May 27, 2026 – School Committee – Video & Transcript
May 27, 2026 - School Committee
It is May 27th. We called the meeting to order at 6-07. It is now 7-16 due to technical issues.
The first item on the agenda, the special matter about school choice and the superintendent's update, K-5, have already been discussed.
We are now moving on to financial matters, the first of which is the third order of financial report.
I'm going to give you a brief introduction about a little context setting here, why we do what we're about to do right now.
One of the important roles, I look at this as a shared responsibility in terms of our fiduciary responsibility, but it is one of the roles of a school committee.
It's also one of the roles of a superintendent in terms of working with our director of finance and operations, is to monitor, in addition to the school committee,
we just obviously approved our budget earlier for next year, but we have an approved amount of money that we have to use over the course of the school year.
And we do quarterly financial reporting to the school committee.
So this is really, I look at it like a health check of how we're doing.
And if you think about a budget, a school budget, over 85% is personnel, and that's really fixed across the year.
And then you have a few areas where we can have vulnerability in a budget that's more unpredictable.
An example of that is maintenance with older buildings, and you'll see that in this report, that we have some areas.
Another area this year, actually, that hasn't happened in a while, was weather.
And the expenses we're seeing municipalities across the state, particularly the second storm, cost us some money, and that's alluded to in this financial report.
The next piece is special education, tuition, and transportation.
The reason is that students, we can get new students over the course of the year, and they can require support both in the district sometimes in the form of teaching assistance.
And if they're out of, students are out of district, we're required to pay tuition and transportation.
So those are like the unpredictable parts of a budget that are often referred to in a quarterly financial report.
So those are kind of things to look for.
Usually, if we're doing what we're supposed to be doing, our salary lines line up.
There are occasions where we might, for example, be over enrollment comes higher than projected, so we will have to add a staff member.
That doesn't happen often, it's usually teaching assistance.
That line we watch very carefully.
Just actually today, Kirstie and Ronnie and I were talking about an issue related to tuition around TCW, where we depend on some tuition as part of a revolving account.
So we all pay very close attention to this, and this is our third quarter report.
The next report you will receive will be at the end of the school year, and that's our end of year report, and that's why the end of the school year into the summer gets very busy in the finance area,
because we want to make sure in September that we have a very thorough end of year report, because that has a real impact on our budget for the following year.
All right, Kirstie, there is your overview and context for our new member.
Much appreciated.
And just to give you a little more context, there's financial terminology in here, but I've also tried to provide a more straightforward, understandable synopsis for the general reader,
so that it's not complicated and trying to be transparent with our process.
So, again, I just provide the overview and the summary of our total budget for this year was $54,987,318.
And as of our third quarter, we have spent and encumbered a combined total of $36,528,000, or 66% of our appropriation.
And encumbered just means that that's a reserve of those funds dedicated by each particular budget line item.
And what I have shown as a visual is our munis financial system is the reporting structure,
and so I provide that as a reference to validate my numbers that I'm presenting in an executive summary,
but to back up that I'm providing that truth.
And I'm showing it in two different segments that our munis report or the finance report that is from our system has two different categories
that is not part of what I need to project to make sure that we are in good standing coming to the end of the year.
So I'm showing additional encumbrances because our financial system does not reserve the entire salary amount for the year.
And I think that is an important piece to keep in consideration as we're looking at our overall budget remaining in each quarter
as we're reviewing that process.
So I just walked through what our financial report actually identifies with actual expenditures
and in the different large categories of personnel and non-personnel,
and then the reserves in the capacity of items that still have not been paid to date
or we still know are coming, the services have not been complete, and we don't have invoices to pay those.
And then on this right side are the projections that I've included the reserve for the anticipated remaining salary balances for the year
and anticipated reserves in the different categories that we have.
So just so that there's some context into why you see two different sections.
And so, again, in the narrative, I've identified that our software system does not encumber or reserve our payroll,
and that can be complex tracking against what's truly available in our budget
because if you look at this side, it's showing $18 million available,
which is not even close to what would be available for the end of the year.
And so that's what I feel is an important piece to represent so that we all have a better understanding
of what our year-end reserves will be.
And so we are in the third quarter.
We did have a $53,000 deficit in our custodial overtime.
That was due to the order for overtime in doing snow removal, ice removal,
and additionally our pressures, our budget pressures, our facilities maintenance issues,
the tuition and transportation, all items that David identified.
And so I provide further delineation of the differences between the report and the projection
so that we have a better picture of where I anticipate the year to be ending.
So within the projections that I provided, we have 11 payrolls remaining for our teachers.
We have seven payrolls for all other staff types.
And we have some sub-coverages, and again, this is a projection at this point.
Could be higher, could be lower.
We had our longevity payments that came through at the end of May.
We have our retirement payouts that are coming at the end of June
for any amounts that are vacation payouts for retirees
or those that are no longer in the district, things of that nature.
And we have our co-curricular stipends and seasonal coaching that occurs in May as well.
So those all comprise the additional personnel reserve that I've identified in my projection.
In the non-personnel, we have our bus transportation category
that we will be doing an offset through our bus fee revolving account.
That's why we collect those transportation fees to help offset the budget
and be able to provide a level of service for our families within the district.
Our out-of-district tuitions, we have a circuit breaker revolving account
that is the statewide program that reimburses us a year after services are conducted.
And we have the ability to utilize those in the current and the subsequent year.
So we know we're running a deficit in that category right now,
but we're going to be doing a transfer once we see what the total cost is.
And I'm anticipating $600,000 right now.
And that, so that reimbursement is high-cost tuition,
so that it has to be over a certain amount, and then you get a percentage back.
That's the way that works.
It's not for mild to moderate.
It's our significant students in terms of...
And then also an anticipated but not yet entered purchase orders of approximately $297,000.
And those are just things that I know of.
There's a lot that is still coming through for the final end of the year.
We're doing reimbursements for faculty.
We're doing any of the last professional development travel reimbursements,
things of that sort.
So all of those are still going to be coming in from this reporting period
through the end of the year.
Again, what I've identified are those budget pressures that we're looking at
and that really impacted the third quarter was the weather and our facilities.
We have significant issues in our aging buildings that we have to mitigate,
and that does impact that particular budget category.
Our special education summary,
Ronnie was able to secure additional funding for Extraordinary Relief,
which was very significant.
And so we received an additional $230,971 for circuit breaker expenses.
So that was significant.
So thank you, Ronnie.
And we know that we do have that out-of-district deficit,
and we will be making those choices at the end of the school year
once we see the exact impact.
Our grants, we've had some,
there's been a lag of posting from the town,
so our reporting had no changes,
so I did not include that at this point.
But just the overall recap is that we do know,
we've provided the non-personnel budget pressures,
and we identified the current personnel deficits that we knew of,
and we're hoping that we are mitigating some of these additional
out-of-district costs through the Extraordinary Relief that we just received.
And we continue to watch all of these expenses through the end of the year.
Just a couple clarifications. Christine, thank you very much, as always, for this. It's super helpful. So this is as of the end of March, correct? Yes. Okay. The reduction for private out-of-district, is that truly like we expected $600,000 that we ended up not needing? Am I reading that reduction for private out-of-district tuition? No. So that means that we know we have to move expenses to our circuit breaker fund. So right now, if you look at the Munis report, it shows a negative amount in our out-of-district tuition line item. So it shows, like, a significant deficit. It shows, um... So we know we carry that deficit until the end so that we can true it up and move only what we need. Right here. No, my interpretation. Minus here. Okay. So it'll get moved here to offset. Okay. Um, and then do we collect the fees? We collect bus fees in the spring. Those for the next year, or are we transferring that bus fee account for the cost that was in this fiscal year? So we have a balance currently for this year. Mm-hmm. So the collections will be to offset next year. Okay. So then what's the transfer from the bus fee revolving fund that you mentioned? Right now, I'm projecting, um, $75,000.
No, no, no. I appreciate that. But does that just mean that we're paying on, like, not all at once for the transportation company? Like, we collect the fees one time in the year. Correct. And then are we moving that money periodically over the course of the year to pay the transportation bill? Um, I do that, I'm, I'm watching it at the end so that it's, because we don't necessarily want to piece mail it, and sometimes we over-project what our costs are going to be, or we under-project. Okay. So I try to true that up for the end of the year. And, um, you know, again, looking at when we are going to be faced with a new, uh, bus transportation contract. That bus fee revolving account, the fund balance in there, will be key to be able to help us offset that significant increase in a year one. So I'm trying to minimize what I need to offset by what the true deficit is at the end of the year. Okay. Um, you touched on the 297K, um, orders that are sort of POs, but were most of those expected? Are there any large-ticket items that the committee should be aware of in that? One of them is technology, a pretty significant one. See, I'm just, I'm giving like, it's like the trailer. The coming attractions. Okay. Um, and the last one for me, but it may take a bit, I have mixed feelings, but 550K projected unused? Yeah, no, that, this is just kind of right now where we're gliding, but again, I, there's a lot of things that are unknown that are happening currently. There's other orders that have come through. We have, um, like I said, the reimbursement categories. There could be additional, um, coverage that we have, we need for any, um, long-term absences that occur through, from April through the end of the year. So those aren't even kind of considered in that. So that number will be, will be shrinking. I know that number will shrink. That number at this time of the year is significantly higher than it has been in past years. Right, so I have a little, little commentary on that. Um, in my opinion, it's been, uh, too low in past years. When, when we cut it this close, Betsy, last year. I know, the 4,000. Yes. This is a far cry from 4,000. So we have other constituents who will want to know, David. No, that's fair, but I think, too, you know, the pressure, uh, last year when it gets so close and we're concerned about meeting payroll or not having our professionals, you know, what they need, that, um, it's a fine line. And you're, mixed feelings is a good one because it was, it was really too close even the year before we budget very, very tightly. And you do need, as we've talked about, with some, some, some, things are unpredictable. And so having a little bit of a cushion is, is not a bad thing, but I appreciate if it's very high. That has not been our issue compared to other places. No, no, and there are audience members and people in town who would not see a half a million as a cushion in the current budget climate. So I think we are not doing our responsibility if we don't ask for more clarity on what are the surprise good things or expenses we anticipated that we avoided because we may not avoid them next year. And so one of the other things that I really think is important for the public to understand is if there is something we planned for responsibly that maybe didn't happen this year, doesn't mean it's not going to happen. And so I want to make sure that no one perceives that money as not needed. Right. Particularly in the area of special education, as we think about a reserve fund, which the school committee has talked about, and one or two tuitions can take care of a reserve fund. Go ahead. Yeah, some things just broke in our favor this year. We had a couple of move-ins that we didn't have to be fiscally responsible for this year. That we thought that we would be. The emergency relief was honestly a kind of a shock. I mean, I keep an eye on it, and I filled it all out, and then I was like, I don't think we're going to make it. And then I talked to the circuit breaker, and they're like, nope, you're going to make it. So I really went through every IEP with a fine-tooth comb. I remember. And even more so this year, and that's what got us to the emergency relief. I'm not, I can't do that ever. I can do that, but now it's been accounted for. So next year when I do it, we've already accounted for it. So I don't get it again. That's important for us to appreciate that. So when you have new students move in after April 1st, you're not responsible for them the next year, but you are the year after. That's why you need a cushion, because those tuitions eventually kick in. And I will also say, actually, we did get a move in after April 1st, and we are responsible, because the move-in law only applies for private tuition. So now we have to pay a tuition that's not mentioned here, so that will eat into the $500,000. This is why we have that extra, because we got a move in, and they go to a public collaborative. And so we're on the hook for that tuition from April through the end of the year, and now moving forward. And we had another student who moved in on April 1st. So we don't know if that's still we're waiting on that decision. But also placements. The lawyer brain in me just got so interesting. I know. I've got to turn it off. It's April 1st. You're going to split one day. And then student placements have shifted a bit this year, and a couple students went to less expensive placements, but now a couple students are starting at more expensive placements. So it's very, it's... It's hard. Yeah, it's trying to juggle well. So, I mean, I'm encouraged to see that number, but I can tell you right now, I know some of it that's going to a tuition. No, but that's exactly what I think as we get this close, particularly as we're coming off of town meeting, and as we're looking at next year, and we're looking at long-term planning, understanding that is... I mean, I don't think we can say enough that you always like to talk about the difficult to predict, and we do our best, but I think that the context matters. Thank you. And just municipalities issue with the weather, as we're seeing, so it's important. Honey, what's placement? What do you mean by that? So, in Whelan, we have about 540 students who are special education students. Of that 540, about 40 of them are placed in out-of-district placements. So they're placed at private schools or public collaboratives, and we pay tuition. And those tuitions are set by a separate body. So if a student is at one school, and the tuition is, say, $100,000, but then that placement's not working out, and they're not making progress, and we've just switched, and they go to a new placement, and that placement's $150,000, now we have to make up. We have to pay that gap, obviously. We also have to pay to transport students, which is quite a cost. Yeah, yeah. Thanks. Would you like me to share the next one, or just are we going to speak to the next items?
Is there anything to share besides the bottom?
There is on item C. Right, but not for B. Not on B.
Christy, which of the earmarked FY26 funds? From the state legislature. Ah, okay. Are you doing that? I can put that in, yes. That's number three in the agenda. I mean, in the prep-made meeting materials. Okay, so this is the, we have received a legislative earmark for $52,850, and this is for Wayland Public Schools, and it is for the current fiscal year. So we have identified the use of the funds would be for a new Project Adventure Challenge Ropes course that would be located at the high school, primarily for academic wellness and leadership curriculum, but will also be available through our parks and recreation department for summer events that would be also, you know, a town-wide use and purpose for that. And we've identified that the total cost for materials and assembly is $91,360. And the balance from the earmarked funding would come from donation accounts and wellness and athletic budget balances from the FY26 general fund. So, Betsy, to your point, some of that would be identified for this purpose, to close out for this fiscal year. Some of the background on this particular item, the wellness coordinator, Scott, thank you, provided that the current ropes course was built in 1979, and this was by the pioneer who, for the innovative learning, which is all of the Project Adventure's significance that is really taking into the outdoors and building that leadership skills and all of that for students. And it really is a training site for educators, and we were one of the first here in Wayland for that particular facility. And so, it's really something that is important to bring back and make sure that we have that accessible again. We have attempted to submit this project through the capital process. It has not been successful in getting funding, and the most recent was through the Community Preservation Act in 2024. So, that's why we've prioritized the earmarked funds for this purpose that would be a very visible and usable facility for the community at large. And it is our recommendation to the school committee that we approve the replacement of the Project Adventure Ropes course at the total of $91,360, and the funding would utilize the state earmarked amount of $52,850, and the remaining balance of $38,500 would be funded through FY26 Wellness Athletic General Fund balances and donation accounts that we identified. I also want to thank our state legislators, who are incredibly helpful, David Linsky and Carmine Gentile, who will be retiring. But David and Carmine were super helpful, and this is something that's been hard to fund locally. And our teachers are so excited about it. I just spoke to Scott today. They're really excited. They do great work, and it provides lots of options for our students in terms of wellness, and the skills, the SEL skills you learn around trust and team building are part of our SEL goals. So, we're very happy about this. How did it come about? What happens is, during the legislative process, I talk to our legislators about what are you interested in, and I've been interested in this for a while, about how to get this funded. And so, literally, you know, they'll call you. I remember, you know, Carmine calling from the House floor. We're doing the budget process. We have earmarks, and part of that is thinking about local items, and David and I had a conversation, actually, after our facilities meeting at the high school, and they understand that this is something we've really wanted to do. It's also, it's very important when we have these items that we do one time, as opposed to recurring. We can't do this for staffing, and this is something that's a really good thing for the community. I will also say that it will be used during the summer for camps. We've worked closely with Catherine Brenna, our recreation director, and she's very excited about the opportunity of using it for the summer for students. When should it be completed? I talked about that with Scott. We're ready to go in September. Wow. So that's, we're working out. There's lots of movement here. Also, I think there's also work in, you know, the playground at Happy Hollow. That's a big deal. I know you guys are meeting about that sometime soon. Somebody is. We did. You did meet? Right, because you're involved in that. Yep. We met, and they presented two different options, like a nature one and a nature theme, and a space theme. And then TCW staff that was there and our physical therapist, Lisa Fennelly, that was there asked for a couple of tweaks to it based on student needs, so they're coming back with new, some of those things. And then I know the town is working on just with Nicolette on exactly where it's going to be, but we're moving along. Great. I, sadly, did not get to see the ropes course in its heyday. However, I'm sorry, Prashant, that you did not get to hear the very impassioned-like discussion by our wellness team about it. Super exciting. Two questions. One, are we, we're good with the general fund balance where we are? I'm assuming yes, but just asking to make sure. And then the second is, in terms of ongoing maintenance, like what's involved in that cost-wise, and is it available, open to the public? Like, is it like playgrounds that anybody can be on it, or no? No, you have to have a trained instructor there. Okay. Because it is apparatus, you know, so no, it would not be available in the general climbing environment. It would be annual maintenance costs, minimal. I believe it's like a $1,200 fee that would be incorporated within their departmental budgets. Got it. Thank you. But, you know, part of it also, when you would register kids, you know, your child for camp, and you participate in a rope course, you know, some of the fee is going to go towards the staff, but also maintenance of the facilities as it would be for any camp. And it's all natural. It's wood posts. We're making a school committee retreat, you know, or something there, if you haven't seen it before. It would just get warmed up. And it's new. It's not repairing. It's beyond still there. The other one was, you know, something from the 1970s. It's redone, yes, yeah. Okay, great. Good years, though, those late 70s, David, I'm told. Those were... Kids used to play back then, in the 70s, in the 80s, you know. So it's a structured play. Same location? No. Different location. Okay. That's what kept the cost containment down, is providing a more open location where you do not have to look at conservation of tree removals or anything like that, so... Can it actually generate revenue? No, not likely. It's more programmatic for community because you still have to have the licensed instructor available, so the likelihood that we would have somebody want to do that... Most of it will be used in wellness classes for our high school students during the school day. In some ways, you know, for the town, in terms of generating some revenue over the summer, yes, but it's really for camps, and you want to price those reasonably, but there will be some revenue coming from that. Third question?
Motion? No, really excited. Thank you. To everybody involved. Do you want a motion? Sure. Okay. I will move that we accept the state earmarked funds as presented in the memo from Kirsteen Patterson to superintendent Fleishman and the school committee.
I'll second. All in favor? Aye. Thank you. Great. Thank you. The next one is a joint proposal for... That's why Jen is here this evening for the recommendation to award the multi-year IT lease contracts for our devices, and we provided the process and justification of going through the lease process versus outright purchases. It is very cost-prohibitive for the number of devices we need, and trying to make sure that we have the highest level of technology available to all of our students and faculty. This is a resource that we are able to take advantage of the state bidding process, and so we did go through all of the contracts for the device costs, and then we also went through the lease contract vendors that would be able to provide the funding vehicle for those multi-year contracts. So we have the summary below that's identifying each of the different lease categories, and Jen, if you wanted to kind of jump in and then go through those particular items and what we are looking at in terms of the total cost and what we'd be looking at for year one. So this is not year one cost. This is over the four- or five-year lease term, so I just want to make sure everybody understands that, but we have to get school committee approval for anything that is a multi-year and over that cost threshold. So this is not a new process for the technology department here in Wayland Public Schools. They have historically funded purchase of computer equipment, so the hardware that we give to staff and students through leases, and fortunately, the leasing, the cost of our money is not too bad, and it allows us to plan out these expenses over time. So we're coming to you, as Kirstine said, in advance of actually what will be a purchase actually in next year's budget cycle, but given the sort of groundwork we need to do to ensure that those are ordered in time on our behalf before we're actually invoiced for them, that's why we're bringing this to you now. So in terms of what's on deck here, this is all actually predicated on leases that were expiring, and so that kind of drove us into certain decisions that we had to make based on the life cycle of these devices and what we knew in terms of enrollment that also informed our decision. So it's not quite a like for like, so it's not like I can say, well, we had exactly these things the last time, we're getting exactly the same things, because each lease opportunity is a chance for us to just take a step back and say, okay, it was four or five years ago that we made this decision about a device for staff or students. let's reassess because what's available to us is different than it was four or five years ago, and so we did a pretty comprehensive review of the devices because as many of you may know, for example, our teachers had previously been issued Macbooks, the fleet, or what was sort of available of the types of devices which we could choose from, there are now other choices that were not available then, and so that's what has caused us after having a sample brought in and assessing the quality of the device that's available now, you know, the hardware's new, we have different applications, we were really sort of test driving it against the ways in which we use this technology now, and we are confident that the Macbook Neo will meet the needs of our teaching staff, so that was one part of our decision, and then the other major shift for us that is important for school committee to be aware of, we've already stated this previously, but again for new members, we also made a decision to re-evaluate the student device, students had previously been issued actually the same device we give our staff, a Macbook M1, and in evaluating what's available and the hardware options that are available on the Chrome side, which is where we're doing our daily work, that's kind of our environment, and so a Chrome device was something of interest to us because of the ease of management, and also it would allow us to do some things with students in a more secure environment that we cannot do and would still not be able to do if we continued in a Mac OS environment, so these were all some things that informed our decision, it also was an opportunity to try to be more fiscally responsible about what, you know, this is a very significant cost we have in supplying devices to students, and yet we know that particularly at the high school level, that's a really important piece of equipment, and there's a really big, there's a real commitment on the part of the district around equity to ensure that we provide a device so that we have assurances that everyone has the same experiences, both for our students and for our teaching staff, to have that predictability of what kids are coming in with every day, and so I feel really good about those decisions, and then finally there would be some other devices on here are iPads to backfill elementary iPads, or actually we're going to be ordering fewer of these than we did the last time, so as I said to you, it's not necessarily the same that we do, we're not just hitting reset every time, we reassessed, and we are really trying to think about how can we look at the screen time use that are with our youngest learners, we know that there's also changes happening in the number of students, so we looked at enrollment, so for those reasons, we feel comfortable in reducing the number of iPads we're ordering for replacement, and then finally, there are iMacs, which are, you'll notice that, listed in that first lease, so there are three leases in this ask, just because it was easier to sort of group them together based on what we were asking for, so managing them in that way is just easier, so that first purchase, in addition to the iPads, also includes iMacs, which are physical desktop machines that are in the form of a lab at both the middle and high school, this allows us to do some additional things that maybe either aren't possible on a Chromebook, or in a lot of ways, they might want a larger screen and sort of that sort of classroom environment where everyone's kind of having that instruction in the lab environment there are times when that works better in the upper grades and so we like to have that option in addition to one-to-one devices, so this is a preview of what we were looking to order and we went, as Kirstein said, using the prescribed bidding process and the state contract, we use a, we're seeking a lease which is with the intention of returning these devices at the end of lease and that's been a really positive experience so far, I've actually been really relieved to see how easy it's gone, this is new for me, having leases for equipment, I'm used to having a capital budget to do this so I wasn't really sure how complicated that process would be in terms of returning, I didn't know if we'd be hit with a big bill at the end, like these were my concerns, but it works pretty well, I think it really allows for a sustainable cycle for us, but Kirstein and I have also been talking and working very closely to try to reduce wherever possible leases because we want to create as much flexibility in our budget so we can be responsive to situations, so I think this represents what we know is what we need to move into the fall, the timeliness of this is really important because I probably won't surprise you by telling you that we're really concerned about the supply chain situation right now both in terms of processors and memory we know that this is we've been hearing this for months we knew this was we're in worse than COVID times right now in terms of supply chain and that not even talking about shipping issues that are impacted by global situations right now so all that to say it feels early to have this conversation now but honestly I will breathe a sigh of relief when we can get this over the finish line so that we know that the vendor on our behalf can create a hold on equipment that we otherwise would risk not starting the school year with devices in hand if we can't start to move this along so that's why we're bringing it up a little bit early but I wanted to be here for any questions because Kirsten's been helping me with the financial back end but there might be some details that you had questions about and I wanted to be able to answer are we in the middle of a lease for the middle school Chromebooks and the upper elementary Chromebooks not yet so that is a 2B that would come later and those are pretty different devices so to be clear for those who might be listening I think when people hear the word Chromebook I'm going to be honest they think this is somehow an inferior device than something else I could get and while I understand that that might be the thinking because we give 11 inch screen size Chromebooks which is a small device when you think about what you and I are used to using and even our students at the high school are used to a larger screen they're on a 13 inch which is slightly smaller than a typical 14 inch screen because that's just what a Mac is that's what they make so this device that we'd be moving into for the high school students specifically is a device that is a really high-end piece of hardware so this is not your middle school Chromebook for our high school students this is a 14 inch device with a touch screen with 8 megs of memory and it really when you think about the complexity of software that you're running on your PC or on your Mac the Chrome OS is sort of a lightweight operating system so it requires less hardware to run very efficiently anyway so in the performance test that we've done I can use it frankly as my daily driver with very few exceptions and I do more than most people and our high school instructional technology specialist has been eating the dog food he's like I'm driving this as my daily and I'm convinced that this is going to do everything our kids want to do and that's incumbent upon us to really kick the tires because it's a pretty big shift I won't lie and say the kids are thrilled I think they're nervous we're taking away this thing that is familiar to them but I think that what I want to maintain for everyone is we're trying to teach them skills it's not about a name brand of a product these skills are transferable skills that you learn how to use effectively file management and word processors and spreadsheets they didn't reinvent the wheel when Google came up with their version of things my skills from Excel were absolutely transferable so to anyone that might be worried about those kinds of things we are really thinking about career ready skills and flexibility is a big part of that kids and adults should be able to be flexible on platforms in ways that really help us to think about transferring these skills that we're teaching but we know what we are doing every day and we can test the hardware against those demands and we feel good about these decisions they're decisions that I think are sustainable over the long term which is what we're really trying to think about because it doesn't help anyone for me to be Santa Claus today only to disappoint you when we're really up for a refresh and say we can't afford so this is a sustainable choice the payments are in line with and we forecasted this out well beyond the number of like through the next five years actually to look at the other leases that we have obligations for and to ensure for my assurance as well as Kirsteen's and yours that we feel comfortable that we can within the budget that we have this is absolutely something that is a responsible decision as far as we can see and our forecasting out I think that was really part of my question the other leases that we're responsible for elementary middle school I think the transition will be a short emotional transition because in three through five and middle school you're used to this technology by the time we're at the end of this lease no one will remember the MacBook so I think uniformity is good and I appreciate you being fiscally responsible there but when do we need to start when are we going to be talking about the other upper elementary and middle schools are we in a lease for those and when does that lease yeah so the middle school we're going to have to hobble along for one more year and I will say that not only are kids just rough on devices and that's not you know there's nothing special about you and Mayland and your middle schoolers it's just the way it is everywhere and so we know that they're driven hard and unfortunately we've been struggling with some specific issues around sort of the plastic housing and the hinges and some weakening over time so we know that those that the repairs will increase over next year but what we also do when we think about these purchases is we we know that there is an obligation for parents to to pay for damage and repairs so we really try to think about that because it's really about the total cost of owning this thing and so we don't want to be burdening families with very expensive repairs and again when you're dealing with a sole source provider like Apple it gets a lot harder to be competitive around that we work with refurbished parts and things but it can be really hard for us to try to make that as economical as possible so we anticipate too that that will help us in the repair cost of things too so we will you know even though these devices are older like for the middle schoolers there isn't an increased burden for families their annual like whatever we call it it's sort of like an optional insurance
we're actually able to lower the cost of that to the high school families because we know that that's not going to be as expensive as the device so these are all kinds of things that have been part of that decision but we will be looking at the middle school device during next school year and some of the questions that are already come up are you know does it make sense for us to think of a larger device for those kids like they're bigger kids do they get a 14 inch device as opposed to an 11 you know we have touch capability are we really using that is that really something we want to continue to pay for how do we you know what what are the things that are working and what are the things that we maybe need to look at when we're evaluating the next model and again what's available is different than what was available when we first purchased so we'll be looking at that over the course of next year we do that typically with the instructional technology specialists that work on our team for our educators that work in our schools and are really tuned in to how these things work you know within the classroom because you know sure the hardware and we can look at all of that from one lens but what's more important is and the most important is does this work for teaching and learning which is why we decide that these devices are important for us to purchase and we're having a lot of conversations about screen time and passive versus active use you know not all screen time is created equal it's not all terrible but it's also not all great so we're you know I think I feel really good about the space here in Wayland and the ability to have these conversations not just about hardware but about how we're using it in ways that really help students knowing that you know technology while it has lots of good to offer is sadly you know being forced upon us at times and in ways that we are not looking for it and you know as you said today David we have a very human profession right and so as much as I'm here to support that technology we've really got to be thinking about you know how are we when are we using this does it add value and when we do take it out we want to make sure the equipment meets the needs but I don't want people to think that just because we're investing this money that having them out more makes it somehow a better value that that is not how we think about it that the way in which they're being used it's not about frequency it's about the quality so those are all conversations we're having and I feel really good about that here you can imagine there's a lot of conversations around AI and stuff but again we're thinking about that equipment and that it will support some of these increased demands and we feel confident about that makes my instructional designer heart happy to hear you say that I know we talk about but that's not why I come here every day I wouldn't do this work in another context because I come from a classroom and that's what brings my energy about it and I think that it's really important that this will always be thinking about that because it's just so easy and there's just unfortunately there's just a lot of marketing and money and design that is going into trying to think for us and we're not in the business of that here other questions fundamentally so two questions actually do we have any baseline for let's say the previous round of leasing we did to compare the numbers when you say baseline are you asking financially like what's the cost this time or next time I like the choice of the new though I think that's a great product to move from for Apple but I'm just like these are big numbers they're big numbers yeah so what I can tell you comparatively so again we're like just one lease alone last year and sort of this is actually more like two leases that we're parsing into three again don't worry too much about the number just like the number of things and the total payments of them previously one lease alone was $228,000 as an annual payment okay so a huge portion of my budget I don't have that much more money than all of this a huge portion of my budget and Kirsteen and I have had conversations about this which is my gosh Jen like so much of your budget is tied up in leasing and I'm like I know it's terrible and yet like there is no other option so it makes it hard to move quickly so it does make it a little bit tricky but I've had this first like I've needed the first two years to kind of get a handle on them because I didn't enter all of these so it's taken me a little while to organize them all and think about like when do they you know what is the equipment on each of them
so for example I might take middle school Chromebooks that I have for four years but I can get one more year out of them by squeezing them over into elementary carts because they're not as rough with them over there and so we're trying to think about those things as we look at all of the
that has this all broken out into each lease and we did a whole forecasting thing to make sure that the money that we were sort of obligating now through the next five years would
that helps you and that's saying that we also know that the cost of these goods has
inventory and so again we have this product on hold because I said we've made this decision we're just officially moving through these steps so I think we're going to be okay but vendors are actually giving quotes that are expiring in many cases within less than a week because it cannot guarantee pricing so the fact that I was able to get us to a point where we have pricing that's fixed we know that this is the number if you say yes we can move forward and that will be the number on July 15th when we get our first bill like all of those
selection of HP leasing on the ITC 83 statement contract as the vendor for the respective four-year and five-year technology for the fall 26 device refresh as presented second thank you all in favor aye closed thank you Jen thank you Christy for healthy healthy matters oh yes that's me so Jessie has put out new regulations for time out and seclusion and we as the school committee has a policy that Diane put in the folder JKAA physical restraint of students actually all the way at the bottom she was kind enough thank you Diane to highlight the part that needs tweaking the use of time out procedures during which a staff member remains accessible to seclusion or restraint so the new policy from DESE is not changing anything around physical restraints what is changing is regulations around what we call time out and seclusion so that part of the policy will need to be changed so the
student and is continuously observed in an unlocked setting and the student is permitted to leave so there are times we have some students who become very dysregulated and try to leave the building or are unsafe and so we use what's called a time out where students are not permitted to leave but there is a staff member there that is no longer allowed per the state per on august 17th when these new regulations go into effect essentially if you if a student is dysregulated and they are in a room and not permitted to leave that is called seclusion and that is not allowed except in emergency situations and in order to be permitted even to do an emergency seclusion you need a lot
of things that need to be said at time so what that means is you know one of the concerns is are our physical restraints going to increase because if a student is going to be unsafe and run out
then in that case you would have to physically restrain that student so you would have to go to the more extreme restraint rather than you're asking all
just you know I mentioned this to our group yesterday this really came about because of a few highly public as it often does when you think about a few highly publicized cases where the time was not used the way it should have been and sometimes what happens with either legislation or executive this is not an executive action this is a state regulatory action you know this
talk about this second but also requires a lot of professional development now and that's really hard if you think about what we just started with tonight and now this is something else we
like now I went to a training this last week around it so now I have a much better understanding but it's happening August you know 17th is when they go into effect so essentially we were lucky I don't know if you remember previously that we were one of like 30 districts that got the 213 grant which was directly related to this so we're lucky that
training that any staff that could potentially be involved in any seclusion or restraint needs like a full day of training so we're actually rolling that out over the summer and I just sent an email this morning and staff are signing up so I'm hoping that the majority of our staff will actually be trained in this
do the overview so all staff because general education and specialists need the basic training so we have a good training plan in place we're also some things that we're doing is we've already worked out with Sarah Sontag and I negotiated and she gave me a couple super Wednesdays and she's taken a couple super Wednesdays so we have she's getting two and I'm getting two and we agreed on who's getting what and it's so Jessica Minahan who wrote the behavior code companion is coming out to do training for our staff next year and then I'm also offering there's a couple of classes over the summer that I've put out to staff to take as well because what
we need to handle these situations before they get to needing a seclusion or a timeout or a restraint some situations are what they are and students become dysregulated and we have to use these procedures but we're going to try to get more training so we don't get to that point we'll continue our safety care training so we switched to an online safety care training which has allowed us to train more people of staff that are already trained they'll get their recertification part of their recertification we're going to add on a little bit about this to that as well so there's a lot of things happening this summer now and the beginning of the school year but we'll be ready to go totally appreciate the
how you know impactful is it for a student who is used to asking for a time out who has found a time out to be a like re-regulating effective intervention like I guess I'm worried about the students who so I'm curious if they've said anything about that they can you can still do that like if a student says like I need a break or I need to
go they just can't not be not permitted to leave so if a student needs a break they can still take a break but I can't say you need a break you're going into the break space and you're not leaving until like we do a compliance test like one of the things that the talks about is like you know and this is
don't have to do that so you're still allowed to take a break we'll still have calming spaces we won't have timeout rooms we'll have calming spaces and students are certainly allowed there's also new regulations about monitoring those spaces the principal has to look at them each week and do a checklist and make sure that they're still clean and nothing sharp or anything and every week has to document that they've reviewed their spaces but yes they are still allowed to do that but they have to be permitted to leave so even if like even if there's a student who's dysregulated in a classroom and you remove the rest of
really big mind shift and it's going to be very difficult to you know I think it's good we're doing it over the summer because give people some time to talk to the lawyers as well they've kind of given us some guidance as well because there's a lot of nuances in the language and it could go either way in some places so I've been really talking to our attorneys about it as well so that's a big shift the documentation also is a big shift we document our restraints very systematically based on what the state tells us so now we're going to have to do that for this as well like I said emergency seclusion can be done but you have to have it like we'll be talking with caregivers and things ahead of time so I don't know who's the policy committee is now but we'll have to revisit yes so I'm happy to work with whoever is the policy committee people we have not reorganized once you do we can work together to revise that but that will need to be revised by the beginning of the next school year so we will need to a couple of districts and I wrote them down and it's on my notes to look have already revised there so I was going to look at what they've done but yes they may have already put something out because every school committee does have to revise like they may have okay so thank you and I'm happy next year to get going to report we are actually the state is going to be tracking our data and looking at like from the start of next year and then three years out we'll be looking at tracking data and I'm sure it'll be part of some monitoring does this require you to rewrite a lot of behavior plans that's a good question we have to review all of our behavior plans because there can be no mention of time out in behavior plans so we have to review some behavior plans yeah so hopefully our next meeting Ronnie I'm still one half of the policy subcommittee but I'm alone so I mean we won't leave you alone don't worry I'm only alone for the next
meeting mass mass did issue a revised policy literally this month I just want to make sure I put it on the radar does anybody have any notes or comments about the consent agenda so many trips oh my gosh that's my only comment these kids are so sorry I'm just looking at 13 the May 13 so in the all of these with the exception of May 4 they're in your packet so if you have any questions about the approval for the trips or if the minutes from May 13 needed any edits this is when we would those questions would make those trips look good no don't you want to go on all of them definitely developing background knowledge you want to do it you want to do it so I'm going to move to approve the consent agenda with the removal of the May 4th minutes I'll second all in favor aye opposed okay so now I move to enter executive session for the purposes of discussing strategy related to collective bargaining with the Wayland Educational Association WEA Unit A as permitted by MGL Chapter 30A Section 21A3 and for review and approval of executive session minutes with intent to redact and release said minutes as permitted by MGL Chapter 30A Section 22 for May 13th not May 4th the committee will be joined by Superintendent David
Betsy yes Kate yes Prashant thank you everyone
Just a couple clarifications. Christine, thank you very much, as always, for this. It's super helpful. So this is as of the end of March, correct? Yes. Okay. The reduction for private out-of-district, is that truly like we expected $600,000 that we ended up not needing? Am I reading that reduction for private out-of-district tuition? No. So that means that we know we have to move expenses to our circuit breaker fund. So right now, if you look at the Munis report, it shows a negative amount in our out-of-district tuition line item. So it shows, like, a significant deficit. It shows, um... So we know we carry that deficit until the end so that we can true it up and move only what we need. Right here. No, my interpretation. Minus here. Okay. So it'll get moved here to offset. Okay. Um, and then do we collect the fees? We collect bus fees in the spring. Those for the next year, or are we transferring that bus fee account for the cost that was in this fiscal year? So we have a balance currently for this year. Mm-hmm. So the collections will be to offset next year. Okay. So then what's the transfer from the bus fee revolving fund that you mentioned? Right now, I'm projecting, um, $75,000.
No, no, no. I appreciate that. But does that just mean that we're paying on, like, not all at once for the transportation company? Like, we collect the fees one time in the year. Correct. And then are we moving that money periodically over the course of the year to pay the transportation bill? Um, I do that, I'm, I'm watching it at the end so that it's, because we don't necessarily want to piece mail it, and sometimes we over-project what our costs are going to be, or we under-project. Okay. So I try to true that up for the end of the year. And, um, you know, again, looking at when we are going to be faced with a new, uh, bus transportation contract. That bus fee revolving account, the fund balance in there, will be key to be able to help us offset that significant increase in a year one. So I'm trying to minimize what I need to offset by what the true deficit is at the end of the year. Okay. Um, you touched on the 297K, um, orders that are sort of POs, but were most of those expected? Are there any large-ticket items that the committee should be aware of in that? One of them is technology, a pretty significant one. See, I'm just, I'm giving like, it's like the trailer. The coming attractions. Okay. Um, and the last one for me, but it may take a bit, I have mixed feelings, but 550K projected unused? Yeah, no, that, this is just kind of right now where we're gliding, but again, I, there's a lot of things that are unknown that are happening currently. There's other orders that have come through. We have, um, like I said, the reimbursement categories. There could be additional, um, coverage that we have, we need for any, um, long-term absences that occur through, from April through the end of the year. So those aren't even kind of considered in that. So that number will be, will be shrinking. I know that number will shrink. That number at this time of the year is significantly higher than it has been in past years. Right, so I have a little, little commentary on that. Um, in my opinion, it's been, uh, too low in past years. When, when we cut it this close, Betsy, last year. I know, the 4,000. Yes. This is a far cry from 4,000. So we have other constituents who will want to know, David. No, that's fair, but I think, too, you know, the pressure, uh, last year when it gets so close and we're concerned about meeting payroll or not having our professionals, you know, what they need, that, um, it's a fine line. And you're, mixed feelings is a good one because it was, it was really too close even the year before we budget very, very tightly. And you do need, as we've talked about, with some, some, some, things are unpredictable. And so having a little bit of a cushion is, is not a bad thing, but I appreciate if it's very high. That has not been our issue compared to other places. No, no, and there are audience members and people in town who would not see a half a million as a cushion in the current budget climate. So I think we are not doing our responsibility if we don't ask for more clarity on what are the surprise good things or expenses we anticipated that we avoided because we may not avoid them next year. And so one of the other things that I really think is important for the public to understand is if there is something we planned for responsibly that maybe didn't happen this year, doesn't mean it's not going to happen. And so I want to make sure that no one perceives that money as not needed. Right. Particularly in the area of special education, as we think about a reserve fund, which the school committee has talked about, and one or two tuitions can take care of a reserve fund. Go ahead. Yeah, some things just broke in our favor this year. We had a couple of move-ins that we didn't have to be fiscally responsible for this year. That we thought that we would be. The emergency relief was honestly a kind of a shock. I mean, I keep an eye on it, and I filled it all out, and then I was like, I don't think we're going to make it. And then I talked to the circuit breaker, and they're like, nope, you're going to make it. So I really went through every IEP with a fine-tooth comb. I remember. And even more so this year, and that's what got us to the emergency relief. I'm not, I can't do that ever. I can do that, but now it's been accounted for. So next year when I do it, we've already accounted for it. So I don't get it again. That's important for us to appreciate that. So when you have new students move in after April 1st, you're not responsible for them the next year, but you are the year after. That's why you need a cushion, because those tuitions eventually kick in. And I will also say, actually, we did get a move in after April 1st, and we are responsible, because the move-in law only applies for private tuition. So now we have to pay a tuition that's not mentioned here, so that will eat into the $500,000. This is why we have that extra, because we got a move in, and they go to a public collaborative. And so we're on the hook for that tuition from April through the end of the year, and now moving forward. And we had another student who moved in on April 1st. So we don't know if that's still we're waiting on that decision. But also placements. The lawyer brain in me just got so interesting. I know. I've got to turn it off. It's April 1st. You're going to split one day. And then student placements have shifted a bit this year, and a couple students went to less expensive placements, but now a couple students are starting at more expensive placements. So it's very, it's... It's hard. Yeah, it's trying to juggle well. So, I mean, I'm encouraged to see that number, but I can tell you right now, I know some of it that's going to a tuition. No, but that's exactly what I think as we get this close, particularly as we're coming off of town meeting, and as we're looking at next year, and we're looking at long-term planning, understanding that is... I mean, I don't think we can say enough that you always like to talk about the difficult to predict, and we do our best, but I think that the context matters. Thank you. And just municipalities issue with the weather, as we're seeing, so it's important. Honey, what's placement? What do you mean by that? So, in Whelan, we have about 540 students who are special education students. Of that 540, about 40 of them are placed in out-of-district placements. So they're placed at private schools or public collaboratives, and we pay tuition. And those tuitions are set by a separate body. So if a student is at one school, and the tuition is, say, $100,000, but then that placement's not working out, and they're not making progress, and we've just switched, and they go to a new placement, and that placement's $150,000, now we have to make up. We have to pay that gap, obviously. We also have to pay to transport students, which is quite a cost. Yeah, yeah. Thanks. Would you like me to share the next one, or just are we going to speak to the next items?
Is there anything to share besides the bottom?
There is on item C. Right, but not for B. Not on B.
Christy, which of the earmarked FY26 funds? From the state legislature. Ah, okay. Are you doing that? I can put that in, yes. That's number three in the agenda. I mean, in the prep-made meeting materials. Okay, so this is the, we have received a legislative earmark for $52,850, and this is for Wayland Public Schools, and it is for the current fiscal year. So we have identified the use of the funds would be for a new Project Adventure Challenge Ropes course that would be located at the high school, primarily for academic wellness and leadership curriculum, but will also be available through our parks and recreation department for summer events that would be also, you know, a town-wide use and purpose for that. And we've identified that the total cost for materials and assembly is $91,360. And the balance from the earmarked funding would come from donation accounts and wellness and athletic budget balances from the FY26 general fund. So, Betsy, to your point, some of that would be identified for this purpose, to close out for this fiscal year. Some of the background on this particular item, the wellness coordinator, Scott, thank you, provided that the current ropes course was built in 1979, and this was by the pioneer who, for the innovative learning, which is all of the Project Adventure's significance that is really taking into the outdoors and building that leadership skills and all of that for students. And it really is a training site for educators, and we were one of the first here in Wayland for that particular facility. And so, it's really something that is important to bring back and make sure that we have that accessible again. We have attempted to submit this project through the capital process. It has not been successful in getting funding, and the most recent was through the Community Preservation Act in 2024. So, that's why we've prioritized the earmarked funds for this purpose that would be a very visible and usable facility for the community at large. And it is our recommendation to the school committee that we approve the replacement of the Project Adventure Ropes course at the total of $91,360, and the funding would utilize the state earmarked amount of $52,850, and the remaining balance of $38,500 would be funded through FY26 Wellness Athletic General Fund balances and donation accounts that we identified. I also want to thank our state legislators, who are incredibly helpful, David Linsky and Carmine Gentile, who will be retiring. But David and Carmine were super helpful, and this is something that's been hard to fund locally. And our teachers are so excited about it. I just spoke to Scott today. They're really excited. They do great work, and it provides lots of options for our students in terms of wellness, and the skills, the SEL skills you learn around trust and team building are part of our SEL goals. So, we're very happy about this. How did it come about? What happens is, during the legislative process, I talk to our legislators about what are you interested in, and I've been interested in this for a while, about how to get this funded. And so, literally, you know, they'll call you. I remember, you know, Carmine calling from the House floor. We're doing the budget process. We have earmarks, and part of that is thinking about local items, and David and I had a conversation, actually, after our facilities meeting at the high school, and they understand that this is something we've really wanted to do. It's also, it's very important when we have these items that we do one time, as opposed to recurring. We can't do this for staffing, and this is something that's a really good thing for the community. I will also say that it will be used during the summer for camps. We've worked closely with Catherine Brenna, our recreation director, and she's very excited about the opportunity of using it for the summer for students. When should it be completed? I talked about that with Scott. We're ready to go in September. Wow. So that's, we're working out. There's lots of movement here. Also, I think there's also work in, you know, the playground at Happy Hollow. That's a big deal. I know you guys are meeting about that sometime soon. Somebody is. We did. You did meet? Right, because you're involved in that. Yep. We met, and they presented two different options, like a nature one and a nature theme, and a space theme. And then TCW staff that was there and our physical therapist, Lisa Fennelly, that was there asked for a couple of tweaks to it based on student needs, so they're coming back with new, some of those things. And then I know the town is working on just with Nicolette on exactly where it's going to be, but we're moving along. Great. I, sadly, did not get to see the ropes course in its heyday. However, I'm sorry, Prashant, that you did not get to hear the very impassioned-like discussion by our wellness team about it. Super exciting. Two questions. One, are we, we're good with the general fund balance where we are? I'm assuming yes, but just asking to make sure. And then the second is, in terms of ongoing maintenance, like what's involved in that cost-wise, and is it available, open to the public? Like, is it like playgrounds that anybody can be on it, or no? No, you have to have a trained instructor there. Okay. Because it is apparatus, you know, so no, it would not be available in the general climbing environment. It would be annual maintenance costs, minimal. I believe it's like a $1,200 fee that would be incorporated within their departmental budgets. Got it. Thank you. But, you know, part of it also, when you would register kids, you know, your child for camp, and you participate in a rope course, you know, some of the fee is going to go towards the staff, but also maintenance of the facilities as it would be for any camp. And it's all natural. It's wood posts. We're making a school committee retreat, you know, or something there, if you haven't seen it before. It would just get warmed up. And it's new. It's not repairing. It's beyond still there. The other one was, you know, something from the 1970s. It's redone, yes, yeah. Okay, great. Good years, though, those late 70s, David, I'm told. Those were... Kids used to play back then, in the 70s, in the 80s, you know. So it's a structured play. Same location? No. Different location. Okay. That's what kept the cost containment down, is providing a more open location where you do not have to look at conservation of tree removals or anything like that, so... Can it actually generate revenue? No, not likely. It's more programmatic for community because you still have to have the licensed instructor available, so the likelihood that we would have somebody want to do that... Most of it will be used in wellness classes for our high school students during the school day. In some ways, you know, for the town, in terms of generating some revenue over the summer, yes, but it's really for camps, and you want to price those reasonably, but there will be some revenue coming from that. Third question?
Motion? No, really excited. Thank you. To everybody involved. Do you want a motion? Sure. Okay. I will move that we accept the state earmarked funds as presented in the memo from Kirsteen Patterson to superintendent Fleishman and the school committee.
I'll second. All in favor? Aye. Thank you. Great. Thank you. The next one is a joint proposal for... That's why Jen is here this evening for the recommendation to award the multi-year IT lease contracts for our devices, and we provided the process and justification of going through the lease process versus outright purchases. It is very cost-prohibitive for the number of devices we need, and trying to make sure that we have the highest level of technology available to all of our students and faculty. This is a resource that we are able to take advantage of the state bidding process, and so we did go through all of the contracts for the device costs, and then we also went through the lease contract vendors that would be able to provide the funding vehicle for those multi-year contracts. So we have the summary below that's identifying each of the different lease categories, and Jen, if you wanted to kind of jump in and then go through those particular items and what we are looking at in terms of the total cost and what we'd be looking at for year one. So this is not year one cost. This is over the four- or five-year lease term, so I just want to make sure everybody understands that, but we have to get school committee approval for anything that is a multi-year and over that cost threshold. So this is not a new process for the technology department here in Wayland Public Schools. They have historically funded purchase of computer equipment, so the hardware that we give to staff and students through leases, and fortunately, the leasing, the cost of our money is not too bad, and it allows us to plan out these expenses over time. So we're coming to you, as Kirstine said, in advance of actually what will be a purchase actually in next year's budget cycle, but given the sort of groundwork we need to do to ensure that those are ordered in time on our behalf before we're actually invoiced for them, that's why we're bringing this to you now. So in terms of what's on deck here, this is all actually predicated on leases that were expiring, and so that kind of drove us into certain decisions that we had to make based on the life cycle of these devices and what we knew in terms of enrollment that also informed our decision. So it's not quite a like for like, so it's not like I can say, well, we had exactly these things the last time, we're getting exactly the same things, because each lease opportunity is a chance for us to just take a step back and say, okay, it was four or five years ago that we made this decision about a device for staff or students. let's reassess because what's available to us is different than it was four or five years ago, and so we did a pretty comprehensive review of the devices because as many of you may know, for example, our teachers had previously been issued Macbooks, the fleet, or what was sort of available of the types of devices which we could choose from, there are now other choices that were not available then, and so that's what has caused us after having a sample brought in and assessing the quality of the device that's available now, you know, the hardware's new, we have different applications, we were really sort of test driving it against the ways in which we use this technology now, and we are confident that the Macbook Neo will meet the needs of our teaching staff, so that was one part of our decision, and then the other major shift for us that is important for school committee to be aware of, we've already stated this previously, but again for new members, we also made a decision to re-evaluate the student device, students had previously been issued actually the same device we give our staff, a Macbook M1, and in evaluating what's available and the hardware options that are available on the Chrome side, which is where we're doing our daily work, that's kind of our environment, and so a Chrome device was something of interest to us because of the ease of management, and also it would allow us to do some things with students in a more secure environment that we cannot do and would still not be able to do if we continued in a Mac OS environment, so these were all some things that informed our decision, it also was an opportunity to try to be more fiscally responsible about what, you know, this is a very significant cost we have in supplying devices to students, and yet we know that particularly at the high school level, that's a really important piece of equipment, and there's a really big, there's a real commitment on the part of the district around equity to ensure that we provide a device so that we have assurances that everyone has the same experiences, both for our students and for our teaching staff, to have that predictability of what kids are coming in with every day, and so I feel really good about those decisions, and then finally there would be some other devices on here are iPads to backfill elementary iPads, or actually we're going to be ordering fewer of these than we did the last time, so as I said to you, it's not necessarily the same that we do, we're not just hitting reset every time, we reassessed, and we are really trying to think about how can we look at the screen time use that are with our youngest learners, we know that there's also changes happening in the number of students, so we looked at enrollment, so for those reasons, we feel comfortable in reducing the number of iPads we're ordering for replacement, and then finally, there are iMacs, which are, you'll notice that, listed in that first lease, so there are three leases in this ask, just because it was easier to sort of group them together based on what we were asking for, so managing them in that way is just easier, so that first purchase, in addition to the iPads, also includes iMacs, which are physical desktop machines that are in the form of a lab at both the middle and high school, this allows us to do some additional things that maybe either aren't possible on a Chromebook, or in a lot of ways, they might want a larger screen and sort of that sort of classroom environment where everyone's kind of having that instruction in the lab environment there are times when that works better in the upper grades and so we like to have that option in addition to one-to-one devices, so this is a preview of what we were looking to order and we went, as Kirstein said, using the prescribed bidding process and the state contract, we use a, we're seeking a lease which is with the intention of returning these devices at the end of lease and that's been a really positive experience so far, I've actually been really relieved to see how easy it's gone, this is new for me, having leases for equipment, I'm used to having a capital budget to do this so I wasn't really sure how complicated that process would be in terms of returning, I didn't know if we'd be hit with a big bill at the end, like these were my concerns, but it works pretty well, I think it really allows for a sustainable cycle for us, but Kirstein and I have also been talking and working very closely to try to reduce wherever possible leases because we want to create as much flexibility in our budget so we can be responsive to situations, so I think this represents what we know is what we need to move into the fall, the timeliness of this is really important because I probably won't surprise you by telling you that we're really concerned about the supply chain situation right now both in terms of processors and memory we know that this is we've been hearing this for months we knew this was we're in worse than COVID times right now in terms of supply chain and that not even talking about shipping issues that are impacted by global situations right now so all that to say it feels early to have this conversation now but honestly I will breathe a sigh of relief when we can get this over the finish line so that we know that the vendor on our behalf can create a hold on equipment that we otherwise would risk not starting the school year with devices in hand if we can't start to move this along so that's why we're bringing it up a little bit early but I wanted to be here for any questions because Kirsten's been helping me with the financial back end but there might be some details that you had questions about and I wanted to be able to answer are we in the middle of a lease for the middle school Chromebooks and the upper elementary Chromebooks not yet so that is a 2B that would come later and those are pretty different devices so to be clear for those who might be listening I think when people hear the word Chromebook I'm going to be honest they think this is somehow an inferior device than something else I could get and while I understand that that might be the thinking because we give 11 inch screen size Chromebooks which is a small device when you think about what you and I are used to using and even our students at the high school are used to a larger screen they're on a 13 inch which is slightly smaller than a typical 14 inch screen because that's just what a Mac is that's what they make so this device that we'd be moving into for the high school students specifically is a device that is a really high-end piece of hardware so this is not your middle school Chromebook for our high school students this is a 14 inch device with a touch screen with 8 megs of memory and it really when you think about the complexity of software that you're running on your PC or on your Mac the Chrome OS is sort of a lightweight operating system so it requires less hardware to run very efficiently anyway so in the performance test that we've done I can use it frankly as my daily driver with very few exceptions and I do more than most people and our high school instructional technology specialist has been eating the dog food he's like I'm driving this as my daily and I'm convinced that this is going to do everything our kids want to do and that's incumbent upon us to really kick the tires because it's a pretty big shift I won't lie and say the kids are thrilled I think they're nervous we're taking away this thing that is familiar to them but I think that what I want to maintain for everyone is we're trying to teach them skills it's not about a name brand of a product these skills are transferable skills that you learn how to use effectively file management and word processors and spreadsheets they didn't reinvent the wheel when Google came up with their version of things my skills from Excel were absolutely transferable so to anyone that might be worried about those kinds of things we are really thinking about career ready skills and flexibility is a big part of that kids and adults should be able to be flexible on platforms in ways that really help us to think about transferring these skills that we're teaching but we know what we are doing every day and we can test the hardware against those demands and we feel good about these decisions they're decisions that I think are sustainable over the long term which is what we're really trying to think about because it doesn't help anyone for me to be Santa Claus today only to disappoint you when we're really up for a refresh and say we can't afford so this is a sustainable choice the payments are in line with and we forecasted this out well beyond the number of like through the next five years actually to look at the other leases that we have obligations for and to ensure for my assurance as well as Kirsteen's and yours that we feel comfortable that we can within the budget that we have this is absolutely something that is a responsible decision as far as we can see and our forecasting out I think that was really part of my question the other leases that we're responsible for elementary middle school I think the transition will be a short emotional transition because in three through five and middle school you're used to this technology by the time we're at the end of this lease no one will remember the MacBook so I think uniformity is good and I appreciate you being fiscally responsible there but when do we need to start when are we going to be talking about the other upper elementary and middle schools are we in a lease for those and when does that lease yeah so the middle school we're going to have to hobble along for one more year and I will say that not only are kids just rough on devices and that's not you know there's nothing special about you and Mayland and your middle schoolers it's just the way it is everywhere and so we know that they're driven hard and unfortunately we've been struggling with some specific issues around sort of the plastic housing and the hinges and some weakening over time so we know that those that the repairs will increase over next year but what we also do when we think about these purchases is we we know that there is an obligation for parents to to pay for damage and repairs so we really try to think about that because it's really about the total cost of owning this thing and so we don't want to be burdening families with very expensive repairs and again when you're dealing with a sole source provider like Apple it gets a lot harder to be competitive around that we work with refurbished parts and things but it can be really hard for us to try to make that as economical as possible so we anticipate too that that will help us in the repair cost of things too so we will you know even though these devices are older like for the middle schoolers there isn't an increased burden for families their annual like whatever we call it it's sort of like an optional insurance
we're actually able to lower the cost of that to the high school families because we know that that's not going to be as expensive as the device so these are all kinds of things that have been part of that decision but we will be looking at the middle school device during next school year and some of the questions that are already come up are you know does it make sense for us to think of a larger device for those kids like they're bigger kids do they get a 14 inch device as opposed to an 11 you know we have touch capability are we really using that is that really something we want to continue to pay for how do we you know what what are the things that are working and what are the things that we maybe need to look at when we're evaluating the next model and again what's available is different than what was available when we first purchased so we'll be looking at that over the course of next year we do that typically with the instructional technology specialists that work on our team for our educators that work in our schools and are really tuned in to how these things work you know within the classroom because you know sure the hardware and we can look at all of that from one lens but what's more important is and the most important is does this work for teaching and learning which is why we decide that these devices are important for us to purchase and we're having a lot of conversations about screen time and passive versus active use you know not all screen time is created equal it's not all terrible but it's also not all great so we're you know I think I feel really good about the space here in Wayland and the ability to have these conversations not just about hardware but about how we're using it in ways that really help students knowing that you know technology while it has lots of good to offer is sadly you know being forced upon us at times and in ways that we are not looking for it and you know as you said today David we have a very human profession right and so as much as I'm here to support that technology we've really got to be thinking about you know how are we when are we using this does it add value and when we do take it out we want to make sure the equipment meets the needs but I don't want people to think that just because we're investing this money that having them out more makes it somehow a better value that that is not how we think about it that the way in which they're being used it's not about frequency it's about the quality so those are all conversations we're having and I feel really good about that here you can imagine there's a lot of conversations around AI and stuff but again we're thinking about that equipment and that it will support some of these increased demands and we feel confident about that makes my instructional designer heart happy to hear you say that I know we talk about but that's not why I come here every day I wouldn't do this work in another context because I come from a classroom and that's what brings my energy about it and I think that it's really important that this will always be thinking about that because it's just so easy and there's just unfortunately there's just a lot of marketing and money and design that is going into trying to think for us and we're not in the business of that here other questions fundamentally so two questions actually do we have any baseline for let's say the previous round of leasing we did to compare the numbers when you say baseline are you asking financially like what's the cost this time or next time I like the choice of the new though I think that's a great product to move from for Apple but I'm just like these are big numbers they're big numbers yeah so what I can tell you comparatively so again we're like just one lease alone last year and sort of this is actually more like two leases that we're parsing into three again don't worry too much about the number just like the number of things and the total payments of them previously one lease alone was $228,000 as an annual payment okay so a huge portion of my budget I don't have that much more money than all of this a huge portion of my budget and Kirsteen and I have had conversations about this which is my gosh Jen like so much of your budget is tied up in leasing and I'm like I know it's terrible and yet like there is no other option so it makes it hard to move quickly so it does make it a little bit tricky but I've had this first like I've needed the first two years to kind of get a handle on them because I didn't enter all of these so it's taken me a little while to organize them all and think about like when do they you know what is the equipment on each of them
so for example I might take middle school Chromebooks that I have for four years but I can get one more year out of them by squeezing them over into elementary carts because they're not as rough with them over there and so we're trying to think about those things as we look at all of the
that has this all broken out into each lease and we did a whole forecasting thing to make sure that the money that we were sort of obligating now through the next five years would
that helps you and that's saying that we also know that the cost of these goods has
inventory and so again we have this product on hold because I said we've made this decision we're just officially moving through these steps so I think we're going to be okay but vendors are actually giving quotes that are expiring in many cases within less than a week because it cannot guarantee pricing so the fact that I was able to get us to a point where we have pricing that's fixed we know that this is the number if you say yes we can move forward and that will be the number on July 15th when we get our first bill like all of those
selection of HP leasing on the ITC 83 statement contract as the vendor for the respective four-year and five-year technology for the fall 26 device refresh as presented second thank you all in favor aye closed thank you Jen thank you Christy for healthy healthy matters oh yes that's me so Jessie has put out new regulations for time out and seclusion and we as the school committee has a policy that Diane put in the folder JKAA physical restraint of students actually all the way at the bottom she was kind enough thank you Diane to highlight the part that needs tweaking the use of time out procedures during which a staff member remains accessible to seclusion or restraint so the new policy from DESE is not changing anything around physical restraints what is changing is regulations around what we call time out and seclusion so that part of the policy will need to be changed so the
student and is continuously observed in an unlocked setting and the student is permitted to leave so there are times we have some students who become very dysregulated and try to leave the building or are unsafe and so we use what's called a time out where students are not permitted to leave but there is a staff member there that is no longer allowed per the state per on august 17th when these new regulations go into effect essentially if you if a student is dysregulated and they are in a room and not permitted to leave that is called seclusion and that is not allowed except in emergency situations and in order to be permitted even to do an emergency seclusion you need a lot
of things that need to be said at time so what that means is you know one of the concerns is are our physical restraints going to increase because if a student is going to be unsafe and run out
then in that case you would have to physically restrain that student so you would have to go to the more extreme restraint rather than you're asking all
just you know I mentioned this to our group yesterday this really came about because of a few highly public as it often does when you think about a few highly publicized cases where the time was not used the way it should have been and sometimes what happens with either legislation or executive this is not an executive action this is a state regulatory action you know this
talk about this second but also requires a lot of professional development now and that's really hard if you think about what we just started with tonight and now this is something else we
like now I went to a training this last week around it so now I have a much better understanding but it's happening August you know 17th is when they go into effect so essentially we were lucky I don't know if you remember previously that we were one of like 30 districts that got the 213 grant which was directly related to this so we're lucky that
training that any staff that could potentially be involved in any seclusion or restraint needs like a full day of training so we're actually rolling that out over the summer and I just sent an email this morning and staff are signing up so I'm hoping that the majority of our staff will actually be trained in this
do the overview so all staff because general education and specialists need the basic training so we have a good training plan in place we're also some things that we're doing is we've already worked out with Sarah Sontag and I negotiated and she gave me a couple super Wednesdays and she's taken a couple super Wednesdays so we have she's getting two and I'm getting two and we agreed on who's getting what and it's so Jessica Minahan who wrote the behavior code companion is coming out to do training for our staff next year and then I'm also offering there's a couple of classes over the summer that I've put out to staff to take as well because what
we need to handle these situations before they get to needing a seclusion or a timeout or a restraint some situations are what they are and students become dysregulated and we have to use these procedures but we're going to try to get more training so we don't get to that point we'll continue our safety care training so we switched to an online safety care training which has allowed us to train more people of staff that are already trained they'll get their recertification part of their recertification we're going to add on a little bit about this to that as well so there's a lot of things happening this summer now and the beginning of the school year but we'll be ready to go totally appreciate the
how you know impactful is it for a student who is used to asking for a time out who has found a time out to be a like re-regulating effective intervention like I guess I'm worried about the students who so I'm curious if they've said anything about that they can you can still do that like if a student says like I need a break or I need to
go they just can't not be not permitted to leave so if a student needs a break they can still take a break but I can't say you need a break you're going into the break space and you're not leaving until like we do a compliance test like one of the things that the talks about is like you know and this is
don't have to do that so you're still allowed to take a break we'll still have calming spaces we won't have timeout rooms we'll have calming spaces and students are certainly allowed there's also new regulations about monitoring those spaces the principal has to look at them each week and do a checklist and make sure that they're still clean and nothing sharp or anything and every week has to document that they've reviewed their spaces but yes they are still allowed to do that but they have to be permitted to leave so even if like even if there's a student who's dysregulated in a classroom and you remove the rest of
really big mind shift and it's going to be very difficult to you know I think it's good we're doing it over the summer because give people some time to talk to the lawyers as well they've kind of given us some guidance as well because there's a lot of nuances in the language and it could go either way in some places so I've been really talking to our attorneys about it as well so that's a big shift the documentation also is a big shift we document our restraints very systematically based on what the state tells us so now we're going to have to do that for this as well like I said emergency seclusion can be done but you have to have it like we'll be talking with caregivers and things ahead of time so I don't know who's the policy committee is now but we'll have to revisit yes so I'm happy to work with whoever is the policy committee people we have not reorganized once you do we can work together to revise that but that will need to be revised by the beginning of the next school year so we will need to a couple of districts and I wrote them down and it's on my notes to look have already revised there so I was going to look at what they've done but yes they may have already put something out because every school committee does have to revise like they may have okay so thank you and I'm happy next year to get going to report we are actually the state is going to be tracking our data and looking at like from the start of next year and then three years out we'll be looking at tracking data and I'm sure it'll be part of some monitoring does this require you to rewrite a lot of behavior plans that's a good question we have to review all of our behavior plans because there can be no mention of time out in behavior plans so we have to review some behavior plans yeah so hopefully our next meeting Ronnie I'm still one half of the policy subcommittee but I'm alone so I mean we won't leave you alone don't worry I'm only alone for the next
meeting mass mass did issue a revised policy literally this month I just want to make sure I put it on the radar does anybody have any notes or comments about the consent agenda so many trips oh my gosh that's my only comment these kids are so sorry I'm just looking at 13 the May 13 so in the all of these with the exception of May 4 they're in your packet so if you have any questions about the approval for the trips or if the minutes from May 13 needed any edits this is when we would those questions would make those trips look good no don't you want to go on all of them definitely developing background knowledge you want to do it you want to do it so I'm going to move to approve the consent agenda with the removal of the May 4th minutes I'll second all in favor aye opposed okay so now I move to enter executive session for the purposes of discussing strategy related to collective bargaining with the Wayland Educational Association WEA Unit A as permitted by MGL Chapter 30A Section 21A3 and for review and approval of executive session minutes with intent to redact and release said minutes as permitted by MGL Chapter 30A Section 22 for May 13th not May 4th the committee will be joined by Superintendent David
Betsy yes Kate yes Prashant thank you everyone