January 20, 2026 – HRDEI Committee – Video & Transcript
January 20, 2026 - HRDEI Committee
Thank you. Good evening, everybody. I'm Karen Blumenfeld, Chair of the Weyland Human Rights,
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee. It is 6.04 on January 20th, and we are just beginning
our meeting. First, we'll start with a call to order to see who's here. Of course, we can see
who's here, but we're going to do this anyway. I just say your name and that you're here when I
call on you. Heather, present. Heather Pino, present. Sarah. Sarah Student, present. Mary Ann.
Mary Ann Borkowski, present. Sophie. Sophie Chen, present. Asma. Asma Khan, present. Maya. Maya Raj, present.
And Yawu. Yawu, present. Thank you. So we're missing a couple of people. We're missing Denise.
I knew we'd be missing Kevin. We are missing Mariam. Exactly. Mariam, Denise, Kevin, Janot,
I knew would be missing. Yep. And that's it. So. Okay. Heather is going to do the land acknowledgement
tonight. Pursuant to Chapter 2 of the Acts of 2025, this meeting is being conducted remotely
as in accordance with applicable law. No in-person attendance by members of the public will be
permitted because it is remote. And one may watch it on the link provided on the agenda. When required
by law or allowed by the chair, persons wishing to provide public comment or otherwise participate in
the meeting may do so at the meeting. Remote access in this case, public comment should be limited to two
minutes per person. The Indigenous land acknowledgement. Today, as we begin, we would like to acknowledge the
following Indigenous peoples on whose traditional homelands we live, work, and gather today. The
Massachusetts, the Nipmuc, the Wampanoag, and the Pawtucket. We acknowledge their ancestors,
particularly Carto of the Massachusetts tribe, who was steward of much of the land now encompassing
Sudbury and Weyland when European settlers arrived to colonize this place in 1638. We seek to
understand, acknowledge, and remember the painful ongoing history of war, genocide, and forced removal
of Indigenous peoples by European settlers. And we offer a living celebration of the Indigenous
communities who are not just part of the past, but who continue to live and make new history here
today. May we all commit to deepening our relationships with the Indigenous communities
and to being their allies in working for justice. Thank you, Heather. I see that we have no one here for
public comment. It's just us. And I wanted to, so we'll get on with the agenda. And I wanted to say we're
going to have a short meeting tonight. We're going to finish up by 730. That's our goal. Or sooner if we finish our
business sooner so everyone can get back to their dinners and their families. So let's see. So the first
thing we want to do is talk about voting on the minutes from December, December 16th. This is agenda
item three. Thank you to Asma and Yahoo for getting these minutes done. You'll notice we have a new
format both for the minutes and the agenda. These are new formats that the town has asked us to use.
So we are getting used to them. So we are getting used to them. And presumably all the minutes and agendas
of every committee and board in town will look like this now. So are there any comments on the
December 16th meeting minutes?
This is Yahoo. I have to say that Asma didn't all the work for this time. I'm very sorry that
because of personal reasons I got delayed. I thank her so much for taking on these minutes.
Thank you, Hasma. We appreciate you. And we appreciate you as well, Yahoo. Thank you.
Thanks. Would someone like to move to approve the minutes? So moved. Aye. Marianne approves
or asks for approval or first moves. Okay. Marianne moves to approve the December 16th minutes. And
is there a second? Second. Heather. Heather is the second. Any comments before we vote?
If there are no comments, then let us vote to approve the December 16th, 2026 meeting minutes. Heather? Yes. Sarah? Yes. Marianne? Yes. Sophie? Yes. Asma? Yes. Maya?
I was not there. So I'll abstain. Thank you for remembering every single time. I'm just going to guarantee that I forget to do that. So thank you for being responsible and abstaining. Asma, you were actually absent also. I think I was absent too. Sarah, you were absent too. Yeah. I'm sorry. Yeah. No, I'm sorry too. Every single time I don't remember to do that. Okay. Let's start again. Heather? Well, I also think if people were able to watch it, you know, they, I would be curious if you watched it, if you could vote to approve it as we move forward. But that's true. No one wants to admit they didn't watch all two hours. I read it. It's true. But otherwise, let's, let's start again. Yeah. I vote in favor. Okay. Marianne? I vote in favor. Uh, so who just said they were in here? Uh, so Sophie? Uh, yes. Thank you. Thank you. You were here. It looks like. Yeah. It said you were there on Zoom. Um, Asma, you were not there. Uh, Yawu, do you approve? Yes. And I approve too. So it is unanimous among the people who were there. Yeah. And, um, we might want to confirm that's not a quorum of our committee as we're down a number of members. So we just would want to confirm it. I don't think that vote. I mean, it's our minutes, but we can, we can bring it up next time again. Me too. Okay. No, it's, um, um, I have to say it's important because Jamil's waiting to be paid. Oh God. Um, let's just think about that for a second. So that's a really good. I, during the festival, uh, last a year ago, I was able to submit these, uh, when the minutes were finalized, even if the vote hadn't been taken, I was able to submit them to Kelsey to be submitted to the select board. But wait a second. If it was Heather, me, cause I'm a yes, whether I said so or not, Mary Ann, Yawu. Oh, it's only four. Oh, we need one more. Um, it doesn't matter that I, I watched it several times. You did. Awesome. Actually, that was my point. Yeah. Asma, you had to watch it cause you. Yes. So you can vote Asma. Do you vote to approve these minutes? Yes. Yes. Okay. So we have a form. Thank you. That's great.
Okay. If somebody has sound in the background, could they mute when they're not talking? Thank you. All right. Wonderful. Okay. We have approved these minutes. Um, the next topic is agenda item number four, which is a discussion and possible vote to co-sponsor two additional sessions of the program with the library and the Wayland museum and historical society called conversations for change. This was, um, Dr. Eden Renee Hayes led these sessions. The last one was last week and the, uh, Mary Ann, if you could update us on the possibility of these two additional sessions, that would be great. Great. So, um, we met with, uh, a couple of people from the library and, um, the historical society and of course, uh, Dr. Eden Renee Hayes and, um, talking about how we wanted to continue the conversations that we're having. And, uh, she, um, had proposed two different talks, one that focused on, um, actually James Baldwin, um, has a book stranger in the village and who really talks about who gets to belong and who decides. Um, and it's really focusing, um, our whole immigration, um, what's happening in our country around immigration and that whole conversation in particular about ice and what it means to build community. So that was one that's supposed to be happening in March. Um, and, um, I will say 17th is what, or 19th is what is, is what is suggested. Um, we'll have to really wait to confirm that. Neither of these have been okayed by the library yet. Um, but we had kind of talked about a number of topics and these are what we're let came on. In May, either late April or early May, it's going to be on Paul Robeson as he testifies before the, um, House of Un-American Activities Committee. And, uh, so it will be, actually, we'll get to hear, um, his testimony for 10 minutes and then have a chance to talk about, um, what it means to, um, to have been acceptable or dangerous and what that means to individuals, um, when they're facing those kinds of questions about their conversation in the, in the public forum. Uh, so anyhow, those are the two, um, uh, discussion points, um, for the rest of the, of the spring. And I told the library that we were meeting tonight, so we would vote tonight. And, and they said, fine. And they emphasized what Marianne just said, which is that the library trustees have not approved these two topics. They're meeting, I think, tomorrow. Um, but we're hopeful that those will be the topics. And, um, was there anything? I wasn't able to go at the last minute, um, last week. Was anybody there who can share how it went? I was so disappointed. At the library meeting? Oh, oh, at the event? Yeah. Oh, yeah. I was there. Um, it was, I thought it was great. We had a good conversation, lots of participation. And, um, I, you know, um, yeah, I thought we were, it was very, um, I thought it was, I thought it was good. Now, now I wasn't prepared to actually talk about a few topics. Um, the, uh, um, Karen, oh, Karen wasn't there. I'm sorry. I don't need to put you on the spot. The, um, um, oh, we were looking at artifacts. Um, so, and it was bringing it back home and that there were minstrel shows here. Um, and, you know, whether the ramifications when we're, you know, when we have to think seriously, um, about the fact that there was a cross burning in 1981 in our town. And, um, and interestingly, um, there was an attempt to say it wasn't really a cross burning, even though it was a cross, it was just kind of a handmade cross. And, but, you know, uh, so that, that is, it just, it's opportunity to reflect on whether we're willing to accept that this is a real thing that exists in our community and that we need to address it and look at it and call it what it's, what it is. So, um, so there were a number, you know, we looked at, um, some of the handbills from the Vogue theater, um, you know, entertainment that was acceptable at that, that time among some groups. Um, I mean, for all the wonders of, um, you know, having, um, local entertainment right in our town, um, the importance of some of those, um, messages and what that means. And, and it just brought it home that it wasn't just happening someplace else. Um, and that, you know, we had an opportunity to talk about that and what that felt like. Thank you so much, Marianne. That's really helpful. Um, so if there's no further discussion, will somebody please move to co-sponsor two additional sessions of the Conversations for Change series with the Whelan Library and the Whelan Museum and Historical Society. And you can just say so moved, if you would like. So moved. And this is Heather. Thank you, Heather. Is there a second? Marianne seconds. Okay. Marianne seconds. Um, is there any further discussion or are we ready to vote? Okay. Then let's vote to, um, whether to approve co-sponsoring two additional sessions of this series. Heather. Yes. Sarah. Yes. Marianne. Yes. Sophie. Yes. Asma. Yes. Maya. Yes. Yahoo. Yes. And Karen. Yes. So we have unanimously, uh, agreed to co-sponsor two more of these sessions, which is really exciting. Um, I think they're going to be amazing if those are the two topics that the trustees approve. It sounds like really just very rich topics for conversation.
Um, okay. So let's move to agenda item number five, uh, which is an update on the conversation. This is different. They both have conversations in them, both titles, but this is a different program conversations, not confrontations. And Heather, would you like to update us on that series and what's been happening? Sure. Um, more good news. Um, last time we met, we were trying to secure funding to do a program, um, with led by Jamil Adams, a series of four conversations and, uh, in which we practiced having conversations rather than confrontations. And I'm very excited to say, um, um, that the Lydia Mariah child fund, um, committee approved our request. Um, so much appreciation to the committee and, uh, they also worked with us to make it possible. Um, so we're very excited about that. Um, so the, uh, series will be on February 10th, March 10th, April 14th, and May 12th. That's a slight change. Originally, we'd hoped to start in January, but we weren't able to secure the funding in time to do the PR for that. So it's February 10th, March 10th, April 14th, and May 12th. They're all Tuesdays, the second Tuesday of the month. Um, they will be at First Parish in the, well, we're not, depending on the space, we're not sure which space will be in there. And, um, we've already sent out information. Thanks very much to Sarah, who created an amazing flyer and to Asma, who helped get it over the finish line at the last minute. Um, and also for, to Karen, um, for all your help on making this happen. That was truly a group effort. Um, and I think that's about it. Yeah. So we're excited for that. Um, publicity's already started to go out. You should have gotten an email, um, with the flyer and with information. And if you could share that with your networks, one thing I had trouble with honestly was the flyer. It was hard to send it in an email. Like I was eventually able to send it to one person at a time, but it wasn't the sort of thing I could send to the full listserv. So I made it available where people can upload it. Um, because I don't know, it just had too many gigabytes. Um, but it's, it's a wonderful flyer. And if you have a place to post it, please do. Um, and please share the information with your networks. We want to get a, a really good showing for this program question. Yes, Marianne. Um, I just wanted to point out, I, I don't know if I heard, but you know, it's with the Wayland public schools. So, um, wonderful, wonderful opportunity to partner with them. And I assume that they are sending it out to all their, yes, all, all this, all the parents. So, yes, yes. Thank you for, thank you, Marianne. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So we're going to have great weeks. So we have publicity outlets on our side and the schools have publicity outlets on theirs. And that is a really exciting aspect of this program. Will we be able to get that on our website in the upcoming events, front and center space?
Can you do that? I would like to talk more about that during our website discussion. Okay. Okay. And then Asma, also, if you could post it on the Facebook page, the flyer on the Facebook page, and let me know if you need it in some other, or let Sarah and me know if you need it in some other format, or if actually you, you're as capable as anybody of fixing it, if it's the format isn't any good. I've also saved it as a PDF, but that didn't make it more sendable as an attachment. So yeah, but it'd be great to get that on the website. Thank you. Thank you. What else? Anything else about that? We're just going to keep pumping out the publicity in the next couple of weeks. I think we're about three weeks away. We already got, so we sent it today to, we sent out 250 emails and we already got some registrations. Marianne, if you could send me that other list we talked about so I can add. Oh yeah. Sorry. Forgot that. Yeah. Okay. I'll add those people. And then we'll push it out on, you know, Facebook and through the schools. It'll be great. We're really excited. And the funders are excited also. And the schools are, everybody's excited about it. Any other questions about that? Sarah, what about getting it into the PTO newsletters?
Who are you working with at the schools? Well, at the schools we have Caroline Hahn and the superintendent, but I was wondering, yeah, I know you're, you've got cold hands trying to get you. No, no. Yeah. Um, I think I could definitely, uh, get it into the weekly newsletter that, um, at least happy hollow sends out and I'm happy to send it to the other schools from a PTO perspective. You know, we don't market things that aren't PTO, but definitely, we definitely can get it. You know, there's just a school wide newsletter that includes PTO information, but is also, and you know, like the all school news, is it going in there? Yeah. I think the schools will take care of that part. I just didn't think they could do the PTOs, but I forgot that PTOs. Yeah. We have Facebook pages, but we don't have our own newsletter. We just, you know, go with the, the weekly newsletter at that and just have a PTO section in there. So if it's going through the all school news, that's going to reach all the parents. Okay. Okay. We've got that covered. Um, and I'll follow up. Otherwise it's just too much. There's so many community events that it would kind of muddle the PTO sponsored and run it. And yeah. Yeah. Thank you for reminding me of that. That's yeah, no, of course. Yeah. But I'm happy to, you know, post it on the community forum or the women moms group, or I know, um, we have our own Facebook page that Asma is already doing, but if there's any other publicity, we're happy to. Could it go out in the town email? Michael calls under the HRD I say. Yes. And that's one of the things on our list and I don't know what the deadline is, but it's probably right about now. Yeah. It's, it's, it's really close to the end of the month for that letter. Yeah. Yeah. Better sooner than later. Yeah. Um, we have a PR list, uh, and, and that's definitely on there. We, I, we just started today, but I, we will get through that whole list and newsletter is important because of the deadline. So thank you. Um, wonderful. Okay. So, um, how are we doing on time? We're doing great. So the next thing is to revisit the brainstorming that we did on no, at our November 18th meeting. So Heather and I were talking about this today. And the thing is, is we're doing this four session series, uh, with the public schools and the Lydia Mariah child fund fund funding. Um, we're also co-sponsoring this two additional sessions with the library. So we're really, and the, and Waylon Ken has some very good programming coming up too. There's the program that we advertised today on the 27th of January. Um, and they have a big speaker coming to town. I don't know when, maybe in March. So there's a lot of programming going on now, and I'm not sure we necessarily need to add to do any more programming between now and the end of the school year with, with the things that we already have here to focus on. But I think, and summer, of course, people go away. We're not going to do anything in the summer, but I think it wouldn't hurt at each of our meetings to kind of revisit this list and see if anything pops out at us and recognizing we don't know what uncontrolled, you know, what unanticipated things are going to happen between now and the fall. But to be thinking ahead to hopefully we'll do human rights day again in the fall. But is there anything else on this list that we, uh, put together that we want to kind of get serious about for the fall, Marianne? Um, well, um, October is, um, uh, it's domestic violence month. And, um, it would be, uh, um, I was looking at that list and, um, the Sudbury Wayland Lincoln Roundtable has a men's group called the White Ribbon Group. So I think it would be, um, you know, um, we could, you know, try to do something like that. And I don't think necessarily there'd be, um, a huge expense because, I mean, I don't know, but, um, you know, my thought is that they might be willing to run something here. Um, that would be for our three communities, um, uh, uh, about, um, men speaking up. And, uh, so I, I'd be interested in, you know, at least reaching out to them to see if they've done anything like that. And, um, and, you know, probably the Laura Dunn Astley Fund might, you know, even if we're not asking for, um, money might support that effort. So, yes. Um, and that was something we listed here. Men, yeah. Men speaking up, uh, at the bottom of the first page is definitely something we talked about. We talked about it a little bit in the context of athletics. Uh, but there is some work going on. Actually, Jamil Adams is doing some work with the athletic folks. So doing this as a, as a thing related to domestic violence. What do people think about that? Co-sponsoring, right, Marianne? Is that what you were thinking about? Yeah. Yeah. Any thoughts, comments, questions? Yes or no? Negative or positive? I think it sounds like a great idea, um, to have a conversation like that. Others? People? Anybody have any, you know, reservations? Or, or is your side, does your silence mean this seems like as, as good an idea as, as any? I think it's a great idea. It's important to recognize, um, the, the month in October for domestic violence. I don't think we've done anything in the past couple of years on it. So it would be a great opportunity. Thank you. Anyone else?
If nobody, Sarah, are you trying to unmute? Well, my only question was, I mean, do we do like addiction-related things? Like, where is our purview? I obviously think it's an amazing cause, but kind of what other months do we recognize? Is this under the HRDIC umbrella? Well, that is a, a bigger topic. That's a big topic of what months do we- Yes, I completely support, uh, the mission. Um, it's just kind of what is under our umbrella.
And in some ways, uh, you know, I feel like there are sort of several different answers to that question. And, and one is what's formally under our umbrella, what's in our charge. And then another aspect is, well, that's related, um, is what are people willing to, um, roll up their sleeves and do? Um, and, and that sometimes is a driver of how, of what we end up doing. Cause something could be a great idea, but nobody actually has the bandwidth to do it. Um, and domestic violence. Um, I, I mean, I feel like it's in our purview. It's not, it's not laid out explicitly in our charge, but our charge is to make sure that everybody in Wayland is safe and has their civil and human rights. Um, yeah, Marianne. Well, we did make a statement. Um, and, you know, we have a couple of groups that we could work with, and I don't think it would be a terribly heavy lift. Um, and we haven't done anything in a while on yet. Um, we also have, you know, I mean, this is also no October and November are, uh, you know, have something to do with indigenous peoples. Um, and there is a peace day in September. And, um, uh, I had always thought that the, um, the human rights day, um, is an event for someone who could read at the human rights articles, the 30 rights articles. But, um, I always thought that, um, in thinking about the peace day that we could do something because it was always thinking about what time of the day that we try to do a peace day in the afternoon. Again, not a huge, um, necessarily expense, but we have to organize it. Um, and, um, but, and that would happen right before the festival. Great. What would that just fill up our fall calendar? Yeah. Yeah. What would a peace day look like Marianne? Well, um, just, and like the, uh, human rights day only an hour and 15 minutes. And in that case, I would reach out to, you know, youth groups that are in the afternoon, Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, and, you know, try to have a program, um, around peace. The thing that we, um, uh, that, um, we were trying to work on, you know, two years ago now, I guess, or we got rained out. Oh, you know, see, and maybe we could make an attempt to see, I mean, if we have partners in some of the youth groups around, that would make this feel different, you know, because we'd just be giving our blessing and working with groups that are going to be bringing the kids. We're not trying to create an event completely on our own. I mean, um, I'm gonna, I'm gonna make a wild guess that Girl Scout troops have a peace, uh, um, thing that they work for. Badge. Or, you know, one of their badges must be, might be peace. I don't know, but, um, you know, it seems like it might be a topic that, uh, so. So there are questions about, you know, what's, what are our, what's our scope? That's one question that Sarah is, is raising. Another is, what do we have the bandwidth and the, you know, number of hands to, to manage? Um, and another that comes to mind for me is when we did the rainstorming in November, we were responding to incidents that have happened in Weyland. Um, and the Peace Day and I, and Human Rights Day, I do think is a wonderful thing that we've now done two years in a row, and it's really nice to have an annual event like that. Um, Peace Day, since we haven't actually done it because we did get rained out, I guess what I'm wondering about is, you know, because the festival, never mind the festival, which is a huge, huge heavy lift, um, for a couple of people who were involved in it, um, is do we want to focus on things that respond to stuff that's actually happened in Weyland, um, or do these events that sort of more, um, track with, you know, the calendar of, um, commemoration months. And I'm not, I think we should do Human Rights Day. I'm, I'm questioning Peace Day versus, with our limited resources, versus doing something that's more directly related to the things that have happened here. I don't have an answer, I'm just raising it as a question.
Well, in which case, I think, you know, we know domestic violence happens, um, so that if that's one of kind of the criteria of things that happen here, I, I think that helps support the domestic violence one. Not that we have to do one or the other, but just in terms of we're only so many people. And my, my bigger, my biggest concern, Marianne, in the, is in the fall is just adding another one, both for this committee to pull off, as well as getting people to come out. Um, it's not just us, but it's people getting them to come more than one.
So the festival is a given that's going to happen. What's the festival date? Can someone remind me? Do we have a date? Back to the 4th. It's the 4th of October. It is the 4th. October 2nd, October the Tuesday. It's still the Saturday. October 4th, I think, is what it was last year. Is it the same thing?
3rd. October 3rd. October 3rd. Okay. So that's October 3rd. And then Human Rights Day is December 10th, right? Yep. Always the 10th. Always the 10th. Um, I think trying to do more than three things in the fall is, is, in my opinion, feels like a pretty heavy lift, so that maybe we just need to think about one thing. Uh, you know, Human Rights Day and the festival, and then maybe one more thing. Um, if we have the, the horsepower to do it. So for the domestic violence in women, who has the authority? Is the police department?
When you say authority, say more about what you mean by that. Yeah. I mean, to take care of, I mean, the response to any violence. To respond. Yeah. So what's our role is to, uh, emphasize or to, to let the people know the support that we can provide? Um, actually, it's because we're part of the Sudbury Wayland Lincoln Roundtable. You know, they're kind of a group of, um, I mean, they do programming, um, around this topic. So it's as much about educating people, not only about, about the, about domestic violence. And so, um, and I mean, usually the police would be there, you know, I, in the past, we've had the police chief at various, cause there's still as a standout, um, the past two years, as a standout has been in Sudbury, um, in October, uh, a domestic violence standout. So it does happen because these three, you know, cause this round table exists kind of like we exist, you know, they're, they are a group. So, um, and, uh, so it's someone to partner with. We don't have to, you know, it's not something we're doing by ourselves. Is it preventative, preventative, or is it reactive? The most preventative. Reactive, right? It's to provide support to the victims of the domestic violence, or to educate people not to, to avoid, or how to deal with potential problems. I think it's both, both reactive and preventive. Yeah. Does Whalen have any kind of organization professionals doing this kind of thing? Well, the Sudbury Whalen Lincoln Roundtable, and, um, and then there's, um, the Laura Dunn Astley Fund. Both of those are, are groups that are active in that, in that work. So what, what do you think you all value added to?
We're just co-sponsoring it with them. Oh, that's good. Well, and we would put it out in our, you know, just like, like anything else. It's just, I think it always, we don't, we don't have to vent the whole thing, because there are two groups that actively work on programming around this topic. Another thought could be, um, you know, when we brainstormed, we, the topic that we sort of put on paper was men speaking up. And in the context of our brainstorming, we were thinking about men speaking up when they see racist or sexist or, um, whatever, any kind of hateful thing going on, you know, encouraging, trying to create a culture in Wayland of speaking up when you see stuff happen. And it's possible we could consider it might be domestic violence, or it might be a sort of a broader topic about men speaking up when, when, when any kind of hateful or violent, um, thing is happening or, um, yeah. So I wonder, and, but I, and I think, I think the Laura Dunn Astley Fund might be interested in, in very interested in that, um, and the domestic violence round table, maybe also, I just wonder if we would want to broaden it and maybe we'd get a bigger turnout too, because if you just, if you focus it on domestic violence, lots of people will not show up because they don't want to seem to be, have anything to do with domestic violence. But if you focus it on speaking up, um, it's a different, it's just a different, um, way of getting at some of the same things. I guess I would suggest maybe, um, we reach out to, um, I mean, at least the Sudbury round table and the white ribbon group, um, cause I'm guessing that they, they may have broadened their conversation because men speaking up is. Yeah. And what about talking to the Lauren Dunn Astley Fund and kind of seeing what's on their agenda right now and whether this, you know, we, we can't figure this out ourselves. What we can do is reach out to these organizations and see what, you know, what might be of interest to folks for the fall. So my thought would be, can we, can we agree that this would be something worth exploring, um, at least with these two organizations and then whoever is exploring can come back to the HRDIC next month or the month after and sort of say where it's at. Does that sound, Yahu, do you feel comfortable with that? What, what's your question? Do you feel comfortable with that? Do you mean that, uh, I went here, right? No, no, I'm saying, do you feel comfortable if we delegate to one or two people to go have conversations with the Lauren Dunn Astley Fund and the round table and kind of just brainstorm together and then come back to this group and say what we found out, see what kind of interest there might be in doing something around men speaking up, if that feels comfortable to, to you. Okay. For the men speaking up group,
if this group becomes successful, is that going to have to some woman say why is the men's only? It could happen. How do we deal with that? How, how we, how we can, how do we, uh, have a group which is only animated one sex? Yeah. I know. Sometimes that can be tricky. I know it's good. How we need to have some kind of... I don't have an answer to that, but I think we can start to explore it with these two groups and, and they may have some experience with it. I agree to explore, yeah, and this. Uh, so, Marianne, are you, do you want to speak to both those groups? Do you want someone with you to do it? Do you you want to split up and you speak to one group and someone else speaks with another? What's, what's your preference since you raised it? Um, well, I'd be willing to, um, uh, reach out to the round table just cause I listened to them speak three years ago or two years ago. I'm so kind of familiar with that. Um, well, I mean, it's, it's the white ribbon group is the men, um, men speaking to men, or I actually, I mean, I would, you know, try to see what it exactly is. And actually, I mean, I'd widen it to just see what programming they're doing. So, um, to see if there's, and bringing that back to, um,
to the group to see what, if there's anything that looks like we would work together on. I don't know if they're working on anything. We're, I'm not going to bring an idea. Well, we are interested. We talked about men speaking up and so we can, but I'd inquire about anything they're doing. And so we could have an idea about what they're doing. Sounds good. And who, do you want to talk to Lauren Don Astley fund as well, or you want someone else to do that? Well, um, yeah, I'd appreciate if someone else would look to look to talk to them. Okay. And then the, you know, whoever is that we can talk again together. Exactly. Right. Anybody, anyone here able to take that on to talk to the Lauren Don Astley fund? Are, does, does the Lauren Don Astley fund, are they still doing their own programming or is it, it's a fund so that if we found something, we would ask them to support it? I don't know. We'd have to find that out. That's a question. I'm just wondering if it makes sense for it to be a two-step process to find out what we can learn about the round table, um, what, what's coming up in the programming. And then if there's something we want to connect with, talk to Lauren Don Astley fund about it at that point, or, or do both at the same time. I mean, I think both is okay just to explore what they're up to and what their scope is. I think it's helpful to know. I mean, of course we can look at their website, but talking to someone is always nice. Um, I, I mean, I can do that if nobody else has time. Is Malcolm still the person to talk to, or is it somebody else there? Do we know? I don't think he met things, but I don't know, um, really, you know, the group, but I see him showing up at events. Yes, I do too. All right. I will, I will, uh, pursue it. It's not the highest thing on my list because I'm working on current, uh, activity, but this, we're talking about doing something in October. So, you know, let's, let's talk about this next month and see, Marianne, you and I can figure out if we have anything to report or if it's going to be March before we, before we come back to the group and that's fine. We got loads of time. Does that sound okay? Mm-hmm. Yep. Okay. Um, anything else on this topic? Um, or do we feel like that? I think, I don't know. If we know, um, on the use of the, um, community center, you know, how we talked about, um, working with different groups, offering events or using that space. Yeah. Um, I, I thought somebody told me that there's, uh, I can't, is it, is there a Chinese group that's meeting there or a different group that's like regularly scheduled now to, to do something there? And I just wanted, I didn't know if that's something we want to talk about or, and, and encourage others, like as a ma, if it's a model that's been set up. Yeah. The Chinese school, uh, negotiated with COA and, uh, they get every other Wednesday afternoon to have a Chinese programming for people speaking Chinese mandarins. They can get together doing the games, whatever. So they started it last week and I was thinking to go, but, uh, uh, that's the day after my wife's, uh, operation or the week after. So I couldn't go in it. So I, I think it's a, I think it's a good model. I think it's maybe we even could have a, some kind of events for, for all purpose, get people interested in our area, get together once a week or once a month or once every other week to have, have funds and to think about the programming to understand more or harder human rights or just complicated issues associated with it.
So the issue we came up against is the fees, um, that they charge. And as in particular on the weekend, well, they don't even do it on the weekend. I don't have it committed to memory, but I have the fee schedule. It's on, it's online, it's on the town's website. And I think that's the challenge for. Do we have to pay blood to use the facility? Yeah. If you're not a government entity, there's a fee. But we, um, Mary Ann, you want to speak about that? Well, yeah. Um, so, you know, there are official town boards or, you know, I mean, there's lots of town groups. I believe town groups, much like the, um, uh, Chinese group that is meeting there, that during the day, during business hours and weekdays, week evenings, these space, there are spaces available. Um, I, you know, I think, um, that it's not very well known, you know, rather than us creating an event around it. Um, you know, one of our things is we're trying to make things that are in town look available to people. So just, um, maybe being more specific about how to identify who specifically is, uh, included, but, and the fact that the weekends aren't available is, um, you know, is a financial issue to the, um, town as we found out when we were talking, well, not surprisingly, because so those of us have worked on programming in town, you know, understand that there's no, um, uh, janitorial services on the weekends, but, you know, that's, um, in part of scheduling issue, but, you know, it's just to, to advocate for having spaces available so that people, people, groups, community groups can use spaces that, you know, exist in town, um, uh, that, you know, are paid for, um, by our taxes, but are not available. Understandably all of the, you know, it's not an easy problem. It just, that doesn't mean we don't advocate for the value of having these spaces more available at times that people need them. So, but there are just to be clear, there are fees, even during the weekdays, there are fees for community groups. And I can tell you where to find this. If you go to the town's website and you go to the little, how do I section on the top right-hand side, and then you click on at the bottom of the R it's alphabetical. So when you get to the letter R at the bottom of that list, it says reserve council on aging community center and or town building. And when you click on that, there's a link to the Wayland facilities and building use policies and regulation manual. And on page eight is the fee schedule. Yeah, but wait, wait, I was all getting, I was getting, I wasn't happy about this, but group two community groups, it does say no building rental charge or fee or custodial charge during town hall council and aging community center normal business hours and evenings during the week. Groups can only reserve up to three weeks prior to the reserve date if it falls on a weekday. So it looks like if I'm reading that correctly, because I was a little surprised that town residents during regular business hours, when you don't have to pay extra that we, we had to pay to use those spaces. It looks like during the week, during regular business hours, there isn't a charge under group two community groups. If I'm reading correctly, you think that fee schedule, it's see how it says group one, group two, one is the town municipal school, but group two is community groups. But I'm wondering if that is for after hours. Do you think those fees might be after hours? That's possible. Okay, that's possible. But we are the municipal group, right? We are, but the HRDIC is a municipal group, but the Chinese American group is not. Yeah, we are the community group. But are they paying? Do you not? I didn't realize, I didn't hear anything, any talk about the pay. I'm not an organizer. No one talks about the pay. I never heard about it. Okay, so maybe Heather, if Heather is right, those fees might apply for after hours. So let's look, we'll look into that and report back next time. Because that would be a real service to, to try to make some things available to various groups in town. In the idea of building communities, so. Did we meet there once? We could have, we had a meeting there once, right? HRDIC can meet there without a fee because we're a, we're a town entity. So let me, let's, we'll, next time we'll report back on that. We're going to get some information to clarify whether there's a fee during the day, during regular business hours. I think the thing is like, for working people, they're not going to be, for retired people, or maybe people who are home with children, daytime works, but for people who work during the day, they're only going to be available in the evenings and then there's going to be a fee. No, I, I, well, let's see. Let's see what, we'll get the, one, two, three, what all that's about. Yeah, we'll find out. We'll report back. Okay. Also, so what do we do with that space? What's to meet our, what's our objective? And what kind of things we can do to meet our objective? Well, if there weren't a fee, we're saying we could spread the word to some of the different community groups that about the availability of the place. So once we clarify. Yeah. This is to promote for different groups. Yeah. Just like the Chinese group know, hey, here's the place you can. There's all this terminology on any kind of group. Well, it gives a number to call like the community, the, the language I was reading around recognized community groups. I'm seeing that now. But it's a pretty lengthy list. And there's a number or an email to see if your group falls under a community, community group versus a private organization and or for profit. But versus group four, group four, then is non Wayland groups. Right. But the question still is, is those fees on the next page, do they apply during the day or not? And I, yeah, let's find that out. Okay. Let's come back to that next time. Um, and let's move on now to, uh, agenda item seven, which is updates. Um, and I wanted to let you know that tonight at 7 45, the select board has the equity assessment on its agenda. And because we're going to be wrap up by 7 30, anybody who's interested can hop on to their meeting. Um, you know, just go on to the web, um, the website and, uh, the town website, go to the select board, look at their agendas. And within the agenda, you'll find the link, the zoom link, uh, and the topic on the agenda for the select board says. Um, it says seven 45 agenda item number six discussion of equity audit, including, but not limited to welcoming statement, team building and next steps. Right. Right. So, so let's find out what, what, what they have to say. What, what they have to say. And then Heather and I, um, we'll have periodic meetings with the town manager to kind of keep the conversation going about equity assessment. Follow up. Um, Mary Ann, do you want to talk to us about the website? Yes. So, um, you know, all those events that we're just been going through, as you can imagine, um, that is really hard to keep up with on the website. Um, and actually, um, a surprise when I went on, um, that I had actually requested some changes that aren't there. And usually Jalen does it right away. So I'll have to find out if I'm not sending it to the right. If she's anyhow, she's away, she's away now. Okay. Um, so what, um, but just for example, we have the lunar new year. We have, um, uh, Dr. Eden Renee's Hayes talks. We have the January 27th event. Um, these are all important events, um, that the school's doing. We have this new, uh, conversations instead of, um, uh, uh, uh, fighting. Um, so, I mean, it's, it is hard to know what to have on the website and it's hard to make decisions. Um, we do have the, the Facebook page, which can run these, um, uh, flyers, but even that, you know, you really have to go down through it. Um, it occurred to me, um, it's, and, and for the, our website on the town website, I mean, nobody else is so active with their website. In other words, I was going to have a conversation with James about whether I'm asking for too much. Cause I was going to write in that email. Well, I did write in that email, schedule a change to the lunar new year after the MLK luncheon. And it's like, it's getting complicated and, um, we can't, um, you know, it's, it's difficult. This website isn't created for that. Um, and, um, so my idea is the possibility of a calendar. Um, you know, I mean, I just haven't thought enough. Well, so I'm throwing it out there. You see what a website looks like. We have a listing of historical things on one side in the blue column. We have news and announcements, which is basically, you know, a 10 word. Um, but it can at least be linked to a flyer. And then we have the center column. Um, I think I just sent, um, uh, Karen a note and said, could we send people to the Facebook page? Um, she said, yes. Um, so that would be one way to relieve the pressure from the website. Um, but you know, that's kind of, it's, it's presenting itself as, as an opportunity. And isn't it a shame that we have just too many good things that we just, it's overwhelming our website and our capacity to really do justice to all those things. So I'll just throw it out there. So we can kind of think about, um, you know, that what, I mean, if I was talking to, you know, someone at the town, they'd say, well, what are we supposed to be doing? I, maybe I should have looked at the, um, the recreation department. You know, they've got the kind of things that we're not exactly doing, but you know, anyhow, I'm going to stop talking and let people think about a little what, about what I'm saying. Mary Ann, I'm wondering, um, have you ever asked or had a conversation about what's reasonable from whoever has to make the changes perspective in terms of, is it reasonable to have a once a month update or a biweekly? I, I don't feel like we have enough things we'd have to do a biweekly. It kind of feels like would, would they have the capacity to do a once a month update? Oh yeah. They've been doing that. I don't think that's a problem. So it's more that, in fact, it's more that I've competing things, you know, that things are overlaying. And, you know, so, um, we are, you know, so we're hosting the, um, the Dr. Ian Renee talk and, and yet, you know, we have these other talks happening. It's like, you know, so I don't, you know, who takes priority in that important center column and who takes priority be at the top of that center column if we were to have four flyers listed. And to be honest, I'm not sure they would let us do four flyers. I haven't explored what the outer limits are they'd be willing to do, but, um, or whether it could be now we do have, you know, um, we do have a posting up above in the upper right hand corner and it changes. Yeah. That's kind of an interesting thought. I just don't know if our, the flyers could change and that if you clicked on it, it would stop it. That's an interesting, I'm just going to write that down. It doesn't, it doesn't stop it. I'm on it right now. Oh, it doesn't stop it. Um, well, maybe I clicked on it. Let me, I'll let you know if it changes. It did change and then it came back and then I clicked on it. I'll, I'll let you know. Okay. I'm wondering just, I mean, in that news and announcements column, December 10th takes up a lot at the moment because it was the human rights call for volunteers, but it looks like we could have like four dates coming up. And if we could, it's just, they're not very exciting, you know? So who gets to have their flyer in the middle? And I don't want to, you know, I mean, it's hard to make those decisions. Yeah. But when, I think when we are sponsoring something like the upcoming conversations, not confrontations that if we're the primary sponsor, I think that we can, can, can we put that up if we're the primary sponsor? So that would be the first, like the first round. And then if we are not the primary sponsor, are we putting other people's whole flyers up here? What if? No. Only if we're sponsoring or co-sponsoring. Well, yeah. But you know, we have the Lunar New Year. Yeah. We're co-sponsoring a whole bunch of stuff all at the same time. That's your point. Yeah. So, so is it possible to not have to choose for the center column and, and just what if you kept the center column for like, maybe only the festival, let's say, and then put everything else under news and announcements and have simultaneous, you know, you have simultaneous things, put the most, the first, like what comes in whatever order, either in chronological or reverse chronological, put them in the news and announcement section and leave the center. So you don't have to make those. Yeah. But the festival, so the festival happens only once a year. Right. You know, we're not going to have the festival stuff there all the time. And that's kind of, you know, I don't know. I mean, but that's, you know, that's a thought. It just sounds like it's becoming burdensome for you and potentially for the, for the office. And so maybe we need to think about a way to make it less burdensome, but get the information up there. I don't know. How do we get that? Well, we could reference the Facebook page. Well, yeah, you could reference the Facebook page, but also put everything in news and announcements. What, Asma, Sarah, oh, Mariam's here now. Hi, Mariam. Hello. Just so you know, the upper right-hand corner, it, you can click on arrows that make it toggle between the two images there. It does it automatically. It doesn't stop, but you can toggle on an arrow that can go between the two images. Yeah. I mean, we have the same conversations for the PTO. I think we, if anything needs people to register, that's our top priority. And then like, next is whatever is soonest. But if we need registrations, that's our top push. And we don't really promote things that are not sponsored by the PTO. Right. Right now, Marianne is especially struggling because we have conversations for change. We have conversations, not confrontations. We have Lunar New Year. Is there a fourth one, Marianne? Oh, there's a January 27th. We're not sponsoring. We're not. That doesn't go on the website. Just on the Facebook page. Yeah. That only goes on Facebook. Yep. But I also think it is something to think about because we're HRDIC is that we, is there a way that we would want to, you know, become not a clearinghouse, but is there someplace somewhere in Wayland that, you know, these kinds of things would make, you know, be on a calendar that if people were looking for them, they could find them. Okay. That's a bigger conversation, but back to the website. What if in the center column, let's, so right now we have three, three simultaneous events. What if for each one, you have a little thumbnail image of the flyer and you have the name of the event and the date and the time, and then click here for registration and information. And then you could put all three of them, stack them up in the order in which they occur with beautiful little thumbnail images and a place people can click for more information. Yeah. I think it's a good idea. And then when they click the image, they can see the full flyers. Sure. And then the thumbnail is bright and colorful. Yeah, exactly. That's, that's what's good about those. Okay. I like it. And we still have news and announcements. Well, those are, the reason I like the news and announcements is because then they become archived. So you put it in news and announcements and then you move it over to the archive. And then we have a historical record of all the stuff we've done, which is kind of helpful, I think. I don't know. Yeah. So where- Well, I think this conversation will continue. But, but so far we didn't, we only have a January 15th. We do have other news. The new year, it's not in the news yet. Right. Remember I sent it and she was gone. Yeah. And I guess I didn't. So Abby can, Abby can help you while Jalen is gone. Yeah. I think we can do is, since this is unlimited, we can, as soon as we get the news, we put it in the chronological order. So the, the closest one on the top. So this is where we can put as many as we like to have. Yep. Well, I like Sarah's idea of prioritizing things that need to have a response or registration. Yeah. So I don't know if lunar new year does, but the other two do both the ones that conversations, not confrontations and conversations for change. They both have registrations. Hmm. So maybe they have, maybe next to it, it's a register here. So it's clear. There's a registration. Yeah. So it doesn't help prioritize them because they're both registrations. That's okay. Put them. They're both important. And if you, I like Yahoo's idea, you click on the flyer to get the full flyer. If they can do that. And there's a registration link next to it. Also, you know, the name of the program, the date, time and registration. I think that's a nice. Yeah. Yeah. The new year, they have a, you could have ordered tickets ahead of time too. Yep. So, but we don't have that information from you yet or do we Yahoo? I think you do. Let's see. I had it. Here we go. There's a QR code scan for tickets. Yep. You have a flyer for that. I do. Okay. Great. So doesn't Jalen. I know. She's away. Try Abby. Okay. I think that's good. Asma while we're, do we have any Facebook issues related to this or are we good with Facebook? No, no issues. I just, I always feel like, you know, it's similar to the website is when there's too many events and they kind of get muddled away. Yeah. I try to space them up, but then I lose track. So. Okay. Okay. Okay. If anybody sees anything on a website or even Facebook page that they think helps in this answer, this issue or, or, you know, gets us with some, a new idea. Well, I think in Facebook, sometimes I see people bump things like back up. Like sometimes people will send a reminder or post something, but, or if people wanted to personally share something on like the Weyland Facebook page about seeing an event, it would go farther than just our HRD EIC Facebook page. Yeah. All right. Thank you. Okay. And then just the last thing to mention is that we've assembled now a very large list of people who've come to our events and we send out, we'll be, we send out publicity today. We'll keep doing that. We have a footer that says, you know, you're on this list because you came to an HRD EIC event. If you don't want to receive this email anymore, you know, let us know and we'll take you off the list. So we're starting to get a really nice list of people who've attended our events, which, which is just great. Um, so I think we can move to, uh, agenda item eight and thank you for Marianne for that. And thank you Asma for, um, the Facebook, um, work that you continue to do. Uh, so a number eight is announcements and matters not reasonably anticipated in advance. Marianne, would you start us, um, would you start us with the, um, MLK luncheon, just real what few sentences about the luncheon, but also tell us the date of the Metco Gala. Oh, um, okay. Um, okay. So the Metco Gala is March 24th. Metco Inc. Um, which is the enrollment group and service provider for the Metco region, um, around Boston, um, signed their, uh, incorporation pay, um, papers on the 24th of March, which is a Wednesday. And that's, um, they're going to have a gala, um, on that day. Um, they, um, there's a, a number of, um, people. So Latoya Edwards, I think is a newscaster. She's supposed to be, um, one of our MCs and, um, and, uh, someone from the new edition. Um, and, uh, and they're putting together a few other, um, famous people and it's going to be an interesting event that talks about, um, uh, you know, the districts and, um, also to reflect on where we've done, we have some new awards, a Ruth Batson award, a lifetime achievement award to be given to people who've worked around for Metco. So, you know, it's going to be, um, a fun event. And, and I will say Wayland will be having their 60th and, um, and 28. So, um, the, all of, all of our towns will be having their 60th over the next 10 years. So, um, so that's the plan for the gala. And, um, and the Martin Luther King luncheon was, um, wonderfully, um, attended. Um, there must've been 15, 20 tables of eight people, um, a piece. So, uh, um, it was, uh, a luncheon. So we had this wonderful lunch, a wonderful program. We had music and they gave some awards, um, to, um, kids in each of the grade. Um, some kids were recognized in each of the grades, um, or each of the schools. And, um, so, um, and there was music and it was just a wonderful event. It was very community building. Um, and the weather was remember it was really snowy in the morning, but it had cleared up. We had blue sky and we were driving in, um, at noon. So, um, it worked out well. Um, it looked like the room was full, so it didn't look like anybody stayed home. And it was a good mix of, um, um, you know, of our total Metco community, um, you know, hosted by, uh, the Metco parent group, um, and, um, you know, attended by both parents, um, from both of our communities. So lots of friends together, um, you know, being friends. And I ran a, uh, activity table, a craft table, and it was just wonderful seeing kids bringing their friends over and, and being together. It was great. And I'm, if you said this, I didn't hear it, but that among the awards that, um, Metco gave an award to, um, chief police chief and former police chief Ed Berman for his service to, to the Metco program. Right. He's always reached out to them, um, at the various activities to make sure that they knew that what was happening in the town relative to kids, um, included them. And they had information early enough that they could participate. So it was very proactive in that way. Thank you. Um, I wanted to announce two things and then ask what other announcements people might have. One is, um, there's a committee called the 212 Cachituate Road Committee, which is looking at a parcel, a property at 212 Cachituate Road as a, um, spot to, um, create housing for, uh, young adults with disabilities who age out of the systems, um, that are caring for them. So they have a place to live so they can stay in Weyland and the 212 Cachituate Road Committee is kind of finishing up its work. They have a meeting on the 27th of January. Um, and they, they have invited any one of us who wants to come to give our comments on a draft, uh, report that they've created. So I think I emailed and you all and asked who might be interested in coming. And if I didn't, I'm asking now. There are three members who are planning to attend this meeting on the 27th. Um, Marianne Janot and me, and I wanted, and Kevin is going to do written comments. Is there anyone else here who plans to attend the meeting on the 27th of January? I think about, I don't know my stage. Okay. I just need to know if there were going to have a quorum. So, so you're a maybe, um, and that's okay. If there's one more person, then we'll have a quorum. So is anyone else, is anyone else planning to go? Do we want a quorum? No. Trying to avoid a quorum. No, I don't want. Let me know you. You do. I don't, I don't want a surprise quorum. Cause then I'll have to ask somebody to leave. Um, so it's fine. Yeah. If you come, I will send, um, I get, I think I'll send the report, um, send the 212 report to everyone. Um, and you all can also submit written comments if you want. Um, so I'll send it to everyone, but the people who are planning to go are Marianne, Janome, me, and maybe Yawu. Yeah. So that's four. So that's good. Okay. Um, are you planning to be speaking on behalf of the HRDIC or just as individuals? Just as individuals. Okay. Yeah. Um, so it makes me think that a quorum is less, um, other groups must have that issue. So if you're not meeting, if you're, if we're not going in the capacity of the committee and speaking on behalf of the committee or meeting or, you know, having conversation about committee work, you don't, I don't believe you have to post it. No, as long as we don't have a quorum. Yeah. But I mean, even if you have a quorum and if you have a quorum and you're going to meet and talk about business, then you have to, but if you're going as residents and not wearing your HRDIC hat and having a conversation about it from the HR as, as an HRDIC member. Right. That's why I was asking if, if it's not, then we don't need to worry because it's not a meeting. We're not discussing our, any business of ours. Okay. We're attending as individuals. Well, we're talking about their business. Uh, that's what they've invited us to comment on their draft. In our capacity as HRDIC members. Yeah. Kind of. I mean, they've invited us cause we are HRDIC members. Yeah. So we clarify that. I will clarify. My understanding is if we don't have a quorum, we don't have to post it as a meeting, but I will, I will clarify. Yeah. I mean that. Do we consider it as a quorum? Do we have that restrictions? Because these kind of things happen all the time. So it's make big difference. So. Well, our quorum is five. So if four of us are there, we don't have a quorum. But you, like Heather said, if it's not conducting our business, would that be considered? But it sounds like maybe we weren't invited as committee members to attend. We are. In our capacity of HRDIC. I'll talk to, I'll, I'll find out. I'll find out. I don't think. Yeah. I will find out. Um, another announcement I wanted to make guys is that March 22nd is the HRDIC's fifth anniversary of being. Oh. Yeah. We have a birthday. So, um, you know, I'm anybody here who has a good idea about how we might honor or celebrate that. I certainly welcome your thoughts. We can talk about it next time, but at least I want to acknowledge. Which day is that? Which day of the week? March 22nd? Actually. I don't know. And our meeting. Let's see when our March meeting is. Um. Let's see. It's the 17th. Yes. Our meeting is the 17th. So that would be the time that we would at least light a candle and celebrate our birthday. Yeah. And have we ever done anything before? No, we've never had a fifth anniversary before. John's got a fourth. Have we done anything? Yeah. Any of them? Yeah. If we do it in person, you know, we can have a cake and invite members of the public to partake in our cake. Yeah, but that's fine. Yeah, but that's fine. Yeah, but that's fine. The meeting at a restaurant? Well, or at the COA with the cake. Well, we meet wherever we normally meet for our normal meeting. That's what I'm saying. And then we can just maybe have a little bit of cake afterwards. Maybe. Okay. Well, bigger space. You know, when we're the town select room, that's kind of small. But we're usually in the old COA room, which is, you know. We can do a new COA room, find a bigger one. It would be fancy. You know, the thing is, I'll look into that. They don't have the capacity to record our meetings over there. But maybe this once, we could do it without recording. But the recording is helpful for the clerk. They have the Zoom, right? Yeah, it's complicated. They don't have, they don't offer a town staff person over there the way they do how Robbie sets us up here in the town building. Yeah. So anyway, that's neither here nor there. I don't know if it is important. But the last thing, does anyone have any other announcements that they would like to make? I just want to invite everyone to the Chinese New Year's. Yes. Please remind us of the date of the Lunar New Year's celebration. January 31st in the afternoon. In the afternoon. And it's good to get there early, right? Because the performances are on the early side. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. It's not that. It's not that. It's not the 31st. It's February 7th. No, February 7th. February 7th. I'm confused with another one. February 7th. What's the time? Yeah. February 7th, one to five. Right, Yello? It's a Saturday. It's Saturday. Great. Is that Saturday or Sunday? The 7th is Saturday. Okay. So, yeah. Marianne, does that conform to the flyer that you have? Yes, it is. I'm just wondering if maybe the actual Lunar New Year isn't on the 7th, because this is just- Oh, my choice. I think Bill and King saw something. Something like that. Yeah. Any other- Thank you. Let's all try to show up for that. I have it on my calendar. I think others do too. Any other announcements? Yes. I just wanted to mention that the Wayland 250th is still running the Voices of We the People essay writing project. And they were making the connection that the outcomes of this project are tied to the equity assessment to strengthen community connections, celebrate wide-ranging perspectives, and enrich Wayland's shared cultural richness. The topic is Voices of We of the People inviting residents who work, worship, or have children in the schools to write a short personal essay reflecting on what the Revolution, the Declaration of Independence, or the Constitution means to their lives. How do they affect their lives? How do they affect their life? Who do they protect? What relevance do the documents have in modern life or in your personal life? Are the promises realized or still aspirational? And after this, they're going to have a panel where people talk about their essays and what they wrote. So the 250th was hoping we'd just help get word out if you know anybody who might be interested in writing as a way, you know, to share personal experiences and then learn from each other. I assume they're looking for us as old age, from students all the way to senior citizens, everyone, right? It's everybody. Everybody. Everybody, yeah. I'm working with the Chinese Association to see if they can participate in that. Cool. I said, yeah, writers of all ages, the length is up to 500 words. Yeah. Thank you so much, Heather. Any other announcements? Would someone like to move that we adjourn? And before we do that, I just want to remind you at 745, if you have time, tune into the select board for, sometimes they run late, but you can see their agenda on there. So you'll kind of know where they are in the agenda if they're running late. But anyway, they'll be talking about the equity assessment. So anyone want to move to adjourn? So moved. So moved. Marianne. So moved. Thank you, Marianne. Is there a second? I second. Yeah, we'll second. Okay. Thank you. Heather. Yes. Marianne. Yes. Sophie. Whoops. I didn't hear you, Sophie. I know you unmuted, but I didn't hear. Yes. Thank you. Sarah. Yes. Yawu. Yes. Maya. Sarah. Mariam. Yes. Thank you. And Karen. Yes. And special thanks to you, Sarah, for coming to this meeting with all the logistical challenges. Thank you. Happy to be here. Thanks, everybody. Take care and see you next month. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
If there are no comments, then let us vote to approve the December 16th, 2026 meeting minutes. Heather? Yes. Sarah? Yes. Marianne? Yes. Sophie? Yes. Asma? Yes. Maya?
I was not there. So I'll abstain. Thank you for remembering every single time. I'm just going to guarantee that I forget to do that. So thank you for being responsible and abstaining. Asma, you were actually absent also. I think I was absent too. Sarah, you were absent too. Yeah. I'm sorry. Yeah. No, I'm sorry too. Every single time I don't remember to do that. Okay. Let's start again. Heather? Well, I also think if people were able to watch it, you know, they, I would be curious if you watched it, if you could vote to approve it as we move forward. But that's true. No one wants to admit they didn't watch all two hours. I read it. It's true. But otherwise, let's, let's start again. Yeah. I vote in favor. Okay. Marianne? I vote in favor. Uh, so who just said they were in here? Uh, so Sophie? Uh, yes. Thank you. Thank you. You were here. It looks like. Yeah. It said you were there on Zoom. Um, Asma, you were not there. Uh, Yawu, do you approve? Yes. And I approve too. So it is unanimous among the people who were there. Yeah. And, um, we might want to confirm that's not a quorum of our committee as we're down a number of members. So we just would want to confirm it. I don't think that vote. I mean, it's our minutes, but we can, we can bring it up next time again. Me too. Okay. No, it's, um, um, I have to say it's important because Jamil's waiting to be paid. Oh God. Um, let's just think about that for a second. So that's a really good. I, during the festival, uh, last a year ago, I was able to submit these, uh, when the minutes were finalized, even if the vote hadn't been taken, I was able to submit them to Kelsey to be submitted to the select board. But wait a second. If it was Heather, me, cause I'm a yes, whether I said so or not, Mary Ann, Yawu. Oh, it's only four. Oh, we need one more. Um, it doesn't matter that I, I watched it several times. You did. Awesome. Actually, that was my point. Yeah. Asma, you had to watch it cause you. Yes. So you can vote Asma. Do you vote to approve these minutes? Yes. Yes. Okay. So we have a form. Thank you. That's great.
Okay. If somebody has sound in the background, could they mute when they're not talking? Thank you. All right. Wonderful. Okay. We have approved these minutes. Um, the next topic is agenda item number four, which is a discussion and possible vote to co-sponsor two additional sessions of the program with the library and the Wayland museum and historical society called conversations for change. This was, um, Dr. Eden Renee Hayes led these sessions. The last one was last week and the, uh, Mary Ann, if you could update us on the possibility of these two additional sessions, that would be great. Great. So, um, we met with, uh, a couple of people from the library and, um, the historical society and of course, uh, Dr. Eden Renee Hayes and, um, talking about how we wanted to continue the conversations that we're having. And, uh, she, um, had proposed two different talks, one that focused on, um, actually James Baldwin, um, has a book stranger in the village and who really talks about who gets to belong and who decides. Um, and it's really focusing, um, our whole immigration, um, what's happening in our country around immigration and that whole conversation in particular about ice and what it means to build community. So that was one that's supposed to be happening in March. Um, and, um, I will say 17th is what, or 19th is what is, is what is suggested. Um, we'll have to really wait to confirm that. Neither of these have been okayed by the library yet. Um, but we had kind of talked about a number of topics and these are what we're let came on. In May, either late April or early May, it's going to be on Paul Robeson as he testifies before the, um, House of Un-American Activities Committee. And, uh, so it will be, actually, we'll get to hear, um, his testimony for 10 minutes and then have a chance to talk about, um, what it means to, um, to have been acceptable or dangerous and what that means to individuals, um, when they're facing those kinds of questions about their conversation in the, in the public forum. Uh, so anyhow, those are the two, um, uh, discussion points, um, for the rest of the, of the spring. And I told the library that we were meeting tonight, so we would vote tonight. And, and they said, fine. And they emphasized what Marianne just said, which is that the library trustees have not approved these two topics. They're meeting, I think, tomorrow. Um, but we're hopeful that those will be the topics. And, um, was there anything? I wasn't able to go at the last minute, um, last week. Was anybody there who can share how it went? I was so disappointed. At the library meeting? Oh, oh, at the event? Yeah. Oh, yeah. I was there. Um, it was, I thought it was great. We had a good conversation, lots of participation. And, um, I, you know, um, yeah, I thought we were, it was very, um, I thought it was, I thought it was good. Now, now I wasn't prepared to actually talk about a few topics. Um, the, uh, um, Karen, oh, Karen wasn't there. I'm sorry. I don't need to put you on the spot. The, um, um, oh, we were looking at artifacts. Um, so, and it was bringing it back home and that there were minstrel shows here. Um, and, you know, whether the ramifications when we're, you know, when we have to think seriously, um, about the fact that there was a cross burning in 1981 in our town. And, um, and interestingly, um, there was an attempt to say it wasn't really a cross burning, even though it was a cross, it was just kind of a handmade cross. And, but, you know, uh, so that, that is, it just, it's opportunity to reflect on whether we're willing to accept that this is a real thing that exists in our community and that we need to address it and look at it and call it what it's, what it is. So, um, so there were a number, you know, we looked at, um, some of the handbills from the Vogue theater, um, you know, entertainment that was acceptable at that, that time among some groups. Um, I mean, for all the wonders of, um, you know, having, um, local entertainment right in our town, um, the importance of some of those, um, messages and what that means. And, and it just brought it home that it wasn't just happening someplace else. Um, and that, you know, we had an opportunity to talk about that and what that felt like. Thank you so much, Marianne. That's really helpful. Um, so if there's no further discussion, will somebody please move to co-sponsor two additional sessions of the Conversations for Change series with the Whelan Library and the Whelan Museum and Historical Society. And you can just say so moved, if you would like. So moved. And this is Heather. Thank you, Heather. Is there a second? Marianne seconds. Okay. Marianne seconds. Um, is there any further discussion or are we ready to vote? Okay. Then let's vote to, um, whether to approve co-sponsoring two additional sessions of this series. Heather. Yes. Sarah. Yes. Marianne. Yes. Sophie. Yes. Asma. Yes. Maya. Yes. Yahoo. Yes. And Karen. Yes. So we have unanimously, uh, agreed to co-sponsor two more of these sessions, which is really exciting. Um, I think they're going to be amazing if those are the two topics that the trustees approve. It sounds like really just very rich topics for conversation.
Um, okay. So let's move to agenda item number five, uh, which is an update on the conversation. This is different. They both have conversations in them, both titles, but this is a different program conversations, not confrontations. And Heather, would you like to update us on that series and what's been happening? Sure. Um, more good news. Um, last time we met, we were trying to secure funding to do a program, um, with led by Jamil Adams, a series of four conversations and, uh, in which we practiced having conversations rather than confrontations. And I'm very excited to say, um, um, that the Lydia Mariah child fund, um, committee approved our request. Um, so much appreciation to the committee and, uh, they also worked with us to make it possible. Um, so we're very excited about that. Um, so the, uh, series will be on February 10th, March 10th, April 14th, and May 12th. That's a slight change. Originally, we'd hoped to start in January, but we weren't able to secure the funding in time to do the PR for that. So it's February 10th, March 10th, April 14th, and May 12th. They're all Tuesdays, the second Tuesday of the month. Um, they will be at First Parish in the, well, we're not, depending on the space, we're not sure which space will be in there. And, um, we've already sent out information. Thanks very much to Sarah, who created an amazing flyer and to Asma, who helped get it over the finish line at the last minute. Um, and also for, to Karen, um, for all your help on making this happen. That was truly a group effort. Um, and I think that's about it. Yeah. So we're excited for that. Um, publicity's already started to go out. You should have gotten an email, um, with the flyer and with information. And if you could share that with your networks, one thing I had trouble with honestly was the flyer. It was hard to send it in an email. Like I was eventually able to send it to one person at a time, but it wasn't the sort of thing I could send to the full listserv. So I made it available where people can upload it. Um, because I don't know, it just had too many gigabytes. Um, but it's, it's a wonderful flyer. And if you have a place to post it, please do. Um, and please share the information with your networks. We want to get a, a really good showing for this program question. Yes, Marianne. Um, I just wanted to point out, I, I don't know if I heard, but you know, it's with the Wayland public schools. So, um, wonderful, wonderful opportunity to partner with them. And I assume that they are sending it out to all their, yes, all, all this, all the parents. So, yes, yes. Thank you for, thank you, Marianne. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So we're going to have great weeks. So we have publicity outlets on our side and the schools have publicity outlets on theirs. And that is a really exciting aspect of this program. Will we be able to get that on our website in the upcoming events, front and center space?
Can you do that? I would like to talk more about that during our website discussion. Okay. Okay. And then Asma, also, if you could post it on the Facebook page, the flyer on the Facebook page, and let me know if you need it in some other, or let Sarah and me know if you need it in some other format, or if actually you, you're as capable as anybody of fixing it, if it's the format isn't any good. I've also saved it as a PDF, but that didn't make it more sendable as an attachment. So yeah, but it'd be great to get that on the website. Thank you. Thank you. What else? Anything else about that? We're just going to keep pumping out the publicity in the next couple of weeks. I think we're about three weeks away. We already got, so we sent it today to, we sent out 250 emails and we already got some registrations. Marianne, if you could send me that other list we talked about so I can add. Oh yeah. Sorry. Forgot that. Yeah. Okay. I'll add those people. And then we'll push it out on, you know, Facebook and through the schools. It'll be great. We're really excited. And the funders are excited also. And the schools are, everybody's excited about it. Any other questions about that? Sarah, what about getting it into the PTO newsletters?
Who are you working with at the schools? Well, at the schools we have Caroline Hahn and the superintendent, but I was wondering, yeah, I know you're, you've got cold hands trying to get you. No, no. Yeah. Um, I think I could definitely, uh, get it into the weekly newsletter that, um, at least happy hollow sends out and I'm happy to send it to the other schools from a PTO perspective. You know, we don't market things that aren't PTO, but definitely, we definitely can get it. You know, there's just a school wide newsletter that includes PTO information, but is also, and you know, like the all school news, is it going in there? Yeah. I think the schools will take care of that part. I just didn't think they could do the PTOs, but I forgot that PTOs. Yeah. We have Facebook pages, but we don't have our own newsletter. We just, you know, go with the, the weekly newsletter at that and just have a PTO section in there. So if it's going through the all school news, that's going to reach all the parents. Okay. Okay. We've got that covered. Um, and I'll follow up. Otherwise it's just too much. There's so many community events that it would kind of muddle the PTO sponsored and run it. And yeah. Yeah. Thank you for reminding me of that. That's yeah, no, of course. Yeah. But I'm happy to, you know, post it on the community forum or the women moms group, or I know, um, we have our own Facebook page that Asma is already doing, but if there's any other publicity, we're happy to. Could it go out in the town email? Michael calls under the HRD I say. Yes. And that's one of the things on our list and I don't know what the deadline is, but it's probably right about now. Yeah. It's, it's, it's really close to the end of the month for that letter. Yeah. Yeah. Better sooner than later. Yeah. Um, we have a PR list, uh, and, and that's definitely on there. We, I, we just started today, but I, we will get through that whole list and newsletter is important because of the deadline. So thank you. Um, wonderful. Okay. So, um, how are we doing on time? We're doing great. So the next thing is to revisit the brainstorming that we did on no, at our November 18th meeting. So Heather and I were talking about this today. And the thing is, is we're doing this four session series, uh, with the public schools and the Lydia Mariah child fund fund funding. Um, we're also co-sponsoring this two additional sessions with the library. So we're really, and the, and Waylon Ken has some very good programming coming up too. There's the program that we advertised today on the 27th of January. Um, and they have a big speaker coming to town. I don't know when, maybe in March. So there's a lot of programming going on now, and I'm not sure we necessarily need to add to do any more programming between now and the end of the school year with, with the things that we already have here to focus on. But I think, and summer, of course, people go away. We're not going to do anything in the summer, but I think it wouldn't hurt at each of our meetings to kind of revisit this list and see if anything pops out at us and recognizing we don't know what uncontrolled, you know, what unanticipated things are going to happen between now and the fall. But to be thinking ahead to hopefully we'll do human rights day again in the fall. But is there anything else on this list that we, uh, put together that we want to kind of get serious about for the fall, Marianne? Um, well, um, October is, um, uh, it's domestic violence month. And, um, it would be, uh, um, I was looking at that list and, um, the Sudbury Wayland Lincoln Roundtable has a men's group called the White Ribbon Group. So I think it would be, um, you know, um, we could, you know, try to do something like that. And I don't think necessarily there'd be, um, a huge expense because, I mean, I don't know, but, um, you know, my thought is that they might be willing to run something here. Um, that would be for our three communities, um, uh, uh, about, um, men speaking up. And, uh, so I, I'd be interested in, you know, at least reaching out to them to see if they've done anything like that. And, um, and, you know, probably the Laura Dunn Astley Fund might, you know, even if we're not asking for, um, money might support that effort. So, yes. Um, and that was something we listed here. Men, yeah. Men speaking up, uh, at the bottom of the first page is definitely something we talked about. We talked about it a little bit in the context of athletics. Uh, but there is some work going on. Actually, Jamil Adams is doing some work with the athletic folks. So doing this as a, as a thing related to domestic violence. What do people think about that? Co-sponsoring, right, Marianne? Is that what you were thinking about? Yeah. Yeah. Any thoughts, comments, questions? Yes or no? Negative or positive? I think it sounds like a great idea, um, to have a conversation like that. Others? People? Anybody have any, you know, reservations? Or, or is your side, does your silence mean this seems like as, as good an idea as, as any? I think it's a great idea. It's important to recognize, um, the, the month in October for domestic violence. I don't think we've done anything in the past couple of years on it. So it would be a great opportunity. Thank you. Anyone else?
If nobody, Sarah, are you trying to unmute? Well, my only question was, I mean, do we do like addiction-related things? Like, where is our purview? I obviously think it's an amazing cause, but kind of what other months do we recognize? Is this under the HRDIC umbrella? Well, that is a, a bigger topic. That's a big topic of what months do we- Yes, I completely support, uh, the mission. Um, it's just kind of what is under our umbrella.
And in some ways, uh, you know, I feel like there are sort of several different answers to that question. And, and one is what's formally under our umbrella, what's in our charge. And then another aspect is, well, that's related, um, is what are people willing to, um, roll up their sleeves and do? Um, and, and that sometimes is a driver of how, of what we end up doing. Cause something could be a great idea, but nobody actually has the bandwidth to do it. Um, and domestic violence. Um, I, I mean, I feel like it's in our purview. It's not, it's not laid out explicitly in our charge, but our charge is to make sure that everybody in Wayland is safe and has their civil and human rights. Um, yeah, Marianne. Well, we did make a statement. Um, and, you know, we have a couple of groups that we could work with, and I don't think it would be a terribly heavy lift. Um, and we haven't done anything in a while on yet. Um, we also have, you know, I mean, this is also no October and November are, uh, you know, have something to do with indigenous peoples. Um, and there is a peace day in September. And, um, uh, I had always thought that the, um, the human rights day, um, is an event for someone who could read at the human rights articles, the 30 rights articles. But, um, I always thought that, um, in thinking about the peace day that we could do something because it was always thinking about what time of the day that we try to do a peace day in the afternoon. Again, not a huge, um, necessarily expense, but we have to organize it. Um, and, um, but, and that would happen right before the festival. Great. What would that just fill up our fall calendar? Yeah. Yeah. What would a peace day look like Marianne? Well, um, just, and like the, uh, human rights day only an hour and 15 minutes. And in that case, I would reach out to, you know, youth groups that are in the afternoon, Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, and, you know, try to have a program, um, around peace. The thing that we, um, uh, that, um, we were trying to work on, you know, two years ago now, I guess, or we got rained out. Oh, you know, see, and maybe we could make an attempt to see, I mean, if we have partners in some of the youth groups around, that would make this feel different, you know, because we'd just be giving our blessing and working with groups that are going to be bringing the kids. We're not trying to create an event completely on our own. I mean, um, I'm gonna, I'm gonna make a wild guess that Girl Scout troops have a peace, uh, um, thing that they work for. Badge. Or, you know, one of their badges must be, might be peace. I don't know, but, um, you know, it seems like it might be a topic that, uh, so. So there are questions about, you know, what's, what are our, what's our scope? That's one question that Sarah is, is raising. Another is, what do we have the bandwidth and the, you know, number of hands to, to manage? Um, and another that comes to mind for me is when we did the rainstorming in November, we were responding to incidents that have happened in Weyland. Um, and the Peace Day and I, and Human Rights Day, I do think is a wonderful thing that we've now done two years in a row, and it's really nice to have an annual event like that. Um, Peace Day, since we haven't actually done it because we did get rained out, I guess what I'm wondering about is, you know, because the festival, never mind the festival, which is a huge, huge heavy lift, um, for a couple of people who were involved in it, um, is do we want to focus on things that respond to stuff that's actually happened in Weyland, um, or do these events that sort of more, um, track with, you know, the calendar of, um, commemoration months. And I'm not, I think we should do Human Rights Day. I'm, I'm questioning Peace Day versus, with our limited resources, versus doing something that's more directly related to the things that have happened here. I don't have an answer, I'm just raising it as a question.
Well, in which case, I think, you know, we know domestic violence happens, um, so that if that's one of kind of the criteria of things that happen here, I, I think that helps support the domestic violence one. Not that we have to do one or the other, but just in terms of we're only so many people. And my, my bigger, my biggest concern, Marianne, in the, is in the fall is just adding another one, both for this committee to pull off, as well as getting people to come out. Um, it's not just us, but it's people getting them to come more than one.
So the festival is a given that's going to happen. What's the festival date? Can someone remind me? Do we have a date? Back to the 4th. It's the 4th of October. It is the 4th. October 2nd, October the Tuesday. It's still the Saturday. October 4th, I think, is what it was last year. Is it the same thing?
3rd. October 3rd. October 3rd. Okay. So that's October 3rd. And then Human Rights Day is December 10th, right? Yep. Always the 10th. Always the 10th. Um, I think trying to do more than three things in the fall is, is, in my opinion, feels like a pretty heavy lift, so that maybe we just need to think about one thing. Uh, you know, Human Rights Day and the festival, and then maybe one more thing. Um, if we have the, the horsepower to do it. So for the domestic violence in women, who has the authority? Is the police department?
When you say authority, say more about what you mean by that. Yeah. I mean, to take care of, I mean, the response to any violence. To respond. Yeah. So what's our role is to, uh, emphasize or to, to let the people know the support that we can provide? Um, actually, it's because we're part of the Sudbury Wayland Lincoln Roundtable. You know, they're kind of a group of, um, I mean, they do programming, um, around this topic. So it's as much about educating people, not only about, about the, about domestic violence. And so, um, and I mean, usually the police would be there, you know, I, in the past, we've had the police chief at various, cause there's still as a standout, um, the past two years, as a standout has been in Sudbury, um, in October, uh, a domestic violence standout. So it does happen because these three, you know, cause this round table exists kind of like we exist, you know, they're, they are a group. So, um, and, uh, so it's someone to partner with. We don't have to, you know, it's not something we're doing by ourselves. Is it preventative, preventative, or is it reactive? The most preventative. Reactive, right? It's to provide support to the victims of the domestic violence, or to educate people not to, to avoid, or how to deal with potential problems. I think it's both, both reactive and preventive. Yeah. Does Whalen have any kind of organization professionals doing this kind of thing? Well, the Sudbury Whalen Lincoln Roundtable, and, um, and then there's, um, the Laura Dunn Astley Fund. Both of those are, are groups that are active in that, in that work. So what, what do you think you all value added to?
We're just co-sponsoring it with them. Oh, that's good. Well, and we would put it out in our, you know, just like, like anything else. It's just, I think it always, we don't, we don't have to vent the whole thing, because there are two groups that actively work on programming around this topic. Another thought could be, um, you know, when we brainstormed, we, the topic that we sort of put on paper was men speaking up. And in the context of our brainstorming, we were thinking about men speaking up when they see racist or sexist or, um, whatever, any kind of hateful thing going on, you know, encouraging, trying to create a culture in Wayland of speaking up when you see stuff happen. And it's possible we could consider it might be domestic violence, or it might be a sort of a broader topic about men speaking up when, when, when any kind of hateful or violent, um, thing is happening or, um, yeah. So I wonder, and, but I, and I think, I think the Laura Dunn Astley Fund might be interested in, in very interested in that, um, and the domestic violence round table, maybe also, I just wonder if we would want to broaden it and maybe we'd get a bigger turnout too, because if you just, if you focus it on domestic violence, lots of people will not show up because they don't want to seem to be, have anything to do with domestic violence. But if you focus it on speaking up, um, it's a different, it's just a different, um, way of getting at some of the same things. I guess I would suggest maybe, um, we reach out to, um, I mean, at least the Sudbury round table and the white ribbon group, um, cause I'm guessing that they, they may have broadened their conversation because men speaking up is. Yeah. And what about talking to the Lauren Dunn Astley Fund and kind of seeing what's on their agenda right now and whether this, you know, we, we can't figure this out ourselves. What we can do is reach out to these organizations and see what, you know, what might be of interest to folks for the fall. So my thought would be, can we, can we agree that this would be something worth exploring, um, at least with these two organizations and then whoever is exploring can come back to the HRDIC next month or the month after and sort of say where it's at. Does that sound, Yahu, do you feel comfortable with that? What, what's your question? Do you feel comfortable with that? Do you mean that, uh, I went here, right? No, no, I'm saying, do you feel comfortable if we delegate to one or two people to go have conversations with the Lauren Dunn Astley Fund and the round table and kind of just brainstorm together and then come back to this group and say what we found out, see what kind of interest there might be in doing something around men speaking up, if that feels comfortable to, to you. Okay. For the men speaking up group,
if this group becomes successful, is that going to have to some woman say why is the men's only? It could happen. How do we deal with that? How, how we, how we can, how do we, uh, have a group which is only animated one sex? Yeah. I know. Sometimes that can be tricky. I know it's good. How we need to have some kind of... I don't have an answer to that, but I think we can start to explore it with these two groups and, and they may have some experience with it. I agree to explore, yeah, and this. Uh, so, Marianne, are you, do you want to speak to both those groups? Do you want someone with you to do it? Do you you want to split up and you speak to one group and someone else speaks with another? What's, what's your preference since you raised it? Um, well, I'd be willing to, um, uh, reach out to the round table just cause I listened to them speak three years ago or two years ago. I'm so kind of familiar with that. Um, well, I mean, it's, it's the white ribbon group is the men, um, men speaking to men, or I actually, I mean, I would, you know, try to see what it exactly is. And actually, I mean, I'd widen it to just see what programming they're doing. So, um, to see if there's, and bringing that back to, um,
to the group to see what, if there's anything that looks like we would work together on. I don't know if they're working on anything. We're, I'm not going to bring an idea. Well, we are interested. We talked about men speaking up and so we can, but I'd inquire about anything they're doing. And so we could have an idea about what they're doing. Sounds good. And who, do you want to talk to Lauren Don Astley fund as well, or you want someone else to do that? Well, um, yeah, I'd appreciate if someone else would look to look to talk to them. Okay. And then the, you know, whoever is that we can talk again together. Exactly. Right. Anybody, anyone here able to take that on to talk to the Lauren Don Astley fund? Are, does, does the Lauren Don Astley fund, are they still doing their own programming or is it, it's a fund so that if we found something, we would ask them to support it? I don't know. We'd have to find that out. That's a question. I'm just wondering if it makes sense for it to be a two-step process to find out what we can learn about the round table, um, what, what's coming up in the programming. And then if there's something we want to connect with, talk to Lauren Don Astley fund about it at that point, or, or do both at the same time. I mean, I think both is okay just to explore what they're up to and what their scope is. I think it's helpful to know. I mean, of course we can look at their website, but talking to someone is always nice. Um, I, I mean, I can do that if nobody else has time. Is Malcolm still the person to talk to, or is it somebody else there? Do we know? I don't think he met things, but I don't know, um, really, you know, the group, but I see him showing up at events. Yes, I do too. All right. I will, I will, uh, pursue it. It's not the highest thing on my list because I'm working on current, uh, activity, but this, we're talking about doing something in October. So, you know, let's, let's talk about this next month and see, Marianne, you and I can figure out if we have anything to report or if it's going to be March before we, before we come back to the group and that's fine. We got loads of time. Does that sound okay? Mm-hmm. Yep. Okay. Um, anything else on this topic? Um, or do we feel like that? I think, I don't know. If we know, um, on the use of the, um, community center, you know, how we talked about, um, working with different groups, offering events or using that space. Yeah. Um, I, I thought somebody told me that there's, uh, I can't, is it, is there a Chinese group that's meeting there or a different group that's like regularly scheduled now to, to do something there? And I just wanted, I didn't know if that's something we want to talk about or, and, and encourage others, like as a ma, if it's a model that's been set up. Yeah. The Chinese school, uh, negotiated with COA and, uh, they get every other Wednesday afternoon to have a Chinese programming for people speaking Chinese mandarins. They can get together doing the games, whatever. So they started it last week and I was thinking to go, but, uh, uh, that's the day after my wife's, uh, operation or the week after. So I couldn't go in it. So I, I think it's a, I think it's a good model. I think it's maybe we even could have a, some kind of events for, for all purpose, get people interested in our area, get together once a week or once a month or once every other week to have, have funds and to think about the programming to understand more or harder human rights or just complicated issues associated with it.
So the issue we came up against is the fees, um, that they charge. And as in particular on the weekend, well, they don't even do it on the weekend. I don't have it committed to memory, but I have the fee schedule. It's on, it's online, it's on the town's website. And I think that's the challenge for. Do we have to pay blood to use the facility? Yeah. If you're not a government entity, there's a fee. But we, um, Mary Ann, you want to speak about that? Well, yeah. Um, so, you know, there are official town boards or, you know, I mean, there's lots of town groups. I believe town groups, much like the, um, uh, Chinese group that is meeting there, that during the day, during business hours and weekdays, week evenings, these space, there are spaces available. Um, I, you know, I think, um, that it's not very well known, you know, rather than us creating an event around it. Um, you know, one of our things is we're trying to make things that are in town look available to people. So just, um, maybe being more specific about how to identify who specifically is, uh, included, but, and the fact that the weekends aren't available is, um, you know, is a financial issue to the, um, town as we found out when we were talking, well, not surprisingly, because so those of us have worked on programming in town, you know, understand that there's no, um, uh, janitorial services on the weekends, but, you know, that's, um, in part of scheduling issue, but, you know, it's just to, to advocate for having spaces available so that people, people, groups, community groups can use spaces that, you know, exist in town, um, uh, that, you know, are paid for, um, by our taxes, but are not available. Understandably all of the, you know, it's not an easy problem. It just, that doesn't mean we don't advocate for the value of having these spaces more available at times that people need them. So, but there are just to be clear, there are fees, even during the weekdays, there are fees for community groups. And I can tell you where to find this. If you go to the town's website and you go to the little, how do I section on the top right-hand side, and then you click on at the bottom of the R it's alphabetical. So when you get to the letter R at the bottom of that list, it says reserve council on aging community center and or town building. And when you click on that, there's a link to the Wayland facilities and building use policies and regulation manual. And on page eight is the fee schedule. Yeah, but wait, wait, I was all getting, I was getting, I wasn't happy about this, but group two community groups, it does say no building rental charge or fee or custodial charge during town hall council and aging community center normal business hours and evenings during the week. Groups can only reserve up to three weeks prior to the reserve date if it falls on a weekday. So it looks like if I'm reading that correctly, because I was a little surprised that town residents during regular business hours, when you don't have to pay extra that we, we had to pay to use those spaces. It looks like during the week, during regular business hours, there isn't a charge under group two community groups. If I'm reading correctly, you think that fee schedule, it's see how it says group one, group two, one is the town municipal school, but group two is community groups. But I'm wondering if that is for after hours. Do you think those fees might be after hours? That's possible. Okay, that's possible. But we are the municipal group, right? We are, but the HRDIC is a municipal group, but the Chinese American group is not. Yeah, we are the community group. But are they paying? Do you not? I didn't realize, I didn't hear anything, any talk about the pay. I'm not an organizer. No one talks about the pay. I never heard about it. Okay, so maybe Heather, if Heather is right, those fees might apply for after hours. So let's look, we'll look into that and report back next time. Because that would be a real service to, to try to make some things available to various groups in town. In the idea of building communities, so. Did we meet there once? We could have, we had a meeting there once, right? HRDIC can meet there without a fee because we're a, we're a town entity. So let me, let's, we'll, next time we'll report back on that. We're going to get some information to clarify whether there's a fee during the day, during regular business hours. I think the thing is like, for working people, they're not going to be, for retired people, or maybe people who are home with children, daytime works, but for people who work during the day, they're only going to be available in the evenings and then there's going to be a fee. No, I, I, well, let's see. Let's see what, we'll get the, one, two, three, what all that's about. Yeah, we'll find out. We'll report back. Okay. Also, so what do we do with that space? What's to meet our, what's our objective? And what kind of things we can do to meet our objective? Well, if there weren't a fee, we're saying we could spread the word to some of the different community groups that about the availability of the place. So once we clarify. Yeah. This is to promote for different groups. Yeah. Just like the Chinese group know, hey, here's the place you can. There's all this terminology on any kind of group. Well, it gives a number to call like the community, the, the language I was reading around recognized community groups. I'm seeing that now. But it's a pretty lengthy list. And there's a number or an email to see if your group falls under a community, community group versus a private organization and or for profit. But versus group four, group four, then is non Wayland groups. Right. But the question still is, is those fees on the next page, do they apply during the day or not? And I, yeah, let's find that out. Okay. Let's come back to that next time. Um, and let's move on now to, uh, agenda item seven, which is updates. Um, and I wanted to let you know that tonight at 7 45, the select board has the equity assessment on its agenda. And because we're going to be wrap up by 7 30, anybody who's interested can hop on to their meeting. Um, you know, just go on to the web, um, the website and, uh, the town website, go to the select board, look at their agendas. And within the agenda, you'll find the link, the zoom link, uh, and the topic on the agenda for the select board says. Um, it says seven 45 agenda item number six discussion of equity audit, including, but not limited to welcoming statement, team building and next steps. Right. Right. So, so let's find out what, what, what they have to say. What, what they have to say. And then Heather and I, um, we'll have periodic meetings with the town manager to kind of keep the conversation going about equity assessment. Follow up. Um, Mary Ann, do you want to talk to us about the website? Yes. So, um, you know, all those events that we're just been going through, as you can imagine, um, that is really hard to keep up with on the website. Um, and actually, um, a surprise when I went on, um, that I had actually requested some changes that aren't there. And usually Jalen does it right away. So I'll have to find out if I'm not sending it to the right. If she's anyhow, she's away, she's away now. Okay. Um, so what, um, but just for example, we have the lunar new year. We have, um, uh, Dr. Eden Renee's Hayes talks. We have the January 27th event. Um, these are all important events, um, that the school's doing. We have this new, uh, conversations instead of, um, uh, uh, uh, fighting. Um, so, I mean, it's, it is hard to know what to have on the website and it's hard to make decisions. Um, we do have the, the Facebook page, which can run these, um, uh, flyers, but even that, you know, you really have to go down through it. Um, it occurred to me, um, it's, and, and for the, our website on the town website, I mean, nobody else is so active with their website. In other words, I was going to have a conversation with James about whether I'm asking for too much. Cause I was going to write in that email. Well, I did write in that email, schedule a change to the lunar new year after the MLK luncheon. And it's like, it's getting complicated and, um, we can't, um, you know, it's, it's difficult. This website isn't created for that. Um, and, um, so my idea is the possibility of a calendar. Um, you know, I mean, I just haven't thought enough. Well, so I'm throwing it out there. You see what a website looks like. We have a listing of historical things on one side in the blue column. We have news and announcements, which is basically, you know, a 10 word. Um, but it can at least be linked to a flyer. And then we have the center column. Um, I think I just sent, um, uh, Karen a note and said, could we send people to the Facebook page? Um, she said, yes. Um, so that would be one way to relieve the pressure from the website. Um, but you know, that's kind of, it's, it's presenting itself as, as an opportunity. And isn't it a shame that we have just too many good things that we just, it's overwhelming our website and our capacity to really do justice to all those things. So I'll just throw it out there. So we can kind of think about, um, you know, that what, I mean, if I was talking to, you know, someone at the town, they'd say, well, what are we supposed to be doing? I, maybe I should have looked at the, um, the recreation department. You know, they've got the kind of things that we're not exactly doing, but you know, anyhow, I'm going to stop talking and let people think about a little what, about what I'm saying. Mary Ann, I'm wondering, um, have you ever asked or had a conversation about what's reasonable from whoever has to make the changes perspective in terms of, is it reasonable to have a once a month update or a biweekly? I, I don't feel like we have enough things we'd have to do a biweekly. It kind of feels like would, would they have the capacity to do a once a month update? Oh yeah. They've been doing that. I don't think that's a problem. So it's more that, in fact, it's more that I've competing things, you know, that things are overlaying. And, you know, so, um, we are, you know, so we're hosting the, um, the Dr. Ian Renee talk and, and yet, you know, we have these other talks happening. It's like, you know, so I don't, you know, who takes priority in that important center column and who takes priority be at the top of that center column if we were to have four flyers listed. And to be honest, I'm not sure they would let us do four flyers. I haven't explored what the outer limits are they'd be willing to do, but, um, or whether it could be now we do have, you know, um, we do have a posting up above in the upper right hand corner and it changes. Yeah. That's kind of an interesting thought. I just don't know if our, the flyers could change and that if you clicked on it, it would stop it. That's an interesting, I'm just going to write that down. It doesn't, it doesn't stop it. I'm on it right now. Oh, it doesn't stop it. Um, well, maybe I clicked on it. Let me, I'll let you know if it changes. It did change and then it came back and then I clicked on it. I'll, I'll let you know. Okay. I'm wondering just, I mean, in that news and announcements column, December 10th takes up a lot at the moment because it was the human rights call for volunteers, but it looks like we could have like four dates coming up. And if we could, it's just, they're not very exciting, you know? So who gets to have their flyer in the middle? And I don't want to, you know, I mean, it's hard to make those decisions. Yeah. But when, I think when we are sponsoring something like the upcoming conversations, not confrontations that if we're the primary sponsor, I think that we can, can, can we put that up if we're the primary sponsor? So that would be the first, like the first round. And then if we are not the primary sponsor, are we putting other people's whole flyers up here? What if? No. Only if we're sponsoring or co-sponsoring. Well, yeah. But you know, we have the Lunar New Year. Yeah. We're co-sponsoring a whole bunch of stuff all at the same time. That's your point. Yeah. So, so is it possible to not have to choose for the center column and, and just what if you kept the center column for like, maybe only the festival, let's say, and then put everything else under news and announcements and have simultaneous, you know, you have simultaneous things, put the most, the first, like what comes in whatever order, either in chronological or reverse chronological, put them in the news and announcement section and leave the center. So you don't have to make those. Yeah. But the festival, so the festival happens only once a year. Right. You know, we're not going to have the festival stuff there all the time. And that's kind of, you know, I don't know. I mean, but that's, you know, that's a thought. It just sounds like it's becoming burdensome for you and potentially for the, for the office. And so maybe we need to think about a way to make it less burdensome, but get the information up there. I don't know. How do we get that? Well, we could reference the Facebook page. Well, yeah, you could reference the Facebook page, but also put everything in news and announcements. What, Asma, Sarah, oh, Mariam's here now. Hi, Mariam. Hello. Just so you know, the upper right-hand corner, it, you can click on arrows that make it toggle between the two images there. It does it automatically. It doesn't stop, but you can toggle on an arrow that can go between the two images. Yeah. I mean, we have the same conversations for the PTO. I think we, if anything needs people to register, that's our top priority. And then like, next is whatever is soonest. But if we need registrations, that's our top push. And we don't really promote things that are not sponsored by the PTO. Right. Right now, Marianne is especially struggling because we have conversations for change. We have conversations, not confrontations. We have Lunar New Year. Is there a fourth one, Marianne? Oh, there's a January 27th. We're not sponsoring. We're not. That doesn't go on the website. Just on the Facebook page. Yeah. That only goes on Facebook. Yep. But I also think it is something to think about because we're HRDIC is that we, is there a way that we would want to, you know, become not a clearinghouse, but is there someplace somewhere in Wayland that, you know, these kinds of things would make, you know, be on a calendar that if people were looking for them, they could find them. Okay. That's a bigger conversation, but back to the website. What if in the center column, let's, so right now we have three, three simultaneous events. What if for each one, you have a little thumbnail image of the flyer and you have the name of the event and the date and the time, and then click here for registration and information. And then you could put all three of them, stack them up in the order in which they occur with beautiful little thumbnail images and a place people can click for more information. Yeah. I think it's a good idea. And then when they click the image, they can see the full flyers. Sure. And then the thumbnail is bright and colorful. Yeah, exactly. That's, that's what's good about those. Okay. I like it. And we still have news and announcements. Well, those are, the reason I like the news and announcements is because then they become archived. So you put it in news and announcements and then you move it over to the archive. And then we have a historical record of all the stuff we've done, which is kind of helpful, I think. I don't know. Yeah. So where- Well, I think this conversation will continue. But, but so far we didn't, we only have a January 15th. We do have other news. The new year, it's not in the news yet. Right. Remember I sent it and she was gone. Yeah. And I guess I didn't. So Abby can, Abby can help you while Jalen is gone. Yeah. I think we can do is, since this is unlimited, we can, as soon as we get the news, we put it in the chronological order. So the, the closest one on the top. So this is where we can put as many as we like to have. Yep. Well, I like Sarah's idea of prioritizing things that need to have a response or registration. Yeah. So I don't know if lunar new year does, but the other two do both the ones that conversations, not confrontations and conversations for change. They both have registrations. Hmm. So maybe they have, maybe next to it, it's a register here. So it's clear. There's a registration. Yeah. So it doesn't help prioritize them because they're both registrations. That's okay. Put them. They're both important. And if you, I like Yahoo's idea, you click on the flyer to get the full flyer. If they can do that. And there's a registration link next to it. Also, you know, the name of the program, the date, time and registration. I think that's a nice. Yeah. Yeah. The new year, they have a, you could have ordered tickets ahead of time too. Yep. So, but we don't have that information from you yet or do we Yahoo? I think you do. Let's see. I had it. Here we go. There's a QR code scan for tickets. Yep. You have a flyer for that. I do. Okay. Great. So doesn't Jalen. I know. She's away. Try Abby. Okay. I think that's good. Asma while we're, do we have any Facebook issues related to this or are we good with Facebook? No, no issues. I just, I always feel like, you know, it's similar to the website is when there's too many events and they kind of get muddled away. Yeah. I try to space them up, but then I lose track. So. Okay. Okay. Okay. If anybody sees anything on a website or even Facebook page that they think helps in this answer, this issue or, or, you know, gets us with some, a new idea. Well, I think in Facebook, sometimes I see people bump things like back up. Like sometimes people will send a reminder or post something, but, or if people wanted to personally share something on like the Weyland Facebook page about seeing an event, it would go farther than just our HRD EIC Facebook page. Yeah. All right. Thank you. Okay. And then just the last thing to mention is that we've assembled now a very large list of people who've come to our events and we send out, we'll be, we send out publicity today. We'll keep doing that. We have a footer that says, you know, you're on this list because you came to an HRD EIC event. If you don't want to receive this email anymore, you know, let us know and we'll take you off the list. So we're starting to get a really nice list of people who've attended our events, which, which is just great. Um, so I think we can move to, uh, agenda item eight and thank you for Marianne for that. And thank you Asma for, um, the Facebook, um, work that you continue to do. Uh, so a number eight is announcements and matters not reasonably anticipated in advance. Marianne, would you start us, um, would you start us with the, um, MLK luncheon, just real what few sentences about the luncheon, but also tell us the date of the Metco Gala. Oh, um, okay. Um, okay. So the Metco Gala is March 24th. Metco Inc. Um, which is the enrollment group and service provider for the Metco region, um, around Boston, um, signed their, uh, incorporation pay, um, papers on the 24th of March, which is a Wednesday. And that's, um, they're going to have a gala, um, on that day. Um, they, um, there's a, a number of, um, people. So Latoya Edwards, I think is a newscaster. She's supposed to be, um, one of our MCs and, um, and, uh, someone from the new edition. Um, and, uh, and they're putting together a few other, um, famous people and it's going to be an interesting event that talks about, um, uh, you know, the districts and, um, also to reflect on where we've done, we have some new awards, a Ruth Batson award, a lifetime achievement award to be given to people who've worked around for Metco. So, you know, it's going to be, um, a fun event. And, and I will say Wayland will be having their 60th and, um, and 28. So, um, the, all of, all of our towns will be having their 60th over the next 10 years. So, um, so that's the plan for the gala. And, um, and the Martin Luther King luncheon was, um, wonderfully, um, attended. Um, there must've been 15, 20 tables of eight people, um, a piece. So, uh, um, it was, uh, a luncheon. So we had this wonderful lunch, a wonderful program. We had music and they gave some awards, um, to, um, kids in each of the grade. Um, some kids were recognized in each of the grades, um, or each of the schools. And, um, so, um, and there was music and it was just a wonderful event. It was very community building. Um, and the weather was remember it was really snowy in the morning, but it had cleared up. We had blue sky and we were driving in, um, at noon. So, um, it worked out well. Um, it looked like the room was full, so it didn't look like anybody stayed home. And it was a good mix of, um, um, you know, of our total Metco community, um, you know, hosted by, uh, the Metco parent group, um, and, um, you know, attended by both parents, um, from both of our communities. So lots of friends together, um, you know, being friends. And I ran a, uh, activity table, a craft table, and it was just wonderful seeing kids bringing their friends over and, and being together. It was great. And I'm, if you said this, I didn't hear it, but that among the awards that, um, Metco gave an award to, um, chief police chief and former police chief Ed Berman for his service to, to the Metco program. Right. He's always reached out to them, um, at the various activities to make sure that they knew that what was happening in the town relative to kids, um, included them. And they had information early enough that they could participate. So it was very proactive in that way. Thank you. Um, I wanted to announce two things and then ask what other announcements people might have. One is, um, there's a committee called the 212 Cachituate Road Committee, which is looking at a parcel, a property at 212 Cachituate Road as a, um, spot to, um, create housing for, uh, young adults with disabilities who age out of the systems, um, that are caring for them. So they have a place to live so they can stay in Weyland and the 212 Cachituate Road Committee is kind of finishing up its work. They have a meeting on the 27th of January. Um, and they, they have invited any one of us who wants to come to give our comments on a draft, uh, report that they've created. So I think I emailed and you all and asked who might be interested in coming. And if I didn't, I'm asking now. There are three members who are planning to attend this meeting on the 27th. Um, Marianne Janot and me, and I wanted, and Kevin is going to do written comments. Is there anyone else here who plans to attend the meeting on the 27th of January? I think about, I don't know my stage. Okay. I just need to know if there were going to have a quorum. So, so you're a maybe, um, and that's okay. If there's one more person, then we'll have a quorum. So is anyone else, is anyone else planning to go? Do we want a quorum? No. Trying to avoid a quorum. No, I don't want. Let me know you. You do. I don't, I don't want a surprise quorum. Cause then I'll have to ask somebody to leave. Um, so it's fine. Yeah. If you come, I will send, um, I get, I think I'll send the report, um, send the 212 report to everyone. Um, and you all can also submit written comments if you want. Um, so I'll send it to everyone, but the people who are planning to go are Marianne, Janome, me, and maybe Yawu. Yeah. So that's four. So that's good. Okay. Um, are you planning to be speaking on behalf of the HRDIC or just as individuals? Just as individuals. Okay. Yeah. Um, so it makes me think that a quorum is less, um, other groups must have that issue. So if you're not meeting, if you're, if we're not going in the capacity of the committee and speaking on behalf of the committee or meeting or, you know, having conversation about committee work, you don't, I don't believe you have to post it. No, as long as we don't have a quorum. Yeah. But I mean, even if you have a quorum and if you have a quorum and you're going to meet and talk about business, then you have to, but if you're going as residents and not wearing your HRDIC hat and having a conversation about it from the HR as, as an HRDIC member. Right. That's why I was asking if, if it's not, then we don't need to worry because it's not a meeting. We're not discussing our, any business of ours. Okay. We're attending as individuals. Well, we're talking about their business. Uh, that's what they've invited us to comment on their draft. In our capacity as HRDIC members. Yeah. Kind of. I mean, they've invited us cause we are HRDIC members. Yeah. So we clarify that. I will clarify. My understanding is if we don't have a quorum, we don't have to post it as a meeting, but I will, I will clarify. Yeah. I mean that. Do we consider it as a quorum? Do we have that restrictions? Because these kind of things happen all the time. So it's make big difference. So. Well, our quorum is five. So if four of us are there, we don't have a quorum. But you, like Heather said, if it's not conducting our business, would that be considered? But it sounds like maybe we weren't invited as committee members to attend. We are. In our capacity of HRDIC. I'll talk to, I'll, I'll find out. I'll find out. I don't think. Yeah. I will find out. Um, another announcement I wanted to make guys is that March 22nd is the HRDIC's fifth anniversary of being. Oh. Yeah. We have a birthday. So, um, you know, I'm anybody here who has a good idea about how we might honor or celebrate that. I certainly welcome your thoughts. We can talk about it next time, but at least I want to acknowledge. Which day is that? Which day of the week? March 22nd? Actually. I don't know. And our meeting. Let's see when our March meeting is. Um. Let's see. It's the 17th. Yes. Our meeting is the 17th. So that would be the time that we would at least light a candle and celebrate our birthday. Yeah. And have we ever done anything before? No, we've never had a fifth anniversary before. John's got a fourth. Have we done anything? Yeah. Any of them? Yeah. If we do it in person, you know, we can have a cake and invite members of the public to partake in our cake. Yeah, but that's fine. Yeah, but that's fine. Yeah, but that's fine. The meeting at a restaurant? Well, or at the COA with the cake. Well, we meet wherever we normally meet for our normal meeting. That's what I'm saying. And then we can just maybe have a little bit of cake afterwards. Maybe. Okay. Well, bigger space. You know, when we're the town select room, that's kind of small. But we're usually in the old COA room, which is, you know. We can do a new COA room, find a bigger one. It would be fancy. You know, the thing is, I'll look into that. They don't have the capacity to record our meetings over there. But maybe this once, we could do it without recording. But the recording is helpful for the clerk. They have the Zoom, right? Yeah, it's complicated. They don't have, they don't offer a town staff person over there the way they do how Robbie sets us up here in the town building. Yeah. So anyway, that's neither here nor there. I don't know if it is important. But the last thing, does anyone have any other announcements that they would like to make? I just want to invite everyone to the Chinese New Year's. Yes. Please remind us of the date of the Lunar New Year's celebration. January 31st in the afternoon. In the afternoon. And it's good to get there early, right? Because the performances are on the early side. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. It's not that. It's not that. It's not the 31st. It's February 7th. No, February 7th. February 7th. I'm confused with another one. February 7th. What's the time? Yeah. February 7th, one to five. Right, Yello? It's a Saturday. It's Saturday. Great. Is that Saturday or Sunday? The 7th is Saturday. Okay. So, yeah. Marianne, does that conform to the flyer that you have? Yes, it is. I'm just wondering if maybe the actual Lunar New Year isn't on the 7th, because this is just- Oh, my choice. I think Bill and King saw something. Something like that. Yeah. Any other- Thank you. Let's all try to show up for that. I have it on my calendar. I think others do too. Any other announcements? Yes. I just wanted to mention that the Wayland 250th is still running the Voices of We the People essay writing project. And they were making the connection that the outcomes of this project are tied to the equity assessment to strengthen community connections, celebrate wide-ranging perspectives, and enrich Wayland's shared cultural richness. The topic is Voices of We of the People inviting residents who work, worship, or have children in the schools to write a short personal essay reflecting on what the Revolution, the Declaration of Independence, or the Constitution means to their lives. How do they affect their lives? How do they affect their life? Who do they protect? What relevance do the documents have in modern life or in your personal life? Are the promises realized or still aspirational? And after this, they're going to have a panel where people talk about their essays and what they wrote. So the 250th was hoping we'd just help get word out if you know anybody who might be interested in writing as a way, you know, to share personal experiences and then learn from each other. I assume they're looking for us as old age, from students all the way to senior citizens, everyone, right? It's everybody. Everybody. Everybody, yeah. I'm working with the Chinese Association to see if they can participate in that. Cool. I said, yeah, writers of all ages, the length is up to 500 words. Yeah. Thank you so much, Heather. Any other announcements? Would someone like to move that we adjourn? And before we do that, I just want to remind you at 745, if you have time, tune into the select board for, sometimes they run late, but you can see their agenda on there. So you'll kind of know where they are in the agenda if they're running late. But anyway, they'll be talking about the equity assessment. So anyone want to move to adjourn? So moved. So moved. Marianne. So moved. Thank you, Marianne. Is there a second? I second. Yeah, we'll second. Okay. Thank you. Heather. Yes. Marianne. Yes. Sophie. Whoops. I didn't hear you, Sophie. I know you unmuted, but I didn't hear. Yes. Thank you. Sarah. Yes. Yawu. Yes. Maya. Sarah. Mariam. Yes. Thank you. And Karen. Yes. And special thanks to you, Sarah, for coming to this meeting with all the logistical challenges. Thank you. Happy to be here. Thanks, everybody. Take care and see you next month. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.