 Seeing the presence of a quorum called the order of this meeting of the Amherst Pellum Regional School Committee It is our first of the year. It is being recorded for a future broadcast by Amherst media So welcome everyone back and the first order of business is a prudinal of the minutes of June 25th, 2019 and August 15th, 2019 I hope people have a chance to look at it at this point if they have any Edits are also accepted movement a move, but I'd like them separate I guess of these items Yes, I'm on the August 15th minutes on the list of in attendance Small thing, but lever it does not have a E at the end. Oh, okay. No, that's great Anything else otherwise, yes, if you're accepting edits to the August 15th minutes I just wanted to clarify In the second page how to organize meetings to be efficient One two three four bullet points down consider day-long meetings Similar to contract negotiations where the budget can be reviewed in large sections to assist with making other meetings more efficient I believe that was a point that I had made and I actually what the point of that was not to Help make meetings more efficient, but instead to help school committee members Understand the budget for the upcoming year better understand the budget for a year. So I'm wondering if we could We have the chance we have a chance, okay terrific Thank you, you're welcome. I'd also entertain a motion as I said Except the minutes for August 15th and June 25th, okay As as amended I assume is there a second It's been moved and seconded any further comment any debate seeing none all those in favor of proving the minutes as amended They carry in animously which in this case is 810 thing Okay, the next item of business is committee announcements and public comment So I have a family member who works at the middle school So I contacted the state ethics department to ask about potential conflict of interest and on the recommendation of the attorney I spoke with I have filed with the Amherstam clerk the Disclosure of appearance of conflict of interest, which is the project Then for the collaborative for educational services of which we are a member The CES supported Amherst regional high school students and staff in producing a youth led vaping prevention Filmmaking project earlier this summer as part of their healthy families spiffy program The CES also met with staff at Amherst media and demonstrated a successful collaboration with local filmmaker ally pinch mitt and Then the next board meeting of Amherst media is Thursday, September 5th at their headquarters The next meeting of the collaborative is September 25th at their office in Greenfield in the next meeting of the school equity task Force is Wednesday, September 4th from 6 to 8 library It's right. Are there other actually it's a good opportune moment to say if there are other Subcommittee updates from the summer we welcome hearing and he said updates no further updates Okay So at this time We'd accept public comments if we're actually behind our agenda So I'm hoping if people wanted to make public comments They would have taken them who are we going to be able to take the time to come here when the agenda items open Keeping it open for just a second longer the most scintillating television you could possibly imagine Second to I guess editing and improving minutes, right? That's probably number one somebody comes in and I guess in our next couple minutes before 655 and they did in fact have a comment and want to reserve the right to be able to Give them an opportunity to speak but otherwise we have business and there's no reason not to move on So I'm going to close public comment with that Notations so next on the item on the agenda is superintendents update Sure, so this is in your packet And the attachments came as a separate document Yeah, and so I wrote these through these pretty quickly so our summer programs update There was a hundred twenty three students who participate in the high school summer school program That's generally students who either are taking courses for quite a recovery or to take care of prerequisites to have more elective options. So the courses range from US history math, right clearly required courses We ran a special course as we discussed last spring for students entering calculus next year some of the concerns in the math preparation that We're voiced last year. We responded in that both from the staff and student perspective Seems to be a very successful experience for students to get them more ready and feeling more prepared and As they transition to calculus health physical education Those are often courses that sometimes students want to take in the summer So it opens up slots for them during the academic year and we have some electives like art as well 60 students participate in the vella program So just want to connect to miss or don't as this comment So that program is a collaboration between us and the collaborative for educational services That was great. They get to see them because they're in the building that I'm in Three-week program is highly successful and we have 37 students in grade 7 through 12 who participated in the special Special education summer program. So if you had all those students together, you know in the order, you know a little over 200 students That's roughly a fifth or 20% of the students of the region. So you could see that our schools run Well, the school year technically and landed last year June 14th We have a large portion of our students continuing to extend the school year into the summer programs Two weeks ago, we had our three-day administrative retreat. That's the attachment is in the packet and Think perhaps worth coming back to this document more when we talk about Schedule for the year in school committee meetings because some of the topics we we discussed at that measure treat should foreshadow topics We talked about With the committee and the community Fantastic backpack project once again. Thanks to dr. Guevara and her staff Liz hey good for volunteering her time to come in the summer We had over 400 backpacks given away and thank you to the Amherst police and UMass police department So they were on site issuing and installing car seats. So some people just said I'm not sure it's in right Can you look at that and they actually had some that they were donating as well to families? Which is a fantastic experience and just really a wonderful service. So we had families come in who weren't even getting a backpack We're just you know for those of you who have had children, you know It's not the most convenient to find someone to do that. So just pull up to the middle school get that done on site Is a great service. So thank you to them We did teaching tolerance grant that we got while that was received a platform received by a member of the Amherst public schools It actually has implications for the middle school as well around civic literacy and organizing. So So I can answer questions. I'm trying to be cautious with time, but It's really nice when we have these experiences that span multiple districts because there's there are kids in sixth grade They're also our kids in eighth grade and thank you to mr. Austin for his leadership He received the grant last year and then this is an expanded grant to expand beyond sixth grade or Fort River Yeah, please talk a little bit. I mean, I think you the way you just described that I'm not sure you've actually yeah describe any of the content of the course sure as it do sure So I'm gonna read directly from the press release one paragraph. Thank you for that So thanks to newly awarded $10,000 grant the civic literacy and organizing unit which was done at Fort River, which Essentially encourages students to pick a topic of interest Build their knowledge base and then encourage them to advocate and organize around whatever the topic is There's no leading there's not like it'd be great if you like last year, you know with the Green New Deal I met with a number of students who were really focused on that. That's not based on adult encouragement That's based on student interest and really the encouragement is for them to become owners But their advocacy and not have it driven by adults The adults really are facilitating the learning and also the process by which advocacy occurs and so this this same kind of structure will be expanded to The in the relevant for this district the eighth grade of Amherst Regional Middle School While teaching the unit in each school teachers new to the project will receive coaching and training Equipping them to teach the civic literacy and organizing unit in 2020 and in future years the grant also covers an Organizer in residence and we use that last year who assists the staff members both in terms of training But also what ways there are to organize and teach students the literally the organizing skills Whatever it is they want to Advocate for who to get in touch with how to do that how to build popular some more support in this case among both their classmates But what it's been really neat is we've seen it students go into their communities their neighborhoods and try to build Build the literacy of their community not just students their their peer group, but adults as well Which wasn't necessarily like exactly designed as planned But when students get excited about organizing and their passions are realized that's what happens And we want students to learn those skills learn how to organize and advocate for things They feel really strongly about it. Also fits really well with the new civics Mandate that came from the legislature last year. So it's a happy marriage that way Thank you. Thanks for the encouragement on that one Facilities update so major capital projects that were completed We refurbished the high school girls locker rooms. I've been discussed at this committee meeting for this committee before When if we finished the high school gym floor repair the middle school elevator I think we've mentioned here, but the middle school elevator has been problematic for the last couple years And it's critical in a two-story building without a great ramp. It's certainly not one inside involves going back outside the building so that that repair was complete and the inspection Done so that we will get many more years of life out of that elevator And I use these are major and minor. They're based on my terms is our mr. Roy Clark's terms just to be really clear But we inspected all the school rules with additional additional patching in multiple locations for this district particularly at the middle school Deep cleaning throughout the schools is wrapped up I should say and time for school opening and we've employed a new checklist to ensure clunginess so that this consistency across our schools across the districts actually We check the operation of the ventilation systems the exhaust fans You know things that are really challenging to do for frankly in the winter when you can't get to them And if you could get to them, there's piles of snow on top Things you have to be concerned about we have to be concerned about One of the things that came up in the 7 to 12 report last year was a focus on preventative maintenance that because the age of the buildings it's so many So many of our systems are at the end of their life or plan life span So we did a lot of work on preventative maintenance this summer to understand where the problems are Fixed what we can fix but also to know what are going to be challenges and as we head towards the winter months In terms of the fields Which you know, I hope we come back to as a full agenda topic in the near future We purchase a new water cannon as you know and attachments work with DPW to improve the playing conditions of the athletic fields I want to thank DPW for their steadfast work working with coaches The athletics department as well as myself Field issues haven't gone away, but my opinion. These are the best the fields have looked in the last three or four years And some of that was them letting us know what the needs were the irrigation actually they found was the largest need For the fields at the current time, you know, there's more global needs with the fields But the things that would get the fields more playable and based on the location, particularly the field hockey field It wasn't quite Possible to irrigate it the way it need to be irrigated without an additional piece of equipment So we completed that and the field aren't better. Do you want to take a question now, please? What is a water cannon? It is And I that I'm told that's not a layman's term because it felt like a layman's term to me, but it essentially is A machine that can water fields at great distances and it can do it automatically So in the past the way that made most sense to me in the past the machinery they had someone literally had to keep on moving the irrigation of the watering Whatever system was in place and multiple times To get across the fields which really slowed the progress So they said they can irrigate three times faster with a water cannon that they could prior And that's a huge difference for the field particularly in the hot summer months So the three times faster was the thing that sticks in my head that made it more clear to me On the back we had excellent start to the school year on Tuesday we welcome back our new staff members Thank you to chair Nakajima for welcoming spoken behalf of the school committees And welcoming the staff. This is the one opportunity we have all year We're all staff from the same place at the same time. So it is really wonderful And it's not recorded it is not for those committee members who didn't choose to attend that'll remain a mystery As to what did I say? That created a laughter there was an appreciation. I would agree. Well, maybe on the chairs report. You'll hear I Want to thank you the APA president Mick O'Connor also addressed the faculty and Staff and we discussed how to support all students to feel welcomed and supported starting on day one and sort of an interesting aside Not to go too deep into this one, but I use a program called use the program called mentimeter Which is kind of like you can use your phone and you can vote on things and there was a word cloud If you can think of what that is so people can type in a word or phrase and bless you in real time It pops up on the screen and the question was how do you want students to feel supported? How do you want them to feel? Excuse me? How do you want them to feel? As they leave school on day one and what was really fascinating as staff member email me this and I think it's worth mentioning how often The word safe and it wasn't talking about physical safety to be really clear safe supported included, you know and Veteran educator email me saying how interesting it was that if we'd done this 10 years ago with those same words came up love loved was up there belonging and It was just that it made me reflect because that wasn't it worked really well with what I was going to say following It wasn't a you know, it was a head of rhetorical use, but it was a really interesting reflection on how Sensitive our educators are to house, you know students in our world feel in 2019 and I've had some interesting discussions this week with faculty and Staff unprompted by me about that very item how The word cloud let's more people who say a word the larger its shows on the screen So it's just really fascinating, but I think it said a lot about our faculty and staff and how they think about young people Hiring updates so we'll have a full hiring update in November as it has previously been done But I wanted to offer an interim update So we had 40 new teachers new educators professional educators at our training last week from today Oh, we could go today. Excuse me 18 of those 40 across the three districts identify as people of color Which identically matches the number of students of color across the three districts? This is the first time on record I mean, I imagine when it was a totally homogenous community perhaps But in my 19 years in the district, I know we've never been close to that number and in equaling that percentage I really want to thank assistant superintendent Cunningham Couldn't be here tonight our principles and the community because it involved the training of everyone who wanted to be on a Screen committee or an interview committee around how we were going to approach interview processes had a reduced bias and Our principles, you know definitely coming from Miss Cunningham and myself coming from you all understood the the importance that that Representation really matters it matters to our students and so we'll have a more full update Again in November, but since we had this day last week and we had 40 people and looking at those numbers I didn't think the committee should be updated on that experience. It's 40 It's a little high. We usually more like 30 to 35, but we had a large number of retirees last spring Just based on how the cycles work. So it's a bit higher than normal, you know, probably about 20% First time in the common I saw many of you there so Some of you just enjoying yourself some of you chasing kids and some combination, which is essentially what my night was But you know, we had a lot cooler weather so we didn't need the water spires this year Which was which was nice, but huge turnout thanks to Jatira Torres in particular Who is really the brain trust of that event and does an incredible amount of work on it? And just every year just I get so much appreciation from the community for coming together as a community before the school year That's not just the school committee school community We had you know people who support us feeds over 700 slices of pizza donated from area vendors which was great and Just a great way to start the school year and for people to stop by as well as people who stayed for many hours and Cup scouts in particular have to thank them They stayed well beyond their allotted required or committed time because they have the climbing wall and get the line Just was long and they just stayed until it was too dark for kids to climb They also made homemade live donuts on like a grill, which was I enjoyed. What's a live donut? I should say they had a donut that they were making in front of us on like on a grill surface Which I'd never quite seen before I'm told that a fresh donut. That is a more appropriate term for it. Yes And I have a couple more some that aren't written so in the window into ARPS Victoria Stewart as new athletic director and Michael Gallo O'Connell as nutrition director That came out on social media day. It'll be released tomorrow on the Friday update Thank you to Amherst media For that quick turnaround. We also had an episode with mr. Jones. The high school principal is here So we did that in the summer So we're ready ahead of ourselves with two episodes down and this was more than sticking a very large role in scheduling those out Actually, we've we're scheduled out through the end of November with dates and guests So we're being more organized in this kind of new organizational model We have a district office about that which is great. So three other quick updates Summit Academy just remember last year A lot of time of the move and how that finished, you know, everything I heard from people there and went over on Tuesday Just such a smooth start, you know last year between the move plus still, you know Some doorknobs needed to go into a real challenge the staff overcame that but I do want to note Appreciate Where we are now a year in because sometimes we do the change We don't come back and talk about it. And I think it's just worth noting that the second newer update is Today I was notified that In terms of Tripoli mosquito-borne illness. We're in an area that is considered raised a moderate risk Based on some things happening in neighboring communities not having our community We're in close contact with the Amherst health department about that at this point They're suggesting that no actions are needed in terms of changing the evening events and things like that But we'll monitor that and we will certainly let the committee as well as community know if if there's a different recommendation around that There was some incident have the you know with animals not with people and then one in Granby with horse and so At this point we're following our directives from the Amherst health department as well and they're connecting with the state health department But if that changes, you know, there will be implications for athletics and other evening events And we'll certainly keep the community informed but at this point the information we have is to not make any changes to practices I just wanted to ask I know that this has been in the news recently and And I actually had seen the low risk. So it's good to know that it's been just increased I'm wondering if it's possible to share with landscaping Staff to make sure that there's no standing water that's around the schools and all of that has that advisory gone out to to staff so I got this Communication about an hour ago So but you're absolutely right now that we will we'll have to do on our internal side around that piece But the directive and also, you know, just logical things if our staff is working in tall grass wearing You know, there are precautions for staff But at this point that's where they're saying the limits are just staff precautions But not that we need to change community events, but absolutely this sounds like a good item to get Like to assume that at your next superintendents update on the 10th. Yeah Even if the answer is it's gotten better. Yes, just say something Yeah, yeah, it's literally an hour ago that I got an email from the town about it, which is how that information flows to me So thank you for the quick update. Yeah, and the last one's a more fun quick update. So Last year the historically the town the schools have had an event that involved the Puerto Rican flag raising and it's been done This or don't have spoken it last year There were two issues with it and it's wonderful event one it was done at a time of year where the weather didn't always cooperate With wanting to be outside and the second larger issue actually for me was it was done and it's historic But it was a celebration connected to My words colonization, you know Columbus and the discovery quote-unquote of the island and so Dr. Gavara and I spoke last year and both of us weren't comfortable with continuing We want to think of another option. And so there's a holiday in Puerto Rico called Guita de lares and that is a celebration of an uprising against the Spanish colonialism in the mid-1800s that led to in that in and of itself led to kind of more What we talked about for organizing An advocacy of the Puerto Rican people and it happens to be on September 23rd every year. I've been to Lattice about 10 15 years ago It's amazing historic site And so we have shifted with the town's support to have that event to honor similar event terms of flag raising But doing it on a different day and with a different purpose and I think a different mentality We was sort of apologetic for those of you went about we're celebrating Puerto Rico But we're sort of you know, I don't know how you felt. I it's always felt awkward to me And so we decided to do something about it So we're gonna have that celebration. We don't have a time yet But this is also like after this was printed this afternoon. We were able to resolve it on September 23rd in town hall Or around town hall and so more information will come with that But I just wanted to share because it is coming up sooner than it has in the past and also to understand why we change The the date and I say about the weather probably pouring rain But at least it won't be snowing which we had a little bit. Was it last year of the year before slushie slushie cold Yeah, yeah, so that I think we're gonna be safe on but we have students who attend And I know Dr. Guevara is is working with the schools about which students attend and how to organize that day in the town Participants as well, but we're I'll just say I'm very pleased that we were taking what's been a wonderful community building event and Actually expanding and maybe clarifying the scope to be consistent with what we wanted to be from an ethical moral lens Are there questions other questions for the superintendent seeing none we will move forward So for the chairs report, I have three things Talk to folks about one and I'll I'll invite Mr. Donia's to jump in on this one through the advocacy of the really the excellent leadership and work of senator come up for it and Also through the advocacy Public living following this or been on the committee you know that mr. Demling and Mr. Donia's have been leading up advocacy on behalf of the committee and Two things occurred one was that there was a Small amount of money included in the budget and it's gonna sound crazy because the small amounts like seven million dollars But in the context of a multi-billion dollar budget, that's a small amount of money Particularly when you imagine the number of school districts that could potentially be distributed over in which case it actually immediately To just do the math could be a really small amount of money but either way meaningfully it was being put in to mitigate the impact from charter school tuition on school districts and in particular I just I'm just calling this out the advocacy that our committee did some of the work that mr. Demling sent in had a direct impact on it Which I think is just really a testament to the desirability of keeping and persevering and keeping up with this work Whether or not we see a reason to or not it can actually have an impact particularly if you have a senator like we do Who's gonna pick that up and run with it? So so that's one thing but also just today We had a phone call with senator Comerford and as importantly And if you know Beacon Hill some ways more importantly Chair the chairperson of the joint committee on education senator Jason Lewis who is was interested in Hearing a little bit about the pot home money business, but that's really in the hands of desi to distribute at this point What they were more interested in doing is saying look we're gonna be entering into a legislative process this fall around chapter 70 revisions ends We want to hear from you as well as Pelham as well as Amherst, you know the weird sort of we have multiple committee thing And also in earth Hampton, which has had some significant issues right now And so we had a half an hour that doesn't sound like a lot of time But actually it can be if you're really well organized and also besides that the senator chair both senators But the chair deeply to his credit was in listening mode and so it was really taking notes and listening to what we have to say I don't know where this is gonna go especially because the the feedback I think we got was that they hear us they care They're not sure what the next steps gonna be but they but they want to think of it And so I'm sure this is gonna engender more work on our part to try to be Responsive, but I think the mere fact that our to me you make I'm sure the committee is aware And if you're not we should talk about this in a future meeting that the promise act which is a tremendously beneficial and important to the legislation and a topic in the chapter 70 reform Which is gonna benefit a lot of districts that really have deep needs in the commonwealth will only benefit us kind of a little bit If you look at the mass-budget analysis Pelham district gets another 61,000 Amherst another 102, and I couldn't quite figure out what the region got assuming Amherst event the elementary district and so It's not a lot of money in the scaring scheme of the amount of money going out the charters Anyway, so just that I just wanted to you to be aware of that but also because of the way of the dissenters We're talking about this it directly related to advocacy that we were doing and the desire the need for us to keep it up Especially we're going into the fall yet The only thing I wanted to add is just that just to make sure that we mentioned that chair the chair of palm committee Sarah Hall was also in that call did a fantastic job. I think representing the challenges of You know what a very small town that is in western, Massachusetts as part of our region And how deeply felt the charter impacts are any small changes to the budget can completely upset The budget for the schools and she did a fantastic job just explaining that so for the benefit of our committee members from Pelham and then also for the community that made me watching Important to mention that and also to thank dr. Morris for sitting on that call in the middle of everything That's going on the first week of school. We really appreciate your being there just in case You know, we needed some of background information and all of that But you and mr. Mangano actually had helped us quite a bit beforehand in preparing for that call And it says a lot too I mean just the mere fact that you've had the introductions ran slightly along because there were a lot of us on the call trying to really Be present but also add ideas and thoughts where we could and I think the cool thing about it is if from the Schuetsbury or levered or Pellum or the region and then North Hampton which has its own sort of issues and is a consolidated district If you look at our region and you look at the fiscal struggles that all of our districts and towns are having All of those types of districts were represented on the call And so I felt really good about the fact that anesthesia and drink is ordonias Organized some of the pre-work with North Hampton to try to make sure that we were well organized so that when we did Have only a half an hour that it is a full half an hour that we could take the time to make sure that all the communities Were well represented and I think you did a great job representing Amherst. Thank you. The team did a great job. Yeah, no, absolutely So that's one thing we had to keep at that the next thing is that we've as I mentioned at the very last meeting And if you can even see in the minutes the chairs report Mr. Mangano and the superintendent and I did talk about and work on the regional assessment Information of this summer appreciate. It's just all of them for his input as it's come through the pike and In essence, I'm just going to preview this for the the committee and really the community name and watching If we thought last year was rough this year is going to be rough and we understand the reasons we understand the fiscal challenge We just talked about it a second ago. We understand the very real fiscal challenges all over communities are feeling We're not demonizing anyone for it. But the reality is We're coming at multiple forks in the road about how we can find a way to come to agreement around a regional assessment That can work for all our communities and I don't know I I'm being very blunt and very honest when I say I don't know How we're going to do it. I don't know how we're going to move forward And I think literally it's important for you to know that at the first meeting of the year For one thing because you're going to see more action on this topic earlier in the year than you might otherwise Because we we have to if you and I'm just going to be very clear about this because we don't remember the history if if if one of our towns barely passed the regional assessment last spring in their town meeting and There's now some indication that they are not sure they want to do so this year We have to take that seriously. We have to take that communication seriously We have to think about how we work with one another to try to see if we can resolve it So I thought I'd throw that out and then really the third item is something that came up I mean people may be aware that it's an obligation If you are a chair or have been a chair or if you ever become a chair You'll find out that one of the things you do during the summer is you end up meeting with the superintendent on sort of it has needed basis to keep up on things that are going and Keep a prize the issues that are bubbling up in the office Sometimes it says a sounding board and and from my sense of how it works It's not like the superintendents ever gonna talk to either me or for you what other committee you're on Your other chairs committee committees chair and just do something They're not gonna make a decision without the full committee, but they sometimes want to have a sounding board and And so for this summer Something that we've been talking about is there there's been you know some sort of rumbling of community Concern particularly with some individuals around how our budgets are organized how Management decisions are being made the efficacy of some of our of our staff Sometimes that comp those comments come in And they've come in by the way in volume two members of our staff to leadership of our staff as well as the school committee and sometimes it comes in more like a Sort of straight shot topically like I'm concerned about X decision or Y decision other times It's much more blanket in terms of a broad question of how We're in the district engaging in its work and then to be blunt sometimes it comes in in ways that if you look particularly in Conversation, this is why I'm going back to the conversations about the superintendent If you look at some of the emails that have come in particularly the staff sometimes they have a tone or quality to them That is much more personally charged In terms of potential accusations or characterizations of people's competence of their work or even of their judgment character And I'm raising this for a couple reasons because when you're dealing with this you end up having and I'm saying this I'm not trying to see this Potentically, I mean I'm sort of engendering a conversation that we're going to have to have about this is You know we have obligations as a committee and we're going to talk about them more in just a little bit On how we conduct over oversight how we set policy how we supervise this the superintendent and the work that he's doing And then also set the budget I think we do have an appropriate role as a recipient of public concern But then the question ends up being how do you how do you best and appropriately channel and respond to those concerns? And I think it became the more That they they what comes in over the trans into use an old-fashioned term or your email inbox the more that what comes over the email inbox is sort of a blend of What could appear to others as being personal attacks and Policy questions the more challenging it gets frankly to respond to because you can have a meeting to talk about How we're running X or Y department, but when it's overlaid with questions about people's character and judgment Then you have to think about well What are our personnel policies and personnel laws that the superintendents following to appropriately manage staff? If it's the superintendent him or herself What's our obligation as an employer to receive potential accusations if they're substantial and And manage them appropriately in a way that maintains that person's reputation We'll also ensure and that we're conducting our business in the best possible way we can and then how do we also Make sure that while we're doing all of that Particularly if the volume of the emails runs occasionally into the dozens or even hundreds How do you ensure that you're not losing sight of the broader business that you're here to conduct meaning? How do we make progress on a strategic plan? How do you make sure we solve problems like I just mentioned or in regional assessment? That takes enormous energy and work to do and it's hard to do all of that and also chase down Every critique that we can possibly receive as a committee. I'm throwing that out there But not because I immediately have a solution I've talked to the superintendent and our next meeting is going to have this topic on the agenda in a more fulsome way We have this is our first meeting of the year. This is our first opportunity to meet and talk in any way It's I don't think it was appropriate. I didn't want to sandbag the committee with Some sort of discussion or deliberation on something that they haven't had a chance to think about Or receive any materials for and so I know if there's a public expectation that we do talk about this We're going to talk on September 10th more about the subject I also think though that frankly if we're going to it's probably going to be in the way I just described in which some things are questions of how do we conduct oversight over departments and a perfectly review Budget and then other things are going to be about how do we separate the weave from the chaff if people are being Feeling like they're being accused or harassed in some way Whether it's a legal term of harassment or not and I think both of those things matter when you think of not only conducting our business Appropriately, but also ensuring that the morale of the district is as high as possible So that's kind of that and I apologize. It's done in the form out of a chairs report because it doesn't really allow for much debate But but we'll have a chance to do that and I appreciate all of your time Look at that we're only slightly behind Maybe we can make up time. Oh sure. It's fun a couple questions. You mentioned assessments and Actions, can you be more specific about what mean by actions? Did I say actions? Yes, you did for the summer or for the fall For the fall. Oh, we're just okay, so and by the way, I welcome Mr. Mangana or superintendents ideas on this but essentially what we need to do is Reach out to the four individual towns that are members of the district and Understand if they have a position that they've developed or if they have some sort of guidance. What is that guidance? This is not I mean as you know, this is not a new topic This is like it. This is a this is a perennial old topic So there's not a single committee that we're going to talk to that's going to say hey What's that issue explain it to me? They all know and so the question is how are they approaching it this fall? If they haven't made a decision, how are they going about making that decision? Since I'm being honest and very clear about the fact that it's possible. There is very much the possibility We could have a failed budget this coming spring and we we actually know right now There is distinctly the possibility we'll have a failed assessment and then what the flows to that is how do you how do you? How do you approve the budget and how is it paid for and all that kind of stuff? We decided we needed to get out in front of this conversation early in terms of another instead of waiting until December to engage the Towns at a four-time meeting we need to engage them like now It's or in September And so then we'll have to bring those conversations back To this committee as we as we can and as we need to have anything you want to add other one of you, please and welcome it I think I include you on this email, but I was invited to the shoots very finance committee meeting Which is the same night as the next regional school committee meeting just to be sort of a Listen to the conversation So I'll have more information to bring back to the full committee after that meeting So at least within a couple weeks there'll be an update on the topic But am I right though that you're reaching out to other towns. Absolutely. Yeah The shoots very select board school community and finance committee is meeting on September 17th instead of late December 17th to Take this on yeah Yeah, I don't know if this is possible the budget for initial review comes out in December correct Yeah, please so It can I answer a question but offer a broader sure. I'm just also cautious of not an agenda topic so So I think our budget and you can see one debated. I mean, I think we're sure if there's factual information Yeah, we're gonna go to I think that's the point the last page in her packet has our sample So typically it's in January that the initial budget comes out February detailed budget comes out in March and so the other thing typically is in December we have a four-town meeting and The only thing I'd add to the comments earlier is I think what I'd I Think I'm restating something the chair might have said but perhaps in different ways I don't think we can wait to the four-town meeting To start having discussions about how towns are feeling which you know Not that there was no discussion before four-town meetings But it was typically that first four-town meeting is like here's an overview of where we might be situated What we're hearing about the state here's some known variables Because I think the conversation around budget amount and budget assessment method are two really different conversations And they always are but perhaps this year even more so Please Conversation happened early is that the information we're gonna need for the statutory method to find out what it looks like Won't come out until January so we can make Guestimates but depending on what the state does and legislature those guests and it's gonna be off, you know, significantly I've always been concerned about the January time Because select boards start their conversation and discussion about budgets long before January And I think one of the things that is really problematic Are surprises? Is there some way to without Going so far as to commit to something to provide information beginning now About what particular elements or components of the budget might look like So maybe I could start I mean I think the challenge is that if If we are thinking that the One town or more towns may want to go to the statutory method particularly towns of Lebanon shoots very because their enrollments The share of the enrollments from the elementary and secondary play out Particularly awkwardly because they're not connected to our other district other districts here It's really hard to forecast and I would argue sort of We don't want to put out bad information and it's possible that we'd have Pushed to put out information too early. We'd be putting out information that we then regret later the funny part of that It is on some so by the way, I think up into this point I think we've been we've been actually genuinely updating the committee And something we did this summer. I don't want to go too much further miss before we're you know, so we're gonna have this future item so The only thing I'd add to this I didn't want to why I should say the microphone is unless I'm wrong My recollection is that your feedback from desi was that a If if the four towns cannot resolve to come to an assessment methodology and pass the associated budget That two things happen one you are actually forced out of the statutory method for the purposes of town assessment until Such time as the four towns agree right on an alternative methodology, right? Okay, so in other words if one town fails to pass it We really can be forced onto the statutory method if they stick to their guns on it the other thing is we're put on a 112th budget and I think if I'm less this is where I want your guidance on this. Is it a 112th budget? that's based on the proposed budget or a By the way, forgive me for saying this the reason why this is important is if you don't understand this You don't understand why it's an emergency Because essentially what we've learned over the summer is that in fact a town can forces onto the statutory method which based on the enrollment space of the Barones between the different schools and The world of inputs into the statutory method. We know that would cause substantial dislocation To how much of the other towns would have to pay a lot like a jarring amount Yeah, and just the one Clarifying pieces so we would get forced on the statutory method While the towns continue to work out of permanent method But there's still to before we get to a final budget and a final method the town still have to agree to something So the statutory method is basically what the the state will use a sort of the interim method to allocate that 112th budget In the meantime while the towns are figuring it out. So what I'll do is I'll try to get more Packet of information that walks through the entire process Because there's been a number of regional school districts that have had to go through that this year one just to the north of us So there's good recent information on what that process looks like So we need we need to move on if there's a if there's a factual question of clarification You can raise it otherwise. I really want to I don't want to I don't want to have us to be actually genuinely Discussing and debating a topic that wasn't on the agenda Did you answer Eric's question one 12th of these years or one 12th of the report the proposed budget I'll get those specifics. My understanding is it's sort of like discussion about what you need but And can you explain what you mean by one 12th? Is that sort of like month to month? Yeah, exactly They'll give you sort of a they're gonna look at your budget and they're gonna release some money on a month to month So assessments would be on a month-to-month basis right now. They're quarterly, but it would be on a monthly basis. Thank you This one yeah, I want to move on to another item in your report. Oh sure I have to do with the public Communications to either the superintendent or to other staff members regarding a particular staff member and crossing the line of What's the word I want to use? Acceptability what have you that doesn't become Borderline libelist Yeah, how are we what's does what's the the body of information that we're going to be using if any to be able to discuss this issue? so I think I think it's a really good question something that is still in Thought process and it's one of the reasons we're not having that discussion tonight And I think you know we want to make sure I want to make sure and I think we want to make sure that Any discussion the 10th is grounded and bounded By both evidence as well as you know a discussion of policy well that that's That's the reason why I pose the question because I just need to have a sense of what I'm going to be looking at if we If we're going to be making some decision about policy or something else And actually we had to be clear on that I don't think on the 10th We'd be making any decisions right the decision I'm just gonna be clear with this the decision we might be making might be to develop policy for example you know in other words and out of that would then comes sort of product and Anyways, I Because this is a fraught topic. I almost want to leave it there to say that the reason I looked at the superintendent is that For a variety of reasons. He's been Concerned and has expressed to me a concern that the district actually doesn't have really good Meaning not just the school committee doesn't have good policy But the school district from a manate personal management perspective doesn't really have a good policy to guide it and thinking about What could otherwise be an unusual circumstance in which I mean there are policies on the books about how students behave with each other There are policies on the books and managerial practices around how staff treat each other And obviously staff students and such There there actually isn't good guidance on if if a member of the staff Feels uncomfortable in some way and it's sort of specific not generic around Something that a member of the public does or a body in the public does And you know what how do you approach that in a way that respects? Completely respects free speech rights and the rights of you know redress and grievance But at the same time also understands that it is a work environment and is a workplace and there are there They're logically or some protections or some guidance that people need to have as employees feeling safe in an environment And supporting an environment. Yeah, and we don't have it worked out as the point Yeah, that's why I want to kick it the next meeting. Yeah, and I don't understand that Yeah, and I don't want to belabor it But I think it is worth noting that the context is broader than this moment So this is a topic that came up in another committee. I work for and I can say it I suppose they can't but in another committee last spring We heard public comment around this general topic and just very bluntly impellents in the public record And so I think the broader Context is more important than the moment in some ways, right? So I wanted I don't want the context to be Made to be Acute or super specific because I think there really is a broader context that's existed many years before This moment in multiple committees and not just our own and I think it's an important thing for me to note that I think if We're responding to a moment that That you know one could have that conversation and for me It's a broader issue with broader implications than then this particular moment in this particular district Absolutely, and that's I think that's really well. I think that's really well stated I want to move on. Yeah, it's really all stated just because I think that the entire point is you you You want to make sure that 16 months from now Whole new set of characters and all the rest that whatever you put in place Feels appropriate It feels well grounded in terms of good management policy, but also sound legally ethically From a public perspective of a public body and in that's exactly right You'd never want it to be guided by any particular thing at all We're gonna move on because also I'm worried now that we we had such a tight and good agenda And now I'm worried that we might lose that and by the way, just as a final comment I And I think Mike will take feedback either at the end of the meeting or some other time I'm whether you like the agenda or how we can improve it. Hopefully you notice it's different and The difference tried to reflect what we did at our at a retreat annual planning for superintendents school committee So superintendent roles and responsibilities goals discussion and the calendar I Mean, I don't I think of people on the committee have something they want to mention around the superintendent and committee roles and responsibilities I would I would welcome it. I just think it's important to Probably good to lay that out as we go through this exercise Really So I think that it's you know in context of a lot of different conversations that we've had in the past couple of years quite frankly It keeps coming up over and over again some confusion sometimes among the community about what the roles and responsibilities are of the committee as It pertains to oversight of the superintendent But also even other administrators and then what our general You know task is for this committee. Are we you know a legislative body? Yes. Are we representative of the community? Yes But then it kind of breaks down on a day-to-day basis, you know How does the school committee and how the individual school committee members actually how are they expected to engage? around issues of importance to you know parents caregivers teachers etc So I you know, I think it's important for School committee probably on a regular basis. Maybe it's annually or bi-annually. I'm not sure To review what our objectives are and what our responsibilities are for the you know It both the edification of the community, but also even for our own edification so that we're clear on that I think you know many of us have talked previously in retreats and other places we go through the Charting the course, you know training from the MISC and that's great for understanding sort of basic Roles and responsibilities for school committee members in the state of Massachusetts And that's required training when we first get elected to this position But it's held, you know more or less behind closed doors as part of the training that the MISC runs It's not something that is shared publicly Necessarily and you know the public can access the information if they go to the MISC website if they you know access the various Documents that are produced by that organization and others But it's hard to find and it's not something that it's readily available and always at our fingertips So I'm not quite sure, you know, how we could go about something like this Perhaps it's something that you know if the committee agrees that this is important That maybe it comes up as an a future agenda item, you know with with preparation Maybe the policy committee can help guide some of that that conversation Perhaps working with the chair. I don't know. These are just things that I thought of the top of my head But I think it would be extremely beneficial both to the district and hopefully the superintendent as well But certainly I feel for the school committee. I've heard it from enough members Individually at different times to feel like this is an important thing to bring forward to the committee as a body Oh So I agree There's a void I feel like I need to know I Know I I agree and actually I think I mean for the purposes of tonight, I think we know as a broad brush that the budget Hiring the superintendent Supervising their job working with them as they're setting their goals Providing follow-up on how we're making progress and then those goals being I think integrative into whatever strategic planning That the district has as a whole are some of the key tasks that a school committee has and it's one of the things we talked about around And further in this agenda because I think a lot of this agenda is going to be considered a work in progress right now Like the nurse arrest of items one or we're gonna talk about tonight We're probably gonna come to resolution after tonight is trying to figure out how do we tighten up our Calendar for the year we want to have shorter meetings We want to make them productive. We all think we're gonna do that And it's even more incumbent upon us to explain to both each other And the superintendent and the public How we're organizing ourselves and why because one of the things that you've heard me say before because I'm a stuck record is If we're gonna if we're going to be tighter and more focused means there's some things We're not going to be able to talk about and we're things We're not gonna have an agenda and what the public has to understand is a if we need to we'll put it on the agenda If there's a reason to have some discussion on we've done that many times But that otherwise because something's not on the agenda doesn't mean it's not important It doesn't mean it's not great work of the of the committee in the community of the community rather and at the district But honestly, we got to get our work done and we've agreed to a set of things We're gonna try to make progress on and then that's how we we set our agenda going forward So what do you think of the idea of creating some kind of a power point? maybe with in tandem with the superintendent around The roles and responsibilities of really both parties because it doesn't work We just do the committee leave off what you do because that it'll just seem like this big black hole We're like who's doing the rest of it. Oh How they are That's me. Could you include in that power point presentation a Role of any in the review process of Superintendents hiring decisions because you didn't mention that in terms of overall Yeah, I mean are we supposed to be are we supposed to get involved in hiring and staffing decisions I Think I think that needs to be included in that discussion that description. I should say Yeah No, I really agree and that was actually one of the things that coming out of our retreat that I found really really useful and and also I was Reading I'm only halfway through the book that Superintendent generously gifted us at the end of last year and and I think there's a lot of good models in there And something that I think is really important particularly if we want to make you know the idea of keeping to our short meetings But really focusing on the work that we we want to do we need to be doing and that the community expects us to be doing Yeah Great, does that I guess I'm seeing nodding heads that people think is a good idea Yes, please just one thing to add is that I Think if we do create some sort of document or power point We should definitely like to it on our website. Yeah, maybe where our contact information is right So it's available to the public who may not be reading our minutes or attending our meetings. Yeah, that's great And I think that also would allow you to link potentially to other resources outside of the district like the other day Mr. Johnny's and I were talking about the Like best practices of how to be a chair guidebook that the MEC has and it's a cool document and rather than summarize it I'd say it's available on the web Please Question is a new committee member here. I guess I'm It sounds like there are certain things that the school committee is obligated to do like reviewing the superintendent and doing the budget So from my point of view it'd be interesting to understand how you decide what other things you're going to take up Which I guess you would put in the category if not required but would like to do So how did those how do those decisions get made? Where where does that come from? Would be helpful sounds like a great thing to understand sounds like a great thing to include in your power point Although by the way, we're about to discuss some of those in a moment So we'll revisit we'll revisit part of the answer to that topic when we get to item I II Actually, no before that when you talk about your your stuff. Um, is there any other? I mean, I think that's a great action item So I'm gonna leave it there Unless someone has anything else they do not awesome So item two on this is superintendent goals initial discussion as we say here on the item We're gonna you're going to refine this into a set of goals. It'll be presented to the committee for potential approval on September 10th 2019 so today you're wanting to review the themes and get feedback Yes, absolutely, and I think the context for me that I'm looking for specific feedback Not just on what I'll share and this for those who are enamors and hell I'm using the same format views where I'm gonna orally share Kind of 10,000 foot ideas I'm not sharing specific goals tonight because I want to get a sense of where the committee is particularly on prioritization Because where I'm struggling in this particular district is I have eight ideas for goals I think eight goals is going to be too many for a whole host of reasons And particularly because the fact that most of these eight are specific to this district So in pastures where there's been similar amount of goals There were many of the goals that spanned two or even three districts and that's not the case this year and you know So I'm really interested in things that the committee would want there to be as goals as As distinct from things that great. You're working on love to hear updates Not necessarily rising to the level of a goal that we need that level of artifacts and regular updates about You're gonna talk through all eight, but then you want help exactly So I'll just I'll go down on it again. These aren't written as Instructure of goals. So I'll say number one is really developing a comprehensive framework on wellness that includes Issues such as substance abuse, LGBT inclusion and homework load. That's not a new topic I think it's actually there's a goal similar to that last year that I think rightfully was not I Would self-ranking the committee rank not as as completed as some of the other goals The second goal is to around the successful implementation of new math curriculum in grades seven through twelve With evaluation measures of student family and staff experiences as well as student achievement data Spend a lot of time on math last spring, but it actually wasn't a goal because it's sort of emerged later in the school year the third one is Collaborating with the town of Amherst and the school committee develop a plan for future improvements enhancements of the athletic fields Fourth one is something I mentioned reference earlier about the updated data But continue to diversify our staff through refinement of our new hiring process Processes and training of staff and community members who participate in screening or interview teams Fifth area have is really around late start time which we dabbled in a bit last year We've got a little more comprehensive transportation report. Thanks to mr. Mangano for being a creeper key Person in that they would like to come back to this fall one way the other but I'm trying to assess Import order of importance because that's a topic that if we want to dig in it's going to take a significant amount of time energy and resources The sixth topic is around the study of sixth grade to the middle school the educational study of Sixth grade to the middle school that looks to wrap up in December Seventh section is a really around the strategic plan so complete the initiative section Which is the uncompleted section at the current moment the strategic plan and begin implementation and evaluate the evidence Of where we are and how we're doing with that And the eighth one and I struggled whether this was a distinct goal or not But I'm for now just want to share with the committee again to gather feedback is around Supervision evaluation of staff as you know every organized some some things in the district offices so that I can be more present in schools and providing Not just the when there's a crisis or as needed, but real coaching and authentic feedback throughout the school year So those are eight distinct areas that I Looked only could I combine some and I really didn't feel like at the end of the day Like they're each distinct and I know they're all important, but I guess I'm looking for feedback And some prioritization as well as what perhaps is missing Please repeat number seven sure And these are written in shorthand otherwise it would have had a more formal document presented The thing I'm looking at's not wouldn't be terribly helpful to anybody so number seven was to complete the initiative section of the strategic plan begin implementation And evaluate the evidence of progress Actually, I want to ask whether members of the committee need anything else Because what I'm going to do is I'm actually going to go around the committee and give each member a chance to provide their thoughts And I'm going to do it like the usual run around the room sort of thing Otherwise it'll force me to pay attention to who's spoken and who hasn't Why don't you run through them very quickly just So the first one was develop a framework on wellness that includes issues such as substance abuse lgbt keep lg lbgt excuse me inclusion in homework load second one was Successfully implement the new math curricula in grades 7 through 12 with evaluation measures Third one was along with community partners Town and the school committee develop a plan for future improvements of the athletic fields fourth one was around Continuing our efforts around staff diversity and continue to make progress in that regard Fifth one was to deeply explore late start time. Sorry. I see keep space shifting as I say that those phrase, but Sixth is To Around the outcome of the study and further discussion with the community about sixth grade to the middle school Seventh is to complete the initiative section of the strategic plan begin implementation and evaluate the evidence of progress And the last one is the supervision and valuation of staff and what I'm saying staff. I'm talking about administrative staff I directly supervise. I'm not talking about teaching staff or para educator staff Given the slightly revised district organization. I want to actually comment It's not just that eight goals is too many for the evaluation process although they believe that to be true Given the three districts. It's also that we focus on all these things and meetings everything We just talked about at the retreat, you know, I think there's gonna have to be some scope That myself the district staff have but also for the committee because that's a lot of things I just mentioned and and I guess the feedback I'm looking for is what are things that we need to We're not gonna not complete a study or we're not gonna, you know, avoid things but In my opinion that that will fill up our calendar in ways that We may feel like we talk about a lot of things We don't get anything done and no one's gonna be satisfied So I'm gonna I'm gonna start with an email that I got from mr. Demling that then I Offer this note that since he didn't know you were gonna introduce eight items tonight He can't answer the question now Which ones would he prioritize so instead what I'm gonna do is note ones that correspond to your list I think that's the most appropriate thing to do Six sixth grade arms was on his list of something you consider to be important to prioritize Early start time is another one that he considered to be important to prioritize vaping pot Stress wellness framework, we forget the details But my point is the wellness framework Also was on there and then actually interestingly enough he talked about sort of time in building super supervision But I'm gonna translate that into your supervision So that's his feedback which now means I've just given everyone else a longer chance to Prepare your thoughts Serena I'm just gonna run up. So what we do by the way, just let you know you run around the table And so if he's first that means you're next And you can you can say pass and then I'll get back to you, but if everyone does that we're not we won't get anywhere Well, I have a tie for first but First continue the discussion of diversity the achievement up there of the problems and doing it Second close second would be the sixth grade to arms Third would be the implementation of the math program and For I don't understand vaping I can't believe kids are doing it It's beyond my comprehension So an update on the wellness and vaping situation Okay, well I would certainly Go along on the wellness I think some of those issues are really becoming critical I think the diversification of staff I'm actually going to put the athletic fields in here because I've been on the athletic fields And I know how I mean I can't believe for example that they run track on the track And I think the athletic fields affect a lot of kids And then I you know I'm not quite sure Where I would go after that, but I guess those are three that I would Certainly like us to look into I Guess I would use a prompt to identify what I consider to be of high priority and my prompt is cell phones Cell phones I think are a very broad Issue But there is symptom I think of a much deeper issue, which is the mental health of kids And I would like to see that included in wellness And I think a lot of kids who fall under the the Title of the groups that you identified also experience challenges to their mental health, but I think I can't help but think and I have no Evidence scientific evidence to prove it, but I can't help but think that the the massive use of cell phones and screen time is An indicator of something going on with kids that we don't fully understand And I think it's related to mental health the isolation the alienation The inability to directly converse with other kids I think that's a serious problem And I don't know how to address it But I would really like to have a conversation about what steps we could take and just in general to look at the mental health of kids I Think it's a bigger problem than we are willing to acknowledge and I think it's also related to late start time So probably a lot of overlap I went through and I ticked off like well, these are obvious and then I Couldn't think of what else it should be, but it got stuck with what should come off the list, but I'm actually and curious that None of us mentioned the strategic plan because I do think finishing that up is is is really important And and so part of me sort of goes through which ones do we call out as as objectives versus Work that is going to be happening anyway is as you mentioned I think you described it as it's important It just doesn't necessarily get Disgusted at it on an ongoing basis of these meetings So perhaps that does fall in there is it's work that's going to be happening, but I think we as a committee would want to Be hearing about that that process and contributing where we can help the other ones that I have on here is The sixth grade to the middle school It you know to a certain extent how I prioritize them was what are things that are going to be on our list? No matter what we decide and that I think is one that's going to Potentially come on our list no matter what we decide as a priority that we're going to have to talk about it I also have athletic fields For a very similar reason That also has much broader impact sort of beyond beyond our our school district And so I think again In terms of what is going to be a priority or what's going to be made a priority for us whether we want to or not The then I also had later start time Thinking again sort of as part of the wellness I find it hard to imagine Making student wellness a priority or a goal and not including that as part of that So that's that's where that's where I stopped some of the others in terms of diversifying staff and continuing that work to continue the progress that's being made and continue the work that's being Evaluating our hiring process and sort of constantly looking back at that I feel like that's important work that should be continuing whether that rises up to become on the short list of Objectives is that question mark and then same with the math curriculum and implementation. Of course, that's important But it feels Being a parent with kids in the middle school in the high school. It feels smooth so far There's some bumps, but I you know getting an update. But is that a top priority for updates? It's a question mark for me I really appreciate the amount of time that you've obviously spent thinking about this I see reflections back from the evaluation that we just had last year And you know, I appreciate that continuity. This is it's great to see that I'm loathe to prioritize these even though I recognize the importance of doing so for your sanity But also just for effectiveness right and also for the committee to be able to engage in the community But I guess, you know, I'm also thinking a lot along the lines of Miss McDonald's her point around the strategic plan There are certain elements of this that I think fall under the strategic plan and Rightfully, so we spent a lot of time talking about strategic plan, you know with mr. Nakajima's leadership and yours And I think that we did in the community did a lot of great work and Putting together a strategic plan that reflects values and our mission and everything So I believe that by putting attention to completing that and then especially thinking about how we evaluate the evidence of progress That that's extremely important for the upcoming year and beyond right so as we establish a precedent for that continuity of, you know Superintendent goals. This is a big one I also think that, you know, given that Underneath that the diversifying of staff continuing that work is also extremely important. We've heard from many community members for quite some time about the importance of having our staff and teachers educators reflect the student body and as we've all talked about for You know for quite some time that student body continues to become more diverse, which we all agree is a wonderful thing We want to ensure that our staff also continues to be diverse and reflecting our student body But also I think the one thing that I remember us talking about about last year and with miss Cunningham's leadership That I would like to see continue and enhanced is Professional development around race in particular and identity And identity also getting into, you know, sort of gender issues Because I believe that, you know, there's a lot of learning that we can all do for How to become better better stewards, I guess of our students And this is it goes a long way into doing that. So I think this is a big thing for us The study of sixth grade to arms also something that is unavoidable And I think an important discussion not just for this committee but for other committees And I think the, you know, the more progress we can show in thinking about this and engaging the community the more The better that is So I would also I guess place that if I were to be prioritizing Somewhere near the top, but I'm not prioritizing at all But if I were that's that's one of those things And then I guess, you know, I Also will reflect and support what my colleagues have said about the athletic fields and other things like that that have come up Simply because it, you know, from my perspective and I talked about this last year It is an equity issue and I think that, you know, we have Not for, you know, the fault of any particular group of people necessarily, but just the way that things have worked out Have not done a great job of ensuring the, you know, the long term health of those fields and making sure that our students get The most they can out of it. So I really do think that it's an important issue that the community clearly cares a lot about And that we also should care a lot about starting with your goals. So I think that's it probably for me. Thank you. Thank you Thank you. Um, so one of the challenges of going so late is that a lot of What I was thinking has already been said, um, it's not a bad thing, but um So I had a similar problem in terms of first off, we just got these goals I'm being asked to evaluate which ones you want to prioritize. This is very, um I'm using the right to change my mind Um, but what I'd like to say is that I think if you didn't do any of these I would be Feel like you haven't done your job. This is the only one that I could take off the list In terms of that would be the conversation around late start time, which I agree with everybody who spoke already that it's integral to wellness However, I do think that it's something that isn't going to Eat up a lot of this committee's time potentially and maybe if we could I'm not against it. That's what I'm trying to say like it's not at all about my position on That but I I'm just right looking through this list of items and it is such a long list and in terms of what um, we We must complete the strategic plan. I agree with the supervision You know, that should be a priority like everything else on this including that Could be a priority, but it seems like the one that I could potentially see as being optional I don't know if that's helpful. Um, and it's not to weigh in on whether or not we should do it or not um In terms of the other question I had was with the You know, the other thing I agree is that the fields are in desperate need of improvement but it is also something where I feel like The town of Amherst is also integrally involved and I know we have the master planning going on so potentially I could see somebody else kind of Continuing to move that forward in your absence. Not that I'm not trying to say that right, but it just feels like there are other actors involved in that Who could prioritize it and make it a priority, but I don't see anybody else in Taking on the role of diversifying our staff or You know prioritizing student wellness ways. I could see other folks prioritizing getting the fields improved specifically in the town of Amherst So those are my thoughts and thank you My only comment would be that I think as we've um talked about these in the past Is that when they when they think number two five was Was fair It wasn't an overload, but it was enough so, uh Cool things. I mean one I think that We have because we I guess let's say first off. I agree with the strategic plan point There's so many things in this strategic plan and we wanted to get one done and we wanted to actually implement it We wanted to live by it So the idea that that wouldn't be one of your goals for the year makes no sense to me at all Especially because it includes so many of the other components in it And if we do that well, you'd be making progress on a lot of the other things So I think that's critically important one thing I would ask you I guess and you don't have to respond to it right now is At the point we start having more of a strategic agenda That creates the liberty Potentially for you to have some goals that are particular to your job And then other goals that you would have for the district where you may or may not be the lead actor And so I say that because when we look at this list It's incredibly hard to say that we shouldn't be doing any of these things I'd actually agree with miss bit sir that the one you could see Sort of subordinating would probably be the late start time Not because it wouldn't be done But if you're doing a comprehensive framework framework on wellness Include that in there and see how that framework including how you're organizing that work Leads you to An engaged process around start time and its role in wellness, right? I mean it could be integral to that in other words without without kicking the can and I think Part of the question managerial is how do you sequence these things so that it can be done effectively and well And because we can't bite everything off and do it well and I mean by we I mean globally all of us Can't do so And so one of the things I'd love for you to do when you go back to this list is think about whether or not you can bifurcate This list between things that you would include on your superintendent goals versus things that you would want to State definitively our goals for the district for this coming year. You know what I'm getting at And and does that give you any clarity Around this I'd also say with that I'm very interested in in that lens Thinking through where do you play a particularly key role or is your leadership critically essential to that outcome? And where is it? Where is it? I don't mean it's not but if you know what I mean Where are there other actors that you know in fact that you're playing a lead role? In which case you'd say we're going to get this done But if you lifted the lid you'd find out someone else is actually doing 95% of the work and you're bringing your vision to it where you can or your advice where you can I'm so just that's just that's my advice on that It's hard to say that sixth grade of the middle school isn't going to require your chops I also think that Supervision of your staff is I think a great thing to put on there because one of the things I've mentioned At least last year if not two years in a row that I was wanting to think of ways that you could think about I think sounds awful, but this is the process right we're doing superintendent evaluation Ways that you could articulate your growth as a manager administrator leader of a team You know, I feel like in the past you've had a hard time Articulating how to put that in writing in a way that feels intrinsic to your work and what you're wanting to do for the year You're starting to do that now. I think that's a really positive thing and there's nothing more central to you than how you're doing I'd also think and just You can figure this out yourself, but to me diversity of staff And hiring and how we take the next step because you articulated As sort of the next step in the process seems to me something that's hard to miss in this work Um, I also feel the same with athletic fields But one of my first point was I'm begging you to figure out how do you articulate Something you're proposing as something that we are going to get done And then of what that subset that are actionable Which ones are things that we that we should be thinking about? For one of the term judging your performance on Any other thoughts? Yes. I have a question. Yeah, as a new member again Is there some way to get information about the strategic plan? Uh, yes, where does it reside? Um, I'll share with the full committee tomorrow Where we this last document that you all saw which is where we are I'll make sure that it Is that on the website? It is but it's probably Okay, yeah, never mind. Yeah, I mean, I think it just be easier for me to share it with all of you Okay, that way you don't have to go lucky. Sure. Welcome as much. Uh, yeah, I I um neglected to talk about the sixth grade move because I would like to see that as a multi-year goal Because I think it's going to necessitate conversations with the hill towns Because if you start talking about moving Yammer sixth grade to the Middle school then I think there's going to be some people at least in Leverett Who are going to be very concerned about what that what impact that's going to have on kids who remain in Leverett So I think it's going to require some pretty um a series of conversations with parents in the hill towns as well as staff and administrators And the and the hill town school committees about that shift So I would see it as a multi-year goal I think if you have multi-year goals you can articulate that back to us too I don't think anyone would be against that Any other thoughts from the committee? Do you have any thoughts back to us at the moment? Just simply that that was exactly the type of feedback that I'm looking for so thank you. Um, and I'll make sure that I share A draft goals In advance of the next meeting so that any feedback that you have to make that's individual can be shared before the meeting That if there are tweaks that you know, you'd like to make or feedback that that can be an iterative process Um, and we'll talk in the tent So, uh, the next item are on our agenda is when we're developing a calendar of agenda topics I think it might be worth reviewing the topics on the calendar that exist But I have I have kind of a question for the committee. Is it nature of the conversation we just had? um I would love to have a topic discussion about this today, but I'm wondering if If It wouldn't also make sense For when Dr. Morris is coming back with his refined goals For him to take a crack and i'm also happy To sit down with him maybe with the vice chair to also Help you figure out how we could populate a calendar that if we've just agreed we want to do all these things Why don't we we could take a crack at populate in the calendar with where those things Hit in the discussion so that when we come back to then look at the calendar It could be informed by what we say. We've already agreed. We want to talk about Or are addressed does that make any sense? This is a cart before the horse Only if we want to be well organized So why don't you go through what we have now, but it sounds like the committee just nodded their heads I think it makes enormous sense to not belabor a subject that could be better informed next time So this is a full You know, we didn't parse out amerson and pelham meeting. So just look at the regional one for the next meeting on the 10th We'll have Union 26 is planning to meet on the front end of that because they haven't reorganized and there's there's an election of pelham and so we need to By policy reorganizing in 26th level. Um, yes, and um Uh When is your contract right? Uh In the next year, right? Not the end of not this coming june, but the june after okay So i'm just foreshadowing because I don't see any reason not to but another reason why we may be meeting with union 26 Is most superintendents in the universe that we live in Don't like going into the last year of their contract is a lame duck when they're looking to figure out Um, where they're going to be working and whether they're supported and wanted by their district That doesn't mean we have to discuss uh a potential Contract status of the superintendent, but it um meaning we don't have to go through the whole process if the committee decides not to But it means it would actually be irresponsible of the committee not to raise the topic So hence both mr. Demling who's not here, but he didn't was actually on his little list of things to talk about in the email But mr. Demling who's chair of union 26 at the moment, uh in myself Thought that we needed to talk about that Um, and then we're having a start. I apologize to throw that out since you're the subject of the All it's all good. Um The pool contracts will have that conversation after this topic and um We want to have a discussion tonight and potentially a vote Uh on this pool issue at the next meeting um in later september um To the prior conversation we had tonight the regional assessment discussion We want to not wait that this is early on the agenda, but uh relative to past years But we want to have a conversation september about where we are with that And athletic fields update that can take a number of forms But just you know, we spent a lot of time last spring talking about it. We want to come back with how things are going I have a math update in mid october um Listed student service update in october later october We didn't do one last one last year, but we in past years often done um department Update and so we was thinking since we didn't do one last year. So what is students just I hate short interpretations. What does student services include? So student services is uh, I think uh encompasses what Has been thought of as special education, but it's broader than that It also includes students working with students at 504 plans It's a bright program for instance, which we've talked about here for students who are struggling with social emotional challenges falls in student services So um, the students may or may not have special education plans. So it's it's a little more holistic look at A broader set of student services, not just special education The wellness committee in the past which has mostly talked some about mental health But some about a lot about nutrition actually falls in student services as well nursing thanks You know one thing I tried to do is having uh once a month goals updates So we don't do like a mid-year How are we doing but actually picking one of the goals each month and doing an update so that the committee and the community and myself and staff can actually Pick a goal every month Share an update. How are we doing on this so that it it becomes a more regular part of meetings instead of uh We set the goals may halfway through we get an update and the end of the year We get this artifacts document, you know, one of the things we actually tried in Pelham last year and I thought it worked Swimmingly was to kind of more modernize the fact that there are these goals and we're going to have regular discussion By the way, if the committee has a question on any of these items, please raise your hand now I'd rather deal with them as they come up then Afterwards a little better term. Please. I'm just wondering and this is just an idea Because I like the idea of getting regular updates on the goals But I also am cognizant that you know if we have eight goals or fewer than that At the regional level and then additional goals at the other committee levels That basically we're just going to be hearing one goal updated, you know per month until it's time to actually review All of them together right and do the evaluation So is it possible perhaps to hear about, you know multiple goals It doesn't have to be all of them for every month for every meeting But having a few at a time at least helps you get through the the list a little more quickly and also gives That sense of continuity that I think you're aiming for I think what I'd add to that comment that I agree with it is If we're going to do that We got to go back to thinking about what the role of the committee is and what we're doing I mean, if you're literally just providing us a verbal update on something That's one thing if you're actually expecting some sort of interactive feedback We want to think about substantively how and why are we engaged in the committee who's involved beyond You know what I mean? You know I'm getting at As we have done for many years the human resources report in November School calendar review next year is going to be a quirky school calendar So I think we'll actually have to have more discussion just where Labor Day falls out So that one might require a little more discussion than the average year Our ms hand student conference is in late October. So this would be Maybe ambitious might have to wait till December, but You know in the past we've liked for the students who attend the conference to come share about their experience and their goals Coming back and their plan We get to December That's the timeline for new courses at the high school to be considered by the school committee Hopefully get to a place where we approve the calendar for the next year I'm skipping over the goals updates given the January we have a budget process update So that's when we have our initial numbers So we could do it at the earlier january meeting one of the reasons we Thought about the 28th is by then, you know, hopefully the governor's budget's out and depending what methodology we're using Having a budget Presentation before the governor's budget may comes out may not be useful. So we're open to feedback on that And not not just right now, but in general, but that's the thinking mr. Johnny is the miss spitzer Thank you. Uh, so just very quickly I was wondering if the january 14th meeting if it would be appropriate for us to add Reorganizing subcommittees at that meeting because i'm aware that amherst will have had its election early November but the new committee doesn't actually get seated until the first of january Just seems like a good time or i mean it's it's weird because we also have the other towns who haven't quite gone through their All right So actually that raises a larger question of given the new timeline When was the committee itself reorganized? Um, what I thought I heard you say and maybe I heard you wrong was about subcommittees But is the committee going to Reorganize twice each year given that there's potential change over inside. Let's figure that out later. Yeah. Yeah, no My point is you've identified an excellent meeting topic Yeah, I just want to add to that. Let's talk about it later. Yeah, uh, miss spitzer than I think was forgot um, so I was gonna Reorganize question mark right here in january. Um, but the the other thing I was thinking is You know, this will be the potentially a public Document but even just for our own planning purposes because we had a call into this saying like major trigger event that triggers the needs or something so like town election or you know, just It could help us to plan if we can put in the column here Also key dates that may not have anything to do with the school districts. Um, you know But could have a direct impact on Either the budget or on our need to reorganize. So all of the town, you know, we've got four times elections. We've got This regional assessment question going on governor's house one Yeah, so so if we could just have like political event or, you know Call them for for the thing that's like sparking Right because I think that would really help us plan I'm sorry miss mcdonald and then Mr. Walsh Yeah, I wrote down one of the things that we talked about at our retreat was the idea of a full day sort of budget meeting and I personally really like that versus going through Particularly because we potentially will have new members a lot of new members in january. So adding At least thinking early so that we have that foresight if that's something that the full committee wants to do Planning that for sometime in in january potentially as a way to kick off the process So yeah, I forgive this question. I just don't know the answer to it Um in regards to organizing or reorganizing. What is the one of the apea contracts up? The year after the same timeline is when my contracts up, I think right Oh, I'm sorry. Yeah, I'm sorry. You have seen that food and commercial workers will be this this year They're For this year for next year. Okay. Yeah, so you have CCW this year all the rest of them not till the following year So we would need a negotiating team for this year prior to the Amherst elections Yes for the ufcw You need to go to the microphone. Mr. Ragnanoff Otherwise i'm repeating everything you say to make sure it's very It may be after because if we do it prior and then those people leave Are don't continue after the elections I guess I guess the question being honestly, this is a functional question. Yeah, if you need it sooner We have to do it sooner. No, it's just a top. No, no, i'm just saying if you don't need it sooner Then do it in january. You know Thank you great Uh, I was actually going to echo something there's a conference I think if thinking about where we can fit in A budget budget orientation and budget process would be a good idea I don't think we need to talk about this right now um I don't know if any members of the committee want to volunteer to work with mr. Magnanoff to Sort of revise and look at and how we're doing our budget No, I know Do we have a budget committee? Uh, we do have a budget committee. You're on the budget committee No, i'm on Rod's on the committee. What's the answer? I would be interested in being involved. Actually, I'm a new member But yeah, you need a committee Uh Do you want to let me just come back up? Please? I'm sorry. I apologize Um, I just want to do this in an organized fashion and I don't want us to be debating here So we need to do it later. Um, do you want to do you want to look at a soon some sort of revised Calendar for the budget process that could take into account as you've talked about Okay, am I just going to send that back to you? No, you're going to go to the committee. You're going to meet with your budget finance Right exactly. Is that okay? We may not have a committee What do you mean? A couple people are gone that were on it last I think ron is on the committee Carries on the committee I think those are the only two because I think audra was on it and the stance or control was on it I volunteered part of three people enough for three people are perfect Yeah And so just maybe on the september 10th we could review subcommittee assignments I think we need to okay sounds like we need to but I mean but the point is prior to that Yeah, you're now on the budget and audit committee by the way the blessing is to get to be on both And then And you have three and opa board and you have three members and the three members are going to work with you Soon to develop a calendar because as you may recall for people who've been around the block already We started dealing with budget issues earlier in the fall than just December or january we started actually Having meetings to talk about it like the september october We might want to again So we're gonna work on that cool Yes, uh, so just a reminder also I was just looking at the stuff that was actually on here before instead of adding additional things, but The school committee roles and responsibilities that we just talked about I'm looking at the september 10th meeting. I'm wondering if that would be going on there Or are you thinking about the one after I want to say the one after only because Isn't the policy subcommittee just got this assignment. Yeah. Yeah, okay. They agree So september 24th needs to be early in the year otherwise it loses its punch Thank you super kind go ahead some February budget presentation of hearing including ads cuts school choice hearing And then in march we have a budget vote school choice vote And we talked last year about doing the evaluation which which I don't want to debate here But just it's one of the things that we should come back to perhaps with that subcommittee Um doing this evaluation before the town elections and the three and three of the four towns There's some upside and downside to that I think it's worthy of discussion and you know the committee subcommittee would want to meet with me I'm happy to share my two cents there, but I think that Actually is something that we should sort out collectively sooner as opposed to later And then interested in clerical media awards and I intentionally left I think it's my email indicated There's based on the goals and I think the sort of academic spoke to this earlier We'd want to round out this calendar based on the feedback I received and what the goals are so that we're Slotting items to occur multiple times throughout the year Okay Any additional feedback on this right now As I said, I think the goal the pun end or whatever But the goal we would have the objective we'd have would be for You to do whatever thinking you need to do A superintendent and then for you to set up a meeting probably get it on the book sooner than later I could work with myself and as a model To sit down with you and try to we're not going to go through your proposed goals meaning Whether the committee likes them or not we'll decide together I just want to help knock into shape a calendar that if you're going to propose this to us That what the we can then come you can come back also or we could come back you and I come back with a draft Of what the year might look like as a next starting point. Is that okay? Sounds great. That makes sense for the committee Okay, and I think it'll also the nice thing is it'll have a forcing item that we may we will If we need to leave things out because we can't get them done with the full calendar We could that forces that conversation What's in what's out Okay, great. So we're done with that. That sounds good Mr. Mugano you're up Superintendent if you have anything to introduce on the side of that's great. Otherwise um, I think Yeah, I'll do a very brief introduction, which is we're on track. Yes That we received a request And it was in the packet from a community organization and because of the scope of the request We communicated back with the organization that on a temporary basis we would Fulfill the request but we felt like this went a little beyond the scope of Just staff decisions that we want to actually bring this to the the committee because it's a significant increase in use and the request Is a typical compared to other community organizations in terms of the scope the hours and then the finances So we didn't want to make any permanent decisions without the full committee weighing in and potentially voting at the next meeting The thoughts that you have on it. Okay. So there's a memo in the packet Just for the sake of the fact that people are going to be watching on tv That was almost a completely proper now and less explanation of what we're doing There's very few verbs in it. So if you could make sure people at home understand what we're talking about Please help. So a little historical context Six years ago. It was like no activity in the pool in middle school and town meeting raised year after year We needed to use the pool more get out to see in there go there now It's like every day. There's people in the pool people in the pool right now probably because they're We did a temporary agreement with them so they could get started for the season. So what this is The Amherst tritons are a local swim team in Amherst and I think they include beyond Amherst And they have used our pool a little bit the last several years typically after school I also see is the first one that uses our pool for a couple hours after school and then the tritons go And after them till about nine o'clock They used our pool at the middle school, but they also use topman's UMass, I don't know if you've read but topman's is closing. So they want to use our pool much more often They've been a really great partner and their numbers from what I hear really growing There's a lot of energy around the swim team. They do really good work So they made a proposal to us in terms of like the the times that they would like to use the pool In terms of conflict I don't think there's any conflict that I can see in terms of them pushing people out of the pool right now But because of the scope of how many hours they want to use It increases the license fees. So what we do is a license agreement with them. So it's basically year to year It doesn't have any property rights or anything like that It's basically you can use this space as long as you're a good user of the space if we ever decide to change our mind We can sort of do it with two weeks notice So this sort of lays out basically the proposal which is to use the pool Roughly 1200 hours throughout the year. It's um day through friday saturday and sunday as well Makes it so pretty much every day except for holidays. They're very dedicated Our hour in rate that we have come up with this year for the pool is $30 an hour So that's what else to see is paying for the hours they use we took that rate and applied it to what? The transfer proposed and it comes out with a total fee of about 37 000 dollars Which is quite a bit obviously pretty big number and it did jump from last year for them because the hours went up so much Um, they've come back to us after hearing what the fee was and have Not demanded but just requested if we could consider Um a donation of some equipment to help offset some of the fee Um, I laid out what the equipment is here I have an open question that i'm sorry miss mcdonnell. I don't have the answer to yes Like do we want this equipment? So there's that piece of it like can we use this? Is it going to we already have this equipment? Is it going to be useful for us? Um, so that I don't have the answer to yet But you've got the as much information as I have here in terms of what the equipment costs the age of it I want to do the same thing run around the table. See if you have questions for you This is again a discussion item be voting on it if we choose to next time You charge a school team to use the pool not a school team. It's a private Yeah, it's not the school's one Any other any other I'm gonna go around and see if people have questions or comments either one can be questions or comments Question, um, how much is this going to increase the staff time to take care of the pool? Yeah, so it's I mean that's one of the reasons why we charge is particularly on the weekends It's going to result in overtime because we don't typically we want to typically have custodians on the weekend So that would be somewhere between 30 35 bucks an hour For custodians to be there on the weekends. Um, so somewhat significant Okay So in your judgment, um, given the age of some of these donate of all the donations Are you confident that they will? That they're worth taking in kind? Or I have the expertise in that kind right now. Um, I think the It really comes down to We talked to the swim coach and I talked to the new athletic director to look at it I know we have some sort of scoreboard in there. We have some equipment in there. Um, so it's really I think it's dependent on what they think in terms of whether we can use it or not That wasn't a great answer Thank you I asked some questions by email, but I will just say I don't I don't um, just to Hear any conflict of interest, but my son used to be a swimmer on Amherst Triton's He's no longer a swimmer and he's not continuing With Amherst Triton. So I just want to put that out there. Okay And I want to reiterate their great partner. We love having them in the pool Again, this is just merely such a big uptick. We wanted to make you all aware of it and and See if you have any concerns about it I gotta switch this thing up and go to the other end of the table as much as Sullivan if he has any I'm good. Okay, spitzer Um, well I guess given the overuse of the fields problem that we're facing right now I want to make sure we don't end up with an overuse of the swimming pool. That's a really good issue So it's a really good point. I don't know. Um I don't know how we'd So we've had a little bit of an overuse So when we first had a big uptick in pool usage, there was like a week span where The dpw who we work with really close to pool use as well you know coincidentally, um It took a little bit to get the right balance not that we had so many more people in the pool and Teach people to make sure they shower and things like that before they get in the pool It took a little bit and there actually was a week where we had to shut the pool down Um, that's just what we have to do if the pool gets to a place where it's not safe We shut it down until it gets to that place This past year we had no issues. Um, that I heard at my house We had a little debrief meeting about the pool. Um, and I don't think there was any issues with Usage of the pool. Now as you mentioned, there's going to be a big uptick. So something we'll have to monitor I guess my other concern is just like this is a limited public resource There aren't a lot of other pools that are open to the public and given that trivetance is a Private team. It almost seems like rather than accepting equipment It would almost be like could we get scholarships for kids to use the pool? It just seems like And again, I don't have any knowledge of how the tritons team is financed or who's on the team and things like that But there just seems to me some it's a public resource that if the tritons are using it the Lessons can't happen there open swim can't happen there You know other things that may be more Um open to everybody in our community. So I my two concerns are the overuse Impact on the facility and then the potentially limiting access to other Members of our community who may not be part of the swim team, you know, maybe It is being used for open swim right now. Yeah, I'll see how Does the open swim and that would be open to anybody giving whatever age whether or not they're competitive or not, right? I think so. I think they have different So I just I just want to make sure we're not unintentionally Excluding other you might not have access to a pool otherwise. They're just a lot of yeah I typically go to elsasie first to see what they want for schedule just because they're in the building You know their partner of ours So they set at least for this year. They've let us know what their schedule is with their budget So so they're sort of first and then tritons have been done a good job of working around them And also working around our actual swim team in the license agreements We have both of them and always says that if there's any conflict between them and our our actual swim team that our Swim team will have a priority So I also just want to disclose for the committee and for the public that My son was swimming on the Amherst tritons He took a break and he hasn't quite gotten back on yet, but we're assuming that he will so I will not be voting on this item Um, but I do have some questions that I wanted to raise just as part of this conversation You mentioned the usage hours For 1237 and a half is that per month per quarter? That's throughout the whole year the entire year so that because it's Basically It's end of it's august through There's like a one month break. It's either july or august. They have two seasons. Yeah, okay So this would be both seasons august. It would be the full annual through. Okay. Thank you. That's actually really helpful and then My second question was just also related to the lsse And how they would react to this change given the fact that they actually are paying You know $30 an hour I don't know how much off the top of my head they contribute to this The budget for the pool, but I can't imagine that they would be very happy about paying for something that another team is not paying for I mean in terms of if we did an exchange for some equipment exactly. Yeah, that's a we can speak knowing I won't speak to them. We can reach out to them and see just what their thoughts are on that I think it'd be really important and I also just want to reiterate miss spitzer's comments, which is extremely important just about Making sure they were not using a public resource for a private team Even though it's a wonderful team and the people who run it are amazing and you know, many of our students are actually on that team And it has grown as you mentioned At the same time the lsse and having that that public resource open to the community more broadly is Is a very different opportunity than the swim team taking it Even for a few hours a week would do so I really think it's important for us to get An answer from lsse So a couple things one Well, i'm skeptical by the way of the value of the of the equipment This is the initial cost. Yeah. No, I understand that but i'm just saying i'm skeptical about it I guess the other question of is do we know How much they're paying the university of massachusetts to use tautman And how does what they're being asked i mean if they're using Our facilities for the same number of hours that they're otherwise using Umass and they're not increasing their practice schedule or whatever Then the question would be Is our amount that we charge significantly more onerous than what umass was paying? And what I would wonder is Is is that if there is a discount rate? I mean if we think that's an important thing to offer Is there a discount rate that we could offer associated with matching umass's price Given the volume of the time because otherwise i mean writing off um I need glasses uh writing off, you know 16 000 of Rental time or something like that That's a lot of money And that's an enormous number of hours And frankly it doesn't make any sense to me unless unless the feedback from umass was Oh, they let us use tautman for free or it was for a you know Minimal amount of money like five bucks an hour or something like that So I just I don't know what the answer to that question is but if you don't have it We can bring it back. We really honestly I think we need to answer to that question The other question I'd be interested in knowing is if you haven't already I'd love for you to talk to the maintenance staff that is actually Charged with cleaning the pool and cleaning the pool and locker room area to try to understand whether Even if we pay people is there some additional burden like a ramp that Find someone else to work on the weekends or swing time because it's actually too burdensome for them to work the additional hours I mean if the answer may be no, no, we've talked to them. It's cool. We have staff But I mean absent that I'd really want to know that answer to that question too Dr. Morris, and then I saw mr. Minino the mr. Conch Yes, so I think just combining what I was going to say earlier I'm glad I waited was that one of the things that is challenging for us I think the part about UMass and the comparisons a good one But this came up with the farmers market as well a couple years ago is that the nature of our schools Is that it's generally close in the weekend? So if we want to open them in the weekend that involves paying custodian to be there And other organizations that are open for seven days They have custodial staff that are on a routine basis there And and so we do incur additional costs that you know compared to the and it's a not a great comparison But I think in this way it's relevant compared to the Hampshire mall If the farmers market wants to be there instead of the middle school the malls open on the weekend And our schools aren't so we have to incur additional costs that other organizations may not have to So I think it's just an additional variable of data to bring back to you Can I add something to that too by the way? It builds on what I was saying a little bit Under no circumstances whatsoever should the district be incurring any costs to support this So I I'm skeptical or dubious about the value for the equipment to be donated But even if we think we can or should write down what we're charging them based on some donation of equipment In no circumstance at all Could the amount that's written down go below the amount we need to pay to keep up the pool I mean, I mean, I'm assuming and the point is I'm just going to be blunt about this I'm saying this right now I'm not going to vote in favor of the contract next time unless I have answers to those questions We've done the math. We figured it out because otherwise it's not a responsible decision on our part My opinion. Sorry. Mr. Mr. Mino and then it's fine. What is the duration of contract? It'll be one year So I don't have my policy handbook, but I thought we had a policy on public use of schools Do we There is a procedure and there's a facility use guideline, but we're at A when that was written that the pool wasn't on there So the pool at least last time I looked at it wasn't on there because it wasn't being used widely and it provides some leeway to the Administration facility director when there's like a long term It has like one single use fees Which are pretty high and if you apply them to a long term thing, it would really be not manageable So there is but it doesn't really speak to this type of thing But there is a procedure that talks about prioritizing school teams over outside groups and things like that To forgive me for not remembering the wording of the policy But does the policy allow for treating one Community group different from another is there or not treat them differently? It has different tiers of community groups, but I think within that your tier you're supposed to be treated equally And one last question in your judgment should the policy be looked at again for possible revisions Yeah, it's something that the facility director and I have been talking about for a while The policy and in addition of the actual facility use proceed like the thing that we put on the website So outside groups know what they're going to pay and how it works. That needs to be looked at and updated Thank you So I think I've got any other factual questions because I think you need to go We need to move on on the agenda and I'll see you're going to come back to us with a bunch of stuff Um, I think you're you welcome emails if there are questions from the committee. Otherwise Great. All right, so um Don't go anywhere There's the next item on our agenda, uh And I think I think given the fact we've talked a lot about committee planning I think the last item on our agenda Other than gifts is going to be Uh the year update budget update and this is all good news. Um, so this is just an update of the FY 20 budget from a revenue perspective what we budgeted for revenue sources versus What we're actually expecting now that the state budget is finalized So if you look at that little chart, um, really the areas that fluctuate a little bit are state aid And so chapter 70 is coming in about $7,000 higher than what we budgeted Transportation reimbursement is coming in about $29,000 possibly more. Um, this is based on what we received last year. There was some Increases the transportation reimbursement during this last process that even could come a little bit higher Medicaid reimbursements flat and then charter reimbursement. So the charter reimbursement is coming in quite a bit higher Just due to two things one There are reimbursement numbers based on more students going to charter school than what we projected for our number That's like two or three kids, but it makes a pretty big difference in terms of the amount But also when we budgeted our FY 20 budget there was still Discussion about what formula the governor or that the state budget was going to use to reimburse schools for charter tuition There was that whole enrollment versus tuition Thing. Um, so we took the conservative approach and based it on if they went the wrong way with that But it looks like they went the positive way with that. So it's going to be based on actual tuition increases and not enrollment increases So that's why that number came in so much better But that number just you're thinking about what numbers could change Significantly, that's the number that could change significantly the charter reimbursement and it would be driven by enrollment if it changes A blip in terms of good news blip I think it's I mean, I don't think it's even a blip. I think it's pretty this is sort of normal I think this time of year we're usually a little conservative on this chapter 70 in the transportation reimbursement And the charter number is really at this early in the year. It's really sort of it's just what they're telling us But I think it's going to change by the first quarter report Okay, are there any questions for mr. McGon. It's obviously one of many conversations we'll have on finance and budget Yes, mr. Hodge Looking at the research, can you explain the difference between formulas? I probably knew it at one point I don't remember the difference between the budget support and contingency. Yeah, and are both of those numbers Had a quick to cover the purposes for the for the lines So indy's the the district's reserve fund We pull money out each year to support the budget and our bills always put that much money back in at the end of the year So that our reserve fund stays flat And it tip the indy typically funds contingencies within our reserves within our budget so that we can go back if they're not used So there's two categories. There's the indy for budget support The 650 that's how much is really sort of supporting the budget That is part of expense accounts that'll get potentially used throughout the year The one below that indy for contingency 280. That's really your contingency That's if something really bad happens during the year And the district needs extra money that it doesn't have within its regular operating budget We would come to you and say can we access this 280? We do it every year as part of the budget process because if we didn't set aside this 280 as part of the budget process You'd have to go back to the towns to try to get more indy at that point So we vote it as sort of a contingency for you all so that this is a really bad event We could tap into it. So a couple years ago. We had the flood of the gym here at the high school Fortunately, we didn't end up having to tap into it, but that would have been like a good example of What would we do that year to cover it? It could have come from something like this So that 280 since I've been here except for maybe once for a really small amount We've never used it just comes out For the budget and then goes back in at the end of the year Thank you For any other questions? Okay saying none. Thank you very much. By the way, do you have a little warrant need to be signed? Yes, yes Thank you for asking Sort of saying that for the gross committee's benefit. I appreciate it. I think it's sat there for the entire meeting Because people are paying attention with rapt attention All right. I think we've already done future committee planning So unless somebody wants to raise their hand and wave moving on from that item Great, so we do have gifts Um, would somebody like to read the gifts? Make a motion of those I move to approve the following gifts to the Amherst Pellum regional school committee From donor anonymous number five six zero one eight zero eight one two one to support arms at principal discretion the amount of ten dollars From david and lisa rutherford check number one four four seven To support the amherst regional high school golf team in the amount of one thousand dollars From anonymous number five six zero one eight two nine eight five five to support The middle school at principal discretion in the amount of ten dollars From susan handley check number two six six to support robert handley scholarship in the amount of six thousand dollars And from lisa and matt cane number two three six one to support the field hockey donation in the amount of eight hundred dollars for a total of eight hundred and twenty dollars and then also in compliance with state regulations regarding the receipt of gifts A grant from the amherst education foundation to support the middle school sensory room in the amount of four thousand two hundred dollars for a total of four thousand two hundred So it's been moved is there a second Second moved and seconded any further questions any debate Seeing none all those in favor of the signal fibers in your hand carries unanimously eight to zero I'll also entertain a further motion Move to adjourn it's moved to adjourn the second The second second moved and seconded is not debatable always in favor of adjourn by the hand Eight to nothing we return. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you. Amherst media