School Committee: April 1, 2024

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0:23 me on YouTube um so are we live with sound to Frank okay so I will call to order at 7 P.M and um if anybody has any

0:37 commendations public commendations public comment we good all right so um we have from Dr mcginness District updates great thank you um well I’ll start with the I’ll do the budget one when we do the presentation okay I’ll skip that what was in the newsletter uh and we’ll the special ed audit um should be good to go we’re looking um to have something awarded in miday so that we can start in June um with the um program review audit uh Marblehead High School I’ve been communicating with you all on um the challenges with the roof leaks that are continuing um so some updates on the roofing project the request for proposal for the OPM services for the roof

1:23 replacement is underway with responses due later this month and we anticipate a contract being awarded also in late May with the open PM assisting in the procurement of the architectural engineering services and uh phase one of the roofing project during the summer of 2025 however that brings us to the next um there question on that yeah absolutely you may not know the answer but maybe why does it take 15 months for them to do it I don’t to build a roof to start it says it’s going to start in June 21th yeah it says completion of phase one of the roofing project would be June of I don’t know what

2:10 um well if if mid July they offer the award for the people that are going to do it that’s gives it a year till J um summer of 2025 they have to get this requires an architect so hopefully we’ll have it will go on through the plans and the permitting and all that I had asked that question um before and I was told that just same same answer really it just takes that long to get the permits and that it will be at least another full school year before I just wouldn’t mind some point maybe somebody could explain that to me I don’t know that’s why like it’s it’s April right why so

2:55 first question is what like is there a minimum number like 90 days for a project proposal you might necess know that but why we wouldn’t have one till July April I don’t know what the procurement rules are around project of the size you know this is triggers the largest project yeah to to go along the guidelines of the state I don’t know um what the process guideline if the if the um procurement maybe we could at least just get some information on the procurement process proc process is four to six weeks so after we have so right now it’s April 4th yeah April 1 so we’re May we’ll make an award to whomever is going to do it

3:41 for the for the OPM yep okay so that sounds like that’s eight weeks yeah so we have an OPM on June 1st right so then that’s my question why is it a full year it’s four to six weeks for the procurement after we hire FM and then design contract would be awarded in mid July

4:08 yeah sorry I uh was coming from another meeting um you’re talking about the owner’s project manager for the roofing project yeah understand the timeline as we sit right now it’s April 1 yeah we know for some time that we were going to go on our own OPM and and then go for the project why it would be 14 months before it sounds like we have you know a nail on the roof yeah so the the issue is um and and I so I’m sorry if you if I’m telling you stuff that you already do know um but a project of this size anything above $1.5 million you have to have an OPM so that would be the first step so we have to procure the OPM that process takes about four to six weeks um the OPM

4:56 specifications are pretty close to to done I’m just waiting for some information from the director facilities about the roofing specifications um once we have an owner’s project manager in place and we award a contract to the OPM the OPM will then assist us in um procuring the services of a designer so the designer engineering firm that has the ability to do stamp drawings that has the ability to um draft the construction documents uh that’s the most important part um and so take Mary from the time you have an OPM from the time we op have from the time we award a contract to the OPM to

5:43 the time we um procure the services of a designer and again I don’t want to speak for the OPM but typically it would take anywhere from 8 to 12 weeks um you have to have it you know you have to develop the specifications you have to put it out on the street um you have to evaluate uh the proposals that come back um sometimes you conduct interviews not always uh check references so you know conservatively I would say somewhere between 8 to 12 weeks for that process once the designer is on board then the designer begins to draft all of the design documents the schematics the construction documents once all those construction documents and design

6:28 documents have been developed then those will go out on the stre treat to procure the services of a roofing contractor um again that procurement once and and to back up for a second the uh process of developing the design documents and the construction documents and the bid documents probably will take another three months for the designer and then we put that out on the street that procurement will take anywhere from you know six to eight weeks to procure and award a contract to a roofing contractor uh and so at that point the roofing contractor would then have to obtain the necessary permits um obtain

7:15 the uh supplies that they need to do the work and the reason why we don’t do it until the summer is because the building needs to be unoccupied when they peel back that entire roof as it is you know eight weeks is pretty short time frame to replace an entire roof and they may be doing some final punch list items into the beginning of the school year but the bulk of the replacement of the roof would have to occur over summer thank you Mary I have a couple questions on that um throughout this process are we allowed

7:55 to choose an OPM an architect and if we I don’t know if we go with CM or not but are we able to choose who we want or little bit we can choose okay we choose if it was an msba project we could choose our OPM but the msba would choose the designer um but but because it’s not an msba project we get to do all of the procurement and select um the contractors now for I will say for the OPM and for the uh designer it will be an RFP process so we don’t necessarily have to pick the least expensive um we base it on their technical capacity the roofing uh

8:41 contractor however will be procured through chapter 149 and so that would be low bidder okay um and then we I guess you answer my I think I think you’ve covered it all on that um thank you sure she yeah sure so with the roof roof leaks our water intrusion everywhere as we have noticed um and teachers have have been uh subject to in students so I want to provide you an update of the continued response at Marblehead Hood high continued response at Marblehead high school regarding both the roof leaks and the confirmed mold in a classroom um earlier this winter uh in one classroom there was concealed source of mold that

9:26 was identified behind the sink and removed and as in all situations our response to any mold is to identify it to remove the impacted area treat it and replace the damaged material such as the wall or insulation and insulation principal Carlson at the time um made arrangements to move the teacher in the class to an alternative location within the school and the area where it was found is not currently being used by a classroom um back in January because of the roof leaks we contracted with f and O’Neal um who performed an initial study and I’ve hyperlinked everything there to read again and then in March um we also contracted mold and inspection testing for a second study to perform tests on the identified area as well as other areas that have been identified

10:13 throughout the school um in addition we had an air quality test that was performed in January and found that it was not airborne and a second air quality test was performed Saturday March 23rd and again found it was not Airborne so to continue with fixing this roof or you know makeshifter um ways to mitigate it uh the facilities Department completed all of the recommendations from the initial report that we received in um February um and then uh after uh last what day was it last week what day when we had the budget hearing um hearing from the nea’s assertions um that on March 21st we immediately contracted with the other firm to do the second retesting and that

10:58 happened as I said on the 23rd of March and the results were that were laboratory analysis of the samples taken shown elevated mold conditions do not exist at the property in question the collected indoor air quality sample when compared to the control are within normal range and based on the visual inspection and laboratory results our professional opinion is that professional mold remediation is not required however we do see several instances and areas um of the roof that are still leaking especially result of the amount of rain that we have had lately um so we are continuing um with the facilities Department to monitor it and mitigate but we’ve also done um several things as in last week um and the first one was that the facilities director Marblehead head high school

11:44 director Marblehead high school principal and I walked through the school to you know witness and identify and examine the areas um that have water intrusion or have evidence of water intrusion um we put some air uh air purifiers yeah and dehumidifiers around the areas where there are um identified leaks we convened a meeting last Thursday with fuss and O’Neal the scientist from there with um Mary our uh consultant for Director of Finance and operations with our facilities director myself um and a few other people and um it’s clear that we need a larger scale examination of this because it’s a continuous source and as Mary uh spoke

12:29 to earlier our roof won’t be complet compl um the first phase of it until a year from now or a year from July um so we um anticipate providing the committee with some updates on that and coming up with a plan um we’re going to also partner with the mea on uh seeking to conduct further testing for mold in the high school on a mutually determined date in 2024 um most importantly as we take the safety and Welfare of our students and our staff um very very seriously and um we will continue give the updates on that and the plan uh the other thing that I just want to mention is in the newsletter um in in your links and I I just haven’t had time yet today to look

13:16 at them from um the email last night do the locations that they are going to be looking do they include the locations that the union brought forth to us with their their poster board pictures last week uh and also what Mr King varas and Mr King noted in his emails are those locations y thank you in of that yep um so what um our facilities director does is takes all of the from whether they come from Principal Carlson or Mr King or from the mea or anyone um Any teacher um puts them to an ongoing document that um is shared with the principal facilities and all of us to make sure that we attend to so yes that being and the independent Boston whatever you said it was called

14:04 they will be looking at those look I I we’re actually going to look at so we HED two different people but um Mary and I had a discussion over the weekend and we’re just going to look at uh best of and see if that’s who you want to go forward with as we’re making a more concerted plan um for this just because it feels a little whack-a-mole with uh leaks here and there and everywhere so uh um we’ll report back probably next we maybe we go with for that right so whomever you go with will the locations that they look at include the locations brought forth by Mr King okay absolutely and were those locations included before it seems I’m sorry it seems a little yeah a lot of them were but I don’t know exactly his newest one um that’s on the list or not but it’s yeah no there’s a

14:49 number of them but it seems kind of wild to me that the recommendation would have been no remediation I’m a civil engineer that’s not my forte or my special at all but it seems kind of wild that what their analysis versus you know what we’re hearing um I would love the opportunity to walk that area with you Mr King if that is is possible at all um and with you Dr mcness just so that we can see it sure um the specific locations I think it’s really important to note it’s great that it’s happening it’s great that it’s going to happen again we’re gonna have more focused attention

15:37 um I would I I think at this point um I would like to kind of arrange that if anybody else wants to I can definitely arrange that I think there was I don’t know I copied you on this El I think you send you a time tomorrow or if that’s still the case um I look now because it might be full but I will definitely get you this week okay actually no I’ve contracted consult dat one and that was you asked me on Friday yeah I definitely will schedule it you this week you guys can give me some times um so that’s any other questions on that okay um and then also included in the newsletter that I sent out to you all too and Hyper lunte is the restraint response plan um that we developed in response to recommendations that were

16:24 made um and have already started to um Implement some of those and uh Julia has been working closely with um um our interim director of student services and the principal um on coordinating efforts for faculty meeting coming up this Wednesday for everyone and then lastly um that I have on my thing is um Village School students um received some great recognition um and thanks from the Massachusetts center for the book um for their submissions in letters about literature and this is a reading and writing program that asks students in grades 4 through 12 to write letters to authors who work whose work has really made a sign significant difference in their lives so some Village School students um won some terrific Awards uh

17:12 a level one student award um what to were distinguished in the state was Charlotte quick she was a finalist which is a really huge award and then we also had um four semi-finalists in in this writing program Chase Taylor Jordan London Ma gorgi and Noah groy yeah and um their heaps of gratitude to their teachers um Mrs trainer Madigan and Mrs St for being wonderful teachers and that’s what I have for updates at the moment um so can we get um go into the

17:52 budget sorry short things are popping into my very long day um it we had asked for if if it was possible for someone on the committee to kind of sit in to review the responses to the rfps is that something that’s that’s still possible I think so Mary are you still still on with us she’s in charge of that process I am still here awesome and um there’s some interest in uh reviewing the rfps for the special ed program review or audit uh when they come in from school Committee Member uh in the capacity as one of the

18:38 people to rank and rate or just as uh wanting to peruse to see what the responses look like um originally the request this was I think before you joined so apologies for that obviously um was to be a part of the committee that that responds and ranks but definitely would like if that’s not possible any longer defin would like to be able to see the responses and just give ground on this Mary it’s because this audit was ordered by the school committee it’s not that I want to make sure no one thinks we’re trying to overstep our um our purview here because it’s our uh audit if you will um that that has been ordered by us that’s kind of where that came

19:24 from yeah I mean honestly I I welcome um any additional perspectives uh I always find these processes that make you know the right people at the table make for richer conversations about you know the responses that we get so if um you as the chair want to appoint somebody to be on that evaluation committee um that we can make that we have not we the uh RFP has been advertised in goods and services and combes with an official release date of tomorrow so tomorrow it will hit the streets so to speak um and the due date is I believe April 25th either April 18th or April 25th sorry I um a lot of dates going around in my mind um and so we would begin the review

20:12 process right after that okay um correct me if I’m wrong I did we not I’m Brian and Jen and Allison um originally when we talked about this I think we had assigned Allison to this role am I wrong about that what the role to um be our representative that use our bees I call but Alice has been the one yeah yes yeah I have no do do you want to do that yeah AB we have to post it as a sub right so yeah um and then just during le le just give us updates um okay perfect great um would you mind

20:59 Frank 29 so in an effort to bring forth our recommendations for Budget Restorations for revised fy2 oh one second see okay um proposed budget on the district and school leadership we got together and reviewed all of the reductions that were made um initially on our uh preliminary fy2 budget um and also we looked at the FY 24 budget cuts that we had last year and and items that were identified during the early stages of our budget development for the fy2 budget so we looked at three different lists and we thought about continuous Improvement about the dist across the district and across the schools so

21:45 collaboratively um the budget cuts and the unfunded requests and we sat um and went through a process where we um nominated those that we believed were the most critical parts and so we did this in stages so the team ranked them all um as additions and restorations in uh three categories as you’ll see here the one up on the right now up on the screen is category one um being reflective of the most critical areas um that we would like to bring forward and what we did is at the bottom of each we put a sum total of that area so for example category one um would be the whole thing would be 1, 229,000 but as you can see on category one it’s 600

22:31 31,000 for that section just to sort of Define what we were doing there so as you can see in that first slide um just take a moment to read over if you like and maybe ask some questions so um as I look at this just for a point of clarification um I see category one two and three a lot of work happened on this by the way I can tell by looking at this looking at the justifications next us a lot of the work happened in a very short period of time so I’m really f for that um then on this the last page of this I see fy2 priority list these items um our original reductions not included is that because even if we were sitting on you

23:16 know a fully FLH pot of gold those are things that have been deemed not necessary right now I just want to no okay everything is necessary okay um we had to start somewhere yeah and so we started with what at your school must you have next year to and so that’s what this was because I heard from the school committee and budget like what and so that this was like we have to have this these categories at top the others are greatly needed as well okay but this list which isn’t up on the screen yet but we have y um are not back in so those will remain as correct yeah I was there no total there the reason why those ones weren’t back in because I have to be honest and we’ll deliberate further on this I’m inclined to um take

24:02 a vote to add back in categories one two and three I see no reason there’s justification here why we would not add these back in that’s you know we’ll have to talk about that as a committee but I’m inclined to bring all three of those back what I my question is is with extra list it looks like slide 31 um what this doesn’t have the rationale next to it so I was just wondering of those items what what do you think um can you just talk about that because I personally this you provided on 29 and 30 all the justification I need to bring those back I don’t know if people are looking if I want to open it to the committee if you want further questions at anything at 29 or

24:47 30 you should probably show okay um and again these are things that it either come out of our budget this year or last year because you know you’ll see on here the librarian um which we’ve heard you know a lot about um so I I personally have need no further rationale than you provided so I appreciate you provided that but I want to make sure we’re answering any questions or concerns from the rest of the

25:18 committee okay um I would like to hear more about slide 31 so we can definitely give you rationale for each thing on there we’re thrilled that you’re saying we would take one two and three because you know we we’re coming from 2.3 million what we prepared to um this so two and that’s great you know we we’ve we’ve done a lot of work on our side to pair it down but meet the needs of our kids so let me understand this so right now we this is 1.2 million 1.22 n 809 above the level funding so that would be yep um cuts of um around 600 we had originally

26:07 cut so that’s what this represents is that what you’re saying yes that do do we have a total I can I can do it what’s represented in I don’t have the total no I was just trying to add I do it um but I think what we also you guys have brought up at the last school committee meeting and we’ve talked about um individually too is you know we’re looking at the revolving account in some of our reserves and while they’re at the aspirational level of 100% which is best practice um the rest of our budget is not at the aspirational level so there was a way we may cut it to 90 or 80% we are looking at that and um Mary Emma and I are going to look at the Surplus tomorrow um that is estimated for the

26:53 end of year um and also those two areas of revolving and Reserve accounts um and offer some suggestions thereafter okay that might subsidize or fund part of these and I’m assuming um I’m just adding as we talk so I apologize I’m not um I’m assuming these are in prioritization list like for instance after dark would be the lowest priority one of the so no we didn’t prioritize this last group okay we can do that well okay um opening to questions from as you’ll see the bottom part of that list are um not student facing we use that framework

27:39 that framework that framework again brought teachers

27:49 back anybody any questions for Dr M it’s GNA add up to more than the 1.8 million because we looked at FY 24 cuts that were done and we looked at 1.3 right so it’s 2.5 that makes sense so the priority list which I would call maybe subcategory four which is not being um it’s not going to be added back into the budget is I have4 I got6 got4 yeah um versus 1.2 being added back in so one thing that we’re talking about tonight on the heels of last school committee meeting that we were we rejected a level

28:37 funded budget and are looking at getting closer to a level Services budget these are the items that you have prioritized to come back in what we haven’t talked about in terms of a bottom line number is potential Revenue sources which you just described and that I don’t think we’ll have that number until Mary gets a chance to probably come back in later this week look at the suggestions or the um should say um um recommendations for revolving funds in any potential cace one other quick question I have is from first from looking at this it looks like these include things that were cut this year and last year but do not potentially address you know last year we heard from our leadership things that were needed and then this year as part

29:23 of one of your slides there was some additional asks on there I keep I I feel that I keep going back to this but it’s the one that pops into my head of um curriculum coaches by um curriculum directors curriculum directors I’m sorry um from princial Carlson um those were not were those looked at with this and just not deemed to be so there three lists FY 24 Cuts last year everyone knows fy2 proposed ones from before and then the aspirational one which was like when we first started building the budget back in December okay um some of those areas okay so I don’t think everything was included from aspiration of the year before but were but were were there any items from that aspirational that did because I I don’t

30:08 have that list in front of me but I don’t think I see anything that jumps out data and intervention coach at the high school is in category three okay and I think there probably one or two but it might just be the language or the title that we ref all right so maybe it’s she said I’m looking because it when I read the justification it looks like that might be kind of comparable to something like a curriculum director we’re talk correctly correct um I do think that there was something about a curriculum director in the aspirational so later we can discuss that okay um I can see that in away because moving back to curriculum director model with um which can be have a significant cost associated with it is

30:56 also directionally a different way than what we’ve been so I can see that being a FY 26 or plan because that’s moving that’s been my thing for a long time but it is there’s a lot more to it than just uh than just hiring some people in right I would think it’s a whole different way of looking at our teaching yeah and I’d love to talk about that we do have lead teachers that we restore that that is critical though for the work we already have started yeah yeah no one thing I will say take a slightly way but we’ll come back um is we heard today at our finance meeting how we really have to start planning right now for what next year looks like and one of those things I think that really needs to happen is I don’t know

31:41 if we’re going to call it a strategic plan or we need to strategically know the direction our our district is going so we need to we can’t wait till August to start that or June to start that we really that work needs to start now because you know because of the situation we really have to be able to walk in ch gum if you will um so so we have to start the while we’re finishing up our planning for FY 25 we really have to start our planning now for FY 26 because the the level of detail that is going to be needed for that and the level of you know strategic planning of where our district wants to go that will be needed for that is quite high so um I think you know those are conversations we need to start soon um

32:27 and I don’t want to wait till you know summer Retreat or something like that to start this conversation so you know that will keep coming

32:39 um is Mary still on yes good so Mary um what I see here is if we were to adopt category one two and three and add it to our reduced Services the budget we’d be looking at is 46,8

32:59 12247 12247 um I don’t know if you quick have that calculation in front of you but I’m just wondering because we are you know we have to be cognizant that we fincom was supposed to be budg voting our budget tonight they have been very collaborative with working with us to move that to allow us time to vote our budget um but as of right now they’re looking to vote our budget next Monday so I just I’m trying to get some figures together here um um I know you still have work to do on the revolving funds and things like that but this number now is becoming a number we can get to I think um whether it’s working with to with the

33:44 town we talked today how the town still has $2.2 million that they haven’t allocated through free cash we’re looking at our revolving funds um we’ve also talked about user fees which I think is something we’ll talk about a little more here tonight um does this feel if we put one two and three back to the cost of 1.2 million roughly Mary does that feel like something we’re going to be able to achiev uh my sense is that you know the right combination of tapping a little bit further into the revolving accounts and um I like what the superintendent said is that you know the there’s nothing about this budget that’s aspirational and so to the same came to

34:31 that point um while it is aspirational to have 100% of your reserves on hand uh this is a time where just like any rainy day fund you know it’s pouring and so um these are times where you have to rely on that so I think some combination of increasing our Reliance on the reserve accounts maybe instead of having 100% on hand we have you know 75 to 80% not in every account but there’s certain accounts like preschool and kindergarten tuition um and certainly circuit breaker um where we have the flexibility to perhaps um dial back on that to less something less than 100% um so between the increasing Reliance on some of the revolving accounts um and a a

35:17 conversation to be had that you know if we do have uh significant funds that we have um unencumbered right now uh that we feel we might still have as we approach the end of the fiscal year do we sort of put a hold on that um and if that were money to be returned to the town could that money be reappropriated um you know through the budget process could that money be reappropriated to the school department so some combination of Some Cuts some revolving fund and some additional free cash hopefully generated or regenerated by our school department turn back to some some extent um would be an acceptable solution that would allow us

36:05 to cover these ads back into the budget from the reduced service to get you closer to level service not quite there but closer to level service so Mary one question I know at one point you talked about the third I just want to make sure this number 1.2 is pretty rounded to a third a c make sure we didn’t back into this number yeah with that let’s look at a third of cuts back into this because that right the numbers match too yeah so I just want to make sure that um and also it is it is my stance if there is a surplus at the end of the year I would like to see that allocated

36:54 to um either special education tuition and or onetime cost like the um Tech replacement and then therefore you whatever we allocated reduce our budget the for fy20 p by buy that amount rather than passing it back waiting for it to be certified waiting months and month like we we can do that same process and quite frankly simplify it by with the prepayments and then reduce our budget on the other side by that amount if we’re prepaying 500,000 we can reduce our budget line items for next year by um yeah there there are certainly different ways to address this um and if you’re not um and this does in some communities if there’s a turnback of of

37:40 monies they there are agreements that that money be reappropriated if that’s not uh the will of the committee and you would prefer that instead we use those Monies to potentially prepay the things that we’re legally able to do like prepay special education tuitions or pre purchase equipment we can’t do anything in terms of Labor that would be provided to us after July 1 one um but we can and the law and case law allows us to pre purchase equipment uh then certainly that’s another way to get to that same end point that’s just that just guarantees us that funding L are on versus any potential um nuances there so that that would be you know my recommendation to everybody um and then

38:26 we also were looking at correct me if I’m wrong the letic fee proposal currently in front of us option two um provided was it another 380,000 of Revenue yeah a little less than that three 340 350 I think yeah it did well that’s incremental I mean so yes yes some of it is for athletics to reduce the Athletics budget so that’s um 170,000 would be the other 50% of the stiens for for coaches and then there’s another 100,000 or so um from a uh advisor um extracurricular user fees okay so that whatever we whatever path we take with the user fees if we choose

39:13 that path we’ll also reduce um that 2 1.2 as well um that wasn’t inclusive then Mary right it was that wasn’t inclusive of that the increase okay one one thing I would be interested in is now that it seems like we’re starting to see a path through um incre use of our revolving funds prep like it seems like we’re getting to a pass which I’m so grateful for can we because that’s a that’s a pretty big jump and we talked about you know how that affects the equity of access to to these extracurriculars right now we’re looking at the entire portion of siphons going

39:59 to the user fee versus it was 50% before is it is it correct to think if we went to 50% that that yield would come down to like 175 or not 50% if we went to 75% we split it instead of increasing them the amount we increase them if we cover you know 175 by the increase in user fees and 175 by the um operator or your is your recommendation to fully do the increase I mean you certainly could um instead of you know having 100% of the sitein covered you could have 75% um I do think over time you may find

40:46 yourself you know maybe in the 26 budget going to 100% um if we do however reduce uh the proposal for user fees we would have to find reductions somewhere else or additional Revenue somewhere else to offset um what we would not collect in this proposal right but it’s built in the this 46 no it’s not it’s not built into the 46 822 it would be two 380 would come off of the top versus if we choose to go 75% only 175 correct Mary um I’m not sure what’s the 175 I’m

41:33 not sure if I 350 and half if if 100% is providing us an additional 350 roughly of Revenue if we chose to go at 75% instead of 100% we could reduce our Delta deficit by 175 instead of 350 does that make

41:56 sense um I don’t I don’t no I I no the I mean the user fee revenue is allowing us to not have to cut as deeply right it’s generating Revenue to offset so if we do not collect as but when we see this total for category one two and three and it says 1,

42:29 229,900 fees yet we haven’t we take that 1.2 number and then we start reducing that how we’re going to make that Delta I mean we got to make up that money somewhere because the town has said they can only give us such and such so now we’re looking if we bring back category one two and three it’s to a cost of 1.2 million so we have to find that 1.2 million we’re talking about revolving funds we’re talking about asking the town to go a little deeper one of the things we’re going to reduce that 1.2 by is the revenue we’re producing by our user fee increase

43:05 correct yeah it’s already built baked in there that’s already yeah yeah I think the the probably the better way or different way to look at the what those cuts or those act I’m sorry those addb backs are it’s not starting from the level service it’s is basically we’re at reduced service and we’re adding back in 1.2 million theed Services already had assumed in there that we were going to raise user fees that’s happened so the athletic Fe is happening it sounds like um okay

43:44 so I I Have No Reservations whatsoever about moving one two and three back my question is because if category 4 where that stands because I did State the stands that I will not further reduce our staffing if as long as it’s not like if they’re Staffing that when we looked at our projections of student enrollment someone says listen it doesn’t make sense to have five sections of XYZ it really only makes no matter how much money you make it makes sense to have four sections yes that reduction is not a reduction because of budget it’s a reduction because of needs well I don’t necess agree with that so I that’s not how I feel that have any and correctly if I’m wrong but this last category number four

44:31 is inclusive of last year’s cuts too correct no the services all of these added up to the okay because there were like 36 okay this is more than what had been originally presented to us with a level fund could some of one two and three bring back things like the librarian but nothing in four brings back anything okay got it all right exactly it okay all right well that but that’s your prioritization um so last year’s Cuts were um more harmful than what I’ve okay um I fine with the 1.2 I don’t think there’s any way we’re gonna get

45:15 2.4 from from these sources of funding which is what we need to vote for I’m concerned in the special education thing items so I just want to make sure we move on to four so you know we’re going to use as you said one-time funds to fund ongoing positions well no because if we look at category one two and three they’re all is it they’re all equal right those aren’t one time funds though the’re revolving fund the free cash it’s not one time but you can’t there’s no guarantee that that amount of funds and those accounts are going to be the same for us next year because you you’ll need them right to keep these people employed more than one year we need a source of

46:01 revenue for that right our revolving funds do have is a source of other words the revolving funds will be and it’s something we can count on we’ll we’ll get that amount going forward to fund these additional positions I no I guess I just want to understand we are I I support these positions but I’m I also then it’s back to what you’re saying about strategic or communicating appropriately yeah we probably are then very realistically setting up but two and a half we we’ll need an override to continue with this level so I just want to make sure we communicate that to be fair to the community so just CommunityWide town and school side there is no path that 26 does it invol evolve prop two and a half without or reduces

46:49 without extreme because our our projections of free cash next year this year was Zero growth which actually turned out to be minimal growth but in 750 next next year’s projections is negative well why don’t we talk about this year because we can’t talk about next year because we have’t got that has to unfold yeah at the state of the town with no I think Al’s question was valid in that he wants to before he says he wants to bring something back find out because there’s always been when I think of one time um sources of revenue out what I think about just me is you know an Esser fund or an arpa fund where these were literally onetime grants and when you spend it it’s gone it’s never coming back there may be some other crisis down the road that will generate some other kinds of Grants

47:36 but that that those that’s it um the revolving funds that revolving funds by Nature revolve right so they get um they get replenished based on either building rental kindergarten tuition PK tuition circuit breaker those are all revolving every year the issue is you know what our former Finance assistant superintendent Finance had had worked very hard on in the last four years coming out of a crisis in 2019 was building those reserves from those revolving funds at 100% of the current year so what now is being recommended is and I we haven’t seen the numbers we’re going to see them from Married later this week but maybe you know 80% or 85% they’re still revolving funds they’re still going to be it’s still recurring Revenue whether you will

48:22 replenish it will replenish at what you know how many how much building meal so if it’s a much lower level yes we will have problem but you know what could cause I mean any number of things could cause that but generally you don’t see these huge swings even with free that makes sense thank you even with free cash though you have the same kind of level of confidence around cash is not no thought that was a source of we’re gonna hopefully I mean where that’s the yeah okay um when I’m looking at four some of these things I think are completely things we can’t meet right now I will go when I look at the tutors and the reading teacher and things like that when we talk about tier

49:09 one and two supports to kind of prevent the tier three which is the I and some of these are not heavy LTS like you know um what7 I also have had you know conversations with Michelle Carlson um regarding the high school and that’s another sort of little Pro another review that’s going on in terms of Staffing at the high school regarding so I’m I feel confident in the administration’s prioritization okay I just want a little more information on the special ed Cara at Glover because we’re hearing a lot about Staffing at Glover um I want some information on the reading teacher at Village

49:55 Village Village um

50:02 like some of these areas I I know that you know at the high school we are looking at the Staffing model um but some of these you know we’ve been hearing a lot about so if there’s it’s just hard when there’s not that rationale um you know it would be for instance one of these is um the after dark program or the the sports typ it would be hard to argue to bring back that reduction if you will of the sports Dien right now but it’s when we’re talking about actually laying off special education staff I I want to make sure we’re not entering

50:49 into a pay now or pay later model where it’s not going to cost us more in financial as well as student learning losses later on and it might the answer may be it won’t but I just I want some more information on that for me I would like more information on the special uh special ed par lover the reading teacher and the special ed teacher at Village um the special ed par teer at Glover and Par teacher at Village for me our littlest Learners are the ones that are still struggling the most as much as we’ve you know seen some improvement from an mcast perspective um and I just from that from what I hear in the community from what I know is happening

51:36 physically in the schools that to me seems um the only concern and it’s not because I don’t has nothing to do with not trusting you it’s just wanting even more and those mean you are looking at adding behavioral intervention istic lover uh an adjustment counsel lover um that adding it’s just not reducing keeping correct versus these would be would be reductions as well those were things that came on this this year’s cut list um so so I think the items you just listed come actually I don’t know that these are Cuts right the some of these are are

52:22 all of these all of category one two and three are are already on sta no which ones are not I know that behavior interventionist at Glover that is something we currently have in our budget that someone quit right it’s a kind of a repurposing of the job a little bit to meet the needs from what we’ve heard um okay so um Spanish teacher point4 would be an addition addition the the librarian addition well that’s from the former exactly from current building

53:06 subs and then the data intervention coach high school as we mentioned some of those are would be an assistant principal that exactly thank

53:37 do yeah do yeah um so I feel strongly about those and can you just tell me what those yep the special ed Hera and a special ed teacher Clover okay the reading teacher special

53:57 teacher we also have to be realistic about what realistically expect that we can pass it so right now that 1.2 I think sorry sorry um that 1 point2 I think between our revolving funds and when we get a closer idea on the Surplus Mary do you have even a back of envelope on a projected Surplus um I certainly feel comfortable saying that we could cover I think that’s that when we were talking about a third I think I feel like we have enough to cover the 600,000 that we’re talking about um to to contribute towards This 1.2

56:11 point two what we can fund what you think we can fund again just from a draft perspective or is part of the 1 point2 are we going to have to ask the town for that’s what she’s asking I’m sorry yeah for some reason I lost all audio I couldn’t hear you at all and now I can hear you um the um uh the 600,000 that we would uh contribute from our current Year’s budget um to to the earlier discussion would not need to go back to the town it would we could um as you know you had expressed a desire to prepay tuitions or purchase uh technology and reduce those items in the

56:59 FY 25 budget um and so therefore I don’t think we would need any additional um free cash from the town I so it doesn’t get us to level service I know I I understand that I get that but what I’m saying is if we can cover inh house 1.2 and these other items means we are asking the town to somehow fund an additional 250 I don’t think asking the town to find an additional 250,000 is a huge ask where did you get you is those four I don’t think that’s a hug ta I mean particularly this year particularly with everything that is has particularly since free cash came in 200,000 higher than they had estimated in the state of

57:44 the town that means we’re really asking for 80,000 in a $46 million budget which is dominous like $80,000 in a $46 million budget is not even a talk um so that’s why I’m I’m just saying like if we can cover 1.2 inhouse all we’d be asking the town to cover is under under 300 I think that’s reasonable well we also didn’t hear from the administration if that’s what they think is the priority would that be your

58:27 priority okay I mean here oh it’s take all right so I think I think I gu I’m prepared to vote 46822 I’m prepar I am prepared to add 250 to that number and because that is 200 to the 200 range because that’s the what we came back with free cash is what has been I believe what has been talked about at the Town level as a really reasonable ask of them so I haven’t heard that I um and like I said it’s the additional free cash that got certified

59:12 so that’s not that is not even bringing as you know we hear about unbalance all that is asking for nothing else from the town other than the additional free cash that they had not budgeted um so I for half of it I if we can cover all the other I would be be just the number six I only

59:53 okay I get 47 4707 476 what that would do is allow us50 250 250 oh so I did 250 um that would allow us to cover you know this 1.2 and we would be asking the town to cover an additional 250 which means we go into town meeting balance FKS which that’s that was something we thought was insurmountable um we don’t know that well we were worry but we still don’t know if they

1:00:40 would um and it brings us in about 350,000 below level Services it’s still a reduction from Level Services even if they don’t if I mean right now 47102 is giving us category 1 two and three plus a few of the extra special EDS that I personally just think are critical this year if they don’t give us that extra we’re still getting category one three funding ourselves and we may decide you know what this special education perah at Glover is more important than something in ceg administration may decide y That’s What I just need so yeah I would if if we vote this 47102 I my directive would be to the administration to go back and

1:01:27 prioritize she 102 it’s 072 47102 471 did you add 280 or 250 I added 25050 she she changed it to no I said 280 is what those four positions add up to I I add a 250 just so and I would say to the administration you can look and prioritize at 301 another 250 so there will still be yes yeah I don’t think it’s for us to yeah so I would and you know keep in mind if this is a number we vote and it isn’t for some reason voted to to support it um we always can be yeah we can up up through town meeting we can

1:02:14 revisit this number but the fact that we are presenting a number to fincom that we can fund ourselves with the exception of 250,000 from Level funded is I think that that is extremely reasonable as to brch the t y um does anybody else have any thoughts and that brings back a ton of of things that were concerned well it brings back some things as well as vening us and having to cut things right yeah yeah but I mean from from Level from Level funded which was and don’t forget we are still bargaining yeah

1:03:00 okay so is every any more questions on any of this I just don’t know how that you know are the two Finance layons now aligned around this okay I’m a little concerned you know it seems you know $280,000 is $280,000 but what that’s a very small percentage of a 46 million dollar budget so I can see where like fincom would say wait a minute you’re you’re trying to press us for a very minuscule amount of money um well I I came up with a number two that 200ish number because I know that free cash came in in access to that and what was balanced the budget so I think it’s a reasonable ask of the town and it sounds like a reasonable assumption but it’s an assumption at

1:03:46 this point it is I I’ve had enough conversations that I feel confident okay you’re in the same place yes okay thank you I do I do because you know what even to our meeting today with they have really really they they understand the impact this budget is having on our schools and have I I have felt like they have been very reasonable in their understanding of the impact has had okay and I think because of the detail that we have provided them here yeah we they are they are able to really understand that voting this number because some of this is going to be based on potential Surplus and revolving funds is not going to be the

1:04:32 requested appropriation it’s going L not labor because they’re not going to be voting on town meeting to this money that’s coming from our own um Surplus and our own so we’re going to have we’ll vote this budget yeah we’ll explain to them that we will have a a at once we get this data we will have a second vote that will talk about the appropriation of that one.2 from within our own budgetary numbers um will explain this so we’ll be asking us to vote later on to reduce this actual number we’ll be funding all this stuff but we’ll be funding it through our revolving funds and things like that but because we don’t have that data now I’m G to ask us to go with this number so Tom has

1:05:18 something to take action does everyone understand that um I may just so you know um when Dr mcginness gets this other information to us I may be hosting a last minute meeting that may have to be like a day meeting on Friday or Monday so potentially voting that $1.2 million reduction once we know the funding mechanism in a hope that we go to fincom with clear numers this is more so that we can have a vote of all of us you know saying this is what we’re going these are the positions we’re going to fund in our budget um so I’ll ask for a vote to approve a budget of 47 m7200 476 so mov by Allison Taylor second second by Sarah Fox

1:06:07 [Music] [Music] no it’s been a long day apologize um all in favor motion all opposed motion carries by to zero and I just want to just for clarification sake I know we just threw out a Million numbers and danced around we will be reducing that but not to reduce staff once we have the finalized number of exactly what’s coming from revolving funds exactly what’s coming from Surplus we’ll just vote that number to be reduced so that what we’re voting on the floor of town meeting is reflective of what needs to be allocated appr from the general so this will be the staff lines will be this but we’ll be once we we’re just waiting on information that’s coming later in the week we will vote a reduction on this

1:06:54 but it will not be reflective of cuts to staff it will just be reflective of moving from our revolving funds out of the general that Mak sense does that make sense I can clarify later if you want I just want to make sure what goes out if we if we have a vote for reduction of our budget in four days people understand what we’re going to be asking for from the floor of town meeting for appropriation from the general fund will be an amount plus around probably around 45 and change plus our Surplus plus our um revolving funds will equal 47476 but we don’t know what those exact numbers are so we’re going to revote yeah three to seven days

1:07:39 hopefully when we have those that data in but this was because scheduling at the last minute so hard for us we know what staff because our directors and our principes need to know too what staff they’re going to have so this allows you to know what staff you’re going to have and then we from here vote um when we move our revolving so can I just make one other request or at least have a conversation with the other members that given all of what’s gone into this and what we have so dependent on a portion of our budget for next year on potential Surplus Surplus and um revolving fund that we need to be I think very careful between now and the end of the fiscal

1:08:25 year June 30th on what we’re encumbering and what we’re spending because it’s going to have a direct reflect direct effect on what we have for our budget for next year so do we want to talk about you know any hiring any raises any contracts anything that we might be in cuming ourselves between now and June 30th to be either approved by the school committee or School commit made aware what we need to know that yes if anything’s going to be affecting our budget because whatever we do now in those areas will certainly affect uh into

1:09:04 fy2 agreed all right so are we talking like a like a budget freeze about anything that’s not in our current approved budget for FY 24 yes well or I I don’t know if that’s the right word or or leads the com to school committee to be to be approved any budget allocation I I want to make that exive if I could can I make that exclusive of expenses because then in the past when we’ve done a budget freeze they can’t buy paper they can’t do all this stuff but I want to make sure that’s not happening but if we’re gonna you know increase any line items yeah that’s not already in the budget yeah we need to know

1:09:50 that just Ju Just to add just to add a comment on that because of um some of the transitions that have happened and will happen over the next several months um you know one of the strategies we’ve employed and I’ve talked to uh Emma about this as well um is we usually set a date by which FY 24 requisitions or purchase orders have to be entered and so we’ve actually said by May 15 and we’re going to be putting a memo together to that effect uh by that point in time you should have you there shouldn’t be very much left for you to have to purchase you should have everything on hand obviously if there’s an emergency or something we’ll consider it but for expense purposes

1:10:36 that is our intent right now that will also help us to close out the fiscal year um you know with Emma departing and myoll wrapping up on June 30th it’ll give us a good handle to be able to um get this make sure there’s the close is not a chaotic process the town meeting is the 6th of May would it be wild to move that May 15th up to May 6 so that we know we’re going to the floor town meeting really solid on what our Surplus is sure that that shouldn’t make a significant difference okay I just want to make sure that we really go there solid knowing what our funding is sure um could you just read me back so um I don’t have to wait for minutes the

1:11:22 number that you just voted was it 4772 476 it was y but we’re going to be reducing that number yep when do you think it’s reasonable that we’ll know just so because I have to post um when do you think it’s reasonable for me to have um enough information to post can you tell me whether or not we’re really gonna get 10 inches of snow on Thursday no I’m just kidding um the uh getting snow didn’t either um I um I have a draft of the numbers I would like to sit down with Teresa and Emma tomorrow um and I would imagine hopefully by the end we’ll be able to connect tomorrow um and and hopefully by

1:12:08 the end of the day we’ll have a reasonable um plan for that okay so we’re supposed to be um bom wants us at 6 PM Monday if I were to post us at 5 p.m. Monday we shouldn’t need long it lit it could even be 5:30 it literally would be us just voting a new number based on what Mary thinks does that does that you’ll have that information do can I get show thinks they can make Monday at 5:30 5:30 yeah you can do Zoom okay it will be like a 10-minute meeting Zoom just to vote the new number because I want fincom to have that number okay so I will post for Monday at

1:12:54 5:30 just to vote that that number once you get up give us information on the Surplus and revolving funds all right thank you all very much um and just so you guys are clear you got back one two and three and you’ll figure out the other

1:13:15 yeah oh yes um we’ll do um we don’t have a schedule bills we just did FY 25 budget um we’re going to do the communications proposal one thing I do um want to pick up we’ve had a little bit of um slow turnaround for the people applying to the finance and director role that we know we had taken that from an assistant superintendent of finance and operations down to a role of director um most people that are qualified and want that job are currently in the assistant superintendent role and that’s what we’re hearing and if they can’t transfer into that role they’re not interested so

1:14:00 um it would just be maintaining what we have right now or what we had two weeks ago um and and so a vote to make that back into an assistant superintendent of finance and operations just so you know we’re going to keep both postings up simultaneously so it we can we we can get um if anybody sees it we’re not hiring two people we’re um we’re going to keep both open because if someone does come at in looking for that director Ro while we’re going through the posting system we want to be able to do that but as of right now um we

1:14:38 have motion I’m looking for a motion to um allow the posting for an assistant superintendent of finance and operations so Mo second by Alison Taylor seconded by Jen shner all in favor oos motion carries 5 to zero and the also was to make the other position of Staff

1:15:07 assist because that already exists it right okay that already exists um Brian you need me to make you a co-host correct yes okay so Brian had requested the um agenda item for the communications um we touched on this a couple weeks ago and

1:15:34 we should be said um so Brian’s gonna talk to this a little bit okay let me see how I share this

1:15:49 year one of the things that we really need to do right away is to get this communication survey out because the public is requested we improve our Communications so I created a quick survey that I distributed everyone to take a look at it and uh want me to go through each question or any comments looked at it so I’m just gonna let you know I didn’t respond to it because I think responding to it would have been an open meeting violation giving you my opinion on it okay I and um no no I said we talk about it tonight yeah so I just didn’t want to like take the survey and give you my opinions sure um but yeah if anybody has questions for Brian after having looked at it or if there’s highlights you want to go through does anyone have any questions it’s pretty no it was pretty straightforward pretty um there are some

1:16:35 typos so I just want to make sure still typ there is still typ I think yeah I think we need we sending out yes I’d like to Wordsmith it a little bit

1:16:52 um yeah I mean I don’t I I my issue was just really the P um I don’t I’m curious to get you know just to get some general sorry I just thought this a little Ally should one of the options be using our website as a communication vehicle more appropriately should that be not well I mean that’s where our if we do a communication newsletter that’s where it will go go

1:17:21 okay yeah I mean we’ll send it out to the papers if we do we send it out to the Press we should send it to every body on that was the other issue the question I had is I know there’s a distribution uh database um parents I guess but there ought to be a way for us to add anybody else who would might like to get yeah that’s why because I don’t get any I don’t have a student in school so there ought to be a way to include people if people wanted to get a newsletter that don’t have children can people sign up for a newsletter that’s question St um now I don’t think we have but that’s certainly something easy okay because right now when I send out it when I go into that platform to send it

1:18:07 out to everybody it’s attached through as essentially through our database of parents and Asin and then there’s an all staff or you can do it by building the staff too and we also have Blackboard so we could set up a group all right okay so we can meet that that’d be great I think people would that I think

1:18:32 um El do you want to work with Brian or how do you want to yeah I would just yeah I mean I’m happy to do that when do we think get this over when you shooting to get I pick it out tomorrow well no they want some some cleaning up of it so what we’re talking about is establishing a Communications subcommittee we could do that you and Allison yep and you guys need to post yep what you need to post we would post to have it that’s fine I can set that up um okay so is everybody okay with establishing communication so I’m going to ask for a motion to establish a communication subcommitte so moved by J shner

1:19:20 second seconded by Williams all favor opposed motion carries 5 to zero um and then I will Brian and Ellison to communication

1:19:34 sub and I would say you know as far as this is concerned just you know you guys agree to it send it out you yeah once you guys agreement I’m okay with you guys sending it out I mean it’s not going to wildly vary from what we see here um but I’m well the question is who he sending it out to I guess we have to report back to us because I put it in the newspapers that the survey is out if you want to participate in it we can a QR code that’s that you can send me and I’ll send it out to perfect that way everybody not just parents but district and then when it’s ready to go out just work with me because I have access to the send it out to all parents and staff and I can do that and also probably the league the League of Women Voters because they maybe they’d be willing to

1:20:19 put on their um yes either their website or maybe they would send to their database I don’t I don’t know yeah I spoken to them after the meeting was over and she’d be happy you get feedback from the service great one thing I will say is once it’s ready to go live we’ll need to work with Stephen even if you give me the hard copy work with Stephen so that the administrator on sending it out and they all come back to him yeah and then so it’s not coming back to one of us as an individual it all goes back to the tech department and then um we’ll get the results then okay okay St okay with

1:20:55 that will be I’m will be surprised literally well I mean it literally will be typing up and and then he’s not designing the survey he’s tying it but if they come into him he’s GNA do the analysis the charts and all that good stuff it’s gonna come in and he’s just going to send it to us oh that’s fine yeah he’s gonna just send it to yeah just because it shouldn’t come to any one of us individually we could yeah so once you guys have it I’ll we’ll just then Steve’s name Will Go On the form says you’re interested in this formend and he can then figure out how best to get I think it be to you guys to come back with the with the results share it

1:21:41 with us okay all right sounds good um any other any I had one thing I wanted to ask I brought this up last week at the leue of room of Voters I was wanted to get the PS of the committee on this idea of possibly reaching out to the state auditor to invite her Department for an audit of the school district um for her to audit the whole town well I don’t have the to do that so so I I think there’s some little work that needs to be done because I believe based on some work I had done over a year ago that it may be requirement that the select board actually did the request um in order for that to happen I’m not sure I’d have to find that out um so I don’t know whether they would agree to do that or not but I just wanted to determine whether the school committee feels that this is something that could be valuable

1:22:26 my guess is it would take a while you know I think it would happen overnight but my understanding is that the auditor state auditor comes in to whatever agency your municipality um and audits not only the finances but it’s more programmatic so we’d be looking at everything that we do in terms of um our delivery of our services our grants um you know everything policies Poli they do yeah they they do your practices as a whole um at least they could a proposal as to what that would consist that just got sorry would that also include a special ed survey that we’re doing they would if if they come in they audit the school department Soup To Nuts sort of redundant then isn’t it with the special ed survey we’re asking these a this

1:23:13 could take we might not this might not get underway for like a year like there’s it’s quite a PP one um I just wanted to get the feel of the committee we don’t even I’m just bringing it up tonight maybe we add it to an agenda at the next meeting if you want me to like at least maybe get a little bit of more information you could get more information because I had um talked to one of um the assistant in her office last year and I believe it has to be originated through the select board but if you can just get some more information and he might even be able to come in that’s what I thinking it’s Anthony yeah maybe he’d be willing to come in um speak to the committee about what’s involved and then at which point we could entertain a request either either to the select board or directly to I I think the reason why I said i’

1:24:00 like it as a town as a whole is I think you know with what we’re hearing from the town and from fincom and the structural deficit and all this stuff if we’re looking to potentially as a full town be bringing something to the voters next year think it would be it would carry a lot of weight if we have had someone come in and look at all of our practices and say best practices are being used or these are our areas the best way to find out where we need to fix is then they say no fix these areas so then we would going out to the town saying we’ve really had independent eyes on this and we your best practices across the board or they said please do XYZ and you’ve done XYZ so and I’m assuming there’s no cost maybe I shouldn’t make that no it is not it’s um it comes off the state it’s not ours so we know um in previous audits do they include

1:24:46 include include Community I have no idea because I don’t know I can’t recall a time that I’ve seen the auditor in any as any Department in Mar come to Marv let me do a little inv yeah yeah it’ be nice if that would be one thing you could ask about J when you say community you mean in terms of getting Community input but I um I mean maybe it’s too big of an N but when you touch these with Anthony and B’s office you can ask him if he could come and present yeah that’s what I’m he may be like absolutely not but we can ask um I don’t know how often they get people ask I don’t know um all right so anything else correspondence um then we are Jing at