 Seeing a presence of a quorum, I call the regional school committee to order and consider entering executive session in accordance with open meeting law MGLC 30A, Section 21A, pursuant to Purpose 2 to conduct strategy sessions in preparation for negotiations with non-union personnel Michael Morris with plans to return to open session. Need a real call vote? Spitzer, aye. Demling, aye. McDonald, aye. Stanser, aye. Fonsha, aye. Benino, aye. Renew Executive Session. And seeing the presence of a quorum, I'll call this meeting of Union 26 to order at 633 and consider entering executive session in accordance with open meeting law MGLC 30A, Section 21A, pursuant to Purpose 2 to conduct strategy sessions in preparation for negotiations with non-union personnel Michael Morris with plans to return to open session. And roll call vote. Benino, aye. Stanser, aye. Hall, aye. McDonald, aye. Demling, aye. And we are in executive session. So I call the meeting of the regional committee back to order. And I'll call Union 26 back to order. Okay. And with that, we're moving on to public comment. If you, if there's members in the audience that would like to speak, please come forward. We didn't do a sign up sheet this time, but I'll just remind everybody we have three minutes. We have the helpful timer here so that you can keep track of when, how much time you have left. And please, when you come forward, please state your name before you start speaking. Thanks. I wanted to comment very briefly on the superintendent's contract, which I hope is voted on tonight. And I wanted to talk about two things. The first is how important I think it is for our schools to have consistent leadership, both as a school committee, but, but certainly as a superintendent. I think Dr. Morris has really led all the districts through some very challenging times, budget issues, academic things. And I think he's done a really remarkable job. And I want to speak specifically to his tenacity around the statement of interest for a new elementary school building in Amherst. He led us through a process that didn't end up working out for Amherst in the past. And I am very, very appreciative that Dr. Morris has stuck with it and helped lead the town through a very inclusive process with the aid of the Amherst School Committee so that we are now invited back into the process. And I'm really excited about that. And I think a tremendous amount of credit goes to Dr. Morris. So I just wanted to say that tonight. Thank you. Thank you. Brian Scully and my daughter goes to Fort River. I'm going to read this because my memory isn't as good as it used to be. I'm here tonight to support the second chance we all now have for our new elementary school and to support the person who worked so hard to bring all the sides of the new school application process together, Superintendent Mike Morris. Dr. Morris is a very good superintendent and he was a very good principal at Crocker Farm. And when all is said and done, he at his heart is still a very good teacher and he's taught us all on both sides of the previous school issue, me especially, that we needed to come together this time and respect each other's questions, suggestions, and criticisms to make the second chance work for our kids. Mike has done that by example in the way he treats others who have questions or criticisms of him. And he probably receives more than his share of questions and criticisms, some fair, some not, some polite, some not, some true, some not. Superintendent Morris has taught us how to interact with each other by being respectful to all even when he has not always been accorded that same courtesy. Never question in the motives or intentions of the people who question his as he works at the most difficult job in town. President Theodore Roosevelt wrote something that made me think of the difficult job that Mike Morris does for us. It's called the arena. It is not the critic who counts, not the man or woman who points out how the strong man or woman stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. That it belongs to the man or woman who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs, who comes short again and again because there is no effort without error and shortcoming, but who does actually strive to do the deeds, who knows great enthousiasms, the great devotions, who spends themselves in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement and who at the worst, if he or she fails, at least fails while daring greatly so that his or her place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat. Superintendent Morris deserves our thanks for what he's accomplished for our children and continues to try to accomplish like building them a badly needed new school. I'm almost done. And as importantly as the school, he's continuing to build a diverse group of caring teachers that will work in all of our schools, trying to make sure that every child experiences a teacher that looks and sounds like that child. Because Mike Morris knows that teachers, second only to parents, are the first real role models that our children ever encounter. Superintendent Mike Morris is our man in the arena, daring greatly to heal our past divides and bringing us together by teaching inclusiveness and empathy, not only to our children, but to us, so that we all someday may share in the triumph of having built our kids that new elementary school and making us a better town for having done it together. Thank you, Superintendent Morris. Thank you. How much less to say than that? Sorry. You said all the good stuff. Hi, John McCabe. My daughter goes to Kroger Farm, and I just want to say thanks, Mike, for all the hard work that you've been doing, and thanks to all of you guys, really. In my humble opinion, there's no higher calling than public service. I've been a public servant since I first started working. I worked at State University. Now as a retired guy, I teach at the local community college. I help keep tuition low. But I'm proud to do it, and it's fun to do. And it's just, you know, I know you guys are doing this under such unpleasant circumstances, but just notice a lot of people in town who really care about you and really love you, and keep up the good work. Hi, I'm Deb Leonard. I have two children in the school system, one at Fort River and one in the high school. I actually am not here to talk about the school building project. I'm here to revisit my passion for the math program, and I just have to say how thrilled I am that my 10th grader is now in an appropriate math program. I think that process was difficult. I think they had a lot of stakeholders, a lot of different opinions, a lot of need. I appreciate both the manner in which it was done. I appreciate the consensus building. I appreciate bringing Jeffrey been along. I think it was really done in a way that, in retrospect, looks nice and clean, but it wasn't clean at the time. And as with most things that develop, had a lot of different twists and turns to it. But ultimately, I'm not in a position where I feel the need to supplement my children's math programs over the summer, and that's huge. That's huge for me. It's huge for my kids. It's huge for my family, but it's huge for all the families in the district so that those families that aren't able to do that themselves don't find their children at a disadvantage with a program that was poorly matched for their needs. So thank you. Any other comment? We'll move on then to our new and continuing business, which is our main purpose for tonight. We are discussing the proposed contract for Superintendent Mike Morris' contract. And just as a reminder, this is a continuation of, or bringing it coming back into open meeting, the conversation that we started back in September. For those of you who have been tracking at home and for those who haven't, we met in September and talked about the timing of the renewal of the contract and that best practices around the state and the region, the country, frankly, is to not let a superintendent enter the final year of their contract without having some feedback or extension of their current contract. So in September, we had that discussion at the region meeting with Union 26 about whether we wanted to do that, and we did make that decision that we wanted to enter this negotiation, and we mapped out our timeline. And so here we are after three months of executive session discussing the contract and negotiations that between, led by Eric Nakajima, who could not be here tonight, and Peter Demling for Union 26 in coordination with Dr. Morris on that. So in our packets, we have our latest contract, includes the changes that we discussed at our last executive meeting. Mr. Demling, is there anything you want to add that I may have left off? I think that's a really good overview. Just trying to thumbnail sketch the sort of intro comments that Chair Nakajima had at that September open meeting when we were talking about the schedule. I think one of the other observations was that in addition to the years that have already been served on the current contract, Dr. Morris was interim superintendent for a year, and so now we have over three years of Dr. Morris in this position. So the feeling, as I recall from the committee, was that we haven't enough data to be able to discuss what the next step is, you know, whatever that next step was. And I feel like the three months, in some ways, felt like it went by quickly. On the other hand, when I think about the individual discussions, they were very detailed, and there was a lot of back and forth. And I feel like the contract that we landed on is a good representation of all those discussions and is a lot better for having taken the time. And so having started early, we were able to really delve into it. So I feel like that was a good process. So I'm just going to go around and let give everyone of us the opportunity to speak on this contract and the process, and I'll start with Mr. Menino. Okay, it gives me great pleasure to enthusiastically endorse this contract renewal. During my past three years, Mike Morris' performance has been exemplary. He effectively served the interests of students, faculty and staff, and members of the community. Approval of this contract will ensure that the schools are in good hands in the future. I agree. I wholeheartedly support the extension of Dr. Morris' contract for another three years. A few of us have an opportunity to display our talents and skills in the public sector. Mr. Morris, Dr. Morris does have that opportunity, and in doing so, he has gained the respect, admiration, and support of the entire community, and that's a hard thing to accomplish, but you've done it, Dr. Morris, and you've done it very successfully, and I might add that you've done it with a patience and a strength that is not only an example for us sitting around this table, but I think also for our kids. You've had to put up with a lot of slings and arrows, and you've done it in a very mature, appropriate, and courageous way, and I thank you and salute you. As a member of the Pelham School Committee for two years and the Regional and Union 26 committees this year, I would like to say that I enthusiastically support the renewal of Mike's contract and making myself some notes. Things that are important to me are his calm demeanor. I have never seen him in a meeting or any place get riled up, which I think is really important when you're in front of the public all the time. Consistent leadership, I think, that he's displayed in the time that I've been involved. He is very collaborative with his regional peers and he advocates with that group strongly for public education, and for those of us in Western Massachusetts, I think that that is really important. We need the voice, and when you get everybody together, and I think Mike takes a leading role in that, it really makes a difference. And the other thing I would say is his positive attitude and even enthusiasm are a very difficult job. So thank you. Yes, it's hard to think of something original. I wholeheartedly agree, and I think other than demeanor all, which is important, I think for Pelham specifically, the evaluations speak for themselves. They are consistently very strong and I think having that consistency going forward is so important for us. We are a much smaller portion of the job, but we are never treated like an afterthought and I think having this type of really, really strong leadership for a tiny school up the hill is really important for us. I agree, it's really hard to add anything new to the things that have been said, not just by the committee, but also by the members of the community that have spoken already. So I've been on the committee for a year and a half, not quite two years, but obviously a parent in the district for many years before that. And so I also wholeheartedly support and enthusiastically support the extension of your contract. I think I've said this before during evaluations as one of the things that really stands out for me and it's been mentioned before is the calm candor with which you take feedback, both positive as well as critical feedback and I think several folks have mentioned that as well. And regardless of who it's coming from and what format it's coming to you, you take it all and there's a saying that feedback is a gift and I think even the critical feedback you do take as a gift and incorporate that in your actions going forward. And I think that is one of the single most attributes or characteristics that is needed in any position but especially in a job as difficult as superintendent of our districts. And just working with you on the various working groups and community feedback, one of the other things that really stands out for me is not just a willingness but an absolute desire to get input and opinions from abroad, everybody in the community. You are constantly telling us, the committee as well as the community to slow down to make sure that we're thinking through the process. You were just saying that moments ago with the middle school grade span advisory board and it's holding us back when we're eager to move forward is challenging because we have lots of energy but I think it's a testament to who you are and how important that is to you to make sure that we're hearing all voices and integrating that into our plans going forward and then just building on the strength of consistent leadership. I think that's super important because we are grateful and fortunate to have that with you and I look forward to continue working with you. This is the curse of going later and later is that the ability of things to say is short and shorter. So generally speaking, when we think about the school committee's role in responsibility I think of hiring, retaining, evaluating, working with the superintendent is close to the top of the list of our responsibilities and I think generally speaking again it's pretty hard to find a good superintendent and all the more challenging still with a three-district combo such as ours that is significantly above average in terms of complexity and I would say also above average in terms of its demanding nature not just of the work but of the community and I say that as a two-sided compliment a demanding community is both a positive and a negative and I think at the end of the day we feel that's a positive balance which is why we choose to live here and serve here. So to find someone who can work in this position for a number of years is difficult and so when I look at the quantitative data that we now have after three years of Dr. Morrison's position and you just look at the evaluative ratings from the three different districts they're all consistently quite high not perfect but excellent very strong across all districts and when I think about the qualitative personal characteristics that Dr. Morrison has people have spoken more eloquently than I can about those a couple of things that strike me is just someone that we can work with this is ultimately not just a flying kite academic position this is a pragmatic get things done kind of position and so you need someone who is able to work with school committee someone who is able to work with teachers someone who is able to work with the community and I just love that pragmatism about Dr. Morris so I think when we find someone who has demonstrated the ability to do that it's an opportunity it's an uncommon opportunity for us to secure leadership for the district which ultimately benefits the students and so I also enthusiastically support this contract. So I also want to echo I think what my colleagues have said I think the things that I have been impressed with is Dr. Morris has been that he embraces change when needed but as has been previously said doesn't rush us along without making sure that all of the educational and social frankly and fiscal responsibilities are there when we're considering those kinds of changes he's very well respected in our community I have had numerous people that I don't even know come to me to say really appreciate the open door policy that Dr. Morris has and any little question sent via email gets a response within the day and so I think also the reputation that he has developed across the state serves us very well there's a lot of people from Boston all the way through western Massachusetts that repeatedly look to Dr. Morris because of his leadership and his expertise in education and the work that he has done so that is a reputation that is very difficult to match here in our community but in any community really and so I think this contract actually speaks to our level of faith in the superintendent as well as our desire to maintain that stability and leadership which we have talked quite a bit about in this committee and how do we maintain a level of leadership when there is so much change and when there's been so many different things and flux over the past few years and I think it's no secret that over the past 10 or 15 years this district has gone through a lot of changes and that's difficult to maintain and to make sure that our teachers are well taken care of that our students are well taken care of and that our community feels that they that is worth supporting and worth coming to so for all of those reasons I think it's incredibly important for us to have negotiated the contract that we have I also want to just say that I'm proud of this contract because it continues a tradition of fiscal responsibility we were very careful to discuss both current salaries for other people holding similar positions here in western Massachusetts and other neighboring communities so that we are not out of step with what is given by communities to their superintendents and so I feel good about what we've negotiated here I also want to say that I think that there's a couple things from our previous contract that have carried over like the arbitration clause which helps ensure that we don't get ourselves into a situation where if a future school committee ends up having a difference of opinion from a superintendent we actually have a way out that doesn't immediately resort to a lawsuit or something negative not to say that I ever think that that would happen here but it's great to know that we have something in place that can protect this community in that way and then I think the salary increases that we've negotiated in here are also very well within reason and basically are bringing up the superintendent to a level of compensation that again is competitive but is not beyond our economic ability to pay so for all of those reasons I think this is a good contract and fully endorse it I will also fully endorse the contract and I'd just like to say that many of the reasons have already been stated but there are a few that actually haven't been and what I'm really excited about right now is that we're transitioning from a time when I think things were more reactive and I think we've become more proactive we now have a strategic plan for the high school we have a new bilingual education program that I'm really excited about and to have Dr. Morris continue to lead that at Fort River the school building project I can't not mention that I don't know if we'd be where we are today without Dr. Morris' leadership so the idea of having consistent leadership through all of these initiatives and there are many I didn't mention is really important and I don't think we're likely to find anybody else who's been such a long-term member of our community and who has gone through both being a teacher to being the leader of the district and that really matters a lot I think it's part of the reason that we've been able to be so successful and nobody's perfect and I've seen Dr. Morris really welcome feedback and kind of own up to any mistakes and then move forward in a really proactive and productive way so I just want to say thank you to everybody who's been involved in negotiating it Mr. Demling and Mr. Nakajima who's not here but also to Dr. Morris and thank you Being last I'm just going to pass Is there anybody who went first have anything they want to add Well I was just after listening to all these things I know it's not possible but if I could have my way I wish we could vote tonight in the affirmative but I know it's not possible Mr. Demling So I just thought we should probably mention so we have a meeting scheduled for the 23rd do you want to Yes it was just posted I think this afternoon so we have a meeting on Monday next week where we will continue to discuss and the single agenda item Any more questions comments? I'm just wondering if Dr. Morris has any comments or thoughts that you'd like to add I'm going to say that Not to put you on the spot I think I'll probably hold comments for the 23rd but I do want to say thank you for your kind words and you've been through this before it's not my you know I'm awkward in these moments so I'll live in that awkwardness but I really do appreciate it and I do think that in terms of the progress we've made and the progress that we have to go that it really comes from school committee and I'm going to generalize this I know it's an awkward thing to do but I think it feels right to me that it comes from school committees and superintendents who figure out ways to work together even when there's disagreements even when there's intense disagreements can figure out ways to work together for the betterment of the students and the community and as you're the elected officials from the four member communities and so I take that role very seriously I mean it came up actually in the great band advisory in my head I didn't necessarily say it today but one of the things that's been great for me is to be able to partner with school committees that are deeply interested in community engagement that are deeply interested in representing their communities and deeply interested in understanding how their constituents feel and bringing those concerns to me as well as to the public and so I feel fortunate about that because I think the whole operation doesn't work if that's not in place if the school committees aren't interested in bringing forward thoughts, concerns and being able to talk about things that are hard to talk about and I think you all have been very comfortable to do some uncomfortable things as it regards to that whether it's been past conflict a couple times people mentioned school building project that certainly is something that is a very hard issue for one of the member towns and still resonates in the member town in Amherst and so being able to engage in that issue in a non-defensive way and really welcome constituent feedback even if it's from folks who may have disagreed in the past I think that sets the model for the community too as elected officials so I take your kind words very seriously into heart and I'm deeply appreciative but I also want to make sure that that's reflected that it's about the partnership doesn't mean agreement at all times partnership means genuinely wanting to work together to improve the experience of the students in our districts and so I want to thank you for that as well Is there a motion to adjourn Union 26? So moved Is there a second? Second Okay all those in favor of adjourning Union 26 please raise your hand signifying I and it is unanimous oh yeah sure I was just like region region continues region region will continue now with our first region only topic which is warrant review and is that Mr. Funch Thank you Madam Chair I I'm going to try real hard not to embarrass myself because all of these warrants come in like three parts there's three individuals who are responsible for these warrants and so it seems to me that maybe the best way to proceed is to distribute the warrants that each individual is responsible for so I'm going to give you these to recall those Yes I reported already Did you report these? I did Alright I'll pick them away Quickly and then Ms. Spitzer has some as well I do I'm just going to interrupt because of some of you weren't here at the early part but Amherst media had asked us to be very clear in speaking into the microphones because with the live stream if we're not speaking like close to the microphone or directly to the microphone and it's difficult to hear on TV So I was called in to sign some warrants and did not benefit from much instruction on how to report them out so I'm going to do my best unless if anybody has guidance to offer Dr. Morse? I think the guidance we received from legal counsel was to share the total warrants amounts in categories and I don't have it in front of me payroll Yeah it wasn't to go through each individual warrants it was to do a summary accounting of the total within certain bands I'm just making sure I'm looking at school members to make sure. I'm happy to do that just give me a moment to do the calculations Mr. Menino? Would you remind me what process is being pursued right now reporting out what is this a new process? I can speak to that. Yes we were informed that way we were signing warrants was not appropriate and I actually was the first one to start we I was appointed to go in and sign all of the warrants but I cannot do the salary warrants and so Mr. Funch volunteered to take over the signing of the warrants and there we did have a little form that we could use to plug in the numbers but I think it was we were advised I think that what we were doing was not what we should be doing. Let me check with Mr. Mangato. Can we just take a photo? Mr. Funch? If I may part of the problems I think are unfortunately because of some health reasons I had to miss a number of Fridays and so the fact that a number of people are involved in this I think is sort of unfortunately complicating this secondly I don't think the last time I was on the school committee forgive me I don't recall exactly the procedure for identifying what information needs to go into the minutes so I'll just try my best to do that unfortunately some of these warrants that I signed I don't know about over there but they don't have the fund unless you're talking about general fund or revolving fund is that what you're referring to? Dr. Moist? If this is something that I just wonder if we could table this since they've been signed to the January the meeting for Monday has already been posted but bringing it back to the first January meeting and I can work with I think Mr. Mangan was trying to organize something but maybe he didn't get into your inbox for today I think it might have went to Mr. Funch I believe this afternoon so instead of people calculating live I think we could come back in January if the committee agrees to that People nodding heads? Mr. Manino? Who do you describe the purpose of reporting out which is going on here? I think either myself or a committee member who is responsible for that may I be able to do that? Yeah I think Chair Nakajima had actually reported that you may not have been at that meeting Mr. Manino but it is basically the responsibility of the person who is signing the warrants that has been appointed by the committee and the responsibility to provide subtotals of the different warrants that have been signed at every meeting so when we have meetings it's basically just calculating all the subtotals of each one of those different categories and then reporting that out so that it can be part of just reporting it out and different committees use different methods so some committees including the Emmer School committee is doing the entire committee itself reviewing and reporting those subtotals here for this regional district committee we appointed one person and that work has been done by a couple of people this time Mr. Funch? I have a question so if a warrant covers two or more funds or areas there should be a total of all those areas correct? These are the categories I understand that and there should be a total amount The business office should be organizing and arranging and sending you those so that you're not adding specifically because there are times to your point that there are multiple fund sources for a topic and I apologize I thought that got sent out this afternoon but it may not have gone to you Some were sent but they still don't have a total amount No, the totals I mean there was an intent to send that to you but it's not a totaling live totaling in general I mean you can check the totals but it's not a committee member's job to be adding those pieces especially since we get different totals if you edit it more than once likely so I think we can come back in January and I'll confirm those numbers so I apologize for that Thank you Dr. Morris I just don't have enough fingers to catch that topic to our January meeting or include these warrants on that topic on the January meeting I think that's it so we have a motion move to adjourn second move by Ordonia, second by Stancer all those in favor and it's unanimous Thank you all