[5:50] Good evening, everybody. This is a regularly scheduled meeting of the Warehouse School Committee. It is September 18th, 2025. It's approximately 630. We are being recorded by Jamie Wixson, and we are televised by WCTV. And John, someone told me his last meeting. John Day is behind the wall, making sure it's done properly. Let's rise for the Pledge of Allegiance, please.

[6:40] Okay, we are all present and accounted for and I see no offense to the press, even though

[6:49] you're getting attacked lightly, not you personally.

[6:54] I don't think the press wants to participate in public participation so we will move on

[6:59] to good news.

[7:01] Does anybody have any good news?

[7:05] I just wanted to share, and this is something that will be shared again later in the meeting,

[7:09] But I think everyone knows now that we're starting the search for our next superintendent and one of the good news

[7:18] What you're gonna stop there

[7:21] No, so I wanted to

[7:24] Just let everyone know that we are planning a public form

[7:27] We talked about that last time and we have we have set a date

[7:30] So just in case someone is watching now and doesn't make it to the end of the meeting

[7:34] I just wanted to say that that's gonna be on Monday September 29th at the high school

[7:39] There'll be a session for staff of the schools from 2.30 to 4.30 and then there'll be another session from 5.30 to 7, is that right?

[7:48] From members of the public.

[7:50] So again, that will be talked about later in the meeting. It will be put out on social media through email to let everyone know, but I just wanted to make it known now also.

[8:00] Thank you. And repeating that is probably a good idea later.

[8:06] I just want to say that in preschool, at the high school opened on Monday, things are

[8:11] going really well.

[8:12] There's a great article in the Wehrham Week about it.

[8:15] Thank you.

[8:16] So please check that out.

[8:18] We will be holding an open house at some point, school committee will be invited to come.

[8:26] And so I just want to say thank you to everyone that worked so hard to make that happen.

[8:30] How many rooms is at the moment?

[8:32] One. One. One. Okay. And the McDuffy Education Center has been renovated and while a lot of work has been done, not renovated, I don't think is appropriate, but, and we'll be having students starting there on Monday.

[8:48] So that's good news.

[8:50] Thank you.

[8:52] Anybody else? Good news.

[8:53] We want to not steal any of Priscilla's thunder because she's next.

[9:01] In sports?

[9:02] Mike on?

[9:03] I think so.

[9:04] Oh, there we go.

[9:05] Sorry.

[9:06] One of the main things is sports volleyball.

[9:09] Had our first loss yesterday, but our record still six to one, and we have a game tomorrow.

[9:14] Boy soccer is also doing well with a record of three to one, and both soccer teams had a game today.

[9:19] So none of the results.

[9:21] Football game is the first home game next Friday.

[9:23] and feel talky has a game today and tomorrow and overall are doing well.

[9:28] And then DECA, we're hosting our first fundraiser on November, no, no, no, sorry, September 27th,

[9:35] 9-1 and it's dry for your community and we're partnering with We're Him Ford and it's where

[9:41] the public and anybody over 18 can come and test drive for and just fill out a survey and

[9:47] it gives DECA money and it helps us fundraise and get out into the community.

[9:52] there is also open house tonight and overall I think it's going well the first few

[9:56] weeks of school. Excellent, excellent. What's the highlight bin for you? I think just my

[10:06] classes this year are easier because I got all my hard classes out of the way and

[10:11] now I get to the have an easy senior year. I'm still like taking more

[10:16] challenging classes but not as hard as they happen and just like seeing people

[10:19] again, it's really fun.

[10:22] Sounds like good planning.

[10:28] Okay, Director of Finance.

[10:33] August Financial Report, there's not too much to report, which is good.

[10:38] We're about 12% expended with the budget, but next month when I report to you on September,

[10:43] you'll likely see a significant change as we have more of our contracts for our special

[10:48] education tuition, which can, you know, those fluctuate greatly, special education transportation,

[10:55] and we'll have our first payrolls for the school year staff, so there'll be a lot more to report

[11:02] at that point. But right now, I don't really see anything, nothing is of concern currently,

[11:08] so we'll just continue to monitor the budget and make some updates as we get more information,

[11:15] As we can compare the budget, the budgeted amounts to the actual amounts once we have the payroll in, and some of those, the special education tuition contracts, they're all in now.

[11:27] So once I do the September report, we'll have a little bit more to update on.

[11:34] Questions,

[11:38] are good, good project, you're good?

[11:46] Yeah. So when I look at the, I guess this is the, the first, as you call this, the seven

[11:56] functions. Yes, seven functions. Some of them are already significantly used up.

[12:13] And

[12:14] Well, actually, that's totally in Cumberth, it's not a relatively small number, but are

[12:22] those categories where you just in Cumber a tremendous amount, operations and maintenance,

[12:27] for example, for now almost half used up?

[12:31] Right.

[12:31] So, we'd have a lot of our maintenance contracts already put in our utilities where we're projecting

[12:37] for the utilities, so that's the bulk of it.

[12:39] And also the other one, tuition to other districts.

[12:43] It looks like we're about 50% expended and

[12:47] encumbered, so as soon as we have contracts for our out of district

[12:51] placements, that's when we'll encumber them.

[12:54] So as I mentioned, we are going to have, you'll see a big change because I think

[12:59] we've received most of the contracts as of September for the out of district tuition.

[13:06] Instruction is very low because that's mostly of course,

[13:09] teachers, what you'd see expended in the instruction category would be any supplies that the schools purchased over the summer for the most part, some summer salaries.

[13:20] Pupil services is predominantly transportation and health services, so you'll see a big uptick in that once the school year starts rolling.

[13:31] Operations and maintenance, like I said, it's mostly utilities administration, that's where a lot of the some of the year round staff is.

[13:39] and also some technology items, some school committee expenditures,

[13:45] and that's a relatively, that's a lower part of the budget anyways.

[13:50] So 12 percent total is what do you expect?

[13:58] Probably, yeah, I don't, yes, I would think so.

[14:01] All right.

[14:02] I mean, some of those school committee numbers are even high percentage

[14:09] As long as we're not doing something, you don't think we should be doing.

[14:13] No, probably what might be looking a little bit higher for the school committee is we have

[14:19] encumbered purchase orders for the legal fees and we do that based on our experience over

[14:25] the past couple of years.

[14:26] That way we set aside that money and know that we're going to be using it every month, but

[14:32] we'll estimate the total for the year based on the past or sometimes I might look

[14:38] We've got, well, we're going to be have a lot more negotiations this year, the years that we are having negotiations, you might

[14:45] encumber more. So it's just based on mostly based on past experience.

[14:51] How about the superintendent's search, the cost associated with that? Is that encumbered?

[14:57] Not yet, no.

[14:58] Not yet.

[14:58] No.

[14:59] Okay. Is that something?

[15:01] Yes, yes. We do have that amount, right? It's the amount on the contract, right? So is it okay? Oh, no, I'm not suggesting we don't know what it's going to cost. But we haven't paid it. That's all I'm saying. Okay. All right. Everybody good with finance? All right. Moving right along. Report of the superintendent. Thank you. You have the superintendent's newsletter. First off,

[15:29] Bill and payroll warrants, if you could approve those, please.

[15:35] So moved.

[15:36] Do I have a second?

[15:38] Second.

[15:40] Any discussion?

[15:43] All those in favor?

[15:44] Aye.

[15:45] Aye.

[15:46] Opposed?

[15:47] abstain?

[15:49] 4-0-0.

[15:51] Thank you, and I have three gifts that I ask that you approve $2,445.

[16:00] dollars from where him media, to where him public schools for the annual renewal of Adobe software?

[16:07] Just to be clear, where him media is that WCTV?

[16:11] Yes, sir.

[16:11] Okay, one, that is their 501c3 name, is that what we're using it?

[16:20] I don't know if that's their 501c3 name, but I know it's a name they go by.

[16:25] But I can imagine someone out watching, they might not know where her media is and since I wasn't sure it was WCTV, I thought I would clarify.

[16:36] Yes, it is indeed WCTV.

[16:40] Second is $300 from Crembury Federal Credit Union to our office of beyond school time to support families in need within the community.

[16:52] and third $1,000 donation from Julie and Michael Vargo for unified sports.

[17:00] So I ask that you accept these generous gifts.

[17:06] That just came in, I guess, because it's not worth it.

[17:08] Yes, sir.

[17:09] Okay, I'll take a one vote unless someone wants to discuss any of them individually.

[17:16] Motion to approve with, thank you.

[17:18] Second.

[17:18] Second. Any discussion? All in favor? Aye.

[17:25] Opposed, abstain? 400.

[17:29] Thank you. That's all I have.

[17:32] Okay. We are on the agenda for the Report of the School Committee.

[17:40] The first item is normally April's, but unfortunately April

[17:45] have all had an unexpected inability to be here, so I have been requested to let everybody

[17:53] know that. The Policy Review Committee is meeting in general at 5 o'clock in the evening

[17:59] on Wednesdays. The dates will be October 8th, November 19th, January 21st, February 11th,

[18:10] March 11th and with the exception that the very first one will be at 4 o'clock, not 5 o'clock.

[18:19] For those of you who wonder what this is all about, and I'm especially interested in some parents wondering because there are three vacancies on this important committee,

[18:31] one representing the elementary school, another representing the high school, and another representing the special education parents.

[18:38] We are required by law to have policies, and we have some policies not even required by

[18:44] law that we just think are a good idea.

[18:47] And this body makes recommendations to the school committee as to what these new policies

[18:55] ought to be, and every, and I'm blanking, Jamie, every five years, the policies must be automatically

[19:04] reviewed.

[19:05] So it's an important task, and we value especially parental involvement in this process.

[19:14] In addition to parents, the school committee is represented by April and Roger.

[19:19] The superintendent, our new Director of Curriculum and Technology, Tricicote, our new principal

[19:28] of the Middle School, Sara Russo, as well as three teachers, one from each of the schools.

[19:33] We do have one parent already from the Warehouse Middle School, so parents, please, we'd love to have you participate.

[19:41] And if you are interested, please email April Rossi at, I assume it's A, no, it's not.

[19:52] You don't have a mic, so okay, go ahead.

[20:15] Okay, so it's APRYL, which is April's way of, or her mother and father's way of spelling her name,

[20:22] dot, don't forget the dot, Rossi, R-O-S-S-I, and the rest is the usual

[20:28] wherehem.ma.k-12, no, sorry, wherehem.k-12.ma.us, I think that's all that April wants

[20:44] me to talk about for the moment, at least as it retains to policy reviews.

[20:48] So just as a reminder, the very first meeting is April, excuse me, October 8th at 4 p.m., and if you're an interested parent, please give April, send the April an email.

[21:01] Surfer in attendance search.

[21:04] Yes.

[21:06] So as Joyce mentioned, we are opening our search for a new superintendent, and I think we would all agree on the school committee that it's one of the most important jobs we have is to find a quality superintendent.

[21:18] We were fortunate last time, we're going to do our due diligence to be fortunate again.

[21:23] And we starting our search early in the fall, we'll be one of the first districts in the state looking for a superintendent.

[21:31] And so hopefully that will maximize our chances to find a quality candidate.

[21:35] We have set the dates, which I'll have Joyce go over in some of them in a minute for the actual meetings.

[21:40] But we've sent out an invitation to be on the Superintendent's Search Committee.

[21:45] That's going to be made up of 13 individuals representing teaching staff,

[21:50] administrators, central office, students, community members, town officials.

[21:58] So that went out via school email, it's going to be on Facebook, it's in Wehrham week right now as well.

[22:05] The deadline to apply is October 1st.

[22:08] I would encourage people to apply and to look at the time commitment, it's a substantial time commitment involved.

[22:16] What we're hopeful will get people that really care about Wehrham public schools.

[22:20] And the process to apply is what?

[22:22] It's to send a one or two paragraph explanation of what role you are and why you want to be on the search committee.

[22:29] To me and that again, that address, that link is available on everything that's been sent out.

[22:37] We're also sending out a survey to the entire Wehrham community that will go out on September 27th, and it will run through October 7th.

[22:46] And that will give people a chance to weigh in on what they're looking for in a superintendent for the weigh-in public schools.

[22:54] Joyce mentioned the focus group already, but I'll just reiterate that's on September 29th.

[22:59] That's a chance to give in-person input.

[23:02] So staff will be on September 29th in the afternoon at 2.30 in the high school library and community members,

[23:11] including parents and anyone else from the town who would like to show up.

[23:15] That'll be from 530-7 in the high school library.

[23:19] We are working with Sean Costello, the field rep from the Massachusetts Association of School Committees.

[23:26] He will run those focus groups and Joyce and I will be in attendance at those focus groups.

[23:32] And then we will make everything public, the survey results, and

[23:37] we'll be transparent as we can be in this process.

[23:41] And Joyce, maybe you want to share the actual meeting dates for the actual search committee work?

[23:48] Sure, I can do that.

[23:50] So the first meeting of the search committee will be on Wednesday, October 8th, that will be a meeting where we meet with Sean and we cover just the rules and regulations, the process of the search.

[24:04] Where and when?

[24:05] That will be at 5 p.m. I believe, and it will be in the conference room at Central Office.

[24:13] All of the meetings of the search committee will be in the conference room.

[24:16] I know you used the high school library last time, but there was some conflicts with that.

[24:21] So instead of being in different places, we're going to keep them all in the conference room.

[24:26] The next meeting will be on October 15th, and that's when we will screen the applications

[24:31] questions that we will have received by then.

[24:35] Also, five o'clock?

[24:36] Also, five o'clock.

[24:38] Mm-hmm.

[24:39] Thursday, October 23rd, is when we will select the final candidates.

[24:47] So, no candidates through the first three meetings, right?

[24:51] First, yes.

[24:52] No meeting with candidates, no.

[24:54] Okay.

[24:54] And in terms of people anticipating, I'm not, what do you anticipate?

[24:59] I know it's hard to predict five to what for the number five to what time

[25:04] Oh, sorry up to four hours up to four hours. So when we put out the announcement for the committee

[25:10] of course

[25:11] We're not hoping that it's four hours

[25:14] But we wanted to be up front and say that it could be right depending. Okay, um, and that's what another reason why we're starting up five

[25:23] so that people aren't out

[25:25] too late

[25:28] Then the 28th, the 29th, and the 30th have been set up as interview nights.

[25:39] So again, I'm sorry, I may have, I may have misspoke.

[25:42] So the interviews, the candidates will be selected on the 23rd.

[25:45] They will be interviewed on the 28th, the 29th, and the 30th by the search committee.

[25:51] Then the finalists will be put forward by the search committee.

[25:56] committee to the school committee.

[25:58] And that's November 6th.

[26:01] Yes.

[26:02] Okay.

[26:04] I had a regular school committee.

[26:05] So November 6th is a meeting of the whole school committee, correct?

[26:10] Okay.

[26:10] And how much is this, the 28, 29, and 30, should also be five o'clock at the moment?

[26:17] At the moment, yes.

[26:18] At the moment, yes.

[26:19] And be prepared for how many would you expect to be interviewing each night?

[26:26] Anish two to three two to three. Yeah, so and what are they told it'll be approximately an hour to allow an hour for the interview?

[26:35] Yes. That's my understanding. Okay. So it's two to three hours of the actual nights of the interview. Yes. Okay.

[26:45] Kevin, so how are you going to contact the town? Is it by mail or no through just through a way him week is the

[26:55] We'll put it on the Facebook page and the website, the school website as well, but the way

[27:00] hammocks the best way we can get it out to the public.

[27:04] Yeah.

[27:04] Thank you.

[27:07] Joyce.

[27:09] I just wanted to say that October 28th, 29th and 30th, October 29th could possibly be the

[27:17] second night of town meeting and we know that and we'll deal with it at the time as we

[27:23] need to. We all know sometimes time meeting is one night and sometimes it goes over so.

[27:28] At least it's not the April time meeting. Right. Right. Okay. And the only, Jamie, did we

[27:36] talk about an executive session on a separate night from the interview night? We did.

[27:47] Prior to on the six. Okay.

[27:49] So not on this calendar is an executive session of school committee prior to the interviews of the finalists.

[27:56] So prior to November 6th, possibly prior to the meeting on November 6th, possibly the day before, it would be just an executive session, it would be not something that's not here on the schedule, but something we would add on.

[28:11] And the purpose of the agenda for that would be determining the offer.

[28:18] If we just be in preparation of the interviews of the finalists.

[28:24] So preparation of contract negotiations, not a new new personnel.

[28:29] Yeah, because we want to know who the individual is at that point.

[28:31] We won't.

[28:32] Okay.

[28:33] So bottom line is your requesting of the chair, an executive session, either the day of or

[28:39] the day before November 6th.

[28:41] Yes.

[28:42] Okay.

[28:42] Got that, Jamie?

[28:44] Okay.

[28:46] Alright.

[28:46] And then the only other piece that isn't on here, but it's hard to schedule, I mean there will be unless Jamie does have it on here because she usually has everything on here, but when it does come down to finalists, generally, there is a visit to another district.

[29:05] Yeah, we'll have to, we have to decide as a committee mask doesn't necessarily recommend that anymore, but they'll do what we want to do.

[29:12] I'm surprised. We did it the last time. We did. And it wasn't just for the boat ride.

[29:19] So, and I mean no longer quote recommended. He just said that they found that it's a little

[29:26] superfluous that sometimes you don't get as much information as you would hope. But he said,

[29:30] again, it's up to you as the committee. You decide that. We don't decide that.

[29:34] I would categorize it as you never know what you're going to get on those visits.

[29:39] and sometimes that in prompt to stuff,

[29:42] the next step for any of the stuff,

[29:43] you're going in a detail that you would never get otherwise.

[29:47] I don't disagree.

[29:49] Well, we can decide that.

[29:51] Oh, but the bottom line is you two will decide it.

[29:54] But who goes with you?

[29:56] It could be anybody who has the time

[29:58] who's on the selection committee.

[30:00] Correct? I think it was the whole committee. Oh, it's the whole committee. The selection committee was the school committee. Yes, I've forgotten. Okay. So that's how you're going to say Roger. So we know what we're talking about. Once the finalists are chosen in the last superintendent search, there were two finalists. One was from where him and one was Dr. D'Andrea. He was from office vineyard. So we went to office vineyard and visited his district. So when we say visit to the district, that's what we mean. And then we visited where him is, you know,

[30:30] Maybe we'll ask Priscilla if she wants to come.

[30:33] So that's what we're talking about with visits.

[30:35] And then also the day, November 6th, that would be the day of the interviews during that

[30:41] day, the candidates would also come to wear ham and visit our district.

[30:46] Right.

[30:47] Yeah.

[30:49] Okay.

[30:51] One of the problems, of course, is if it's an out-of-state candidate, could be quite a

[30:57] quite a problem, quite a process to visit.

[31:01] Well, cross-operate, if we need to.

[31:03] Yes, exactly.

[31:04] That's that border, if we have.

[31:05] Yeah, yeah.

[31:06] Hopefully to be Hawaii.

[31:08] Yeah, exactly.

[31:10] Yeah.

[31:10] So, do you good, Joyce?

[31:12] Kevin?

[31:12] Thanks a lot.

[31:13] Good.

[31:13] I'll say.

[31:14] OK.

[31:16] So the only other thing on this agenda, oh,

[31:23] we have to revote on the meeting calendar.

[31:25] We approved the revision to the calendar specifically related to November 6th, 20th, and actually two items on the 20th.

[31:36] Technically, we need to vote to make sure that what we agreed to last meeting, we still agreed to.

[31:44] So I'll take a motion to approve the superintendent finalist on November 6th at our usual time.

[31:52] And there may or may not be an executive session that night.

[31:55] The budget workshop on November 20th, which will be in the Superintendents conference

[32:00] room at 830 until whenever.

[32:04] And then that evening will be the buzzard presentation to the school committee plus the annual strategic

[32:12] and improvement plan presentations by the principals and directors.

[32:19] So I will take a motion to approve those really three dates.

[32:27] So moved.

[32:29] I have a second.

[32:31] Any discussion? All those in favor?

[32:34] Aye.

[32:35] Opposed?

[32:36] abstain?

[32:36] 4-0-0.

[32:38] Okay.

[32:39] Now, the mass resolutions.

[32:41] For those watching, and maybe even for Roger, because this is his first mass resolution process,

[32:46] One of the things that the annual conference, which has been in Hyannis for as long as

[32:54] I can remember, does is it gets from either the Board of Directors of Mask or from individual

[33:04] school committees, things that they think ought to be on the lobbying agenda for mask.

[33:12] And in many ways, one of the most important things Mask does is lobby the state legislature

[33:19] and, of course, keep us informed about changes to the laws that the legislature makes.

[33:27] In this particular case, we are not being given any new resolutions.

[33:33] We are being given six existing resolutions which will expire at the end of this

[33:42] school year, I guess, would be accurate to say, and this is surprising because there

[33:48] are no new resolutions, but these resolutions are required to be reauthorized, or else

[33:56] the mask is no longer being asked to lobby in favor of them.

[34:02] And let's face it, some of these resolutions are really difficult lobbying efforts, and

[34:08] And others will probably be things that the legislature are excited about taking up.

[34:13] So I will do this relatively quickly.

[34:16] Keep in mind what you're being asked is not whether you, so to speak, whether you love the resolution.

[34:22] But whether you want the resolution to continue to be lobbied for by the mass board of directors and it's staff.

[34:33] I will not read all the warehouses.

[34:35] I know you'd be disappointed to hear that, but the first one, the rationale for this,

[34:43] and I'll even give you a, what I'll call an executive summary, there is something called

[34:50] the Special Education Reserve Fund.

[34:53] Think of it as the school district having a stabilization fund just the way the town

[34:59] has one, except that this is specifically for unexpected expenses associated with educating

[35:08] special education students.

[35:10] The law is somewhat complicated.

[35:12] It has to be approved to be brought into existence, then to put money in and to take money

[35:19] out.

[35:19] It's all a fairly bureaucratic process.

[35:23] And to my knowledge, we've never taken any money out.

[35:25] But this, what this does, this says it wants to raise the percentage of net school spending

[35:35] from that can be put into this fund from 2 percent to 5 percent.

[35:42] Now, to put that in perspective, we currently have $100,000 in this fund, which is 0.25 percent

[35:52] of our net school spending according to our finance director.

[35:56] So we're not fully taking advantage of it.

[35:59] Of course, it allows you to, you have to have some extra money to put into it,

[36:04] which is always an issue, and you have to anticipate that, and then, of course,

[36:08] it has to be approved to go in there.

[36:10] But given the fact that we have so little, it does seem to me that it makes sense for us

[36:17] to think about this as we get towards the end of the year.

[36:19] Having said all that, whether it's 2% or 5% is not particularly relevant to us.

[36:26] So if we're saying to keep lobbying, we're really doing it on behalf, more on behalf of

[36:33] a general principle, rather than for wherehem itself.

[36:37] Did I sufficiently confuse everybody, or does that all make sense?

[36:41] That makes sense.

[36:42] Yes?

[36:43] No.

[36:44] Okay.

[36:44] Think of a year, think of a year, we're not allowed to have a savings account, okay?

[36:50] In fact, we just gave 300,000 to the back to the town, is that a correct number?

[36:56] I think it was a 120,000.

[36:58] Sorry, 120,000, good, okay?

[37:01] So we gave 120,000 back to the town at the end of the year because we didn't, we actually

[37:06] didn't spend it, okay?

[37:08] Which is a tiny percentage of the total budget, but we did.

[37:11] In theory, we could have taken that 120,000 and put it into a savings account, but it's

[37:17] a very special savings account.

[37:20] It's a savings account that can only be spent on special education students when we have

[37:26] extraordinary expenses, okay.

[37:29] Right now we have, as I said, .25% of our budget in.

[37:35] You can theoretically go up to 2%, this lobbying says we can go up to 5%.

[37:40] I don't feel strongly about this one way or the other,

[37:43] frankly, I think 2% is a fairly big number.

[37:46] 5% would be quite a luxury to have,

[37:49] but I don't want to influence anybody.

[37:52] What's everybody's pleasure?

[37:54] Should this be continued to have masked lobby

[37:57] to have it raised from 2% to 5%.

[38:00] How about discussion?

[38:03] I would say, if we were just talking about Wareham,

[38:06] that the where him the town of where him supports the where him schools in such a way like like you said we put that 100,000 in there many years ago and we've never touched it and I think that the town and we are we where him already has room to put more in you said only

[38:25] We were at 0.25 percent.

[38:27] Three times more.

[38:27] Yeah.

[38:28] So if we were speaking strictly for where him, I would say, I would say that we don't need

[38:35] to support it because the town supports the schools.

[38:40] My counter-argument for not a strong one is since we have such a high percentage of our

[38:45] students who are spent, the odds of us having extraordinary expenses are therefore that much

[38:51] higher.

[38:51] So, in that sense, this is an ideal savings account for a place like WAN.

[38:56] Well, that's true.

[38:57] But then we'd be asking the town not only to fund our budget in the way that we ask them to every year,

[39:04] based on actual numbers that we're spending, and also, oh, and give us this more money over here just in case.

[39:12] And the kind of argument to that is they do the same thing already.

[39:15] They have a large stabilization fund which they have, and I approve totally of what they've done,

[39:20] which they pour money into so that when they have extraordinary expenses on the town-wide level

[39:26] they have money to spend. So it would be difficult for them to argue against us because they do

[39:30] the same thing. They do. But then they also, you know, we've, they also, not only with the budget,

[39:39] but with free cash, we're able to... Yes, absolutely. And we don't get the luxury of free cash. Yes.

[39:47] Yes.

[39:48] But I don't see the harm in asking them to continue lobbying to the general principle of

[39:54] this.

[39:54] Generally no.

[39:55] And yes, I agree.

[39:57] Roger?

[40:02] So you say drop the lobbying.

[40:04] Yes.

[40:05] Right.

[40:06] Okay.

[40:06] So I think I'm hearing two yeses, a no.

[40:11] And just because in principle, I like the idea of I'm a fiscal conservative.

[40:16] So, the idea of a savings account for the school district is for something that represents

[40:21] a third, almost a third of our students makes a tremendous amount of sense, even though

[40:25] I suspect we're never going to have a chance to do much about putting money in.

[40:30] So, I'm going to vote yes, so that means we will continue to ask them to lobby for resolution

[40:37] number two.

[40:40] One.

[40:41] Two.

[40:42] Let's get one.

[40:43] I skipped one.

[40:43] Oh.

[40:44] Thank you.

[40:44] Yes. Okay. All right. This is the rationale for this one. It has to do with having

[40:55] sanctuary laws that specifically apply to transgender students and specifically as it relates

[41:03] to their, to HIPAA, which is, of course, privacy, discrimination, mental health and medical

[41:12] local care. I don't want to get political. This is specifically oriented towards families

[41:21] not to the children themselves. So in my mind, these families should have these rights.

[41:28] So my feeling is, unless someone can point out something that I'm missing, that we should

[41:33] be saying yes to this. Any other thoughts?

[41:36] I voted yes when we first discussed it so yes Kevin yes Roger oh okay sorry

[41:46] Roger but it looks like it's a yes all right number three relates to so

[42:01] So right now it turns out there's a law that doesn't allow teachers and school committee members

[42:08] to be appointed to the Massachusetts Board of Elementary and Secondary Education.

[42:16] This is denying that Board, it seems to me, expertise that might be valuable, but I'll shut up and let other people talk.

[42:26] But-

[42:28] I voted yes on this one the first time, too, so I mean, so, as did I?

[42:33] I don't see, yes.

[42:34] Okay. That's a yes, no matter what I say, so that makes it easy.

[42:39] That was number three.

[42:44] All right.

[42:45] Number four, its entitled Preserving Local Governance of Massachusetts Schools,

[42:52] it specifically relates to the fact that under the law,

[42:56] are massive, desi can take over a school district.

[43:00] And they have done so, most recently,

[43:04] Lawrence in 2011, Holyoke in 2015,

[43:08] and Southbridge in 2016.

[43:11] But this, once, mass to do is lobby

[43:15] that they should only be able to take over these school districts

[43:18] for a maximum of three years.

[43:21] And I guess the logic is, you're either going

[43:24] to fix it in three years or you're not.

[43:27] And I'm skeptical about desi's ability

[43:30] to fix any school district, even if they had 10 years,

[43:34] for a variety of reasons.

[43:35] I think it's an extremely difficult thing to do.

[43:39] But how do people feel about this one?

[43:44] I think the research shows that when schools

[43:47] put into receivership like this, it hasn't really

[43:50] improved it too much.

[43:51] So sadly, I say keep it with the local after two years.

[43:54] I think it's three.

[43:56] Oh, three.

[43:56] Okay.

[43:56] Yeah, three years.

[43:57] So this means they have to give it back to local governance in three years.

[44:01] Joyce?

[44:02] I agree.

[44:03] Yeah.

[44:04] I say yes.

[44:05] Okay.

[44:06] That's a yes.

[44:07] unanimous.

[44:08] Where is that?

[44:10] That was number four.

[44:13] Financial literacy.

[44:15] Okay.

[44:16] Number five.

[44:20] Personal financial literacy education.

[44:23] I know I'm going to say what I think because I'm passionate.

[44:27] Bottom line is they want financial literacy to be part of, does it actually say high school?

[44:36] But bottom line is the school district's curriculum and I don't know what percentage of school

[44:44] districts have it.

[44:45] I know we do, thankfully, so this wouldn't directly affect us.

[44:51] It would just say to other school districts that don't think it's important to do it by state, by state rule law.

[44:59] So, choice.

[45:00] Yes. Kevin? Yes. Yes. Yes. Okay. We are, yes. I think we have one more.

[45:13] And the last one is,

[45:16] well, this doesn't, this doesn't apply to us. It's an establishment of a, of a fund to support

[45:27] regional school assessments which I'm so much sympathetic to I'm tempted to to

[45:34] ask the superintendent what he thinks because you are a part of a

[45:39] regional school so would you like to opine on the narrative of students

[45:49] by each

[45:50] town there can be shifts and you can have a significant change in the

[45:54] assessment impact on the assessment formula is always based on students right

[45:58] Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. So I think it's a good idea. Yeah. And that makes sense. Any other thoughts?

[46:09] Not particularly relevant to us, but on principle, how should we?

[46:14] We're sure I abstained the first time because I didn't know enough about regional assessments,

[46:20] but based on what Dr. D'Andre said, I'll say yes.

[46:23] Yes? Yes? Yes? Yes? Yes? Yes. Yes. Okay.

[46:30] Kevin, I deserve extra points. I didn't read a single letter.

[46:34] Or even the rationale. Okay.

[46:38] I will report back, or maybe Jamie will report back to April,

[46:42] that she gets to support.

[46:44] Now, the one caveat we do say to our representative,

[46:48] if new information comes out that influences our decision,

[46:52] And we trust her to change our vote, but to report back to us

[46:56] and so we can berate her if she's done a terrible thing.

[47:01] So Jamie, you'll let April know.

[47:03] OK.

[47:05] I believe it or not, I think that is the agenda for this evening.

[47:10] I have no idea whether I'm setting a record or not,

[47:12] probably not.

[47:14] But I'm happy if I am.

[47:17] Does anybody else have anything else they would like

[47:19] to bring before the committee?

[47:21] including Priscilla. You good? Roger? You're good?

[47:28] Yes, good.

[47:29] Okay, I'll take a motion to adjourn.

[47:31] So moved.

[47:32] I have a second.

[47:33] Second.

[47:34] We're adjourned.

School Committee 9-18-25

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