February 11, 2026 – School Committee – Video & Transcript
February 11, 2026 - School Committee
Welcome to the Whale and School Committee meeting on February 11th.
We are, I think, being recorded by WACAMP, and it is 6.15 p.m.
We have all of our school committee members here, and we have our administration.
Is anyone here for public comment?
No, I'm just observing.
Okay, so I think we can go into the continued budget discussion with the potential vote to
approve the superintendent's fiscal year 27 recommended budget.
I didn't know, David, if you had anything specific you wanted to address at the start here, or if you just wanted us to, how do you want to handle this? Yeah, no, it's been a good discussion. We had a good meeting with the finance committee. Oh, yeah. Could you talk in a little bit on that? Sure. You know, the person observing, if there was somebody right here, I just learned that Betsy Cohen, if I had known. I didn't know it was a webinar format, so I was not able to attend in person, so I apologize for not being there to cheer you on. But I did join for the committee, and you did an excellent job. There was a good discussion. I will say, the FinCom got into a little bit of the schools in Brian Kebney's town presentation, and so that we sort of anticipated a little bit of the school spending, but then it was nice to see you two sort of be able to convey the information that we felt was necessary to put our budget in context. So I did have to drop before the Q&A finished, so I will defer to you. Yeah, there were very good questions. We not only did the general presentation, but we also did the excellent special education presentation, so I talked a lot of good special education questions that were super helpful. And also, the next day, the editorial in the Boston Globe, I don't know if anybody saw it, was on the expense of school transportation. Oh. So it was quite timely about just the challenges that municipalities face when they go out to bid and transportation contracts. It talked more about general transportation, and we know, obviously, special education, transportation. There was a lot of really good data that we had around kind of cost and 766 schools and collaboratives and then districts. So we went through the whole thing, and they asked some really good and thoughtful questions. What kind of questions, like, what were they focused on, if there was kind of like a couple buckets? So they did ask about the non-personnel, just in general, what comprised that. So we did formulate a response. And, you know, really between the operational bus, regular bus, homeless transportation, those types of operation costs and special education costs, that made up 93% of that increase in our non-personnel expenditures. So it really was really sharing that we have done our due diligence in really identifying where we can't work. We're not showing excess in non-personnel costs. So that's kind of what we conveyed and, again, shared that part of the impact is the timing of how the budget cycle goes and when our move-ins haven't arrived. So it hasn't been on point. So this year kind of is truing that up. And so it feels like a bigger impact than maybe it would have been had our budget cycle been slightly different. But that is really the majority of that non-personnel cost. And then I also talked about, I think a number of the FinCon members were new members. So in terms of my context setting, I really talked about our budget last year, how we captured so many efficiencies, both on the gen ed side and the special ed side. And you can't capture personnel efficiencies every year. It's very different. You know, I was talking about higher ed. One of the members of the finance committee was referring to, you know, as a professor. And, you know, what's going on in universities right now as they contract is they're eliminating entire departments, fortunately, largely in liberal arts. Some of us majored in these subjects. And we can't do that. You know, we have to offer third grade every year. We can't eliminate kind of entire slices of our work. And for all the mandates, that just makes it much more complex. And then I also talked about enrollment reductions, that if you have, you know, a certain number of students across the board in elementary going down, it equals one student per class per school. And that's not going to capture necessarily an efficiency. It can sometimes at the high school level. If you're going down. But I also talked about the fact that at the high school level, it's actually going in the opposite direction. And so if we do have a little extra revenue from the state, that's where we would have it as an insurance policy. And, of course, we won't know until students sign up for classes. We'll say, Erin, the town manager acknowledged during the meeting the challenges that the aging facilities present across the district, but, you know, predominantly for the schools, but also this building, and that that is obviously a pressure point. So it was nice to have that alignment, because I know we talk about that at the table and acknowledge the facilities plan work. One question, I was curious if there were any more questions or discussion around the reserve fund. That was one thing I had not heard much of while I was on. That did come up late in our discussion, the special reserve fund. And, you know, next year, we talked about the fact how valuable it is because of the unpredictability, particularly on, you know, the move-in side. Or even as we have students enter TCW, the reason the enrollment we explained, you know, looks like it's getting lower is because students enter at any time. It's not a September entrance. It's an age entrance over the course of the year. So, yeah, that's something that did come up as well, and I think it's really valuable to have a special ed reserve fund. I mean, I think our budget is very accurate right now in terms of, you know, one thing you have to do that's hard is once you have some kind of tuition increase, you have to correct for it. And that's what we've done is really corrected. And that's the good news is that I think our budget right now in student services is really meets where we are, which reduces your chance of having a gap in the future because we're not starting out for next year behind. Where did we land or where did they land as far as what kind of recommendations against the funding of additional funding for the special ed reserve? Is it still, what, 300? That's kind of where they left it. Okay. We're hopeful to have 250, a minimum of 250, and hopefully more. We're like carrying forward. We're not carrying forward. This is something. We don't have to use. Right. Yes, we hope it's a, you know, it could be, right now it's 250, and we hope to carry that forward so that gives us then 550, which is a good cushion. We'll know more. But putting that in perspective after Ronnie's fabulous presentation to us, that's only two move-ins. And that the constraints aren't going any way. It's not like this is a one-off challenging budget year that we're heading into years where that unpredictability will be particularly difficult for the district. Yes. So, all in all, you think they were receptive to everything that is in our budget? They don't have any remaining questions on how we arrived, where we arrived? No? Awesome. And they didn't indicate that there was a hold-up. It was just more clarification. Oh, yeah. So, I don't, it didn't feel like there was any reservations or concerns there. No, there were generally curious, good questions, I thought. It was really helpful with this question to have. Awesome.
Does anybody else around the table have things they want to talk about? So, items that you want to ask questions on, review, revisit, was there anything added to the Q&A between... Oh, that's a good question. I was looking at that on my phone, Jack. Thank you. I'm having trouble getting it on my laptop, so if anybody's watching, I'm not on my phone, like, looking. I'm reading Kirstein's Q&A. I'm going to ask a kind of a silly question, I guess, over here for the regular people. Well, this budget seems very much focused on sustainability, not anything new introduced and not really anything pulled back, because last year I think we acknowledged the strengths where we could increase services or, you know, skills or whatever we needed, we did last year very thoughtfully, and this year seems very much about sustaining that level. Is that accurate? Yes. Okay. The most important part of the context is, you know, sustain our momentum. It's not a time to add initiatives, because we have to be sensitive to the tax levy and where we are right there. Okay. Good. That was my understanding. I just wanted to reiterate that I was on the right page. We talked about that with the Finance Committee as well. And I think facilities management and special education are the two most unpredictable streams, and we just have to account for them being predictably unpredictable. Okay? Yep.
Bye. In the event that we do get more in-state funding than we've kind of planned for, has there been discussion with Brian and or Michael about us getting allocated some of those funds as it relates to the high school and the type?
Yeah, great question. I think with Chapter 70 increases, you know, last year when there was adjustment, they have adjusted, and I think they will. There's two outstanding areas, just so everyone knows, in terms of, you know, what news are we going to get between now and the end of the school year. Health insurance, which should come in early. It's supposed to be, like, the 12th. The end of this week. I don't know that that necessarily will be more revenue for us, but it's more of a cushion for the town. For the levy. And it can be helpful in terms of the tax levy. That's how I would frame that. Chapter 70, in terms of the legislature going higher, that could mean some additional for us. And whether it's high school or, Aaron, what you were just talking about is maintenance in terms of adding to the cushion. We've seen over the last couple of years, I mean, we, you all have gone through this budget. We budget very tightly. And probably slightly too tightly, but we want to get everything in. And so I think having a healthier, just, cushion will, the legislature doesn't finish the budget, as we know, Joe, by first. Okay. Always comes out in the Senate budget. And if those two are both higher, that means there will be a compromise between the two when those come out later. Barring any other questions, does the committee feel prepared to vote to? I move to approve the proposed budget.
Oh, I can. Sure. Oh, you need the actual number, though. I don't have my book. Someone else should do it. We need the full amount.
Yeah, that's the right one. 56. Yeah. Okay. I move to approve the superintendent's fiscal year 2027 recommended budget in the amount of $56,036,431. Do we have a second? I'll second. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? None.
Passes. Well done. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you very much. And just a thanks to all of the administrators and faculty who came and spoke and answered questions about it. It's obviously an important part of the process to give the public an opportunity to learn what's in and what challenges we have. Oh, thank you. No matter which. Thank you. Just worn out. Okay.
Uh, all right.
So, I just, I just want to, thank you. I'll take the moment.
Thank you. They're yours. I put back on the agenda, I felt like maybe there was some discussion to be had with respect to just the, um, five of us and proposed warrant article DD, um, with respect to the parcel at Holiday Road, Orchard Lane, however we want to, um, preference it. Um, and so, I guess we kind of left it that the select board representatives that were here, uh, last week, we're going to go back and discuss it with the select board, kind of what our, um, discussion was, and that we would potentially discuss putting some, working on some changes to the language. Um, I don't know how you all want to handle that. If we want to nominate someone to work on that, um, Carol did reach out to me to discuss it. I'm fine with doing that, if you'd like to do that. Um, the original language was in our folder from last. Yes, you can go in. I just want to grab it. And if you have specific feelings. Um, I think the only one is the issue we started to talk about with Bill and Carol, which is making sure that any, um, like revenue estimates or development estimates include some assessment of the corresponding costs and involving what we understand and learned out of, uh, particularly Alta Oxpo. So, um, I think that I'd at least like to discuss if there's a possibility to include that in the scope of sort of what would be assessed if we were going to support it. Because I think that that's highly relevant to the school in terms of if we were to allow for any kind of residential development, what that would mean in terms of pressure on our budget and enrollment. Mm-hmm. Um. Um. PDF. Yeah, I put it in as one page of a PDF, but just in the drive. Um. I guess I'm a little bit torn, too. I, I, I don't want there to be a, any misunderstanding that, like, we're on board with any transfer or in support of any development there, um, at this point. Yeah. I mean, this doesn't list school. It lists recreation and other development. So I think we talked about adjusting that and they seemed open, but I would agree with you. It's an evaluation, not a commitment. And more of an, sorry. Oh, sorry. Go ahead. No, I was just going to say more of an understanding of really, is this viable for any of these? Mm-hmm. If we're going to do, like, you know, a phase one, those kinds of things to really evaluate if it's usable. I don't even know if anyone's really done any sort of look into what kind of wetlands or other limits that might be conservation-wise. Mm-hmm. Um. And, um, again, I think I'm going to ask a really stupid question, but I wasn't at the last meeting, so I apologize. Is this being considered in the long-range building plan or did they evaluate this at all? I know they did. It is supposed to be being considered. I know. So next meeting, Erin, we're going to have a list of options, um, and that's what they're working on this week. And we're meeting with them later this week just to get more background information. Uh, but the school committee, you know, asks for a range of options. That's what you wanted. And so you're going to get a range of options. And certainly looking at a new site in terms of building a school will be an option, as it often is. That's very common because of the challenges that you just can't build while students are in. And so oftentimes looking for new sites is often part of an option. So I would expect an option of a new site option as one of the options. Okay. David, do you know, I mean, they, the team naturally visited all of the existing sites because they were also looking at the buildings and the state of the facilities. Yep. Do you know if they've also visited other undeveloped land as part of their assessment? I think that they have the, um, drawings in the parcel information to review them. No, no, no. I know that, but if they, they're not doing a site visit. That's not part of like this process that would be down the road. Okay. So it is valuable to look and, and see, to, to explore. But part of, you know, what they're going to look for you in terms of guidance is, is this something, which options do you think are viable and which ones should we move forward with? That's going to be part of this process. I think we just want to make sure that their options are including undeveloped land that could be available and not just the existing sites. Because when they came a few weeks ago, they talked just about the existing sites, but that was not that option meeting. I know it's coming. Yeah. So I think we just want to make sure that all of the available land is within their scope to consider. Okay. Yep. We will share that with them. That's helpful. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And I mean, Alpine Field being another parcel that's part of the school's domain, I guess, if you want to refer to it that way. You know, maybe there's a better use for that than the field that consistently is fairly unplayable. So just, you know, a thought. So, and they're all kind of in the same area. And again, I want to be really clear that just because we may not build a school on any of these lots, there may be other uses while we are building a school, if we're building a school or, so I'd like to hear that, A, they looked at them and that it was beyond the wrap and kind of maybe they can include why they wouldn't have included these parcels as potentials for a school or otherwise. And then on the flip side of that, even if they don't necessarily come back with those being a great parcel for the schools, I don't really want to rule out allocating or getting the town to support allocating $200,000 to potentially explore the true usability of the site. That would have to be done. It would have to be done either way. So I don't want to lose that momentum in the event that they do come back and say, hey, this is feasible, this is usable. You guys should look at it. Go ahead. I think I agree with what you're saying, which is we just, I think we want to take it one step at a time. And I think if we're going to evaluate what the site is suitable for potentially, we should be evaluating all possible uses and then be discussing which use is long term most beneficial to the district. And I think that long term cost benefit analysis has to include projected costs over the long term in addition to revenue generation. So maybe, this is me spitballing, proposed by select board and school committee to determine whether the town will vote to appropriate a sum of money to be expended under the direction of the select board and the school committee. I mean, really, I don't know that the select board has any authority to go and investigate the site since they don't have any control over it, as draconian as that may sound. But for studies, planning and analysis relative to a determination of site suitability or potentially uses and or redevelopment or just development period. It doesn't even have to be redevelopment, just development. Yeah. I mean, I don't, I don't have the, I don't have an objection to redevelopment and sale. But with you, I would put potential uses first, which could include. And we can spell those out. Yeah. Um. Well, and that's in the first paragraph, but it does not include potential school site. No. Or just educational. Yeah. That's where you're at. Okay. And then later after, it says including, but not limited to active or passive recreation town use, which I think is a little vague. I think we would like. Right. That's not. Correct. Correct. Um, so I think we're all aligned. Does anyone want to take this on? Do you want me to just reach out to Carol and work on the Carol slash Bill and work on it? Um, making some provisions. Do one of you want to do it? I'm totally fine with whatever. I'm probably not the best person to do it. So I would gladly defer to somebody else. Yeah. I'm happy to redline it and give it to you to talk to Bill and Carol, but we can divide and conquer. Okay. Yeah. That's fine. I just won't get to it until the weekend, but I'll do it. That's fine. I'm not going to get to it until then.
Do you want to go out or are you comfortable just moving forward as discussed around the table? Yeah. Yeah. I would agree. Comfortable. Um, okay. Do you have any feelings on that? No, I think your thinking seems sound. Okay. And at our next meeting we will have the options on the 25th. Okay. You may get some, I think you're going to get something before. Fabulous. Okay. Because the presentation is going to be lengthy on the 25th because there's a lot to go through. So, um, the advisory committee meeting on the 23rd, we'll probably need an hour and a half at this meeting. Our meeting's an hour, like in 20, because we have a lot to go through. Erin, do you have an editable version you can share or should I just retype it? No. I will send you an editable version. Great. Thank you. Just type it in. Mm-hmm. From PD, you think? Mm-hmm. All right. Either way. I'll highlight it. Um, okay. I also do want to acknowledge that I spoke to some former school committee members with a lot of history in town that they couldn't necessarily pinpoint exactly why, but this had been held onto by the schools for this period of time for a reason. And, you know, I think we should be really thoughtful about relinquishing that. I remember that from years ago. Yeah. I'll try to dig through my notes. Okay. Does anybody want to speak to the DECA? Is that the just weekend conference that they stay a couple nights and that they do every year? Well, if some, if people qualify. Yeah. It's the business. Yeah. It's a really awesome program. Yeah. Let's see for it. Mm-hmm. It's a nice hotel. Um, Mr. Layman. And I remember I always ask, like, why overnight? It's down the street. It ends at three and the answer always is- They do a lot of- There's the networking and the- Yeah. And they do a lot of stuff together overnight. Yeah. The evening celebrations. Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. Exactly. And I wouldn't want to have to go pick up my hair. No. I mean, it was- It's very thoughtful why they stay. Stay in there. Stay in there. It's a great experience. Um, I feel like they should, uh, I know they just launched their chapter not that long ago, but they got out of their fundraising. Some of their products, maybe. Um. I bought a few of those. Yeah. Um, okay. Anybody have any issues with our mitt? I was not there, so it needs to be edited because I think it was Erin Muller that called it to order, that convened it. Correct. I should have caught that. I should have caught that. I should have caught that. Erin and Erin. It's so easy. She's way better looking. Um, I think other than that, I will- I don't- if you guys want to add anything with the HFMH or anything like that? No? Okay. So if we just make that edit- Diane,ети org, so you do know how to make you up the scenes we're pushing in! It would be mud opportunity for them, not making me up theенные moments, but you looked up the Create needed to orbit. And, you know, you just also rolled it to order, but convened it toede. That convened it. Correct. I��. I should have caught that. Iון. Erin and Erin, it's so easy. She's way better looking. Um, I think other than that, I want- I don't, if you guys wanna add anything, with the HFMH or anything like that. No? Okay, so if we just make that edit. Diane, you did a nice job. It was a meety meeting. I know what you did? Diane,I'm making that edit actively. actively. Do you want me to also remove draft after January 27, 2026? And then I'll, okay.
Yep. You guys didn't take any votes. I was going to make sure I was marked absent for them. But figure out what happens when I open the PDF as a Google Doc and it has the same name.
Like, do I, I want to make sure. It should be fine because they're two completely separate file types. Like, will it overwrite it or anything? No. I just changed it to SC Minutes 1. I don't want to do that. Oh, it's showing up in there. Okay.
So, um, all right. Anybody have any issues with the warrant? Questions on the warrant?
Oh, no. Would you like a motion? I would love to move it. I move to approve the consent agenda with the edits made to the minutes for January 27, 2026, as discussed. I second. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? None. Okay. Um, any matters not anticipated? I think maybe I have one. Okay. And I just, I probably should have done this ahead of time, but we just haven't received an update on National Honor Society and if that's being reconsidered or re-evaluated. Yep. We'll have an update at our next meeting. Okay. We'll put it on the agenda. Absolutely. Thank you. Is this a record? It's a record. No. What was the record? Okay. I don't think you were there. Oh, well, see. Then it's a record for me. It's a kind of a record. I feel bad that there's not like a sporting event that everyone can raise home to. I know. That's true. So good. With that, I would, um, okay, mostly to adjourn. I move to adjourn. Second. Trifecta. All in favor? Aye. Aye. Any opposed? None. We are adjourned. Woohoo!
I didn't know, David, if you had anything specific you wanted to address at the start here, or if you just wanted us to, how do you want to handle this? Yeah, no, it's been a good discussion. We had a good meeting with the finance committee. Oh, yeah. Could you talk in a little bit on that? Sure. You know, the person observing, if there was somebody right here, I just learned that Betsy Cohen, if I had known. I didn't know it was a webinar format, so I was not able to attend in person, so I apologize for not being there to cheer you on. But I did join for the committee, and you did an excellent job. There was a good discussion. I will say, the FinCom got into a little bit of the schools in Brian Kebney's town presentation, and so that we sort of anticipated a little bit of the school spending, but then it was nice to see you two sort of be able to convey the information that we felt was necessary to put our budget in context. So I did have to drop before the Q&A finished, so I will defer to you. Yeah, there were very good questions. We not only did the general presentation, but we also did the excellent special education presentation, so I talked a lot of good special education questions that were super helpful. And also, the next day, the editorial in the Boston Globe, I don't know if anybody saw it, was on the expense of school transportation. Oh. So it was quite timely about just the challenges that municipalities face when they go out to bid and transportation contracts. It talked more about general transportation, and we know, obviously, special education, transportation. There was a lot of really good data that we had around kind of cost and 766 schools and collaboratives and then districts. So we went through the whole thing, and they asked some really good and thoughtful questions. What kind of questions, like, what were they focused on, if there was kind of like a couple buckets? So they did ask about the non-personnel, just in general, what comprised that. So we did formulate a response. And, you know, really between the operational bus, regular bus, homeless transportation, those types of operation costs and special education costs, that made up 93% of that increase in our non-personnel expenditures. So it really was really sharing that we have done our due diligence in really identifying where we can't work. We're not showing excess in non-personnel costs. So that's kind of what we conveyed and, again, shared that part of the impact is the timing of how the budget cycle goes and when our move-ins haven't arrived. So it hasn't been on point. So this year kind of is truing that up. And so it feels like a bigger impact than maybe it would have been had our budget cycle been slightly different. But that is really the majority of that non-personnel cost. And then I also talked about, I think a number of the FinCon members were new members. So in terms of my context setting, I really talked about our budget last year, how we captured so many efficiencies, both on the gen ed side and the special ed side. And you can't capture personnel efficiencies every year. It's very different. You know, I was talking about higher ed. One of the members of the finance committee was referring to, you know, as a professor. And, you know, what's going on in universities right now as they contract is they're eliminating entire departments, fortunately, largely in liberal arts. Some of us majored in these subjects. And we can't do that. You know, we have to offer third grade every year. We can't eliminate kind of entire slices of our work. And for all the mandates, that just makes it much more complex. And then I also talked about enrollment reductions, that if you have, you know, a certain number of students across the board in elementary going down, it equals one student per class per school. And that's not going to capture necessarily an efficiency. It can sometimes at the high school level. If you're going down. But I also talked about the fact that at the high school level, it's actually going in the opposite direction. And so if we do have a little extra revenue from the state, that's where we would have it as an insurance policy. And, of course, we won't know until students sign up for classes. We'll say, Erin, the town manager acknowledged during the meeting the challenges that the aging facilities present across the district, but, you know, predominantly for the schools, but also this building, and that that is obviously a pressure point. So it was nice to have that alignment, because I know we talk about that at the table and acknowledge the facilities plan work. One question, I was curious if there were any more questions or discussion around the reserve fund. That was one thing I had not heard much of while I was on. That did come up late in our discussion, the special reserve fund. And, you know, next year, we talked about the fact how valuable it is because of the unpredictability, particularly on, you know, the move-in side. Or even as we have students enter TCW, the reason the enrollment we explained, you know, looks like it's getting lower is because students enter at any time. It's not a September entrance. It's an age entrance over the course of the year. So, yeah, that's something that did come up as well, and I think it's really valuable to have a special ed reserve fund. I mean, I think our budget is very accurate right now in terms of, you know, one thing you have to do that's hard is once you have some kind of tuition increase, you have to correct for it. And that's what we've done is really corrected. And that's the good news is that I think our budget right now in student services is really meets where we are, which reduces your chance of having a gap in the future because we're not starting out for next year behind. Where did we land or where did they land as far as what kind of recommendations against the funding of additional funding for the special ed reserve? Is it still, what, 300? That's kind of where they left it. Okay. We're hopeful to have 250, a minimum of 250, and hopefully more. We're like carrying forward. We're not carrying forward. This is something. We don't have to use. Right. Yes, we hope it's a, you know, it could be, right now it's 250, and we hope to carry that forward so that gives us then 550, which is a good cushion. We'll know more. But putting that in perspective after Ronnie's fabulous presentation to us, that's only two move-ins. And that the constraints aren't going any way. It's not like this is a one-off challenging budget year that we're heading into years where that unpredictability will be particularly difficult for the district. Yes. So, all in all, you think they were receptive to everything that is in our budget? They don't have any remaining questions on how we arrived, where we arrived? No? Awesome. And they didn't indicate that there was a hold-up. It was just more clarification. Oh, yeah. So, I don't, it didn't feel like there was any reservations or concerns there. No, there were generally curious, good questions, I thought. It was really helpful with this question to have. Awesome.
Does anybody else around the table have things they want to talk about? So, items that you want to ask questions on, review, revisit, was there anything added to the Q&A between... Oh, that's a good question. I was looking at that on my phone, Jack. Thank you. I'm having trouble getting it on my laptop, so if anybody's watching, I'm not on my phone, like, looking. I'm reading Kirstein's Q&A. I'm going to ask a kind of a silly question, I guess, over here for the regular people. Well, this budget seems very much focused on sustainability, not anything new introduced and not really anything pulled back, because last year I think we acknowledged the strengths where we could increase services or, you know, skills or whatever we needed, we did last year very thoughtfully, and this year seems very much about sustaining that level. Is that accurate? Yes. Okay. The most important part of the context is, you know, sustain our momentum. It's not a time to add initiatives, because we have to be sensitive to the tax levy and where we are right there. Okay. Good. That was my understanding. I just wanted to reiterate that I was on the right page. We talked about that with the Finance Committee as well. And I think facilities management and special education are the two most unpredictable streams, and we just have to account for them being predictably unpredictable. Okay? Yep.
Bye. In the event that we do get more in-state funding than we've kind of planned for, has there been discussion with Brian and or Michael about us getting allocated some of those funds as it relates to the high school and the type?
Yeah, great question. I think with Chapter 70 increases, you know, last year when there was adjustment, they have adjusted, and I think they will. There's two outstanding areas, just so everyone knows, in terms of, you know, what news are we going to get between now and the end of the school year. Health insurance, which should come in early. It's supposed to be, like, the 12th. The end of this week. I don't know that that necessarily will be more revenue for us, but it's more of a cushion for the town. For the levy. And it can be helpful in terms of the tax levy. That's how I would frame that. Chapter 70, in terms of the legislature going higher, that could mean some additional for us. And whether it's high school or, Aaron, what you were just talking about is maintenance in terms of adding to the cushion. We've seen over the last couple of years, I mean, we, you all have gone through this budget. We budget very tightly. And probably slightly too tightly, but we want to get everything in. And so I think having a healthier, just, cushion will, the legislature doesn't finish the budget, as we know, Joe, by first. Okay. Always comes out in the Senate budget. And if those two are both higher, that means there will be a compromise between the two when those come out later. Barring any other questions, does the committee feel prepared to vote to? I move to approve the proposed budget.
Oh, I can. Sure. Oh, you need the actual number, though. I don't have my book. Someone else should do it. We need the full amount.
Yeah, that's the right one. 56. Yeah. Okay. I move to approve the superintendent's fiscal year 2027 recommended budget in the amount of $56,036,431. Do we have a second? I'll second. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? None.
Passes. Well done. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you very much. And just a thanks to all of the administrators and faculty who came and spoke and answered questions about it. It's obviously an important part of the process to give the public an opportunity to learn what's in and what challenges we have. Oh, thank you. No matter which. Thank you. Just worn out. Okay.
Uh, all right.
So, I just, I just want to, thank you. I'll take the moment.
Thank you. They're yours. I put back on the agenda, I felt like maybe there was some discussion to be had with respect to just the, um, five of us and proposed warrant article DD, um, with respect to the parcel at Holiday Road, Orchard Lane, however we want to, um, preference it. Um, and so, I guess we kind of left it that the select board representatives that were here, uh, last week, we're going to go back and discuss it with the select board, kind of what our, um, discussion was, and that we would potentially discuss putting some, working on some changes to the language. Um, I don't know how you all want to handle that. If we want to nominate someone to work on that, um, Carol did reach out to me to discuss it. I'm fine with doing that, if you'd like to do that. Um, the original language was in our folder from last. Yes, you can go in. I just want to grab it. And if you have specific feelings. Um, I think the only one is the issue we started to talk about with Bill and Carol, which is making sure that any, um, like revenue estimates or development estimates include some assessment of the corresponding costs and involving what we understand and learned out of, uh, particularly Alta Oxpo. So, um, I think that I'd at least like to discuss if there's a possibility to include that in the scope of sort of what would be assessed if we were going to support it. Because I think that that's highly relevant to the school in terms of if we were to allow for any kind of residential development, what that would mean in terms of pressure on our budget and enrollment. Mm-hmm. Um. Um. PDF. Yeah, I put it in as one page of a PDF, but just in the drive. Um. I guess I'm a little bit torn, too. I, I, I don't want there to be a, any misunderstanding that, like, we're on board with any transfer or in support of any development there, um, at this point. Yeah. I mean, this doesn't list school. It lists recreation and other development. So I think we talked about adjusting that and they seemed open, but I would agree with you. It's an evaluation, not a commitment. And more of an, sorry. Oh, sorry. Go ahead. No, I was just going to say more of an understanding of really, is this viable for any of these? Mm-hmm. If we're going to do, like, you know, a phase one, those kinds of things to really evaluate if it's usable. I don't even know if anyone's really done any sort of look into what kind of wetlands or other limits that might be conservation-wise. Mm-hmm. Um. And, um, again, I think I'm going to ask a really stupid question, but I wasn't at the last meeting, so I apologize. Is this being considered in the long-range building plan or did they evaluate this at all? I know they did. It is supposed to be being considered. I know. So next meeting, Erin, we're going to have a list of options, um, and that's what they're working on this week. And we're meeting with them later this week just to get more background information. Uh, but the school committee, you know, asks for a range of options. That's what you wanted. And so you're going to get a range of options. And certainly looking at a new site in terms of building a school will be an option, as it often is. That's very common because of the challenges that you just can't build while students are in. And so oftentimes looking for new sites is often part of an option. So I would expect an option of a new site option as one of the options. Okay. David, do you know, I mean, they, the team naturally visited all of the existing sites because they were also looking at the buildings and the state of the facilities. Yep. Do you know if they've also visited other undeveloped land as part of their assessment? I think that they have the, um, drawings in the parcel information to review them. No, no, no. I know that, but if they, they're not doing a site visit. That's not part of like this process that would be down the road. Okay. So it is valuable to look and, and see, to, to explore. But part of, you know, what they're going to look for you in terms of guidance is, is this something, which options do you think are viable and which ones should we move forward with? That's going to be part of this process. I think we just want to make sure that their options are including undeveloped land that could be available and not just the existing sites. Because when they came a few weeks ago, they talked just about the existing sites, but that was not that option meeting. I know it's coming. Yeah. So I think we just want to make sure that all of the available land is within their scope to consider. Okay. Yep. We will share that with them. That's helpful. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And I mean, Alpine Field being another parcel that's part of the school's domain, I guess, if you want to refer to it that way. You know, maybe there's a better use for that than the field that consistently is fairly unplayable. So just, you know, a thought. So, and they're all kind of in the same area. And again, I want to be really clear that just because we may not build a school on any of these lots, there may be other uses while we are building a school, if we're building a school or, so I'd like to hear that, A, they looked at them and that it was beyond the wrap and kind of maybe they can include why they wouldn't have included these parcels as potentials for a school or otherwise. And then on the flip side of that, even if they don't necessarily come back with those being a great parcel for the schools, I don't really want to rule out allocating or getting the town to support allocating $200,000 to potentially explore the true usability of the site. That would have to be done. It would have to be done either way. So I don't want to lose that momentum in the event that they do come back and say, hey, this is feasible, this is usable. You guys should look at it. Go ahead. I think I agree with what you're saying, which is we just, I think we want to take it one step at a time. And I think if we're going to evaluate what the site is suitable for potentially, we should be evaluating all possible uses and then be discussing which use is long term most beneficial to the district. And I think that long term cost benefit analysis has to include projected costs over the long term in addition to revenue generation. So maybe, this is me spitballing, proposed by select board and school committee to determine whether the town will vote to appropriate a sum of money to be expended under the direction of the select board and the school committee. I mean, really, I don't know that the select board has any authority to go and investigate the site since they don't have any control over it, as draconian as that may sound. But for studies, planning and analysis relative to a determination of site suitability or potentially uses and or redevelopment or just development period. It doesn't even have to be redevelopment, just development. Yeah. I mean, I don't, I don't have the, I don't have an objection to redevelopment and sale. But with you, I would put potential uses first, which could include. And we can spell those out. Yeah. Um. Well, and that's in the first paragraph, but it does not include potential school site. No. Or just educational. Yeah. That's where you're at. Okay. And then later after, it says including, but not limited to active or passive recreation town use, which I think is a little vague. I think we would like. Right. That's not. Correct. Correct. Um, so I think we're all aligned. Does anyone want to take this on? Do you want me to just reach out to Carol and work on the Carol slash Bill and work on it? Um, making some provisions. Do one of you want to do it? I'm totally fine with whatever. I'm probably not the best person to do it. So I would gladly defer to somebody else. Yeah. I'm happy to redline it and give it to you to talk to Bill and Carol, but we can divide and conquer. Okay. Yeah. That's fine. I just won't get to it until the weekend, but I'll do it. That's fine. I'm not going to get to it until then.
Do you want to go out or are you comfortable just moving forward as discussed around the table? Yeah. Yeah. I would agree. Comfortable. Um, okay. Do you have any feelings on that? No, I think your thinking seems sound. Okay. And at our next meeting we will have the options on the 25th. Okay. You may get some, I think you're going to get something before. Fabulous. Okay. Because the presentation is going to be lengthy on the 25th because there's a lot to go through. So, um, the advisory committee meeting on the 23rd, we'll probably need an hour and a half at this meeting. Our meeting's an hour, like in 20, because we have a lot to go through. Erin, do you have an editable version you can share or should I just retype it? No. I will send you an editable version. Great. Thank you. Just type it in. Mm-hmm. From PD, you think? Mm-hmm. All right. Either way. I'll highlight it. Um, okay. I also do want to acknowledge that I spoke to some former school committee members with a lot of history in town that they couldn't necessarily pinpoint exactly why, but this had been held onto by the schools for this period of time for a reason. And, you know, I think we should be really thoughtful about relinquishing that. I remember that from years ago. Yeah. I'll try to dig through my notes. Okay. Does anybody want to speak to the DECA? Is that the just weekend conference that they stay a couple nights and that they do every year? Well, if some, if people qualify. Yeah. It's the business. Yeah. It's a really awesome program. Yeah. Let's see for it. Mm-hmm. It's a nice hotel. Um, Mr. Layman. And I remember I always ask, like, why overnight? It's down the street. It ends at three and the answer always is- They do a lot of- There's the networking and the- Yeah. And they do a lot of stuff together overnight. Yeah. The evening celebrations. Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. Exactly. And I wouldn't want to have to go pick up my hair. No. I mean, it was- It's very thoughtful why they stay. Stay in there. Stay in there. It's a great experience. Um, I feel like they should, uh, I know they just launched their chapter not that long ago, but they got out of their fundraising. Some of their products, maybe. Um. I bought a few of those. Yeah. Um, okay. Anybody have any issues with our mitt? I was not there, so it needs to be edited because I think it was Erin Muller that called it to order, that convened it. Correct. I should have caught that. I should have caught that. I should have caught that. Erin and Erin. It's so easy. She's way better looking. Um, I think other than that, I will- I don't- if you guys want to add anything with the HFMH or anything like that? No? Okay. So if we just make that edit- Diane,ети org, so you do know how to make you up the scenes we're pushing in! It would be mud opportunity for them, not making me up theенные moments, but you looked up the Create needed to orbit. And, you know, you just also rolled it to order, but convened it toede. That convened it. Correct. I��. I should have caught that. Iון. Erin and Erin, it's so easy. She's way better looking. Um, I think other than that, I want- I don't, if you guys wanna add anything, with the HFMH or anything like that. No? Okay, so if we just make that edit. Diane, you did a nice job. It was a meety meeting. I know what you did? Diane,I'm making that edit actively. actively. Do you want me to also remove draft after January 27, 2026? And then I'll, okay.
Yep. You guys didn't take any votes. I was going to make sure I was marked absent for them. But figure out what happens when I open the PDF as a Google Doc and it has the same name.
Like, do I, I want to make sure. It should be fine because they're two completely separate file types. Like, will it overwrite it or anything? No. I just changed it to SC Minutes 1. I don't want to do that. Oh, it's showing up in there. Okay.
So, um, all right. Anybody have any issues with the warrant? Questions on the warrant?
Oh, no. Would you like a motion? I would love to move it. I move to approve the consent agenda with the edits made to the minutes for January 27, 2026, as discussed. I second. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? None. Okay. Um, any matters not anticipated? I think maybe I have one. Okay. And I just, I probably should have done this ahead of time, but we just haven't received an update on National Honor Society and if that's being reconsidered or re-evaluated. Yep. We'll have an update at our next meeting. Okay. We'll put it on the agenda. Absolutely. Thank you. Is this a record? It's a record. No. What was the record? Okay. I don't think you were there. Oh, well, see. Then it's a record for me. It's a kind of a record. I feel bad that there's not like a sporting event that everyone can raise home to. I know. That's true. So good. With that, I would, um, okay, mostly to adjourn. I move to adjourn. Second. Trifecta. All in favor? Aye. Aye. Any opposed? None. We are adjourned. Woohoo!