[0:00] So, we are calling to order. Uh, it is
[0:03] 5:05 p.m. on January 13, 2026. This is a
[0:07] meeting of the Central Elementary School
[0:09] Committee. Uh, this meeting is being
[0:11] recorded. Um, the first order on the the
[0:14] first item on the agenda is to review
[0:15] and approve the minutes of October 21st,
[0:17] 2025.
[0:21] We have a motion to approve.
[0:24] >> I'll make a motion to approve the
[0:25] minutes. I will second the motion as the
[0:28] note taker takes the notes.
[0:31] >> Thank you. Is there any discussion of
[0:33] those minutes?
[0:35] >> Yeah. Uh so we need to do a roll call
[0:37] vote because our committee members are
[0:40] um both online and in person. Um do you
[0:42] want to call it off Amanda? Um for the
[0:46] notes Megan?
[0:47] >> Yes.
[0:48] >> Joe?
[0:49] >> Yes.
[0:50] >> Loi?
[0:51] >> Yes.
[0:53] >> Jessica?
[0:53] >> Yes.
[0:54] >> Amanda? Yes. Okay, they are approved by
[0:57] zero. Uh on to financial statements.
[1:00] >> All right. Um 32 warrants were signed
[1:04] since the last meeting uh digitally
[1:06] totaling $225,9461.
[1:12] Um I sent you out the general fund
[1:13] expense report. If you looked at that
[1:15] and saw the teacher line has an overage,
[1:17] it's about $121,000
[1:19] listed as an overage on that expense
[1:21] report. I have my payroll staff looking
[1:24] into that. My hunch is that someone's on
[1:26] the wrong funding source, which just
[1:27] means that we need to move it internally
[1:29] and then I have the town reallocate it
[1:32] appropriately. Um, we definitely don't
[1:34] have not even one extra teacher and that
[1:37] would indicate possibly one and a half
[1:39] extra teachers. There is some overage
[1:42] that I've talked about already from our
[1:44] placeholder and then the contract
[1:46] settlement was a little bit high, but
[1:47] it's certainly not to that degree. So, I
[1:50] am looking in that looking at that
[1:51] further on my end. Um, central office
[1:55] benefits still need to be fully
[1:57] encumbered for the year. We've talked
[2:00] about the impact of health insurance
[2:02] primarily on our other towns and
[2:04] Frontier because Sunderland is with Maya
[2:06] and they did not have that October 1st
[2:09] mid-year increase on insurance, but
[2:11] Sunderland does pay a portion of central
[2:14] office benefits um based on the cost
[2:16] share agreement. So, we're going to
[2:19] exceed that budgeted amount. So, if you
[2:21] look at that line right now, I believe
[2:22] it shows about 20,000 available. That's
[2:25] going to go over this year. Um, I'm
[2:27] working with my team on what the amount
[2:28] to be encumbered is. So, hopefully we'll
[2:30] get that updated for next month. So, the
[2:32] reason I'm sort of talking about those
[2:34] two things is the bottom line budget
[2:36] shows 110,000 available. That's not
[2:39] really a true amount for us right now
[2:41] because of those two changes that need
[2:42] to be made. So, um,
[2:46] 110,000 is a little bit low for this
[2:49] time of year. We still have a good 5 and
[2:51] 1/2 months to get through of purchases.
[2:54] On the positive side, salaries and wages
[2:56] are fully encumbered and with those
[2:58] adjustments will recoup some of that.
[3:01] Um, the primary reason I'm telling you
[3:03] this is there's two pieces. One, we may
[3:06] be talking about the impact of this
[3:08] year's budget on next year and whether
[3:09] or not we need to look to capture any
[3:11] savings. Um, once you see next year's
[3:13] budget, you'll understand that a little
[3:14] bit better. And then two, we have had um
[3:18] one new student enroll at the school.
[3:21] They're currently enrolled that does
[3:23] have uh some higher needs. We thought we
[3:25] were going to have to hire a onetoone
[3:27] IIA. Turns out that student is able to
[3:29] bring the BCBA that it is a BCBA, right,
[3:32] that was working with them um a
[3:34] contracted service provider externally
[3:36] and we won't have to cover those costs.
[3:38] The students insurance is going to cover
[3:40] the cost of that BCBA. So there's no
[3:42] additional cost for us there. Um, but
[3:44] Bed did also learn recently that there
[3:46] may be siblings moving into district
[3:49] from a neighboring town that will have
[3:51] an impact on our finances potentially
[3:53] and the number of IAS that we need.
[3:55] We're still talking about what that
[3:57] looks like if they're really coming
[3:58] because they're not officially enrolled
[4:00] yet. Correct.
[4:01] >> Uh, paperwork has been collected. So
[4:05] >> um and then you know talking with Darius
[4:07] closely between Ben and Darius and and
[4:09] other staff on the ground here of can we
[4:12] cover those needs with exist existing
[4:14] staff. Are we going to need one new IIA
[4:16] versus two and what does that look like?
[4:18] So that has an impact in the current
[4:20] year and next year assuming that those
[4:22] students stay in district. So there's a
[4:25] lot going on in Sunderland as usual. Um,
[4:28] not as pretty of a picture as some of
[4:29] the other schools, but you know, we're
[4:32] not negative funds in the general
[4:37] fund yet. So, we'll we'll keep
[4:39] monitoring it closely
[4:43] as we go through the next few months.
[4:45] So,
[4:46] >> can you tell us a little bit about what
[4:47] circuit breaker reimbursement might look
[4:49] like?
[4:50] >> Um, regarding ones,
[4:52] >> I don't know.
[4:55] I don't want to give you wrong
[4:56] information, but sorry, I have a little
[4:59] bit of a cough from a lingering cold.
[5:02] Um, I just sent an email about this. So,
[5:07] we will see about $55,000 for circuit
[5:10] breaker in the current year. Um, I don't
[5:14] think there's going to be
[5:17] any extraordinary relief, which we did
[5:19] see last year. If your expenses go up
[5:21] suddenly, even though we have these
[5:23] changes in student enrollment and their
[5:25] needs, I don't think we're going to hit
[5:26] the threshold. We have to cover like the
[5:29] first, say it's $45,000 of expenses. Um,
[5:33] so we can potentially tap into circuit
[5:35] breaker to cover some of these needs uh
[5:38] in the current year or talk about using
[5:41] that to help supplement next year
[5:43] because we can roll it over to the next
[5:45] year. So,
[5:50] Are there other questions for Shelley?
[6:00] » Thank you, Shelly.
[6:03] » Uh, principal's reports.
[6:05] >> Great. So, we have a um, you know, I'm
[6:07] going back a couple months here since
[6:09] our last uh, school committee,
[6:11] Sunderland school committee was in
[6:13] October. Then there was the joint one in
[6:15] November and no meeting in December. So
[6:18] again, going back a couple of months, on
[6:20] Friday, November 7th, we held our annual
[6:22] Veterans Day observance ceremony. Once
[6:25] again, we had participation from the
[6:27] local BFW, Post 3295 out of South
[6:30] Deerfield, and the color guard from
[6:31] UMass. Um, the guest speaker this year
[6:35] uh was Sunderland resident um and former
[6:39] Sunderland Elementary School parent uh
[6:41] Lieutenant Colonel Steven Burgess. He's
[6:44] with the Ma Massachusetts Air National
[6:46] Guard at the 104th Fighter Wing um based
[6:50] at Barnes Air National Guard Base in
[6:52] Westfield. Um he's had uh quite the
[6:55] distinguished career. Um multiple
[6:58] deployments in support of different
[6:59] operations. Uh he also served our
[7:01] community as a state police officer for
[7:04] 23 years. Part of his career he worked
[7:06] in the K9 unit and um brought his dog
[7:09] here a few times to um interact with the
[7:12] students.
[7:13] Um, winter concert was held in December,
[7:17] uh, the highlight year of celebrating
[7:19] our growth and successes. Um, it's
[7:22] really, um, incredible seeing the growth
[7:24] of our musicians from that first, uh,
[7:28] lesson up until the concert in December,
[7:30] then even more so in the spring. Um, our
[7:33] music department is super dedicated and
[7:37] um, it's just it's noticed and felt
[7:39] every day. Led by a general music
[7:41] teacher, Sue Matsui, band teacher Megan
[7:43] Carr, and strings teacher Mia
[7:46] Freriedman. So, they put on a wonderful
[7:47] winter concert for our families. Um, as
[7:50] we've talked about in the past, um, we
[7:53] hold monthly meetings, uh, all school
[7:56] meetings as a way to build community. Um
[7:59] the December meeting was held on
[8:00] December 18th. That that was a Thursday
[8:03] hosted by grades three and four. So they
[8:06] co-led the meeting. Um they their focus
[8:10] was on bravery. We also introduced a
[8:12] different character trait of the month.
[8:14] Um December's character trait was
[8:16] bravery. And um they highlighted youth
[8:21] uh throughout the world who um have
[8:24] demonstrated bravery by making
[8:26] significant impacts on um their own
[8:29] surrounding communities and extended
[8:33] um upcoming events. We have our
[8:35] international night celebration
[8:36] scheduled for Thursday, January 22nd.
[8:40] This longstanding Sunderland tradition
[8:43] um is going from 5 to 7. starts off with
[8:45] a potluck meal, potluck dinner. Um,
[8:49] families bring um food in that are
[8:52] important to their own cultural
[8:54] heritage. Um, the group performing this
[8:57] year is Pioneer Valley Performing Arts
[9:00] Schools, um, African and Drum, African
[9:04] drum and dance troop, WOFA. Um, so they
[9:07] are going to perform a, uh, do a
[9:09] presentation on International Night and
[9:11] actually this Thursday they're coming to
[9:13] the school as well.
[9:15] and providing both um dance and drum
[9:18] workshops for students across all grade
[9:21] levels, pre-K through six, and then a
[9:24] having an all school assembly at the end
[9:27] of the day on Thursday as well. We're
[9:29] also using this um the SOPA uh was
[9:34] created by um teacher and artist Alfa
[9:37] Kabiscoco Cabba um also known as Bisco.
[9:40] He's a a teacher at PVPA.
[9:43] And so we're using this as an
[9:45] opportunity for extended learning
[9:47] opportunities um uh of West African
[9:50] culture and uh doing that a few
[9:52] different ways. So say our cafeteria is
[9:57] actually um making a coconut rice
[10:01] pudding dish which is a popular dessert
[10:04] throughout the world um in many
[10:06] different cultures but um in West
[10:08] African uh countries as well. And then
[10:11] our specials teachers are providing
[10:14] extended learning activities whether
[10:16] it's through stories, um art, music,
[10:20] games. Um earlier this week, our PE
[10:23] teacher, uh Christa Merrill was playing
[10:26] Mamba Tag, um so snake tag and um she
[10:29] needed to make it clear that although
[10:31] the snake is poisonous, the tag game is
[10:34] not um for the kids. So, uh, yeah. So,
[10:37] lots of great things happening and, um,
[10:40] we're excited for the upcoming events.
[10:44] >> Yeah. Any questions?
[10:48] » Thanks, Ben. Do we have anybody for
[10:50] public comment? There is nobody in
[10:52] person, only members of the public
[10:54] online.
[11:01] Like a no. Uh, we have no unfinished
[11:02] business. We do have new business. um a
[11:06] budget uh preview.
[11:12] » Darius is going to share a screen. I'll
[11:15] send you out the slide deck tomorrow.
[11:18] That way you have it for your records.
[11:20] >> I sent it to Joe so that you have it
[11:26] » just a minute ago. So it's probably in
[11:27] your inbox.
[11:27] >> All right. Thank you.
[11:28] >> Yep. Sorry. Present.
[11:34] All right. So, first draft of our
[11:36] budget. Um, town meeting for Sunderland
[11:39] is in April. So, the timeline for
[11:41] Sunderland is a little bit more crunch
[11:43] than some of the other towns. But, um,
[11:46] we'll take a deep dive at the first
[11:48] draft. Usually, this is sort of a quick
[11:50] little preview and then we get much more
[11:52] into it in February. But, there's a lot
[11:53] to talk about tonight. Um, so the first
[11:55] thing we're going to talk about is what
[11:56] the level service budget presents as.
[11:58] So, just as a reminder, and especially
[12:00] because we have so many folks online
[12:01] that may not have heard the budget
[12:03] presentation before, uh, level service
[12:05] budget takes the existing staffing and
[12:08] existing programs from the current year,
[12:10] plops them into the new year, and then
[12:12] we develop the budget from there,
[12:14] including cost of living adjustments for
[12:16] the contract and any other um non-wage
[12:19] expenditures that we know are going to
[12:21] have an increase. So the first pass at
[12:24] the budget considering all of those
[12:26] factors brings us in with level service
[12:28] at 7.67%
[12:31] just shy of $300,000 gross. The
[12:34] categories on the screen are the
[12:36] categories that you see in your monthly
[12:38] expense reports. So those are set by
[12:40] DESIE and they dictate where um staff
[12:44] and expenditures fall within the budget.
[12:46] So instruction is primarily related to
[12:48] anyone exactly what it sounds like on
[12:51] the ground in the building teachers IAS
[12:54] um principal
[12:55] any other school-based staff secretaries
[12:58] those kind of positions uh so there is a
[13:01] significant level of growth here that is
[13:03] primarily related or or solely related I
[13:06] should say to cost of living adjustments
[13:08] whether it's for our contracted staff or
[13:11] non-contracted staff. Student services
[13:14] uh is your health office. So any nursing
[13:16] staff as well as transportation. There's
[13:19] some other minor expenses in there, but
[13:21] those are the two big drivers. Uh
[13:23] operations and maintenance is exactly
[13:26] what it sounds like. Building and IT
[13:28] related. Administration is school
[13:31] committee, business office, and
[13:33] superintendent's office. Benefits and
[13:36] insurance is also self-explanatory, but
[13:38] I want to point out here and make clear
[13:40] for everyone is that benefits only
[13:42] pertains to central office when it comes
[13:44] to Sunderland's budget. The town covers
[13:47] benefits for all school-based employees.
[13:49] So, when we're talking about benefits
[13:51] and insurance, we're only talking about
[13:53] Sunderland's portion of central office
[13:55] costs for healthcare. Out of district
[13:57] placement, also self-explanatory.
[14:00] So, we're going to break this down in
[14:01] the next few slides of where that growth
[14:03] is coming from in the 7.67%.
[14:06] First piece we're going to talk about is
[14:08] our wage obligation. So, of the 7.67%,
[14:13] 5.02 is related to wage obligations,
[14:16] about $180,000.
[14:19] The left side of the screen outlines
[14:22] what we have in as placeholders for
[14:24] anyone who's non-union. Uh principal, uh
[14:28] assistant principal, secretary,
[14:29] custodian, cafeteria, any other
[14:32] contracted staff for central office that
[14:35] Sunderland pays a portion of. That's all
[14:37] been taken into consideration in the
[14:38] level service budget. On the right hand
[14:41] side of the slide,
[14:44] you can see um the growth from the unit
[14:47] A and the unit C contract. For unit A,
[14:50] the top step is receiving a 4% COLA. If
[14:54] you are stepping, you're going to
[14:55] receive 3% COLA plus the step averages
[14:58] about 3.22%.
[15:01] And then we do have four faculty who are
[15:03] advancing column. So they've furthered
[15:04] their degree. They're moving up on the
[15:06] salary schedule as far as column
[15:08] placement. those staff depending on the
[15:11] column movement and the step they're in
[15:14] the total increase varies whether it's
[15:16] 6% or 9% there's some range in there
[15:19] some around 7% so it really just depends
[15:22] on where you are in the salary schedule
[15:25] and then um there's minimal growth on
[15:27] unit C and
[15:30] it's not that unit C is not receiving
[15:33] wage increases all of our unit C
[15:35] employees will receive a 5 and a half%
[15:38] because there's a 2 and a half% cola
[15:40] plus a 3% step. We added a new step. So,
[15:43] everyone is moving up. It really just
[15:46] depends on how those positions are
[15:48] funded and where we may have funded them
[15:50] from the prior year. It's always a
[15:52] moving target in this category.
[15:55] And then we did increase summer stipens
[15:57] um by about $9,000 based on actual wages
[16:01] for the current year and the structure
[16:03] that we had in summer programs. were
[16:05] over budget slightly in that line item
[16:07] currently and the structure is going to
[16:08] remain the same moving forward. So of
[16:11] the 7.67%
[16:13] the most significant component for
[16:15] Sunderland is wages. Um part of that I
[16:18] didn't mention this already in talking
[16:20] about uh primarily the unit pay wages.
[16:24] Part of that is in the current year like
[16:26] I just mentioned we had a placeholder in
[16:28] for FY26 when we were doing our
[16:30] negotiations. We settled our contract
[16:33] after the budget was already set. So,
[16:35] we're making up for some portion of that
[16:37] in the new year because it wasn't
[16:40] budgeted. So, um all it's a little bit
[16:43] deceiving of what those numbers look
[16:44] like, but it is an actual increase to
[16:46] cost. The next slide shows our non-wage
[16:49] obligations. There's two factors being
[16:52] attributed here. One is transportation
[16:56] which other than a minimal increase for
[16:59] cola based on the contract the the
[17:02] growth in student services for
[17:04] transportation costs is primarily
[17:06] related to a funding source change. So
[17:08] in the current year we use rural aid to
[17:10] supplement the budget.
[17:12] Um I always back that out so that we can
[17:15] have the conversation about how to use
[17:17] rural aid particularly this year. it
[17:20] could come into play if we actually do
[17:21] need multiple IAS where we have to use
[17:24] that to help fund the current year
[17:25] budget. Um I anticipate that at a
[17:28] minimum some portion even if it's
[17:31] $20,000 of our rural aid allocation will
[17:34] go to help supplement the budget. So
[17:36] that growth will drop down slightly, but
[17:38] I want you to see what that funding
[17:40] source looks like should we not have
[17:41] those funds available. It is not a
[17:44] consistent guaranteed streamlined. We
[17:47] saw that this year in where we were
[17:49] promised consistent growth and there was
[17:52] a reduction at the state level. So I
[17:53] just want us to be aware of that
[17:56] there is real growth under benefits and
[17:58] insurance for the central office portion
[18:00] of the health insurance that Sunderland
[18:02] covers. Um similar theme we had a 101
[18:06] increase of central office insurance
[18:08] benefits because they fall under
[18:09] Frontiers insurance plan which is
[18:11] through Hampshire County Group Insurance
[18:13] Trust. That 20% growth that came in on
[18:16] 101 is unbudgeted, so we're having to
[18:19] cover that in our new budget. Plus,
[18:21] we're projecting a growth for central
[18:23] office health insurance benefits again
[18:25] in the new year of 20%. Um, I will say
[18:29] this that it again it does not cover
[18:32] school employees. I know I mentioned
[18:34] that already, but I just want to hone in
[18:36] on that point because
[18:38] we're hearing rumors that Maya is going
[18:40] to have an increase of somewhere 15 20%
[18:44] as well, which means that the town costs
[18:46] are going to go up. Um, so it's a
[18:48] minimal hit here, but a larger hit to
[18:50] the town's overall budget.
[18:53] Um, next couple slides, uh, we are going
[18:56] to look at grants and revolving funds
[18:58] and then total budget. So, grant and
[19:01] revolving funds, uh, there's a slight
[19:03] dip here. I didn't put in any circuit
[19:05] breaker allocation. Um, we can talk
[19:08] about what that looks like. As Jessica
[19:10] asked, we have about $54,000 available,
[19:13] whether we have to use some of that in
[19:14] 26. We use it all in 27 or we carry over
[19:18] some of it to um the next year. We can
[19:21] add that fund those funds back in and
[19:23] then we can apply some rural aid should
[19:25] we choose to do that as well. So, we'll
[19:26] continue that conversation as we go
[19:29] through the process, but that's
[19:30] primarily why there's a dip because I
[19:31] did not allocate for any rural aid. Um,
[19:34] expenditures otherwise are remaining
[19:36] relatively steady for revolving funds.
[19:41] Next slide shows the total budget uh
[19:43] which comes in at about 4 and a half
[19:45] $4.4 million. Uh, you can see the total
[19:48] general fund plus the revolving funds
[19:50] there which is a growth um of a couple
[19:52] hundred thousand from the prior year.
[19:56] level service budget per student costs.
[19:58] We're coming in at 175 students, almost
[20:01] the same as the prior year. This is
[20:03] based on 101 enrollment. So, when when
[20:06] Ben and Darius and I looked over the
[20:08] projections, those numbers have already
[20:10] changed since 101, whether we've had
[20:12] students come or go. Um, but the way
[20:14] that the state handles uh chapter 70
[20:17] reimbursement and any other kind of
[20:18] reimbursement, it's based on that
[20:20] October 1 deadline. Uh, so just shy of
[20:24] 25,500 per pupil per student.
[20:28] >> What's that?
[20:31] >> Why do I Can I ask a quick question? So
[20:32] it's 25,000 center elementary school.
[20:35] What is it at Frontier per It's a lot
[20:38] lower, right?
[20:39] >> Um, no, it's not.
[20:40] >> It's about the same. It's still 25 27.
[20:43] >> Okay.
[20:46] >> Secondary is usually higher.
[20:48] >> Okay.
[20:49] >> State funding is higher.
[20:50] >> Yeah. I didn't know it kind of is a
[20:51] scale like I
[20:52] >> thought
[20:58] I'm just making programs for secondary
[21:01] students.
[21:03] >> Okay.
[21:05] Next piece of our puzzle is going to be
[21:07] to talk about principal's requests. And
[21:09] when I say principal's requests, um the
[21:11] next slide demonstrates it's principal's
[21:14] needs, not necessarily requests. uh
[21:16] because we are going to talk about the
[21:18] impact of those three students that are
[21:20] coming in uh potentially this year. Uh
[21:23] so the next slide grows our budget by an
[21:26] additional $120,000
[21:28] of which $105,000 is projected for um
[21:32] possible three new instructional
[21:34] assistants and that is based on IEP and
[21:36] student needs for new students uh that
[21:40] are residents of Sunderland. The other
[21:42] requests are minimal, about $15,000,
[21:45] which is about half a percentage point.
[21:47] So, it does make a difference in the
[21:49] budget. Uh, but you can see it's minor
[21:52] to each of those lines. And this is
[21:54] really just based on cost of services,
[21:57] our cost of goods. Um, building general
[22:00] repairs, I don't have to tell any of
[22:01] you, we have deferred maintenance on our
[22:04] building for years and years and years.
[22:06] We have grown that budget slightly over
[22:08] time. I don't think we did last year,
[22:10] but the year before. So, we're trying to
[22:13] ease a little bit more money in there
[22:15] and the cost of repairs is going up.
[22:17] Contractors are costing more. Um, same
[22:20] with general supplies, contracted
[22:22] services, and then curriculum. We are
[22:24] talking with uh Laura Ramsey, our
[22:26] curriculum director, about uh the
[22:28] possibility of covering the curriculum
[22:30] supplies or general supply increases
[22:32] with um a grant or another funding
[22:34] source. So, we can pull that money off
[22:36] of here. But if we could really have all
[22:39] of the needs, this would be what the
[22:41] true cost is. So, our level service uh
[22:44] plus principal request, which I'll give
[22:46] that caveat again, it's not really
[22:49] request, it's me, because we're talking
[22:50] about meeting the needs of our students.
[22:52] We have an obligation to provide special
[22:54] education services where required per
[22:57] IEP. So, this is a little bit different
[22:59] than us saying, "We don't have a math
[23:01] interventionist in Sunderland. We would
[23:03] really like a math interventionist." uh
[23:05] it's a different conversation when we're
[23:07] talking about our requirements for
[23:08] special education. So, we are looking at
[23:12] just shy of $400,000 or just over 11%
[23:16] with the level service plus the
[23:18] principal's budget.
[23:22] Next slide shows uh general fund
[23:24] historical information. I did put some
[23:27] notes on here just as reminders, not
[23:29] even for myself but for all of us of why
[23:31] we had these couple of years that were
[23:34] um a little bit higher than the 3 three
[23:36] and a half%. So in 2024
[23:40] um we adjusted facilities expenditures
[23:42] some based on actuals but also to grow
[23:45] that maintenance budget a little bit and
[23:47] then we added a school adjustment
[23:49] counselor position at $60,000 which am I
[23:53] remembering right that that position no
[23:56] that was the educational team lead that
[23:58] became your vice principal position so
[23:59] you still have this position um in the
[24:02] building and then uh last year we had or
[24:06] 2025 I'm Sorry, last year, not last
[24:08] year, 2025, we had an increase in the
[24:10] transportation contract. That was due to
[24:12] our bid and our contract renewal. It was
[24:14] not actually increased services for
[24:16] transportation, just the growth in the
[24:18] contract.
[24:20] Last year, we did add one new IIA
[24:22] position. Um, what I will say here is,
[24:28] nope, I'm going to speak and I'm going
[24:30] to be wrong. So, I'm going to take that
[24:31] back. I didn't say anything. I was
[24:34] thinking about the 22 that we didn't end
[24:36] up filming this year. Um, so we did add
[24:39] the one new IIA position last year. So
[24:42] we have 21 IAS in the budget. So you can
[24:45] see historically Sunderland has
[24:47] fluctuated I think a little bit more
[24:48] than some of the other elementary
[24:50] schools, but we have advocated for some
[24:53] needs. If you remember with the school
[24:54] adjustment counselor, that was a
[24:56] multi-year conversation um where we
[24:58] really fought to add that position to
[25:00] the building. Um, and then 2026, you
[25:04] know, even at 3.71 without adding a new
[25:07] position, that's not a terrible
[25:09] increase.
[25:11] Uh, projected enrollment is on the next
[25:14] slide. We're looking to be roughly the
[25:17] same next year. Uh, kindergarten is
[25:20] always a point of conversation for us
[25:22] based on the census and what we know
[25:24] right now. We're looking at about 19
[25:26] students in kindergarten. We don't
[25:28] expect that'll stay the same. It rarely
[25:31] does in Sunderland and there could be
[25:33] conversation about needing a second
[25:35] classroom. So let's talk about that a
[25:37] little bit further. The current budget
[25:40] has 12 grade level teachers in it
[25:43] because we have two sections of
[25:45] kindergarten currently. In this model of
[25:48] projection, you can see under K, there
[25:50] is only one section of kindergarten. The
[25:53] odds of us staying there are really low.
[25:55] we're going to need that um additional
[25:58] grade level teacher for kindergarten.
[26:00] However, I wanted to demonstrate based
[26:01] on the data that we have right now. So,
[26:04] that could change by our February
[26:05] meeting where we're sliding that
[26:07] additional teacher back into
[26:08] kindergarten. Um, alternatively, you
[26:11] know, if nothing comes to fruition, we
[26:14] could essentially drop a teaching
[26:15] position. Um, which is always a little
[26:18] bit of a risk here in Sunderland and
[26:19] part of our conversation because we have
[26:21] such a fluid community compared to some
[26:23] of the other elementary schools. So, at
[26:25] this point, the second K teacher is
[26:28] still in the budget. Um, I just wanted
[26:31] you to see enrollment wise what the
[26:32] numbers look like.
[26:36] And finally, on the last slide, uh, just
[26:38] ongoing topics of conversation, thing
[26:41] that things that we're talking about
[26:43] internally as an administration and
[26:45] things that we will need your input on.
[26:47] We're not necessarily
[26:49] um looking for advice or decisions or or
[26:53] um movement moving from this meeting,
[26:55] but next month there will be some more
[26:57] conversations for us to make some
[26:59] decisions. So, we're at about 11%
[27:01] increase for level service and principal
[27:03] budget. 1% budget growth is almost
[27:06] $36,000. So, to put that in perspective,
[27:09] it's about an IIA position at 1%. Uh we
[27:13] have 27.5 unit A members in the
[27:16] building, 21 IAS at level service or 24
[27:20] with the new request which is the 11%
[27:22] increase. I am concerned about early
[27:26] childhood revenues. Uh if you remember,
[27:28] I think in September I shared that we
[27:30] ended the year with a negative balance
[27:32] in early childhood. We had to balance
[27:34] that out with school choice money
[27:35] because it's our only option for quote
[27:38] unquote free cash.
[27:40] Um I am expecting that we're going to
[27:42] have to do some of that again this year.
[27:45] How much is still being determined and
[27:47] some of that uh comes to fruition if we
[27:50] have midyear you know students that turn
[27:53] age three that might be getting special
[27:55] education services through reach and are
[27:58] now eligible to come into the building.
[28:00] So some of that is still a moving target
[28:02] for us. Um school choice revolving funds
[28:06] expenses are exceeding revenues. This is
[28:09] typical conversation in Sunderland. We
[28:11] talk a lot about school choice in the
[28:13] budget process. However,
[28:16] with the school shrinking and some of
[28:18] the changes we've made, if you go back
[28:19] to the enrollment slide, not all of our
[28:22] enrollment has two sections anymore.
[28:24] It's very limited, which means our
[28:26] opportunities for growth in school
[28:28] choice enrollments is minimal, which
[28:30] means our revenue growth is minimal. So,
[28:33] um, when we have outgoing sixth graders,
[28:36] that really creates our opportunity to
[28:38] bring in new students, um, potentially
[28:41] with the new class moving up. But if you
[28:44] look even one year from now, the fifth
[28:47] grade will be at 21 with the existing or
[28:49] the sixth grade, I'm sorry, will be at
[28:51] 21 with the existing three school
[28:53] choice. There's not a lot of opportunity
[28:55] for growth there once those four current
[28:57] sixth graders go out. So, um, it really
[29:01] is it it's a positive thing to right
[29:05] side our budget as our community
[29:07] changes, but it also limits the amount
[29:09] of school choice students that we can
[29:11] capture, which has an impact on us
[29:13] because then it means that we may not
[29:16] necessarily be able to cut the staffing
[29:17] that's being paid from school choice.
[29:20] So, that's where the hardship comes in
[29:21] if we have to roll something onto
[29:23] budget.
[29:24] >> Well, it's really interesting. I need to
[29:25] go 14 217 19 27
[29:28] >> switch that one.
[29:31] >> Yeah. So there's fiveyear plan it's up
[29:36] and down. Up and down.
[29:38] >> Yeah.
[29:40] >> And those class those one classrooms for
[29:42] next year tight. You get 18 19 21.
[29:46] >> Yeah.
[29:47] >> Aside from our current fifth grade group
[29:50] tight. And then in a few years, you
[29:53] know, when those cur when those fourth
[29:55] graders for 27 and 29 become sixth
[29:58] graders, we could have the conversation,
[30:01] do we do reduce the next grade level
[30:04] down to one, but then you have a larger
[30:06] class coming up for second grade. So, it
[30:09] is a moving target. I think eventually
[30:11] we will end up with one section at each
[30:14] grade level, which really impacts the
[30:15] school choice further. So, we're going
[30:17] to have to look closely at
[30:20] staffing compared to enrollment and and
[30:23] see what the impact is um to make some
[30:26] decisions moving forward.
[30:27] >> 3K, early educate, early childhood 27,
[30:31] but that's third and fourth the three
[30:33] and four, right? Third, four. So, it's
[30:36] hard to know what the breakdown probably
[30:38] three. And what's our retention using
[30:40] prek? Do we keep mostly the ones that
[30:42] come to prek? They stay here.
[30:45] We usually keep the Sunderland
[30:46] residents, but our prek will bring in
[30:49] others from other towns. Yeah.
[30:51] >> Yeah. And of the current um anticipated
[30:56] 19 kindergarters,
[30:58] um it's looking like one is would be
[31:01] school choice uh sibling
[31:05] at this point.
[31:06] >> When does this committee vote on school
[31:07] choice for next year?
[31:09] >> Um next month.
[31:10] >> Okay.
[31:15] let's flip back to the um info and
[31:17] ongoing topics. The last slide, please.
[31:19] serious.
[31:21] I think you know the only thing I want
[31:22] to say about school choice before we
[31:24] move that is some people one would
[31:26] question like why do we end up having
[31:28] numbers like 27 when we could have
[31:31] reduced at that time and just there's
[31:34] these numbers change so much because of
[31:38] you know of the
[31:40] people coming and going from Sunderland
[31:42] and so there's a lot more um movement at
[31:44] Sunderland than you know other
[31:46] elementary schools and so I just want to
[31:48] state that that that's not the number
[31:49] that started in first grade as for
[31:52] resident stuff. That's I know you folks
[31:53] probably know this, but for anybody
[31:55] listening like
[31:56] >> well this is next year's um
[31:59] >> class and this that next year's um
[32:02] second grade started off as one class in
[32:04] kindergarten and we had you know a bunch
[32:06] of families move into town.
[32:08] >> Right.
[32:08] >> So,
[32:09] >> right. Yeah. There's a story behind
[32:11] those numbers because if you looked at
[32:12] it and say, well, why didn't you just,
[32:14] you know, why don't you just get rid of
[32:16] seven and you could have one teacher
[32:17] here, right? It would make sense. But
[32:19] that's not how it evolved. There's a
[32:21] story behind those things because if
[32:23] someone looks at this alone, they would
[32:25] say this is proper poor management, you
[32:28] know, because you have two sections when
[32:30] you only have, you know, you shouldn't
[32:31] have taken school choice. But it didn't
[32:33] evolve that way. I just want to say
[32:34] there's a story there because when I
[32:36] look at those numbers like what are we
[32:38] doing, you know, but then you remember
[32:39] that how we got there.
[32:43] » Okay. Um rural aid, I did mention this
[32:46] already. uh we may have the potential to
[32:48] use this 57,000 or 47,000. That is a
[32:52] drop. In the current year, we're using
[32:54] about 65,000. So, this is a decrease in
[32:57] rural aid for us. However, it would be
[33:00] 1.3% which makes a big difference. So,
[33:03] um we'll have to make that decision at
[33:05] some point. I would I would like to sit
[33:07] on that and give us a little bit more
[33:09] time looking at um you know these
[33:12] potential new enrollments and what the
[33:14] impact for the current year is. Um but I
[33:17] would expect that we can use at least
[33:19] some of that money to help supplement
[33:21] next year. Um sick buyback is minimal.
[33:25] Um and the retirement is happening
[33:28] midyear next year. So while we were
[33:31] notified
[33:33] and we have to pay it in fiscal year 27,
[33:36] it's not being paid in July and it's a
[33:39] insignificant amount compared to what it
[33:41] has been in prior years when we've been
[33:42] paying out two or three teachers. So I
[33:45] wouldn't recommend right now that we put
[33:47] this anywhere in our budget. I would
[33:49] recommend that it's on our radar and we
[33:52] talk about it as we go through the next
[33:54] school year. We could use next year's
[33:57] relay allocation even at 47,000 if we
[34:00] had to take 10 out of it for sick
[34:02] buyback. We would still have one
[34:03] percentage point to apply to the budget.
[34:06] We could also look at other funding
[34:08] sources. Um there may also be budget
[34:10] savings next year from vacancies or
[34:12] personnel changes that we can capture
[34:14] that money from. Um, and we're fortunate
[34:18] this year that we're not having to go to
[34:19] the town to ask for an additional
[34:22] warrant article, which is what we have
[34:23] done in prior years to cover sick
[34:25] buyback. So maybe that's beneficial for
[34:28] us because all in all, the school's
[34:32] portion of the town's budget, even if
[34:34] we're asking on a separate warrant, it's
[34:36] still for school funding. So maybe
[34:37] that'll help us fund this budget at a
[34:40] little bit higher percentage point. So
[34:42] retire, someone's going to retire midway
[34:44] next year or we pay them midway.
[34:46] >> Um, they're retired mid year.
[34:48] >> So does that mean we have to replace
[34:49] midy year?
[34:50] >> Yes, that's already accounted for.
[34:51] >> Oh, that is accounted for. Okay, good.
[34:54] >> Um, and I threw this on here today. We
[34:57] don't have to talk about it immediately
[34:59] unless we're feeling like we really have
[35:01] to make some decisions. But what would
[35:03] the midyear Darius is referring to it as
[35:06] a budget frost instead of a budget
[35:08] freeze? um meaning that we're not
[35:11] restricting all dollars of the current
[35:13] budget. If there really is a need,
[35:16] someone would be able to go to Ben for
[35:18] approval of those things. However, we
[35:20] are looking at items um particularly
[35:23] instructional hardware. There may be
[35:26] $20,000 that we could recoup from that
[35:29] line. So, uh Darius is in conversation
[35:31] with Scott Hall about what that would
[35:34] look like if we didn't buy the
[35:36] Chromebooks this year that we would
[35:37] normally buy. um what is that multi-year
[35:40] impact if we don't replace the existing
[35:42] lot. So, we're having those
[35:45] conversations internally as well to see
[35:47] if there's anything that we can save
[35:48] from the current year to put into um
[35:52] school choice as our free cash and use
[35:54] to help supplement next year. Having
[35:57] said all of that, at 11% to get us
[36:01] anywhere near even say five, it's a
[36:04] significant amount of money. So, if we
[36:07] could come up with, you know, 1% from
[36:09] the current budget, 1% from rural aid,
[36:12] um, if we use the circuit breaker money,
[36:16] you know, we're really looking at maybe
[36:18] we're down around 7%.
[36:21] Which still is going to require some
[36:23] conversation, I think, of us and and how
[36:25] we proceed moving forward
[36:27] >> because last year we were 3.8, right?
[36:30] >> Uh, yeah. 3.7, I think. And that's after
[36:33] you went through the budget three times,
[36:35] right? three different drops.
[36:36] >> Yeah,
[36:37] >> but it started not this high. It started
[36:39] more like at six down, right?
[36:41] >> It's pretty high this year compared to
[36:43] prior years.
[36:43] >> Why wouldn't we use the whole rule 1.3
[36:46] and why just try to use some of it?
[36:48] >> So, I think we're going to have to
[36:50] continue to talk about the impact on
[36:51] this year a little bit from having
[36:53] students come in. I mean, Darius and Ben
[36:55] had a conversation in our budget meeting
[36:57] the other day about how this really is
[36:59] an anomaly. Um, there was a student in
[37:02] the fall that came in. So, this makes it
[37:03] four students that became residents of
[37:06] Sunderland in one school year that had
[37:10] special education needs that we were
[37:12] required to meet. So, um, those are
[37:15] challenges that we just have to work
[37:17] through.
[37:18] >> And have we looked at anywhere where the
[37:19] CES can help with any of that? like
[37:24] >> I don't know what
[37:25] >> the things could be one onone's written
[37:30] into their IEPs.
[37:31] >> So here in this building
[37:33] >> well they come to us with that in their
[37:34] IP and we have to honor the IEP until
[37:37] they can be written in. It's hard to
[37:39] remove those kind of supports once
[37:41] they're in there.
[37:43] Um
[37:45] the other side to understand is that
[37:48] when you get up to the 11% the actual
[37:50] growth of the town of Sunderland
[37:54] I don't know the exact number but they
[37:56] were some somewhere under between
[37:58] $400,000 and a half million dollars of
[38:00] growth as a town.
[38:03] If Sunderland's budget is 300,000,
[38:07] Sunderland will also be, you know,
[38:09] Frontier, we're working on what their
[38:11] assessment's going to be. Sunderland has
[38:13] a growth in student population at
[38:15] Frontier, so I think they're going to
[38:16] get hit with a higher assessment.
[38:19] We're going to have to have
[38:20] conversations with the town about how
[38:22] much money does the town have,
[38:23] >> right? Let alone you know what portion
[38:27] do they does the town and this is this
[38:30] is your your work ahead of you as well
[38:33] in the sense of what portion of the town
[38:34] wants to put of their increase in growth
[38:37] goes to education versus the other
[38:39] competitors you know all the other needs
[38:41] of the town so I'm just kind of saying
[38:43] the sense of
[38:46] their big growths and I don't know
[38:50] you know as between now and our next
[38:53] meeting. We have to find out, you know,
[38:56] in conversations and we probably have to
[38:58] do a meeting earlier with do a joint
[39:01] select board finance committee once we
[39:02] understand Frontier's
[39:05] um general ask and that's been arranged.
[39:07] frontier, you know, their committee
[39:10] right now is is waiting, you know,
[39:11] waiting for the assessments to come out
[39:14] and looking at red reductions to that
[39:16] budget, but how far do they have to go
[39:19] has to be determined, right, in
[39:21] reductions um and other ways of
[39:24] supporting, you know, moving them
[39:26] different kind of money, using rural
[39:27] aid, looking at school choice money, you
[39:28] know, that kind of stuff. That all has
[39:30] to be played out. But my concern is the
[39:33] total dollar sign coming from education
[39:35] this year is going to be a tough for the
[39:37] town
[39:39] and it's going to require conversations
[39:41] and maybe it's either town picks it up
[39:43] and says the other groups are going to
[39:45] get less within the town. Maybe you know
[39:47] all the other things you know that could
[39:49] apply to that. Um and I don't know what
[39:53] they have in reserves. I don't know what
[39:55] they have for free cash. Those are kind
[39:56] of things that we'd have to go to the
[39:57] select board and finance committee to
[39:59] have a conversation about. Um
[40:02] there's also the concern that you know
[40:05] this the insurance thing is also hitting
[40:08] the town. So
[40:12] if we we did some quick math in
[40:14] Deerfield
[40:15] that if we were to pick up the growth of
[40:19] the
[40:21] um insurance alone on teachers and staff
[40:24] there it was over two and a half%.
[40:27] So that means they're if they're if
[40:30] they're going to budget similarly hold
[40:32] doing you know 20% holder that's with a
[40:34] 20% holder you know with the my
[40:36] insurance
[40:38] you know that's going to be several
[40:40] percentiles of our budget as well. So
[40:42] you can add that kind of on. So it's
[40:44] probably going to be I'm doing some kind
[40:46] of rough numbers and percentage and you
[40:47] know shoot me down if you think I'm
[40:48] getting a little too crazy but you know
[40:50] they're going to have you know $80,000
[40:52] increase on insurance alone from their
[40:54] budget. So if you add that to this, the
[40:57] growth of last year's town is going to
[40:59] be
[41:01] pretty much absorbed just by the
[41:03] elementary school alone. We haven't even
[41:04] talked about where the other schools are
[41:07] coming in, where police and fire are
[41:08] coming in and so forth. And so is it
[41:11] screaming that they may have to do an
[41:12] override? You know, that's going to let
[41:14] them have that conversation. But there's
[41:16] a lot of um
[41:18] conversations that you we're going to
[41:19] have with them because I don't know how
[41:22] this gets funded straight up. I agree. I
[41:24] think we started finance last night and
[41:27] we had the police and the highway. They
[41:30] were talking about 18%
[41:32] estimated insurance impact. They were
[41:35] talking about colas. They all had some
[41:39] pretty important things they to take
[41:40] care and they're working as hard to keep
[41:41] their budget as low as possible. They
[41:44] understand, but we still got a lot of
[41:47] budgets to go over and I think as soon
[41:49] the school gets in there and just says,
[41:50] "Listen, this is where we're at." um is
[41:53] really important. We we talked I talked
[41:56] last night about how well you guys did
[41:57] last year, you know, cutting it down,
[41:59] cutting them down, but I didn't see
[42:00] these numbers yet. So,
[42:02] >> sure.
[42:02] >> Um I I agree you should. We're having
[42:05] we're actually having a South County
[42:08] meeting. So, Weightley, Deerfield, and
[42:11] Sunderland,
[42:12] but not Conway because it's about South
[42:14] County
[42:15] >> EMS.
[42:16] and um in the senior center. Uh we
[42:20] talked about maybe trying to have all
[42:21] four towns come together financing to
[42:24] hear Frontier and also hear um the text.
[42:29] So that may be an opportunity. So all
[42:31] those things we haven't done before, but
[42:33] we were talking about trying to it
[42:34] actually borrows something that we've
[42:35] been doing with joint meetings with
[42:39] our our smaller towns like the Deerfield
[42:41] Sunderland joint meetings. So um to be
[42:44] more efficient but also to get
[42:45] everything out on the table. So yeah, I
[42:47] agree. you probably should give contact
[42:49] them. Yeah, I I think the we we're kind
[42:52] of I've had you know because I've been
[42:55] talking with the town administrators
[42:56] like alluding to doing this but it
[42:58] really is until we have the assessment
[43:00] numbers it's a lot of spitballing and
[43:02] you know we can we know it's going to be
[43:05] we can guess where it's going to be
[43:08] um higher than others you know um but I
[43:11] just don't just don't I don't know the
[43:12] numbers as we said we can
[43:15] I think a lot of it's going to get
[43:16] really busy after the 23rd
[43:19] And so we can figure out, you know, um
[43:24] I think there will be outreach to figure
[43:25] out do we do a joint meeting, we
[43:27] certainly have to. There's going to be a
[43:28] lot of more meetings in the sense of um
[43:31] communicating with those those bodies
[43:33] about this is what it means, right? And
[43:36] so if we say we have to reduce budget,
[43:38] they have to understand what it means to
[43:40] do our with our programming and that
[43:41] kind of stuff. And I don't know um what
[43:45] the you know semolin just has a the
[43:47] price per student as you brought up
[43:48] earlier is the highest but the needs are
[43:51] higher here um and it's just based on um
[43:55] the different populations that were
[43:56] we're serving here that isn't as high in
[43:58] some of the some of the other schools
[44:00] and so
[44:02] um yeah it's that's the road ahead
[44:10] » in terms of state funding. This is just
[44:13] assuming hold harmless.
[44:19] Yeah, I don't think there's definitely
[44:20] not been enough growth in resident
[44:23] um enrollment to impact where
[44:30] » I saw on the division of local services
[44:32] website that allegedly Sunderland's um
[44:36] per capita income made a huge jump this
[44:38] year, but we'll just
[44:40] >> that'll impact Frontier.
[44:41] >> Okay, that was kind of what I was
[44:43] wondering. I was realizing that's not
[44:44] for this meeting. Yeah, it won't impact
[44:46] the elementary school, but it will
[44:48] impact how much the state says
[44:50] Sunderland can afford to pay for
[44:52] Frontier.
[44:53] >> Okay.
[44:53] >> Which is always the moving target.
[44:55] >> Yeah. Yeah. Okay.
[44:58] >> Um, it's always the moving target in the
[45:00] assessment. I mean, I could calculate
[45:02] what the rest of the local contribution
[45:04] is right now, but we don't know what the
[45:06] state says that each town can afford.
[45:09] >> Okay.
[45:10] And if it's a double hit where
[45:12] enrollment went up for Frontier in
[45:15] Sunderland for for Sunderland residents
[45:17] that go to Frontier and the income grew
[45:20] and house values went up, like it could
[45:23] be
[45:26] multi- impact,
[45:29] >> right? But Sunderland for Frontier has
[45:31] and I know Jessica knows because she's
[45:32] there, but has an enrollment increase in
[45:34] percentage where the other towns have
[45:37] come down even though it's only up a
[45:38] few. It's going to because the others
[45:39] went down as well. It's going to be a
[45:41] double hit on the assessment.
[45:44] >> Now,
[45:46] what about again, we'll shift to the
[45:48] frontier, but I heard there's between 20
[45:50] and 30 kids applying out. Is that
[45:53] accurate?
[45:54] >> Out to where?
[45:55] >> Out to private schools. And would that
[45:58] change? But you won't know that.
[45:59] >> Well, it it's not money going out. If
[46:01] they go to private schools, we don't
[46:03] obviously there's no funding that
[46:04] follows them. Um but
[46:06] >> but the foundation enrollment would come
[46:09] down from those towns.
[46:11] >> But when do they calculate the following
[46:13] year, right?
[46:14] >> The following October one report.
[46:15] >> Oh, they do. Okay.
[46:19] So we wouldn't there would be into the
[46:21] next year that would if that was the
[46:24] case
[46:24] >> and you know um
[46:28] we lose we can range for that many
[46:30] students you know that that do that go
[46:33] to private um between five and 13
[46:38] depending on
[46:39] >> depending on the class depending on um
[46:42] >> 20 seems high though
[46:43] >> 22 seems high
[46:45] >> um and then als Also, some of those
[46:46] students may be choice students,
[46:48] >> right?
[46:48] >> Sometimes we you know, you know, they've
[46:50] been part of our community forever,
[46:51] though. We don't look at it that way.
[46:52] But,
[46:53] >> you know, the same thing kind of happens
[46:55] when um
[46:57] you know the leaks you drop with tech
[47:00] students. Not many students who choice
[47:02] to us then go to tech. They usually
[47:03] choice to us and stay with us.
[47:05] >> Um but there are a few that you know
[47:07] sometimes do lose numbers that way. But
[47:10] >> and the tech the students leave in our
[47:13] system and go to tech. Is that deter
[47:15] when is that determining?
[47:17] That's junior high kids, right? Mostly,
[47:19] right?
[47:20] >> Yeah. So, 8th grade, they start the
[47:22] application process now. Um,
[47:27] we usually know in April.
[47:29] >> Okay. And how does that affect our
[47:31] funding? Just
[47:32] >> it doesn't affect Well, if we lose
[47:35] students on the overall,
[47:38] again, a foundation numbers go down. Um
[47:43] but then you know then the bill comes
[47:45] from the new students going to tech and
[47:47] tech is is tough to regulate and we had
[47:50] this conversation today in another
[47:52] meeting because
[47:54] >> you know they have 13 or 18 communities
[47:56] I mean they serve it's it's a crazy
[47:58] number and
[48:00] you know your cost goes up by a student
[48:03] or drops by a student one or two in most
[48:05] of our small towns
[48:07] >> um of not one or two students more but
[48:09] one or two whatever the average is like
[48:11] you have 10 going out, then you have
[48:12] nine going out, then you have 12 going
[48:14] out. And the statement that they say at
[48:16] town meeting is, yeah, their budget
[48:18] keeps going up. They never talk about
[48:19] that. They just say, oh, you're you're
[48:21] thinking up is up this year due to
[48:23] increased enrollment.
[48:24] >> And there's never really a collective
[48:26] conversation about what the overall cost
[48:28] of the budget is. And so, um, there's a little bit less accountability
[48:33] there. Um I would say within that I
[48:37] don't think that they've gone crazy with
[48:39] their increases but um it's just that's
[48:42] how it comes through and so I don't have
[48:44] no idea what the tech budget is or the
[48:46] VO budget.
[48:47] >> Yeah. When we look I mean just maybe I
[48:49] should get back to something but when we
[48:50] look at it it's it's such a small amount
[48:54] compared to our budget for Frontier that
[48:56] it's kind of like just a rubber stamp
[48:57] like yeah that's doesn't seem like that
[48:59] much seems like a deal. All right, here
[49:00] we go. And he's going to the tech is
[49:02] going to 18 19 different town meetings
[49:06] and and the ones that are the biggest
[49:08] are Falls and Greenfield. You know, they
[49:10] have they're the ones that have the big
[49:12] expenses, but not really us. So, we're
[49:14] really focused on Frontier and
[49:17] Sunderland.
[49:27] » Any further questions or discussion? I
[49:29] had um All right. So, what was it? Um
[49:34] the 20% placeholder that's just we're
[49:36] just assuming, right? That's based on
[49:39] what happened with the other insurance
[49:42] company for the other towns and because
[49:45] we did 18 for our MI for MIA.
[49:49] >> Um
[49:50] >> so, the town may have some info from
[49:53] Maya already about the range that
[49:56] they're looking at. Yeah,
[49:57] >> we don't have that yet for Hampshire
[49:59] County Group Insurance Trust for
[50:01] Frontier, which is where the central
[50:02] office benefits come from.
[50:04] >> Okay, that's why.
[50:05] >> Um, and I'm trying to be
[50:08] as most prepared as possible. So, the
[50:11] 20% could be a little bit high by a
[50:14] couple of percentage points, but I
[50:16] certainly don't want to be on the other
[50:18] end where I only budgeted 15 and it
[50:20] comes in at 20.
[50:21] >> No, it's better to budget that one
[50:23] especially because you can, you know, if
[50:24] you don't make it, you can borrow, but
[50:25] you don't, you're right. you don't want
[50:26] to be under. And then the question for
[50:28] Ben, any any turnover anticipation
[50:32] except for that person retiring next
[50:34] year
[50:36] >> of staffing.
[50:37] >> Yeah,
[50:38] >> we well we have our wonderful longtime
[50:41] English learner teacher Matthew Hell.
[50:43] He's um retiring in at the end of March
[50:47] of of this year.
[50:48] >> Okay. Um we our plan is we've posted for
[50:52] a long-term sub uh to carry us through
[50:55] the end of the year but we will be um
[50:58] you know opening up a search position
[51:01] >> and that's not a position that could be
[51:03] built internally like an IIA moving out
[51:05] no one is anyone qualified internally.
[51:08] >> Yeah we we definitely have some folks uh
[51:10] qualified internally for that position.
[51:13] Um you know there's just a lot of
[51:15] different moving parts.
[51:18] Yeah,
[51:18] >> but that's not going to be a reduction,
[51:20] >> right? Well, reduction higher on the
[51:23] scale versus lower on scale
[51:24] >> which is already incorporated into the
[51:26] budget. So any retirements that I know
[51:28] of or anyone leaving for any reason that
[51:31] I know of at this point, I've already
[51:34] accounted for a reduction in where
[51:35] they've gone.
[51:36] >> And how do you do it? You account for
[51:38] You don't go the lowest step. You count
[51:40] >> No, we go middle range. And actually, I
[51:42] go a little bit higher because our
[51:45] applicant pools have been so small.
[51:47] districtwide for any position,
[51:51] >> you know, and you know, right now we're
[51:53] not anticipating any other faculty
[51:56] member changes um for instructional
[51:59] assistance. That, you know, historically
[52:01] has been a position that there is some
[52:03] fluctuation each year.
[52:10] » Last week, you had the Frontier School
[52:11] Committee vote on a soft freeze. Do you
[52:13] want any action from us this evening?
[52:18] Um
[52:25] we
[52:27] some of the biggest areas uh uh soft
[52:30] freeze is technology.
[52:33] Um and we reached out and I reached out
[52:36] we had meetings with you know um Scott
[52:38] Paul our technology director to talk
[52:40] about what the impact of that is and
[52:42] what the musthaves he has. Um he kind of
[52:45] reported back that he absolutely needs
[52:46] about 10 rounding up slightly but at
[52:49] around $10,000 to redo the server.
[52:52] Without it, we won't be protected going
[52:54] into the next year because it's it's uh
[52:57] falling out of warranty or something
[52:58] like whatever the story is. Is it the
[53:00] must?
[53:02] He talked about
[53:04] the Chromebook buys from this year being
[53:05] pushed to another year, but then they
[53:07] would be musts next year. Um he kind of
[53:10] gave us a rundown of that. So when we do
[53:12] a frost, that would be one area where we
[53:14] would see the most gain. Um the
[53:16] daytoday, I don't know what you there's
[53:18] not a lot of day-to-day
[53:20] um needs
[53:24] that
[53:26] they're coming across as wants.
[53:28] >> No, there's really not. Um, so the other
[53:30] piece at times is just our our general
[53:33] repairs, but like
[53:35] >> you know, we sometimes look forward to
[53:38] extra money at the end of the school
[53:39] year for just the deferred maintenance.
[53:42] Um, but you know, a lot can happen
[53:44] between now and the end of the school
[53:46] year. So, but I guess by I guess I guess
[53:49] it would be good to do a vote on that
[53:50] because what you're saying is that you
[53:52] want the administration to prioritize
[53:54] saving money, not saving money for the
[53:56] end of year to do some painting and do
[53:58] some whatever. But we are saving to
[54:00] offset next year's budget. And if we're
[54:04] going to start doing that, I think it
[54:05] should come from the top. And that
[54:07] that's what we want to do here. But I I
[54:09] want people to know when I say frosting
[54:11] the budget, we're going to stop we're
[54:12] going to slow teacher spending
[54:15] and you know teach all the teachers
[54:16] online can say we're not spending a
[54:18] whole lot. You know what I mean? It's
[54:19] not like it's not like you know you know
[54:21] it's especially at this point of the
[54:22] year you've already got the basic
[54:23] classroom supplies but as I you know I
[54:25] explained I had a meeting with frontier
[54:27] teachers today to talk with them about
[54:29] the frontier budget and and one of my
[54:31] definitions well sometimes you go and
[54:33] buy posters right you don't need to buy
[54:35] posters sure you know I mean it's a
[54:37] that's a that's a want not a need um if
[54:40] you need you know there are needs in
[54:42] your classroom where you have to get the
[54:44] manipulatives for the certain unit that
[54:46] you're working on in order for it to be
[54:47] successful and and Ben becomes the
[54:49] gatekeeper of that and so um you know
[54:53] and it's also about cost and impact and
[54:55] number of students you know it's that
[54:56] kind of stuff that he can you know we we
[54:58] normally do but with a little bit more
[55:01] um fidelity I guess and then
[55:04] >> and I I think there's plenty of lines
[55:05] where we can capture 1% of the budget
[55:08] without impacting
[55:10] um student you know needs and and
[55:13] teacher needs. You know, I I think
[55:15] people should be mindful of what they're
[55:17] purchasing and make sure that you're
[55:19] getting it from a preferred vendor and
[55:22] at the cheapest price possible. And you
[55:25] know, when you would normally buy five
[55:27] dozen of a folder so you have some for
[55:29] next year, just buy what you need right
[55:32] now. But between the tech line, which
[55:35] does have an impact in the long run, but
[55:37] if we can put it off for one year,
[55:40] that's a good position for us to look at
[55:42] or or account for us to look at. other
[55:44] things like superintendent's office. If
[55:48] Darius and I don't do our PD this year,
[55:50] that money automatically gets recouped.
[55:52] You know, our association memberships
[55:54] are already paid for, but I don't have
[55:56] to go to the conference for my
[55:58] association in May this year. You know,
[56:01] those kind of things. Um, you didn't
[56:03] make it to MASC, so there's savings in
[56:06] those lines. Um, you know, the little
[56:08] bits and pieces I think will help us add
[56:11] up. Um, while we can't, uh, freeze PD
[56:15] without negotiating as part of the
[56:17] contract, they're typically in
[56:19] Sunderland is some money left there. Um,
[56:22] normally I would say the substitute
[56:24] line, but that's you've you've had quite
[56:26] a few subs in. So, I don't think that'll
[56:28] be an option, but I do think there's
[56:30] other places besides classroom supplies
[56:32] and materials and general supplies and
[56:34] materials. But just having that
[56:35] awareness, you know, I don't know if
[56:37] this happens here, but I know at
[56:38] Frontier if the custodian has the
[56:41] opportunity to stock the closet in May
[56:44] of toilet paper and paper towels, he
[56:46] will do that if he has budget money
[56:47] available. But don't do that. Wait till
[56:50] July one and restock your closet. So
[56:53] just those sort of conscious um
[56:55] purchasing decisions I think will help
[56:57] us save. And it is unfortunate because
[56:59] we we have benefited from several years
[57:02] now of being able to do some deferred
[57:04] maintenance. We painted the building
[57:06] last year um internally a bunch of of
[57:08] spaces and I just don't think those are
[57:10] going to be an option for us. But what
[57:12] are our priorities? You know, repainting
[57:15] the classroom or saving a position that
[57:17] we need in the budget to meet the needs
[57:19] of our students. So, we're just sort of
[57:22] talking about prioritizing how we spend
[57:25] our money in a different way than we
[57:27] usually do.
[57:28] If that ice
[57:33] » now with PD you the cloud offers a lot
[57:37] of PD
[57:39] have we and we're paying for members pay
[57:42] four four bucks a person I think or 450
[57:46] in looking ahead to next year can the
[57:49] schedule utilize the collaborives PDS at
[57:52] a lower cost than will it outside be
[57:55] better without
[57:57] changing
[57:58] the value of the PD. You know, I despise
[58:00] something you and Laura have to work on.
[58:01] But that's just a thought. I know we,
[58:03] you know, I've just been getting more
[58:04] and more involved with this
[58:05] collaborative. I'm just wondering where
[58:07] we can use it for Frontier and for
[58:09] Sunland. Um because it offers a lot um
[58:13] but a lot of it's special ed, but there
[58:16] are a lot of PD that they have. So, just
[58:20] a thought I can I'll dig deep into and
[58:22] I'll talk to you more about what you
[58:23] mean. Great. I hope you get a lot of
[58:25] notes. I mean grants.
[58:28] >> Yeah. And when you talk about also about
[58:30] PD, so anything that's in a teacher's
[58:33] contract is contractually driven. So if
[58:36] teachers are I forget I should know on
[58:39] top of my head and I don't but um what
[58:41] the proportion they get through the
[58:43] contract that for professional
[58:45] development isn't frozen.
[58:47] >> So we are contractually obligated. Um,
[58:51] the way around that is you you could
[58:54] technically meet with the association
[58:55] and see if they would agree to freeze
[58:57] their professional development, but I
[59:00] don't think that's that's necessary that
[59:01] they could agree to you can always alter
[59:05] within the with within an
[59:06] >> tuition reimbursement.
[59:09] >> For example, tuition reimbursement,
[59:10] whatever. I'm just talking about like
[59:12] you're not allowed to touch anything
[59:13] that's in the contract. So if we have
[59:16] tuition reimbursement or you know for
[59:18] their own personal PD and that kind of
[59:20] thing that's not affected by the freeze.
[59:22] However um if you ever if it was
[59:25] something was
[59:26] >> more even more catastrophic you could
[59:28] meet negotiate with the association
[59:30] about limiting something within their
[59:32] contract. We're just talking about how
[59:33] it works
[59:34] >> and those listening we're not there yet
[59:36] but I just want it's important to
[59:37] understand when people say well I heard
[59:38] another district said they did that.
[59:40] Well, this is what you can do. Meaning
[59:42] in the contract can be discussed, right?
[59:43] It's just we can't unilaterally do
[59:45] something without them.
[59:59] Thank you all for your hard and
[1:00:00] thoughtful work on this
[1:00:04] » a difficult thing
[1:00:07] I
[1:00:07] >> say and articulation. I appreciate all
[1:00:09] that you do to explain that for us.
[1:00:11] >> Yeah.
[1:00:12] >> That was very informative.
[1:00:14] >> When is our next meeting? Let me know. I
[1:00:17] thought I found it. Um
[1:00:20] is the February 11th.
[1:00:26] his vacations the following week.
[1:00:28] >> Yeah.
[1:00:29] >> I was just trying to think like
[1:00:32] >> as soon as we have the frontier
[1:00:37] numbers and such, we really do need to
[1:00:39] start reaching out and talking with town
[1:00:40] about what kind of conversation they
[1:00:42] want to have with us in February.
[1:00:44] >> And so I'm just saying that to kind of
[1:00:46] close this conversation for next steps.
[1:00:48] one is that you know we're going to you
[1:00:50] know is opening of that conversation. So
[1:00:55] um
[1:00:57] I'm just looking at for thoughts on
[1:00:58] that.
[1:00:59] >> So we finance select board is talking
[1:01:02] budget on the 9th.
[1:01:03] >> Okay.
[1:01:04] >> Now that possibly could be moved to 10th
[1:01:07] or the 11th if they're off or we can
[1:01:09] move ours but that's our next so we
[1:01:12] we're basically doing every two weeks
[1:01:13] from now until the end of time. But um
[1:01:19] And I could I could look ahead to see
[1:01:21] what budget
[1:01:22] I can I can tell you.
[1:01:25] I mean, keep doing what you're doing,
[1:01:26] but I'll tell you what is actually
[1:01:28] scheduled for that budget. Right now,
[1:01:31] >> it might be the tech school.
[1:01:35] » All right. I guess so. We'll we'll we
[1:01:37] can talk more about that's you know,
[1:01:39] that's scheduling a meeting so that can
[1:01:40] actually talked about away from the
[1:01:41] meeting. We don't actually have to do
[1:01:43] that. We don't have to do that now. And
[1:01:44] that's something that can be discussed
[1:01:45] via email. scheduling of meetings can
[1:01:47] be. So, I just wanted that to be on
[1:01:50] people's radar that we really aren't
[1:01:51] going to put the whole thing on hold
[1:01:52] until we see you again in February. We
[1:01:54] really once we get this information, we
[1:01:56] got to start reaching out, start talking
[1:01:57] to people so that um everybody knows
[1:02:00] what's going on and then we can have
[1:02:01] more constructive conversations.
[1:02:03] >> Great. Thank you.
[1:02:05] >> Moving on to the school improvement
[1:02:07] plan.
[1:02:08] >> Great. Um our school council has um met
[1:02:14] a couple times so far this year. We have
[1:02:19] a couple staff members as part of our
[1:02:21] team. We have two caregivers and have
[1:02:24] been struggling to line up a community
[1:02:26] member up until last week I met with
[1:02:28] someone who was going to be joining our
[1:02:30] group. So um good news on that front.
[1:02:33] Our school improvement plan uh flows
[1:02:36] down from the district's strategic plan.
[1:02:39] This year we have three overarching
[1:02:41] goals with a lot of action steps under
[1:02:44] each of those goals. Uh the goals are
[1:02:47] ensuring a positive school climate. Um
[1:02:51] then goal two is based on curriculum and
[1:02:54] instruction where we're ensuring
[1:02:55] rigorous, accessible, and inclusive
[1:02:57] educational experiences for all
[1:02:59] students. And then finally, goal three,
[1:03:01] school culture and community, where
[1:03:04] we're ensuring uh sustaining high
[1:03:06] community involvement through
[1:03:07] accessible, frequent, inclusive events
[1:03:09] and initiatives. Um the community
[1:03:13] includes caregivers, students, staff,
[1:03:16] and uh community organizations.
[1:03:20] So we restructured the plan a little bit
[1:03:22] from previous years. Um one example is
[1:03:25] that we had previously had um
[1:03:28] implementing responsive classroom
[1:03:30] protocols
[1:03:32] um and a responsive classroom as it as
[1:03:35] an individual goal that has since been
[1:03:37] moved to um an action step under goal
[1:03:41] one um ensuring a positive school
[1:03:43] climate and um yeah so overall we're
[1:03:47] making really good progress at at this
[1:03:50] point. Um, one of the, you know, I guess
[1:03:53] somewhat exciting components of this,
[1:03:56] um, when it, uh, specifically involves
[1:03:59] the school extended school community has
[1:04:02] been our farm-to-school initiative. Um,
[1:04:07] uh, Megan is on the committee for the
[1:04:10] district and we've already connected
[1:04:13] with local farms, um, at times this
[1:04:16] school year and we've had a couple
[1:04:19] different field trips taking place. Um,
[1:04:21] our fifth and sixth graders went to
[1:04:23] Warner Farm. Um, we had students in
[1:04:26] grades one,
[1:04:28] uh, grade three, four, and grade six go
[1:04:33] to Thomas Farm. Um, and then we've had
[1:04:37] donations from both Warner Farm and
[1:04:40] Smaroski Farm as as well. So, you know,
[1:04:44] I I sent this out. Um, we you'd received
[1:04:48] this in advance. Do you have any
[1:04:49] specific questions about the school
[1:04:51] improvement plan at this point?
[1:04:56] >> I don't
[1:04:58] speak to everyone, but
[1:05:00] >> Well, yeah. Are you gonna say something?
[1:05:03] The only thing we talked about in the
[1:05:05] council, similar to sharing the well,
[1:05:07] because we talked about our school
[1:05:10] council interacting with the other town
[1:05:13] school council, see what their their
[1:05:14] plans look like too, to see are they
[1:05:17] very similar, are they very different?
[1:05:18] And so we've been that's something that
[1:05:20] came up.
[1:05:20] >> Correct. And and um we are waiting for
[1:05:23] those plans and I've already been in
[1:05:26] touch with the other principles. So,
[1:05:27] we're waiting for those plans to be
[1:05:29] finalized and then I'll bring them to
[1:05:31] our next our next meeting
[1:05:33] >> and also the work that you're doing with
[1:05:34] the other principles in your
[1:05:37] >> learn your
[1:05:39] studies, right?
[1:05:40] >> Y um uh also for the past couple years
[1:05:44] we've used uh the school council as an
[1:05:46] opportunity to do a book study and we're
[1:05:48] once again uh doing that this year. We
[1:05:51] are reading What Happened to You um
[1:05:54] which is a book co-written by Oprah
[1:05:56] Winfrey and Dr. Bruce Perry. Um the book
[1:06:01] uh focuses on how child one's childhood
[1:06:04] experiences whether from uh being in
[1:06:07] utero to the first few weeks, months um
[1:06:10] of life uh then shape behavior later on.
[1:06:15] So, it's been a really interesting read
[1:06:17] up to this point. And um yeah, I think
[1:06:22] we're pretty pretty decent shape.
[1:06:25] >> And yeah, the key point is the common
[1:06:28] question I've done it coaching teaching
[1:06:30] before like what's wrong with you,
[1:06:33] right?
[1:06:33] >> And not that comment and like you know
[1:06:35] what's happening you put me in this
[1:06:37] place. So, it's it's been really
[1:06:39] informative.
[1:06:43] I appreciated the book study when I was
[1:06:45] on Yes. school council. It was a really
[1:06:46] good experience.
[1:06:49] >> I appreciate the uh school improvement
[1:06:52] plan that it's very clear and concrete.
[1:06:54] Familiar?
[1:06:55] >> Yes.
[1:06:56] >> Any more questions or discussion about
[1:06:59] the school improvement plan before we
[1:07:00] vote on it?
[1:07:02] Right. We need a motion to approve the
[1:07:04] school improvement.
[1:07:06] A
[1:07:06] >> motion to approve. A second.
[1:07:09] Thank you. Any further discussion?
[1:07:13] And then do we do the roll call?
[1:07:15] >> Megan,
[1:07:16] >> yes. Blue eye.
[1:07:18] >> Yes.
[1:07:20] >> Joe,
[1:07:20] >> yes.
[1:07:22] >> Amanda, yes.
[1:07:24] >> All right. The school improvement plan
[1:07:25] has been approved. 5-0. Moving on to
[1:07:28] appointing a member to the
[1:07:29] superintendent agreement subcommittee.
[1:07:31] Do you want to explain this?
[1:07:32] >> Sure. the a few years back we created a
[1:07:35] superintendent agreement to kind of
[1:07:38] supplement the fact that we don't have a
[1:07:40] strong or 38 agreement. Um
[1:07:44] >> I'm just going all the town archives
[1:07:45] that
[1:07:47] >> no one's found it. If someone finds
[1:07:48] their attic, please bring it forward. Um
[1:07:52] and part of that so in that plan
[1:07:54] basically um you know it gave some
[1:07:56] guidance on how to um hire dismiss the
[1:08:00] superintendent
[1:08:01] um and gave some some language in there.
[1:08:04] it says that we will review it
[1:08:06] every two years um and so we're due to
[1:08:09] review it. At the same time, there's
[1:08:10] also talk about um should we start
[1:08:12] adding to it and adding some of the
[1:08:15] other things that we do collectively as
[1:08:16] a joint committee to just formalize it
[1:08:19] in language and structure so that the
[1:08:21] good practices that we're doing can
[1:08:23] carry on and be formalized. And an
[1:08:26] example of that would be um let's say we
[1:08:29] went to approve the school calendar and
[1:08:32] um this committee was just diehard
[1:08:35] summer people and like we're not coming
[1:08:36] back to school till after Labor Day and
[1:08:39] you know and the rest of the committee
[1:08:40] is like well we usually go back before
[1:08:42] Labor Day and they said nope we're
[1:08:43] voting to you know what that would have
[1:08:45] consequences if one group went road
[1:08:48] without having you know some sort of
[1:08:50] structure about how do we vote the
[1:08:52] school calendar but there's a lot of
[1:08:53] other things in there as too there we
[1:08:55] can talk about but from how to evaluate
[1:08:57] the superintendent um how to you know
[1:09:00] some of the other kind of ins and out
[1:09:01] workings that we do um just so that we
[1:09:04] have a process that can outlive the the
[1:09:07] people in the room who have done it for
[1:09:09] so long you know what I mean because
[1:09:10] that's a lot of our and I think I had
[1:09:12] this conversation
[1:09:14] maybe it was at it was at Frontier but
[1:09:17] there's no UN38 agreement but one did
[1:09:19] exist and the reason why I know that is
[1:09:21] that a lot of our practices look just
[1:09:24] like um Lake Silver Lake Regional
[1:09:28] District
[1:09:29] >> which is was also is down in kind of
[1:09:32] southeastern Massachusetts. Um when you
[1:09:34] look at some of the practice they had
[1:09:35] they looked very similar to what we did
[1:09:38] as a regional group in how decisions
[1:09:40] were made and that kind of stuff. So
[1:09:42] there was institutional knowledge that
[1:09:43] started from something. So there had to
[1:09:45] be a regional agreement somewhere. I
[1:09:46] don't think people say they can't find I
[1:09:48] really do think it existed. So, um I I
[1:09:51] think we slowly want to rebuild that. If
[1:09:54] we try to do it all, I think what
[1:09:56] happens is um there's a lot of like
[1:09:59] really touchy subject about funding and
[1:10:01] that kind of stuff that we have set that
[1:10:03] you try to open that can of worms,
[1:10:05] you're not going to get be able to get
[1:10:06] the operations done. So, this is kind of
[1:10:08] like a kind of a sideway of doing um
[1:10:12] getting some of the stuff that we're
[1:10:13] already doing kind of functional and
[1:10:15] then eventually if we ever have a
[1:10:17] regional discussion, it can be folded in
[1:10:19] easily and and like this works, you
[1:10:21] know, that kind of thing. That's the
[1:10:23] idea anyway. So, we want to get so all
[1:10:25] that to say, we want to get the
[1:10:27] subcommittee together and we need
[1:10:28] someone um appointed from this
[1:10:30] committee.
[1:10:33] >> Amanda, you said you would be willing to
[1:10:34] serve on this committee.
[1:10:35] >> I'm happy to. Yeah. Thank you.
[1:10:37] >> I'm also interested because I helped
[1:10:40] write the original the document two
[1:10:42] years ago. So was on that committee. So
[1:10:45] I'm okay either way. I mean new blood is
[1:10:47] good but knowing the history.
[1:10:49] >> Um I know Amanda's interested and I'm
[1:10:52] interested in spreading around the
[1:10:53] opportunities.
[1:10:55] So I I will appoint Amanda.
[1:10:56] >> Oh not voted on. Okay.
[1:10:58] >> Yeah. Yeah.
[1:11:01] All right. Uh reports any committee
[1:11:04] reports?
[1:11:07] I'm still working on rural aid. Um we
[1:11:10] might get a restoration of the cut for
[1:11:12] FY26. There is going to be a fair share
[1:11:14] supplemental budget. So there might
[1:11:16] still be some money coming there. And um
[1:11:20] uh the rural schools committee is trying
[1:11:21] to meet with a member of the governor's
[1:11:23] team to try to get more in rural aid in
[1:11:25] the governor's budget very very soon.
[1:11:30] Any other committee updates? Capital committee hasn't met,
[1:11:37] >> Okay. Uh collaborative update, Joe.
[1:11:39] >> Yep. Tomorrow's a big day. We have three
[1:11:42] finalists. I can tell you there. They
[1:11:44] came out public yesterday. Some of you
[1:11:46] might have seen them
[1:11:47] >> for executive director.
[1:11:48] we started with
[1:11:51] 40 something applications nationwide. We
[1:11:53] hired a company from uh Texas who's been
[1:11:57] excellent um
[1:12:00] really knowledgeable and worked well
[1:12:02] with a really diverse team. We have 10
[1:12:04] people on the executive uh search
[1:12:07] committee. Three staff the staff at the
[1:12:10] collaborative have felt they needed more
[1:12:12] voice over the last two searches. So
[1:12:15] they add it this time uh the the we went
[1:12:18] from the 42 he narrowed it down to 19
[1:12:21] and then we took the 19 and narrowed it
[1:12:23] down to five semi- finalists and now we
[1:12:26] have three finalists.
[1:12:28] one five just in alphabetical order is
[1:12:31] um Porsche Bonner who's a superintendent
[1:12:35] Northampton right now and then we have
[1:12:40] um
[1:12:42] uh Thomas Deni who's actually
[1:12:45] chair the exec director is retiring of a
[1:12:49] Connecticut ACES program uh very big
[1:12:53] $150 million budget there uh so about
[1:12:57] three times times the size of what we
[1:12:59] do. Uh but so he's uh second um uh
[1:13:05] member of this finalist group. And then
[1:13:07] the third one is Andre Morgan who's
[1:13:12] actually he's done a bunch of different
[1:13:14] things. He's actually head of school at
[1:13:15] a school in Texas at one point. He's
[1:13:18] from this area, not this area, but from
[1:13:20] New England. currently is the HR in
[1:13:22] Beverly for their school district which
[1:13:24] has had some interesting
[1:13:27] notary in the news. So those are the
[1:13:30] three. Uh it was interesting.
[1:13:34] We we voted with a um point system
[1:13:37] 54321. We had won those finals and these
[1:13:41] three were 37 35 and 35. So it's going
[1:13:44] to be interesting when we sit down
[1:13:47] tomorrow. starts at five o'clock, you
[1:13:49] know, so turn it on TV if you want. It's
[1:13:52] public hearing.
[1:13:53] >> Uh, but I think it's going to be a long
[1:13:56] each candidate will interview for 70
[1:13:58] minutes and then we'll start
[1:14:00] deliberating around 8:30 or 9.
[1:14:02] >> Wow.
[1:14:04] >> And is the deliberation public?
[1:14:06] >> Uh, the deliberation goes into um
[1:14:08] >> executive session. Yes. Okay.
[1:14:10] >> Yeah. So, all the interview questions.
[1:14:13] So there's we we created a set questions
[1:14:16] that the chair is going to read just for
[1:14:18] efficiency.
[1:14:19] >> Uh Kathy Inglehart will read each one
[1:14:21] and then there is a brief moment or time
[1:14:24] for uh the rest of the board because the
[1:14:27] board's 37 people uh to ask questions
[1:14:30] but it's limited time limited. So those
[1:14:32] are already asked questions. We're not
[1:14:34] asking it. if other people have um extra
[1:14:36] and then there's time for the candidate
[1:14:38] to say their piece at the beginning and
[1:14:41] at the end, but it will be it's going to
[1:14:44] be a long night I think. So, we'll see.
[1:14:46] But I'll let you all know when we after
[1:14:49] that the the chair and the vice chair
[1:14:51] will negotiate the rest of the contract.
[1:14:56] » Yeah, I've learned I mean I've learned a
[1:14:58] lot. Um one of the candidates that
[1:15:01] didn't quite make it was the CFO. You
[1:15:04] probably know her from um the Pioneer
[1:15:06] Valley, lower valley. Pioneer Valley.
[1:15:09] She helped she's been there 25 years and
[1:15:13] she helped negotiate the the lower
[1:15:15] valley's transportation system for SEIS.
[1:15:20] So they have 250 vehicles that they help
[1:15:25] their all their member schools get
[1:15:26] supports. I mean started small. I asked
[1:15:29] her I said how do you do that like but
[1:15:30] what wouldn't that be great if we had it
[1:15:32] with the collaborative here? So, um,
[1:15:35] it's just economy scale. I mean, they'll pick up kids that are coming
[1:15:39] from, you know, they could go to Conway,
[1:15:42] Weightley, Sunderland, and then take
[1:15:44] them to Hec Academy or wherever you're
[1:15:45] going to take them. And it was pretty
[1:15:47] interesting to hear something we might
[1:15:49] want to tap later down, you know, down
[1:15:51] the road is like, okay, how do we do
[1:15:54] that? You know, slow and build. You
[1:15:57] know, they talked about economy of scale
[1:15:59] and bidding with transportation
[1:16:00] companies that you're so much more
[1:16:02] powerful when you have more people to
[1:16:04] bid, you know, to offer the bid to. So,
[1:16:06] you know, we know we we have just not a
[1:16:09] lot of people to ask the bid for, but
[1:16:10] that's some ideas that come out. Learned
[1:16:13] a lot about PD that the collaborative
[1:16:14] has. So, you know, in upcoming months,
[1:16:18] maybe I'll bring some more stuff that
[1:16:19] the collaborative could help us with,
[1:16:22] especially with our budget issues.
[1:16:26] Thank you for serving on that committee.
[1:16:27] That sounds like that was a really big
[1:16:28] commitment.
[1:16:31] >> Last week it was uh we l luckily an ice
[1:16:33] storm so it went from instead of from 9
[1:16:35] it went from 11:00 to 5:00 and then
[1:16:37] Thursday was 9 to5. So there's a lot
[1:16:41] >> but it's interesting because all those
[1:16:43] it's just western Massachusetts and all
[1:16:46] the different
[1:16:47] >> um schools and the different needs and
[1:16:49] the different focus points and
[1:16:51] perspectives.
[1:16:53] I I I watched the movie Angry Men from
[1:16:56] 1957
[1:16:58] with Henry Bond just because it's feels
[1:17:00] a little like that sometimes you're in
[1:17:01] this room and you're deliberating. You
[1:17:02] start a little bit on one side and by
[1:17:04] the end it's changed um because people
[1:17:07] have voiced
[1:17:10] worthwhile opinions.
[1:17:14] » Thank you.
[1:17:15] >> Thanks for the update and a
[1:17:17] superintendent report. Um yeah, should
[1:17:20] be part of your packet. I included the
[1:17:23] statewide graduation council update. Um
[1:17:26] and it's in the handout with that. Um
[1:17:29] just just so you know what's going it
[1:17:30] doesn't really affect the elementary,
[1:17:31] but you know what's happening at the at the in the end zone of of
[1:17:36] secondary and what's going on there. And
[1:17:39] I just give the outline to this that the budget timeline for the state budget
[1:17:43] for a reminder about how that process
[1:17:45] works because I kind of have to review
[1:17:46] it every year too because I forget how
[1:17:48] the timeline. It's a long one and it's a
[1:17:51] lot of back and forth and a lot of
[1:17:52] discussions along the way.
[1:17:57] » Well, thank you. There's no further
[1:17:59] business. We could take a motion to
[1:18:00] adjurnn.
[1:18:02] >> A motion to adjourn. A second.
[1:18:06] >> All right. All in favor of adjournment,
[1:18:09] can you do a roll call?
[1:18:10] >> Megan,
[1:18:11] >> yes. Live,
[1:18:13] >> yes.
[1:18:14] >> Joe,
[1:18:15] >> yes.
[1:18:15] >> Jessica,
[1:18:16] >> yes.
[1:18:16] >> Amanda, yes. All right. And we are
[1:18:18] adjourned at 6:23 p.m. Thank you
[1:18:21] everybody.