 This program is brought to you by cable franchise V's and generous donations from viewers like you Seeing a presence of a quorum of the Amherst school committee. I'm calling to order this meeting at 6 o 2 p.m And we will start with a roll call attendance. Mr. Deming Deming present Mr. Harrington Harrington present Ms. Lord Donald present And Thank you Um, and We are We also have joining us dr. Morris and dr. Slaughter And we are being live streamed on Amherst media. Thank you and and also recorded Our first item is public comment and we have a couple of voice messages. Oh, welcome. Um, is sharkis We have um, three voice messages and um, a few Email, so i'll start with the voice message and appears this one is uh A blank So i'll move on to the next one an Amherst resident port river parent The latest partial reopening plan based on volunteer teacher returns has created starkly unequal outcomes with even whole schools being left out of the reopening process This is fabulous news for the lucky few who gets to go back But it is a terrible outcome that was entirely foreseeable and has the additional negative outcome Of forcing teachers to choose between their students and their union This was a bad idea that is entirely the consequence of our school committee choosing not to lead Fortunately for Amherst students and families other districts have shown leadership and forced the issue of metric driven school closures before the department of labor Which concludes that such MLAs are not valid But the ball seems to be squarely in the court of the school committee As a parent the school committee has given me zero reason for optimism Even though you were elected to lead and serve the mission of our district It seems like doing what's right for kids will only happen when it is the last possible option And maybe not even then So i'm hoping against all hopes that now that there is a clear legal precedent for tossing the ruinous moa That maybe just maybe the school committee will finally do the right thing And put in place a plan to bring back all willing students as soon as possible And defer any further closure decision making to appropriate appropriate public health entities The quote rsc chair ellison mcdonalds from her op-ed in august of last year, which was six months ago We have a moral obligation to provide the option of in-person education for students It is up to the school committee now to show that those were not empty works It isn't too late to do the right thing It has a greater interest Given that our school district is almost The only one fully closed in our area I ask that you please bring all children who wish to be in person back to school by mid-march at the latest Based on scientific facts and the labor department's ruling on another district's MOA regarding metrics that are not legally binding When it's coming and students should have many outdoor opportunities for any type of learning Hands on or otherwise at all grade levels Thank you Are folks able to see this the document great And that public comment document, um, if it's not posted already will be posted Tomorrow on the amherst school committee agenda's webpage. Um, I will now turn it over to dr Morris for superintendent's update As I've been saying often lately I'm going to try to be brief on these and I think today I'll be successful um, so just a couple things one is that The va or veterans administration had a program that They have their own vaccine supply. In other words, they're this part of the federal government not the state government And so we did survey our staff to see if there were any Veterans because they're opening the door for veterans who work in schools in any capacity to get vaccinated through the va We do have five veterans on our staff who wanted to get the vaccine and reached out to us And so sent that list in and hopefully those folks will hear from the veterans administration soon but just thank debius morland for kind of organizing and shepherding that effort along and um, I just you know, obviously vaccines is a big topic, but um, I thought it was it was Um, kind of neat and that's not information I'm usually privy to who's a veteran in in our our faculty and staff and So, you know, it's kind of like a variety different roles Within our organization had folks who have served in the military before so Just wanted to share that quick update Um, just this time of year. We have a school We do like more full all schools do a more full school attending report And so we get a more up-to-date data and so at the amherst elementary level our number of homeschool students last year was 16 And this year right now is 48 So you could see that's a three-fold increase in homeschool students Private school enrollment went from 60 to 89. So that's up, you know, about half about 50 percent increase in private school students And many of those are in kindergarten. Um, there's more private school kindergarten students There's more than twice that are about twice the number of any other grade level Is in kindergarten? So just one of the things to note, I know we're going to talk about budget later today One of the very challenging items is to to be able to predict what the enrollment will look like next year You know, it's, you know, we don't know what choices families will make either families who opted to homeschool or families who opted to Have their kids in private school or stay in a private preschool even though they're kindergarten age Because it was in person which we had a fair number of so I just want to add that to the complications as we think about budgeting next year is We expect some differences in enrollments and we don't exactly know what those patterns will be especially next year's first grade We anticipate a pretty significant shift because that seems like the most volatile number Two more updates and that's it. So the federal government this week indicated that they will not be allowing states to They will be mandating that the MCAS requirement of giving standardized tests Needs to still take place this spring They did offer flexibility for perhaps students to take it at home If they so choose to but you know, every briefing I had from desi is they were waiting on the federal government To sort of make a determination of what they were doing with MCAS before they kind of finalized their plan and There's not supposed to be consequences for individual students nor school from the standardized tests From what I understand from the federal government I have a briefing later this week with the desi. So I imagine we'll hear more on that but since it was widely reported yesterday Wanted to share that and something that's been widely reported today as my last update is Commissioner Riley this morning and then in the press conference this afternoon I did not watch the board meeting this morning, but it did see much of the press conference this afternoon not all of it indicated that he Plans to bring a proposal in March to the board of second elementary and secondary education to amend regulations around Learning models and time on learning To give him the authority to determine when the hybrid and remote learning models no longer account for learning hours and more practically what he spoke about is ensuring that every district moves to a model that has in-person options As close to full time as possible in the month of april Across the commonwealth So I had no notice nor did other superintendents on this So the only information i'm getting is the same information that anyone else who either watches meetings or reads the media reporting Of the commissioner statement and then the commissioner governor's press conference this afternoon is getting I likely will get more information as the week goes on I'll be happy to share that back with the committee as well as the community next week or the next public meetings So certainly if you have questions, you can ask me them. I likely won't have answers You know, we did meet briefly with the leadership team today just to go over basically what I shared here And that that's really all we know at this point. It's not been voted by the board of you know By this board of elementary and secondary education It was discussed today by the commissioner or something he plans to bring To the board. So, you know all of our communication if asked is that at this point No elected body has committed to this. Um, but it's certainly something that will be it sounds like we'll be brought to that body next month And that is my update Well, you were brief I tried Mr. Harrington was watching so I uh wanted to make sure I I got there um questions uh or comments miss spitzer I just wanted to to clarify and I you profess this by saying you don't have more information so I'm happy to get I don't know answer but Just looking at the news article, um In the globe today, it struck me that they're asking It's read to me like full time in person five days a week for elementary students And even the the most in-person plan we had I just want to clarify it was a hybrid model even so so do you have any clarity on when he says When what they're proposing and again, I know it hasn't been voted on but are they proposing that it be the full Day in person without because we were going to start a little bit later in order to give time for cleaning and professional development and all those things Uh, so it remains to be seen. Um, he did mention that um districts that are fully remote might have a like a hybrid phase in Um for what that might look like So I think it remains to be seen exactly till I see what he's actually proposing in writing not just orally It's a little hard to note. Um I think what I heard was stressing five days a week. Perhaps not stressing as much Exact hours, but I imagine if he's going to produce time on learning standards around this that that'll be in That detail would be in whatever he proposes I just want to clarify. I think the the full time Um Full time was k through five. We don't know about six through 12 yet. Um And as I recall our phase one and phase two students would have been Full time. Is that Is my memory incorrect? So I think what miss spitzer's referencing and she can certainly correct me if i'm incorrect Is that you know, the start of the school day was a bit later to allow for um More cleaning time and more transition and so it depends on your definition of what full time is You know, technically full time for us would be an 845 start at the elementary not a 945 start Um, they're about anyway. So, um, I think we'll have to wait and see Um, you know, I think you're highlighting an important point which is said k to five So I didn't hear any mention of preschool which our preschool coordinator said anyone talk about preschool Which you know, unfortunately at often this isn't a critique. It's just a reality At state meetings rarely hear about preschool. It's situated between desi and ec to governing bodies. And so it sort of doesn't always get the attention it deserves and then it didn't reference sixth grade which in our district's elementary but in other districts does not Uh, most other districts is not. So I think um, I think that's important point to highlight as well But I think time will tell Um, and we'll get more details. I'll be sharing them with you in the community whenever see them Mr. Demling Yeah, so I guess I have a lot I'd love to say about this, but I I'm just I just want to be, you know Um, cognizant. This is a superintendent's update. So If I have, you know, like I just I I'm thinking about people Tuning into this who have either watched the news about this update or you know, we saw this other item referenced on public comment It's been on social media What not about a recent decision by the department of labor relations on um, um, Melrose Which I won't opine on because it's not on the agenda So, um, I just want to I just want to name For people tuning in who were hoping for robust discussions and possible decisions and whatnot But we can't do it right now because it's not on the agenda Um, I also would imagine and chair mcdonnell you could probably clarify. Um And any of this stuff that might and I'm not gonna I don't have any opinion on it Obviously in this any anything that might have an impact to Agreements we may have made That would those impacts would first have to be discussed in the executive session Although I certainly think the more broad impact of what this means for in-person learning would be a Proper item for an open session like I think we have a joint meeting next next Tuesday Yeah, I think I would characterize it as a both and It uh, we are we do have a joint Meeting planned for the Amherst Pellum and regional school committees on Tuesday next week And spring in-person planning updates and discussion will be on that agenda. It's not posted yet So for folks watching at home and any discussion that really relates to Negotiation strategy bargaining strategy or existing or pending agreements Would be addressed first in in executive sessions. So Correct on both camps I'm happy just for anybody, but you thought you were going to be short dr. Mars I have well, I have one comment and two questions on three different items. So yeah, the mcass plan the state's plan is ridiculous They should not we should not be enforcing an mcass is going to be an absolute mess And I don't know how you get consistent results that you was which is what you need trend Trending year to year what we need is is financial support from the state to address The learning loss that we're going to happen this pandemic and include not just academic But the emotional supports that's that's what they should be doing rather than focusing on Let's knock off the mcass. So really disappointed in the state's advocacy there, but you know, we'll do what we have to do Um, so my two questions one. So on the volunteer return Right. Um, so we we voted that on January 12th and um, it could could you talk about the dates? That that we have currently planned for the the students. I know it's only crocker and wildwood um But but like some of the dates I've heard for wildwood are kind of far out there and in Further, I should say further out there than we would hope for You know, uh in march You know, it's been about 10 weeks since we we voted that and um That it would have been about 10 weeks when we get to the end of march and I I'm not like laying blame, but I'm just feeling the frustration From some about, you know about like can you just talk about? Why that takes so long? Uh, what kind of challenges you've encountered and is there any is there any possibility of speeding that up? Sure. So, uh, I'll go over the dates first. So, uh, we have preschool classes, uh, as well as kindergarten first grade classes two at each grade level opening a crocker farm next monday, which is march 1st Those are students who have already been to our school. So in terms of protocols and staff members who already worked in the building So it's a much easier entry point for folks who have already done the work, right? They know our systems. They know our protocols Yes, it's been a while and we're giving them some space and time to to prepare Of course, but it's students and staff who are already been in school working live with kids during covid Uh, we believe we'll be fine-tuning this, but we believe we'll be adding, um, Uh, intermediate grade class on march 15th. We're going to be contacting families starting tomorrow about that at crocker farm It also looks like we'll have some specialized program students. Um, not from crocker farm, but from fort river But port river we're not planning to open because we don't have sufficient staff Uh, also looking around that time, uh, to be able to start, um on the crocker farm site Which is a familiar site because it's where a special ed summer school exists So our students and staff are familiar with that even though it's not their quote unquote home school A wildwood it is going to be looking more like march 25th and part of that We were thinking of a little bit earlier that week and we realized that there's, um A significant professional development experience that our administrators and many staff members of wildwood are participating in at the beginning of that week Um, so it didn't seem to us wise to open when both of our administrators are going to be at professional end A number of staff members are going to be at a workshop for two days that week So that it did get pushed back a lot. It also Because of the grade levels it involves grade levels that were not in school in phase one So, uh, there's a couple issues with that one is that we want to make sure all the staff members students and families Uh, have all the skills, um and information that they need to be able to be successful coming to school and current environment Secondly, we um are in the process of working out Which students would return because as opposed to crocker farm, they're not ready-made classes of kindergarten or first graders who originally Wanted to come in. Uh, this is involves, um getting in touch with many more families to identify which students We have seats for And finally because of that we need about two weeks from when we get final student lists to then get the bus List in time for transportation to redo routes to give it to five start to be able to do so our timeline It's essentially we need all the student information A solid two weeks before So that we can give it to transportation for routes to be done So that was really easy for the crocker farm students and and to a certain extent the preschool students because we already had those routes ready Uh, that is not true for the building block students in the same way because they'd be going to a different site Uh, it's also not true for the wildwood students. Um at almost every grade level that's planning to come back an additional complication of wildwood is, uh, one of the grade levels that um has staff willing to return to sixth grade Sixth grade has a departmentalized model Uh, so they work as a team. So there's a lot more coordination. That's required to figure out how that's going to work um with a couple teachers in and Not every but not everyone so It's a little more complex than it is. Uh, when you have a main homeroom teacher As opposed to a more dynamic teaching model by dynamic. I mean it changes throughout the day who the teacher is So, uh, I know it's frustrating, you know, um, but you know I want folks to know nick um and allison over at wildwood and everyone transportation facilities Is working as fast as they can but we can if we we're not interested in trying to rush things Uh, when we rush things we make mistakes And this is not a time where we feel like we could make it and I know it's completely frustrating that it's a month from now That we'd be talking about Uh students returning to wildwood. So I think both things can be true and in this case they are and I apologize for delay But uh, folks are working and worked a ton last week going through uh, this information and you know, um We're trying to Get uh staff and students in as quick as possible knowing the logistical complications that come from it Sorry, that was longer than my whole other part. So but it was a good question and a complex answer. So I apologize Other uh questions looking to see, um, Mr. Harrington or Ms. Lore have questions before we go back to Mr. Denner No, Mr. Denner Okay, um, so for communication to families who have left our district. So, um, I've been surprised the last couple weeks When talking to people in the public Um, how few people knew that we um passed a motion a very specific I thought pretty strong motion committing to our educational model for the fall Uh, which we got a ton of public input asking us to do Um, and that we are you know committed to and so it was it was pretty Clear the full time in person learning for the full year for all students provided health guidelines right here to and that the decision that core educational decision um that we've we've had um Legal counsel that this is will will not be part of any moa or or a future agreement. Um And so, you know one challenge is the communication challenge to parents who are Still in the district, but then there's those students that you You just mentioned right who have already left particularly at the kindergarten level Um, and so I'm wondering what what are our options and can we make it a priority communications priority? You know because you have nothing else to do dr. Marsh right now and the rest of the year It's like just to get just to let them know not to lobby right But just just to let people know what what we have done like I don't know if you have And in obviously the the manner of automated communication gets a little more difficult when people leave the district, right? But if there's a way to be able to reach I know we've done surveys in the past So we must have some way of of of being able to you know reach out in a some kind of a manner You're muted. Yeah, I got it. Sorry. Uh, yeah I think the hard thing is uh, we have generally tried to Not contact families Who are currently attending other schools even if we do have access to them Um, just it's it's a it's a little bit of a boundary kind of issue if they're in a private school, you know We've you know, and this is a conversation perhaps for you know that we could take up at another meeting because I think it's a meaty one Uh, we've generally haven't gone We've communicated We've asked them questions About why they left or what would have kept them in we haven't quote unquote advertised our offerings Uh by using, you know, former email lists or things like that when they're attending another school I know schools do. I know charter schools do, right? Um It's it's always been sort of a Icky question, you know, that maybe we need to get into a little bit more I think the best thing my advice to the committee, uh, is the more It can be communicated out to our families because I've been surprised to mr. Demling's point how many families within the district have not Are not aware of the vote that the school committee took and staff members You know, so I think word of math will happen pretty quick once it's shared more widely, but you know I'll do respect to scott and the work of the gazette and other people in the media, you know We're in a meteors media saturation time and so not everybody, you know kind of sees that so You know, it's certainly something that if the committee wanted to write a statement to me that we could put a newsletter Something like that. That's just updating the community on a vote the committee took that seems Like something I could do and I do think word of mouth Word of mouth kind of is like via text or facebook or whatever these days I suppose but it still seems to be a pretty effective strategy once Kind of a critical mass of people Have a set of information that's accurate Now that's my two cents, but I'm certainly open to a conversation on a broader outreach but I you know, I think we we have not crossed that threshold in the past of kind of Authentically advertising to families who have not or are not attending our school any other questions Not seeing any So we'll move on chairs update. I was going to Restate what mr. Demling had stated about our Our vote at our joint meeting a week ago To commit to reopening for internal in person learning full-time in the fall And also I've received questions from the community specifically related to our current moa and And also the melrose decision that that I Just bribed during that meeting last week the current moa does expire at the end of june of this year And it does not carry into Um, sorry, um, it does not carry into the next school year. So anything that's in that Current moa pertains only to this school year And as we talked about last last week and mr. Demling referenced A recent legal decision A ruling sorry from the department of labor indicated that The decision on in person versus remote education is a core education decision and as such cannot be part of any bargaining collective bargaining or negotiation um So that's been a question that continues to to come up even if if people are aware of the vote Then not sort of really being fully aware of the current moa Timeline as well as the recent ruling And we will be continuing that conversation As as mentioned earlier at our joint meeting next week as it pertains to this current school year So with that, I'm going to turn it over to and open it up for any school committee announcements from any of our um members Any announcements mr. Demling I am reading a book It is called this is probably backwards to you. Can you read the letters? Yeah, okay. It's called a wolf at the school house door Um, this is a book called the dismantling of public education and the future of school It's by jack schneider and jennifer berkshire to massachusetts authors and education advocates and they are hosting a Webinar a a discussion talk one hour talk tomorrow night wednesday at 5 30 If anybody wants the link you can just email me at facebook message me Anyone on the on the committee or the public is totally open Um, and I bring it up right now because our plates are just overwhelmingly full with with stuff to take care of and our focus is so much on Uh on the crisis immediately in front of us and justifiably so because it's a crisis and it's tending to um But but one of the major themes of this book is that in the fight to protect public services like schools Uh, we are always Uh to to quote a famous musical outgunned outmanned outnumbered outplanned, you know, it is It is always a a rag tag group of volunteers Uh grassroots that are fighting much larger more organized well-resourced Forces and they really lay out this big picture About what's been happening over the decades and over the years and and how it really metastasized under vetsy devos Um, and I think when we you know charter schools is obviously a big part of it. Um, but it's it's not the only part um And um, so they do a really good job of highlighting that and um, it's it's part of our work and it's part of Of what the community can be paying attention and it could be inspiring when somebody really knows how to describe this So, um, again, it's called a wolf at the schoolhouse door Uh as a webinar tomorrow night at 5 30 hosted by citizens for public schools Email me a facebook message me, uh if you want the link Thanks Thank you Any other announcements? Not seeing any. Um, so we'll move on to our new and continuing business And first up is our second quarter budget update. So turn it over to dr. Morris and dr. Slaughter I'll just and that's great to dr. Slaughter tonight I think before you start speaking just as a reminder for folks because I know it gets really confusing In the community. Um, this is the amherst school committee, which is our elementary schools So we are looking at the budget the q2 budget update for our elementary school district in amherst So I've uh, I've shared my screen. Hopefully everyone can see that if not I can zoom in a bit more um The picture on my Presentation is quite small. So, uh, if you could not if it's appropriately sized if it's not, I'll make it larger But if it seems okay in size, I want to focus. I mean, obviously there's some text there that you've had in your packet over the weekend Uh, but I'll spend more time talking about what's in the numerics, uh in the upper half You see me look up and it looks like I'm staring at the same. It's just because the monitor I have is is above my camera um So, uh briefly we're seeing it kind of where we were at the first quarter as far as information Things are progressing, you know in a similar way as they were earlier in the year There's a lot of unknowns out there and and I'll speak to those in a little bit. But uh, you know, I think I'm cautiously Um, I'll just say optimistic about where we sit relative to our budget at the moment Um, for example, our payroll is tracking, uh, you know below budget, which is expected We have some unfilled positions that we've held unfilled In part because we're not in person in part just to preserve resources because there are some uh unknowns, you know Continuing to be looming in our in our future that we're trying to to keep an eye on And obviously our our contract services with staff for and our substitutes have been way down relative to our usual application of those needs and so Those create resources for us to utilize in other areas of our budget later on As we look at the expense accounts, most of those are tracking As expected and often well below budget because we've uh, we've intentionally tried to be conservative with our spending We've had a spending freeze for a while That's by design that they are are tracking below budget by and large There's two areas that are highlighted in red one of which is uh in the Sort of district-wide special education area and the others in facilities And i'll speak to those in a moment, but but the the same thing I told you at the end of quarter one is true for both of those And that is that there's a lot of unknown in those The other areas of expense are tracking pretty well. You'll notice transportation is very very low Partly that's a billing issue in other words. We we get the bills from five star and we sort of spread those across Uh, so those are lagging a bit. We haven't really hit the the primary transportation costs That's tracking well below. Uh, you'll notice food services. Basically, um Unspent completely, uh, some of that will be uh, depending on what we end up with as we go through the last quarter of the year and the last Uh two quarters really but particularly the last quarter and how much in-person we have as to whether or not We'll need to use our budget to support our food service program or not Uh, I expect we will to some extent maybe not the full amount that we have budget But but nonetheless, uh, it is available to us but But uh, those are a couple areas that strike are sort of striking in their in their lack of use of budget. Um But as we get into the the district by special education in the and the uh, and the uh facilities What those two hold or are the a lot of the unknowns about what and how we proceed through the remainder of the year Um, what you'll notice in in special education is there's a tremendous amount of money encumbered Uh In in anticipation of spending Uh, and so as we Move through the year and as you know, some of the things you were discussing earlier in the meeting Play out and whether we're in-person or not in-person Etc. Etc. It'll change those needs and it may lower the the need for those encumbered monies or may increase the need for those and because of that Uh, and similarly we have the same situation playing out in our in our facilities area around things like facilities holds much more of those sort of Uh PPE hand sanitizer those kinds of costs that are are sitting out there Um, and there's a lot of unknown as even still with the supports we've gotten from the federal government. There's still some Uh process that we're going through relative to reimbursements. Um, so Uh, the town is eligible for FEMA reimbursements. It's also eligible for cares act reimbursements But it is a reimbursement process So you have to apply and get you know accepted or denied And of course with the change in administration the rules have changed So that's good news in some ways because there's more things that are being made eligible As well as a higher percentage of reimbursement in the FEMA department So so some areas where that that may help us quite frankly, but how those are playing out Is still being determined, you know, literally every day we're we're spending more time Trying to chip away at those and getting clarity from from our resources at the state and federal level relative to those supports And so because of those being still unknown and hopefully in the next Really a few weeks we'll be able to make some stronger decisions and stronger Understanding of what those those potential costs are going to be as we play out through the year We'll have greater clarity about what those two budget areas look like as as we proceed Uh, but you know, they are certainly, you know of concern and and we're going to keep a very close eye on them And and there are some resources available to us from the federal government, uh that that we can apply in the current year or Preserve and try to apply in the next fiscal year. And so We're trying to be conscientious about using that money wisely as we go ahead But we'll keep a close eye on those two areas of the budget Um, I think with that I'll stop and just see if if committee members have questions about anything specifically that I've mentioned Or or is in the document or not in the document any questions This fits her Um, thanks for putting this together. I'm happy to see so much green But um, I'm gonna ask about some of the red. Um So it sounds like from the facilities That's where we potentially are going to be able to use the cares act funds And so is this assuming I'm just trying to get an understanding of the assumptions into this Is this assuming to date we have had? I guess this is the problem when you look at expenses separate from revenues, but I I guess would it change I Mean so far have we received any reimbursement for the facilities costs? Or is that something where we're completely, you know, waiting to see or I guess I understand we need to be highly conservative and we don't want to, you know Count money. That's not actually in our coffers but it Is there any reason to be Super pessimistic about getting that money and then with the with the special ed or the sped district-wide sped accounts My understanding is that you you're seeing that some of the encumbered money. We may not actually have to Spend depending on which style of learning we end up with in the coming months. No, I'm Can you make a statement of which would actually be better? Vegetarily in person versus remote for that for that category I'm assuming that the facilities costs will go up Within person learning because it's related to PPE But there's this potential for the cares act money coming in to help offset that cost Of course, it's not going to be reflected here because it's it's a revenue stream and not an expense But with the but the district-wide sped what would that go Can you say anything about which direction that I'll go in with regard to which mode of learning we go to Can I jump in there dr. Slaughter? So I think until we know what students are coming back. It's really hard question to answer You know, so if you know, even if the governor's Proposal moves forward or the school committee decides to do whatever, you know I'm not getting too far ahead of ourselves What we still don't know and the governor was clear and I think the school committee likely would would endorse the same view and in any situation is that Students who would want to stay remote this spring would have the opportunity to stay remote And so I think it's it's that's why, you know, and I want to speak for dr. Slaughter But from my vantage point, that's why everything so hypothetical and hard to know right now is if there is a change in mode It's not going to be a change for a hundred percent of everyone all of our students and Particularly as it relates to some high-need students, you know We have some in in in our schools right now in the distance learning center We have others who for a whole host of reasons have indicated some real concern about coming into buildings Um, sometimes that's related to disability. Sometimes it's not so it's a it's a really hard one to judge And to make a decision on until we have clarity on who's coming in If it was an all or nothing kind of thing, then I think we could probably do a pretty good job at it But that's not our scenario Dr. Slaughter, is there anything you want to add to that but there's only a couple little things I'll add to that One is in in the in the sort of facilities realm. I think that and and actually in special education both We have received some some reimbursement that's covered some of the costs. There there are Large numbers of dollars that have not yet been determined whether or not they're eligible or ineligible So they're sort of sitting as an expense. They're also sort of sitting off the books as well And so, you know, if you look at the facilities, it's at 76 percent and there's $42,000 or $43,000 that's encumbered So, you know, that's not absurd to think that might kind of End up the year and sort of write it at budget But at the same time there may be expenses that sort of show up that aren't there either So will the question of revenue and the question of expenses kind of is lurking in some respects there on on both both accounts So I will say that I think the other thing is is Yeah, I think that how things play out Over the ensuing weeks and and in some ways we're going to have to make certain decisions by the end of this month From the standpoint of some of the federal resources are available to us Or to make some decisions about Whether we need to tap into those in fiscal 21 or can we push those off and try to Leverage those most exclusively in fiscal 22 and 23 And so obviously if we can kind of cover our costs with our you know with our existing resources And prolong the use of those federal monies for a later time period We'd like to do that Because some of those monies are eligible for some of those special education costs as well I mean some of it's you know, sort of nuts and bolts hand sanitizer vests That's where think counts, but some of it's actually for some of the services We need to support those students and and so there are resources that are um available where we're sort of You know Trying to manage those as best we can so it's it's I don't mean to be vague But at the same time it's so there's a lot of open questions about you know Some reimbursements in the sort of facility side of things will impact Well, what's left over that can be applied to to some of the other areas as well. So it's it's uh it's You know opaque At the moment and hopefully we'll get some clarity in the next four weeks or so I have a question sort of staying on the question about CARES Act Funding as well as expenses um And forgive me if this isn't an obvious or dumb question But I mean we've we've already spent more than that 125,000 for From CARES Act right like the CARES Act spending isn't all reflected in these expenses Is that correct? That's correct. There's a there's a Sort of large amount of other spending not showing here at all. This is really reflective of of spending in Uh in the appropriated budget, I guess is the best way to describe it So the the grant monies we have in that and that sort of roster of of expenses And I kind of pinned to this a moment ago as well as is are not either one sort of showing here And that's not to be deceptive. It's just because it's It is wholly separate from this it it will ultimately before the end of the fiscal year have to be get resolved in some respects And as we get into next fiscal year And so we're we're trying to you know, obviously leverage our our existing revenues And and sources of money as best we can to support the the things that we have to support for our students Um and and trying to leverage the federal money to support those things that were just not on the books at all And and we'll you know still remain, you know open into as far as what our needs are going to be So I said oh sorry dr. Marx And so I you know said another way because I this might be We you know people we get the question a lot about sort of what about cares act funding? Why can't we use that to reduce it so said another way? um You know the more One the more we the more we spend that is reimbursable for cares act and the more the more funding We are able to In theory get and this money exclusively reflects Spending or expenses that we know we either we know we can't get co cares act funding or fema funding for or We're anticipating might not be reimbursable. Is that sort of a easier? That's sort of a sound mighty way to state that yeah, I would think so. That's probably the best sort of synopsis You know there are probably there are certainly some eligible expenses within what we're seeing here But but I would say yeah the lines here are not ones that would be or not that we think are going to be eligible for those other funds um So that that would be yeah an appropriate way to just take that I think yeah, I do think sorry dr. Morris, but um Maybe at one of our next um before our final um sort of budget hearings or votes It would be helpful. I think for the public to see just how much money we have gotten from cares act and And you know where that's where that's gone and as well as fema funds and I forget the other um Funding that we've been able to access for this covet year and I think that would be really helpful for the community and for the public and probably for us as the school committee to see Just how much we've gotten on top of this appropriated funding and and we do have that compiled and you know, it's it's uh, it's I don't want to say scary The numbers are large to be perfectly honest. I guess that's you know, whether they're scary or not as for personal interpretation but uh, you know the number, you know the amount of money we spent on things has been pretty significant um And uh, you know and I think that there's some pretty significant resources that are coming our way and they're still Not necessarily on our doorstep yet, but but some of them are and some of it's a matter of You know, it's just got to go through the the the sausage grinder to get to us I mean that's part of it. It's just it is a bit of a laborious process to go through the reimbursement process so it's uh It's still in flux, but but we do and we are compiling that kind of information for you So I'm happy to bring that back to committee. Yeah, yeah I think I think to your to your point It's a large number and I think you know, a lot of times we get the question as if like Well, we could reduce this budget if only you did a better job getting more covid funding or how can we get more right? And I think like just to show how much we really have gotten and how much we have already spent. Um, I think we'll be um, illuminating for for everyone Dr. Morris, sorry Not at all and in mind still an offshoot. So I'm glad you kept that conversation So just another thing and it's an awkward one perhaps talk about but but I think it is relevant is that um You know with even the relatively small number as compared to the all students and all staff who are returning Um, we have um some of the furloughs that were put in place have ended Uh as of actually today Um And so, you know, that's a good thing, you know, I said this when we talked about it the last time furloughs are the You know among the least Uh Positive things that that an organization can do it's not something we take lightly Um, but you know, I'm glad that as students and staff have started to come back. I'll be it in smaller small numbers Um, you know that we do have those staff members coming back and that that does have A slightly negative impact on our salary line and yet, you know, it's it's one of the few times You'll say it's a negative impact on our salary line and I'm glad about it. Right. It's it's a good thing Um, so we do not all the furloughs have ended but but a good a good number of them have and I think it's more students come back If more students come back in the future, uh, that'll be adjusted. It will have, uh, You know, we'll have the negative, uh, impact on the salary line. But again, I again, I think that's a good thing and Um, but I want to be explicit that some of the furloughs have have ended because of the return of the volunteer return of students and staff and Um, as more folks come in, we you know, we would look to um end them completely Thank you. Mr. Demling. I see your hand. Yeah, I think from the school community's point of view We shouldn't feel awkward saying it all. I think it's a tremendous thing that we are ending the furloughs for some of our Really hardworking facility staff. Um That's that's a that is a tremendous side benefit of bringing students back and and it's not that is not specifically The reason why we are bringing want to bring more students back to in person, obviously, but But that is a tremendous side benefit and um, we shouldn't be shy about about um saying that in school committee. Um I just didn't want to echo what miss mcdonald was saying about the kids I think we we also get this I think legitimate question sometimes from town administrators of hey We gave you all this cares money. Where the heck did it go? And I think and I actually don't think a large number is scary in this context I think it's good to show that you gave us You know, because part of it was right on good coordination between the town and the schools Like there was some of this stuff was given to the town the town allowed it to be allocated for school expenses And I think that's that's a positive thing to be emphasizing of that Kind of collaboration and that it was put to good use so and you know And they should see where their their money went of the money that they were authorized to control it, right? So I think that's good. Um Uh, yeah, you know, you know just plus one about I think um when I see all the green like, um, it's good to see all the green I agree with miss spitzer. Um, and and I don't I don't want it to go past here without saying, you know A lot of that is because of uh an admin team that is working really hard To keep expenses down and and our staff that have endured a budget freeze for basically the entire year Um, it's it's not easy at any level of an organization to have a budget freeze where you just can't spend based on what you need And and those a lot of those expenses continue even if you're in remote So I wanted to thank our staff for that as well. The question I had was on the dug on the on the special ed So I understand how these expenses can vary wildly year to year and obviously we're hitting a high watermark in recent history Does the circuit breaker not help us at all in this scenario? Like and so and I don't know if you could maybe just do a Very small description of what circuit breaker is for the public and for the committee because it's one of those arcane things that In some years can have a really big impact on our budget Right, so it tends to be a bit of a lagging benefit to us. I guess is one way to describe it partly because um It just takes time for that to get resolved and sent to us. So just to sort of lay that out for folks as far as circuit breaker If we have extraordinary costs in in students education Uh, we can apply for what's called circuit breaker funds. In other words, if we get above four times The sort of statewide average for the cost of a student's education So if their expenses in by virtue of you know needs for support or Uh placement in specialized programs or whatever exceeds four times the the sort of base that the state sets That that's above the four times is eligible for reimbursement And then is generally reimbursed at a at a percentage. It's not fully reimbursed. So um, you know, the district's on the hook for the first four 4x and then what's above that is then eligible for for for reimbursement and so as we go through any given year we apply for and and and our subsequently reimbursed for circuit breaker funds They typically arrive the following fiscal year. And so we tend to Put a one-year lag So if we have a quick, you know, there there are circuit breaker funds that can be used immediately in other words, it can be applied for in in In the same and utilized in the same year, but it's we typically Uh have a one-year lag in that regard. Um, our circuit breaker funds for and we'll see this when we look at the fiscal 22 budget will will be in Over $200,000 worth of support to the budget. Uh, it's a little smaller than that this year But we certainly leverage those to help reduce that that's actually already Off the budgeted numbers and essentially we we sort of take that off the top to start with Or those budget numbers would be even higher. Um, I will say, you know, as we as we look at this that that, uh, you know, there There is application of school choice funds that are in the mix in this in this, uh Quarterly budget. There's some use of those we've applied not all of them yet Because again, we're going to apply school choice over the course of the full year And so we're balancing the use of those in much the same way we are with with other funds like circuit breaker or or, uh This, you know, the the COVID related monies that are coming in and helping us out as well So it's it's the number of different pieces But but we tend to have on circuit breaker a bit of we tend to take a lag So we have a solid dollar amount that we know exactly that we can then utilize for budgeting purposes Why there's a lag of a year in our use of the money? Um, and that's the longest we can hold it Um, but it does tend to be a bit of a lagging, uh benefit to us in that regard Any other questions? I'm not seeing any but I will also state up there because the um The border of my google meet was covering half of everybody's faces I think we can move on all right all right, so the um I can cue the next one up a little bit more which is the fy2 preliminary budget Uh, just to go over where we are in process. This is going to be a first glance At the budget, uh, we'll come back probably in two weeks or so. I think that's right Um, and we'll have the detailed budget which will have ads cuts In this case mostly cuts unfortunately Uh, mostly reductions And we'll have a budget hearing at that point Um, and then at the end of the month, uh, we'll be asking, you know, we'll get feedback from you feedback from the community at the end of the month will be, um Asking for a vote as Doug will go over it's due to the town manager on april 1st We intentionally, um started this process a little later this year given the uncertainty of budgets But also because with the new form of town government in amherst gives us a little more of a window Uh, a couple weeks, but that has helped actually Um, so this is really the the brief overview of where we're sitting and the the budget as most people think of it Is is two weeks out where we get into more specific ads cuts. Um, but i'll tend to turn it over to dr. Slaughter again Thank you, Doug. Yes so, uh Just to remind everyone hopefully, uh, this is large enough that everyone can see hopefully the print's large enough And it should be functional for folks, but but just to remind people of our general process We start in october quite frankly, you know, we basically finish one budget Take a deep breath file some interview reports and start our next budget And so from october through january, we're we're putting together the pieces as best we can find and and and assimilate them And as we get into you know, december january get a little more feedback directly from the town as to what it can support How much, uh, you know, uh available resources are are there for us, uh, and we continue to To you know, go through our meetings with our staff and and our our Administrative team to to uh try to shape that into a budget that makes some sense For our coming fiscal year Uh, then we'll you know, we'll have this meeting tonight. We'll go into a budget hearing at our our next meeting Um, and then the the general process is basically starting in april We need to have things to the to the town of amherst And to be more specific to those To the specific timeline for the town itself By virtue of the of the town charter We have to submit a proposed budget. So you have to vote on it and give it to the town by april one The manager has to then Include a full budget, uh, you know, which includes all the services of the town not just the schools by may 1 to the council And then they review it and they have to take action in in june essentially so This is the nitty gritty of what the superintendent was just speaking about as far as timeline is concerned But but essentially we have from now until the end of of march to get everything Uh, kind of buttoned up and and prepared for for submitting to the town for for uh review and approval um So as we go into the budget, there's a few things i want to point out some of this is these things you've kind of heard or haven't heard Um, but on the revenue front, we've gotten some guidance from the town. Um, actually updated this number This was last week with with the finance director Uh, so the the support from the town is is about 320 thousand dollars Higher than the current year. Um, that's a little over 1.3 percent and part of why, you know, the town-wide advice was one and a half I think um, but we have a little less than that is generally related to the sort of cherry sheet and the the impact of of Charter assessments and tuitions is sort of taking care of on the town side before it gets to us And so that typically makes our percentage a little smaller than the than the town-wide other departments In that regard We have an expectation in this budget as of right now to use 700 thousand dollars for the school choice to support the budget Um, to be perfectly honest, that's a deficit spending in other words the amount of revenue We're generating this year versus that number. Uh, that's larger than what our revenue will be this year Part of why we have a balance is so when times are tough, we have the ability to do this Um, but obviously if we get better news, it would be helpful to to reduce that number of possible just to sustain our balance But but nonetheless, it's we're looking at about a 700 thousand dollar support of our budget Um With with school choice revenues, that's a little less than we use this year this year We had we have budgeted about 748 thousand I think um And the other thing I want to point out in the revenue front and this gets back to our previous conversation But largely the the federal support related to the the pandemic Uh, not exclusively but a large portion of it is for things that are not typically in our budgets So it's four things that we don't typically have and and it will continue to support our budgets in that way And so it doesn't have to date. I mean, there may be other stimulus that comes along that is more direct Here's a chunk of money spend wisely by whatever you want with it That hasn't been the case to date. Most of it's been targeted to specific kinds of items that we're going to need It continued to need as we go to the fiscal year. So I just want to remind people of that that it's it's largely Uh Then for things that we either wouldn't normally have need for or or need more of than we normally would have by virtue of the pandemic Um on the expenses side what I will lay out is that you know, we we put in steps and and colas We've estimated for cola. That's obviously up for uh negotiation this year as our contracts all end on june 30th Um, so we've made an estimate of what we think that's going to be Uh You know from a health insurance standpoint, this is probably the best piece of news I've got overall in in tonight's presentation is that our overall insurance is increasing 1.11 percent for the coming year Which is a very very modest increase But there's also going to be what what is typically termed a health insurance premium holiday, which means We just won't pay our premiums one month And so that benefits our employees they get to save their their expense Of health insurance in that month and then we will we will also Save that and so that has really helped Support our budget and and helps to to mitigate Some of the other things we're seeing relative relative to the budget Um, but as as you know has been noted in the current year But also is will be presented in this next slide after this one is our special education costs Are ours, you know are increasing significantly We have some some students that have needs that that require support from us and that That is reflecting our budget is pushing it in in a direction that that requires Additional support from school choice and and other resources that we have it So I want to point that out and we'll definitely use our circuit breaker money to help Mitigate that as best we can but nonetheless those those costs are are significant um What this all boils down to is that as we sort of lay out those uh increases in in resources available to us and and expenses that are that are coming to us It's it's looking like we're going to need about five hundred and sixteen thousand dollars worth of reductions to to sort of match our expenses to our our our revenues And so that's a that's a pretty sizable, you know Cut series of cuts. We're going to need to make and and as you see this last slide You can sort of see where the areas are that that have the most profound impact to us You know salary special education is notable. Um, you know, some utilities costs are going up a little bit There's some areas that are that are holding pretty steady in utilities But the the water and sewer rates for the town of Amherst are going up pretty significantly and that's got an impact on us Transportation costs are the modest increase that's part of our contractual arrangement with with five star and so This lays out the the overall increase It's about a three and a half percent is what we're, you know, across the entirety of the budget Um, you know, the the available resources from the town are just over 1.3 percent and so, you know, we've got a a shortfall there that we have to To figure out over the ensuing couple of weeks and and and we'll we'll come back to you at the at the hearing and Articulate those in particular Um in the lower left, you can see the assumptions that are in here most of which I've mentioned already um You know the uh, the no sabbatical request is not a large number, but you know, every little bit helps So we we've we've already included that in our our adjustment to a cost for for the coming year um So I think I will stop there and see what questions people have and and see if I can address those and and We'll go from there question and another um district that we're on members of um At the preliminary um budget view We hadn't I mean looking at this where the increases are You know over half of that increase is coming just from salaries um So with the size of things it looks to me that probably a lot of the Non payroll account related increases are not things that we that are discretionary Um at this point. So I guess the question that I have is is there any sort of starting estimate sort of At that other district we started by saying, you know Could be potentially that's the equivalent of 25 fte's for example And the result is is a little bit different than that But I'm wondering if if there's a similar sort of estimate of where we might need to look to make those reductions Well, I mean just as a rough, uh, you know sort of metric what we estimate when we have an open position You know if you divide that number into 516,000 it's roughly seven to eight Fde if we were to absorb it entirely with people um And I think that that's you know, obviously in the super instance spoken to this and in other conversations And he'll speak to it again. I think in in this regard is that, you know, the goal in making any reductions like this are to uh try to have the least impact on students and their and their learning opportunities as we can and and to, uh Make the least painful from the standpoint of what our primary mission is which is to educate the children of Amherst So that's the the direction we're going to head. Um But it it has has happened in recent years. It's you know, there's not a lot of In some of those other areas they'll get we'll get more refined with what we know And so that will help us and and I think as we play this out over the next couple weeks We'll we'll fine-tune those those other areas of of the expenses as best we can and and try to dial those in Uh as precisely as we can to avoid cuts to uh They'd have a negative impact on the kids But nonetheless, it's a it's a pretty profound kind of uh level of cuts not as as significant as the as the regional school district. Um, but pretty Pretty large nonetheless Other questions from committee Mr. Demlin Yeah, I don't have any questions duck, but I just have a comment that like I don't like this budget And I'm not blaming you but I'm just going to speak to the level budget support Um about what we're doing Over this over this three to four year period and what we might have to do again in f y 23 As we're all trying desperately to help young children recover from a pandemic academically mentally emotionally Um, and miss spitzer has talked about this at the very beginning of the year We're gonna need more than average not less, you know, our teachers are going to be Doing their darndest in this You know this this kaleidoscope of social services that our public schools provide for for our families You know, it's it's such as abc's in one two threes, you know, it's it's it's it's the it's the mental impact the emotional impact It's it's the economic impact. It's it's it's um You know the disproportionately felt by our economically disadvantaged families and by Irish language learners and our special educate and so we're going to Knock it back to this degree. It's it's wrong. We shouldn't we shouldn't be doing this and when we look at it, um in in this this uh the chart of what's happened in the previous fiscal years, you know From 0.9 to 2 to 1.34 And then you think about next year. So we don't have clear financial indication yet from I want to be clear I don't want to put words in the mouth of the town manager of the town finance director But last week there was a presentation about how they're going to fund the four capital projects Which you know, I'm not going to talk about one way or the other here Because it's not the agenda But one of the impacts is that in order to to do that with with hopefully one override So you really have to increase the percentage of the town budget that's allocated to capital, right? And so it's it's eight and a half this year Uh proposed and then looking at pot and this is all like, you know first pass, right? I'm not it's not final I just want to repeat that endlessly But it's eight and a half this year and then 10 The following year then 10 and a half But what that means and and this is a serious enough possibility that they put it on a slide We could have increases to the operational budget um for fy 23 So the year that follows this of one or one and a half percent Right. So then you have four years in a row zero point nine two one point three four and then one or one that are You know average less than one and a half percent increase And so we've knocked knocked back our level services year after year after year after year Precisely at the time when we shouldn't be doing it And and when I bring up this this this point about budget support I get a lot of hope for the biden bailout and I hope it happens to everybody But like that's not that's not a budget strategy. That's not a responsible budget strategy in my opinion You know, and so I I'm really concerned about this level Of uh cut cut to our schools again. I'm not laying it blame it mr. Slaughter Dr. Slaughter dr. Morris, but um, I just I just have to call it out in the history of what's happening to our budgets and and and the really um Really serious work that's going to have to happen when all our kids come back in person. That's right I think that that um a couple of things. I mean, you know the the dynamic the town and not to defend anything But just to sort of paint the picture for folks who don't spend forever thinking about capital versus operating but you know, you the town is has Not built a building since it built the police station in 1991. I think uh, and so the the sort of uh Drawback of that is that we are in a circumstance in the in the town of Amherst where there's a number of large capital needs and Uh They're expensive And so it it it makes it difficult to continue fund operational budgets at the levels that that people would want them to be at when when the capital Needs are as great as they are So it's a dynamic that's very very difficult and and those capital needs are are profound and and real and You know, we even have a school building project that's part of that that conversation I can tell you from walking those buildings and we'll talk about capital a little bit. Uh, there's some serious need there. Um But I think also, you know, there are in some of the federal support that is in hand essentially, uh, some supports around mental health there's some some that are expressly targeted Dollars that have to be used for that purpose And there's no, you know, it would be great to have more because it's it's not You know large numbers, but it's none the less there's been some Acknowledgement there's going to be some need in those areas and so as we Again, think about those resources that sort of sit outside this budget that are going to be available to us to help support our work You know, there are some that are targeted for some of those kinds of things and again Those are some of those needs are are present because we haven't been able to to be in a in a normal school in a normal way That said, I think there's just probably the need to probably far outstrip the the resources at this point And so, you know, we're going to have to to be Creative to say the least and we're also in a struggle because as as the superintendent spoke of much much early in the meeting You know, we're not sure how many kids are going to show up on the first day of school I mean as far as you know the actual How many kids that went to home school this year and went to a private school are going to return to our school district And so we're you know, we're making decisions about class size and and Staffing, you know, we're going to go through that exercise and yet, you know, we may find ourselves in a bind When the when the first day of school rolls around and the number of the kids is is decidedly different than what we plan for and of course, we've got, you know other kinds of of programmatic, you know question marks out there too as far as, you know How that how school will happen next year, you know In it's in it's, you know, depending on how the pandemic plays out over the next few months and what are options and available, you know Practical reasonable rational things to do are relative to, you know, keeping kids safe and keeping our staff safe So so there's a lot of unknown still That generally aren't going to be helping our budget, but nonetheless make it difficult to plan as fully as we'd like to But I did want to mention there are some some specific resources tied to things like mental health and and some of that And and that'll be part of as we go through and try to preserve money from this year to next as far as what's available to us Uh, that's so we can leverage those funds as best we can to to support our students as they come back to to being in our buildings on a regular basis Other questions Miss Spitzer, um, thank you for putting this together. I have a couple Super technical questions and then some that broader kind of echoing what mr. Mr. Dumblings sense I'll start with the broader which is again, I would like to just reiterate that I think it's Just so incredibly frustrating to be put in a position where we're hoping to bring back as many kids as want to be back in person in in the fall and It's just I don't see a way around it where it's going to be less expensive than it has been in the past and I'm Or we're going to need fewer people I mean, I think there's a story on npr tonight talking just about this exact thing That if anything we'd want to be increasing The number of teachers in order to decrease the classroom size because cope. It's going to be, you know It's still going to be around. Hopefully the numbers will be low enough and we'll we'll all have Um, the vaccinations are out, but I don't think anybody's expecting everything to just go back to the way it was in 2018 or 2019 um So that being said I um I have a question. I'm sorry to keep harping at the carersack money. Well, one of the things I'm seeing so my you know, I um Is a lot of the public saying why aren't you guys doing more outdoors and you know looking at these models outdoors with um, you know I have two kids who are in person in They're young so they're in preschool and and daycare and they're spending so much time outdoors Could any of that carersack money be Spent to increase our ability to do things outdoors like build more tents or potentially You know get tables so folks can eat outside or things like that. I'm just thinking I know it seems They're going to be it's going to be so hard to pay for the things that we are normally doing that It's hard to think about spending extra on on creating um a more kind of pandemic friendly Outdoor um environment for our kids, but it seems like one of the things that keeps coming up So I'm going to just say here because I it's it's been on my mind. Um and um The other question I have is just this is the highly technical one um It's looking at the expense budget that you're presenting in the slides and then going back to what we were just looking at in terms of The fiscal year 2021 report and it looks to me And I just want to confirm this that the big difference if you look at like the bottom line in terms of expenses It's kind of the central administration lines aren't necessary in in the So the fiscal year 2021 one if The expenses are for at like 12.8 million and the total expenses line, but if you go To the Fiscal year 22 projected we're at 24 point 75 million is So when we're doing the budgeting out, we're including things like The central administration and that those aren't being reflected in the budget project that we were just looking at and then For example, like when I'm looking at special education, I'm seeing that we're at we've budgeted for fiscal year 21 148 thousand dollars But if you go down and look at where we're actually at in the fiscal year 21 what we're current our current budget It's actually up at 600 Three so if anything we'd actually be potentially seeing a small reduction in what you're projecting for Fiscal year 22 compared to what we're actually projecting to spend in this In this current fiscal year 21 school year I'll take the first one To really distinct one. So we did use some carersack money for 10 Um, I think we get we have two problems in terms of scaling it So like on an average, you know, like a wild would do 21 classrooms There's not space or capacity for 21 900 square foot tents Uh, to be put up outside, there's also challenges that technology and some of the use of that So I think at the preschool very young levels I think it works a whole lot better Um As kids get older it it's a significantly larger challenge It also taxes if we're going to put chairs and tables out there. We live in new england. It's going to rain It's going to snow It's going to be windy and so if we had massive amounts of tables and chairs We'd have questions about cleaning and I know we know more about coba than we did in the fall But we would you know, presumably we're trying to not have kids Share materials as much as possible, especially outside their pot or class So from a facilities end, it's hard to imagine recreating outdoor classrooms in new england That have all those things so the short answer is we did use it for tents And thanks to facilities folks for their work Once, you know, lord knows in may when we don't have to worry about snow and some of the weather In in new england, we'll get them, you know, hopefully sooner than that get some of those back up But in terms of scaling, you know, that that's a real challenge for us in terms of shared spaces shared desks shared chairs The technology pieces that staff members are utilizing and I don't mean just that people are kids around the Chromebooks there But you know, you think about kids who have intensive special needs and adaptive pieces You also think about what we experienced in the fall granted. It was only a couple days We're kids with attentional challenges and sometimes the outdoor space is great and sometimes there's a lot of distractions And having walls matter. So I just think it's a longer conversation carry and I'm happy to put it on a school committee agenda You know in the future if you'd want it sounds like we're going to be talking about cares act But I think at a broader level, you know, if we really are thinking of outdoor classrooms, we'd really want to spend large amounts of money, both on teacher training as well as on kind of different tools. So what we currently have Carrie can I just want to say that I'm not anticipating like english outside. I'm thinking lunch Expand it like pee maybe doing dance with music, you know, we're not going to want kids singing indoors Can we move the the music? I mean, maybe we will maybe we'll be in a world where it doesn't matter anymore But I'm just thinking I'm not saying history lessons outside because I I recognize all of those limitations But I think right now Like I'm just shocked at some of the days and I maybe regulations where it's considered too cold to go out to play where you know kids in outside of the public school system are able to go outside and play if they're in like pre-school or you know So I agree with you 100 we're I'm not pushing for that I just think we might be able to push it a little bit further than where we are right now and it could be really beneficial Um, if we can think of ways to do it creatively Yeah, and just on that point, you know kids did eat outside in the tents, you know For the days that phase one started and we were there um and adults as well, which is actually Perhaps even as important or more important um in terms of people's lunch breaks. Uh, if they're able to be outside Um in terms of infection and concerns So, you know, we could definitely come back to that but you had a long question for Doug So I want to give him an opportunity to jump in as well Yeah, I'll just add just one addendum to that. I mean, I think, you know The question is is whether the funds that are Uh, you know, sort of cares related eligible for use in that way absolutely And so I think it's just incumbent on us to figure out Which ways to spend them in be the most beneficial in that regard As far as the other uh couple questions there, I think that the 24 So one thing is that on the On the fiscal 21 quarterly report, I subtotal And then have a grand total at the bottom. So I think that the 24 7.9 on the fiscal 22 is a total it includes the salaries Which are over, you know, around 18 million. So you strike 18 million out of 24 You start to get what the actual sort of expense section is that's sort of a Unfortunate artifact of how that's laid out um And so I can actually switch real quick. I hope that'll display properly but this um This is spending to the midpoint of the year. So if you double that that's going to be 25 million dollars roughly Um, sorry about that Well, that's all right It's kind of in the neighborhood. They're kind of in the neighborhood of each other, right? And but it's not always clear as to how how that stuff plays out. So that's that's that's one piece. I think that um To your other question regarding I think it was a little more specific to special education and the fact that even though Uh, what we spend to date in fiscal 21 on special education is much higher than what we budget But also it's higher than what we're what we're budgeting in fiscal 22 is is an expectation that yes, we'll probably do more Uh in-person schooling kind of more like what we normally would do and well The needs of students are such that that that number is up Uh, it also is reflective that we don't think we're going to be quite in the situation We've been in this year as far as the kind of services we're needing to provide And if we are then again, we'll leverage those those cares act monies to cover those Those expenses as best we can The other thing that is a bit of an artifact here is that I believe and I could be mistaken So because I'm doing this for memories. I think that our our circuit breaker Revenues that were available to us in fiscal 21 may have been exclusively applied to To a sort of single line in the in the in the picture here and and in and in uh in 22 It may be more spread out over a couple of the lines because you know when you look at special education Student services sport services transportation all those kind of carry some of those costs that are circuit breaker eligible I'd have to go back and look specifically where I sort of Applied that that support. So I think that that also kind of makes it hard to do an apples to apples comparison a little bit. Um But uh, hopefully that that kind of helps paint a little bit of why those things look a little out of balance with each other relative to like current year spending and and projected and And budgeting for next year. Thank you. Sorry. I was looking at the wrong column Okay, any other questions This is um, only our first look and we're going to be coming back at this again. Um in just a couple of weeks. I'm going to move this along so we Uh Stay time. So, uh, thank you. Uh, dr. Slaughter for that. Um, Was there any more On the budget? I think now we move to uh, we now move to our school choice hearing So, um, maybe I'll just cue this up in terms of the topic if there were public comments specific to this then we can Accept them. Uh, but uh, we generally have a school choice hearing and it's an opportunity of the public if they'd like to weigh in specifically on school choice So it's kind of public comment, but it's queued up right to this point in the meeting. Um in the past We have been a for several years been a school choice district in the town. Um, I'll make a recommendation Uh, it's the committee for your consideration and potential future vote But I'll pause to see if there was I think I saw miss mcdonald's shaking your head know that there were not public comments for the hearing so The committee's okay. I just would like to make my recommendation and and see if there's questions And then we can you know debate it more and then perhaps have a vote Next uh next time but the short story is I'd like to continue being a school choice district Particularly looking at kindergarten and first grade for next year. It's likely the case that we'll be Making school choice decisions a little bit later But as you can tell we're relying on school choice pretty heavily and in fact over relying on school choice School choice students add a lot of value to our district as well. So we appreciate them and appreciate the interest in our district Kindergarten last year last couple years. We've been really looking at kindergarten as the primary grade level to accept school choice students into I think the first grade is low this year Kindergarten is low this year next year's first grade. We don't know how many of the students will return Or not return how many of the students will come to our district They most of them have not been part of our district at all Or if they were they transitioned to private school pretty early in the year And so I'd like to kind of my recommendation is that we remain a school choice district We accept school choice students Well after our registration period and really primarily look at kindergarten and potentially first grade to fill empty seats Not to make new sections. So that's my recommendation I'm happy to entertain any questions or comments now and know that we'll have an opportunity to come back to this before the committee has a vote any questions from It's like we lost mr. Harrington No questions We now move on to our the common entice enrollment policy and this is for Just to kick this off. This is a continuation of a discussion that we started early in january or middle of january We had received question from and request from the from a current family In the common entices to relook at our sibling Enrollment policy And we started that conversation Like I said in january and tonight we wanted to continue the conversation and potentially come to a decision on if If we want to make a change Yep, and so just to give a little bit of context. We are going to be starting kindergarten registration in a little less than a month And we anticipate our common entice lottery taking place Sometime around I think it's late april So this is timely. So we'll gather the feedback from the committee. I'll share that with miss richardson and she will edit Potentially depending on the conversation revise the policy for your consideration at the next meeting So, uh, I think just to summarize where we are Um The previous iteration, uh, first of all siblings wasn't so much an issue first go around, right? There wasn't any siblings even second go around wasn't so much an issue But now that we're having students and entering second grade There's the potential for more siblings to participate and the question really is how do we manage siblings who? Uh, students of the current program who are not in the fort river catchment area Mono lingual english speakers who have siblings in the program I think the other sibling parts of things is pretty well laid out But there's we've gotten some public feedback on this particular point Uh, I guess, you know talking to our team yesterday about this our perspective is We are quite Committed to maintaining a 5050 program and maintaining a high level of linguistic diversity within the program and For students with Spanish language backgrounds maintaining that number For the model lingual english speakers in the program really the question is How do we want to prioritize siblings from outside the fort river catchment area? With fort river zone students without a sibling and I think that's the key Point that we're looking for feedback on We actually don't have a particular recommendation on this topic We see it as we can make it work our our our real focus is having the academic Backgrounds and skills and linguistic skills be balanced between the classes You know at fort river and and we see that And and we see that I don't know how to say this differently we see that as a political And a policy question not so much an academic question because from our perspective Our our real main focus is the balance the linguistic balance not so much the catchment area So we're open to feedback from the committee But I just wanted to highlight sort of the things that we feel Quite serious about we could see the pros and cons Of of all the approach we could see the impact potentially on Fort river of having more students from other schools in it But we also Like the fact that siblings are part of the same program We see the real benefit of having siblings being able to communicate multi-lingually in their homes regardless of where they live logistically It's going to be complicated anyway as the program matures and expands and we have more and more students from fort river and crocker farm so I mean from wildwood and crocker farm attending fort river so It's going to be a problem regardless of however you feel about siblings that we'll have to you know work out with transportation So we don't feel like the logistically The implications should be a defining factor. It's really just a Question about how we think about this program and how it's situated within the community So sorry to not come forward. Usually I come forward the recommendation on this one as long as it's not affecting the linguistic balance We're happy to roll with where the school committee wants to take us Can I um Just ask a Data question. Um, I know that one of the family the family one of the families asked about the numbers of kids with siblings right now but Another question that I had was Um, how many if any are we of students? Are we turning away? from the monolingual English population Sorry about that. Um, so, uh, I think the exact numbers for you, but I believe Both years that we've had the program. It's been in the in the neighborhood of 10 And um So in other words, we have 20 Uh No total district-wide students who are uh monolingual English students who are would Would like to be in the program, but what there were in seats for So in essence, there's 20 seats for roughly 20 seats for monolingual English speakers Um, and each year we've had about in the neighborhood of 30 interested Families for those 20 seats I believe last year was actually 12 was the weight like the number of people who didn't get into the program with them Who showed interest, but it's in in the neighborhood of like 10 11 12 both years Sorry, just about How many of those how many students outside of monolingual English outside of the fort river zone? Have we've been able to bring into? The program each year Pretty minimal. Uh, I want to say less than three both years Or two or three both years. I should say less than three. I think one year was two one year was three So it's pretty small at the moment Thank you, miss spitzer so I think just to follow up on the question the that that uh chair mcdonald was saying is of those who were unable to be monolingual Speakers who wanted to be in the program. I My understanding is that they they've all been outside of the fort river catchment area So have there been any fort river students to date who were monolingual speakers who wanted to be in the program? Who were unable or was it exclusively folks who were zoned to wildwood and quarka from So here's the way it works. Um, so we um, we have our registration in bed barge under typical year About a month later. We do the lottery anyone at fort river Who's a monolingual speaker can have a seat based on our the current policy that was passed There are fort river students who have enrolled after the lottery has taken place Who would have wanted a seat but the seats were filled by students from wildwood and quarka farm. So students who registered quote-unquote We're able to register in the first month of registration I don't quote-unquote put just in that first month We have not turned anyone away, but there have been fort river students who registered after the lottery who would have wanted to be in the In common aunt days program who have not been able to join the program Are those included in that figure you gave or were those only of the kids who are able to register in time? okay, because If you move to the district later, maybe your family's not on top of things in the way that They might hope to be then you would miss out and we wouldn't necessarily be counting you in that figure you gave us earlier Exactly. That's right. Yeah We have not had a wait list. We've been able to fill all the Seat with students with Spanish language background. We haven't had a waiting list, you know We've been pretty successful at getting Uh, the vast majority of students across the district with Spanish language background to be interested in rolling the program But we haven't overfilled the demographics haven't shown because our numbers have been small the last two years in kindergarten in general We haven't overfilled that number where we've had a wait list there as well. I know that wasn't what you're asking But I think it's a relevant piece of data Mr. Demling Yeah, so I mean, I'll just give my two cents right now. Um, I I tend to support allowing preference for siblings within language group I definitely concur with what dr. Morris described That you know, the primary consideration has to be not affecting the Spanish speaker Balance, you know, just it's always good to remind ourselves that, you know, the one of the main drivers of this program is to address the achievement gap for Spanish speaking students where English is not their first language and And just what an amazing Opportunity it is given what the research says about about all the various different ways that you can um You can approach English language and the dual language immersion is really Has some incredible results in addition to being like You know, such a great cultural celebration for so many of our students and all the other benefits. I won't call Um, but yes, but realizing that um, certainly within the language group is is, you know, requirement one and that's what we're talking about here um, you know after that, um, I do find the arguments that, um That it that having two students in the same house um Immersing in that language increases immersion. I find it Um, I find the the notion that families would be more invested and that you would decrease the chance of attrition um, I think those are I think those sound like Rational arguments to me. Um It's true that if you have more students from one family than overall you're decreasing the total number of families Although I I don't really See while I certainly want this program to be, you know available to everybody and we don't even have a lot or anybody just gets in Yay, um, you know, what the goal of the program isn't to maximize the number of families in it It's to have a successful program right and to have a full program and um, so I don't I don't I don't see see a real downside to to having multiple Students from that that same program. I also I'm also trying to think of it from the point of view of a family um You know applying and then not knowing what's going to happen in a lottery x number of Years from then and then really having to make a decision because once you're committed you You know, you want to be committed and so um, and that can have obviously a big a big impact Now it's not to say that we don't have families in that situation right now You might have kids at different buildings, right? I mean I I was you know, it's happened with my family We had two two of our kids at crocker one at wildwood and that's just that's just the nature of the business Sometimes with what we can make available. Um, so um But uh, but yeah, I mean that's that's that's where that's where I I I feel right now Can I ask if are we gonna Is the intention tonight to have a vote because it just uh, or is it just to give guidance to dr. Morris on how to drop the policy just because it's hard to vote when we don't have any hard documentation Of what the policy is going to look like Dr. Morris. Yeah, I'm sorry for not framing that well at the onset So the idea is that if I get feedback from the committee that mr. Richardson could adjust the policy If adjustments are required or requested rather so that you can consider the policy and vote at a future meeting It was hard for us to know what to do because we didn't know the direction the committee Wanted on this so, you know when mr. Richardson, I met it was just like should we revise the policy? I'm like, I don't know right, you know It was it was a little unclear because you all hadn't had the opportunity to have dialogue and give direction So we're looking for that direction and we would bring back a policy for your consideration But if there was Consensus that like yeah, we'd love to emphasize siblings within that band Great, we'll adjust it if there's not then frankly we'll bring back a very similar looking policy than what we've passed The last two years, but we wanted to get the school committee's input before we put together the final touches on the policy for next year Does that help miss spitzer? So I have some thoughts that I could contribute, but I I don't want to hog if mr. Harrington or Or miss mcdonnell want to provide some feedback since I already have had So I Actually, I did I was um, I I guess You know, I'm I don't have super strong feelings. I will just say I don't have like I um Could argue and and go either direction um, I It does make me pause in thinking that a You know the eldest child in a fort rivers own family Um rising into fort river may be locked out of the common aunt's program simply because they don't have an older sibling That was already in the program and that but I'm going to say it doesn't feel fair at the same time that I know it doesn't feel fair that a sibling from um, you know wildwood or crocker farm doesn't get that sort of um advantage and may be locked out so I just want to acknowledge that I think either way No matter what we're doing. It's a lottery and there's going to be people that benefit from that and people that don't um, and so I think that's that's where sort of I'm sort of Kind of torn as to which way to go and I know when we talked before We talked about that we don't afford the same sort of benefits to family other families in the district that have their their children going to do different schools within the the district With two different elementary schools um So yeah, I I don't want to I don't want to sort of say it as a cop out, but I I don't I don't see it as a 100% clear sort of quote-unquote win um It's it's it's a benefit to some families and it's going to it could be potentially a hard, you know a drawback or I'm disappointing for other families um, and We have a policy that we did think through And discussed originally how how we wanted to treat siblings and families within this program Um, so I guess I don't really know what to say beyond that, but I if we do Decide as a committee to um to make this change I would ask that we also explore sort of what are the implications of make of an allowing choice if you will for families whose students You do have students that are split for all the same reasons that We're saying is a benefit to have um the non-zoned for you know non-fort river zone families sort of bump up in priority in the lottery um Just because it just doesn't sit well with me that we're going to make this decision for one program and not for others Sorry, I think muted myself Um, so I I want to echo I'm feeling very torn on this too. I don't have strong feelings I think I I also want to echo It really feels uncomfortable to me to create a sibling preference and open up fort river to siblings Outside of the fort river area for the common entes program and not for the students who are there for for other reasons um my other Question is that if we were to change this policy I'd want to build on something where we can go back and revisit it when we potentially have Depending on how the building project goes It just feels like if you're sibling if we're going to have a school that potentially will have the common entes program in it and With different boundaries it would feel weird to keep If the decisions that were made now and the kids who got to end the program now Defined who would have the potential to be in that program when we have a larger building potentially I so I get I guess um It seems easier to kind of stay with where we are at and not change but at the same time The only reason I can see for really switching over towards changing the policy is that for this program I could see there being a real downside for us losing kids in the upper grades who are monolingual English speakers because those spots are not going to be easily Filled in with like a fourth grader who's just joining for river or you can't do the lottery to have a fourth grade monolingual English speaker Drop into the common entes program in the way that you could for other types of Dr. Morris, there's perhaps and um Um This is not something I thought about beforehand. Uh, so I'm I'm Slightly low to do this, but you know another way to maybe think about this is you know So right two to three kids outside the Fort River catchment area Um are in that group the siblings. I think are already prioritized within that lottery um It might be interesting to see what our numbers are. This is not a way you define policy and just see if They're not necessarily taking the place of Fort River monolingual students, but they're rather almost getting Yeah at the top of the lottery that would only apply to Crocker farm and wildwood families. Um, and whether that would be enough to Can't say a short enrollment, but but you know Not every kid is going to have a younger sibling, right? And so not every kid's going to have a younger sibling two years younger or three years younger, right? And so, you know, I it's not really resolving the the issue But you know, I think there's sort of three options here. One is just no sibling preference whatsoever The other is sibling preference, which is sort of what we have in the policy that sort of within groups There's a sibling preference Um And then the last one is a sibling preference that sort of moves people between the four Sets of groups, you know, the the Spanish language background At Fort River Spanish language background not at Fort River monolingual English at Fort River and model English outside of Fort River So there's sort of sort of three scenarios. One is no preference One is preference within band, which is our current model and then one is preference You know and skipping bands so to speak So just I just wanted to mention that because I think just to broaden the conversation not to suggest one over the other But sort of there are three, you know potential pathways to try to address this I think that's why I was asking the questions about the numbers because There's there's the theory and then there's the reality and or in practice and it Was curious as to really how many Um, if there's two or three monolingual English students That have been able to get into the program presumably if there's only one or two siblings in in the non Fort River catchment areas um They're going to get the priority There anyway, um with our current policy. Um So the only question is if there's if all of the seats are filled with Fort River kids And there's no No seats left for Anybody outside of the Fort River zone in monolingual Um, Mr. Herring, did you have any Thoughts or ideas that you wanted to weigh in on on this? Not anything specific mom. I'm kind of pondering And so I mean I think You know and I know miss lord is able to be on this call I mean, I don't think you would throw us off If if the committee wanted to come back in two weeks when we're doing the the budget hearing at that meeting for amherst Because we're not talking about doing this lottery. I think it's april 28th or something like that is late april We'd certainly want to have it at the time of registration. And so that's that's We we'd want to get that feedback at that next meeting so we can share it even if it's not codified by the time kindergarten's kindergarteners register, but If the group wants more time to ponder and to think about it and have miss lord involved You know, we'd want, you know, some more clear direction at the next meeting but I think it is a complicated issue and I'm I'm conflicted like everybody else just to be clear like, you know, one of the reasons to make a recommendation is You know our staff our leadership team really Struggles with the same things that you all are struggling with that we're empathetic. We see, you know, potentially Some imbalance as it relates to special ed programs. We also see some advantage as it relates to siblings and linguistic students learning the same language and what that does in the home We see the concerns about what it does at fort river, you know, we're also concerned about enrollment over time and If we stay in our current model with three elementary schools What does that do at crocker farm and wildwood if more students are coming to fort river? So we have all all the same concerns that were expressed this evening and by concerns I mean concerns with any of the potential solutions because they're all imperfect That's our world these days, isn't it? So, you know, if the group wants more time to think about it, it's fine We will really want to leave the next meeting in two weeks with with a more firm direction But I don't want to put pressure on the committee to make a decision before it's ready to make a decision I think that makes sense because it sounds like we all would Appreciate that a little bit of extra time even if we think we know where we would go now And I think it would be nice to Enable Ms. Lord to be able to weigh in as well Um, and so we'll just all commit that we come in with Sort of more, you know Having thought about it over the next the course of the next two weeks so that we can give Dr. Morris and Ms. Richardson some clean direction Yep Okay So we're moving on to capital and I'm going to text some of our friends in Union 26 that we Are running a little late so Yep, and so the good news in terms of time is uh, mr. Roy Clark Unfortunately can't be here tonight. So miss dr. Slaughter is filling in so what we said I don't know if dr. Slaughter knows this but I checked in with mr. Roy Clark later We're going to do a very quick summary of capital And we're going to collect questions You can ask them here or you can email me afterwards and we'll make sure we respond to them both to the committee But also bring them to the next meeting Because there may be questions that that you all asked that we you know if it's not in view of the public We want to make it visible to the public So i'm going to ask dr. Slaughter to do this very quickly given mr. Roy Clark's Conflict that unfortunately happened tonight and we certainly can come back and talk about this in more detail In two weeks, but i'll turn it over dr. Slaughter who is wonderful, but it's not mr. Roy Clark So I want to just balance that he may ask questions and he may be a collector of them instead of being able to answer Some of the nitty gritty important details on facilities right Thank you. Um, so I had entirely uh planned on being as brief as possible on this topic so, uh, nonetheless what we put into your packet was was some uh excerpts from the uh, the full capital plan that that the town finance directors put together and so, uh I presented to you the the Excuse me the full grid of the five-year sort of plan Partly just to give you context to what else is going on around town relative to that I'll start and and move to page two of this Which is where the lion's share of of the school requests sit The vehicles will be on another page. I'll get to those in a moment But if you look across these they're really Largely focused on sort of health and safety and functionality of the buildings. Um, which is always the case, but at the same time, um You know the the nature and age of our buildings is such that we need to continue to maintain them Uh, the other difficulty that's not shown here is the fact that there are some really significant Uh infrastructure needs at Fort River and Wildwood because the age of the buildings And you know one of those buildings will probably You know, uh still be in existence and the town will still own it and after a new Elementary school building is built But and and so outside of the five-year window. We're looking at there's going to be some significant capital costs They may not be school-related capital costs though depending on how how the building project plays out So I just want to give that context to to sort of where this stuff sits Um, but most of the things you'll see, uh, you know Roofing electrical service upgrades security type upgrades are all related to keeping buildings functional and safe to be in and trying to to meet the needs of the students and and The staff as they try to execute a A good program of study for students. Uh, you will see some things. Um, you know, like our technology requests are there That's the ongoing replacement and refurbishment of equipment that we have and and and have experienced its high level of need this year for certain um And so those those are there as well but but You know, again, we have the specific descriptions of these are on the latter pages and so hopefully you have a chance to read through those um You know the there's a lot of parallels between the Fort River and Wildwood, uh, you know In in what their needs are because they're similar age buildings um I think at this point, I'll see if there's anything else I want to mention specifically about any particular project I don't think there is And so I'll skip ahead to the vehicles and in the circumstance where the vehicles for us is uh, there's a few in there Um school bus Uh, it's not specifically targeted to be electric. I know there's a lot of pressure in town to to seek out electric school buses to date The technology is just not quite there Uh, to to support going in that direction. They're they're, um Limitations on what it can and can't do and what our needs are for our for school bus You know, don't mesh that well with with electric As as it exists in the current day in time I don't think that that's a surprise to anyone. We've heard about that before but I think it It's not a it is a direction. I think we'd all like to go to I just think the technology's not quite there yet for us to to replace several of our buses with electric buses The other thing you'll see is a couple of vans for special education The two existing vans that we have are really quite old and and are in need of replacement We have some requirements to to meet the needs of of some state regulation in that regard The one plow truck, uh, is is on there, uh, you know, the one we have is is literally, uh Barely functional. I think this winter in some ways, you know The fact that we are are are not in person during the the heart of the winter has actually been Advantage because that vehicle would not be as is not terribly reliable To be perfectly blunt, uh, you know, it's it's not a hazard to the driver per se But but nonetheless as far as being functional for moving snow and that kind of thing It's just really not very reliable at this point. So so beaten up and and used up And you know, it'd be great to share, you know resource like that with the town But when we need to plow they need to plow and so it's one of those circumstances where The the need for those kind of vehicles are are simultaneous So it gets difficult, uh, to to leverage town resources, uh in in that circumstance Um That being said, we also use that vehicle the rest of the year for other purposes and in maintenance and and And custodial work. So so it does serve us a benefit all year long but but specifically around plowing snow it Uh timing wise is at the same time the town needs to plow as well so I think, um I'll stop at that point I think I'll be that brief with with what it is and see if there are any particular Items on this list and and hopefully descriptions below have sort of painted a bit of a picture for folks As to what they are and I'll see if I can answer any questions anyone has Mr. Bentley yes, so just a couple of general comments for um for you and dr. Morris and Mr. Roy Clark for when this is presented, uh to the town one You are definitely going to get questions on electric buses and electric Uh And you'll you will have to fill out that explanation and have a robust explanation for why it's all not going electric Um, I'm not saying that that's a good or a bad thing But but you should expect it and and you know, you should expect to have a pretty Pretty good explanation for for why why going this direction? Um, you know a second is um, you know When we look at these five year fiscal year plans In the back of our minds, we're always like yeah, yeah with year four and five It's like it's like hand waving that we're like estimating. I think in the particular Scenario though where we you know, where the uh the Fort River building project is just ramped up And depending on what option happens Fort River may be replaced if if that gets passed. Uh, Wildwood may also be replaced Or they may not right and that has a massive impact at on that out year And I can't remember exactly what the timing is with the votes and whatnot. Whether that's f 0 25 f 5 26 So I don't think you have to Put in doomsday numbers for if that doesn't happen But I do think that when presenting any kind of five year projection from this point forward We do need to remind people in the community that Those years get massively different if the building project goes a certain way and we and there's right now We all hope but there's no predicting that so that's that's just nothing the other thing is um, so I'm on jcpc with miss spitzer Um, and you know part of that is you know advocating for the schools and whatnot So for the things that that are on the initial draft capital plan for the town Is there anything not on it? That you or mr. Roy clarker or dr. Morris are like that should really really be taken care of this year and you were really Disappointed that it didn't get on the list something that we that we ought to be um making some noise about I would suggest that that there is not. Um, I think that you know in in the conversations I've had today with mr. Roy clark and subsequently with the finance director of the town You know, we kind of hashed through the the most urgent and most critical Needs and and we think that what we've put on to the list is is you know the highest priority but also Needing to be funded. Um, you know if if anything You know the there's some some copiers in there And that ask I don't think I would zero it out. It could be potentially reduced a little bit That'd be the one area. I think that might have a little bit of flex because we haven't been in the building And so we're not using the copiers as as we normally would and so that prolongs their life in some respects We may need to you move them around the building because some of the copiers are getting used as much as they ever have been But some are are not being used at all. They're just sitting and so You know that that is an area where we might have a little more flex, but I think otherwise, you know, it's it's uh It's pretty much the things that are on the list of things we really need The one other thing I'll I'll mention really quickly You know to speak to those four river and one wood buildings, they're both going to need a roof That's you know, three to five million dollars. That's literally setting in fiscal 27 Is kind of you know, if you want to sort of toss out abroad. I mean, there are other things that need addressing But one of those two roofs will need to probably be replaced Plus or minus a year of that time frame and if we keep both those buildings, they're going to be very very expensive Uh in those fiscal 27 fiscal 28 To to maintain them as functional and appropriate school buildings if they if they remain Online as as school buildings Dr. Marx. Yeah, so two quick ones because I know we're running short on time one I think one of the challenges And I know this can be unsatisfying to some is that our buildings in a typical year are occupied at least 10 months of the year Crocker firms occupied like 11 months of the year or 11 and a half perhaps So I think the limitation is if you were saying, you know If time was no object if money was no object could I come up with other things on here? Sure I you know, let's do all the accessibility stuff right now I'm being quite serious like that would make a huge difference in the lives of children It's just not practical And it's not not practical because not important. It's not practical because it's expensive It's like literally even if we had the money One couldn't make those changes immediately and still have kids going to school and buildings And so I think just when we think about capital, that's just one of the things to keep in mind is that There are more things ideally that we'd like to do and sometimes it's not just money That's the limiting factor. It's the fact that our buildings are occupied the vast majority of the year That that creates a barrier. I think the only thing I uh And that particularly I mean accessibility comes up as as as a high point for me in terms of what I wish we could do that that we probably can't but Money is not the primary Obstacle. It's just that a lot of that stuff involves Kids not being there And adults not being there for a long period of time. So we are making efforts and progress on accessibility, but you know, I wish it would go faster But the the other thing I was going to mention Um Is really to reiterate the point that you raised mr. Demling and I know um carried it as well you know, it's If we knew the direction we were going in in terms of the building project It would really help us do some long-term planning and so Uh, that's not a that's not a push how people like mr. Harrington myself who sit on that committee Um, it's just it's a reality that that process takes a while um And once that decision is made and that fork in the road is traveled down We'll be able to reassess What our needs are but we sort of are in this, you know purgatory place of Waiting to see what happens and then if it goes one way Uh, and it looks like one of our schools won't be replaced for for quite some time That list will grow. Um, so, you know, I just I just want to note that that um that point can't be stated often enough um and um You know, the roof is one great example that dr. Slaughter mentioned because it's a it's a it's an understandable Uh high dollar amount item that everyone can understand. We can't have a roof that leaks or has structural problems Uh, but there's lots of smaller items that would need replacing Uh that they're smaller than a roof, but they're pretty expensive and cumbersome and hard to pull off So I you know, I just I want to put that caveat in because I think it's really important That's not pushing this building committee or the school committee to make a decision one way or the other. It's a real It's it's a fact-based comment about the future needs of a school Whether it's going to exist for four or five more years or 10 more years will have a huge impact on the capital budget Thank you So I I jied mr. Dambling on the jcpc and i'm going to reiterate this question about the electric buses and and it's not just i mean i'm talking about it sounds like I don't know if it's no plows yet have electric technology. I'm assuming no but it seems like the vans are the smallest vehicles it it may be useful to Have at hand some of those estimates we had from last year about the cost of switching to um an electric option It I remember last year we I think When we put things out to bid we got a quote from I forget which company responded with it, but it I just think it would be useful to have that our fingertips the cost of pursuing an electric option because I have no doubt that that's going to come up and And I do think it's and it's not that I disagree with the I fully agree with the goal of trying to reduce our emissions as much as possible And so it's potentially might be useful to also have And I know this is the capital meeting and not like a green committing meeting, but It may be useful to talk about some of the stuff we've been talking about related to start time conversations about when we Are thinking about changing our routes to try to reduce emissions just because I I think Folks are going to want to hear that we are Taking action related to this area and to the extent that we are I think we should highlight it. Um, I mean They've created this new Thing in the jcpc, which I think is helpful That's this green leaf that shows up next to projects and I see that school don't have a lot of green leaves That's not a negative thing to say But um, I think it's it's clear to me that they're paying a lot of attention to it And I think we need to be responsive to it. Um to the degree that we can be um And I'm thinking when I look at these out years kind of related to that conversation like do we want to think about Well, what is I don't know what the useful life of a bus is but at some point, um, you know Will it be a good idea to put in the cost of trying to green our fleet a little bit in terms Of moving towards electric and what would that cost? And I think if we have those numbers on hand, it would be helpful to either Ask for the money we need to make it Highlight the trade-offs that we have to make and whether or not those are trade-offs that folks would want to make But I I think this conversation is going to keep coming up over and over again And to the extent we can have numbers and data to engage with it. It'll be useful. You guys know this, but I'm just I'm sorry. Thank you Dr. Slaughter if I may just to To give a little uh Framing for this a little bit So I noticed in in the capital plan on the town side that the police vehicles are listed as hybrid this year That question I was on jcpc In 2008 and that question was posed. Can we buy hybrid vehicles for police cars? This is the first time it's happened Which means that's how long it took the technology to get up to a place where it would function in that environment in that circumstance And and you know people don't always know this about police cars. They have a tremendous Energy load by virtue of the view it's essentially a mobile office for the officers Um, so I think we're sort of in the same place on the on the on the technology for the buses I also sit and work on a pbtas Board and so conversation and and they're shifting You know somewhat aggressively toward toward more You know fully hybridized or fully electric buses The circumstance in which they operate are different So it's kind of an apples and oranges comparison But nonetheless that technology is evolving quickly. So I can't speak to that to some extent that it is And and with that new technology that they're deploying Even at the university That may be a potential Synergy that we could leverage You know In in that, you know, it's likely they'll put a fairly rapid charging station On the university campus fairly soon not immediately but in reason, you know in fairly short order I think that's that's a point we can make and potentially we can partner with the university to to leverage that technology to help us out in in using that green technology For our for our school buses Just to paint the picture though About 10 buses. We buy a bus every other year. So it starts to give you a sense of how long they last Which is a pretty long time But you know, so it's also about the demand, you know, if and and I think it's a balancing act between So, you know, if we want to take a field trip to boston, you can't do that in electric bus The range of the bus is just not sufficient to get there and get back And so that doesn't mean you can't green your fleet to some extent But you still have to then, you know, try to capture that circumstance of what's the cost You know, what are the need to go to boston or someplace for a field trip that that needs a diesel powered bus or You know, or we contract that out and so those are the kind of the trade-offs we have there But I think you know to your point I think we'll I'll work with mr. Roy Clark on on trying to frame that a little bit To help engender that conversation because I think we'd all like to move in that direction of of a greener fleet There's no doubt about it. I think one of the biggest things we can do Is to have more kids ride the bus The more kids that ride the bus and as opposed to having their parents drop them off And in granted we're in a pandemic so that changes the equation a little bit about other things But I think in the broader sense the fuller our buses are So the even if they're diesel the much greener we are Thank you. Um So we're going to be coming back to this Um at our at our next amherst meeting. Um, so unless there's a pressing question that Burning question that we want to get answered right now. I'm gonna suggest we move on Not seeing any. Okay. Thank you um I have to change my layout because again, I can't see everybody. Um, so um moving Thank you. Dr. Slaughter for joining us tonight um, moving on we have, um Our future agenda planning and as we've stated a few times now our next meeting Um, we have a joint meeting. Um Next week on tuesday And then our next amherst school committee meeting alone is the 16th of march Um, and on that agenda Tentatively we have right now and I think this the planning document is in the packet um, so we have our budget hearing um, and I should probably say the other way we'll be looking at ads and cuts Um for the f y 22 budget We'll be voting on school choice We'll be talking more again about capital and we'll be Aiming to have um give clear direction on the coming on to sibling enrollment policy any anything, um New to add or Questions. No Okay, I have one warrant to report. Um, so we'll be moving pretty quickly through this um, I authorized by my signature, um the payroll Um in the amount of six hundred and thirty three thousand three hundred and seven dollars and seven cents dated february 24th 2021 and I signed that um today February 23rd 2021 And that is all I have if Our next item I will make actually our final motion to adjourn the amherst school committee At the 13 p.m. Is there a second? second And we're going to a different meeting and for this. Yes, and just for our folks. Um, we are um joining a um, The regional school committee and the union 26 school committee in an executive session in a different google meet link Um, so we'll exit and then re-enter. Um, so moved by mcdonnell and second by demling Um, and we'll take a roll call vote. Um, miss spitzer Spitzer I Mr. Harrington Harrington I Mr. Demling And mcdonald I Uh, so we will see you in just a few minutes over in the other room