Good evening everyone.
It's Thursday, March 12th.
Welcome to a regular meeting of the Army School Committee.
We will start this meeting with the pledge of Allegiance.
Allegiance to the flag of the United States of America.
And to the Republic for which it stands.
One nation under God, indivisible,
with liberty and justice.
Right.
We will move on to roll.
Call Emily Bryson here and Fleming here.
Kelly Hall here.
Tom McGinty. Present.
Sarah Olivares here.
Christina. Patrick.
I'm here.
Michael Wilber here.
Andrew Jolliffe here.
Linnea herring here. Elise Garcia there.
Right now. Here.
The tastic. We have everyone here.
Well, I think many of you know, because you're here for this.
We I'm excited to move to our next agenda item, which is the recognition of
several Yarmouth High School, state championship teams.
Yes. It's been quite a winter
sports and, co-curricular season.
Our winter sports, teams are here this evening that were, state champions.
We have some robotics teams and hopefully the playmakers to recognize
coming up, April 9th.
I'll talk about
those groups during my superintendent's report in just a few minutes.
But at this time, I'm
going to ask Sarah Holmes, our director of athletics, to come up.
She's going to introduce coaches and athletes from boys
Nordic skiing, girls alpine skiing, girls ice hockey, and indoor track.
Who, captured state championships this winter.
So yes, Miss Holmes.
So thank you for having us today.
We're excited to always come back and and introduce you to our state champions.
Winter, as you know, is a very long season.
For our student athletes, it starts in early November
with girls ice hockey, which actually overlaps with the fall season.
And then goes to this last,
Saturday, March 6th with ice hockey and swimming.
So over that course of the season, we compiled three regional and conference
champions, two sportsmanship awards, and six individual and state team titles.
And many of them are here tonight.
So along with their success in their sport,
their classroom dedication should also be celebrated.
We had 41 senior student athletes,
recognized as a Western Maine Conference, all academic.
And if you remember, they must have a cumulative GPA of 93
and above through seven semesters.
So 41 student athletes is a tremendous accomplishment.
So I'd
like to now start with our first, state champion of the year.
Girls ice hockey.
And David interviews Otto.
Thank you for all your support.
And, of course, thanks to the girls that are here.
Can girls, can you please stand up and be recognized?
Yeah.
Stay up. Stay up there.
Yeah.
Well, I mean, if all the raise your hand.
My Anna's with Chuck Presley.
Strout, Erin O'Connor, Lydia Costa, Dylan McElhinney,
Eric O'Connor, Celia Zinman and Celia Smith is in the back.
So not everybody could make it, but they're here.
So thank you for everything.
Appreciate all your support.
Thank you.
Congratulations.
And next, I'd like to introduce
Sarah Kerrigan with indoor track.
All right.
Thank you to the school committee for having us.
And to Sarah Holmes for introducing us and keeping us going all winter long.
We had three state champion, events this year for track.
So the girls four by 200 and Mya Jacobs, who is in the four by 200.
They are currently in route to Nike Nationals in New York.
So they couldn't be here.
But they'll still be running.
Here with us today is Bow and Mitchell, who won the two mile and ten minutes
and 12 seconds, which, if you do the math, is like five in some change
for two miles or just crazy.
So bow and come on up and I'll give you.
Guys.
All right.
And let's hear here. Nope.
So I'm going to have Zander Gordon, one of our senior captains, introduce
the boys.
And any girls, Nordic skiers that are here.
It's just any girls.
Thank you for having us tonight.
If the boys could stand up.
I'd like to introduce Eli Chalmers,
Jackie Chalmers and Lachlan Dodge, all part of a
and Finn Marion ski and Life Hall stood in the back up our winning team this year.
Thank you.
I'd like to also add that the girls and the boys Nordic team won
the sportsmanship award this year, which is voted on by coaches of our league.
Now you can clap them.
And our last, coach is Shawn Lynch with girls.
Alpine.
Thank you.
If we could have the girls stand up.
Second year consecutive, state championship
for the girls alpine team, we have Gwen Zimmerman, Finley Jaeger,
Sophia Tippy, Quinn Laval, and Logan McLeod here tonight.
Thank you.
That's it for the season.
Thank you.
Congratulations. Another outstanding season.
You know, many schools go years without amassing 3 or 4 state championships.
And to, to continue to have them,
brought before us each season is pretty impressive
and an indication of the, the, hard work and dedication that you folks put in.
So congratulations to each of you.
Do we need a new trophy case?
We do. We need several new trophy cases.
As a matter of fact, doctor, doctor Hartnett has been trying to,
with Miss Holmes, negotiate how to maybe remove some of the older
trophies from the trophy case and put some of the newer ones in.
But that is not always met with great enthusiasm by those
who were maybe on some of those teams and are now coaching these teams.
So we go in a real, I think, just a real, note
of appreciation for the sportsmanship awards as fantastic and the student
athletes, these are long nights and long season, and knowing that you have
to do your homework on the bus and all your free time when you get home.
I think that just speaks volumes
to all you guys and your dedication to your sports and your school work.
So just congratulations.
It's super impressive each and every one of you. Yeah,
truly.
And thank you for being with us tonight so we can help celebrate you.
And to Sarah's point, you are welcome to stay
for the full meeting and we will pause for a moment.
So if there's anyone in the room
that would like to head out to other things, that is A-okay as well.
Thank you.
Congratulations.
As Lyon was chasing me, I'm going to do one five minute mile.
That's crazy.
Thank you.
That's great.
Thank you.
Oh, yes.
I just came home.
No, I have to.
Yeah.
While I'm thinking I'm just.
Are you able to time.
You got it.
Excuse me.
I never wear my watch.
My, How do you turn off so much?
Yes, I know, it's not like.
Oh, here it is. Power. Yeah, that's a
no. I'll do it.
But I have my third. Is that us?
I know I can't. It's probably not us.
I really hope it doesn't ring.
Wouldn't be while I have my time.
It looks like little.
Sports program.
Public comments.
See what you
think.
Okay.
Thank you to all of you that are still with us.
We appreciate it.
We will move on with our agenda to agenda adjustments.
I have none for this evening. Okay.
So we'll move to approval of minutes from our last meeting,
and I would like to make that motion.
Kelly, anyone like to second Emily?
All in favor?
All opposed?
Thank you very much.
Approved.
Next on our agenda are reports, starting with myself with a chair report.
There are a few updates that I wanted to share this evening.
First, an update on the superintendent's search.
You might recall if you memorized the timeline, but it's okay if you didn't.
The superintendent application deadline just happened last week.
That's when applications were due.
Our search firm, Ziel education Group, has vetted all of the applications
and shared those materials with our search committee.
As you might recall, the search committee is made up of members of the school
committee, parents, staff, and administrators in the district.
And this month, during the month of March, the search committee will be reviewing
all of those applications, deciding which candidates to bring in
for interviews, interviewing those candidates, and deciding
which to advance as finalists to interview with the full school committee.
So our goal is for the school committee to interview finalists
in April and appoint a new superintendent this spring.
So just wanted to keep everyone updated on where we are in the process.
We will continue to keep you updated as we have news.
And remain very grateful for all the members of the community
that shared input on the front end
about what you care about in our next superintendent.
So that's one update.
Two other quick notes.
Local elections are coming up.
The snow is melting.
Mark your calendars.
That voting is on Tuesday, June 9th.
We will have two school committee seats on the June ballot.
Interested candidates can stop by town hall to pick up nomination papers.
And those papers are due back to town Hall on April 10th.
And I think I can speak on behalf of the committee if anyone is pondering
whether to run or to serve, I'm sure any of us would be happy to talk
to folks about our perspective or to answer questions.
And third, I just wanted to share a quick note of gratitude
as we move into budget conversations later this evening on our agenda.
We so appreciate all of the input and questions and feedback
we've been receiving from members of the community.
And perhaps that's why some of you are here tonight.
So thank you. Wanted to express my gratitude.
That is my chair report.
Now, I will pass it to Doctor Della. Yes.
I have several resignations to announce this evening.
Paul Lampson, La Plume wife's mathematics teacher of 20 years.
Rick Bishop y H.S., physics teacher of 41 years.
Lexi Drew, language arts, social studies teacher at Harrison Middle School.
Laura Elder Rowe School, of 18 years and Doctor Patrick Hartnett,
y just principal of four years, have all announced their resignations
or retirements from Yarmouth.
You just met our state championship athletic teams.
I'm pleased to announce that our robotics teams also had
an outstanding, performance throughout the entire season.
And certainly this past weekend, the high school robotics team,
captured the state championship with teams Paradise Oaks and Voyager.
There are there are several teams
within the larger scope of the high school and middle school teams.
So teams Paradox and Voyager, captured the state championship.
That's read carefully.
Crosby. Nay.
Will. Huckle. Bauer. Pablo. Sonnenberg.
Let's see. AD like.
Goodwin. Noah.
Van Allen, Henry Halligan, and Colin Swank.
So they were all, members of the state championship team.
Several other
awards were, captured by the high school and middle school teams as well.
And you'll be hearing all about that on April 9th.
We'll have those teams present with us,
in the high school, alumni room,
where they'll be able to actually demonstrate their robotic prowess for us.
The HMS robotics, we had a state finalist, team kinetic collision.
That's Ryan de Courcy and Fisheries, Nathan Pat Stone,
Gabriel Ballard of Oliver Copsey and Grant Chadwick.
And they were in the tournament final, so congratulations to our robotics teams.
Again, you'll be seeing them on April 9th.
The playmakers won the regional competition
for their one act play performance, which was Saturday, afternoon.
They are now headed to the state championship on March 20 and 21,
I think is the state, competition for that.
Lots happening.
So although we just sent out a February update,
all of this good news means that we've got a march update.
Just about ready to go out as well to the rest of the district.
That's all I have for this evening.
Thank you.
We'll move to the finance committee and.
Fleming.
Thank you.
We met this past Monday for our monthly finance committee meeting.
Quickly went over.
Where we're at with expenditures, we're on track.
And where we want to be for this year.
We spent a lot of the time we are in the middle of budget season,
and we talked, that meeting about some potential updates to the budget,
which our superintendent will be speaking to those later on this evening.
So that would really serve as most of our finance update for this evening.
Thank you.
And policy committee, Sarah Olivares. Thank you.
So in the last two consecutive policy
meetings, we have been considering, along with Doctor Hartnett,
further restrictions to cell phone or personal device uses at the high school.
A lot of work has already been done,
in this regard, to implement restrictions at the high school.
So for the public who aren't aware, they do not have access to phones
during class time, that you have access during passing and lunch.
And in light of community feedback,
school committee feedback, parent feedback,
we've been, you know, in discussions with Doctor Hartnett about implementing
further restrictions up and including, to a Bill Bell band.
With the
considerations of distractions still presented to students
when they have their phones on them and potentially looking forward to it
at times like passing and lunch and impacts
on socialization, at lunchtime and things like that.
In terms of the implementation of it and the exact policy
that's still in, in discussion, and Doctor Hartnett is taking back,
sort of an implementation strategy, options
of a bells bell band to the staff
and I think perhaps also to the student Senate.
So more coming,
in subsequent school committee meetings and policy meetings.
As a as a side note, but very much related,
if you follow the last, state to state, address from Governor Mills,
she did announce her desire to have all school, public schools in Maine enact,
a bill to ban, that is in budget appropriations,
I believe, because that mandate is tied to funding,
which amounts to about $13 a student.
If schools choose to go with something like a yonder pouch
or other storage device.
And so just wanted to note
that it's not the progress in terms of Yarmouth.
And, what Doctor Hartman is proposing is not tied to whether or not that passes,
but still, you know, informs the importance of that,
just the importance of that discussion and sort of the
the tide and how things are changing nationwide, really.
So that is our update and we will have more to come.
Thank you sir.
Mission committee, Kelly Hall.
Yes. The mission committee met this evening prior to this meeting,
and we really just focused on the hiring process.
I think that we all agreed that we have a very comprehensive hiring process,
which is great.
And just really reflecting to make sure that it is reflective
of our school culture, but also appeals to a broad range of applicants.
So how do we maintain, our clear expectations?
And also, how do we welcome in folks
who might bring something new, to the table
and then also really focusing on limiting, biases
in the application process.
Thanks, Kelly.
Any updates from other committees or liaisons?
For Emily and then back to Kelly.
So we had our third and final turf meeting.
And I'm going to
be emailing Andrew the recommendations of the committee.
Essentially replacing the track and the term very similar to how it is now.
It was really awesome hearing from our students
and our coaches that our turf is the best turf that they play on.
Even now, even though it's 13 or however many years old at this point.
So we did just get an update,
from activities on light replacement.
We were still kind of, waffling on.
Re lamping our current lights or replacing our lights with LEDs.
So we just got that information, and so I'll build that into my report
to Andrew, and I'm looking forward to talking about it with you guys.
Thank you. Emily.
Yes. So also there's a collective
that meets, to talk about vocational school.
So that's the Parks and Rec collective.
Mostly made up of leadership and school committee members.
Not a ton.
That's new and exciting to report.
We just talked about enrollment numbers.
What programs have filled up, what programs are still open?
And then
what I thought was really interesting paths has traditionally had a horticulture
program that they're moving towards, landscaping
and really giving kids the opportunity to learn,
not just like the landscaping,
but also the hard scaping and how to use the equipment.
And really plan.
So it's good design as well,
which I think is going to appeal to a lot of, students.
RVC is changing some of their computer
based programing to appeal to a broader range of students.
They've had a lot of trouble filling those, which is it
seems weird in these times.
So they're trying, to shift one program
to be more focused on, the coding, the programing things.
I don't I mean, I don't understand I'm going to be honest.
And then also cybersecurity and ethical hacking,
which again, we're hoping will appeal to a broader range of students.
And then something else to note is that PA's is looking at adding
an arts program in the near future, which I think would be amazing as well.
Thank you. Kelly.
Other committees or liaisons?
If not, we'll move to student Senate linear and at least.
So Senate has been pretty busy.
We have a lot on our plates right now.
It's just today we had a successful spring assembly.
And we also, have a new schedule for our school assemblies.
Which are student run.
And now they're going to be happening, only four times
a year instead of once a month.
So that means fewer assemblies.
But we still want to get
those updates out on sports clubs, upcoming events, all sorts of things.
So we are trying to, bring
back, like, intercom announcements.
Those aren't something that happen anymore.
And we're trying to bring them back
as a way to continue spreading important information for students.
And we're trying to work through some of some hiccups
because there is a wide variance
in the audio quality of the speakers throughout the school.
So we're trying to figure out,
how to work through that.
And if you remember my name
on the room, little tidbit that is still happening.
I am not involved.
They're very reserved about it.
I think it's secretive.
But it's the gnome is out there.
I hope they don't bring back detention.
Who's in detention as announcements at the end of the day,
as some of us might remember.
Yeah, yeah. Look at called out.
I'm sure that it's not part of the talk about that one. So,
in academic, we've been working on standardizing
the honors challenge policies.
So for those who don't know, we have some classes of like AP classes
and like CP classes, and some classes just have what's called honors challenge.
So it's like an extra, like bonus part on the test or like a bonus project
that people will have to do in order to gain that.
So we've been working on standardizing that across classes and across subjects
just so it's more equitable.
And then also, in light of all the new hires
that we're going to be doing,
we've been rewriting and like adding some new questions for the teacher,
interviews for when students are helping to to do those panels.
Yeah. That's it. Thank you both.
Next on our agenda is public comment.
And I'll share a few sort of parameters about how public comment works.
But I'm also excited to announce
we're going to offer a second public comment spot this evening.
We'll have one right now.
And any individual who wants to address
us on any issues related to the schools is welcome to do that.
We prioritize,
residents of Yarmouth and folks connected with the schools directly first.
We cap everyone at three minutes for their comments, and we do keep a timer
to make sure that everyone who has a desire to speak has a chance to speak.
And I want to note, and mention this briefly when we get later
in our agenda and discuss the school budget for next year.
Doctor Delph is going to present some proposed changes to the budget proposal.
And so if there are folks in the room that want to speak specifically
about the budget, we wanted to give you the option
to hear the latest news about the budget proposal coming out of recent
finance committee meetings, and new information that's been evolving.
So what we will do is, after Doctor Dollar presents
the updated budget proposal a little later this evening,
we will open up a second public comment period
for anyone who wants to address us specifically on the budget.
And we'll do that before we move to our school committee vote.
So I know I just said a lot of things, but the highlights are
this is public comment now.
And if you want to wait and hear more about the budget
and then react and speak to it, you will have an opportunity to do that
later this evening.
So with that said,
if you'd like to address us, we welcome you to come up to the podium,
and start by introducing yourself with your name
and your connection to Yarmouth schools and anything you'd like to share.
I will be kindly giving you the three minute time.
That's right. Our friendly timekeeper.
Good evening.
Tim Shannon, 47, West Elm Street, parent of three Yarmouth kids.
Just a procedural question.
I'm mindful of the time.
If we have some discussion before the next public comment period,
to have any sense of how long that discussion will take place.
I want to make sure that the kids in particular, who are here tonight
have a sense of how long they're going to.
They're in for, if you know what I mean.
That is a great question.
We don't have much before the budget. Yeah.
Ten calendar. Yeah.
I mean, we will discuss the two other items first,
the school calendar and an update on technology devices.
So I don't anticipate it would be too long. Fabulous.
I appreciate your.
Did I just burn all my three minutes?
I didn't I didn't start it. Noted.
It was procedural and for the good of the group. Thank you.
Thank you.
Thanks for your consideration
of the group. Yes.
Okay.
Yes.
Good evening.
My name is Margo Downes.
I'm a resident, parent and educator.
In recent months, you have scrutinized cell phone
and personal device policies designed to protect our students.
Our schools did not purchase these devices, nor do we require them.
Yet you entrust our educators
to enforce their safe and responsible use by students.
It is therefore contradictory for this board to disregard the Technology
Department's evidence based proposal for iPads, a platform that offers
superior security, safety, greater classroom versatility
and a more cost effective option for taxpayers.
While community feedback matters,
relying solely on a single survey to drive an expensive five year
fiscal commitment, including repairs is flawed
by providing inadequate time for staff to gather meaningful input.
You have prioritized a voluntary response survey over
empirical evidence and expert guidance of your own staff.
Any Yarmouth statistics student can tell you that
this type of sample is riddled with bias.
It misses the middle of the curve and amplifies strong polarized responses.
The results cannot be generalized to an entire population.
The survey summary before us represents 900 responses.
How many did not respond?
The board's proposed decision is especially confounding given
our current budget climate and swiftly changing educational landscape.
My seventh grader navigates her academic
world safely and competently on an iPad.
Meanwhile, my college freshman is saving for an iPad
because the laptop we purchased lacks the flexibility needed for her coursework.
It is disheartening
to see the board put their support behind a more expensive device,
while simultaneously reducing staff positions in the Stem programs.
As a young builder and designer, my seventh grader and many others
represent the very future these programs should support and inspire.
In my 25 years in Yarmouth, I have never seen financial priorities
in such direct conflict with our educational mission.
Choosing a more expensive, less secure device
at the expense of invaluable staff and programing is fiscally inconsistent.
If I had to vote on this budget today, it would be my first note ever.
Thank you.
Thank you very much.
I'll pause.
In case anyone else would like to make a public comment.
Hey. Good evening.
My name is Adam Owen.
37 Pitt Creek Way here in Yarmouth.
First and foremost, thank you to everybody for being here.
I appreciate all your volunteer work.
And thank you to all the people that are,
transitioning to retirement or resigning
regardless.
For elder, I've got four children that have moved
through this system to be on high school.
A sophomore in high school.
A sixth grader.
I see numerous friends and colleagues
in the audience here, and my my, biggest thank you
is thank you to everybody that volunteers their time and energy.
And one of the things I most appreciate about being in this community,
which I grew up in, is our genuine
interest in developing young people.
And that might be in academics, that might be in sports
and science and literature, like, whatever it is,
like there's a lot of energy to go around and, it's a lot of work.
So thank you to everybody up here.
Thank you to all our educators, that are in our current roles or moving on.
And I my, my reason for comment is to contemplate,
as we move forward, how we support our young people moving forward.
Whether that's in
the sciences or the arts or the sports or whatnot.
It's it's hard to balance everything.
So I appreciate everybody's efforts.
It's not easy to balance everything.
But I appreciate everybody's contemplation in that.
And we'll, we'll probably hear from other people as the night goes on.
But thank you very much. And I appreciate your effort.
Thank you.
Any others that would like to address us?
To please step up to the podium?
Okay.
All right.
We will move forward to unfinished business.
As we mentioned, there are a couple other items to address.
The first being the second reading of the 2026 2027 school calendar.
Yes. This is the second and final reading.
So your vote this evening will put this, into effect for the coming year.
You have a copy in front of you again?
This calendar must agree with the calendars of six other school
districts in the greater Portland area that send their students primarily
to Portland, using Technology High School for Career and technology education.
This calendar meets that standard,
which is a standard set forth in state law.
It will be one of the few times that Yarmouth will be starting school
before Labor Day, because Labor Day comes on Monday the seventh.
You'd still be starting only in the month of September, though,
with students coming on Tuesday, September 1st.
Staff would start the week prior to that.
The rest of the calendar pretty much follows
the traditional calendar that Yarmouth has followed for a couple of decades.
With the Friday before
Indigenous Peoples Day as a staff day.
Then you have, Veteran's
Day off in November on the 11th, three days around Thanksgiving,
a little bit shorter holiday break there from December 20th 3rd to January 1st,
instead of the lengthy two plus weeks that you had this year.
Martin Luther King Junior Day is on the 18th.
One week in February for the vacation.
You continue to have the Friday before the April vacation off.
Memorial Day would be off, and this would allow you
to finish school on Friday, June 11th, without any snow days.
That provides you the opportunity, as we've been doing the last few years,
to have, for traditional snow days if needed.
Before going
to remote days in order to keep you from
having school.
The last full week in June, starting on June 21st.
Note that Friday,
June 18th next year, is the holiday
when when Juneteenth falls on a Saturday, the holidays is on Friday.
If Juneteenth falls on a Sunday, the holiday is on a Monday.
So even though it looks as though you could go to school through the 18th,
you actually cannot go to school on that day because of Juneteenth.
So this calendar meets the law, and it is,
pretty much in line with what you've done in the past when we have had,
when Labor Day has been as late as the seventh,
you have started school on Tuesday, the first.
Thank you.
Would anyone like to make a motion to approve the second reading of the.
Thank you, Sarah and second, Michael.
Any discussion or questions about the calendar?
Seeing none, we will move to a vote.
All in favor?
Thank you. Calendar passes.
Thank you.
Get that up on the website and out to folks within the next couple of days.
Start planning our summers.
Next up, we have student technology devices.
Yes.
So, you've had this discussion before,
and it is directly related, obviously, to the budget
because there is a significant difference between purchasing iPads,
which were the recommendation from the technology department and purchasing,
MacBook airs.
This discussion has become more
complicated in the last, 32 hours or so,
because we
had a visit from the Apple representatives.
And Director Arnold is here this evening,
and the MacBook airs that we have typically purchased.
We were notified Tuesday afternoon that they are significantly
more expensive next year than,
we have planned for in the past.
At the same time,
Apple has notified us of a new product, which was just released yesterday,
but they made us aware of it Tuesday afternoon, which is a
a, a laptop called the Neo
with a price point closer to that of an iPad
than that of the MacBook air.
And we were under the gun here
in terms of the budget decision,
but we're not
we aren't hard pressed to make a quick decision
on which of these devices we end up going with.
We have some time there.
But if you want
the option for the more expensive model
tonight is your opportunity,
and your only opportunity really to make that decision.
Because the next agenda item is your budget.
It is your second reading of the budget at your second reading.
Your budget is approved.
And we then begin preparing the documents
for the town council presentation.
So it is important that you have some,
that we have
the administration has some direction as to where you would like to go
with the purchase of laptops or iPads,
I suppose, are still in the conversation.
I've asked Mr.
Arsenal to be here this evening to answer questions that you may have
around the new solution.
I will tell you, I think it's fair to say that Mr.
Arsenal is not a, huge fan of the new
offered solution, and he can explain why
in much greater detail than I can for you, because it's very technical.
And it's by its nature.
If you were to.
If you were to adopt
or direct us to purchase
the neo solution,
you could leave your budget
where I'm going to be presenting it later this evening
with no added funds for thousand dollars
of added funds for technology.
If you were to direct us to purchase the laptops
that we have purchased in the past, the MacBook airs,
you would need to add $48,000
to the overall budget,
which would
increase the overall budget by approximately
one tenth of 1%.
I think that
probably the best way to move forward
would be to hear some information from Mr.
Arsenal as to what these two devices are, and then move
directly into our budget discussion so that I can share updates
from the Finance Committee and from the administration,
and you can hear from the public as soon as possible,
and then have your discussion around the budget
inclusive of that technology piece.
Does that make sense? Great.
And I guess my question, I think you answered
is yes, is in light of.
The technology discussion
and the potential increase in 48,000.
If iPads was the choice, which is
if the MacBook airs was the choice.
Sorry, MacBook. MacBook air was a choice.
And, you know, the consideration of the
the half time position that I believe we're going to be talking about,
we can't we're not going.
We can hold on those things as a as a whole.
We talk about the budget. We're not accurate.
So we don't we're not going to be making the decision on the devices
before we get to the budget, which is inclusive of the position.
That I think is exactly why I recommended we move forward into that conversation.
Okay. Yeah, great. Thank you.
We want to hear from.
Yes, I think it'd be great.
Thank you.
Could you talk a little bit about both of the laptop solutions
that are now being recommended? Sure.
So last week, Apple
did what Apple does and announced new devices.
And there's a lot of energy, a lot of excitement
around that new MacBook neo device.
Since it's education, price
is for it starts at 499, which is by far the lowest cost MacBook,
you know, laptop device that they've ever created.
On the other side of that is they've gone
to the newest processor, the M5.
On the MacBook air line.
And with that, they're also now bumping up the price of the device.
It stayed fairly stable over the past several years,
as our current devices are the first iteration when Apple started
creating their own processors, which are the M1's.
And that's what the students and staff at the high school
and middle school as well are currently using.
So they've gone from that to the M2 to the M3, M4
and now M5 just got released this past week.
And so with that, it's,
you know, the latest
that they have in terms of the MacBook air line.
And that's the only laptop that they make in the MacBook air line.
They used to carry on one of the older models
as well, to offer a less expensive alternative.
They're not doing this time because they have just released the MacBook neo.
And so the difference between the two, they're both the same size.
The MacBook neo is slightly smaller, is still a 13 inch device,
but it's definitely a little bit smaller than the, the the MacBook air is
it's I had my hands on one today, and it's very sturdy.
Well-built.
The biggest differences between them
is that the neo uses a mobile processor.
So it's a similar processor that's used in iPhones,
and has less memory, so less Ram
and the device than what Apple provides in
any other of their other devices, like the MacBook air, starts
at 16GB of memory and can go up from there.
The neo is only available in eight gigabytes,
which is concerning for me over the longevity.
We typically purchase these on a four year lease
and then use them for five years.
And in that fifth year, when we're not paying for the lease,
we put that money towards infrastructure for the network wireless,
which is all the things that make all the everything work.
And so my concern is whether that device would be durable to now.
So I shouldn't say use the word durable but hold up as new
operating systems are released to
still have the speed and
and that we need to do the work that the kids are doing in the classroom.
And so it's
it's a nice device. Okay.
Like I said, I had my hands on it and right now it runs great.
But the my concern is time,
and especially as the device is run more
artificial intelligence on board memory is key there.
And that could be problematic down the road.
So my biggest concern is the longevity of the device.
Like I said, short term it's a great device.
It'll do everything that our students need it to do.
I'm just worried if if we'll be able to make it five years on them,
which then could get costly as we might have to refresh sooner,
which could impact the ability to do, the infrastructure work in year five.
Thank you.
Does anyone have specific questions about the devices themselves?
Emily.
How much memory does iPad have?
The iPad has six gigabytes, but it runs a completely different, operating system.
Okay. Yeah.
The Mac OS is much more taxing than especially the desktop
apps that run on it as well.
Thank you.
No questions at least.
Just so you're not concerned about, like, the memory of the iPads holding up
in the same way that you are. But then.
Okay. No.
Could you say more about that? Sorry.
I'm just.
Can you say more about that?
I'm interested if if there's a concern about the memory
and the how the NIO would hold up given I was not.
Yeah.
Because the NIO runs Mac OS and Mac OS is much more robust
in terms of what it can do in terms, you know,
and requires more processing power than the iPad operating system,
which is a completely different operating system.
So it doesn't need as much horsepower to keep it going.
Ellie.
And then, my question was answered, I don't know.
I'm curious, with all the new information, everything.
That is it still your recommendation that you think iPads are the best solution?
I would like,
you know, when I see the opportunities of what the iPad can do,
I think it's going to do 95%
of what students are currently doing as well.
There are some hits that well that will be in there
as far as some of the especially in some of the Steam classes and so forth.
But it will also bring a bunch of capabilities that we don't have current
with the laptops or will ever have with the laptops in terms of the ability
to interact with a touchscreen
and all the things that that can do. The,
yeah, we've
been over this multiple times
on, you know, as far as some of the those pieces that I'm particularly
looking forward to in that respect, it also gives us
the ability to better
manage the devices in terms of the students and what they can
do with them, and in terms of filtering and restrictions that we can put in place.
Kelly and and Sarah.
So just a clarifying question.
I think you mentioned before, you're not getting rid of all laptops.
So let's say there is a steam class.
There are potentially laptops available to use for that specific purpose.
Yes. Okay.
This may be a difficult question to answer,
but I just wanted to address it, especially in light of public comment,
which I appreciate.
And and really the overwhelming, you know, we we did
I think maybe it's like contradiction to the speaker.
Mr. Jones, we
you know, we had a pretty solid number of, of survey responses.
And I'm just curious if you could
speak to the survey responses and perhaps why
you think particularly students and staff really lean towards
at the high school, lean towards the, the, the laptops?
Why do you why do you think that is?
You know, that is, you know, under consideration and what the school
committee has been really looking at, in addition to it,
I mean, there's there's personal opinions here, but I think we're really looking to
to staff and students for what's workable, what's some continuity
form factor, ergonomics, a lot of things like equity in terms of
if you have an iPad, you
maybe if you don't like you buy a laptop with your family or buy your laptop,
if there's there's a lot of discussion, there's a lot of considerations.
We've had a lot of emails on this which are over whelming pro laptops.
So again, why do you think, you know, and to totally respect your,
your, your feedback
and your input as a technology director and that you're recommending the iPad.
However, the sort of the overwhelming responses has been the other way.
Just if you can comment on that. Sure.
I think a lot of it is what people are accustomed to with this would be a change.
It would be a big change.
The other part of it is,
I think that the success of our iPad program
at the elementary level impacts what people think about the device.
They look at it as a device that little kids use.
It's a toy, when it's can be a significant learning device and,
so I think that that has impacted how people view the device itself.
I feel that staff and students
who have had the opportunity to see what it can do, have been
pretty excited
about the idea of what, you know, how things could be different
with that, and especially as we move into again,
I'll bring up the big topic of the day is of,
you know, artificial intelligence as we're working to do more
and more to
give students the ability to demonstrate their learning in ways
that artificial intelligence doesn't exceed, that creation is where that lies.
And the iPad is a much better creation device.
Thank you. Other questions. Linnea.
I just wanted to comment on that part where you said that students
and teachers who have interacted with the devices have been pro iPad.
I have seen that as well among my fellow student senators.
Who were able to talk with you about it and, you know, actually feel that iPads.
I think that most students at Yarmouth
High School are probably pro laptop
because most of them don't know anything about the iPad.
Really.
And like you said, I think that there is a perspective of
that's for little kids that we're for high schoolers.
We're going to be in college next year.
What are we doing with iPads?
So I think that that's both of your points are definitely true.
I will just Kelly, I will just add to
I work in another school district and we're moving towards the same thing.
And for staff and students who have had those experiences as well,
they've been overwhelmingly positive.
So I can just add that as well.
Let's see no further questions.
In this moment, we can segue into our budget conversation.
I think that's thank you.
Thank you.
Doctor Di.
Yeah.
So this is your second reading of the, school department budget.
Your vote this evening will,
make this official and will be a budget that we send on to the town council.
Although there is always the opportunity for an adjustment with the town council
because we have health insurance premiums still to be
determined.
So we'll talk about that in just a second.
So in work over the past couple of weeks with the Finance Committee,
and administratively, we have some recommended changes
to the budget that, you folks had had approved.
And first is that,
I recommend that we amend the turf field funding plan.
The way that the turf field has been funded over the past,
dozen years that I've been in the district.
And it may have started a year prior to that.
Is that
at the time the school department took over the turf field, it originally
was purely, town property, and the town
operated that, the turf field
12 or 13 years ago.
The school department took that over.
And at that time
there was a debt service payment
on the field,
and the debt service payment
would go down each year, not only on the field.
You had debt service on some of the facilities
that were still being paid for that had been updated in the, 2000.
Okay.
And the plan was or the agreement was between the school department
and the town, that while the debt service
payments would go down, the school department
would continue to fund the same amount in the budget.
And that extra money
right where you filled the gap would go into a reserve fund
to help pay for the next generation of the artificial turf field.
At some point in the past 12 years,
all of that old debt service went away and the school department
continued to simply place $85,000 a year in the budget.
And that would go into a reserve fund.
So you have in your budget and in the proposed budget for next year,
$85,000
to go toward the next iteration of the turf field.
I would propose that
you look at your new debt service number because you have debt service
from the projects that were done five years
or so ago at all four schools.
And you take that same approach that was originally applied
to your debt service from the prior projects.
If you do that, you'll remove
an $85,000 line from this year's budget.
But over the next ten years, as your debt service
drops on the projects that were approved five years ago,
you will continue to budget that same amount, and you will put money
into a reserve fund to pay for the next iteration of the turf field.
If you do that,
according to the debt service schedule,
in the year 2039.
2039 long after
I am spending my winters on a beach somewhere.
No. My wife says that's not true.
You will have,
amassed.
And get to the second page here.
A contribution
of approximately $1.9 million
without having to increase your debt, service
payments or budget this separate amount now,
right now, we have about $1 million
from the strategy that we had employed over the past 12 years.
The project that Emily referred to earlier, the Turf Field project,
is likely to be somewhere in the $2.5 million range.
And when we add the needs from the playgrounds
at the middle school and Yarmouth Elementary School
to that, it's probably going to push it closer to 3 million.
So you have a million.
You're going to need a couple million more.
That means you're going out to the voters at some point soon
and asking them to bond.
That if you take this plan and implement this,
you've got some early gains.
Next year, you can take $85,000 out of your budget,
but in the long run, you're going to have a significant amount of money
to put toward the fourth generation of your turf field.
Tom Gibb I just wanted to point out that that iteration also
will not include a complete redo of the track, most likely.
So yeah, so it may be, but who knows what happens to cost in that time?
Clearly.
But you'd have it's a
you know, I think the strategy and it wasn't one that I had thought up.
The strategy that you put in place 12 or 13 years ago was a sound one,
because it kept your budgeting level, but it built up funds
that are going to reduce your need to go to the taxpayers
for bonding, for that significant, project.
I suggest that you do the same thing
now with the current debt service level,
you'll have $1.9 million in the year 2039,
and you can take $85,000 out of this year's, but you can.
It's actually 68,410 the way that it works out.
But you'll be able to remove that from this year's budget,
which gives you a little bit of room
to do some other things that we're talking about.
All right.
So that's the First Amendment would be to remove that
line, the second one and working with Mr.
Arsenal and looking for any savings that we can find,
we determined that
while we have this five year cyclical replacement plan for student
and staff technology devices, there's one grade level
currently,
these are seventh grade iPads
which were scheduled to go to second grade next year or to be replaced.
But there are 2024 iPad.
So we can we can delay the purchase of those for one year.
Saves you another $15,000.
So you've now got savings up, you know, over $80,000.
Members of the school committee have expressed their interest
in reinstating a point five FTE full time equivalent.
Teacher at the high school
that would come at a cost of $52,610.
While you've expressed interest in reinstating that,
you have stated to the administration and to the high school
that you would like to see an intentional plan for increasing
interest and enrollment and subscription in those courses, which are,
significantly under subscribed at this time.
And we've already begun that work.
We actually met with SMC today
and identified two of the classes that we offer,
CAD and architectural Design, as being courses
for which they would be very interested in offering dual credit.
So that's one significant step that could,
encourage more students to enroll in those courses.
Another step will be to, conduct
an interest survey for students to see if there are other courses
that might be offered that would generate, more subscriptions.
So that would be an increase to the budget
that would offset some of the decreases that I'm proposing.
The fourth
item that you need to be continue to be aware of
is that we do not yet have our health
insurance premiums for the coming year.
We project those at a 10% increase every year.
In the 12 years that I've been here,
we've had savings in that line.
Each year because our health insurance
premiums have come in at a lower
increase than 10%.
They've been up around eight.
Sometimes they've been over ten.
The timeline never works with our budget process,
because we have to approve the budget now,
and we have to get it to the council
at the first meeting.
At their first meeting in April.
At the end of this month,
we've been told by anthem we will be
given the state wide ranges.
Remember, each school district has its own health insurance rates.
And anthem will tell us at the end of this month
the increases or the adjustments are going to be somewhere
between 2% and 11%.
If they say that, if they give us those numbers two and 11,
I'm going to feel pretty good about our 10% projection
because our use rate
is is right in the middle.
It's right around 100%.
So I would feel good about that if they come to us in a couple of weeks
and say the increases are going to be somewhere between 7 and 16.
Now, you know, we're we're on the edge.
At some point
in mid-April, we get our actual number.
So first they release the range, then a couple weeks later
they give you your actual number.
So we just have to be prepared for that.
On the
on the good side, if we've budgeted too much at 10%,
you have an opportunity, as we've done every year,
to go back to the council and say
we are able to reduce our budget by a certain amount,
if the number comes in higher than 10%,
there are obviously two options.
The council may say
your budget is your budget, figure it out,
and we would have to go in and reduce our budget by the corresponding amount
or the council may say upon your request,
we need to increase the budget by $32,000 or whatever it may be.
So that piece, we still have to hold on,
but I'm recommending this evening that we
alter our, turf field funding plan,
that we remove one
grade of technology, devices
from the replacement cycle in 26, 27
that we reinstate the point five Stem teacher at the high school.
48 hours ago,
this would have been a very clean proposal, because I could have told you
exactly what number
that you needed to be at the laptop.
Confusion is
is going to make this more complicated
if you want to have,
which is probably the the recommended approach,
if you want to have the flexibility
to determine later
what technology devices you want to purchase for the high school,
then your motion this evening would be to approve for a second
reading the proposed FY 27 budget
in the amount of $44,212,213,
which is a 4.65%
increase over the current year
and impact to the taxpayer.
Hang on 3%.
Of 3.14%,
that is $46 on every 100,000 of valuation.
I just want to add one more piece
of information for you, because I think it's important to note that
you'd be looking at a 4.65%
increase on the budget.
In a survey of my colleagues
around Cumberland County.
The budget
increases in their districts run anywhere
there is one lower than ours.
The others run anywhere from 6.3%
to 9.9% increases.
Some of them you're reading in the paper while
dealing with an 8% increase are also cutting
dozens of teaching positions.
So I feel very good about the position that we are in where with this change,
we would be talking essentially about
reducing district wide
one edtech position at the high school
that works with multilingual learners, and that is because
our numbers in multilingual learners have dropped precipitously.
And we still have three full time teachers for that program.
We're just removing the edtech.
So we we definitely have the capacity to meet the need.
There.
I turn it over to you folks for your questions,
and then I think, to turn it over to the public for their comments.
Let me just clarify.
Do we need a motion to discuss?
I don't I wouldn't go to a motion yet because you want to have public
comment, right?
And you can't have public comment after you have a motion on the table.
Okay. Thank you.
So the this is a time for specific questions for you.
And then we will go to public comment.
Michael, I just I want to make it clear in my mind
and other people's mind when you're talking about that.
212 200 and 212,000,213 44 million
was that 44,212,000, $13,
212 million.
It's like it's a pretty big difference.
If you wanted to make sure that was clear to everybody.
People just fell off of Chair School 412.
I'm looking at your numbers.
Look at what I had carried down. I was looking at the difference.
That does
include restoring that standard position to full time. Yes.
Okay. Thank you.
And did you have a question or.
No. No, I just wanted to clarify the correct number.
Okay.
Yes. That that number includes
all of the changes that I've recommended this evening.
Sarah, I just make a comment and, I know of appreciation
for all of the community feedback we received on the Stem position.
We heard from students and staff,
probably the most emails we've really received all year.
So I do want to note that the school committee and the finance
Committee really took this to heart and had some in-depth conversations about,
you know, the original reason that that position
was proposed to be eliminated and it was strictly based on enrollment,
I think really taking a hard look at the enrollment,
but also looking at the interest was a big point of discussion.
So interest in enrollment, two different things.
I think the feedback we were getting
and the conversations we were having with Doctor Hartnett,
and others really suggested that, hey, there are students who want to sign up
but aren't able to find space in their schedule
in consideration of meeting all of their requirements.
And that's why, Doctor Dolf and Doctor Hartnett, you know, have done
the work and are continuing to do the work to look at how to increase enrollment,
by looking at various options that he's already highlighted.
And I think it's, you know, it is important that we're looking at this
on balance of, you know, comments also from
putting more money into technology while cutting staff.
Well, we're, you know, we're coming to the table
and really considering them both together.
Because we do value
staff, we value the position and the program.
And also, I think a lot of the discussion too, was looking at
the the
interest that's coming up from the lower grades
and the investment that's been made in Stem programing there.
And the kids that had started that
when the program was initiated are just about to hit the high school.
So another piece is perhaps enrollment will look different when we see this
bolus of kids coming into the high school and we see the robotics interest,
we see the interest and the excitement for Stem programing in the lower grades.
And that could also make a change in terms of enrollment.
It's you know, we can't we don't have a magic eight ball.
But that's likely.
So just noting that there has been a lot of consideration
of sort of the mechanics, the logistics, the trends, what's coming
as well as as feedback from across the board.
Go to Elise and then Linnea.
I, I'm hearing what you guys are saying, and I understand the desire
to have the halftime Stem teacher come back to being a full time teacher.
But my question is, if we are seeing that there is very low
demand for a lot of these classes, I've heard of classes
that have one student, classes that have like 3 or 4.
That's really not enough to justify this.
And my question is,
why are we not using this if we're willing to add them back into the budget?
Why are we not using this to add a halftime teacher for an AP class,
that there is demand for it, just to name a couple off the top of my head?
Microeconomics, macroeconomics?
AP government, AP Human Geography.
There's a lot of classes that we don't offer that I think
there is much more demand for than like a Stem class, which,
while important, has maybe 3 or 4 people signed up for it.
So I was just wondering why we're doing one or the other.
Thank you. And I,
I would just like to second that.
I know that a lot of my peers are taking classes online,
because we don't offer them, but that's not what I wanted to say.
Well, it's very true.
Also, I just wanted to mention that we recently approved,
a, the policy to, increase
the amount of requirements for credits for graduation.
I think that that will likely result in people taking more extracurricular,
not extracurricular, elective classes.
So I think that we might see an increased,
enrollment in those Stem classes as well.
Just because students are forced to and then, you know,
maybe they discover an interest or a passion and they keep going.
Yeah.
So perhaps we will pause
and return to our second public comment period of the evening.
And this is an opportunity, if anyone present would like to address us
specifically about the budget and what we've just heard in terms
of the latest proposal, same rules apply up to three minutes to speak.
And if you want to share something, please come up to the podium
and start by sharing your name and your connection to the, the schools.
That's Tom, I'm sure.
My name is Michelle Dietz.
My children are Evan Eliana Goldman.
They are.
I guess I'm supposed to give my address, 26 Ryan Drive.
They are in sophomore and senior year.
I was preparing for this, and my daughter put it best.
She said, mom, there's nothing more valuable than investing in a teacher.
In most of these discussions, I hear concern and desire
to support students in developing skills and interest for the workforce.
As a matter of fact, it came up in the survey around the laptops.
People said,
If I'm going to switch to an iPad, will I still develop skills for the workforce?
So it's it's obviously coming up frequently,
but the outcomes do not seem to align with this motivation.
Science, Stem, computer science and math are going to be important
foundational elements
in all children, for our children, in all walks of life, in their careers.
The content is incredibly important.
If we want our kids to try out the areas that might lead to career passions,
they need to.
They need exposure to skills of the future.
Instead, we have potentially sacrificed the content for the tools,
as maintaining MacBooks is a big budget expense.
As Linnea commented in prior meetings, students use iPads now
in environments such as apps and cities.
And as Michael reiterated,
the software platform would remain the same regardless of the tool.
We are so fortunate to have access to
excellent computer science and Stem education.
Having watched my younger daughter in Python class
where the hands on education helped her dive into a new field,
I am concerned that a shift to virtual education, as Mr.
Hartnett recommended, or a self-driven approach, would not be adequate.
I've tried to learn Python myself, online.
It's really hard.
And I actually switched to an in-person class.
New leadership initiatives like campus demonstrate
that there is energy for career and skill development.
What are we doing to continue that thread through the curriculum?
It seems we have presumed that we should come in lower
than a roll forward because we think the tax burden will be too high.
But as said in prior documentation on a $500,000 house,
a 4% increase is estimated to be $215.
With such a household tolerating an additional 0.5% for computer science
or Stem career foundations, I think that equates to under $50.
For context, Falmouth is introducing iPads and has focused
its budget increase at 6% on staff investments.
And as was talked about in prior budget conversations,
Ta and Gorham have also already switched to iPads.
It is a time to be careful and prudent.
We have a leadership transition.
Our leadership has made tremendous contributions,
but in any leadership transition, it's really important to be careful.
We're losing a fair amount of math and science tenure as well.
This is my iPad.
It has a keyboard.
I've used it in two academic institutions, in graduate classes.
It's actually six years old.
I'm pretty frugal.
I've had no reason to replace it. I actually love it.
I travel with it.
So that's our not so subtle.
Sorry. That's a loud timer.
I'm sorry.
Mean she's allowed, you know, I'm sorry about that.
Thank you.
Thank you for your comments.
We welcome others that would like to address us.
Turn it down a little more subtle.
Well.
Probably.
Hello.
My name is Adler Goodwin. I am a sophomore.
I am on team Voyager, on the robotics team, and,
I live 364 Davis Street.
When I first moved to Yarmouth in the fifth grade,
I did not know what to expect.
Everything was new, and I was still trying to figure out where I belonged.
That changed when I found robotics.
Since I joined robotics in sixth grade, it's become a huge part of who I am
because of this program, because the teachers, parents and students
who have worked so hard to build it, I have had the opportunity to compete
with teams across the state, New England and the rest of the world.
But more importantly, robotics has helped me find my people,
the community of students who share the same curiosity, creativity
and passion for building and problem solving
through robotics.
I've also just discovered what I want to do in the future.
I want to be an engineer.
Vex has taught me what it truly means to think like one.
Design test, fail, but keep pushing forward.
It has shown me that engineering is not just about machines,
but it's about teamwork, collaboration, and persistence.
The applications are simply limitless.
But right now, our entire technology program hangs in the balance.
As the world moves forward, technology will only grow in importance, and schools
play a critical role in preparing students for the future.
At a time when technology is present in every industry,
this is the worst time to be cutting this program.
Those classes matter.
Over the years, I've signed up for four of them,
but I've only been able to take one so far due to scheduling conflicts.
I plan to take others, and it'll be incredibly disappointing
to see those opportunities vanish for me and other students who come after me,
this is something very meaningful here.
It is not just a class or a club or an activity is a place
where students can discover their interests,
challenge themselves, and build skills that will last a lifetime.
I hope the value of this program and the impact it has on students
like me, is taken seriously.
Thank you very much.
Oh, I'm Nat Bessey, 59 Winding Way.
I'm a parent of two kids in seventh grade and ninth grade in the schools.
Echoing one of my fellow citizens, I do want to start by just thanking
the school committee for this difficult job that you do and Doctor
Dola, for many years of great leadership, we've been very fortunate.
I came here today with the intention of speaking in support
of the Restoring the Point five, position for Stem.
I appreciate that is now under consideration.
I strongly urge the school committee to go forward in that regard.
I think it's a very valuable,
very valuable area.
It's an area of the future. One we've identified.
Yarmouth has has brought forward the Stem endorsement
now at the high school, which
is going to be very difficult to satisfy if you don't have the Stem classes.
And there simply is no substitute for in-person education in these areas.
I know budget discussions.
We're talking about about positions and not people.
So I'm not going to talk about any individuals, but it is a,
you know, to, to make a, to reduce a position
from full time to a half time, it's very likely
that you're going to have also have to replace whoever's in that position.
And I just think that in the long term,
it's important to have the vision to support a program long term
and maintain the strength that we have already in the district.
Thank you very much.
Thank you.
Hi. My name is Iva Goldman.
I'm a sophomore at Yarmouth High School and I live at 26 Ryan Drive.
My mom just spoke.
I was not a person that was particularly interested
in computer science or, workshops that happened with Mr.
Pittman in Stem.
Last year, I, enrolled in programing in Python
because I had to fulfill a class for the Stem endorsement,
and it wasn't a class I would take otherwise.
And I'm so glad that I did.
Not only did I learn a skill that I never would have learned before,
I also brought skills like, critical thinking and problem solving with me
to other parts of my life from that class, and it was such a great opportunity.
I have not personally taken,
any other Stem classes because they didn't fit into my schedule
and weren't particularly a priority for me, but my freshman year I did it.
Yellow. It was to build a aquaponic system.
And Mr.
Pittman, the Stem teacher, was such a resource and so helpful in that project.
I had never done anything like it.
And he was so helpful.
He was not my ELO, advisor.
I was not his student.
But he helped me through all of my problems and all of my,
frustrations with that project because it was really frustrating.
But I completed it.
I could not have done it without those resources.
And I think those teachers are so invaluable to our school,
and I'd be really sad to see them go.
Thank you. Thank you very much.
Hi, I'm Jenny Carlisle, 53 Martin Road.
I'm the parent to three Yarmouth students and fourth, sixth and ninth grade
and also a founding member of the Yarmouth Steam Boosters, which is a nonprofit
to, support steam programing.
In the Army schools outside of what the schools are supporting.
And I came here today to urge you not to cut the, the full time,
tech position to 0.5, which, I'm happy to hear
is now under consideration.
I was disappointed listening
to the school committee budget meetings about, when I saw the lack
of conversation about the implications of that potential cut.
And so I wanted to speak to that.
Now, these aren't just tech classes.
These are classes like build a guitar.
Intro to engineering, electric car design,
entrepreneurship and design process, architectural design outside of the box.
These are really cool, interesting classes that are designed to appeal
to a lot of kids.
These aren't, you know, just just for the robotics kids.
These are these are far reaching.
And what we'd be losing if we lost these classes is we'd be
not only we'd be losing the essential skill building,
you know, the the the skills that the kids are learning in these classes.
But we'd be learning the mentorship and we'd be losing the the sense
of community that that we're hearing the kids speak to today.
We'd be taking away from their sense of belonging,
when we take away the classes, that are especially appealing to them.
And this would be devastating to the kids.
A year ago,
when I was looking at the course catalog with my my rising ninth grader,
I said to him, you're in the right place at the right time.
When I saw those pages on the Stem offerings, they were so,
perfect for him and so
totally different than anything that I saw in my high school course catalog.
And, it was disheartening how quickly it seems like that could have changed.
And so I came to you today to urge you, to
to try to, you know, please maintain those courses,
so that Yarmouth continues to be the right place for all of our kids.
And in fact, I, I think we shouldn't be here talking today about
how do we maintain the current Stem offerings.
We should be really pushing this to the next level.
Right?
Like the we should be talking about how can we increase,
stem, how can we improve Stem?
And, I won't get into it now,
but that your Mustang boosters, we've got some suggestions for you.
Thank you.
We will look forward to that in the future.
Thank you.
Hello.
My name is Mary Gallaudet.
I live at 423 Gilman Road and my kids are much younger,
so I want to sort of speak from that point of view for a second.
Whenever there's a Steam night or a robotics tournament.
They are so excited to see these kids over here
and the things that they're doing.
I want to consider here that we have representation
in our older students, for our younger students who are coming up
and feeling like a little bit different than the kids around them,
if we lose that representation because there isn't a community
for them to come into, it's going to be a very hard.
It's going to be a hard land in middle school,
which is already a hard time developmentally.
So I just wanted to sort of hold space for the kids who are looking forward
to be old enough
to have the chance to do the sorts of things
that they've been hearing about and seeing.
There are those kids. They are here.
I have a kid my own, who's at a different school,
who says he doesn't want to go to middle school anywhere else
because he can't wait to be part of the robotics.
It'll be a really hard sell to pull him back and see that gone.
So I just ask you to and I mean, you know, he's just my son.
There are plenty of other children that are looking up
and finding a community that they can belong to.
The mission statement is to empower all students
right to lead fulfilling lives in a changing world.
This is a real important subsection.
I think, of our community that we need to support and embrace and hold on to,
and they need to see a place where they can continue to excel.
So my wish would be that you all find a way
to lean into enriching the program, supporting all kinds of learners.
And I think the access that we give, the visibility
it has means that there are kids who might not self-identify as Stem
kids, whatever that means, you know, early on,
who then discover
a passion and an interest and a talent that they might not have come across
in another district.
So to lose the opportunity to be that kind of place
seems a shame to me, and I hope that you'll hold on to it.
Thank you. Thank you Mary.
Good evening.
My name is Adam Goodwin, 364 Bayview Street.
I had to do a little bit of self editing.
I was not aware that there was a three minute time limit.
And I've got about 20 minutes of.
Anyway, I'm a Yarmouth Education Foundation board member and Yarmouth Steam
Boosters founding member, but I'm not here to talk on behalf of those groups.
I'm here to represent my two children.
I'd like who you heard from and Acadia, who are both extremely passionate
about science, arts,
engineering, math, and most relevant to tonight's discussion, technology.
I brought a little show and tell with me.
It's behind me. It's, photo.
My kids are standing among their peers at the Maine State Robotics Championship
that we heard about earlier.
There are more than 65 students represented in that photo.
But, across five grades, 5 to 12,
more than 100 students in Yarmouth, participated in robotics this year.
Robotics truly represents an amazing intersection
of Steam disciplines, and this is where I have to make a big edit.
So forgive me.
Really, what we're talking about with the technology program is much more,
as the previous speaker alluded to, than just robotics.
It really represents kind of what
was when I was growing up referred to as shop class.
It's a real hands on, discipline where you're learning to use machines and tools.
And I'm going to skip ahead because I'm getting a little out of order.
But we live in a time when AI and automation is rapidly changing the future.
And white collar work,
may change very drastically in the future,
but what will remain are the skilled trades.
They will remain a rock foundation of our economy.
So electricians, mechanics, robotics technicians, yes.
But welders,
these are the things that will continue
to be the backbone of the 21st century workforce.
And those careers, they begin in courses like the technology course
we have here at the high school.
We also need to, talk about the reality of our labor market here in Maine.
We're in a high need crisis for technical educators.
Data from the Maine Department of Education shows that finding
high quality and, highly qualified and energetic technologies
instructors are already a massive challenge, and finding one
to come in and accept a 0.5 FTE position because it is very likely
we will lose the one has not indicated if we,
if we lowered it to a point five,
finding somebody to come in at half time is nearly impossible.
So, we find we could find ourselves, you know, in the near term,
with an empty shop class, and a dead technology program by next fall.
So I'm encouraged by the direction of the conversation tonight.
And I encourage you to keep the position that one fte.
Thank you.
With 10s to spare.
Those could and thank you for your comments.
You're always welcome to email the rest of us later. Yes.
Talk. Hi.
My name is Cecilia.
I live at 78 village Brook road.
I'm a sophomore, and I'm part of the Stem endorsement.
This is a new program.
I'm not sure if you all know about it, but it's for students who would like to have
more opportunities in science and math related fields.
One of the requirements for this program is to take classes
in engineering and technology
to kind of just expand your learning and go across all the areas of Stem.
Just because I feel like in our usual classes, it's usually just science
and math, but this is kind of like an opportunity to expand into that.
And, most of these classes are taught by our current Stem teacher, Mr.
Pittman.
And I'm very concerned that if his position is reduced,
a lot of these classes will go away.
In my junior and senior year, I know that I want to take classes
like entrepreneurship and design, architecture.
Python, like even mentioned, because I've heard a lot about them,
and I wasn't super interested in them in my freshman year.
But now that I'm involved in the Stem endorsement, I really
learned more about them,
and I feel like I can appreciate what they mean to other students.
And I think that they are kind of becoming something
that I'm pretty passionate about.
So I really hope that we have the opportunity
to keep these courses so I can take them in the future.
Thank you.
Thank you for being here.
Hello, I'm
Max, I'm a sophomore at, 20 Clippy circle.
I'd like to bring up the point that nobody talks about yet
with the half time steam teacher position.
Is that
not only does he teach important classes, but he's also an important resource
inside the school. There's been,
even though I haven't had the
space in my schedule to take his classes, even though I've signed up for him,
I've still come to him with a bunch of different projects
that I've needed his help with and
the most recent one that I can think of is building a treehouse
for Spirit Week, and he just helps with that.
I think of his position almost like a librarian, where it's
not just the classes he teaches, but also the resources and help
that he gives to students that need it.
Yes. That's all.
Thanks, man.
Thank you.
People really like Mr..
Bob Zimmerman from 65 Center street.
I have a daughter in high school, and,
she would be the first to tell you I'm not qualified to be up here right now
speaking about the differences between computers
and iPads, but,
I feel like I was disqualified, when the survey came to me
and I was trying to compare
the value to utility, usability and value.
Not just in a dollar
sense, but, you know, to how I want to learn
between an iPad and a MacBook.
I hadn't touched an iPad probably for 7 to 10 years.
And, so I think you were asking the wrong person.
And I would say I'm probably one of the older parents,
so I probably don't represent the median
person surveyed, but I'm probably not
so far from a lot of people that you, you ask
to opine about whether to have a laptop or an iPad.
And if we have an expert in the room who says
you're advisor, right.
I think an iPad is a great idea.
And, not just budgetary, but
for all its, you know, utility.
That's kind of the guy I would listen to instead of me.
Thank you.
Thanks, Bob.
Thank you.
And I'm Julian Lampson, the plume, junior at the high school.
I am, regrettably, not a resident of this town.
I'm here to talk about why I believe it would be a mistake
to cut the technology position in half to half time.
First, as a member of the robotics club, the loss of the guidance
and mentorship from a dedicated Stem teacher would be insurmountable.
Not only would a full time Stem teacher always be there to teach us
how to use a tool in the shop, or give it advice
and the best way to approach a problem, but they'd also be able to give us
those extra hours in the lab to work and achieve our goals.
That competition.
But robotics
students aren't the only students who rely on a full time Stem teacher.
The Stem classroom and shop are places where students go
during flex lunch, study halls, and after school to work on projects.
If the Stem teacher position is cut in half,
the students will not have the opportunity to experiment,
learn, or grow skills they wouldn't otherwise have the opportunity to explore.
Cutting with demolition and half means fewer chances for students to learn skills
that may lead to them creating fulfilling lives in a changing world.
Stem education is incredibly important for the future.
Technology and engineering are the fastest growing fields right now, projected
to grow 11% compared to 5% of other fields that are non-stem related.
At a minimum, the schools should be keeping
these programs the same, not cutting them
on a more personal level outside of robotics.
In my sophomore year, I was really unsure about what I was interested in.
I'd been considering things like mechanical engineering or physics
or computer science had some options to discover what I wanted better.
I signed up for the architecture course, where I learned not only how to draft
and had houses or sheds,
but got the opportunity to physically make them and build them myself.
And after taking that class, I decided
I was pretty committed to becoming a mechanical engineer in the future.
And finally, on a more pragmatic note,
cutting the position to half time will attract less qualified candidates.
Well, Yarmouth no doubt has one of the best hiring processes in the state.
More qualified individuals for the role of a Stem teacher
will be less likely to apply for a part time position.
This will most likely lead to a smaller pool of applicants
who are less qualified and experienced for the job.
For the sake of robotics, student innovation, discovery,
and the future of Stem at our school, I urge you not to reduce the position.
Thank you.
Thank you very much.
Thanks, Julie.
Bucketload.
My name is Cassandra Baker.
I live at seven Bittersweet Circle here in Yarmouth.
And, just a couple of comments.
My own experience with, Mr.
Pitman has been he has been a profound resource for people in my household,
regardless of if they go into engineering or not.
I really do feel like when we are cutting positions for human beings
and our teachers, who are such amazingly dedicated individuals in our community,
it taking somebody who's a full FTE to a 0.5 FTE is one way
that we take advantage of people in a way that's a little bit inhumane.
Their benefits go down.
They're not shown to be given the,
the appreciation that they deserve for the hard effort that they put forward
for our community of students who love them so much.
And so I, you know, I, I really
just fundamentally, I think that putting teachers at 0.5 ft
should be avoided whenever possible because they dedicate so much time
outside of just their class time and their production
of their curricula, that this is something that should be avoided.
Often.
But also, I do, you know, counter to,
sometimes what we think about with the budget in percentage
marks and small percentage increases and how they aren't that big of an increase.
Our current a economy at this point,
I think it's a smart thing in our community to be really thoughtful
about the fact that every percentage, every point, oh 1% increase in the budget
is going to increase the likelihood that this budget will not be approved.
I think after last year's process
and what happened at the end of that process
and the way that people looked back on that, we really need
to be thinking about cutting dollars for this, this budget.
And I don't want to be the armchair budget person who is coming in
at the end of your process, because obviously you guys are almost,
done with this. But,
those
I really appreciate the input about the technology.
And I know even in my household,
the discussions around the iPads versus the laptops
was very emotional and very much about what
the student representatives were talking about.
But there's, it sounds like there's a lot of great reasons
to think about considering change, even though change is hard,
if change is cheaper and we don't need every student
in our schools to be having the shiniest, fastest technology every year.
Even though technology agencies and businesses will tell us
that every single year, we don't need to have all of that.
We need to have great teachers, and we need to have the
areas of the school
that need technology that's really high tech,
like the Stem areas they need to have great technology,
but every student in the school does not need to have the best technology.
They can have a five year old iPad and I'm okay with that as parents.
Thank you, thank you, thank you.
Come to your crazy online.
I turned it off.
During.
My name is Stan Van on.
I live on 71 West Main Street.
I have a ninth grader who's been in robotics for four years, and,
is doing the Stem endorsement and excited about taking the Stem electives.
Very encouraged to hear that you're considering restoring that,
tech position to a full time, status.
I guess I just want to give you some bigger picture perspective on this
and your role here on the community, Yarmouth Education Foundation
and certainly other, you know, past school committee members
have been trying to stoke demand for Stem in this community for quite some time.
You know, Yarmouth Education Foundation, there grants anywhere
from 55 to 85% of their grants go to Stem, Stem, programs every year.
And that has worked there.
As others have mentioned, there are 100 kids just in robotics.
That's like a whole grade of of kids just on a robotics team.
And then in addition to summer camps and other programs,
and now so you've had that amount of funding
and now you have other nonprofit groups like, Yarmouth,
like the Lions and the Rotary and Maine Community Foundation.
And now a lot of support from some of your biggest taxpayers
in town, Tyler Technologies,
bath savings, Swift Current,
Dugas Construction, Hancock Lumber,
Sebago technics, Trillium engineering, Brooks automotive, Maine.
Bass, Maine love water cask and pump.
It goes on and on and on.
So you have all of this wonderful funding and energy from folks in the community.
Well, now, with the loss of three experienced
math teachers and potentially cutting a Stem position,
what you don't have is this full time skilled educator human there.
And if you don't have that person, then you know,
all that funding and all that energy is just going to gather a lot of dust.
So we've really you play a really important role
in whatever decision you make here.
So you've heard these, all of these people speak so passionately
and I think as parents, you can understand how important it is
and how meaningful it is when your kids find something they love.
And it's just so amazing that the thing they love,
you know, is going to help them in a million ways moving forward.
I mean, robotics, Stem courses, it teaches them to try things
and do things hands on.
It teaches them to fail and try again, and it teaches them to lead
and work together.
So thanks for your consideration.
Thank you, Mr..
My name is Jack Crawford for the 134 annual.
When I originally came here tonight,
my intention was to urge you all
to keep the full time Stem position.
It's just such a wonderful community that provides.
And I think it would be a great loss
if those cut, happy
that the conversations seem to be moving in the right direction.
I am, however, concerned about potentially replacing
your laptops with iPads for the upcoming years.
I know that there are potential benefits to iPads,
and that it would be foolish not to consider them.
But at the same time, Yarmouth
has always prided itself on being an intelligent, educated community
that likes to make the best decision that possibly can.
A survey was sent out with over 900 people.
I think responding overwhelmingly, they agreed do laptop.
Well, I understand that there may be an iPad kids stigma or potentially
misconceptions.
I think that if we are presented with data showing
overwhelming support for laptops,
these are people who most likely
understands both options and have made
an educated opinion on what they want.
And I think that as a town and school board,
we should
deeply consider what the community wants,
as well as what experts have put into our hands.
And I think that moving forward,
if we do want
to make a decision about technology for next year,
laptops would probably be the better choice and also the choice
the town wants, then yeah, that's pretty much it.
Thank you very much.
Thank you.
Hello, my name is Finn.
And I am a eighth grader in high school.
This year.
And I'm pretty much the same as Jack.
And one good that we both came here to talk about the Stem position
at the high school, but, now I'm going to talk a little bit about laptops.
Since in, like I am in fifth grade,
we got my grade, got the iPads, and not very much.
And so I have experienced those as well as the laptops for the past three years.
And I have preferred the laptops by a lot.
So that opinion I feel like might be helpful
since I've been on both sides of it and used both.
And the laptops were definitely much more,
for put productivity.
They were very helpful, as well as just general,
ease of use.
Thanks, Finn.
Thank you.
Finn.
My name is no Van Allen.
I'm a freshman at Yarmouth High School.
So I just wanted to talk about,
Yeah, I came in with the same intentions, as Jack and Finn.
I really support that Stem position.
It's been, really life changing, and it really affects me in my day to day
life.
I, you know, I think about and participate in robotics every day,
and, I take my intro to engineering class every other day,
which is really important, and it's provided me with a lot of skills,
you know, both online with, like, tools,
like Onshape for computer aided design.
And also physical things like using a drill press
or saw or working with metal or a laser cutter.
I also think that
since Yarmouth is a district that provides it,
that prides itself with being innovative
and looking at the best technologies,
I've noticed and observed
a lot of students who have
expressed that they don't think that iPads
would be the best step forward.
I talked to some younger
students, in the fifth and sixth grades when I was volunteering at robotics,
and they said that their iPads were hard to use,
and that one student even said
that they had a 16 year old windows laptop
that they felt like was preferable to their iPad.
Now, I'm not saying that
that's a generalization that iPads are worse than MacBooks,
but I am saying that I think that we have a good system with MacBooks right now,
and I think that it would be a shame to lose that.
In regards to the budget.
I think the MacBook neo looks like it would be a great option
from what I've seen, and I've researched.
It looks like it has a very good price point and very good features.
That involves a lot of the career readiness
and typing factors that students like about laptops,
but also incorporates the budget factor of iPads.
So I hope you'll consider that. Thank you.
Thank you know, I thanks think, you know a.
Hi. Good evening.
Charlie Crawford, 134 Newell Road.
I have an eighth grader and a ninth grader, both heavily involved in robotics.
I just wanted to raise another point, about that, restoring that Stem position.
And I'm encouraged by where the
the direction of this conversation seems to be going.
I am a home health physical therapist, which means
my the average age of the people that I spend all day with is probably 75
and up, and probably a bit of a harder demographic to sell,
a school budget to, even if it's, about 5%.
You know, only about a 5% increase, give or take.
What that also means is Medicare
pays me to brag about my kids for an hour at a time.
To everyone I see.
And the overwhelming response,
from the people I treat and from the people I talk to
is everyone is so happy that this is a school district that
kids who might not have
that much interest in sports or theater, kids who are very kind of
academically and Stem focused, have extracurriculars
that involve competition and team
building and problem solving.
They get all of the benefits that
the soccer teams do and that the football teams do.
And but they get it in their personal area of interest.
And it's it's just the response is tremendous.
Everyone is so happy to hear that Yarmuth gives this opportunity to these children.
So I'm very encouraged to hear where this conversation is going.
Thank you. Thank you. Charlie.
We may need to add a stipend for,
publicizing
efficiency of the arts, at least to the to the elderly community.
Hi, I'm Avery Crawford.
I live at 134 Newell Road.
I'm an eighth grader at Yarmouth's middle school.
I've done robotics, all my years in middle school.
I really enjoyed it.
And I also think it's a great opportunity for our futures.
We learn so many skills, like in the engineering field, and also
shows social skills at competitions where some of you might not know this,
but we have to talk to alliance partners and say why
we should be part of their Alliance for competition,
which I think is a great skill for later in life.
I also think in relation to good skills later in life,
the laptops are way better for that, in my opinion,
because in a workforce you're not going to be using an iPad.
You are going to be using the laptop.
And I think if we want to prepare students for,
like later in
life, then we should give them what they're using later in life.
Also adding what Finn said,
I have also used an iPad and a laptop.
The laptop is way easier from school assignments.
It's a lot easier to work with.
And with robotics,
it's also more, compatible with robotics
because sometimes they've had Bluetooth issues with the robotics on the iPads.
As of talk to younger grades.
So, yeah.
So I have to say thank you.
Thanks, Avery.
Hi. My name is Ryan. Q.
I live at 186 Royal Point Road.
I'm a junior at the high school, and I wanted to quickly point out
there are some programs that you can't really run
on iPads that I find very beneficial in the high school.
And that's not just in the technology, department.
I'm in the, robotics club, so stuff like coding and catting.
So computer aided design, those things, we use like Onshape and VS code,
which I think are less usable on iPads and the ability
to go home and program that kind of stuff outside of school is very helpful.
But also, I have interest in music,
and I like to make music on a program called Ableton, Ableton Live.
And I don't think that's available on iPads.
And that would,
that would kind of hurt my music
creating, experience because I use my school laptop to do that.
And I just wanted to point that out.
Thank you.
Thanks, Ryan.
Good evening, Tim Shannon again, 47 West Elm Street.
I too have had to edit a little bit, but here goes.
Members of the school committee, I urge you to oppose the reduction
of teaching staff by one full time equivalent as the high school
at the high school as originally proposed by the administration,
and instead to move in the direction set forth by the ever
excellent doctor off and perhaps go further.
A point of clarification.
My understanding was that with the proposal originally on the table
was for 1.0 FTE reduction and an edtech reduction.
If that is the case,
I urge you to restore the full 1.0 FTE teaching staff
and perhaps you can take that up during the Q&A amongst yourselves.
By any standard, shrinking the faculty would be a step down,
but it is especially alarming because it is part of a troubling trend
the steady chipping away of standards and aspirations in Yarmouth.
We offer fewer apps than Cape,
fewer apps in Falmouth,
far fewer apps than Scarborough.
And we're about to cut fewer.
We're about to have more rather,
as I've talked to other parents, I've heard stories of kids struggling
to find sufficient challenging in-person classes,
including one family that pulled their daughter from the school
entirely, in part because the course offerings were, quote, too thin.
Close quote their words, not mine.
6 or 7 kids this year had the grit to forage
for their own education and take AP macro online.
What about the other seven kids who are interested in macroeconomics
but can't bear the sterility of online classes?
What about the other seven kids whose home life is not conducive
to online learning?
There seems to be a powerful psychological
or social pressure in Yarmouth to say that everything is all right.
The schools are fine.
Everything is not fine.
There's a bigger troubling trend here.
A smaller faculty not only limits stem.
As we've discussed tonight, it not only limits existing
and or potential apps, it limits other courses to.
We live in a time of global turmoil.
Falmouth offers a course in citizenship and society.
We do not.
We live in a time of institutional crisis.
Scarborough offers courses on patriotism, indifference and progress and power.
We do not.
We live in a time of AI and existential angst.
Cape Elizabeth offers a course in advanced philosophy.
We do not.
Yet we are poised to shrink the faculty.
In short, this budget discussion is not just about denying
Stem kids classroom experience in favor of Covid or isolation.
It's about a broader problem.
It's about vision.
Instead of maintaining a full roster of challenging courses,
helping kids explore their interests fully.
Yarmouth is risking employing a one way budget ratchet.
If kids don't sign up for a particular class one year,
the position is cut rather than redeployed.
I urge you to keep the school strong.
Thank you. Thank you Tim.
Any other public comment?
We're so grateful for all of you being here.
This input is so valuable to us and here in your personal experiences
and your advice and your questions, we really appreciate.
So we'll close public comment number two and we'll turn it back to the school
committee discussion about where we are with the budget proposal.
Until we feel like
we are in a place where someone is ready to put a motion forward.
Come.
But do we need a motion just to begin discussion at this point?
You could you could do that.
And if you want to do it
and provide us with the greatest flexibility,
then the motion would be to approve for a second reading the proposed
FY 27 budget in the amount of $44,212,213.
I'll make that motion.
Thank you.
Second, and thank you for the clarification that we need about.
So we will now open for discussion.
I'll start, I guess.
I wanted to thank everybody for their, comments tonight.
It's really appreciated.
And the emails that have come in, it's already been said by,
my fellow committee member, Sarah, just that it's
helpful to,
Hear what people are thinking.
And we don't always get that opportunity.
And I really appreciate it when we when we do.
And I do think that, I'm in full support of,
bringing the Stem position back up to 1.0.
I do think that we.
It's a it's a hard place
to sit when you're hearing and you're trying to look at a budget.
And I also agree with everything that's been said.
We have, I've been on the school committee for a long time.
And I remember when we added, the steam, classes
to the elementary school and the enthusiasm, Ryan Gleason had,
as we voted on those programs and the financial backing
to those programs, those kids, to my understanding, our current
eighth graders, the ones that started in, the elementary school.
So they will be coming up into the high school.
The Stem endorsement that is new as of this year.
There are a million wonderful, and compelling reasons
to, keep this position at, 1.0,
that full time rather than, point five.
And yet and I also appreciate the conversation
that we've had around it, looking to
looking to the budget overall.
I guess I'll, I have the floor.
I'll just continue.
I you know, I've been pretty staunch in my,
support of laptops.
I don't know that that's changing,
but I would like to
keep the money in the budget for right now
and not to be able to have more time to discuss
and think about this rather than, having to decide
tonight if I know that that sounded like a possibility.
What else?
I guess for the moment, that's it. Lanaya.
And then Michael.
In my near two years of serving as the,
student voice,
I've never seen this much community involvement.
This is incredible.
And I think that speaks volumes to the impact
that our Steam program has on our high school students.
And I just wanted to bring that to attention, even though it is very clear.
Just how much this matters to our students.
So I just wanted the committee to consider that as well.
But I want to start.
Well, I hate coming after. And because.
And I sound like I'm just agreeing with you.
It's okay.
But I want I do have a different comment slightly,
and that is that I am so impressed to hear the students.
Not that I don't appreciate the parents opinion, but that the articulate way
that students have presented their ideas and their beliefs
to me is very impressive.
And you have
each, in your own way, sort of discussed your passions and your interests
and how those have been supported by this particular program.
And although I came into this meeting
expecting to support the the increase in the Stem position,
hearing the passion that you guys have, cements that that belief in me.
I also I concur with and that
I think that with some of this new information
coming out about the MacBook neo, and I feel as
if there's more discussion needed before we may come down one way or another.
And so I would support preserving that money in the budget.
So we can make that decision at a later date.
That's all I have.
And I support the the budget, that number, that $44 million number.
Stands hand and then we'll go to Sarah Kelly.
So, one continuing comment and then I will be quiet for a little while.
Elise, I just also wanted to acknowledge your, thoughts, and I, I do there's
been a lot of discussion recently about, the AP offerings at the high school.
And I do think it is a really worthwhile topic to discuss.
Maybe not tonight as part of the, you know, the second reading of the budget.
But as you know, as we do these workshops
every year and I can, kind of say
that I'll be adding that to my list of requested workshops for next year.
I think it is something we should be,
looking at further and and putting some time and discussion into.
And thanks.
We'll get to Sarah Kelly and then Elise for a couple of comments.
And first, to start with, the proposal, which,
you know, we heard from many of you and thank you to restore the,
position to full time,
again, appreciate so much all of you, in particular
the students, for really articulating, all of the different reasons
and the variety of reasons that you find this position to be important.
And I want to underscore, I guess first, as a parent,
I've got kids in kindergarten, third grade, and I'm a senior.
I see both the benefits that have been given to my senior,
from the Army school system, and I see the excitement in my two younger
kids, especially my kindergartner, who is, like, interested in being an engineer.
And I look forward to the opportunities that he has in the upper grade levels.
And I think that this school committee and this administration does have a,
you know, very high standard and a strong vision for our schools
in preparing our kids for a changing world, in ensuring
we have a rich curriculum and then just sort of to fall back on.
I'm also a taxpayer, and I also think this administration and school committee
has to wear both hats and be very balanced in
giving a wide
variety of students a rich curriculum that meets their needs, while also
respecting the taxpayer and the responsibility we have to the town.
And last year was a bit hairy when it came down to the budget,
and I think that is has been really weighing heavily on our minds.
And I, I just want to say that I know that this administration,
when preparing the budget, did their very best
to maintain the excellence while putting forth a responsible budget.
And it's never going to be popular.
And I think maybe that's the making it obvious statement.
But I just want to say that no proposed cut
to staff is ever something that any of us want to see.
It's never something that any of us take lightly.
The majority of this budget is a human budget.
These are teachers that are valued and work very hard.
And yeah, I, I am very much in support of this,
restoring this position for a variety of reasons,
including the feedback that we've received from the community
and the consideration that in reducing it to a half time
position is like,
you know, potentially going to result in the exit of this individual
and would result in a difficulty in hiring a high quality person.
A high quality, technology educator.
As far as the iPad versus laptop, issue,
I mean, I think my personal opinions are maybe not useful here.
I think I'm always,
yeah, I'm a scientist by training and I'm, like, interested in data.
And I also I also respect
our staff and I respect Mike Arsenal's,
input and work in the discussions that he's been so gracious and having with us.
And the information has given and I also and, you know, really compelled
by the overwhelming feedback of our community and students
and in particular students whose feedback has been overwhelmingly
pro laptop and a lot in some of the emails and comment share
tonight about programs that they don't believe or capabilities they don't believe
are capable, in terms of the iPads to do or do adequately.
And, and I think what
despite the hard work of Mike, Arsenal and some of the teachers
to do some testing with iPads, what I'm worried about is
that we haven't done a deep enough
dive with students and staff at the high school to really do
the comparison and really probe into the capabilities
in all of the classes, with all of the programs
that you all actually use on the day to day basis.
So long story short, I'm very much in favor of keeping that
additional money in the budget to give some additional time.
And if it is an I, a laptop decision, you know, we can we
it gives us more time
over the coming years to gather more data to really understand
the capabilities of a next generation iPad or neo versus a laptop.
My feeling is really just that this decision came too quickly,
and even though it involves a consideration of some staff,
I personally thought it didn't reach enough staff in time
to make an informed decision.
Which again, is why I'm in favor of adding that money to the budget
as proposed, so we have the time to make the proper decision.
Thank you.
Kelly, I wanted to acknowledge the students
for coming here and hanging out until 9 p.m..
And just being so brave and,
candid, and I just, I want to celebrate that.
And I think it's a testament to everything
that you were sharing tonight about how these programs have impacted
your life and given you more confidence, more purpose.
So again, just want to acknowledge you for that.
And parents also, you know, even as adults,
it's not always easy to get up, and speak in front of your peers.
So kudos to you as well.
I am so grateful
that you spoke so passionately about keeping, the,
Stem position as a full time position because I will say for myself,
we've had all these other really big pressing, concerns,
whether it was about technology or cell phones,
and I don't think personally, I gave it due diligence.
So I appreciate that you all, took the time to come here
to write emails, and really give us more time
to be thoughtful and intentional with this decision.
I do have concerns again, because of the low enrollment,
but it sounds like this is an issue
that can be resolved, with some scheduling differences.
So again, I applaud you and thank you for that.
And that's
what is so great about living in this community is having so much involvement.
I mean, I'm sure on the staff side, sometimes it's like a little overwhelming.
I may have been one of those parents and it's like, Kelly Hall get $20 notes.
I didn't know each other a long time.
I've never said never.
So again, I feel lucky to live here.
I think I've been pretty open that I'm in support of the iPads.
Again, because I work at another school district.
And so being on the leadership team, I know that this is something
that's happening across the state.
And again, I trust the experts
who are immersed in that field, and they're all working together.
They're all going to the schools that have already made the transitions.
You know, they're having experiences with these schools.
And again, we're still going to have laptops.
Okay. So they're not completely going away.
We're going to have them for the students that need them.
And I think that's something to remember too.
That's like the privilege that we have here, right.
That we can have options for students.
I know change is hard, but I think,
I mean, and again, we all have our own personal experiences.
And for me, having a child who's just naturally gifted with technology,
trying to control him on the laptop has been a nightmare.
So I love the idea that we're introducing a tool
that provides a little bit more security,
and the ability for staff to,
be able to monitor what students are doing on the device in the classroom.
Because, again, I've also worked in the district,
and I've seen how much time it takes away from instruction.
When you have students on a laptop doing things that they shouldn't
be doing at that time.
And the difference with the iPad
is that the teacher can see exactly what they're doing
with that classroom feature, which I think is so helpful.
So that's maybe something at least.
So, I, I know everyone here has spoken very passionately
about how they're very much in support of bringing the halftime position
back up to full time.
And I really admire and acknowledge the,
emotion that you guys have shown.
And I am going to make the unpopular stance that I don't.
I think we should keep it at halftime.
And I don't say that because I don't believe
that these are incredibly valuable roles that are being taken away.
It is these classes are very valuable for a lot of students,
but I think we have to be cognizant of the fact that there is a limit
to how many teachers we can have, how many rooms we have in the school.
And, as Tim mentioned, there's maybe like 6 or 7,
half a dozen or so students who are taking AP macroeconomics online.
I'm one of those students.
I would much rather be taking this class in person,
but I'm unable to do so because we do not have a teacher to do that.
So when you tell me that we have half a dozen students
who are unable to take this class,
who are being forced to take this class online,
who knows how many other students
are not taking it because of the fact that it's online.
And then you tell me that we are going to
in the position that
potentially could have been held by someone
who could be teaching this class in person.
You were prioritizing lower level.
And by lower level I don't mean less valuable, but they are not AP classes.
You are prioritizing lower level classes that have one to 3 to 4 people in them.
That in my mind, is,
a disparity that I think is not justifiable
when we claim that we want to have the highest level school
with the highest performing students, and yet we're prioritizing
how to build a guitar over how to take AP macroeconomics.
I think that's just a disparity that we need to think about.
So thank you.
Everybody said what I would say.
I don't really need to keep everybody here longer.
I will only say that I,
I'm with Kelly in the fact that I've been pretty clear that
I support the change to iPads, but I also want to say that I support
keeping the funding in the budget so we can discuss it further.
I think there's, a lot of new information that we've received that's worth
conversation to talk about.
And and keeping the money in there for now.
So we can do that, I think is very valuable.
And I
and then Kelly, I also just wanted to acknowledge
everybody and the parents too, because I've talked in front of the town
council and I'm like, up there, I'm shaking you all were very composed.
I was impressed, and I feel like I need to go meet Mr.
Pitman now because he sounds amazing.
So I wanted to say thank you to everyone to come out and talk
and on the behalf of these programs, I think it's valuable.
I think it's just as valuable as, macroeconomics.
I could not do that.
I, I think that, you know, that leads to really great academic opportunities.
I think not everyone is built and designed for that sort of academic opportunity,
and providing them the opportunity to learn
how to use their hands and learn skills in a different way is just as valuable.
So just putting that out there, I also,
I'm torn on the laptop iPad.
I really value Mr.
Small and his opinion and I really I,
I really appreciate, Margo Downes,
you've talked to us a couple of times and I feel like you're very eloquent,
and I appreciate your input and what you have to say to us.
So. Oh,
I remembered so when I was at the high school for the policy presentations,
I was speaking with the staff there, and I just wanted to share with you.
I was just talking with the teacher after when there was some time,
and she was saying that she really liked the idea of iPads
because students can set them down and then they're not having
that barrier in front of them.
And when I was there and I witnessed the students having their laptops open,
I saw like I actually saw and felt what that meant, and it was pretty significant.
And I also had been thinking about the ergonomics of an iPad.
But then when you were there and I saw this like
junior, like,
you know, he's like a full grown man, like trying to type on a laptop.
It really wasn't ergonomic either.
So I just wanted to turn the other to you guys.
Because that I just had that in mind when I was at my high school,
and it was an interesting experience for me.
So I wanted to share that with all of you.
But I am in favor of the full time staff member
and of keeping that money in the budget for now, so that we can make sure
we have an informed decision and we're not rushing into it.
Thank you. Emily Kelly.
Yes, I just wanted to add is that I'm in favor of keeping the full budget.
And it's just that we have more time to talk about the technology.
Despite that, I lean towards more iPads.
I'm totally okay with keeping that money in.
I just wanna make one comment
about staffing with our, staffing budget
as it is
taking this year's staff
and moving it forward to next year, and recognizing the retirements
and resignations that we have, we already have a plan.
Hope that
that we think is we're pretty optimistic about that.
We would be able to restore more
staffing at the high school within the budget that we already have.
So that's not a that's not something
that we need to act on to add money into the budget.
Those funds are already they're made available by the
what some people term breakage from this year's
staffing and next year's projected staffing.
I'll just offer my $0.02 before I think we're ready to move the vote.
Like everyone at this table, I take the taxpayers investment
in our schools really seriously,
and I take the experience we're offering for our students really seriously.
Thank you all for being a part of this process.
I think I'm in agreement with many people up here.
In terms of technology devices, I'm really compelled
by our experts that are recommending moving towards an iPad.
And I'm even more compelled by the students and staff that don't want it.
And so for me, I, I support maintaining the budget for a laptop
and thinking about what might be our process or change management
in future years to evolve to technology that students and staff
are not just comfortable with, but excited and prepared to use.
And like
others, I support using our Stem teacher to a full time
position for all the reasons that have been shared tonight.
And I think about how do we collectively and really the work of our high school
administration and and team think about connecting our strategic
priority around Stem and all the interest and the amazing experiences
people are having and these really low class sizes.
I want to see that gap closed.
So that is what I wanted to share.
And if there are no other comments, I think we can move to a vote.
All in favor of the motion on the table.
All opposed?
Thank you.
With that, it is 916 and we are adjourned.
Thanks, folks. Thanks, everyone. You.