 Today is April 30th. I call the meeting of the Arlington school committee to order First item on the agenda will be public participation And do we have a sign-in sheet over there? We don't have a secretary today Oh First I want to introduce Myra Stewart who is a new Student rep she's a freshman. She went with us to you day on the hill yesterday, so he's really gotten initiated and Shabon Foley who? Here for a minute. It's our AEA rep with us today Cursey Allison ampy is homesick, so She'll she's trying to get over the bug that's going around Mariah Terrell from Thompson first person up as I call people up. I remind that Public participation is a three-minute opportunity and we traditionally do not comment on things that come before us and public Patient we will take them under advisement and they may end up in an action item later in another meeting So Mariah welcome great. Thank you Just good evening. Dr. Bodie and members of the school committee. My name is Mariah trail I currently have two students at Thompson a second grader and a fourth grader I have an incoming kindergartener and a two-year-old, so I'll have two other kids who are coming into Thompson the next couple of Years, I just wanted to follow up. I emailed everybody a letter this past week And I just wanted to thank you for taking the time to read that and for those of you that responded To me so quickly. I really appreciated that and I appreciated the thoughtful replies and some of the conversations I was able to have with you I'm here with a few other Thompson parents tonight just to reiterate our concern about equality among schools in regards to class sizes Specifically we're interested in seeing the class sizes in the older grades at Thompson be brought down in line with the other schools Currently we have the highest number of students in our fourth and fifth grades by three or four kids per class. I Understand that you are well aware of the issues regarding the budget and physical limitations of the Thompson school And we trust that you can come up with some other ways to make this happen and to support our teachers and students I have already met with Karen Donato about this and as you know, she's also concerned and we're working with her on this issue as Well I'm eager to hear your thoughts and potential potential solutions and offered to assist if you find that brainstorming with parents is helpful Thank you again for your time in the effort you put into the excellence of our schools Hi, my name is Jane Morgan I am a stratton parent of a current second grader to Kindergarteners and I have a two-year-old at home. So I've got a long time To be there and we've been really happy there I know that you have heard from many of us over the last weeks about our concerns about the placement specifically for our Current second graders during the relocation Time when they can't be at stratton and we understand we're on the agenda for tonight We're glad that that's being addressed We're eager to begin some kind of dialogue with you so that we can find a and fund Placement for our kids that is at an elementary school during that year So I'm not going to go into the details. We've gotten really great response from so many of you I recognize that a lot of you are writing back to us late at night early in the morning at the weekend And we really appreciate that we we feel like you know, we've gotten some some great response and we've started Working on this issue even before it's become an agenda item at school committee. So we're really grateful for that I just want to share one personal anecdote with you I'm mindful of my time and yours but I had a conversation with principal Hannah after we knew that the kids were going to be Relocated but before we knew what their placement was and he said Jane You know, you've got all these kids like how is this going to be and I was like, oh, it's gonna be fine Like we are the kind of family. We're gonna get it done. I know they're gonna be at different schools It's all gonna be okay, you know kids are resilient It's gonna be fine My kids are gonna get to be at an elementary school with other kids their own age Maybe they'll play soccer with them. They're gonna be at school with them Eventually, maybe they'll do some kind of a project. Isn't that gonna be great? They're gonna know all these other kids and we can be a part of that school for the year And then we're gonna come back to Straton where we're so happy Um, and I still feel that way about the experience my sons are going to have I feel like that is how my kindergarteners who will be second graders who at this point will be at Hardy Are gonna have that experience and it's gonna be great. I Don't feel like that is what is being offered Presently to my second great daughter and that concerns me and so we're really looking forward to working with all of you We thank you for your attention to this so far and we're looking forward to Beginning the process of figuring this out. So thank you. Thank you Frank siano Good evening honorable members. I came my name is Frank siano and thank you for being here and Doing what you do. I've come because I'm a town meeting number from 15 And the parents have written me numerous emails about this Straton Relocation and I see the face of our superintendent and it's so good to see you be so concerned They're unhappy with the idea of putting their fourth graders at the Autism now I knew the Autism when it was the West I went to the East I graduated from this high school in 66 with guess who? North Cross Straton the third so he was I believe the grandson of what the school is named So the only thing I ask you is to please keep in mind Listen to what they're saying. They want to be at an elementary school Please God and and if you need more money to do it then then ask for it Because I think the town meeting last night was disposed to listen to the parents So I'm here for you. I asked that you listen to them and please make them be happy now granted Not everybody is happy about every decision that's made but keep in mind their concerns, please You know, they don't have PhDs Many of the parents maybe I speak out of turn and maybe they all do but But their parents and their mothers of children and they're worried So I like then has been famous for years for taking care of the parents and the children and I Hope that you'll do that Thank you. Thank you At that point this is the extent of our list. Is there anyone else for public participation? Hearing none next item on the agenda is the fiscal 16 budget charts with Ms. Johnson Good evening as part of the budget subcommittee, we've been trying to look at different ways of Exploring the budget growth over years, you know, this is always a difficult question You know our is it fair is it equitable? Are we doing what we ought should we be doing more? Should we be doing less? so I've been doing a little work. We did some work around the town manager 12 some of what you saw at town meeting last night and Superintendent Bodie will be talking about later tonight, but we did do a couple of Graphs that we felt weren't quite ready for Town meeting but that the budget subcommittee felt would be important to share with all of you Now what you have here is Actual budgets in green for the school department. This is all in grants revolving the whole nine the whole nine yards The orange bars here represent What it would be if we took this? 07 budget and just multiplied it by three and a half percent each year so as you see it's a perfectly straight extension and you can see that in comparison to that the rate of growth for the school department budget has exceeded that That line particularly since FY 12 When we first started receiving seven percent on our special ed portion of our town appropriation And I know this is a matter of concern and discussion And so we wanted to start thinking about some ways to look at it So this is just the budgets and you can see we are growing much faster than three and a half particularly in the last couple of years However, if you take those budgets and divide it by the number of students we see a very different picture Once again, I'm taking the 07 budget and multiplying it by three and a half percent And dividing it by the students No, I'm actually just multiplying it by three and a half percent. I I redact that The green bars I'm taking the actual budget and dividing it by the number of students in place at that time So what you're seeing is despite the fact that our budget in You know 12 13 14 and the last slide is Exceeding the three and a half percent growth rate, which is generally considered the standard in the town of Arlington When you divide it by the number of students we have on board, it's actually falling off that metric Now what does this mean? I Don't know but you know and this is this is one of those things that you know I think I think the discussion about the three and a half Maybe turning into three the seven percent and the 25 percent of per pupil for new student growth There's something we need to look at I Think we need to look at it, you know that that maybe 25 percent per pupil is just not enough to keep pace Because as you see we're just not keeping pace when you consider the number of students we have So you have any questions? Dr. Seuss Just a simple question This number is lower than the per pupil spending is that because we're not including health care costs there They're two different metrics. This is not is not per pupil spending per pupil spending is a calculation by the state That includes many factors and attempts to capture expenses on both the town and the school side This is not that this is our school department budget divided by the number of students So I want to be sure to draw that distinction because there'll be a lot of confusion if we try to mix those two things Miss Starks, so these do not have the seven percent for special ed or the 25 percent to add it on just the three No, no, they know they the orange bars do not Okay, the green bars do include that Okay, so it does so it has the three and a half the seven and the 25 percent Okay, just the title was just throwing me it's it's quite it's more visible in this slide because you can see that You know, we're really pacing up much faster Than three and a half percent and you know from 12 onward you can see that the green bars are exceeding the orange bars But at the same whoops wrong way, but at the same time our enrollment growth has been so rapid That when you divide that growth by the number of students were actually rather shrinking In terms of budget per student Mr. Thielman, so my question is You know the town manager has a three and a half percent increase in the budget for this next fiscal year Fi 16 for the schools and then his proposal is that it go down to three percent or three Three and a quarter and three So I mean do we have a strategy to is this part of the strategy to respond to this? I Think it's something we really need to be thinking about You know, do we do we want to maintain the status quo? You know it was a deviation from the long-range plan to give us the per pupil to help us compensate with the enrollment growth And it was very generous and it was very helpful But now the three and a half which was considered static is being called into question And there's some members who are calling in very strongly into question the seven percent on the special ed allocation So if we're going to relook at it I think we want to relook at it from a lot of different angles and this is one way to be thinking about it so my You know my concern or my or my what I'm raising is is that the the timeline? For the FY 17 budget really starts now this now Yes, the conversation starts now and you know and accelerates in the fall and really By by October November the numbers kind of fixed and it's not going to move after the fall. That's true So So I guess I don't know I guess the question is are we going to do anything or not? I? Think we are just having us look at it from different angles and the issue is is really the enrollment growth number of the right factor and I think that we have and we have already we've expressed it Publicly as a group our commitment to the long-range plan the stability of budgets and I and I think that Arlington sort of stands Sort of in a unique place of having this kind of Approach to budgeting which we don't we're not trying to say we're not trying to undermine I just want to emphasize that what we're trying to do is to take a look at Well, what what are really the needs here and are there other ways that we should address it now enrollment is the it seems to be the real variable and Perhaps what we need to be looking at is a growth enrollment growth factor and and that's I think what is part of the discussion Okay, Mr. Heiner One of the things that we does include grants and everything else. Yes, okay As I've mentioned several times we have become dependent on grants a one-time grant for a one-time thing I think is great. We should continue to go for those those grants like the kindergarten grant that we've become dependent on It as they go and as the town is decreasing our Amount of money. It's a fact that so in our thinking in our planning and I'd asked the board to ask the superintendent to find out all the grants that we are dependent on and We at part of our plan long-range plan has to stop us thinking about weaning away from those and In getting it adds another Money factor But these grants in AEF and all these other wonderful people that have done great things for us As long as we're dependent on those they may dry up They may go away and we're going to be caught in a double shot fall with the town and everything the other thing I want to mention is that in the past we have had when We got the kindergarten money and everything and originally I understood the agreement to do that But the town has been making X amount of dollars on this in each year and every time I bring it up I've been told we have an agreement with the town The town right now is looking at a fiscal crisis in the next four to five years And part of their plan is expressed in the past two meetings at the town meeting is Everybody in the town pulling back. I don't want to pull back. We need to continue with our Programs and I exist and we need to expand some of these programs, but at the same time we have this partnership So where I'm coming with this is the message that we send we have to sell this super hard We did a wonderful job. Thanks to Cindy and everyone else pushing for that extra 25% Dealing with that our growth, but we got to really be together and have one speed speech going forward and I'm saying this because I think sometimes we get a little fractured We come we we get excited we talk to parents and everything and then sometimes we have to pull back on it So I'd ask my fellow members working together We have one speech go forward strong the way we did with the 20 to get that for our added growth. Thank you Pierce yeah, I think that We need to go in with what we need and fight for it You know, what is what is the amount of money that would be adequate for us to fund the schools for the next five years? Not a wish list because that could That could totally throw everything off off off Budget, but what do we need and and we should fight for it? So in other words the 25% that we got for the enrollment growth factor was perhaps not What we should have been fighting for I mean any deal is better than than what we were at but it was still probably too low for the numbers that we were looking at so and The long-range plan is setting setting us up for an override at some point, you know I don't think that we can as a school department look at an override in 2022 or 2023 I think it has to be done before that that's already more than 10 years since the last override so I Think it would be great to have a Presentation before the fall, you know before the end of the school year Showing us what you project is our real needs over the next five years given the contract coming to a close We're gonna finalize that with the teachers and the other the other union subsets, but And then go in and fight for that number Make a case the really tricky part in all of this is the enrollment variable and we have my projections But we are as part of our space analysis We're going to have an outside consultant doing a different type of enrollment projection analysis And I think in order for that to be really powerful I think we need that data because you know, I've done the long-range projection based on you know Potential settlements for the contracts and what I think the enrollment could be based on what it's been in the past But this person is looking at it from a more comprehensive way And I think once we get a better picture of what they're projecting for enrollment growth Then we're in a position to say look, you know, I'm projecting this he's projecting this and If it's closer to that here's what we're gonna need, you know, that's if we were a Slow-growing or flat district projecting your needs as a whole different ballgame But you know if we have a hundred new kids next year or four hundred new kids next year That it's enormously different in terms of what we need and it's really hard to guess It's been the problem all along and The year's delay of the enrollment growth factor while practical for all kinds of reasons poses issues if we have a big surge in the summer because we basically have to pretty much suck it up in The first year and then we're paid in the out years right It starts I think also the interesting thing is I got in touch with the town manager's office and the selectman's office and I requested the census data because the town does the census It's not official. It's not like, you know, the the US census and I said, you know I know you guys get census numbers because if you don't respond to the census they can not allow you to vote And I said so do you have those numbers? Can I have those numbers and The person that I was you know going back and forth with said well I'm not really sure how useful they are because mostly they're numbers of voters They're not necessarily like the whole town voters and I said, okay. Well, just tell me this We're seeing this huge influx of kids in the public schools Is there a big influx of people in town and their response was no We're pretty flat. So it's not that our town is growing It's that our town is changing and I think that that's the problem is that we don't This the change in in students is not just because there's a population explosion in town There's a population change in town and that I think is why it's so hard to Figure out what it is if it was an explosion in people Everybody would be seeing it and and everyone and so I think that's part of the problem Is that not that they don't believe us, but they're just like well, where are they coming from and I'm like You know and so it was just interesting that they could not in any way shape or form There you know say that they were seeing any kind of increase in numbers. They're like no actually we've been pretty Consistently right around the same number, you know, we're not really seeing a huge growth in town And I thought that's really interesting to me because I was trying I was doing some of this as well Trying to think about like cost-per-stute is that you know, does it need to be related to you know population? But it's not it doesn't you know the population itself hasn't grown so I thought that was Let me pass your question on to either miss Johnson or the superintendent in that we do get the census and the Children who are recorded in the census and so if you could comment just briefly on what you're seeing through the census well One of the things is actually in the birth data. There is a and by the way for people who are listening This is a report that we give to town meeting every year and they keep every year. We keep expanding it and But there's a section in here on enrollment and I think there's some charts that you'd find very interesting one of them and Sometimes it's the way they're interrelated if you look at the current kindergarten the that cohort when That cohort was born that first year. There were about I think 510 students or children born then our our Entering kindergarten class last year was I think 504 when we started I think up to 513 516 right now But that's almost a one-to-one. That's a hundred percent of your cohort That was born that are in our kindergarten now. They're obviously not the same students. It's just the numbers The cohort for next year is 560 Right now we're pretty much as we were last year was gonna give you a little update in kindergarten numbers They keep changing. In fact, we have miss stagastino here tonight. Who is our registrar? We are at I think 554 as of today that's about where we were last year and by the end of the summer we were at 504 so We've been seeing a Retention rate from birth numbers at any in the last couple years around 90 percent It started out when I first started doing the that it was about 87 and it's been creeping up steadily But this past year it was it was a hundred percent So even if we had 90 percent which was been the last couple of years, we're over 500 again So that's what I'm expecting to see in our kindergarten numbers this year So that it gives you a little bit of an idea of where we are and then that it stays pretty high after that too In fact, it gets up to 600 Mr. Heiner the Amount of students just to go along with what miss Stark said I live in Kelvin Manor When I first moved here 20 years ago the majority of the people were my age as each one of my generations move out Another family moves in but they have two to three kids I saw five Two houses move in so so The the population is growing But it's the mini part of the population that affects us the other part that that scares the living daylight side of me And it's nowhere near done But the potential the project that may go into the Mugar property is talking about 280 plus houses If you do a one to four that that's between 40 and 50 kids just hitting Hardy school I don't know what we're gonna put them on the roof or something like that But I mean we I don't mean to be sarcastic But that is dramatic So There was never an intent when they closed the elementary schools I like to became unaffordable my wife and I grew up in this town. We could not afford to live here We left for 24 years We came back we didn't bring kids that the only thing we didn't bring our kids with us But other the next generation your generation are not having children in their early 20s They're able to afford this town so they come into the town affording it and that If we knew what we knew now then we would probably not have closed four or five of the elementary schools that are now Condos and apartment houses and stuff like that We didn't we didn't we haven't done it and we don't have any place to grow except vertical so it supports it We cannot afford I don't mean to be a snob 20 years ago I never thought I'd be saying something that we cannot afford any more residential additional residential residential We're already growing with the existing residential that we have Thank you. Dr. Seuss. Yeah, just a couple points. One is I was really interested in census data, too And I looked at the official Numbers one really interesting fact is that 60% of people living in Arlington today. We're not here in the year 2000 So just showing how How much of a change a turnover there's been and I think what's interesting also is that's not shared equally Among all the neighborhoods and so sometimes you get people who are very well entrenched in the financial affairs of the town May not live in the neighborhoods where they see a lot of toddlers whereas in my street, you know You can't walk two feet without tripping over toddler. Basically, you know, it's very it's sort of not completely shared in all the neighborhoods a couple other points One of the things I think it's really important for parents to know is that we're not just getting enrollment surges in the Kindergarten we're getting them coming in at all levels and I think that was actually one of the problems at Thompson that August 1st the fifth grade numbers this year didn't look that awful But by September 1st they did and that that we are getting people come in, you know at all the levels So sometimes people feel like oh why are not all the research being put into the kindergarten and that's because we actually have Needs overcrowding needs at every level in the district One final point that I want to say that I keep saying to lots of people This town has more room to grow in terms of expanding students because Even if we never built another property, there's a tremendous amount of properties Especially in East Arlington where there's older people who at some point will decide They don't want to mow the lawn and shovel the sidewalks and might want to live in a you know, an easier place That's gonna turn over and there's gonna be new families So I know a lot people are really angry about development. I don't think that's if we stopped all development I don't think we'd solve this problem Okay, let's let's wrap up On this agenda item. I just want to say a couple things first of all For the parents who are with us particularly for the parents who are concerned about the class size issues Yeah, we hear you when we understand this and you can see by the charts that we have Fiscal constraints on us and the appropriating authority is town meeting and There's a whole political context in terms of the way we govern our town and we certainly Appreciate having you here. We feel like you're the wind in our sails And we would appreciate you being further involved in the civic affairs of the town the other thing I would say is that It was our intent for this agenda item to be a preview of our Town meeting presentation, but the moderator asked us to go early last night because the the capital budget was being advanced to Accommodate mr. Fosk it's schedule. That's why we went on Wednesday rather than having a discussion of what we were going to say and And doing it next Monday So for those who are town meeting members who want to get up and mention a couple of the Statistics that we're having and talk about the challenges when we get into the operating budget that may not necessarily be a bad thing And with that we'll move on to the next agenda item, which is the elementary buffer zone report Ms. Dagestino, please come forward Some of the parents here this evening may have even met. Ms. Dagestino When they registered and if not this year even last year or maybe you recognize Good morning. This is The next 15 minutes, please plan your day accordingly So good evening superintendent Bodie and Chairman so, you know, I went up before I even begin my presentation Because there are some people that just know how much I love to talk to school committee They said 15 minutes like solid 15 minutes. So I'm gonna just say packing it all in in 15 minutes There's a good chance. I've forgotten something. So if there's something that you have requested that I have not covered in my Meek little 15 minutes, please just let me know and I certainly will get you any answers any data that you are seeking So I I preface by saying moving faster me on school committees difficult I have the the honor and the privilege of welcoming all the new people into the town and I've done this now for a couple of years, so it really is kind of an exciting thing and This is not the first time That we're presenting so I don't have to go all through every little thing I think you all know what a buffer zone is. There's a picture just to refresh your memory But one thing I did want to note is we have made so many really important and good changes To the registration process one of the biggest changes or or concerns are not complaints But concerns that are voiced a lot is how do I know that I'm gonna land in a buffer zone and You know, there's I didn't even realize there was such a thing as a buffer zone So we have really worked on addressing that if you are on the Arlington Public Schools website and you go to school registration Or you go to school locator you can find out this information quick and a lot of parents who are calling saying I'm thinking of moving to Arlington, but I just want to know it takes away that that That fear for them So if they are if they are clicking on school registration and they are going into the packet to start answering the questions They type in their address And immediately their zone is popping up. So you can see here is the Hardy Thompson So they already know to some parents it matters enough that they continue their search To some parents it doesn't matter at all and you'll see that when we start to talk about the individual schools and the data The second way I'm not interested in registering. I I got a call today from Germany Munich Germany and She might be she might be coming and so I said just go to school locator right on the phone with me She's going to school locator. She put in like 25 different addresses. I'm like, okay, ma'am. How much is this? But going to school locator same thing she typed in an address she can see if she's gonna land in a buffer zone So that's something that has really set parents to the tone when they come in They know they're in a buffer zone the first year when they came to meet with me I don't even know what you're talking about. Okay, so I think that that's that's an improvement in our plan And we're pleased with how that's working now. I'm gonna jump into what you guys want We've broken this presentation down from March 2014 to September the beginning of the academic year and then we'll carry it throughout the year and the reason we did that is because We do those those six days of registration in March those intense days where we bring in tons of people But you'll notice them when I move on Someone just registered on I believe it was April 9th So it is continuing. This is today is the 30 30, you know, we're still registering continuously And I know I don't have to read every single one of these slides to you because you're capable of reading them yourselves but I did want to point out that From March of last year to the beginning of the academic year of the children who registered 157 of those children were in a buffer zone so Dr. Bodie had said the numbers there were 500 children You know we have 157 in a buffer zone so that You can see that we have lots of children in our school system and I've broken it down so that you could see Between March and September in the kindergarten. How many children just from March to September? 117 these are just buffer zone numbers. Just so these are not class numbers. These are buffer zone numbers 117 in kindergarten 14 in grade 1 9 in grade 2 6 in grade 3 4 in grade 4 and 5 in grade 7 in grade 5 So you can see what percentage of our populations are buff results And it obviously varies, but you're absolutely right When we had that large number in the Thompson 5th grade, they were not buffer zones. Those were Thompson children We have to put them in Thompson I'm doing good with the time so far, right? Okay, so then we want to expand it from March all the way to April 6th so that you can get a full full full full view, excuse me Remember that we had total of 157 two slides ago now. We're looking at a hundred and eighty So that's a significant increase in the number of buffer zone children in our system across the year You'll notice it says 180 with an asterisks and 174 when we talk about registering children We register children for a whole bunch of different reasons some children need to have some kind of testing or services And they actually attend private schools that might be coming in here, but we need to register them So just for the fun of it I wanted you to see that we do registrations beyond just kids going directly into classrooms and the other thing It's important to note is that Until a child physically sits in a chair their registration is pending So sometimes we have these numbers, but they don't actually show up. So our numbers do flux all the time It's very fluid with with registration so Looking at the same kind of thing we did before we're looking at the numbers Now we have a hundred and twenty three Children in kindergarten in a buffer zone that represents sixty eight percent. That's that's a fair number that we're going to be looking at 17 for grade one fifteen for grade two Seven for three and four and eleven for five So you can see there is a that's a lot of children coming in after our school year has started And that's that's something important to know where are these kids coming? We were talking about the census Where are these kids coming from I get these like emails back from the principal's like stop sending students? I never get the like hey, how you do it so Then I want then we just took a quick look at the siblings because if you have a sibling in the school you Automatically attend that school so it doesn't matter that you're in a buffer zone if there's a sibling there We always pair siblings. I think once we didn't and it was upon the request of the family So you can see that Immediately if you look at say the bracket school immediately we had to place 12 children into the bracket Because they had a sibling there already so it didn't matter You know how much what those numbers were before they have to go to bracket because their siblings already there Now of course like Thompson only had two but but the 12 a bracket is significant Then we wanted to see just by grade level You know, I love numbers So we just wanted to see what does it look like when we start talking about buffer zones? I know someone mentioned it earlier. It's not just kindergartens across our schools So we did it by school and we did it by grade and again. This is only Buffer zone information. We're not talking about children who come to register Just to register these are buffer zones. So like if you look at the strat in school seven of the children in the first grade between March and April of this year were buffers on children that we had to make a decision about and I can tell you parents We agonize sometimes about what to do where to place children looking at numbers and we looking at numbers and looking at weightless request so it is not just a quick process and You know, it's something like starts in my office goes back upstairs comes back down to my office So it we are taking lots of time on that and then Information of interest. I think this answers a few of the questions that the school committee posed What number and percent of buffer zone students again? That was 180 which represented 33 percent and then what number of buffer zone students Place were siblings that represented 21 percent and I have some other statistics with me because I just couldn't leave it alone Sorry to flip through the pages and put the glasses back on what number of buffer zone students Registration requests to be on a late wait list 84 percent of people requested to be on a wait list That's a significant number, but I should note That it's a process So I don't know if you remember what the registration form looks like I don't even know if some of you have actually had a chance to see our registration form But there's all died kinds of different questions. So the first question says what school would you like to be in? I want to be in bracket Then the next question says do you wish to be on a wait list and the answer is either yes Or no, so what happens if it's blank? Well, if it's playing then Then we don't have to honor a request because they didn't ask to be on a wait list and sometimes people are actually saying no So if we look at all those numbers and we say what percent Did we satisfy? their request the number was out of out of a hundred and and Out of a hundred and twenty three people who said I know what school I want to be on and I want to be on a wait list And I remembered to check yes 123 of those people we satisfied 75 of them, which is 61 percent So more than half of the people out there we satisfied Instantly quickly Then when we when we start looking at those numbers we say oh 61 percent what happened to the other 40 percent What did you do with those well when we break those numbers down? We say how many people? Did not request? Did not request to be on a wait list and 11% of the people said I don't care what school I go to doesn't matter to me So we have to add that into the numbers and then beyond that What people what what presents said not not not it doesn't matter actually said no Don't put me on a wait list if I don't get what I want right now put me wherever you want and that was 19% So you see we have actually some fair fair percentages of numbers saying it's okay where I go It's a kind of an interesting thing someone was complimenting The school a few minutes ago the parents saying you know come to school committee and come to town meeting I will say that it's the parents in the town of Arlington that do the greatest Advertising for the schools because I actually know all about the schools I know all about them because I researched them and dr. Bodie wants me to know about them But when these parents come in and they have their buffers on request they're saying here's why I want to go Do you know what my friend blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah They can tell you story after story about what's so great about these schools So we appreciate your love for our schools surely, but you can see some of these statistics Do you say I love all the schools in Arlington place me where I should be? So I think I hope if you have you like little checklist over there that I've covered most of the questions that you that you have asked and then you asked about mill street and sim circle and The number of students from mill street is only seven For buffers and then they're all buffers on really isn't in those places, but from sim circle. It's 19 So and again these numbers now for this year. They're changing every day I have to tell you I have not had one day not one workday that I have not done a registration In a month, so you know, they'll keep coming in and and our census list I don't know what goes on with our census list because the letters that we send out versus the people that walk in They're completely different names, but we're working on it. We keep working on it and And Now what I've done is some people don't even know what the schools are and what the buffer choices are So I've just very quickly. I'm going to go through these very very quickly And if I go through them too quickly, which is unheard of for me But if I if I go through them too quickly, just you know, pipe me down Where's mr. Where's mr. Thielman if I go through it too quickly. You just let me know In the Bishop bracket buffer zone there were 23 children in the buffer zone and of that I'm not going to read everything on the screen, but of that We requested three three requests were satisfied immediately But do you notice the next line six of the people did not even request a preferred school So we have a lot of flexibility in those numbers. So when you look at that, you say, oh, they only be satisfied three Well six people didn't care where they went So that's that is an important that is something important to look at when we're looking at Yeah, we've we've seen that we know there's a batch of slides here So you just flip through them. Oh, okay. I don't even have to talk about them. That's even better So this is the Bishop Stratton And this is the Bishop Thompson And you'll notice on all of our slides. We are satisfying requests So that's that's an important thing that we are making we are satisfying requests and then in almost Like this one only one student didn't only one parent didn't get what they requested originally So these are these are nice statistics and then my My last task was just to take a look at what's going on Right now since March of this year just which is a month slightly over a month and a half We have registered 452 students into kindergarten only, you know and Look at those numbers. We've resolved all of our buffers Today so this data is the most current data you can look at today And that's it for anyone watching at home or anyone in the audience who wants to take a closer look that this is attached to our Agenda document which is accessible from the website. Mr. Heynner Not necessarily going expands on the but your issue on the buffers on can you give up me the full amount of students from Mill Street and Sims the total amount beyond the buffer zone That we have registered in our school district. Thank you. They're all they're both in the buffer zone. They're all in buffers She made the distinction that these were the ones just in the buffer zone That's why I asked the both projects are in the but in a buffer zone. So that number that's all the right They're only seven and nineteen. Yes. Thank you Mr. Pierce so under our filed policy JC We have sample questions when we when we report by the second meeting in October But since we're talking about this now, I might as well pose a couple of the questions to you all here and see if they can be answered so is class equity improving and Are the desired results being achieved those are the one those are the two questions that I'm particularly Interested in tonight If you see the every month you get the chart for the elementary schools, I would say if you could Perhaps even compared to before hit buffers owns you'll see that the actually it's been a little bit more even I understand Thompson's fourth and fifth grade this year went a little bit off that that Goal for sure and some of it had to do from late registrations, but In general we've been able to do that because that's actually what the first thing I do when Leilani sends us up to me is I sit there with the the number of students at each school and Certainly look at parent choice, but what is the most important thing is is it going to be? I'm going to try to improve the equity between the class at that grade level And so yes, it is definitely helping is it perfect? No Will there be recommendations or or further data for us as the policies as in October? Yes, we apologize that this report was not done this fall Yeah, but we'll give you a report next fall on what where we are at you know up to the start of school Thank you. I really like having at this point, too So maybe we should do Two-step process miss Starks Let's say that one of my questions was if we needed to modify the Policy so I guess we don't well we will get them in the spring Let's see one of the biggest problems We've heard is that waiting to find out where you're placed puts families at a disadvantage who need after-school care So because they don't know who to sign up with if you wait you lose And so that's become a route that is starting to become an issue and so I was wondering if we have I Don't have any solution. I just wanted to put it up there, but well One there's two things One we're gonna try to speed it up a little bit more But we've also sent an email to all the after-school programs and of course two of them under the public school control So that's Thompson and Hardy We're not considering a placement until the buffer zone children have been placed so that and but all of the schools have been asked to not not to Go ahead with acceptance in the after-school program until this has been settled now What happens however is keep in mind we have 452 students Same time last year. We're still gonna see another Maybe 40 students 50 students They will not have that advantage, but the students that register in March and we do the buffer zones, which we've done all of those placements We're asking the programs not to make any decisions until that's settled and that's just obviously for kindergarten students though That's for that's gonna roll up all their students right just like we do so We do those almost within the day or two. We were very quick on the the other grade levels We've even at some times if it's it's not so busy we clean call upstairs Don't give an answer immediately. Well while the parents still sitting in the office. So, mm-hmm cool Dr. Seuss Yeah, I was just wondering a little bit more about the process of taking of when people get off the waiting list and Satisfying and how the decision is made that We're probably We're gonna do it in stages. We'll probably do one toward the end of May and Re-look at where we where we are with that and we'll go back to this to parents who registered and we go By the date that they registered everybody that registered on the first night is all in the same pool and We we just simply go through that those lists. It's just by date just by date. Mm-hmm by date You know Hearing none. Thank you very much. Thank you very much next item on the agenda is the superintendent's report well actually I Have a few a few things And I did since we still have a couple parents here from Stratton I do I do want to just mention though We're gonna talk a little bit more about this after my report, but I did want to mention a Clarifying piece of information That was said here at the committee of the last meeting and also was said last night at town meeting that the cost of putting in a modular classrooms as School is $40,000 the actual cost for two classrooms is $250,000 and we may get a little bit of a Reduction by doing a large Purchase actually rental there's many costs in it that may not people may not be aware of Not only is there installation costs but there are rental costs and These all total up but the the industry number for and they come in They come in class two classrooms the the industry number is 250,000 So that's important to know and actually the ones that are permanent a little bit more than that Just clarification Are we looking at two different types of modulus ones that are going to be Permanent at odd us and after the fact and the other ones that will disappear when when Stratton is built. Yes Are they the exact same price? Are they Dan? There's a little bit of There's a little bit of difference here the Depending on how we spec out the modulars themselves. They will either be Deeply rehabbed or brand-new if we're putting in permanent ones the sales rep we spoke with says most likely that they will be new The the ones that we'd be leasing as temporary ones would either be new or rehab to meet our specifications But but the ones that they're going to be permanent they're designed for that where the other ones are not designed for Permanency no even the ones we'd be leasing will meet our specifications in terms of what we're looking for I understand that But the ones that we are going to that are going to disappear once Stratton is up and running There are different there were different type aren't they not also the ones that we're looking to have for at least 10 to 15 years at I'm told not significantly the principal difference would be that With putting in new ones, which we would buy most likely rather than lease But we'll look at the numbers both ways will be you know almost surely brand-new construction The ones that would be leasing could either be new or Rehab so I guess when so they could be identical The difference would be that in at the end of the project the temporary ones would be put on trucks and carried away I'm not trying to sound like an attorney, but the the $250,000 figure may have some flexibility in it when we're between the two No, the the permanent ones will be more well It depends on whether we lease or buy and how long the lease is and it's 250 either way at least probably more for the permanent ones Thank you Okay Yeah, I was on on the space issue and the modular issue there is space next to the high school that's for sale, right? Isn't there yeah, do you mean that the building over here in Shuler court? Yeah, yeah Mm-hmm Could it be a shop over here? Yeah, yeah shop. It's for sale. Okay Could it be that that could be utilized in some fashion by the school department just putting it out there as a purchase for Administration and then have the sixth floor and have more of the space at the high school turned over for say eighth grade We've been thinking about it. I'm not gonna say any more, okay I Just state that Worth beginning of the process and there are a lot of variables that we're gonna play with and talk about and that there's a Agenda item to move this over to the facility subcommittee later so we can really do some exploration mr. Hainer dr. Bode are you going to be talking tonight at all about the space study that we're getting involved in Analysis of space needs I Wasn't playing up, but I could re-mention it okay. I well in my presentation last night Which was actually what I was gonna talk about okay, my only Request is that are a question to you is we're gonna look at all school Existing property in that analysis am I correct? Yes. Okay. Thank you I mean ones that we may not be currently running programs in as well Are you talking what I'm talking about mm-hmm well no, no, no, that's not gonna be What we're gonna do what we're gonna find out at the end of this first of all is a verification of our enrollment numbers with a much more comprehensive Analysis what we do is we basically which is what a lot of districts do this is the best practice in In projections we look at our the cohort numbers and what the retention is not you've heard this before This is this the person is doing this analysis looking at home sales and just a lot of metrics that we don't look at normally I guess what I'm looking at is that we I think we've all accepted we have a growth problem Growth related a space problem related to a population growth in the town And we have to become very creative all of our elementary schools are bulging right now I suggested I guess what I'd like us to do is look at all Spaces that we have control of right now Possibly the one that mr. Pierce just mentioned It doesn't mean we're gonna buy them doesn't mean we're gonna refab them or anything I talking about what what we will be doing is finding out Approximately how many classrooms we're going to need in this for the school district and where and Where because this is which where's the growth happening under the best so Once we know that then there's gonna be decisions that we're gonna have to make as a town And if if Thompson has just throwing numbers, they may be wrong But 26 classrooms and the analysis comes out that we need 32 class or we need 33 classrooms The reality is we're not gonna be able to put a block on the top of the building We're gonna have to be more creative somewhere else. So I just wanted us to be Look at as much as we can in this in this thing So we don't have to go back and have to look at it again I want to take advantage of this study as It's I'd like to us to look at this as broad as we can we may never need that broad look later on But have it available to us as options. Thank you. The other thing is is that with the MSBA They're only allowing us to do one project at a time and we're sitting in a huge hockey project So that sort of limits what we can do on other sites until we resolve our high school But we also right now where we we're dealing with Stratton right now outside of MSBA Mm-hmm. I think if the town realizes to spend some money today to save some money tomorrow They'll be willing to listen to us. They haven't been very good about that Yeah, we should have everything on the table. Thank you And I think once we get that it was certainly gonna be a lot of this a lot of discussion here at this table With the town manager with the board of select when this is what we're gonna have that's why I want us to look at the junior high East and all the properties that we have it may not be viable The doll I think you may can turn around and say it's prohibitive and we but we'll then know definitely We won't be guessing you won't have me Hounding you for Okay, continue Well, mr. Schlickman didn't say that one of the we've planned I had planned this evening to Show you the slides and the main points. I wanted to make as part of our presentation but then I learned that Capital was going to be taken out of order Because mr. Mr. Fawcett wasn't gonna be there Monday night most likely budgets will be taken up Monday evening later in the evening But because we had to three major items in the capital budget stratton The technology allocation and turf Wanted to be able to you know address and ask for the support of town meeting before that budget was taken up So last night I had we've been working on this it turns out I had to really sort of speed it up and not say absolutely everything that I wanted to say But I did want to just show the slides because there's some really I think some very important ones in here that So to speak to a lot of what we talked about even this evening Well first that you've seen this before we don't have to spend a lot of time on it But I think what for a lot of people who don't understand about school budgets And there's always people for the first time that they think the town appropriation is our budget and it's it's not it's Certainly the vast majority which is sort of the gold here the the large part of the largest part of the circle But the other sectors of the circle refer to our fees and grants But what I wanted to Because one of the questions that I think is a town we all we always want to reflect on is are we really getting the value For the dollars we spend on education Certainly there's some people that think they're probably were spending too much money on education But it's in in that kind of discussion analysis. It's always good to take a look at other communities and a couple of years ago in fact it was it was put into the FY 16 annual budget and financial plan There is now a group of communities called the the town manager 12 we call them the t12 communities that were chosen by Town school and union leadership as being the most comparable to Arlington and it there are a lot of metrics that were looked at in fact a think Dr. Allison ampey was on that committee as well That that doesn't mean that all these communities are cookie-cutters of each other They're obviously very individual and very different But they they're comparable on these metrics and these communities are Belmont, Brookline, Medford, Melrose, Milton Natick, Needham, North Andover, Redding, Stonem, Watertown and Winchester Now what you see here in this graph is the per pupil expenditures For each of these t12 communities and the red bar is Arlington. So we are Right in the middle in terms of what we spend for education But then the next slide We're lower is the slide that shows how we do in academic achievement of our students And this is measured by standardized tests. So while we were in the middle for per pupil We are on the high end for achievement Which I think really speaks to a lots of things first of all we've got great schools We have and we're I was talking before About how wonderful the teachers are at a particular school, but I would say that that is in general true in Arlington and I think our reputation is is out there and People want to be here and I I sort of take the enrollment increase as a challenge of course But I also see it's quite an affirmation of the work that we're doing and I think it's bringing in a Tremendous diversity into our into our schools, which I think is just wonderful But it doesn't have it has its challenges too. I'm not saying that it doesn't but I think this speaks loudly to what the what's going on and We're doing a great job We obviously always want to do better. Maybe that's part of what the energy of our district is all about so Going on this is the graph that we've been talking about tonight That demonstrates what we're projecting in the way of enrollment growth here. Diane Do you want to talk a little bit about the the different colors in there? Sure the Teal down at the bottom is elementary the red in the middle is the middle school and the yellow at top is high school And you can see that initially going back to 07 That the growth is really taking off at the elementary level But that is over time it's phasing up because obviously those larger elementary classes are rolling through to the top as Dr. Bodie was saying that we have a kindergarten class above 500 our senior class is about 300 So that gives you a sense of the change over time and just in a relatively short span of years So as these classes and we have classes above the kindergarten that are in the mid to high fours as they roll up You know if we have three classes of 500 at the middle school That's a very different middle school than what we have now Yeah, and it's this space study of course is going to deal with Heavily into the elementary because we already know when we're looking here. We're looking at maybe 1600 at the high school at the time that the high school actually would be renovated and rebuilt so we're we're Anticipating what's going to happen here now the the issue is odyssey We can only be engaged in an MSBA project one at a time and And so we've got this situation where we're really focused on the high school We're able to finish our elementary school With town money and I take my hat off to the capital planning committee for being able to figure out all the funding for this But we do have our middle school sitting there with enrollment growth. It's hit starting to hit it now It this this year the next two years are going to be a little tight But what's going to happen is when the larger kindergarten larger classes at the elementary school are there in 1819 We're really I think beyond our ways of being creatively handling space at the middle school and yet We could be in the middle of a study here at the high school committing monies Bonding trying to get bond money for the high school and there isn't capacity in the town to deal with added classrooms at the middle school so This idea of putting modulus there that would be permanent really Addresses to needs and I know that I fully get that there's issues around that parents are unhappy. It's strattin about fourth grade at Potential fourth grade and I will say a couple comments about that in a minute But being able to put some portables at oddison that will remain is Going to be able to solve that problem for those years when we are not going to be able to address a permanent solution there And we don't even know if we need a permanent solution That's actually one of the reasons we want to verify our enrollment growth Are we seeing a bubble that's gonna that's just going to eventually flatten out? I Don't know and we need to find that out. So we certainly don't want to build 12 more classrooms onto oddison and then find that they're And we don't need them in 10 years either. So that's another issue Last night in the capital planning in this part of the stratton financing plan in FY 17 they're going to Allocate the major amount of money for construction Relocation of students stratton but also in 17 they put down capital appropriation for additional classroom space at oddison And the money they put was 500,000 using the figure you before that may translate into four Classrooms is that correct? If I may I'm a member of the capital budget committee So I'm a little closer to these details The hope is is that we can kill two birds with one stone I understand the rationale behind it But I mean I was at the the $250,000 figure was used before for two classrooms. Am I correct that? $500,000 figure that was in for the oddison wasn't necessarily thinking You know it wasn't that modulars were the only possible solution with that funds another solution might have been to create very state-of-the-art Workrooms for teachers so that teachers would no longer have their own classrooms But be situated in a workroom and the classrooms I mean there's all kinds of things you could do with space and setting up earmarking some money to deal with space Is that just a good idea given our enrollment? I saw the $500,000 figure I saw the two I heard you say 250 I made that assumption So it's it's still in the planning stages, and you're right So the intent is to have the $500,000 appropriated and hopefully by then you'll There'll be a an idea of where we're going and if the modulars If the modulars are the ultimate plan and it's still in the planning phases What it would allow us to do is utilize those funds set aside for oddison growth Utilize funds from the project for the stratton and be able to get More at the oddison then we could afford alone have a better situation for the stratton and ideally still have enough money in the Stratton to do the kind of last-end stuff on the project that we want like computers and those kinds of things because you know our Total project costs the more we spend on relocation the less we have to spend on the project It's an all-in package that was voted so if we think about the 12 12 1 it was voted last night for the strat and then the extra half million for oddison space If we can combine them we can do a better thing in both locations just for clarification the number that was voted was 12 million For it was under stratton, but it had that line for oddison in it So we're not looking at a separate 500,000 from the strat So is it is it 12 for with 12? 075 940 so it was 12 1 Okay, yeah Okay, but all I'm saying is that $500,000 is not on top of that. It's part of that 12 1 Okay, I'm looking right at the chart from there with your report. You have the advantage of me, sir Okay Next item Let me just finish one more This is actually really this is really interesting I don't know if it shows up as well as it could but at any rate This was a very surprising news item news item that came out on April 20th And what it is is was a national study of looking at where they call the creative class is Choosing to live and to be Not necessarily where they work, but but where they in those work in those areas Where are they choosing to live and this was done by? Dr. Richard Florida who is the co-founder and editor of city lab Which is the media arm of the Atlantic magazine and he's an editor at the Atlantic and a professor at NYU So at any rate at the creative class is defined is composed of high-paid knowledge Workers and we've been talking a lot about 21st century creative thinking the kind of Preparation we want for the the jobs that are in the future and so these are people in fields of science and technology Arts culture media business management media. I mean I said that Healthcare and education so these are people who their work is all about their knowledge and and thinking all right so The lead the list is the is that areas of the country that are dominated With this group of people and the the big groups are in Northern California DC area and Boston There's a couple of outliers like there's Hoboken, New Jersey, and I think there's something up in Washington Which is of course just double? But the thing that was really interesting, which I think sort of caught us all by surprise is that the four communities in Massachusetts our Arlington Brookline Cambridge and Newton This is where people are choosing to live So what we're what we're I think the thing to note is that Hoboken out ranks us My daughter is so what is going on Hoboken? There's three places in Maryland well, it's DC. It's all DC. You see you're Dublin, Ohio. Yeah Can you can you make it bigger Diane is that the yeah, no, I'm sorry Julie and I played with this quite extensively. We tried different colors Is this is this on anywhere? I know it's not on the agenda. Yeah So the it this reflects what we've been talking about here 21st century learning is about inquiry and critical thinking and how you How you or you know you you do executive functioning about the kind of learning that you do so enough said on that So at any rate Our emphasis on building for the habits the strong habits of mine in the 21st century is totally in line with The people who are choosing to come and live here in Arlington And I think that was one of the So that was with the important points. I wanted to get across but I also want to mention that I Don't think I did that while this book is in hard copy for Tom meeting members anybody who would like to see it And there's just loaded with wonderful information from principles and curriculum leaders about the Very innovative and creative things that have been going on and awards You have to go to the high school section and look at all the awards that have been They've had in the last year too. So it's online. It's on a district website I do have a couple other things All right. All right, but you're probably gonna want to do about day in the hill after anyway The Japan that I visit from our sister city from Japan is going extremely well Nagaoka keo. Nagaoka keo. Nagaoka keo. We say it faster than you. But we've had visitors at Oddison down and tomorrow they'll be here at the high school and Want to understand that well, I've seen them perform and they've just been terrific The big class this year. Yeah, we had a big group 26. Yeah, and we have more high school students than we've had in the past We had 10 Dr. Chestnut is going to talk a little bit about some PD that we've just recently Had that just two things that want to mention sure We had about we had 17 teachers and math coaches attend the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics National Conference about a week ago five coaches attended a pre-conference meeting that was targeted to fine-tune They're already excellent math coaching skills And it was an opportunity for them to meet with their peers who do the same job alike across the country So it's a really a great opportunity for them They do have each other, but they're you know, we only have the the sort of the ways we do things in Arlington So gave them an opportunity to I was there Talk it's awesome to be surrounded by you know your own mm-hmm teacher, but it was funny I was in a talk and The person who was speaking said I don't know if any of you know where this is But I actually got my start here near here in a school called Oddison And this woman stood up in the back and she goes I teach there now And I was like oh my god. This is so funny But yeah, he was a Spanish teacher at Oddison Mm-hmm became a math teacher and now he was back giving a talk at NCTM. So it was pretty funny He saw the light right yeah And so it was a great opportunity for you for the math teachers also at the middle school in the high school to Speak to other math teachers across the country and today we had the kickoff of a grant that we talked about a little bit a couple weeks ago when Miss Hansen was here about the teacher leadership program. So three principles two curriculum directors and Miss Hansen and four teachers in myself Attended a full-day workshop on activating teacher leadership, and we will be having in the third second or third week in May Another two-hour meeting to begin what that planning will look like for next year the interesting part of the Conference the workshop was that there were teams from Arlington There was a team from Dedum, and there was actually a team from Kentucky So certainly this workshop is well known enough and the presenters enough to have people come all the way from Kentucky So it was a great opportunity And the last thing Dr. Alson am sorry. She's not here tonight because I wanted to give an update on the high school security This was a question asked. I wanted you to know that 29 of the cameras that are at our exterior doors I have been are going to be upgraded and that process has already started More LED lights have been installed around the school and that's coming from a grant and We're able to also update all of our two-way Radios which we had put in for a grant But we've been able to figure out how to fund that and which will be augmented by the repeater that was Put up here on the sixth floor which which help amplifies the signal. So there has been some Progress in this area and that that's it. Thank you. Dr. Brody next order of business is Agenda item refers stratton correspondence to subcommittee Just as a note to casual observers of the school committee These meetings are fairly formal and there's always a lot of process Before a decision gets to this point in most of this conversation and Deliberation takes place in subcommittee where we have a much more informal environment That we can include more people and have much more of an extensive Discussion and it seems that this is an appropriate thing to do with the topic of the Stratton Relocation, so I'd like to entertain to hear a motion to refer the correspondence from the Stratton parents to the Facilities subcommittee so moved second Moved by Ms. Stark seconded by mr. Hain are Dr. Seuss I'm thinking the committee chair Motioned by dr. Seuss seconded by mr. Hainer any discussion Miss Starks, so I guess one of the things that I would as the chair of the facilities subcommittee Which I'm more than happy to take this on but one of the things that I would like to know from the committee is I Guess do you have any input or any insight as to? What kinds of things you want to see happen and or what kinds of things the superintendent already have planned So those are the two things I have questions. I have as far as you know I mean in my mind, I think that you know, I Wasn't as involved and so I would love to talk to you about the Thompson rebuild and kind of how that went But I mean my thought is that probably we're at the point I know we finally got you know approval for the funding to start the planning phase is to You know the first order of business should maybe to start thinking about when we want to have some regular meetings with parents and regular kind of information updates and what kind of Media we want to put that on and where we want to have it and all of that kind of stuff But I mean, I don't know I know dr. Vody you've been driving this so I Know one thing is that we there a lot. There's a lot. We don't know about portable classrooms That's something we haven't dealt with in the past and What are the siting requirements? What are the costs? What are the long-range needs all the things that are surrounding Where we need to go with this I think would be an appropriate Conversation to have and to take this opportunity to involve the community. So let me go to mr. My understanding is the the forming of the committees with the parent input and stuff I too want to see the charge for this thing, but it usually goes to the superintendent who sets up the parent Connection committee and things of that nature. I'm not trying to take anything away No, no, but I think the facilities committee from my perspective I'd like to put this up there for discussion is that to Take these letters right now that we've all received give up give the parents and in the community the Stratton community an opportunity To have an open conversation with school committee members and have the facilities committee bring it back Part of that may be creating questions that you just with regard to the portables the timing the schedule again going back to it that Unified message coming out of the facilities committee and I see the subcommittee as always being the conduit back and forth To us and share but I think a list of things and one of the things I'd like to suggest is hearing from the parents and getting their concerns One of them right now is location for some of them But I think that the other parents as a parent I'd want to know about what a portable is I know what a classroom is. I've been in the classrooms. We right now don't have any portables, and he's a real Had these questions go from the facilities committee if the superintendent is and they are Whoever through Diana home or wherever to get these information to have this positive interaction with the people We are the town is moving forward in Setting up an RFP out for a designer That process will take Probably another six weeks. We're hopefully a designer will be selected by the end of May so Really a lot of this is just sort of on hold. I know there's an anxiousness to get talking about it, but as I said it with this when when Ms. Johnson Went to All these different schools with the vendor with an architect with our director facilities These were the strong recommendations as to sites And I thought was fair to say what the strong recommendations were it was it's been discussed but All of this has to be revisited when you actually get the designer on board and going and doing another You know a verification another analysis We may come back to the exactly the same thing because one of the things we found out is not all of our elementary schools Are designed very well for the addition of modulars, which is actually an issue looking to the future, but So we need to have another look at that So the plan would be the concentrated time will probably be in June Because we need to have the modulars ordered by August 1st the latest and you need you need a period of time where you bid and So that will probably be the bidding time will be July So it's gonna be a very intense period of time really between now and then you can we can gather information now You should know the mr. Hainer Mr.. Not mr. Hainer, but mr. Hannah the principle of the strat and has Is putting together has put together a parent committee and I don't know who's on the committee He's sending I'm not sure exactly where it that stands right now to have that committee be a funnel of information About concerns at the meeting. I had a strat and we had the assistant principal of the middle school there Taking I have four pages five pages of notes of things that to consider And so and I've seen all these emails as well So we know what the the issues are at this point There's not much we can do until we get the designer and Start looking and doing another analysis of where what's the best situation just for clarification You're joining that June July and August not of 2015, but of 2016 Okay So they need to be ordered a year in advance So the motion is to refer the correspondence to the subcommittee for discussion the correspondence focuses on The siting of the fourth grade at the strat and at the Addison so What's the most effective way to have that to address this and the most and what's the time frame for what? Could you summarize what you know The most effective way to communicate is through the parent committee at strat and that's not to say don't come to facilities That I think perfectly fine. I've certainly gotten emails I'm going to go back in June and meet with the parents again once I have more information Right now I have no more information. This is where the recommendation is and we have to we look at it And and I will also have probably the first the enrollment growth report that probably have that by late May We hope I know so I'm but I also want to look at that That's another big piece of information in terms of how to think about this So does the sub does the school committee are we so would the subcommittee be making a recommendation to the school committee for Any vote on anything or who's gonna are we I mean what's I mean? That's what I'm right. Yeah, we certainly bring everything back to you But it's going to come from the experts in what they think In are there are possibilities now, maybe there's gonna be more possibilities and we have to make some choices I don't know yet Because I mean do you envision the full school committee voting on a plan for the siting of the of the modulars I Think that that would be a good idea to have a vote of the committee of the the school committee Now the only problem is Could time me yeah, I'd have to be probably a Probably a late June meeting or something so this so the subcommittee would meet to review the correspondence and inform The committee's vote on the siting of the modulars Right is that Mike is that you don't have to vote on the siting of the modulars? That's not it's not required. Yeah, okay. Not required I just I think would be good idea, you know, you think is okay So the thing is if if we are to make a decision on this, which I think that is certainly within our domain We need to be well informed And right now I don't think there's anybody in this group who Is an expert enough on this topic to go and have any kind of an informed conversation About where we should put modulars the cost of the modulars the advantages and disadvantages of Placement of kids and these modulars any of this stuff. We we don't have enough information to carry on Logical conversation at the end of this process at the very least We should be able to carry on an intelligent conversation about what we're doing and why we're doing it and Have the input of the community as the process moves forward and to have an open process so that People with different ideas and thoughts on this can get them before us so we so so every option can be considered and weighed as we're moving forward and Understand that well, there may be a committee Stratton has been put together by the principal any of our meetings are open meetings and Everybody is welcome to attend and in the case of the subcommittees Everybody is welcome to come and participate So there there is nothing exclusive about Having a conduit through a committee at any of the schools It's just one method and that any parent group who wants to be involved to communicate through through a separate channel It's more than welcome to engage with the chair of the committee and and And work through the process. Mr. Hainer. I'm confused We don't need the portables Until a year from now a year from September The only money that has been appropriated is for design not the purchase of the modules That's right. The money's available after July 1 not for the modules the modules will not be appropriated until from capital planning until next Well Okay, we're going to we're going to have the designer develop We're going to figure out how many modules we need and where we need them They're going to produce a professional specification to go out to bid because we have to bid for these modules We can't just go pluck them off the shelf. I understand. Okay, so all of those pieces There's enough money available to get the ball rolling We wouldn't start making lease payments on the rental modules or payments on the Modulars until they show up fine So that's where the timing of the two years the million dollars set aside for design and for the initial pieces is Sufficient by the time the modulars they can be pre-ordered They can be contracted by the time they show up and we start paying will be into the next fiscal year I think the need of the facilities committee if that's where it's going to go because we've heard a lot of it The the concerns from the parents and stuff besides the location I think it's important to them to understand what a modular is and Things of that nature. These are things that can be done in in the next couple of months We want everybody to be on our side and I think it's important If the people come to the facilities committee and Cindy I apologize, but whatever you can do as soon as they you know The time factor but to get this back to you folks to get answers so that they feel an active part involved in this This thing to maintain a partnership the location part I Would hope that we're not set in stone For all the locations there may be other ways to look at it. Thank you Mr. Pierce, well, I think what we did with the buffer zone conversation, which was a very agonizing one and and it brought a lot of Voices from the community out pro and con was that we looked at other communities who had done similar Things and we looked at Brookline for example And I'd love the facility subcommittee to look at other towns who have gone through enrollment Bursts and bubbles and and see how they handled it and and did they have modulars? Where did they put them and see if there's any comparables that you can derive from from that look? Dr. Seuss Yeah, I just want to say I mean given our space constraints. There's no way to come up with the perfect solution You know Thompson had the same situation. They had third grade split into three different schools, you know, it wasn't ideal What I think at the end of the process we want to see is that everyone understands why the decisions I mean so that even if the decisions are not the best ones that you would in an ideal world You want to have you understand was it made for financial reasons? Was it made just before for logistical reasons? We just can't put a module there just to have a really clear understanding of Why that is what the decision process was and that's I think their goal Mr. Thielman seems like the most effective meeting would be one in which we have the designer present So when would that be possible? Well, our please or here won't be so the person the firm will not be selected till probably in May late May that's Everything going to schedule and then they're gonna need some time to sort of get the lay of the land and do their analysis So I think it would probably be July In which he in which a designer could come and make a presentation about all the last meeting Expert the expert on modular is inciting is not you have knowledge of it, but the expert is the designer The designer would be I think it would be probably useful to have both the designer But it might even be more useful to start out with the sales rep from a modular company to come and show some examples of Classrooms and explain how they work how they're set up You know what they look like the fact that they're both heating and air conditioning controlled at the classroom level That most of them come with bathrooms within that piece of the building They're just they're very interesting and widely used Throughout the nation, and I think it you know, I think people have an image. I know I did it first And in middle school, I was in a tumbled down rotting old modular and it wasn't too great They've come a long long way. They're a very different thing now I'm gonna put the elephant on the table right now Stratton has been the hotel for all of our rebuilds This is the only school that's being asked to go to modules The parents tonight. I hopefully expressed what most of the parents believe they've accepted that they understand the module thing but they want the elementary experience and I understand and I applaud the the two four aspect of Maximizing the needs that we have in our growth and things like that But I want us and Dr. Seuss mentioned it before that there's a reality fact that everybody isn't going to get everything they need But I want us to keep an open mind to all aspects in this. Thank you I don't think we'd be engaging this process if we didn't have an open mind And we're looking for any good idea that would land on the table Are we ready for a vote? Yeah, so the only thing is the I don't want to raise expectations about a timeline if we're talking about I Mean when do you think that when there's no emotion is review the view the correspondence? No timeline no dates or another like that. Correct. We're just referring it so that the esteemed chair of the committee and her Excellent colleagues can work with the Stratton community and anyone else is interested in modular classrooms to Gather facts and so we can come to an understanding that we can work Okay, and now we're ready for a vote Motion on the table is to refer correspondence to the Facilities subcommittee all in favor say aye. Aye opposed unanimous vote six to nothing and that takes care of that issue now we go down to the Consent agenda All items on the consent agenda will be subject to one vote I will ask that the Odyssey the the trip to Japan be removed from the consent agenda and Taking at a later date so the Consent agenda now will have approval of warrant one five one four seven dated four nine twenty fifteen in the amount of five hundred eighteen thousand three hundred eighty dollars and twenty-two cents approval of minutes regular meeting on April ninth 2015 and the organizational meeting of April ninth 2015 an approval of public hearing school choice, which will occur on Thursday May 14th 2015 at 6 30 p.m. So moved by mr. Thielman seconded by second Miss Starks all in favor. Hi opposed. That's a unanimous vote subcommittee and liaison reports We'll get down the list and Special study group on superintendent evaluation mr. Heyner It's not listed here, but this should be the technical second reading of the questionnaire and things of that nature So I would move that we Accept that are we all familiar with what I'm talking about the questionnaire going out for the Superintendent and the procedure and stuff like that. I Need a second What what mr. Heyner is moving Approval on a second reading of the questionnaire for Getting the input feedback. I got nothing. Oh The one that I just sent a couple small things on is that the yes We made those adjustments at the last prior to the last many as far as I know I didn't make any changes, right? So you'd okay You're moving to accept it as it is or you're moving to I Sorry, I Accepted your import. I made the they weren't major. They didn't change anything of substance So I just put it in yeah like that. They there were no substantive changes in the thing Is my wife hit me on the head. She says that's grant better grammar. I'm one of them like that Move by mr. Heyner seconded by mr. Pierce Any discussion All in favor I opposed that's a unanimous vote. Thank you Warrant committee I signed the warrant payroll warrants. Everyone is cut and paid. Oh good. I have not I have not established any meetings at this time Just for clarification The superintendent evaluation was a temporary committee is Do I need to bring up something in the spring? We have the calendar That we're going forward with it like that. Let me bring it the next meeting I'll spring in the next meeting and we can so that we're all prepared to discuss it Policies and procedures mr. Pierce. We held a meeting on April 14th. We discussed policies relative to student discipline and Parental leave and family medical leave will be meeting again on May 14th at 530 here to go over those same policies There have been some changes from the lawyers and from the administration Dr. Allison Ampe is not here. Is there anybody from the budget committee who'd like to say anything on the budget? Subcommittee hearing none I was just gonna say we we we took input from miss Dunn and Miss Johnson on the book going forward and stuff like that. They Took some of our suggestions and shared with her shared with us some of our suggestions weren't realistic and we all agreed We were it was a positive very positive me excellent Facilities obviously we need a meeting So we'll have one. I don't know when soon Accountability curriculum instruction and assessment. Mr. Steele my no report Community relations dr. Seuss. Yes, we have a meeting coming up on Thursday the 7th And it's basically just to start brainstorm a little bit. We're not you know There's no agenda item necessarily, but what do we want to accomplish in the coming year? What time? It is at four four o'clock. Thank you We had a trip yesterday today on the hill. I know our student rep was there. She's smiling. She I think she had a good time She was fabulous Did a great job of Our reps and senators Let me ask Clara to Just tell us what your impressions of going today on the hill work I definitely thought it was a very cool experience to have to see it sort of the government and education in the government At work and it was very awesome to be able to talk to our representatives and our senators I Definitely saw and heard a lot of We don't have as much money in our budget as we need to which of course have heard everywhere about education and I heard about a lot of issues that I hadn't heard about before and they're definitely interesting to me So I would like to continue being a part of Coming to these meetings and being able to speak out about things Thank you Just some of the districts had a whole bunch of students and last year we had none this year We had one which was fabulous and I said she was incredibly articulate and Yeah, no fear at all and just saying what you need to say to our legislators and advocating for the schools We would like to have more students. So I encourage More students to come forward next year and we want we want to welcome you guys and the food is fabulous I would like to mention that Clara expressed herself extremely well on the issues of student anxiety and testing She was not shy about that and it was wonderful to hear it from a student. Thank you Miss Tharks organized a bunch of Issues that we discussed and I wanted to thank her for all the prep work that she did in terms of Helping us to make this successful. Cool. Yeah, I know I felt like we were really on target You know, it was I thought that we really got our thanks many thanks to Kiersey who did yeoman's work kind of pulling all of her Issues with the budget and you know the foundation budget into kind of a Digestible piece for everybody. So, you know, she did a lot of great work and I just thought that everybody was great Everybody kind of came in we we were really good about targeting what we wanted to say and kind of listening to each other as well as You know all making sure everybody had a voice. So that was great We linked up to on the MASC listserv to the foundation budget articles that were written by Cursey and And Linda And I got a lot of very positive feedback about the articles that they were very well-written very clear And other communities were anxious to go and plug their numbers into into our work to duplicate that effort. Mr. Hey, there was your hand Miss stocks covered it. Okay. I just want to make a plug for Cursey and Linda Hanson's Dr. I think in Linda Hanson's Advocate articles which were also really informative and I urge you to go look for them in the records if you haven't seen them already any other members with announcements or Things to bring forward to the committee Mr. Heiner tomorrow, I got a semi corraled into I'm going to be the keynote speaker to today's students and tomorrow's teachers Those that are graduating I'm a little trepidation like my first day being the chair here. I'm nervous about it, but I'm excited about it seeing future teachers Yes, dr. Seuss. Oh, I just wanted to mention that Audis in middle school is performing sussical this weekend on Friday and Saturday and Yeah Start I also want to remind people that the town-wide cleanup is The Saturday before Mother's Day and if you ask me what better gift can we give mother nature? What better Mother's Day gift? Can you give mother earths then show up and pick up a bag of trash? They are going to organize it back behind in the big town lot and You can show up They'll give you gloves and bags and you can go off and do whatever area of town you want I think I'm probably going to be doing the route to side of spy pond So pick a place show up clean up. It'll be fun And and just to note the touchdown club is having their annual banquet on the 14th, and I know that the previous two chairs Gave the gavel to their vice chair to make a quick run down the street to go and extend greetings and to congratulate an organization that does a lot for our kids here in town so that Dr. Seuss will be leading the meeting for a for a little while on the next meeting, so And I just want to extend my apologies to the rest of the committee on one issue is that Being a new chair, I don't think that the superintendent or I and since my issue not hers are necessarily in sync So the agenda came out later than I would have liked in I take Responsibility for that and I'm going to try to come up with a way to Communicate with the superintendent a little more timely matter the vacation sort of gotten away to but It's my intent to get this thing out. Do do do a better job than I did this week I think Dr. Seuss at least you found out The former chair told me about two and a half hours and said oh by the way I'm going to be gone. So my anxiety was short Well, we'll put something tricky on the agenda just for that spot Do you want to mention the candlelight vigil? Oh, yeah, we have a candlelight vigil for the Victims and survivors of the earthquake in Nepal Which will be in front of town hall 7 to 7 30 p.m. On Sunday May 3rd bring your own candles Also, the veto San Marco group is having a fundraiser this weekend And also the couple next week they have a couple of dates where 15% of the check will be donated from not your average Joe's So if you're inclined to eat out, that's sort of a good way to throw a couple extra bucks in that pot as well Any other announcements before we have a motion to go to executive session? Yeah, so we'll do that next We're going to move to executive session to conduct strategy sessions in preparation for negotiations with union and or non union personnel or contract negotiations with union and or non union in which If held in an open meeting may have a detrimental effect and to discuss strategy with respect to collective bargaining your litigation If an open meeting may have a detrimental effect on the bargaining or litigation position of the public body and the chair So declares do I hearing motion so move? Move by mr. Hainer Seconded by miss Starks We will have no plans to return to open session at the conclusion of the executive session roll call mr. Hainer I mr. Pierce hi miss Starks. Yes, mr. Thiel night dr. Seuss hi and the chair votes aye it is the unanimous vote six to nothing and we are an executive session