4.10.2023 Fall River School Committee

I know they the mayor's going to take I'd like to call to order the regular meeting of the Florida school committee for April 10th Deb could you please call the roll Mr I again Mr Bailey here Mr Hart here Mrs Herrera Miss Roderick yeah yeah mayor Coogan here salute to the flag

thank you pursuant to the open meeting law any person may make an audio or video recording of this public meeting or may transmit the meetings or any medium attendees are therefore advised that such recordings of Transmissions are being made where the perceived or unperceived by those present and are deemed acknowledged and permissible um Deb do we have any citizens input no we do not know

we're going to skip over recognition Awards right now just to give ourselves a little bit of time but we'll go to number item number four any subcommittee updates none superintendents report item number five superintendent Ponce thank you Mr Mayor so tonight we have two updates one of them is an event that Durfee High School hosted with Durfee High School hosted 50 students from a group

which is in a group made up of three private schools in the area the students from Port spent five days here in the area immersing themselves in the culture by attending classes at Durfee they even attended the Junior Prom and assimilated quite naturally they were Amazed by the school and all that it had to offer our students students who were particularly impressed with the TV studio the Granite

Grill fashion design and cosmetology students were also able to experience various sport activities important to note is that students were able to participate in the junior prom wearing a tire supplied by the Durfee formal closet where the collect gowns and give it to people who need them and the cosmetology students were able to help them with hair and makeup so that they could fully participate in the junior

prom they were grateful that they were able to have that experience with their new friends I think our our Durfee students were more impressed with how their guests assimilated so easily they felt comfortable at Durfee from the start and took advantage of every opportunity to experience Durfee pride in addition to being Durfee hilltoppers the visiting students were able to visit some neighboring restaurants colleges

and cities such as Boston and New York City and of course shopping we have some of our Durfee students 27 of them will be traveling to Port during their April break where students will also have an opportunity to be immersed in the culture I think it's safe to say that the the experience was a positive one for both the hosts as well as the guests I want to thank the Durfee team for

welcoming for welcoming the students from Port and I look forward to hearing about our students experience there we also have a hiring update since the last meeting last month we have hired 34 people we've had 12 resignations and one retirement we hired one administrator eight teachers 11 paraprofessionals seven nutrition workers two custodians two safety officers two s nons and one

clerical employee in addition we held a recruitment event in late March that had 58 attendees the majority of the attendees and applicants for this event were operational with 25 being educator or educator support staff applicants applicants were shared across all departments and I know this is a big big hiring season for principals so everybody is you know scrambling to bring those applicants in

and the district's also attending the Desi virtual job fair this month as well as the Merck job fair in Boston at bu both of those will focus on educated positions and finally our district is planning to host another recruitment Fair on April 29th if all goes well and that's it for me for me thank you superintendent Potts um what's that I believe we can go to our recognition Awards and we'll go down

to the front of the stage we have two presentations and we'll do that right now

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thank you very much so this person here is uh has worked for the school district for many years and the city has an employee who deserves to be recognized every day when this nominee the person nominating her brings her son to school she can be seen on ellsworthy Street assisting students to make sure they safely cross this high traffic area although this is her job how she performs it daily goes above and beyond

she has forged relationships with a population of students that range in age and life experiences who are friendly and caring personality shines through with every fist bump she gives to students waves to commuters as they pass by and conversations with students as they cross what a great way for students to be greeted as they get ready to start their new day as a parent of students

who attend to Fall River Public Schools I appreciate people like Peg who make it a point to be a positive part of the lives of students I have had the pleasure of I have had the pleasure of having a few conversations with her and learn this is her nature and prior to working as a Crossing God she worked helping children in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts if you are ever traveling

in that area during a rival or dismissal time I hope you're able to see her in action we want to say congratulations and thank you to Peg McGowan

Mrs McGowan if we have you in the front for a picture you're not getting away that easy

and we have one more award for a student which is awesome we received word this week that durfee's student student painting he submitted for Scholastic art awards has been selected as a national gold key winner this is extra special news as he was competing against thousands of students from across the country he will be invited to walk across the stage at Carnegie Hall in New York City on June 6

to receive his award along with a list of other artists and writers who were selected from around the country in addition his teacher Miss Heather Pereira was also awarded as a gold key educator we'd like to recognize and thank and say congratulations to one of our great students at Durfee High School Ishmael Alves

very nice

thank you all very much

all right

zero minutes

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okay we have no student comment tonight so I'm going to ask for item number seven approval of minutes we have two sets of minutes motion to approve so first one is minutes of the technology subcommittee from three nine and the regular school committee meeting minutes from 3 20. I have a motion a second any discussion on the minutes Deb could you please call the roll Mister again yes Mr Bailey yes yes

item number eight is approval of travel requests motion to approve travel requests second I have a motion and a second on a number of travel requests any comment or discussion on travel requests hearing none Deb I'll ask you to please call the roll Mr agya yes Mr Bailey yes yes rodericks yes yes item number nine is an acceptance of donations we have two donations tonight um exactly I have a motion and a second

uh any discussion on the donations before the superintendent fills us in on them uh tab would you please call the roll Mister again yes Mr Bailey yes Mr Hart yes Miss Laramie yes Pereira yes Miss rodericks yes mayor Coogan yes item number ten oh I'm sorry superintendent please okay on behalf of Fall River Public Schools um request acceptance of twenty thousand dollar donation from University of

Connecticut this donation is to be used to pay for the imtss work here in Fall River and on behalf of Henry Lord Community Schools to Dr Barnhart request the acceptance of one large playground communication board one small social communication board one small using the communication board plate a donation from Doug Flutie foundation for autism this donation will be used to provide

visual support for children to access with playground specific language and to promote inclusion across the school environment thank you everyone thank you item 10 approval of contracts we have a number of contracts here if anybody wants to put a hold on any one of my I'd ask them to please point it out now if not I'm looking for a motion in a second can I please hold paper um I'm sorry Mr Aggie which one page two

paper paper education any other one would someone like to take out with that one being held I'm looking for a motion in a second motion to approve second I have a motion a second let's let's uh call the roles that just I had a question on the I see things in here that are part of the new school project and I'm wondering why we why they're not part of the they weren't

part of the project and now we're paying for out of our budget I'm assuming that's where they're coming from um which ones are those Mr aggia sort of field hockey excuse me field hockey goals and uh like I know that we're doing the project separate but typically those things would be included in a budget are we closed out uh where where the budgets are tight so not knowing where we're going to be I

they needed new goals for um for those fields so that's that's what this is about I don't I don't have the funds budgeted in so in certain instances it was fully budgeted the baseball field everything was included in the turf fields it was it was the carpet that was included in the scoreboard and then the Stadium Field exactly the same yes I'm not opposed to obviously we needed to

yes we need the items but when I'm just trying to think through the process of when you close out the building project if there's funds left over in that building project if we haven't got that down to zero these are valuable like we keep on spending School dollars for what would or could be part of that project so if we start spending the school dollars and then the project closes and there's a hundred

thousand dollars left in that project we can't get this money back what I'm hoping is is that as as projects close out the contingency dollars and any extra funds would move to the next project from the next project to the next project till finally at field number five which is the one we haven't bit out yet um which is a JV baseball and JV softball so at the end of that project

those residual funds can be used for fuel accessories hypothetically if there's 250 000 left in the Durfee Bond project yes left over you're saying that we're going to spend that money for school department not just automatically revert back to the to the city the school the only project that the city is funding is the 2.4 at the baseball field everything else is funded through the school department

I mean this project for this building I'm talking about that's exactly it so the only project that's being funded by the city bonded by the city is the baseball field everything else has been done in-house but I'm saying the the Durfee the 263 million dollar project that is closed out and was there any money left over no so you spent it to zero spent it to zero even with the money that we're paying

for all of these things that we're yes we spent it down to zero so if we were to add all those up we would just be a few hundred thousand dollars that we've put in on the school side yes basically but there's not a there's no more money in the no there is it doesn't stay open for a year or whatever that no it closes out and basically the only thing that we're

waiting for is reimbursement from msba but it's dollars that were already spent on the city side and if they if something God forbid goes really South on this project now where would we get that money from depends on the bot on the on where it where it's at and warranty so the items that are in warranty would be covered within the project by the contractors and if it's a non-warrantee

if it's a non-warranty item then it's coming out of maintenance thank you I yield okay so we still have the one hold we have a motion and a second could um Deb could you please call the roll Mister again yes Mr Bailey yes Mr Hart yes Miss laravee yes Carrera yes Mr rodericks yes mayor Coogan yes paper education America on page four page eight six whatever it is uh Mr aguio

yeah my question is how long have we had this I was contracted with paper for the 21-22 school year and the contract was extended without additional money being paid through this school year so we had a slow start in the 21-22 school year when we first when we first contracted with them so they extended our contract so that we'd have a full year of using the program before we elected whether or not to renew

some of the data on usage but can you just summarize what exactly that does sure so we so we originally contracted for grades 6 through 12 every single student and all of our schools serving the Middle grades as well as the high schools started using paper it's primarily in an out of school tutoring program so it allows students access 24 7 to tutoring online students can get on the platform to ask

questions about pretty much any content area they offer support in Spanish as well as English and for writing purposes students in their Ela classes Social Studies classes really in any classes where writing was an assignment they can submit draft writing and get some feedback so as part of our initial process we looked at the feedback that paper was offering students to see if it aligned with the

kind of first draft feedback we would want our students to get as part of the writing process confirmed that it was and so school started using it you know more for those purposes larger writing assignments and making it part of the um the writing process so on the usage it doesn't show how many students it shows sessions basically like do we have any data on I'm just curious I do I apologize

because I don't have it with me but we do have student individual student data I will say that what we see in the data as we look at it month to month are really kind of Peaks and I think it aligns very often with larger writing assignments and things of that nature preparation for debate kind of things like that as students are preparing their speaking points and so

we see we see spikes in the data and in most cases it's classroom specific or grade specific around common assignments so coming into this new budget piece where we were going to renew for a year we went back to the schools and said where are you using this the most where are we getting the most bang for our buck where do you want to continue to support it and so we ended up

um that's where we see like a smaller Bill basically because we're Contracting for a fewer number of students right so it's not all students is what you use it's not what so the way the pricing works is we pay per student but it's entirely possible that we would have a student that doesn't use it but their pricing model is set up so that they say every every single one of your

students can use it for this price but I'm sure that it's priced out that way because they recognize that every student is going to be online every night with a tutor yeah and you're saying that we have analysis on how many students use it we just don't you don't have it in front of you today it's not here one of the things when I first I had heard about this for a few years and I

was hearing that it wasn't used as well as much as it should have been for 150 000 or whatever the price was at the time but then as I'm looking at it now I would think the high school the more advanced high school would be more and it's less is that yeah and so I think that I think that is representative of particular grade levels that are accessing it the

most as part of their process so it was always part of our goal especially in the fall when um when we recognized that students would be writing college essays that may or you know may they may or might may not have access to a tutor a writing coach outside of the school day that they would have the same access to that kind of feedback so I think that's what we ended up seeing at the high

school where there'd be more of these like writing events or particular assignments that would elicit more response from students and more participation so the page that says site usage year to date reflecting on success where it says Jersey high 518 what exactly is that that's so that is right when when you see um I'm sorry what page is this page four page four so that's that's a total of 518

interactions so that could be um you know part of that could be just essays and I think that for Durfee High School it is primarily that um but I can get that specific data so I will say that moving forward so durfy is only Contracting for the coming year um for two grades grades 11 and 12.

and and I think it's because that's where they saw and were able to support the best usage over the past year and so they're only moving forward with those two grades so the 3 300 students doesn't only includes half of Griffey yes I just think it's something that to look at a little deeper I'm not I'm just curious of how much bang we're getting for the buck for 150 000 and thankfully

we have you know funds to do that but just don't want to give them away and I don't think you want to either so no I agree I mean I think that what we've seen in what we've had in our discussions with them is around this idea of total minutes and I think that's probably I think that's in here I think I included that um you know 93 599 minutes um that basically were built out for

reviewing our student work and then um the the 162 000 minutes of classroom and after school academic support doing that tutoring piece and so even though it's even though we pay it per student when we look at the number of hours in total our students have spent online with them or having their papers reviewed and getting feedback and interacting in that way the the dollar amount per hour that we're paying

it matches right it would call if we were pay if we had the availability of teachers our own teachers who were available for their contracted rate at any hour of the day and through the night and we build out for those hours it's how much paper would actually cost and so even though they bill out per student the actual number of hours worked by the by the tutors does match the dollar

amount yeah you've said a couple times papers like doing paper student papers yeah so how does that work that they they go to this place they send them their draft they give them some feedback and then how does what is the grading on that like wouldn't that affect the grades so what happens um I've seen it in use in in schools where um a student is able to do their first

draft and it's optional they can either submit the their first draft to paper or they can get uh PR feedback and teachers will build it in as Choice I've seen that work I've seen some people who some teachers who just make it part of the writing process first draft goes out to paper so a student gets their draft back with feedback needing a clearer thesis statement or you only gave one

supporting detail you're going to want to add more supporting details use a quote from the text and things like that and so they get that draft the teachers have access to the feedback that they receive from the paper tutor so they can see what the student submitted as a first draft and then what Corrections were made and the teacher has access yeah and we also have access to all of the transcripts in terms of when

students are um when they're interacting with an online tutor to see what kinds of questions students are asking and what kind of responses that they're receiving and I'm assuming that you that the principals have asked for this they have so when we originally contracted we had all of the principals meet with a representative from paper after after we had done some initial information sharing and then we I've met

with principals and spoken to principals individually about how we wanted to move forward with the contract and that's how we ended up with a smaller contract and not for the entire number of students over 5000 was what we contracted for the year the first time great if you could just get us that data whenever I appreciate it yeah sure thank you very much anything further on papers

um to approve I'm looking for a second come on I need motion a second yeah I'll have it no I need a motion I need a motion a second motion to approve second I have a motion a second Deb please call the roll Mister again yes Mr Bailey yes Mr Hart yes Miss laravey yes Miss Pereira yes Miss Roderick yes yes uh contracts yes I just have two grants I'm sorry grants two of them

um any discussion on the grants all right looking for a motion in a second motion to approve grants second I have a motion a second debt please call the roll yes yes Mr Bailey yes Mr Hart yes mayor Krueger yes Committee of the whole 12-1 is a discussion and vote to approve the man murals as referred by the facilities and operations subcommittee and presented by Ken Pacheco Chief Operating Officer motion approved

second I have a motion a second Mr pachico so the request before you tonight is to um have a professional come in and take a look at the at the man murals and um get an idea about what it would take to digitize them and whether or not we would do any prep work prior to the to that work so if they need to be cleaned we'll have to I'll come back to you but

if they're ready or camera ready so to speak then they will perform that particular part of the project and then we'll be able to look at what that looks like the hope is is that we can digitize there's a lot of steps in between all of this copyright you know rules that we have to follow but in the meantime this would be a first step quite a few years ago we had a company come in

to figure out if we could move those murals to this building and install them here possibly in this Auditorium the issue was is that the way they were attached to the walls at the uh the building the 290 Rock the wall would have to come with it and obviously that's not an option it was a little over a million dollars to move them here so this is what we would like

to look into so that we could reproduce these and then whether it would be part of a traveling exhibition or whether it would be located in a couple of different buildings schools possibly some some City buildings we're just not sure what that that value is right now and we're not sure the product that we're going to receive so the ask is for 7 500 which will get us a one shot at that particular piece that we

select and then we'll know whether or not we want to move forward with a bigger project so it'll come back to you as as a product that you can look at see if that's something that the committee would like to do move moving forward um Miss rodericks is here who's been ushering this project for a long time I I did work with her in my days on the CPA board and um

we started that process and then there's a there's a few things in between all of that and and here we are today hoping to move this to the next step I'm looking for a motion in a second any discussion I'm sorry Mr Angier so you mentioned the CPA is it this not eligible for funding it's a reproduction so it's not it's not preserving the product so they they pay to clean them or they

didn't they paid for the initial uh we did get an award at some point did we get an award at any point from CPA

Mr agyard you have a question about cleaning yeah and CPA funds that's been a consideration right along since the murals cannot be moved I did have a company come in to look at that situation and they came up with a cleaning a figure of 68 thousand dollars to do that would simply put another step into the process because you can clean them and they'll still be there and they'll still be locked away in the auditorium

and they still will not be seen so it makes sense to clean them if you had a Public Auditorium where citizens of Fall River could go in regularly and students could use the auditorium that is not the case so if we come to the conclusion that we have a conundrum where an extraordinary collection of artwork is available in the city of Fall River that is never seen and that is not open to the public

and it is in fact the last piece of the Legacy that Durfee High School has left for us volunteers from the Alumni Association have spent decades on the bells and the Chimes so that's been a legacy that we've been able to move to the new High School the planetarium is here the clock is here and the memorials remain locked away I can tell you that if you go through the history of all this

predecessors superintendent of schools Hector Belial was the driving force in 1935 to get the WPA to come in to the Rock Street Durfee and decorate the walls that's what his idea was decorate these walls an unemployed artist at the time Mr Man mural who lived on Hood Street married to into the Cook family trained in Boston and studied extensively was given the contract 95 a month for the WPA so if he worked

approximately 50 hours a week every month he probably averaged about 40 cents per hour the end result was a collection that is extraordinary that is the largest collection of WPA work in the United States and I will repeat that I didn't make that up it was done that statement was made at the dedication in 1940.

the wpm murals that we have in the auditorium on Rock Street are the largest contiguous collection of wpl work in the United States contiguous because it is continuous around the auditorium most of your artwork that you'll see in the WPA are located in separate places like post offices Banks and so forth but we have something that tells a story and it is locked away as I say and nobody gets to

see it so yes we considered cleaning cleaning would add a valuable step if we were open to the public and we're not open to the public and I and and considering other companies that we looked at the digital high resolution digital photography is able to take that image of the mural and replicate it with color and color management so that any Dura and dust that's been accumulated in the last 80

years will not be shown in the digital reproduction so I I've suggested to Mr pachico that we go for a sample first that we go for a sample so that we can come back to assure you that what we're getting as a product is the product that you want rather than come in and ask for a complete reproduction of the auditorium is 26 000 square feet I mean we've been managing that and

measuring that for the last couple of years so it's it's difficult to suggest this because I imagine that a few of you on the panel on the committee have not been in the auditorium Mr Bailey maybe have you been in there no I mean no you're you're a lot younger than the students that I represent who were students at Durfee before 1978 so there's a number of you I'm sure that

have not been in there we're telling you to vote for something or asking you to vote for something that you haven't seen and uh would be bad Mr pachico and I will be glad to get you in there so that you can see what um I'm not asking I wasn't asking for like the value of it so I appreciate you explaining that because the public should know what we're talking about but my question was along

the lines microphone please yeah my question wasn't about the value of what's there my question was related to the CPA funds and whether they were going to preserve this correct so I'm reading the letter from Mr Williams and it says if these murals are to be preserved and enjoyed by Future Generations this would best be accomplished by cleaning them where they are trying to remove and relocate them

could cause significant damage so I'm talking about two separate things if we go through with this 7 500 expense for one set what I was asking is has the CPA which is community preservation of those items have they denied a request to clean them no they did not deny the requests for cleaning I when I went back to the CPA the CPA funded me for the assessment that assessment was done by a

qualified company Peter Williams in Boston he is the main source of WPA murals in the state of Massachusetts he's done a number of collections so he did the assessment and the CPA funded that I did not go back to the CPA for cleaning because of the determination that their cleaning would only add 68 thousand dollars to the price and we still would not have a product um the end result was the CPA would not fund

high resolution duplication because that was in their definition in the state of Massachusetts CPA definition high resolution replication is not restoration it's restoration if you go to the wall and preserve what's on the wall it's replication if you do these copies and create a new product so the CPA funding did not cover that yeah no I I totally understand I'm going to vote for the

7500 I think it's a valuable project but I would respectfully ask you that if you everything you said is true you want to preserve them I would go back to the CPA board and ask them you think you said it was sixty eight thousand dollars if it's possible clean them that's possible I would respectfully say go I would go back to them because it sounds like a valuable that's why we pay those

that fee is to preserve things so I'm gonna vote for this but I'm I was only asking because I think reading this letter it was begging the question why haven't we preserved them and we would preserve them with CPA funds so you can do what you would like with it I'm just giving you my opinion that I think it's a valuable project to go well there are other there are other sources if if the

CPA is mandated by the state not to consider replication then then that's that's their guideline there are other sources and one of the key sources that I have not investigated yet would be the general Services Administration the GSA actually is the inheritor of the WPA um I need to look at the GSA and their res their representative in Boston to find out if the general Services Administration would be interested in

this project I just wanted to pass my my thoughts on after reading the document so I'm going to support it and I appreciate your time there are other sources there right there are so um so I think um I think what the reason that but this is a this is Kevin raises a good point I know that the CPA won't cover the cleaning not that they won't but we thought it was Impractical

because as Joyce is saying even if they invest all this money nobody's gonna see it so it's like I don't know wearing a pretty dress and staying home nobody's seeing it it really doesn't matter so why would we spend sixty eight thousand dollars if we can't open up the area to allow people to come in and right now we can't the problem is um the building in itself which to fix would be a great

cost so in this time this has been sitting for 10 years I think you've been working on this with the school department Choice has it been 10 years it's been project when I retired um okay so my point is it's been a real long time and and we have if we have a building that time but you've got to count the fact that we've had three years absolutely because of the pandemic

sure and and I understand it's a long process yeah but um the Chimes and the the bells were a long process sure I mean they encountered a number of obstacles including having having to actually manufacture a bell so I would like to put myself in the same category as those so alumni that have dedicated uh time and energy to the history of Durfee High School sure so my question Joyce would be I understand you

didn't think it was feasible to clean it because we can't really view it but if as Ken Mr Pacheco just said um if we are going to digitally photograph it and digitally enhance it it may have to be cleaned before that process and my guess is it's going to have to be cleaned because there was another report that I read where they were talking that the the report of cleaning it was saying it's it's very

dirty so I'm pretty sure if we're going to photograph it we're going to want to clean it first that'd be my guess um so that is going to be a cost so do you think that's something the CPA would help would help do if we said Yeah clean it so we can restore it nice and pretty in here and then once it's nice and pretty we also if we can fix that building access it

um in time but we could also photograph it I don't do you understand what I'm saying do you think they would help us by cleaning the wall strictly a photograph no I'm saying the CPA you're saying they would fund the cleaning because they'll they'll fund the restoration but it has to remain there they're not going to fund the photography so what I'm asking is if we do say approach the CPA and say hey how much

can you give us to clean this we do want to try to make it accessible because once the building is in good shape we can and I think that's something everyone wants to do um but also we don't know how long that's going to take and if we don't sort of in my opinion if we don't digitally capture this now then we run the risk of damaging the mural that's up

there if we continue to wait and there's any kind of water dam anything you know we're we're ruining art we're ruining history if we keep it there so I agree I'm voting for this I want to be able to capture it digitally you can move it around you can put it up in Durfee I think it's a wonderful idea but when Kevin mentioned CPA funds for cleaning it is there a way we can like would they

be willing to if we have to clean the wall before we pay to photograph it would they be willing to come in and help with that I guess is my question so um I think that obviously the 68 000 price tag was for all of them um so I think that if this particular piece that we choose to be digitized if that one piece needs um that attention I would come back and say we need

two thousand dollars to do this one piece or three thousand dollars to do this one piece um but according to one of the people who gave us a number to do this work they're saying that the digitization is not going to need to be cleaned first okay so we'll see we'll see if that's the case um when it happens exactly I think the other piece with the CPC um with the community preservation money

is that part of the application states that um how does the public gain um what does the community get out of this and because the building is not a building that people can walk into and see even if we had hours visitation hours that room in particular was not ready for prime time so to speak so I think that we would need to if we're going to CPA

to use funds I think we would need to be sure that we could make that publicly accessible and I think that that they would be gladly um you know funded for us I think they would sounds good thank you Mr heart Thank you Mr Hartman is Mr pachico when he was chairman of the CPC so I seen having a number of iterations and I publicly want to tell you that he's worked diligently to get the restoration

of the auditorium in terms of replacing the roof so that the murals are not subject to water damage so we're doing a good job we're getting a heads up on this uh we were protecting them and I'm just hopeful that we can open them up in some way for the rest of the city of Fall River to see them this is why we're suggesting a purchase order for a sample uh product for

the school committee to determine whether or not this should move forward Mr Hart thank you Mr Mayor and Joyce I'm glad you're here tonight I'm glad this is finally coming to fruition for you uh and for us I've worked on this with you for quite some time um and I I have seen the murals and they are breathtaking and they're definitely a treasure of this city there you go so Mr Bailey we're ready we're ready for

your tour who else know who else hasn't seen them Mr rodericks have you seen you haven't seen them oh my gosh all right we're gonna get a sign out here I'm raising my hand that I've seen them so yeah what I'm saying is to get a field trip going yeah absolutely we'll get a travel request done tonight for it I agree I I don't expect I mean we've had turnovers since um Miss

Pereira has noted that this has been going on for a while we've had a lot of new elections we've had a couple of Mayors uh so things are moving on but um the dedication that we have is still here and it's still Jersey high school so I thank you for attention and thank you very much Joyce have a good night thank you can I get a motion in a second there's a

motion okay Deb please Deb please call the roll Mr yes Mr Bailey yes Mr Hart yes Miss laravey yes Miss Pereira yes Miss Roderick yes mayor Coogan yes uh item number 12.2 is an interview with Dr Amy brownhart applicant for the position of assistant superintendent of student support services and strategic integration for the Florida public schools Dr brownheart is the superintendent of

school's recommended candidate for the appointment to the assistant superintendent of student support services and strategic integration Madam superintendent so obviously you know that this has been a long process we've actually started this process we the position has stayed vacant for a while as we were searching for the right candidate we've had multiple interviews with multiple

groups at different times and this last group that we interviewed Dr Barnhart was brought forth to me along with another candidate certainly Dr Bernhardt is dedicated to follower public schools has a history in Fall River has you know committed herself to bettering our community and you know has successfully done turnaround work at Henry Lord in addition to serving at Durfee and talbit so I without

reservation bring forth Dr Bernhardt for her interview and hoping after that you will um recommend her now I I will recommend her Dynamite Dr Brian Hunt you want to come down to the podium please do you want to make an opening statement or I just want to take questions oh no I'll open up with a statement thanks when given the chance to control the crowd a principal always takes that opportunity

I feel blessed to come after you Joyce because I think Fall River pride is certainly um what I hope separates me as a candidate so greetings Mac Coogan school committee superintendent Potts four of the public schools if you know anything about me my emotions are my biggest strength so please just give me a quick second I stand before you as candidate for the position of assistant superintendent of

student services and strategic integration of the four of a public schools I'm honored humbled and excited to be with you tonight as a product of Fall River Public Schools myself I graduated from Durfee High School in 1998 and began working with our City's youth almost immediately in 1999 thereafter when I led one of the Fall River Street Crews youth summer jobs program down on Duval street cleaning the crew with my

school bus and our brooms and our 12 student crew and Mark gendrell was actually my co-pilot at the time who's now Vice President of bay Coast Bank another Dorothy grad and colleague of mine I had that picture sitting in my office because I distinctly remember that experience because it lit a fire in me 24 years ago to lead and give back through our City's youth and the power of public education

at a young age it was instilled in me that the power of Education was what any one individual needed to rise above since returning home to Fall River from Bridgewater State College in nine in 2002 I earned my bachelor's degree at Bridgewater State I knew that continuing my work in Fall River was where I saw myself long term I grew up in the Flint I moved to the south end of Fall River

and I had been civically engaged in an active member in our community throughout the years I was elected to the four of a school committee in 2004 at the age of 26.

I went on to get my Master's in guidance counseling at Cambridge College in 2007 and in 2008 I began working at Durfee High School as a guidance counselor star ride and ready to take on the world in 2008 I sought my first leadership role in the four of a public schools as the Director of guidance and it was then that I began my Fierce advocacy for students post High School

to have a plan for College and Career I believed firmly that we needed to ensure our students had a plan to enter The Real World After High School in 2013 I obtained my doctorate degree in from Northeastern University where I was able to study and research the influences that drive our students and families in making their decision for high school and Beyond you see for me it's always been about

creating access and Opera opportunities for our students and Families the Fall River Public Schools is a business we are in the business of educating students and we cannot do it alone I've had the privilege of serving as vice principal at Talbot middle school and Durfee High School and both were instrumental in building my foundational leadership skills I must say that the last six years of

being the proud principal at Henry Lord truly changed my life we've grown our school Community from the Grassroots up without any excuses I've had the privilege of leading some of the strongest teams of teachers administrators support staff families nutrition workers custodians alike all in support of developing our positive School culture and a climate and culture that was focused on student achievement

I've been able to rely on the collaboration with all of the district departments I could never have done this work at Lord in the last six years by myself whether that was Transportation the couriers technology maintenance countless Community Partners who enhance the work to support a winning mentality and a winning team down at Henry Lord we've grown from the fourth percentile

to the 12th in the last six years and we grew two percent coming out of covid that was not by accident that was a team effort that focused on results and put kids learning at the Forefront of all of the work that we did I do not stray away from difficult conversations because I believe it's what helps make people best versions of themselves to show up every day for our kids and Families

simultaneously I've been serving as a trustee for the Durfee Alumni Association ever since I stepped aside six years ago always keeping connected to the highest and smartest and brightest and strongest and talented Durfee High School students looking to support through the scholarship organization I have also been serving on the board of the YMCA for the last seven years and the board of star for the last

eight months and so I stand before you today yes as a candidate for assistant superintendent but I think about my reasons why and why I'm here today I firmly believe in the team that we are building here in Fall River as I look at the work I'm doing in the south end with my team I also firmly believe that we are ready and we are able to sustain the work that we are

doing and as I look across the network of my principal leadership cohort I firmly believe in all the principals who I work with day in and day out and I will tell you this the South End needs are very different than the North End needs and everything in between so one size will never fit all but collectively and together I do believe that Fall River is poised for greatness we've also been adding a number of SEL

positions to our budgets in the last couple of years and I am a firm believer of systems leadership I believe we need to support our principles with establishing systems of accountability to be able to hold everybody accountable to high expectations all in support of student achievement and when we think about partnering with our community we need to open up the doors of all of our schools to bring in

our Community Partners so that as families need the resources they know that they can count on the schools to be the receivers and supports of delivering those resources I believe in family engagement and that has to go beyond as Mrs rodericks has said before that has to go beyond just parent-teacher conferences we can't rely on single isolated situations to be the measuring stick of family engagement

because there's one thing I've also learned learned in my whole entire career I've never met one family member who did not want the best for their children they may have different approaches to achieving that for their kids but that is not for us to judge that's for us to support and meet them in achieving those goals for their kids because our kids deserve nothing but the best and with

that I know that I can bring the best to support the best which is the four of a public schools thank you Ms Barnhart Mrs laravey Ronald hi so I kind of was in your spot a little emotional seven seven weeks ago so I get it um have admired your whole career in The District in a I just have one question I know obviously not in the position right so what do you envision your days to

look like in this position I I typically see you as a boots on the ground visual person not behind a keyboard not in an office all day where do you see yourself in this position on a daily basis not specific but I think where I'm leading is will you be in schools so I think there's the physical presence of being present and then there's the emotional presence of being present

when we think about the the other super assistant superintendents while I have the potential opportunity to join in the pleasure of joining there are teams underneath those folks similarly I look at my role as partnering with principals directly because within the work of SEL are the folks boots on the ground when we talk about climate and culture you need to live it and experience it in

order to help support it and redefine it in order to extend it we need to know what's working in buildings and then we can build upon it every school is different so partnering boots on the ground with principals you know every day there's an arrival at a different building and I firmly see myself built in the community and and present in buildings and supporting principles in ways that we maybe haven't had a

presence in the past um so I you know I have my own Visions for the work but I also know that I need to be part of the process and build Partnerships that extend beyond what my current relationships are with principals right every principal runs their building similarly and I think it's important important to know where your entry point is and how you can help extend the work that is already going on

um but certainly being present in the work is is where I Envision it has to be particularly when we're talking about the social emotional supports for schools and community supports and leveraging those connections and helping find resources as the needs arise across our community I appreciate that thank you for now I yield um any further questions Mr Hart I I don't have any questions uh for Amy but

just a comment that I mean I've known Amy for a long time she's a staple in the community her family's a staple in the community uh they're a bunch of their Class Act um I can't think of anybody that's better for this position than you you've been in the district for a long time you know the district you know the city and I can't be happier for you for your

family as well so I'm good this is a big yes for me so thank you I yield heading for the questions Ms Rogers hi hi there we're going way back so I'm going to ask you the same questions that I had asked of Lori when Lori was up here because we know that my my focus has always been on inclusion work and we don't do a great job of inclusion work in this district and I

think that's no secret to anybody right we've talked about this so what's your understanding of the Dei work that's embedded in this role and how would you approach that what do you see as the priorities for inclusion work here I think it also comes with connecting with families to get a better sense on what do families perceive the inclusion work to look like and what become our tiers of inclusion work

um you know having worked at Henry Lord for the last six years in the home of 12 substantially separate severe autism classrooms I understand how a vision can get derailed very quickly if certain other factors are not in place across our school communities so when I think about creating safe communities for all kids we have to start there and then thinking about where do both inclusion

and reverse inclusion have a place in our schools and how do we leverage Community Resources to help support in that work when I think about some of the Dei more specifically around culture and race we've also taken on some of that work at Henry Lord to really think deep around our own foreign give me one second I'm drawing just draw a blank on the word um thinking about our own identities right and thinking

about our own privileges that have been granted to us um so I think there's a lot of work that needs to be done I also think if we had all the answers in-house we wouldn't be having this conversation so I think about leveraging the resources across the Department of Education thinking about where are their districts that are doing and supporting our special populations with inclusion and what does

that look like so we can replicate and then extend upon that I think there's one thing about my leadership is that I have never ever once been the smartest person at the table but I have often been the most collaborative person at the table so recognizing I don't have necessarily all of the answers for this work but opening up our doors to bring in experts and to show us where this work is being done

effectively and how can Fall River quickly get on board to replicate and then exp expand the work here in our district I do think we have pockets of great work going on across the district it may not be as widespread as we all wish but I don't believe that we're starting at Ground Zero I do believe that there are pockets of strong efforts across the district and we need to continue to learn from our peers and

then build programs and pipelines that support that work well I think that's why I the question because I look at inclusion as less of how are we getting kids into sort of mainstream classrooms and gen Ed like goes way beyond that we have to live and breathe inclusion if we're really going to do it well so yeah there might be pockets and and I know there are I can think of quite a few

actually where this work gets done well but then at this level how do you bring that to the Greater Community and I don't expect you to have an answer for that right now but I do I would like to know like and as we move forward what is your plan for bringing that as an entire climate for this district has it we have 11 000 students and we don't do it well

across the board right that's a given and so what can we do to sort of fix that right and inclusion includes not just race and not just um culture and ethnicity but it's looking at ability it's looking at identity it's looking at all of those pieces because they all factor in to how our kids how our families perceive the work that we're doing and how they connect with schools to look at schools

as a catalyst in this work with them right and not against them as their home base so I could go back and forth about this not in a bad way but I can have the conversation about inclusion all day long I think anyone at this table knows that I'll do that so I'll be quiet about that for a second my other question is so in terms of tiered supports right you

mentioned that when you were when you were giving your statement and then it's in your resume as well so when you're thinking about tiered supports how do you envision using tier one supports to try to mitigate or try to alleviate some of the issues that go along with some of our tier two tier three needs I think it's about being proactive to recognize what where different schools are at in regard to building

climate and culture you know I think about tier one and a lot of the tier one outcomes are generated not just by a program or not just by you know one particular aspect of the tier one supports but quite frankly like a buffet of it all happening day in and day out where we are celebrating students we are consistent around our expectations for students students know what it means for instance at Henry Lord to be a

bulldog to be safe responsible and respectful um there I don't know whether or not there's been a laser light Focus across the district in the last couple of years we've had inconsistent leadership around the SEL work specifically during some of what have been the most tumultuous years that our kids have endured and so I firmly believe we need to come together to recognize especially coming out of

this year what is working because this has been the more traditional year than we've had in the last three so meeting with principals to identify now that we are all in more of our postcovid normal what is working what is successful what is not working and how do we continue to move forward um you know Henry Lord particularly we took part in the SEL Academy through the state the mtss SEL Academy so I have

experience with putting into place tier one tier two and then tier three supports and even when we think about tier two and tier 3 supports it may or may not be Universal across all of our schools because of how different the needs are at all of our buildings but I do believe that's also why we need to have a buffet of offerings at every tier so that as counselors and as support

staff are working with students families alike that we we have a buffet to pick from as we recognize what the differing needs are of kids and families you know and I also look at that as like this ebb and flow because what our families need now they may not need in September and October so we need to be sure that families understand they can work with schools and that the schools are working

with families to meet the needs of kids as their needs change from needing tier two and tier three supports because if a child needs tier two supports in the fall that does not necessarily mean that they'll need those supports come this spring so when I think about the ebb and flow it's really about knowing your kids knowing your community and having the trust within the families that as you are recommending

interventions for their students the families are working alongside of us in in true support of wraparound services for their student and we take each student individually to be able to support the needs of everybody at the end of every day but in this role you wouldn't personally be able to do that with all of the students so I guess my question is more of how would you coach your staff into

being able to do that consistently across the board so I think that's working with principals because in this position I don't but this position doesn't specifically have staff underneath you other than just a few right there's a few and so that's how would you get that information out there to them it would be in partnering with principals and the support staff within each of the buildings because every

building has a network of support staff that drive the SEL work in their building and so leveraging those teams being part of those teams and partnering with principals to be part of those teams I think will be instrumental in the work because you can't just do it from afar in this in this work so I don't ask any of these questions to give you a hard time we know that this

is the work that like I live and breathe and so when I ask those questions it goes back to how can we make our kids how can we make our families healthier stronger so that way as a community we are healthier and stronger so I just want you to know that I'm not asking those questions to be difficult I'm asking you can take it as difficult this is the work this is the world that I

live in so um those are my questions for now so with that I yield um Mr Bailey Amy so I think my biggest question is just around if a point in this position how do we make sure we support Lord um with you being there for so long in the work that you've been doing um I know the work that you've been doing I do a lot of work in the community we know each other personally

um so I think the biggest thing is how if you were appointed this position how do we make sure we support Lord and we don't have any you know fall off in terms of some of the work you've been doing around this time I think the biggest Testament to any leader is when they walk away the work continues I already experienced that back at the beginning of the pandemic when we went

on four snow days and we were all told stop don't do anything don't communicate we don't know where this pandemic is going and behind the scenes my team already had Zoom meetings up and going and instruction was launching within three days after because when the leader was silent the team marched into battle and went after went after whatever it was and I remember calling at the time my colleague

um assist I think assistant superintendent Ponce at the time like losing my mind because my team charged into battle without me and very quickly I realized well isn't that what it's all about that when the leaders absent the team continues forward because you see I might be leading the charge at Lord but I need you to understand that is by far one of the most fiercely rooted team

of professionals I have ever come across in my career because if it wasn't I can promise you this I would not be standing here in front of you today that is like my first born child Lord and the work that we have done there I can promise you um it took me six months to even come to terms with the fact that I was ready to step away and that the baby would still

swim so I am very very confident that the team that is there will take Lord into the next chapter and quite honestly our goal will be to chase the North End schools to keep up with the North End schools next that's the charge of the next principle is to chase the North End schools because if you don't know I'm also very competitive in winning in achieving is really really important

to me because again when we think about what does student achievement mean it really means my Bulldogs are reading they're writing they're critically thinking they're socially more in control of themselves to become the scholars of fall River's future so I feel very confident in the team at Lord I will my you know the plan will be assuming that I move forward as the committee's choice

um that I would say till the end of June and take care of all of the leadership work in hiring work to make sure that the team is as intact as it possibly can be upon my step is stepping aside but certainly certainly we don't go backwards in the South End we go forward just in case you didn't know

Mr agya so I would normally ask I always ask I asked Mrs Ponce this when she became superintendent why you and why now but I do have to say you answered pretty much those questions from my colleagues so I just have a few you know thoughts and comments on on the position so when we look at this position I think it it makes sense in that the Departments that are going to fall under you

are many it's not just one thing and as I'm looking at this um I would just like you to weigh in on some of them so one of the things is guidance counselors you'd oversee you'd oversee School adjustment council is it'll oversee attendance offices the mtss RTI process the alternative education School and strategic Partnerships can you just hit on a couple of those of where your experiences and why you think you can

hit the ground running with some of those departments so even when we think about guidance Council as adjustment counselors I think it's really important that we recognize that all of those positions work and function within the school communities so it's really about building routine building relationships that extend to really targeted short-term goal outcomes for the counselors right so working with

the director of guidance working with the principals Who oversee these folks day in and day out what become our objectives and what become the measuring Stakes for Success when I think about student attendance right off the bat we have to do better there is no way that we can evaluate any other thing that we're doing if our kids are not in school so as an example this past year Henry Lord was at 31 chronic

in January my team came together my SEL team and the building came together we created a short-term action plan Henry Lord is at 19.6 percent chronic today because when we set short-term goals everybody knows their role in achieving that goal and we monitor what gets monitored gets done so when I think about those departments particularly my my first questioning would be how are we monitoring and what

are the goals of those departments and how are we then supporting folks in achieving those goals you know I I'm really a big one of my biggest strengths I believe is that I know how to recognize the strengths in others and then build those others up so when I think about all of the folks that are in those departments that you spoke of Mr aguiar it's not any one

person but it's a collection of a lot of folks who bring a lot of talents to the work and so where do we need to even professionally develop some of our folks because we all have to be lifelong Learners as the landscape of Education constantly changes to keep up with our kids so I Envision the work to be a lot of team building to put systems in place with principles at the building level

and then monitoring those systems and putting the right supports in place as needed when I think about family engagement in Community Partnerships I don't know how widespread the work is because the only work I truly know is the work I've been doing it Lord but when I think about how successful we have been to be able to provide families resources schools resources to attend to some of

the SEL needs and concerns that are getting in the way of teaching and learning I believe that we do have a community that is ready to respond and ready to help support so as much as I know there's a wide range of departments for me a lot of it comes down to building relationships with individuals recognizing what their love language is because when people feel heard when people feel supported

what my experience has been is they will work hard and they will move mountains when they feel heard and supported and I can tell you similarly to myself you know I've had superintendent Ponce by my side truthfully from I mean it really goes back to the Innovation school if folks really want to know how far back it goes right where we were fighting for change fighting for different opportunities for our kids but

knowing I've always had a fearless leader behind me knowing that I had a leader that I could be vulnerable with when things weren't going right because let's be honest when things are great everybody's on your side but when things get muddy when you need support that's when folks become judgmental or decide to turn and go in a different direction so I think it's about building communities building teams having folks

feel heard and then building upon it from there and I do believe that's also what's been lacking in this role for a number of years you know this year the position has not been filled but if we're honest with ourselves last year um there were limitations to the work that was able to be done for a range of different reasons so it's been a good couple of years that our support staff

have not had guidance in leadership of everybody rowing in the same direction so I believe getting everybody on board to have a clear vision of how they connect to the SEL priority and then how do we move people forward to be able to set short-term goals to go after a school by school and then Network by Network thank you so when I look at your resume I know and I know you personally that

you've worked at all different levels I like that that you've had experience in the elementary the high school the middle school so you you have a wide range of experience there and when I sat on the original interviews for this um position one of the things we kept wondering is are you going to be all in to the to the candidates we have candidates from all over the state and

we had to tell them that some people would say oh I'm going to move in I want to I'll be around you'll see me in the you know and all this stuff and there's no substitute for somebody that's here already and you know when I look at it I say I wonder if you're going to be all in and then I realize that you're going to be all in because you have been all

in so you've been all in with the Henry Lord all the other positions so you know I have no problem supporting you as a candidate but one of the things I think that that you said tonight is very on point is that you never considered yourself the smartest person in the room and when I look at the leadership team in the central office I mentioned this at the last meeting that I think we have

a lot of new people young people like yourself that are just coming into the first time so I think we all have to take a good heart look at and say do we need a more experienced person at some point in a deputy's role to help you grow and Mrs ponsgrove and Mrs Owen chain grow so when you said that that first thing was in my head was if we get

all these leaders together and I think you're going to be a strong member of Mrs ponce's team one of the things that I still think is lacking is that long-term person that has experience in central office so I would just ask you to consider that same quote when you sit down with the leadership team and say what do we need as a group to take this District to the next level I'm confident

that you can do the job and you uh certainly have my support with that ideal thank you anything further Miss Pereira I don't have any questions but since I'm the only one that hasn't spoken I think you handle yourself wonderfully up there with questions I think your leadership style is proven your track record is proven Your Love of full review and your dedication to the students of our district is proven I'm

very happy and very excited for you and I wish you all the best of luck thank you uh I guess I I didn't speak either but um I know the brown heart family better than anybody on this stage I went to school with Jack he was a very very good student Straight A's most of the time um no but I've known you forever Amy I worked with you I have total confidence

I have total confidence in the team that the superintendent's assembling to turn the school around turn the schools around I'm sorry but I believe we're headed in the right direction and I think you're going to be a key piece and I support you 100 thank you with that any further discussions moving to 12.2 I'm looking for a motion and a second on this vote to approve second I have a motion a second any further

discussion on uh Miss Barnhart hearing none dad would you please call the roll Mr Aya yes Mr Bailey yes Mr Hart yes Miss laravey yes Miss Pereira yes Mr rodericks yes mayor Coogan yes congratulations aim thank you 12 point 12.4 is an updating discussion on official year 24 budget is presented by superintendent Potts thank you Mr Mayor so as we all know we are in the throes of preparing our budget for fiscal year 24.

so um following the presentation and discussion of the budget over the two previous meetings of this committee I want to take this opportunity to review the process today and outline next steps also take the opportunity to share some Reflections on the process to date and what I what I hope are shared expectations for moving forward on March 20th 2023 CFO Almeida and myself presented publicly the proposed

draft budget for fy24 all of you all the committee members received binders detailing the proposal and were asked to review and offer feedback at the budget hearings that were to follow the draft budget was also posted on our website the following day which was based on feedback from last year important to note is that per this committee's request the hearing process was modified this year instead of having

hearings where each individual principal and Department leader presented requests on behalf of their school or Department the format was changed to prepare and share the supporting documents for the committee's review and then we would have each department or School leader available for questions from the committee if there were any the first budget hearing occurred on Wednesday March 29th all principles with the

exception of Dr Barnhart were available for questions and clarification of their requests additionally at that hearing the music rpe health and nursing departments were reviewed that their budgets were also reviewed on Monday April 4th our second budget hearing was held in addition to the Henry Lord community school budget the remaining Department budgets were reviewed and department heads were once

again available to answer any questions from the committee the third hearing was tentatively scheduled for Thursday April 6th but that was canceled as the budget review process was completed on Monday April 4th as we move forward in this process there are three additional meetings that are going to happen tomorrow April 11th there is a joint meeting of the school school committee

and city council where we will share our draft budget with the members of the city council on Monday April 24th there's a scheduled school committee meeting where the school committee will vote to officially release the budget to the public once that's completed in addition to the budget being posted electronically hard copies will be available for members of the public to review

and finally on Monday May 15 2023 there will be a school committee meeting so that this committee can take a vote to approve the budget and send it to the city council all that a lot of work happening within a few months I do have some points to clarify on Thursday April 4th the second of the two budget hearings was held as planned department leaders who are present and available to answer any questions during

the transportation discussion much was said about our proposed proposal to use 1.5 million dollars in circuit breaker funds to offset Transportation costs for out-of-district students concerns were raised that the school administration was underhanded in attempting to slide this into school into the budget it was also suggested that we were using these funds without permission from the school committee and

that we had not notified the school committee prior to proposing this in reference to these concerns I offer the following the law does allow the circuit breaker funds to be used for transportation and out of District students again I reiterate that this was our proposal to support the escalating Transportation costs which are projected to be upwards of 12 million dollars this was a proposal this is a draft

budget contrary to what was suggested there was absolutely no underhanded plan to slide anything by this committee we have been transparent in our process and we will continue to do so that is not my leadership style this is our proposal no one asked us to put anything in the proposed budget Mr AG the Mr Almeda ranai were talking about how we could try to lessen the burden on the city given that the budget

for transportation was going to be above 12 million this committee has the authority to agree or to disagree with our proposal and is ultimately the body that will vote to approve or reject our proposed budget the budget process is still ongoing as I just reported nothing has been approved I want to make that clear because that was out there nothing has been approved no money has been received as this is

the budget for next year and no money has been transferred as I reflect on what went on Monday and I I'm a reflective person it's something that bothered me because it hits at my core I will concede that an error was made in terms of the communication around our proposed use of the circuit breaker funds while we were following the agreed upon of uh plan of presenting and sharing the proposed budget and

ensuring school and department leaders were present and available to answer any questions I accept that this element of the proposed budget warranted highlighting in advance of the meeting discussion moving forward if we are proposing a change that is out of the ordinary I will provide the committee with written rationale as we have done with other school and departmental requests that's on me as we continue

these budget discussions and as we continue to collaborate to put forth a budget that is centered on moving our schools and our district forward I ask that we all do so with professionalism and the respect that each of us deserves I truly believe that the intentions of this committee are rooted in serving our students staff and families and it is important that each member of this committee approaches our shared work

believing that my intentions and the intentions of my team are also rooted in the same how we go about achieving our intentions may be different but I have no doubt that we can get there respectfully thank you Mr Mayor thank you superintendent um Miss pero oh I'm sorry I'm sorry no you can go to her first time no I was just he was looking at me and I was pulling your hand no so uh

I say this as a as a um an agenda item but we receive nothing at all prior to tonight about what that was going to be in the package so I wasn't sure what to what this was going to be because I always thought that when we put something on an agenda we have some backup documents with it but that doesn't always happen here so just speaking of the issue on the

transportation and the line items and stuff so Mrs Ponce are you saying that how did the process work for you to get the 1.5 million into the budget document when did that happen who was in the room who made the decision and how did it get into the final draft that was Mr Almeda and myself we were looking at the proposed costs and the projected costs for transportation is 12.8 we

talked about how we could support that's a lot of money we know that's a lot of money we know we can't that's not net School spending eligible we talked about what is is there anything that's net School spending eligible or is there anything that we are allowed to pay for and that's when we had that discussion Mr almido and I no one out I can say that emphatically Mr Almeda and I we had

that discussion and we said that circuit breaker that's what he told me circuit breaker if we transport students who are out of District students that they that is we can use funds for that and then that's when I said how much does it cost for us to transfer what's the projected cost about a million and a half so that's why it was put in The Proposal as one way to support that that's all there

was to it there was absolutely no intent to do anything illegal anything because it's eligible but there was absolutely no intent to Blindside anybody in hindsight yeah you're right because that's something we've never done before so I should have given you all a heads up but there was absolutely nothing else to that when when was that you highlighted the dates of when all of these things happened so I'm just

curious of when that discussion actually occurred well you got the budget on March 20th that was already in the budget that was in our preparation for Budget discussions as we were all doing our every single Department in every school was creating their budget budgets so what I'm saying is when when we created that document so it's obviously before March 20th because we received

the budget on our desks at five o'clock on March 20th so obviously it was before then that those numbers would have to get plugged into a spreadsheet or in some sort of document that's here right can you get us a date on when that actually went into the computer I mean we can look at our notes I'm just curious to see how the process went so one of the things and you mentioned this

that we've never done it before yep so I was very critical of the discussion of the decision and I'm going to continue to be critical of the discussion and and the idea that we can put that in there and the reason being is because I've sat on this board for a long time and I know what it means to have a surplus of funds I know what it means to

have circuit breaker I know what that is we spend the money we get we get the money back it goes into an account that should be used for the children everyone knows that now all of a sudden we have an issue of Transportation the mayor presents a home rule petition that says we're going to take 11 million dollars out you and I had a heated discussion not between you and I but I

explained to you how mad I was at the mayor for presenting such a thing because it was going to take budget money out of the schools and you agreed with me I've been in private meetings where you Mr omita and other folks have said we can't do this because it's going to happen all the time and we can't afford it we can't allow this to happen so my passion at the time is because I

haven't relented on that we had three million dollars in an account and you're saying that in your wisdom as the superintendent that you're choosing to take 1.5 million out of that voluntarily and pay an expense that we are not required to spend by law and I have a problem with that because I'm not going to vote for a budget that takes 1.5 million dollars out how can you look at the Educators in

this room or in this district and say well we had the money but we're going to move 1.5 million out so I had a problem with it before and I have a problem with it still to this day and I respect that Mr agyar that is a proposal that is not that I don't have the authority to do that you and this committee as a body you're the ones who have the authority

to either agree or disagree with what's proposed that is going to the children um the out of District children I I get what you're saying and in the same vein that night uh a night the whole Home Room home rule piece I agree we all I think we can all agree that we weren't going to take that kind of money out of the budget and that was going to be a detrimental effect

if you're if there's any doubt in your mind that I had a side discussion about what to do with that money you can put that out of your head because I promise you that there was not a single discussion about how we could lessen that I didn't talk to the city about what we're going to do that is what we were proposing and how to do our fair share at the beginning of the meeting on

April 4th you said we needed to do whatever we could to help the city when we were talking about the sros and and taking 700 or 800 thousand dollars and I agree we have to look and explore any possibility that when we have supported in one way or another but there was absolutely no intention to deceive anyone none right so when you look at the budget and the transportation we're going to take two votes

they're not one in the same so we take two votes so the problem that I have is burying something like that in the transportation line is is the budget for the schools is one thing the transportation budget is a totally different thing so in the budget you very easily could have said we're going to allot 12 million dollars and then at a separate discussion to talk about the transportation say how

are we going to help to fund it or not that didn't happen it got buried in a document here so whether that's yourself your team whoever's pushing and asking those questions I would assume should have said what are we doing here is this really something that we want to do and moving forward are we going to do it every year because I think it's going to set up a another structural deficit for

the city if we just say we're going to give it this year because what are we going to do next year and I would even one step further go what why haven't we done this every year city's been paying this for a while so if it's such a great idea now why is it that we haven't done this every year if I was on the city Side I'd be saying

why if you can do it now why didn't you do it for the last x amount of years so when we advocated and I'm glad you brought up the point of me trying to help the the city I did advocate for that back in June and July where I suggested that we reopen the agreement with the city in order to try to help and lo and behold it's April 10th and we

don't even have an agreement yet at that same time I said and you can go back to the record because you brought it up I want to I want to make sure I say this I brought up at that time a logical long-term expense that we could take over for the city was the three hundred and thirty thousand dollars in school crossing gods that the city pays and that would be something that would

happen year upon year upon year so rather than get one million dollars or whatever you know we want to give I'd rather give you three hundred fifty thousand dollars every year going forward because that's a legitimate expense for us but no we didn't address that for over six or eight months because we still haven't addressed it in the cost agreement just at the last meeting the mayor says well we're

talking about adding pensions and this and that it was six months ago when we did this so I I stand by my statement to say we should help the city but I don't think it should be coming out of the circuit breaker funds we should look at it long term and say if the crossing Gods if the pensions as the mayor mentioned or whatever that comes out to that's more legitimate because if we can

maintain that but I stand by my statements and and feeling whether it was um passionate or not the bottom line is is that we are taking money that is under the purview of this school committee without a discussion and vote of this committee we plugged it into this budget no no way did that happen before and the transportation can be taken right out of this because it's going to be a separate vote

because we could look at it in a different way but we're talking about a million and a half dollars and I asked at the last meeting did we get an answer from Jay Sullivan I'll ask that again I asked for any backup I didn't ask you I asked the superintendent and her team because what I'm hearing is that the mayor called the state went to the state that they said well this can't happen that

can't happen but we can count that towards we a turn back and I asked specifically at the last meeting can I get the data and the information from him on the turnbacks when did it happen who knew when what is it I haven't seen it yet I don't know if any member of the committee has seen it but we should get it because it's part of this discussion

a turn back it's not a turn back and I if that's what he said to somebody in the school department I'd like it to be in writing so we can know what they said and when if it's a turn back to the city it should have been turned back every year if it was a turn back it's not a turn back it's a vote of this committee to determine what we're going to do and I'd

also like this the administration to say I did make a statement that said we can take that money and pay for the tuitions and the like out of that I want an answer to that as well because what could we have done with that money different than just have it sitting there waiting for hopefully not needing it but to service the children and not a district placement comes in having a little stabilization account what's so

wrong with that but I still think we need those answers those are the type of things I want to see agenda items for with backup documents to talk about not this whatever I know that I know what it is we got a joint meeting coming up Mrs Ponch you said you got a meeting tomorrow and in your budget like listing you just said what what documents do we have to talk about tomorrow before the

meeting it's less than 24 hours away you have your budget folder uh binder Mr agyard that's what is going to be presented to the city council we we did this on March 20. tomorrow are going to go to City Council to Joint meeting and present the budget right no that's what we did last year too that was news to me it's an overview right Mr Anita yeah it's just an overview it's an open

meeting but it's an overview right so Mrs Ponce all I'm saying is you mentioned the joint meeting and I was writing down my notes on the on the timeline so you would in the conversation of the budget and the documents that we were talking about you mentioned the joint meeting so my only question is what are we going to talk about tomorrow at the Joint meeting related to the budget because it's not

the presentation to the city council for the budget so what are we going to talk about the agenda for the items for tomorrow night have nothing to do with the school budget so what is it that we're going to talk about tomorrow night I have received zero no everybody here no information no documents no letters no spreadsheets no nothing no five-year projections as it says we're going to talk about what are

we going tomorrow for you will receive everything before we go we went to to the same meeting last year we did an overview of the budget Mr Almeda and I did an overview of the budget we talked about what our proposed budget was that's what happened at that meeting yeah this isn't this wasn't meant for you we will give you the documentation I have yours I know what I know what we

have for the school budget but when you look at the school budget in relation to the Joint meeting in the city council and the administration it's longer term planning it's five-year planning and the like so when I talked about at the the reason why I wouldn't go for taking that money was because we have done that kind of work already with Mr Almeida presented how are we going to pay for

all these positions over the next five years and that we've done that work but this meeting is with the city side and we've got no information from the city side and that's the part of the problem is we're going to walk into a meeting that we don't have any information and I think that's a problem that's all I'm saying I do appreciate the work that's not on the budget and

you know that I to speak to you quite candidly between meetings and the like so I have no problem with you as a superintendent I'm I'm not telling anyone that you know you're doing a terrible job I get a call from the radio thinking we were going to vote to get ready or something I said what are you talking about so I I support you Mrs Ponce I just want to make sure that

we're on the same page we're doing the right thing and I think we share in that mission so I continue to pledge to work with you work with your new leadership team this isn't about you versus me or the committee I want to work together and I just want to make sure that when I vote for a budget I know it's for the right reason and all that and I and I really think that the

answers that you're going to give in writing later on will relative to how this went down we'll be able to get there jointly to come to an agreement on what's happening with that I yield I would like to respond but I really don't want to keep this going anybody got anything else Ms Rogers I just wanted to say thank you for highlighting the fact that it was not highlighted in the budget because that

was one of the things that I pointed out that I rely on the expertise of my colleagues to be able to point out the things that I can't point out again I'm not the smartest person at the table either so not having that highlighted you know did did cause an issue for me because I wouldn't have noticed it it wasn't something that I would have recognized so I appreciate the fact that you

pointed that out and I just wanted to say that publicly I yield thank you anything further Mr Bailey I just wanted to agree with Ms Rogers was saying um you know I felt the same way um like she was saying obviously I'm new on the committee but it's definitely something that I looked at and we did have a conversation and I I called you and um something we talked about but

um I really do appreciate you stepping forward and and clearing that item 12.5 excuse me oh I'm sorry I'm sorry between the tall guys I don't always get something I know I have trouble seeing down this note that's a table um I do appreciate um I agree with Mr Bailey and Mrs rodericks I appreciate you saying that maybe it should have been mentioned um I don't think it was this intent and this is just me

everybody has their own opinions and that's cool I do not think it was this intentional hiding of numbers I mean anybody can view the budget if you look at that page as like it says 12.8 it gives deductions it gives 10 million it's really not anything going to dig deep to see um but I as as a new member assume that this is something we generally did so when it came to When Miss daggy I

brought it to my attention that that wasn't what we regularly did and then sometimes it's not what it is it's just the perception of what people can conjure in their mind that it is so I think we do as committee members you know have to be I think whatever information Mr Aguirre wants he should certainly receive but I think we should be careful about the way we express our opinions up here

if we're you know when you don't have fact that something has been done wrong and you're just assuming or maybe you do have fact but you can't share it I have no idea um but certainly that went down several times during that meeting I don't think it's productive uh way to handle things and so I'm glad I'm superintendent as much as I'm Glad You Came forward saying next time we're gonna I'll handle that differently I

also appreciate you acknowledging that it could have been handled better by by some of the committee members um so hopefully going forward that's what we do and absolutely our jobs to ask questions sometimes it's not what you say it's how you say it without a yield Mr aggia yeah just to follow up on that so I made my statement about what I felt about the budget and the process but I I feel compelled to respond

because I feel like a little subtle uh a dig let's just call it a dig sent at me because I did my homework and how I brought it out with passion and I can tell you that I looked at this budget and when I saw that I was actually I couldn't believe my eyes to say that this would even happen so to give subtle digs on the committee I don't think are appropriate

at the end of the day we're all going to have a chance to vote we're all going to have a chance to vote we have an account a reserve account that we got that reserved paying for a special education out of District tuitions that's where we got the reserve from so each and every member of this committee as well as each and every member of this Administration is going to be able to sit here on May

15th when we vote for this and say yes I think we should take out 1.5 million out of that account and pay for the city's burden on Transportation which is the law we're going to make that decision each and every person can make that decision when I highlighted things in the budget is so that we can get at least the facts out there so people can make their own determination at that

time relative to the facts before us and in this case the facts were they weren't told to us they were hidden and they didn't come right out and say Here's what we're going to propose to do so we're all going to have a chance to do that but I don't apologize for one second for doing my homework doing my due diligence and looking at the line items in a budget I won't apologize for that

today and I won't apologize for anything that I said at the last meeting I did what I did to try to highlight some things if no one else wants to say anything that's up to you what I highlighted the fact of where we're going to take 1.5 million out of an account for the auto District tuitions and I'm against it I want to be against it today I'm going to be against it on

May 15th and everybody else can take their vote at that time with that I yield if I can just add though the hearings were for the purpose of getting feedback right so it and we went through the process in some instances you gave feedback whether it was to a school or to a department so if if if there's feedback that we have to look at it differently that was a proposed budget and a proposed item and

I'm gonna I'm gonna reiter it again there was no intent to hide anything the way it was done obviously we don't all agree but if you're gonna if anyone on this committee is going to give feedback and say can we look at that and look at how we do something else or whatever we can we can do that so the whole point of having hearings is to get feedback and make adjustments as we go along so

it's not we don't have the hearings just do it you know that we've made adjustments in in the budget proposal in the previous year and you know uh not opposed to that but that's what we're here for is to have those discussions we did change the format it would have been highlighted when each department proposed it but it should have been highlighted in writing but I mean that's why we're having

budget hearings is to get feedback from this committee we don't have to wait until May 15 to get that feedback Mr AG yeah yes so I I totally understand so we did provide at least I did I provided my feedback on that particular situation and now that you've gotten a chance to see it your Administration your central office other folks have seen it we've highlighted the issue so I'm curious if you're still going to

stand behind that transfer and if you don't have that answer today I'd ask you to go back to your team and see if everyone agrees that this is what we should be doing and report back to us prior to May 15th so we're not having a debate on May 15th about what we're going to do if you choose to say as the superintendent of schools I believe that we can take 1.5 million dollars and

shift it over to transportation out of that account if you your leadership team or anybody else wants to stand up and say yes I agree with that's a smart decision for the educational value then please do just be on record is saying this is what I'm proposing that's all I'm asking I'm going to vote against it I'm telling you that ahead of time but um all I'm asking is that you take the feedback which I

know you do go back to your team try to figure it out and say whether we really want to go forward with this or not and the sooner that you can come to that realization please let the committee know with that ideal thing I do I do have to say something I wasn't going to uh it's so nice to Mr aguiar to give her permission to go back to her team and

talk to him about what they want to talk about to improve the form of public schools if you remember the last meeting Mr aguiar told us if he knew the money was going to go to transport our special needs students he would have drained the account he said and I said that's really a good use of money his idea to use money is to give forty thousand dollars in raises to everybody on this stage

that will help the children High over two hundred thousand dollars a Year's Deputy superintendent to help the children hire a hundred and fifty thousand dollar assistant director of sped to help the children he'll spend four hundred thousand dollars to help the children on jobs he thinks are important that aren't even coming from the superintendent or her team my position is that when we're going to be

recommending those kind of positions those kind of raises they're going to come from her I have total confidence in her and her ability to run the district and I'm extremely delighted that we added another key piece tonight but for someone to willy-nilly throw out jobs and raises at prices that are unseen in the district and then to criticize someone else for wanting to use money to transport students and then

say it's for the children my position is helping the kids with busing is more helpful than these high-priced administrative positions that he throws out willy-nilly and maybe he's using that to drain the money like he said he would his idea was to drain that money don't do anything to help the kids on the bus I can drain it he's not going to drain anything she's going to make the

proposal and we're going to vote on it so my position is he can have all the ideas he wants but he's going to come to the committee and we're going to vote make a motion to drain the money Mr aguiar and get your four votes and then good luck to you that's how this government works but for him to say I would have drained it he's not going to drain anything

he's not going to drain anything he's going to work with the committee and we're going to work together to do what's best for the kids in the district and I did get mad at him last time for the yelling and I asked him to quiet down and I'm glad his 10 is 10 tonight is much better but at the same time his ideas for where the money should go and the district's ideas may be different so

we'll have votes on those things but right now I'm confident in the superintendent and her team to do what's best for the kids in the districts gentlemen make it clear if I oppose something you're saying I speak up if I kind of agree with you I sit here because you're saying what needs to be said or my colleague to the right is saying what needs to be said so don't assume I think the 1.5 million

should come out because I never said that that's something I have to think about and listen to and if I think it's the right decision I'll vote for it and if I don't then I won't so and I I have zero problem with any of my colleagues asking questions that is what our job is I encourage it I learn from it I am new at this I've only been doing this for a little over a year

I'm definitely not the smartest person on the stage but I'd like to learn from you so questions I have no problem with but when we accuse people of doing things that we have no proof I'm very uncomfortable with that and quite frankly at the last meeting it was also said that you don't think everybody here takes their job seriously well you know what that's a slap in the face from somebody you're on a team with I

don't know if you're talking about me you were talking about my colleagues who talk less than me or talk mother I have no idea what you're talking about but to make a comment on this stage we're all trying to work together and say that you don't think everybody here takes their job seriously I I can only assume you don't think any of us are going to get reelected because if you do you're working real hard to

get me a huge raise for not taking my job seriously I do take my job seriously I may joke a little or be a little lighter but don't think I don't take my job seriously I may not talk as much or ask as many questions but don't think I don't take my job seriously and I'm going to assume that everybody up on this stage takes their job seriously whether they agree with you or disagree with you

that actually isn't a determining factor of whether somebody takes their job seriously so I just the accusations are not okay we all have a vote we can vote on that 1.5 we're all going to think about it we're going to ask questions we're going to rationalize it in our own heads and then we're going to come and vote that's it if I if I vote if if I get convinced by

the superintendent that this is what we should do and I vote Yes it doesn't mean I'm not taking my job seriously it means I agree to given that money if that's what I choose to do I may also vote no I don't know yet but I do know something I take my job seriously and I'm pretty sure everybody else here does so that's what I mean by I don't need you to apologize for asking

questions of course not it's your job but sometimes think about the way you you talk to the people the other you're trying to work with and with that I yield anything further Miss Rogers so I'm just going to say this because this conversation has completely been derailed and I would like to just get back to the conversation that we were having making accusations and throwing them across the table isn't helpful for

anybody and so we've completely shifted or completely drifted away from what our actual conversation was and so I would like to get back to that and that's why I'm making this comment right now that the back and forth between everyone here not helpful whatsoever so I'm going to sit back and hopefully let this conversation unfold and come to an end because yeah everybody at this table has a vote to make that vote will

be made in the future everyone at this table I believe doesn't do this for fun because I'm sure that everybody at this table has other obligations that they could be doing right but I'm assuming that everyone at this table is here because they want to be here so I I don't think throwing accusations at people is useful and I would like to get back to the actual topic at hand with that I yield anything further

Mr right yeah yes just to follow up on your comments Mr chairman so when I look at the budget I see that the city of Fall River is going to put in the minimum total whether we add one position 176 positions whether this committee gets an increase in pay that they haven't received in 20 years you in the administration are not going to put one red Cent into education then you have to

whether we add positions or not so I did suggest that we fund positions absolutely I did suggest that we pay people appropriately to get qualified people in but you and the administration are not going to spend one red Cent on education more than you have to by law so when I talked about drain draining that account is we can do that we absolutely could be replacing the entire amount to pay for the

out-of-district tuitions we could do that we don't need to have that Reserve account but it's a way to have a little bit of stabilization so for you to sit there and try to say that I'm willy-nilly looking to give raises to people that's totally absurd you and the city are not going to put in one red Cent more than for Education not one red cent no matter what our votes

are so that's why I would suggest the positions that we're talking about the positions for special education it has nothing to do with you're not going to put in one red Cent more than you have to and I want to hear from the administration I want to hear to all the assistant superintendents that we hired I want to hear from all the directors I want to hear from all the principals to

see if they agree as well with taking the money out because I think it's important when it's convenient we ask everybody's opinion out there and then other times we just say silent and not not let it go so when I ask these questions to the superintendent I'd like to get feedback from all of our Administration if they think that that's an okay thing with that I yield yeah that's not your call Mr agyar it's

Miss Miss Ponce and her team they can make the call I trust them that's how I look at it 12-5 is a discussion and vote to approve to set salary ranges for the approved reorganization job descriptions as presented by Ken Pacheco Chief Operating Officer welcome up after that Ken so the uh the suggested salary range is a based on a variety of of factors one being the Union in which their particular um employees are in

some of those salaries are higher than others it's some something to do with the complexity of the work that they're doing and also with the amount of people that they are overseeing those numbers will keep us I know we have issues with um with compression in in salaries between the union and um s9s and um this will put us far enough ahead of any of those issues without um putting us too far

you know and again compression on the opposite side of this group getting up to senior staff so this is my proposal based on those factors for your approval and also if I could I'd like to move on these as quickly as possible some um immediately and others um when the budget flips in July I'll switch ones are immediate or do you want to just take them all one by one so the director of Maintenance position

obviously is something that I need immediately okay the director of custodial Services I currently have someone filling in but that would again be something that I would like to do I do have some flexibility with that position because I have a vacant position within the budget um so I do have flexibility with that one assistant director of custodial services I don't necessarily have to do

that one until July unless funds are available director of Transportation I do have a need to fill this position I will um work with the current coordinator to make a smooth transition the director of Safety and Security that one is absolutely necessary tomorrow would be too late and director of Campus Services I would like to have in place moving forward with the new hires okay do we have any questions on this

proposal does someone want to make them I'm sorry Mr agya so which of these are vacant the assistant none of these are vacant as of today the assistant director of custodial Services I'm going to have it mimic the assistant director of environmental services that position was left unfilled so I have the capacity to use those funds and I would hire the director before I would hire an assistant

and the other one is new like the campus Services is totally new the campus Services is a new position so that would start director of Safety and Security is a new position and you're saying that you would stop these July 1. some of them July 1. I would like to start as many as possible as quickly as possible so that I can have stability coming into the summer but whatever I can't I understand and

I'll work around that no I I understand what you're saying I'm just trying to figure out which positions would be up so I think you should fill them all as soon as we wrote on this because we have the the funds so that when you do your committees or whatever and you hire the right person as far as I'm concerned you should hire them why wait till July 1 if we had the

process earlier but I agree what I'm looking at though is just knowing some of the and you talked about compression between the salaries and in you know how much has research went into looking at where these are starting when we look at any of the positions and what people get so as I said a couple of them a couple of those positions are going to be at the bottom number or a little above depending on the

person that comes in with experience I again I have some compression issues on on one or two of them that I'm concerned with other than that the the salary range will work well and it'll give us um a three-year cushion if not more yeah you know that you know um you talked about the Europe against it with compression and knowing that we shouldn't nobody should be just giving our raises willy-nilly

I don't think anybody thinks that that's a good idea to give willy-nilly raises but when we're creating a situation here where we're creating new job descriptions I think now is the time to actually fix some of that issue so you know you look at the director of Maintenance at 85 000.

I don't have the budget book in front of me but I believe the electricians plumbers and all of them are at 80 000 or 82 000 in the budget something like that or at least a few of them yes so we're going to pay a director 85 assuming that somebody comes in like for a step let's say so if I'm a licensed plumber in the district or whatever and

I want to apply for this job when we look at it we'd say so the starting salary is 85 to 105 you're going to be in the job for the first year so you'd start on the low end of that I don't think necessarily I think that's what you're talking about with the compression yes so like I said not giving willy-nilly raises I think well thought out proposals like this should just come

with what youth need in order to get a qualified person into those jobs not necessarily just throwing numbers out well these are not thrown out so I've done the work in the individual bargaining units to know that some of these positions are a product of a position a person's title within the Union a lead for instance so a lead is going to throw that number off it won't it won't compress

because it'll it'll be a moving Target always so there'll always be a space it may not be as large as some of the others we also have to be cognizant of the other side of this because some of these numbers are going to eventually push other numbers and as much as I would like a raise I don't need to do it right now but what I'm maybe it's me when I say 85 to 105 I see

you're not you don't have experience being there director you're going to start off at the lower end and I just think that there's not enough range like we've talked about this with the principal Vice principle to jump to that next level to get three thousand dollars or four thousand you're not going to get the people to apply or and you go out in the industry to get them folks to come

in so we're going to end up with mediocrity or just accepting what we have and I think we've done that for too long in some of these departments so you know now is the time to be able to especially with those directives positions of putting it a little higher in my opinion yes you're saying you did the research you must went over there with the superintendent and you think these numbers are going to get you the

candidates you need I'm guessing yes but again if it's the will of this committee and the number needs to be bumped up or or dropped it's the will of the committee these are my suggestions where did they come from you know so Madam superintendent what do you think on those at least those top ones uh we went through the process as Mr um Chico was saying I do think that we're trying to be prudent

uh I think that a some of those positions that you're referring to whether it's an electrician or a plumber or whatever if they're a lead it's going to boost up their salary and that's why they're there but not everybody's going to be at that rate right so it there is there is a buffer in between there so the 85 is reasonable for somebody coming in into that um role we thought those salaries were reasonable certainly

um you know you can give us feedback on that but we went back and forth and tried to um you know create a range that we wasn't just a a small where we're going to be up against uh in just a couple of years a large enough Gap and was also going to be respectful yeah when you look at it even with marginal overtime or reasonable over time you're going to have you're gonna if we

approve these as is we're going to have workers getting paid with marginal overtime for these folks to work for uh salary as many hours as they need to get the job done and they're going to make less money than the people that are actually working under them unfortunately massagia I worked for the city for 10 years and maybe four of those 10 years some of my employees were making more money than I was

it's just the way it is with overtime there's no way to control that my salary is controlled s9s don't make overtime and I take that coming into this so what I'm saying is I can't say that that person in the contract who's a lead making eighty thousand dollars I'm going to make sure that they don't get any overtime because I don't want them bumping against the director's salary

for that matter I would need to bump all of these salaries by a minimum of ten thousand dollars to make sure that that never happens but these are three-year projections so this is not the last time we're going to look at these and again as I said if this committee chooses to bump by five or ten thousand on that bottom number by all means as long as the top number

moves the same way so that I have a three year look ahead because whatever whatever the unions are going to receive in benefits over the next few years is a moving Target and so will the salary increases for the F naught yeah I mean I hear what you're saying just that what you said about the city and having workers it doesn't make that right no I know it doesn't but I

mean it's really stunk to be in that situation for you over time over time is overtime I get it but I think we need to be cognizant of why would anybody take a promotion if that's what they can do without the stress of the job that's all I'm saying and I think you'd understand that that it just is it's a it's a salary and you know look at the campus Services I look at all the

groundskeepers there are 59 000 before any overtime in a budget so 59.70 like that you know they're going to supervise those folks you know it I think you understand what I'm saying I just think that um we've got to be careful of making sure the bosses are going to work but for salary and it's different when it's 85 versus 125 130. I know you know when you're at 85 and you make 10 grand

in overtime you can make that very easily uh in these type of jobs and you're going to make more and I think that just poses you know a problem so if you think it's this is your recommendation the superintendent seems to be backing it up I'll go with it but just food for thought with data yield I'll make a motion to approve second the motion to proven second

um Deb could you call the roll on all of them please let's try again yes yes Mr Bailey yes Mr Hart yes Miss laravey abstain Miss Pereira yes Miss Roderick yes yes discussion and vote to approve two rfqs 1207 Globe Street for an oversight design of up to 15 classrooms for our pre-k program motion is second any discussion on going forward with globe Street this I know this is related to the Pre-K

and I keep on hopping on this but I asked the superintendent last time about the subcommittee we ready for that just so we can I feel like this type of stuff is fine I'm going to vote for this but the Pre-K I keep on being a pain about it but I think it's something that's that important so I don't know if we have an update but yep so we we will um make

sure that on Friday there's a suggestion for subcommitting for pre-k I agree we there's a lot of work that needs to be done it needs to be done yeah exactly you're not going to build it and come I don't want to build it and then say we don't have it so you get what I'm saying yep with that a yield thank you Deb please call the roll let's try again yes Mr Bailey yes Mr

harp yes Miss laravee yes Miss Pereira yes Miss Roderick yes yes mayor Kruger yes 12-7 is a discussion and vote to approve the Pre-K update renewal of existing contracts it hasn't to approve as presented by Kristen Ferris director of Early Childhood do I have a second second I have a motion a second let me get a quick summary a lot so this is looking forward into next year as we're still exploring more

long-term Solutions projected numbers for next year continue to grow so with that what we're asking for is to be able to continue leasing the space at the old Montessori School on Eastern Avenue we have the Early Learning Center currently is for next school year to be able to keep those classrooms they are and running through next school year and also to continue to keep the option of the Overflow

classrooms at the Boys and Girls Club if they are needed any questions Miss Harris Mr aggia just logistically um are these non-bid like you know we had to go off to bid for space and now we're just extending it without a bid is that was that in the specs or so because it's all set up um there are there is some leeway with with rentals and leases of a building that can't be duplicated for the dollar

amount so we will be looking to re do a lease for one more year in that particular site yeah maybe if you can just get us so one pager on that I'm just as I don't disagree with what you're saying but like the we did have to take a process an emergency to get it under the to bid and now we're just saying oh you got it so now you just get it extended that's all

I want to make sure that we're covered with it so Mr pachico if you could do that I appreciate it thank you I yield um do we have a motion a second we do we do Deb could you call the roll please Mr Dragon yes Mr Bailey yes Mr Hart yes Miss laravee yes Miss Pereira yes Miss Rodricks yes mayor Kruger yes 12 8 is a discussion and vote to approve the job descriptions for the special

education department as referred by the special education alternative education subcommittee and presented by Laura ioba chain assistant superintendent of special education and sober Shane good evening in an effort to strengthen sorry in an effort to strengthen and move our special education program forward one of the things we need to look at are some of our job descriptions to make sure

that they are clear and really reflective of the roles we've started that process so tonight you received several proposed job descriptions and as well as the original job description with the annotations to show you where those revisions were made many of the job descriptions before you still have the same responsibilities but they're much more clear and specific to the rule this is important not only for

our existing staff but for any potential new applicants that we get so that they really understand what the role entails and what we need from them in your packet you had six positions listed four out of those six positions are ready for you to consider those positions are the cluster coordinator the lead school psychologist the lead related service provider and the special education supervisor

at this point I'm requesting that we hold a vote for the Special Education team chair and clerk just because there's some more work that we need to do with staff but I think it's important for you to see where we are and where I Envision us going in regards to these positions um are there any questions Mr IGA thank you very much and thank you for bringing this forward so we had um went

to the subcommittee and then I had asked that you have the um the old and the new one of the things on the first one the cluster coordinator that I'm wondering is that the job description talks about supporting students and staff in substantially separate programs across the district through consultation model and coaching but in the performance responsibilities as I was comparing the two of them today

it doesn't highlight the substantially separate programming piece and I don't know if that's covered in your uh your oversight so cluster coordinators are for other potentially other things than the substantially separate programs am I saying that right that so what I the cluster coordinator role yes it was envisioned initially for substantially separate programming but when I look at what the capabilities

would be in our inclusion program as well they should be afforded the opportunity to work with all of the schools so when I think about the vision of a cluster coordinator to be more of that teacher support that academic support and then the bcba is that behavioral support that behavioral component if we pair them up with say sister schools then the schools can utilize the assets of both of those

positions to support all the needs of the schools because what we ran into this year and many of the principals were very vocal about it that both this cluster coordinator and the bcba right they have different skill sets so at different times buildings could benefit from each of those skill sets so um I'm not sure of your question though Mr aguiar as far as the performance no so what when we had created these

positions it was with the idea that the cluster coordinator was going to be for lack of a better way to say it a resident expert in the special program at that school that's how I in layman's terms would say that it was that obviously wasn't happening right at the same time it was talked about as being an administrator that could evaluate the staff to assist the principal in the room from a principal and I have

a large population of special programs I need extra help to manage that program with some Authority that can do the observations and the like that's how I envisioned it when we created it yeah so all I'm suggesting is if I'm looking at this the one that says approved by like I guess that's the recommended one you know the one with the blue mocks on it where you highlight what the comment

was is the old one I believe yes it is so if you if you look at the top of the second one it says the job description talks about substantially separate programs all I'm suggesting is I think that that probably should say special program so it encompasses all sure like at the bottom it says supervises and evaluates staff in special programs it sort of makes it a larger umbrella whereas and I

think it might make more sense than if we just left it as staff and substantially separate programs so you could have a cluster coordinator that is overseeing a program that's not necessarily substantially separate it could be Behavior rooms and whatever that right whatever you would want so yep yep I think that that would be a a wise change but with that same comment under the performance responsibilities

do you feel this is enough so that you could hold them accountable as their boss to do the things that need to be done in all of those special programs yes because again they won't be working in on an island by themselves right and the supervisor role is going to have a much greater presence in a lot of these programs schools in general and just oversight of these cluster coordinators

and making sure that what I Envision or what my team and I build is coming to fruition day in and day out in a consistent format and that's really what this was about was building that consistency and capacity across the district yeah in the coming uh that was listed on some of the concerns was they didn't have a solid understanding of the role and the responsibilities is a problem

that is a major problem when you look at accountability and that so I totally agree with what you're saying but I would like to just make a motion to replace the substantially separate programs to call it special programs sure cluster coordinator Mr Edgar can you repeat that motion please sorry I'm not sure if we're going to do them individually or all together but regardless of that I would like to on

the cluster coordinated apartment head I would just like to change the wording under the job description where it says substantially separate programs and replace that with special programs okay so that's on the first one cluster coordinators is it a slash it's just the description of the job at the time okay pour it out okay do I have a second second ever motion a second on changing the name any discussion

please call the roll Miss Dragon yes Mr Bailey yes Mr Hart yes Miss laravey yes Miss Pereira yes Miss Rodricks yes mayor Kruger yes any any further discussion yeah finish the others up Miss overshane on the first I'm sorry can you repeat that yeah the other three Spurs huh they have to take a vote on the others there's two that we're pulling out oh two we're pulling out I was in the

bathroom yes we're pulling out I did what do you put what did you pull out you pulled out team chairperson and clerk oh okay all right thanks again for that no I wasn't here I'm sorry um Mr Mayor Mr right here on the second one the lead psychologist and I this is so something that I had mentioned in the budget when it's under salary because these are obviously would change like one of them

somewhere had the salary listed I think we should put the salary in rather than having it refer back to any of the uh whatever the it is but I'm saying when you advertise a position so here we we don't advertise oppositions right in my opinion we put the starting salary on the salary range we don't put a range so looking at the salary range how this is listed is how this stuff gets posted for

the public to see to apply so whether it's this job or a special education teacher or whatever if you look on the website to see how we're recruiting people we use these as the template right so this is a stipend position yeah right the stipend is defined right so next year if it goes up the stipend would just be changed yeah but I think as to be consistent in every one of

these the salary should be what the range is because on the website it says salary range and it usually has the first step which is not a good way to recruit people because we're going to pay more than the first step so I'm only suggesting that as we go through that's all with that I yield anything further so can we uh vote on these altogether yeah I'd make a motion we already voted

for the cluster coordinator so I make a motion for the the other third the other three um I have a motion do I have a second I have exposure in a second Deb please call the roll this drag yeah yes Mr Bailey yes yes Mr Mayor Mr agya just to comment on the the ones that we have we pulled out so we had approved these at the subcommittee to go forward and I can

respect the fact that there's some work that still needs to be done but I'd like to make a recommendation that we do that work and report back to the committee at the next full school committee meeting because I think it's important to move these things forward so whether we need another subcommittee meeting or not I would suggest we bring it to the full committee so everybody can see it but

kicking this can down the road is not going to help us we need to do it now so whether if that update is we're getting close so we're not getting closer along the way I I would think that we should get some data from other uh places if you can send that stuff to the committee so we can make a more informed decision caseloads how many this what what is the

vision so that we can get to see if you need a subcommittee meeting that's great but I don't have the data that I can do to make a determination on this at this present time but over the next month if we get an updated minimum I think it'll help us sure I can give you an update and it's going to involve some training too and to get people um feeling like confident in their

ability to do some of the responsibilities so that's why I'm also asking for the delay because I need some time to do that training and to work with staff to figure out but I'm happy to give you um an update in a month I don't Envision it being ready for the vote in a month but again I will happily give you an update thank you thank you anything further on that 12.9 is the electric bus update

as presented by me chairman of the school committee I just want you to know we are moving along with this four million dollar Grant but bus electric bus construction is very very backed up we had two proposals submitted to us they were both more than we thought we could get in cost per bus so we ended up having to reduce the request from 11 buses down to 10 buses with the charging station uh one one

company was over and above the other by a lot so we're going to go with them we got a 10 bus order in I'm here and it could be as long as a year out and we're also applied for some additional buses or we are working on that with our federal Partners who have advised us that there may be some more buses available we're also partnering with this first swath of buses with Whaling City but we

are looking at our other vendors also I think it's the way to go if we're able to get these buses and and the charging stations coupled together as one and we're going to keep pushing forward to see what we can do to bring um some electric school buses to the fall of the public school system this is an update from me about where we are right now more work to do but again we are pretty

far out from getting a bus delivered just because of the backup when that Federal money was released everybody started looking for him so it's going to be a little while but we're going to keep working until we get them into Fall River Thomas Drago Madam superintendent how does this affect us right now it doesn't there I'm just giving it up now it's an update there's no vote eventually there will be part of

our uh Transportation uh for so it'll impact costs right for transportation but right now it doesn't it's in the planning process but I've said this for months now we keep hearing about the electric buses it's a city project it's a city project the school committee has contracts with vendors that we voted on right so how does a school committee and the school department not become part of this process

I don't I just don't get it how is this going to work what are the buses or well what happens when the buses end what happened what's the shelf life of the buses what happens to the contracts we currently have in existence like I think the school department and the school committee ultimately with a vote votes for the contract so I don't understand why we're we get no information on this

we just say we're going to wait for the buses it's electric it's 4 million and it's got to affect the contracts that have fallen up review we're out of the loop totally out of the loop that's why I asked the superintendent but I'm just giving you an update Kevin we're not there yet we did get the grant we do have a company but moving forward as I said we're at least a year out as I

said we are working with our partners who have contracts with the uh with public school transportation and when the time comes that we move to a Next Step we'll keep the committee informed before we do anything or sign anything that's going to affect the contract that comes in front of this committee the gentleman that signed this is Richard LaBrie how much is he getting paid consultant I don't know

no I don't think I got billed yet by Mr Liberty can we please get a uh it's a city contract Governor it's a public document no I know if you say how much the guy's getting paid so the reason why I ask is Mr LaBrie was part of the bid process that we had I can speak and I've said this to the gentleman right in front of us at a public meeting that I don't think he

gave us good advice I don't think that he was with the money that we were paying him even though it was not that much but I keep on seeing his name coming up that we keep on using the guy so if somebody's going to say no he's a great guy he's doing great work for us whatever and come up and say it I just see the guy's name again and he's

Consulting with us on things that don't this one not this one but our own transportation that make no sense this same gentleman recommended five years ago or more that we spent 250 000 on a transportation software because it was going to save us the roots and everything else and we're not even using the software that we paid the 250 for so that's why I don't care for the guy because I don't think he gave us good

advice but that's a fact if anybody wants to check it you can go check it because I have asked for that we log in once a day from the Transportation once a day to check something and that's it we don't use it to help us like we were sold when he came before us so with that I yield thank you thank you uh 12 10 is a discussion and vote to approve the third quarter revolving funding

report as presented by Kevin Almeida chief uh Financial Officer Mr Almeida so in front of you you have the updated the third quarter revolving report uh the balance across the revolving funds is 12.1 million at this time it's a date we've spent just under 9 million and we've received just under 9 million all the funds have positive balances with this with this report we will be transferring with an approval

we'll be transferring just over twenty one thousand dollars into the use of schools account from over time related to outside overtime for sounds like technology custodians so on and so forth and that balance will be 454 000 to 6105.

with that with that I ask for uh your vote please motion to approve I have a motion do I have a second second I have a motion a second any discussion on the third quarter revolving fund Deb please call the roll Mr agya yes Mr Bailey yes Mr harp yes Miss laravee yes Miss Pereira yes yes Miss Roderick yes mayor Kruger yes 12 11 is a discussion and vote to approve the quarterly budget update as

presented by Kevin Almeida our Chief Financial Officer emotional approved quarterly budget update I have a motion and a second any discussion on that one either just uh in rough numbers when you look at the last this is the we've got one more quarter left to go yes sir so you can probably have a good idea of what the entity is going to look like as far as funding how much last year did we carry

over in prepaid special ed tuition one one point um 1.6 or 1.7 million and is there a number that's the maximum that we can carry over that we can prepay yeah the maximum we can prepay is a quarter so whatever a quarter equates to so um it's probably going to be closer to two million dollars for this year with the inflation on the tuitions so we're close to the maximum of pre-paying the

tuition and I ask that because it's relevant to the three million dollars in Surplus that we had for the outer District so when that happens we can't we can't prepay tuitions to have that be a stabilization so really the only stabilization that we can have for that account is what you have the three million dollars in circuit breaker we can do that correct because if you paid the whole circuit breaker

reimbursement towards the tuitions we would just have three million dollars left over we'd have to figure out a way as the committee to figure out what we would do with you know how to fund some of those projects so when when you look at you still project into 1.5 or more you set up there we could do the two two million dollars but you think that that we're going to be at that number of uh savings

I'm not going to hold you to it but I'm saying it projecting wise is it does it look like we're going to have a significant amount of prepaid tuition as part of the budget because now May 15th we're going to vote on the budget that number is going to so my plan is to prepaid tuitions out of the budget as we normally do so that's something I am going to

suggest in May that we do so that we have we can so I I need to cost out and have some time to figure out what what that's actually going to be to bring forward to you but my my best estimate at this time is anywhere between 1.5 million to 2 million dollars given what we know at this time so we're still going to do that is you're thinking yes

and the 1.5 that's at the bottom for the phase three of Murphy Fields is not that that's that's something that um we we're going to request that we use funding from this year's budget to cover everything associated with the outside on the Durfee fields that money where's that money coming from is my point is it just from residuals it's what Surplus is across yes correct so but that's the

legit money that we have to complete the yes sir and then phase the next phase would be we stopped that one from scratch so with that that should cover all of the athletic field work here and assuming that the costs don't go crazy we'll be done at that point yes sir thank you okay anything further we get a vote to approve the quarterly budget I need a motion a second there's a motion in a second

okay Deb call the roll please yes Mr Bailey yes Mr harp yes Miss laravey yes Miss Pereira yes yes Miss rodericks yes mayor Coogan yes I'm looking for a motion and a second on the informational retirements uh appointments resignations can I get a motion in a second motion approved 13.1 through 13.4 I have a motion a second Deb please call the roll let's try again yes Mr Bailey yes Miss Pereira yes

yes Roderick yes mayor Coogan yes any new business to come before the committee hearing none I had something that I needed to clarify I'm Sorry Miss Rogers so I needed to clarify a statement that I made earlier when we were talking about the the budget the updates on the budget um because I don't think I accurately conveyed my thoughts um so I was concerned about the direction that the conversation took

because it very much became or at least it seemed like it became about personal feelings and that really isn't useful for anything um but to start a comment with a sarcastic nod to Mr agyar giving permission for the superintendent to speak with her team and then bring it in other stretched interpretations about feedback that was provided at the last meeting or outside this meeting to me

felt very inappropriate and I know that when I conveyed that it didn't come off that way but I wanted to be very clear in what I meant I stayed in my piece last time about the transformation costs and the way it played out and I reiterated that I sincerely appreciated that it was highlighted tonight that it wasn't highlighted before right that that means something to me but I'm hoping that we can move forward without

that level of hostility of negativity because I for I firmly believe that everybody at this table is here trying to make the decisions that they believe are right and I don't believe that anyone's playing a gotcha game the two things can be true at the same time so I needed to clarify that because again I don't think I conveyed myself accurately but with that I yield thank you

um Mr Assad do we have any reason to go to the second session there would be mayor um we want to read them first master of Lords chapter 38 section 2187 to review and approved the Executive Center minutes from March 22 2023 regular school committee meeting National boys chapter 38 section 2183 to discuss strategy with respect to Collective bargain relative to all administrators

and employees represented by the form of Administrators Association as the chair has determined that no Open Session may have a detrimental impact on a bargaining position of the committee National laws chapter 38 section 2183 to discuss strategy with respect to collect the bargain relative to All Professional teaching employees the forward School System including coaches Title One teachers nurses occupational and

physical therapists specialists in the teaching profession represented by the former Educators Association as it shows the term that open session may have a detrimental impact on abogganing position of the committee National World chapter 38 section 2183 to discuss strategy with these practical tobogganing relative to all government employees including without limitation professionals parent work is in Clerks

of the forward school system that are paid from federal and state grants and represented by the former public schools government programs as a church determined an open session may have a detrimental impact on a bargaining position of the committee National laws chapter 38 section 2182 to conduct strategy session in preparation for negotiation with non-union personnel specifically the new assistant

superintendents of students support services and strategic integration forward schools Department to be selected and appointed by the school committee Dr brownhart is the superintendent of schools sole recommended candidate for appointment to the position of assistant superintendent of student support services and strategic integration for the Fall River school department and was so voted on

today national awards chapter 38 section 21a6 to consider the purchase and exchange lease or value of real property located at 2501 South Main Street Fall River Massachusetts as chairs determined an open session may have a detrimental impact on negotiation position of the school committee we would reconvene the main may not be statements at that time um can I get a motion to go into executive session

motion to enter executive session now your second second Deb please call the roll Miss drug yeah yes Mr Bailey yes Mr Hart yes yes yes Miss rodericks yes mayor Coogan yes executive session

I call the meeting back to order Deb please call the roll Mr Dragon here Mr Bailey here Mr Hawkins yeah anything further to come before the committee come here Mr Hart a motion to approve the executive session minutes of March 20th 2023 at the regular school community meeting second uh any discussion Deb please call the roll Mr Dragon yes Mr Bailey yes Mr Hart yes Mr Harvey yes Miss Pereira yes Miss

rodericks oh yes mayor Kruger yes a motion to approve uh all government employees as negotiated second any discussion dead please call the roll let's drag yeah yes Mr Bailey yes Mr Hart yes Miss laraveen yes Miss Pereira yes Miss rodericks yes mayor Coogan yes anything further to adjourn second I have a motion to adjourn a second Dad please call the roll Mr Egg yeah yes Mr Bailey yes Mr harp yes Miss larvae

yes Miss Pereira yes Ms rodericks yes mayor Kruger yes