[0:10] like to call the meeting of February

[0:12] 10th, 2026 to order at 11:02.

[0:17] First first thing is the review improve

[0:20] the minutes from January 2nd or January

[0:23] 7th.

[0:25] >> Move to approve.

[0:26] >> I'll second it. All in favor? I

[0:30] do. We do anything with Henry's vote. Is

[0:33] it like two steps? Okay.

[0:34] >> So, it's just two.

[0:36] >> Um,

[0:37] you're next or do you want to

[0:39] >> I can just quickly talk about 26. So,

[0:42] uh, 14 warrants were signed

[0:43] electronically since the last meeting

[0:45] totaling $100,685.86.

[0:50] The only item that I want to mention um

[0:53] that I'm keeping an eye on is the

[0:55] utility bill here in the building. So,

[0:58] um, delivery charges are up for

[1:01] Eversource and our supply usage is also

[1:04] up, which we think is probably

[1:06] attributed to the mini splits. So, the

[1:08] combination of those two things has our

[1:09] bills presenting significantly higher

[1:11] than prior years. So, I'm just watching

[1:14] the budget to make sure we're going to

[1:15] have adequate funds to take care of

[1:16] that.

[1:18] >> Piggy bank.

[1:19] Yeah.

[1:21] >> Do we use the mini splits for heat?

[1:24] >> No, we're using the building heat.

[1:26] >> Okay. it.

[1:27] >> I didn't know if somebody got cold at

[1:29] >> Well, there have been

[1:30] >> times

[1:31] >> the way that the heat works, that wind

[1:33] gets good heat and that wind does not.

[1:35] So, there may have been some of those

[1:37] colder mornings where one of the

[1:38] classrooms down there put on the the

[1:40] heat as a as a supplement.

[1:43] >> That's why

[1:44] >> and you can see in the kilowatts used

[1:46] when we look at the um data like you

[1:49] know late August, September, October the

[1:52] kilowatt usage was higher. November it

[1:54] drops down because we weren't running

[1:55] mini splits, right? So no AC was needed

[1:57] in November. So you can see that

[1:59] significant drop. Um

[2:02] and I think the other side of it is

[2:04] delivery charges are just way up. I mean

[2:06] I've looked at the bills. We're locked

[2:08] into our kilowatt hours or um cost

[2:11] because we contract. So we put that out

[2:13] to bid, but we can't control the

[2:15] delivery fees. So those are regulated by

[2:18] the state and the feds and Eversource

[2:20] can make changes.

[2:21] >> What is the uh I didn't think about this

[2:23] ask you earlier, but the gas

[2:26] Is gas gone up or down?

[2:28] >> Um, so

[2:29] >> I know the price is I know the price is

[2:30] going to go up eventually, but the the

[2:32] usage because one of the other thing

[2:34] about the mini splits is is that we can

[2:35] run them through October without firing

[2:37] up the boiler.

[2:38] >> Right.

[2:38] >> So, I didn't know if any of that was

[2:39] occurring.

[2:40] >> I haven't looked at

[2:42] >> that. Okay.

[2:42] >> The gas consumption here

[2:45] >> um to see if we're down at all. I'll put

[2:47] it on the list of things to take a peek

[2:49] at. We are locked into a rate for that

[2:51] as well, so at least the rate won't

[2:53] fluctuate.

[2:54] Um, but I can look and see what

[2:56] >> because part of the problem was that we

[2:57] have to fire up the boiler on the cold

[2:59] October days and then by mid morning

[3:00] it's warm outside and then you got to

[3:02] open up the windows. The boiler's been

[3:03] boiling all day long. So hopefully that

[3:05] you we're trying to move away from that.

[3:07] >> I'll take a look and see. Maybe the gas

[3:08] is down and the electricity's up and you

[3:11] know they'll somewhat offset each other

[3:12] but

[3:13] >> no but I saw western mass gas was going

[3:16] to go up 23% or something like that so

[3:18] next year. So everybody's fighting for

[3:20] that.

[3:21] >> Yeah.

[3:22] >> Terrible.

[3:24] I'll let you continue.

[3:25] >> No, that was all that I had. I just

[3:26] wanted to make you aware that I was

[3:28] keeping an eye an eye on that expensive

[3:31] house.

[3:31] >> Okay. Principal's report.

[3:34] >> Um,

[3:34] >> since last month.

[3:35] >> Sure. Not a whole lot. We had I had

[3:38] spoken about the Mass Cultural Council

[3:40] grant that we had gotten to bring

[3:41] Playful Engineers here. Um, so the the

[3:46] man who runs Playful Engineers is Jay

[3:48] Manita and he was here for about two

[3:50] weeks. Um and every class had two

[3:52] sessions, either the morning session or

[3:55] the afternoon session. Um and they

[3:58] received a little instruction um all

[4:02] things mechanical and then they were set

[4:04] loose to sort of build um artful

[4:08] mechanisms is what it was called. They

[4:09] had kids had a good time and it was a

[4:11] good thing to have in January when we

[4:14] had several days when we couldn't go

[4:17] outside. Um,

[4:19] on January 2nd, I took all the students

[4:22] kindergarten through grade six up to

[4:24] Jaduk to see the performance of Frozen

[4:28] Jr. This was the first time bringing the

[4:30] whole school. I wasn't sure how the

[4:32] fifth and sixth graders would um

[4:35] >> behave.

[4:36] >> Well, no, not behave. They they were

[4:38] great. Everyone was great. Just I didn't

[4:40] know if seeing Frozen would be kind of a

[4:43] bummer for them, but um they seem to

[4:45] enjoy it like from the

[4:47] performance perspective and there's a

[4:49] fifth grader who was in it. So,

[4:50] >> Oh, wow.

[4:51] >> that helped too.

[4:52] >> Wow. Where did you go for that?

[4:53] >> Um, Jaduk Performing Arts Center.

[4:55] >> Okay.

[4:56] >> Um, and because I felt horrible that I

[4:59] was bringing kindergarten through sixth

[5:01] grade and leaving the preschoolers

[5:02] behind, um, it's difficult to take them

[5:04] on field trips because we get into

[5:06] transportation issue and car seats and

[5:07] all that. So, I brought a puppet show

[5:09] into to school. So, Talking Heads

[5:11] Theater came and put on a puppet show

[5:13] for them here in the library.

[5:15] >> Nice. Um, and lastly, I want to thank

[5:17] Garrett Barry and his team at the

[5:19] Wheatley Highway Department for donating

[5:21] their time to build a sledding hill for

[5:22] our kids in the in the field across the

[5:25] island.

[5:25] >> That was pretty cool.

[5:26] >> Yeah,

[5:27] >> the kids were up there when I when I

[5:29] pulled in there. They were up there

[5:30] playing.

[5:31] >> Yeah, we don't have a whole lot in the

[5:32] way of hills around here. So,

[5:34] >> yeah, I remember one year the uh when I

[5:37] was on the uh Lions Club, we bought a

[5:40] dozen [clears throat] slits. I'm not

[5:42] sure if they were plastic. I think there

[5:43] were plastic ones and they would use

[5:46] them on the little hill out the door

[5:47] over there a little bit, but that would

[5:49] be even better over over there now. So,

[5:52] >> yeah. Well, we had a parent who donated

[5:54] sleds and

[5:55] >> that was sort of what

[5:56] >> Lola was saying, you know, a long time

[5:58] ago they came and they built a hill and

[6:00] like we've got plenty of snow now. So,

[6:02] >> Oh, yeah.

[6:03] >> Garrett came right down and asked what

[6:04] we wanted and the next morning they were

[6:06] here building a mountain.

[6:09] >> Wow. That's good. Got a lot of snow to

[6:11] build that.

[6:12] >> Yeah.

[6:13] And that's it.

[6:14] >> Okay. Uh public comment.

[6:20] » Okay.

[6:22] Uh unfinished business.

[6:26] We'll continue discussion.

[6:32] » All right.

[6:34] >> I'm sorry. One second. Unfort Did you

[6:37] print the Is this a revised one from the

[6:40] last time? This is new. Did we Wait. Did

[6:42] we print any or?

[6:43] >> No. Okay.

[6:44] >> No. So, I'm gonna email it out to the

[6:46] group after the meeting and then I will

[6:48] have Raquel print one that you can have

[6:50] for yourself. Do you want a print copy,

[6:52] too?

[6:52] >> That would be great. Thank you.

[6:53] >> Yeah, that's fine.

[6:54] >> Perfect. Thanks.

[6:55] >> Okay. So, some of this is repeat from

[6:57] last month. I'm going to go over what we

[6:59] talked about in January and then we're

[7:00] going to talk about um what the changes

[7:03] potentially are. Oops.

[7:06] Why isn't it

[7:10] There we go. All right. So, in January,

[7:12] we talked about the level service budget

[7:14] first. So, we're going to review that

[7:16] now. Uh with the level service budget,

[7:18] we're basically taking all of the

[7:19] programming, staffing, and services we

[7:21] provide to our students in the current

[7:23] year and putting it into the new year to

[7:26] start with. Uh we take into

[7:28] consideration any increased costs that

[7:30] are based on level services, which is

[7:31] primarily related to wages. So any

[7:34] contractual wage obligations as well as

[7:37] adjustments for non-wage expenditures

[7:39] that we anticipate. Um insurance in

[7:42] particular is going to come up this year

[7:44] as a topic, but also looking at our

[7:46] transportation contracts and things like

[7:47] that to um ensure that we have adequate

[7:50] funding. So that put us at an initial

[7:53] discussion of 8.96%

[7:55] for level service going into fiscal year

[7:58] 27. You can see the budget total for

[8:01] general fund is 2.4. 4 almost 2.5

[8:04] million and about $23,000

[8:07] increase over fiscal year 26. We're

[8:10] going to break that down a little bit

[8:11] further in the next few slides and take

[8:13] a closer look at what's that that is

[8:15] comprised of. Last month in January, I

[8:18] talked about these expense categories.

[8:20] So, these are classified by Desi. They

[8:23] put each of our expenditures into these

[8:25] different pots. um this column that says

[8:28] FY26 shows the total of each of those

[8:31] categories from the prior year and then

[8:33] what we're proposing in the new year and

[8:35] then you can see the budget growth here.

[8:38] Um all of these categories with the

[8:40] exception of benefits and insurance has

[8:43] some type of wage associated with it.

[8:46] Benefits and insurance is exactly what

[8:48] it sounds like. There really shouldn't

[8:49] be any wages there. [clears throat]

[8:51] Looking at that a little bit closer,

[8:54] um non-wage growth presents in the

[8:56] budget, uh which again is about a

[8:58] $23,000 overall increase. So about

[9:01] 67,000 of that is not wage is not wage

[9:05] related. So $37,000 increase on

[9:09] transportation, which is not actually an

[9:12] increase on our costs outside of our

[9:14] cola, which is only 2 and a.5% on our

[9:17] current contract. However, when we look

[9:19] at level services, we look at revolving

[9:21] funds and grants. And rural aid is not a

[9:24] stable funding source for us. In the

[9:27] current year of 26, we are using rural

[9:29] aid to help offset our transportation

[9:31] costs. So, when I do that first pass of

[9:33] the budget, we add that back in as if

[9:35] that funding source didn't exist. The

[9:37] benefits and insurance is a true

[9:39] increase in the new year. So, our health

[9:42] insurance for the town of Wheatley,

[9:44] which is not taken into consideration

[9:46] here, but the town also saw that

[9:48] increase. Um, and Frontier's insurance

[9:50] went up as of October 1st as well. There

[9:53] was a 20% change and we have budgeted a

[9:56] 20% increase for fiscal year 27. So,

[9:58] these are true costs and it's hitting

[10:01] double in the budget in 27 because it's

[10:03] unbudgeted in fiscal year 26. So, we're

[10:06] going to have to recoup that money in

[10:08] the current year and then it gets added

[10:10] to the new budget. So, that is an actual

[10:12] increased expenditure.

[10:14] So, the remaining percentage um comes

[10:17] into wages. So, wage growth is about

[10:19] $100,000 of the 203,000.

[10:23] You can see the breakdown here of

[10:24] non-union to union. So, non-union staff

[10:27] um is anyone that's building base that's

[10:29] not on a contract. So, secretaries, uh,

[10:32] cafeteria, custodial, um, anyone that

[10:35] falls in those sort of hourly positions

[10:37] and then administrative contracts as

[10:39] well. And that considers anyone who's on

[10:42] a stated contract or anyone who's up for

[10:44] renewal um, to be negotiated. It also

[10:47] includes central office administrators

[10:49] and then your principal in this

[10:50] building. Um so it could be you know

[10:53] facilities directors taken into

[10:54] consideration IT superintendent business

[10:57] office um principal and so on. On the

[11:01] right hand side of this slide you can

[11:02] see the union increase which is

[11:04] primarily stemming from uh unit A

[11:07] changes. Uh unit C are down although

[11:10] that's really because we're not taking

[11:13] advantage of an IIA that we added last

[11:15] year. We ended up not needing that extra

[11:17] position. So that's been removed from

[11:18] the budget. um which is why they're

[11:20] seeing a decrease. But you can see the

[11:22] breakdown of the cola. Top step gets 4%

[11:25] in the new year. Everyone else who's not

[11:27] stepping is seeing 3% plus their step.

[11:30] And then we have teachers who have

[11:32] advanced their degree. So they're going

[11:33] to see column movement which changes

[11:35] their overall percentage increase. All

[11:38] of our IAS are moving up. Uh we added a

[11:41] new step is 2 and a half and then the

[11:43] step equals 3%. And we did add in

[11:46] $10,000 for summer stipens. Um, I think

[11:49] we talked about this a little bit last

[11:50] month, but just as a quick refresher,

[11:52] Weightley has not had summer programming

[11:54] here at the school in several years.

[11:56] Students that needed services were going

[11:58] over to Deerfield. That changed this

[12:00] past summer and we did have students and

[12:02] staff on the ground. So, we need to

[12:04] account for that in the new budget year.

[12:06] There's one more piece of the puzzle for

[12:08] Weightley that we've separated out into

[12:10] a different slide and that is our sick

[12:12] buyback which is a contractual

[12:14] obligation for anyone who's being paid

[12:16] out retirement payments. Um, and that is

[12:19] estimated at about 40,000 for next year.

[12:22] That equals 1.77%

[12:24] of the 8.96 growth that we're seeing.

[12:27] Historically, the town has funded this

[12:29] type of expenditure under a separate

[12:31] warrant article or with an alternative

[12:34] funding source. When the town was

[12:36] receiving ARPA money which was related

[12:37] to COVID, they helped us in those years

[12:40] pay for this expenditure out of that

[12:42] type of funding. Um, but as a starting

[12:44] point, we do look at it because if the

[12:46] town didn't have another pot of money to

[12:48] pull that from, uh, we would have to

[12:50] incorporate it and it is technically a

[12:52] school expense. However, they pay for

[12:54] it. It's still a cost for school

[12:56] expenditures.

[12:58] [clears throat]

[12:59] So, just to bring us back and recap, um

[13:02] about 203,000 over the current year, uh

[13:05] just shy of 9% level service budget

[13:07] increase. Breaking that down, non-wage

[13:10] expense, wage expense, and then that

[13:12] additional 40,000 for sick buyback. So,

[13:15] that's what's comprising the 8.96.

[13:18] Any questions before I keep going?

[13:21] Great.

[13:22] So we're going to look at our total

[13:24] budget which will include revolving

[13:26] funds and grants and then what the cost

[13:27] to educate based on our current

[13:29] enrollment. So grants and revolving

[13:31] funds here you can see there's actually

[13:34] demonstrating in this slide a decrease

[13:36] from fiscal year 26 and that is because

[13:38] we're not using rural aid yet in this

[13:40] level service budget. So you can see

[13:42] rural aid is in here at zero. Um whoops

[13:46] I went I had to I don't know if I can go

[13:48] backwards. Can I Darius?

[13:51] Yes, I can. You've been controlling this

[13:54] for me. So, I know I know I jumped right

[13:56] on.

[13:58] >> Um, [clears throat] so all of the other

[14:00] increases in these funding sources is

[14:03] strictly uh wage related. So, you can

[14:05] see there's minimal growth in each of

[14:06] the categories. That just accounts for

[14:08] any staff that are paying from those

[14:10] other funding sources and their cola or

[14:12] step increases.

[14:14] So, what does that look like for our

[14:16] total budget? So top line shows general

[14:18] fund, then we have revolving funds, and

[14:20] then our overall total budget, which is

[14:22] that $2.95 million.

[14:26] Breaking that down per student at 141

[14:29] students, which does include our school

[14:31] choice enrollment, we're just shy of

[14:33] $21,000 per student on our level service

[14:36] budget.

[14:39] Next, we're going to talk about

[14:40] principal requests.

[14:43] So each of our principles as part of the

[14:45] budgeting process gets to have input as

[14:48] to new needs or initiatives in the

[14:50] building. Uh the request is minimal at

[14:53] Weightley when you look at the dollar

[14:54] amount of 12,000, but it's also at the

[14:56] same time a half a percentage point. So

[14:57] it does have some impact on our budget.

[15:00] So uh we are requesting $3,000

[15:02] additional for the current uh certified

[15:05] occupational therapy assistant to

[15:07] increase OT services for our students.

[15:10] That bumps that position up from 5 hours

[15:13] a week to seven hours a week, which is

[15:14] one full day. So, it's currently not one

[15:16] full day a week. And then we had a

[15:18] request for $9,000 under general

[15:21] supplies and textbooks, which is

[15:23] primarily consumables. Um, one in part

[15:26] because of our new curriculum. Um, and

[15:29] then also the cost of supplies is going

[15:31] up. So, we added some increased funds

[15:33] there. Uh, you can see that brought our

[15:35] total budget to 9.49% 49% or almost

[15:38] $215,000

[15:40] over

[15:40] >> the textbook specific subject area like

[15:43] replacing

[15:44] >> ELA and math geta

[15:46] >> they've got consumables for both of

[15:48] those.

[15:50] >> All right. So from here the next piece

[15:53] that we're going to talk about are

[15:54] administrative recommendations to reduce

[15:56] the budget. It feels like um 9.49% 49%.

[16:01] While we have some minimal needs, the

[16:03] level service budget really needed some

[16:05] attention to try to bring down those

[16:07] numbers. Um, we brought in a pretty high

[16:10] budget last year and a little bit high

[16:12] budget the year before, which we're

[16:14] going to review a in a few slides moving

[16:16] forward. Um, but we felt like to be

[16:18] fiscally responsible and try to balance

[16:21] the town's uh various pots of money and

[16:24] how much the school is being funded with

[16:26] town funds that we wanted to make some

[16:28] recommendations to reduce the budget at

[16:30] this point.

[16:32] There um reductions that don't have a

[16:35] significant impact on the budget. So, we

[16:37] are recommending applying rural aid. Our

[16:40] rural aid did come down slightly from

[16:42] the prior year, but it's about $32,000,

[16:45] which is over one percentage point. So,

[16:48] we have added that into the um

[16:50] configuration of our revolving funds and

[16:52] grants. We are recommending that we pull

[16:55] off the $9,000 for curriculum needs that

[16:59] we requested, but that we keep in the

[17:02] 3,000 for KOD because that is student

[17:04] specific and we need to meet the needs

[17:05] of our IEPs. And then we are

[17:08] recommending that we propose the sick

[17:10] buyback be paid under a separate warrant

[17:12] request by the town.

[17:15] So none [clears throat] of these

[17:16] recommendations at this point have any

[17:18] changes to um staffing, student

[17:22] services, or programming. It's really

[17:24] just looking at our other pots of money

[17:26] and where we can sort of tighten things

[17:27] up a little bit. So with those changes,

[17:30] it's about a 3% change. So it would

[17:32] bring our general fund budget which

[17:34] still is essentially level service

[17:36] funded to 5.95% which is about 135,000

[17:40] over the prior year

[17:44] questions about that.

[17:47] Okay. So next we're going to look at

[17:49] some historical information and then

[17:51] just some uh timelines and things like

[17:54] that. So historically

[17:56] um outside of 2020 our budgets in the

[17:59] years following that you can see were

[18:02] you [clears throat] know what I think is

[18:04] reasonable that 2.5 to 3.5%

[18:07] um about a 50 to $60,000 increase a year

[18:10] for the town that felt like you know we

[18:13] were in a good spot. Towns didn't ask us

[18:15] to reduce and we were getting what we

[18:17] needed.

[18:18] >> Um 25 and 26 the story is a little bit

[18:21] different. Uh we had a level service

[18:23] increase in 25 but our transportation

[18:26] contract went out for bid and renewal

[18:28] and there was significant growth there.

[18:30] So you can see we came out at 5.57%

[18:34] in fiscal year 25. You can see the big

[18:36] jump what that means dollar-wise.

[18:38] Sometimes the dollar dollars are more

[18:40] important to look at than the percentage

[18:43] um because the town doesn't necessarily

[18:44] have a lot of new revenue growth to help

[18:47] us cover this expense. Last year we went

[18:50] in with a 10.11% budget and it was um

[18:54] supported by the select board and

[18:55] finance committee and did get through

[18:57] annual town meeting. You can see it's

[18:59] about $28,000

[19:01] over fiscal year 25. There were many

[19:04] factors attributing here. It was a level

[19:07] service budget. We added an IIA based on

[19:10] anticipated one-to-one needs for

[19:12] students in the building. And then uh in

[19:15] the prior year we had added a half-time

[19:17] math interventionist position and used

[19:20] esser funding which was available during

[19:22] co uh esser funding closed out and that

[19:25] was no longer available. So that added

[19:27] $40,000 to our budget because we wanted

[19:29] to continue on with that position.

[19:31] >> How long is the transportation contract

[19:34] for?

[19:34] >> It's a 5-year renewal. Um currently the

[19:38] only growth would be 2 and a half% based

[19:40] on cola.

[19:42] So [clears throat] we won't see that

[19:43] big.

[19:43] >> They did a bump in the first year and

[19:45] then two and a half after that. So we

[19:47] got hit in the first year.

[19:48] >> Yeah. Wheatly I mean all the

[19:49] elementarymentaries got hit where the

[19:51] high school really didn't get hit with

[19:54] the new transportation.

[19:56] >> I mean we it was significant for us. I

[19:58] mean

[20:00] >> it was significant for [clears throat]

[20:02] pretty much everybody outside of

[20:04] Frontier. Frontier had

[20:06] >> um [clears throat]

[20:07] >> is there much competition with contracts

[20:09] or

[20:10] >> No. Zero. I was going to say

[20:12] >> one. Yeah. I mean, we put it out, but

[20:16] >> um Grio was the only bid received,

[20:18] >> but to be fair, they are at market

[20:19] value. So, you know, it's not like

[20:21] they're um we're still less than our

[20:25] northern Franklin County what they're

[20:26] paying per day per bus.

[20:28] >> Um but so when they made a market

[20:30] adjustment, it was a fair market

[20:32] adjustment of what other people are

[20:34] paying in the area. So, um, so they're

[20:37] not you're not take I don't want to put

[20:39] a bad name out there for them in the

[20:40] sense of that they're not gouging us

[20:42] because they can. They're keeping it at

[20:44] what is reasonable, but their costs are

[20:46] going up and so Okay. Yeah. So,

[20:50] >> I would say it's fair. I mean, we always

[20:51] wanted to be cheaper and make it more

[20:53] fair for us, but it was a fair overall

[20:56] on their end.

[20:57] >> Yep. [clears throat]

[20:58] >> Um, the next slide and shows you

[21:00] enrollment data. This is just based on

[21:02] projected kindergarten and preschooler

[21:05] estimates. You can see the total there

[21:06] at the bottom, 138, roughly the same

[21:09] amount of students. We're at 141. We

[21:12] could hit that same number depending on

[21:13] what happens with school choice. So, um,

[21:15] we're seeing, you know, sort of stagnant

[21:18] enrollment, not growth or decline at

[21:20] this point.

[21:22] >> And

[21:22] >> how many how many applications did we

[21:24] get for kindergarten

[21:26] >> so far? It's early. Um,

[21:28] >> yeah, I I was curious curious. I mean

[21:31] that

[21:32] >> we have um five applications and

[21:36] six anticipated openings for school

[21:39] choice for kindergarten [clears throat]

[21:42] >> and you know your number is going out I

[21:44] mean it's next year so what's the number

[21:46] going out for school choice?

[21:48] >> Oh for your sixth graders

[21:50] >> to pull that number are we paying for

[21:52] someone

[21:53] >> No what is our sixth graders going out

[21:56] >> eight. So [snorts] we're going to take a

[21:58] small loss there. No, it's always been

[22:00] my goal to try and

[22:02] >> You try to keep it level. Yeah.

[22:03] >> Yeah, we'll try to keep it level because

[22:04] we really don't want to lose any more

[22:06] school choice um revenue or students,

[22:09] but it'll just be a matter of what other

[22:11] grade levels you get applications for?

[22:13] >> Yeah.

[22:14] >> You don't have any projections on birth

[22:16] rates and

[22:17] >> survival or anything like that?

[22:19] >> We do. Um

[22:20] >> down the road. So based on the census

[22:25] um we can look and see that there are 12

[22:28] weight residents who will be eligible to

[22:30] come to kindergarten. So that's

[22:32] >> for next for next year.

[22:33] >> For next year that's where my um my

[22:36] number of six uh school choice openings

[22:39] comes from. Okay.

[22:40] >> That we wouldn't want to make that class

[22:43] much larger than 18. But

[22:45] >> but can you look beyond that? Say two

[22:48] years down the road, three years. Do

[22:49] they have that data?

[22:50] >> Yeah. accuracy by the time they they get

[22:53] here is a little bit off. Last year it

[22:54] was quite a bit off. The census um did

[22:57] not include [clears throat] there were

[22:58] five or six surprises.

[23:00] >> Yeah.

[23:01] >> Good surprises.

[23:01] >> A small number. It wouldn't take much to

[23:03] shift it.

[23:04] >> Yeah.

[23:04] It's exactly that. It just hasn't

[23:06] been dependable because it's the numbers

[23:08] are so small.

[23:09] >> You know what I mean? Like you know when

[23:11] >> a couple feeling go you know they want

[23:13] to go to private or if they you moved in

[23:15] town, moved out of town, you know that

[23:16] you know we just don't have that. Okay.

[23:18] So,

[23:21] >> all right. So, the last slide uh just is

[23:24] sort of next steps and some reminders.

[23:27] Uh 1% budget increase is almost $23,000.

[23:31] Uh level service plus principal was

[23:34] 9.49. The reduced budget, which is

[23:36] actually not reducing any programs or

[23:38] staffing, but instead looking at other

[23:41] funding sources for some of our

[23:42] expenditures, brought us down to 5.95.

[23:46] and we will request that sick buyback on

[23:48] a separate warrant for the town. And

[23:50] then I just listed out future meetings

[23:52] so that you can see what the timeline

[23:54] looks like. And what I will say is that

[23:57] Wheatly has time to make decisions. Um

[24:00] the town did request a meeting with us.

[24:02] Is that just with finance or is it

[24:04] finance and select board?

[24:05] >> It's joint. Yeah.

[24:06] >> Okay. [clears throat] So that is on the

[24:08] 25th at 5:00 pm at the town office with

[24:11] town officials.

[24:12] >> So we will post that because it's a

[24:14] joint meeting. So we'll post that for

[24:16] you folks as well. So

[24:18] >> technically we are scheduled for the

[24:20] public hearing on March 7th and then our

[24:23] budget vote on March 26th. However, if

[24:25] we weren't ready for either of those

[24:27] pieces, meetings could be changed and

[24:29] you know we could continue discussion

[24:31] into April given that town meeting is

[24:33] not until June. So that's a hugely

[24:35] beneficial move I think in regards to

[24:37] the elementary budget for us to have

[24:39] more time um

[24:41] >> between the 7th and the 26th. Is that

[24:43] what you're thinking? more time for

[24:45] >> well I'm just saying if we needed to

[24:47] continue talking in April we could do

[24:49] that we don't have to be set to

[24:52] >> what's when how many days ahead do we

[24:54] have to put the warrant

[24:55] >> so that's what I was about to say so

[24:56] Dave the way it works in in

[24:59] there sorry but the is that the um

[25:02] whatever you put on the public hearing

[25:05] you can't go up from that number so

[25:09] whatever number we go to public hearing

[25:10] on in March you can reduce the bud

[25:13] budget actual public hearing, but you

[25:14] can't increase it. That's the way the

[25:16] Massachusetts law works. Or you have to

[25:18] repost the public hearing and have

[25:19] another public hearing. Um, which is,

[25:21] you know, it's a small fee because you

[25:22] got to put in the paper and that kind of

[25:23] stuff. So, it's not the end of the world

[25:24] if we had to do that. But, so we might

[25:27] go to public hearing with this higher

[25:28] number

[25:30] >> and have basically have the same

[25:31] conversation we just had right now as a

[25:33] public hearing. And then if the town's

[25:35] saying you need to reduce that, then we

[25:37] reduce that afterwards. So, um, but we

[25:40] do have more time. Um when we go into

[25:42] frontier are you about the Woodies?

[25:45] >> I only to wrap up I just wanted to make

[25:47] sure that everyone um school committee

[25:49] wise was okay with the 5.95% going into

[25:52] the meeting with the town um and the

[25:55] reductions that we've made. So pulling

[25:56] off the 40,000 of the sick buyback to

[25:58] warrant applying our rural aid and then

[26:01] eliminating the 9,000 for consumables

[26:05] for curriculum and textbooks.

[26:07] It's your budget. So we've made the

[26:09] recommendations. I've done the math, but

[26:11] I want to make sure that we're

[26:13] comfortable with that number.

[26:14] >> Is there any grants out [clears throat]

[26:15] there for textbooks?

[26:18] >> Yeah, I mean, we're going to look into

[26:19] it.

[26:19] >> Okay. I'm just

[26:20] >> We're always

[26:21] >> If we need them, we, you know,

[26:23] >> Yeah, we It's not as if taking those off

[26:26] means that we're not going to get them.

[26:28] We just have to look at what's

[26:30] available.

[26:30] >> Okay. Um it is one of those things if

[26:33] you're having a reoccurring expense

[26:34] every year now with a new curriculum

[26:36] it's best to put it in the budget as

[26:37] best practice rather than stealing or

[26:40] depending on those other things but um

[26:42] you know we do have some other pools

[26:43] grant monies that we could use for

[26:45] curriculum stuff you know um that we've

[26:47] used for other things. So um for example

[26:51] we have a um what am I thinking of rural

[26:55] it's not rural aid it's

[26:56] >> ree

[26:58] which comes from the federal government

[26:59] for rural schools from at the federal

[27:00] level and we usually use that toward PD

[27:03] and then we'll take a couple thousand

[27:04] out of that PD line from there and then

[27:07] have to change what we're doing for

[27:08] program to pay for those material. So

[27:09] there's other ways of moving it around.

[27:11] It's just it's best practices is put in

[27:13] the budget what you're spending.

[27:15] A

[27:15] >> and alternatively, if we felt like we

[27:17] wanted to make that shift, it is if it

[27:19] is going to be a recurring expense, we

[27:21] could add the 9,000 back in and present

[27:23] that to

[27:24] >> to the town.

[27:25] >> Yeah. I try to keep that number under

[27:27] six, though.

[27:27] >> That's right. That putting that in

[27:30] [clears throat]

[27:30] >> it will put us over six. So, it'll be

[27:32] like

[27:32] >> 6.02 or 6

[27:36] 08. you know, it's not huge, but I think

[27:38] the, you know, just optics of it,

[27:43] >> the uh 20 uh March 20 Yeah, March 26

[27:46] meeting, is that just a vote?

[27:50] >> Yeah,

[27:51] >> as it stands right now, yes, it is just

[27:53] a vote.

[27:55] >> Can we do it? I know Frontier last year,

[27:58] we did it a day apart from our public

[28:00] hearing and voting on the budget.

[28:02] >> So, so Frontier is very different. So,

[28:05] Frontier has to vote the budget 45 days

[28:08] out from the first town meeting. And the

[28:10] first town meeting is in Sunderland

[28:12] during

[28:13] vacation week. It's the only way I know

[28:15] what week it is. Is that like really?

[28:17] >> Friday of vacation.

[28:18] >> The Friday of vacation week. Um, so it's

[28:20] like the 22nd or something like that.

[28:22] >> 28th, I think.

[28:24] >> Or is it later than that? It's the 24th.

[28:28] So, we back our budget out.

[28:31] Frontier budget gets backed out 45 days.

[28:34] We put a couple buffer days in and then

[28:36] we made both the hearing and the voting

[28:38] that same week. And that's why we did

[28:40] that. So,

[28:40] >> okay.

[28:41] >> Realistically, what weight could do is

[28:44] not do a double meeting in the month of

[28:46] March.

[28:47] >> Put it on the

[28:48] >> April.

[28:49] Well, April is a joint meeting.

[28:51] Um, you could even put on the May

[28:52] agenda,

[28:54] you know, especially if you know,

[28:56] especially if we're in communication

[28:57] with the town that we're not moving it.

[29:00] You know what I mean? You understand

[29:01] what I'm saying? Like,

[29:02] >> but we won't be do we won't be doing

[29:04] anything different because we already

[29:07] had our public meeting. We can't go up.

[29:09] >> We can always go down,

[29:10] >> right? And so, as they figure out, the

[29:14] more time helps because we start to see

[29:17] kindergarten enrollment starts to become

[29:18] more real. School choice enrollment

[29:20] starts to become more real. Although

[29:23] those numbers are not going to sometimes

[29:25] we're looking at enrollment, we're like,

[29:26] "Oh, we're going to have to do we have

[29:28] too many or we have to split a class or

[29:30] you know that you know those kind of

[29:31] things." That's not happening in this

[29:32] budget. So it is

[29:33] >> you're right there's probably no reason

[29:35] to delay. Um but you do have that option

[29:37] is what I'm saying like and the most

[29:39] important thing is that the town knows

[29:41] where we're coming in at.

[29:42] [clears throat] And so after we have

[29:44] this meeting with them in two weeks, you

[29:47] know, we'll be able to see they'll be

[29:48] able to show us hopefully, you know,

[29:50] what their revenues are. They're not

[29:52] going to look at percentage, they're

[29:53] going to look at their overall costs,

[29:54] right? They will also have Frontier's

[29:56] number at that time. So Frontier is a

[29:58] meeting tonight. You know, obviously

[30:00] Shel and I have, you know, information

[30:02] behind the scenes in the sense of what

[30:03] we're going to be presenting um to where

[30:06] it could end up. If Frontier ends up to

[30:08] where we're kind of projecting it,

[30:10] Wheatly is not going to get a big hit.

[30:12] So they're going to have I would say an

[30:15] acceptable range for the for the

[30:18] secondary which will help with the

[30:19] elementary being a slightly higher if

[30:21] that makes sense. But the frontier I

[30:23] mean I can't project I can't give you

[30:24] the numbers because they have to vote

[30:26] that out and they got to approve there's

[30:27] reductions involved and that kind of

[30:28] stuff. So they're going to have to

[30:30] approve that. But um

[30:33] the way it looks is that frontier will

[30:34] not be um its assessment will not be so high that it makes the elementary

[30:40] have to offset the is working and vice

[30:42] versa for this community. Other

[30:44] communities are [clears throat]

[30:45] different. So um because the assessment

[30:47] changes from community to community

[30:51] >> if that makes sense.

[30:52] >> You want to do you have value thin outs?

[30:54] >> Nope.

[30:54] >> Oh I thought I thought something about

[30:56] frontier. I said I was just I was only

[30:59] saying that

[31:00] >> you know again Frontiers tonight and

[31:02] that you know that their assessment

[31:03] could be um you know if if it all they

[31:06] follow recommendations to move forward

[31:08] on that

[31:08] >> which you'll be a part of um it should it should help kind of

[31:13] balance out the overall schools budget.

[31:16] >> Sounds good.

[31:17] >> Okay. Some new business. Vote on some

[31:21] school choice

[31:23] slots spaces.

[31:25] You said six.

[31:27] >> Um, no, six for kindergarten.

[31:30] >> Okay.

[31:30] >> And I think, don't we just vote whether

[31:33] or not we want to?

[31:34] >> So, essentially, so just again to um

[31:37] keep David up to speed here. So, school choice in Massachusetts, they

[31:41] require school committee to annually

[31:42] vote to be a school choice school. Okay.

[31:45] Some communities the the uh the uh

[31:48] school committee will get so much and

[31:50] approve what's going to happen, what

[31:52] grade level. We basically ask for a

[31:55] school choice and then Chrissy gives the

[31:57] presentation of where she sees

[31:59] possibility

[32:00] um but leave some discretion to the

[32:02] principal because we get down to such

[32:04] finite numbers where I got two kids who

[32:06] left you know you know moved out can I

[32:08] take two more you know so we we say

[32:11] based on the information provided at the

[32:13] discretion of the principal um to create

[32:15] those final numbers um and so and then

[32:18] it goes to a based on the amount of

[32:20] applicants will go to a lottery system

[32:22] um if a lottery system if it's the

[32:25] demand is higher than the the

[32:26] placements. So um so tonight we are

[32:30] looking so I was going to try to bring

[32:32] up that so they can see that. Um

[32:34] >> do you have it?

[32:35] >> Did you bring it was a part of the

[32:37] packet?

[32:37] >> I don't think so.

[32:39] >> Can you just share it with me right now?

[32:40] Is on your screen?

[32:40] >> Amy's got it. I'll have her share it.

[32:43] >> Okay.

[32:45] All right. So why don't you just kind of

[32:47] go through then just verbally give kind

[32:49] of an overview of what you're looking

[32:50] at.

[32:54] She shared this with me.

[33:12] » There's some textbooks right there. That

[33:15] >> is true.

[33:17] >> Could be used for that. I just sent it

[33:18] to you.

[33:20] >> [clears throat]

[33:21] >> Give me one second. We're moving files

[33:24] around.

[33:29] » So, last year, um, we had to change our

[33:34] what we thought we were going to be able

[33:35] to accept for kindergarten school choice

[33:37] because the census was so off, um, that

[33:41] we we ended up not being able to have

[33:44] any school choice in kindergarten. And

[33:47] that hurts because people typically are

[33:49] looking

[33:51] um

[33:51] >> long term.

[33:52] >> Yeah. To to make that um decision for

[33:55] kindergarten. So they'd stay here

[33:58] throughout.

[34:01] >> Um so

[34:03] kindergarten remains the class that will

[34:05] have the biggest uh school choice

[34:07] openings. Um kindergarten can be tricky

[34:10] because we also want to account for the

[34:13] level of need within any given class.

[34:16] um which is sort of how we get to the

[34:18] target size. Um

[34:22] first grade has no openings because

[34:24] that's the current kindergarten. Um then

[34:26] we've got one to two openings in second,

[34:29] third, and fifth and sixth grade. Um

[34:33] the total anticipated would be 10 to 15

[34:35] for the school. And as Darius mentioned,

[34:38] we've got eight sixth graders who are leaving.

[34:44] Sorry.

[34:45] >> Looking at one screen trying to use my

[34:46] mouse on it.

[34:47] >> Let's get [snorts] on the other one. So,

[34:54] » so basically what it looks like on the

[34:55] right, we have eight openings probably

[35:01] for school choice. If that if it's 131

[35:04] and you can do 139

[35:09] number of kids. Now, that's the target

[35:11] size. And you know, when I was going

[35:14] through this with um

[35:16] >> Amy,

[35:18] we try and keep the lower grades at

[35:22] 18. Um,

[35:25] however, depending on how things shake

[35:26] out in other places, we may go up to 20.

[35:29] It would depend on the particular class

[35:31] and also um whether I'm getting close to

[35:35] that.

[35:37] >> When do we have to let

[35:40] any of the school choice kids, you know,

[35:43] are they automatically in? If if you had

[35:45] openings, you are they automatically in

[35:47] or do you call them and say, "Yeah,

[35:49] you've been chosen for kindergarten or

[35:52] first grade or whatever grade?"

[35:54] >> Yeah. So, we'll um the closing for the

[35:58] first round of applications is the last

[36:00] week in March and then we'll be sending

[36:02] out decisions on April 1st. Um

[36:05] [clears throat] what typically happens

[36:07] is if we have a spot and an application

[36:10] then um the child gets the spot. If we

[36:13] have more applications than spots the

[36:15] PTO comes in and they um pull names.

[36:20] >> The uh and also understand that many

[36:23] school choice folks are choosing

[36:25] multiple elementary schools in our

[36:27] district in the 38. So, so sometimes

[36:30] there's there's some shifting going

[36:32] around um you know depending on where

[36:34] they're um so they if they don't get

[36:36] picked up here they can maybe they get

[36:38] picked up in Deerfield or you know that

[36:40] >> the four elementary schools send out

[36:42] decisions on the same day.

[36:43] >> We do it on the same day so they we we

[36:44] don't allow inner fighting.

[36:46] >> Well so so [laughter] a family has all

[36:49] the information right

[36:50] >> they need to make the decision.

[36:52] >> Right. And do they have to get back to

[36:54] you by a certain date too?

[36:56] >> Yes.

[36:56] >> Okay.

[36:59] All right. So, you're looking for a

[37:01] approved to be a school choice school

[37:03] following those principal's

[37:05] recommendations.

[37:06] >> So moved.

[37:07] >> Second.

[37:08] >> All in favor.

[37:11] » Okay.

[37:18] Yankee candle donation.

[37:21] Did we hear about this last time?

[37:22] >> Yeah, I thought that was on there last

[37:23] time.

[37:23] >> So, it was on the report last time, but

[37:26] we hadn't received the check yet. I

[37:27] don't think so. I don't think we voted

[37:30] on it.

[37:31] >> It was in her report. It was not on the

[37:33] agenda. So, it has to be on the agenda

[37:36] for you to formally accept it. So,

[37:38] that's what happened. So, you heard

[37:39] about it, but and Chrissy gave a thank

[37:41] you at the meeting, but you formally

[37:43] have to accept it as the school.

[37:45] >> How much was it? Four

[37:46] >> 4,000.

[37:47] >> Here's some textbooks.

[37:49] >> Could be.

[37:52] >> So moved.

[37:54] >> Second.

[37:54] >> All in favor? Okay.

[37:58] And we have policy KIB or K1B.

[38:02] >> KIB.

[38:03] >> Okay.

[38:03] >> So basically we do not have a policy

[38:06] about classroom visitation for

[38:09] non-special education for parents and

[38:11] guardians. So, um,

[38:14] normally it doesn't happen a lot, but if

[38:17] you know, we would we've been using the

[38:18] special education,

[38:20] um, language for it, but, um,

[38:24] you know, through experience in in

[38:26] another school, we just really need to

[38:28] have kind of clear guidelines of when

[38:30] parents can visit, how they can visit,

[38:32] how they get set up, and what they're

[38:35] allowed to do in the classroom. And so

[38:36] this policy kind of breaks down um you

[38:40] know it breaks down the

[38:44] what they should be doing there how

[38:45] their behavior should be there you know

[38:47] they can't record they can't you know where they sit in the classroom

[38:50] how often they can do it and that kind

[38:52] of thing. So kind of just basically and

[38:53] I took um you know multiple ones from

[38:56] MASC's which you know policy would be

[38:59] found there and I did a this particular

[39:00] one is spells it out very clearly

[39:03] because in this particular policy I have

[39:05] a feeling parents would be reading it

[39:06] more than so I took a little bit more

[39:09] time to kind of outline this is what you

[39:10] can and can't do in the classroom should

[39:12] you be observing um

[39:15] >> do all the elementarymentaries have the

[39:16] same policy or

[39:17] >> exactly okay

[39:19] >> so what h and this is where kind of gets

[39:21] tricky in our district is that. So, I'm

[39:22] bringing this to all

[39:24] >> I'm bringing it to all five committees.

[39:25] If one committee wants to make a change,

[39:27] then I bring it back to all the other

[39:29] five do that kind of stuff. So, um and

[39:31] there's only like one or two in the

[39:32] whole policy handbook where one school

[39:34] is different than the other.

[39:35] [clears throat]

[39:35] Um but for the most part, unless it's,

[39:37] you know, someone sees something that's

[39:39] why we so this today we're doing a

[39:40] reading. So, if you give me, so let's

[39:42] say you find error, you're like doesn't

[39:44] make sense there. Um you let me know and

[39:46] then I bring it to the next meeting and

[39:47] I say, "Oh, you know, I got feedback.

[39:49] This the small changes we're making."

[39:50] So, we try to stay consistent across the

[39:52] board. Legally, you don't have to. You

[39:54] can do say, "No, we're going to do

[39:55] something different." But it

[39:56] >> makes operations so much easier.

[39:58] >> Exactly. Exactly.

[39:59] >> Okay. [clears throat]

[40:01] >> I don't have anything. Uh, how about the

[40:04] collaborative? Anything new there yet?

[40:08] >> Are you the collaborative?

[40:10] >> Do we have you have to do a vote on the

[40:13] first reading or anything?

[40:14] >> No. No. Okay.

[40:15] >> No. So, you just

[40:17] >> Okay. Sorry.

[40:19] So Henry was a collaborative.

[40:21] >> I don't know. Is Henry the

[40:22] collaborative?

[40:23] >> Well, neither one of you have a report

[40:24] then. He certainly knows. [laughter]

[40:27] >> Yeah, but I'm the guy who's not here.

[40:30] >> Yeah, Henry, [clears throat] how come?

[40:31] >> Um, I can just give you the update there

[40:33] is that they are in negotiations for a

[40:36] new they've they got down to their

[40:38] finalists and they're in negotiations

[40:40] for a contract for a new um executive

[40:43] director. That's the most I know about

[40:47] because I hear it at all the other

[40:48] meetings. What's going on?

[40:50] >> Do you have anything for us today?

[40:52] >> Um, nope.

[40:56] >> I don't.

[40:57] >> Okay. Make a motion to journ.

[40:59] >> A second.

[41:00] >> All in favor?

Whately School Committee Meeting - Feb 10, 2026

Transcript