Transcript
SOURCE TRANSCRIPT
This transcript is downloaded from the source you provided but we haven't reviewed it for accuracy. Treat it as a starting point, not a verbatim record. You can also request an AI-transcription of the audio file with the button to the left.
[5:16]
We are good.
[5:17]
Okay, great. Thank you.
[5:19]
Welcome to the WMA School committee meeting
[5:22]
of August 14th, 2005.
[5:24]
Please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance 2025.
[5:28]
Yeah, I said that please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance
[5:32]
and remain standing for a moment of silence.
[5:37]
I pledge allegiance to the flag
[5:39]
of the United States of America
[5:41]
and to the republic for which to stands,
[5:44]
one nation under God in invisible with liberty and justice.
[5:49]
Cr
[5:51]
Thank you.
[5:53]
Please join us tonight in remembering a moment of silence
[5:56]
for our beloved Weymouth educator, Doris Chisholm,
[6:00]
who passed on July 30th, 2025,
[6:04]
and Jackie Haley, who passed on August 3rd, 2025.
[6:08]
Doris Chisholm served in Weymouth Public Schools
[6:10]
for only 34 years, teaching at the Hunt School
[6:14]
and the Union Street School.
[6:16]
I had her as a student advisor.
[6:19]
Jackie Haley taught English at the Weymouth High School
[6:23]
from 2020 2007 to 2018
[6:27]
and is fondly remembered for her kindness,
[6:29]
her generosity, and her wisdom.
[6:31]
Please join us in keeping Doris and Jackie
[6:34]
and their families in our thoughts and prayers.
[6:44]
Thank you.
[6:54]
Thank you for returning from your summer break to come back
[6:58]
to our first school committee meeting of our school year.
[7:02]
Our first item on our agenda is the
[7:05]
confirmation of warrants.
[7:08]
Thank you Chair. I, there's a lot to read.
[7:12]
So buckle up chair.
[7:14]
I make a motion that we approve confirmation
[7:16]
of warrants 53 dash 2025 dated
[7:20]
June 30th, 2025 in the amount of $731,265
[7:25]
and six HUN 6 cents with money to pay
[7:27]
warrant 5 4 20 25 dated June 26th, 2025
[7:32]
in the amount of $342,445
[7:36]
and 49 cents with money
[7:37]
to pay Warren oh 2 20 26 dated
[7:40]
July 14th, 2025 and the amount of $109,135
[7:44]
and 26 cents with money
[7:45]
to pay Warren oh 4 20 26 dated July 28th, 2025
[7:49]
and the amount of $489,122
[7:52]
and 91 cents with money to pay
[7:55]
and warn oh 6 20 26 dated August 11th, 2025 in the amount
[7:59]
of $800,426 90 cents with money
[8:03]
to pay chair.
[8:04]
I also move that we approve minutes from athletic
[8:07]
subcommittee dated June 16th, 2025.
[8:10]
Budget subcommittee dated June 25th, 2025,
[8:14]
an executive session from June 26th, 2025,
[8:16]
and our regular meeting from June 6th, 2025.
[8:21]
I second the motion. Any discussion?
[8:25]
All those in favor? Aye. So moved.
[8:28]
Before I go to the next item on our agenda, I would like
[8:32]
to point out and welcome our acting mayor, Mike Malise.
[8:35]
Thank you. It's very rare that we get a
[8:38]
mayor here at our table, so we appreciate your input
[8:41]
and your time. Thank you.
[8:43]
Welcome Mike. Thank you.
[8:46]
Our next item on our agenda is the reporter,
[8:48]
the superintendent with superintendent Mel Curtin.
[8:52]
Thank you Chair Naone.
[8:53]
Also welcome Mike and also welcome Lindsay,
[8:56]
our new assistant superintendent.
[8:58]
Thank you. Whole big table today.
[9:01]
Next we want, we are super excited
[9:03]
to introduce our newly appointed interim athletic director,
[9:06]
Kristin Kelly if you wanna come up.
[9:08]
Kristin is coming to us from Notre Dame Academy
[9:11]
with over a decade of athletic administration experience
[9:15]
and we've all been meeting with her in her quick week
[9:19]
that she's had a whirlwind here.
[9:20]
We just met in the athletic subcommittee
[9:23]
and we are just extremely excited about
[9:26]
having Kristen join our team.
[9:28]
Thank you so much. Hi everyone.
[9:30]
Thank you for having me tonight.
[9:32]
Annette, welcome. Thank you. Thank you. We're so excited.
[9:36]
Go right ahead. You can go first.
[9:38]
Oh no, it's welcome. We're excited to have
[9:40]
You. Thank you.
[9:42]
We just finished up our first athletic meeting with you
[9:44]
and I'm really excited to see all the things
[9:47]
that you're gonna bring to the table now. Yep. Day four,
[9:49]
Still smiling as we Say. Oh, I'm really
[9:51]
Excited.
[9:52]
So thank you for having me
[9:53]
tonight. It's nice to meet you all.
[9:54]
Thank you. Thank you. Welcome.
[9:57]
Thank you Kristen. Thank you. Let's see. Next chair.
[10:02]
I wanted to go over some of the things,
[10:03]
I'm not gonna go into detail with them tonight,
[10:05]
but I do wanna talk about some of the DESI updates that
[10:09]
the committee and the community is gonna
[10:10]
hear in the next month or two.
[10:13]
I did talk in the spring about the CTE weighted lottery.
[10:18]
So Lindsey will will be working with Karen
[10:20]
and Sam Dina at the high school
[10:22]
and they'll be coming to policy sub to talk about some
[10:26]
of the changes in the weighted lottery system
[10:28]
for the school year 20 26, 20 27.
[10:32]
Also, Desi has put out new language
[10:35]
for the competency determination,
[10:37]
IE the graduation requirements.
[10:39]
So we're gonna have a little bit more discussion on that.
[10:41]
We did approve a competency determination for last year
[10:45]
and this year, but we'll bring that
[10:47]
before the committee as well.
[10:49]
One of the additions
[10:51]
to their competency determination is US history,
[10:54]
but that's not for the graduating class of 2027.
[10:57]
So there'll be plenty of discussions on that
[11:00]
as we get the year rolling.
[11:03]
The other piece that we probably will see coming forward
[11:08]
is the cell phone ban.
[11:09]
It's still waiting.
[11:10]
I think it's went through the Senate now.
[11:12]
It has to go through the house. It seems
[11:13]
like it has a lot of support.
[11:15]
So that is conversations
[11:16]
that we're already having discussions with.
[11:18]
Dennis Jones and his team at
[11:20]
Chapman are doing an amazing job.
[11:21]
So it really will be a lot more of the high school
[11:24]
that will have the discussions about
[11:27]
whatever the legislation comes forward
[11:28]
of the banning of cell phones at this.
[11:30]
And it would be all schools,
[11:31]
but I think the high school would
[11:33]
have probably a bulk of the weight.
[11:37]
So those are some of the updates that are coming
[11:40]
and talking about back to school.
[11:42]
I can't thank Kelly Powers enough if you've had a chance
[11:45]
to see whether it was on Facebook or the webpage.
[11:48]
She's been pushing out a lot of back to school resource
[11:52]
guide information for our families.
[11:54]
So if you go to our website under Students
[11:56]
and Families, you'll see a back to school resource guide
[12:00]
and that has everything from the calendar
[12:01]
to Aspen Information Transportation before and after school.
[12:05]
So if anyone's asking you questions
[12:07]
or wondering about back to school,
[12:09]
we can direct 'em right to the website.
[12:11]
Phenomenal information there. She,
[12:14]
one other thing is on the calendar,
[12:16]
we did talk in the spring about a possible primary
[12:20]
election in the fall.
[12:21]
I think it was the date. 16th. 16th, thank you.
[12:26]
September 16th. So that asterisk has been
[12:28]
removed from our calendar.
[12:29]
We do not need a primary, so it'll be school
[12:31]
as usual on September 16th.
[12:35]
You'll see in your packets, but also up on the website.
[12:38]
The district org org chart has been completely updated.
[12:41]
It does give the leadership team
[12:43]
and basically everybody who is working at central
[12:45]
administration, the schools are now in the process
[12:48]
of working on theirs.
[12:49]
We kind of came up with the model for them
[12:51]
and then you'll start to see org charts from our schools.
[12:56]
Kelly also did add in the district who to contact.
[13:00]
So we get that question a lot.
[13:01]
Who is the, who's the right person to call?
[13:03]
So she does have also a resource page on the website of,
[13:07]
you know, if a parent or anyone's trying
[13:09]
to figure out who they should call.
[13:10]
There's a great kind of flow chart,
[13:12]
but there's also, we've added,
[13:14]
because we're starting to see that less people are calling,
[13:18]
it's just they're shooting out emails.
[13:20]
So we added an info@weymouthps.org.
[13:24]
So if people, you know, are too busy
[13:27]
and they don't wanna call, if you just email
[13:29]
info@weymouthps.org, there's our whole team of admins
[13:34]
that will direct you to the right place.
[13:37]
Kathy, go ahead. Kathy,
[13:39]
Through you chair.
[13:40]
Thank you. So info at
[13:42]
Weymouth.
[13:43]
So who's gonna monitor that?
[13:44]
In our admin at central administration.
[13:47]
Admin at Central. And so anybody,
[13:50]
Would anyone, so if it's staff have a payroll question
[13:53]
and they're not sure who to email, if they email that,
[13:55]
if it's a parent asking about anywhere from Pingree
[13:58]
to Chapman at the high school, we have an admin team
[14:00]
that will man that email.
[14:03]
Right. What I'm guess
[14:05]
what I'm getting at, who's gonna open it first?
[14:06]
Who's gonna be responsible for opening the emails at
[14:10]
that email address?
[14:11]
Our administrative team, so Kelly Powers whole team.
[14:14]
This is Kelly Powers. Megan Lynch.
[14:15]
It's pretty much two or three people.
[14:18]
I, I didn't hear what you, Kelly Powers
[14:19]
And Megan Lynch. Lynch.
[14:20]
Okay. They'll start, yes, so,
[14:22]
so somebody will be yes, starting it and then
[14:26]
And directing it probably to the right person.
[14:28]
Alright, thank you. So just if I can ask,
[14:34]
I had a few parents that are going, kids are going off
[14:36]
to kindergarten and they're the first child in their
[14:40]
classroom, in their, in their home.
[14:42]
They wanted to know if they were able to see
[14:46]
what the school looked like prior
[14:49]
to the first day of kindergarten.
[14:51]
And they did reach out to the schools.
[14:53]
I guess there's a lot of open house
[14:55]
Popsicle parties, whatever coming.
[14:57]
And the school, the one school did say
[15:00]
that they would be able to come in and walk through.
[15:02]
Is that for all primaries?
[15:04]
That they would be able to go see
[15:06]
what the school actually looks like
[15:08]
before they just drop up a child at the door?
[15:10]
Yeah, it's usually some sort of orientation or Okay.
[15:14]
Social. Absolutely.
[15:15]
So they should reach out to their school
[15:17]
and just principal, make sure
[15:18]
that they're getting the email, getting the information
[15:21]
for the back to school or orientation. Yes.
[15:23]
And that should be coming out. Great, thanks.
[15:27]
Let's see, and then, and just so we have the back
[15:29]
to school dates Thursdays, September 4th, first day
[15:32]
of school for grades one through five, grade six
[15:36]
and grade nine.
[15:38]
So grade six and nine are in the two
[15:40]
large buildings by themselves.
[15:41]
And those are half day Friday, September 5th, first day
[15:45]
of school for grades seven and eight at the middle school
[15:48]
and also 10 through 12.
[15:50]
So those buildings will be full
[15:51]
that day for a full day of school.
[15:53]
And then Monday the eighth is the first day of school
[15:56]
for pre-K and kindergarten.
[15:58]
And again, those are all over the website.
[15:59]
That's part of the back to school packet
[16:02]
for the parents as well.
[16:05]
And I do love the fact that you put pictures of, of
[16:08]
who that contact is.
[16:10]
So you can put a face to a name, which I love. Thank you.
[16:13]
You're welcome. I'm gonna turn it over to Brian just
[16:16]
to give us some updates on the modular classrooms,
[16:19]
transportation, a few other things. It
[16:21]
Should be good.
[16:22]
Thank you superintendent.
[16:23]
First we'll go over modular classrooms.
[16:25]
It's the really the only project the school department has
[16:28]
going on right now.
[16:30]
There is a, a town project starting
[16:33]
soon in Jackson Square.
[16:36]
There's some development down there, which
[16:38]
the mayor's been having meetings with departments
[16:40]
to just think about the impacts to the town.
[16:44]
For us it'll be an impact to Pingree school.
[16:47]
So those meetings are going on.
[16:48]
We don't know exactly when the project will start,
[16:50]
but we're looking things as impacts to pedestrian walking,
[16:55]
sidewalks, entrances and exits to the school.
[16:58]
So as we get more information as the project begins,
[17:01]
we'll share back with the committee back to our project,
[17:05]
which is the module classrooms.
[17:06]
Just to remind folks where we're adding seven more
[17:09]
classrooms across the district.
[17:11]
We added seven classrooms five years ago as part
[17:14]
of the Chapman project
[17:15]
and the pushing down of fifth grade to the primaries.
[17:19]
These seven classrooms will exist at West Augusta,
[17:23]
Nash and Hamilton.
[17:24]
There'll be two at West Augusta,
[17:26]
two at Nash, two at Hamilton.
[17:28]
Great news, all the structures are on site, which is like,
[17:31]
that's half the battle, making
[17:32]
sure they get built and delivered.
[17:34]
So they're on site and they're working north to south
[17:36]
to get them installed.
[17:38]
We are having regular meetings with the principals
[17:41]
and the departments, maintenance ed, tech, finance, just
[17:45]
to make sure construction, FFF
[17:49]
and e you know, furniture fishers and equipment and,
[17:51]
and technology that the spaces have everything they need.
[17:54]
Teachers desks, student desks, operationally,
[17:57]
making sure the principals are comfortable with the,
[17:59]
the procedures as it, you know,
[18:01]
as they integrate these spaces into
[18:03]
their existing buildings.
[18:05]
So that we're meeting biweekly right now as we come
[18:07]
to the beginning of the school year.
[18:08]
And then the goal would be that as was the case with the,
[18:13]
the first mod, the first round of modules,
[18:15]
teachers have time to get in there and
[18:16]
set up their classrooms.
[18:18]
And the goal would be that when students arrive on
[18:21]
September 4th, they'll be, they'll be
[18:22]
in their modular classrooms.
[18:25]
That's great. Any questions
[18:27]
on that before I move questions?
[18:28]
Move on to transportation or do you want
[18:29]
Anybody have any questions
[18:31]
Going onto to transportation?
[18:33]
Just an update where we're at, we have roughly,
[18:37]
typically we have 33,000 students we transport with buses.
[18:41]
To date we have roughly 2,600 applicants.
[18:45]
We are being more intentional in our pushing out
[18:48]
of information as it relates to applying.
[18:50]
There is still time to apply,
[18:52]
however, at this point
[18:55]
you would likely be put on a wait list if
[18:56]
you apply for transportation.
[18:58]
But in most every year that we have wait list
[19:01]
transportation works hard to clear that wait list
[19:04]
by the second week of school.
[19:05]
So obviously the, the quicker you apply,
[19:08]
the quicker you get on the wait list,
[19:09]
the quicker you get off the wait list.
[19:11]
But we've been sending out communications via email
[19:14]
beginning in May, June and then several in July and,
[19:18]
and we're sending them weekly now in August.
[19:23]
So please apply if you haven't yet
[19:25]
and you can find the link on the website.
[19:27]
And again, parents have been receiving emails
[19:30]
through Aspen on directions to apply
[19:35]
Any.
[19:36]
Kathy, I just have one comment to the superintendent
[19:38]
through you on the cell phone ban.
[19:42]
It has a lot of support.
[19:44]
We are doing it at the middle school.
[19:46]
The high school will get the bulk
[19:47]
of the weight of the change.
[19:48]
Do we anticipate starting that in the school year
[19:53]
2025?
[19:54]
The, I think, and I don't wanna,
[19:56]
for the most part at the high school,
[19:59]
I think the biggest part will be
[20:00]
that the cell phones are away during the classroom.
[20:03]
I think what we're expecting the difference to be is
[20:06]
that it's bell to bell.
[20:08]
Right. So I think that's, it's not that, you know,
[20:11]
kids are walking around with cell phones
[20:12]
all day long in classrooms.
[20:13]
It's really just once we receive the legislation trying
[20:17]
to deal with the hallways and those kind of things.
[20:19]
Right. But I don't anticipate, we haven't changed any
[20:21]
of our policies to start this fall
[20:24]
To start.
[20:25]
Alright. But we try
[20:26]
So we would be be following our handbook in
[20:27]
the starting in the fall.
[20:29]
Right? Say that again. What
[20:30]
We be follow our current handbook.
[20:33]
Yes. In two weeks.
[20:35]
Okay. Alright.
[20:37]
And lastly, we saved the best for last.
[20:39]
So we have invited Betsy Harris to join us here tonight so
[20:43]
that we could say a proper goodbye
[20:45]
and thank her for all she has
[20:46]
done. Betsy, if you wanna come up,
[20:48]
It's not goodbye. It's just see you later.
[20:50]
Yes, yes. Betsy's dedication to connecting our schools
[20:54]
with the community has been nothing short of remarkable.
[20:58]
Betsy has built bridges where we, we never had bridges.
[21:03]
She has forged partnerships that will last us for years.
[21:06]
She has created opportunities for countless people
[21:09]
to feel welcomed, valued, and engaged in our community.
[21:13]
Betsy's passion, persistence,
[21:15]
and kindness have strengthened our community
[21:17]
and her impact will be immeasurable.
[21:20]
We can't thank you enough for giving so much of yourself.
[21:24]
And Bill, we love you both and we are, we're gonna miss you.
[21:27]
I know we will see you but we are gonna miss you terribly.
[21:31]
Now I'll turn that over to you.
[21:32]
Cheer. So Betsy, you wear
[21:34]
and have won so many, many hats
[21:38]
you never at are at
[21:40]
without your camera at every special event
[21:44]
stopping everybody no matter what time in the morning,
[21:47]
day weekend, weeknights.
[21:48]
And I appreciate Bill's flexibility.
[21:53]
I'm gonna miss you, I'm gonna miss you.
[21:56]
And I really truly appreciate all the hard work
[21:59]
and the flexibility that you gave.
[22:02]
You are Weymouth pride and I really appreciate it.
[22:06]
But I'll see you in the morning for breakfast.
[22:11]
Anyone else?
[22:16]
Thank you Betsy. Thank you for all you've done.
[22:18]
Just amazing. You know, I don't think you're going anywhere.
[22:22]
You're gonna be around but you affect
[22:24]
so many lives in the town of Weymouth.
[22:26]
And like was said, no matter where we went,
[22:28]
you were taking pictures, you were at all the events.
[22:31]
I remember just on the council,
[22:32]
I've been on the council for 25 years.
[22:34]
You were doing this for 20 years.
[22:36]
No matter what, you were involved, everybody in the council,
[22:38]
the community, everybody, and did a fantastic job.
[22:42]
You really did. And you were always there no matter what.
[22:44]
So we really appreciate it.
[22:46]
I do have a citation here that I'd like to present to.
[22:50]
Betsy.
[22:52]
Karen would you like?
[22:59]
I have a citation here from the mayor Mayor's office
[23:03]
and from the town council.
[23:05]
Also Carrie District six councilors here also
[23:09]
Michael Police Mayor Congratulates is presented
[23:12]
to Betsy Harris in recognition of 20 years of faithful,
[23:15]
exceptional service to the town of Weymouth
[23:17]
and the Weymouth public schools.
[23:19]
Your contribution success
[23:21]
of the Weymouth public Schools has impacted
[23:23]
countless students and families.
[23:25]
So many families. On behalf of Weymouth community, I extend
[23:29]
to the see, congratulate, congratulations
[23:31]
and best wishes for long and happy retirement.
[23:34]
And we always know you've made
[23:35]
a difference in so many lives.
[23:52]
Okay, thank you. Got it. Go Betsy.
[24:00]
If he couldn't make it, he dropped the citation.
[24:02]
So you have one from him too. Thanks you
[24:05]
Very much for all.
[24:07]
Oh yeah, yeah. Good luck Phil.
[24:14]
Need a quick hug.
[24:40]
I wanna say thank you to everybody
[24:42]
and I'm sorry I'm so emotional.
[24:46]
That's what we love about tissue tissues. Yeah, I got you.
[24:55]
It's a, I need to change things.
[24:58]
This is hard 'cause it's usually me
[25:00]
making everyone else look good.
[25:04]
I wanna just say a very special
[25:06]
thank you to my husband, bill.
[25:07]
Couldn't have done anything without him.
[25:10]
And also a special hello to my grandkids
[25:12]
who are watching for Virginia.
[25:15]
Hi Elena, Joe and me.
[25:21]
It's just been truly, truly,
[25:23]
truly the pleasure of my lifetime.
[25:27]
This has been a remarkable job.
[25:29]
I've enjoyed every second of it
[25:31]
and I, I'm just so happy to be, be able to help
[25:35]
so many people, whether they'd be students or staff
[25:39]
or families, the school community partners,
[25:43]
community people at large.
[25:45]
It's just been such a pleasure
[25:47]
and I, I hope I've made a impact on their
[25:51]
education careers and lives.
[25:54]
And that's kind of what I go in every day trying
[25:57]
to excel at.
[25:59]
And it's again, just been such a pleasure
[26:03]
and I'm just looking forward to spending time with my family
[26:06]
and if you need me, call me.
[26:09]
Thank you so much, I appreciate you.
[26:36]
Okay, Our next item on our agenda is our
[26:41]
subcommittee reports
[26:43]
and the first one is the budget sub with Danielle.
[26:46]
We have not met since our last meeting,
[26:48]
but there is a short update about federal funding from
[26:50]
Assistant Superintendent Smith.
[26:52]
Sure I can. Yep. Absolutely.
[26:54]
So lot in the media about federal funding.
[26:56]
So our FY 25 final funding for grants was released recently.
[27:02]
And then today we had our, our initial meetings
[27:05]
for our FY 26 grants.
[27:06]
So those allocations have been given to Weymouth.
[27:09]
We're going through the application process
[27:11]
for those grants.
[27:12]
And then we actually went up slightly in the grants overall
[27:15]
in, in terms of our IDA grants and our entitlement grants.
[27:18]
So that's positive news
[27:20]
and as those grants get approved,
[27:21]
we'll bring 'em back to budget sub.
[27:23]
Great, thank you. Our next item is collective
[27:27]
bargaining with Rebecca.
[27:29]
Excuse me, I'm sorry. Nothing to report Chair
[27:32]
Policy with Dana.
[27:34]
Nothing to report Chair Athletic subcommittee Mary Allen.
[27:38]
So thank you.
[27:40]
So we met tonight for our first meeting of the year.
[27:45]
We were introduced to the athletic interim athletic director
[27:49]
and plans are being made for
[27:52]
to continue hopefully the Dream Catcher Scholarship program.
[27:56]
But it was a great meeting and everyone's back
[27:59]
and ready to go.
[28:01]
Great wellness committee. Rebecca, nothing
[28:03]
To report Chair cpec.
[28:05]
Danielle
[28:06]
Cpec will host a meet the candidates
[28:09]
for Mout school committee night on August 19th at 7:00 PM
[28:12]
that is Zoom only to make it more accessible.
[28:14]
So for some of our families, you do have
[28:17]
to pre-register for that.
[28:19]
If you do not have access to social media,
[28:21]
you can email them at CAC dot wps@gmail.com
[28:26]
and they can send you the registration.
[28:29]
Great. Anything else?
[28:32]
Next item is our public comment
[28:35]
and public comment shall be in accordance with policy BEDH.
[28:39]
Is there anyone here with public comment?
[28:43]
Carrie, please state your name
[28:45]
and your address for the record.
[28:47]
Carrie AZZ. 16. No way.
[28:50]
I'm not coming here to celebrate that.
[28:52]
So maybe by the time I'm done talking, we struggle pass.
[28:57]
So I just wanted to recognize Betsy.
[28:59]
The first time I met Betsy
[29:01]
and her wonder was during a town wide parent council meeting
[29:04]
where, you know, when you, Tracy, when
[29:06]
You were talking about kindergarten families
[29:09]
and how we come into Waymouth public schools
[29:12]
and we don't really know how to Weymouth public schools
[29:14]
or where it is, Betsy did a presentation on the virtual
[29:18]
backpack and that was like crazy technology for us.
[29:22]
We were just dealing with the folders
[29:24]
and to, to see the enthusiasm
[29:26]
and the patience, especially with parents who were new.
[29:32]
And just to see where we are with technology,
[29:34]
what our website looks like.
[29:36]
Now shout out to Kelly Powers on that calendar.
[29:38]
I cannot even handle how awesome
[29:41]
that school year calendar is.
[29:43]
I was just so impressed with you that night
[29:45]
and have been every day since.
[29:48]
So then in years, couple years past, we've kind of,
[29:50]
well I never really was great at the virtual backpack if I'm
[29:53]
being honest, but I really tried
[29:55]
and I wouldn't have even tried without you.
[29:57]
Then she's got her office at Abigail Adams
[30:00]
and she's like, Bitly codes.
[30:01]
And I'm like, who? What kind of goodwill? Hunting crazy.
[30:05]
What is that? You walked me through Bit codes
[30:07]
and our Bitly codes and QR codes
[30:10]
and just again, adaptable to what HA was happening.
[30:13]
The technology that she saw in her career
[30:17]
and how she used it to connect with families
[30:20]
and students was just so appreciated.
[30:22]
Especially when you just felt a little lost when you're new
[30:25]
to Weymouth, new to the schools.
[30:27]
Woo. And
[30:29]
so I just wanna acknowledge a couple of the other wins.
[30:31]
So those two things just really made an an impression on me.
[30:33]
But some of the other things that you've done and,
[30:36]
and also don't, we love when the person who asks
[30:38]
for the citation gets a citation.
[30:40]
It's my favorite. So I just wanna celebrate some
[30:44]
of the other things that you've done
[30:46]
with the CTE advisory meetings when you know, for Capstone,
[30:51]
celebrating our Weymouth high school graduates
[30:53]
who are enlisting in the armed forces, all
[30:56]
of those little events, those are the touch points,
[30:58]
those are the things that just
[31:00]
create really important memories for all of us.
[31:03]
So what an, what a impact you've made on Weymouth.
[31:07]
So unified games, I mean,
[31:09]
you name it, you were, you were there.
[31:11]
And the most beloved thing to me is the recycling program.
[31:15]
And I'm not a liar. I have a bag in my car ready
[31:19]
to go into one of those bins.
[31:20]
It's going to the freshman class, it's going to class
[31:22]
of 2029, it's going to that bin.
[31:25]
But let's just keep all of that stuff going that Betsy came
[31:28]
and did and celebrated.
[31:29]
So congratulations. I can't wait to see you around town.
[31:34]
And just sincerely from like a very personal place as a mom
[31:37]
who came here, who knew, no one knew nothing, how much time
[31:40]
and energy you put into the families here.
[31:43]
So thank you Betsy. Congratulations.
[31:49]
Is there anyone else for public comment?
[31:53]
All right, we're gonna close public comment.
[31:55]
We have a couple of announcements.
[31:57]
We have the policy meeting,
[31:59]
subcommittee meeting has been rescheduled
[32:02]
and will be updated soon.
[32:04]
The first day of school is September 4th.
[32:06]
Fourth for the first day of school.
[32:08]
Grades one, six, and nine.
[32:12]
And it's an early release day one through six,
[32:14]
One Through six, oh, I'm sorry, one
[32:16]
through six and ninth graders.
[32:19]
And it is a half a day.
[32:21]
September 5th is the first day of school for the seventh
[32:24]
through eighth, 10th through 12th.
[32:26]
And that's a full day for everyone.
[32:29]
The eighth, September 8th is the first day of school
[32:32]
for pre-K and kindergarten.
[32:34]
I'm still working on that to be on the first day
[32:36]
with everybody else, but we'll hold that one back to school.
[32:40]
Information is on that website, the
[32:42]
www.weymouthschools.org/back to school
[32:48]
and any other announcements?
[32:53]
Okay. And so I would take a motion to adjourn
[32:58]
Chair.
[32:59]
I move chair, I move that we adjourn tonight's meeting.
[33:01]
I second the motion. All those in favor? Aye. Aye.
[33:04]
Our next meeting is Thursday, September 11th at 7:00 PM
[33:11]
I think back at the high school.
[33:12]
Yes. Yes. Thank you.
[33:15]
And everybody enjoy and don't get too wet out there.
[33:17]
Goodnight. Goodnight.