 We are calling to order at 632 p.m. the Amherst Pellum regional school committee And calling to order Union 26 seeing the presence of the quorum at 632 p.m. Do you want to go first? Please go ahead All right the chair of the Amherst Pellum regional school committee Seeing the need to do so is hereby Offering a motion and or executive session accordance with open meeting law mass general law chapter 30 a section 21 a pursuant to purpose 3 To conduct strategy session and from preparation for negotiations with non-union personnel and in this case Show them in Ghana with plans to return to open session. I have a second They're moved and seconded. This will call a roll call vote. I'll start on this end It's a little bit. I don't like I or don't as I hazard I hazard I Married I Nakajima It's okay And for union 26 Move to enter into executive session accordance with the open meeting law mgl 30a section 21 a Pursuant to purpose 3 to conduct strategy session in preparation for negotiations with non-union personnel Sean mangano with plans to return to open session. Can I get a second? Second, thank you And we'll do a roll call vote. We'll start from that side Married I hazard I or don't as I don't I And we are now in executive session for both Just for the background. I was a re-opering the open session And re-entering open session for union 26. Okay, the first item of business is to consider The contract for mr. Sean mangano Is there is there a motion? And move to accept the contract for Sean mangano. Is there a second? Second. This is for the regional committee, of course. We'll have to do the same for the union 26 The the general terms of the contract Go for two years And without further action or notification by the committee Uh No later than 90 days prior to the expiration of it The contract would renew automatically um, the salary terms are Negotiated each year with the current term I've contemplated in this contract effective july christ 2018 To be uh 118,267 dollars, which is an identical amount as to what he's currently been paid. So as with other contracted Parties in central offices and other senior leadership of the district. He's receiving no increase this year I don't know if there are any other additional comments or information reflected in this contract that people have had To move you want to move yours if you want to just vote this thing Then if there's no without further debate if there is any for the commenter debate Including in comiums of praise for mr. Mungan Yes, mr. Mungan. I'll give some what did you call it in comium praise in comiums um In my one year on the committee. I've been extremely impressed with his service to the district um when I think of the resources that are the most important for Steering a steady ship particularly with something as complex as a regional school committee He's he's pretty much near or at the top of the list and uh, I very much appreciate his His desire to continue on and and I just feel like we're very fortunate to have him as our financial Any further comment Seeing none all those in favor of approving the contract with the regional by the regional committee Carries unanimously and for union 26, can I get a motion please? Move to approve the contract of uh, shanma gunna. Thank you. Can I get a second? second Thank you. Um any further comments? Okay We'll take a vote. Um starting from that end Okay Oh, I guess we're not doing roll call. We're just doing yeah, I'm sorry to reach on the spot Yeah So all those in favor raise your hand And it carries unanimously. Thank you very much And I just wanted to take a moment as well to uh, thank mr. Mangano for his service He I think in the past two years that I've been on the committees Has shown himself to be somebody who's just incredibly adept at handling multiple personalities different points of view different agendas He's involved in our union negotiations. He's involved in our school committee work budget planning. You name it He's there. Um, so I just wanted to say thank you for your service and thank you for your interest in this district And in our community Okay, and uh, we are going to take a motion to adjourn union 26 was our official business is over No, actually, I think march 12th was not a You So I think um the union 26 part was executive session those minutes are not In the packet to be voted Tonight I think the only aspect that Could be voted is that there was a roll call vote to enter executive session By union 26 they didn't meet in public session briefly That still sounds like something that needs to be agreed. I would agree, but I just think the confusion piece is that the the work The bulk of the work happened outside Inexec, excuse me in executive session, but I agree with mr. Nakajima that approving that part of the minutes Is important okay I will take a motion then to approve the minutes for union 26 and then maybe we can dismiss Many that's okay Thank you second All those in favor And I will now take a motion again or do I have to take a motion again since we already Moved and seconded Yeah, okay, so we'll take a motion again to uh to adjourn union 26. Just think it's safe. So moved Thank you. Can I get a second second. Thank you. All those in favor Okay, union 26 is adjourned. Thank you very much. So now we're at the regional committee We are considering the approval of the minutes of march 12 2018 So please take the time if you haven't already take a look see if there's any changes Just to edit on the attendance Yeah Yeah It'll make your comments down below make much more sense Yes, we have one Word change this is going to be in the middle of the very long paragraph number three Mr. Demling noted that he's concerned that the reality is that the community was not aware of this potential change This might be a kind of a subtle distinction, but I remember my journals might be that the the greater community The way this reads it could be interpreted that my concern is that no one was made aware of it and so the The concern that evolved for that discussion was was how widely broadcast The message got out. So I would just add the word greater community Okay Reality is that the greater community should ask actually does our recorder have that? Yeah Can you say just identify the location? I got the words, but I missed the location. Yeah, it's um section three It's the middle of that huge section three paragraph. Great. Thank you Okay, is there is there anything else? Okay, I'll take a motion to approve the minutes of march 12 So move there a second We've been seconded any feeling further Saying none all those approving the minutes of march 12 as amended you signify our doors in your hand Carries you carries with the one two three four five six seven eight votes. There any nays any extensions? My abstention Okay On to announcements and public comments Before we get through any announcements from the school committee. We'll entertain public comments. Are there any public comments? Please come forward You'll have three minutes to speak and please identify yourself Weird feedback, uh, please identify yourself before doing so Superintendents just from a process perspective. We're about seven minutes before this is listed on the agenda So I'm happy to do a superintendent update or something else to fill seven minutes if The committee would like me to do so I think I think that's I think that's fair in the sense that if somebody comes in in the next six seven minutes We can sort of float this a little bit. I think what we need to do Is maybe bold cap the all times are approximate Because unless there's a big controversial issue coming up, I don't really want To always have to just stop our meetings if I mean it's rare enough We're ever running ahead of schedule that the idea that we would suddenly become an enemy to our process that we would say My god, we're too efficient. Let's recess for a half an hour I mean we did it last time but last time there was an exceptionally good reason to do so exceptionally good reason But I'm happy to uh any announcements from the school committee Yes, it's over. I'm just hoping that um Everyone was able to see the posters that are on the floor and a couple taped up and This banner right here that are from our Amherst high school students who participated in the walkout last Last week and the reason I put them on the floor Is because I I had a number of conversations with my own Daughter about these shootings and they're getting this too common and she was one of the Students who helped put it together and so I saw a number of posters And one day I thumbed through them when they were against the wall in the house And I'm like, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, but then the next day I walked in and They were on the floor and they were still in process and the markers were down there and it just like As my thought of it just shook me Like to my core when I read that I shouldn't be afraid to go to school And am I next I mean those were the two they were just sitting on my floor And they literally floored me You know I because I had seen them when I flipped through them But just seeing them laid out there. It was actually scary And so I'm hoping that everybody got to Take a look at them when they walked in And I would be collecting them later in there going down to Washington, D.C. With Abigail who was the lead on the walk out Yeah Thank you, it was a it was a Oh, yeah, you're so really remarkable day And I thought that the A lot there were a few things that were amazing about it. I mean principally I thought the expression and the dedication and The collective action, you know, just the solidarity of so many students coming out And standing with one another and Expressing so clearly in their voice that both their solidarity of parkland Students, but also their message was incredibly powerful I also thought that it was In its own way as great that as the the Demonstration essentially progressed A number of students felt comfortable going back inside when it was over as going uptown And I thought that the the ability of the of the student body These by what it looked like to support one another on how they were going to participate how they were going to Express themselves was really great. Then the third point I'd make is just that I thought that I said it on the day I thought the principal Jackson and the superintendent and others undoubtedly many others you tell me it's You'd listen everyone else who did it, but I was there and saw both of the leadership of both of you Was just really remarkable and helping to create an environment That I think our district should be proud of both in terms of what it meant for the students and supporting their expression But also keeping people safe keeping the school running Keeping students being educated who prefer to stay in the classroom And it's it's really a profound statement of respect for the students Respect respect for the community respect for the moment that we're in And also a real dedication to the craft of your jobs. And I just thought it was I mean as important as I thought what the students did and what your leadership did avial, I thought that Um, the leadership of the district also stood up in terms of what they should be doing and so both Are all sides really had something to be proud of that day No, no, no, we're almost back on time by the way. So just keep talking Um, I just want to say that my daughter um Was was here and I actually was with another parent Um in a meeting in spring field. And so our daughters were here And I think the other parent, you know Probably sort of wanted to be here and figure out if she was going to participate or not But I did feel um confident in the school district and in the students Um that everything would be fine. And um, so I just wanted to express that vote of confidence Yeah, um, so I just want to acknowledge and I know other people will as well It's my understanding that this is the last regional meeting for miss romany cage and this hazard So I just want to share an appreciation for their Individual and collective work on two committees. Uh, we spoke a little bit miss romany cage Wasn't able to be there at the last hammers meeting, but I want to just acknowledge Um, my personal appreciation from by manage point of being able to work with both of you Uh on issues that were critical and in challenging moments as well as critical in the slow moments that people That don't necessarily pay attention to because they're like the paint drying model And they have huge implications in terms of the structure and functioning Uh and future of our school district So I want to personally share my appreciation for both of your Your leadership and your membership on both committees. So thank you very much Enjoy your Tuesday nights, right? Um We've got to schedule a special meeting for the 27th, don't we? There was going to be something Really quietly that night. So, uh, thank you exactly. Thank you very much. Anyone else? I mean because we otherwise will be doing it later at the end Tell them this is a different topic. Oh, no, dude. That is so wrong That is so wrong That is so wrong. I had a point of dude. No All right Just just wanted to get a committee brief update that mr. Donia's and I have been pushing the ball forward on regional transportation reimbursement advocacy I know a scintillating topic that the public is waiting on an updated form for baited breath But it has a big financial impact to our district to be lose Hundreds of thousands of dollars every year because the state does not fulfill its promise to reimburse our regional transportation. So Mr. Jones can maybe speak a little bit to this too, but we're We have a a meeting with representative coulick Scheduled we've reached out to every other regional school district in his district There are another half dozen or so and heard back from almost every one of them anxious to To join us. And so we think that will be a a good thing. Um, I went to a advocacy workshop By masc rep tracy novik Well, if any of you know or follow on twitter twitter is a A very, um, engaged online knowledgeable source for state level advocacy and so we we met with other regional school committees and Reps and talked about advocacy effectiveness specifically related to this issue. So she was very helpful there and The regional school district that is most affected by this issue. What's use it? That that's where the workshop was and they're actually Um already organizing online. There's a website called i am watch us it dot org That started out just as a local advocacy organization But it's grown to include other regional school. There's about 58. I think regional schools in our state And so they're organizing campaigns around this and other related issues to regional schools So a lot of interesting activity, of course, it's kind of time Compressed because the state budget train is moving along and so we're trying to do what we can But I just want to let you know that we are Moving forward on that if we have things that we want the community to engage in we'll bring out to the table as well Just to add very quickly. So the group that mr. Demling mentioned actually also has a facebook page and they have linked to A series of events that they're having Other school committees regional school committees engage in around the state. So there's letter writing to the editor There are you know social media events that they've scheduled So there's a lot of different ways for school committee members to participate as well That don't require sort of action in the school committee level that can actually just be you know Serving as advocates on behalf of their communities So if you go to support ma regional schools on their facebook page You'll find a list of all the different activities and events that are going on there Members of the public can of course participate as well if they'd like superintendents, you know, pretty much anyone But it's just a great way to plug into what's going on So I think by the way that It's always challenging when people are on the committee for a while and leave I find in general repeat these comments in another month or so that You know, it's fascinating to me to watch That the that by the time basically people are ready to leave and do all the things with their lives They're actually hitting on all cylinders and are just like master craftsmen of their job And I'm not saying you I'm not I've only been here for a year and a half So I'm not criticizing anything in and did before but I'm saying well, I've been here I've just watched both Vera and Phoebe just do Not only a good job, but I could see them getting better every meeting and every month and what they were doing And so I think it's it's all I'll say is since I know there'll be new members coming on If they pay attention to these meetings and if they watch it all They should be in the same way that I had learning courage when I imagined Mr. Jemling number last year we were talking about like just getting up to speed and jumping in on stuff And it can be challenging even for paying attention you come on I think you know something that's really challenging is I think people have if you're whether you're Doing I think a really great job on helping you get the superintendent evaluation work done and a lot of the policy work That we've done whether you've been a tireless and effective advocate for the school equity and for People who need that advocacy in our community and one another that's been reflected on the committee I think both of you are going to lead big shoes to fill and I admire the work you're done. I've done and I I still regretted hearing that you weren't going to be here but life goes on and there's Metaphorical or spiritual beach somewhere for you to hopefully Relax on for a while and that's a good thing But I think we've done a lot of good things certainly in the time I've been here I've felt like we've done a lot of good things and I'm really proud of it Um And it takes slightly out of order the chair's report just because it's relevant. I the other day. I was talking to Senator Sonia Chang Diaz for a little bit and As you know, she's been pushing a bill to do foundation budget reform for chapter 70 And so there's been sort of a debate simmering over whether or not if there is a legislation that would pass it would pass after Hopefully the fair sharement passes and everyone knows there's money or whether it happened beforehand and sort of set a framework for distributing increases state aid and She indicated the other day to me that she thought it was Conceivably possible that it might move This year as opposed to next year And so and mainly because the number of in her mind the number of least senators who've endorsed it And so the level of general agreement around the insufficiency of funding of that of that item Line item is is significant enough that there might be the momentum to move it And so I bring that up only because I think when we're thinking about regional advocacy It's it would be a really good idea to circle back around also because Armberg a year ago or so when I was talking to Andy Steinberg About this and I'm going to be provincial and talk with an amherst hat on not just a regional unfortunately Andy and I didn't talk about how those that affect shootsbury leverton tell him I'm so we I'd love to know but I did hear how it affected amherst and it turns out if you took a straight Implementation of some of the chapter 70 reform items. They weren't as favorable to amherst as you might think they'd be And so it's worth if in fact there's a possibility some formula is going to be voted It's probably worth us looking at that again making sure we can get our advocacy done on that particular issue And whether it doesn't in a way, it doesn't matter if it moves this session or next session We're still getting our order on the water and sort of pushing whatever we need done But if particularly there's any chance this thing might move then my goodness, we want to make sure we got that input in And uh, since I was otherwise going to talk about the demonstration last week. I'm already dead I finally had a chair's report. It's kind of cool So that's that for that any public comments No We waited though So now are there any subcommittee updates Dude you made a comment earlier You can make one every meeting they're always welcome Actually, this one this one's not so funny. I just want to remind the committee that Um shootsberry is really Hurting when it comes to the internet and using the classroom And if there's there's actually parents that still can't open up the Superintendent's update weekly update you can get the email But when you click on the link, you know, just the spinning beach ball of doom will appear and that's that so I just And I've received a few phone calls I spoke I Dr. Morris know about this earlier, but that there are homework assignments that are being given out that shootsberry students just can't do when there's two or three students from Amherst Pellum and Leverett in a group and they're trying to do a group chat and there's like face timing and Doing the written work at the same time shootsberry students can do the written work, but they can't see We're here the face time Are there any yes Subcommittee updates. That's what I was gonna move to. Yeah I could make a couple I'm gun shy now So the policy subcommittee has met And we we do have multiple policies ready for first reads so that can go on a future agenda as soon as you would like The audit subcommittee met tonight and went over the audit with our auditors And that was very good process. They pointed out a few A few small things suggestions, but overall expressed that it's We're in good shape and that Working with the finance director and the business offices goes really well. It's a good process Did you want to add anything about that? We'll have liabilities or Like disturbing basically if you ever look at I mean the pension liabilities, I guess we're on a 12-year schedule to be Resolved, but if you look at other post employment benefits primarily means retiree healthcare It's uh This isn't you know remotely unique in fact, it's actually extraordinarily common to have unfunded pension post-employment benefit liabilities, but It's high. It's like 30 million dollars and it may be restated next year to be as high as 65 million based on Full projections of those costs. So It's one of those topics that Again should occasionally be revisited even though again what we're doing is not any different to others are doing in fact We're actually We're ahead of many districts and we're trying to deal with this, but it's a sobering talk Thank you. Yep. Are there any other temporary updates? Seeing none We'll go to the superintendent Sure, and I'll be brief tonight So, uh, yesterday I was able to join uh, Louis Soria Who is the chief academic officer in Holyoke, Jordanna Harper former Amherst teacher An Amherst student when she was younger actually interesting enough. Who's the greenfield superintendent? We're at Mount Holyoke, uh, and we were on a panel with Mount Holyoke students About raising your voice teacher advocacy and leadership It's greatly enjoyable. I missed teaching Tremendously, um, and so it was a small opportunity to be involved in an academic setting And the number of questions, you know high level questions that were interesting, uh, Was fantastic and then ironically it's a weird week academia So it was also in it. Um, you might have remembered for Amherst school members There was one meeting in particular where we had a whole lot of Amherst college students come and the second meeting where Some came back and so I came and visited that class today just for a half hour Just as they were interested in a follow-up on something that happened at Amherst meeting But it's really it reminds me our our good fortune to live in an area with higher education institutions close and The level of interactions and questions they had They had a lot of questions actually on somebody asked what was on the agenda tonight And they had a lot of very strong thoughts about the marijuana dispensary locations topic And even though that wasn't what We were theoretically supposed to talk about because they were talking about that meeting they, um They had yeah, they were surprised many of them are not from massachusetts and um had some had some I won't go into that conversation, but it was very interesting. Um I'm not going to do much of an update on the walkout activities because I think uh, it's already been covered by Mr. Sullivan, Mr. Nakajima's comments are completely agree with what they said Um, our students were fantastic and incredibly responsible and you know say, you know there was a couple new couple news Stations both here and then an eastern mass that contacted me And there was uh with a couple of them There was such concern of what the students would do and all of our concern was to make sure the students were able to Do what they wanted to do safely and about external So it was the juxtaposition of what the media was trying to cover and what we were spending our time doing Both Mr. Jackson myself and students, uh, was just it was no it was noteworthy to me that Our concern was not on the students and walking to town and what they would do was making sure they were able to do it safely and peacefully And if there was any counter protesters, we would be supportive of the students and yet People wanted a different narrative on it and I just find that interesting so I wanted to note that Finally, uh, we got a lovely I got a lovely invitation that I was asked to share with you. Um Dr. King john b king who was the secretary of education under obama the last one that was Arnie Duncan started and he finished. I've met him. He's incredibly impressive person a real passionate advocate for integration Speaking some from his personal life experience as well as a professional life experience. He was also the Kind of our version of the commissioner, um, but in new york state before he went on to this role at the federal Level so he's doing a public presentation up the road at UMass for the college of education And everyone in the public but everyone here is invited And I think it'll be an excellent opportunity to hear his perspective on What the department of education was doing when he was there what has changed? And what he sees as you know, as the title indicates what's the future? What direction does he see public education going in so Wanted to share it if anyone wants to hang out on a wednesday afternoon, uh over there I will be racing over from a session Uh information session at the elementary level, but uh, I do plan to attend as well So again, I'll try to keep things brief Thank you I think we might have to defer Um, I wonder I'm sorry I was going to take I was going to take the marijuana dispensary locations once next Right. Yes. So the the town town employee who's going to do some orienting with us as a president So just want to make sure that's clear to the good Okay, is there any introduction you'd like to offer on item two? Yeah, so um, this is to be clear for the public and for the committee if you're just catching up to what's going on I don't see mr. Beck called present to do his presentation on the sabbatical So therefore we just take out a turn And take item number two and then when he arrives we can Take him when he arrives which is which is all good, right? Everyone's good Receive sure. So this is a concern that's come. Uh, mr. Jackson and I have spoken about multiple times Uh, and certain committee members have raised with me Given the legal change in the commonwealth as it relates to the legality of marijuana What is the connection to the distance between marijuana dispensaries And our public schools it's something that's come up at superintendent meetings that i've been at including recently like last friday morning It's an ongoing concern that educators are expressing Not about the challenging the legal the the referendum But the implementation of the referendum and how it relates to our schools We happen to have a high school and middle school to a lesser extent But a high school that's located right off downtown It's not off in the woods somewhere But it is close to a commercial industry And so I reached out to mr. Kravitz who's economic development officer for the town of amherst And I want to share my appreciation for him catching me up pretty quickly on some complex works that work The town has been involved with based on town meeting boats future town meeting boats actually this coming spring And I think he can start us off like I asked him to share just a five to seven minute orientation to Have a get here where we are and what's coming Wonderful So So the select board The select board issued four letters of support prior to recreational marijuana ballot question passing One was for gti Which their location is 169 meadow street? They've received a provisional certificate of registration from the department of public health um A special permit from the zoning board of appeals and a host community agreement signed with the town last Thursday, I believe Mass alternative cares the second one. They're located at 55 university drive They have a provisional certificate of registration and a special permit from the zba, but no host community agreement yet Mass medicum at 80 Just the acronym just because everyone may not be familiar with The zoning the zba zoning board of appeals. Yeah, thank you Um mass medicum at 85 university drive have a provisional Provisional certificate of registration from the department of public health a special permit from the Special permit hearing scheduled for this thursday um, and no host community agreement And happy valley ventures at 4 22 amity street, which is currently rafters Um, a provisional certificate of registration assigned host community agreement But no special permit and currently not scheduled to have a hearing yet So at the last fall town meeting we had four marijuana related articles that were passed One is the adoption of a three percent local option tax on the retail sales of adult use marijuana Uh, another article was the adoption of prohibition On public consumption of marijuana any place in public you can't Eat an edible drink an infused drink smoke vaporize all forms of um consumption We also town meeting also set a limit of eight recreational marijuana retail establishments in amherst And past zoning to allow recreational marijuana retail establishments in basically all the locations that Medical marijuana dispensaries would be allowed except office park and professional research park where the zoning subcommittee felt that A retail shop wasn't appropriate for the zoning So in this upcoming town meeting there are three marijuana related articles two I consider technical amendments One is a clarification in the zoning bylaw the language could be read that It says you can't have more than eight recreational marijuana retailers and doesn't specify retail locations So one retailer could have 15 locations, which is not what we wanted So just a technical amendment to To say what we wanted it to say The second is to remove the words not for profit from our definitions in our in our bylaw regarding medical marijuana treatment centers and offsite medical marijuana dispensaries The recreational marijuana law allowed These companies to or nonprofits to convert to for-profit status. So we figure we'll just remove that language from our Zoning so that's not a restriction and what the state says is okay is okay and then Fairly significant amendment to the zoning bylaw the cannabis control commission issued final regulations About a week a week and a half ago That listed all sorts of different types of marijuana establishments retail locations cultivation craft cultivation micro businesses transportation marijuana transporters um They did not do social consumption, which is sort of on site like a bar Where you would consume marijuana and they did not do delivery only they postponed regulations we are including those definitions and just putting No across the board in all zones in case the regulations change before the next town meeting So that we are covered and it won't happen until we're ready for it to happen So finally the licensing process as I understand it the first step for any retail marijuana establishment or Nonmedical marijuana use is to sign a host community agreement with the town And conduct a community outreach meeting That's they can't even apply to the state the state will say you haven't done that yet Your application is not complete go back to the municipality and get those things done Then they would apply to the cannabis control commission After the cannabis control commission says yes, you have a complete application. They will send it to us We will review the location um anything in there that would be a violation of our bylaws And if there is a violation we go back to the cannabis control commission and say here's the problem with this application It is not clear whether the cannabis control commission has to say okay Fix this or you're disqualified or what happens then but that is part of the process The state then grants the provisional license or denies it If the provisional license is granted the applicants would come back Um for a special permit. There are also a few areas and uses that we We are proposing to allow um marijuana by site plan review, which is a by-right use And it's only for research and testing facilities not for any sort of retail locations Everything else cultivation retail manufacturing would have to go through the special permit process Um if they receive a special permit or site plan review approval Then then before they could open the state would have to do a final inspection and issue a final license Happy to answer questions. Let's pause you to see for any questions That was a lot, but thank you very much One very easy one 169 meadows, where's that? Uh the old auction barn, uh right West of 116 coming from North Amherst And um so So to kind of roll this up the the first Time the first date that a recreational marijuana establishment could apply For a license to open up shop downtown that would be like any couple weeks it would be That that's the earliest possible time. Yes The town has not signed any host community agreements for recreational use all the ones that I mentioned were for medical use So we would have to do that So I had a question you said you said that um That there could be no retail establishment Except for an in-area that was otherwise zoned for I guess medical marijuana What I was trying to say, I don't know if I That basically where retail was allowed are the same zones that medical was allowed Okay, I think that was what I was trying to say Um, how do you have any idea how close those current zones are to schools Yes, so Probably the the closest or area where it would be closest to I believe any school is um The triangle prey street area Yes, so I could talk for a moment about the buffer if that would be helpful. So the Just to clarify first about you mean you mean like where Uh The kendrick place building is and where primo's pizzas and stuff. Yes, and amateur analysis Like I know i'm being boring But if you're in burr, how like you give people directions Here's a take a you don't say take a left on gray street and say see you'll see a burger king on your left Take a left I'm sort of doing it that way to try to make sure if i'm orienting myself correctly. We're talking about the same Yes, that makes any sense. Yes. Yes, uh around the kendrick place in that area And then please do talk about what you said the uh Yeah, so the buffer zone The town instituted a 300 foot buffer from any k-12 school daycare Uh, I believe church and place where children regularly congregate um Currently the buffer is measured from the marijuana use to the Closest point of the building containing the use that triggers the buffer so We would measure the buffer for the high school Probably from the corner of the gym. I think is the closest point to that area of town um And 300 feet would leave you at probably the track However the buffer is also from any Non-mixed use building that contains residences So there are a number of houses on cottage street and triangle street that provide A buffer for the high school as well, and it's 300 feet from those buildings Okay, um, I think actually This was next So I was wondering about the the size of these establishments and basically I guess the real question is really about the number of customers or You know normally when I'm when I'm thinking of a place that is either selling retail or for medical use I'm thinking about the traffic of people that are coming in and out Right in the size of the parking lot and you know, how many people might be milling about out front or anything like that Has any of that been considered in the discussion around the physical establishments? Not To my knowledge, but it is part of the discussion that will happen before Uh any special permit is granted. They have to do a traffic study They have to talk about how many people that they expect what they're going to do if there is an overflow Or a line out the door how they're going to handle that stuff that that's all part of the special permit process And again, if the zoning board of appeals doesn't feel comfortable with their answers They're free not to grant a special permit for that use of that location Um, and so the follow-up question would be, you know, if if an environment happens to be rather chaotic Um, I'm picturing like a bar on a Friday night, right and you have a bouncer out front. That's carding Um, do you would these establishments have something like that to control the flow of people going in and out of the building In order to ensure that there's no minors that are being able to go in or Sort of, you know, undo activity. Yes, their their state licenses are are Require them to check everybody's id um to have a system for checking id to have security personnel who are trained to identify fake IDs um And I believe they would risk losing their license if if it was found the state regulations create For lack of a better term a secret shopper program Just like with tobacco where they will send try to send minors in to buy it to see how good the security is um I don't know I don't I don't think that they are going to Turn people away, but I know for medical they had to have a secure waiting area for patients and then they That there's no product there and then they bring them back when they have time for a 101 called association I'm not I don't think it's going to be the same for recreational Um, but I do know that before you can get into the part of the building Where you make your purchase They will check your id so there's I think there's going to be a waiting area where they check IDs And then you go through and a secure door once you've Been verified that your age is over to a 21 or over and then you can go in Yeah, I do um, what are the hours is there a cap to these shops? Yes, uh, they can't be open before 8 a.m They can't be open after 8 p.m Is that our amorist local For rules or hints or I believe they're that's both in the state regulations and in our bylaws So talked about the buffer at the places that children regularly congregate Is that a technical term that defines only specific Establishments or is that interpretable based on activity? So that that is a legacy of the recreational of the medical marijuana that was included in the department of public health regulations and so we incorporated it into our bylaw and I will admit I was not here when we wrote that bylaw. So I'm not completely sure But we have had discussions of what that means. My current understanding Is if there is a regularly programmed class For example at amherst media Maker space where kids 6 to 12 go every wednesday night. I would consider that a place where people regularly congregate Our children You mentioned that um a public hearing is part of the special pro process. Is that what you said or there's some sort of a I believe there is a public hearing as part of the special you said there was some there was some sort of Public outreach meeting public outreach meeting. Could you talk about what that looks like? Or you don't know or what the process would be I don't know I know that it's in the the cannabis control commission's regulations It's incumbent upon the applicants to provide evidence and it has to be duly noticed I think they have to send letters to a butters to notify them of the meeting And the the purpose is to get community feedback and hopefully incorporate that into their site plans I just want to go back to the the boundary the buffer zone again for a minute. Um, so To see if I understand it correctly it it's the building That triggers it because it seems weird to me that the school grounds in their entirety wouldn't provide the The jumping off point for the 300 Yes So the the state regulations between the draft version That were issued in march in december and the final that were issued in march The state actually switched that up on us. They Had sort of a similar Measurement as we do. I think they actually did use to use or building the building and then in the final regulations They said and this distance is measured from lot line to lot line So That that is currently what their regulations say, but they also say that the municipality That can lower the the buffer. They have a 500 foot buffer as as the default if Municipality doesn't choose a different one I feel like I'm more confused now. So you're saying the most recent State regulations or yes Said lot line like boundary line to boundary line Um, let me say lot line. You mean Property line property line to property line And it's 500 feet now through entropy. Yes. So wouldn't that supersede what we have locally? The regulations also allow the municipality to lower that distance Is there any thought of changing at the conform at the state definition? there I don't know So again the the recreational bylaw Sort of was based on the medical one, which I was not around for my understanding is that the reason it was lowered or shortened was because otherwise None of these businesses could operate in downtown given the number of churches and community establishments that serve children and I believe the zoning subcommittee and planning board felt like this might be a business that would be appropriate for a location downtown Anything that's down here. I just want to make sure if anyone else has any questions they saw Okay now stomach. Um, when the zoning subcommittee and the the planning board were going through these regulations um Was there any community outreach or outreach to school organizations or the school administration or school committee to discuss some of the implications of the zoning Uh, the select board had meetings. The planning board had public hearings. I am not aware of any specific outreach To the school committee or or the school specifically Thank you uh Ken Um, I guess the natural next question is is is there an opportunity still for public input and or committee input on This particular zoning question Yes, thank you for asking tomorrow night. Excuse me hearing. Uh, the planning board is doing is having a hearing So there is an opportunity To comment on this I think that part of The reason that the buffer zone wasn't changed is is we didn't hear a lot of complaints about medical And felt that there was going to be a lot of confusion and questions at town meeting about this and So if people were comfortable with the medical buffer, we would keep it the same for recreational, but I think that Um, certainly your comments would be welcome tomorrow night I think the planning board Has one public hearing scheduled for 705 and then this one is scheduled at 7 15 I don't think it's going to start right at 7 15, but we're familiar with that One question, um, how does the buffer zones and regulations um in regards to zoning Compared to the use for Selling or serving alcohol Um It is a good question. I am not sure I I know the select board is the local licensing authority for that. Um But I'm I'm not aware of what the regulations are Zoning wise for Selling alcohol. I I don't know that there is a buffer Um, there might be specifically away from schools. Um, but beyond that It's what's fascinating to me is that it's just the desirability of having the debater discussion and finding a way to Before anything's licensed and opened just to make sure that The public is as aware as possible of the decisions and I know you're doing that But I'm just saying and that the committee or others or parents or any teachers anyone else have an opportunity to weigh in Because um, actually what mizkisinski just brought up was something that was sort of rattling around in my head was that um Even though I can understand and I can appreciate Concerns or sensitivities around opening up retail establishments that we sell recreational marijuana And I know that at least back a long time ago There was some controversy over the fact that where there's a I think it's a dentist office or something Right on the edge of the track over That way Right on the edge of triangle street. There used to be a convenience store that that also sold cigarettes and stuff like that and In you know dip chewing tobacco And so there was a controversy quite a long time ago about Whether it was appropriate to have a convenience store that proximate the high school students that might almost seem like Excelling to high school students and does that make any sense and is that a good thing around tobacco? But as a practical matter if you go farther than that You have the you have one convenience store that currently has Some sort of limited liquor license to sell beer and wine as well as multiple tobacco products Right on the edge of that area and if you go into the parking lot to the side You have the pub and whatever that bar is now that used to be called charles And around the corner of cousins market that also sells beer and wine and tobacco And my point only on this is that it would make for an interesting discussion and debate as a community around how do we treat These products how do we treat the legal responsible and appropriate Sale of those products and then how do we deal with an environment in which we're going to have People you know young people who are not of age some of whom are Nearly of age, but they're not of age and others who are much younger who are going to be kicking around Areas where we know they're going to be proximate to these establishments And how do we do that in a way that makes people feel safe? I know I know you're the I shouldn't say this and camera because I feel bad for you But like you're the genius and the point person I think for our town on this subject And you've done a remarkable job. I think but it's a really hard discussion for a lot of people All right Oh, was was there any questions? Okay, so I just uh One or two comments and a question and I want to give mr. Jackson if you'd like to come up If that's okay to share to talk as the principal of the high school So I think on the alcohol I don't know the zoning but I do know that when there's an alcohol establishment That's and I don't know the exact neighbor, you know How many feet it is but we do get a note we get noticed both at the school level in the district level that A establishment that plans to sell alcohol And a request for public comments on that establishment So just something to keep in mind while some of the other things may not align I actually think that's really useful. Um, and I think it was referenced Um implied in some of the comments that if there was an establishment That was going to be within a certain range of the school that the school Department would get noticed and it could be shared with the school committee so that people could be aware of of that I know we're not there yet, but just as a process first piece. I think it'd be really useful um So I think um tomorrow morning meet with our administrative team and and I'll be frank It's trying to look at our health curriculum How do we look at um a year from now where potentially there'd be significant numbers of retailers selling marijuana And not playing out into the referendum and the vote and and all that but just what's the impact on our students And how do we think through How that looks like, uh, if you see pictures of colorado And i'm not suggesting it'll be the same here, but looking at another state where there's been marijuana and some level was legalized There's lots of pictures that look like candy stores. Um, it's not mom and pop shops That I see images of when I look at images and have read about colorado It's very savvy retailers who are doing, you know, the work of capitalism, right? However, I feel about it. However, people feel about it. That that's the reality So how do we as a school district be in front of that and make sure that we're sharing accurate and relevant information with our students so that they're aware of Things that used to be illegal that are now not legal for them But are sanctioned by our commonwealth and so I guess my question is a long-winded way of getting to a question which is In terms of the 3% tax has been any determination of how that will get That's just going to go to the town coffers. Is it earmarked? I know in certain states for instance that legalized gambling certain percentage of the tax that comes with gambling goes to programs to support Folks who struggle with having addiction with that and I don't know if there's been any thought to where that tax goes And is a certain percentage either going to education or to work on folks who are struggling with addiction issues Or is it and determined right now or is it clear that it's just going into town coffers to be distributed in the general funds? Yeah, currently it's going into the general fund I think I'd also like to know the host community agreement of these the ones that we've signed have 3% Of gross sales so similar to the local option tax that has to be directly related to the impacts of having Either a marijuana a medical dispensary or a recreational establishment So if there are Additional costs to educate students or something like that Educational programs, I think it is certainly part of what we were thinking that that money would would be used for Mr. Deming then an opportunity Yeah, so I'm anxious to hear from our principal if he's able to speak tonight You know since we've kind of shifted from Q&A and discussion mode. I just want to be very straightforward that I'm very concerned about the implementation of this by-law and You know for a little self-reflection I kind of feel like our committee has dropped the ball on this in terms of paying attention to the timeline I think the focus on the Number of feet in the buckler whether it's 300 or 500 or 476 kind of misses the point Um We have a population of students both from our high school and from our middle school 12 year olds Who normally in large groups after school go downtown and hang out downtown? in fact I know this because you know my kids went through this experience It could be actually kind of a a positive coming of age experience for a lot of kids It's their first taste of independence You know school gets out and they go down they get a slice in Antonio's and Detecting them the whole time to see if they're all right and you pick them up you know a half an hour later and Uh, and it goes on like that for six years and and now we're talking about anywhere from Kendrick place down to Amherst college that entire nexus of our The center of our community Opening up to recreational marijuana And I don't want to sound alarmist as if I'm going to paint a cartoon character That I know is going to come to pass But to me that's exactly the point. None of us knows exactly what Any town in massachusetts is going to look like after this law has passed After these shops have come up with what dr. Morris very rightly points out are going to be national corporations that know exactly how to market this um this product And and so to be able to say what an appropriate relationship is A distance from the schools and also to say what the content of our curriculum should be because you know we're in Amherst This is nancy reagan. We're not drugs or bad drugs are good. You know, we are a student empowerment approach. We we want to Give students the information and we want to contour it to the environment that they're going to have to be making these Decisions then and if we don't know what that environment looks like yet, it's very difficult. I think to construct A great appropriate curriculum To train and have time for people to be trained in it for the students to respond to it. So it's effective um So, you know, that's one point the other thing that's happening at the same time as you've probably read in the news and our community is Is no different. Uh, there's a serious problem with uh with vaping Um of of multiple substances with teenagers these days and you know for those of you not up on the latest drug paraphernalia you know, there's a thing called jeweling and This paraphernalia is getting harder to detect in terms of its size in terms of its odor and so to educate kids about the liquid form that various drugs take about the edible marketing is Is concerning and so you take all that and you throw it into what Has been classified as so americers have been classified as an area of disproportionate impact when it comes to the marijuana And that's because we have the fifth most impacted community for marijuana related arrests According to the report to the impact of drug and marijuana arrests on local communities Massachusetts and We know the reason we have 24,000 college students right next to our high school Um, so we have our downtown right next to our high school and middle school right next to tens of thousands of Individuals very excited for the legalization of this product And then they're going to have to make a geographical choice of where they are going to go To purchase this product in our town to the university drive section Which takes them away from our downtown and away from our schools or to downtown where everybody is already is And so i'm i'm just opening up A number of issues that i feel like have not been adequately Conversed at our community haven't been adequately conversed um in in our uh community or committee and It leaves me very concerned given the late date That we're not prepared for this So, um before they better do this don't be cage I don't know if you have anything you want to say um, I don't know if it's a the appropriate time for the Ask mr. Jackson to share What you'd prefer to wait This is don't want to catch me on that. Yeah, I just want to briefly say, you know I just want us to take a deep breath and keep things in perspective I think we passed some policy around substance abuse not too long ago And I think the real concern should be opiate, you know the opiate crisis and and um And I I know that the northwestern district attorney's office has done Conferences brought schools together Safe schools summits and all of that and I think spiffy is another coalition through the collaborative for educational services So there are our i'm sure our district is struggling with this issue right now But I just want to keep you know the whole thing into perspective and I think you know like death through You know painkillers and all of that are a serious issue And so we should try to keep things In in perspective in that in that sense that we you know where our resources and our focus and our attention Should be um, I would agree with that and I also think that we You know we we are walking a fine line because we also don't want to have a community that is criminalizing um marijuana use and in particular because we understand the the differences and the different kinds of drugs And a lot of people there's you know, there's varying degrees of tolerance for one particular drug over another But I think creating an environment of fear is is worse for our students and worse for our community You know from my personal interest, it's about ensuring that there are adequate measures in place For these particular shops because they are kind of like candy shops I haven't had that lives outside of denver in colorado and you know Have taken a stroll around those neighborhoods and seen what they you know the way that they market what they do And they do become very attractive to different members of the community but You know that aside, I think ensuring that we have adequate education in our schools and that there are measures being taken In these facilities to ensure that underage You know shoppers aren't there and aren't taking advantage of any potential chaos I mean my concern with you know medical establishment versus a retail establishment Is that the volume of traffic for a retail establishment presumably will be a lot higher than for medical establishment There's a lot of stigma around medical use of marijuana And so, you know, I think when that is removed in the medical in the retail environment The potential is for just a lot more shoppers when you have a lot more shoppers you get more confusion and all that kind of thing so I do appreciate You're being here tonight and you know walking us through some of this. I do think it's important for us to have a voice You know and we'll plan on going to this planning board meeting tomorrow and And expressing some of these thoughts and concerns And if there's anything that the superintendent has to share, you know with me, you know, I would appreciate it Just in terms of data or information or anything like that that I can bring But I would very much like to speak as a committee member and as a member citizen here in town You know that there are there are certain measures in place that I think Are extremely important, especially for the safety of all of our community members and just to ensure from the school perspective That we have those protections in place so that people aren't getting hurt Yeah, I think that the On a lot of these things and I actually frankly don't know to the typical disposition of Amherst actually be interested in knowing from the police or from Town hall the perspective on how We apart from the alcohol and beverage control commission, which undoubtedly sends folks out to do reviews Of bars and other retail establishments for alcohol Um, I literally don't know and I'd love to know the answer actually of how the town itself Orients itself around enforcement of the trade in Controlled substances including in this case alcohol and tobacco in in my mind There are a couple of issues one issue is Is the sort of the health education? family wellness perspective In which it's not immediately clear to me That marijuana once it's legalized is taxonomically different than someone who's involved in An abusive relationship with other controlled substances And and so to me if you're looking at a spectrum of wellness the question is how are we engaging in that spectrum of wellness and supporting Students in terms of their lives within families and communities And then also themselves and their education and awareness The easy answer which is sort of the classic traditional answer Is that it's illegal for young people to be engaging underage people to be engaging in any of these substances And that's sort of an obvious bottom line But then the question is what do you do? To help with education awareness and support Knowing that we live in in an imperfect world And so there's one role which the community has and the schools have to engage in that question And then there's another one which I was referencing a moment ago Around how the community also engages in In enforcing rules around who's allowed to be in these shops How do you know who's in these shops? What are the entrances like to them? You know in terms of how one can enter and Peer around one of these shops and I think and I think frankly that question Again, I'm not sure that that's tremendously different whether you're selling tobacco related equipment or alcoholic beverages Or whether you're selling marijuana because in any of those situations you would hope that there's actually A profound level of oversight security and responsibility Around the engagement of minors with any of these substances And so that's essentially on us within the so-called I don't usually use this term but so-called adult community to figure out how we police ourselves And in regard to this I do think it's something that requires Probably a more robust public conversation because I'd agree with Ms. Ardonias that When you think of a medical dispensary and I haven't been to one but I'm assuming that a medical marijuana dispensary like one for Controlled narcotics that that are available through prescription There's some level of security involved in these facilities that make them just sort of again a different animal Then going into a retail establishment in which logic dictates that you're probably making at least for people that are of age At a desirable and enjoyable environment where for someone who's partaking of illegal activity It's probably marketed in a way that seems fun Right and being enticing in a way that my assumption is a medical marijuana As you described sort of locked area and then some relationship to the purveyors of it That that just has a different feel to probably how people would engage And react that would likely create a different relationship to the public around where you'd want one facility and where you'd want the other But in my in my mind to me the question of wellness and education Across a spectrum of potential and known abuses and I agree with mr. Dominic cage that when we're thinking of that the opioid epidemic is so incredibly pervasive and severe and in fact As far as I can tell the number one gateway to minors to be abusing drugs in our society today Is if they have some kind of sports injury or other accident that gets them into the medical system to use prescribed medications And that that's a profound challenge in gateway So I think my point on this is to me the wellness question and the support around this is a profound one marijuana is in the mix for that but it's actually a much more profound conversation on the town side I'm actually really interested in knowing more about enforcement regulation oversight of the of the establishment so that we know that even if Even if we have Popular underage who come up town and seem enticed by a shop The question is can they get in and is there any oversight to ensure that they're not able to acquire that Substance and I'd hope they'd be able to the answer be yes. I'm sure the answer is yes, but I hope it would be Not going to answer your question directly, but I I did want to respond with a couple points There are limitations on advertising and the outside of buildings There can't be any marijuana leaves any indication that marijuana is Located inside there can't be any window displays of products whether edibles or flowers Or other types of things that are visible from the outside. Everything has to be somewhat enclosed Any sort of advertisement that goes out For example, they wanted to do it in the newspaper. They have to Project that at least 85 of the people who are going to read it are above 21 Same with billboards or radio advertisements So I think that that there are some state controls as far as enticing people to come in and making it fun And then I will say that I have been too I was in Eugene, Oregon another college town for the international town gown association conference Oregon has also legalized so I took the opportunity to travel to some of these dispensaries Um, I don't think that their regulations are as strong as ours in the college newspaper. It said come to It was Jamaica Joules and bring your student ID and get 10 off that wouldn't be allowed here Um, but as far as how you actually enter the facility where you can see the product all of them had You know, they they checked my ID. They said, okay, you're over 21. You can go in and see and so that was the process Consistently out there And from what I know it and the one that I know about is a is a medical dispensary here but They're planning on co-locating a recreational facility if they're allowed and you come into a secure room Somebody's going to check your ID if you're a medical patient You go left if you're a recreational client then you would go right But you can't go into either of them until you've gone through the security checkpoint and I'm happy to confirm what the security regulations are and Passed along dr. Morris the full 90 pages of regulations in case anybody wants to dig It's also by the way amherstma.gov slash marijuana has a lot of information including links to the regulations links to municipal guidance that was issued by the canvas control commission on friday And so I know that there's a short timeline between tonight and tomorrow night But that that is a hopefully a resource and I'm happy to answer questions be email as well More than exhausted our time for this item tonight I'd love to have principal jackson saying anything he wants to So lots of ways in out of this question. I'll start here's where I'll start so on the first floor of this building If you want perimeter, there are 28 exterior first floor doors Although which if you push on them, they take you outside See where I'm going So it is impossible in the course of a school day to have an adult stationed in front of 28 different doors and Absolutely secure the entire student population And I tell you that because the point the point that I want to make is that if there was a If here's some assumptions I make about And Jeff, I don't remember your job, right? Some assumptions I make is that marijuana is a gateway drug and it's closer to the reality of adolescence than the opioids are We have Ruth Pote who's the foremost Expert in the valley It's her mission. It's her passion to talk about substance abuse And she was here two years ago and talked to 60 parents And stated unequivocally that it's a gateway drug now for everybody But anybody who gets the heroin starts with marijuana, right? So I have this deep stake and for stalling kids engagement with that So I appreciate hearing from Jeff all the restrictions that are built in on the advertisement because like With the superintendent, I fear When the marketing machine really gets in high gear the ways in which Marijuana based products would be advertised and it can only be to create a solid customer base for the rest of their lives But I assume even if there's not fancy advertising on the outside people will know where it is It'll attract a certain clientele. It'll be busy and it'll just raise the energy in town about the accessibility marijuana So if I'm a 16 year old and I've stepped in I'm curious or I want to step in and there are 28 doors All right, I can get down and back really fast because I just text my buddy during lunch and he waits by the door He lets me back in All right, and I just I can't I can't frame this in any other way than that's a siren song Right if it's within some reasonable proximity and I hope I found it ironic that None of the agreed upon benchmarks of distance worked or they would all prevent the establishment of Of a dispensary downtown and so at some level we agreed to waive those because we're going to put a dispensary downtown But from my perspective understanding adolescence as I do Understand not ending the allure the fascination the seduction that comes with those kinds of things I can only conclude that for a lot of kids this will be disorienting And it will lead to choices that they wouldn't normally make because they wouldn't have this great opportunity So I didn't know about this meeting tomorrow night I think it may be worth taking our conversation on the road, but as an educator as a personal responsible for this building I would be very concerned Thank you. Thank you I'll be I'll be brief So I just wanted to I know I was you know passionate in my expression of this concern It's because it's a significant concern. So I just wanted to clarify a couple things one I absolutely agree. There is no false equivalency here between marijuana and opioids Okay That's and and if we're just going to have a general principal discussion about I mean people might be surprised to To hear you know, I'm in full support of the decriminalization of marijuana at the national level because of the draconian way in which our federal government Imposes sentences and uses it as a wedge to disproportionately disenfranchise people of color and and a number of other groups And you know, I mean I could go on so this is about the responsible implementation of a legal substance That many feel including myself is not as dangerous as alcohol in some respects And how we do that in the most responsible manner And and I know that the phrase gateway drug is is a reactionary phrase to to some who have been fighting the Irresponsible implementation of these laws for for many years but I think Our principal articulated the distinction in an important way in which it's not that every person who Takes marijuana becomes addicted to opioids But the vast majority of the people who are addicted to opioids start with marijuana And and when you talked about you know, dr. Ruth poteet, so I was available I was Fortunate enough to see the the talk and one of the key points is that You know, our brain isn't fully developed until age 25 And the last thing that develops is that executive functioning prefrontal cortex Component of the brain, right? And we heard our principal talk about this will lead to decisions that maybe in a different situation Our kids might not otherwise be making and that that's exactly that kind of Of decision-making and so you know when I talk about Slowing down to have time to responsibly implement a curriculum It's not so that we can go all Nancy Reagan and say that pot is the same as opioids It's it's to empower kids with this information. It's to empower them to be able to read a the The the thc level on an edible to understand how loosely regulated that is in some capacity to be able to make informed decisions And and so that we can give them the tools That they will be most well equipped to resist what our principal is describing as this sirens on So that's that's where my concern is coming So we have to wrap this up We should discuss it at a future meeting as well. I don't know if there are any other comments that I didn't want to tip that on for us in that direction um The uh, by the way, I don't want to be misunderstood either. I'm not actually I think I think the question of What so I'm going to I'm speaking I'm going to back up for a second and I'm going to do this And the reason I was looking at um superintendent earlier Is mr. Demlings asked to have this on the agenda for probably four or five months Which is why he began his conversation by criticizing us for not having an agenda and I'm not blaming you for that No, I'm not criticizing you you started up by saying we should have addressed it sooner And so I'm trying to address that I'm trying to respond to that comment Because you did make that comment and it's okay you made that comment And I'm and it's it's okay. You made that comment And so I'm just bringing it up because I wanted to give the superintendent an opportunity to respond to why on some level why we haven't Had it on we've talked about this before why it wasn't why you're you're suggesting not having it on Not when the appropriate trying to figure out when the appropriate time to talk about it would be Yeah, and I think um A couple things one is things Continue to evolve It's not justification, but the information that's being presented that thank you for coming mr. Kravitz as well Um continues to evolve our work internally continues to evolve as we find out more information and um I think for us it's uh continually trying to keep up with changes that are happening beyond our control um I think in many communities right now and I had a conversation with this about what with western mass superintendents on friday morning um It's amazing how different the context is um in some communities this conversation is the third rail Right, so, you know, I won't name the community But there's a community where one community member wanted to bring up and and just it just was not Something the community was willing to embrace as is being a topic of conversation in other communities, uh, there's one that i'm thinking of in particular where the per capita income is incredibly low uh It the economic development is just is not existed in the community and to think about Preventing people from having jobs that are better paying than the ones that are available or having jobs at all Is prevailing information so I think we as a community have to sort of make sense of We have a new law We're trying to make sense of how that's going to affect things in amherst this point. There's been no proposal Which I think is the thing that I uh To get it back directly to your question There's been no proposal to have any dispensary anywhere close to our high school, right? So one of the things that when the chair and I spoke We looked at where the dispensaries at the time which is this consistent with the current time are located and they're not near our school Any of our schools? And so as that evolves and as the regulations are coming and if that changes I think you'll see a very different response from the school department And perhaps from the school committee I think it feels really different university drop meadow street than it would and in downtown amherst We're you know not to pick on like cousins market just because that that was referenced as a location. It's not about the purveyors cousins market I think that's going to be a really different conversation. So I think for us trying to find the right place of entry Has been a challenge as things have developed and I actually think this is Not a terrible place of entry in terms of where we are. We have yet to have a dispensary Suggested I think that's accurate from what I heard from mr. Kravitz. That's anywhere near our schools and I think this is the place to start having that conversation with select board and perhaps in town meeting as there are articles about How the committee feels how the school department feels about opening that door and where that would be located And I really appreciate hearing about the process that even if one was suggested There is an opportunity for the community to become involved and become engaged on a more specific question than where we are today chance At one we're thinking the law and the regulations do allow for a local licensing process And we are trying to figure out how to do that and that would also be another check on if The school committee felt that or or the select where whoever the licensing authority is felt that it was too close to the schools Um, they would have discretion to similar. I think to an alcohol license Where the the town gets some say We're trying to figure out How that works and I have not I have not been able to yet and are not aware of a local licensing process and any other Municipality that we can use as a basis, but the option is available and and we're seriously looking at mr. Kravitz You said tomorrow the planning board meeting is about seven or seven Yes Yes, I guess I thought you said about yes, seven. Okay. I mean one of the things that I would I mean We obviously haven't done anything or voted anything as a committee if they're members of the committee who are inclined to go And engage with the planning board Frankly one thing I would welcome knowing Is whether there is any conversation as a community as to the desirability of having retail establishments In the downtown Is that something that's actually under debate or discussion? I mean I tend to agree that I tend to agree with the observation that if you don't like having A retail establishment Proximate to the schools and proximate to the schools might go anywhere from here to burgers Then you then the question is what do we? What are we even talking about for our downtown and then how do we have How do we have a rational conversation? I mean I mean a rational in a way that was being irrational But I mean how do we actually map out a discussion that could engage our community Engage different viewpoints engage Perspectives on what the impacts would be and then make a decision out of that that people would feel Would be helpful to our community helpful to our kids and It could actually be passed because you know that can be tough times and tough in our time too And it seems like one of those to me it seems like a conversation that is best To find some kind of space where you can enter into the dialogue And and it bring obviously facts to the table, but also not immediately Bring sort of your backup because I can you know I could imagine positions coming in where the people are very On different sides of where they want to go with that including by the way ones that are strongly in favor That would in our community voted so overwhelmingly in favor of this law That I could I could see some people coming in With the view that they wanted to be if not the wild west they want a highly libertarian view of sales And so to me it's not a no-brainer that if you come in with a perspective of child and family welfare and sort of Thinking of that perspective that might not actually predominate. It'll be a strong position in that favor But it won't necessarily mean some I mean I would welcome figuring out or getting feedback for anyone who's going tomorrow About where that's going and what role can the school committee fruitfully play in the future in this discussion? And it was anyone Yes Did you want if you Yeah, I just wanted to underscore one of the things doctor morris said which is the changing landscape And combined with the fact that we have It's called a permissive bylaw. So if we don't say you can't do it in this zone Then the building commissioner makes a determination of the closest analogous use and then puts it there. So I Don't think I would be speaking out of turn to say that we're We don't think that this is the perfect solution But we thought it was important to have something some sort of local regulations in Sort of the areas that we thought were appropriate Given the changing landscape at the state level sure Dr. Morse, I think we actually need to move on. Yeah, absolutely. I just for mr. Kravitz and I won't I'm not speaking for the committee It's just for myself. I think the three things that Just kind of like to concretize things. We had a really robust conversation um So i'm interested in in having clarity on notification So if there was a request for a dispensary downtown How do we get notified particularly? Um, right? So there's one like, you know, they may have to do some general call out, but that's I really like the alcohol the example of the alcohol bylaw and i'm not exactly sure I know only what I receive. I don't know what the wording is But that if there's there's a place selling alcohol that's somewhere near our school that's new High school principal gets a letter I get a letter. I can share that with school committee And it assures us that because if there's some notice in the embers bulletin or somewhere that we don't see that We don't get it. Not everyone in our our committee is uh covers four towns So it's not just a town of embers issue. It's uh embers lever at along shootsbury issue And I think uh one of the things that we have the capacity to do is to share that with our elected officials Who can then share back with other elected officials because I also want to note that Sorry, this isn't as short as I thought. Um, that three of our towns select boards aren't part of this process Right, so for levered pelham and shootsbury. They're not engaged in this conversation They're sending kids to a school in the town of embers and yet their access to be involved in this is very limited So that's one role schools can play that we can do that and elected officials here can bring it back to their school committees Their select boards so that we can have the communication piece because the thing I don't want to have happened And this gets to my second point of our process Is something happens and it feels really quick and there hasn't been public engagement and dialogue that mr Nakajima spoke about That will be a huge issue regardless of the location, but particularly as it relates to schools Because we never what we endeavor Tirelessly is that no one says where did this come from? When did this happen? Wherever the outcome is that people are fully informed that I think we can assist the town And that way because I do believe that parents and staff will have strong viewpoints on this matter And will not feel good if they're not notified I think the last thing and I understand I speak about it a little bit But I want to square it is that we will need support on the education piece Right, so you know not just because we're in tough fiscal times but because it's a changing landscape And things will look perhaps different a year from now when we're having this conversation They do now in terms of landscape of down literally the landscape of downtown And so thinking through that with the town and I appreciate the perspective of the three percent for impact It's not just a dollars and cents There's an element to that But really thinking through what health education can we do in the schools? And what health education does the town want to take on? Around public engagement on this issue is something that you know, whether shillie fetterman or that we'd love to partner on Again one aspect is in a course and a mandatory course that students take in our school district Another is what does the community feel about health education more generally and I just want to end by saying we're happy to partner and we look forward to partnering with The health department of the town of Amherst and perhaps the other three towns on how to approach that task But I do think waiting too long for that Is going to be problematic. I think we need to get a little bit ahead of it from where we are at the moment Great We will continue And item number we're going to go back to item number one one of the more importance Somebody satisfying things that we do they support sabbatical requests And we don't always get a chance to hear I know we know the community is having always taken the opportunity to hear back From people who've enjoyed those sabbaticals about what they've learned And what they've been able to bring back to our district So with that tone I believe that is Dr. Morris is anything he wants to introduce Yeah, just briefly. Um, there's a written report that you all have that mr. Beck told has shared So thank you for your follow-up and I'll just say in my conversation with mr. Beck told when he came back What I appreciate are two quick things one is just the level of enthusiasm of not just learning that Happened in London for the application of the learning that's possible and Amherst based off that And the second is that how how many ideas you had right? It wasn't like Oh, you know, I just you know this one thing I want to do it really was more as I took and I think you'll speak to it Much more foundational in terms of the shifts that you see as possible Based on the experience I want to thank the school committee for supporting my recommendation of the sabbatical Mr. Ben told for thinking of the sabbatical and making connections to make it possible and I look forward to hearing your presentation tonight Thank you. I wanted to thank you also Dr. Morris and the board for supporting this this has been a really wonderful venture I also just want to note that I really enjoyed actually listening and hearing this seriousness of the previous conversation And then happy to truncate this you do have a written report that's way longer than I would present anyway So I can cut to the chase To that and anything that you see on a screen is really supplemental and kind of grief I would say if you do get genuinely interested and want a deep dive, that's what this is But there's also no desire pressure to have to go that far The proposal for the sabbatical was to meet with a particular company as the primary reason for going An immersive company called punch drunk to work with Both their what I call their come adult or kind of general audience arm their artistic arm as well as their educational arm Which are shows guided and directed towards schools and other I'd say a non general demographics like Inpatient care and things like that. So I was able to live on both sides of that by participating in the Professional work that they were doing for the general public as well as the educational work and the pedagogy that came with that as well So some of that is reflected in this report as well as some contextual information. That's probably not worth going through today My interest is primarily kind of parsing those two things very quickly Seeing if there's any questions that can be answered and that can be So I thought it would be useful. It is a hard medium to describe And as you heard from the audio, uh, I have the speakers already cranked up a bit and you might mind down back But there's a video teaser for the show that I worked on there. That was the next big piece It's about 70 seconds and like might speak better than I could do it as far as towing content If you click right on the play icon a milk screen should go That was the kind of preview teaser for the show they Remain very kind of tight-lipped about the experience itself But I wanted to show that because one thing that I find interesting and in its application to our schools and to my work with theater here is that Their work has taken an increasingly expansive interest in what constitutes theatrical space How one defines and creates that how one thinks artistically about the experience of everyday life One of my favorite verbs that they used was the verb re-lensing How do you re-lens an experience so that you see it afresh or that you see it in a theatrical context Or in a different kind and leveraging an art form as expansive as theater To go out and think about not just a theater location, but the geography of theatrical work Is something that we've already taken an interest in in the high school theater company And a lot of work that we've done whether it's installation work in downtown amherst in an open store Whether it's using the school building as the theatrical environment This was right up our alley to begin with and so the experience I had working with them on this show Which did comprise pretty much a huge swath of downtown london Starting the british museum which they partnered with and then going out to other locations around town was incredibly insightful and exciting So that's the key kind of note there The applications i'd be happy to go into at some other amount of detail, but for now i'll just leave you With a quote this is a review from the guardian about it and it's worth reading pretty quickly As the experience unfolds you have no idea which passerby might turn out to be involved The cast is compact somewhere between five and nine and entirely female And by my reckoning which fits with the escalist story It was based on this escalist play of an island ruled by women who have murdered their husbands and fathers This the encounters last with the cast are mostly fleeting and then it talks about punch trunks expanding sense of theatrical space So I I see a lot of interest in that and getting our students to really think about theater not as a locked down Depiction of what happens on a stage, but the possibility of what's all around you and re-lensing and re-imagining the power and Quality of spaces Those are just some process photos of some of the spaces we worked in Under work-like conditions giant warehouse spaces. I was interested in that because so many times I think in the high school and work that we do around here We're limited by what we have, you know We're in school building a lot of the time or in one section of town And so some of the most rich conversations I've had with student designers is how to reimagine something or how to take something that looks very bland or neutral or austere And transform it to something else and I think if anything that's been really exciting for us It has been that design process of students really reclaiming space understanding it differently re-lensing it and using it So I feel like I'm coming back with a wealth of tools some of which are Aesthetic some of which are technological Some of which are logistical To create work like this in the future, which is very exciting The other half of the work is the educational arm and I spent a lot of time This is an actual location by the company that they use for their educational offerings And you should read that as roughly grades k through 12 With dedicated Enrichment teachers, which is their term for educational workers many of whom have teaching certifications or degrees or connections to schools And they partner with a large number of london schools To create work that brings students either into the environment of this show or this space Which is solely for kind of workshop based work or to bring work to a school and use this as a training ground So students get a very rich mix of possibilities there and their partnerships with schools Which was very exciting to watch in process and see how they developed those partnerships and what worked and frankly what didn't Became a big part of my education too and this was kind of the the home ground for it It is a actual town square built inside a giant warehouse is what you're looking at And this is another guardian article on it The name of the place is fallow cross clearly not from this century But has been built as an act of faith and punch drunk so in future Peter Higgin who's the education director Who has delivered some of the company's most thrilling work in schools and care homes calls it a place where we can cook ideas But also somewhere where we can call home as a place where I was witness to a lost students getting to call a first encounter One project they did was a collaboration with google and their technology to bring Uh stories of the 12 labors of Hercules the start is a kind of a A kind of cheap looking video game in their schools that then came to life as the town itself that they came to visit with no prior knowledge and They have pointed to studies and this is if anyone's interested I can share this information where they did post literacy tests Following their experiences where they had to commit to writing and literary analysis afterwards And a number of students were jumping by grade levels students that never spoke before were actively speaking writing for the first time Just the power of the arts to engage students at such a profound level Beyond achieving certain skill bases. It was just astounding to watch I feel like I was already sold and imbiased on it but To see that with schools that I had no affiliation with and really no agency with was really really exciting The last part of my experience is there was a much broader thing that I just wanted to name london is kind of A hotbed for a lot of theater. It is Way better supported at the federal level and at the municipal level than a lot of american Arts are and the payoff was really shown in the amount of work that they could attempt to produce or try out So whether it's the bigger picture in the left That's actually brian crampston staring back at me as I took that photo in a traditional theatrical stage And once it's it's in a theater But my seat was actually in that what is upstage right wing of the stage that's the upstage wall About 30 members of the audience could be on stage with this show in this other environment as it happened to a more Mainstream audience out there and it was just cool to think about that when we recently Put up the school musical actually took some of the things I learned from that show and employed it into that Some of the other photos were just other immersive theater practices that were very exciting Including an american play that happened out on a rooftop By the playwright julia jarco That's the one at the bottom right and another one that involved like a large amount of garden planting And scaling to create environment and space and just using everything available in a traditional area So the sum is simple. I I feel like there's just so many tools out there a lot of inspirations There is also and I offer this deliberately as a sort of teaser I I've enjoyed keeping my ties with punch drunk and one thing we're discussing Is how to bring one of their projects to the amherst district? And one of the ways that might happen is their interest in getting Further afield and trying to find ways to develop shows that don't require them standing over them And given my relationship with them, which is now about eight nine years old We might get to be one of the first kind of test subjects for that So perhaps in a six months or a year, I'll be able to come back and share news of of that kind I can leave the rest of time for any questions As you wish It's very exciting. Thank you. I think Is When most these productions the did the people know that there was a play going on or was it Did it sort of emerge in from a crowd that had no idea what was going on? For the ticket buyers, they definitely knew even though it was kind of veiled to them that that Greek production cabaret was You bought a ticket and the only thing you knew is that you would get this App from a fake tour guide company called walking london, but it had your appointment time when new puncher was behind it But it's very veiled and I think that's a cool thing again thing about student work Is that there's not always a lot of mystery in education at least not intentional mystery There was a lot of power in that in awakening and building suspense and learning how to develop some of those ways So there was a lot of pedagogical implications for that too As you were talking I was reminded of an experience that I have in my family recently Which was a one of those escape the room kind of scenarios, right? Which felt very theatrical when we were going through it and as a matter of fact Unfortunately youngest who's six years old burst into tears at one point because he believed it so much It was so immersed in the experience, you know But it was wonderful and it challenged my children in all of us actually was we were going through that And so I kept thinking about this experience also in students, you know The the excitement that is palpable when you're creating something like this and you have a say in how it's it's staged and You're thinking really outside the box or off the stage Is just you know, it's such a unique experience. So thank you so much for sharing that I you know, just set my imagination ablaze too Well, I appreciate your comment because first of all, I agree like seeing the amount of student agency in the design process Or development process is nothing like taking a published play on a traditional staging as wonderful as that also is Um, we've seen students come to life in ways that we haven't seen before through that work That's great. I also add that given your son's experience. There is also a important code about responsibility here and audience and performance engagement and it becomes an opportunity to talk about what is Our responsibility as art makers and as future art makers with students and I welcome those conversations with students too Thank you. Anything else? Yeah, I just want to comment that I I feel like there's a real I I am sensing a real current in our community about how strong and creative and unique and unusual our arts and theater program art the high school and and uh You know, there are a lot of options in the area and I just it's really exciting for me to talk to other families and just say You know, I just feel like the the arts program of the high school The theater program is unlike anything I've ever seen and I think this is just an incredible And I know you've been doing this kind of work and it's been evolving But this is just a wonderful new chapter. So thank you and I love the musical as I said Well, it's an appropriate time to give a shout out both to this committee and superintendent Morris And also to my my building administrators for supporting this. I mean There's just any number of questions you wouldn't ask if it's just a traditional stage play So their support has been instrumental to work like this too Thank you. Thank you very much. Yeah. Thanks for your patience too, by the way Of course, no we we flipped an item and at least I didn't anticipate that I mean I should have Not long, but I didn't and if I had we probably just waited and taken you in order. That's fine. I was genuinely fascinated about her Right. Thank you very much So the next Is uh, no one needs a breaker We're just going to walk them out, but I think mr. Mangano will be the person for the next one. Okay I've been on the committee Okay, we're good Got a bone to pick with the agenda setter to put me out to that I mean I looked at the agenda. I was coming out for marijuana and then Switch it our expectations. This is much more exciting This was all this was all about the drama Um, so I passed around warrants So now's a good time if you want to take a minute and look at them in more details It's certainly kind. Um, just one I think in region. Uh, Peter, you don't There's nothing in Amherst, so So Last time we spoke we talked about a few different options for having a warrant review To recap some of those options and the sort donas Jump in if I miss any We talked about having sort of Open hours at the office which sort of all the time But we could have designated hours in the business office for anybody to stop in and Review the warrant in more detail sit with me go through it that kind of thing We talked about having maybe a special committee setup that specifically does that either maybe During the day or before meetings something like that We could do it at the beginning of meetings if you want to allocate time that way We could also In a little bit I could try posting them online so that maybe you can see them a little before the meeting So you have more time to review them that way And I could also we could do something budget finance subcommittee where maybe we meet more regularly to review the warrants Even warrant something they've already been approved. We could kind of recap them So those are the options I've sort of seen so far open to any of them Whatever you guys want to do No specific guidelines I guess or preference per se. I think I want to hear what my colleagues have to say but um I think from from my perspective And from the conversations I've had with you previously The online version might be less desirable only because While on the one hand the pro is that um It gives people the luxury of being able to review things, you know Privacy of their own home on their computers in their own time At the same time that may also mean that some people may end up putting that off or it may just not Happen in the same exact way as if you have a physical meeting or you're you know engaging and so Um The more I've thought about it the more it feels like maybe the online version isn't exactly You know where we we should go um Just my perspective on that and then just one other quick note because I had shared with the superintendent with our chair mr. Nakajima the agenda As a sample from the I think it was a Beverly district And they have um an agenda process Also, so it's not just the warrant review process But it's also the agenda process and it's an agenda process to more more or less formalize The you know the warrants that are being signed um and have the committee take a vote on that And so I was just wondering if there had been any thought given to That or you know, if you're willing to have that kind of a conversation or you know, maybe it's for a later date. I don't know Yeah, I'm again. I'm open to whatever the committee Wants to do. Um, this is really a process to to make you feel more comfortable. Um signing the warrant. So We'll do whatever. Um I'm trying to Figure out how that would play out of a we talking about um, for example This is the warrant for this week or for this meeting. Yeah, it totals x amount of dollars This some of the things that we're you're signing off on our payroll and standards Yeah, I don't know if it's a detailed review of like each line item or or how it works So just in response to that question I think the the sample that I saw was even simpler than that So it was basically, you know, um, general amounts, you know Let's say 25 000 going to payroll You know 50 000 or whatever going to x project and it's broken down more or less by Sort of budget area or you know, however, you the the finance department is coding that information And then the total amounts and so it's just a sense of you know, I think the idea is That in between the actual school committee meetings There has been a degree of inspection and understanding from the people who are actually signing the warrants But then the whole committee comes together to actually approve the final line amounts or the final, you know Total amounts and it's basically just saying Yes, some of us have reviewed this in more detail completely understand this and we're okay with these amounts getting pushed through So interestingly enough when I was having a conversation with somebody from the MAC a while ago It wasn't actually on this topic, but but then the topic came up And I know in that person's school district And I know you'd reference this but I'm I'm interested in how many school districts do utilize subcommittees that review warrants because it sounds like it might actually be a more common at least Somewhat common practice to have them and I think if we were if we were concerned If there that there's a general sentiment on the committee That people are unsatisfied Not that there's anything wrong we think that you're doing on this process was not the point But rather between what you do and how the committee interacts with that information Reviews it and feels confident that when the signatures are going on or the approvals being made That whatever due diligence we're supposed to be doing as a committee. That's been applied in a way that Ensures some reasonable level of responsible oversight that's reflected in our signatures That apparently a lot of other school committees solve that natural gap by appointing a subcommittee And undoubtedly I've managed to probably rotate those members every year so that no one ever had With all great love and see this process intended that no one was actually forced to do that any longer than they have to Be able to ensure that the committee was playing its responsible role um And and that If we're concerned if we're generally concerned nicely on what the committee would be if we're generally concerned that there's kind of a Gap between what we're doing or we know about it that just seems like Every other idea we have if it's online You know, but you but then you still have to go in and talk to you about any questions we have right? so that's not working and I mean as it doesn't guarantee any greater knowledge of what the the transactions are And I you know if we put it on at the beginning of the meeting then that would just eat up lots of meeting time where i'm not sure Is either a productive or be I don't know. I mean it's just it could be I could be awkward as well And so if we really want to do it I think the I and then that would deck the dovetail With the idea of having something on the agenda that's approved too, right because as you mentioned a moment ago Was it done as mentioned a moment ago? You'd have a subcommittee reviewing and then it'd be put on the agenda to sort of formalize the process of adopting What the committee is delegated the responsibility of having gone through And if there are other thoughts on this My comment would be that Generally based on the process That it takes to get to the warrant. I'm generally confident that Those are correct charges and they work for valid things and we've received the goods or services From my oversight position on the on a budget. I'm generally concerned with how's it going, right? Like I'm confident that we're we're paying for things that we we've purchased But how are we doing and and do we need to make some changes or set direction? And so I think the the nice option of if we do a subcommittee who's sort of doing the everyday signing That we periodically have you know Kind of like a financial report to the entire committee that kind of says here's here's how it go Here's how it's going and we're kind of on plan or we're behind or we're ahead or And that we would just talk about that really high level Discussion and it we could maybe keep that relatively short So i'm really glad that sardines has brought this up because it was one of the first things that made me uncomfortable when I started was This is my signature. I mean there's nothing more evocative of your You know and so I thought I would have a really strong opinion on this. I I've thought about this a lot and I have a very very neutral Because because of two things one is from what I understand It's required by law and so so it must be done. So it is a technical requirement however From everything that we've tried to learn and understand There's absolutely no legal liability That a school committee member is really ever going to in the You know underseen crazy circumstance that there's something wrong. It's never going to come back to me You know and so I feel zero liability when i'm signing it and I also feel I have no normal or expert level Accounting ability to be able to them or even if I had half an hour to review it I would feel really no more informed than not looking at it at all So for me, it's completely meaningless in terms of what it it expresses in terms of my approval or not But it's technically required. So at this point, I'm happy to do whatever most people are comfortable with Yeah, there any So, um I think I just I'm Thank you. Thank you everybody for your comments and your thoughts and I and I I I get it and I You know to take mr. Manino who's not here his point that he said and that you said the um The possibility of us catching anything that is you know in any way nefarious is pretty much zero So if we're going to have a subcommittee, you know, take more volunteer time to do something I I would hope that it would you know And I it would be not and I'm not I'm not implying this anyway But it's sort of you know that thing of like well it For appearances that it looks as though we're We're um, you know doing due diligence, but what are we actually accomplishing and doing that? So, you know and maybe we really are accomplishing a sort of sense of comfort in a sense of you know, we really know what we're signing But I just want to just want to say that a little bit out loud to sort of Have that be um, you know that we're at where that as we Choose intentionally to use more member time and have more meetings etc more minutes more everything Just making sure that it really is accomplishing something that Is going to accomplish something Yeah, I I would like to see um The categorization the different categories of what we Um how we spend our money. So for example, I don't think we ever you know discuss, you know Well this particular warrant it's high because we just went through You know lots of negotiations and the attorney had to had to retain the attorney And so this is what it is and we are on you know budget for the rest of the calendar year or the academic year Um These are the fees because you know, it's this high because of this big purchase of this equipment You know, I think those types of highlights Would be helpful Regularly updating us on how much we're spending on certain items. So that way We can have A good understanding of you know, where all this money is going So can I maybe offer a suggestion? I like the subcommittee my only concern with the subcommittee is the timing of it and Would it sit on the warrant process and a lot of what i'm hearing is Even if we do that the warrant itself maybe isn't enough. So maybe we could try Try out for a couple months, maybe a little report to go with each warrant that tries to capture what i've heard which is Trying to categorize stuff a little bit and maybe highlight sort of important things in the warrant That's important for you to know. I mean the budget piece we do with the quarterly reports But maybe there's some way to incorporate that into a report Out to think about it But it seems like That's the common theme is more context to the warrant as opposed to just dive it into the like the vendor piece of it so With the chair's permission, I just want to go through quickly these were I had requested that Tracy Novak who's the field coordinator for mask Massachusetts association of school committees send me the slides that she shares with other school committees during You know the conference. Um, she was presenting last last year. And so this is very very very short So i'm just going to read through this very quickly So, uh, massachusetts general law chapter 41 section 56 says a select men and all boards committee heads of departments and officers Authorized to expend money Shall approve and transmit to the town account and as often as once each month all bills drafts Orders and payrolls chargeable to the respective appropriations of the of Of what they shall have the expenditure um, and then Massachusetts general law chapter 41 section 41 says such approval should be given only after an examination to determine that the chargers are correct And that the goods materials or services charged for were ordered And that such goods and materials were delivered and that the services were actually rendered to or for the town as the case may be So the key language there I think is um, such approval should be given only after an examination And that is really where we are right now, right? And so mask recommends that school committee members should know and understand what they're signing They should have a chance to review and ask questions about the warrants And they should be given enough information to know what is being approved for payment Um, so I think our general process currently Doesn't fill all those different buckets where it doesn't, you know, and so There's a very detailed, you know review of who the vendors are and then the amounts But it doesn't have any information in there. So I think You know, mr. Mangano your suggestion of maybe having some sort of little report I would say report is maybe even too much information like even like bullet points like, you know, this You know this amount went through this cost area and You know this this amount was spent towards this final thing that was approved on, you know Something along those lines would help us understand and I think that's no problem for major What I can't do, right? I mean I could do it's just it's a resource thing is We, you know, we have 60 60 million roughly on a budget between the three districts So I couldn't go through every single line item and sort of did but I could do that for the major The big pieces that I think would be the most important to you My thought I was gonna Yeah, sure piggyback on that I was gonna say my thought on that would be Calling out I hate to call my usual expenditures but things that are worth specifically calling out And then my guess is well, no, I guess I've looked through these things There's a huge number of the different accounts or line or expenditures rather that would fall into a bracket of payroll And I mean, you know depending what we're signing payroll and You know equipment and supplies and food or whatever in which in which you could probably Sort of summarize those different areas readily in those sort of master categories And then call out of the things that are more You know worth calling out I mean, is that something let me just ask the committee Is this something that you think They think by the way our next stop would be starting a subcommittee And I understand this hazards Comment and also given the amount extraordinary On an evening in which I was talking earlier about how how awful it is to move school committee members After they've gained so much experience and wisdom and have been able to apply it Creating another subcommittee that also sounds like Forgive me for saying this because it's not kind It sounds like a largely thankless task of like, you know, waiting through spreadsheets and asking questions about them That sounds like another great opportunity for people to decide they want to quit school Or not run for reelection Um, so this might be the next the next last stop before we get to a school committee. Do you want to try that? Create a subcommittee. No no the presentations Oh sure I'm seeing relative Just sort of we don't need to vote but we just need you know Are you up for it? And my understanding is that it'll be like a cover sheet that goes on top Would I present it at the beginning of every meeting or would just be for you to read as you go through? You might have a little presentation. All right. Just making sure. I mean where you know, sure Well, my only thought is just As we're thinking about subcommittee and you know Time of school committee. I also want to kind of try and balance what we're asking of the business office as well So I just want to make sure that that feels doable and not You know and really burdensome. Yeah. I mean the only thing I'll say is it ebbs and flows. So even you know a conversation tonight There's some committee members that are Super into looking at it. There's some that you know Technicality I heard. I think that's always been the case in the district. It kind of ebbs and flows like that So even whatever process we have I think the open door policy will continue to exist Which if you ever want to stop in you can see all you know every warrant you have has a Binder or a file folder like this that has all the invoices that you can go through And so those are always we put them out so people can grab them So I think we should try it and and then that that also exists if anybody wants to come in I think it would be insightful actually to Keep track of all the things that we're spending money on, you know, you know, if it's utilities Um Maintaining our buildings, you know, so I think more informed school committee is is good and I think Checks and balances are always good and there will always be people who may be interested in Serving in that particular subcommittee that would invest that type of time Thank you. Thank you. Is there anything else you have tonight better? I think that's it. I've been a move that We can thank you because I appreciate your patience School committee protocols If you want to log in did you want to do that so I can project it? If you send it to someone I should I can get it You said it you said the debbie. That's right. I get so if you go to It's not on the screen. You know what you're doing So there was an email sent that at an hour where we didn't We weren't able to print so what miss marriage doing is just pulling up the the revised document that she worked on Because it it came to staff after staff and left for the day But that's what just to explain what Is it the same as what's in our packet? Okay, so just to kind of introduce introduce it again So the as it comes up, you'll be able to see but it's There's some highlighted elements that we have talked about in the past and so Some of them I added some additional clarifying language based on What ma sc has when they and they're kind of like general protocols document So that might be helpful for some of them Um for the first one that we had extensive discussion about last time about Supporting the official position of the school committee I would suggest that Take a look at the clarifying language and if if people still don't like this one I would suggest we just delete it Um and and because we have this was recommended by somebody else as well because this document is already quite You know comprehensive and we I don't know that we need to just to spend additional time Debating any particular elements if they're problematic for for members um I also added on the Under how we conduct meetings, there's one more kind of specific Not maybe we should just go one by one Is everybody can I ask you a question? Yeah, is our goal hopefully to be able to approve these? I think that's a great goal How the committee, you know feels but I think I think that's doable for tonight No, I I agree with you So I wouldn't even mind taking this serially so that as we're done as you introduce a topic We take a little straw poll and we Edit it on the fly. Okay. That sounds good. That's good So the first one being our once the school committee has taken action or made a decision We'll not actively work against the official position of the school committee This is not preclude principal disagreement or future attempts to change policy It simply indicates that committee members will not undermine the work of the majority's policy of the district And the comment was this is an attempt to amend the language to Reflect the debate we previously had on the topic But on a suggestion on the floor is if people still have some objections to it Let's just can the entire paragraph and not worry about it any thoughts Can it Okay Can we work on a consensus model? I think if somebody feels strongly that it should go that I'm okay with it Yeah, agreed. This should reflect what we're we have a consensus on therefore if we don't have a consensus Bye-bye That is an awesome That is an awesome nod of the head with the consensus model. So let's just get rid of it then Okay next So the only comment I want to make about the second one this it says we will direct all personnel complaints and criticisms Received individually or collectively to the superintendent. This used to have some additional language about chain of command And um, there was some concern. Well, we don't specify what the chain of command is So I simplified it just to this and I I feel like that still does an important job And maybe is easier to see in behind People look here at this. Yeah We're good with it. Okay, can we um I don't know if you have access to the document Is it a pdf? Oh, it is She's marking it off Well, you're marking it up. Okay, excellent. Never mind. I just want to make sure we were Getting our check marks and our deletions while we're going if we're hoping to approve this tonight. Do track changes Okay, so I can read the next one The superintendent and the school committee recognize the importance of proactive communication And agree that there will be no significant surprises If school committee members have questions or concerns, they agree to contact the superintendent well in advance of a meeting This does not preclude a committee member from asking a question or raising a point that arises during the course of a discussion Or debate that could not be into So that additional language is just Trying to kind of clarify you know What constitutes a surprise and what's still, you know, it's still okay to bring things up on On as discussion progresses and whatnot So Okay, in order to promote consistency of communication only the school committee chair and or his or her Designee shall have the authority to speak for the school committee to other public bodies in the media Individual members may express their views and opinions to the media and community but should state them as such I believe this had some additional language That was That I that I struck because people had some concerns about it. So I just kind of cleaned up this idea So I don't know if this works or we could also strike this one of our people. Okay, or should we strike this? This also is Very similar to the words that are in we have a bank policy That's policy. This is very it's almost identical to the policy We're good. Okay, let's move on Final one is about conducting meetings And this is very similar to what we had before We acknowledge that a school committee meeting is a business meeting of the school committee that is held in public Not a public forum or hearing unless designated as such The public is encouraged to attend and to make use of the public comment period But the committee will not engage in dialogue with the general public unless indicated on the agenda So at last unless indicate on the agenda phrase is a new addition But otherwise it's similar somebody cares um The i'm just concerned about the chairs um discretion To be able to engage In communication But it's not on the agenda, you know, like it's not oh, you mean in other words the notion that the chair or retains the discretion to Allow public comment Or question if deem warranted Something like that. Correct. Like unless you know, I think that is a rule. We have an action. Literally the chairs allow to do that discretion of the chair I mean in fact, maybe you might know that's more than I would but um, isn't that kind of part of robert robert's Those of order that the chair at their discretion can suspend the rules for When they feel to be as appropriate Or am I stretching that's a little stretch I mean you actually you still have to get the consent of the body To just suspend the rules, but you can um I think there are other rules that I wasn't doing. I'm serious I may actually to be honest with you miss hazard has used this rule more than I have on the amherst school committee But my recollection my son dumb about this my recollection is you did so very appropriately So I have yeah, I think that rule does exist. Yeah So maybe it says unless indicated on the agenda or at the discretion of the chair Well, could I that phrase that sure Or at the discretion of the chair Okay, um, I Oh, yeah, yeah, and or obviously so So I guess I just one one thought um I mean this the protocols is kind of an agreement we're making with each other about how we're going to conduct business and stuff Um, and this is getting to be a lot of information mainly directed. I think at the public so Maybe it's still appropriate to have in here I mean other school committees have had similar stuff in their protocols Which is why it landed here in the first place But I'm just it's getting rather long and specific. So I don't know if we still feel like this is necessary here. So I My comment would be I I kind of like it because if you're a new member, this is a great resource Okay, this is something I think that's exactly what I was going to say And also the fact that then even saying something Gonna funky at the end like or the discussion of the chair Hey, that means a new member went like if if if you didn't listen a chair with the new member and they're like Oh my god, I'm so happy. I just read this today in the protocols. It turns out this can be done Right as opposed to hey, it wasn't indicated in the agenda. What gives you the right to do that? I mean, I think it's kind of a I'm done. Um, so just the the times I've seen This used in terms of the chair's discretion has always been with the consent of the committee So I'm not saying it needs to be in there. That may have just been customer the way the chair chose to do it Um, so I don't know roberts rules well enough to know whether that needs to be in there or that's something that you all feel strongly It's not my decision to make but I just wanted to note that I've always seen it used with the chair saying Something to be meeting like it's not in the agenda I feel like because of the topic and looking around the table to make sure that there was consensus On the committee from a roberts rules. I mean, it's funny because that's actually the question of weird weird that Power came from right because it goes back to what mr. Demily said. I'm Really positive that if you're actually using roberts rules of order to suspend the rules You absolutely have to have consent of the body to do so but there's also This is why I didn't know where it came from because because I also know that because we're not We're not bound by roberts rules in the sense that we're not allowed to create customary rules of of facilitation You know meeting facilitation that are extra to roberts rules of order. So Do we need to keep debating this Yes, I mean with consult from the rest of the committee or or with input I mean if we if we I mean Also, I mean not to sound this is awful, but I mean If your rules are suspended the reality is a member of the body can actually petition the chair to suspend the rules To do something you don't actually have the chair just do that. Um, so I don't need to complicate Recognizes who speaks so um effectively if you're going to allows, you know Yeah, if you wield a heavy gavel as opposed to a light gavel, which is what I prefer to do mr. Demily I think a interesting example recently this was during our Vocational school discussion where the superintendent spoke out of order. Yes, you almost galled with him, but you didn't And so there was this informal consent of the chair. I think we were all okay with you making that call But it's not like you stopped and said everybody came very okay, and then it was like in the moment kind of a thing That's I think it's maybe what we're trying to get to without trying to Didn't you read something down originally nevelie? he's married Like at the end of unless indicated on the agenda there was a comma and then a little phrase We were going to include and or at the discretion of the chair. Okay. Hold on a second. Are we okay with that? Yes, awesome. Let's move on Nobody has a problem with that. Let's just move on and leave it All right, so um at the discretion of the chair, let's move on That that is all the highlighted sections that we had discussion around last time. Yes, so unless people have anything else Okay, so I'll make a motion. Please do approve the protocol As amended There's a movement seconded is there further discussion other than to thank Ms. Mary. Thank you. No, not other than to thank you No, no, no, I'm sorry Peter, I said that wrong. I meant to invite thanking her. Please do. Thank you very much For doing what was difficult and I really loved the very last wine which is um makes this all this work It means it won't disappear That annual review by the policy subcommittee so as soon as the sub policy subcommittee Reconvenes every year with new members and be like, oh, we need to look at this. It'll be great. So thank you very much for that All right, so now we need to vote of course the applause happened before the All those in favor of approving them. Please raise your hand. They carry unanimously You realize by the way in another Is it six weeks or something like that? Ms. Marriott may be departing us or will be departing us So so there's there's There's just rather reflective time forward at the awesome work of this committee. I move them as Marriott does not depart us I already tried that apparently she has a higher power At home Uh Okay Superintendent evaluation process Do you want to take the lead on this? Sure. So um, what you will see in your packet is a full looking graphic created by Ms. Marriott That May not be totally clear at first and then after it. Um, I just included the minutes of our last Subcommittee meeting because I think that it really outlines what the um tasks that were put forth to the subcommittee Or and I just want to note that the last thing in this is that Um, these proposals will be brought before the committee not at the 7th because we didn't get there But this meeting however the subcommittee agreed that apart from this year's scenario It doesn't make sense to discuss the options until we know whether or not the charter passes So we're we're putting out a bunch of options I don't think it is we we felt as a group that it wasn't logical to take a lot of time to You know deliberate over these given that we don't know what's going to happen in a week And it might change everything But um, I just want to it's sort of quickly Reviews or what what we put together so people can have a little time to improve these in the coming uh weeks See and and just see how it how this we were we were trying to think of like Would there be a way to create a calendar graphic that would kind of help help you reference because it's it's a it's a lot of um It's a lot of factors a lot of factors to sort of integrate in order to determine what could be possible And then also so what's listed here is a number of options. I think there are five different options that we came up with Based on all the different elections and town meetings And then we also created a recommendation for this year um And for each of the options we listed Sort of the positives and negatives that we saw for each one And then some general recommendations and sort of thoughts that we had as we went along Um, and I will say that we really felt that none of the options were stood out as great They're all have some serious sort of Huh, that's not great about them. So that's you know, we really tossed it around quite a bit So that's where we landed. So I just I guess I'll look to our committee and to the chair in terms of From here. Do we want to Talk about those options? So we want to jump right to the one for this year because that's the one that really We need to make some decisions. It'd be great to talk about the one for this year first And then pending I know we're And by the way, people may have all the time in the world this evening So I'm not trying to push the agenda schedule, but we're we're running way behind So I want to give people once we've cleared that give the committee the deference to ask whether they want to continue on I think that makes a lot of sense. So if you look at the last page of this section of the packet It says recommendation for this year. Um, and as we talked about this really what we were trying to communicate was That we wanted to allow The opening for all members to for members to have the choice and we also didn't want New members to feel they want we want to make it really clear that they Should not feel compelled to complete the evaluation or if they did not feel comfortable doing so However, they had the option if they did feel comfortable doing so So I'm just going to read a recommendation for this year for this year All current members are eligible to participate in the superintendent evaluation We want to make it clear to the new members that they are not obligated to complete the evaluation School committee members can only evaluate based on what they have experienced during their tenure as committee members As a committee member which includes artifacts presented by the superintendent Therefore what members may have observed or experienced prior to coming on the board cannot be part of the evaluation Given this new members may not feel they have sufficient knowledge or context to complete the evaluation However, if they feel that they are adequately informed they may choose to do so New members should be aware that it has not been unusual for new members board members to abstain from the process All committee members will have the opportunity to comment and vote on the composite evaluation in public And then we put a proposed timeline Oh and I wrote check contract for because we didn't do that But I'm sure that that can happen And this looks similar to what we did last year It's it's essentially what we did last year because it seemed like that worked and it but it seemed like it made sense To put it Into writing so it didn't come to an awkward moment and it just would be a cleaner process Is there are other questions or comments about this? Starting with the subcommittee The calendar is very challenging and In all cases, I think there was some consensus on our subcommittee that We would like to have the opportunity for members to have been on the board for a sufficient amount of time and Wasn't clear what that is but More than a couple of months And to do that with all of our various town meeting schedules And then you can throw the charter mix in there too. It becomes Very challenging. It is very likely that there will always be some members who will not feel adequately Involved to be able to fill out the superintendant evaluation Do you have other comments? Shemmel? I just want to commend the subcommittee. This just might be One of the best subcommittee structured documents I've seen because it's exactly what a subcommittee should do you you've met you've worked together You've discussed a lot and then you presented options with positives and negatives. That's like so perfect In terms of servicing the greater committee. So thank you for that. Um, is it correct that it's Against the We've got legal Recommendation that school committee members can only evaluate based on what they've experienced during their committee. That's not an opinion. That's uh That that came from the lawyer. Yeah. Yeah, that's right. That's right. I can I can make sure that you have all the language that I got from the lawyer before I am no longer with you I I just have been thinking like staying up at night like thinking about what everything I needed to make I think that would be a very good thing. Yeah, I actually reckon I recollect the email you got from rx area because you actually did send it to me And it does Confirm but with both of you were just saying that it that that the new members are only supposed to Evaluate based on their term of service as a school committee member And based on the artifacts or experience that they have as a school committee member It also should confirm that when when you were reading a moment ago all current members It means current at the time of the evaluation So for example any current member who's no longer a member at that time is not allowed to participate But we were we were we talked about that earlier. So we were clear on that Thank you to the committee also for for putting this together Um, I just wanted to comment. I mean, I think the recommendation for this year makes absolute sense um And given the numerous challenges that we've had both with you know Signing the contract and going through and the big changes that are happening with the the charter Um, I think it makes a lot of sense to to follow this again I just wanted to comment on the general recommendations that you made The the lame duck session. I really like that idea. I mean, I think it's a great idea to incorporate just, um And maybe the members are on the way out won't like that I think it's a great idea to incorporate just some time for people to have You know input into this incredibly important process and to bring that wisdom that we've been talking about that you carry through with You know with your as you serve on the committees Um, this would be a brilliant way to handle that. So I I'm in favor of that Just to comment on that is that we the charter I mean as says here the charter has a lame duck session has this lame duck session So we were we it came up in the meeting If that's a possibility, why wouldn't it be a possibility? And it would be something that all the towns would have to talk about all that kind of thing But so we have done no further exploration, but that's why it's him What's interesting about this and I'll get through this feeling. I just wanted to throw on a comment is um Uh It seems like under any scenario you might imagine though Doing the goals earlier Even as early as june would be advisable right because it gives you more runway for any member of the under any scenario gives them more runway to be able to um Look at the performance and the evidence and the whatever it is for in the context of what the goals that have been set So, um, yeah, I concur with mr. Rionia's that the recommendation for this year is is really excellent really well um Like clearly stated in terms of the reasons and So Nicely written paragraph And yeah, that that's a really interesting point about the lame duck for the small towns. Um It's it would it would seem to be more empowering for the smaller towns. You would want your most informed member To to be the one speaking on the evaluation. That's something right, so that's great. Um, and yeah I'd love that you have the goals voted in june. That's getting the done as soon as possible at the beginning of the Superintendent's year in which he's actually working on the goals. This makes total sense. So Mr. Deming by the way, I'd add something that I don't know I I I think you have noticed this but I'd point out This has actually been one of the most spectacular subcommittees for the entire last year Every single thing they've done they brought wisdom. They bought precision They brought they brought a consensus model that brought in different ideas And in fact, I recall to call distinctly One or any eight or nine months ago whenever it was When we were done with last round of uh of the evaluation And the question was raised should the subcommittee continue and will they committee and I was like dear goodness Of course they will And we're seeing the fruits of that work Now That's entirely true. We'll be running a class called subcommittees one Good Okay, I think we're uh, I think we're fine for this right now. Great. Thank you. Thank you very much And Actually, I'm sorry just before we transition I agree with everything that was said and Perhaps the next meeting. Um, the remaining members of that subcommittee. Um I mean, I think the dates this year looks fine. I have no negative comments But putting a finer point on when some of those dates like mays a big month, right? 31 days and and just looking at our meeting schedule and then backwards designing it and whether that committee wants to Leave that for me in the chair to do or they want to take a crack at it Like I don't have a sense of that, but I think the next step would be getting more concrete with I think that needs to happen period. Yeah, and so, um, I mean, it really needs to happen right. I'm with you. So, um Because I think we you and I have talked about wanting to map out basically the rest of the fiscal year Right because because also knowing that things come up. Yeah, and where does everything fit and everything? Um, I think it's a really easy answer Okay, when the Pelham has reconfigured And the last new member comes to the first meeting of the region So the real question is working backwards from that Does the subcommittee want to take a crack at meeting with the superintendent on this subject? Do you want me to do it? That's awesome. Then you were you were here by Charged with taking care of that task Thank you, and I didn't mean to belabor it, but I just think putting getting the real dates and calendar You still got that sort of recording minute-taking sort of mindset. They're like, I don't know how to record the follow-up I don't know how to It's a good thing New member orientation So um, first I want to Apologize for the late arrival of this in your inbox and I apologize for any difficulties you had viewing it Did people view it? Were they able to see it? Yeah, okay So this was you know working with google view and through w and we were trying to figure it out So i'm sorry for any technical difficulties. Also. I did um continue to work on this Um some so in the current draft, I'll just hold it up so you can see what I've done is I highlighted in yellow throughout sections that Were basically I you know, I had so much steam This is as far as I got and those were the parts that I did not You know were like the placeholders were put in Audra had created this outline and I basically you know I added stuff that was big Some feedback and then I went through and I tried to flesh things out in terms of Providing links providing general overviews, you know pulling things from masc pulling documents that We've gotten from Dorothy press or things like that. So um I think again, this isn't this I I didn't Expect that this would look like sort of hashing this through in detail because that's not where it's at But my hope and dream Is that I have laid a little groundwork That people are so excited to continue and finish that this will turn into something that is actually useful to new members coming on so My suggestion would be that a couple of people or I don't know if you want to call this so committee. I don't know. It's some sort of little small group was Would take this on and continue from here Okay, are there any Any questions before the grand question comes up to pull us to volunteer to help to do that But are there any questions? I mean, obviously it's a work in progress and people read it simple didn't any comments or anything is there any Great piece. Thank you very much. Um The section meet with the finance director And then there's a section of Sort of outlined the budget process I'm wondering if we could somehow Blend those or at least maybe repeat them Because I found I sort of had to when I first came on to the committee Sort of feel my way around a lot of this stuff and that was One of the topics that I sat down to talk to mr. Mangana about was, you know, how to how does this budget work? What do you do with this budget? um And so I think just saying that outright and being super clear with new members that The reason to meet with the finance director is to go over the budget process and in detail and ask all your questions and kind of get All that stuff out in the open And can be really really helpful and I know that you linked to the orientation presentation which mentions that a little bit but still You know, maybe incorporating the actual budget process into that that piece might be really helpful Does it under C does it currently say Under what number is this? Um D and then To see oversee the budget. Do you have a link to finance director's graphic and budget process? Not yet. Okay, so that was added Recently so there is I did put in a graphic, but I mean, so I will say just as a more sort of meta comment This is just a draft So so if people like that, I think that's a great idea And this is just me sort of figuring out how to massage things and I'm not I'm not I think there's a lot of ways that this could be more compacted and stuff like that. And so My again, my hope and dream is that people will take that on as something You know, like I don't think I'm gonna necessarily work on this anymore because I'm not going to be coming to another I mean I can but The door that opened I welcome others to step There's no any cage. Um, I think Phoebe and I I think if you can recall we were at the same orientation By put together by a former chair of the emmer school committee And I don't think we have had one from the regional chair per se to do such an orientation But certainly the material contained here is extremely substantial and informative Okay So as a creative possibility to try and minimize the amount of Um administrative upkeep of this document and also maximize its practical utility I'm trying to think of the so we're about to get new members coming on multiple towns, right? Um, and the purpose is for this to be valuable to them So I'm looking at item one. I the new member mentoring Yeah And and maybe instead of trying to like perfect this or like throw as much steam as possible and to make me this amazing like resource You know, we we do what we can and then when new members come on me like, all right, here it is It's draft. We did the best we could there's a lot here Why don't you know new members go through it and then um, we could sort of combine that with If we have if we have volunteer current members who are willing to say meet with new members Like I think the easiest would be like six o'clock before the 630 regional meeting show up at the library and What and we could ask the new member? What's the what's the one of the things you want to talk about like because there might be individual interests and oh my gosh I need to talk about open meeting law or oh my gosh. I need to talk about the budget And then we could sort of go through there and use that as the facilitating for the The mentoring and then as as they sort of go on board at the end they could say oh, well This was helpful about the document and this was totally not and They take responsibility for evolving it from there I would just hate to throw lots of good attention and effort into making this perfect and then having it just become Static well the funny thing about it is that the most important thing About the document the information it contains is whether or not it actually helps anyone get oriented Right, so it's the interface of this information with how we think new members are going to be able to interact with Them but also with maybe it rather but also with us I mean any any any by also mean the broader team anyone from your team superintendent and I guess the question the other question that comes up is Do we anticipate for example? That when's our next meeting of the original of april What tenth of you tenth of april? Yeah, do we anticipate on the tenth of april when I think we would have two new members But not any other new members to engage immediately with orientation with those two new members and then Approximately four to five weeks later when we have potentially other new members That will then engage sort of serially when someone comes on We'll try to help them out If we do that then that would sort of argue for a more I think as you're describing a discursive process where we're sitting down helping to do some immediate orientation Get questions answer questions show the document and other things we have And then I think you're right try to help mentor someone or help support someone get oriented And then adapt right meaning learn and adapt The creatures crawling on shore Keep going with that metaphor until someone stops me No, no, please So I just I'm just looking through here I mean I think that there are a few things in here that I just didn't get to that Maybe debbie could help me just get linked in there and then that would be there I mean I I also feel that You know, this is a living document to have it be virtual is actually fabulous because there's so many ways that it can change so easily And I think of myself as a new member three years ago And I think just to have something like this where you even if it doesn't have all the information It tells you what you should be asking about because you know I didn't even really know, you know, what time meeting was and what the rule of school committee was until it came upon me And so just like oh, you know, what is this and I think even if it's not finished it should be Shared I mean, you know not my decision But some version of it should be shared and I think that alone would be helpful if it's not I think I think if two things one if you if you're willing to do this Really to follow up with debbie to get links in there. I think that'd be awesome And two I thought the consensus I was seeing emerged from the committee Because we absolutely thought this was worth sharing and we were really more discussing how we were going to share at more than weather Oh, no, I wasn't Funny way like you just came to me that I just agree with peter that doesn't even It's helpful Okay, um, so you're gonna yes, I'm sorry come on. Yeah, I think the only thing I'd add is just something I did based on Conversation with other superintendents of massachusetts in the amer selection this year just full disclosures I reached out to all three Just saying if you're interested in meeting with me just to hear my thoughts and some I you know I can answer some questions you might have And I had to disclaimer at the bottom this identical email is sent to all three candidates who are running for office And I think in the in the other towns if there is if there are competitive races people know about um, I think just I was I wasn't intended to be A joke We're usually begging people to stand up at that time. We have no idea where this conversation is going Keep rolling Okay But um to keep doors open and open Neutrally, um, and and it's something that you know, I felt like the candidates all three candidates and amers came in to meet with me Um, I think the conversation for generative. I think this document Those weren't orientation conversations because they're not current members But having something like this to walk through, uh, it would be incredibly helpful based on my experience Uh talking with with three enthusiastic candidates and um, I think also just trying to set up, um Some of this is like the nuts and bolts but also the kind of dynamics and people have spoken about it where No, when someone starts they have access and they feel like they have access to meet with superintendent He was finance director and meet with committee members So I think as important as the steps are there's also the kind of mood that it evokes that Actually, these are the things that we are here to help you with some of its administrative Some of it's your fellow committee members and I think that's really important and I don't want that to get lost in in how much good content there is I think the the ethos of it is equally as important So I think I think one of the things I'll also say please um And uh, I would hope any chair would be willing to do this Um to the extent that it's helpful. I'm certainly happy to actively participate in meeting with um new members With others only for the purposes Of there's just a lot of stuff we do in these meetings and I know when you start Um, actually just I'll say this awkwardly, which I love doing publicly That since I started a meeting which I became chair almost immediately um, it was really Weird because I knew how to chair meetings really well So like they literally looked I'll call on you and hey you can talk next like that side was like super easy for me But all the sort of norms and behavior and processes is like, you know, I felt like, you know, kind of a You know trained donkey like, you know, like what are we doing next? Oh, that's cool. We do this then Oh, that's interesting, you know And so I had sort of a weird sort of on-the-fly experience of doing that But I'm just saying for any other new member There's just stuff that got getting acculturated into the meetings that you know, I think I think the idea of a combination of Um You know various officers of the of the committee of chairs and vice chairs Helping to do that as well as also mentoring from school committee members who are willing to take on that task Would be really really welcome in addition to the document and along with the meetings with the and it's not may sound funny But because people come on for different reasons or in different perspectives I also want to make sure that if somebody comes on And and this I'm playing devil's advocate. They they they don't know the school administration But they think the role of the committee is to set policy and sometimes that means What you're doing is wonderful and they agree and other times I'm going to ask the hard questions, right? And that's that's the job of people who are feel elected and off people feel that way Is I would want to make sure also that there's felt like many doors open To get answers on well, how does this really work so that if somebody Doesn't want to go to you to ask a question about how do I ask you a tough question? Um, they can ask someone else that question of how Also what the norms are like what's how we are these things actually normally handled because somebody may have a tough question But they're not actually trying to be provocative or challenging They're literally just trying to get a question answered and they don't know how to do that and we can help them figure that out quick comment one more just that In looking at a lot of the policies again as I created this There's a new member orientation policy Which It describes a process of orientation that and I myself as a chair do not follow as well as I should have so I Brought that where I brought that up with the policy subcommittee and the policy subcommittee I believe is going to just because the question is is this policy not happening to the team because it's not what should be happening or because The it's not being followed and it should be fall, you know, does it need to be revised or does it need to be instituted? so I just want to um Let you know that that's a coming attraction as well that I think will Dovetail nicely with this process Well, you know one quick thought is so this document is all about the new committee member But what about the new chair? Right because I think oftentimes, you know a chair assumes a position within the committee and They may be familiar with You know the various meetings and how you know things tend to go and you know, whatever But they're not necessarily familiar with how to chair a meeting right and so there's a whole you know and so that policy the The lack of perhaps follow-through on that particular policy is a great example of you know If a chair hasn't been brought up to speed on what their roles and responsibilities are they may not even be aware That this exists, right? You know, so it's not going to consider for the future for all of us I think is how do we incorporate? Maybe a subsection on becoming chair of the committee and how is that different from being a committee member I see a question in here. Pellum. Does Pellum want to be included in this document? and I I'm guessing that Pellum would love to I'm wondering if it would be okay if we have actually A couple fairly new members would it be alright if I shared this with them? First, I think they'll be helpful to them, but then I'll say and give us their feedback And I would I could kind of liaise in the short term. I'm good Can you use the newest version? Yeah. Yeah, which is always evolving By the minute, there's basically means never It's always going to be it's going to be new and always ever-evolving. No, that sounds great. Okay Just one administrative thing if you want to keep this as an electronic living document that the committee can continue to edit Over time. Is there a location that it can be stored on google drive that all members would have access to view? I was actually thinking of this in the prior conversation Prior to conversations about protocols and superintendent valuation process So I just what it made me think of is a lot of great works happening and with transitions At times things documents that people put a lot of time and energy and everyone endorses Sort of like where's that, you know, so it actually made me think about is there Some level of google folder repository That's not tied to an individual committee member because the way google like Yeah, this hazard and miss do I mean a cage will lovingly lose their arps accounts? I'm sure I'm sure about the lovingly part In a couple days or a week or two whenever we catch up on the system And so I think the challenge is from a document perspective having it based on individual members who Change is problematic. So I'm trying to think through with debbie. Maybe that's something we can work on about how to Kind of facilitate that. Do we actually make a permanent like school committee? Email address. So there's like a clearing house that every new member gets access to But it's not tied to an individual member with google. It's like really important where things originate and where they're, you know, just from a document access Perspective so I just I want to think through that a little with our is folks But I think just having a repository of the work of the committee is really important And that we have a superintendent evaluation subcommittee folder that I think is probably attached to Probably I mean I have a lot of stuff like that So that should be solved soon That's even worse though because that means it could happen before we know it Like I don't mean tomorrow, but it is funny. I think at one o'clock in the morning last night I said to my husband I can move my whole google drive from my office account somewhere else right so that I don't lose So I actually it is on my mind. Yeah, no, it's a big deal So I will work on resolving this this week. The other the other thing that superintendent is that I think that As you're as you're doing that to the extent that Audiences beyond the school committee don't have access what I would hope we would be doing is Ensuring that there's some sort of repository or access to this information That's genuinely public Yeah, because I because if the if the document itself is edited and then brought back to the committee Then there'll be a point of of transparency and public engagement around the new version I if you know what I'm saying I'm uncomfortable with the idea that we have a folder someplace that's beyond public reach Where we keep something that we can commonly work on that sounds like a really bad and dangerous thing So I just want to make sure that As opposed to Having a place where we can put something where if somebody said where do we find this thing to work on an update It we you know what I mean? It is someplace It's calling that out Okay, what a productive meeting Do we have any gifts by the way? I don't see any I don't either that's why this isn't This is the moment of the evening I always ask that because what that means is is everyone knows we're up to our last item, right? It's got to be our last item of business if i'm asking whether we have any Uh Dr. Morris on that last topic just the last final note is we are going to be having a new website We took all that feedback that we had we looked at our current vendor What was possible and we've determined that we need to actually redesign the full site So we've been working with a different vendor on that Our plan right now is to have a soft launch on june 1st, which so soft launch means not everything's on there But enough's on there where people can see it offer feedback and a hard launch on july 1st so that the community has access to comment before things become Incredibly live and then more static Uh, I think the reason I find that related is we've looked at the school committee page We look at the policies for instance, which The good news is that searchable right now the bad news is they're a little clunky in How people view it so we've had trouble rectifying like resolving those two dynamics And I think the new website will offer us different possibilities on that front Both the general but particular to the school committee page. So that's what I was relating the access point that you raised, right? Oh, sorry, I'm just following up on that. Thank you for doing that. It's awesome rolls into the communication speech bigger things Um, we talked a little bit about maybe having a really easy Very prominent section for current initiatives But just because people are going to be thinking about, you know, this is both the ms level at the regional level about different You know big time projects and okay if that's part of the thinking it is our current structure doesn't really allow for that to work well to be blunt and time limited about my comments There's no way to do that and the the new infrastructure Allows for board to be like very in the news updates like there was multiple articles related to Some districts I work for and today's gazette and allows for more of that as well as kind of more defined pages that expanded to other pages So the the structure of it allows for much more engagement in a way to describe so I'm going to move us on since the website and communication actually aren't on the agenda today. Absolutely Vocational schools update. So last Thursday. I had a I think a very healthy meeting with Superintendent Martin of Franklin Tech. We talked about communication between our two school districts And we also talked about the gap that we that was discussed in our meeting last Monday night that Our district was facing in the approved budget and so we resolved to Try to fill that gap understanding the current situation and structure and wanting to rebuild some relationships Between Franklin Tech and the district. I think it's no surprise anyone that that was there were some challenges in that meeting I'm not going to recount. So what we agreed to is that I mean the legal counsel approved this on both sides that What Franklin Tech is willing to do for us for the next academic year only is to set to waive the This additional increment for students who attend voc tech schools for special education needs It's state defined at $3,600 and so that would be waived for the next academic year And so that would net us between 25 and 28 thousand dollars to fill that gap I think this is a very responsive I appreciate the responsiveness of superintendent martin to understand our fiscal situation and to Be responsive in a way that I think Resolves Some element of our challenge. I don't want to minimize the 1.1 million dollars that we were involved in cutting But the the gap that we talked about at the last Monday night's meeting This does not require school committee vote, but I just wanted to share it with you and if there were any questions or concerns I'm happy to take them Questions comments, I should say One question I have is Sending the deadline for application. So the deadline was originally April 1st for dead first Um Students to apply I think the concern of franklin tech and I think I agree with it It's a legitimate concern is that students may have heard Well, you can't apply it. Well, we never said that our counselors never said don't apply to franklin tech It was always if you're applying to franklin tech, you may want to also consider other options Depending a school committee vote the concern that was expressed by franklin tech was that that message in it of itself Might have precluded students from applying so we agreed to extend that deadline by a week to April 8th So that any students who might have been Caught in either misinformation or just not having Because the information wasn't settled at the time that they may have been interested Would have time to resolve that the reality is we did have kids apply to franklin tech As well as other schools From the message that they received from their guidance counselor in eighth grade So it's not a huge concern of mine. It was a significant concern of franklin techs And I think we worked on our reasonable solution to Respond to that concern So when I just So did the Field trip to uh smith take place? So there were no so there were no field trips because that's what I had asked you Right, you didn't even we didn't know when that would have been so that so none of the middle's eighth graders went To visit either school. That's correct So what we uh the middle school principal and I um talked about last year was just the challenge of loss on learning We had um generally about four or five times the number of students Go on the field trip then actually apply to a vogue school which made us somewhat question the motivation And so we still have access we still um for students who come to their guidance counselor You know we've that conversation we promote the dialogue between the vogue school and the family and the student But the field trip part of it was um, it wasn't it was never just and I clarified this the superintendent Franklin raised this in the meeting and and we didn't have a trip at all actually last year We didn't have a trip to smith either. We only had a trip to franklin and that was a longer story, but um It was there was no Favoritism involved and field trips are not field trips. Thank you So just one question. Thank you for meeting with the superintendent. Um, I think it was It's encouraging to hear that you were able to talk through some of the challenges um, my question is around the So this arrangement is for the 2018 2019 tuition, you know for uh the towns Is there any has there been any conversation about continuing that in future years or is this sort of a one time only kind of Thing from it's a one time only kind of thing. Uh, particularly because of the situation we're in I also, uh, just candidly, um I think if we were going more than a year I'd want to bring it up not that i'm not bringing it up We're talking about a school committee meeting as school committee dialogue because doing that Perhaps could preclude other I just don't want to set a dynamic that's a multi-year dynamic for future school committees without enough robust dialogue so He only raised it as a one-year Issue given our fiscal challenges But frankly, I wouldn't have been comfortable going more than a year without more robust dialogue at this table with the community You know the last time well voted The vote went the way it went we had multiple meetings where it's discussed four town meetings school committee meetings So um anything beyond a one-year I would want a more robust discussion about so that's as far as we go Thank you Yeah, so first off. I appreciate the creativity that avoids us What would have been a uh difficult town meeting if if the school committee decided to try and pursue the additional funds You know and you know and yet it does it does mean it's it's a possibility in future years and so um Some members who had attended that um that meeting advocating for us not to go through with the agreement with smith folk Had reached out to me later and I thought I had pretty productive conversations from explaining the The reasons one thing I was very upfront with uh is that you know if we get into a budget situation in the future And it's certainly possible who knows what the future may hold. Um, this is something that you know is It's possible for the school committee to still consider and it's not you know there was some talk about Is this you know a small amount of money and you know, I think you know the 25 000 was the minimum of a conservative estimate the first year Um, and you know when you're cutting more than million dollars every other dollar is very painful. So um, you know if if it It's it's obviously hard to project future budgets, but it as soon as possible if you think that's even a possibility You know if to cross our t's and dot our i's in terms of the community engagement piece ahead of time would be necessary so that if we come to the vote again Even with people strongly in support or an objection to you know, we could make the most informed decision That's why I hope going forward I think it would actually be worth Scheduling a meeting I mean an item for a meeting meet me I say mid-year now, but I don't mid-year means I guess early next year like october and november of next year In which we could talk we could revisit Now I don't want to say necessarily the topic of doing an agreement with Smith vocational, but really revisit the discussion of vocational schools and enrollment and trends and Part of the basket of that will be fiscal issues, but it'll be you know more than that and that we could maybe even invite in Both superintendents or families and others to come in to sort of inform the committee on this In the future we can parking a lot that maybe for something for later Anything else on this topic? Um On school committee player to be gifts on school committee planning one question. I had Dr. Morris is whether we could get I don't want to say a revised schedule, but sort of an updated schedule Of when some of the presentations were going to be done around the sc tf goals And I don't mean tonight. I mean in in general Sort of be able to see them all right As a as a list of when they're scheduled because also I think it would be if we could do that soon Um, well, you're still chair. I would love to see that pushed out if it hasn't already been to sc tf members and others just so that there's more there's a I shouldn't say more awareness We've talked about it here. It's been brought up occasionally I had a couple other public events, but I just want to make sure that since it's something that I think the committee is going to Enjoy or get fruitful conversation out of Um But it's also something that keeps coming up as a question, especially our own data and what we're doing and stuff like that I just think it's worth Making sure that you know if there are members of the public who want to come They they know to come and then I also can see sort of a When the future meetings might be does that make sense to you? It does. Yeah, okay. That'd be wonderful Any other school committee planning? Actually, I'll go to her first So just looking at the regional advocacy Peace and I was reminded Some of the outreach I was doing to representative Killick's office Put me back in touch with a staffer Who had helped with the delegation that? I helped lead last year to and ms. Walman a cage To boston during the mass day on the hill and so I was just looking at the date again because The mass day on the hill is on april 25th Which is back in the middle of there's budget week In boston and I'll have to say that frankly last year when we did this I think the students reported back that The mass events were probably the least interesting to them Unfortunately, they weren't geared towards students and they were you know, there was a You know, there were a couple legislators who were there Sorry to be Chang Diaz was there and you know a few others But it was very much about how school committee members can advocate on behalf of school, you know Issues education related issues Not at all student friendly or young person friendly And I had talked to Glenn Kutcher about trying to change that and that didn't happen. Anyway, long story The point is that I'm raising this now because I do think it's still worth doing again And just figuring out what the timing might be maybe the timing is not that day on the hill And also just wanted to raise the point. Um, so I heard this from the staffer from representative killick staffer that He had approached one of the students that we took on that delegation last year After the fact and had um, they had raised money to provide a scholarship for student from You know from the the representative's district and had suggested to this Amherst regional high school student to go ahead and apply for the scholarship because they thought given You know his work and interest and everything that he would be a great candidate He ended up getting the scholarship and it wasn't a huge scholarship. It was this I think about thousand dollars. I don't like that But anyway, um, he was growing in college. It was a really helpful, you know So it was an interesting little side door that opened as a result of that day on the hill And the students had, you know a really good experience. Um, I think we would want to tailor it for A slightly different experience for them. Um, so that they are able to come in maybe with a set of agenda items and you know Talk to the representatives and legislators And their staffers in a slightly different way, but they really, you know got a lot out of Going to stan Rosenberg's office and meeting with his chief of staff and They met with representative representative goldstein rose and there were a few other, you know people that they met with that day And it was just a great experience So I'd love to see that happen again if we can and I just wanted to talk about that maybe one of our Coming on the next agenda Let's get that on the next agenda Actually, we should have regional advocacy anyways So I think that's going to be probably a standing item where there are going to be things coming up that we ought to talk about as well as plan There are other other other things on this yes, so um now that our budget I mean we have the townwide budget votes, but our budget season from school committee votes is over I talked to a dr. Musad from the collaborative about strategic planning and wanting to get back in that game I believe he's able to attend the meeting if we want him to on April 10th. He sent some revised timelines given that we paused the process for a while and That there's summer which lots of work can happen in the summer and then somewhere can't happen in the summer But just because it's not the people aren't here And so he was interested in coming in at the next meeting on the 10th just for a quick update revised timeline and to re-engage the process And we don't have to make a decision now, but it just you know, I wanted to share it In this meeting I also put on budget warrant reviews so that if we want to have a new process start Like I don't want to have like three meetings go and like oh, we were gonna Have that thing about warrants, you know because that could easily happen So should change of membership and other things that are happening in in april and may that'll keep us busy I had superintendent evaluation. I think having that continue to be on there and just find two dates Ms. Cunningham is planning on doing the The goal to discussion about still learning about race class and other equity issues at that meeting So I have strategic planning budget warrant review policy this At least one but multiple first reads regional advocacy sc tf goal two and superintendent evaluation And then the point that mr. Donis raised about ma sc Regional I'd call it regional advocacy and then would include the msc thing on it Okay So it's hard to project but whether it would rise to the level of agenda item But I assume it won't hit on the topic of the marijuana dispensaries Whether it's at announcements or a superintendent update. I don't know, you know because we don't know what's going to Uh, why don't we I mean we'll input it this way is something This is not locked in right now. We're we're just talking in a meeting with him. We're gonna do If out of tomorrow's Meeting or anything subsequently that comes immediately in mind out of that if it calls for its own agenda item then Let let me and dr. Morris know that I mean anyone who goes I think that we can see two people might be going Um, and we can put it on otherwise. It is absolutely warranted within The announcements or the superintendent's update section to to give us update on that So let's keep it open at the very least we can talk about it then But otherwise if there's enough momentum behind the discussion and the information we're interested we should talk about it As a separate item. Just let us know What sort of bookkeeping one which is I'm guessing we have a rather large stack of executive session minutes that need to be approved and we might want to choose to do that before we have significant change in membership You grew up in Miss Napa Okay, we'll take care of that They're just harder to do. No, no, it's an awesome point. I'm just saying we have we have uh, we have um We have Ms. Ardonius here It was union 26. There's me There's Debbie Between between the three of us we will Figure out the solution to making sure we had a stack of minutes And then we will we will schedule the appropriate time to execute on that item because it's a good point As soon as possible Yes, exactly Exactly Uh, okay anything else? Bye. Just can I offer a final thanks? um to our Vivian For your service. I've learned a lot from both of you In my time on this committee Is this really it by the way? Is it isn't it? This is really it. Yeah, you're relying it Move to adjourn. Oh, no, no, no, that's my job Well, you get to move to adjourn. No, no, I'm looking for a move to adjourn Seconded It's been it's been moved by Ms. Hazard Seconded by Ms. Duamini Cage all those in favor reluctantly to end their last meeting All right, it's unanimous