WRSDC Meeting • July 13, 2026

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[0:01] Here we go. So it's okay. I'm calling to order regular meeting 1446 of the Wachusett Regional School District Committee at 7 p.m.. This meeting is being recorded and broadcast by Holden TV on channel 194 and on Holden TV.com. All right. Uh, next on the agenda is public comment. Is anybody signed up for public comment? Nope. All right. So next on the agenda is chair's opening remarks. Um, I just want to say thank you to Paxton and Rutland for their special town meeting votes. And I want to thank all five towns for their support for the district budget this year. I'm looking forward to a new year with continued improvement and focus on student achievement. In addition, we have a state budget which includes the Foundation Budget Review Commission, which is one of the priorities that our district has been asking our representatives to support. So I'm glad to see that included in the budget and also a continuation of universal school meals for lunch and breakfast. And I hope that for the Review commission, the Foundation Budget Review Commission, that we're able to keep what you sit at the forefront, forefront of those discussions at the state level, since we are the oldest and largest regional school district in Massachusetts, and the funding formula pretty uniquely overlooks our situation. So hopefully there will be good movement from that mission. Um, next on the agenda. I will accept a motion to enter into executive session to discuss strategy for contract negotiations with all bargaining units, as the chair deems a discussion in public session would have an adverse effect on the district's bargaining position. To discuss the contract for Joan DeAngelis, director of Special Education and Student Services, to discuss the contract for John Crowell, deputy superintendent, and to discuss the contract between Community Health Connections, Inc. Doctor Leonard Airways and Wachusett Regional School District, and to return to public session.
[1:56] So moved. Second. Sorry, miss. Who was that? Oh, okay.
[2:01] Paula and Dana. Um. And, uh, to enter into executive session requires a roll call vote. So, Randy.
[2:11] Remember Lori? Yes. And the pool.
[2:15] Pool? Yes.
[2:15] Member. Pugh. Yes. Member Brendan brennan. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes.
[2:28] Yes.
[2:38] Okay.
[2:39] All right. So we're back in public session at 730. Um, the next item on the agenda is the superintendent's report. Doctor Riley.
[2:48] Thank you very much. I'm just gonna wait a minute for speed up. Uh, tonight I'm briefly hoping to speak to the committee about an FY 27 update, and then also talk a little bit of the Street strategic plan review that's underway, and some of the work we did with principals this past week. In terms of FY 27 update. Um, as the chair mentioned, the, uh, the budget was signed by the governor and made official the chapter 70 minimum increase for each district is $160 per student. Uh, because this is what we had planned for during the last iteration of the budget. Uh, there is no additional school committee action required at this time. We received an additional about $550,000 from the initial budget presented by the governor. But that's also what we had used to revise our budget. Um, the other information we would want to share, I don't think we've done this publicly before, is we did receive an additional FY 26 earmark from Senator Durant. That's going to allow us to create a security vestibule here at the high school. So I have a different point of entry where people can interact with the main office, but not necessarily gain access to the school proper, and then also funding for an accessibility lift for the curriculum center at the central office. For too long that has been a project where originally we had issues with finding out if it could be fixed, and at this point we know it needs to be replaced. So Senator Durant's has given us some additional funding to make sure that happens as well. So those are two very worthwhile projects that we're excited to have gotten funding for. In terms of FY 27 earmarks, we requested or gave all of our representatives several projects to consider. I think we had eight in total. Um, most of them focus on the ECC and the high school. We are waiting final notification for those those projects. I'm not going to be surprised if we get official notification later during the school year. Um, we benefited this last time. This last earmark from Senator Durant was the third we actually received last year. So thank you to Member Brennan and certainly Member woodland for starting us off on that path. It's made a big difference in terms of the projects that we're able to take on. So I appreciate that. I'm just going to pause briefly in case anybody has any questions.
[5:15] Any questions.
[5:19] Okay. Good news. We also wanted to take a moment tonight. You know, one of the things that chair and I have spoken about is trying to make sure we get more frequent reports to the committee, specifically around the curriculum department and student services. And we hope to have a couple of those presentations for you later this summer. But sometimes schedules make it difficult to make sure that those presentations can be given by the the people who are best to present them. So one of the things we talked about is maybe share some of the work we're doing right now to review our strategic plan last week we had a retreat, which was really a work in at at the central office with our our principles. And one of the things we did was take a look at a strategic plan and all the objectives to see kind of where we sit as we start to look at the district improvement plan, which we'll present to the committee later this month. It's important to note that when the third year of our strategic plan and like I said earlier, we'll be looking at the district improvement plan and how we can best achieve the remaining priorities of the strategic plan. Um, we were able to get input from principals this past Wednesday. I think it was particularly helpful because I think, well, you'll see is where we are currently spending the most time and energy and effort with our strategic plan is making sure that those initiatives that we've created at the central office level live and breathe properly at the building level. And so it was really a good opportunity to to speak to building principals about where they thought we were with that, with that work. And so basically I was going to share the four objectives of the strategic plan. The first one being deeper learning and feedback from the principals is they felt like but mostly our high quality instructional materials. Those implementations have been going very well. And so primarily that's been into reading at the elementary level and project lead the way for our steam and science classrooms. They felt the addition of Steam classrooms at the elementary level has been particularly beneficial, as has both co-teaching efforts and career pathway work at the high school. That's a lot of the work that you heard in terms of the pathways from Becky DeMarco, and I think she's going to be reporting back to the to the committee later on this year as well. In terms of practices, they thought the practice of learning walks, which we're really doing at all of our schools at this time, common assessments and then the introduction of instructional leadership teams, which existed, all of our schools, basically teacher led workgroups that are supported by the administration to work on important curriculum initiatives for the schools. And so that's really those have been big bonuses in terms of the strategic plan, where we continue to have obstacles or challenges, we continue to need need to be a district that looks at how we use data to drive instruction and also to look at our growth. We are still not a data rich district. I think we've made some pretty good steps in terms of putting those, um, those mechanisms in place, but that's certainly an area where we need to continue to grow. Um, looking at our my cap integration, my cap, Becky DeMarco had come to speak to us a little bit about two. It's basically your academic and career planning. And the emphasis now on the state is to start at a very early level. Like you're going to see them actually probably go down to the kindergarten in the next couple of years. But one of the things we've seen in Becky has done a great job with this work is building its awareness and kind of baseline, but we really need to integrate it. So I don't think it's initiative yet that really people own, you know, and we're using as much as we could be effectively in guidance and with our classroom teachers to really drive those connections between what kids are learning and what they're interested in. That connection is vital, I think, for a lot of kids to be invested in what they're learning. So we definitely have some more work we can do around that. We continue to be challenged by our schedule, or I feel like we made some great progress by adding Steam teachers because it gave us the dedicated time for teacher planning. We don't have those mechanisms in place to support co-teaching, and a really important part of co-teaching is for your special education teachers and your curriculum teachers to be able to spend time together talking about what those lessons will look like. So that's something that is a current barrier that we need to continue to solve. And then because we've had such a strong focus on Ela and math curriculum, we really do need to look at our social studies curriculum and make sure that it's fully supported and implemented across all of our buildings. And so that's really a next step for us in terms of focusing on the content area. And so some of the suggested areas of focus is one is and this may sound funny, but really allowing the staff to breathe, they especially at the elementary level, I look at what we've done to them in terms of curriculum, a revamping of the math curriculum with Eureka Squared, and then also into reading. They people will estimate it takes up to five years to implement a curriculum. And so the fact that we've kind of put two new curriculum curriculums on our teachers in successive years, they really need an opportunity to really learn these programs and get the nuances in and out in terms of really what is the best content and the scope and sequence where they should be presenting materials. So that's one of the areas of focus that we'd be looking at, not only giving them time, but also refining our curriculum maps and pacing guides so people know where they should be during the year. And really, it's one of those those situations where we want to build a district where not necessarily every school looks exactly the same, but when you go in based on the content and the delivery and the systems that we have in place to support kids, you know, when you're going to Wachusett School. And so this is the next step in terms of us looking towards that. And then also begin to develop our writing strategies. If you look and I think when Lara Rose, our curriculum director, when she comes and speaks with you, I think that's all one of the things she'll make note of you is when we look at our data, one of the things we desperately need to make sure we're addressing is our writing. And so that's definitely an area need and we need to begin to explore. They've already taken some steps, but how do we want to address that? What's the next step to make sure that we're we're giving students the skills they need to be effective writers.
[11:25] In terms of objective two, which is really us focusing on our youth sports accomplishments has been the addition of our mtss interventionists at the elementary level, and that has been expanded to the elementary level level this year as we're going to have an interventionist at the Glenwood School and Lisa Corning's work. We. Lisa is actually a person who we're hoping going to be presenting to the committee, either late this summer, in the fall. Her work and overseeing that interventionist work has been outstanding. So when do kids get picked up for interventions? What are the types of scaffolding we're providing to make sure that they're getting the skills that they may have been missing? The development of our instructional leadership teams, I mentioned them a little bit earlier, but that's really a key piece in terms of us trying to build building leadership and ownership over the needs of our students. And attendance task force that was led by Director Thompson isn't here tonight. He's on vacation, but his work. And you'll see this mentioned a little bit later in the in the presentation, has resulted in a 7% improvement of our attendance for special education students. So that was really some great work led by him and director DeAngelis, that we're hoping that will become more spread out throughout the district because we continue to have attendance concerns, specifically with our high needs students and then ongoing Panorama student success training. We talked about the dashboard. Again, another item I think we can probably bring back to school Committee so people can visualize what we're talking about when we have the dashboard. But the dashboard is basically will be a multi-year picture where you can look up student assessments, performance, attendance, really any manner about the student's school experience that is not only going to strengthen transitions, but help us, mark, when a student needs either interventions through MTS or perhaps be considered for an individualized education program. Our challenges and obstacles under this objective really is about application on the building level, so we're inconsistent about how we're right now doing the MTS, which isn't surprising, really, when you look at your first year of implementation and having new positions in all of our schools. And so we really need to further define our practices and protocols around how we support students. We've also had some inconsistent use with our Panorama student success across the school. So some of our schools are using that program quite frequently, and they have good utility with it where they can get in. They know what they're looking at, they understand the value, and they're actually making sure that when they have interventions, they're documented. So the next year, if a teacher looks at that child's performance, they know what was successful and what wasn't. And so that's really what we're trying to build, you know, in terms of improving our data culture. But I think we would admit and principals would admit it's not it's not the same everywhere. And we really need to get to the point where, um, again, it doesn't matter what school you're in. You can look at a track record in terms of what we're doing to try to support students and whether or not it's been effective, and then what the next step is. And so that's important. The other tool is elevation, which is used to track our growth of multilingual learners, and that's been rolled out. But we need to see more regular usage across our schools. It's not being used to the level. We feel like it could have a great impact. So our our suggested areas of focus where we think you'll see the goals in the coming year under this objective, um, to really set some expectations around how the Panorama dashboard is used across our school and can be standardized, uh, creating our capacity of both our leadership teams and then also our, our, our certainly our ILT to meet and review and plan around data, um, our capacity, our teachers capacities to interact. Data really varies across the district, but we think it's important to at least get our, our leadership teams to the point where they can lead that work. And our undergoing similar protocols in all of our schools, opportunities for more consistent information sharing between our PLT, PLT and team chairs. And so um, PLT being our principals leadership team applet is a mechanism actually that was started this year and done with our assistant principals. So they have like PD and meetings with them. That was run by Amy Norton and also John Kroll our assistant to superintendent. So they get, you know, regular feedback and professional training as well. And then also our team chairs are typically meeting with Joan DeAngelis and special education. I think one of the things that we've realized is we sometimes have these meetings and information is, um, you know, dispersed but not always shared to the level that we would like it to. And so trying to make sure that we're, we're, uh, you know, communicating all three of these bodies as they're the major administrative positions across the district, and everyone has a thorough understanding of the things we're working on districtwide. And then the other big thing that we've talked about that we're actually working with Better Lesson, the company that is working with the high school on a reimagining of their schedule working towards middle school schedule alignment. Uh, that's something we were hoping to do this year. Um, when we looked at the complexity of it, though, we kind of realized we were over our heads and needed some professional support. Um, it is our goal that regardless of where you attend sixth, seventh, and eighth grade, whether it be Paxton Center, Thomas Prince, Chocolate or Matthew or, um, central tree, that you're going to have similar opportunities in all of those schools. And so looking at language, uh, language offerings, looking at hopefully the opportunity to take health courses, um, that those are going to be consistent. And so it's really going to be one of the big things that we need to concentrate on happening for the next year, because we are sending students onto the high school, and they've had very different experiences in some cases. Objective three is our district wide systems and structures. I think some of the accomplishments and progress we've seen this last year. He's not here to take a bow, but bury in the website, which I think was a nice development this past year, and also the communication platforms. The other thing, it seems like it's been around forever, but we really were just in our second year of parent teacher conferences, and I think that's a good example of something that we try to take the feedback every year and make it a little bit better. This year, we had in-person options at all of our schools, and I think the fact that, you know, regardless of the grade level K-12, the fact that we're interacting with our parents is really a notable achievement for the district and one that we hope continues to get better. Um, challenges that were identified. One of the things that we are we are continuing to challenge with, and this is, I think, become more clear with MJ working for us and with our English learners is that translation services could be approved for a lot of the families across the district. We also look to continue to refine our process in ordering school supplies. I think we're thrilled. Especially for our families who are at economic risk to be our financial risk. To be able to offer school supplies. I think this year's process will be better. I guarantee it won't be perfect, but it is another one that we want to continue to make sure we're building better. And then lastly, there have been barriers about administration, pathways for licensure. And one of the things I speak about that is some of the work. And I think we, um, you'll hear us, I think do some more about this, probably as we enter into the new strategic plan, working at having a highly qualified and diversified workplace. And so we haven't been able to do some of that work, I think, to the level that we would all like to. And one of the things we're looking to do is to make sure we have pathways both to becoming a teacher in the district, but then also teachers to pursue administration. And so we have a few ideas, including perhaps hosting administrative pathway courses, um, moving forward, because I think one of our goals will be to look at our team chair positions and see if they actually can be expanded to also include an evaluation or observation component. So they're working with our direct service providers and then also are seen as true administrators in the district. So those are some things that that we're working on. Suggested areas of focus is to utilize today. This was the second year that Central Mass Regional Planning Commission has completed studies for us in district. And primarily, I think the usefulness of the work they've done, I think, lies in our facilities and also long term capital planning in terms of what our needs are for facilities in terms of population growth. And so there's a real opportunity to use both phase one, which projected our population growth over a ten year period, and phase two, which concentrated on kind of a more comprehensive look at our facilities and try to do some work with our towns in terms of determining when we may need additional facilities, if at all, in our towns, and also what the plan may look like. If that was the case, would it be looking at new facilities? Would it be looking at expanding existing facilities? And then lastly around that, trying to make sure that we've taken the next step in capital improvement, in that we're identifying years where we may want to be looking for support from the mass building Authority. So high, high cost, high leverage projects like roofs, insulation, windows, boilers that we have a time frame where the district will know that they need to apply, and the towns would support our application for some of those funding mechanisms. So that's an important next step that can take place. I used to teach point, which is our system for evaluation. Some of the features. We are actually very fortunate in that one of our new principals this past year, Kristen and Mayo, was the touchpoint expert in her previous district. And so she not only prepare paraprofessionals this year into the system. She also has some ideas about how it can become more effective for us, which we're excited to pursue. Improving the translation services. As we mentioned earlier, that seems to be a big need. And then our our school collaborative process. And then lastly for objective four, which is our building a culture of belonging, wellness. Um, you know, some nice progress. I noted a little bit earlier the chronic absenteeism for for students receiving special education services. It's been reduced by 7%. So 22% down to 15, which is nice progress in that area. Um, it still definitely remains a concern overall. But then also with our high needs students, um, the district is also really fully embraced the deep dive into safety and security. Um, well, um, we and this is at Doctor Kroll suggestion. We hired a safety coordinator. And really, I would say a quarter if 25 to almost a third of our recent, um, retreat with uh, administrators was talking about the next steps in terms of what we're doing for security. I think one of the things that, um, I think became clear to all of us why this was such a good move by the district is when somebody talks to you about things that you've never even contemplated before, in terms of security and work that we should be doing. So we're excited about the progress and think that that's going to make a big difference as we move forward in the coming years. And the other one was the student ambassador program that was successfully, uh, piloted at the high school. Um, challenges and obstacles. And these have been around for a while. And I think something that we need to have a plan to address. We have not adopted an SEL curriculum yet or health curriculum, and particularly at the middle school level for health. That's a strong need. And then SEL throughout all of our grade levels. I think that that's a tier one, um, emphasis that we need to make sure we're, we're, we're doing our due diligence on. I understand why we focused on other things prior to, but this is still a major need for the district. And then I think also a lack of strong transition protocols, specifically between the eighth and ninth grade and then also fifth to sixth grade. And this is in particular when students aren't receiving special education services. And so and it is one of the values, as I talked earlier, about the the data dashboard, and that you can be really making sure that you're passing a more comprehensive record onto a child next teacher. So those are really important developments that we can, um, that we need to be taking on the next year in terms of suggested areas of focus. We're thinking that maybe what we need to do is develop a district wide SL health task force to really get this, this going in the district and make sure it gets the emphasis it needs to review also our data around sense of belonging and also select an appropriate curriculum for SEL. I think we've been aware of our data for a while and in the panorama surveys, and they're not strong for the sense of belonging for our students. And I think, I think the common refrain we hear from people is, well, we're not sure it's accurate. It's a nationally normed assessment. And so it's accurate. All right. They know what they're doing. And I think what it reflects for us is we have a lot of work to do in that area. And I think that similar to health and SEL needing to make sure there are high priority items for the district, we've gotten this this data for a while, and it really is important that we make a plan to address it because it has an impact on our students. And I look at, you know, for example, our high needs students. And, you know, when you look at something like attendance, I do feel like it's directly related to how they belong, how they feel supported, how they feel connected to the work in the school. And so clearly, this is an area that I think we need to continue to address. And then the other one is to address our district wide professional development for SEL competencies and teaching practices. We've spent so much time on. Curriculum implementation. I think we're all looking forward to some moments where we can give some good PD for teachers about recognizing the social emotional needs of students. And then I'd also say awareness across all learning needs. And so those are um, that was some of the deep dive work that we've started for the district improvement Plan. I think we found it especially beneficial to hear from the practice, because they see it in their buildings, and it gives us a better sense of what we really need to refine. I think our focus when you see a district improvement plan for us, um, will be to really refine the work of some of the initiatives we've always started and then look at some of the things that have been in existence for a few years now. But we haven't gotten to like the SL and then, um, and then like the health and middle school alignment. So, um, that's kind of where we stand at this point in the process and that we would anticipate. My guess is that one of the August meetings to give you a completed district improvement plan with action steps that will inform my goals for the coming year. So happy to answer any questions that folks have.
[26:27] Thank you, Doctor Riley. Bret. Go ahead.
[27:09] No. Absolutely, absolutely. I think the challenge. Um, You know, John, maybe if you can talk about even the the health standards and you know, how we're going to address those whether or not it's distinct. Teachers are splitting the PE. And then maybe a little bit, since you have great, uh, recognition in terms of your former position in the district and trying to try to get the resources in time necessarily to to move forward with SEL initiatives.
[27:38] Yeah. And I think there's a philosophical difference in approaches to like people have different perspectives in terms of what does SL look like in a in a school district. And, you know, some folks very much believe it's a, it's a, it's a curriculum. It's a standalone curriculum. Some folks believe that it's practices that are integrated into the academic curriculum. It's probably a little bit of both. Um, but to to Doctor Ali's point, um, you know, we haven't had the ability for somebody to be really focused on it because that role is is very multidimensional. And so, you know, Director Thompson is in that role now and it's a big job and there's a lot to it. Um, I think though, the answer to your question, remember, Beardmore, is, is we have to take a district wide approach to looking at this entire framework. Um, and that's going to be it's going to require a lot of stakeholders to come to the table because, you know, as some of you may know, the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education has put out a statewide framework for health and physical education. And embedded into those standards are SEL standards as well. Um, and so we need a district wide because there's there's so many different facets to that work. Right. Like that's not just teaching health at the high school. That's what are we doing at the middle school level? What are we doing at the elementary school level. How to physical education teachers tie into that work. Counselors are going to tie into that work. Right. And so it's truly a pre-K through through, you know, post-grad experience that's going to require people from the nursing, you know, departments to counseling to teachers. And so what we really need to do, and the thing that we've talked about, Director Thompson and I have been to talk about actually convening a task force that's going to represent all of those constituents, parents, students. Right. Like, there's so many different layers to that and come up with a thoughtful approach. And we're not going to be able to do that in a short amount of time. That's going to take the it's going to take the year, I would think, next year. Um, I don't know in terms of what we would need as far as, you know, resources other than just support for the work. Um, and, you know, patience as we work through it because it's it's it's a bear. You know, um, it's it's a lot and it's, it has a ripple effect throughout the entire district.
[30:21] Thank you, Joanna, but would you anticipate, um, needing some resources.
[30:28] In the budget for the following year in terms of potentially.
[30:31] Maybe.
[30:32] Staff or curriculum or things.
[30:33] Like that?
[30:33] Yeah, potentially. You know, I think some of it depends on the approach. Like like John said, is it a hybrid model where they're getting some of these standards through physical education? Um, you know, what does that look like? How does that look at the, at the, at the middle school level where we have designated health teachers for middle school level or not? Um, I think, you know, just a also, you know, address member via moore's beard. Moore's question, uh, part of it's been resources, you know, that that, um, Director of Student services support position really is focused so much on compliance. You don't get to do the proactive work that we very much would like to do. We're district size, and this kind of goes to your point. Member Brendan, about resources. Typically a district our size would have some type of guidance position that's overlooking the guidance work in the district. We don't have that. And so I think we have to ask some of those questions. You know, how we're built administratively throughout the district. And you know what's reasonable. I think that what's going to help is making it a priority on the district improvement plan and making sure it gets the weight it needs. But to John's point, we need a lot of a lot of voices, a lot of time to try to figure it out because it's I think it's become more complex over the last few years just because some of these got in this guidance, it gives you an opportunity to do or approach it in some different ways, but it's also a lot to wrap your head around. And so it's really making it a priority, which I think we want to do through the district improvement plan. It's giving the time to do the work, which I think John suggestion is to to try to do the task force. And then I think, lastly, there will be a piece that we're going to have to identify. Do we need some more resources to do this work? Right. And is that about looking at perhaps some specific additions and positions?
[32:23] Sorry. Another question.
[32:25] Is there some sort of deadline from DC in terms of when we're supposed to have that in the curriculum?
[32:32] That's a good question. I don't know the answer to that. Off the top of my head, I can tell you that the frameworks were released in draft form, I believe, in 2024 and then finalized in 2025. Okay. Um, I'm not aware of any directives coming from DC saying that you must implement this by next date or at all. To be honest with you, I'm not 100% sure I'd have to double check that. Um, but it's certainly something that a lot of people spent a lot of time developing. And it makes sense, right? When you're like looking at this world of PE and health, there's a lot of connections between the two. In a former district that I worked in. We didn't have health teachers and PE teachers. We had wellness teachers, and there was a lot of great things. We actually looped in food and nutrition classes into that work, too, and I think it makes sense. I think it's something that we we've always planned on doing, either in year two or year three of the strategic plan. And, you know, with the turnover and the position and finally getting director, you know, Thompson appointed, it just didn't make sense to do last year as he got his feet wet. And I think next year is the year to do it okay. And so I again just again the real answer is I'm not sure about DC's timelines. Our timeline would be figuring it out next year and implementing in FY 28.
[33:53] Okay.
[33:54] Thanks.
[34:01] This is perhaps just a little bit of an aside, but um, John just mentioned PE health and then tying in food and nutrition, but I think maybe there's an element of media literacy that may be appropriate to cover, depending on how the curriculum gets developed. Just it just depends on how we evolve as a district in terms of dealing with the evolving needs for media literacy, because it ties in with health related needs and interpretive interpretation surrounding sexuality and things like that.
[34:32] Sorry, I couldn't I didn't hear what your, uh, the literacy part. I heard literacy, but I didn't hear the media literacy. Literacy. Yeah. So I think, um, so I'm not like super in the trenches with the new graduation requirements. Like, I really there's a lot to unpack there, but I'm 90% sure that media literacy, AI literacy are factored into the new graduation requirements as well. And so those are those are definitely things that we have to unpack as a district.
[35:00] Right. I guess what I'm just suggesting is, as you look at the curriculum for specific to SL, just recognize the need for media literacy because a lot of information flows right on through modern media.
[35:17] So I just wanted.
[35:18] To.
[35:19] Add that.
[35:21] I.
[35:22] Appreciate what a proactive stance and a planning, deliberate stance that the administration is taking on this for many years. There's been always, um, you know, something comes down the pike and the district reacts and there's always a reactionary stance instead of a thoughtful, deliberative. And so I really appreciate that you're taking the time to take, uh, a deliberate look at what is needed, the bigger picture, and looking at it as a district whole and how everything feeds into everything else. Um, and especially since, you know, realistically, our central office is quite small, where we don't have the positions that smaller districts have for doing this work. So I really appreciate how committed you are to thinking about this and doing this work and having a pace that is realistic.
[36:15] Um, and.
[36:17] This is incredibly important as I know everybody is tired of me talking about how great new Jersey has been. But in new Jersey, we had a quarter of health every single year from kindergarten to 12th grade. And it's shocking to me that that's not required in every state in the country. And I see the difference from, you know, when that's not the case and the amount of, you know, health, uh, illiteracy that is around. So I, um, I'm glad as much as I want to have a health and cell curriculum in place right now, I'm glad that you're taking a thoughtful, deliberative approach. So thank you.
[36:59] I appreciate that. I'd also just like to kind of say to to that point, um, I think our central office team is, is small and mighty small, but mighty right. Yeah. But we're incredibly proud of the work that this district has done over the past two years. And that's that's done because of the support of the school committee in two ways. Really, really helping us prioritize the development of a strategic plan and really letting us focus on that strategic plan over the last two years. You know, Doctor Riley and I talk a lot about this. I don't know if you're going to find another district in the state that has done more concrete action steps than our district. It's it's incredible. And, um, the work that Doctor Ali just represented in those slides are, you know, some high points and low points that the principals of all kind of highlighted. But if you look at the actual action steps on our website for our district improvement plan last year, like there's probably 100. Um, and my hope and I know we will continue to do that for a third year, but I just want to highlight that that strategic plan in the district improvement plan that we create as a result of the strategic plan drives all of this. And so we'll do that for the third year, and then we'll do a new strategic plan for the following years. And that that helps keep us focused and on on task and in a very proactive way. So thank you for the support in that.
[38:34] Um, Paula.
[38:35] And then.
[38:35] Jana, I.
[38:37] Just wanted to encourage you, as you are taking a look at what needs to be done. It's it's easy to focus on the deficits and the things that need to be done, but you also have some pockets of excellence. There are some people that are doing a good job with these things. Take a little bit of time. I would encourage you to identify and parse those out and find out what's going well and how you can build on the strengths that are already there.
[39:04] Thank you.
[39:06] Jana. And then.
[39:06] Brian.
[39:07] So that leads me to my question of when do we have another task force and work.
[39:14] On that.
[39:16] Strategic.
[39:17] That'll yeah, it'll be part of the work next year. You mean creating a new plan?
[39:20] Yeah.
[39:20] Because there's so much work to keep doing for year three. But then I realized, oh my God, we already.
[39:26] Yeah, we.
[39:26] Have to.
[39:28] Do that a a district improvement plan. Another for next year strategic plan for the following years. We also have to have conversations around portrait of a learner. Um, what does it mean to graduate from Wachusett? Yeah.
[39:39] I mean yeah.
[39:40] So there's there's a lot there.
[39:42] Oh, okay.
[39:45] Brian, I just want to urge the recognition that the study of health, you know, regardless of the age group is is really a study of applied stem. So it's an exposure of the kids to Stem classes, whether they realize it or not. They don't really they won't necessarily think of of it in that way, but I think that kids will perhaps find interest in chemistry or other pure sciences because of their exposure to the applied science, and that that's also true of an extension to things like food and nutrition, because it's all chemistry and physics and all these good fundamental things.
[40:26] And also psychology.
[40:27] And sociology.
[40:28] Too.
[40:28] There's plenty going.
[40:29] On.
[40:32] Dana.
[40:33] Just kind of a small, smallish question, but you talked about, um, the middle school schedules and bring them more into alignment. Say a little more about that. Does that include the actual schedules so that kids will be studying the same thing at the same Time and teachers teaching the same thing at the same time? Or is it just the content?
[40:56] So our desire is that it needs to have a unified schedule and so.
[40:59] Actual.
[41:00] Schedule. Yeah. I couldn't tell you, you know, that content is on the exact time. Um, but we have a lot of boutique, um, characteristics of our schools right now. And, um, some of them have just happened over time where a school needed a resource and they advocated for a particular resource, and they got it. But then they ended up doing something that was maybe a little bit different than the town over or vice versa. And so it was funny when we added Steam teachers, what's one of the places where we didn't have a Steam teacher? Our Steam school, Thomas Prince, you know, it's kind of like you got to be it's crazy, you know? And so those types of inconsistencies, um, are across the district that are our middle school level. But then I also look at inconsistencies, Dana, where, you know, if you want to take German, great. You just have to live in Rutland. You know, if you want to take Spanish, you can take it in any one of our district schools. But you can only take French if you are from Holden, you know. And so these are things that I don't have a solution off the top of my head, but I know that's not right. Right. Students shouldn't have academic opportunities just based on the town they live in when they're attending the same regional school district. And so we have to find a way where those opportunities for learning are as close as they can be to similar across the district. And part of it, you know, to your question is, right now, there's an additional period at Mount View. And so they have an extra scheduled period. And what it means because we did a little bit of their schedule analysis this year, I think it's up to by the time you're through your third year. Um, it's a think it's almost a half a year of content. John Miller they broke us. And so you, you know, in a three year period, you're you're losing almost half a year of instruction. And so that's that's not an equitable situation. So these are things that we have to we have to get right. It's just so difficult because you can go from a Paxson Center or Thomas Prince with you. You really have 1 or 2 classes per grade level or, you know, and then you go to a mountain view where you have multiple sections and, you know, just a completely different schedule central tree as well. And so we've got to find a way of making sense of all that, and then trying to figure out what's appropriate in terms of decisions in terms of staffing and other things, and hopefully build in opportunities like for co-teaching and co planning and all of those things. So it's a that's why we we kind of looked at each other at the end of last year, beginning this year, and said, there's no way we're going to be able to pull this off in-house. And really, you need people who are experts in analyzing schedules and looking at efficiencies and giving you some out of the box, thinking about how you can offer some of those opportunities. So that's what we're hoping to accomplish. But really, to your point. Yeah, we're hoping that regardless of what, you know, strings was another, um, which I think is happening. Right. I think it's going to happen now Paxton Center school. But you couldn't take strings if you went to Paxton Center School. And so these things that just didn't make any sense, um, really meant that kids weren't having opportunities based on their geographical location, district. We're hoping to we're hoping to get as far as we can to rectifying that situation in the next year.
[44:21] Are people concerned that they will be asked to give something up like, well, oh, we're going to have to give up German just because nobody else has it?
[44:30] Yeah. I will never publicly say that I'm going after German, but I know it's just an example. I'm teasing. Yeah, that's the ugly side of change that people don't. Yeah, you know what I mean. And yeah, there are some boutique or nice things about schools that are going to have to be different. And it's kind of a lot of the work that we've really done in the district over the last couple years, you know, increasing the time and content in Ela and math. And, you know, it meant that some things weren't going to look the same and there wasn't as much time in the school day to do certain projects that people really liked. And I wouldn't even say it's not like they had no value. But, um, we've made a real commitment to those, those primary content areas. Um, it's going to there's there's going to be there's going to have to be some, uh, um, some give and some, uh, acknowledgments of things that, you know, can't continue. I'll tell you one of the major ones for us, and we've been working on this with Matthew, is you're not going to most likely be able to have grade level teams, and none of our schools really have that at this point. You know, they have teachers that are teaching both sixth and seventh or seventh and eighth And, you know, it's just because we we can't support that model at our schools and accomplish what we're trying to accomplish. And so, you know, I can see I can understand why people may lament the loss of a grade level team. I'm not saying that's not insignificant, but I think the impact on the district as a whole and the opportunities that you would get in all of your all of the schools if we do this work is going to be worth it. But we'll definitely there'll be some pain points along the way. There always are.
[46:16] All right. Any other questions about this topic? I'll thank you both for the presentation and explanations. Um, is there are there any questions about any other part of the superintendent's report?
[46:37] Okay. Um, then we'll move on to recommendations requiring action from the School committee. I would accept a motion to approve the contract between the SCDC and Joan DeAngelis, director of special education and Student Services.
[46:53] So moved.
[46:54] Second, Paula and Kumara. Okay. Um, this is to reappoint for one year. Is there any discussion?
[47:06] All right. Then I will. Uh oh. No one's online so we can do a voice vote. Um, all those in favor say aye.
[47:14] Aye, aye.
[47:15] Any opposed? The motion passes unanimously, and I want to thank Joan for her service in the district. And looking forward to this next year. Um, next, I would like to make a motion to approve the contract between SSDC and John Krol, deputy superintendent.
[47:33] So moved.
[47:34] Second.
[47:36] Jenna and Dana. Um, and this is for, reappointment for three years. Any discussion?
[47:46] All those in favor say aye. Aye aye. Any opposed? Motion passes unanimously. Thank you, John, for your years of service and looking forward to the next.
[47:57] Thank you all.
[47:59] Um, next, I will accept a motion to authorize Superintendent Jim Riley to enter into lease agreements with member towns Holden, Paxton, Princeton, Rutland, Stirling for a one year extension from July 1st, 2026 to June 30th, 2027, and to sign school lease agreements between the Wachusett Regional School District and each member town.
[48:21] So moved.
[48:30] Yeah. So, um, some of these agreements, um, uh, uh, have been typically kind of just passed along, to be honest with you. And so they really are the original documents that were created when the regional district first came into existence and its current iteration. Um, and they had just been renewed, I think, the last time for an additional ten year term. We've looked at some of this work through the Facilities and Security subcommittee. It's pretty complex, and we decided that we wanted to get it right. Um, and so in part, some of the things we're looking at is the threshold for capital projects. If we have the ability to maybe identify some of the capital projects in some of our towns to minimize, uh, ongoing maintenance for those items that just need to be replaced. Um, and so we have some thoughts about how to try to make this agreement more effective, but need more time to execute it, because really, the work hasn't been done before. We asked our attorney to put together a one year extension of the current terms. Um, the towns have likewise agreed that they think that would be good use to me to continue this effort next year as we're entering also into the new, looking at the regional lease agreement and really trying to make sure that all three are supportive to each other and address all the issues we have. I think after this year, with permission to sign the one year extension, we'd be looking at continuing these either most likely on a five year term, because I think we all have kind of agreed that the ten year term is probably a bit long, but I think the assumption is, is that we would then ask for the committee's approval to enter into a five year lease agreement beginning next year.
[50:14] Any discussion?
[50:18] All right. Then I will accept. All those in favor say aye. Aye, aye. Any opposed? All right. Motion passes unanimously.
[50:44] So moved.
[50:50] Aye.
[50:51] Aye. Any opposed? Motion passes unanimously. Uh, next, I will accept a motion to ratify the contract between the Wachusett Regional School District School Committee, uh, SSDC and the Wachusett Regional Education Association, WRI unit B. All those in favor?
[51:12] Aye. Aye. And accept the motion.
[51:14] Oh.
[51:14] I'm sorry. Oh, yeah.
[51:18] Just a second.
[51:22] Yeah.
[51:23] Gotta keep everybody on their toes. Right? Um. Now, I'll, uh. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Motion passes unanimously next to approve the accept a motion to approve the contract between Community Health Connections Inc. Doctor Leonard A Ways and Wachusett Regional School District.
[51:45] So moved.
[51:46] Second.
[51:47] Uh, Paula and Dana. Um, this is to reappoint for one year. Uh. Any discussion? Seeing none. All those in favor say aye.
[51:59] Aye aye.
[52:00] Any opposed? Motion passes.
[52:04] Oh, sorry. And one abstention.
[52:06] Sorry.
[52:07] Uh. Malia abstains. Yes, yes. Thank you. Uh. Motion passes. Um. Next, I will accept a motion to approve an expenses incurred for chair. Woodland member Gustafson and Member Leftwich to attend the 2026 MSC Mass Joint Conference in Danvers, November 4th through six, 2026.
[52:28] So moved.
[52:32] No no, no, it was Meredith.
[52:34] Oh I'm sorry. Meredith and Kamara. Um, so this is uh um I will say that I've gone other years to the Mac conference. It's pretty useful. Um you don't necessarily have to go for all the dates if you can't make that for your schedule. They do have an early bird pricing for, uh, through September. If you decide you want to go to the conference, then just let Randy know before the next meeting. And, um, our expenses can be put on the agenda. Um, one also wanted to detail all members who attend will be expected to provide either a written or an oral report back to the school committee about the sessions that they attended. Um, any questions? Any discussion? All right. Seeing. None. Um, I'll. All those in favor say aye. Aye aye. Any opposed? Um. And any abstentions. Uh, Malia and I and Paula abstain. The three abstentions. Uh. Motion passes.
[53:42] Um, I'll accept a motion to approve expenses incurred for Superintendent Riley to attend the 2026 mass. Mass Joint Conference in Danvers, November 4th through six, 2026.
[53:54] So moved.
[53:55] Second, Jenna and Kamara. Uh. Any discussion?
[54:01] I just want.
[54:02] To.
[54:03] Thank, uh.
[54:04] Superintendent Riley for his willingness to attend, because that has not always been the case in our district. Um, I know he's gone a couple times, and I find it incredibly, um, useful as both a school committee member to have our superintendent there. And, um, just knowing that that our superintendent and our leadership is having that experience because they get to interact with other districts and superintendents as well. So thank you for being willing to take that time out of your schedule.
[54:35] With no other discussion. Um, all those in favor say aye.
[54:39] Aye aye aye.
[54:40] Any opposed? Any abstentions? Motion passes unanimously. Um. I will accept a motion to authorize the listed FY 27 revolving funds in accordance with chapter 44, section 53.5, to be expensed under the direct direction of the Superintendent of Schools, or designee, to be credited with receipts from acknowledged revenue sources to be expended for their respective stated purposes and not to exceed the authorized amounts.
[55:10] So moved.
[55:12] Second.
[55:12] Uh, Paula and Shannon. Um. Any discussion? Um, Malia.
[55:21] Yep. I just had, um, a quick question. I noticed there were a couple of categories that had changed a little bit. Um, the biggest one that caught my eye was people's services. So I was just curious what it I guess what, um, is the explanation for that increasing by about 10% or so? Um.
[55:44] Which one is it in pupil services?
[55:46] Actually, it wasn't 10%. I can't read my own head in writing, but it did go up.
[55:53] Yeah, I don't I don't see pupil services on, um, so the.
[55:59] Oh, I'm talking about the next one. I'm sorry. No, I'm talking about revolving funds.
[56:10] Oh.
[56:11] You know what? It's the next one. I'm sorry. It's on the, um. No revolving accounts.
[56:16] No.
[56:17] The rise of expenditures.
[56:18] So I see applied arts, athletics, building use, cafeteria, circuit breaker.
[56:22] I apologize.
[56:23] Okay.
[56:24] I, I apologize. I was looking at another the other item we looked at. I apologize.
[56:32] Have all of that.
[56:33] Well, I do have a question. Um, uh, for if, uh, whoever wants to speak to it about, uh, the driver's ed line just because, um, that program is ending. And so I just wanted to follow up on the inclusion on the revolving funds. Um. Oh, sorry. Can you come to the microphone? I'm sorry. It's so that.
[56:58] It'll.
[56:58] Be easier to pick up for, um.
[57:02] People viewing at home.
[57:05] Mhm.
[57:07] So the remainder of the hours that students have to drive, we have to pay them.
[57:14] Um, I don't know. Central mass.
[57:17] Um. Safety council. Um, for those student hours. So we had to put some money, Leave some money in whatever is left in that revolving fund to pay them. So that's what that is set aside for.
[57:31] Okay.
[57:31] Thank you. Um, any other questions? All right. Seeing none. All those in favor say aye. Aye, aye. Any opposed? Motion passes unanimously. Um. Right. Next, I will accept a motion to authorize the listed FY 27 student activity funds in accordance with chapter 71, section 47, for funds belonging to the students and not to the district or school control. To be credited with receipts from acknowledged revenue sources to be expended for their respective stated purposes and not to exceed the authorized amounts.
[58:09] So moved.
[58:21] Okay. Seeing none. Uh, all those in favor say aye.
[58:25] Aye, aye.
[58:26] Any opposed? All right. Motion passes unanimously. Um, and now we're on to the Secretary's report. So I will accept a motion to approve the consent agenda. Number one, to approve the executive session. Minutes one of May 19th, 2026. Two to approve the executive session. Minutes two of May 19th, 2026. Three to approve the regular session minutes of June 15th, 2026 four to approve the executive Session minutes of June 15th, 2026 five to accept $500 from the Town of Princeton, Massachusetts Cultural Council to Thomas Prince School and six to amend policy 5252 policy relating to personnel management, restraint prevention, and behavior support policy. Second reading. Waiving the reading. Does anybody want to pull any of these from the list? Okay. So except a motion and a second.
[59:31] Aye.
[59:58] Uh, business and finance met this past Thursday. Um, and, uh, we reviewed the treasurer's report. We reviewed the monthly year to date budget, all of which are for FY 26. Uh, all of which are in the superintendent's report. Um, we also discussed FY 27 budget a tiny bit and some business office updates. Um, and we discussed, um, doing some research on our own so that our next meeting we can work on the, uh, warrant policy, which was one of the policies that got approved by school committee, uh, in last cycle for business and finance to work on, um, basically FY 26 uh, is right now so far going well and on budget. And um, Michelle expects to have that hopefully, uh, everything closed out, um, by the middle of August and then working on reports for that. And we're very excited to welcome our new, uh, assistance, uh, uh, business director.
[1:01:12] Chelsea. Mason. So, Michelle, we're very excited that Michelle has, some extra help in her office, which was very much needed.
[1:01:21] Thank you. Um, so next is policy subcommittee, but I don't believe policy subcommittee is met yet. Or next week or so.
[1:01:31] Okay. Um. Next. Legal affairs. Anne-Marie, do you have an update?
[1:01:35] Yes. Thank you. We met this week. Um, we ended the year under on all our projected expenses for all our legal legal counsel. We're happy about that. And we talked about a couple of the policies that, um, that, uh, pertain to us about salary guides and the positions that the school committee approves. Just conversation. And then, of course, as we discussed before, we have ongoing negotiations with the clerks and clerks and custodial. We're meeting again sometime that we've arranged day.
[1:02:07] Okay.
[1:02:08] All right. Thank you. Uh, Jana, sorry.
[1:02:10] I also forgot to mention that before our meeting, our two new members received their warrant training. So everyone in business and finance is up to date. So, um, our treasurer and Michelle let the warrant training for them.
[1:02:23] So thank you. Um, next is Superintendent Goals and Evaluation subcommittee. But I also believe that has not yet met. Um. And facilities.
[1:02:35] Oh. Um. Yep. So we met. Um, we planned out the year. Um, we elected a vice chair, uh, Natalie Morrison. Um, we, uh, scheduled the summer tours. We did two tours so far. We did Glenwood and Paxton. Um, and those were great. Um, we have a few more to go. Um, yeah, that's pretty much it.
[1:02:58] Thank you. Um, next is Audit Advisory Board, which I know has not yet met. Um, and then CPec liaison. Dana, do you have an update?
[1:03:09] Yes. Thank you. Um, the current president of our kPAC is Kate Poole, and I am the new liaison between CPAC and the School Committee. Very pleased about that. I attended the Wind Beneath Their Wings ceremony, which was also attended by Doctor Riley, miss D'Angelo, Kate Poole and Shannon Poole, some state dignitaries and many parents and students.
[1:03:34] Thank you. Um, next is school council reports. Um, I doubt that there are any. But in case there's any outstanding. Um. Last meetings. Um. All right. And then now are up to unfinished business. There is no unfinished business. Um, and for new business, does anybody have any new business? Oh, um, any new business should be sent to me in writing, along with a rationale and with, uh, completing everything on the agenda. I adjourn this meeting at 832.