 This program is brought to you by cable franchise V's and generous donations from viewers like you Seeing a presence of a quorum I'm calling to order this meeting of the Amherst school committee at 6.03 p.m. on Tuesday, June 16 We are being live-streamed on Amherst media channel 15. Thank you to Amherst media and this is being recorded so we have minutes to approve from May 26th and those minutes were in our packet are there any Mr. Demling these look very familiar and that's because this was a joint meeting, correct? I'm not just I'm not just having deja vu Okay. Oh, we didn't do our check-in Allison. Pardon me. We didn't do our check-in. Yes, okay, and and it's good timing I'm glad I forgot um because now have no miss Lord is here. So, um We will take a Attendance or who's present and if you can Respond with present when I call your name and mr. Deming Deming present miss spitzer It's a present. Mr. Harrington Harrington present miss Lord Lord present and McDonald present and also in the room. We have dr. Morris and miss sharkus who is our Note taker So are there any comments? Other than just calling to attention that this is what's a joint meeting and I do wonder if maybe we should call that out at the top of that agenda item Just so that it's clear why we're listing other The members from the region mr. Harrington Yeah, just a spelling correction. There was um as Mr. Harrington it says Susan Kennedy marks its M. A. R. X Any other comments? Seeing none And we'll move on to our next item, which is a public comment Mr. Deming Did we move to approve them? Oh, sorry I'm racing because I'm so eager to like have this be the shortest meeting Do we have a motion would you like to make a motion mr. Deming? Yeah, I see a lot has her hand up May 19th Because I have those as well if you want me to send them to you for the next meeting Jim Morris Yeah, I'm not so sure this was a joint meeting looking at the minutes Maybe I'm wrong, but I don't see much on the agenda that was Really anything on the agenda that was Let me see I just want to make sure that that you're being asked to approve The right minutes and maybe I'm wrong. I just want to be overly cautious about it, but I'm just looking down It was we had a that was the evening that we had an Amherst school committee meeting at six o'clock in a region Joint a region at 6 30 So right and so these ones look like this six 30 variety I'm just wondering if if Maybe we table this until just in Miss McDonald's spirit of getting Efficiency we could table it and maybe miss Charcus's point about the May 19th minutes And we can sort that out before the next meeting or for the next Amherst school committee meeting That I think that sounds good because I think you're correct We I don't think believe that we've approved the May 19th meeting meeting minutes But we cannot double check that mr. Demling you had a comment Yeah, I was just going to say that as you were talking I looked at the records and dr. Morris is correct It was a it was a back-to-back where we had Amherst first and then region not technically a joint and so these wouldn't be Something we would need to approve My apologies for that So we will not make we will not move to approve these today. We'll circle back and Review them again at our next meeting Moving on now to public comment and we did not receive any public comment today Not by 3 p.m. And actually not even by 5 30 p.m. Today, so As always we accept any public input and comment at school committee at arps.org and then on days of meetings Email us with public comment in the subject line by 3 p.m. To McDonald's McDonald a at arps.org Are there any announcements or comments from the committee? I'm seeing none. So we'll move on to our new and continuing business and our first Item is our school building committee representative We as I think All of us are aware we have an elementary school building project on our plates and We are the town is appointing The committee the elementary school building committee The charge for that committee was included in your packets. I also had emailed that separately And this we need to appoint One school committee member to be our representative on that committee Dr. Morris Yes, so the charges in the packet just um, you know just to share and more generally the the Thought is that the group would meet in the mornings So many of other commitments in terms of other elected officials yourselves included have a lot of afternoon evening commitments So the thought was to do that and for some families. That's actually much more advantageous We found that the afternoon meetings were a barrier for Other folks and you're never going to get a perfect time, but I just do want to note that it's kind of like at least monthly meetings and The intent is to be before work certainly if we're still in the world where now the first meetings will start in a virtual context and Um By the end of this month actually for MMS VA regulations The committee needs to be appointed. So that's why it's on the agenda for tonight is that I can communicate that to the town manager So that he can make sure that goes through the appointment process at the town side That was it And I don't see in the charge when when those meetings will actually begin Do we do we have that yet or is that not to find yet? I don't think it's defined yet. I mean the the reality is the committee really starts getting going once They're looking for an owner project manager. Uh, the first couple tasks, you know, some have already been done by town staff You know, there's some enrollment studies, which is really complicated to do right now Uh, given that our enrollments everyone's enrollment such influx and I've already communicated that time SBA Um, but I do think the group probably will want to get together at least to a point of chair and get some structures in place Um In the not so distant future, um, but that's probably as specific as I can get right now Okay, any any thoughts or um questions or volunteers from the committee You know, I always volunteer But I also know I might not have what yeah, yes If um if somebody else I'm looking at you doesn't want to volunteer Who might have more? experience with buildings But I'm happy to be the committee member Thank you. Thank you miss lard I sort of understood that as a as a quasi nomination of an individual I didn't say that. Okay, because I saw the public forum and I didn't know if I should apply that way or Yeah In general yeah And mr. Deming I mean if he's amenable to it, I'd be more than happy to make it a non quasi nomination of uh of mr. Harrington, but um Given your facilities background. I think you'd be awesome on it, but uh, and it's obviously a massive time commitment So I don't want to force somebody into that position Yeah Yeah, I'll accept but yeah, I mean Yeah, I can definitely work there So thank you I I didn't thank you for for accepting and I but I and I didn't want to Pressure you by by echoing the sentiments that the others have said that I I think you would actually be a really great asset to that committee um with your With your feet in many in many places within the district. So um particularly in the facilities Um expertise. I think that would be really really helpful. So um if you are open to that, um, we really appreciate that I'm absolutely Do we need a motion? Yes, I move to A point that the committee appoint. Um, mr. Ben Harrington to the elementary school building committee I second And moved by spitzer seconded by mcdonald and we'll do roll call vote mr. Demling Demling I Miss lord lord I Mr. Harrington Harrington I Miss spitzer spitzer I and mcdonald I Congratulations And thank you whole hard. Thanks. Um, mr. Demling Yeah, that's all I was gonna say, you know, I'm sure we all share the same sentiment. This is There's a lot of places where we can sink our teeth into and have endless hours of Commitment and volunteerism on the school committee and this is definitely one of those lanes and I mean, I really appreciate your You're taking this on so is anything we can do to support you as the as the years go by. Please do let us know Why absolutely Moving right along. Um, our next, um Item is the superintendent evaluation instrument And the pdf of that was included in our packets. Um, so I'm not sure folks had a chance to Review that but um, I'll let miss spitzer if you'd like to introduce this Sure, so, um As you know, one of our primary goals or primary charges as Um, school committee members is to evaluate the superintendent annually on the goals that we voted on Um, so this is based on those goals. Um And I worked with I want to just thank you Say a big thank you to the administrative team of sasha a figure R&W westmoreland for helping to to put together this instrument because it's clearly a lot of work. Um But so each goal kind of goes Corresponds to an item on the desi rubric and those are all presented here If you have any edits or caught any type of anything, please, you know, let us know we can edit but, um We already went over this on the region Another committee that we're members of so I hopefully this isn't Brand new to anybody and you did have it in your packet. So Let me know if you have any questions Any questions Great And I I believe we do need to approve this with a vote as well Mr. Demling I moved to approve the superintendent evaluation instrument as presented lord second Moved by demling seconded by lord On a roll call vote. Um is lord Lord I Mr. Harrington Harrington I Ms. Spitzer Spitzer I Mr. Demling Demling I And mcdonald I The motion passes unanimously five zero Okay Next we have warrants report and this is where we'll come to a screeching halt while I pull up the documents So we have um a Signed three warrants. Um Just today actually so I um have three separate statements And so I alice mcdonald authorized by my signature to payables in the amount of 54,319 dollars and 72 cents for a warrant dated june 12th 2020 This includes general fund expenses of 48,466 dollars and 98 cents Revolving fund expenses of 26 dollars and 97 cents In grant fund expenses of 5,825 dollars and 77 cents And that was signed by me today Um Second one is I alice mcdonald authorized by my signature to payables in the amount of 34,935 dollars and 67 cents For a warrant dated june 8th 2020 This includes general fund expenses of 31,000 dollars 400 and sorry 31,419 dollars and 17 cents Revolving fund expenses of 1,159 dollars and 43 cents And grant fund expenses of 2,057 dollars and seven cents And a gift to the school of 300 dollars And last I alice mcdonald authorized by my signature to payables in the amount of 54,319 dollars and 72 cents Is this the same one I just read? I think it is Okay, so there were three but they look identical Um Should I read it? I'll read it anyway. I apologize if it's identical, but it's um a separate document 54,319 dollars and 72 cents for a warrant dated june 12th This includes general fund expenses of 48,466 dollars and 98 cents revolving fund expenses of 26 dollars and 97 cents And grant fund expenses of 5,825 dollars and 77 cents signed by me uh today june 16th Any questions? I'm just double checking that the that I didn't miss one by accident here Okay, yeah, that is that is all of them Any questions? Yep, and moving on agenda planning Um our next I don't believe we have another meeting Single meeting of just the emmer school committee on the calendar. We have we'll be at our We will have another joint meeting Next thursday Um with the region and pelham school committees For a continuation of our fall planning conversations um I do wonder if um Perhaps since we have a backlog of Minutes to approve if we might want to take 15 minutes or 30 minutes before the region that joint meeting to approve minutes or Schedule another meeting Later, we do need to also Plan for our artifacts presentation from the superintendent any thoughts from the committee on Timing those or setting up a separate meeting just for the Amherst school committee that will include all of it catch up on all of our minutes as well as the artifact presentation is that miss spitzer Selfishly, I would like to keep the meeting on the 25th shorter just because it's my son's birthday Um but Whatever the committee needs to do. I'm happy to get behind that too. Mr. Harrington Yeah, I would kind of rather have a separate Amherst meeting, you know, one of the And uh right you can roll the minutes into that one. Yep So I I think um And we don't have to just I don't know um, dr. Morris if you have had any thoughts as to when you might be able to Be ready for an artifact presentation. I know we talked about it being a short much shorter PowerPoint presentation um, and so I think that's really the key thing and if you can't answer that now we can sort of Deal with that and and sort of propose that at our next meeting Yeah, I mean, I think what I would ask is that um Miss spitzer perhaps and miss hall or somebody from pelham if we could coordinate Not that they would be the same night about when since their separate presentations, are they going to be Connected maybe even the three of us miss spitzer and miss hall and myself could Have a phone call to just coordinate all that. I'm not as stressed about the timeline as I am I'm about coordinating the different evaluations so that Um, there's some rhyme or reason to it. Um So, uh, I don't know how you feel about that miss spitzer, but I think that might be a next step to to do that So I'd be I'd definitely be up for coordinating offline, but would you want to coordinate All three of the committees that you serve at the same time? Or is it just the pelham and the amherst that you'd like to have occur? You seem like you've fallen into a role of doing this for both amherst and region miss spitzer So I was much like miss mcdonald. I was including you in both of those but uh, perhaps that was inappropriate I just want to confirm that you'd like to present all three um potentially on the same evening if we can make that work Right, and if it doesn't happen in the same evening, just at least that we're coordinating them and there's some rhyme or reason to it. Um Instead of being sort of randomized, um I don't think they need to be on the same evening. I think there's some advantage to it But um, I think just at least having conversation and working out a draft schedule would be good Thank you So while we're still on the topic of agenda planning, um, and I don't know the history of it, but I think Before we actually started the meeting there was some mention about did we think that this meeting started at 6 30 or at 6? So I don't know the history of how we ended up that amherst and region the other committees meet at different times And maybe there's a logical explanation for that that um that I'm not aware of but maybe um, but I wanted to just toss out the idea of you know, is there a benefit in Um coordinating our start time so that they're always the same time whether it's at 6 or 6 30 so that when we do So that spacey people like me don't forget that it starts at 6 and not 6 30 on occasion And I'll just put my throw myself under the bus on that one. Um any thoughts mr. Demling Yeah, I wasn't here for the origin but from what I've been told it was uh to accommodate Uh schedule availability when we used to do in-person meetings at the region And that getting to the embers high school for 6 30 was more attainable consistently than six for some members Um, obviously with virtual that's a little different. Um, so I can't see any harm and sort of repinging Uh the region regional committee and seeing if if there's a if there's a reason why we couldn't say do six Just for my personal opinion if we're going to pick one or the other I'd rather do six. Um, because if we're going to have a two and a half or three hour meeting I'd rather have it be done at 8 39 versus 9 or 9 30, but that's just my two cents Miss spitzer I always found the opposite true. I mean when we go back to Working um, it was a lot easier for me to make the 6 30 than the six so Just putting out the the opposite of Yeah, I I personally it's interesting that there were sometimes where I preferred the six because I would just go straight from the office to the meeting And other times I prefer the 6 30 because I have that opportunity to grab something to eat before Before coming to a two hour meeting to an half hour meeting but um do Do we want to make this something that we try to consolidate and sort of coordinate start time so that it is consistent? or do we want to stick with our 6 p.m for amherst and and Tackle tackle reach, you know other times start times I think so like we can make the decision about the amherst school committee meeting but time Not seeing a lot of passion either way Mr. Dunley, I mean, I suppose we could pull like There is a ridiculous part of me that wants to make it 6 15, but I think that's just taking compromise a little too far Um, yeah, I don't know. I mean, I don't feel super strongly about 6 versus 6 30 so if there was one time that worked better for majority of people I'm I'm willing to make it consistent, but you know, I'm not It's about as passionate as I'll get on the topic Any other Closing thoughts so am I will I Like head nods to to move our regular amherst school committee meetings to 6 30 or Stay at 6 so first 6 30 And stay at 6 Okay, great, we'll uh seeing like seeing that uh, we can't make up a decision. We will stick with I mean we We can't come to Agreement we'll stick with 6 p.m. For for the time being since that's what we've had Mr. Dunley, I could I couldn't see everybody's face was or thumbs or whatever it was Um, was I the only one saying six? I'm happy if it's majority is 6 30. I'm happy to go to 6 30 No, we had it was you and mr. Harrington at At 6 p.m. Mr. Myself for 6 30 and miss lord likes both I just don't want you all holding up just for a little old me I suppose we could also check in with uh with Dr. Morris and and miss shark is to understand if there is if any one of those is easier or not easier for you so Because we wouldn't want to land on a time that then makes it very difficult for either of you Celo is there something that you want to share in terms of the times? Um, I like how mr. Demling noted that since the meetings often run very late I would also prefer to have an early night. So I'm more towards the 6 p.m. As well Great So unless unless anybody has objections. I feel like that tips the scales and we'll stay with six This our amor school committee meetings tend to be the the shorter ones anyway, so it's nice. Okay, great and Moving on to our next item. We have accept gifts, and I think we have one gift for tonight Would someone like to make a motion? miss spitzer I move to accept the following gift A grant from the emerson education foundation in support of greater library access It's the second of two payments For three thousand four hundred seventy seven dollars Move by spitzer and I'll second that seconded by mcdonald Any further discussion or comments? Questions I'm not seeing any so Proceed with a roll call of it miss lord Lord I Mr. Demling Demling I Miss spitzer Spitzer I Mr. Harrington Harrington upstairs And mcdonald I the motion passes four zero one I'll entertain another motion Mr. Demling I move to adjourn second Move by demling seconded by spitzer There's no discussion so roll call vote mr. Harrington Harrington I Miss spitzer Spitzer I Mr. Demling Demling I Miss lord Lord I Miss mcdonald oh And mcdonald I Motion passes we are adjourned