 Good evening. Calling to order this meeting of the Arlington Select Board on Wednesday, June 21, 2023. I am Select Board Chair Eric Helmuth. Tonight's meeting is being conducted in a hybrid format consistent with Chapter 2 of the Acts of 2023, signed into law on March 29, 2023, which further extend certain COVID-19 measures regarding remote participation and public meetings until March 31, 2025. Before we begin, please note the following. First, this meeting is being conducted in the Select Board Chambers and over Zoom. It is being recorded and simultaneously broadcast on ACMI. Second, persons wishing to join the meeting by Zoom may find information on how to do so on the town's website. Persons participating by Zoom are reminded that you may be visible to others and that if you wish to participate, we ask you to provide your full name and the interest of developing a record of the meeting, although in this meeting we did not have a public comment period, so that is not especially applicable. Third, all participants are advised that people may be listening who do not provide comment and those persons are not required to identify themselves. Both Zoom participants and persons watching on ACMI can follow the posted agenda materials found on the town's website, specifically the Select Board's agendas and minutes page. And we have all five members of the Select Board here tonight. Let's do a final sound check for Attorney Haim who is joining us remotely. Mr. Attorney Haim, are you able to hear me and follow the meeting? I'm able to hear you, sir. Thank you. Thank you, sir. Thank you for joining us. Okay, so the only item on tonight's special meeting is the Minuteman School District School Committee representative. So shortly before the meeting started, we drew names at random to determine the order of the candidates. And I'll just give a quick rundown as to how I see this going this evening. So we'll go one by one when a candidate comes up, invite them to speak to us for a maximum of five minutes. And I've told each of them that you can speak for a lot less than that, and that's fine. It's up to you. No judgments here. After that time, the Board will have an opportunity to ask each candidate right there in the session some questions. Following that each candidate, I'll give the opportunity for each candidate to ask the Board some questions. And you know, I may need some guidance from Attorney Haim or for myself, but I think I would encourage those questions to be anything that you want to know about Board members' priorities for the school or vision for the Minuteman representative. Attorney Haim, do you have any comment or question on the scope of questions that the candidates could ask the Board? No, Mr. Chairman. I think that the thing that I would want folks to understand is that the Minuteman Regional Agreement does not provide much in a way of any detail for the appointment process or even really discuss qualifications. So this is really best practices oriented towards the Board getting information it needs to make an informed decision. Thank you. Thank you, sir. Okay, any questions for my colleagues? All right. So let us begin. I'll call up my trusty iPhone timer, and Ms. Maher, the first person on our list is... Will be Anne Horgan. Anne Horgan. Welcome. Good evening. So please feel free to tell us why you're interested, what you will bring to the committee, and what your vision for the participation is. Absolutely. So I have spent all of my professional and adult career really advocating for children and being involved in organizations that have built their resilience. And for the majority of my career with boards and with my work lived and worked in Arlington. In addition to being a resident of Arlington, I ran the Jermaine Lawrence School, which for many years in Arlington Heights, worked with adolescent girls. I was on the board of the Arlington Counseling Center, and I also served on the board of the Arlington Children's Theater. So again, all children focused, youth focused, and in a variety of capacities. The school committee position was not something that I expected. I saw it. I said, you know, I had recently stepped down from my position as the chair of the Arlington Children's Theater. I had felt at the time that the transition of a new leader had happened, that we had spent the pandemic really justing to that. We had a new leader in. We had established that new leader made the adjustment in the transition from a long time leader to a new leader. And we had built a new board. And at that time I thought this is a good time for me to move on. Because I think that's one of the hardest things that you do as a leader is the transition of a leader. Especially when you have a strong charismatic person who has led and had a vision for where they wanted to go. To bring somebody new into this to a system that was very used to something that was very clear to them, a relationship that they had, etc., is a very big deal for an organization. One of the things that I really see as a critical function of the Minuteman District School Committee for the next three to five years is the transition of a new leader. And that's not an easy thing to do. It's not an easy thing to do. And it takes a lot of work and a lot of vision. So that's one thing that I think that we see for Minuteman coming up. And it's an action and an activity that I've been involved in a variety of different ways across many organizations. The other thing I really see as a focus and a commitment in addition to the day-to-day operation of a school committee is that we have children that were the victims of a global pandemic. And their school experiences, their social experiences, their learning was all impacted by this pandemic. We can't go back. The pandemic is gone, but we can't say, okay, we'll just go back to the way things were. We have to go forward. We have to acknowledge that there has been an impact on children in addition to all of the other social issues that they're facing. And we have to make sure that our schools, which really provide a very strong social community, a very clear place where children build resilience in their life, is really prepared, moving forward, to take advantage of the technology that we've learned how to use, but also to... Still learning. They've learned how to use it. To take advantage of that, but also to say, what can we and what do we have to change about the way that we approach children and their needs during this time? About a minute left. I'm sorry. About a minute left. Good. Finally, I just want to say that I had a son who graduated from Arlington High School. I have a daughter who graduated from Minuteman. I have really had the opportunity to see the very strong high school that we have. Minuteman is an equally strong organization. Very different. They should complement each other. They should not be the same as each other. They meet the needs of different children in different ways. And I value that greatly. Thank you very much. Five minutes goes fast. So at this time, I'd welcome any questions for my colleagues at the candidate. I guess I'll just have a running question for everyone just because this is a new process for me. And we've read all the letters and correspondence that we've received and I've contacted Lex Media, had them send me the recordings of minutes of meetings. I also listened to the teacher's union president. The union is very near and dear to me as well as my colleague. I don't mean to say I'm the only one. As well as I listened to, I think it's acting superintendent Mahoney. He did like a 45-second, one-minute videotape remark. And I'm very impressed by his remarks in terms of finishing the school year out with a bang on a high note as well as accessibility and transparency. So I have a question that's more to educate me. So I would ask each one of the applicants, candidates, the same question. What is or what do you see your role if you are Arlington's representative on the Minuteman School Committee in terms of interfacing, communicating, advocating or educating the parents who in turn are the voices for the children? Because people have asked me what does this position do? And I've read the new contract and that. So just if you could give me, you know, whatever you want, a 30-second of what you see that answer that question. Sure. The school committee, which I will, in my head, refer to as board, right, just because that's my experience, their role is to ensure that the school does what they say they're going to do. It determines the direction, the, meets the mission, meets the goals. And so as a member of the school committee, you represent the public, you represent the parents, you represent the customers, right? And so you can't go in, you know, and as we think about this, I'm like coming in, my daughter does not go there anymore, right? To be a board member when your child is a part of something means you go in with a frame saying, how do I meet the need of my child, right? This is really about meeting the need of every child and representing the parents in Arlington on that board to ensure that the unique place that Minuteman plays in the lives of the children in Arlington is true to its mission. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair. Thank you. Thank you for your interest in the position. Unfortunately, when you go first, I know that's okay. Everyone else gets to hear the question. Yeah. It looks like we're neighbors. Just as a parent of student that went through Minuteman, I mean, I love Minuteman. I think it's amazing. But are there any improvements that you would advocate for? Or are there any new programs that you think that the school could use? If you were to become a board member that you would kind of go on day one, say this is kind of my baby and I want to start rolling this out. Sure. Sure. Well, I think one of the things that I experienced, and this is really such a wonderful organization with all the different trades, right? What I really think would strengthen the school is that not only the children who are in, like, a student government or run a club or do whatever, that within the trades that really given the opportunity to envision how they themselves might apply that trade to the school. So, for example, my daughter was an environmental science major. She had a great interest, for example, in recycling. So, given that, would there be an opportunity for that trade to spearhead a project where they researched, looked at the costs and values and introduced something? She didn't get very far in that project, but I think it's a good example of how kids with special interests, which Minuteman really caters to, could really contribute and get that same kind of co-op experience at their school. Thank you. Mr. DeCours. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you, Ms. Hogan, for your willingness to step forward with your application. Just a question, a comparison question you mentioned, your son went to Arlington High, your daughter went to Minuteman. And one of the things that we've heard a lot these past several months is communication, questions about communication, perhaps a need for more communication. I'm just wondering, in your experience as a parent, both here at Arlington High versus Minuteman, what things did you see, you know, either district really could do a better job or things that you liked that Arlington Public Schools are doing that maybe Minuteman should be doing and vice versa? Sure. What would really impress me about the Minuteman community is that they treated parents like they were a part of the community. At Arlington High School, I felt like I had a more distant role, that the communication was more static, that the, you know, my son's experience really, I had to find out a lot of it through his experience. I think that the unique thing about Minuteman is that not only did we hear from the principal, we heard from the trade teachers. They communicated with us, and I'll give the end of the year as an example. We got reassurance from our trade teachers that the school year would continue and be valuable to students, right? So I think as a parent, the ability to reach somebody, but the ability to hear from a variety of people, not just the one spokesperson, really made a difference for parents and really made a difference, I think, then in the children's lives, because the parents really felt like they were a part of the community as well. Thank you. Mr. Dickens, thank you for stepping up. The board is an interesting makeup to the board because of the weightings, and instead of having maybe two or three representatives from Arlington in order to compensate for the weighting of one person that has 30% of the vote. So what are your thoughts about the current dynamics on the board, and how do you feel that your leadership style will fit into that dynamic? Sure. Thank you. Well, the curious thing about having a board that's made up in terms of town representation, I think, right, is that each town wants to make sure that there are each person from each town wants to make sure that their town is represented, that the unique aspects, the unique conditions, the relationship works for Arlington. At the same time, we know that unless you have many people who share, who come in through different lenses and not thinking the same way, you really don't have a strong board because you need to be able to push back and learn from each other what works well in different ways, what works well when you're doing it the same, what works well when you are kind of reflecting in different ways or through different lenses on things. So I think that the strength of the Minuteman board is that you have all of these towns that come together towards one purpose, and that strengthening, in this case, this school district, so that it really meets, again, that unique place that the technical school holds. Thank you. My question is, I think that a person on this position has to represent a lot of constituencies. The students, they have to think you first and foremost. But in my view, Arlington is the Arlington representative, and so there's a responsibility to represent the town of Arlington's interest as well, whether those be financial or educational. What are your thoughts on, if you were in this position, how you would represent the town of Arlington's interests on the board and your priorities? Sure. Well, I think the first thing is really understanding the town, understanding the role that this school plays in the town. I think that I have been involved with a lot of different kinds of constituencies in the town of Arlington, whether it's through my work and interaction at Jermaine Lawrence and my interaction with the neighbors, with the police department, with the town in various ways, through my work with the Youth Counseling Center and kind of seeing the town through that lens and working very closely with them, and then kind of seeing people through the Arlington Children's Theater where really, in many ways, the goal of that organization was to give children a place, again, to belong in a unique way. Throughout all of those things, you have to understand what the priorities of the town are. I think that it's really about being very involved, being able to, for example, come to these kind of meetings to be aware of what the town is challenged by, the fiscal responsibilities, not just of the school but of the town, and all of these kinds of things. I think that that really being aware of in communication with a variety of different people in the town to understand the town's priorities allows you then to be at minute man representing that in the best way. Thank you. I think I'll ask one other question and I will never to ask the same questions of everybody as well. To the extent that you can see this from your perspective, as a community member, obviously not having privy to all the information in the board, the school committee would have, what is your sense for the direction of Minuteman School and its current trajectory? I'm thinking especially, I mean there are some personnel issues that are being grappled with right now, but I'm thinking as much, speak about that if you want, but also just educationally, that the model that the school is taking, is there a change in that? Is that change positive or negative? I'm interested in your views on that and whatever those views are, how you would approach learning about that and looking to get involved as an influential member with 24% of the vote on the committee. Sure. Well, I really think from my perspective that what the school is doing is really establishing itself in a stronger and stronger position to offer a variety of pathways for children to be able, not just to go to college, but to enter the workforce. And so with the addition of new trades, the addition of new programs, building new buildings, really establishing itself in a very strong and broad way to bring children into the school, I think that the focus really and the ability of the school to help a child to consider a variety of pathways towards adulthood, to go right into a trade, to go to a community college, to go to a college, and to help parents to really understand those kinds of choices for their children as well. So I think that that is a very strong position. Again, I think that we want to make sure that the academics hold up, that we want to make sure that the academics are strong and again model the strength of the academics, the strength of what the high school in Arlington offers, while at the same time recognizing that for many children, that next step more and more is a trade. And I really appreciated Dr. McQuillan's focus on that and it did, I will say, it did help me as a parent get over what I found to be a bias towards technical schools when my child applied there. I really went in with an open mind saying, you know, the technical school of 40 years ago is not the technical school, and really for Minuteman, the science and technical school that they want to be. Thank you. Any other questions from the board? Oh, don't tap me. I said, don't tap me. You'll go on. Do you have any questions for us? Yeah, I guess that my one question, and again I think everybody will build on their own questions, but my one question really is how the Arlington town of Arlington really sees the Minuteman Regional Technical School fitting into the educational array for the children of Arlington. Any volunteers? Mr. Herd. Is it having children in Arlington? Not quite a minimum age, but I mean I think it's invaluable. I grew up in Arlington. I toured Minuteman when I was in eighth grade, and I think back then, like you kind of said, it's a little different now than it was back then, and I don't want to say people sort of cast dispersion, but you were kind of pushed towards this college path, trajectory path, and I ended up going to Arlington Catholic, but you know, I look back and for my boys, I think it really needs to be a viable option for kids to come up, and it's not just, oh you have to go to Arlington High, then you have to go to Harvard. I think, you know, the people I know that went to Minuteman, some of the most successful, both in life and professionally, people that I know, I think it really is such a crucial option for kids, and I think to kind of preserve the identity of Minuteman as a trade school where someone can go and say, hey, just be an electrician, be a plumber, and then you dip your toe in it, you're like, wow, this is really fun, and I can make a good living doing that. I think that is really important, and it's definitely something that, as a parent of, you know, they're in the down right now, but as they grow up, it's something that we'll consider. Thank you. Any other responses from words? I have visions of new growth in Arlington that has competition for Minuteman Tech in Arlington. That's how valuable I think an institution like Minuteman Tech is, because I see us really, education evolving more towards what Minuteman Tech is, then ingraining itself more in what the traditional form of high school education. That means not bad, they're all good, you know, but certainly more options along those lines. Yeah, yeah. You know, having two children again, one of the things that I saw was that they were just so different, you know. Once you have two, you realize it had nothing to do with you. But you know, you have the, you know, the two. My son was very intellectual, my daughter was very hands-on, and looking back, I think she would have drowned at Arlington High School, whereas my son thrived, right? And so having those choices and really thinking about how, in this case, the select board really thinks about those options and the value of those options really is something that hopefully any representative to the committee really brings. Great. Thank you very much. Thank you so much. So we have Paolo next. Ashley, Ms. Mitzvah. Paolo, Dimitia. Take a minute to... Settle in. Take your time. Just a touch and a point just to reorganize my higher brain as a parent of three young children. Give me just a second. I want to get to your materials so I'm not flipping through them like I did the first time. There we go. There's just one loose. Whenever you're ready. All right. Sorry, I'm Paolo. I've been a resident of Arlington for 16 years now. We moved here when I was eight months pregnant with my first, and we were looking at a town that would give the diversity of social, economic, educational, racial, cultural experiences that we were looking for for our family. And by us, by my background in education and workforce, I was looking at the stats. I was like, this is a fantastic school education system. And I wasn't looking ahead, or that far ahead at that moment, right? But idea of minimum from my professional experience. I've seen the girls from the workforce development perspective of how it's transformed and how it's always been competing with other districts in the area. Because grants and programs and equipment tend to go to the tech areas that have more kids in the lower end of the income spectrum, right? So this kind of like, yeah, this is just good college. Like, they don't need these grants, right? And I've seen fantastic growth in this system. As I'm the freshman, I've been incorrect that I'm supposed to be saying rice and sophomore now. This is my first experience with a high school system in here. So everything's you, everything's different. And I didn't hesitate at all when my son's like, I want a tour minimum. I just want to do it. We did, like Anne said, you know, you have to find sometimes a stigma when people say, oh, it's going to AHA. In fact, now it's going to be minimum, right? People still believe that's the place where kids that don't have another choice to go to. And I was like, oh, right? These kids choose to go there. And I am so happy we have two really strong high schools that our kids could go to. Not for a second, I was like, Anne, maybe just go there and just take electives, right? Like, it was, I've seen the growth, I've seen the strength of the school have more from a place with, like, a reputation or different reputation to a place of excellence for the kids and for the adults. And again, I come from a different angle in terms of education and planning. I've started sitting in workforce development. I've always been involved in workforce development and I made an education in my previous life many, many years ago as a teacher and as a department head. I have a different perspective also because I have young kids on the younger end. My youngest just finished kindergarten and I have a Nottison and the high schooler. So I've seen everything fresh in a way. I don't have children that graduated that have sort of different options, right? And just like Anne said, I think my daughter will be better suited for AHS, at least in her style. The little one, I think maybe a future minimum auto mechanics junkie or something like that one day, but still time to go. I've served on boards. I was like, I lose track now. I think it's about two years ago that I finished my six-year tenure at AF at the Linton Education Foundation, which was a fantastic experience and a very different perspective also on what schools get to do and what they get to see and the investment and the powerful teachers that we have. I've seen a similar kind of power from the teachers and the voices at Miniman and I love that and I love the fact that there's, they have capstone projects and research projects that they can collaborate through the different projects that my kid came home saying, we're building a bad house for the environmental science kids, like, okay, there's a lot of that learning that happens without even them thinking that I love that kind of model that, to me that's also the foundation of workforce development. And it doesn't have to be the trades. It can be a stepping stone to something else. My brother is a graduate of a voc tech. I have friends that took that voc tech experience and have PhDs, right, and they continue their path and some just stayed in the trades. And I've lost my track again. About 30 seconds. And as a newbie, I think also I bring a lot of different perspectives and questions. So sometimes you need just to shake things up a little bit and just try thinking things in a different way. Which is something you need sometimes in quasi-public and non-profit organizations. Just sometimes you just need to ask the question, but why? Why can't we just do it differently, more efficiently, better, improved? Why? My 30 seconds are up. Very good. Thank you. Thank you very much. Just go in the same order. Sure. This is Mohamed. My question sort of revolved around also educating the board as well as anybody at home, but also the little bit of due diligence that each member here has done. So if you were Allington's representative to the Minuteman School Committee, how do you see yourself interfacing, educating, advocating, establishing that relationship with Minuteman current and or future parents if you were in that role? I think what I've noticed as a first-time, as a first-year parent at Minuteman is or maybe what I was expecting that just didn't quite happen was the level of communication you're used to getting from the younger grades, right? The audits and you get the message every week from the principal, superintendent update and this update and you know what's going on. You can, even if you're not one of those parents are engaged, right? You know, you can read. I did not get that level of communication from Minuteman. I was like, well, maybe it's a high school thing, right? But like, no, you're still the parent. You still want to know what's going on. I've heard a lot of noise around that communication piece and I think that the most, and I noticed from parents that I'm not even in Minuteman and they have younger kids because I have that advantage. It's like, oh, you're like high school. What's going on there? I think there's a lot of misconceptions still around the school. A lot of lack of information about what the school can offer. There's a lot of confusion that we even have a bulk tech and the parents of the younger kids are like, what? And the idea that it's still a trade school and that pushes kids to the trades and if you're not trade oriented, that's not for you. So I think there's a lot of work that needs to be done around communication, not just about issues related to the school, but in general in terms of publicity and advertising and explaining and understanding like for the people that like stats, show the stats. Just like I look in the DC website many, many years ago about all the stats for our income systems. A lot of people just respond well to that. I think there needs to be much better communication internally of what's going on. There are a lot of press initiatives for the next three years on the board with the superintendent, with the leadership, with the principal, with all the rumors around the trades being taken off the table and all the stuff that needs to be kind of quieted down. And I don't think it will be easy, but I think there's a lot of communication and open conversations with constituents. I've done that with AF just sitting down and answering questions. Do we have any questions? Just answer the question. I can give you the information. Just go to the meetings and go to the schools. I've done them through the PTO and even trying to explain what work for development is for other people in my professional life. Like what is that? There's a lot of just sit down, ask the question, advocate. I may not have an answer. I may not be able to get an answer, but it's just asked and we can bring it because we're representing everybody of president and future. Thank you. That's her. Trying to mix up my question a little bit. You sort of answered it, so I'll give you a chance to expand on it. But as a current Minuteman parent, are there any current practices at Minuteman that you feel are at risk under the current leadership that as a board member you'd step in and say, you know, I've heard that the administration is going to move away from this practice or this style of teaching or this method. And I really think we need to preserve it because it's done well for my student and this is why. Is there anything that you can think of that would fall in that category? The only things that I've heard are big flags. Were rumors. So when Mike came to home one day, it's like the superintendent is talking about getting rid of the trains and like, wait a minute, like what are you talking about? What did you get that information? Who started that rumor? I haven't heard any information. And it's like, it's about time. You can't just get rid of trains, right? Like, what's going on? I think the fact that the kids get rumors before the parents even get communicated of anything, it's a problem. In terms of the delivery of education, I've been super happy. There's definitely a room for improvement. I would have liked to see maybe a stronger study plan for the majors, for example. This is what we're going to do. This is how we accomplish this. This is how we integrate with academics. This is how we make them think more clarity around that. I've asked that to the teacher. I'm like, what are they learning in that country? Like, what is it? I think there should definitely be more improvement in that and also to the mystify the trades. In general, there's a lot of parents that I've talked to that don't even know their other majors outside of the trades. So to do a better job of that, I would have liked to have more explanation around that as a parent. And I think there is room for more options in terms of academics. There's always room for more. I'm happy with the options. The kids that want to study more, just more. The ones that want to study just enough, just enough. But I think we could do more as economy changes and programs change and needs change. And there's nothing wrong with doing more tech and more education if that's the path that some kids want. And again, it's my first year. I've seen a lot of interdisciplinary projects. And I think that's foundational. They need to cross train. Well, my second question was going to be other improvements that you could see, but you jumped right into that. So thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And thank you for putting your application in. Question? No. Again, I think tonight is going to be communication. And I read your cover letter to us. And also, as you look over the years, back in 2018, there were about 119 Arlington students at Minutin Man as of October 1st, 2022. There was 215. It's grown dramatically as there are more in-district students and more have come from Arlington. So with that, the need for for more communication, but you had expressed concern about like more communication from the administration, perhaps from the school committee representative. What type of things would you do if you were the representative to reach out to families or to encourage the administration to provide more communication in your roles as a school committee member? I think for families, a good place to start is attending the PTA meetings, even though normally after elementary school is only like the same 10 parents that show up to every PTA meeting, right? And not everybody reads the emails. There's no specific email that comes from the PTA, for example, informing things. So maybe having some sort of newsletter like that and there's one way of reaching parents. I found coffee meetings or things like that tend to work for some parents. I run a support kind of support group but the other side and it's kind of like that. It's like, I'm going to be here. They say, do you have any questions? Like you can do a WhatsApp group for everybody, right? Like just reaching like that, participating in attending meetings at the different schools. So you can just inform parents of what's going on. I've enjoyed at the PTO level having the representative from a Arlington public schools coming in and say about what's going on, right? And I think that's an important first step to communicate and I think the school should probably have a few more newsletters or mailers or something that comes to the schools to the families about what's going on. Okay, thank you. Thanks for applying now for the position. So I'm going to ask you some of the questions to the one that asked before and that is me to the extent you are aware of the dynamics on the board means something that's been around for a long time. You know also I mean Arlington will have high floating weight. You know what do you think what's your assessment of the dynamics and how do you see your leadership style fitting into that? My limited one-year 10-year knowledge is that it's a lot of people with a lot of experience and a lot of history with the system. I think what's liking is the new factor somebody to come and challenge ideas. From my experience at AEF it's also three-year terms and year for taste. Every year the same new board member and new president and new something and that forces you to like really reassess leadership styles and see what's better for working here for better for work there than never you can do this kind of work in subcommittees. It's it's very unproductive. Sometimes when you have a bunch of people there are certain the ways and that happens all the time every day the same way and sometimes you need that squeaky wheel again to come in and just challenge and maybe you continue right but at least it forces you to stop and think so I think that is something that's missing probably from that interaction but what's missing is also current families that we have a very different perspective once you're embedded in the system that when you're completely outside and there are pros and cons for both right like that's like there's no right or wrong but that kind of diversity would be helpful but it was another one that I just thought and I blanked um don't worry it comes back to you just like happens to me all the time I'm also not like I've handled multiple projects with multiple stakeholders different states and I'm a non-confrontational person I just like to come and sit down and listen and there's always somebody you learn from right and so you listen you observe and then you can start challenging and sometimes you need to act sooner or sometimes you need to act later but I'm much more of the let's just reconcile mediate challenge but also listen and respect opinions of others and where they're coming from I'm like you're not going to find me like shouting and and doing like a rocket anywhere so thank you much more thanks thank you I think I'll ask the same question that I did before which is how would you think about representing the town of Arlington's interests and your thoughts about that and that could be our you know financial picture it could be the educational mission and you know maybe how you would approach trying to represent the town's interests I think that you have a very you've altriculated a really good way of of how you would communicate with parents and that's extremely extremely important but your thoughts on how you would represent the town leadership you know and trying to represent our priorities as well as the people who appoint this position I think there's it's always some fine line that you have to to walk between represent the near interest interest in somebody else and the town and the budgets I think that if the school committee adminmin is supported by the equivalent school committee in general APS and by the town the town is placing value on the school system and I know our school is much more expensive for a student than Arlington High School I've been asked by other parents that why I'm like well we have all this technology and so it feels like there's a need to always justify why minute minus what is it why minute minus important why we have a higher student cost so I think as long as there's an understanding of the value of the the institution and how that represents the needs of the families and the students here I think it will be pretty smooth sale that I have complete confidence that Minima will continue to grow and thrive and not pull out of the district as long as again there's there's a united message from from the town saying yes we value we respect that we understand the pros and the cons and but this is a really good option for our kids it's different and it's equally good great thank you and I think my other question from before you answered but from so many other colleagues do you have a question for us well that was one of those questions in a way yeah what I just answer like what value is placed and how is Miniman spoken of at the town level in terms of the importance and the justification for budgets and decisions yeah Mr. de Coursy thank you for the question and I had a I've had a unique experience with Minitman over the years because when I was on the finance committee I was Minitman was my subcommittee so every year between like 2009 2019 I would go out and visit with Dr. Boqueline and Mr. Mahoney who's back now was also there and it was one of my tasks was to recommend the Minitman budget to the finance committee and I took great pride in that but also saw the pride that the students took in their school because as part of my visit every year I would get a tour of and it was the old school at the time I've seen the new school but it really you know me proud leaving and I have always said Dr. Ellington has two public high schools Ellington High School in Minitman and I think over the years that that has been the position of the town that will you go back a long way and I'm going back to the early 2000 and 90s there was some rough years and that was a different situation because it was school choice and because there was different costs involved but I I would say as we look at this town the town supported the debt exclusion from Minitman overwhelmingly and in all my years throughout the time that working with Dr. Boqueline and three different school committee representatives Laura Marr Sat and Sue Scheffler Paul Schlickman was as a member but my last few years it was Laura and Sue there was great pride that the town took in Minitman and we're all pleased to see the new school and see the vision of the numbers coming back up with the new school and you think would we like to see Minitman add a couple more member towns absolutely if there's room there but in terms of Arlington and encouraging Arlington students who want to choose Minitman all for it and fully supportive thank you very much thank you and Ms. Marr our next person is Mr. Riderman it was just a minute Michael and we will our papers in order here thank you Mr. Chair I was going to say please give me time to find but you have been doing now thank you plus there'd be deafening on ACMI whenever you're ready sir thank you good evening members of the select board and members of the Arlington community tuning in on ACMI or present here tonight my name is Michael Ruderman a town meeting member from Prec nine and Arlington's representative to the Minitman regional vocational technical high school committee I'm requesting reappointment to a second three-year term tonight is actually my third time in applying for this volunteer position the only reason that someone would want to serve I think it's we've clocked like 75 to 80 meetings over the last three years both both school committees you know subcommittees negotiation sessions that you have to believe in Minitman you have to believe in what Minitman distinguishes itself in what's unique about it and that's the method and the ways of the teaching and learning that go on there and that's why I'm asking you for this reappointment because that's what I so firmly believe in I've been a Minitman volunteer for over 10 years starting back in 2012 when my daughter first entered she was Minitman class of 2016 and then University of Alabama class of 2020 my initial interests in Minitman were curriculum focused particularly in the engineering and robotic shops where I served on the departmental advisory board the work dovetailed very nicely with my professional work at the state's department of transportation in examining how Minitman prepared future engineers of all disciplines for further education and whether they were qualified to continue that training in college we did a lot of work especially in the mathematics curriculum those first few years in examining what our kids came out prepared with versus what what colleges and universities in the era were looking for them to have I served after that and the general advisory board one of the goals of that was to look at the general job situation and look ahead years try to figure out what is going to be what are going to be the needs of the particular 21st century employment picture in our area years out and that's why years ago we instituted a veterinary science program that we're getting up to speed now if anybody knows a retired vet with a state teachers license that wants to come in and consult on that we'd love to find out because we're we're competing at a very hot market for talent there which is why we're teaching these kids how to go into it themselves every shop at Minuteman prepares kids to enter the workplace at some level and just to take this veterinary shop as one some of these kids are going to graduate a couple of years from now juniors are the top class that have gone through the program so far some of them are going to go into veterinary assisting in vet teching some of them are going to go on to biology either two year or four year degree some of them are going to go on to medicine and they're going to find jobs if this is their passion they're going to find jobs in it at all level and that's what Minuteman trains kids to do look ahead find your place in the world be prepared for it I was instrumental in the town election campaigns a couple of them in 2016 to secure the financing for the new school building which opened in 2019 we promised the tax pay in public that we would fill that building because we we would give the school faculty a building that was commensurate with their level of instruction and their dedication and we were right applications from in district students have now reached a 50 year high coming out of covid's disruptions to teaching we safely restored in person learning within our academy model of cooperative instruction that was one of the reasons why I and the other school committee members voted to to keep on our retiring former superintendent Dr. Brooklyn for a year to maintain the leadership through that transition something else I'm proud of having accomplished during my first term as a school committee member is having successfully negotiated a new collective bargaining agreement with our faculty I'm probably the only person who was at that table through our negotiations who had sat both on management and the labor side I'm an elected representative of my local in SEIU so I had that perspective of we're in this together let's achieve something that we can all agree upon at the end it shouldn't have to be confrontational it wasn't I've also been a large part of Minuteman's preparations to town meeting that's part of the experience that I bring to the to the school committee 23 years in town meeting have given me a really good sense of what town meeting members are looking for in a budget presentation the information the clarity the legibility and we're both proud of having our budgets passed by all nine towns for the years that I've been a school committee member and we're also grateful because we understand that this is a second high school for all of these towns and we're very grateful for the support thank you we reached five minutes one more minute we I've given everybody just the five minutes so but you'll have a chance to answer questions I'll pause it there and take questions yes thank you Mrs. Mahan I'm going to attempt to ask the same question of everybody but you do have the experience so I can sort of add to it a little bit more so it's sort of a two-part question the first one was you mentioned about Superintendent McQuellen and successfully negotiating for him to stay on for a year it's my understanding that that contract was terminated and he's not serving in that capacity if I'm incorrect on that if you could tell me that and if I am correct on that what would you do as the Arlington representative to I think that one year from Dr. McQuellen is was a very smart idea and pathway to take so he was ready to retire we asked him to stay on for one more year as full-time acting superintendent to manage the transition he served as a consultant in a limited capacity after that after which time we were up and running with the next management team and we were grateful to have had his assistants to get us there I don't think there was anything terminated I think we simply you got to the point where we wanted to in the in the period shortly following his his retirement from full-time superintendent so he stayed on while Superintendent Dawson was on he was available to us to consult with for a brief period yes okay well I'm just hearing a different story I think he's a a great resource and you know as you transition to the next he is as as you mentioned Mr. DeCorsi the former business manager Kevin Mahoney who is our interim superintendent right but it's my time right now that wasn't my question the question I are asked people who are applying for this the first time tailored to you and since in the sense of communication with the parents advocating for the parents I know you mentioned the unions but I've also watched the Lex media replays of the meetings and heard from the teacher union president so and it's come at least to my attention that especially in the most recent issue that minute man parents have said that they didn't find a willingness from you to listen to them and or provide an explanation to them beyond I stand by the current superintendent it is what it is I have nothing more to say so how would you address that and again if I'm totally incorrect sometimes perception is the truth I've dealt with that in politics myself you know that's what myself and my colleagues I won't speak for them so communication with the parents how would you change your style because I know you are someone who likes to advocate and educate especially around minute man but how moving forward how would you what would you say to those parents hindsight is perfect and we had some bad advice from our legal council saying well if the superintendent has decided not to renew the principal's contract it's a personnel issue and you can't talk about it that's on us because we believed that advice it was bad advice and we shouldn't have our mistake was not in getting out there and saying look for the reasons that the superintendent has expressed to the school committee in closed executive session which the school committee heard listen to and unanimously agreed were good insufficient reasons for not renewing this person's contract that's why we stand behind the superintendent she's entitled to have the leadership team of her choice this was all done above board it was a surprise admittedly it was a surprise to a lot of the kids and a lot of the faculty members and we didn't come out in front of that and say why we thought that the necessary disruption to things the way they had been was worth it and we were hampered by the fact that it was not a pleasant severance of employment and stories and rumors and mistruths went out faster than we could get our boots on and chase them down hindsight tells us that the next time we've got to be more forward in expressing ourselves even within the constraints of talking about a personnel matter if i'm asking you trust us we have to give you a better reason for trusting us sooner and in more detail or stay within my lane so i guess similar to your question i asked before but you as a representative of a current representative of the school committee i mean we all hear rumors about things and maybe you could just i'm not seeing it to address rumors but to say to me i think it's amazing that Minimans has expanded its curriculum to include sciences in the new technologies that weren't around 25 years ago when when i was looking at the school but that trades such as electrical plumbing that's like the heart and soul landscaping of Miniman my wife's hairstyle was beauty school those are the things a lot of her co-workers are some of the people that i know that went to Miniman that loved it there and as a school committee member whether or not this is being discussed would you commit to defending in ensuring that those remain the heart and soul of the Miniman trade curriculum and stay in place even as we add additional trades to the curriculum i can say yes unequivocably to that first of all it's part of our culture yeah the kids talk about their concentration or their major course of studies as their shop because we are rooted in the classic trades haul shops we're going to continue to put the resources expensive resources into automotive repair and the landscaping equipment that we're training kids on these are big expensive pieces of equipment the most expensive thing that my high school ever put in front of me was a calculus textbook and a french four you know lesson book the things that we need to buy the microscopes the integrated circuit components the robotic sets these are expensive but we continue to provide them we continue to ask you to provide them because this is what trains those kids in all of the traditional shops to where the state of the art is today I mean you know if you're going to be an auto technician today you are one half working with tools tools and turning wrenches one half computer programming and we're trying to prepare kids for the full expanse of this as well as the kids who are someday maybe going to go into cosmetology or going to go into plumbing or going to go into electrical and be the and son or and daughter on that truck that rides around town they're going to need to know how to take over that business they're going to need to have the math skills and the budgeting skills and the business skills that someday when it's not ampersand kid it's just that kid running the family business maybe the second maybe the third or fourth generation we want those kids to be prepared for where their future takes them to in the trades now we are never leaving our our core trades thank you and I guess similar to what I had asked before are there any improvements that you've advocated for in the last three years that haven't been put in place yet or are there any issues that have really been you know your key focus as a current school committee member that you'd like to have more time to work on that you think you could accomplish for the school the top rung of the ladder of a number of curricula in in a high school in a comprehensive high school are hardest to achieve for a high school whose mission is to devote half time to classroom work half time to putting that classroom work into practice we need to do better by our students that want third and fourth years of things even while learning to do something from a hands-on perspective and into a hands-on perspective whether it's going into classical academics whether it's going into you know the traditional shops whether it's going into part of the new 21st century economy and workplace it's a it's a battle giving kids the top level math the top level instruction finding the time in the day when we're already committed to giving the practice of putting skills into work 50% in and 50% out so I hope to be able to work with that it's something that school committee is a little bit arms length that because we advise and recommend these things to the superintendent superintendent hires the faculty we can we can consent we can we can give guidance we can express our opinions and I hope that we will continue to look at the the career paths of the kids who need more than say a second year of language which is really hard to provide you know given the time that we spend in the day so that's something that I'm going to stay focused on Mr. Corsi thank you Mr. Chairman and thank you Mr. Rubin for your re-application and for the work that you've done over the years at beginning back with the robotics at advisory back in 2013 question I have from and then this comes from your cover letter again where you've recognized the need for searches for potential openings in leadership but I pledge that you made to move the process forward and communicate every step of the way with the people of Arlington and with residents and just lost my spot here so I just need to is your community well your commitment or your recognition of the need to move forward with communication to us as a board and to the people of Arlington every step of the way what are what are the type of things were you are you thinking about or would you do sure when you wrote that sure here's where we are now we are investigating having hired a professional investigator and turned over the matter to her to look into an allegation of improper conduct on the part of Dr. Dawson well she was full-time superintendent she is now on leave we hope to have this report back before the end of June at which time the school committee members will see the details and we'll have to come to a decision on her future with Minuteman within the bounds of what we are legally allowed to discuss with the public we have got to do a thorough and comprehensive job of keeping the public informed as to what decision we're making and why we're making it along with that the interim superintendent Mr. Mahoney is progressing in hiring an administrative team we hope to have those names signed up and ready for publication again in July after that there will be a search for a full-time principal we communicate these things better to our Minuteman family for the simple reasons of how schools communicate with students all the time there are emails there are flyers there's the calendar there's the portal to look things up on we have not done as good a job in recognizing that you the representatives of this town and the rest of the town's people are also a constituency we've been lax in the time we've spent on getting the message out to you it's a challenge there's no hometown newspaper that covers all nine towns in our district there's no way that we can mass inform the entire populace the same way as putting in an article in the hometown weekly frankly a lot of news organizations don't want to run something that only applies to 14 kids out of out of nine towns with I don't know how many hundred thousand of population that's why you probably haven't heard about the couple dozen kids that we've sent off again to this national conference and contest that's held every summer called skills USA it's sort of like the olympics of vocational technical education where kids bring their projects they compete in challenges and they're awarded medals at the national level and minute man again has sent a very strong contingent there of who've won their golds and silvers at state and they're going off to the nationals but if you don't happen to be the parent of one or if you don't happen to you know be like them on facebook i know all about that go ahead sorry this this is a crowning achievement for these kids and i wish it got more coverage outside the walls of the school if i could if you're on one of your subcommittees is finance subcommittee that's right at minute man and one of the things that dr bill quill and had talked about as he discussed a new building was the need to try to find additional towns to to join the district or to find communities that are willing to make capital payments because as you know that's right um while their per pupil cost has gone down with with the student population rising you wouldn't one of the things that we're grappling with as a town is that we're going to go out for an override later this year and and minute man while it's been a huge success the past few years we've seen double-digit increases in our assessments which is what's left at at the end of the day right you you right to have your revenue you take out your expenses and what's left gets spread among the communities what is your position on as a school committee member advocating for an increase in or trying to to not recruit but but draw more interest for member towns as you try to increase your population and also seek capital contributions from those dwindling numbers numbers of non-member communities that are sending students there right having another town or two or four whatever in the district where we used to have 16 and and now have nine would certainly spread the standing costs you know the fixed investment that has to be made every year amongst a greater base so we've begun looking at it at meeting we had a couple of months ago we brought in representatives of several we invited someone from each of the towns to come in and we just sort of you know through the idea out there what do you think of us responding to this town's petition or another town we have two solid contenders right now who've done all the paperwork that they need to do to say we are interested in joining and they considered it and the ramification that we all came back to is that without a brick and mortar solution right now to increase the number of chairs adding another town to the Minuteman school district means that the number of places that we allocate to each of the existing nine towns would have to be reduced and the message came back strong and clear not where we're not having that in fact the one time that I really had to bang the table or twist arms whatever analogy you want with my other school committee members was a couple of admissions seasons ago the first time in the school's history where we topped out the class within district applicants we simply had no room for anybody from outside the district which which you know from your experiences is an astounding thing historically but it also meant that a number of kids that we had told sure go ahead apply if you're qualified you'll get in it also meant that at first look we couldn't take all those kids there was a contingent and I think 17 or 18 Arlington 8th graders who met all the requirements submitted everything that we needed in the applications and yet it looked like we weren't going to have room for them and I said to my other school committee members but we promised we made a deal and we're asking these these kids their families and their neighbors families for an awful lot of money to run this place we have got to find a way to break the bounds for one class here at least until we can come up with a better communicated and fully reasoned policy which we now have to what do we do when our applications just blow the doors out and we don't have room for everybody so we figured that out but for one year we went from like 175 kids in the entering class to 199 it's going to be this this lump in the snake that continues to move through through the class years but I said we had to do it we had to find a way to do it because we had promised these kids that if they qualified they'd be admitted before we had ever considered the situation of not having enough room for every qualified in-district applicant thank you thank you Mr. Coursy Mr. Diggins thank you thank you Mr. Ruderman for applying again you probably know the question I'm going to ask I tried to come up with a question that I could ask everyone I mean yours just requires a little bit of tweaking because you are being part of the dynamic me but but but how how how does the school committee you know work together and how do you feel it works together and what is as a team of nine I think we work together exceptionally well I've learned in the last three years many of the particular talents that my colleagues brought to the job or bring to the job every day our rep from Dover is an insurance executive and business owner who's as good an engineer and project manager as anybody with a hard hat in the back of his pickup truck our chair is an expert at um making sure that all are heard in our meetings in the room and outside of the room you know other skills our our our conquered rep is a 40-something year retired town manager of several different towns in our area who could you ask for better advice in negotiating a contract with with municipal employees I think the part that I bring I've mentioned before is that of the feeling of a town meeting member sitting way back in those seats and looking at the slides going up on the screen and wanting to know what does this mean what is this going to cost why is it important to me why should we vote on this and I think our budget presentations have really come up a level since I've been there because I've asked the superintendent and the finance and and the administrative people you've got to explain this more you've got to provide more substantiation it's got to be easier to read from 75 feet away little things like that but if you don't want to lose an audience that you're counting on for a positive vote on your budget these are the things that can turn it so I think I've helped our school committee in particular address our political impression when we go to town meeting and I hope that I can bring them the experiences that I've had in this year of realizing that along with Desi the department of elementary and secondary education and the mass association of school committees and all these other constituencies that we that we correspond will then have to answer to that the folks in the towns that don't send us their kids but you know just just pay our bills they are an important constituency too and we need to give them more along the way of what it is we're doing thank you and thank you Mr. Rubin for your service to Allington through this and other many other ways I think I'll ask you the same question representing the needs of the students and particularly Allington students are very important what do you view as a responsibility of the Minutemen school representative to represent the town's interests certainly if there's an issue that impacts Arlington in particular such as the you know figuring out how to live in a new environment of having more qualified kids then we can possibly take in each year that hits Arlington first because Arlington for as long as I've known Minutemen through all my years in town meeting Arlington has always taught to the attendance roles so any effort to expand the capacity of the school or to bring in new towns has to start with a consideration of what this means for the towns that are carrying carrying the largest freight Lexington Lancaster and Arlington you know any two of us plus one more town represents more than 50 percent of the weighted vote in the school committee aside from that issues particular to Arlington I think as the new Arlington comprehensive high school is built here we have to continue to make our case that Minutemen even while teaching many of the same things is the rightest fit for some of Arlington's kids the best fit because it's not just subject matter it's the way it's taught and it's the way it's learned and even in a gorgeous new building that is going to be the pride of the town for decades to come Minutemen still fulfills a role in how we teach how we learn and how we put that into practice thank you I think I will ask one other question that is is necessarily specific because you're the currently serving member I think one of the the most rewarding and also the most challenging aspects of of this kind of representation with the constituencies and I'm curious how you feel about your experiences talking with Minutemen parents over the last three years how you evaluate your own work in that regard if you have any thoughts about you know if you're satisfied with that or if there's things that you would do differently well I enjoy it especially when somebody calls me up or emails or something with you know the specific question or I don't understand this or that I've always taken the time to answer particular request for information if someone wants to write and say I don't like such and such well can I get back to this person and give that person what they need to know to either look at the full picture or or you know consider consider the the extent of what's going on it's been busy you know my name my phone number have been out there for a lot of years people know how to reach me and they do and I enjoy it I enjoy these contacts because I continue to make the case for Minuteman but I think the parents who have contacted me always end up making the case better unless there is a particular hot spot of a problem that they need help with they're usually full of the kind of praise that I wish we could you know write in billboards and put on the front of the building and say this is why Minuteman exists this is a kid who didn't find her place before and now has this is a this is a kid who didn't have any idea about the direction that he wanted to go to he found a teacher and a way of learning that did change you know just turn their future around and this is what I get from the parents and this is really what sustains any of us in in the you know public service the stories the stories that we come by almost anecdotally where somebody says yeah yeah it worked I love hearing that thank you do you have any a question for us just one have you seen the new building have you had a chance to walk through I think I invited everybody who was in office two and a half years ago a couple people took me up I'd love to give you a tour of the new place where you can see what it is we're talking about what people are raving about and what seventh and eighth graders are looking forward to with an awful lot of enthusiasm like I said blowing the doors off as far as the admissions go I'd love to give you a tour show you what's going on there and outside the building the athletic fields that we built as part of our commitment to making a Minuteman High School education as full and as comprehensive as any in town public high school education all the sports teams that are available to these kids it's part of a well-rounded education I'd love to show you thank you you mean do a little zoom fly through and around and I'll read it and I can watch it on video lots of times and I'm serious because it's generally I'll I take in information and it's a little hard for me to get there you know but I'd love I'd love for that to happen so so yeah cool thanks thank you don't unfold homecoming when every single athletic field is busy from corner to corner all right thanks thank you Mr. Ruderman my pleasure next up Janet Marston Janet Marston once again to give us a settle in where we settle in with our papers shuffling shall commence good evening Ms. Marston I'm Janet Marston lifelong resident here in Arlington and I'm parent of an rising junior also in the environmental shop which is a tremendous opportunity and lots of Arlington students tend to be attracted to so I first put in for the select seat as a parent passionate parent that had a lot of little aha moments over the last year with the transition of new administration at at Minuteman which did not encompass my freshman year's experience and in all honesty growing up in Arlington I never gave Minuteman a second thought until my son was in eighth grade and really got a different perspective of the learning modules that are the that Minuteman creates itself let alone the size I really feel that Minuteman having a class of 200 if he had gone to AHS he would have been lost and the outcome for him would have been drastically different my fear is apparent so I wanted to put in different lens different times different perspective as I sit here with my career very long career in state government as a hiring manager and I thought I would have different perspectives and as a social worker I listened to the the candidates tight and I also know that I'm woefully not qualified for this so I I think at this point with that said I don't want to I want you guys to have the best of the best to choose from so I'm going to just slide back into my seat and continue to listen and advocate and maybe you'll find me in a different venue some other time thank you thank you before you before you go I just want to I want to thank you for I just look to your resume and the work that you do for the state is amazing and it matters thank you what a career what a career and thank you for your your honesty as well in your reflection and your willingness to serve so thank you for being here thank you Mr. Chair Ms. Mauser I want to say the same thing and looking at your career experience and the and the important work that you've done through the Department of Mental Health and and Safe Haven programs and homeless outreach is very impressive but the other thing I also want to acknowledge is your enthusiasm for the school because you would close your letter by saying Go Revs and I really noticed that so thank you and thank you for your candle tonight as well all right finally we have ceremony thank you I didn't need help with that one it's just a minutes that's why he's the chairman let's see how quick oh yeah well while you're shuffling and getting the papers I Mr. Chairman and the Board, I want to acknowledge how clear the communication and the process around this application and candidacy process has been. And I really appreciate it. I know that when we met with you last, you said, you know, this is a new process for us and we're figuring it out, and we appreciated your candor then, and we appreciated how you figured it out. So thank you. Thank you. Go ahead. I'm Sara Montague, and what I'd like to do in this time together is tell you three things. What my motivation is and my interest for the role, a little bit about my background, and why I think a change in the representative from the town of Arlington is essential at this juncture. So I'll start with my motivation. I have a passion for education. It's just sort of part of my DNA. I come from a family of educators. My son came home from middle school and was effusive in talking about Minuteman. And I hadn't seen that level of passion about education since he was in preschool. And my husband and I were thought, oh, my word, this place must be amazing. And he started to tell us about what he's looking forward to learning about, and he articulated what the process would be for freshmen coming in that you would get to rotate through some of the majors, some of the shops. And it was that level of excitement, again, that spark. It wasn't his parents telling him what to do. He had this passion. And so we were in complete support. And when I got to the school, when he got to the school, I was working full time as I am now. I moved my schedule around so that I could join the Minuteman Parent Association. I was so passionate about the school, so passionate about figuring out a way that more parents from nine towns could connect and really felt a passion for supporting the teachers. The teachers there are extraordinary. They are extraordinary. And they've been under tremendous stress over this last year. And that stress needs to be taken around. And with Kevin at the helm now, I know that the teachers are feeling in a better place. So my son was very engaged. He just graduated on June 2nd. He's on a track, eventually, to become a paramedic. So he'll be taking the EMT test, so he's studying for that. Congratulations. It's a tough exam. So for me, I've always put the interests of the organization ahead of my own personal interests. My own background, I have a 25-year career in marketing, customer experience, product innovation. It's been in a variety of industries and businesses, large and small. I also worked in non-profit when I worked at WGBH. So I understand the non-profit world as well. I've worked across a variety of industries, a variety of types of people. I'm known to be a collaborator and a communicator and someone that builds bridges and can get consensus going. I'm also trained in change management through ProSci. I'm also a trained facilitator. So I have the business acumen and the training to come in. I may not have the education, the background in an industry of education. I did work at Bright Horizons Early Education for many years. Janet, I think you are well qualified for this role, by the way. You're passionate alone in your experience and how you fix things. You would have been wonderful. So that's a little bit about my background. I would like to just talk a little bit about why I think change of representative is essential at this juncture. So as parents, we experience the stress that our students and our teachers were going through. And we mobilized for questioning and understanding what was going on. And as you know, we weren't satisfied with the answers that we were given. The school is a gem. The school needs to continue to be a gem. It's time for change in the school committee group. There are parents like us in other towns advocating for change. Lexington had its meeting tonight. We don't know the results of what's happening. But it's time for change. We want to shore up the administration. We want to re-energize the teachers and give them confidence that the school is a gem. We want to give confidence to incoming parents who have been barraged by all of the PR around this. But most importantly, we want the students that are there to understand that they made a great choice. And that we are all behind them collectively. We are all behind them. And I'll take your questions. Thank you. Thank you very much. I think our order is working. So let's stick with it. Mrs. Mellon. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you. I'm trying to stick to the same framework of the question. And I have heard from lots of parents, and I've done this much as I can to educate myself sort of in my select board role. But if you were Allington's representative. If you could just give us a sense of what your style is, how you would avail yourself for parents for an opportunity, whether it's to ask a question and get educated, whether it's something that they need you to advocate for them for, or whether it's just getting out either creating, correcting disinformation and or getting information out. So how would you be accessible? How would you serve in that role? Yeah, sure. It's a great question because there's always opportunities to improve communication. So there's a couple of things that I would do. I think that there needs to be a little bit more concerted and coordinated communication between the school committee, the school and the parent association. So it's very confusing to parents when different communique comes out from different sources. And what the school did have at one point in time with the when Dan O'Brien who was the director of public relations was at the helm, was a coordinated newsletter from the desk of the principal on what was going on and there was also opportunity to include things that were going on with the parent association or other key meetings that were coming up. So it wasn't just relegated to a calendar of activities on the website, but you could get a sense at a glance of the cool projects that were going on in the school when the skills team was competing and all of those types of things. Dan left as a result of these changes and so that's an opportunity to shore that up. So I would say when you have that coordinated set of tools, you think about where else can those tools live to inform the rest of the constituents that may care about those topics. So I could see a way that that newsletter, that communique is made available on the Arlington Town website. I would make myself available for office hours or if people, I'm big about meeting in person now that people are more comfortable. So I would make myself available and I would encourage all of the school committee representatives to do the same so that we look like we're operating in concert. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Hurt. Thank you. Thank you for your interest in your passion. Certainly being a recent Minuteman parent with four years of experience with the school is important. I guess keeping it sort of curriculum-based, in the four years that you've seen, has there any specific changes to that curriculum that you thought have been improvement? And conversely, is there any changes that you've seen that has actually been implemented with the curriculum that you thought were incorrect and that you'd like to sort of undo if you were the school committee member? So I think that there was an absolute need for the vet tech program. When you look at the data behind how many people adopted pets during the pandemic, the veterinary services out there are in desperate need for vet techs. They can't find them fast enough now. So the school has the opportunity to create a program to create trained students to meet a demand in the marketplace so these students could go out and get jobs ASAP. They could probably get jobs their junior year working full-time over the summertime. What I did observe about that program was that there was a relationship with a veterinary program and the program was put on the back burner for a while and it was frustrating for parents whose students had come in to participate in this program and the path forward wasn't clear. And so it was Dr. Dawson who was involved in sort of stalling that when there had been a plan in place for that program to get off the ground and continue. So I think that that's one big hiccup. Both it's an opportunity because there's a need out there and it's a problem because it wasn't managed well. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you for submitting your application and congratulations to your son on his graduation. Bittersweet. Yeah. And just a question. You were a board member of the Minutemen Parent Association for four years and how did that experience or how would it make you a better school committee member and what do you glean from that experience? And you mentioned a little bit about the communication but other things. So I would say that before the pandemic I had the opportunity to be on campus more frequently. I just moved my schedule around accordingly when I could plan ahead. And so I had the opportunity to see things in action and meet a lot of the administrators and teachers, teachers that were outside of my son's program. And so I have a really good sense of how things work there. And I also know the challenge of teachers giving the time to teach and do the work versus the time that they spend communicating. So when a teacher takes the time to explain to a parent what's happening with their student, what's happening with the curriculum, that's adding more time on their day. So part of the opportunity, I think, collectively for the school is to shore up the communications so that the teacher communications can focus on the teacher, parent, and that student at hand. And you're taking the burden off of the teachers of articulating what this curriculum is about and what we're going to do. There's parents night like there is in any school system on what's covering. But the school's so different from regular public schools that they're, you know, you can never communicate too little. So there needs to be, you know, really focused strategic communication in multiple places, if you will, and communicate more often. Okay. Thank you. Just one more question, Mr. Chairman. And this is just a question, I mean, a lot has happened in the last month and you were one of the speakers here, the public forum on May 22nd. And one of the things you had said that evening is that you'd very much like to be involved and participate in the process. And I don't know if you'd made up your mind that night that you were going to apply. You sent us a letter on June 5th, but I'm just wondering how, even in that two-week period, how you went from wanting to be involved and knowing what's happening to the process to actually putting your application in. Yeah, it's a great question because I thought about it long and hard because when I get involved in something, I really want to be all in and fully participate and, you know, get to know the stakeholders that I work with in that immediate group and the larger constituency. So it's a big commitment and I recognize that. I'll tell you what the pivot point was for me. The pivot point for me was the in-person school committee meeting that we had and seeing the, again, the public passion that the teachers communicated about what this year had been like for them. Now, I was speaking with some teachers behind the scenes and they would share things with me. But to see honestly how their education environment had been disrupted during this year and how difficult it had been for them, I was like, this needs to be turned around. And there isn't, there aren't better people to turn it around than passionate parents who care heart and soul about that school. So that was the pivot moment. And then I thought, oh my gosh, I have to be mindful of your deadlines. And so I double-checked the deadlines and I think I made it in a few days before the application process. Thank you. Thank you for applying. I think I know how you're going to answer part of the question, you know, but the first part I'm really interested in is like, what is your, what are your thoughts about the dynamics on the board? I think I know how you're going to answer me, how you fit in. But I may have something to ask right after that. Okay. Go ahead. So we don't know yet. There are a number of positions where the term is coming up. And we don't know yet what's happening in the other towns. We do know that there is interest in other parents from Lexington replacing the Lexington representative, Lexington and Arlington being the two largest stakeholders from a voting standpoint. I think there needs to be change. At the same time, my style is not combative one. I'm assertive, but I'm reasonable. I'm intensely curious, and I ask a lot of questions. So if I came in and worked with a number of folks that continued to be on the board, I would be frank with them coming in so that they know that I was among some of the parents that were very involved and very vocal and really wanted to see change. And we will need to make some changes in how we communicate and how we operate within the appropriate guidelines. But I wouldn't come in and be difficult to work with for those people, even though I do think that there needs to be significant change with the board. Thanks, so I'm so quickly. The cancer can't be both equally, all right? Are you more passionate about policymaking or problem solving? Policymaking or problem solving? Huh, that's a really interesting question. Are they mutually exclusive, though? I think they're really interrelated. Yeah, they are. They are. Tell me more about your question. Tell me more. Well, because me, I like problem solving a lot. But I also like policymaking. But if you ask me, policymaking would be perhaps the overnight parking house, which has an element of problem solving in it. But really, if someone says to me, we need to get town date going, that's more of a problem solving. And it's like I kind of like diving into the problem solving. So for me, if I had to pick one, I'd have generally a problem solver. But I have a real passion. So I was just kind of curious. You're applying for the position then, Mr. I was going to say, yeah. No, I didn't know that. Well, Mr. Diggins, maybe we should have two school committee representatives from the town of Arlington since our vote count was so big. So you want to join whoever is? Well, that was actually part of the basis of the question early on. It's like, since we are, we do have an overwading. I guess it's somewhere between 24 and 30. But we only have one person doing that, as opposed to multiple people. How do you interact with your colleagues? Dare I say, it would be a very different board here if one of us had 24% of the vote and the other one. I think it should be seniority. But go ahead, that's your question. I think maybe we're straying from our question here. Just a little bit, as much fun as we're having. Well, to get back to your original question, Mr. Diggins. I have been trained, I think, throughout my career that you can't bring up problems or talk about a problem unless you're part of the solution and you're coming with solutions and ideas. And I think that one does not come up with answers in a vacuum. One needs to go out, do the work, do the research, talk to constituents, really talk to the people that are impacted by the problem the most to understand the way forward. And then the policy making is part of the process. So you think that you've got a model for solving the problem. What's the policy and what are the steps in implementing getting that done? So in that sense, I think that they're interconnected. Thank you. Thank you. I think we got there in the end. Good. Thank you for your interest and for your passion, for sure. I think I'd like to invite you to think about, I think you've signaled an awareness that there are limitations to what school committee can do. But I think that you've signaled that you have some clear ideas for some change and maybe a change in direction. If you'd like to expand on where you think that the school is going long term, short term and what you think within what the constraints of what a school committee member to do, what you would kind of do in that role to try to steer things into a perhaps a better direction. Yeah, thank you for that question. So I think a lot about the way that I understood that Minuteman worked as a parent coming into the school and my experience in the first couple of years. And Dr. B and Kevin and others were instrumental in being externally facing for a lot of years to build the foundation for where the school is today. My observations over the last year have been that the superintendent, the new superintendent was much too internally focused, almost operating at a few clicks down, if you will, operating like a principal. And that's not what's needed. So I think that there needs to be, particularly if the school's gonna continue to get funding and if the school's gonna continue to grow new programs and potentially add new schools. There needs to be advocacy work out in these towns and it starts with the superintendent and the school committee members have a role in that too. Thank you. Any other questions for me? Do you have a question for us? I do. So let's say that there is a change here with the Arlington representative. How do you all anticipate that your role in liaising with that individual might change? What ideas do you have about that? Mrs. Mahan. I was gonna wait till the very end but you just gave me a segue to that. One of the things that I've learned from this process is that myself as a member of the select board as well as my colleagues need to do a better job when people have come to us, especially where, and thank you for, and the chairman for opening this process and sort of redefining something that we really hadn't done before. I think we've created a great model for that but what I would like for if the individual is returned to our Minuteman representative or if it's somebody different brand new, more of an interface with the select board so that not only can we answer questions that we really should know, at least a basic knowledge. We don't need to know every single number and how many staff is in a particular program, mechanical engineering. But also so that we have the information right now, how do I get information besides being proactive and going out and saying, do you know a Minuteman parent? Can you get me someone in the Minuteman Teachers Union? Because that's very important to me. I get all my information from the Minuteman Facebook page but I would expect that our Minuteman representative would create some sort of a vehicle that picks the best of the best of the information that goes out from Minuteman, whether it's the superintendent, whether it's the principal and or, could be a collaboration, the parents association and at least once a year gives us a general overview either at the beginning or the end, introduction or a wrap up, as well as establish what works with the Minuteman representative for that news as Mr. Ruderman brought forth about the National Skills USA, things about that because we do have, our chairman now has board announcements as part of our agenda and we do extoll things that we come across and I was sitting here thinking, except for when I was coaching cheerleading so I knew about the cheerleading program up at Minuteman. Great cheerleading program. That was all I was bringing to the table. So if you could, and we do have that on the Allenton High School side as well as the other schools where either Dr. Homan sends individual board members or through the board administrator her message one to three times a year or anything like that. So I'd like to see that so that I'm not left off God where, and I'm the first one to say I don't know but I'll get you the answer but I'd like to have the answer seven times out of 10. And then the other thing is whatever you can do, I really, whoever is the returning representative or new, I'm very concerned not that other people aren't regarding what I've heard just informally as well as watching the Lex media coverage of meetings from our teachers at Minuteman High School. And one of the things that really concerned me and I can't remember if her name was Paula but one of the things that she said is two things. First of all, we very rarely come before you and express our opinion or demand something or are critical of something. But then the other thing she said was, and I think she was the president, that the two important times that we've, the two issues we've come before you that have been very important and have been affecting us in terms of our job vis-a-vis the custom of the children, we do not feel heard at all. We feel totally ignored. And that I am very, very concerned about as a parent, I'm not a parent anymore, I'm a grandparent. Oh, you don't look old enough to be a grandparent. Thank you. But, so I would ask the Minuteman representative to put that on your top three or top five things, where we are 24% of the vote. And then the only other thing, which I think you're doing it with 103, but where it is a trade school, but it's electrical, plumbing, mechanical engineering, et cetera. I think really fostering, and I'd certainly be willing to work on this, fostering relationships with the unions that we have. We have Frank Callahan, Allington resident who's on the Permanent Town Building Committee for Allington High School, but he's also president of Massachusetts Allied Building Trades Group, as well as we have other labor leaders in here that I was just at an event this morning that I saw, you name a craft or a trade, mechanical engineering, stem, plumbing, electric, tin knockers, all the things. They all, I was talking to them about minute, well they brought it up to me at an event at a funeral. And they said, the unions are always here, especially with building that. And Luann Ianelli from 103 says, he does have a relationship, but it could be more. Because those programs are the ones that once our kids, our young women and men get the trade from most of what Minute Man teaches up there, there's fantastic apprenticeship programs that you can get and you don't have to go on and work for a union. But you get that apprenticeship, which is the next step. So the union idea is outstanding. There's also a huge opportunity tapping into the Minute Man alumni network. Those are future employers as well. So much like when you go to school these days, if you go to college, you leave with your school email intact, you're always available through that school email. And one of the things as the Minute Man parent association that we said early on was, can we set up the same thing for the students? So when they go out, they're always reachable so that when we need to connect a student with an apprenticeship, an internship, a future job, when we need to raise money, there's, we raise a ton of money for scholarships when I was in the Minute Man Parent Association. That need never goes away. And if we can tap into the alumni, they are so willing to give. When they know that it's going for a scholarship, either for tools, supplies, or towards things that are needed in college, there's a variety of things that the students can do with these scholarships. Thank you, and I monopolize that question. I apologize. Anybody else want to respond? Mr. Dickens. I'll add a few things, but briefly, so contact, being touched with the town manager, I think the town manager very much appreciate hearing from representative what's going on, have been attacking. That way, I would get a member finishing through the town manager since I have regular conversations with that person. And the other is to avail yourself of the mailing list that we have in town. So there's a town-wide mailing list. So I think if you have announcements about what's going on at Minute Man Tech, that'd be a good way to get it out to the whole community. And then you could ask to have a smaller mailing list that's only devoted towards Minute Man Tech. And you'd probably be surprised at how many people who do not have kids at Minute Man Tech would still subscribe to that because the town is full of curious people, you know? Yeah. With strong feelings. So that's it, thanks. I think my response to that would be, everything I've heard sounds good. I think it would be a good idea for whoever the representative is to stay in touch with the financial leadership of the town. I think that working closely with the member of the finance committee who works with the Minute Man budget and working closely with either the town manager or the deputy town manager for finance to really understand what the short-range, mid-range and long-range picture is for Ellington's burden, particularly in the capital that Mr. DeCorsi was talking about. Perhaps even talking with Mr. DeCorsi would be somebody who probably among us who understands the most about that issue of it. But I think that as, you know, the ringing endorsement that we hear all the time we've heard from this board in the IWILs third or fourth is for the value of the school, no one questions that. And it is, you know, it is, it costs what it costs to provide that level of services. And I think that there's a growing awareness just from that as we talk to the taxpayers of the town about how we spend our money that I don't think it's difficult to justify the value because students get extraordinary value. But to really understand what we can do to look towards helping to ease the burden of Ellington's financial burden when we can without sacrificing the value to the students. So I think those are difficult things to do, but that's when I think about representing the town's interest, the first thing I think of is the students who attend the school. That is absolutely my biggest priority. But I think we also have responsibility to our finances. So that's how I would think about that as well. That's a good question, thank you. I think we can wrap that up. Thank you very much. And I'm checking with my colleagues. Does anyone need a brief recess or a break before we move to proceed with nominations? A day or two or three or four, but I know we've got it with us tonight. So I was like, yeah, I'm fine with that. We're good? Okay, good. Okay, so here, I think what I'd like to do is entertain a motion to open nominations and then we'll take a vote on that. And at that point, I'll invite members to submit nominations. And then when we're done, we'll close nominations then that we can have further discussion about the candidates who are nominated. And then at that point, we'll move to a vote. Mrs. Mohan. First, I'd like to do the procedural part of that, which is make a motion to open nominations for our representative to the Minuteman School Committee. Second. All right, so on a motion to open nominations by Mrs. Mohan and seconded by Mr. D'Corsi. All in favor, please say aye. Opposed? Unanimous nominations are open. Mrs. Mohan. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And thank you, Ms. Marston. You have a special place at my heart for what you do in the amount of energy, first, the amount of energy and passion that you need for your family, as well as what you do for your profession. My family circumstances, when I was reading this, I remember saying, oh, I want to run up and get a hug from her because that definitely would help. But then I also wanted to say, maybe I could talk to her about A, B, and C. So I want to thank you for what you do and for being here tonight and sitting here the whole night and listening to this when you could have gone home right away. Every person who came up to the table, I was like, I want to nominate that person. Oh, no, it's going to be that person. Oh, and it sounds corny when you say, well, the good news is it's going to be regardless. But to get the process going, I would like to make a motion to nominate Ms. Is it Montahue? Is it not Montahue? To be our representative at the Minutemen School Committee and be brief, Mohan. And the reason I say that is having watched previous, I would say starting since January when people were sending me links and in the rest of the board and we can't talk about it one on one, one on two, one on three, we can only talk about it at a meeting, but I know the rest of the board also has been aware of it, but really following this issue, thinking of all the different vested interests that are in play right now and not speaking to a past superintendent, a current superintendent or a future superintendent, because I have no business speaking to that, but just in terms of the parent constituency, the teacher constituency, the administration, the school committee moving forward, and I know Lexington, I don't know if it'll be Judy still, but we'll say, I don't, that would fill those three roles. That's why I would like to make a motion for Ms. Montague. Thank you, Mrs. Mohan. Mr. DeCourso. I'll second Mrs. Mohan's motion and I just want to thank everybody for putting their names forward and I had mentioned my experience with Minutemen and it goes back to the mid-90s where they were years where the moderator in the town couldn't even find somebody to be on the school committee and the fact that we had five individuals here, all of you have a connection to Minutemen, all of you care passionately about Minutemen. That is very clear and I really appreciate your willingness to come here and put your applications forward and the tough, we have a lot of interesting things, a lot of good things that we do as a select board. One of the most difficult things is, and we've had this a few times, is we have people who come before us and if we could, we'd put you on. We only can select one and I'm going to second Mrs. Mohan's motion. I was impressed with everybody. I think that the experience that Ms. Montague has with being on the parent association, just having a senior who's graduated, so you're close enough to know what's happened but you don't have the student there right now and I think that's important for perspective and I just saw, again, I mentioned you came in here that night on May 22nd, just hearing how you got from that point to this point, I found very compelling, so I want to thank everybody. I don't know where we're going to end up as a board and I'm sorry for those that we're not voting for but I will second Mrs. Mohan's motion. Did you do additional nominations? Oh no, I'll wait. Okay, so yeah, we'll do discussion after we close nominations. Well, I don't want to do a disservice and put the board in a difficult situation or disservice to the person that I want to nominate because I do like, I'm sorry, blanking out Ms. Montague's passion and her experience, and I think she'd be very good on the school committee but I have to say, I'm really impressed by Ms. Horgan, you know, a lot, you know, I mean, and as with Ms. Marston, who is a social worker, for me, I thought we paid a lot of respect to me, to veterans, I mean, and police officers and firefighters but I think social workers are the real heroes in our society because of the hard work that they do, you know, just year in and year out and through the decades, it's really, really hard work, it's heartbreaking work and her history in town here is really impressive and she has board experience and she just exudes a certain calmness, I think, that would be really good in a tough situation, you know, I just think there's a steadfastness, I mean, that I think we'll really do the school committee well, you know, but said, I feel badly about creating a tense year in and year out. There's no problem in having one nominee, we can then take that and then we can take votes and then we can narrow it down if we need to. So I would encourage you, Mr. Dickens, if you have a candidate that you prefer to nominate that person. Yeah, it's not really about a preferring one, whether you want to have one. The way I think of it is if there's a candidate that you'd like the board to really consider. Yes, yes, and I'd like first and very much to consider Ms. Horgan. So that is Anne Horgan? I will second that just as a courtesy, but I also think that is a very defensible choice. I was going to second the nomination. Oh, yeah, well, we'll give it to you then. Then you want to wait for a discussion until we close nominations? Yeah, exactly, yeah. All right. Motion to close nominations? Second. All right, so on any discussion? So I didn't do it the first time. And a motion to close nominations by Mr. Herd and seconded by Mrs. Mahon. All in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? It's unanimous. All right, so nominations are closed. The board has before them Sarah Montague and Anne Horgan. Discussion? Mr. Herd. I would just say it was impressed by all the candidates. Everyone came up and showed a passion for the school and unique perspectives and really genuine reasons why they wanted to serve in that capacity. And it was certainly impressed by both candidates. I think the difference for me is that I was kind of trying to grapple my head around should it be a current parent, the current parent of a student. Current student. Parent of a current student. Nine o'clock hits me and I'm usually hitting the pillow. Or someone that has experience as a past parent and I think Ms. Montague has this unique experience where she in serving will be a past parent. But a lot's happened in the past year at the school. There's a lot of opinions and I'm certainly not qualified to talk about it at all. But I think for me this, the minimum school committee representative, technically the constituency is the whole town of Arlington. But I think mainly it is parents and students and teachers that live in Arlington that work there and I spoke with a number of parents and teachers and I think having a parent who doesn't have a kid there but has gone through sort of the turbulence of the past year is a pretty unique perspective in addition to all your wonderful qualifications and clearly a passion to serve in the position. Like I said, everyone is qualified. This is one of the worst things we do and this board is have to pick people. Generally we're just appointing people who one person applies for three spots. So this is a unique experience but so I do want to thank everyone that was willing to step up and serve. Other discussion? I have nothing to add to what I said to my nomination. So if nothing, I guess we're looking at you. Yeah, I know, I hardly agree. I think that I think everybody we heard from tonight has something to contribute and it's unquestionable in my mind that everybody we heard from tonight loves Minuteman and that is a great unifying thing. I think we have two nominees in front of us who I think everybody was impressive in different ways but I'm very comfortable with both of them. I think at this point we can take a vote and see where we are. So let's do this by a roll call and Ms. Marr, if you would be. I am putting you on the spot. So yeah, I think we'll just go, member of my memory, can you just go down the table and just ask which person that we're gonna vote for and we'll do that. So before that I'll pause and check in with Attorney Hyde to make sure that I'm good to go and there's nothing I have forgotten procedurally speaking, sir. You've opened nominations, received them and closed nominations, Mr. Chair. If there's no further discussion and you just wanna go down the line as long as you've got a majority on the first round you'll have appointed your candidate. If you don't have a majority in the first round you can have further discussion and either vote again or decide to suspend the discussion for further contemplation. I would also just add that in the event that you have a split vote but you have a majority there's nothing wrong with the Board affirming the candidate that gets the majority of votes unanimously later, if that makes sense. Mr. Chairman, could you just explain for either probably not people here but people watching at home, if like say someone made a motion that why don't we table this and wait until July or August to do this? Could you explain why? That's an excellent question. I think that the reason that we decided to move forward now is that the current term expires June 30th and we think that it's really important that Arlington have current representation at the table at all times of the minute and particularly with all the changes that are going on right now. Thank you. Thank you, Attorney Hyde. We appreciate that and I've learned to always listen to you and I'm glad to check in. Okay, so we have nominations for Sarah Montague and nomination for Anne Horgan. So Ms. Maher, if you would call the roll. Sure, Mrs. Mohan. Ms. Montague. Mr. Hurd. Ms. Montague. Mr. Helmuth. Ms. Montague. Mr. DeCorsi. Ms. Montague. And Mr. DeGams. Ms. Horgan. All right, we have a four to one vote to appoint Ms. Montague with two outstanding nominees. At this point, I would invite the board to have that take the opportunity to make the, a second vote if Mr. Dickinson, if you want to take a second vote to make the choice unanimous or we can leave it as a four one vote. Oh, I'll stick with my four one. Okay, very good. So we have a four to one vote and I believe that concludes that agenda item. Congratulations, Ms. Montague. And thank you for your willingness. Thank you to every person tonight who's willing to serve. It is an embarrassment of riches. And it's part of what makes Arlington such a terrific town is that the volunteers step up to do the hard work and it is hard work ahead of you, ma'am. Thank you. We have on the agenda board and staff announcements. So I will go ahead and go with that. Ms. Maher. Ms. Maher. No board announcements tonight, Mr. Chair. Mrs. Mohan. No board announcements. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Heard. None. Mr. DeCorsi. No announcements. I'll see you for Monday at the long meeting. This is the first. My only announcement is that our next meeting is Monday, June the 26th, 23, 2023. And with that I'll entertain a motion to adjourn. Motion to adjourn. Motion. Second. So we have a motion to adjourn for Mr. Diggins. The second by Mr. DeCorsi. All in favor please say aye. Aye. The vote is unanimous. Thank you. Thanks. Everybody. Everyone's.