School Committee: January 18, 2024

Transcript captured from MHTV’s Vimeo auto-captioning. No speaker labels; proper names and dollar figures occasionally misheard. Click any timecode to jump to that moment in the source video.

0:02 Okay. So I’ll call us to order at 7:00 PM and open it up to the committee for accommodations.

0:15 Anybody have any commendations? Okay. Um, I actually have accommodation we received.

0:28 Bear with me.

0:33 Everybody Good to go? Yeah, true. Sound off.

0:41 We’re good. Where’s that coming from? Is that me? I’m muted. Your sound has to be off too. Oh, there we go. All right. Um, so we received, uh, a letter of commendation. It had come to, I believe, the school committee as well as the superintendent and Mr. Fox, um, regard. And so I’d like to commend Molly Hotman, our art teacher at the middle school, as well as all of her students who were recently featured at the MAA for an art exhibit. Um, I just wanna share some of these words.

1:18 One ex one, uh, visitor to the exhibit had spoken to the director and stated that he identified himself. He was an industrial designer by trade, and it, uh, part of the exhibit surrounded some DESI industrial design projects. So after identifying himself as an industrial designer, he noted that the work presented for the bag project was of the quality that he would be pleased to see from college level students. He mentioned the depth of thought that went into the designs and the level of detail and the sort of small but important features that either make a product fit for purpose or infuriating to try to use. So I thought that was a really impressive, um, thing to hear from a professional in that trade.

2:03 I know a lot of work goes into all of our classes, all of our programs, but it’s always really great to hear, um, that these things are being displayed out in the community and we’re getting really positive feedback. So I just wanted to take a moment to commend our vet’s teacher for her work with our students. Anybody else? Okay. That brings us to public comment. If anybody is going to make public comment, if you wanna just join us up at the microphone here and state your name and address for the record, please.

2:38 Mary McCarrison, 46 Pinecliff Drive in Marblehead. So I’d like to commend the kids up at the high school for putting on two listening sessions for the determination to make sure their fellow students are heard, supported, and accepted. I have two young people here who came with me tonight to support their older counterparts. Now, I’m sure you’ve read in the paper about Pembroke and what they’re going through. And I happened to be over in Salem yesterday, and I was talking to one of the liaisons over at nla, never heard of what was going on here in Marblehead, and was very upset that they weren’t notified.

3:24 So, you know what? We don’t have any money in this town. You are not getting an override because you can tell in the newspaper that the taxes have now gone through the ceiling, which I tried to warn you guys last year. So here’s a suggestion. Why don’t you play nice in the, in the sandbox with the town? Give them back the coffin school, negotiate some price of whatever they sell it for, because you all need money. We need money for special ed. We need money to give to the teachers. And look at Newton. They’re going on strike tomorrow. Do we have enough money to give the teachers what they deserve? I don’t think so. So, you know, the kids up at the high school, hopefully when you are at those two sessions

4:10 that you really listen to them. They don’t want the flags going anywhere. And if you do want them to get outta here, then I think you need to have a community meeting that we can have back and forth, because I think you’ve listened to enough of these young kids up at the hus up at the high school that’s so determined to make Marblehead acceptable to other people in different skin color, gay, trans, black, white, pink, yellow, whatever it is. We need to make Marblehead a place that people can come to this school. We can’t get rid of the Meco program. That’s been, what, 60 years, 30 years ago I had a,

4:59 I was a host family over in Swamp Scott, and it was one of the, one of the best times of my life. And it’s led to a very diverse family that I have at Christmas, I had two drag queens. I had a gay Jewish man. I had a father who was a trans child. I had two people from China that are Buddhist,

5:26 and we have somebody who’s employed by our office, but went back to Africa, who is black and Muslim. And guess what? They all get together at my house on every holiday because I have a place mat for any pla anybody who doesn’t have a place to go to. And this is what we should be making Marble Head about acceptance. And right now, you don’t have the support of the town. So you need to, you know, play nice with the town, get rid of coughing, get some money, and negotiate and put it in writing. We can’t do handshakes or anything like that. It has to be in writing. ‘cause I know you’re mad at the town for not giving you more money that you think. So put it in writing, get it notarized. But we need money because if not,

6:14 the teachers are gonna just take off from this town. And I think they’re pretty good teachers so far. And those are the teachers that I wanna keep. You have Jeff Newsom, who’s awesome, Mandy Murphy. You’ve got Carla Rose. I’m so impressed with them. And yes, my husband and I are the oldest people in Marblehead with a fifth grader. And I never thought I was gonna be going through this all over again, attending meetings, fighting for rights, and I’ve been fighting for rights for when I went back into my twenties, and I never thought I’d be doing it again. So I hope you listen to the students,

6:59 ‘cause if not, I’ll be out there with them because gay pride, Black Lives Matter. Thank you. Thank you. Is there anybody else for public comment? If you can just come up to the mic and state your name and address for the record. Keep time for me because I’m bad at it. Um, hi, I am Nyla dubois and Address you said? Yes, please. Okay. It’s, uh, 37 Green Street in Marblehead. Um, all right. So flag debate, um, has been on my mind. I’ve been, um, sort of entrenched in this kind of, um, figuring out

7:46 what this critical social justice stuff is all about. Um, and it seems to have landed in Marblehead wasn’t expecting it. I have a 21-year-old that went all the way through when she was in and out of district placement for, um, high school. Now I have a third grader and a fifth grader. Um, and what I’m seeing, especially with this flag thing, is really quite scary because as a, I mean, I, I hate to even say as a black woman, it shouldn’t even matter. But I see a lot of people holding signs and making arguments about, um, keeping black people safe.

8:32 Um, having to signal safety in order for people to go to school and succeed at things. Um, that is not what I learned growing up. You know, obviously some people are born on a higher hill and, and some people are born at the bottom of a hill. And I was taught that if you’re born towards the bottom, you climb, you’re, you don’t have a school, you build one, your house burns down, you build another one, you save your money, you work hard, you succeed through excellence. Um, all I see a lot of just dumbing things down here from the report cards that make no sense and are basically meaningless, um, to,

9:21 you know, insisting that students need to see a flag of any sort in order to feel safe. I think it’s, uh, you know, I’m not gonna tell anybody that you know, what their feelings are. Um, but to tell me how to be black or that Black Lives Matter represents me in any way because I don’t agree with it. It’s not an evidence-based movement, right? Um, I have seen Black Lives Matter, do some or some of their chapters do some absolutely abhorrent, abhorrent things, um, that are antisemitic and that really disturbs me, that nobody’s looking out for those kids.

10:07 Um, other issues like, you know, very young kids in that are taking, that are using pronouns, different pronouns. Now, um, that’s really difficult. I have girls, um, raising three girls.

10:30 I didn’t think that would come here. I respect everyone who’s gay trans. I don’t care what you are, but you can’t tell me what I have to say or believe. That’s thought policing. Um, and I think that the flags, you know, the, the Juneteenth flag, right? That’s commemorating an event.

10:54 It happened. That’s great. Let’s celebrate that. But a movement that is very controversial is that’s crossing a line to me that’s, um, stifling debate. What we need to be doing is doubling down on viewpoint diversity. Like I’m really sort of sick of hearing the DEI, we need more of a certain skin color, or we need more of a certain whatever it is. What we need is people who can debate, critically debate some of these issues. I really would like to see parents feel safe to come out

11:44 and say, no, I don’t agree with the L-G-B-T-Q-I wifi, unbreakable passcode. You know, I mean, it’s okay for me to say something like that and maybe it will offend somebody, but if I’m not hurting somebody, you have to be able to be a little bit resilient and, um, give me an argument back. You know, this is what I’m not seeing here. And it’s really scary. I mean, when the Marblehead Racial Justice team says that, um, the pride flag and the BLM flag are correlated to student success,

12:32 I scoured the internet and books. I’ve read about 30 different books on this subject. There is no evidence for that. None. But there is mount, there are mountains of evidence for, um,

12:48 teaching kids not to be fragile, teaching them how to have constructive dialogue, especially when they disagree. Um, that is what liberalism is about. That is what our country is founded on. That is what will save this town, whether it’s in school or out in the community. We need to be able to say stuff and not feel like we’re going to be vilified. A parent needs to be able to say, Hey, like, okay, I respect that. You wanna change, you know, you wanna be a a, the opposite sex, or you feel like you’re a tomboy and now you wanna be, you know, change your pronouns. But, you know, I have issues with that,

13:36 and they need to be able to talk about it. And the school needs to get their back to be able to talk about it without it being, you know, um, vilifying everybody or each other. I mean, parents and children are vilifying each other. This is crazy. Um, so, you know, I mean, I have to say, I I know that, that, that, uh, obviously disparities exist, right? I grew up in the hood. I know I spent my summers here. Um, it’s very, it’s always been disheartening for me to see things like all this virtue signaling that’s going on. I mean, we talk about, you know, with all due respect to the Browns, like I know they have a, a, a cookie in the Smithsonian or whatever, but my grandfather was, my mom grew up on Gregory Street,

14:24 lifelong Eastern Yacht Club member. He literally integrated the Navy, okay? That was like one of the things that he was most proud of in his life. Nobody’s asking those questions, right? Nobody’s knocking on my door to say, Hey, like, you’re white grandfather was the commander on the first Black Navy ship. Like, that’s not a story here because he’s white. And that’s crazy to me. Um, you know, I just think that I would ask the community to please understand that the black race is not a monolith. There are 40 million of us and we have 40 million different points of view. Um, black Lives Matter does not speak for us.

15:10 And I have plenty of gay friends that, that flag, that new pride flag that’s on the sidewalk does not speak for them. Um, I grew up in New York in the eighties and nineties, you know, we, the things that we went through with the AIDS crisis, um, I’ve seen devastation. Um, I’ve seen real racism too. We have come so far and it’s just hard to think that these kids are being taught that they’re oppressed when we’re in this really nice town. And yeah, I’ve been called a n**r here. Somebody rode by me and I was like, you know what, that guy’s an idiot.

15:59 It was a Halloween or ish near Halloween, and my kids were with me. And you know what? Another idiot who cares? I’m like, get a’s in school. You know what I mean? That’s how we rise in every poem, in every, I mean, my great grandmother, my grandparent, everybody, that’s how you rise. You, you meet the challenge, you tell the idiots to take a hike and you keep going. So I just wanna give you that message. There is a ton of evidence. I’m actually, we’re gonna put in a starting substack. It’s called, it’s gonna be called Marblehead Free Thought. Because I honestly think that people should be writing essays, should be

16:46 talking about other points of view. We don’t always have to agree, but it’s important to listen to each other. And it’s important to, um, feel free to say something without feeling like you’re gonna lose your job. There are parents here who think they’re going to lose their jobs plenty in this town because of the gender stuff. Um, you know, I, that’s not an issue in my household. So I don’t know, but I just know that there’s a lot of fear and that’s, that’s really sad to me. ‘cause you know, we’re, I, you guys are doing great. I, I think the draft policy actually is quite fair. I think it’s very fair. And one of the reasons I think it’s fair is because, um, you know, I, I mean, I, I understand

17:33 that the high school, they wanna have their voice freedom of speech. I am all about that. But that’s the high school. We still have second grade, you know, the, the, uh, village school. Um, they, we decide for them. The parents do, right? What symbols they’re seeing. Um, so we really do have a big voice in this. And I also think that if we’re going to have a, um, like an ethos of viewpoint diversity, I know, I’m just saying for Your, I feel, I, I always feel when I have to cut, cut people off. Well, that’s why I said take time. I can go on forever. Yeah, we do have to call it. The last thing I would just like to say is just that the, um, the draft policy, I really do think if you’re going to,

18:21 um, it’s, it’s, it’s really fair to say, okay, we’ll put some up. You know, we can put BLM flag up in Black History Month. You can put the pride flag up in Pride month. They are part of history. I’m not saying to deny any of that history, but to have it be what the school district is, it looks like it’s from your point of view. And that, I don’t think that’s fair to every person, every black person here to say the BLM is like your point of view. ‘cause that’s, that’s not viewpoint diversity. Right. Okay. Sorry, I didn’t have anything prepared. So thank, Thank you. Thank you. I appreciate it. Thank you. Um, if there’s anybody else, I can take one more quick comment. We’re over our 15 minutes,

19:06 but I definitely, if there’s anybody else at, I don’t see any hands. Okay. That brings us to our student representative. Okay. So far, the week before midterms has been packed with review, last minute tests and quiet studies and preparation for the exams. Mrs. Donaldson has been hosting study skills seminars this week to advise students on test taking skills and habits. The schedule next week consists of around two 90 minute exams per day with extended lunch hours and extra help time with teachers before and after the test on Wednesday, January 10th, former NBA Celtics player, Chris Herron, came to the high school to tell his story of addiction. This event was sponsored by programs that support the important goals of education, awareness, prevention, and de-stigmatization of substance use disorder.

19:56 The high school has recently developed and released the manufacturing engineering technology pathway, which is a program through the school that prepares students for careers in many hands-on and problem solving situations. The National Green School Society recently held a clothing drive to reduce the amount of clothing that ends up in landfills, as well as promote sustainability and recycling. They’ll be selling the collected clothes at an MHS basketball game to support the club. Marvel Head’s Got Talent has recently put up audition requests for talented students to try out for scholarships, which total over $15,000. The audition deadline is February 18th, and semifinals will be held March 13th. The senior show is happening on Sunday, January 28th, in the MVMS pack at 2:00 PM

20:42 it will showcase many students performing musical numbers and comedic skits. Last Sunday, the boys varsity basketball team ventured to TD Garden to Face Salem High School in a game, which they unfortunately lost with a close 61 to 66 score. The gymnastics team started off their season strong, maintaining it with a recent win against Bishop Fenwick remaining undefeated. Three to, oh, all Marblehead athletic teams have been working hard this season, and we will be seeing playoffs and championships in a few weeks. Thank you, as always. Good luck. Thank you. On your midterms. Um, so I will go to district updates with Dr. Theresa McGinnis. Thank, Thank you. Thank you Ka for that. It’s, we covered half of what I was gonna say. Very well. Um, I’d like to provide a few, excuse me, staffing updates

21:30 that I put in the school committee memorandum. So, Glover School Leadership update. Um, our principal, hope Doran has resigned as of tomorrow, um, to pursue a career opportunity in another school district. And we appreciate, um, Mrs. Doran’s service and the district wishes her well and her, um, other opportunities that in the field of education. We also are grateful, um, to the interim principal who is there presently, Mr. Dan Richards, who will continue in that role for the remainder of the school year at the high school. Um, the Marblehead High School principal, um, Michelle Carlson and her team are conducting interviews next week, um, for an interim assistant principal

22:16 who will also remain there for the till the end of the school year. And then some upcoming searches. Um, ongoing right now is the interim director of Student services. Interviews are being scheduled in, uh, two weeks. And the Glover School Principal, we will post in February or early March for a July 1st start. And also the Assistant Superintendent of Finance and Operations. We’ll post next week for a March start. So those are some big ones. Um, a, an update from our Student services department. Um, after much collaboration over the last two weeks, uh, we built a framework to carry us through the transitional window before we hire an interim.

23:02 And the middle, the, uh, vet school, um, student services team chair, Ms. Ashley Lieman, will work closely with our principals, our special educators, um, the Assistant Superintendent of teaching learning and myself as a temporary role. And I wanna say that loudly, it’s a very short term temporary role as the Student Services Transitional Coordinator. Um, until we are able to hire, um, the interim in short time. So she will coordinate the priority needs, um, of the Student Services department, uh, with the collective support of several other staff members who are doing portions of it. Um, we so greatly appreciate the expertise and the willingness of all of our staff, um, who have stepped up to the plate,

23:48 have accepted added responsibilities. And it really demonstrates how vested our staff is in, um, our schools, in our commitment to the district’s mission of supporting all of our students as we’re working through some tough times. Um, Marblehead Public Schools has an excellent staff. That’s why I came here as interim. Um, and then finally on that student services, our student services steering committee has had two meetings in the last two weeks, um, focusing on the transition needs and also upcoming professional development, um, for that department. Um, and then I was gonna talk about the Marblehead Boys Varsity basketball game, but Kat did a wonderful job on that. Very exciting. And there’s some great pictures in the, um, in both my school committee memorandum, but also in the article that is attached

24:35 to this notice, some notable dates. Um, February 1st is our next school committee meeting, then February 15th. Then we have no school for President’s Day on the 19th, and we have no school for February recess on the 20th through the 23rd, and students return on Monday the 26th. And that’s it for updates. Does anybody have any questions for Dr. McGinnis on her update? The only question I have, which is probably self-evident that The Principal role at Glover were not accrue the, that budget item is not being accrued at this point. It’s not being, in other words, we’re not paying the Glover school principal Correct. At this point. Okay. Correct. That Ends Okay. Great. Hmm. Um, any other questions in the update?

25:20 Allison, I know you’re joining us remotely. Do you have any questions? Um, could you just give us an update on where we are with the in independent report at one point? It was, I think the date was February 1st. Are we still on a timeline for that? Yes, That’s what the latest Date is. Okay. For the third party investigation. Okay. Mm-Hmm. Um, and then when you get a chance, just for that very temporary role, you’re really good at saying that this is a very temporary role, a student service transitional coordinator. If you can just share out, um, a job description of that with the committee. If you, if there, what, what exists? Yeah. Right now you Mean? Not right this minute. Oh, okay. I just didn’t know she No, no. When You, when you get a chance. Yes, absolutely. Absolutely. If you could just share that out. Yes. Um, perfect. So that brings us, you covered the staffing update, so, yep.

26:07 Um, that brings us to the FY 25 budget status update with Michelle Cresta. Yeah, so once, let me just introduce for a second. So, um, Michelle is going to give a high level overview of where we’re at and as you’ll see in her slides, um, she’ll talk about our budget drivers, but then also three different, um, budget options that we are just considering. All of them, uh, level services, a level of funding, and then, um, needs-based budget. And then our next steps in the process. So, go ahead. There’s a few slides that we’re gonna go over. Yes. A copy. Yeah.

26:45 Okay. We’re good. So yeah, so I just wanted to tell you a little bit about where we are in the FY 25 budget process at this point. Um, right now we have three budgets being prepared. Um, the first is a level services budget. The town asked us to create a level services budget with no new initiatives, no replacement of what was cut last year. Basically everything as it is right now, rolling forward. Um, we have done that. We’re, we’re still working on finalizing some of the figures, um, but basically the estimate for that, um, we can go to the next slide. This, the estimate for that is, is just about $47 million. Um, which as I mentioned, no-no initiatives. Um, it includes minimal COLA for all bargaining units,

27:32 which are, are coming up for, um, negotiation as all units are expiring on June 30th. Can I Ask a question that, what is the cola That you included and where did that director come from? Just for discussion purposes? We included a 2% and that was, um, at the recommendation of the town. Okay. That it’s not any indication of where we’re going to settle. Um, it’s just we were directed, yes, we were, we currently had a 2% in the current year. Um, so I believe that’s just a roll forward. Okay. So that’s what these figures are baked in with. Okay. Is the 2%, just for discussion purposes. Um, the second budget is basically our level services budget with some additional needs that have been identified. Some of ‘em, um, it’s really just gonna be an add-on. It’s not gonna be a huge separate budget.

28:17 It will be a separate column in your book. Um, but it won’t, won’t have a lot of a lot of documentation for it. It will have documentation for additional staffing that might be needed for student supports. Um, some permanent substitute teachers, which is an ongoing need that we have continually day after day and some computer hardware replacement when we included all of the new computer hardware back during, um, COVID, when all the Covid funds came in, we replaced all of it and now we need to implement a replacement schedule, or are we gonna fall back into the same lull that we were in before? Okay. So that will be our needs based budget. Um, and then the third budget will be our reduced services budget, which is also a director of town.

29:05 So the town directed us to provide two budgets. One, the level services budget and one reduce services budget. Um, the reduced services budget are number three on the slide is close to or equal to the current funding level. Our current budget is $44,837,000. So basically we would need to find a way to come out to roughly that figure. Um, given the fact that I’m estimating our level services budget is in the ballpark of 47 million, this will require cuts of $2.2 million. Um, last year we eliminated 33 staffing positions and that was a reduction of 1.5 million. So I just wanted to, you know, share that perspective. So 33 staffing positions, which were not all necessarily teachers, um,

29:53 resulted in a reduction of 1.5 million. If we’re looking at 2.2 million this year, it’s going to be more than 33 staffing positions we’re considering. Next slide.

30:08 So our budget drivers are,

30:13 And this is for the level services budget, when I’m talking budget drivers, um, our staffing costs, which is Kohler and Steps Kohler at that 2% calculation and steps is $1.2 million. As I mentioned, our union contracts are all expiring on June 30th. Negotiations will begin soon, excuse me. And I do wanna mention that some of our hourly pay rates for paras and cafeteria workers are actually less than minimum wage. While we do not pay less than minimum wage, we make sure we move it to a step that is, um, at least at minimum wage. It means our salary staffing levels, or the hourly pay levels are starting less than minimum wage. So in order to get all of the hourly rates

30:59 to a minimum wage, that means that that would have to be a step one. Um, right now to be on, to be above minimum wage, we’re talking sometimes step three or four on the salary schedule. So it’s going to require some, some maneuvering with those pay schedules, which will come about through negotiations. Um, we took a look at our out of district tuition costs. OSD has projected or has announced that their rate increase will be 4.6899999999999995%. OSD is the operational services division, um, through the state, which is responsible for setting the out of district tuition prices for more than 200 out of district approved special education programs. So their increase is 4.6899999999999995%. This was the percentage

31:45 that we had a lot of discussions last year. We were talking 14%. So certainly we’re nowhere near that 14%, but it is significantly higher than it has been in the past, excluding last year. Um, typically we’ve been in the one and a half to 3% range this year. This is compounded 4.6% on top of 14 Of last year. Last year. Yes, exactly. So our projected increase for out of district tuitions is, um, roughly $700,000. That does include four placeholders. Um, last year at this time, or last year’s budget did include four placeholders. We ended up using four plus more. Um, so we don’t have any of those to roll over, but it does include four placeholders for next year. And they’re usually at the collaborative rate, which is our lowest out of district tuition rate.

32:32 Um, our out of district transportation costs have not been projected yet. We’re working on that. We should have that in the next couple of days. And our utility costs are projected to increase $150,000 with, with our highest utility increase being electricity of a roughly $80,000 for next year. What’s the percentage of that? Of what is our, you know, what’s our total expenditure? I should know that, but I dunno off the top of our head. Um, it’s, it’s a tiered structure, so it’s, it’s not just a straight percentage. We take on the, I mean the bills I see are around the budget, like 14,000 a month. Something like we get one bill Yes. Yeah. Yep. For that. So it’s like a million, million and a half, something like that. I Believe. So. Okay. So 80,000 is okay. Maybe 5%, something like that. Yeah,

33:19 I believe that’s what we’re projecting.

33:23 So, um, next slide. And as I mentioned, this is completely high level. Um, so the next steps, so our budget books will be ready for distribution this coming week. Um, certainly not tomorrow, next week. Um, we need to still identify the school committee budget workshop dates. Um, our leadership team will collaborate. We’ve set some dates on February 5th, eighth, and the 13th to determine what our recommended cuts will be to arrive at that level funded budget. Um, we’ve set some times aside, but I do wanna mention that the cuts will be significant to arrive at another $2.2 million in cuts. They’re going to be significant. They will impact classrooms and they will include a significant number of staff positions.

34:08 As I mentioned last year, a cut of 1.5 million resulted in 33 positions. 2.2 million will be at least 33, if not more. I can guarantee it’ll be more. Um, and lastly, I did wanna mention of our entire school department budget, 84% of our budget is salaries and wages. 16% is expenses. And then of that expenses is tuitions, utilities, um, transportation. So those are our big budget drivers under the expense categories. But the rest of it’s really salary and wages. Okay. I’m gonna open it up for questions from the committee.

34:44 Brian. No, Jen. Um, I don’t have a lot of, lot of questions ‘cause this was not Very high level news. None of this was news to me. I think, you know, um, the 33 positions we talked about last year, not all of those were full filled. Correct. Right. Some of those were not filled. Um, and we’re talking about this later in the agenda when we talk about our WARN articles, but I’ve made it clear, my con my issues around this is that we, I was looking, you know, and continue to look for as we get into this budget process, an a, you know, a needs based deep dive into the, all of the costs in each of the buildings and a thorough review of that as well as services provided to our, um,

35:30 particularly our special education students, primarily in district out of district is out of district, but in district in terms of, you know, capturing all of the, all of the data, um, between contractual obligations to our, on our documentation of IEPs and then how that equates to our staff and having that foot. So that’s what I’m looking for as we go forward In this. Absolutely. And we are taking a little bit of a deeper dive into the staffing levels and services provided. Um, given the fact that we do not have a student services director or associate student services director, that is going to be more challenging than it was a few weeks ago when we talked about that. Um, I have talked to, um, some other folks

36:15 and our leadership team and to get the level of information that we had anticipated, it’s going to be a bit more challenging because certainly, um, the administrators who are left are not experts in the, the area of student services and IEP delivery grids. So because we’re calculate we’re doing the best we can As we calculate these cuts, what are we looking at for class sizes next year? Yes. We will be considering Do you have an estimate? I mean, are they at 20 or much higher? We haven’t looked at ‘em for next year because we do not, do not know what we’re looking at in terms of staff cuts right now. Um, Allison, I wanna make sure if you, you’re joining us remotely. If you have questions that I recognize those as well. So the way my window’s set up, if you just wanna,

37:02 I can’t see you, but if you just wanna, um, unmute yourself if you need to.

37:09 Okay. It doesn’t look like she hass any questions? Um, I,

37:16 I just want, last year, as you noted, we, we eliminated 33 positions. When we talk about level services, those are gone. That’s not part of this. So it’s what we cut last year is our baseline. And then from there we’re talking another 2.2 million mm-Hmm. Okay. Yes. Alright. I think, um, I would encourage people, everyone to watch the state of the town this next Wednesday. Mm-Hmm. Um, we’ll see projections out for the coming fiscal years. I know when last we looked at projections at last state of the town, they came in Correct. They came in with what they projected they would be

38:03 for this year, that this year would need to stay at level funded. The projections that were given at the last date of the town was this year would be level funded. Next year will be reduced funded that our base budget next year will be less than. So if if this year it’s 44 8 that next year, we will be asked to come in under that by a certain percentage if the projections stay what they were last year. So I just, I think it’s important that people take the opportunity and remember that the state of the town is on Wednesday night, that’s a selectman’s meeting. Um, and it will be zoomed as well, I believe. So I just encourage people that’s, that’s gonna kind of be

38:51 where we get our marching orders, if you will, of, of what to expect, um, fiscally town wide. ‘cause we are required by law to come. Michelle, if you can just explain that for a moment about what our requirement at, uh, for a balanced budget is a town meeting.

39:12 So we need to, we need to present a balanced budget. We cannot go in with a budget that’s higher than the town can afford, basically. Um, so if we are instructed that they can only afford 44 million, 45 million, we have to have a budget that will meet those requirements. Okay. So how we reach that, Well, it’s town wide, right? So it’s town wide. Yes. Not just the school budget, it’s the entire town budget has to be reflective of the estimated tax levy That correct? That the finance, finance All revenue sources including the tax levy. Yes. So if someone on town meeting floor were to make an amendment or a motion to increase our budget, they also need to find that funding source. They

39:59 Cannot, they’d have to decrease. Decrease someone else’s Exactly. That we can’t just increase ours. Yes. Other towns may have additional free cash. You have additional revenue sources through and over. Yeah. Yes. Other towns might have more growth or, or more free cash. Mm-Hmm. Well, that would be in their, that would be in their Projections. Yes. That doesn’t, that’s not here. Okay. I just wanted to, okay. I appreciate, um, you doing this presentation, even if I don’t have appreciation. So we will have more information for you. You know, most likely on February 1st, we’ll have our budget books out. By then we will have exact figures of those three budgets. Um, and then the leadership team will Okay. Mm-Hmm. So I’ll, we don’t anticipate, there’s no anticipation that was stated that there’s, nothing’s gonna change in

40:46 Terms of I don’t expect so. Yeah, I wouldn’t think so either. I think it’s still a really important meeting for people. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, to watch. Absolutely. Yeah. Um, okay. So thank you for that. Is there anything else in the superintendent’s or districtwide updates, Dr. McGinnis? Nope, I’m all set. Thank you. Okay. Um, you,

41:08 we didn’t talk about the other, um, we actually, you did briefly talk about the other, um, staffing updates around the directive student services. Mm-hmm. Right. Mm-Hmm. Um, I also had some questions from some folks recently around the, um, position, the two positions that are now vacant that, um, the po the folks have left those two positions, we are still, um, accruing that line item through the end of this fiscal year. Correct. For those mm-Hmm. For those mm-Hmm. For those salaries. Mm-Hmm mm-Hmm. Um, but we’re not incurring additional costs because of your transitional program. Right. So we’re not at this point adding additional employees and additional light items because we’ve, you’ve got a transitional team basically.

41:55 Well, we have the, we’re advertising for an interim Mm-Hmm. Student services. We, we have to, by law, excuse me, have a, um, student services director. So when that, when that happens at some point Mm-Hmm. Before the end, potentially before the end of the fiscal year, then there would need to be Comp a salary. Yeah. Comp. And that’s coming from, I mean, we have line items for that Salaries. Yes. I’m doing an analysis to see what all of this is going to cost. Because also in the interim, before we appoint an interim or you guys are appoint an interim student services director, we are, um, providing compensation to the folks that are going above and beyond and and doing additional work. We’re providing stipends to them. Okay. And so those are coming from

42:41 some other line items in the employee. We’re gonna be doing some budget transfers, taking a look at our unemployment line. Yes. Okay. I’ll bring, I’ll be bringing some budget transfers to you in the next couple of meetings, But you’re not anticipating a deficit at this point? No, No. Thank you. The unemployment line is still available to us. It’s dwindling rapidly, but yes. Okay. All right. Any other questions on this agenda item? I will mute us to consent, action and agenda items then. Um, we all have a schedule of bills in our Dropbox. So I will ask for a motion to approve the identified schedule of bills totaling $304,667

43:27 and 24 cents, no move. Moved by Jen Schaffner. Seconded. Seconded by Brian Oda. Um, discussion questions. We’ll do a roll call vote because I have some people on attending remotely. So, Jen Schaffner in favor. Brian Oda in favor? Allison Taylor. She’s not on, did she drop off? Mm-Hmm. I think I even don’t see her there. I was just, I had admitted her at one point. Okay. So Sarah Fox in favor? Um, so that motion carries 3 2 0.

44:05 Um, Frank, I am admitting people as we go, but if you see Allison’s name pop up, will you let me know? ‘cause I’ll go back to doing roll call. Okay, thank you. We do not have, um, approval of minutes, so we will not use that. Agenda item, um, school committee communication discussion items, article for annual town meeting warrant. Um, this is something we look at every time or this time of year every year. Um, many of these are ones that have come before us, if not all of them, I believe have come before us before. Um, we put them on as placeholders and if there’s not a need for them, as we all know, the procedure would be to definitely indefinitely postpone. But the warrant is closing. This is our last meeting before the warrant closes.

44:54 Oh, somebody. So, Okay. Sorry about that. Um, so we’ve all had these to review. Um, Michelle, is it your understanding I need to take a motion on every one, one of these individually. I’m gonna suggest you do that. Okay. So I will ask for, um, sorry. Uh, we’ll go through the motions and then we can discuss each one individually. I’ll ask for a motion to establish or to establish a warrant article to re-authorize special education revolving fund under Mass General Law Chapter 44, section 53 e and a half. Um, this would be in the amount of 500,000 in anticipated expenditures

45:41 and fiscal year 2025 for the use of the school committee. Authorized expenses within the scope and conditions pertaining to this fund. Revenue sources into this fund are from tuition collected from the attendance of our outer district students placed in the Marblehead Public School Special education programming. Said funds are being to be expended on cost directly related to the Marblehead Public School special education programming serving Marblehead students. Michelle, is there anything else we should know about this? No, this is just an annual article. Um, each year we take a look at what we are projecting our revenues to be. Um, this year we also had the limit at $500,000. Um, I don’t believe we’re gonna come close to that. I believe our projected revenues in the ballpark of 250

46:27 to $300,000 incoming. So I think 500,000 is a safe level to keep it at. Um, I don’t think we’ll touch it next year, but it’s better to be safe than sorry, just to reauthorize it in that amount. And it’s pretty, pretty much a, a housekeeping item that falls under the selectmen, the reauthorization of all the revolving funds. So we just have to submit it. Okay. Each year. So I will ask for, um, the motion to place the aforementioned article for the town annual town meeting. So moved, moved by Jen Schaffner. Seconded. Seconded by Brian Oda. Discussion. All in favor Opposed? Motion carries three to zero. This is Allison’s not on it. Right? I haven’t seen her pop back up and Frank hasn’t notified me.

47:12 Okay. So the next article would be to re, uh, for reauthorization to establish a transportation revolving fund under Mass General Law Chapter 44, section 53 e and a half. Um, so is there anything on this one that we would need to know, Michelle? No. Last year this was a brand new fund, and that’s why actually I need to strike the words to establish. Um, so last year it was to establish the fund. This year it is to reauthorize the fund. Um, and the amount of $25,000. Our, again, our revenues don’t come close to that. I believe our revenues are in the ballpark of 10 to 12,000 right now. Um, but hopefully our program will be able to be expanded and, um, it’s just allows us to be able to use the revenue

47:58 that we receive to offset that program. So I’ll ask for a motion for the reauthorized to sponsor a warrant article for the reauthorization of a transportation revolving fund. So moved. Moved by Jen Schaffner. Seconded Ryan, by discussion. All in favor Opposed? Motion carries three to zero. Um, the next would be for SCH school building capital needs. This is a placeholder article in it’s draft wording. We do have an additional week or two town. Uh, the town has informed us beyond when the warrant closes to finalize the wording once we establish the placeholder. So Michelle, if you wanna speak to this. Yes. So this is an article that we’ve had on, um,

48:45 as a placeholder for the past few years since I’ve been involved here. Um, it’s basically to address any capital needs for our buildings and grounds.

48:55 At this point, we do not know what the town is recommending to move forward in terms of our capital needs. We actually need to also have a facility subcommittee meeting to discuss those. Um, so really it’s kind of premature at this point to determine if we would need an article or not. Okay. So this just reserves our right to have a placeholder to be able to, to address that on the town meeting floor or, you know, any point up until that point. Okay. So I’ll ask for, So this is, can I just ask a question? This is, this is for a debt exclusion override versus the regular capital. This, there is always a capital. It Could, I believe it’s worded so that it could be a capital exclusion or a debt exclusion. Okay. But this is separate from our annual capital. There’s usually a to the warrant

49:41 or just the on the town side that includes capital expenditures. And often we have, we do participate to, to some degree in that. Yeah. We just don’t, that’s different than this. It’s, it’s an, it’s second opportunity to ask the town voters for something Else. I don’t see this being at all. This is nowhere on our radar screen and we’re in no position to be talking about a debt exclusion override for capital project. I would, at this point, I would say we don’t know what the fundraising on the turf is and Okay. That’s, I mean that we haven’t talked about that at all. No, I know, but it’s a placeholder. That’s all it is, is a placeholder. And if we don’t have it, then we have no placeholder. They are act We have Muffy Puckette coming to speak to us in the February our next meeting about their, um,

50:27 where they are with their fundraising. I don’t know where they are. They may have fundraised the whole thing, but that, that is something that we could ask as part of our capital needs. It’s also something we maybe could say is part, potentially part of our money. There’s a lot of revenue streams we could look at. This is simply for a placeholder. If we need it, we’ve always put it on. Okay. So I’ll ask, I’ll, I’m gonna ask for the motion and then we can discuss after. Okay. Oh, I thought we had the motion. Sorry. Yeah, so I’m gonna ask for a motion to sponsor school building capital needs article. So moved Second and chapter Seconded by Brian o I’ll open up for discussion. No, I just didn’t my, I mean I just, you know, it’s basically February right now.

51:13 We’ve had no discussion around. I just, I don’t see it this happening, but

51:21 Okay.

51:25 I would not wanna, or, or, or Brian, I’d like to hear from you. Actually, I’m not sure I, this is like a supplemental on top of the regular capital. So in other words, like last year they voted in new roof and Yeah. The high school, this is something on top of that. Yeah. Is that what you’re saying? It’s an opportunity for that. Yes. The town, we, we submit a, a entire list of capital needs. Um, our, our facilities assessment that we had performed a few years ago indicated that we should be spending roughly a million dollars on maintaining our buildings each year. The town is not able to afford that. Usually they, they allow us between, I wanna say two and $400,000 in capital needs each year. Um, so if we determine or find something that absolutely needs to be

52:12 really a priority that’s not being funded or being recommended brought forward by the town, this would give you an opportunity to do that. I don’t believe we have used this article, um, over the past few years since, you know, I’ve been here. Um, but it has always been a placeholder so that we have that opportunity for discussion. Because if you don’t put it on the art, don’t put it on the warrant. There’s no opportunity to add it. We, um, we worked really hard on that facility’s Right. Strategic plan. Um, I would argue it’s the only true strategic plan we currently have where there are timelines with budget drivers and it’s Clear. Yeah. But we also haven’t, you know, we also, I mean something like, like that that facilities plan is its own like one year

52:58 or plus discussion around how we would, we would come forward to try to fund that. I, so I, I don’t think that that’s realistic to think at this point that we would be going forward trying to create, I mean, that’s a major project to Try to, To fund our facilities plan. Mm-Hmm. Um, so for instance, replacing the turf is one of the things for this year. Mm-Hmm. If, if they were, if the boosters were to come back and say we were able to fundraise, I’m making up numbers. I, I wanna wait till we get that presentation. 800,000. We have a $200,000 deficit. The town says we can’t cover that. I personally would like to be able to have this as a, a placeholder. I I understand that. What I’m just saying is,

53:44 I’m not saying I’m not gonna vote for it. What I’m saying is we would’ve had to have had these discussions months and months and months ago. Like I don’t think that it’s realistic to think whether it’s, I think we, we need to have community input. We would need to have focus groups. We would need, I Don’t think anybody’s looking to build a school like, or, or like a $54 million project, but it it realistic, we have been talking about that turf field cut nonstop for two years now. Okay. But Not, I would look, I would want this placeholder if we need it for that. Okay. But we, like, we haven’t talked to the public about it. We have like, it’s, you know. Okay. Okay. So on January 26th, this goes in as a placeholder with no specifics, right? Yeah, correct. And then we fill it in afterwards if we have to, if we’re gonna use it.

54:29 Well the wording, we would work with legal to get the wording and it would have to be generic, but the actual warrant article motion, that would be sometime between now and town meeting. So yes, it would be determined at a later. Yeah, it’s a placeholder. I understand. My point is, we’ve had no discussion about it’s, you know, it’s, if you ask me, I’ll be late. If you asked me today, I’m not ready to recommend anything today. Okay. Okay. Um, we certainly have had a busy year. Yep. And even Yes, that’s true. Um, I also think that it would be a, this would be a discussion in a much bigger mm-Hmm. Discussion overall of, of funding and finances with the town, the schools, and certainly with the public. So, mm-Hmm. I just, you know, I, I’ll, I’ll leave it at that.

55:17 Okay. I’m gonna call for the vote. All in favor? Opposed? Motion carries three to zero.

55:29 So the next one would be, um, a for the school’s to sponsor a WARN article for school department capital needs. Can you speak to this? This would be a similar article, but this could address anything such as a vehicle such as, um, it, hardware, equipment, things such as that nature. Um, because the other article that we just spoke about really, um, pertained only to buildings and grounds. So this would be any other capital need, um, that we might find the need for. Because like, as I mentioned, we have a hardware replacement schedule that is supposed to be implemented starting in FY 25. I don’t think the town is going to be able to fund that. So that would might be an article that we want to talk about putting on

56:16 as a separate item in a town meeting or an article. Okay. So you do anticipate coming forward for something for this particular One? Possibly. If the town does not agree that our it, um, equipment can be funded because it’s a four year replacement cycle that will continue every single year. And we started it, We started a small piece of it this year, but it increases, it increases with FY 25. ‘cause we haven’t talked about this at the budget subcommittee that I’m aware of. No, we have not. No. We did talk about it a little bit last year during the budget cycle. Um, Steve had done a pres presentation about what our annual costs will be, um, going forward. So ideally we would love to have that. I know our, our operating budget, but I don’t think our operating budget’s going to be able

57:02 to afford a $400,000 increase this year. I’m gonna ask that It’s $400,000 roughly. I’m gonna ask to move the motion and then we’ll all open for discussion. So I’ll ask for a motion to sponsor an article for school department capital needs. So moved, seconded, moved By Jen Schaffner, seconded by Brian Oda. Open for discussion. Well, yeah, those are my, those are my questions. Um, right. No, I think I’m, it’s just, you know, it’s whatever, like, it feels like it’s the tail wagging the dog a bit. Like we’re doing these when we haven’t even talked about, you know, we’re asking for placeholders and we haven’t actually talked about the financial side of this. So that’s, that’s all. No, it’s, Um, it’s, it seems to be, I mean, it it’s a marblehead thing. I believe our, the warrant closes much earlier than I would expect Yeah.

57:48 For a maytown meeting. Yeah, absolutely. So it would normally be, you’d go through the normal budget process and if this were, well, if this were to have come up, then you in some, in other cases, might have the ability to add this if you have a longer period of time for your Correct. It is very odd in that we don’t get a chance to see our budget before we’re asked to put placeholders on. Mm-Hmm mm-Hmm. So it’s, that’s kind of why we we’re here. Um,

58:21 so I’ll call for the vote. All in favor Opposed? Motion carries three to zero. And I, I suspect a theme with this as well. Again, we haven’t seen a budget, so we’re gonna have another placeholder on a budget we haven’t seen, but because of when the warrant closes. So the next one will be for the school committee to sponsor a warrant article for school department supplemental appropriation. If you can speak to this, Michelle. So this essentially would be an operating override, um, of proposition two and a half. We’ve had this article placeholder on the warrant every year since, you know, I’ve been here, um, since 2019 and prior, probably prior to that. Um, This essentially also was a little premature. We don’t have final budget figures, we haven’t heard the state of the town.

59:07 Um, I’m suspecting that they’re going to say they’re not gonna be able to afford our level services budget. That’s just a feeling I’m getting at this point. I haven’t heard that. Um, for sure. So we certainly want this placeholder. If there is any potential that we will be seeking an override, um, it may be a small chance, but I think to preserve that placeholder and as it, if we were a month from now, we might have a better idea. But where the warrant closes next week, we definitely want to get that opportunity. I am gonna, before I open for discussion, I’m gonna ask for a motion for the school committee to sponsor a warrant article for school department supplemental appropriation.

59:44 So moved Second, Moved by Brian OA second by Jen Schaffner. And I’m gonna open it for discussion. So This one also, I mean my, sort of my same thoughts on this that, and I have, I know I sound like a broken record, but I have been saying this since last spring that this is something that I’m not in a position to support until I have the numbers I need.

1:00:09 And I don’t at this point. So I’m just, I’m again, I know I sound like a broke record, but I’m going, I’m gonna say it again. This can’t, for me, this can’t happen till I have every single number I need,

1:00:25 Brian. Well, it is kind of hard to, since we haven’t been able to pass an override yet, it’s still so vague. It’s hard to support this. But I think you need the placeholder, placeholder once we hear the town’s budget and everything, and then we’ll have a better idea if we’re gonna have to look at an override. Just because it’s on the warrant doesn’t mean we’re going to use it. Correct? No, it doesn’t. Yeah. The other piece for me that we haven’t gotten clear guidance articulated by the select board is Two years ago we went at it alone and we were told they would’ve preferred we went at it together last year. We went at it together.

1:01:12 Again, not knowing if we’ll need this placeholder. I have no guidance if the select board is going to wish for, if, if an override is needed, if they will want us to do it as one override, or if they are going to wanna do it as a menu, if you will. You know, there’s the, I hate saying the town schools ‘cause, but it’s select board. The select board will sponsor their own. That will not include the supplemental needs of the schools. And then if the schools will have to go at it alone. Um, so I I, I’ll look to the state of the town for that information. I, I would’ve really hoped that we had that tonight or earlier even. It’s really hard for us to, to not know that as we build a budget, um, if we would be included in any,

1:02:02 um, operational deficit, if you will, or structural deficit, I think is what they’re calling it, the free cash situation. So I’m not sure where we stand with that. I don’t know if you have any further guidance on that, Michelle. I do not. Um, I was hoping I’d have it by, Well, they might not also know what Yeah. You know, right. Yeah. I don’t, I haven’t, admittedly I’ve followed every vote and board, board meeting, select board, but they, I may not also may be in the same position where they don’t know what they’re, so they wouldn’t necessarily be able to even know whether they would wanna do this, you know? So, I mean, I understand that you’d have, you know, theoretically you would have this in the event that it would, it would not be a joint, um, or one art, you know, one article for the, for, uh,

1:02:48 the, all the departments. Um, I think the other thing to note too, correct me if I’m wrong, that even if it were to be a, if, if we were to have a separate art warrant article for such an appropriation, I mean for such a, um, uh, what do you lack of a better term override? Um, it still doesn’t necessarily go to the, directly to the school department effort. First year, different years. Right. So it’s the first year and then after that it does go into the general Mm-Hmm. Fund Mm-Hmm. Um, which is then subject to appropriation by a future town meeting. Mm-Hmm. Right. So it’s just year one. It’s not that the schools would always have that increase. Right. The town would have it. The Town would always have the

1:03:33 Increase, or the general fund would have it, yes. Yes. General fund school, but it would be subject to appropriation by the town. Mm-Hmm mm-Hmm. Tell Correct. Um, do we have any further information that we’ve been requesting on the insurance lines? ‘cause that’s something that we’re, I think, looking to absorb into our bus, or we’ve been asked to absorb into our budget. Have we been provided that data yet? No. We, we were provided some raw data a while back. Um, but they’re still working on fine tuning those figures. And as of last week when I checked last. Okay. Um, hopefully, you know, with the state of the town coming, that will be finalized as well. Mm-Hmm. Um, all right. So any further questions or discussion then I’ll call for the, yes. Oh, I’m Sorry. Are we just, is it just us three?

1:04:19 I have not seen Frank. Has Allison been readmitted? I don’t think so. Nope. It’s us three. So I will call for all in favor. I’m gonna abstain. Okay. Um, I don’t know if we can take the vote, Right? Why We don’t have a quorum of our body voting. We have a quorum of Our overall committee, But This is three out of four. There’s three Members, only two out of four members are voting. That’s on quorum. Two out Of four, because we, Alice has gone On. It’s not, it’s a quorum of our body voting on something. Not a quorum of who’s in the room, I believe. I don’t know that specifically.

1:05:07 I’ll take the vote. Alright. Call. Call for the voting. No, no, no. I can, I, I can do it this way. If I have to call for another, if I have to post another meeting before next. When does it close next Friday? I can, I’ll, I’ll look into it with legal counsel tomorrow. So, um, all in favor. So, um,

1:05:25 two in favor, Brian and, uh, Brian ota. Sarah Fox with one abstention. I don’t have enough information to be honest. Um, take Jen Schulner and I will, I will seek legal counsel on if we have to revote that. So we have a majority voting. So we would need a quorum to meet, have a quo to the court to vote possibly. Okay. Yeah. Um, okay. So thank you. That was articles. Um, the meeting,

1:05:55 The next article, uh, agenda item is the superintendent search update. Um, we had talked about this last week. At that time, we had decided we would bring up, or I’m sorry, two weeks ago at our next meeting to about, um, next steps with warming the sub. And the Dropbox was policy, BDE, which is subcommittees of the school committee. Um, it just talks about the rules for establishing those subcommittees. Um, we, we’ve already established the actual subcommittee through talk through,

1:06:31 um, our last meeting. But then it says, for appointing members, the committee chair subject to the approval by the committee will appoint the subcommittee chair and its members. Um, so I’m gonna open it up for discussion. One question I had with the, um, announcement of the Glover school principal. So that will be a search. Mm-Hmm. And is, that’s a search for a permanent Correct. Submit. Okay. Mm-Hmm. Um, um, principal. So, and there would be a school committee member on that. Mm-Hmm. As well. One. Absolutely two. One. Generally I’ve done one, but I think it’s one. Yeah. One. So that is another, um, yep.

1:07:18 Need, because we’ve got multiple ones, but that’s another one that’s come up. So,

1:07:27 Um, any other discussion? Are you gonna make a recommendation? Um, I am, but it’s, it’s, I will look for a motion. Um, my recommendation for the, the representatives for the school committee would be that it be the chair, vice Chair, Sarah, Fox and Jenner. But I will ask for a motion in a second to move that. I will make that motion

1:07:55 Second Open for discussion. Well, I would like to be on that search committee. Okay. I believe that I’ve got a lot of experience. It would make me valuable on a committee searching for a new superintendent. Um, I’ve done these kind of searches when I was in the private sector for much higher stakes. Um, so I think that I’m highly qualified and I do not feel I want to drop off the request. Okay. Allison’s not on here. No, I, she was, I know for sure she was on, on it. I, I don’t know where she went. I do feel that we should be all voting on this and discussing this.

1:08:42 I do. It does seem to me that it should be, we’re reduced committee as it is. You can, or whatever the word, make a motion to table the motion, um, Okay. Until Allison’s available. Yeah. Or you can amend the motion as well. Our next meeting would be February 1st.

1:09:10 Um, okay. Your thoughts on that, Brian? Yeah. February 1st. I’d like to amend it to hold the vote until the very first on who will be on the screening committee. That’s only in a couple Weeks. Okay. So that is a motion to amend. Yes. Mm-Hmm. I will second there. Motion to postpone. I will, there should be a motion. Second. That postpone. I will second that. So Brian made a, I just wanna write this down for the minutes because this is, this is getting a little sticky. Are we definitely sure. She’s, I’m, I, she’s not here. I is. I have called her name multiple times. Yeah. She could have unmuted, raised her hand, done a dance. I don’t know. Um, so we have a motion to,

1:09:58 you had a motion to postpone. Well, it was an amendment. The vote, wasn’t it? You had a, we had a motion that was first and seconded to recommend Sarah Fox and Jen Schaffner on this. Mm-Hmm. Search committee. Then there was a motion, a motion to amend it’s priority motion. It’s a motion to postpone. Oh, I thought it was an amendment. Okay. Yeah. I, uh, request we just postpone it to the February 1st And then it was second amendment. Okay. Um, so Brian Oda second and invite Jen Schaffner discussion. No, I gave my point. Yeah, me too. Okay. Um, Jen Schaffner in favor. Brian. Oda in Favor. Sarah Fox. Opposed? So the motion carries two to one.

1:10:44 Um, that would be the next one is, um, so we’re still on that topic. Um, do we, were going to start working on setting up the, out the community outreach so that we can ask for parents to submit community members to submit. We can still do that. Yeah. Um, we’ll ask the unit a to, to give us their representatives, um, as well as working on our focus groups And administrate and administration. Yes. Administration. So, we’ll, we’ll wait to start working on the focus groups

1:11:30 Then. I don’t see why we can’t set some dates. And I Mean, well, we can ask for applications from, We can ask for applications. That’s for the, that’s for the screening committee. But then we were planning to do focus groups. Um, I don’t see why we can’t set dates for that after February 1st. I mean, I would defer to the chair to set that up. Yep. To set those dates with the superintendent. Okay. I will, I will work on that. On setting those dates up and getting the community outreach on it so We’re not, nothing’s getting slow slowed down until we’re able to vote on Allison just logged in.

1:12:07 Allison, can you hear us? We’ve Already made the motion. It’s, it’s, and also it’s not Ideal. Well, Allison, if you can unmute and let us know that you’re part of the meeting.

1:12:21 I can hear you, but I’m in the middle of changing a bunch of trains, So, oh, okay. Yeah. Let’s, yeah. Plus we’ve already voted. Okay. ‘cause we were trying to, um, we were on the agenda item for the superintendent search update.

1:12:37 Okay. And there had been a motion And EMT someone faint in on the train. And there’s cops and EMT here. Let me try. And if I move further in, I think I’ll, We can postpone it till February 1st. We have Voted to postpone it to February 1st, so I, I mean, I don’t, We’ve already voted have three people There. You have to, Sorry. Um, no, the will, the will the committee. I have to trouble for work. Like I don’t No, that’s okay. Totally understand. Don’t anything. We’ll pick it up at the next meeting. It’s totally fine.

1:13:06 Um, I can hear you now if you No, no, no. Allison something you No, no worries. We’re moving on to the student services audit discussion. Oh, yes. Um, so that was in everyone’s Dropbox, the RFP, and I’ll open that up for discussion.

1:13:32 Brian, did you have any? Yeah, I did. I have to look it up. Hang on.

1:13:39 I had a couple of, um, suggestions to add to the quote, uh, the audit quote. Um, one would be to have them ensure that our, um, deescalation and restraint protocols are adequate and the staffing has been properly trained to do those. Okay. I also would like us to look at whatever remaining therapeutic programs we have, if they’re also adequately staffed and trained.

1:14:17 And then to review the caseloads of the, and the work conditions for the chairs, the special education chairs, because oftentimes they’re asked to move to buildings and cover different things. I’d like to make sure that we’re not overstressing the chairs. Okay. I have those notes, but would you mind emailing me as well to make sure I get them along? Okay. I’ll do, that’d be great. We can add those in. Jed. Yeah. I had a couple of, um, a couple of items to, so the scope of the inquiry is so is in, you know, kind of both, um, question form. Um, you know, which is fine. Um, I, I did. So just, um, piggybacking on what, um, fine had said about the therapeutic class classroom, I think we ought, there’s extended to any

1:15:04 and all specific programs Mm-Hmm. Whether it’s academic skills, I’m not sure what, I’m probably dating myself, but therapeutic Was Too narrow. Yes. So just any substantially separate programs as they exist. ‘cause I didn’t see that in here. Um, there’s also nothing in here. I don’t know how to word this. I can send this to you, Michelle, if I, when I wordsmith it, but around, um, parents, you know, and parent experience, um, in the process. So I don’t know, like I didn’t see that in here, that where there would be any kind of discussion with parents, um, or guardians. Um, okay. Right. To, to understand what their experience is going through the evaluation process, the IEP process, et cetera.

1:15:50 I think that would be important. Um, and I think that’s it. Okay. Um, Allison, do you have any Discussion to hit? Yeah, my train is literally pulling up right now. Okay. Okay. Well, I feel like this is so important to me. Um, I, so I did look quickly. I do, is this still the draft RFP that was written by, um, and sorry, I’ve been at a, a work launch, um, all week. Is this the RFP that was written by Paula? Paula with modifications? Yeah. Paula. Paula initially drafted it. We’ve made a couple of modifications to it.

1:16:36 And, um, it’s, it’s really up for discussion at this point and, and any feedback Mm-Hmm. Um, if it’s finalized within the next few days, by Monday or Tuesday, we can put this out to bid. Um, we can release the documents on January 29th, but every week thereafter, it basically bumps a week because there are posting requirements and I need to have the posting information out there, um, about 10 days in advance.

1:17:02 So, yeah. Um, I just have concerns with anything drafted by her. Um, I also agree with what, um, Jen said in regards to ensuring, um, parents and educators are spoken to as part of this. I think that’s beyond a critical piece.

1:17:27 And my train’s about to go like deep underground and you won’t hear me. So. Okay. The other thing that’s not on here, um, uh, Michelle, is the timeline for when, how long this con they would have for this contract. You know, is it a three months, six months? Like, what are we expecting? Uh, that’s something we need to determine. We need to determine if you want to do an RFP process or an invitation, um, to bid. So basically a bid is Lowest quote. Um, if an RFP process, you have the specifications and you can evaluate the proposal without looking at the price. Um, and an RFP, the last thing you do is look at the price after you have evaluated the proposal. So we can go either, either way, but if it is an RFP where we’re not looking at the prices

1:18:13 initially, then we need to determine why we would go with a specific firm and a proposal. Um, and we need to have a review team. So it’s a little bit longer of a review process, um, where it’s gonna be the same scope either way. Yeah, I think we could, it’s not gonna be that much longer. Um, but I would, I would suggest a few months to, to have this turned around. But are You suggesting the RFP process or the bid process? It’s really up to you. I mean, typically it defaults to the bid process. Right. And then if you can, um, justify why you wanna go with a qualifications based proposal, and I have sent this out to, um, the business manager listserv multiple times. I cannot find another district that has actually run, written in RFP, um,

1:19:00 for a specific review like this. Does anyone feel strongly on the RFP versus pi? I would prefer an RFP. My reason being, um, I know some of the firms we have used to do these audit in the past, that we have members of current and past pass services administration that are consultants for them. And if we went with a bid process and someone was a low bid, who is, who is running the pro, the, the evaluation could not be a factor. Well, there’s, there’s ethical, I mean, there’s the, the, the, You know, we, we can state that in the specifications. The minimum requirements, you know, cannot be associated with Marblehead public schools in any way. We could, we could

1:19:45 Certainly for however within, and we can go back for however Many years, No. Members of their staff. Yep. Whether a consultant or not. ‘cause I, that would, I think that would have a bearing,

1:19:58 I guess. I mean, I don’t know how we Have, um, we have some current staffs that are consultants for Well, that would certainly not be possible for current Staff. That would be an ethical issue. Right. I, I would think Agree. I mean, there there are those, you can’t double D Um, and then there’s also the cooling off period also. But that’s one year I think, or two year, if you forget what the cooling off period is. Um, we’ve used, um, firms that have our current staff on, on, well, we’ve used them and they just have filed a disclosure. Hmm. So those, I think we can put the Yeah, I think so. Just ma whatever. That’s my concern. Okay. Whatever you need to write. That’s what I wanted to say. Say what you’re spec. Yeah. I wanna make sure it is really Mm-Hmm.

1:20:45 Um, not influenced. Yep. I’d say go back five years. Is that fair? Yeah. More than five years is No, no, no. I just want, you know, I just wanna make sure that it’s, it’s, yeah. No current employees, no one that’s worked the district for the past five years. Um, three. But we can say whatever we want. Yeah. In our, in our proposal. Yeah. I thought the ethics requirement is Three. I think it’s, it’s, but some of it’s a year. I don’t remember. So a question I have, if everyone’s, has everyone had a question? I have one more question. I’m not sure how to phrase this. Mm-Hmm. But there was a move to make equal services between the schools special ed services. Can we have them look at whether it’s better to centralize that certain services in one school,

1:21:32 economized on the cost and support and all that? You know? ‘cause we did have, every school did have certain things a few years ago that they did well. And then it was created this idea of everybody has to have ‘em in their own building. Well, really it’s the elementary Schools. Yeah. Just the elementary. I think once you get the village, it’s, Well, they’re all separate Right. Grades. Um, absolutely. Is everyone’s questions before I go. Mm-Hmm. So, um, one where it says is rate of initial referrals overall and at different grade levels consistent with comparable school districts. One concern I have there is one of the themes we’ve heard in the last month would be that staff felt

1:22:18 a, a request to not refer certain. I I just wanna make sure that we’re not, that the language of that is not setting us up to say we’re over referring kids. If when in doubt do the process, like I want, I, I, I don’t, I wanna be, I wanna be cautious about that. ‘cause that is a concern we heard. I wanna make sure that we’re not, it doesn’t look like we’re trying to say you shouldn’t re we refer over refer. So we shouldn’t refer. ‘cause we’re not saying we’re over qualifying. If, if in doubt do the process, you know, I want staff to feel enabled. But I, I think that’s a fair Okay. You know, question to say like, when you look at a comparable school district, do we have more students

1:23:04 Whose needs were not meeting? I mean, that’s really kind of the issue. And it also talked about, That’s just talks about the referral process And Right. But are we, we’re making referrals. I’m assuming when students are not meeting goals or not meeting Mm-Hmm. There’s a process to go when you want to get somebody on special ed, you have to go through this process. Yeah, no, I understand that. And I believe it’s followed closely. So, Right. But the question is, I think with Sarah, your concern is that are, when one of these questions is, are we consistent with comparable school districts? So there’s a concern that, you know, we shouldn’t be comparing ourselves to other districts. Our concern really is with our own, you know, our own students, students in our district, our students. Right. But there is some value to benchmarking. Okay. That’s kind of a standard in the, Um, another education important piece that I don’t see reflected here is I’d like

1:23:51 to see an analysis of trends in our out of district placements and suggestions that come out of those trends for improvements that can better meet the needs to prevent a need for an outer district. Therefore, providing more inclusion for our students in their home district, as well as a cost savings to the, there there is a, a moral and a fiscal and a, there’s lots of benefits to, to that, I think. So I just wanna, I want an analysis of what the trends in OUTTA districts are. And I’m assuming Dr. McGinnis that, um, this or, so this, this, um, organization does have access to confidential information. Mm-Hmm. Is that the case? So there’s gotta be some process

1:24:40 where that that’s recognized that it’s confidential and nothing will be, but they would have, I would assume have to have access Right. To comes specifics. It comes with their when sheet, once you have a contract. Okay. That the best of you know, that we don’t have access to that. And then the reporting probably has to be reflective of that, right? Mm-Hmm. That they have to be careful in their reporting. Mm-Hmm. That there’s no chance that no way to individually, that any student would be able to be, um, mm-Hmm. Identified. Thank you. I saying outed. But yes. Thank, um, okay. Any other questions, concerns, thoughts? No, that’s good. Thank you. Thanks for doing that. So, um, do you need a motion for us? Nope. Just if you have any feedback and all that I meant took notes, but if there’s anything specific, just email me. Okay. Can you just give us, keep us updated as we Absolutely.

1:25:25 Thank you very much. Um, so next we have the school committee vacancy. As everyone knows, we had received Megan Taylor’s, um, resignation effective immediately last week. Um, so per mass general law, chapter 41, section 11, I’m going to ask for a motion to enable the chair to write to the select board to initiate the process to fill the vacancy in accordance with Mass General Law. Chapter 41, section 11. So Moved. Second. Moved by Brian. What a second for Jen chapter discussion. It might be helpful, Sarah, just for the record, to explain Sort of what this process looks like. Yes. Once we, so it’s pretty, it’s outlined pretty clearly in, in that chapter

1:26:11 and section that when a vacancy occurs on a board, whether by through resignation or failure to elect we know and running or whatever, um, the, the board in question has one month from the date of notice, which would be the resignation to take the vote that we just took. That would enable me to issue a letter to the select board saying that we are going to start the process at. So at that time, I’ll work with, um, the select board, similar to what we did last year, to set out some dates. Um, we’ll use the same announcement we’ve used for the last several vacancies that just says we’ll be looking for letters of interest, um,

1:26:58 that they need to be submitted by a certain date, which I’ll set with, with the select board. Um, those letters will come to both myself as well as, um, the select board chair and, um, Lisa Manning, who is our, uh, our assistant and Kyle Wiley. So there’s a multitude and they’ll have to be received by a certain time and a certain date. At that point, they’ll be disseminated to all members. And we will meet as a joint committee, the select board and the school committee. We’ll conduct interviews. And then, um, at the end of those interviews, we’ll deliberate, um, the selectmen take their votes a little bit differently than than we do, where they don’t make a motion

1:27:43 and then all vote on one motion. They go around, they, they use this pattern where you go around the table and each one says who they’re supporting and why. Um, so we do it the way that they’ve set forth. And if there’s a majority of NA that people that say the same name at that point, that’s the decision. If not, you go round robin again and everybody says who they’re gonna vote for. And that may change for some people until you reach the point of majority, which is five? It would be five. Well, if there’s five people there right now, um, I’m not sure what that number will be. You know, it’s the majority of the combined board. It’s the, it’s the majority of the people present that need to be at least a quo.

1:28:28 Yeah. So we, we don’t know if all members of the Slack board or all members of us will be in 10 minutes. We try our best to make a date that works for everybody. Um, so I will, are you gonna suggest dates or are you gonna wait and see? ‘cause I just, so last time dates were really hard to pin down. Um, it took us, I think like six weeks. Oh. To find dates that, to pin down. We found a date and then I think it was a member of the select board was, had had an event pop up on that night. So we had to start over again. Um, so we’ll start, what I will start the process with is looking at our meeting schedule, the select boards meeting schedule with them, and then say, these are our blackout dates, if you will.

1:29:14 Um, it being budget season, there’s gonna be a fair amount of blackout dates that we already have committed elsewhere. And then we put it out almost as a, a poll, like a, I don’t know if it’s a Google poll, but, and then it’s really just, it’s a lot of wrangling to find the dates. Yeah. Um, so I will, I will, um, get this letter out right, right away to the select board, um, through national law. We have, you know, the, the month, but I’m, I will, I’m, yeah. Not gonna get to it tomorrow. I can tell you that I have a little bit of life stuff to deal with tomorrow, but I will get it out the very beginning of next week to them. And then I’ll make sure to reach out. Um, last time they preferred I worked with Kyle for the dates. She does their calendars. So whoever they prefer will, will work through the pieces.

1:29:59 And I’ll get everybody information. Just, I ask the public to be patient. It’s a lot to work with the schedules of nine individuals that all, many of which have, um, other professional commitments. So it’s not necessarily a norm school committee meeting or select board meeting, night of committee. No, it’s because it’s a whole night of interviews. Yeah. You know, last time I think we had 11 people. We ultimately interviewed maybe eight or nine. ‘cause some people stepped away from it after, after initially. So it’s a process and we will absolutely do our, our best to work through that. Um, so subcommittee and liaison updates. Wait, we need to actually vote. I think we did. Oh yes. I’m sorry. Yes. All in favor. Oh, we have to do roll call. Allison’s here. Nope. We lost her on the train back to, I’m sorry.

1:30:46 She’s not on my list anymore. All in favor? Motion carries three to zero. Thank you all for taking this ride with me. As far as knowing who’s on and who isn’t. I have nailed 58 names to go through. Um, so that brings us to our subcommittee and liaison updates and discussion. Yes. I was able to meet with Jeff Levin and Jen Jackson, the cpac. Oh, we should, we should announce Brian is our CPAC liaison. He is, um, when Megan resigned, she, um, left her roles vacant of as CPA and Mecca liaison. So Brian is our ME cpac. So I met with the two of ‘em yesterday and we had a good conversation. Looking forward to working with him and moving forward. Unfortunately, I missed their last meeting. It was the day after I was informed that was A-C-P-A-C liaison,

1:31:33 so I couldn’t do it. Okay. Thank you. Um, any other updates? Um, so policy subcommittee has not met, um, however, we have, um, there has been, there have been I think two, maybe a total of three, uh, three listening sessions with, um, open to, um, all students at Marble High School. Um, one I believe was with assistant superintendent Julia Ferrera and Dr. Carlson, the principal. I was not attendance. Then there were two more last Friday and the Friday before, um, that we had school committee members attend. Sarah and I attended one. And then last week I, um, attended myself alone. Um, so it was great. We got some, really some good feedback. We actually got a proposal, um,

1:32:19 or three proposals, um, uh, submitted to us from, uh, this, this particular cohort who has been in attendance. Um, so I’m going to bring that back to the policy subcommittee and we will discuss it. Julia, assistant superintendent Julia Ferrera had indicated there’d be, I think you and Dr. Carlson are gonna do sort of a debrief with the students. So we’re gonna stay in touch with that. I just wanted to make sure that they are not looking for an additional session, or if they are, you know, how they feel that they submitted those proposals. Are they, you know, do they want, do they feel any need to change those? That I’m gonna take those back and if so, we can, we can, we can talk about that. Um, I also need to put together, um, a package to, um, uh, attorney Vale, uh, Liz Valerio, um, to give her a dossier of

1:33:05 where we are at this point. Um, so we’re, it’s going to, it, it’s, this is gonna take a little bit more time Okay. At this point. So just to get, and I haven’t heard any other policy issues that have come up. So I, Dr. Magennis, I don’t think we’ve heard anything. So we haven’t had, we haven’t had to have, we haven’t had a need to meet. Okay. Um, so the other liaison position would be the Met C**n position that, um, Ms. Taylor had had held. Um, I originally was going to appoint someone to that. I, I will be honest, um, following the task force against discriminations meeting last night and what I understand to be some comments that came out of that, um, I feel like the way the liaison system had been working with

1:33:53 that role might have not worked very well because we’ve been asking for updates, right. Uh, um, METCO updates all year, every single meeting. And we’ve never received a single one. We’ve never been told, uh, of anything. Um, and some pretty, um,

1:34:16 significant statements. My, I have not watched the meeting. I was not at the meeting, but I’ve had a lot of outreach. There’s some pretty significant statements made regarding the METCO program yesterday, which, um, I’m very sad that we were not being kept updated on throughout that. So I wanna look a little more deeply on how we can improve, uh, that liaison position so that the METCO program and the metco, um, PCO feels that their concerns are being brought back to us. ‘cause clearly they, they were not. Um, so what I would suggest while we work through that is that we all be available. Um, I think it’s really important that all members

1:35:02 Work with all of our students. Um, and whether they’re commuting from Boston, whether they live down the street, whether they’re, um, a tuition in from another town. ‘cause we, we have students from all over. So I am gonna work with Kaia and ask her to let the entire school committee know about all of their meetings. We have to be very cognizant about open meeting law. Two of us would be able to attend. But whereas we had one individual and we were getting, I mean, we all asked every meeting, we were getting no report. I wanna make sure that we all are able to attend those meetings. Um, that, that, um, the PCO members and the METCO PCO are working with all of us.

1:35:52 Um, because it is really, some of the feedback I got is really quite, quite honestly the first time I’ve gotten this feedback. And I think the proper channel really would needs to be that we are hearing that. So I’ll work with Keisha to, to get those dates out. Um, and then all I can ask is that everyone please let me know if you’ll be attending one so that we can just be mindful that no more than two of us are attending and that we please if you had an opportunity to attend the last one in three people have responded that people be mindful of letting everybody, um, be part of that. ‘cause I think it’s really important that we all can hear that. Um, so that No, I, I agree. I think,

1:36:37 you know, we did have, we had parents come a couple of times. Yes. And we, those were addressed. I was very proud of our administration for immediately. Yeah. Yeah. And it was Cy and I, I don’t know if I got the other name, but anyway, um, but, but that was a specific issue and it was not the, because I too got some feedback that it wasn’t this, um, breadth of the issue. So I think, you know, similar to what we were doing with this listening session, this policy subcommittee, um, Allison and I trying to spread it out, but also, you know, I invited Brian, I invited Sarah so that, so that all committee members could actually hear from that particular cohort around that particular subcommittee issue. Um, I think this is another example where we have, you know, we have a, um, I dunno if cohort’s the right word, but, um, you know, area

1:37:24 that we probably all need to at this point, um, be able to have firsthand co communication with. Um, and then, you know, at some point down the road we can, you know, maybe get back into sort of a liaison position. But we probably need some, we need to make some, um, some forward steps with, um, with, with the, um, with the director and the parents and the, and the folks from, um, um, our metro Program. One thing I will say, um, about some of the things I heard mentioned at that meeting is I do, I am, I am very supportive of all of our staff, all of our teachers. I feel our teachers work really, really hard to provide inclusive environments. Um, and I just, I, I feel like it needs to be,

1:38:13 that needs to be said. Um, so I just on the heels of some, some comments that were brought to my attention, I think it’s really, I, I think our teachers work really hard to provide inclusive, responsive environments. I, I agree. I echo that. Um, and I think that we have been clear in, in recent, in, during, over recent events, our, our support as a committee of all of our staff, um, all of our teachers, all of our staff, and I 100% agree with that. And that’s why I think we need to do, to do some outreach here. Okay. So that’s, we will proceed that way. Um, closing business, new business school committee announcements and requests.

1:39:02 So the only thing I was gonna throw out there, Sarah’s gonna love this, is I was noodling on this recently. Um, I, I don’t, I don’t think from a timing perspective, it, it makes sense at this point for telling me anything. But I did wanna throw out at some point, do we want to, um, think about whether the school committee should be expanded to seven seats from a five seat committee, just from a lot of the things that have gone on, you know, over the past, you know, six months, five years, however you want anything in between. Um, is there, um, is it the time to start talking about this as something that would make, um, sense? Now that being said, there’s all sorts of ways that, that not all sorts of, there are a couple of ways that can happen.

1:39:47 It can be, you know, it’s an article on the warrant. Um, I think we’re, that has probably sailed for this year, but I’m just sort of throwing it out there under new business. Uh, did have a conversation with, um, uh, Jim Sen, who’s working, uh, with some other folks. I think league, um, as well on this idea that there may actually be a charter commissioner, charter committee, um, to work that’s premature. That may also be something that could fall under that, um, project, if that’s the word. Okay. So I’m just throwing it out there. I think it’s something that’s worth talking about, maybe over the coming months. Mm-Hmm. Um, and also an opportunity as we hopefully get into some for either focus groups and forums that we hear from the public on their thoughts about that. Exactly. I was just, when you said that, I thought,

1:40:34 you know, we really had wanted to start doing those town hall folk where it’s an actual conversation. ‘cause our meetings, although a lot of people during public comment want that engagement and however much we wanna give it, it’s, it’s just not, this is a meeting in public, not a meeting with the public. So I think that might be a great topic to have as a, a forum discussion or a town hall to really hear people’s thoughts. And I’d also, I’ll start doing a little more research myself just to educate myself further on. I know we heard at MASC, some committees are, there’s one that’s 20 some odd people, which I would never wish upon anybody. Oh yeah, those are, yeah. The regionals. Yeah. And well, this, there’s one non regional that’s 25. Really? Yeah, it was insane. So, um, I, I would never wish

1:41:21 that upon anybody, but I wanna do some research on what the standards are, how it works, the pros and cons. Maybe reach out to a few communities or zoom in. I love zoom to, to some. So thank you for bringing that up and we can, we can work on that moving forward. Um, correspondence we have received, um, we received some emails, nothing that would fall under the guidelines of correspondence. Such typically if we’ve, if we, if someone has approached us for board action, if you will. So I don’t think there’s anything there. Um, if not, I can update it next time. So that will bring me to a motion to vote or vote to meet an executive session pursuant to Massachusetts General Law. Chapter 30 a section 21 A

1:42:08 for the following purpose, purpose three. To discuss strategy with respect to and in preparation for collective bargaining with the Marblehead Educational Association unit, a unit, permanent substitutes, unit tutors, unit paraprofessionals, and unit custodians. Because an open discussion may be detrimental, may have detrimental effect on the bargaining position of the committee. Committee. And purpose. Seven. To review, approve, and consider the release of executive session minutes from the following meetings. 12, 7 23 and 1223. 21, 23 with the intent not to return to open session. So moved. Moved by Jen Schaffner. Seconded. Seconded by Brian Oda. We’ll do a roll call, vote for this. Jen Schaffner. In favor. In favor, Brian Oda. Uh, no.

1:42:54 Allison Sarah Fox in favor. Motion carries three to zero.