[0:02] - Okay,
[0:04] - Welcome to the W School Committee for Wednesday,
[0:06] September 9th, 2026.
[0:09] Please stand for the Pledge
[0:10] of Allegiance. The Pledge of Allegiance
[0:16] - To the flag of the
[0:17] United States of America. And two, the Republic
[0:20] - Forgit stands, - One nation under God,
[0:22] under indivisible liberty and
[0:24] - Justice sprawl.
[0:26] Can we stay standing for a second? Yeah, I would like to,
[0:40] Friday is September up,
[0:44] - And - I would just like to do a moment of silence
[0:49] for the victims of 17th of September 11th.
[0:53] It's been 25 years and less, we forget.
[0:58] So do a moment of silence for
[1:01] September 11th, which will be on Friday.
[1:42] All right. Thank you very much. Alright.
[1:52] Approval of warrants and payroll warrants for
[1:55] 9 9 26. Do we have a motion?
[1:59] - Make the motion to approve warrants
[2:01] and payroll for 9 9 20 26.
[2:04] - Do we have a second? - Second.
[2:06] - All in favor, Kevin? Aye. Julie? Aye. Aye.
[2:09] For myself, Mike. Aye. Mel. Aye.
[2:15] Oh, we did warrants and payroll.
[2:16] Yeah, it's two separate lines there. Sorry.
[2:20] Minutes for August 22nd, 2026.
[2:25] That was the minutes for the walkthrough. Do have a motion?
[2:30] - I'll make a motion to approve the minutes from the
[2:32] walkthrough on 8 20 20 or 8 22.
[2:35] 2026.
[2:36] - Do we have a second? Second. All in favor?
[2:42] The only thing, the only All in favor?
[2:45] Well, it says subcommittee on the top.
[2:49] I'll just have that changed to committee meeting
[2:52] 'cause it was a regular meeting, so,
[2:55] but we can still vote on it as amended.
[2:57] All in favor, Kevin? Aye. Julie, aye. Aye.
[3:01] For myself, Mike. Aye Mel Aye.
[3:04] Minutes for 8 12 26.
[3:09] - Make the same motion to approve the minutes from
[3:11] 8 12 20 26.
[3:13] Regular business meeting and,
[3:14] - Aye.
[3:15] Will second. All in favor, Kevin? Aye. Julie? Aye.
[3:20] Aye. Myself, Mike. Aye Mel. Aye.
[3:24] Superintendent's report?
[3:25] - Yes. Good evening everybody.
[3:27] It's great to be back in the school year
[3:29] and it's a beautiful weather that we're having.
[3:33] We are all in session now. Our preschool is, has joined us.
[3:37] Everything really went well.
[3:38] It's, it's really, you know, very
[3:43] emotional when kindergarten and preschoolers come.
[3:49] Parents are saying, I think they're saying
[3:54] we're so glad that our children are starting this journey,
[3:57] but we're also saying maybe we've got some time on our hands
[4:00] in a different way in our lives.
[4:02] So, but it's part of that journey when you're a parent
[4:06] and we love being part of that.
[4:09] And we were fortunate, we did hire a new preschool teacher
[4:13] who was able to start and join us on the,
[4:18] the initial meeting, the meet and greet last Thursday.
[4:21] So she was here for Tuesdays start of preschool.
[4:25] So that was great. We just hired a librarian today,
[4:28] or in the process of hiring a librarian,
[4:31] media center teacher for here.
[4:33] So I'm gonna say we're about 97% hired,
[4:37] which is pretty, pretty good.
[4:41] We are a hundred percent hired.
[4:42] Really, I'll go with 98% hired than our paras.
[4:45] We have, we have no para positions open
[4:49] that are right now student connected.
[4:53] In other words, there, there was a change in, in the student
[4:57] educational plan over the summer and what have you.
[4:59] So, so we're, we're really in, in good shape with,
[5:03] with hiring and staffing, which helps start the new year.
[5:07] So. Well, and I just on that note, I didn't put it on here.
[5:12] I really should have because it's something
[5:13] everybody should be proud of.
[5:15] We initiated our cell phone policy this
[5:20] start of this new school year,
[5:22] and it is gone extremely, extremely well.
[5:24] Our kids are doing a beautiful, beautiful job
[5:29] managing their, their use of the phones
[5:31] and teachers are noticing it and appreciating it.
[5:34] So kudos to you for, for taking that step.
[5:37] I don't know, I've only seen cursory media reports,
[5:41] but I I I guess
[5:45] that the actual law that is supposed to be passed this fall
[5:52] is still in committee
[5:54] and there's questions about whether or not it'll get passed.
[5:57] So, so we're avantgarde there. Yes. Which is great.
[6:01] But our, our, I think it's best for our kids, what we did.
[6:04] So, so, so pleased with how everybody is doing that.
[6:08] We'll be talking a little bit about the modular unit
[6:11] bathrooms that people were
[6:14] excited about later in our agenda.
[6:18] We are starting off the school year on solid
[6:20] financial footing.
[6:21] We've got, we're, we're in good shape financially
[6:25] with some good hires that,
[6:27] that are also financially supportive of our budget,
[6:31] which is great.
[6:32] And at the moment, again, we have a couple of positions
[6:35] that we don't need to fill right away,
[6:38] but as always, every day is a new possibility
[6:41] and a new story that has to come to be.
[6:44] But so we're, we're taking a look at that very carefully.
[6:48] I did talk to Mr. P about diesel fuel,
[6:52] obviously that price is rising
[6:55] and we do have an escalation clause in our contract.
[6:59] Fortunately again, our bid came up slightly under
[7:02] what we budgeted for
[7:04] because the timing of of the bidding process was later
[7:08] and we'd already passed our budget.
[7:10] So he's not concerned right now.
[7:14] And let's hope that there are opportunities
[7:19] for that event to be winding down.
[7:22] And so our, our fees
[7:24] for diesel fuel will be coming down soon.
[7:28] We've started up with Parents Square,
[7:29] which is our new messaging platform for everybody.
[7:32] It's for our teachers, it's for our administration, for me,
[7:36] it's for our coaches.
[7:38] And again, that's started off well.
[7:41] And so we're, we've got good use parents.
[7:46] I get the dashboard and see the use.
[7:49] So a hundred percent
[7:51] or it's like 96% of the parents
[7:55] who have signed up are accessing our
[7:58] posts, which is great news.
[8:01] We don't quite have a hundred percent of our, our parents on
[8:04] yet, but we're working on that.
[8:06] We we're pretty close. So that's, that's great news.
[8:10] And again, because it's it's district wide, we're,
[8:14] we have a learning curve on our use of that so
[8:17] that we don't innovate parents
[8:18] with the same messages multiple times.
[8:21] You know, for example, if there's something coming out of,
[8:26] out of the, the district office, that's a message
[8:29] that includes something about one or all three schools.
[8:33] We don't want them schools to send something out
[8:35] to d duplicate that
[8:36] because we don't want people to be hit
[8:38] multiple times with the same messaging.
[8:40] So, so we're learning
[8:43] and figuring out our own standard operating procedure
[8:46] around using it as well as media people now.
[8:50] So, but I hope people are enjoying that.
[8:54] What's nice about that particular platform is all
[8:57] of our posts there go directly to Facebook.
[9:00] So it's a, it's an efficient use of time and energy.
[9:03] So that, because I did hear a parent mention that, you know,
[9:07] she does not use Facebook, but she uses Parent Square.
[9:10] So you know, she's getting what she, you know, wants to hear
[9:14] about and see in terms of pictures.
[9:16] So, which is great.
[9:19] Last Friday I had the opportunity to meet
[9:22] with the commissioner along with my colleagues in,
[9:24] in western Massachusetts,
[9:25] in the Connecticut Valley Superintendents Association.
[9:29] It's a, it's always good
[9:30] to have the commissioner come out in and hear from us.
[9:33] Lauren from us, he's from,
[9:37] I think he's originally from Chicago area.
[9:42] And so, you know, he, he has a learning curve of this.
[9:45] He's entering his second year full year
[9:47] of commissioner position.
[9:50] And, you know, we,
[9:52] we've talked a lot about everything from obviously finances,
[9:56] transportation is a big piece.
[9:59] He has a, a very strong vision for
[10:03] teacher recruitment, which is great.
[10:06] And, and we are very supportive of that.
[10:08] 'cause that's obviously something we support immensely.
[10:13] But we are, we are also, you know, it's not,
[10:17] it's not only teacher recruitment at the, at the end
[10:21] of the pipeline that is after they graduate,
[10:23] but it's, it's teacher recruitment to go into the programs,
[10:26] you know, to make the programs attractive
[10:28] and to figure that out along the way.
[10:31] But also, one of the things that we brought up as a, a,
[10:36] a concern, and it's, I I, to be honest, I don't know
[10:41] that he started this, but Desi, department of Elementary
[10:45] and Secondary Education has started this practice when,
[10:48] when they award grants
[10:49] and we were very fortunate to, in two years in a row,
[10:52] get a pretty sizable, what they call PRISM grant
[10:56] for literacy first for four through six
[10:58] and now for pre-K through three.
[11:02] And it's very exciting. And you,
[11:03] and you see the big number, you know, you see
[11:05] that we're gonna get $300,000 for a grant.
[11:08] It sounds great, but they've already committed out of
[11:12] that $300,000, almost $160,000
[11:16] to the professionals that they want us to work with
[11:20] in the PD process.
[11:22] So it's very, it's misleading in some respects.
[11:26] It's still wonderful. The PD is great.
[11:28] We, we've enjoyed our collaboration
[11:32] and it's going to, we believe it'll be the same partner
[11:34] for the pre-K through three work that we have to do.
[11:39] But, you know, we made the pitch to the commissioner
[11:44] that, first of all, we have very, very talented
[11:48] collaboratives in the area with talented professional
[11:51] development units as part of that.
[11:53] And it would be financially beneficial to all of us
[11:57] if they employed them as our professional development
[12:01] staffers as opposed to going outside these,
[12:03] these are often out of state organizations that,
[12:07] that come to work for them.
[12:09] And so I, I wanna believe he heard us.
[12:12] He is o obviously already committed
[12:14] because these contracts go out months in advance.
[12:18] But that's something also that we talked about with him.
[12:23] We were closed for, for the Labor day.
[12:26] And we will be having some activities within the schools
[12:31] for nine 11 as well, honoring those that we lost on on
[12:35] that day and that were impacted as we all were in some way.
[12:38] But in each of the schools, all
[12:43] of our sports teams are fully
[12:47] not staffed, but fully enrolled,
[12:52] rostered enrolled I guess.
[12:53] So they are able to play safely, which is good.
[12:57] I think golf was the only one that, that is a little
[13:01] low on, on enrollment, but it's able to field a team.
[13:05] So that's, that's great. We, we love that
[13:08] the chiller is operational for testing purposes.
[13:12] We, we have tested it. We tested it last week.
[13:15] There's some, still some control
[13:17] work that they're working on.
[13:18] I did get a text yesterday that the,
[13:21] the full on on is gonna be Monday.
[13:25] So we'll, we'll see about that.
[13:27] And I, I did,
[13:30] I don't know if I made this more public than it is.
[13:32] I did ask after everything was already done and so forth,
[13:35] but I said, you know, the work
[13:38] that you're doing is right here above us over the kitchen.
[13:41] Can't we just figure out a way
[13:43] to pipe the chillers that are there?
[13:45] All those, the, the chillers themselves are,
[13:50] or the, the, I'm not using this right terminology,
[13:54] but the equipment
[13:55] to make the water cold is above the kitchen.
[14:00] And I said, can't we just put some kind of vent and blower
[14:05] and put air conditioning into our, our kitchen
[14:10] and in into our cafeteria,
[14:11] because that's a widely used space
[14:14] for two, three hours a day.
[14:16] And on these shoulder days where it's really hot,
[14:20] it's really a tough time to be in there, especially
[14:23] with the kitchen ovens and so forth.
[14:25] Well, as to no to no one surprise,
[14:28] I got an engineering lesson about
[14:29] how, why that could not happen.
[14:32] So, but I asked,
[14:35] but we're looking forward to
[14:36] that coming on this, this coming week.
[14:41] We, we did have considerable rain last week
[14:44] and we did have consider considerable leakage.
[14:47] We, we have a proposal from a firm that's gonna come in
[14:50] and try to do, do one side of the skylight where we,
[14:53] we know there are existing leaks,
[14:56] but when it was inspected last
[14:59] - The skylight at SK - Skylight and SK Okay.
[15:02] When it was inspected by this firm, you know, he,
[15:06] he basically said, you know, and,
[15:08] and which makes perfect sense, it's built in 1974,
[15:13] the all the caulking is shot.
[15:15] And so these leaks are coming in from the caulking.
[15:17] There's no cracked pans or anything damaged to the Oh wow.
[15:20] Glass. So, so we're going, we're, we know
[15:24] where there are leaks coming
[15:26] and so we're, we're going to enter into an agreement
[15:29] to just fix one, one facade of the,
[15:32] it's a four, it's a triangle.
[15:34] So there's four facades.
[15:36] And and we'll see how that works, you know,
[15:39] for at least those leaks.
[15:40] But we, we have to try something.
[15:42] I mean, it's pretty, the, the middle school, the leaks are,
[15:45] are more complicated
[15:48] because it's not as easy as, like with SMK, we know
[15:52] where they are with the middle school
[15:55] and here too, with the, the few
[15:57] that we have here in this building,
[16:00] we don't know where they're starting.
[16:01] You know, they're, they're travelers.
[16:03] So it, it could be, there's a, a leak in a, a drain pipe
[16:07] or a backlog drain pipe.
[16:11] It could be that there's a leak over here in the membrane,
[16:16] but it's, you know, traveling over here
[16:17] because it's just enough of a pitch to come over here.
[16:20] So to actually find the,
[16:24] the hole is really a needle in a haystack.
[16:29] And so, which is why the whole roof needs to be done.
[16:32] And there's certainly enough leaks
[16:35] that the whole roof needs to be done.
[16:37] And you'll see that on our capital plan.
[16:41] And, and so the capital plan is in your packet,
[16:46] there is a capital plan committee for the town.
[16:49] At some point I would like to go
[16:51] with representatives from this body
[16:53] and go and talk with them.
[16:55] We will be putting together
[16:59] a this year proposal.
[17:02] I understand there'll be a town meeting maybe in November.
[17:05] That's what they were talking about.
[17:06] And so we hope to have at least a,
[17:09] a roof replacement at W-I-M-S-A generated replacement at,
[17:14] at SMKA as the two top
[17:18] items that need to be done.
[17:21] And, and so we'll keep you updated on that.
[17:25] And that's my report this evening. Any questions, comments?
[17:31] - I know we hired a new athletic director. Yes.
[17:35] Is there any way that that person could be
[17:37] invited to our next meeting? Just so can
[17:39] - Meet.
[17:40] Oh, of course. Yeah. He's just,
[17:41] - What is his name again?
[17:42] Peter Millett. Peter Millet
[17:45] - Doing a great job and just overwhelmed,
[17:48] but, you know, trying to be at all these events
[17:51] first part of the year.
[17:53] But yeah, I'll get 'em there. Okay. Yeah,
[17:59] - I'm just looking real quick.
[18:02] I think I'm good.
[18:05] - Everybody else? Good? Alright, let's move on
[18:09] to New Business Lions Club donation.
[18:12] $300 to the food pantry.
[18:14] - Yes. So any donations to the school district need to be
[18:19] approved by the school committee.
[18:20] This is significant and very gracious of them.
[18:23] We have a food pantry that we run out of our legal classroom
[18:26] classrooms and downstairs it's a, a great resource
[18:31] for our students and families who are in need.
[18:35] And this was a great kickoff amount to buy product.
[18:39] So we're very appreciative.
[18:42] - How is the food pantry funded
[18:43] and not funded is probably not the right word.
[18:46] How is it replenished?
[18:48] - So it's really all through donations.
[18:51] So, you know, when when product gets low enough,
[18:55] the teacher puts out an all call, you know, to staff
[18:58] or any families, you know, any extra food product
[19:02] that you have, you know, please donate.
[19:04] And it, it gets donated.
[19:06] - Donated. Now, is there a list
[19:08] that they would prefer to go by? Good question. I, I
[19:10] - Don't, I don't, I I think there is, I don't know where
[19:13] that it lives.
[19:15] Okay. But I could find that for you.
[19:17] - Could we put that online on Sure. Website if it exists.
[19:22] Sure. So that if anybody's interested in donating,
[19:25] they're not donating like perishable goods.
[19:28] I mean Yeah.
[19:30] Perishable goods that, you know, we, it's difficult
[19:34] for us to keep like Right.
[19:36] Fresh, fresh vegetables and stuff. Right. Right.
[19:38] And they're not donating, you know, something
[19:40] that needs like five different ingredients Yeah.
[19:44] To put in it. And that way it's more difficult for someone,
[19:47] you know, you just have to add milk or add water.
[19:50] Right. And an egg that's a lot easier than spices coming up
[19:54] and everything with different other things.
[19:55] Yeah. So, 'cause it probably, I'm not gonna say it,
[20:00] probably it, it probably gets, yeah,
[20:04] probably it gets used probably more than we think.
[20:08] Oh. And I think if it was,
[20:12] if more people could donate to it, I, I think it would,
[20:15] it would help probably a lot more, more people.
[20:17] - I totally agree. Totally agree.
[20:24] - So I'll make the motion to accept the Lion Club donation.
[20:28] $300 to the food pantry. Now it was cash then, right?
[20:32] - Gift card. - Yes. Gift card. Okay. Do we have a second?
[20:35] Second. Any discussion? Any questions?
[20:40] All in favor, Kevin. Aye. Julie, aye. Aye. For myself, Mike.
[20:45] Aye Mel. Aye. Thank them for us. Yes, will do. Immensely.
[20:53] Policy first reading tonight. We had a policy meeting.
[20:57] Before this meeting. We went over
[21:00] protect act, AI use in schools.
[21:04] Did we do technology use in schools?
[21:06] - That was part of the, - That was part of the ai. Yeah.
[21:08] And we also did the employment of school
[21:13] and district administrators.
[21:17] Basically we accepted the subcommittee, accepted the
[21:23] interacting with law enforcement officers engaged in civil
[21:26] law enforcement, protect that.
[21:29] We accept it as written.
[21:30] It's been before legal and they made changes to it.
[21:34] So what you received
[21:37] is the final copy.
[21:39] It it is required by law. It is required by the state.
[21:46] It's not necessarily just a federal law. It's a state law.
[21:50] And this is the working
[21:54] with the administration and legal.
[21:56] This is what they've come up with for our procedure.
[21:59] Everybody has to have a procedure on
[22:01] what they call the Protect app.
[22:03] And this applies to all organizations.
[22:09] It's not just ice, it's everybody. Yeah.
[22:12] Who would, who would come looking to
[22:16] and other schools and interact
[22:21] with the school department.
[22:25] Is there any questions?
[22:28] - J And just to clarify, you, if you approve this
[22:32] as a first reading, we can approve it at our next meeting.
[22:35] Finally as the final reading.
[22:37] This is the policy and the procedures, it's
[22:42] - Together. So itll go
[22:43] - Into both the policy manual and the procedural
[22:45] - Manual.
[22:46] - Right. - This is also a totally new policy.
[22:49] - This is totally new. Yeah. - We haven't had this before.
[22:51] - We had guidance last year Right. On Desi.
[22:54] But this year we haven't closed.
[22:57] - It also aligns with the MASE
[22:58] margin. So everything matches.
[23:00] - Yes. Yes.
[23:06] Alright. So we will,
[23:10] we will, this is the first reading.
[23:12] We will vote on this in the next meeting.
[23:14] We will vote on it again to finalize making it a
[23:19] policy for the way of school system.
[23:21] Do we have a motion?
[23:23] - I have a question about if this
[23:29] extends itself to when the kids are traveling on a
[23:33] bus to and from
[23:35] - School. It would.
[23:37] - Okay. - Yeah. Whenever they're in our custody or care.
[23:40] Okay.
[23:46] - I will make the motion to accept protect, act.
[23:51] This is the first reading. Do we have a second?
[23:56] A second. Any more discussion questions?
[24:02] All in favor, Kevin? Aye. Julian. Aye. Aye.
[24:05] For myself, Mike. Aye Mel Aye.
[24:10] AI use in schools? We went through that.
[24:14] Mike has to, we do it. Tweak it. Yeah.
[24:18] There, there, there was some concerns.
[24:20] There was several different ways to approach AI
[24:24] and he needs
[24:27] to give some more important administrators
[24:30] and the teachers need to give some more based on
[24:32] what we were discussing today.
[24:33] So that one is not for a vote
[24:38] or first reading, since we don't have
[24:42] what was sent out is draft definitely gonna change.
[24:46] It was a draft, definitely gonna change progress.
[24:48] It's a work in progress. Technology use in schools
[24:51] is also part of that.
[24:53] And so that will be coming
[24:58] probably to the next meeting, probably a
[25:02] meeting or two after that.
[25:03] Only because it is quite extensive.
[25:05] If you looked at the original one that came out
[25:09] that is quite long sort of has to be in a sense
[25:13] to cover a lot of different areas
[25:16] and especially the use of technology.
[25:20] It needs to update our use of technology
[25:22] and what is good and what is bad.
[25:24] And so those are, those will be forthcoming.
[25:28] But those are works in progress.
[25:31] There is one employment of school
[25:34] and district administrators that's not on here,
[25:39] but it was on, I think it was on the original,
[25:42] it was on our original policy.
[25:43] Original. It was on the subcommittee that was sent out.
[25:47] I believe everybody has that. The cross offs are on there.
[25:52] And then the, the reds are
[25:58] additions and we
[26:03] as a subcommittee, we approve with this.
[26:05] The way it is written, basically it clears up,
[26:13] correct me if I'm wrong, so not
[26:15] so much the hiring process, right.
[26:17] As opposed to what happens after they've been hired.
[26:19] Correct. When it comes to, they've worked here
[26:22] for three years or two years, whatever it is,
[26:25] and it comes up for their,
[26:28] the contract comes up and renewal.
[26:31] It was kind of foggy as to where did we get involved
[26:35] with school committee, when did we approve, didn't improve.
[26:40] It alluded to being able to approve principal contracts.
[26:45] And apparently according to the law, we can't. Right.
[26:48] That is not in our wheelhouse.
[26:51] And so the next to the last paragraph
[26:55] that talks about the length of second
[26:56] and subsequential contracts of employment
[26:58] for administrators shall be in
[27:00] accordance with the state law.
[27:02] I guess there was a few things
[27:03] that we weren't doing completely by state law.
[27:05] And so the changes in the language here
[27:09] will put us in compliance with state law
[27:11] and also is a little more clear as to
[27:15] our involvement as the school committee.
[27:17] We, we still approve the director of special needs.
[27:21] We still approve the,
[27:26] the business manager
[27:27] and we still approve the nurses.
[27:32] Right.
[27:33] - I'm sorry, what was - That? The nurses, that's so
[27:37] the initial, we approve the initial, I believe the initial,
[27:39] but then after that, yes.
[27:41] Under your,
[27:43] - There's old law that never got changed with
[27:47] the change in 1993.
[27:48] In fact. Yeah. So at the state level,
[27:52] but yes, you do technically approve the
[27:54] hiring of nurses. Yeah.
[27:55] - But after that it's falls under the superintendent to
[27:59] administer contracts and,
[28:03] and terms and everything else.
[28:10] This allows us to, in some cases
[28:19] say over, I, I would look at overriding
[28:21] and say financials that we could set that, you know,
[28:27] tie it to say the
[28:29] teacher's contract or tie it to something else.
[28:31] It, it allows us to, to do that in case we want
[28:36] to change things.
[28:37] As far as the amount that goes out.
[28:42] We tightened up on the piece that basically said, you know,
[28:45] as long as it fit the budget, if that's no longer, you know,
[28:50] 'cause then you could, the, once the people
[28:55] that had contracts, like the teachers
[28:56] and so forth would be tied to what the agreement was.
[29:00] But it would allow you
[29:01] to do whatever you wanted for everybody else.
[29:03] And so that's sort of been pulled in so that it,
[29:07] it's a much more equal and fair playing field.
[29:10] So we look
[29:15] to make this the first reading and the changes.
[29:19] And also to approve this tonight, since what was sent out,
[29:24] we didn't change in the subcommittee.
[29:26] We looked at it and agreed to the language that was there.
[29:34] Any questions? Any comments?
[29:35] - You have one question On the first paragraph,
[29:37] the last sentence, it says the compensation benefit levels
[29:40] above reference may be exceeded only with the approval
[29:44] of the school committee exceeded.
[29:47] In terms of comparing it to what is there like a baseline?
[29:52] - So for example, this past last year,
[29:56] I did a market analysis for the director's salaries.
[30:00] And because the contracts hadn't been
[30:02] set yet when I arrived.
[30:04] So they were slightly above what was budgeted in,
[30:09] in their lines, not the overall
[30:10] - Budget.
[30:11] So they exceeded what
[30:12] reference directly to what was budgeted. Budgeted.
[30:14] - Yeah. - And that's kind of a number
[30:15] that comes from a market analysis.
[30:17] Right. Okay. Right. Thank you.
[30:22] - Is there any language in here about evaluations
[30:27] and under what circumstances a contract might be
[30:30] renewed versus not,
[30:33] - So - And does that need to be in here?
[30:34] - So there's a separate evaluation policy that describes
[30:37] how all administrators get evaluated.
[30:41] Again, it's all, it's all about the trust and
[30:44] and relationship that you have with your superintendent
[30:47] in terms of, because he
[30:49] or she makes the recommendation that they are
[30:51] to be renewed or not renewed.
[30:54] So again, that, that part
[30:58] of the process is often
[31:01] between the evaluator and the at
[31:06] and usually never even arises to the school committee level
[31:10] because that decision's been made.
[31:12] And to honor the professionalism of,
[31:15] of the individuals involved.
[31:17] It's private, you know, the person resigns or, or,
[31:22] or leaves, you know, under some circumstance.
[31:27] So, you know, I, I wouldn't put anything in policy per se
[31:32] that's different than what's in the evaluation policy.
[31:34] And I can share that with you when I get a chance.
[31:38] But the evaluation policy is pretty clear
[31:40] that everybody has to be evaluated.
[31:42] It has to be recommended by the superintendent for renewal
[31:45] or, or additional contract years and so forth.
[31:49] - Yeah, I guess the, I guess the only language I would be
[31:51] looking for is that like a contract couldn't be renewed
[31:54] unless an evaluation was done.
[31:57] I guess that's the only thing I'm kind of looking for
[31:59] because I know that in the past that has been an issue
[32:02] and people were just renewing contracts
[32:05] and without evaluations being done.
[32:08] Okay. I mean,
[32:10] and again, I don't, I agree with you
[32:13] that we shouldn't be privy to those evaluations.
[32:15] Yeah. But just that one was done. Yeah.
[32:18] - I, I'll have to reread it to see if
[32:20] that specific kind of language is there.
[32:22] I mean, again, because the,
[32:24] the policy does state specifically
[32:26] evaluations have to be done.
[32:28] Okay. If they, if any individual didn't evaluate
[32:32] and still made a recommendation to have a new contract,
[32:35] that is a violation of policy.
[32:37] - Okay. Okay. Yeah.
[32:39] - As far as this, that would be
[32:41] covered in the last paragraph.
[32:42] If that policy says everybody gets an evaluation,
[32:45] then in the last paragraph as a condition of employment,
[32:48] each administrator must maintain curtain certifications
[32:51] as needed, adhere to policies
[32:52] and goals of the school committee.
[32:54] Right. So the policy for evaluations Okay.
[32:57] Would cover that language there.
[32:59] That that would be something that had to be done. Right.
[33:04] Okay. Now the, I'll just throw this out.
[33:10] The only evaluation that's public is the superintendents.
[33:13] Yes. That is done in public. Oh,
[33:15] - I remember.
[33:18] I mean, I wasn't here, I was over there, but I remember
[33:22] - Yes.
[33:23] And I read that one. That was a long night.
[33:26] But his is the only one that is public.
[33:27] That is done in public. And so
[33:34] that, that one is not private.
[33:35] Right. So that
[33:40] being said, I'll make the motion
[33:45] to approve first reading employment of school
[33:48] and district administrators the changes
[33:50] that are being proposed. Do we have a second?
[33:53] - Second? - Any questions? Any discussion? More?
[34:00] All in favor, Kevin? Aye. Julie. Aye. Aye. For myself, Mike.
[34:04] Aye Mel. Aye.
[34:12] Now we'll move on to Capital Plan review.
[34:18] - Do you have that in your - Packet? Yes, we do.
[34:20] - Okay. I got extra copies of Okay.
[34:24] - Sure. Believe everybody does. Yep. Yep.
[34:26] - So to be clear, this is a rough draft,
[34:31] but all the administrators, director
[34:35] of facilities, Mr.
[34:39] Ette, we've, we've pulled this together
[34:45] partly because I've been talking about this almost
[34:47] since I met, got here.
[34:49] But, but we talked about this at our, our
[34:52] walk walkthrough and so forth.
[34:56] You know, there, these are not out of the ordinary kinds
[35:00] of things that school districts
[35:02] or any large organizations need to costs out.
[35:06] There are things on here that I typically have advocated
[35:10] for things to be put on there, like usually a, a school.
[35:14] And what I like to do in a school district is have a,
[35:17] like a, a carpet replacement plan for classrooms
[35:21] that are carpeted or tiled or whatever, you know, that.
[35:23] So every 10 on a cycle of 10 years,
[35:26] we're doing a certain number of rooms every year that,
[35:29] that we have a, a furniture replacement plan.
[35:32] So again, you're not one year spending a hundred thousand
[35:35] dollars on, on furniture
[35:36] and the next year you're not spending anything.
[35:38] So that, you know, everything gets in balance
[35:40] and you can plan for it.
[35:41] And it's thoughtful in that regard.
[35:43] I did not do that in here because it hasn't been done here.
[35:47] And, and also the numbers felt very large to me,
[35:51] but so, so I did not do that.
[35:54] So that's a piece of the puzzle
[35:56] that if you'd like those kinds of things to be looked at,
[35:59] we could, we could actually add that those items
[36:04] technically we could put into our budget as well,
[36:07] even though they meet the threshold
[36:09] for financing on a capital plan.
[36:11] So I'd, I'd want to talk with the town about
[36:14] that when we meet.
[36:17] But we obviously do have some very big
[36:19] expenses on the horizon.
[36:21] The roofs, as I spoke to have to get done.
[36:25] We do, we absolutely have to replace the generator.
[36:27] It simply is it, it no longer functions.
[36:31] These are estimates for the roofs, estimates
[36:36] from, from quotes.
[36:38] So I think they're pretty good as far as, you know,
[36:42] real numbers and you know,
[36:47] things like putting in a sprinkler system.
[36:52] We're not gonna put in a sprinkler system.
[36:54] I I know people would love to have a sprinkler system.
[36:56] You're not gonna put in a sprinkler system.
[36:58] I mean Oh, I thought you meant like a fire sprinkler system.
[37:01] Oh, that's, do you mean like in the grass?
[37:02] No, no, in a fire. Yeah. Gotcha.
[37:05] It, it just isn't gonna happen as a separate add-on. Okay.
[37:09] It's so expensive to do.
[37:10] I mean, that's a very rough estimate.
[37:12] I don't think we would do the whole building for $500,000.
[37:15] It just, it just wouldn't happen.
[37:17] But, you know, I honor the process that it's there.
[37:19] I want you to be aware that our buildings are not sprinkled
[37:22] and that's certainly a concern of everybody's.
[37:24] I know. And,
[37:26] and it would help our insurance costs and, and so forth.
[37:29] And obviously first
[37:30] and foremost safety, if the, if we ever got into a a,
[37:34] a fire situation,
[37:36] but, you know, we, we make sure that all of our furniture
[37:40] that we buy that has fabric is,
[37:42] is rated appropriately and so forth.
[37:45] And in fact we just made some teachers remove things
[37:48] that were not graded and so forth.
[37:50] So, you know, I think we do our best to make sure
[37:53] that what's in the buildings is, is going to slow
[37:58] any kind of fire.
[38:00] It's not gonna, obviously put it out.
[38:03] If you wanted to consider a sprinkler system to me,
[38:07] I would start advocating that we're gonna rebuild,
[38:12] have a plan for building a new school or a new addition
[38:15] because that's only gonna come
[38:18] to fruition if we do something that goes above the code for
[38:24] cost or square footage and,
[38:26] and then having to put in a, a sprinkler.
[38:29] Yeah. You know, it's gonna be part of a project
[38:32] and you know, that we could have some
[38:35] conversations about that at some point.
[38:38] But it, but it's on here
[38:39] because it's, it's wanted and, and it's valid.
[38:43] And I, I honor that, that desire.
[38:46] It's just a religiously expensive to do. Is
[38:49] - That a concern on a specific school or all three schools
[38:54] - Suppression system?
[38:55] We, we have them here somewhere. I see, I see.
[38:58] Though we have them here,
[39:01] but they don't, we don't have it in the middle school
[39:03] or, or SMK.
[39:04] So it's just that, those two schools.
[39:07] But you know, again, it, it would be
[39:13] SMK in, in my non-engineering opinion,
[39:19] you know, the safety of that building is,
[39:22] is very good in the sense that every room has a means
[39:26] of egress to the outside.
[39:28] Not to just another hallway, but to the outside.
[39:31] So to me that's almost as good as,
[39:36] I shouldn't say that publicly.
[39:38] It's great. It's very good. It's very good. It's very
[39:40] - Good.
[39:41] You took the words outta my mouth.
[39:42] Common sense would tell you every
[39:43] classroom has a means of egress.
[39:44] Exactly. Right to the outside Exactly. Press to say no,
[39:48] - Knock it out.
[39:49] So, but then you get,
[39:50] you have the middle school, which doesn't have that.
[39:52] Right. You know, all the classrooms get to a
[39:54] but it's also made of concrete.
[39:56] It is made of concrete,
[39:58] which is helpful, you know, it's good.
[39:59] It's got those beautiful straw
[40:00] and floors, you know, which is certainly helpful.
[40:03] So it will definitely slow, slow things down and so forth.
[40:07] But, so, you know, it just, and,
[40:11] and the boiler room frankly is, is away from
[40:16] the, the kids, which is really good.
[40:20] So, you know, I think that that's, those are pluses,
[40:25] but again, I just, I just don't think it's feasible
[40:28] to think about a sprinkler system
[40:29] unless you're gonna do a project,
[40:31] in which case it would be mandated.
[40:33] - Do you know the annual savings of what the insurance
[40:36] - Is charging us, - What we would pay otherwise?
[40:39] - Yeah, I don't, I don't have that.
[40:40] - Can, can I get a return on your rent investment number?
[40:43] Yeah. Is it five years, 10 years
[40:44] and how much we'd have to spend it,
[40:47] - It would take a, - Because we're paying
[40:48] the insurance company
[40:48] - Anyway.
[40:49] Yeah, it would, it would, it would take a while.
[40:51] It really would. I I mean the, what what we would have is,
[40:55] is the return of that good feeling.
[40:58] Like, you know, we have the extra layer
[41:00] of protect protection for our students
[41:03] and faculty and staff.
[41:04] - Well you mentioned we're paying more for insurance
[41:07] because we do not have, well,
[41:08] - Our premium definitely looks different
[41:09] because we don't have sprinklers for
[41:11] that size building and so forth. Yeah,
[41:13] - I'd be curious to know - That number.
[41:14] Yeah. So,
[41:18] but so I I I wanted to share this with you tonight.
[41:22] Again, we're gonna, we're gonna go forward
[41:24] with more descriptive pages that we have to fill out
[41:28] for the capital planning committee for the town
[41:32] to get on the ballot or on the town meeting
[41:35] floor for November.
[41:37] Our, our priorities right now are the,
[41:40] the roof at WMS at the middle school, we're going to go
[41:45] for the, to the generator.
[41:49] And I, I've gotta talk a little bit more with Bill.
[41:52] We do have an, we have two aging pieces of equipment
[41:56] that are pretty expensive.
[41:58] A a dump truck, which,
[42:04] because it's used pretty much only for plowing
[42:09] and sitting, when it's not plowing and sanding and,
[42:14] and salting it, it has rusted because of the salt.
[42:19] And so, and it sits.
[42:22] And so like, he just came to me the other day
[42:24] and said, I, he, he was shocked that the rear, rear wheels,
[42:29] rear tires have have dried right out
[42:33] because they haven't used it since the
[42:34] last snowstorm pretty much.
[42:37] So these are some of the issues you have when you have
[42:42] sort of job or task specific kinds of equipment like this.
[42:48] So I gotta, I gotta talk
[42:50] to him about which he would prioritize
[42:52] whether we would do that.
[42:53] That the dump truck
[42:56] or the mower, I put it down as a lease to spread it out.
[43:01] I don't know if the town does it that way here.
[43:04] Typically I would do a, a lease purchase agreement,
[43:08] but again, I don't know if the town wants to do it that way
[43:10] or if they wanna do a, a, a full on purchase,
[43:13] - How could we get a number on a lease purchase agreement?
[43:15] - What's that? - How could we get a number?
[43:17] Because a hundred thousand I'm gonna say
[43:19] is purchase the truck.
[43:22] - So Yes, but it's over those five years. Right.
[43:27] Or six years, whatever. I I spread it out.
[43:29] I, so it's, it's what we, what they put in their budget
[43:32] that, you know, the, the 20,000 to make that happen.
[43:36] So the, the, the cost
[43:38] of the truck is roughly about a hundred thousand when,
[43:41] when you get all the equipment that he's looking for.
[43:44] So, and then it, it's slightly more
[43:49] to lease it, do the lease purchase.
[43:53] But it's, it's worth it in terms of, again,
[43:55] managing your budget because in their capital plan now
[43:59] they could put a piece of equipment every five years and,
[44:03] and essentially have the money built in there without,
[44:06] you know, escalating their budget.
[44:09] So, but I I, I have to have
[44:11] that conversation with this committee.
[44:12] I don't know how they do that.
[44:14] Here again, I,
[44:19] I know the, the mower broke down for a significant amount
[44:23] of time a few weeks ago
[44:26] and we had to rent one to replace it.
[44:29] You know, they, they,
[44:30] equipment always breaks down when you need it, right.
[44:34] It's not when it's parked for the most part.
[44:38] So I know he, he would like this to see that replaced.
[44:43] And again, because we, we,
[44:45] I mean our campus isn't terribly large.
[44:48] We only have really one major
[44:52] piece of mowing equipment for that purpose.
[44:57] And so when it goes, it also doubles as a snowblower.
[45:02] It does in the winter. Yeah. Oh yeah. Yeah.
[45:08] So, and then, you know, the athletics, we've,
[45:12] we've put these on here.
[45:15] Drainage is a big issue. Dugouts are a big issue.
[45:19] I I think lights would, would help us greatly.
[45:24] We just gotta figure out which ones to do and to do first.
[45:29] So lights were looking to do well, the,
[45:33] I would say the football has lights, football has lights.
[45:37] It's the only field that does, I would say we want
[45:40] to do the upper field where we have soccer
[45:42] and
[45:44] baseball at some point.
[45:48] And I, I was chastised about this and I'll own it
[45:51] because I'm not from where,
[45:52] but I, I always like my teams to play on my fields,
[45:58] but there's a lot of affinity for the town field
[46:02] and so they wanna stay there and I get that.
[46:06] I really do. And, and so,
[46:08] and now they have, they have lights and so,
[46:10] but, but we're limited.
[46:12] You know, I went to a a, a park, park
[46:15] and recs meeting last year.
[46:16] We're gonna be limited to
[46:17] how many night me night events we can have.
[46:20] So I think we've gotta understand
[46:24] that impact and whether
[46:26] or not that's how we wanna run our, our game schedule so
[46:30] that, you know, our varsity games can't be played there.
[46:38] All of them at least. So,
[46:41] and you know, yes, it gets lighter.
[46:44] So do you need your lights? Well, I don't know.
[46:50] You know, that's, that's a good question.
[46:52] But there's also soccer. That's a soccer field.
[46:54] So if we could position them in such a way
[46:56] and do our home varsity soccer there and,
[47:00] and have night games there, I, I think that's, that's great.
[47:04] I mean that's a town event that's building up a,
[47:08] a repertoire of, you know,
[47:10] what if we designed them so they would swivel.
[47:12] Well that's it. That, that's,
[47:14] I would love to see that happen.
[47:16] You know, I, I've not seen that done yet,
[47:18] but I, I gotta believe that technology exists.
[47:21] It's gotta be there. You know, it's,
[47:23] it's gotta, it's gotta be there.
[47:25] And I gotta believe that there's a way
[47:27] to involve solar somehow so that we could generate the power
[47:33] on the same poles.
[47:34] That would be the lights.
[47:36] But again, we haven't looked into it that deep.
[47:38] So it is just, it's part of our dream.
[47:42] So, you know, that's there we would love to get,
[47:46] we've gotta get power out there.
[47:49] That's a big part of the issue.
[47:50] Anyway, we'd like a scoreboard out there
[47:56] and we're gonna talk a little bit about the,
[47:59] the permanent bathrooms for the football field,
[48:02] which would actually be available
[48:04] for the softball field too,
[48:05] where we're thinking about placing them so that,
[48:08] that's a, a two for one.
[48:12] And I, I think we actually can take the scoreboard off
[48:16] of the football field because they, there was a, an issue
[48:19] with it, with the,
[48:24] the board that manages it
[48:27] and they've been able to fix that.
[48:29] So I think that will actually come off this, this draft.
[48:34] So, and then for technology,
[48:40] the, the big thing at this point really is to
[48:46] keep and maintain our servers
[48:50] and then, which is that first 150,000.
[48:55] And then we have some work that we need
[48:57] to do in the auditorium
[49:00] around the lighting and the projector.
[49:04] The, the issue there for the lighting is that
[49:10] the, again, the control board is antiquated.
[49:15] I mean it was installed in 1998.
[49:17] So it, and there's much
[49:20] more efficient lights now that can be brighter
[49:25] and a board that could be more technologically
[49:30] efficient in terms of being able to be in the audience
[49:34] and do it as opposed to being, you know, behind the scenes,
[49:37] all those kinds of things that needs to happen.
[49:42] And so, and then just replacing our screen
[49:44] and the projector for that would be helpful as well.
[49:50] So I, I don't think any of the items are out of,
[49:53] out of reach.
[49:55] We've just gotta be planful about 'em and,
[49:57] and manage people's
[49:59] expectations about when they're gonna happen.
[50:04] - I noticed for where junior senior high school,
[50:07] you've got the stair tread
[50:09] and floor treatment that we talked extensively
[50:11] about on the walkthrough.
[50:13] Is that 50,000 just the
[50:18] portions we talked about?
[50:19] Or is that like everywhere
[50:21] that those circles are, they get replaced?
[50:24] - It's, it's mostly that 50,000 would
[50:27] mostly probably only cover.
[50:30] And we did, we could make this decision as to whether
[50:32] or not it's the stair treads
[50:34] or the entryways at the lower level
[50:37] because that lower level, just
[50:39] because of where this building is built, gets a lot
[50:42] of moisture that wicks right up
[50:43] and that tile is coming up all through that hallway.
[50:47] So we did a section of it I think a few years ago,
[50:50] maybe very successful.
[50:52] Looks great. So he would really like to see
[50:55] that whole hallway done.
[50:57] And then we would do the two main
[51:02] stairwells, stairwells that come up from there up up
[51:06] to this, the eighth grade wing.
[51:08] Okay,
[51:13] - Now the roofs we are gonna work on the state program.
[51:19] - We are. So, so this is
[51:24] part of a, it's, it is gonna be a scheduling nightmare
[51:28] in terms of this because the,
[51:33] if I understand the process that they've outlined in the,
[51:37] we would go to the accelerated repair projects
[51:42] and they don't put those out,
[51:43] those applications out until January.
[51:47] And part of that is we need to do a study
[51:54] that informs how much of a roof needs to be done.
[51:57] You know, there needs to be some engineering work
[51:59] that needs to be done.
[52:02] So part of the money that I would propose to raise
[52:07] would be essentially doing the research
[52:11] that would need to be done, that engineering study
[52:14] and then whatever matching piece that we would have to do.
[52:17] I mean the state may come up
[52:19] and say we're gonna give you all of it,
[52:21] but I believe we are, excuse me,
[52:23] I think we're a 60% community.
[52:26] - I think that's what they mentioned last time.
[52:29] - So we would have to come up with at least 40% of the cost.
[52:33] So whatever if, if this is too much, obviously if the,
[52:37] if the voters vote for it, it just stays
[52:40] in their capital plan, it doesn't get spent on,
[52:43] on another element of that.
[52:46] But the, the town manages the capital plan, not the schools.
[52:53] - So is the research study like an independent firm
[52:55] that comes out and validates the quotes that you have? And
[52:59] - It's, so I, I think it's even
[53:01] before we, we generate the quotes.
[53:04] My recollection, the last time I did an accelerated repair,
[53:09] we had to do the engineering study to get the extent
[53:14] of what the damage was to the roof
[53:19] and an estimate and some proposals
[53:24] that the engineering firm said, you know, this is,
[53:27] this is best practice, this is good practice, this is okay.
[53:31] Practice kind of thing. And then, you know, you breed that
[53:34] to MB MSBA in terms of the application.
[53:38] And then they, they come out
[53:40] and they do their own engineering study
[53:43] and they will tell you whether
[53:44] or not, you know, where they land
[53:46] on it in terms of the priority.
[53:48] 'cause obviously there's 351 towns in the Commonwealth
[53:52] and so everybody's looking for some support.
[53:55] - Does that study include like a design, feasibility design,
[53:58] what they recommend to fixing?
[53:59] - It would be at some point? Yes. Not that part though.
[54:03] I think that part would strictly be
[54:06] an understanding of what the damage is.
[54:07] Would just say you need the whole roof,
[54:08] you need this section of the roof.
[54:10] Right. Like they just come out and say Yeah.
[54:12] Whether you actually need it or not
[54:14] and how much you need. Correct.
[54:15] - So you mentioned we had the quotes.
[54:17] How long are those quotes valid for?
[54:20] - I, I mean I think for us, I,
[54:25] I wouldn't go longer than a year.
[54:28] You know, I think that's gonna be, so if we,
[54:33] so the town will have to make a decision, you know,
[54:37] if this amount will actually cover the entire project
[54:40] based on that engineering study
[54:41] and we don't get MSBA support, the town would have
[54:46] to probably have another vote to decide to go forward
[54:49] with the actual doing it on our own
[54:53] because that's a, a bigger commitment. You
[54:57] - Might not be able to answer this,
[54:58] but I see like the capital improvement plan, we,
[55:00] we span out, we parse out 10 years.
[55:02] Yeah. So I'm curious as to how long
[55:05] have the roofs been on our capital improvement plan?
[55:10] Is this the first year that they've,
[55:11] or have they been sitting on this plan knowing
[55:14] that they're deteriorating?
[55:16] You know, when we did the walkthrough it was pretty
[55:18] eye-opening to see, especially in the middle
[55:19] - School. Yeah.
[55:21] - You know, your assets are underneath your roof
[55:23] and here we have our assets being flooded when it rains.
[55:26] So
[55:29] - This is the first time, this is the first document
[55:32] that I could find that the school produced.
[55:35] I I have not seen what the town has had
[55:37] for an improvement plan.
[55:39] I've been told, they've been told
[55:42] that roofs have been on the docket for a long time. So is
[55:45] - This something we review annually every year at this?
[55:50] - We will start to, - Yeah,
[55:51] I was gonna say I think you should
[55:53] annually don't think we've been doing it
[55:54] - Consistently.
[55:56] - Capital plan. - I mean we're looking at 9 million and
[56:00] and five plus million are the roofs.
[56:01] - Yeah. Yeah. And, and that's only gonna go up. Right?
[56:05] Right.
[56:07] - But if we do get 60% Yeah that pulls that number down.
[56:10] - Absolutely. Yep. - And they're not gonna agree
[56:14] to do all three roofs at once. Oh
[56:16] - No, - No, no.
[56:17] So we do one at a time. So that makes it a little more,
[56:22] I don't want to use the word acceptable,
[56:23] but a little more palatable.
[56:25] - Yeah, yeah. We agreed to prioritize.
[56:27] It sounds like the middle schools, the Yeah,
[56:29] definitely the middle schools first.
[56:31] SMK is right up there.
[56:32] And then I would lowest of the three. Yeah,
[56:34] - There, there's a lot of discussion on the middle school.
[56:38] Is that the original roof? Yeah.
[56:40] And I think from what we've been able to find out,
[56:42] it's the original roof that's been sort
[56:45] of repaired a couple times,
[56:47] but it's been so long since it's even had repairs that
[56:50] you're talking 1960. Yeah. Bill,
[56:52] - Bill said something about the membranes being
[56:56] redone at some point, some at point.
[56:57] At this point, all those membranes are old,
[57:00] - Dried out. So
[57:00] - Yeah.
[57:01] All all the, the gravel
[57:03] or the ted is all gone, gone, gone for the most part.
[57:06] So it's, it's been a long time. A long time.
[57:14] So do we have to have the study done before January?
[57:18] - I gotta find that out. Okay.
[57:20] I I I we probably are
[57:23] because I think we need some information Right.
[57:25] To go into the application. For
[57:28] - Sure.
[57:29] Do we know roughly what the study would cost?
[57:31] - I have not gone. Okay.
[57:32] I have not done that work yet. Because
[57:33] - Basically we're doing one at a time.
[57:35] Yes. 'cause they're not gonna, I I believe the, the,
[57:39] the meeting that was held a year ago
[57:44] with them was Yeah, we're,
[57:47] we're not funding three roofs at once.
[57:49] - Right. And I I perfectly understand that.
[57:51] - Yeah, that's understandable. Yeah.
[57:53] But it doesn't mean we can't go back every year
[57:55] 'cause we're doing different roofs.
[57:56] No, no, absolutely. So, but we're starting the process
[57:59] and that's the important thing.
[58:00] We're, we're not saying the roofs leak. The roofs leak.
[58:03] We are starting a process.
[58:06] I would, once we have more information, I would like to
[58:10] invite the selectmen to come on a Saturday so we could,
[58:15] and and we won't make it a huge major walkthrough probably
[58:19] of either that building or that building in SK
[58:23] to talk about the roofs
[58:25] and talk about a few other things like the generator
[58:28] and some other things that well let, let priorities
[58:31] - The chiller too, you know. Yeah.
[58:33] - And show 'em the chiller firsthand.
[58:34] This is what, this is what you pay for.
[58:36] It's, it's pretty, and
[58:38] and I think at some future meeting,
[58:41] once it's done once stuff
[58:42] and running a hundred percent
[58:44] that we should throw it on the screen so
[58:46] that it gets broadcast out.
[58:47] Yeah. Just because let tell you that chiller the
[58:50] outside unit, to me that's pretty impressive. It is
[58:53] - Pretty impressive.
[58:54] - It's pretty impressive. Yeah.
[58:55] And, and so it's, it's time we
[59:01] feed back, you know, people vote Yes.
[59:04] Spend money on things.
[59:06] Well this is what it looks like, right.
[59:07] This is what it's doing, it's working
[59:08] and this is what we paid for.
[59:10] And it, to me, it it is a pretty
[59:13] impressive piece of equipment.
[59:15] So, but I, I would like to get, I'm not looking
[59:19] to get selectman necessarily on our side
[59:22] or try to bribe her any way.
[59:24] I, I just want to inform them that yeah, we're asking,
[59:27] we're doing, we're we're going into the state program
[59:31] to get some reimbursement and this is why.
[59:34] And you know, we need their support.
[59:36] We need them to throw in with us
[59:38] because it's, you know, to the point of
[59:43] I think the library and the middle school
[59:45] and SMK, they both leak.
[59:48] So there's a lot of investment in, especially in SMK,
[59:51] but a lot of investment in books and stuff.
[59:53] And it's like, we're also protecting the assets. Yeah.
[59:56] And besides that, it's also, yeah,
[59:59] without getting into too much quality of life
[1:00:02] and everything, it's like who wants to be in a building that
[1:00:05] you'd be far drier standing
[1:00:07] outside than you would be in a hallway
[1:00:09] or something, or a classroom.
[1:00:11] So it, it's about time. It it's long overdue.
[1:00:14] It's long overdue that we don't, I mean this is a wishlist,
[1:00:17] you know, if the town won the lottery tomorrow, it's like,
[1:00:20] okay, fill this out.
[1:00:22] But I, I think it's a good start to,
[1:00:25] and then we can zero in like on roofs, the generator,
[1:00:29] I would even go on a limb
[1:00:30] and say I'd like to see a generator for the middle school.
[1:00:33] - I would like that too. But I can commit.
[1:00:36] I understand why they don't have one there.
[1:00:37] - One at a time, one at a time, one at a time.
[1:00:40] But we gotta have at least two.
[1:00:41] Yeah, there's one here and that one needs to be replaced.
[1:00:44] We gotta have two. Yeah.
[1:00:45] Because we run into a problem with power.
[1:00:49] The generator basically does some basic things,
[1:00:52] but the biggest thing it does is food service.
[1:00:57] It is the middle school. It does the freezer shelter.
[1:01:00] No, no. It was supposed to be,
[1:01:03] yeah, I think back in the sixties.
[1:01:05] 'cause this, there is the area shelter
[1:01:07] that's in the basement and we saw the beds in the Yeah,
[1:01:12] it is not a bad thought.
[1:01:13] It was, but apparently they decided
[1:01:15] to put the money into the senior center
[1:01:17] and that's why that has a better generator.
[1:01:19] And I believe it's a new one. Fairly new.
[1:01:22] And that is the emergency place.
[1:01:24] And I guess they also use the great room at the town hall if
[1:01:28] they had to as an overflow.
[1:01:29] I don't know if it's generated there or anything.
[1:01:32] So that's probably why the middle school never got one.
[1:01:35] But at least if we have a generator at SMK
[1:01:39] and this one running, if we had to move food stops out
[1:01:42] of there, we'd have two places to put it as opposed
[1:01:45] to just try to put everything in one.
[1:01:47] And there is an alternative
[1:01:50] and I would not go with the dry ice,
[1:01:52] dry ice alternative trust them.
[1:01:55] I've been there. And that is not fun.
[1:01:58] It's pretty cool when you get rid of it and you,
[1:02:01] and you watch the fog spread all over the place.
[1:02:03] But it's, that's, that's no way to run a railroad.
[1:02:08] So yeah, it's, it's, this is a lot of wishlist
[1:02:12] and we can get creative with some things,
[1:02:15] but I, I think it's time that we start looking at
[1:02:17] what we need and start
[1:02:22] could offend someone when I say this, start asking for it,
[1:02:26] you know, a lot of money was spent on these buildings
[1:02:29] and they do need some help.
[1:02:34] Whether it's roofs, whether it's floors, they, they do see,
[1:02:38] need some basic help.
[1:02:40] So I'm done. I lost my soapbox.
[1:02:43] - Well the, the second half of that conversation is
[1:02:47] you put this roof on
[1:02:48] and this roof is supposed to last, let's just say 15 years.
[1:02:53] Let's say we put the roof on in 2030, like it says here.
[1:02:58] So in 2030 that school is going to be
[1:03:02] how old it's going to be
[1:03:04] - 1960.
[1:03:05] So 40 plus. That's 70 years old. Be 70 years
[1:03:07] - Years old.
[1:03:08] That's a 70-year-old school That's too old. So,
[1:03:12] - So on the flip side of that conversation, yeah,
[1:03:15] you're putting money into a 60, 70-year-old building.
[1:03:18] But look at the floors in that place. It is
[1:03:21] - Concrete.
[1:03:22] Do Oh no, I was, I was talking about do you walk I was
[1:03:23] talking about SMK sorry.
[1:03:24] - Oh, SMK. Sorry,
[1:03:25] I thought you was talking the middle school.
[1:03:27] - Oh what SMK was built in 70, 74. Yeah.
[1:03:30] So a a 60-year-old building.
[1:03:34] So I guess, I guess my thought to it is
[1:03:37] that if we have a middle school that is old
[1:03:41] and a lower elementary school that is old
[1:03:44] and we're gonna put in two point,
[1:03:48] almost 2.3 million at SMK
[1:03:50] and 1.8 at the middle school, at
[1:03:54] what point does it make more financial sense
[1:03:57] and more longevity sense to say, alright, we're gonna build
[1:04:01] a pre-K to six elementary school
[1:04:06] instead of having basically
[1:04:09] - Elementary - Schools.
[1:04:10] What? Well, that's, that's the thing is that, is
[1:04:12] that if you, if you take, if you take the,
[1:04:16] the $4 million here
[1:04:19] and shift it toward the cost of building a new building,
[1:04:22] which is obviously way more than $4 million,
[1:04:24] all I'm saying is that a new building with a new roof
[1:04:27] is gonna last lot longer than an
[1:04:29] old building with a new roof.
[1:04:32] - But if the new building that replaces two say is,
[1:04:37] and I'm just throwing a number out there, 50 million,
[1:04:42] - I was gonna say 40.
[1:04:43] So we're in the same ballpark ish. Right,
[1:04:47] - I know a few years ago and - Right.
[1:04:50] But that must it just, I to say it some place
[1:04:52] - That - A, a large percentage of that
[1:04:55] - Newton South did a high school for 75 million,
[1:04:59] that's a addition that's got everything in it.
[1:05:01] So 50 million is probably a safe number
[1:05:06] up higher for a building to replace these two. Yes.
[1:05:09] - Oh yeah. Yeah. - I I I would be surprised you could get
[1:05:13] it for less than 85, 90 million.
[1:05:16] - What was David Proudy?
[1:05:17] That's probably the newest woman over there.
[1:05:18] - Proudy. Yeah. Yeah, right.
[1:05:22] - Yeah. I don't know how much that was. That's up there.
[1:05:26] - Seventies. - Yeah, so
[1:05:30] - I mean 'cause because we're in the buildings, there's also
[1:05:35] land acquisition if, you know, how, where,
[1:05:39] where would we be able to put it?
[1:05:42] I think we go on this site, don't get me wrong,
[1:05:44] but, you know, so that, that part of the conversation.
[1:05:47] Right. But land might be a part of the price too.
[1:05:49] To, or, or, or re re reclamation
[1:05:54] of land, you know, cutting down trees and so forth. 'cause
[1:05:58] - Yeah, 'cause I mean you would, you would build it probably
[1:06:00] where SMK is but it would eat into the soccer
[1:06:02] field and the baseball field
[1:06:03] - Behind it.
[1:06:04] I was gonna say it would probably have to go on the
[1:06:05] soccer field and baseball field.
[1:06:06] Yeah. So that you don't disrupt what goes on at
[1:06:09] - SK.
[1:06:10] Yeah. And like while it's being built,
[1:06:11] we've got the middle school and the high school.
[1:06:13] I mean, we could, we could figure out where
[1:06:14] to put kids within this campus.
[1:06:16] Yeah. I feel like for the short term of it being built,
[1:06:20] I don't think we would have to buy land.
[1:06:21] I think we would, I think we could use what we have.
[1:06:23] And I'm not saying it would be cheap, I'm just saying that
[1:06:26] if we put a roof on a building
[1:06:29] that's already 60 years old
[1:06:32] and we expect it to last for 15 years,
[1:06:36] - I would expect it to last 20, 25 years easy.
[1:06:40] - So by then the school is almost a hundred years old.
[1:06:45] - I think a conversation that has to happen at that point is
[1:06:50] what's our student population?
[1:06:55] What's our student population?
[1:06:58] - Is enrollment trending upwards? Anywhere? Anywhere?
[1:07:03] - Yeah. The whole state is coming down
[1:07:05] - Western west of 4, 9, 5.
[1:07:10] - All right. I I mean, - It was just
[1:07:11] because that would determine the size, but,
[1:07:15] but that might also work against it in the fact
[1:07:17] that you wanna do that much
[1:07:19] for a population that's declining.
[1:07:21] I mean, look at Mohat.
[1:07:24] We've lost in 10 years a third of their student population.
[1:07:27] Look at Munson down the road.
[1:07:30] They're at least, what, 25% if not more.
[1:07:34] They can't feel certain athletic teams
[1:07:36] 'cause they don't have enough kids.
[1:07:39] - But are the elementary schools also suffering?
[1:07:45] - I can't answer that because I don't,
[1:07:46] when they throw numbers out, they don't
[1:07:48] take it down. Permit S okay
[1:07:50] - Is good.
[1:07:51] - But then where are they going? What is happening?
[1:07:53] If, if, say in in Munson, their elementary numbers are good
[1:07:57] and then all of a sudden they get to the seventh
[1:07:59] and eighth grade, where are they going?
[1:08:01] If it falls that much? Right.
[1:08:03] It's probably across the board
[1:08:05] that is slowly going down.
[1:08:10] I would say, I would just guess,
[1:08:12] but, you know, how would we want to be
[1:08:17] look to the future as far as a declining population?
[1:08:20] And no offense, but do we want to build a Taj Mahal?
[1:08:26] And when we probably field of dreams,
[1:08:30] fiscal wise, field of
[1:08:31] - Dreams, - If you build it, they
[1:08:32] - Will come. Yes.
[1:08:34] - I'm just - Kidding. There's data to support that.
[1:08:37] But there, yes.
[1:08:38] The schools, if you build a new school,
[1:08:40] your enrollment usually grows, ticks up for a short time.
[1:08:44] But obviously it's, it's all about housing
[1:08:46] units and, and Right.
[1:08:47] Replenishing existing unit.
[1:08:49] So if the town has an aggressive housing plan
[1:08:53] or development is gonna happen in the town on, on existing
[1:08:57] land, then you, you look at that
[1:09:00] and you see if there's gonna be growth.
[1:09:03] So
[1:09:04] - Yes, I think we need to take care of what we have
[1:09:08] as a start and then we can, if things get
[1:09:12] to a point where the numbers are high
[1:09:17] and considering a new building,
[1:09:19] I think then we have that discussion.
[1:09:21] But I think for now we need to fix what we have
[1:09:24] because it's not getting any better.
[1:09:28] - I wonder if part of the research study
[1:09:30] tackles a little bit of this,
[1:09:32] like the research study might unpack, well,
[1:09:35] you're gonna put $5 million into two roof or three roof.
[1:09:38] Perhaps it might be more value to look at building.
[1:09:43] Yeah. If that's part of a re I don't know.
[1:09:45] I'm asking. I wonder that. Well,
[1:09:47] - I I think that that's, that's the value of working
[1:09:50] with MSBA, to be honest with you,
[1:09:52] because they have a, a statewide view of
[1:09:55] what, what's been happening.
[1:09:56] And so they can, they could share some of their experience
[1:10:00] around, you know, enrollment growth.
[1:10:06] You know, what happens with 68-year-old buildings versus,
[1:10:10] you know, a hundred year old, old
[1:10:12] - Buildings.
[1:10:13] My guess is there's more beyond the roof
[1:10:14] that potentially needs to
[1:10:15] - Be upgrade for.
[1:10:16] And they would, they would, would definitely wanna be part
[1:10:18] of a conversation with the community about that.
[1:10:20] Definitely. Perhaps
[1:10:22] - You could look into that if there's a component
[1:10:24] of the research study that we give an analysis of,
[1:10:27] - Well, because we're, we're, we designed this study
[1:10:30] that we want done, we do.
[1:10:32] So we could ask, you know, for, for firms to do an, our
[1:10:37] request for proposals, we could ask from a firm
[1:10:40] to make sure they have an enrollment piece done
[1:10:45] or that they have a, a statistical analysis of, you know,
[1:10:49] what, what really is the best
[1:10:54] year for a building to be retired?
[1:10:57] You know, is it there 60th years? If there's 75th years,
[1:11:00] - We could spit ball up here all night and knock it anyway.
[1:11:03] Oh yeah. Evidence is in front of us.
[1:11:04] We could probably make a better decision.
[1:11:06] - Oh, absolutely. And we can write our study how we want
[1:11:09] for the information that we Right.
[1:11:11] If we need those questions answered, we can,
[1:11:12] we can get answered for sure.
[1:11:13] Right. Yeah.
[1:11:15] - So as a follow up, we need
[1:11:19] what the study's gonna cost. Yep.
[1:11:21] - And - Is that funded?
[1:11:23] The study's funded solely by our operating budget?
[1:11:27] - The initial one is, yes. Oh wow. Yeah.
[1:11:31] - Okay. Yeah. - And we
[1:11:36] need to find out how soon we need to do it.
[1:11:38] - Yes. - So if
[1:11:43] we need to now, would we go for a warrant based on,
[1:11:47] well we should have a cost rough cost.
[1:11:50] So we could do the warrant based on that as opposed
[1:11:53] to throwing out a number and saying, well,
[1:11:54] if you don't use it all, we'll give it back to you.
[1:11:56] But that's not always a No.
[1:11:58] - We'd wanna give them specifics about what's a to
[1:12:00] - Fill go. Good information
[1:12:01] - We can give them. Yeah.
[1:12:02] - Yeah. Okay. And same
[1:12:03] with the generator. Oh, the generator we have.
[1:12:05] - Yeah. That's a, a - Pretty 65,000. That's
[1:12:08] - A solid cost.
[1:12:09] - Okay. Quote.
[1:12:16] All right. We definitely will do this once a year,
[1:12:21] maybe every six months.
[1:12:24] - Thank you for putting the time into that.
[1:12:25] Yeah, thank you. It was an excellent
[1:12:27] - Document.
[1:12:28] We haven't had anything like this in a long time.
[1:12:29] It's kind of nice to have it all there
[1:12:31] and I know it's in a sense, a wishlist,
[1:12:34] but yet it's something we can work towards
[1:12:36] and something that Yeah.
[1:12:40] We can work towards. It's
[1:12:50] Any other questions or comments?
[1:12:51] Capital improvement.
[1:12:54] - I guess last one, just in regards to like operation
[1:12:57] and maintenance, I do feel a lot of questions about like
[1:13:00] what is the operation
[1:13:01] and maintenance schedules of anything
[1:13:04] that might appear on here.
[1:13:05] I mean, I would assume that we have, you know,
[1:13:07] somebody maintaining our equipment, doing
[1:13:11] what they need to do to service it.
[1:13:12] Yep. Yearly, monthly, bi-annually.
[1:13:17] Can you talk a little bit about like what, what we do
[1:13:19] to maintain what we do have so
[1:13:21] that we're not overlooking anything so
[1:13:24] that it pops up when it should.
[1:13:25] Yeah.
[1:13:28] - Yeah. I think, you know, from what I can see and, and,
[1:13:31] and how Bill talks about, you know, what, what he's doing
[1:13:34] and how he's mapping things out.
[1:13:35] You know, I think he's got a good handle on what the,
[1:13:39] what the schedule of maintenance is needed
[1:13:41] for, for everything.
[1:13:43] And it's, you know, well documented
[1:13:45] and you know, people who come in and work on our, our
[1:13:49] - So that falls to Bill and the maintenance staff.
[1:13:51] - Yeah. Yeah. - Okay.
[1:13:53] - And we've come a long way.
[1:13:54] We used to like fund them for nothing. Yeah.
[1:13:57] - Kitchen equipment that went
[1:13:58] - Across the board.
[1:13:59] We would end up giving them a a a new box
[1:14:01] of duct tape every year and that was all we could afford
[1:14:04] and hold it together. My
[1:14:06] - Point is, it's a heavy lift for
[1:14:07] one person, right? Right. To
[1:14:08] - Go through all - These R one
[1:14:10] M'S for everything that we own.
[1:14:11] But it could potentially be a cost savings to the right.
[1:14:14] Offset the local assessment when people are saying,
[1:14:16] well take care of what you have.
[1:14:17] Right, right. Before we buy it, we,
[1:14:19] we ask the town to buy us something new.
[1:14:21] - So Jeff Nichols is our food services
[1:14:23] and he oversees the, the kitchen equipment.
[1:14:25] I mean they, they work together,
[1:14:27] but Jeff has a good handle on what the schedule
[1:14:31] for main maintenance and
[1:14:32] because he's also inspected obviously that, that
[1:14:37] puts the pressure on making sure that it's maintained.
[1:14:40] But he's got a good replacement cycle
[1:14:43] of his equipment as, as well. So good
[1:14:46] - To hear.
[1:14:47] So you're comfortable saying we we maintain what we have.
[1:14:49] - Yeah. I'm seeing good things. I think that's important
[1:14:51] - Information to get - Out there.
[1:14:52] And Jeff is pretty good at finding
[1:14:55] or applying for grants
[1:14:56] to replace things too, from time to time.
[1:14:58] Yeah. Yeah. It's amazing what he will get a grant for
[1:15:01] to replace the dishwasher or whatever.
[1:15:02] Yep. And that equipment is old.
[1:15:06] It's, but it is maintained
[1:15:08] and when it's replaced it's, he,
[1:15:13] he does an excellent job with doing that.
[1:15:15] I'll, I'll give him that right now.
[1:15:17] - And I only bring it up because it's the first per
[1:15:18] thing someone's gonna ask me.
[1:15:19] Oh, absolutely. When we ask for something new, well,
[1:15:21] how well are you taking care of the old stuff? So,
[1:15:24] - And, and that's an excellent point
[1:15:25] because MSBA actually f has least focused on that.
[1:15:29] Have you've been taking care of what you have. Right.
[1:15:31] 'cause if they, if they find evidence that you haven't been,
[1:15:35] they back away very quickly.
[1:15:37] - Thank you. - Veteran
[1:15:41] field bathroom installation.
[1:15:44] - Yes. So I know this has been around for a topic
[1:15:48] and for a while.
[1:15:50] Couple years. Yeah. And so we do have a current quote.
[1:15:55] This is for the product that is, you know,
[1:15:59] essentially they, they are portable, they can be moved,
[1:16:04] but they're essentially, you know, stationed there.
[1:16:07] So we would buy a handicapped accessible
[1:16:09] port, portable restroom.
[1:16:12] So we would have that. And next to
[1:16:15] that we would have two private stalls, toilet stalls.
[1:16:19] Next to that they would be positioned next to the
[1:16:26] bleachers on veterans field so that they can near the,
[1:16:30] near the concession stand, but far enough away,
[1:16:34] but also be available to the softball field so
[1:16:37] that they could be used for the, for that game as well.
[1:16:41] And so we have the 20,000 from the
[1:16:47] T-Mobile to T-Mobile company.
[1:16:49] And so we would have to contribute some
[1:16:51] and we're looking for those funds now to do that.
[1:16:54] We would like to do that, you know, do this,
[1:16:59] this fall would be great,
[1:17:00] but it's probably gonna be next spring
[1:17:02] because we do have to do some groundwork for the plumbing,
[1:17:07] which would be about $7,000 more to, to take care of.
[1:17:12] - This is a direct tie in.
[1:17:14] - It's a direct tie in. Oh, nice. Yeah. Yeah.
[1:17:16] - What do we currently pay for what we have?
[1:17:19] - I don't know the answer to that question,
[1:17:21] but it's pretty expensive actually.
[1:17:22] You know, when you think about it, it's, it's less,
[1:17:24] it's less than this, but Yeah.
[1:17:26] But it's annually, so it's compounding.
[1:17:28] You know, every year you do it.
[1:17:31] - Now I dig out the stuff from last year
[1:17:34] and the estimates were
[1:17:39] the nine and the 5,600.
[1:17:41] So it has gone down, which is good.
[1:17:44] They, he also had given us 7,000 bucks for plumbing.
[1:17:50] 'cause this is just for the equipment
[1:17:51] then we have to do the plumbing after.
[1:17:53] - That's correct. Yes. I say we do
[1:17:57] - It now.
[1:17:58] Do we have 25,000 we got from T-Mobile or do we have 20? 20.
[1:18:02] 20. Okay.
[1:18:04] So with this
[1:18:06] and estimate of roughly 7,000,
[1:18:08] it's not gonna cost us a thing.
[1:18:10] - It's Yeah,
[1:18:11] we're gonna have to kick in a little bit, right?
[1:18:12] Yeah.
[1:18:14] - Yeah. We'll have to get a better estimate on
[1:18:16] the, the plumbing. Right.
[1:18:17] - Has anybody looked into that? Is it a gravity fed sewer?
[1:18:20] Like how far away are there any turns
[1:18:22] in the pipe? I just don't,
[1:18:24] - I'm relying on bill's expertise in that get
[1:18:26] - Rot router involved.
[1:18:27] You know, the public's throwing stuff down there. They
[1:18:29] - Shouldn't.
[1:18:30] Yeah. I mean, from what I understand, the,
[1:18:34] these particular units work,
[1:18:35] they work pretty much like a regular bathroom.
[1:18:37] Yep. And that you wouldn't notice the difference,
[1:18:42] you know, if they're, if they're again, maintained Well and
[1:18:46] because they do have running water, you don't have the issue
[1:18:51] of the smell To the extent for you to, for a,
[1:18:56] - To be tying into the utilities up here.
[1:18:57] - Yes. At the high school. Yeah. Yeah.
[1:19:01] Well to middle school, but yes. Yeah,
[1:19:08] - I think it's a good deal.
[1:19:09] - I think it's great. You, it's time to be done to do it.
[1:19:13] I move, I move that we do this.
[1:19:18] - Do we have a second? Starts getting
[1:19:19] - Late second.
[1:19:21] - All in favor? Any more discussion? Okay.
[1:19:24] All in favor, Kevin? Aye. Julie. Aye.
[1:19:27] Aye for myself, Mike. Aye
[1:19:29] - Mel.
[1:19:30] Aye. Great. A lot of people very happy.
[1:19:38] - It takes care of a lot of problems.
[1:19:39] - Yeah. So
[1:19:44] hearing what you just said, I I'm not trying
[1:19:47] to make the meeting move faster,
[1:19:48] but I, the MOU for the, we're not ready to, I'm not ready
[1:19:53] to move forward for the association has been great.
[1:19:56] They just had other things to deal with.
[1:19:58] So I, I don't have, they don't,
[1:20:02] they have not looked at the job description
[1:20:06] that I gave to them.
[1:20:08] To make a long story short,
[1:20:09] the district has had this position
[1:20:12] for at least over 25 years.
[1:20:14] It's paid out this position for over 25 years.
[1:20:18] The two people that have had the position have never
[1:20:21] received any kind of letter or agreement.
[1:20:23] It has been a $2,500 for, for the whole 20 to 25 years
[1:20:28] that it's been in existence.
[1:20:30] We're just trying to tighten up our rules and regulations
[1:20:33] and follow our standard procedures.
[1:20:36] It's also, you know, for the purposes of retirement,
[1:20:40] if you don't have, if it's not tied to a contract
[1:20:45] in some way, you can't claim it for retirement purposes.
[1:20:49] Oh. And so, so my my recommendation
[1:20:54] to the committee is that we enter this
[1:20:58] as a stipend deposition.
[1:20:59] It goes into our unit, a contract
[1:21:02] and it's paid.
[1:21:04] I, I'm recommending to increase the stipends
[1:21:09] for a slight amount to $3,100 just
[1:21:11] because that has never gotten a raise in 25 here, 22 years.
[1:21:15] But, so, and then, you know, obviously we'll post it
[1:21:19] and hire for it.
[1:21:22] Great.
[1:21:24] - Yeah. But it's not ready to do today. Let us
[1:21:26] - Know when you get that.
[1:21:27] Yeah, I, I just, they haven't given me the Okay.
[1:21:29] They wanna move forward on it.
[1:21:30] I, I don't think there's any disagreement with it.
[1:21:34] It's just a time timing issue. Great.
[1:21:39] - No old unfinished business comments
[1:21:41] and concerns of citizens.
[1:21:47] The subcommittee discussions on here, just briefly,
[1:21:52] I hope to after this weekend get you some information
[1:21:56] on the superintendent search.
[1:21:58] - Oh good. That was on my notes to talk about
[1:22:01] - And I was hoping to do it for this meeting,
[1:22:03] but things were kind of tight.
[1:22:06] But there's some information, I've gotten some information.
[1:22:10] I want to do a roughly a timeline
[1:22:15] and cover some other things.
[1:22:19] But the job description of other things
[1:22:21] that we will discuss at the next meeting.
[1:22:24] I'm just doing this so that there's something
[1:22:27] to work off of.
[1:22:29] And I sort of, and when it comes to scheduling meetings,
[1:22:32] I sort of like the doing every other Wednesday.
[1:22:34] 'cause pretty much everybody has Wednesday's block.
[1:22:37] So, and then we can appoint,
[1:22:42] we can vote on establishing the subcommittee next meeting
[1:22:46] and we can get going on it and starting on it.
[1:22:49] And, but I want to get information out to everybody ahead
[1:22:53] of time so we're not like sitting here going,
[1:22:56] what are we gonna talk about now?
[1:22:57] Well not give us a, give us an outline
[1:23:00] and we can add to it, take away whatever it is.
[1:23:02] But give us something to be able to discuss with.
[1:23:05] So I will have that for the next meeting so
[1:23:07] that we can start that process of searching for
[1:23:11] a superintendent.
[1:23:14] - Yes. I was gonna add
[1:23:17] that the timeline we had last year was fine,
[1:23:20] but it did very much work around the, the holiday break.
[1:23:25] So we,
[1:23:29] we put out like the notice, like we want people to join
[1:23:32] and then the committee was formed like
[1:23:36] early December, I think.
[1:23:37] I feel like it was around my birthday,
[1:23:38] like December 10th ish.
[1:23:40] And then we posted,
[1:23:44] 'cause the, the, the committee met
[1:23:45] and went over the job requirements and everything that like,
[1:23:48] and what what we wanted the, the, the posting to look like.
[1:23:51] We posted it over the break
[1:23:54] and then we had meetings after the break.
[1:23:57] So it, it worked out.
[1:24:00] But I just want to point out that it was very much working
[1:24:03] around that winter break.
[1:24:04] And if we want to avoid that,
[1:24:06] then we would have to change the timeline.
[1:24:07] If we're okay with that, then we can stick with what we had.
[1:24:10] It's just something to think about.
[1:24:12] - Thought was maybe too, I'm just throwing this out there.
[1:24:17] I haven't really laid too much out,
[1:24:18] but I'm, I'm gonna have it this weekend.
[1:24:21] Haven't done by Christmas.
[1:24:24] I don't know if that's kind of ambitious,
[1:24:28] but I'll see how it lays out.
[1:24:29] It's because we do have holidays
[1:24:31] and stuff coming up in, in different things. So it's
[1:24:33] - Only ambitious just
[1:24:34] because it's really early in the school year
[1:24:36] and some people aren't thinking about new positions at
[1:24:39] that point in the school year.
[1:24:40] Right. They're, they're very much
[1:24:43] entrenched in whatever position
[1:24:44] they have currently at the time.
[1:24:46] And a lot of people aren't looking.
[1:24:48] - Are you saying have the posting
[1:24:50] - Out by Christmas or the committee?
[1:24:51] No, he's saying have it done, have someone selected.
[1:24:53] Oh, hold on.
[1:24:56] And I, and I, I just don't, I don't know that we would have,
[1:24:59] I don't know that we would have a strong applicant field.
[1:25:02] I feel like if we, if we have our ducks in a row,
[1:25:08] post it over the break, see
[1:25:11] what we've got when we come back from the break,
[1:25:13] maybe post again and then have it done by early March.
[1:25:18] Like we did. I feel like, I feel like
[1:25:21] that was much more reasonable and we had a,
[1:25:23] and we would have a stronger,
[1:25:24] stronger applicant pool later in the school
[1:25:27] year versus earlier.
[1:25:29] I'm not saying we, we couldn't find someone.
[1:25:31] I'm just saying that not a lot of people are looking
[1:25:34] in October and November for a new job
[1:25:36] because they've just started the one they have.
[1:25:38] - Are we able to open it up
[1:25:39] and then potentially extend it based on the
[1:25:42] - Candidates?
[1:25:43] Yeah, so I mean we could post in October
[1:25:46] and see what we've got
[1:25:48] and if the committee feels that we've got, you know, two
[1:25:52] or three, or not two, not two, three
[1:25:55] or four really strong candidates, then we could go ahead
[1:25:59] with a, with the interviews and do the whole thing.
[1:26:02] And if it doesn't work out, then we have the January
[1:26:05] through March cushion to work with.
[1:26:07] I mean there, there's always kind
[1:26:08] of like a double dip there if you are so inclined. Hmm.
[1:26:12] - We're doing this ourselves again.
[1:26:14] - Yes. Sooner,
[1:26:16] but it might be better to get the process out.
[1:26:18] Sure.
[1:26:20] - Well that's why I'm, that's why I'm gonna set something up
[1:26:23] and then we'll discuss it at the next one.
[1:26:24] Yeah, for sure. And we can extend it, cut it back,
[1:26:27] do options and probably need
[1:26:31] to tweak the description a little bit and, and a few things.
[1:26:35] But one question I do have for everybody is
[1:26:39] do we want to get MA SC involved?
[1:26:42] No. Or do we wanna do it ourselves? We wanna
[1:26:44] - Do it ourselves.
[1:26:46] - Anybody else? I don't know.
[1:26:47] - I think there is some merit to having MASC involved.
[1:26:51] Not at all. And I think we should discuss that for sure.
[1:26:53] Yeah,
[1:26:56] - I don't like having them handle it.
[1:26:57] I will say that much. Sure.
[1:26:58] I think we've, I think we've done basically a couple,
[1:27:02] I think we have learned from it
[1:27:04] and we will, we can discuss that,
[1:27:07] but I think we are totally capable of handling it
[1:27:11] and I just think they, I,
[1:27:17] how do I put this and be nice.
[1:27:21] I think they have an agenda
[1:27:26] sometimes with people. They,
[1:27:28] - They definitely stick their thumb on
[1:27:29] the scale if they feel
[1:27:31] - That way.
[1:27:32] That's a good way to put it. Yeah.
[1:27:33] And so I,
[1:27:35] I think we can be much more impartial and we can be much more.
[1:27:39] And I think, like I said,
[1:27:40] we've done a basically done a couple, I think
[1:27:44] we have a pretty good idea of what we're doing
[1:27:46] and not pretty good idea.
[1:27:49] I think we have a good idea of what we're doing
[1:27:51] and I, I definitely think that we can handle it
[1:27:53] with some adjustments that based off of
[1:27:57] what people didn't like and like before.
[1:27:59] So I think we should be doing it. Why not?
[1:28:04] - Yeah. Alright.
[1:28:06] - Without being rude
[1:28:07] or anything, we have to sort of live
[1:28:10] with whoever gets chosen, so we probably should
[1:28:14] have our fingers into everything we can
[1:28:17] and instead of relying on someone else to, to sort of
[1:28:22] drive the bus, I guess is the best way to put it.
[1:28:26] - That's a little on the nose for you there, Brian. Yes,
[1:28:28] - It's, yeah, I know. That's
[1:28:29] - Okay. I'll allow it.
[1:28:30] - I know. So
[1:28:36] if there's no more discussion on that,
[1:28:38] we will have no communications.
[1:28:40] Our next meeting is 9 23.
[1:28:42] - Oh, I actually just wanted to say
[1:28:43] just really quickly Okay.
[1:28:44] With me having the day off today
[1:28:46] because of, you know, Springfield being closed,
[1:28:49] the principals graciously welcomed me into their schools
[1:28:52] today and I was able to kind of walk around
[1:28:54] and get a feel for how the year is starting out
[1:28:57] and I could not be more impressed
[1:29:00] what a difference the leadership at this
[1:29:02] high school has made.
[1:29:04] I mean, I walked around for a good bit.
[1:29:06] I didn't see any stray kids just wandering around,
[1:29:09] peeked my head into classrooms.
[1:29:10] Nobody was on their phones. Every classroom I looked in,
[1:29:14] the kids were engaged,
[1:29:15] they were doing what they're supposed to be doing.
[1:29:17] The teachers were actively involved.
[1:29:21] And I just, I just want to give a big shout out
[1:29:24] to all three principals
[1:29:26] and assistants that are supporting them
[1:29:29] and I just feel like we're off to a really good start
[1:29:32] and you could feel it in all the buildings.
[1:29:34] So I just wanted to make sure I put that out there
[1:29:38] - To you inform the central office you were doing that?
[1:29:42] Yes. Okay. Anything else?
[1:29:49] No communications nor other business.
[1:29:52] I'll make the motion to adjourn at 8:07 PM We have a second.
[1:29:57] Second. All in favor, Kevin? Aye. Julie? Aye. Aye.
[1:30:01] Myself, Mike. Aye Mel.
[1:30:03] - Aye.