OK Good, Eric? Yeah, I just put some people in. Good evening. Can everyone hear me? Yeah. Julia, can you hear me? OK, excellent, and we can hear you. Good evening. I called to order the meeting of the Hamilton Wyndham Regional School Committee on Thursday, September 18, 2025 at 7 p.m.

This meeting is um being recorded and live streamed. You can watch it on HWCAM. Um it’s, we also have one remote member, uh, Julie Campbell. And so all votes this evening will be a roll call vote. Um, before we begin the meeting, I have a brief informational announcement. Um, David Polito

has resigned his seat on the Hamilton Wyndham Regional School Committee. We thank David for his many years of service and wish him well. Next up we have Citizen’s comments um so the way that citizens’ comments work here on the school committee, um, uh, it was actually not on the agenda,

but we certainly can. OK, it’s not on the agenda. I’m trying to follow the rules, but at the will of the committee, um, that is absolutely something that we can do I was really trying not to put on something that wasn’t on the agenda, um it, it’s fine.

No, no. happy to do it. What, what was that? I missed. I pledge of allegiance had been left off, so I’m happy to do it. Um, I at the will of the committee, I invite you all to join us in the Pledge of Allegiance. Pledge of allegiance to the United States of America to the Republic,

which it stands, one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice. for all So next up our citizens’ comments um, the way that citizens’ comments work here at the school committee is that any citizen who wishes to speak before the committee, um, either here in the room or we

have um available comments on Zoom as well. Um, I ask that if you choose to speak, I ask that each member, I mean each citizen, identify themselves by name, um, and let us, and I ask you to spell your last name for us so that we can get it

correct in the minutes. Um each person will have 3 minutes to speak. I’m going to ask Amy as she does at every meeting, to be a timer, and she’ll let you know when you have about 30 seconds left. Um please remember that the intent of Citizens’ comments is for you, the citizens, to get to speak

and for us, the committee to get the opportunity to listen. It’s not a back and forth, it’s not a dialogue or a debate. It’s an opportunity for the citizens to be heard. I encourage, uh, and ask citizens to keep your comments, um, two topics that are within the purview of the school committee.

Um, I think it looks like where there’s definitely at least one person in the room who’s ready to speak. Um, so I think we’ll start in the room. I’m just going to make sure that um our committee member who’s online, I’m gonna just make sure. Can you, um, Mr. Austin, could you just do a little testing

testing to make sure that Julia can hear can you hear me? Julia, are you able to hear the speaker? OK, excellent. OK, um right. yep. Jeff Austin, A U S T I N, Hamilton resident. The votes have been counted yet again. My hope is that after a period of closure and reflection, we can come

together as one community to do right by both students and our taxpayers. We must shift our focus to MSBA supported renovation plans that meet the needs across all grades while respecting the financial needs of all residents. Much of the community have serious concerns about the current school committee leadership and their ability to make good faith

decisions moving forward. both in a way that’s fiscally responsible and community-driven. These concerns are rooted in a flawed education plan designed only for consolidation and repeated misinformation about MSBA available options. While the superintendent bears some responsibility, the school committee directs and oversees that work and must be held accountable for both the

outcome and the cost. This project failed because the school committee ignored early opportunities to pivot,,, $1.25 million in taxpayer funds were spent on the feasibility study marketing in multiple town meetings that deepened the division rather than build consensus. That respo responsibility lies within this school committee For that reason, I must say what many residents are already saying.

The community has lost confidence in several members of the school community. Aside from Mr. Franklin, Mr. Honda, who consistently called for greater scrutiny and alternatives. The majority of the school committee consistently failed to respect the will of the people. To be clear and direct, the leadership of Dana Alerra, Amy Kunberger, Julia Campbell, Jennifer Carr, and David Polio

has lost the confidence of the community. Public trust is the currency of governments. By your actions you’ve bankrupt that trust Given this reality, the only responsible course of action is for you to resign from your positions of our school committee. This is not said lightly, but with the recognition that our district deserves leadership that is

trusted transparent, responsive, and has a sense of integrity Thank you Thank you All right. It looks, Mr. Tracy, does it look like we have anyone on Zoom that wants to speak? I have people I’m just waiting. I’ve been messaging, it sounds like we’ve got a little bit of

um maybe some people have are not muted on screen. I think, yeah, so to keep the water out. Yeah, so let’s maybe work with that and we’ll stick with the people in the room for the moment. OK. Welcome. Good evening. Uh, my name is Ed McCarthy at 60 Cunningham Drive.

and um I wasn’t going to speak tonight. I promised my wife I wouldn’t. I love her to pieces, but, um, it’s time to look forward. I, we could all stand up here and rehash the last 3 years. but personally, I don’t feel it’ll be constructive to

do so. I think it’s time for a new beginning and to take some of the ideas and the suggestions. I want to say this in a respectful way. You, you are educators and I know that you are good educators because I have two children that went through the system and you did a wonderful job with them.

So as educators, I, I respect your talents and I respect what you do, but you’re, you’re not, you’re not building managers, you know, facilities, people. I don’t know. Some of you do have some facilities background, but we do need to bring in people to the committee to bring facilities knowledge. I mean,

we have so many buildings. We have what,, 1314 grades. We have all these facilities and we need people with that talent to help steer you in the right direction, um, I proposed different ideas and I spoke many times about buildings and renovation and upgrades. I spent my whole life to it.

I spent 50 years with the tools running projects running upgrades, running modifications, equipment modifications, power plants, schools, and I know what can be done on that front, and it just was frustrating to me to listen that all these ideas were just pushed aside. So I think it’s time for a new beginning. We can incrementally.

repair, fix, repair, and, and make the schools what they should be. My kids got a good education and I want to see other children in town through small personal schools have a great education also. And thank you for all your hard work. We’ve just got to turn this in a new direction, in a positive

direction, and the past is the past. It’s time to move forward. Thank you all and thanks for what you do. Thank you. um a couple online if you want to switch, right? It does look like we have a couple of people on Zoom, so we’ll go ahead and

make sure. Hi Marty, you’re next. there. Thank you so much. Sorry, I’m solo parenting. This is Martha Mintin. M A R T A M I N N E T Y A N. I’m at 110 Railroad Ave, Hamilton. I wanted to thank you all for the time you spent trying to

improve our schools in a way that would benefit the most number of students and teachers as possible, as soon as possible, so many of us parents really appreciated the superintendent’s update from Tuesday morning. It’s more important now than ever that we all hear that message and let it sink in that. the superintendent and the school

committee members learned valuable lessons and heard important perspectives from voters. Citizens with varying viewpoints and priorities. We don’t have to agree to be kind and respectful, and follow your lead of creating that positive path forward. we need to hold ourselves all accountable for setting the best example we can for our kids and all the kids

of our school community. for being as optimistic as we possibly can for them and let the all volunteer school committee members and our superintendent shape that positive path forward to which they’re also dedicated. Thank you. My brother’s died. My mother needs me for the harvest. He needs some more. Hm uh suits operator at the anti-aircraft

horseship, and you let me see, I got it. Um, and then I don’t know, it looked like that person didn’t have their camera on, but if they do have their camera on, let’s pull it so that we can see them if they, if they are choosing to be seen. Natalie online. OK. Uh, all right, go ahead, Natalie.

Natalie, you’re, you’re up next. OK, thank you. Um, yeah, I wanna just echo what Marta just said, and I wanna thank all of you for being in the hotspot, uh, tonight, um, I’m sure there’s a crowd there, and I thank you for your time and your volunteer hours and the

genuine thought and care, and all the years that went into um the the school, the school, um, vote, um, so I just want to thank you. Um, I wanted to make public comment tonight to, um, acknowledge and think David Pulido for his tireless volunteer support, advocacy and institutional knowledge of the

district that he contributes to the school committee, um, I trust David Polio that he gives a fair hearing to all sides, and that he has the district and the students’ best interest in mind. I might not always agree with his stance on certain issues, but I do trust that he’s done his homework,

talked to, to constituents and does weigh his school committee votes seriously. I’m glad that he continues to throw his hat in the ring each time his school committee seat is up. and to show this level of continuity and dedication to our district, especially when the vitriol in town rises, is a

testament to his genuine care and commitment to our students and families. I ask that his peers on the school committee and Superintendent Tracy, not be moved by the reckless, vitriol and temperature exhibited by one special interest group in town that does not honor our First Amendment right. to speak freely and to express our ideas

and opinions without government censorship. Thank you. Thank you OK. Doesn’t it looks like there’s no one right now in line on Zoom. Is that right? Not yet, I’m gonna send one more message. Um why don’t we take a couple more comments in the room and then we’ll check

back in with Zoom and see where we are at that point. Welcome. Hi, uh, Deb Stafford from Maple Street. Um, I came today because I’ve just want to make sure that the no is going to be heard this time. Um, the last few times, the nose, you know,

one with the supermajority not being met. It was it was a new plan, and I just wanted to make sure that the no is actually a no. Um, it’s been a long time and it’s been seemingly contentious because I feel sometimes like we get up here and speak and we just get blank faces and the whole committee

just does what it wants to do. And I think it was even it might have been Amy, I’m not sure who it was, said, you know, we’re going to vote for this plan, even though all of you people are here saying no. because I think that the people who aren’t here are the

majority, and they’re saying yes. And so I, I just want to acknowledge that that was not a a reasonable response for the people that show up are, are sacrificing their own time. just like you guys are, to come and speak. And it’s hard to speak against what is perceived as the majority. You know, but

actually we were a silent majority. And I just hope that this committee, which was all for doing whatever it took to get another vote passed because you were so confident that it was the right thing to do, that you guys will be able to pivot that you guys will be able to not sabotage a new plan that

can do renovate small build. I think the community has said really clearly it does not want a large mega school, and I’m just hoping that this committee can stop being adversarial with those of us that spend a lot of time in front of you, giving a different perspective. We try to do it respectfully. So I

think it’s important, you know, we’re not yelling, we’re just coming with our pleas and our concerns, and I would like reassurance from this committee if this is going to be the committee that the place that’s vacated would be filled by someone who is of a different perspective so that there can

be some balance to what’s being heard on this committee, especially as we need to move forward and do what’s right. For 2 years, we have said, please don’t just give us this one choice. It’s not going to be a yes, consolidate means you love the kids in the school and in no means that you don’t.

That’s a very divisive way. You can say no and still want better schools, something good for the kids. We just have a different view of it. and I think it’s really important that this view be represented 30 seconds, OK, and, and I think you can start by renewing the lease on Winthrop. I think

that was the strategy that’s been in play for a long time by power players in Hamilton to free up that property, and that’s what drove the whole consolidation agenda way before the feasibility study. So you can renew trust with the community by starting to, uh, renew Winthrop and develop a committee and replace Mr.

Pullito with someone who is of a different persuasion and perspective 3 and I hope that there would be balance. Thank you very much for what you do. Thank you. Um, so let’s do one more in the room, then we’ll check in with Zoom. see what’s going on. Welcome. Hi, good

evening, um, Marissa Polias, P O L I T I S, um, Beach Street. I live on 54 Beach Street. Um, so I wanted to come here in person just to show you my support. I believe that you have all acted in good faith and have made decisions to the

best of your abilities with the input that you had available to you and the variables that you have to work with. Um, the work you’re doing is difficult work with many moving parts, and tough decisions that you have to be weighing, as well as all sorts of legal implic implications of what you can

and cannot say or do, or how you are held to those standards. Um, I commend you all and thank you for taking it on. I wish you perseverance and patience as you navigate these next steps. I know that it won’t be easy to step back and start all

over again. And I see that that’s exactly where we are. Um, I don’t envy your position in this, and I hope that we all would take a beat and remember that we are a community and we should be acting as a community to make sure that we’re doing what’s best for the community.

Thank you. Thank you Um, all right, let’s check in with Zoom. I don’t see any hands raised. OK. um, if that’s the case, I think what I’m, I’d like to do is close the comments on Zoom. um, and let them know that that’s the end of comments on

Zoom. OK, we good, I think? OK All right, um so it’s, it’s about, I’m definitely gonna let the speaker who’s at the podium, I’m definitely gonna let you speak and, um, we’ll see if there are a couple more, um, and then we’re gonna check in and see where we are. Um, we normally go about 20 minutes or

so at citizens’ comments, and it is also at the discretion of the committee if we feel like there are more people that need to speak, we’ll, we’ll allow a little bit more time. So welcome. kind of, I’m sorry. I just want to tell people, people are trying to access YouTube link. It’s not working.

The HWCAm link is working if people wanna watch it and just trying to get a message out to people and only the people in the waiting room would get it. OK Sorry, that’s OK. Um, Edward Flynn Toussa is slain. and I wasn’t actually gonna say anything tonight, so I don’t

have anything really prepared, but I have been thinking that with the all-out effort by the school committee to pass the Consolidated schools as many times as we have, and I know everyone talks about how many times we have, but the two town special town meetings and then a ballot vote and and all three

times it was, it was uh no uh it seems to me that that’s as close to can you hear me? because I can’t. OK, thank you. uh, I think that’s about as close to a non-parliamentary vote of no confidence as you could get. So I know that Jeff

had mentioned that that you should resign. My best guess is that you probably won’t. I would suggest that you search your conscience later and and and think about that, um, I think you put everything was all in on this in the town rejected it and it’s of course 80 years ago everyone would

have resigned and I know that there were times have changed and people don’t do that anymore and that’s enough about that. There are certain things and criteria that the entire town wants to get done right away. We wanna make our schools shoot er proof. I’m not sure what the correct term is, but I

don’t know if we have to put a police officers or what do we have to do? It’s up to you guys, but we need to do something immediately to to strengthen our schools today, like tomorrow, I wanted to see Plexiglas going up tomorrow. Everyone does has something that everyone could agree on if

you if you guys decide to stay on and I’m sure there are other things and I just want to leave one more thing. in order for you guys to gain back some credibility, uh, uh, and I haven’t talked to him about this, so I have not. putting someone like Jeff Austin come on to the school committee if

you like. He’s a completely different voice from anything that you’ve had in the past. but he’s still a a minority of the majority. I think that you should strongly think about putting that as a as a uh a sort of a hand stretched out to the people of the town to say

we’ve heard you, we’re listening. Jeff was very, very active, as you know, and made really nice arguments. He’s not, he’s, he doesn’t get personal. He keeps things professional. He’s very fact-based gentleman and uh at least have someone from thank you someone from that school of thought on this

board, I would recommend that you, I don’t know how you appoint people, but that’s what I would do. Thank you very much. Thank you Um, OK, so hi, um, so I’m gonna just pause quickly, um, check in with the committee. It’s not clear to me about how many more people and I want to

just say part of the reason it’s not clear is because this is lovely and respectful and orderly, and I’m very appreciative of that. Um, and so we, I, we had one person. I’m gonna look to the committee, um let’s go about 5 or 6 more minutes and then I’ll check back in with you and we’ll see

where we are. um that sound reasonable to the committee? sounds good. OK. Go ahead. Welcome. Hi, um, my name’s Victoria Piper. I live at 179 Highland Street in Hamilton. My family moved into the town in 1972 when I’m somewhat embarrassed to say this is the first time I’ve represented my family. I just want to say, um,

my son didn’t actually start school in Hamilton Wyndham until his, and he was in 10th grade. I sent him to a Catholic school. We came over here for 10th grade. I was happy with both experiences. You guys are great. I thank you so much for all the hard work you’ve done for the rest of my knowledge,

most of you are volunteers. elected re-elected. So if you’re elected, that means the majority of people in town voted for you? Maybe the majority of people here aren’t the ones that voted for you. I’m one of the ones who voted for everybody here. Thank you so much for all of your hard work, and I support everything

you’ve done. Thank you. Um, anybody else in the room have any comments? OK um, seeing none, and we’ve already closed comments on Zoom. We’ll close comments in the room. Um I do really wanna take a moment to say. that I’m speaking only for myself, but I’m. really pleasantly surprised at how

this public comment session went. I’m really, really appreciative of the orderly and respectful way that everyone got up and spoke. um. I’m grateful for that I really am. Thank you. um did, I’m sorry, did you, did you want to speak? I No, I’m sorry. I thought that everyone had spoken. Oh, OK, so

sorry, no, I, so, OK. um and we really are grateful for the comments. It’s, it’s important to hear from people. Um all right. Um, so next up we have um uh, next up, the typical order of events here would be that we would have a review of the protocols and the mission statement. Um, I’m gonna ask

that we skip those only because you’ll see it’s actually the first item on the um new business we’re going to discuss both of those things. Um, so at the, if as long as that’s OK with the committee, we’re gonna just yeah that’s skip that, um, Julia, all right, um, next up, um, our student representative

is not here this evening. Um, they will be here at another time. I the school board? So, um, OK, so you, I’ll, so normally just to be clear, I really normally don’t take questions, but as I stated, I’ll read it again at the beginning of the meeting, David Pullito has resigned his seat

from the Hamilton Wyndham Regional School Committee. We, we thank David for his years of service and we wish him well. OK, Dana, the only other thing I’m to suggest the since it was suggested that somebody should um be nominated to the committee order just to describe it, I’m gonna do that

during the chair report. I’m gonna explain the process. So what the process is, I’ll explain the process. Um, OK, so, um, again, our student representative is not here this evening. Um, so we will get that report at another date. Um, so Julia is our um I believe our, uh, assistant secretary.

I’m gonna just say it might be easier if it were someone in the room, um. would you mind doing that, Jen? Thank you. Um, does anyone have any items from the consent agenda that they would like to have held. Do you want me to read the motions or

is it easier to have someone, I think it’s easier if we have someone in the room in the room, so Jen is gonna do it, yep, no, that’s fine. Jen’s gonna do it. All right, Jen. I move that we accept the K consent agenda as written. Second, by Amy Kummberger, um all right, I’m

gonna start with, uh, Julia. uh, Megan, yes. Jen, yes, Dana’s yes, Amy, David, and that is unanimous of the six members present and that passes. OK. So as I stated earlier, um, we skipped our usual review of the committee protocols and um, and uh, the mission statement because they’re actually here

in our new business. So the first item here is a discussion of ethics policy and protocols. um, we review and affirm the protocols annually. I added the ethics policy for, and this is the normal time that we would do that. I added the ethics policy for discussion purposes

as it helps to inform our protocols. The intent of this agenda item and this discussion is to have a forward-looking conversation. As we discuss, I want put the committee and the community to remember that committee members, each of us, all of us, are both members of the committee and individuals.

I want to reflect that it’s not easy, it’s not always easy. for members of the community to identify when committee members are acting in our individual role. or as separate from our and as separate. from the committee role Um so I want to open to the committee, a discussion. Um, we could start

with either one. like I said, the protocols are something that we review annually. I hope that people have had the opportunity to reflect and spend some time thinking and reflecting about these protocols and the ethics policy. Um and I’m open to any conversation that people might have on the committee. I can start, Dana. Julia. Um, I

really like both of these documents, um, I wanna start with the school committee member ethics, if y’all, if you can hear me. I think what’s so interesting about our role as school committee members is that we are elected officials, but our primary responsibility is to the children, and so I

actually think that is it’s, it’s kind of, I mean, it’s interesting, it’s hard for people to understand that, but I know I take my role as my primary responsibility to the children very seriously. So I love that it’s the first, um, it’s the first piece of this, uh, listed in, in the school

committee member ethics. I didn’t really disagree with any of it. I just wanted to point that out because I think it’s really important. I also think both of these documents are incredibly informative, especially for the general public or anyone else that’s not entirely sure what we do, um, or might want to get involved in the school

committee and maybe run. So I, I actually really excited to, um, to be a part of, of voting on these because I, I think that they are very comprehensive, very well written, and I just wanted to make it very clear that I take this very seriously and, um, I love that the primary

responsibility is to the children, is highlighted and called out in the very first document. Thank you Anybody else?? So?, uh, so Julia opened up with the, the policy BCA, the, um, policy number be name BCA, um, school committee member ethics. Does anyone else, let’s stick with that. Does anyone else have any comments, questions, clarifications about

this document. No, the ethics one I like What was that? The ethics one that I like. Excellent. OK Alright, um, would it be possible to clearly delineate somewhere in this document. The primary functions of the school committee. um, the ethics document in the ethics document, right, we set the budget we set policy and we

review the superintendent. So that’s a great question. Um, and, um, it’s something to, to be clear, we would, because this is a policy which is separate from our procedures. If we were to change anything about the policy, this would be the place to discuss and generate ideas, and then it

would go to the policy. So that’s a question for the policy subcommittee. um I wonder, and other people could answer, um, but definitely there are other places in which the school committee responsibilities, the other places in our various policy where that is outlined. So I I agree. I just think if people are reviewing our policies, I

want it stated in as many places as, as possible to make it crystal clear. So am I, I understand your question is whether the whether the responsibilities should belong here. um all right Does anyone have any comments on what they think about that? I understand the sentiment for sure because

sometimes it’s, it’s hard to, there’s so many things that we vote on and that we discuss, but like those three things are within you know, that’s what we’re discussing. I like the idea of keeping that as an umbrella, as a reminder for people. I just wonder where it is a, which policy does it

belong on which doesn’t it, and maybe it’s, maybe it’s the letterhead. We always have it at the top. But that’s something we could take back to policy subcommittee and talk about Um, I also would be curious to Jenn’s point is, and I don’t actually know, you know, this policy was um. you know,

reviewed and adopted not that many years ago in 2021, um. and I don’t know and I don’t know whether policy would know some some, um, of our policies are, um, adopted sort of that are created at a higher level and we adopt them and some of them are things that we wrote ourselves, and I actually don’t

know about this policy specifically whether we wrote it ourselves or not, but that would be something interesting, um, to look at. I, I don’t know the answer to that, um. so. um yeah, um, I, I do, to your point, I do, I actually like to, to Jen’s. I do like the structure of this document that

it is clearly and that is where I hear you sort of saying that it would be nice to sort of delineate that structure about our responsibilities as well. So. um right, other comments or questions about this document? um Jen, do you have, I, I mean, we can talk about, I don’t know

whether we need a motion or a vote. Let’s, if it’s OK, let’s wait till the end. Like if we want to ask policy, if they want to review, that’s something you could choose to make a motion on it if you wanted to. Correct, yes, we’ll address that later in the meeting. Um OK, I looked it up

really quickly. It seems to be the same policy as adopted from MSCA, yeah, OK, then let’s leave it MAS right, so right, and that was just to my, my question whether some of our policies are kind of standard MASE policies and some of them are written specifically for Hamilton Wyndham, um, so, um,

OK. Well, so we’ll think about that. Um. are people ready to move on to the protocols? OK. OK. Um I guess I, I didn’t sort of call on myself. I, I guess I just want to say I did spend a lot of time with this document.

I um I’m, I am comfortable with the document. I think there’s a lot of it provides a good guideline, um. for committee members and a good guideline for the community to read and understand what the ethics expectations are on the committee. Um right Yeah, I’ll just say as the newest member,

I found it very helpful. Um, and informative for me, so I liked it. Thank you. Um OK. protocols, um, let’s pull those up. Hold on. Um, so these protocols, um, uh, everyone on the committee should be exceedingly familiar with them because um we read a portion of

them at the beginning of every meeting. um, and we have done so for several years now. um so um oh, I have the wrong thing pulled up. Hold on. And and this draft has not changed in any way from the previous years, correct, this draft, other than, oh, actually that, other than the date change, correct.

This is, there’s no edits. This is the opportunity here to have a discussion around whether there are, um, and this again. like I don’t know if you have specific questions, concerns, but this is the opportunity to have a discussion around. them. Yeah, I mean, I didn’t sign it last year, uh, for one reason, it

seemed to me that it called for basically prohibiting dissent ongoing dissent against whatever. So which item would you like to look at? I didn’t go back. how to change it. Um go right ahead and I’ll, I’ll track it down, sure. Does anyone else have any things to say about this particular

document? No, I don’t Uh, Julia no Yeah, I guess I think what I would say is I think it’s just important. I mean, I, there’s nothing in this document that says, you know, that we, we all have to vote together or you know what I mean, we don’t, we’re not responsible for how every other member of the

committee votes. Like the way I think about it is, you know, as elected officials, it’s like Congress, like not everyone’s going to agree, and not every, you know, people are gonna be advocating for different things at different times, and everyone’s going to sort of have their different priorities.

So what I like about this document is that I think it, it’s a good overview of how we should act, but it’s not giving us restrictions on our personal views, and the way we are personally voting and or like the way we’re um maybe as a citizen personally talking about an issue Does that make

sense? I agree with that Um anybody else? uh I know I’m, I know I’m coming back to you I’ll just give you the wording that, which, which item are you looking at? It’s item 8. 8. So so we’re looking at item 8, and I’m gonna just, so school committee members will vote according to their convictions,

will avoid bias and will uphold and support the decisions of the majority of the committee once the decision has been made. Positions will not be used for personal or partisan gain. OK. Yeah, the problematic, or at least how I interpret it was, the will uphold, it’s not the vote. It’s what the discussion

is uh between meetings. um, that I don’t know what that means. What do you mean not, I’m sorry, just be, we’ll uphold and support the decisions of the majority of the committee once a decision is made, which seems to me to preclude dissent. So based on that wording, yeah, so my

understanding and other people can, you know, to you know, and our guidance and our training from the MASC and other is that once a vote of the committee has been taken. that if a member is representing the school committee. that’s true they need to represent that position. So I’m gonna use a

real life example. OK, so we had a vote in spring to make a decision regarding the new school buses. It was not a unanimous decision. Every member of us, if we went forward before another board and they wanted to ask about the school bus and they wanted to ask a question. You would

need to say the school committee supported this bus contract because that’s what happened Um, and I think in my opinion, the part about support would be that each and every one of us should work to support the success of that. um vote. So that the committee, all of us would need to support

success in that vote, whether or not you voted for this particular contract. um so that’s how I read it. Um. I wonder if I say something? Can I say something else? I think support doesn’t necessarily mean saying I’m for it. It just means maybe not being detrimental. after the fact, or

I, I don’t know, um, interfere with the execution, yeah. No, I, I what was that? Shouldn’t not interfere with the execution of it, and I would agree with that, right? And I think that’s what I was trying to get at and in my, uh, but I do think it’s

this is a really important, I think it’s very, very nuanced. um, about when a person speaking as an individual. um, you know can talk about, I, I understand your, I do, I do really genuinely do, and I think this is hard, um so I don’t know if there’s anything that got said yet or if other

people have more so is there anything that you’re thinking in terms of like that would make this item clearer. Well, I suppose you could add one sentence that said, um, to something to the effect that um dissent if you are going to dissent from a uh a decision, it should be made very clear

that it is a personal point of view and, and not the view of the committee. something along those lines Um which is in practice what we’ve been doing, and that’s a hard one because you know, people know that we sit on this committee. So when we give a personal statement that says this doesn’t reflect

the committee. It, it still has some tie to the committee, but I mean, everyone is allowed to their own opinion. So that’s, I feel like that’s kind of the best we can do in this situation. I, I’m really glad actually that you really, this is, I’m I, I, while I didn’t call out this particular item,

I, I don’t know like at the beginning. I was, I really tried to say. that um I really tried to say and maybe I even stumbled over it because it’s a lot, but I tried to sort of frame this whole conversation by saying it’s not always easy for members of the community to identify when we’re acting in

our individual role. or in our committee role, and I, I, I worded that pretty intentionally. My goal was to have that be heard. both directions to be, if you are a committee member to hear that like it’s hard for the community to know whether you’re representing the school

committee or not. And it also meant for community members to hear that it’s hard to like unless you’re in the weeds, it’s hard. to know even when sometimes the school committee member is trying to make it clear that they’re speaking, uh, as an individual. I wanted that to read both ways that like

it’s a challenge. So I’m glad you brought this particular item up because I think it’s really difficult. Um, yeah, I’ll just say, I mean, this conversation has actually been helpful for me, um, because I kind of interpret it as it as um. a little bit differently, right? And so hearing that it

is OK for us to have individual perspectives, right, that represent our own personal views and still speak about that. I just, I approached it as in my work life, as a leader of a team, if a decision is made that I don’t necessarily agree with. It’s still, it’s my job as the leader of that team

to be the cheerleader of that decision, right? If my boss made that decision or that like a team of my colleagues made that decision. So, um, so this is, I guess for me, a learning example is the difference between my corporate America work life and this role and, and again I think that’s where

that word support, it’s a difficult thing because in some ways, like, yeah, ideally you want the schools to succeed and you want the system to succeed and so some in some ways, yes, you’re as a committee member, if you are speaking in your role as a committee member, I would say yes, you either do

need to be a cheerleader or be silent But if you’re speaking on a vote that we’ve taken, like, in other words, on a vote that’s been taken and and approved. and you don’t give up your right to be an individual. People check me on that. Am I making No, it makes sense right?

But so yes, I would say it’s not that different than work in the sense that if you are speaking as a school committee member, if you are invited to speak before a different board or a committee or something like that and that it would be your job to be a cheerleader of a particular committee decision,

but if you weren’t able to do that, then it would be best for you not to speak to the issue. Um, and that doesn’t preclude you in your personal life from doing something. We don’t sign away our First Amendment rights when we get elected. That’s right. Well, I don’t know.

It’s very nuanced. It’s nuanced, very nuanced. It’s. um, I’m sorry, I feel like I’ve done a lot of talking, um no more I’m wondering there’s no urgencies are in place now. There’s no urgency um, I heard a member make a suggestion. Um, I heard a different member make a suggestion or question about the policy, which is different.

I’m wondering and I don’t want to put work on you if you don’t wanna do it, David, but are you willing to sort of craft something that you would be interested in changing and bringing it back for next meeting. and then we can have a discussion and a vote, um, and I guess I would ask any other

members if there are any other items that we didn’t discuss, you know, either please bring them up now or you know ahead of our meeting come prepared with draft language that you actually you know, if you feel like something needs to be stricken or added to. um so we can add that to the next

meeting if people are comfortable with that. OK. Um, my two cents on this, I am not proposing a change, but my two cents is, this is a very long, um, and documents and I sort of feel like it could be pared down doing a week-long workshop

on it. Um, it’s not what I want to spend. I think it could be shorter. I think it could be more concise. That’s not where I’m interested in putting my um sort of energy, um, that is my, that someday it might be worth um making this more clear and

more readable, um, part of the reason I think it’s good to read a little bit of it at each meeting so that it is broken down into smaller pieces so that um so. um right, anybody else have anything on this? OK, um, so I’m happy to bring that

back next meeting if people are comfortable with that. Um, Jen, did you have or anyone else, did you have any motion that you wanted to make or? anyone else? No, I’ll bring it back next time. OK. um, next up, uh, the election results. I’m gonna

um let Eric put that up on the screen. Um so, uh, these are the official results, um. on like a school committee member election where we have to read every all the numbers. I don’t feel like we need to do that. This is, um, the results, um, the vote uh was on the

elementary school building project, did not reach the majority, um, threshold and the vote, uh, the vote. did not pass by the voters of Hamilton and Wenham Um Eric, do you have any um you want talk about the end of the um uh, eligibility, the extension period. Sure, the, the extension period was

granted, uh, for 90 days, which brings us to I I believe it was, uh, September 24th. I have. what I have, uh, communicated with our contact at the MSBA. um, next steps for us just to submit a formal. withdrawal notification uh, to the MSBA. That’s part of their paperwork, you know, checking the boxes

off. So we’ll do that. They need that by, uh, next Wednesday so that they can process it for their October board meeting and then they’ll we’ll submit it to them, they’ll put it on the board and they’ll vote it. in their October board meeting and that’s something that there I,

I mean I believe I, I saw the email. It’s just something that you can create. You don’t need any action from this committee. OK. No. Anybody have any questions? Comment thought was I was going over all the numbers of, of all the votes we’ve taken the, what happened, it seems to me is, back in

April, um 1457 people voted. when they voted again in June 2248 people voted. but the vote, this townwide vote was much more inclusive. It was 3, 3,566 people voted. but also not at all coincidental. The survey back in a year ago, well more than a year ago, in June of

last year, uh predicted, uh, 54 um, no, so 55% would vote no. in Hamilton and 47% would vote no in Wyndham. and the actual result is incredibly close. It was like 54.42%. versus 55% is like so far within the margin error, it’s, it’s astonished me actually. And um the 48.8%. of the actual vote compared to 47%.

So it was, you know, for for our own future reference, uh, in spite of its seeming like impossible with that size sample. to to be close, it was unbelievably close and predicted that um one could argue that we could, if we’d accepted it as fact. at the time, which was hard to do, um,

we might have thought differently about what we proceeded with actually. But it’s good to know that you can sam have that sort of size sample and the methodology works sufficiently to be that close. people OK Um, all right, Eric, did you have anything else? OK. Um, all right, the

next, uh, item is um the the uh MASC uh holds a conference every year. Thank you. I wrote it down. Oh, right here, right here, November 12th to 14th is this year’s conference. Um there’s sort of two things that happened. I’ve attended the conference, um, a few times, um I don’t know that anybody else

here has ever been, um, so I’ve been a few times, um, two different things happen. It’s a great conference. Um, two different things happen. One is that there are lots of different sessions that you can go to and you just can choose which topics are of interest to you. They’re all related to

school committee and be school what, you know, different school committees are doing and challenges of being on a school committee and like all kinds of topics around being on a school committee and it’s actually a lot more fun than it sounds. It really is a great conference. I’ve enjoyed it a lot. The other thing that happens at

that um, it’s usually at the end is that the each um school committee in Massachusetts has an opportunity to, um, send a delegate to go, then the MASC proposes some resolutions and the delegate gets to vote on those resolutions and it’s about sort of how the MSA MASC is going to present various

resolutions that they want to put forward. Um so this, so at this point, I don’t know. I’ve sort of said that there’s a possibility that I’m going to go. I’m looking into it. I know that David Frinkel has mentioned that he might go. I think both of us are a maybe. I don’t know if anyone else is

thinking that they might attend I would love to go. No, it’s during the week. It’s, uh, there’s a lot of things about it that are difficult. Um, I mean, it’s like 2 weeks before Thanksgiving, it’s exactly, yeah, there’s um, the reason that I wanna bring it up now is that the you know that that we

have some time before you need to sign up, but they really are asking for the potential delegate and this year, which they did not used to have, and now they do, is you can all you can designate an alternate. Oh, nice. OK. Um, delegate. um. so I’m bringing this before you, um, just to be clear that that

not mostly for Megan’s benefit, who hasn’t done this before, um, that delicate wouldn’t be making decisions on their own unless tasks to do so by this committee. So what we would do is if someone is in fact going, um, we would review the resolutions here and the committee would vote and tell

the delegate how to vote, um, or at times they might, this committee might decide to tell the delegate that they can use their own judgment. So sometimes there’s a resolution that the committee is like, we need more information on that, you know, or they could tell the delegate to abstain. Um, so

it’s, so it’s the, the role of the delegate is really just to kind of as we just discussed, this is actually an this is actually an excellent example of the item that we just discussed. If you were selected to be the delegate, and the committee directed you to vote in a certain way and you were

in the minority and you did not vote, you would be required as the delegate to vote the way the committee told you to vote. even though you didn’t agree. It’s an excellent example um, but you would not be to Megan’s point, you would not be required. It’s like a regular

school committee meeting where people can get up and make comments at the, you know, just like we do here. You would not be required to get up. and be a cheerleader for that item unless this committee directedly told you you had to so um yeah excellent excellent.

All excellent right excellent, um, that was all a lead up to say that they require us to tell us who the potential delegates might be. So, given that we have two potential people who might go and possibly no one will go. I need, we need, I propose I guess whether there’s anybody who

wants to make a nomination for a delegate and or an alternate delegate. So we make nominations or appointments I guess it’s just a motion, I guess. Uh, I move that we nominate, uh, Dana Alerra as our delegate at the conference and David Frankel as an alternate at the conference, by

Jen Carr um I, I, yeah, so I, I don’t know whether we need to accept like if I were there, I guess I would accept that. It’s fine. Um, are there any other, um, well, I guess that was a motion, so we have to, and it was seconded. Um, all right, is

there a discussion No. It looks like we’re ready to vote. Uh, David Frankel. Amy, yes, Dana’s yes, Jen. Yes, Megan. Yes, Julia. Yes, all right, and that is unanimous and the motion passes. OK Um, moving along to the mission statements. So I guess I should have put this maybe right under that I don’t

know. Sorry, maybe the order’s a little wonky. Um, it was, um. similarly, this is sort of, this is created by the committee. It has changed over the years a little bit here and there. It’s been modified, not this, this is not different from last year, but this draft is only different in the, in

the um, date Does anyone have any questions, comments, or? thoughts about the mission statement I think it’s too long, but um, but apart from that was too long. And I, and I, I think the first paragraph captures the, the essential spirit of it, you know, you, you could massage that a little bit and

not really go through a, a laundry list of all the rest. I mean, I think that’s fair. I’m reflecting upon Julia’s comments earlier about how students, right, as like our main priority, um, and I think the first paragraph captures that. I think my only comment was going to be we don’t.

the students are the 4th bullet here, so. um, if we were to keep this length of a of a mission statement, move it up perhaps. OK. Good. suggestion Well, you know, I guess the um the wording in ensure our school creates graduates, graduates being implicitly students. Well, yeah, yeah, I

was saying that, so if we cut the rest, the first paragraph encapsulates it. perfectly. Um, and I would be fine with cutting it, but if we didn’t, I would love to move bullet 4 up. I understand. So you’re just saying if I understand, so if the, the first bullet would be inspires all students to

realize their fullest potential and feel a powerful sense of individual and collective belonging if we chose to keep those, um, I’m also OK with it as written. I’m also OK. other people I like the way it’s written only because the bullet points show the different ways that we can achieve the opening

paragraph. Um, I like to have the statement kind of be a guiding light when making decisions. So I like what’s in here. Touch on the community, students, teachers, administrators superintendent I like that. um, other people um I like the bullet points because I think it does incorporate all of the individuals in the community

the schools, the administrators, and the teachers. And I think that’s important. I agree with Amy right. Um Julia, did you have any comments? No, no, I think it’s great. I actually really support it. Um I, I agree with David that it’s too long. Um, and I find that even though I think it’s too long as

a mission statement, I um I’ve found to what Amy just said that I do refer to it and look at those bullet points. So I guess I come down on that. I prefer to keep it while I think your point is true, that it’s too long as a mission statement.

um so um, and I guess maybe Megan echoed that as well, um. so I heard I heard it was too long and I heard um, a a thought about moving bullet point number 4. Um, we also don’t does anyone want to make a motion? I move that we accept that I move that the Hamilton Wenham Regional School

Committee, except the 2025 to 2026 school committee mission statement as written. Second, seconded by Dan Carr. You don’t want Is there any discussion? I, I would move an amendment. Sure. Is it a friendly amendment or it’s just am amendment? I think it’s a friendly amendment. OK, that we move the second life

paragraph to being. the top of the bullet OK, so a friendly amendment is one in which you who made the motion could say that that’s, I’m open to that, or you could say no, but you’re not. I’m open to that. Sure, OK, right, does everyone understand

what the amended motion is? OK, um, all right, this is there a discussion on the amended motion? How would we phrase that because that’s not quite a full sentence in and of itself. But if we’re putting in a paragraph, we’re gonna have to change the wording. I don’t think that the motion was to

put it in a paragraph. My understanding of the motion was that and correct me if I’m wrong, was just to, to move the bullet point that says inspired all students to realize their fullest potential, just move it to the top bullet point. That was my in the amendment was to put it in the first round to

the top of the list to the top of the list. OK, that was my understanding was that the intention? That’s fine. All right. Um. right Anybody have anything else? Looks like we might be ready to vote. all right. Um, I’m gonna start with Megan. Yes, Jet, yes, and as a yes, Amy, David, Julia. Yes, OK,

and the motion passes 6 to 0. OK That was the vote on the amendment, correct? Uh, no, it was a friendly amendment, so it was a vote on the whole so she accepted it. She accepted the amendment. It’s challenging. Um, all right, next to you, Eric. So the Northeast Consortium is run by a board of 20

superintendents, uh, who are all members of the consortium, the course consortium, if you don’t remember, is, is the group that, uh, is one of our outer district contacts, our membership gives us reduced, uh, opportunities to reduce costs. uh, expense expenses to send kids to specific programs that

they may need via their IEP disability, etc. Um this is a, this is a new thing that they’re, they’ve been asked to do by their accrediting agency. Well, not, it’s actually through the state. They get a state review and the state said school committees should be just appointing the superintendents even though

they are all on the board automatically. They would, they want the superintendents, excuse me, the school committees to be more involved in the process, so you’ll see. this plus at least 3 other uh items that will come through the year that the Northeast Consortium is asked to put um,

on local school committee agendas. So this is the first of 4, but there’ll be 3 others, including their annual report, which we usually do at usually do that anyway, yeah. Um, alright, let’s, um, if you’re willing to start with a motion if you have one. I move that we, uh, appoint superintendent

Tracy to the NEC as a board member. Second, seconded by Megan, um, is there any, does anyone have any further questions, discussion? uh, Julia Yes. uh, Megan yes, Jen, yes, Anna, yes, Amy David that is uh the motion passes, uh, 6 to 0. Um OK Uh, next up is an update of committee liaisons.

We have a few vacancies, um. so oh, thank you, Eric. Um, and one correction I think the um somehow or other, uh I ended up being on the wellness committee. for multiple wellness committee meetings, and I, I didn’t never saw Julia there, so I’m wondering whether that’s in fact correct. in that way. Oh, you’re saying this is

inaccurate that you’re, I think you’re correct that that is, yeah, you’re right, David. I don’t, is it, let’s, can we look? I don’t think it’s, I think it’s correct on the website. Am I wrong? I’m trying to pull it up. Hold on 1 2nd Oh no, it is incorrect on the website. OK. Um, yeah, Julia,

is that your understanding too that you’re not the wellness committee liaison. OK, all right, so these are, yes, so I would say that’s just an error on the website that’s just, yeah, so that just needs to be fixed. um OK. Um, so, the so the vacancies here, um. are miles Mylesboro Middle School,

Hamilton Select Board, and the Wenham Finance Committee. And you know, the role of the liaison is you know. sometimes you’re gonna be doing a lot and mostly you’re just the contact person. So, um, you know, that if, um you know, if there’s something to report on or a meeting that needs to be, you

know, go to or that that kind of thing. Um, if we want to be reaching out for a reason to like the Hamilton select board that um, that that’s sort of the liaison. It doesn’t mean other people can’t. com m un ic ate with them. It’s just sort

of an official. um, I don’t know if anyone has anything to add about that or thoughts about. what areas um Are you looking for us to nominate ourselves or well, I just sort of, I’m more looking at um, I mean, obviously because Megan is new, she’s not listed. Oh, you are listed. Oh, you’re on capital improvement already.

You already got listed uh you got, um, yes, you already got voted into that.. I was wondering, I mean, in light of recent events and we will have a new seat to fill. I was wondering if it made sense to. to, to wait until we have a new member. here. I don’t know what

other people think. I mean, it’s a valid point in this that, you know, um I’ll leave it to the committee. Do you have a thought? Yeah, I think if anything, fill the Miles River, one, because I think it’s important for committee members to at least connect with the friends groups and attend a

friends meeting. because they, they have a lot to say too, and it’s a good opportunity for committee members to to go to the meeting, hear from families and parents that are there and bring that information back. The other ones can wait because the budget process, as we know,

is, is just starting up in, in October so we have some time there. I would be interested in being the liaison to the middle school. OK? I know you got a lot there. I know. Well, I was thinking maybe I would come off of, maybe somebody would want

one of those other ones. Um, but I’m happy to just leave it for like if Eric, you feel like somebody should move on to that seat now. I’m happy to take it and then when we. have a new member and reconvene, we can pull me off of it. It’s up to

the committee. I mean, you, you have time to wait. I just. in the school, feel free to reach out to me. Oh yeah, we can put my name in there if that’s OK, um, so I hear one person who’s saying they might be interested in the middle school position. So let’s talk about that.

Anybody have anybody else jumping at the middle school liaison position? Yeah, I wouldn’t mind it. I’d have a vested interest in a middle school I don’t know whether that’s good or bad. contested liaison department. Yeah. Yeah, that’s fine. I mean, I’m I won’t fight with you I have a

vested interest in all the schools, but I think to Megan’s point, other than filling that vacancy, everything else can kind of wait till we’re reconfigured um All right, I guess, um well, I’ll leave it to the committee, but I, I, I, I think it makes sense because we are definitely, we

definitely are gonna need to bring this back and talk about it, but at the same time, I hear the superintendent saying it’s not a bad idea to have a school committee member check in with the Miles Rover Middle School friends group, um. so. I don’t know, it’s maybe as simple as that like as.

someone willing to check in with Miles River, um, in the next, before our next meeting is someone willing to just touch base with the Miles local. Is the school building committee now completely defunct? because that’s not mentioned. Yeah. Mhm. So, um, is there some opportunity to create a work

group. to kind of work what work through how. um, how we’re going to move forward in terms of the general description of improving. all or most or all of the schools. Um and the scope of that and so forth, that um that’s a gigantic question. Um, yes, all kinds of things are possible. Um, I’m

gonna say that doesn’t really fall under the category that we have in front of us. Can we table that because we didn’t put that on the agenda. Yeah, no, that’s, that’s kind of what I’m saying is it’s not within this, it’s not within this agenda item, um, it sounds to me like that’s a topic for a

future meeting is just her retirement for the next meeting. to uh to come, come. prepared to discuss possible, possible structure, possible process. but that’s not a liaison position. So that’s why I think that doesn’t and that’s all, and that’s actually all I’m saying is that right now we’re talking about liaisons and so I

think we’re outside that question is kind of outside the borders of what we’re talking about now at the end of the meeting, I’m gonna ask for topics for future meetings. I think that’s an appropriate thing to say there. Um so I heard somebody talk about or I heard do we want, uh, is, does

anyone have a motion regarding the Miles River Middle School. I move that we nominate Amy Kunberger as the Mile Rivers Middle School liaison. Second OK, um OK, um, does anyone have any further discussion? Mm mm mm mm right um, David Amy, yes, Ana, yes, 0, yes, Megan, yes.

Julia Yes, all right, um, with the understanding that when we come back, there’s gonna need to be, I mean, when fill the vacancy, there’s gonna need to be a little bit of reshuffling here and that, but so we’ll do that. Um, do other people want to try to fill the other, oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t think I

said the motion passes. And the motion passes, unanimously. Um, I don’t know if people want to fill these others or we just feel that it’s fine for the moment as we put in in the process. OK. Yeah, I think it’s, I think it makes all right,

seeing nothing, I think we’ll move on. OK. Um next up is, uh, we do need to appoint a school committee secretary. um I’ll just, I can do it. I know no one wants me to do because I’m terrible about minutes, but I can do it. I’ll be better.

All right, that was a I’ve already I’ve done it, so anyone else interested in being the secretary. If anyone’s interested, by all means, but I just, I don’t want anyone to feel like they have to do it. OK, I heard, I heard a nomination for Julia and a second by Amy, um, is there any further discussion? OK, uh,

Megan, Jen, same as a yes, Amy, David, Julia. congratulations Julia. The motion passed. Easy, easy done. Thanks Julia is now the secretary. Do we also have to nominate a new assistant? Yes, we do, yes, um, I can do that, um, Julie can’t be here. OK, um do we have any nominations? I nominate Jen

Carr to be the assistant secretary. Seconded by David Frankel, um, is there any further discussion? All right, I’m gonna start with you, Julia. Yes Um. Megan, yes, Jen, same as yes, Amy, yes. David. OK and that is unanimous and the motion passes. OK, um, next up Vinny with the budget calendar. OK, so I have some sad news.

The budget season has begun. Uh, and I’m here to present to you, uh, the first glimpse of our budget calendar now attached to the exhibit is the full, um, calendar. I’m just trying to move this over to display. How come it’s not showing? OK, we’re happier with that picture.

I know I gotta, I gotta drag it over. Hopefully this works. It does, OK So for those of you who have been involved in the budget process before our budget calendar always revolves around the annual town meeting. Uh, that’s kind of what sets the anchor for the budget calendar process and then we work backwards from there.

So that’s really um the date we go on, but it’s kind of a backward motion from there. So this year’s annual town meeting uh, always follows the first Saturday of April, so I highlighted here that is going to be April 4th, uh, 2026. Uh, so MAS General Law. uh, states that are regional school

district must have an approved final budget 45 days prior to town meeting. Um, so if you count backwards, uh, from the annual town meeting. It gets you to February 18th have a backup date because things could happen during the final budget process, um, hopefully, it never happens, but it could,

uh, fail the school committee’s vote, and if we waited till the last day, we obviously wouldn’t be within our 45 day limit. Uh, so we always try to give ourselves at least, uh, one, you know, extra backup meeting in there. So that would be Wednesday, um whatever I said there, February 18th, um, but

our final budget vote, uh, we usually do the week before that, so that’s gonna be Thursday, February 12th. Uh, I’m just gonna repeat it again. That’s Thursday, February 12, 2026. Mass general law also states that it has to be a supermajority of the full committee. uh, so we really would like every school committee member to be there,

uh, just to make sure we hit that threshold of the supermajority. So the next step, still working backwards, we look towards our regional agreement that states we have to have a tentative budget approved 30 days prior to our final budget. So counting backwards again, 30 days from February 12th gets you till get you to Tuesday, January 13th.

So we’re making our tentative vote. um, Thursday, January 8th. Um. the Thursday right before the 30 day deadline. Uh, from there, it usually takes at least 3 additional school committee meetings to work through the budget. Uh, each of those meetings we set aside a section of the budget to review.

Uh, this year we may or may not have the appropriate department heads come in and present to the uh school committee to help answer any questions about their section. Um, we’ve dedicated days and those are outlined in the full, um, calendar outlined on the exhibit. Uh, that might change

on who comes that day or if there really isn’t any major changes within their department. Uh, we might not have them come and present depending on what actually changes throughout the budget process. But nonetheless, we still secure those three meetings and still work them into the budget calendar, um, just in case we want to go

through that Um, so counting backwards for those three budget meetings means that you guys see the first iteration of the FY 27 budget on Thursday, um, November 20th. Um, so from there we really try to work in all of the different meetings, uh, we usually have 2 full board, uh, full quintupi

quintuple board meetings, uh, and then also at least 3 quintuple chair only meetings. Uh, now historically, our all-member meetings, uh, we try to do the last one, so that’s the 2nd 1, sometime between our final budget vote in February and uh after the tentative budget budget vote in January.

Uh, that usually means it’s around the MLK week, uh, so for this year, that’s gonna be Wednesday, January 21st, um, the second one usually falls the week prior to Thanksgiving. So that’s gonna be November, uh, Wednesday, November 19th, uh, and like I said, we all, we all also work in capital meetings

in between there. So what we really tried to do this year is kind of set it up, um, kind of in sequence, so we have a capital meeting right before we have a chairs only meeting right before we have the full all-member meeting. So everyone’s kind of in line and we’re all on the same page

communicating the same message, uh, last year it was a little, um, not as organized as that, and I found that it wasn’t as smooth and sometimes I was updating, uh, different groups before I was updating others. Uh, so I tried to organize it this way that it flowed a

little bit better. One issue I wanted to point out, uh, this did happen last year based on the way the calendar falls, the first quintuple board meeting, uh, ends up being November 19th, um, again the way that calendar falls this year, this is before the first time you guys are going to see the budget. So if

you remember last year, we met with all the boards on Wednesday, and you guys had not seen the budget yet and I presented it to them, um, and then you saw the first iteration, the following day at the full board meeting. Um, I really don’t think that works very smooth. It should really

be the reverse. You guys should see the first iteration of the budget, uh, and then we should meet with our members, uh, and answer any questions or hear any comments that they have. Um, so what I, I have one question for you tonight is I do not want to change it for this budget cycle. We’ve already set

the dates, we’ve already communicated it, but I would, if it’s OK with you and if you agree, at that meeting in November, I would like to ask all the members what they think about, um, delaying this meeting until either the first week in December or the 2nd week in December, just to give

you guys the chance to see it, um, before they get to see it, just so you can be more engaged in that first meeting. Now I, I don’t want to speak for everyone, but I think that first meeting we all agree it’s so early in the process, none of these numbers are final.

We’re really just kind of, uh, communicating our major issues in the budget cycle, but nonetheless, it, it doesn’t flow as nice as I would like. Um, so if it’s OK with you guys, I might ask uh what their schedules look like, uh, for the first week uh, in December

the 2nd week in December, I really wouldn’t want to push it any further than that, if they have most of their board meetings, you know, the first weeks of every month and maybe we keep it to, um, the, the we, we always do the week before Thanksgiving, but I at least want you to hear your thoughts

about it, uh, and see if it’s OK if at that meeting, we request that it just gets delayed a week or two, just so it flows a little bit nicer. Vinny, can I ask a question? Of course I do remember that happening last year and it wasn’t ideal. Has that I don’t

feel like was that always the way it was? Like I because it did happen last year. If you’re, I think if you’re on rewind to the 3 years ago, uh, they had their meeting in May. Uh, they moved their annual town meeting one year to be one month later,

so it didn’t happen that year cause we had additional time. If you go back a year before that, you start entering the COVID generation and everything was just makes sense and that’s and I wasn’t here pre-COVID, so there we go. OK. Oh. OK. Uh, did I have anything else to mention? Sorry, I didn’t mean

to throw you off. I just wanted to, no, I think, I think that was it. So that’s, that’s the budget cycle. I feel like it flows a little bit better this year except for that, uh, minor issue that again, uh, isn’t a complete issue. It just doesn’t

allow it to flow and doesn’t allow you guys to engage in that first all board members meeting. Uh, but the main thing here tonight is to kind of seek your approval and make sure that, uh, the three main dates work for the majority of people. The February 12th, um, final budget vote, and then the two

all-member meetings. uh, in January and November. Well, and I, I would say again about at February 18th date that it that’s the backup taint. I know that’s not, but it to be clear, and that is something that, you know. like in other words, it could be any anything could happen. There could be a

snowstorm of you know, whatever a national emergency like whatever there could be anything that could prevent us from voting on Thursday, February 12th, so we want to make sure that you have that penciled in as and if needed, but like if needed, you’re really going to be needed.

Um and the next week it’s not a Thursday, it’s a Wednesday, right, it’s a Wednesday and like I know that like so I just want to put that out there um. So is everybody taking the moment to look at your calendars. I put some of these dates in already. Isn’t that

great? Um yeah, I have it all in here already. I think you’ve last week we did mention the three major dates, but I wanted everyone to see the um chairs only meetings in the Capitol meetings in there. There are other, um, benchmarks in the full agenda presentation that I didn’t include here, but those

are, it’s more work done by uh Eric or myself and doesn’t totally involve the board members. But as long as nobody has any major objections, I’ll move forward with these dates and send out invites to all of the quintuple board members. I just wanted to talk to the just one on that February 18th date.

um. I I don’t know. I don’t, I, I guess when I make aware that that is both Ash Wednesday and the first night of Ramadan, which I the backup is the backup is February 18th date, um I just want committee members to look at that and make sure that works with your calendar. That’s the sort of

emergency backup date, um, the only meaning I can’t make, and I think I already told you this was the November 12th 1. The full member meaning um I believe, the first, the second chairs meeting. Make the first one, but not the second one are you, what date are you looking at? The November 12th,, 2nd

quintuple board chairs meeting. Oh yeah. great And I’ll be there, so. I’m out of state, um October 11th to October 25. I don’t know whether that’s a problem or not. Which one are you missing? I’m sorry, October I’m 2 weeks. October 11th, the 20 something, there is actually

no yeah, those are, I mean, there are things going on, but for you to attend during that time. 12th, but I will be able to join remotely. Yeah, that’s what I was going to say is people certainly can join remotely. That is an option, um, I think we would need, we do need a majority in the room,

probably. February 12th you’re out? OK. On February 12th. Right, but no, that’s really important for us to remember because I will need to just double check about how many people need to actually be in the room and how many um like how that works, but yeah, please put it on as a virtual

attendance, um. OK, I will check on that. um um uh, Vinnie, do you need a vote to approve this? Um the calendar, I do not. I really just kind of need that you guys are generally OK with all the dates. And I will finalize them and send out the

invite. Um, I don’t see Julia anymore. Julia, do you have any questions or conflict? Uh, no, I don’t have any questions. We went over this in capital finance, so. OK. I have it. Excellent. Thank you I. And I think you, you’re up next anyway. She’s just a little weird. It’s got two screens

going. Mm They were PowerPoint slides I could show you my fancy presentation trick. Oh, they are. I can’t see what it’s doing on the screens. OK, so my next presentation, uh, relates to our student activities, uh, annually, we are required to seek your approval, uh, for our high school, uh, student club

accounts that are within our student activities accounts. Uh, so annually, I perform a presentation to kind of just inform you of the student activity, uh, balances and how much activity they had, uh, during the year. Uh, one thing I would just like to mention is the business office doesn’t actually control our student activity accounts. Those are

all done at the school level. So all the checks and all the deposits that’s made at the school level, the business office does not, uh, disperse the checks for this. It’s all done through the principles and their, um administrative assistants. Uh, they control the checkbook, they control the reconciliations. Uh, they kind

of just report to our office, uh, after the fact, after the end of the month. Um, but they do a great job. Uh, they have to reconcile it. Kevin, our treasurer, uh, does assist them with their reconciliation process. Uh, just one thing I wanted to mention because there is a little complexity, uh,

with the student activities is our normal reconciliation process just like when you guys maybe balance your checkbook, uh, your balancing and comparing your bank statements to either your checkbook, your ledger, or whatever it is you’re using, uh, the district uses infinite visions as our business office financial software. Uh, so when we go to

do our reconciliation, we’re comparing our bank statements, uh, to infinite visions. However, when you layer in student activities, uh, it’s just a little bit more of a complication because there’s a third set of books happening. So at the school, they have their own ledger, so now we have to reconcile their ledger to the business office ledger,

to the bank statements. Uh, so it does get a little confusing on who’s who’s, uh, posting the, the deposit, what time it was recorded in QuickBooks compared to what time they sent it up to the business office and when it actually got recorded into Infinite Visions. Uh, so it does cause, uh, some

reconciliation issues every now and then, uh, because of this third layer of, uh, complications, uh, because we are literally running a second set of books that is controlled by, uh, each individual school. Uh, but for fiscal 25, uh, we have the following balances. As you look at the 5 schools, uh, each school has their own

student activities account, uh, 4 of the schools, the 3 elementaries in the Miles River, uh, all the funds that come in and get dispersed are kind of lumped into one student activities account. Up at the high school, however, they have almost 30 different subsidiary accounts, uh, where they’re depositing and withdrawing funds based on those clubs

activities, fundraisers, uh, field trips that they’re doing, um, donations that they’re making, uh, whatever it is, uh, that they’re going. So every year we are again required to get those lists of clubs approved, um, by the school committee. Uh, but for fiscal year 25 in total, we dispersed,

uh, we took in roughly under a quarter of a million dollars in our student activities account and disperse just a little less around 20 11000, these numbers, these figures are nowhere included in my quarterly, uh, updates that I give you. This is completely separate and on top of, um, all that

information, all the dollars and uh money that I talk about during the year. This is in addition to that. Uh, our budget that we just spoke about, uh, does not include anything to do with that student activities, uh, and would be above and beyond, uh, what you were what we approved during

our budget cycle. Uh, but our ending balance as of June 30, 2025, when you look at all five of our student activities activity accounts, uh, total just under 137,000. Obviously with the high school making out, making up the biggest bulk. Uh, the next two slides are the high school subsidiary accounts.

So I believe there are, uh, either 31 or 32 of them, um, in total, we’ve broken down their activity, they’re beginning bounds, uh, all of their revenue throughout the years, their expenses and their, uh, their ending balance. Uh, one thing we do have to report to you is if a uh club does not

have any activity within 2 fiscal years. Uh, so looking back, if a club did not take in any revenue or do not, um, disperse any expenses during fiscal year 25 and fiscal year 24, uh, normally we’re supposed to report that to you, close the club and disperse the funds to the remaining clubs.

However, as you see here by the uh star indicated on the, on the right, uh, there are a few clubs that have not had activity in the past two years. However, we do have a request from the um, high school principal to keep those clubs open and active. They are active clubs that are currently running. They just

have not taken in any money or dispersed any money, but that doesn’t mean this year that something else might come up. Uh, they might decide to do a fundraiser, they might decide to do a donation to a certain local group, um, or they might go on a field trip that that isn’t determined, although they

haven’t done it in the past 2 years. Again, the club is still active and they still might do it this year. Uh, so there is a, a request to maintain, uh, those clubs activity for the year. Uh, as you can see here, the um high school alone has dispersed over $180,000 last year, uh, without a doubt, I’m

backing up one slide. Their biggest group is DECA. Uh, they make up their biggest balance and most of their activity through the year and no one really comes close to them. Uh, last year, they dispersed $106,000 through their activity account alone. Uh, the nearest club, uh, the closest club to

them is the class of 2025, and they were $31,000. So they are at least 3 times bigger than the second, uh. runner-up. So they are without a doubt, the, the most activity, uh, within the student activities account. But again, our ending balance, uh, at the high school was approximately $104,000. Uh, so again, tonight we are simply

requesting to maintain these active lists of clubs and continue to use them for the FY 26, um, fiscal year. Take any questions if you have them Um, I have a question that maybe is really more for Mr. Tracy. I don’t know. Um, I was just curious about a high school band as a club It’s an if, if

they high school band gets a donation. Um, it’s generally to the students So for instruments, for they somebody may donate $100 so that a child can go on a field trip or somebody may donate $250 so that they can buy a flute or a a new um drum

or have a drum reset. So there are expenses within the band that there’s no real other way to house them. because they are student expenses and we want, you know, I mean, that’s the one thing to keep in mind. This is student money This is not

like Vinny and I can’t spend this money for, for none of us can. It’s, it’s, it’s, these are student raise funds, student accepted funds that are used for the benefit of students. So that’s where some of them get a little, a little dicey, but they, um, they need a place to put money when they

get a donate, you know, you, you may see like the physics club may pop up at some point because someone donates $500 to that club and it’s a place to keep it so that it benefits the kids and it doesn’t get intermingled with the regular school budget. makes sense This go ahead. No, I was just gonna,

I, I, I’m assuming, um, Vinny, that like the class of 2024, for example. It takes the two years for those funds to then get per student activity policies, we have 2 years to disperse the funds to the graduating class, um, when a class graduates, it’s usually either the class president or

the treasurer, uh, has to go out and open their own bank account, and we dispersed these funds to them and then they keep track of them to use them for future reunions or whatever they plan. Um, the member of the class of 2 024 did not, uh, timely open a bank account for us to disperse the money.

However, uh, we did do that this past August, um, but as of June 30, they still have money on the books and we still need them as an active account. As of today, there is no money left. We did disperse it, but and that’s the same with the

class of 2025. They have not um done their part yet Yep. Um, now we do this for clubs, but we don’t do something similar for sports. Is there a reason? Because they also accept donations. and do fundraising I didn’t hear that, sir. It’s power boosters sports different that is mixed with general fund money, so it’s it’s separated

without the student activities money because they’re paying their fee towards a general fund expense. No, no, I’m not talking about the athletic fees. I’m talking about the fundraising, the gymnastics team, and the soccer team and the football team do. fundraising for DECA or for science club automatically goes into these accounts, and I assume that are they interest

bearing accounts? Yes. But sports. fundraisers don’t. Is that sports fundraisers usually sit with the booster. organization Right, but I mean, would it behoove us to do something similar for sports just so that they could avail themselves of the potential to actually make interest on it.

Uh, we currently do do that and they do get it that was my question. When we take in their donations, it gets separated into their own athletics account. It’s just not a student activities account. Um, OK. Um. are we waiting for a motion? Is that what we’re waiting for? Um on the top top

right there on the slide. Ah sorry, so looking at the actual top side. I moved at the Hamilton Wyndham Regional School Committee vote to approve the following 32 high school subsidiary accounts for the 2025, 2026 school year. Second, seconded by Megan Benson. um, are they, is there any further discussion or questions? All right. Um, Amy,

uh, David. Julia Yes, Megan, Jen, Hana, yes, and the motion passes unanimously, the 6 votes. Thank you guys. Thank you. OK Um, next up we have committee reports um Capital Finance. Um, finance has met and reported to you, and we haven’t had a meeting since our next meeting

is October 6th. OK, um oh, sorry Hold on, um. lost. Yeah, I saw that. Is there an agenda for that yet? Pardon me? Isn’t her agenda OK. But it’ll be posted. Yeah October 6th, um OK, thank you. Anything, um, I’m sorry. um, just, just had a moment there. All right, um, uh, policy. Uh, we are meeting on

the 29th at 2:30. which is a Monday. All right. September. And in that meeting we will approve the one page, I’m sorry, you are, you and Jen Jen, so you are needing a new member of the policy subcommittee. um OK, so we will need to make sure

that that gets done at our next meeting. Well, I’m sorry, say the date again or the, I know you’re September 29th. Um OK Um negotiations um, we have a meeting on Monday. Um, we are also down a member, so we will need a new member for negotiations. Um. so we’ll bring that um to the next

meeting. um, I don’t have a secretary report. Um, but Julia will be excited to get on that. Um, right, next, um, this is the next topic we have is called In Our Inboxes. We’ve not done this before. Um, something that, um I’m gonna just turn it over to Amy.

Amy, um, I’ll just explain the idea behind this, just to give a little bit of insight into some of the things that we get contacted about as school committee members. Um, one of the items that I thought was interesting is, uh, we had an email from a member of the community asking about um the

new stadium lighting at the athletic fields, and I was I had asked Eric about it, and the answer was really interesting. The question was about like why at this certain time they were on late at night. So can I kick it to you, Eric, to explain? No? The, the, um,

the, the email came in around lateness of the the lights being on. Um, it happens to be during the week that we were having dark sky certification, which was a requirement of the Conservation commission. so they can’t come out until after 8 o’clock Um, the Dark Sky group comes out, they do

testing of, uh, lighting from like center of the field all the way to off the fields to figure out the, the number of canal powers. in order to give us a dark sort of sky sky certification. Today, I did receive the Dark Sky certification. So, um, one of the caveats with the lights is

we’re really still trying to figure them out. We’ve had several lights that come on when we want them to and shut off when we want them to, but others that don’t. So we’ve been working with the, uh, contractor to, uh, make sure all the lights work the way they do. It actually is very,

uh, simple to run. It’s just a matter of making sure everything’s connected correctly. Um, they run off of a cellphone so they can be shut down. Uh, they can also run off a timing system. So we’re still trying to work those kinks out, but, um, the reason that there was a couple of nights in a row.

I think it was 3, maybe 4 nights in a row because we didn’t know exactly when the group was coming, um, so we just set them to go down, down at 10 o’clock so they could come and just do their work. They, they literally come at 9, 10 o’clock at night, do the

testing and then leave, um, but we did receive today our dark sky certification so we’ll send that to the Conservation commission In fact, it already went to the Conservation commission, so thank you good news. That is good news. That’s really cool. Uh, and the other thing that I really wanted to

bring up because it made me smile was a letter we got from, um two members of the community who caught you visiting a lemonade stand and they thought that was very nice. Yeah, that was, that was very cute. Yeah, that was, yeah. Never miss a lemonade stand. I don’t have cookies too. Um, thank you.

That’s all I have for right now. Um, Superintendent report. Um, OK, couple, just a couple of quick things I wanted to, uh, say, uh, how excited I am about our new teachers. I have been in, in their classrooms and I think our, our principals and our teaching staff did a great

job hiring this year. We have some really fantastic dynamic teachers who are up to speed, doing, you know, really in the middle of the thick of it already, and it’s exciting to watch them, uh, in their classrooms and function in their classrooms, so it’s it’s important for me to be in

teacher classrooms every single day. Um, as many of you know, I, I literally scheduled that into my schedule every day to be in classroom somewhere because that’s really the priority for, for me, um, to be in there to supporting the kids, supporting the teachers, but this gives me the opportunity to see all of

our new teachers, so a great past couple of weeks getting in and, and seeing how things are going really excited for how things will progress. Um, field opening, uh, a few weeks ago we had a torrential downpour, lightning, storm event on that opening night. Um, we’ve met with the committee. It’s been

really hard to find a new date because we literally have the fields being used all the time now. Um, so we’re gonna try to build something into that Thanksgiving week where we will have some alumni come back, we’ll have a bunch of there’s already a bunch of planned school events that week, uh, so

leading into the Thanksgiving game, it’ll, it’ll encompass, um even the, the, uh, Hall of Fame stuff. So it’ll be, uh, we figured that’ll be a good way to do it. It’s, it’s kind of like too late now, but the football game was a huge kickoff that whole week. I mean, we were, we had packed the

house the whole week and people got to see it and people were blown away with it. Um, the good thing for us, we all also could work out some kinks like, OK, we need to put a fence here and we need to get these two lights working and um all the

rain on the day we weren’t supposed to meet it helped us to figure out a drain problem we had. So that was fixed as well. We’re just about done with the punch list. Uh, we’re at the kind of the last couple of things, uh, the, the amenities building is having the Soit uh reset. It’s, it’s,

uh, doesn’t, they didn’t give enough enough room for expansion, so it’s a little wavy, so they’re redoing that. Um, we had a, a drain, as people remember, that was clogged last week. They came and sorted that out. That is all set. Um, we’re changing out some drain cover some, um,

actual covers that cover drains to grates so that the water can actually leave the facility, uh, more quickly, uh, so just a lot of little things and we’re hoping to open this up to the public, um, early October, and that, that’s really the, the whole facility. We are going to put out, um, some kind of rules

of the road. I mean, we’re having 22 major problems we’re having right now. Bikes on the fields and tracks and dogs on the fields and tracks. Dogs are not a good mix for turf, uh, especially when we’re using organic infill. So we’re gonna ask the com the, the community’s help just to keep

that. In check, um, but we hope to open up early to mid October so that people can use them. I know there’s a huge pickleball group waiting to get on there. We have 8 pickleball courts up there. So, um, lots, lots of things going on, but hoping to finalize that project and get a

final number and, and then, uh, close everything out. Thank you right, yeah, no, well yeah, dogs wouldn’t have been a a good idea before when people were playing on it was a bad idea. um OK, um, so the only thing I’m gonna offer for the chair report is, um, as I mentioned earlier, I am going

to sort of just run through um, the basic process for appointing a new member, um, so the way that this works is that, um, uh we will reach out, uh, I, I’ll reach out to the when I’m select board, the departing member is from Wenham. The way that our regional agreement works, um, the appoint newly

appointed member will need to be from the same town as the departing member, um. the, um, just as we’ve done in the past, we’ll need to post a request for letters of interest that will, I don’t have a date for you yet, but that will be out.

um, soon. We’ll get a date, um with the one I select board and we will, um, once we receive letters of interest which again will be posted in the newspaper and on our website we’ll put that out, um, again they need to be, um. uh, citizens of

Wenham, um, we’ll meet, we’ll get a date with the one on select board and the school committee will sit with the jointly with the Wenham select board and, um, interview and then appoint um jointly appoint the new member. Um this particular term, well, I should say always an appointed position always is only appointed until the upcoming

election. Um, in this, so the person who was uh selected could either serve until the election and choose to run again or not. It’s up to the selected person whether they want to run again. uh, or run for election, excuse me, um. in this particular case, um, at that election that spot on the

school committee would be, um, that election, so we’re talking about the spring of 2026, that spot would be for a two-year term, um. that is because um we want to keep the terms, um, the same way so that we don’t get off cycle and end up um having, you know, everyone getting the whole board getting elected in

one year or. so that makes sense. Does anyone have any questions on that process? We’ve done it before. Um, we did it very recently. That’s how we got Megan, um, but just for members of the public, then we’ll remember that that was, um, with the Hamilton select board. It’s because again that seat was vacated from Hamilton.

The seat was vacated from a member who lives in, so it’ll be a little bit, it’ll look a little bit different, but it’s the same process. right Anybody else OK, um, next up, uh, topics for future meetings. Uh, we’ll have the page guide to vo ing thresholds. Oh, OK. We’ll approve it hopefully at our

next meeting and then so we anticipated that it that it will be. is that the 2nd October 2nd I don’t, yeah, yeah OK, I look forward to that. Thank you. to discuss the process for moving forward on on um building. new buildings, renovations that. what, what is

the process? The next steps for the Or at least one of the first steps towards a new process, yeah, OK, so process for moving forward on. I don’t know what to call it, elementary school. Not necessarily elementary school, just facilities across the board. OK Um OK Thank you Um,

and I may, um, as always, I might touch base with you about the wording and the timing and things like that, um, same with you, Amy, although it’s pretty straightforward. Um, so. um, anybody else have any topics for future meetings? OK? Um, all right everybody ready because I’m gonna make this

yeah OK uh, I moved to adjourn to executive session under general law Section 30A, Section 21A. purpose number 3, to discuss strategy with respect to collective bargaining or litigation, Jeffrey Austin, Deb Safford, Dorothy Gallant versus the Hamilton London Regional School Committee. If an open meeting may have a detrimental effect

on the bargaining or litigating position of the public body and the chair so declares to and not to return to open session. Second seconded by Amy. I, I had a question since that. um, litigation was withdrawn. Is there, is there gonna be able to answer a question that is correct. I’m not gonna be able

to answer a question or discuss. in this meeting, so, but that is correct. OK um OK. I mean the question is the, the question is, are we willing to move into executive session. That’s, yeah, no, I mean my question was, do you need to, if there’s no litigation pending? Yes Not to get too

Robert’s rosy, but you would have to just vote no. Well, I didn’t want to because I made the motion, so I, yeah, so. Well, I guess you must feel that there is something to discuss. OK I’m not gonna contradict that, I think our virtual member departed, is that correct? So we don’t need

to take a, so Julia has left the meeting. Um, we don’t need a roll call vote, um, so unless there’s further discussion, all right, all those in favor. and that is unanimous, and we are