4.4.2024 Fall River School Committee - Technology Sub Committee

all I'd like to call to order the technology subcommittee meeting of April 4th 2024 please call the role here Mr Bailey Miss L here please stand for to the flag flag the United States America the rep for it stands one nation under God indivisible Justice Chris to the open meeting law and person to make an audio or video recording of this public meeting or may transmit the meeting through any medium

attendees are therefore advised that such recordings or Transmissions are being made whether perceived or un perceived by those present and are deemed acknowledged and permissible we have any citizen input time we do not no citizen input time we're going to go right to the item number 3.01 Madame superintendent on the following items um good afternoon I'm going to hand this over to Mr cabal we

have um quite a few items on this discussion item um some contracts and some uh new purchases so he will walk us through each of these good evening everyone so the first piece that we'd like to talk about is um Frontline the HR management system currently front line is used for our attendance um so an employee would go in in the morning request a sick day vacation day it would then go through

the process of flagging the supervisor for approval all the way through to HR where they would then keep track of AC CRS um that is how we use the software currently um over this past school year we've seen some areas where we'd like to improve processes one of which being um getting paperless with uh overtime green sheets stuff of that nature um front line now offers in their package just

this we have looked at a number of different programs and we came to the conclusion that a because we're already using front line the employees know how to use it it's not going to change the way it looks and also the bigger determination for me on the technical side was that this automatically talks to munus so there's no script writing that's going to have to take place the two products already um can coexist and

it also will tie in nicely with Aspen rx2 our student information system so typically what will happen with this now is we'll use a custodian for example a custodian will work overtime an overtime event there'll be no more paper they'll only be allowed to fill in their time card per se online in the building that they're offered the overtime so for example if the overtime was offered

inside of fonsica they'd only be able to start there um in time and out time in this building cuz what it's going to do is it looks for the building IP address so they wouldn't be able to pick up their cell phone leave drive home to Swansea and then an hour later check out and say that they had finished their ship so it's true to the the time because they have to be in the building

then what will happen is it'll fire off a process however we decide within each individual department and it can be used across all of the Departments for example in Mr piko's case it would go to whoever would approve the overtime you know would be the custodial um director or assistant director for the event then it would fire off to uh Mr Al's Department to payroll and then once it's

checked off there it would fire off to the last process which would be on Kevin's side when he roll runs the payroll it would automatically connect that into munus so there'd be no paper anywhere there along the way there are all checks and balances so um an employee couldn't just go in and I couldn't say that I worked eight hours of overtime shoveling snow on a Saturday because the event is not created in the

system um also the firing of the relays for the people so like Mr Pico didn't have that event so they wouldn't be able to put in for it an event that can be created in an emergency so say for example we had a water a water main leak in the building someone could go in from facilities Mr Pico or one of his directors and put in the event and then overtime could be assigned to that that

can be done at any point up until payroll is fired with Mr alme at the end but in the process at the beginning everything is covered so even on the it side I have technicians that will work extra it goes through the check and balance process signatures digital signatures that are time stamped and dated um and then given back to the employee so the employee has that record

um and what it does it also allows us to run two sets of reports it'll allow us to run the report in front line for payroll so that Mr almea has a backup and it'll also allow us to run the same payroll report in munas so now there's you know double checks and balances because both systems will um talk to each other so in anticipation of this the training what would happen and you

see the breakdown of costs here initially they would prate us for the rest of this year and we're we're past April 1st now so that that amount is going to prate a bit there is a one-time fee of $155,600 to get our systems to talk because even though they're compatible every District uses it a little bit differently so there are some things in the back end that they would make their script do correctly they

would run tests with the Departments and then with Mr almea and myself and it to make sure we're satisfied with the way everything fires off on the payroll side um then after that moving forward you see the year total would be 6,502 there are a number of reasons for that so right now typically Frontline we spend about $39,000 a year just on Frontline time and attendance we however

in the next page and I just put a little grid together so you could all see we have still three pieces of soft W that are owned by power school that we are still using at this time the first one is Talent records power school so when a new employee comes in they fill out all of their paperwork online that then fires off into our student information system populates the paperwork

um that piece would be gone we would get rid of that piece because within the umbrella of front line they offer the same piece because we'd be using the payroll function we would turn that piece on as well so we would get rid of that $23,000 right off the bat the next piece is they use what's called applicant tracking and Power School uh app track so basically when somebody applies that

is what the principal would get with the resume that's part of Frontline it looks a little bit different but we wouldn't have to pay for that because it's under the One Umbrella what I'm looking for as a CIO is to try to make the process live under one Hood so that way there are not places where mistakes can can be made where data can be misconstrued or lost everything will live under that one Hood

then the last piece is what everyone is familiar with is school spring that's their job board where we would post the board um and if you look at it now um Mr agar you know from your District a lot of districts are trying to do different things to try to gain people in Frontline owns something now that's called K to2 job spot and if you put the two products Side by each K to2 job spot has

at current like 30 something thousand War jobs posted right now than School spring does my only recommendation for this first year um and I I would leave it up to the people at this table in the full committee is I would like to run School spring and the K to2 job spot simultaneously for the first year just because we know that we're having a hard time getting people to apply for jobs

retention I'd like to run both products because under Frontline we're going to receive it at a 12 job Spa but I'd also like to try to push us out there a little bit more with school spring starting to hear some things with the Mast Tech director list serve group that school spring is going to change some of the way that they do things to push out the jobs so on that regards that's the

only piece that I would be asking to retain which is you know just just around $6,500 the school spring portion but everything else I would sunset at the end of this year and I would put everything into the you know under the hood of front line um I have demoed all of the pieces Mr almea has had his Department in there um a number of times we've asked the questions I've talked to

a number of school districts um just recently talked to Mr Tatro over in New Bedford um my counterpart in New Bedford they're very happy they've started to roll out these systems um and then we also in depth went over with Mr Coogan and his team um with the software company the things that we we' like to see happen with the software and again the biggest reason to move in a direction of this software and to put

everything under one hood is so that we can be in 2024 and Beyond with paperless transactions for payroll overtime green sheets stiping sheets everything would finally be paperless and we'd be able to control everything there would be many more checks and balances and um I think it was one of um Mr almeida's employees said wow this is this is pretty good this is would be efficient for us it

would help us in the long run this would make it much more efficient for everyone once they all got to learn the process I need this to go to the full committee next week for approval either way because in the back end we've got some lift to do I have to pull data from X2 I have to pull data from munice so that we can marry those in so that we can start

to run these tests over the summer months the employees would be trained um in the last few months of May early June just to get an idea of the software and then we would roll with this July 1 moving forward um thank you any questions yes this lar yes so just quickly the K through2 job spot do we have that now we do we do not so you anybody could use it um we just don't

pay into it if we were going to be a district that wanted to buy into it it's 18 Grand a year just to buy into that one software Under the Umbrella of what we're doing because we're a current customer we're not not even going to see that they you know they put it into our onetime total and just so we know at that 3940 Grand that we pay every year for front line we're looking at probably

a 14% increase no matter what software is all going up so no matter what we would have been paying a little bit more of front line but we'll actually be saving money cuz we're going to Sunset those other Power School uh products so this 65 6502 is that is that a total is that counting the 2 15s no so the 25s are a one-time thing because that this is this is backend work so because we're using

the two systems what we asked the vendor to do was we wanted to try to separate it a bit so we could get the backend work running but at the same time get the training going at the same time so you'll notice that the initial prated term is they're going to turn the system on so that we can build a train and then that other onetime implementation fee is going to be the geek speak piece behind

the scenes for me so are we paying are we going to continue you paying these costs no so those costs are going to those are going to Sunset correct so in July you won't see me the only uh contract that you'll see me in July will be for school spring and again that'll be for a onee tri and then we'll let the new HR Director decide what they want to

do at that point so we won't need these services to get these Services up and going that's accurate I just want to point out the initial prated term that's for the last three months of this year prated that number is going to drop a little bit because we're after April 1 the 15,000 the one time cost that also includes in the scope of our onboarding documents we send them raft the documents to people benefits and

everything else and all those documents are customized by the job that the person is going to hold and so some of that is the setup because all those documents have to be digitized created in new form Etc so that's the setup the training the back back room setup stuff how long is newford had this system so new bford has front line uh for the attendance side just as long as we have

and they like or four months into unreal so just months just months and but what I will say is um uh winr and also um Wilmington Massachusetts they and they can't speak more highly of it they said they wish they would have done it sooner were they all paper as well all paper and they transition they transitioned off and it's been so much easier for them to handle and manage thank you

are just know for the rec here my question is on the overtime piece that you know I've been a big stickler for over time and sign offs and all of that stuff so as you were talking I I was starting to wonder is that even feasible when you the thing about being in the building like it seem to me there's probably opportunity I know you said an emergencies but do the directors

feel like that's okay again so what we're going to do and Mr Pico and I have sat down and talked already I sat down with with Mr ala we have a number of options that we can set it up with we can set it up with what's IP subnetted which would mean if they're in this building working the overtime they could only check themselves in and out in this building the other piece is they could

do it within the frps school network but they would never be able to do it from a personal cell phone or an outside Network so we have options and based on the type of event that's something that we would sit down as a central Office Team and decide in payroll and in operations and what every um department does because schools would do different things with green sheets than the

custodial there would be a process that would fire off and we can decide how it would be filled out it would all have to be electronically um I'm anticipating that we would put a station in each um custodial area so that way they can go check their email and they can do their I just as you were talking I thought it was a done deal already so there is options to talk to those and say well

this works for them not to them then you said about the overtime it's scalable in E either direction if we wanted to pull back and make it more string or we could open it up and make it a little easier it doesn't have to be that complicated we just have to hold people accountable to don't put in over time that you don't need and somebody's got to approve your overtime like the new system since the

last things we've had go wrong is more like sign offs and what is it for so it sounds like you're taking that and going to put it in dig we're just going to digitize it but it's not locking anybody in so we currently have two sign offs on time and with the two sign offs it's supervisor I have the last sign off but this system here will allow us the paper trail will be cleaner more

accurate and then we've already started instituting things like all of the sheets are electronically produced so you can get legible copies and photo copies and other items put on the looking at the document all that stuff has kind of gone away with few employees that are still having trouble getting the electronic piece down but this is this will be an our side will be a slower right I was worried if we were

just going to go we had to go one thing and then people are coming in they can't get paid and you know so as long as from my standpoint it's better process just from from the pap a lot of times happen lost translation and people are not getting people don't get paid doesn't happen as often as it used to back when process better now there's been many many cases there I'll find out

on a Friday as pday is such and such person for whatever reason and at least this way this is this is literally a Time product where somebody does the work departments off on it goes directly don't have to is a lot

of at least everybody can look at it you can say he check that out my other question was just on the um application process so I don't know if you ever applied in Fall River and I haven't in a long time but trying to help some people it is not easy to apply like because you have to um create your account sign you know like it's not complicated per se to everybody but it's also it's it

sometimes is not as easy as I would like it to be to say hey apply for a job and then it's like you know and I think this is the point of this is to streamlining some of that it is and the other reason that we went with this company is their K12 environment and when you go to apply for a job they actually have it built so that it's Flawless on a phone and most

people are doing it from a phone so when we get to that piece with Mr kogan's team we'll be able to put those documents together and streamline that process to make it easier one of the other things that was attractive to me as the Char personel is that right now we're using one size fits on application and so there's sections for degrees and other things that really don't apply to some of right you applied for a

cafeteria job or neous job or custodian job so the ability to customize the application so if you're applying for that position you can leave out those extremes pieces it's a simplifi process process um over the last 6 to 12 months we've done more and more come in for visit and one of my people sit with you put put on a working up once through the process because it's going to challenge

so this is a little bit more customized it's a better problem any other questions so this is a discussion vote to refer them all I'd like to go to them all and if we have questions or tweaks you guys can make those for the full committee and then we'll vote them on that watch is that fair y next uh van purchase okay all right so um as you all know Co hit our technology

department literally we built from the ground up um one of the biggest pieces now is trying to jockey getting pieces of equipment tools per se to buildings they're using our guys are using their cars or I'm having to have to borrow a nutrition van or having to get Ken to let us borrow a truck which he's always been helpful with but his department has also grown bigger so it's been difficult

what I'm requesting is that we purchase a van so that I can retrofit it with the tools the ladders that the people that are out replacing cameras and are out in the building using the tools every day have somewhere that they can home base they can go through have everything there also deliver stuff as needed right now we're kind of using a hodge podge approach Russ Lewis's team is delivering

we're borrowing Vans Etc uh I can tell you that I um called and I got the v110 um contract user guide because there are other um places where we could look I looked at local dealerships I looked at also changing the brand that we used because we've historically been a Ford shop um had conversations with um a Dodge dealer in locally actually on rout 44 and they could have done better on pricing for um

Vans but then did some homework and talked to um a district that I used to work at in a past life and a couple other districts and they have nothing but engine problems so I went right back to the um high top band because it'll fit the v um the ladders and the tool um racking systems that our employees would like to use would fit in there um it is through mhq um there is a difficulty

getting the Vans right now the van we we have as soon as this paperwork goes through will be put into the Queue at last check with Mr uh pachico I think they were like six ahead of us but we were within under 10 to get the van so I anticipate that we would have the band for the start of next school year of course it would have to be branded U Mr

Pico is going to help me with that send it out to be branded we would have ladder RS put on it and then this would just allow um my the low voltage electrician and the infrastructure technician to just get up and go and stock their day and not be worrying about dropping tools off coming back dropping cameras off back and for questions so was this I I don't remember seeing it on the wish list why wasn't

this in the budget uh it wasn't in the budget because Mr almeer and I had the discussion and through Central staff we had some money this year that he said that I could use to do this um we actually had a van and because we had a paperwork process and we didn't have a subcommittee to get it to me we lost out on that van they sold it to someone cash

like 3 days before we were going to have our initial meeting and then we moved it so I lost out on this van but this was something that I was trying we were trying to do for this year and Mr Al was able to financially so that's why it wasn't on a wish list now we're not giving out stiens anymore right for transportation cut that is that like are we giving out stiens for using their own

vehicles for this purpose for this purpose yes for this purpose I just want to again okay um what's my next question do we have any of these kind of these I know you're looking for Vans but do we have any sort of these kind of vans in the district now so these are the BS that um nutrition uh uses um facilities just got one for um shipping receiving similar yes and then the plan

is going to be Ken and I have sat down the master plan is going to be he'll be looking for vans in the future one of the old like style Vans would become an extra van that we could use to ship Chromebooks back and forth so we have like a a little bit of a a this is a short-term plan to get our tools to where they need to go and then Ken and I

have a longer term plan so that we have the vehicles to get the drooks to and from and currently we have no no vehicles for this purpose in technology and one is enough one will start Us in the right direction yep and then I like I've always been open with you guys if there's something I need I would come to the superintendent the central office and then we come back and request a I

mean it just sounds crazy that you're borrowing Vans all over the district that we didn't have a van and and I know we're expanding the the you know the the department but I will say the one thing that's been a plus is I literally can call Ken at any moment and he makes it happen whether or not they wait I have to wait until after a run at a school

he's always been awesome to get us to B but now this will just take that off of both of our shoulders okay I Y Mr ba I just think my biggest question is um does each department have a van when we talk about Transportation because you're saying you and I that wouldn't be a you question just because if we're talking about transportation for each department and borrowing Vans let's say nutrition has nut has most

vles for deliveries right lunies they havee also refriger vehicle that they use um at different intervals they're picking up stuff that we can't geter yeah and to be refrigerated if we're doing an outside event like fway and we do that times summerer truck and then we set it up Ander um grounds campus pick up trucks vans box trailer and um the logistic side distribution they have three vans two smalls units and

then so we have enough Transportation amongst each department only reason I was asking because let's say if was a a a emergency or something in let's say the technology department they needed to get out there's six vehicles in nutrition and which is what Scott been using and also us the refrigerator truck sum to move

qu that's all the U the timing was one of my concerns so this is getting paid out of the current budget it's not next year so correct cuz there's dates in here February but this pricing is this so this this pricing is um this is the updated pricing because it actually went up from the last one but I actually had a conversation with Ken the other day and they're sending an update because

there was a a piece on here and we'll have the updated quote um something changed on the bulkhead it was like $100 less so there's a little bit of a change in the price nothing crazy but I'll have an updated quote for the full committee um on Monday night the date just looks looks well that was the original that was the original date of the the van that we could have had right then and

there but then we had to cancel our subcommittee meeting and then it got sold via cash right my only concern with that is it's April y so if it was truly that was what was going on then we could have had a subcommittee meeting the following week to get this in the queue we would have already had it so I get it all I'm saying is it looks like you got

a February we wanted to do this in February but we're so I think it's important to do um for the purposes of the work but where what is your vehicle like your technology vehicle for you personally I where is it it's my personal car so because you have to travel around I thought I Rec called in negotiations that you were going to get a vehicle is that no no we never decided that we he

asked for the for the Trav yes and we decided to float that into FL that into salary instead so the reimbursement for I couldn't hear this thing is I don't very loud but he asked for in the past we had been giving people the allowances for travel and what the committee decided was to Loop that into their salaries instead and that's what we did I I recall a conversation about a a

vehicle to go back and forth so that if that's an option it doesn't have to be a van y like this but we were talking about the smaller um like the like some something like that we can just take a look at it go back to the records and see we appreciate it so no other questions on the van no I move right on uh neutri kids UPG upgrade so

uh I'll be very quick with this one right now we're using a server student data is on that server um transactions around that server if that server goes down we're in trouble because they only do one cloud backup um what neutr kids is now offering is a cloud-based solution um that cloud-based solution is redundant time 10 because it's on their server farms and it also allows us to

not have to worry about our equipment failing in the event of a storm or any of that we don't have to worry about purchasing a $40 server when this one is ready to go in a few years everything is cloud-based um they only do the upgrade during school when school is in session because it is literally going to be a flip of a switch and then they're going to give us access to our onboard Cloud

Server um I've talked to five or six um technology um directors throughout the state and they wish that they would have done the upgrade sooner cu the ease of use has just been you know fantastic the other piece that this allows us to do is we can get a um an iPad anything if we're going to sell tickets to a sporting event or a play we can have a

button put in there and we don't have to pay third party people because we already have it um that would just be on the background Mr almeer and I would set up where the money would route to but we'd be able to sell tickets to events um we could even take in um you know damage fees for a broken screen it could go through that system and be tracked in the system and then routed however the

money routes but it gives us options it's a any questions No my only question is can we have that we have that kind of money inside of the nutrition account thank you next this next one is a little complicated because in August we came uh Mr Pico and I came to you there was a need to put a sound system in at the new football stadium uh when we did it at

the time we went through a contractor who we announced to us we did not know only sold the equipment did not install the equipment so we had gone through the committee had approved it nothing was done the money was just sitting there we never used any of it because they wouldn't do the work so we had to go back to the drawing board to find a company that would come in and do this

kind of complex system um we talked about having having um Mr Melo Alex try to install it for us but with the rigging of the did we buy the equipment we did not so we didn't spend any Haven SP any move right on okay so like bottom line is I'm just cuz we can read this in summary so Bott was we need a professional sound system across that entire correct complex and

it'll fill and it's all just for audio there was one in there audio visual we're not doing boards and nothing like that a just audio just audio 76,000 for the whole correct place any questions no next prean board purchase 251 we're going to either way however we move the third and fourth floor I need to put the boards in I don't have them um this is a soul Source purchase 110,000 would

complete the whole um building and it would give me back five that I used over the summer that I keep as District spares in the event that one went down we could get a classroom back up can answer question on 251 so I think it's important for us to know we're going to fill that building with what because that's up in the air as well so I don't want to be voting on something that

we're not going to use like we either going to fill that building or we're not cuz I'm not voting for something that we're not filling that we're filling it we're going to fill it with children whether or not that's depends on the task force but it's going to open as a building so I need to outfit the rooms with the technology this was more for her the plan is to fill the building

absolutely right just understand the point we can't be saying well maybe we'll do this what if a bunch of parents show up and say they don't like it what at some point we have to make a decision and we bought the building we have to so I'm totally in favor of this but just beyond notice if we pay for this and we don't have kids in there it's not going

to be a good situation I agree any other questions no next uh next is Just for information purposes for you guys you can read through it um we're coming to the end of our district technology plan um so we'll be um starting to uh construct our new 5-year plan moving forward I think that's on I think you jumped over a bunch no no i b i um bundled oh you bundled the purchases to

refer I can do I'll go by the agenda then that's fine the next one is aged out Chromebook plan so aged out Chromebook plan I was just going by the way I had it in my bookbook so what do we have to vote on those cuz those was all purchases uh no that one wasn't a purchase it was just an FYI um this next one is also just an FYI there's no cost

to it on the Aged out Chromebook um met a company at Mas called micros Northeast they have a giant facility in wuber Massachusetts what they do is they come down and they take all of our old Chromebooks and they basically will Frankenstein to get me a number of spares every building is now covered one to one uh what I'd like to do is I have just north of 4,100 older devices that

with some repair repair that we don't have time to do inh house because it's very demanding with a small circuitry this company will come out grab all 4,000 they'll go through my number is to them I'd like to have 2,000 working out of those 4,000 then what they'll do is they'll take the remaining parts they'll leave them there for us and as we have devices that need to be repaired they

will use those parts for us and right now what I have to do is a technician every day at the end of their shift takes between 12 and 14 Chromebooks to Walgreens on Road Island Avenue to ship them out for warranty repair won't have to do that anymore because this company is a warranty repair provider so they'll literally come down twice a week to us directly pick up the devices give us the

loaners and then return them when they're repaired so there will be a cost to this but it's not something there's no number right now they don't want a retainer fee when I get the 2,000 back they'll let us know a price before they fix anything they're going to say to me Mr cabal for you to do those 2,000 with what you've given us it's going to be $115,000 to fix so we get 2,000 spares

and again that would be something that would come to this committee and the full committee first I just want to go ahead to start to utilize this company um so that we can get a move on some of these devices that I know that I can't in good faith repair in house cuz there are just too many questions no what are you doing with the I thought we were already doing this with some other

company so we're doing this right now with d we're doing well you told me there was another company at one point so those are the those are the Chromebooks that are DOA cannot be fixed they just buy them for parts that company is since Chromebook Parts they don't buy them anymore so what we're going to do is we're going to look at this now because a lot of the companies

don't want to buy it because there's no use to them anymore so it's just for parts so that's why this company um a lot of the districts are moving to because they're just going to fix our stuff and it's not going to cost us great amounts of money to have spares next uh rep replacement screens I apologize because I went through different things yeah the replacement screens are just to

um purchase um b-grade screens touch screens because we have touch screens in all of our schools the screens are the piece that on a warranty repair um do not get covered that is something that I can repair in house it takes a tech about 13 minutes to replace the screen um these are available now and I wanted to purchase them now before the summer when every district is trying to get them um that dollar amount

is $25 97 how much each one for um between 125 for the b-grade and 165 for the newer ones the little bit bigger um and and that's unbelievably cheap because I was getting them at $2 and $300 a screen and you said we so all of our Chromebooks are touch screen all of our Chromebooks and the elementary levels are touchcreen yeah the little ones the little and that cost how much

how much was a new one cost a new a new Chromebook uh they're going up so about 350 bucks the screen seems like a lot of money for but it's a touch screen so it's a touch screen and and and I'll be honest the the damage has dropped down to hardly anything it's been the best year as far as damage this is accidental exactly this is accidental damage the cases have

been great but I need to have the screens ready because I don't want the Chromebook to be out of the kid hands and if they break it they pay correct and that's working out okay yep so we sign off on sign off and there really hasn't been that much to pull in because a lot of it has been accidental d damage there have been a couple of Heavy Hitters that we've dealt with but um the

damage has it's been a blessing to cases so when I say sign offs cuz we had referred that a while back that sign you told us 100% was going to be done and then we didn't have even anywhere near 100% so maybe you can just get us I'll give you an updated number yep which I actually had all right the last one next is pocket talk translation pocket talk translation is this device

right here so we have been as a district trying to find a device to help in Pace and in classrooms what this device does is allows you to talk into it real time so if I talk into it in English it'll translate it to one of the 1800 languages that are on this device back and forth with the parent So the plan here was to have a kit of 30 for the

PACE Center so if they had an event out in the public each person could have one and they put their little earphone in and as I'm talking it would translate it into the language that they are listen that they are accustomed to and then also to have five of these devices at the main office of every school so that way if a parent came in for a meeting that Mrs cabal could have this one and

be talking to you know debit in a meeting another parent could come in and talk to a vice principal and be going from English to creel um any of it real time so that each building had a way to translate instantaneously um and I've been playing with the unit um I brought it to Maria's office and it's pretty impressive what it does um I unfortunately can't connect it to the internet in here because we're updating

the wireless as we speak um but this is something that I can bring for the whole committee on Tuesday just to have a I can show you guys at the microphone have a conversation um they're about 220 bucks a piece they have wireless built into them they have a cell pH one for each of us I can try to get one to for the for that yeah to try it what is it

is it it's 22 one time fee the cellular goes away after 2 years and what all districts do is they just tie it into their Wireless um it's all Aid driven and as a new language comes out um they install it real time and then their's software on the back end because this will buy us about 200 or so of them um what'll happen is the software we can see serial numbers where they were last

used who they were assigned to and I really do see this in the future um being used um in the PACE Center a lot especially when we're enrolling new students this is going to be a blessing to it's very accurate and Cas has checked it out parent Center parent a parent Center has checked it out um Dr braad and I have checked it out U members of the central office team are there any

other districts using it oh they it's unbeliev they can't keep up right now so we last on that catching up we're catching up okay and if you once you pay how do they make money if you it's a onetime fee like if it's not a recurring subscription or something so how do they make money the sales pitch was you're going to buy more and at some point you're going to want

them for all of your e students because they're that accurate he said and then there are also people using them in advanced history classes because they're actually translating into other languages and uh collaborating with students in other countries using these devices so they make their initial money off the purchase and they're not worried because they said as soon as we buy something they're saying they're not

going to charge us there's no yeah there after two years it just sounds too good to be true but no it's just a one time it really does it sounds too easy it sounds too easy we move that one on fix signed affid from money later operating system yeah you're going to need all right so then the next one was um internet so internet service provider is just an update uh we sent out the form

470s out to bid uh our contract with crown castle was up at the end of this calendar year we had three companies provide responses to the bid and crown castle again was um the low bid and my recommendation is to move forward with them they have been an amazing company over the last five years to work with um as far as our internet service provider that was so just a new you going to it's

a new contract for 5 years okay next um I have uh nanic um so nanic is our cluster of servers that is at the new high school um and basically um provides DHCP Services all of the backend security for the district that's a license-based service um we're coming to the end of our first threeyear license um to renew our for 3 years is going to be

$99,700 is going to look like but stuff is changing and evolving on The Daily we're comfortable with this solution and it's secure it's only 3 years old we're going to renew the licensing for three years and this time in three years I'm going to come back and either say we' like to continue with new tanic or something newer greater is out there moving forward but I'm just asking for you know our license renewal y

absolutely next um and then the last one that has um funding um wrapped around it would be um the relocation of Sims instructional technology and Technology Services they're in three different locations um we would like to move all three and the district copy center to the old shipping and receiving area at the cus Middle School um to the tune of just Furniture everything else would be done in house

there is some small low voltage wiring that would have to be taken care of with my low voltage electrician and low voltage Wier um we'd have some electric that would need to be done that Mr um Pico um we've actually already talked about how we can speed that process up and prewire ahead of stuff um we went with WB Mason because their state contract they actually Drew out you guys can look at

and I can bring to the full committee this would house all three facets of technology and the district copy center all under one umbrella um it would be the purchase of the furniture right now we kind of Hodge podged everybody has an old desk from here from there this would be the same look that's in Pace and also in the sped Department um this would also have an area for four spare

cubicles um cuz sometimes we have vendors that come in to work on the network or on projects so I'd have a vendor area we have a small break room for the employees a large conference collaboration room an on-site bathroom as far as security there's card access on the external side of the building as well as to get into the main building and then there's also a large area where we would store um technology supplies

and we'd have our brake fix area um that to the tune of um just under $220,000 for the furniture um and that would be a one-time cost and Technology would have a home and they would not move anymore um this for me as um we would that we hope as building this department and putting in the The Blood Sweat and Tears that I have to get this department to where it is the one thing

I feel that's missing is a home where they can all collaborate and be Under One Roof so that we we can become that much more efficient moving forward uh and also the plus is it would free up oh five or six rooms at PACE and it would free up two large rooms at 290 Rock for expansion for RPA or for expansion classroom expansion at PACE whether it be 3K whatever age group it would be but

it would open up a lot of space in that building questions what's down there now so right now it's just being used as storage um it used to be Russ's old space so right now there's some cardboard that needs to be recycled there's old furniture from an old TV studio so all of that would get we actually had a plan to start on April vacation the only thing we can't phase

out of there yet because of Mother Nature we have some pallets of solved soon as the weather breaks that'll get moved up to the garage stall outside and then we're good to go uh we're looking at about an 8 to 12 week lead time on the furniture once the contract is signed so um we would more than likely be ready to go out of this facility for the start of so that's deliveries that's

everything delivery installed there access for deliveries to go right right in so I could actually take delivery of Chromebooks right into this facility some of the stuff would still go to Russ just because I'm not going to have all that type of space And Russ does an amazing job of the inventory for us but the bigger shipments would come directly into us so everybody everybody in the

tech department in the be hous there I would also I mean my office is at Rock but I also have a space where I can go and work with the team satellite location so that I can be with the team so we can collaborate and move things forward I Yi thank you I think my only question is is the only cost is the furniture so we're going to have some

cost on wiring but on that side we always have spare wires so like I have enough wiring that I can get the network down there and on the electri IC side we have plenty of RX BX all that stuff the piping that we can make work we may need a onesie TWY thing but not thousands of dollars worth of stuff yeah I mean I don't have a problem I just think that

would be the only thing is just looking at how that looks and S so and and same question Mr this budget right it' be yes that's yes okay that's the uh it sounds like a good plan I I just have been here long enough to know how many times we moved people we've done like we moved and we moved and we moved and we fixed and we knocked down we fixed it really just gets frustrating

and I I just don't know how to how do we know that it's not like this has been vacant we've used uh North Main Street for Mr Louis for a couple years now right so this place has been vacant so why didn't we do this two years ago in that same time we were building Pace but but we do need to put a roof in that building that has to that work has to be

done also so we're going to do some work at PACE classroom expansion create some space there so now we're going to go in there and and True full transparency Mr Pico and superintendent I'm sorry it's been a long day um we have talked about places to move the problem was the department got so big so quick after Co and it was just we segmented them that way because that's the only thing we could do and

then Ken and I actually walked through the space for something totally separate we were actually walking through for something to do with the alarm system and we saw the space and then we started to talk back and forth and this is the creation of it and I think it'll be a perfect space for the team but that accelerates my concern that says we moved two years ago to the tech people to the

pay some not all all whatever like you created whatever you're saying now get rid of we created at them you're right if I could just jump in so there was also a plan to use that low level for a CTE program the issue is we have space in the school already Ava that space this downstairs area I don't believe this to two one window but it's noty room it also adults down there we

have we have alarms we have other sections we have fire system down there so it it needs to be secure and we want students to be down getting into those areas um they're secure enough to the adult but you can understand my point of this moving back and and again moving moving so Tech was the size used to be this would be a colossal waste of space correct it's too small for what we had

in there because we had to separate it into two different schools and that wasn't cost effective because we were running from one school to the other picking up supplies and then going to a school now us and the rest of you know the distribution team what they need in front of them Scott said the inventory penal so and we're leasing that right how long is that uh we've got one more

year left and then to so I would say as part of this we need to figure that out at the same time before we start filling up so if we if we're going to say we're going to pay that lease if it's a reasonable lease if I recall that's what you said then why don't we look book at more long term if we're doing a plan then now we stuck with it and then they

now they got us against the wall we don't know where to put so as part of filling the last we I would say bring that forward to try to get a an extension have a propal yeah my only other concern is that if you're going to do it I think you need to I I don't know what that's is that just show cubicles like the so I would say that you should be looking at

the certain positions that need a office Clos in office your department so the details I'm just saying that's what I think it needs to be so that not everyone you know you're a director some you got to have personal conversations or whatever this you can't have everybody having a cubicle and Mr Pico's point and I don't even know the space but if there's one window that tells me that there can be more windows well

there's only one outside the wall and that window was on the there's a double door an entrance Door oversized for deliveries so you can get so we can't add any more windows to give them a little bit of area so it's internal and it's on the ground so ventilation like they're going to do something to make sure that they're safe the proper yeah it's a fully Comfort area fully lighting it has everything except

for that natural Li and currently currently they have no natural light anyway um the techs have they have the old um I don't even know what you want to call that not much like gets through that anymore yeah that Skylight and Brian's team has no windows all either assum yeah sounds good to me and that's the last one on the group that's the last one to refer looking for a motion to refer these to full committee

motion motion motion made by Miss larby second by Mr Bailey all in favor I those so voted thank you next up these next pieces are just for your information our technology plan is sunsetting um and and we're a little behind because it's been crazy with mcast so I'd like to get moving on this I just shared some information with you all um we are in the process right now of formulating a

committee to go over some of these key points that I put in here that you can you can read I can talk about with you um but the plan will be um a 5-year plan moving forward with um Soup To Nuts basically where we are what we like that were worked on our old plan what we'd like to see implemented in the new plan um it'll also have um budget forecasts

so that we know what we need to expect for licensing um equipment roll out and refresh um throughout the next 5 years um it was more just for your information and I'd like to be able to come back to the committee um in the next couple of months with a more um detailed draft plan moving forward for technology questions no I you know what my question is going to be you know comments are

going to be that this is too and we're way behind we know I think this committee does a and the work is you know the department is doing a good job with a lot of things this is willfully inappropriate that whatever you want to call it so we're way overdue for having this dech plan we talked about it a little bit but Co happened all these other things all those are excuses we

just need this done now so I don't want to say you got 30 days for the next subcommittee meeting maybe 60 days and we come back and put this on it's actually it's already it's already happening I just want it to be for with within 60 days so we don't want this to go to the next school year and have it to be um because there's a lot of things

on here that you know we we added all the staff that what we're looking at is all old yep that's why I wanted to share with we could piece together all the other info but I would say within 60 days we need to have another meeting no problem next up all right so the next p is um again looking at the tech plan looking at the website um I'd like to begin an implementation plan for

reviewing and refreshing the school website um whether or not that be stay with the same vendor look at a different vendor look at the way that we use the website um this plan the team is being put into place now it's going to be led by um Frank farias because he was the original um architect of the first website and I just put something in there just for your you know for your

eyes um um if you were to have an outside company come in and do something first year total would be 45 Grand and then they would host they would charge us after I'm not saying that that's the Avenue that we want to go with I was just showing you guys what the going rate right now is on the market I do anticipate that we will stay with a very similar vendor that we use now where

it's more of a drag and drop process but this process I want to uh take into account all people so students staff all the stakeholders parents community members everyone as we do this um so I just wanted to give you the heads up that we're in the process of a review and um I'd like to come back in that 60 days with um some ideas as well with the website as well as our Tech plan any

questions no have only question I have is on the um the current website we've had meetings 6 months ago eight months ago where we said we were going to hire somebody to do the work to do the pr type stuff or whatever and that all the website was going to be updated I used to find on a regular basis I just been too busy to be looking at it are we

making Headway with that or we are making Headway um there are some areas in the website where those pictures are that Frank can I have a conversation offline where we have to try to fill in that space better um but that's why we wanted this review because as you start to peel back the layers there are more things there that really shouldn't be there anymore so we want to streamline

it and just like clean it all up we' used de Sardinia to do a lot of what even basic updates like there's things on there that just don't belong there and then like on our own site it's terrible like our stuff you know it so there has to be a better system of how to find things than and the software is now getting more user friendly when Frank built this website back in the day

with final site it was very difficult and he'll say it was a task the software is getting a little bit more user friendly now what we want to do is we want to try to standardize the way it every school has the same areas that they can update so that way it's not running out of control all over the correct can you please send us who your task force is going to be specifically I will

for both both you said Mr Ferris is going to take the lead but I would like to say look so him and these three five people are going to be on it then we can know who's making the calls no problem uh next up is light speed is that yes so currently we use light speed uh relay in the classrooms that's our software that we use for filtering for the Chromebooks

whether it be on School site or at home um in the past we had used social Cent um which has sunsetted um very clunky software would let us know if a student was thinking about inflicting self harm or if there was going to be a fight it would look for key words um we currently in our system of light speed um have alert and we're in the process of

turning it on and I just wanted to give this um an FYI to this committee and then FYI to the full committee um basically this is going to look for keywords and it will notify we're in the process now internally of having each building administrator highlight people that they would like notified of self harm fight these type of things so we're in that process Mr faras and I are building the back end

and it's the system is going to go live um immediately following April vacation so what'll then happen is the alerts will go to those building based administrators and if there are certain keywords it would go up further than that um to a you know a central based administrator if we were looking at like a major issue um it also has the option to scan off ours and we pay for as part

of it human review that it wouldn't be our people so if an individual was thinking about inflicting self harm at 2 a.m. it wouldn't necessarily call myself as the principal it has a full team of former police officers psychologist School Personnel that's what they get paid to do 24/7 then in that case it would roll out the after hours plan and it would notify the superintendent or

whoever we deemed on that list we're not turning that piece on yet because they recommend that we turn on locally first and then turn on the after hours piece so that's something that work we're working out internally um how we're going to roll that piece out but I just wanted to make you aware that we're going to roll out the internal piece immediately following April vacation any

questions didn't we approve something like this so we so we did so this was light speed this was light speed I thought it um so we've paid for it we've been building the back end but we've been using both softwares and now that social Sentinel is totally sunsetted we're going to fully turn this on because when you run both gives a lot of turned well it it's it's turned on but

what happens is it gives false positives because each software looks at at the same time so we didn't want to overwhelm somebody with like seven different alerts from two different software okay I'm good Mr Bailey yeah I think my thing I was just going to say looking at the 24 uh hours hotline is tapping into the police station because they do have mental health specialist on board um and

obviously our sro's but that was pretty much it okay when did so can you get to us the social Sentinel is something that we never even knew about we just bought that a couple years ago that's what we had that's prior to Mrs Pont so yes that point was what is this so can you just give us a little history for Monday night to say this is what we had this is what we paid

this is the timeline this is when we bought light speed this cost us x amount of dollars and it's now going live just it seems like we we sometimes pay for things and we don't even know it so giving us the info would help okay and that's just information right that's just information next up is any new business no new business we do have a need for an executive session subject to

Mass General Law chapter 38 section 21 A4 to discuss deployment of security Personnel or devices or strategies with respect there too so we uh motion to go into executive session made by Mr Bailey second by Mr larvey all in favor I oppos so voted this meeting back to order roll call please mram here Mr Bailey here lar here hear motion agend motions made by Miss lar second by Mr Bailey roll call

Mr yes Mr Bailey yes L yes thank you all have a great night thank you Alex