00:00:00,870 S1: Good evening. I call to order the meeting of the Hampton and Regional School Committee on Thursday, January 2nd, 2025 at 7:04 p.m.. Um, this meeting is being recorded. Um, Erica, we already recording? Yes. Okay. Um, and, uh, it's been such a long time since we've had a zoom meeting. I can't even remember. Do we need to roll call? I think we might. 00:00:31,699 S2: Um, yeah. You open. You do? 00:00:33,570 S1: No. We definitely need to roll call when we vote. I'm wondering if we need a roll call. Just who's here? I can't really remember. Um. All right, well, if you guys mind, don't mind just saying that you're present. 00:00:45,570 S3: I think you need to call our names. 00:00:47,229 S1: All right. Julia. 00:00:48,270 S3: Yes. Present. 00:00:49,570 S1: Jennifer. 00:00:50,829 S3: Present. 00:00:51,929 S1: David. Frankel. 00:00:55,829 S2: Present. 00:00:57,369 S1: Uh. Trent. 00:00:58,770 S2: Present. 00:00:59,869 S1: Amy. Present. David Polito. 00:01:03,030 S2: Present. 00:01:04,170 S1: Excellent. All right. Um. At this time, we do have an opportunity for citizens comments. Um, Eric, I don't have I don't know if you can see into the other room to see whether we do. We have citizens that might be wanting to make comments. 00:01:19,030 S2: Um, just ask anybody who wants to make a comment to raise your hand using the Raise your Hand feature. 00:01:31,670 S2: No. 00:01:34,569 S1: Okay. Um. All right. We will move right along then. Um, the next item on the agenda is the consent agenda. Does anyone have any of the items on the consent agenda that they'd like to have held? 00:01:48,370 S4: I have just a quick question. It says the zoom link is for comments, and the zoom will not broadcast the meeting. How how will anybody else follow this meeting live on when? 00:02:02,099 S2: We're set up as a webinar. So there's two rooms. There's the room we're in. And then there's a room where people can actually watch the meeting as a webinar. 00:02:10,000 S4: Oh, okay. 00:02:10,530 S1: So is there anyone. Is there anyone in that room? Eric? 00:02:13,770 S2: Yeah. 00:02:14,069 S1: Yep. Yeah. 00:02:14,770 S2: So then we'll give we'll give the, um, recording to HW cam, and they'll be able to upload it. 00:02:22,699 S4: Okay. Great. Thank you. Sorry. 00:02:25,669 S1: Yeah. No. Good question. Um, does anyone have any items from the consent agenda that they would like to hold? 00:02:33,729 S1: Um, well, I would like to hold the, um, donation. Just. 00:02:42,900 S1: Um. 00:02:44,330 S4: Yeah. What is the. 00:02:45,430 S1: Um, David Polito, would you mind starting. Oh. I'm sorry. David Frankel, did you have something else? 00:02:50,129 S4: Oh, no. I was just asking, uh, who was the donor or was it a single donor, or is that so? 00:02:55,599 S1: When I'm going to hold it and then we're going to do the consent agenda, and then we'll have a separate motion for that. 00:03:02,430 S4: Right. 00:03:03,199 S1: Okay. Um, are you ready? 00:03:06,199 S5: Sure. Uh, I moved to the Hamilton Item Regional School Committee. Approve the warrants as found of the consent agenda in tonight's, um, agenda. 00:03:19,370 S1: Second. Second by Amy Berger. Um. All right, I'm just going to go around in the order that I have on my screen. Uh. Julia. Yes. Jen. Yes. David. Frankel. 00:03:31,729 S4: Yes. 00:03:32,669 S1: Trent. 00:03:34,169 S2: Yes. 00:03:35,400 S1: Amy. Yes. David. Polito. 00:03:38,270 S5: Yes. 00:03:39,270 S1: And Dana is a yes. And that is unanimous of the seven members present. Um, uh, I just held this, um, because it really feels really important to me, and I really just wanted people to have the opportunity to see it, discuss it. Um, uh, David, would you be willing to start us off with a motion so that we can discuss? 00:04:05,129 S5: Uh, sure. I moved at the Hamilton Regional School Committee. Uh, um, accept the, um, donation from the Athletic Fields Improvement Committee for $789,587.61. 00:04:20,870 S5: Uh, as presented in tonight's agenda. 00:04:25,269 S1: Do we have a second? 00:04:26,699 S3: Second. 00:04:28,100 S1: Second. By Jen. Um, Eric, I don't know if you had anything to say. Um, I mean, I know it says it in the memo, I just. 00:04:35,899 S2: Yeah, I absolutely do. I think it's important for everybody to know the the effort that went in, uh, by the H.W. Fick committee, uh, to raise money. You know, as we as you remember, back in to two town meetings ago now, We stood there and said, you know, we're going to raise, you know, as more than $1 million. And, uh, the a the committee was able to do that, um, with the, with the, this donation and the half $1 million from the hedge fund, which was actually raised through the Facilities Improvement Committee and, uh, the 250,000 from this fall, the the donation amount is in excess of 1.5 million towards the project, which is, um, which is awesome. And we really appreciate the work of everybody on that committee and the people in the community who who took the time to donate, whether it was $20, $5, whatever, whatever they could give, uh, so that that money could be raised on behalf of, of that project and, and our students in, in our community. 00:05:42,399 S1: Thank you. Um, anybody have any questions or anybody else want to say anything? 00:05:49,870 S6: No questions. Just to echo everyone else. This is amazing and I'm so appreciative of the committee. It's a really amazing amount of money. Oh thank you. 00:06:03,829 S4: Is that the end of it, by the way? Or was it that continuing to raise money? 00:06:09,100 S2: Um, that that's the end of everything that that group has done? People can always still donate. But, um, I believe that at the end of the year, that was the plan for the group to to kind of close out and, and their fundraising efforts. 00:06:29,100 S4: Thank you. 00:06:30,129 S1: Yeah. Um, yeah. I just wanted to express my thanks for the hard, hard work. Um, both of the people that did the fundraising. And then, of course, for everyone who was willing to donate, it's really feels like a real, um, it's just a huge amount of money, and it's really great to see, so. Um. All right. Uh, does anybody have any other questions before we're, uh, moved to. 00:06:56,829 S4: What's the latest estimate of what the total cost of the project end to end at completion is? What will it cost? 00:07:08,000 S4: I guess that's due to the indoor air. 00:07:11,970 S2: Uh, we won't we won't know. I mean, we're we're looking between 12.5 and $14 million, depending on where change orders come in the next six months or so, but. 00:07:26,430 S2: It's hard to say. It's hard to say. Most of most of the major work is is complete. Like the groundwork, the the work that is on the ground is mostly the most expensive. Because, you know, as as we find things underground, things start to cost more money. But so the majority of that work is done. Uh, two turf main fields are in the stands are in the press boxes and, you know, so, so the real heavy work is, is just about complete. It's it's more of, uh, we're on a pause for the softball field. Um, kind com had put an order of conditions in that we can't work in that area on the softball field or the tennis courts between November 15th and, um, March 15th. So that's the only stop right now. And that stop actually does cost us money. Um, there's still a daily rate of paying the contractor the, the total amount of the, the project. So we're on schedule, looking good. And, um, it'll just just be a matter of what the final change order is add up to. 00:08:27,269 S4: There's no more litigation outstanding on it. 00:08:29,529 S2: On it as of now. No. 00:08:34,529 S4: Fair enough. Thank you. 00:08:37,000 S1: Uh, anybody else with any questions? 00:08:41,470 S1: Okay. Looks like we're ready to vote. Um, I'll start at the other end. Uh, David Polito. 00:08:46,600 S5: Yes. 00:08:47,830 S1: Amy. 00:08:48,470 S6: Yes. 00:08:49,600 S1: Trent. 00:08:50,370 S2: Yes. 00:08:51,730 S1: David. Frenkel. 00:08:52,669 S4: Yes. 00:08:53,730 S1: Jen. 00:08:54,600 S6: Yes. 00:08:55,600 S1: Julia. 00:08:56,600 S6: Yes. 00:08:57,929 S1: And I'm a yes. And that is unanimous. Um. And the motion passes. Thank you very much for that donation. Okay. Um, next up. 00:09:11,269 S2: Just going to shut off my share. 00:09:12,600 S1: You? Vinny. 00:09:19,870 S2: You okay? You should be able to share. 00:09:46,529 S7: You guys can see everything looks good. Okay. 00:09:52,169 S8: Uh, well, thank you guys for joining us tonight. As you originally remember, this, uh, meeting wasn't on the books due to the fact that we have to have a final budget 45 days before town meeting, and then a preliminary budget 30 days before the final. We had to squeeze in, uh, this additional meeting. Uh, that wasn't originally on the schedule. So thank you for coming together. Uh, tonight, we're obviously here to take a vote on the superintendent's, uh, tentative FY 26 budget recommendation. Uh, before I kind of dive into it. Um, like most of my presentations, there is a lot of detail in here on the, on the November 21st school committee meeting and then on the December 19th school committee meeting, uh, we dove deep into the changes year over year from FY 25 to FY 26. We went through school, by school, and through all 12 of the DC categories and a lot of that. All of that detail is in this presentation tonight. But from the December 19th meeting until today, there's really only one item that changed. That's our debt service that I'll talk about in a minute. So a lot of this detail you've already seen. So I'm going to try to go about this in a different way and just talk about kind of the ten biggest changes between FY 25 and FY 26. But of course, if there's any questions in between, um, don't hesitate to to ask any of them. Uh, you can stop me in the middle. Sometimes I prefer it just to answer the question. I know that's how I would like to do it rather than waiting till the end, but it's entirely up to you. Um, so for tonight, the tentative, uh, assessment to the towns, uh, we have a combination between our operating budget and our debt service, uh, coming in at an increase of 5.55%, or roughly 2.1 million. Now, if you rewind back to our November 21st preliminary budget, uh, our original numbers were looking at an 8.85% increase, or roughly a $3.3 million increase. Uh, so we were able to reduce it by about 3.3% overall, or, uh, a reduction of, uh, 1.2 million. Uh, the main driver of this is what you saw on the December 19th meeting, uh, the recommendation that came out of Capital Planning and Finance Sub-Committee, uh, to reduce our end offsets that I will go over again in a little bit. Uh, but for tonight, for the tentative vote. We have reduced our overall assessment to the communities for FY 26 by that 1.2 million. So right now we are looking at an increase combined for Hamilton at just under 5%, or roughly 1.2 million, and an increase to Wenham of approximately 6.7% or 842,000. 00:13:03,769 S8: So just to kind of get the debt service out of the way, um, when I originally made the preliminary budget, I incorporating the cost to borrow or to loan money to pay for the costs of the Winthrop sprinkler system. The FY 20 FY 21 capital projects both portions of the Cutler feasibility study, the original 250 that was reauthorized, and then the $1 million that was added. And then last, the athletic complex upgrades. For those four projects, I estimated total interest payment of approximately 471,000. On the December 19th meeting, Kevin Merz, our district treasurer, came and presented to you the end result of the borrowings and our actual interest payment that will be due next year is 417. So overall, that means a reduction of $53,000 as it relates to the interest that will be due in FY 26. On the other side, the district also receives revenue from these borrowings. I anticipated or I estimated in the preliminary budget that we were going to receive approximately $40,000 in revenue from the borrowings. Uh, the actual numbers that are coming in is 107,000. So that's an additional Reduction to our assessment because that is additional revenue that we are receiving. That will be removed from the overall cost that we assess the communities of an additional 67,000. So combine these two together for our tentative budget as it relates to our debt service. We have reduced it by an additional $121,000 as it relates compared to the preliminary. 00:15:01,399 S8: So I did update this chart. You can see the bottom three lines. That's what changed. All other numbers on here are the same as the previous presentation on the 19th. Uh, those items relate to the premium on debt that I just talked about, that $107,000. The last line item there that has been updated since the last meeting. Uh, and then both the lines above that this relates to the recommendation from Capital Finance. We removed all of our expenses that we were using to offset our excess and deficiency, and moved that entire amount up into the returned to the communities. So for FY 26, we are reducing our operating budget by approximately $2.1 million, using one time end funds to reduce that assessment for FY 26. 00:16:01,429 S1: Uh, then it looks like Jen has a question. 00:16:04,200 S8: Yep. I can't see if anyone has a question, so just stop. 00:16:06,269 S1: I'm sorry. And I just. 00:16:07,500 S2: Noticed. 00:16:09,500 S9: Um, you have school choice reduced by about $30,000. Is that typical? 00:16:18,629 S10: Yeah. 00:16:18,970 S9: So I always thought we held that level. 00:16:22,570 S8: Uh, it's it's. Over the past few years, it has dropped every single year. What we're finding is that we're having bigger classes of school choice graduate and smaller ones come in and take their place. Um, so I've reduced, uh, the school choice in by six students, which is roughly the difference between our current 12th grade class and our current, uh, seventh grade class in terms of school choice. Uh, so we have been dropping in school choice numbers, I believe last year, we exhausted the entire list of students that requested to school choice into our district. So we have seen a decline over the past few years. 00:17:09,700 S9: Thanks. 00:17:11,000 S8: Yeah. No problem. 00:17:12,269 S4: What? What's a question? What's left in the excess and deficiency reserve or what would it be? Call it. 00:17:19,799 S8: This is the entire amount over the 5%. So everything is is now in the, um, excess and deficiency returned. 00:17:28,200 S4: So next, assuming the constant everything. Which which is obviously that if you didn't change anything. Where would that mean that, um, that we end up at the end of next year or for next year with one, essentially 1.5 million more than than the current year? 00:17:56,230 S8: Um, so if everything were to stay constant in FY 27 budget, we would have to figure out how are we going to handle that $2 million shortfall. But that is if everything stay constant between now, whatever, however we end FY 25 will have a direct effect on this, this line. So it's really a to be determined. But this definitely is creating Ating, um, a situation for FY 27 that we will have to deal with is Eric. 00:18:32,500 S4: Is that something that we've in any way tried to negotiate ahead of time with the town? 00:18:41,269 S2: What do you mean to negotiate? 00:18:43,200 S4: Well, to, you know, maybe maybe that I mean, I don't know, but maybe they'd prefer to take the hit now rather than next year. I have no idea where their head is with respect to the budget, but. 00:18:57,069 S2: Oh, for on an override perspective. 00:18:59,130 S4: Yeah. 00:18:59,970 S2: No, the old towns have told us that they do not want to have to get into an override situation. 00:19:05,529 S4: Okay, this year. And then what about next year? 00:19:09,470 S2: We. 00:19:12,130 S2: Predict next year. It will depend on where we are. As Vinny said at the end of the year and what would be considered end. 00:19:22,099 S4: Okay. Thank you. 00:19:28,599 S8: Um, so this. You guys are familiar with this chart? This is our summary of just our operating budget. So this does not include the debt service that we had just spoke about. Uh, just for our operating budget. Uh, at this time, we are requesting a $2.2 million increase, or roughly a 5.11% 00:19:47,299 S8: increase for our operating budget. Uh, this is the same chart based on just location and department rather than the desiccant. Um, so again, the next bulk of slides are the detail, but I am just going to fast forward about 20 slides to the summary, uh, and talk about a lot of the big ticket items. But again, if anyone has any questions about anything in between, uh, most of this data was presented. All of it was presented on November 21st. So you've had, uh, you know, a good month with it. So if anyone has any questions about any of the detail, don't hesitate to ask. 00:20:29,130 S4: Yeah. One question is I can't remember. I can't remember the last meeting. The the the provision for the potential replacement of the boiler I think was 350,000. Was in was out. Was is is it included in this or was it still excluded? 00:20:47,930 S8: It is excluded. We based on the recommendation from capital, we removed every single end offset in our returning the entirety of the funds over 5% to the tax. So it is excluded at the moment. 00:21:03,470 S4: To Eric, that, you know, based on what you're going through right now, isn't that unrealistic? 00:21:11,170 S2: Not necessarily. It's just it's a matter it's really a matter of of kind of making some adjustments along the way through this budget, we we definitely have to do it. We're not going to get away with not doing it. So we're going to have to. We're going to have to dig it out of this budget. 00:21:28,769 S8: So if you recall my quarter one forecast, I did estimate, I believe, a balance at the end of this fiscal year, around 600,000. So if that continues through quarter two, you will most likely see us present a request to transfer funds from other areas to replace that boiler this year. 00:21:49,900 S4: Awesome. 00:21:51,430 S8: But again, we have to go through kind of the process in the in the forecast. So that'll that'll be within the next, you know, month or two. Once the kind of FY 26 budget's out of the way I'll move towards the 25 forecast. 00:22:07,230 S2: Julia has a question. 00:22:09,029 S3: It's not really a question. It's more um, just a comment that this these are all things that were discussed and approved at the Capital Finance meeting or like things that were processed by the Capital Finance Committee, and I can give more details later, but, um, processed by more than just Vinnie and Eric. 00:22:30,869 S4: Right. 00:22:32,730 S7: Thank you. Julia. 00:22:34,529 S10: A. 00:22:35,529 S11: Um, clarifying question. So this is a 5.11% increase. Um, that doesn't get us to a place where we're not talking about a operational override, though, right? 00:22:51,170 S8: Uh, that is correct. You kind of, uh, spoke about it before I was going to. So I'll just, you know, tell you now, there is one more school committee meeting, uh, between now and the final vote. So the next school committee meeting, we are going to present to you, um, a form of reductions before the final vote to get to hopefully get us to that amount to avoid it. 00:23:18,069 S8: Does that answer your question? 00:23:19,769 S11: It does. Um. 00:23:25,769 S11: I guess the, um. There's a lot of unknowns going into, you know, how we project this, right? Like, if if the, um, if savings is coming out of of deferred maintenance for, um, the school that 00:23:46,769 S11: the, the, um, the Winthrop school and that doesn't pass. What does that do? What does that look like for the budget for that following year? 00:23:59,630 S8: I sir, your question is, since we removed the end from 26, if the building project does not get approved, what does it look like? 00:24:10,799 S12: Yeah. What? 00:24:12,029 S11: What is the kind of the follow through of of, um. Like because I know that we, we are talking about cutting in terms of, um, the last time you presented it, um, there were some operational cuts that were that were being made to get to where we are at 5.11 from the 8%, right? Um, I guess I'll back up with the question like is, is, is that deferred maintenance that is getting us to that? 00:24:40,599 S8: Correct. That is, that was in its entirety was the and maintenance. So those are not on the screen now. Uh, the right hand column, those last four items, that is what dropped us the 1.2 million. Uh, so it was a combination of a transfer to capital stabilization, uh, along with, um, some deferred maintenance, uh, some preventative maintenance. So it was a combination of things, but all capital type items. 00:25:16,230 S11: And then. 00:25:16,869 S12: What's. 00:25:17,400 S11: Coming between now and the next meeting is going to be the non-capital type. 00:25:22,569 S8: Correct. 00:25:23,569 S12: Correct. 00:25:28,470 S8: Correct. Did I, uh, sufficiently answer your question? 00:25:38,430 S8: Maybe. 00:25:39,670 S12: Oh, yeah. So. 00:25:42,500 S8: Yeah. Okay. Um, so just to talk briefly about, uh, some of the big ticket items here, um, for FY 26, our total salaries as presented tonight is a 27,568,000. 00:26:00,400 S8: This accounts for 59% of our overall operating budget. So when you think about it, too, uh, I'm sorry, 3/5 of our total budget is directly linked to salaries. This doesn't include. Benefits. It doesn't include things like the health insurance costs, workers comp costs, payroll taxes. It does not account for any of that. The 60% is just gross salaries alone. So if we have big changes to our salaries, that represents a huge portion of our budget. We're then going to have pretty big changes on our budget side, which is why you're seeing this year, um, higher than average percent increases. Now, again, looking at salaries alone, compare that to our current year, FY 25. For FY 25 budget, our salaries are 25,328,000. 00:27:01,930 S8: So from FY 25 to FY 26, just salaries. 00:27:07,299 S1: Don't interrupt. I'm not sure that we're seeing the right page. 00:27:10,700 S8: That's not on there. 00:27:12,069 S1: Oh, okay. I was like, I usually I'm following right along. Okay. Sorry. 00:27:15,670 S8: That's not that's not on the screen. I was just trying to explain where the. 00:27:20,099 S1: Go on. Sorry. 00:27:21,170 S8: Yeah. Okay. Don't worry. Uh, so just from 25 to 26, our salaries increased by 2.2 million. That's an 8.8% increase to just our salaries alone. So that's the first three items on here. So in the beginning of FY 25 and when we built the FY 25 budget, only one of our five union contracts were set. So I estimated an amount for our FY 25 code out of that. What came of that though was 232 FTEs were under Colas were underfunded. So for FY 25, in order to bridge that gap between the budgeted Cola amount and the actual Cola amount received. We need an additional $1.1 million just to fulfill our obligations from FY 25 to FY 26, but then in addition to that 1.1 million from FY 25, we also have to incorporate the new FY 26 Cola. That amount is 817,000. So just those two items alone, the deficit Cola from 25 and the new Cola from 26 were at 1.8 million. And if you see down at the bottom of the screen, our increase is approximately 2.2 million. So just those items alone account for almost the entire increase. Now, I know there's a lot more increases and a lot more decreases, but if you're looking just at the salaries, that really is what is driving our increase year over year, since salaries account for 60% of our overall budget. Separate from our Colas. We have some of our union contracts allow for step increases. So not only does an individual receive a Cola from one year to the next, but they might be eligible for a step increment for FY 26. 127 FTEs were eligible for a step increase in total. That is costing us another 347,000 for the step increment alone. The next two items are around our out of district placements. So out of district is really two components. You have your out of district tuitions and your out of district transportation for our tuitions. We're currently estimating an increase of 260,000. This is both for enrollment changes And for the OSD certified rate increase. In addition to the tuitions, we are anticipating an increase for the transportation of those students of another 256,000. So for our out of district placements, the combination of these two numbers, we're seeing an increase from FY 25 to FY 26 of 517. 00:30:27,970 S4: Is that the circuit breaker subsidies or is that gross? 00:30:33,569 S8: That's that's gross. That's does not factor in anything to do with circuit breaker. That's just the cost to. 00:30:41,670 S8: To implement. 00:30:45,569 S4: It's not not. I guess I'm asking if that's not our net cost. 00:30:51,569 S8: That is not our net cost. That that's our gross cost right there. Sorry. That is our gross. You would remove circuit breaker after. But that's not included in this amount. Circuit breaker is a year behind. So we couldn't we couldn't calculate that based on the tuitions here. 00:31:13,269 S4: All right. Thank you. 00:31:15,670 S8: Um, so for again, for our district, it's an increase of 517 factoring both the tuitions and the transportation. We are requesting an additional 2.02.1 FTEs for the Stem teachers at the elementary level, to be split amongst the three elementary schools. Uh, we did reduce other areas, uh, to offset this additional, uh, Stem teacher, wherever we added an F, wherever we added an FTE, we always tried to reduce an FTE, except for one area that I'll get you in a moment, but nonetheless, the addition of the Stem teacher, uh, is an increase of $209,000. 00:32:03,069 S8: Excuse me. As you saw me present at the November 21st meeting. Um, we have been informed. I'm sorry. Our utility contract ended this year. Uh, the new contract that we received, uh, has increases anywhere between 30 and 40%. As a result, across the district, our utilities are estimated to increase approximately 185,000. 00:32:28,970 S8: Um, the next item, uh, we really got hit pretty hard. Our our mandatory Essex retirement appropriation, uh, came in at a staggering 12.4% increase. Uh, to me, that really is not sustainable. Year over year, this is outpacing almost all of our other expenditures, uh, percentage wise. This this accumulates into an increase of 157,000. And again, this is mandatory. We cannot change this number. It is directly passed down to us and we have to pay it. Being a member of the Essex County retirement. Uh, last but not least on here, then I'm going to go over for additions in our teachers contract and our ESP contract. Uh, there is a provision in there that they are eligible to move horizontally across the salary schedule. Uh, so an individual can go and take additional college classes, uh, if they fulfill a certain number of classes and give us, uh, warning before, before a certain date. Again, they can move horizontally and increase their sell. Uh, for FY 26, we received just under 30 advancements. Uh, that is, uh, costing $102,000. 00:33:48,299 S8: Um, so again, there are a lot of additions on here. I really just we're talking about the big ones. Uh, just moving on to some of our reductions. Without a doubt. The biggest thing on here is our end. You can see it on the bottom right. It accounts for $1.5 million reduction. So this is things like our additional opex offset, our capital stabilization transfer, the last year of our three year smart board replacement project that was across the entire district. And then just additional funds to help replace aging equipment across the district. For the past, I believe, three budget cycles. This is the approach we've taken. We've always input at one time capital expenditures to offset our end. But again, we are not doing that for FY 26. We are going to utilize those funds to help reduce our overall operating assessment to the towns for FY 26 for one year. So those are the accumulation of the bottom four is our end offsets. Uh, in addition to that we do have staff turnover savings. These were individuals that were here in FY 24 that we incorporated into our FY 25 budget. But when FY 25 started, they were no longer here. Uh, those and the people we replaced them with, uh, came in at lower salaries. Uh, overall, we are seeing salary savings relating to turnovers of 192,000. Uh, the last one for reductions that I'll briefly talk about is our retirements. If an individual gives us their retirement notice, uh, we before December 1st, we always incorporate those savings into our next year's budget site. So for FY 26, we've included a $90,000 reduction as it relates to just the retirements set aside, just the retirements that we've been notified about for this end of this school year. 00:36:02,969 S8: I've also included here a summary of all of our staffing changes. Really, like I had said before, if we added a position somewhere, we really try to reduce a position somewhere else. So the net result would be zero in terms of the FTE count. We did transfer some positions between Bucher and Winthrop or between Bucher and Middle School. But as you recall, I believe two school committee meetings ago, you did authorize the addition of a 1.0 SP for a move in. That really is what is driving this 0.8 increase year over year. Without that additional moving that required a 1 to 1 aide, we really would be kind of net zero on our FTEs with a minor reduction of 0.12. But nonetheless, that additional move in is causing our FTS to increase year over year by approximately 0.88. So again, this you've had the budget for about a month now. I've tried to briefly give you a quick overview tonight on the big ticket items. This is kind of your opportunity to either ask me questions or just make, you know, general comments, or just simply voice your opinion or take a vote. So I did write up the motion if anyone needed it. But that kind of does my ends, my overall presentation, and I can help walk you through or answer any questions that you might have. 00:37:40,000 S2: And have. 00:37:40,300 S12: A question. 00:37:43,670 S11: As always, Beni, thank you for a lovely presentation. Um, so, um, just to to clarify, I know we talked about it last time, the use of E and to cover operational expenses this year means we're anticipating an override in FY 27. Is that an operational override in FY 27? Is that. Is that accurate? 00:38:06,400 S8: If I had to take a guess. Yes. There are a lot of things that are going to come into play between now and then. But if everything held constant and FY 25 ended, um, you know, on budget, it would most likely result in the need for an operational override in 27. 00:38:28,670 S11: Are there are there any likely scenarios that you see in the future that would not be that that would allow us to not have an operational override in 27? Or are those like kind of pie in the sky scenarios? 00:38:45,070 S8: Uh, a big one that will have a big factor is how we end FY 25. If we were to end FY 25, let's just say with, you know, $1 million, we would be offsetting that 2 million with another million. So it really depends on how FY 25 ends. To see how FY 27 will will be. In addition to that, it really depends on what what happens with the towns budgets as well where a piece of the town. So our budgets are, are kind of combined in a sense. So if they are also seeing large increases on their end, it's most likely going to kind of push it to 27. 00:39:28,030 S12: Thank you. 00:39:28,570 S8: All things are pointing to 27. 00:39:36,269 S4: One more question on the 350,000. Um, you said it's you can offset it. Can you be you and or be specific about what those offsets would be. 00:39:47,800 S8: What's the 350? 00:39:49,369 S12: You don't mind me asking? 00:39:50,599 S4: The boiler. The boiler reserve that we're not preserving. 00:39:55,099 S8: So ask the question again. Sorry. 00:39:58,369 S4: I think Eric indicated that that rather than than going over budget with that expenditure, which it seems very likely to be required and that, um, that you that you have offsets in mind that you'd cut elsewhere if you get forced into spending the 350. So my question was, well, what what specifically would you cut? Where would. 00:40:30,199 S12: You. 00:40:31,269 S8: It's not that it's cuts. So the that I the plan is um, I will conduct the quarter two forecast. And if it plays out the way quarter one played out. I was predicting for quarter one there would be approximately $600,000 left at the end of FY 25. If that is still the case, after I conduct the quarter two forecast, we would come to you with the request to transfer current year funds to pay for it. So we're not cutting or reducing anything. We're utilizing money we have left over this year for from whatever reason, a big, big one was health insurance. Um, the premium that I was able to negotiate for FY 25 were a lot lower than what we budgeted. So most likely I would ask to use those funds to help pay for the boiler replacement. And that's this year. Nothing to do with the 26 budget cycle. 00:41:36,630 S4: Thank you and congratulations on getting a bit of rate. 00:41:39,769 S12: Yeah. 00:41:46,070 S12: Thank you. 00:41:50,500 S1: Other people have questions. 00:41:56,300 S1: David Polito, are you ready to make a motion? 00:41:59,469 S12: Sure. 00:42:01,269 S5: Excuse me. I moved to the Hamilton Windham Regional School Committee, approved the tentative FY 26 general fund expenditures. Budget of $45,824,747. 00:42:13,699 S5: This amount includes general fund operating expenses after offsets in the amount of $43,876,840 00:42:23,469 S5: and general fund debt service expenses. Excuse me, debt service expenses after offset after offsets in the amount of $1,947,907. 00:42:37,599 S5: Furthermore, the gross operating expenses of the district before offsets have been allocated by the DC defined chart of accounts. According to the summary by DC category chart, including this budget presentation as detailed in the exhibit. 00:42:53,829 S6: Second. 00:42:55,300 S1: Section by Julia. Are there other questions or discussion? 00:43:07,699 S1: Okay, looks like we're ready to vote. Um, okay. Uh, Jen? 00:43:15,199 S9: Yes. 00:43:16,429 S1: David. Polito. 00:43:17,769 S12: Yes. 00:43:18,969 S1: Amy. 00:43:19,869 S6: Yes. 00:43:20,829 S1: Julia. 00:43:22,170 S3: Yes. 00:43:23,170 S1: David. Frankel. 00:43:24,230 S12: Yes. 00:43:25,969 S1: Trent. 00:43:26,800 S12: Yes. 00:43:28,070 S1: And Dana is a yes. And that is unanimous. And the motion passes. 00:43:32,900 S8: Thank you. Guys, I'm going to stop sharing for one second and tell you one more thing, just in terms of a timeline. So I know I did mention this a minute ago, but just to say it again. Our next meeting is January 16th. Uh, in that meeting, we are going to present, uh, some reductions to what you see tonight in hopes that that, uh, those reductions get us to, uh, avoiding the override in, uh, for FY 26. Uh, our plan is to give you all of those reductions at the next meeting, and then whatever that final budget amount is, take that into the final vote, uh, in February. We don't want to bring any changes to you on the same night, uh, that you vote the final budget. So we're going to try to give you all of our final changes by the next, um, school committee meeting. So there will be a lot of. 00:44:29,000 S10: Uh, that. 00:44:29,769 S1: In that meeting also. I was going to say that meeting also has the opportunity for it's a public hearing. The public can provide input at that meeting as well. 00:44:38,800 S12: Yep. 00:44:40,369 S2: Two. 00:44:43,030 S8: Okay. Thank you guys I appreciate it. 00:44:45,769 S4: Thank you. 00:44:46,469 S1: Thank you. 00:44:48,599 S2: Thank you Renee. 00:44:51,869 S1: All right. Next to you Eric. 00:44:55,300 S12: Okay. 00:44:55,869 S2: I just wanted to give a brief update to the Committee on the budget. The boiler situation. Um, at the high school. As you know, we've been struggling for the last couple of weeks with, uh, breakdowns of the boilers or three boilers at the high school. Middle school complex, two that run fairly consistently, and one that's kind of a backup. The, um, the age of the boilers is, has now started to cause problems that are going to get more and more expensive to fix. Um, we've been replacing parts of the boilers, and once we replace one part, the next one X1 breaks. Replace that. The next one breaks. Um, they're fairly expensive. So we had some of our, um, HVAC boiler experts come in and check the whole thing out, and they've told us that those things are out there and the life they're not we're not going to get much more, uh, out of them. So, uh, more than most recently, we cannibalized one of the boilers and took out as many of the new parts as possible and put them in the other two boilers so that we have two boilers running, but they're not running at full steam. They're only running at about half steam right now. Um, we've also, uh, contracted for a rental boiler, which is literally a it's two boilers on a, on an 18 Wheeler that is, uh, currently behind the high school that came today. So that has to be plumbed in, piped in, um, has to be set up and then inspected, um, by our insurance company. So that's what's going to happen over the next couple of days. We're trying to use the two currently running boilers on the lowest setting, so that we can at least avoid any freeze ups. As you know, as you know, it's getting going to get colder over the next few days. Um, we'll switch over to the the temporary rental boiler. The two of them will run the building. We rented them for two months for now, just to buy us time because the, the the runway on getting new a new boiler is five to 7 or 8 weeks depending on what you need, how many you need. So we're, we're we're probably going to target just replacing two for now. Um, we're also looking into incentives through um, mass saves. We're looking into the possibility of, of electric boilers. Um, that brings a whole separate, um, cost issue because there's not enough power to run an electric. The three electric boilers in the in the current facility. So we'd have to bring in more power from the street, which is another transformer, which is just about all of our costs. National grid would just send us a bill for that. They don't really cover that, um, changeover. So we're still working with them. We're working with Vicki Maloney at the time of Hamilton. She does the energy stuff for them. And uh, trying to just figure out the the next best steps where we can hopefully get some rebates at the same time. The hard part is now is in September of 24, they ended all the any any rebates that have to do with fossil fuels in the massive program. So now you're really you're stuck, you know, almost forced to go with electricity. The problem you have with electricity, electric boilers is that we do have a generator up there that will run those, um, the current boilers. We're not sure about anything newer. Um, and it also we're shelter that that building is a town shelter. So we have to make sure that everything's functioning at all times. So we're in a little bit of a little bit of a dilemma, but I guess it happened over the right time period. The break was, uh, beneficial. Uh, unfortunately, Curtis Whiteman spent most of his break babysitting the boilers we had people on for our shifts, making sure they stayed running. Didn't go out in the middle of the night, uh, for several days through through the Christmas. That Christmas timeline. 23rd. Fourth, fifth. Um, so it's been it's been a rough week for for our maintenance guys. 00:49:05,769 S2: And I'll, I'll give you more info once we get it. Like I said, we're going to look and continue to see what we can get. If we if we can get any rebates, we may be forced into just replacing, um with the natural gas boilers, they're more efficient, they're smaller, etc.. But still, you know, it's, it's in the move to, to reduce, um, carbon footprint. That's not the ideal way to go. So we're going to look at the options that are available. And again continue to talk with Vicky Mazzoni who has pretty good connections out and around and about. And then we'll make a decision and move forward. 00:49:42,530 S6: Thank you. Sorry about that. That's often thanks to the facilities workers to keep an eye on that over the holiday. 00:49:50,329 S2: That's they have gone above and beyond. Above and beyond. I got the call Christmas Eve. I got the call Christmas morning. It was like every everybody's running to the high school to make sure the boilers are running. 00:50:05,099 S1: Thank you for that update. Anybody else have anything for questions or anything for Eric? 00:50:14,699 S1: Okay. Is that it? Eric. Good. 00:50:18,070 S2: Yeah. I just want to say Happy New Year. I'm looking forward to an exciting 2025. Should be should be amazing. 00:50:28,230 S1: Um. Thank you. Um, next up is the chair's report. Um, so I have some information that I would like to discuss with the committee. 00:50:43,800 S1: Um. 00:50:47,030 S1: So over the past several months, um, I have observed and addressed actions by one of our members. One of our committee members that has concerned me as the chair. I'm going to share some information with you now. 00:51:07,230 S1: Several months ago. Uh, one of our members, David Frenkel, applied for a grant on behalf of the district without authorization to do so. And after having been specifically told that the district was not interested in obtaining the products offered by the grant. On that grant statement, he made inaccurate and false statements on the application. 00:51:39,900 S1: Separately. Also a few months ago Hamilton Board of Health. Agendas have agenda items that include presentation and discussion on joint Hamilton Wenham boards. Regulation with regards to air and water quality in the Hamilton Wenham Regional School Districts district with invited guest. Mr. David Frenkel, member, went on Board of Health. 00:52:15,269 S1: Separately, um. This fall David Frankel reached out to a teacher, as well as to an administrator in the district, to set up meetings to discuss matters that are within the purview of the school committee. And he did so without authorization from the school superintendent. 00:52:40,429 S1: I have sought to manage these situations, as I normally do, by working directly with individual members, reviewing relevant protocols, expressing my concerns, consulting with MCPs, talking about charting the course open meeting law as necessary, um, and offer my support in ways to navigate the workings of the committee. 00:53:07,030 S1: Most recently, just just before the holiday, David Frenkel wrote an article in the H.W. news, the new newspaper in town, in which he asks citizens to write to this committee to request an indoor air quality plan and budget allocation for said plan. As a part of that article, he created a petition online addressed to this committee for citizens to sign to request budgetary allocations and superintendent goals be created for indoor air quality. 00:53:50,670 S1: I did not address those final topics. The article and the petition with David Frenkel for a couple of reasons. First, I felt that my previous interventions have been thus far ineffective. Second, I spent some time reflecting on our protocols, my duty to them, and I felt that it was respectful and appropriate to provide transparency to the entire committee at this time. And finally, it has come to my attention that while I have been referencing the protocols, the protocols that we read at the top of our meetings, it's come to my attention recently that David Frankel has told the administration that he is unwilling to sign our voted on and approved protocols. 00:54:47,730 S1: And so I'm here because I need some guidance and some wisdom from the committee as to how to move forward. 00:55:01,429 S6: Um. 00:55:03,800 S1: I have some notes about does the committee want the chair to continue to probe in these situations, to continue to try to approach members one on one? Does the committee have preferred that matters be brought to the committee. As I have done today. Is there some other guidance that the committee wants to offer? 00:55:25,530 S3: Um, can I ask a question? I'm not sure if I'm asking you or David. Why wouldn't you sign the protocols or I. I'm not sure who that's directed to, but maybe David asked you directly. 00:55:38,170 S4: I've come to to disagree with a couple of the key elements. The protocols really effectively ban dissent. Yeah. Once the decision is made that there's no accommodation there for continuing dissent. And so I, I don't want to I don't want to give up that. Right. 00:56:03,530 S3: But I we have dissent not I mean we have dissent up until a vote. But then once a vote is taken and there's been several votes taken that I've disagreed with. I think it's I mean, that's the purpose of having a committee together is that we can dissent and we can vote and the vote our vote is our dissent. And then, I mean, that's how I've always seen it. At least that's what, um, Mac would say to me. I mean, way back in the day when there were, there were a lot of votes that I disagreed with or things that I was disagreeing with. Um, I think our vote is is our dissent. But I'm certainly not a legal expert. But that's what I think. 00:56:53,400 S4: So no, thank you for that. That response. Um, I also find, uh, one other aspect of, of it something that, that, that I have found the committee doesn't follow anyhow, which is to fully debate, um, with all of the facts and to do the due diligence and depth of due diligence on on subjects that really require that. But I before I go on, I just want to make a comment. There are several inaccuracies in what Dana, uh, outlined as as allegations and with no notice and nothing in writing. I'm not really going to respond to it, but those were not entirely accurate and in some ways quite misleading. She also failed to mention that in the column in the Hamilton Women News, it was very specific that I was not representing the views of either the committee or the Board of Health. So this was. 00:57:49,429 S1: To be clear. That is, David, to be clear, that is accurate, that you did say that. And one, as a member of a committee, one cannot just do anything they want and then say, oh, by the way, I'm not speaking as a committee. Right. That's that's not a get out of jail free card. 00:58:08,469 S4: Um, I think we have a First Amendment. 00:58:11,099 S10: I'm not David. 00:58:12,570 S1: There was not. To be clear. And then I am going to let the committee speak. But to be clear. Not not a single thing that I said. I am not indicating that any laws have been broken, that there needs to be a legal proceeding. I am really talking about the ways of the committee, the procedures, the voted and approved protocols of this committee that I am not. I am at a loss as to how to handle these situations. I this is not a legal proceeding. To be clear. 00:58:46,230 S6: I have. 00:58:46,570 S10: And I think. 00:58:47,329 S3: Oh, so one thing I would also say, just in addition to that is that when I'm thinking, I mean, we're not in Congress, but like when Congress passes laws, I mean, or when they pass, um, something, you know, when they pass, like a declaration. I just think that there is debate and there's debate afterwards. But I do think like we would, you know, there there is some there needs to be some like acceptance, some unity around the decision of the committee. Um, but as we've seen, you know, there are committee members that, that disagree, um, and disagree vehemently, but on the committee together. You know, I do I feel personally and I'll let other people speak, that there should be some, some degree of of unity, certainly around things like, um, things like the budget things that we have to present to the town. But I'll let other people speak. 00:59:48,329 S4: I would agree, Julia, that some resolutions are should have the full force of enforceability, but there are others that that fall outside that that that reflect the possibilities of future actions, future, um, expenditures. Um, that, in my opinion, require more. More debate than we give them. And more. More thoughtful, more fact based, more, more research tabled kind of research. Whereas in fact, there's just been wholesale dismissal with no facts to support those positions. So I just feel that's outside the protocol and it forces me to to seek alternative redress. 01:00:40,570 S5: Um. 01:00:41,469 S6: And has our hand up. So I but I have something I don't know if she had a hand up before I decided to talk. 01:00:48,530 S9: Deanna, what feedback did MASC give you for dealing with the situation, or is it a fairly unusual situation that they haven't seen before? 01:01:05,900 S4: You are mute. 01:01:07,369 S1: Which situation do you mean? 01:01:12,730 S10: In other words, I. 01:01:13,699 S1: Outlined several situations. I consulted with Mike. 01:01:17,329 S9: Applying for Grant. 01:01:20,099 S10: Um, I think that it's. I think it's I. 01:01:22,900 S1: Think it's to me, I did certainly consult with Mike, um, regarding that. I think on its face, I think no one would have a hard time understanding why providing false information on a grant would be inappropriate. I don't think that we need to consult with MASC, um, to determine that, um, they recommended to me, um, that I speak with the member, explain again that grants were not to be applied for, um, by individual members. They weren't that that's not an appropriate thing. And I did that. 01:02:10,570 S9: Thank you. 01:02:12,199 S6: I just have a question, I guess. Would like something cleared up. If one of us has an issue with our protocols, I would imagine we would discuss that in an open meeting and potentially propose a new protocol or an edit to a protocol, rather than just not signing them. Um, I guess that's not really a question, but I'm curious as to why you didn't do that. David. 01:02:42,429 S4: That's a fair question. I don't think I was at the meeting when when the renewal of the protocols came up. Um, otherwise, I might well have proposed additional. 01:02:56,530 S6: I think, to just sort of echoing what Julia said. um, I would have a hard time imagining how we would move forward and get things done if we were constantly revisiting, um, things we had already voted on and move forward on. So I know it is frustrating to have something that you disagree with the majority on, but I think that it would be. It would be hard to be able to keep revisiting past issues otherwise, because we have a lot of new things that we need to work on. Um, so I just kind of wanted to echo what Julia was saying. 01:03:37,269 S3: I also want to say, I mean, unfortunately, I have missed whether due to health issues or due to other things a lot. I missed that meeting to, I believe, the voting on the protocols. Um, but I reviewed them, I looked at them and, you know, I just think that unfortunately, if we miss the meeting that the vote is on, there's really nothing we can do. I mean, I've I've missed a lot of meetings where, um, with votes and I'm not saying I've necessarily disagreed with the vote, but I don't I don't really I don't think that we can keep. Can we we can say, well, I didn't go to that meeting, so I didn't vote on that. So I disagree with it, because then we're going down to like a very slippery slope of, um, of sort of making the votes seem that they're not valid. If that makes sense, I see. Trent has. 01:04:37,570 S4: A question to you, Dana. I was not aware that, and I don't know if this is true or not. As far as I know, it's not obligatory. There's nothing that obliges anybody to sign that as protocols. 01:04:52,170 S12: Is that. 01:04:52,800 S1: I'm not saying that anything that has been done is illegal. I'm making the committee aware of the fact that. 01:05:02,170 S1: At least I heard that you let the administration know that you are unwilling to sign the protocols. That's the entirety of my statement. 01:05:15,500 S11: Just a operational question for you, Dana. Do all school committees in Massachusetts, um, have protocols? 01:05:25,099 S1: I don't know. I do know it is typical to have protocols and that they're typically written by the committees. Um, that they're not uniform. Um. 01:05:45,170 S5: Um, I can give a little bit of insight here because, um, I kind of had a similar situation on a, on a different with a different, um, school committee, you know, during my tenure. And actually part of the reason the protocols are the way they are as a result of, um, my work when I was a chair and speaking with the mask, uh, unfortunately, there isn't much you can do in this situation because there is no, um, you know, any sort of, um, recourse action, um, or anything like that. And it really has to be, um, upheld within, within the committee, you know, at that point, um, you know, which we've all sort of had to deal with at one point or another. Um, you know, the way the committee works is, you know, in the majority and as the votes are taken, um, you know, you have to agree with, um, the majority in order to keep the operations moving forward. It's really important to remember that our job as school committee is to actually, um, you know, navigate the ship in the general direction where we're going and then allow, um, our operations staff and our captains to actually be doing the actual work it takes to go in the direction that that we're choosing to do. So. So the act of, um, you know, due diligence on specific matters is actually beyond the scope of what, you know, most of the work we do as a committee involves, uh, excuse me, obviously, I think we're all here for, um, there was one extenuating circumstance here or there that probably drove us to, um, you know, give all of our time and energy that it takes to actually be part of this committee. And, you know, we all understand where your passion lies. David. And, you know, while quite admirable, it does, um, get in the way of operating the district. Um, more often than not at this point, um, you know, and to sort of go off on this rogue tangent because you're not getting your ways and the votes it frankly childish at this point, and there's no other way to really put that. Um, you know, you've you're a very successful man. You've dealt with boards before and you understand that, you know, you don't always get your way in a board vote. Um, you know, um, again, I understand I thought we had a very great meeting. Um, you know, was it last meeting where, um, you know, you brought up the idea of the audit, and I thought that was a really good way of actually taking something that you care about? That would be, uh, that could be beneficial to the district while aligning directly with, you know, your personal goals, um, that the school committee voted in favor of actually, you know, putting in place through the proper channels of, you know, giving our heads up to our operations manager that this is something that we would like him to look into, and that's the proper channel that, you know, we need to be going through as a school committee member. We can't get involved in daily operations. That's not what we're voted on to do. And that's only going to, um, hinder the progress that we're trying to make within the district. Um, you know, I unfortunately, this is not new. Um, you know, it's not new for this this, you know, for this committee. It's not new. Um, during my my tenure. Um, you know, and we do have to just work together, you know, to sort of keep, um, everybody on, um, you know, the same path. And sometimes, you know, we we all get very passionate about different things. And. Excuse me, um, you know, and, and sometimes, um, you can lose sight of the bigger picture. Um, when you, when you really care deeply about something. I, I definitely understand that and I, and I respect that, and I definitely respect, um, you know, how passionately you care and, and, um, what you're trying to do. Um, overall, excuse me, but, you know, again, I, I really want to, to stress how important it is for the entire, uh, district and the entire community that we, you know, work collaboratively. And if a vote or, you know, situation doesn't go the way you'd like it to, that we continue to move forward. Um, you know, and not sort of dwell or try to, um, readdress something that has, you know, in fact, been voted down by the majority of the committee and then again, to sort of for all of us to realize that, you know, where what our job actually is in navigating. Um, you know, Eric and Vinny and excuse me, um, in the direction of of the overall direction on, on, you know, where we want the school district to go. Right. I think that that that sort of sailing analogy, while cliche, I think is, is often the best sort of way to to sit back and reassess, um, you know, whether or not you're overstepping your bounds as a committee member. I know I've had to do it quite a few times myself. Um, you know, when I, when I've gotten a little over involved on a project here or there over my now nine years here. So I just wanted to add that little point. Um. 01:11:46,199 S4: No, I agree. And I certainly appreciate the whole committee's support for the, uh, energy. Um, engineering or assessment, I guess, is the correct expression. And, uh, that was very good. You know, the I think what motivated my column was several more than one committee member making clear that they were never going to debate this, and they were never going to revisit it, uh, in perpetuity. And I thought that was a very extreme position to take. And it wasn't driven by any evidence that would suggest that, um, that that was not a direction where we should, from time to time, re-examine. So I was encouraging parents to, to, uh, to agree to speak up, um, because Dana had on many occasions said she never receives any correspondence. It calls for those actions. Therefore it can't be important. And uh, so I thought, uh, the only way to address that is to, to check out whether the community does care. Maybe they don't. 01:12:58,869 S1: See, Jen has her hand up. 01:13:01,630 S9: You know, this sounds like it is extremely stressful for you and your responsibilities as a chair already. What? At least what I would consider overwhelming. Um. And you handle it with class and pride. Um, do you want us to take a more active role in dealing with this simply so you don't have less stress? Because I. I'm willing to do that. 01:13:34,069 S1: So, um, so not necessarily. No, I don't feel overwhelmed. Um, at all. Um, I'm genuinely coming to the committee because I don't feel that I have been effective. And so I'm looking at the committee to give guidance. If the committee and and I understand this is the first you're hearing of this, and it may be that the committee needs time to, you know, provide me with wisdom. Um, if they're if I guess what I'm saying is I'm not feeling overwhelmed. What I'm feeling is that my the interventions that I had been using in my previous time as chair have not felt effective in this particular situation. Um, and sort of looking for guidance about what people would prefer. Um. 01:14:36,829 S1: And I know that that's open ended. I'm aware. 01:14:53,500 S3: I guess I will say I well, first of all, I read that editorial, I got that, I got the paper, um, and when I read it, I mean, I'm not in the most clearest mental state right now, but, I mean, I really seemed like an attack. I took it personally as an attack on on me, like us, the committee that we're not doing enough or we don't care about kids safety enough. We don't care about air quality enough. I it almost seemed like, um, a campaign like if you're if you're running a campaign on that issue and I what I don't want is I don't want the community to see it that way, to see that we're not really unified around certain issues. And I know that. I mean, obviously we have differences and we're never going to be 100% unified on everything. But, um, yeah, I just I thought, you know, right. Telling people to write to me and tell me to care about something. First of all, since we have gotten correspondence, incredibly negative and personal correspondence about other issues just was very, um, I hate the word triggering and I really don't know another word, but it was sort of it just pushed it a little, pushed some buttons for me. I was like, I don't need people to write to me and telling me to care about something, because I care about a lot of things. And I think I, um, you know, they can tell me if they if they want to, but to, I don't know, I felt I to me it felt very combative. That's just how it felt. And this is kind of turning into a group therapy session. 01:16:34,970 S1: So just. Julia, I. 01:16:36,029 S3: Just I don't mean I don't I don't mean that's just how I felt. I thought it was inappropriate. I don't know how to best go forward from here. I wish we could we could find a way to be more unified. And to me, the protocols and the goal, the district goals, those documents to me are ways that we can be more unified in the process, even if we are not unified around the outcomes. 01:17:04,569 S1: Thank you for that, because I do think that's important. We don't need to be unified around votes. What we need to be unified is around the process. Um, I did want to just, um, Eric, if you don't mind hopping in, I did want to just. When? Um, just to be clear about what Julia just said, I want to be specific about my concern regarding the article and the petition. Um, because it's different than what? Julia just highlighted my concern, and I did a Eric and I had a conversation and Eric contacted the mass regarding, um, you know, creating a petition directed at this committee, um, requesting that people demand that this committee allocate things in a budget. Um, is a pretty specific thing that I had. And Eric, I know spoke with mass about it. I don't know if Eric, if you're willing to provide any information about what their feedback was. 01:18:06,100 S2: I think the concern, the concern that was raised was specifically around a budget that's currently being built, whereas you're in the middle of, in our case, a tentative budget. And all of a sudden, you know, somebody created a petition to say, you know, tell the committee to budget for X, Y, and Z. It doesn't matter what it is. It could be anything. It creates a problem as we're building a budget and trying to move things in and out and make cuts and make changes, and all of a sudden next meeting, people show up and say, we want to spend a half $1 million on this and forces that that hand. That creates a huge problem in in what we're already finding to be a very difficult budgeting process. So they were a little surprised that at that, a petition requesting kind of monies, if you will be be used or added to the budget. 01:19:02,899 S1: And that, that and that I know from the MC that, that that your voice, the voice is here at the table. But in other words, in the budget process, each of us has a voice. And so my concern was to go outside of that process to direct other people to create a petition towards this. That was my concern on that. 01:19:35,899 S4: Um, I think the rest might be too strong a word. 01:19:42,170 S1: Okay. 01:19:43,600 S3: Well. 01:19:44,699 S6: In the end of your letter, it says for people to visit the petition and sign it. So I think that. 01:19:51,500 S1: Correct. And and the petition is, um, that it's at the top of the petition. The target is the Hamilton one School Committee. 01:20:00,529 S12: Yeah. No, no, no, on. 01:20:01,600 S1: The. 01:20:02,600 S12: Direct line. 01:20:03,670 S4: Absolutely the intent. 01:20:05,500 S12: Correct. 01:20:06,100 S4: And Julie is right. It's it was a portion of a campaign. 01:20:12,300 S12: Okay. 01:20:12,899 S4: So we can persuade you to think otherwise. 01:20:15,869 S1: And I guess. And then what I'm saying, and what the mike has said to me, is that your ability to persuade us is that you have a seat at the table here. When we are voting, you have a seat to persuade. That's your rule. And if the vote doesn't go your way. 01:20:42,899 S1: Just as with all of us, then that's on you. That you didn't persuade the other people at the table. 01:20:52,000 S1: That's all. I see two people have their hands up. I don't I don't want. I mean, I don't want to spend. I want people to have the opportunity to talk. But I also don't want to force people to stay forever. So, you know. 01:21:02,630 S12: Um, it. 01:21:03,869 S9: It was before your tenure, but we had a couple of contentious years where school committee members and their children were actually receiving threats. Um, and it caused people to have to amp their security. They were worried about their kids. Um, so I personally, as a person who received one of those threats, really don't appreciate being called out on an issue and targeted, which is what I felt that you did in that letter. 01:21:43,369 S4: Certainly not. There was no intention to target you for abuse or violence, but rather just to encourage you to revisit something that you particularly have said should never be revisited again. And statements of great finality, which I think are completely inappropriate for a committee that keeps on changing its composition every, every year. 01:22:12,130 S4: Now that you can speak for the future committees in the way that you do publicly. 01:22:19,529 S1: And it looks like you've got something to say. 01:22:22,770 S11: Um, I believe, um, correct me if I'm wrong, data. At the beginning of this conversation, you were asking the committee for operational guidance. And so I am just wondering if, given the conversation, um, there's operational guidance or if, um, this is something that, um, the committee wants to have a think on and revisit at a later date. 01:22:53,369 S1: Thank you. I think that's where we are. Yeah. 01:23:01,600 S4: So in the absence of that, that I move the motion that we adjourn. 01:23:07,670 S1: I heard a motion. Is there a second? 01:23:15,470 S1: Hearing none. It looks like maybe there's further discussion. 01:23:18,569 S6: I just want to make sure we officially say that we will put this on a future meeting to decide how to handle this sort of situation, because I agree. I mean, what Jen said. Dana, I feel like that's a lot of work that you're doing. Um, that maybe just comes to the committee instead so we can all. 01:23:41,369 S1: Do it again. To be clear, my my reason for bringing this was not because I feel overwhelmed or stressed or overworked. I really is looking to the committee to say like. 01:23:55,329 S1: You know, moving forward, would you have preferred that each one of these things got brought up immediately at a meeting, rather than having been handled? Um, one on one? Or is there some other procedure that you would have preferred that I don't know what that would be. 01:24:11,300 S12: Yeah. 01:24:11,600 S6: So I just want to request that this ends up on a future meeting. Maybe not the next one, but the one after. 01:24:18,270 S1: Okay. David. You look like you were talking. 01:24:21,369 S5: I was just going to say that I actually, I found that that was probably the most helpful for me, um, when I had to go through, um, a similar situation. Excuse me. 01:24:34,600 S12: That you found. 01:24:35,199 S1: One on one was more helpful. Is that what you're saying? 01:24:37,470 S12: No. 01:24:38,000 S5: That really bringing, um, everything up to the to the committee as a whole, um, was the was the best sort of solution and working through it. 01:24:53,869 S5: And then again, we ended up changing and adding the, um, the protocols as part of part of the solution. It was really the result of, um, the committee working together on how to resolve the issues that seemed to be popping up. 01:25:18,869 S1: Anybody else have things to say? 01:25:24,069 S1: Um, so I heard a request from Amy for a topic for future meeting, and I can work on that with you to make sure we get that on. 01:25:35,270 S4: If you can't do that, I would really request that you put all of those allegations in writing. 01:25:41,100 S12: So again, again, David. 01:25:43,529 S4: David, just so that I have an opportunity to respond because you have misled this committee. 01:25:48,300 S1: Well, you know what? Let's take five minutes. Tell me what I said. That was false. 01:25:51,729 S4: No, I'm not going to do that. 01:25:52,869 S1: Tell me what was said above is false. 01:25:54,699 S12: Uh. 01:25:57,529 S4: No, I'm not going to do that. Well, you provided no notice of this. I haven't. 01:26:02,500 S12: Taken. 01:26:03,199 S4: Full notes. Um, and if you want to make an allegation like that, I suggest you put it in writing. 01:26:09,970 S6: Well, it's not a legal. 01:26:11,170 S1: It's not a legal obligation. 01:26:12,899 S3: A legal. 01:26:13,470 S12: Hearing. 01:26:14,369 S1: Did I have it? Did you or did you not file a file, a grant application? 01:26:19,970 S4: It was not a formal filing. It was a. 01:26:22,569 S12: Did. 01:26:22,770 S1: You did not receive an email that said, congratulations, you have received the grant. 01:26:28,029 S4: Yes, I did, but it was correct. It. Well, excuse me, that doesn't explain the real context. And it also doesn't explain that you and Eric. 01:26:37,000 S12: Turned down a grant. I walked down three equipment. 01:26:41,399 S4: Having complained about. 01:26:42,500 S12: Your. 01:26:43,229 S4: Budget concerns, you turned down free equipment from from a vendor that has supplied this. 01:26:49,100 S12: Equipment. 01:26:49,899 S4: All over the country to schools in vast quantities. And you didn't debate it. You simply blew it off. 01:26:57,170 S6: We're supposed to. 01:26:57,869 S12: You I didn't. 01:26:59,000 S1: Did you? 01:26:59,369 S12: Excuse me. Let me finish. 01:27:03,029 S4: This is why you should put in writing. Because otherwise we're going to have. 01:27:08,029 S1: All this published. 01:27:09,100 S12: A serious. 01:27:10,399 S4: Argument, which I don't think is particularly. 01:27:12,970 S12: Dignified. 01:27:13,729 S1: Did you or did you not answer this question? Do you have the support from the building administrator for adding Corsi Rosenthal, filter boxes and their agreement that the boxes will be plugged in and used? 01:27:28,100 S12: Yes. 01:27:28,399 S4: I thought because there was no building in this administration. 01:27:32,699 S12: Did you. 01:27:32,970 S1: Or did you not answer yes to that. 01:27:35,069 S12: Question? 01:27:35,470 S4: Okay, now you're hectoring. Excuse me? 01:27:39,770 S1: You accuse me of saying something that's false. 01:27:41,800 S12: I'm. It is. 01:27:42,970 S4: It is false and misleading. And I suggest we deal with this in a written response. 01:27:50,100 S1: Okay, so I. 01:27:51,000 S12: Will do my. 01:27:53,569 S1: Documentation on the next agenda. 01:27:57,100 S5: In the minutes. Will provide written documentation. 01:28:01,529 S4: I have the basin of what what what. Obviously you were reading this out so. 01:28:10,729 S1: Of the grant that you sent me. That's the. That's the grant that you sent me? 01:28:17,229 S12: Yes. 01:28:17,770 S1: That's what I'm. 01:28:18,270 S12: Reading. 01:28:19,199 S5: Guys, we definitely don't want to be going back and forth anymore. Right. This is definitely unprofessional and in violation of probably every protocol we have. 01:28:27,970 S3: We debate the issues and not each other. 01:28:30,199 S12: Yes, exactly. 01:28:32,670 S3: Um, just the one. The one protocol I remember. 01:28:36,600 S5: But yeah, at 831, actually, I'm actually going to move to adjourn the meeting. 01:28:42,399 S1: Do we have a second? Second by David Frankel. Um, Jen. 01:28:49,899 S9: Um. No. 01:28:52,699 S1: David. Polito. 01:28:53,899 S12: Yes. 01:28:55,100 S1: Amy. 01:28:56,100 S6: Yes. 01:28:57,369 S1: Julia. 01:28:58,199 S3: Yes. 01:28:59,300 S1: David. Frankel. 01:29:00,270 S12: Yes. 01:29:01,800 S1: Trent. 01:29:02,670 S12: Yes. 01:29:03,699 S1: Dana. Is it. Yes. Uh, that is, uh, 6 to 1, and the meeting is adjourned.