kind of we didn't open

[1:41:21] because the price actually was higher.

[1:41:24] around the inspector generalThere was some discussion

[1:41:27] and weighed in.

[1:41:28] Howard weighed in.

[1:41:29] The three choices were basically to accept the proposal

[1:41:33] that was reviewed, basically

[1:41:36] look it to it

[1:41:37] and that's kind of what we didalready assessed,

[1:41:40] when your started the whole process.or you basically thrown out

[1:41:43] But we did kind of review the two.

[1:41:45] We looked at really good,

[1:41:47] all things being equal,

[1:41:48] the third one and the second one

[1:41:50] the one that we did go with thatwas more expensive,

[1:41:52] and we ended up deciding to go with thewe didn't decide to go

[1:41:57] firm that was recommended by

[1:42:00] the superintendent of business vendor.

[1:42:02] But I think the lyrics for next time is that audit

[1:42:05] firms are not under 30 B

[1:42:09] and I mean to,

[1:42:10] you know these guys defense the firm I mean probably knew

[1:42:14] that they were dropping the business linesix months ago

[1:42:16] so that probably should have been communicated out

[1:42:18] in like January,

[1:42:20] not in June when you're finishing up the business cycle.

[1:42:23] But hopefully when this comes up again, you know,

[1:42:26] we'll do a more thorough

[1:42:30] bid process.

[1:42:31] And, you know,

[1:42:33] but it seems like the two firms you got are pretty well known.

[1:42:36] They you know, they've bought

[1:42:37] a lot of schools locally, have a nice

[1:42:39] big party or experience.

[1:42:40] So but I mean, you know,

[1:42:43] so I think when we do this,

[1:42:45] we should be looking at every three yearsyou know, it should be something

[1:42:47] and we do a thorough review.when the contracts are up

[1:42:50] that would be like your guys experienceAnd part of

[1:42:53] now with a new firm.

[1:42:54] So, you know, it's saying

[1:42:55] but I think that's something,after 20 years, you know,

[1:42:58] there should be a rotation of auditors.you know,

[1:43:00] You should review of contracts every time something comes up.

[1:43:03] So I think the committee recommended that we go ahead with the business

[1:43:07] managers and superintendents recommendation of Markham

[1:43:14] before

[1:43:16] I will be that

[1:43:20] as I was told,

[1:43:21] as I was notified at 2 p.m.,

[1:43:23] this happening, obviously,

[1:43:24] yes, we make the requisite audit

[1:43:26] subcommittee is making the recommendation to move the motion forward,

[1:43:30] to approve the recommendation

[1:43:32] of the business end or importance,

[1:43:34] which was the firm name Markham LLC

[1:43:38] Management's 3:00 and

[1:43:42] you, you know, emotionally,

[1:43:44] I mean, it just made that motion.

[1:43:46] bring in the subcommittee,I thought it was just

[1:43:48] you making the motion as well, which is fine.

[1:43:51] All right then.

[1:43:51] I guess I'll let Patty to make the motion.

[1:43:55] that we hire Markham as our audit service,Motion

[1:44:00] a further discussion on that.so I can have

[1:44:02] But not all of them favor.

[1:44:04] I told you

[1:44:08] that.

[1:44:09] I think you're going to be very pleased with them.

[1:44:10] going to be easy to make your life easy.That's

[1:44:12] I don't think my life is everything, butI mean,

[1:44:18] just getting my life was very easy for me,

[1:44:21] having to learn to talk to them. So.

[1:44:23] Yep, yep.

[1:44:24] Very thorough.

[1:44:26] I'm ready to move on.

[1:44:28] Gladly.

[1:44:28] Glad most your finance people

[1:44:30] are from Burlington.

[1:44:31] Yeah, I know, but

[1:44:37] I was that excited.

[1:44:40] Was future agenda item was unemployed

[1:44:43] specific right.

[1:44:44] I was going to suggest to maybe for

[1:44:46] like staff updates, which

[1:44:47] I think we've all found very helpful,

[1:44:49] that maybe the co-op program

[1:44:52] would be helpful for us

[1:44:54] to hear at a future meeting.

[1:44:56] I know what a couple

[1:44:57] of the community outreach events return.

[1:44:59] that some businesses, small and larger,It's been great

[1:45:03] have actually come up to the tables

[1:45:05] and said, Oh, I would be interested in knowing what I have to do

[1:45:08] to have one or more students, and I really don't.

[1:45:11] And then on the other hand,

[1:45:13] Oh yeah, that'd be great.sometimes you go,

[1:45:14] But then there are obviously standards the school has,

[1:45:17] there are scheduling needs,

[1:45:19] so it might be helpful to hear.

[1:45:21] And also what

[1:45:23] are being particularly to also tableefforts

[1:45:25] what efforts are being made to expand the pool

[1:45:27] to maybe new businesses

[1:45:29] or some of the new technologies that are in the area.

[1:45:32] So some future meeting

[1:45:34] when the co-op director is available

[1:45:36] to be doing work on that.

[1:45:38] We Mr.

[1:45:39] Chairman, do we talk about just being invited

[1:45:41] next month?

[1:45:43] I think she talked about

[1:45:44] we will, but I think

[1:45:45] because of that other other issues

[1:45:48] only in the handbook stuff.

[1:45:50] Yeah, handover issues

[1:45:52] and all that is part of what a lot of

[1:45:55] I think she will probably be.

[1:45:56] about that through to CherylI like to have a discussion

[1:45:59] and thank you for that anyway

[1:46:02] so I need to have the nutrition

[1:46:05] person in and talk to

[1:46:08] the nutrition group that we have

[1:46:11] because that was

[1:46:12] the last couple of years.that was a new hire

[1:46:14] Her second year in this position.

[1:46:16] But she's been here for over 20 years

[1:46:18] some great things down there.and she's doing

[1:46:20] So if you want her to teach me that,

[1:46:22] maybe they need to

[1:46:25] apply athletic director, you could say,

[1:46:27] Oh, that would be nice to just leave it on.

[1:46:31] Not necessarily the next year,

[1:46:34] right?

[1:46:34] Last year it was

[1:46:36] not for now

[1:46:38] maybe a 2023 or like, Oh,

[1:46:40] that's what we said that

[1:46:43] I started in.

[1:46:43] Charlie, I can't make it to you.

[1:46:45] It's great to have people come in.

[1:46:47] And so I think there's couple every month, right?

[1:46:49] tonight about Kevin was great.Yeah, that's what I saw

[1:46:51] Danica.

[1:46:52] I mean, a cool thing

[1:46:54] that may not be so hard for coaches

[1:46:55] because it's not right, but

[1:46:57] it sort of the middle of the season,

[1:46:58] it's not right before playoffs

[1:47:01] is really one of the committee was busy

[1:47:03] and one of them could manage a schedule.

[1:47:06] Anyway thank you, Cheryl.

[1:47:08] Just, you know, Tamika's announcement

[1:47:10] was pretty amazing tonight.

[1:47:11] Is there anything that we can do as a school committee

[1:47:13] or recognize her, give her some sort ofto kind of commend her

[1:47:17] when it was done?

[1:47:18] Don't know, some sort of strategic

[1:47:20] letter?

[1:47:22] Yeah, that was pretty short.

[1:47:25] Okay.

[1:47:26] I just to say,

[1:47:27] is there anything on your mind that you want to tell?

[1:47:29] What are you you know, you're

[1:47:31] a part of this.

[1:47:33] We should be talking

[1:47:34] and you going to school here

[1:47:37] and anything on your mind

[1:47:38] that has come up and things that it shows.

[1:47:41] So please let us know.

[1:47:42] I mean, I believe I agree with Bryan and bring Nicole up again.

[1:47:45] I believe that with you bringing Mr.

[1:47:47] I think that's really important.Smith in here to talk,

[1:47:49] I think that's a big part of the school

[1:47:50] and I think we should have a say in

[1:47:53] what he's doing

[1:47:54] because he's the only in that position.

[1:47:56] So I think he really needs more input.

[1:48:01] Okay. Thank you.

[1:48:03] This is just too far

[1:48:04] down the line, but I'd love to hear a little bit more about skills.

[1:48:08] So what skills you say advisor

[1:48:12] to Cole or any of the winners on the spot

[1:48:15] to come see their kids better?

[1:48:17] They always go and. I don't.

[1:48:19] I don't think we can pull it off in the November meetings.

[1:48:21] I don't know.

[1:48:21] I mean, I think that's the November

[1:48:24] for the Fall State Leadership Conference.

[1:48:26] And those are typically students

[1:48:28] that are going to be in a leadership role or be an officer.

[1:48:31] So the summer meeting,

[1:48:33] we can have those kids come in and talk

[1:48:34] about their experiences

[1:48:36] with their advisor

[1:48:38] and Thursday night, I know Mr.

[1:48:39] everything that's happened,Markowitz will highlight

[1:48:41] none of the accomplishments.

[1:48:43] I think it's very well,

[1:48:46] I asked you a question last time,

[1:48:48] last meeting about

[1:48:51] us having to attend student

[1:48:53] council meetings or whatever sometimes.

[1:48:55] Did you have to get an answer?

[1:48:56] and he told me he was going to research itI asked Howard

[1:48:59] and I never got a response back from that.

[1:49:01] So, I mean, the school committee is supposed to be at school.

[1:49:03] You did tell me that that was a new one.

[1:49:07] he said he was going to look into it.But he

[1:49:09] I will I will follow up with him.

[1:49:10] he hasn't gotten that coming in yet.But no,

[1:49:13] you get that notice last month?We're supposed to Didn't

[1:49:16] And I mean, you see

[1:49:18] the student representatives, right?

[1:49:20] And then it said

[1:49:21] is supposed to attend somethe school committee

[1:49:23] and not the school council or whatever.those meet the student members

[1:49:26] No, no, that's a council, whatever

[1:49:27] that is. Yes.

[1:49:30] You're going to be to have it.

[1:49:33] And whenever you meet

[1:49:35] the superintendent's cabinet.

[1:49:37] No, it's a student camp set during

[1:49:40] or after school day

[1:49:43] sort of plan,

[1:49:44] because I had never heard of it.which is the group that also

[1:49:46] that's it's the group that selectedWe have never it's the group

[1:49:49] Sarah to know whatever group she's in.

[1:49:51] Yes. So I know you said that

[1:49:53] legally I'm supposed to okay, away.

[1:49:56] Whatever

[1:49:57] they get,

[1:49:58] they can tell us what they really think.

[1:50:01] It'll be their meeting, but that's about it.

[1:50:04] Please let us know.

[1:50:05] You're the voice

[1:50:07] on the room here.

[1:50:10] We're putting all seven.

[1:50:13] What?

[1:50:13] What's going on? The cleaning thing.

[1:50:15] Mr. Chairman, we don't go under

[1:50:18] and that's not the point here, Mr.

[1:50:20] Chairman.

[1:50:21] I think emotionally enter

[1:50:23] into executive session to discuss

[1:50:26] nonunion contracts and collective

[1:50:29] second.

[1:50:32] Thank you.

[1:50:33] Thank you.

[1:50:36] Thank you.

[1:50:37] Thanks, Sarah.

[1:50:38] We already tried to agenda item.

[1:50:41] You're not trying to vote on that.

[1:50:44] Maybe potentially

[1:50:46] potentially a vote on the contract.

[1:50:48] There's no vote listed on your agenda.

[1:50:51] There's No way.

[1:50:51] There isn't a verbal assault on the agenda

[1:50:56] of the day.

[1:50:57] It wasn't

[1:50:59] the only vote on the agenda

[1:51:00] firm threatening to do it.was the audit services

[1:51:02] it says nonunion contracts and collectiveYeah,

[1:51:04] bargaining doesn't seem to be my mistake.

[1:51:07] I think they hit on that one.

[1:51:09] I really

[1:51:10] that area of administration is not on the agenda.

[1:51:12] We can't focus a lot on that.

[1:51:15] So we'll just pause and discuss this later.

[1:51:18] Executive session to discuss

[1:51:20] nonunion contracts, collective bargaining

[1:51:23] and adjourn from

[1:51:25] session two

[1:51:26] to return to adjourn only

[1:51:29] work.

[1:51:30] And it's just to be all followed up

[1:51:32] So that. Yes,

[1:51:34] yes, yes,

[1:51:36] yes, yes.

[1:51:39] Is yes and yes.

[1:51:41] Okay.

[1:51:42] Executive session.

[1:51:44] I'm going to let Mr. Murphy.

Shawsheen Tech School Committee Meeting- 10-24-23

Transcript