9 10 2026 Fall River School Committee - Facilities and Operations Subcommittee

Facilities and Operations Subcommittee meeting, September 10th, 2026.

Can you please call the roll?

Mr. Diaz?

Here.

Mr. Aguilera?

Here.

Mr. Moniz?

Here.

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Attendees are therefore advised that such recordings or transmissions are being made, whether perceived or unperceived, by those present and are deemed acknowledged and permissible.

Uh, there's been no citizen input time submitted.

Um, we get salute to the flag.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Thank you very much.

We're going to start with the, uh, 3.01 is a discussion, administration building updates.

Madam Superintendent, I'll designate.

I'm going to turn this over to Ken Pacheco.

Mr. Pacheco.

Building updates.

This is overall?

No, the admin.

The first one's on the administration building.

So we're talking the windows and the porch, whatever.

Yeah, I don't know if there's anything else you're talking basically.

Okay, could be any updates just located at this site, not the district.

Right.

So 3/4 of the packet is basically— the question was asked from inception to where we are today.

So Quite a ways back, '23, we put an application into the Community Preservation Committee for a window replacement that we were approved for 78 windows, which is 72 above basement level and the remaining windows were in, in the basement area.

We were approved for that.

We put together the specs.

We, we had a designer, RGB, who designed the work for the building, both sizes, quantity, and also type and manner that would follow the Secretary of the Interior's design for a restoration project.

At that point, that work took, you know, quite some time.

And we did have a request from the committee to have a mock window before we did any purchases or went out to bid installed.

So we showed them the spec, we sent them a document, which was a spec window.

A Kolbe window was the window of choice, made at Horner.

And we did install that in the entrance on the, on the right side of the building.

And we had a contractor install that window.

We had the members of the committee come by, take a look at the window to see if it met the standards that they were looking for.

The CPC committee.

Yeah.

So the CPC committee came to look at the windows.

They were— they wanted to be sure that the windows met the specs, that we were not going to change the look of the building, nor the intent of using CPC money, CPA money to upgrade the building.

The windows needed to have the outside grill, an inside grill, nothing in between the glass.

They agreed finally to the, obviously, to the thermal pane glass, which was important for us to replace this with something that had some R-value.

With that being said, that was done.

They were pleased with the window.

We moved— we got the grant.

We moved forward with putting it out to bid.

And mind you that the money The money from CPA is the year after you apply.

So by the time you get everything done, you're working in '24, not '23 when it was, when it was awarded.

So you're working in '24, end of '24, going into '25.

We put, put it out to bid, the city put it out to bid.

So one of the pieces, CPA money is a city project, it's awarded to the city on our behalf.

Um, and we normally would take control of the project as much as we could, but it is a city project.

Um, at the time I worked with— uh, I was working alone for a little bit, then, um, Mr. Oliveira came on board.

And, um, when he came on board, we, um— I showed him all the design spec.

Uh, we went through purchasing and, um, put out the, um, put out the bid for the construction.

There was about 5 different addendums to that for clarification.

The project is a very large project when it comes to ordering specific windows, and there were a lot of different sizes of the windows.

Project went out to bid.

We had 2 bids that were submitted.

One bid was in the $700,000 range for the installation.

And one bid was $1.2 million, $1.3 million.

Only 2 bidders on the project.

Let me go back with just a tiny step.

That window installed was $4,000, purchased and installed.

As we were doing this, we did the math, the quick math, and figured that we should be able to do this job with the economy of scale at somewhere around $400,000.

And it wasn't even close when those bids came in.

Went back to the drawing board with RGB, figured out how we could get to where we need to be.

And a couple of options, maybe we do a facade at a time.

Let's take care of the front of the building, let's take care of the side of the building.

The problem with that is the windows are not all the same on the front.

The windows are not all the same on each side.

So there's a variety of windows.

We all— we talked about just putting in one style window.

And this is all conversation, not actually going out to bid.

After all of these particular pieces, we decided that maybe the best bet would be to buy the windows and not have anybody install them.

Get the windows purchased, we'd be able to use the CPA money to use for that purpose.

And hopefully those bids would come in within our price range.

We could always back down.

What was the timeline?

Because these are 3 months, these are 3 months, 2 months, 3 months, 4 months.

So we're in '25, we're in '25 looking to get this thing going back up.

Because again, the money doesn't come in until '24, end of '24 to '25.

Right now, the 20th calendar year, calendar years, right, calendar year.

So as we start going later and later into the project, we are in '25, going out to bid, looking for proposals as to how we're going to do it.

And RGB, along with us and the city, decided we were going to go out to bid for windows.

And what I'm going to go back to, this was This was probably— well, I'm going to be able to tell you if you look at one of the documents in there is a packet from one of the companies.

And on that packet, if you look at the date, you'll be able to tell what that is, what the— when that bid came in.

Look at the— the document went out and came back.

If you look at this document, for instance, this document is 7/17/26.

So this document came back to us in July, a full bid.

Mind you, in all of these— in all of this time, the problem is, is that companies along with manufacturers, weren't necessarily keen on doing just a window sale to a non-contractor.

They were finally convinced to do this.

I'm still waiting for one bid.

You do have 2 bids, one from Riverhead or Riverbend, and one from Horner.

In those 2 bids, we now have 2 documents waiting for a 3rd.

Backing up just a little bit, each calendar year.

2 years are normally given, but beyond the 2 years, you normally have to go in and ask the CPA board, the CPC board, if they would approve an extension.

Mr. Oliveira, this being his project, went through the list and called me up and said, what are we doing moving forward?

And I said, we're going to go out for this window quotes, um, formally with all these companies who put together a document, um, to go out and get these prices.

And at that point, he said, I'm going to go and ask for an extension.

So Mr. Oliveira went to ask for the extension.

I wasn't at the meeting.

Um, I'm being told that he had said the windows were already bought, and that's not true.

The statement was we're going to buy the windows and then we're going to store them and then we're going to install them in a method that right now I don't know what it's going to be when I have to see how much money it's going to take to install.

We can self-install the windows one at a time as we have time to do.

We can maybe go to do some demo work with our construction crafts students.

Possibly get them to remove them and get a contractor to install so we can save a little bit.

We may look at Diamond, who was already working on the other project that's part of this borough, which is the railing in the front of the building.

So those were our options.

But in the meantime, I needed the extension of time because I knew that these bids were going to be coming in.

Yeah, I mean, I think that my frustration personally, speaking for myself, is just timing, that we've been talking about this for a long time, and, um, we just need to get the job done.

It's not— absolutely.

I watched Mr. Oliveira, the total mistruths that were going on.

I've been getting people asking me personally questions like, what is this?

And I'm like, hey, listen, I don't know.

They don't tell us anything.

He's there telling us one thing, and then when we ask for an update from the superintendent, what you gave was not— it actually is opposite what he said in a lot of respects.

So Frustrating for that reason.

Again, at the end of the day, we've got to figure out a way to do it.

This building looks terrible.

It shouldn't look like this.

And I've been saying this for over 10 years.

So as far as I'm concerned, the part that you said maybe we should buy one and do like piecemeal it, we should have done that in 2024, at least to get the— what, you know, you see here or something.

Because we didn't even ask for the right— we asked for what you thought based on that one window.

We still got to put money We still got to put skin in.

No, we have to put skin in the game, but we also— there was no intention.

If you do the math on a $4,000 installation for one window, we should have had 90% of that done.

So that's what we're going by.

So at that point when we didn't, and I'm seeing the years go by, right, the next year when we submitted to the CPC, we didn't say, hey, by the way, the bid was $700.

But can we get more money?

We didn't go— we didn't resubmit, right?

I'm just telling you my first question.

So at that point I'm saying, wait a minute, we got the bids that was too high, so then we didn't go back the next year to the CPC to say, can you give us $550,000 instead?

And we didn't say timeout, we got to just put $4,000 windows, so if the committee can come up with, you know, $40,000, we can put 10 windows in, just using round numbers.

It just seems like it's just the constant, and I know things take time, and it just, to me, that's my frustration.

Like, we haven't even still purchased the windows because what you just said, I guess you're waiting for another bid.

We just have one more bid, but obviously I can't imagine that the bid is going to come in lower.

So, you know, we do have 2 active bids here from 2 respective companies.

That we could move forward now.

And, and a non-response from them, a letter saying that they're not interested in bidding, will be enough for me to move forward with the 2 current bids.

I would say I'm in favor of whatever Mr. Petronio says on getting that thing done quicker than later, sooner than later.

But Mr. Gomez, uh, well, slow down a minute.

Are these lead-free windows?

No, that's all removed.

There's all abatement to do, right?

Exactly.

All right, so they all have to be abated before they're removed.

Yes.

I don't want to involve kids and stuff like that?

Oh, we wouldn't do that.

The abatement would be done before the students touch.

Okay.

Yeah, absolutely.

Price on that also, the abatement piece?

We don't.

Okay, we don't.

We need to know what that's going to cost too before we get hit with an extra.

Understand that, that you're absolutely right.

The abatement was part of the major price.

Okay.

When we got the bid.

But lead abatement and regular abate and other kind of abatement is a lot different.

So lead abatement is a more standardized universally accepted number.

Okay.

So I, I don't believe that, that the lead abatement is going to push us well over the top, especially if we're not going to do this at a wholesale level.

If we're gonna— if, if we're gonna have inside people do it, then it's gonna be a much easier process because we're gonna abate a couple windows at a time.

I can't abate— I can't do all the abatement without removing the windows and making the building dark, right?

So we're gonna abate, do a window, abate, do a window, right?

Safety factor, right, comes into play.

And that's why my concerns is the original document showed, if I recall, $260,000 they were going to give us, and we were going to come up with another $260,000 for the other pieces originally.

So the documents actually show that we had equal or more, you know, money to put in, okay, in our local budgets, right?

It was $400,000.

It's basically what, what the overall number was in our budget.

So we, we've known all along we had to put a lot of money into the thing.

Okay, uh, it's just the timing for me is— well, you know, it did come in, but it did come in over $300-something thousand over a $400,000 budget.

Never mind the CPA.

The CPA would not— wasn't going to fund the project completely anyway.

They did not have the funds.

The limited amount of funds the CPA uses, about $2 million, a little over $2.5 million.

I sat on that as a chair of that board for quite a few years, 6 years, 7 years actually, and to evenly distribute the amount of the money evenly with all of the concerns and not just city interest is a very difficult thing.

So when they gave us the $260,000, we were very happy with getting that kind of money, and then gave us the money to do the front porch as well.

So yeah, so why I was asking Mr. Petronio is now, whatever you feel like we have to do to move this forward to get those purchased, I would do it.

If we get 2 valid bidders, And the third one is not— whatever the rules are, get them.

Because now if we have those windows— correct me if I'm wrong— in our possession in 2 months, whatever the timing would be, Mr. Pacheco can say we're going to put 2 windows in this place, and then we're at least— we're going to start seeing some progress.

And that board was— why another year?

Another year?

We can't let this go to another year.

It's got to get done.

Like, purchase them, put them wherever you got to put them.

And let's stop putting them in.

Okay, would be my suggestion.

Mr. Diaz, thank you.

Um, so I, I guess just speaking, uh, for just speaking as one member, when I watched the meeting and I, when I heard, um, the gentleman speak on behalf of us and it was just clearly different than the, the one-pagers that we received, I think it's— that's when I started looking into it more.

And I also received some more calls, I think, as you Thank you, Mr. Vice Chair.

So, um, I think the update that we just received in this— in our backup today— is this going to go to the CPC?

Because I want to make sure we're a good community partner.

I don't think it was just the city of Fall River that applied.

It was on behalf of the schools, and we did not have one of our own representatives there who we can that we oversee in some capacity.

It was someone from the city that was representing us.

So I think it's just in terms of being good community partners, whatever we have to back up here, specifically the one-pager, it should go over to the CPC board so they're not caught by surprise.

I will put— I will put a letter together to Mr. Brandt, chairman, and let him know exactly where we are in the process and keep him informed as to what we currently have for bids.

And I'm sure that the CPC board has spent— this is not the first project from CPC that, that's been done in this building.

The first one was very successful.

And it's the only reason why we're able to continue doing this work.

Without the roof, we wouldn't be doing it.

So absolutely.

Thank you.

And then the last question is more for the administration.

When Mr. Pacheco, Mr. Patroni get together and come up with a plan.

When can we be notified as a school committee as to the timeline, the updated timeline of getting this complete?

I think that's something we could get together next month.

By the— I've got a— well, these are custom windows, I would imagine.

They're going to be fabricated.

So once we sign the contract with, um, whomever, whomever they They will enter into that agreement with the city.

It's a city contract.

Once we have that contract in place, then the order— that order will be built.

I would think you're looking at more than 6 months.

Oh, it's at least 6, minimum of 6 months for the building.

This is a spring project, right, for install.

And when we spend education dollars, if we spend over $150,000 on one project, it's not considered net school spending.

So we'd like to try and keep the projects, you know, if you finish it by, by June, you spent $150,000, and then July you spent another $150,000, it's 2 separate years, it works out fine.

But you want to manage— like, I did windows in a school once, years and years ago.

I did one classroom at a time, one classroom at a time, right?

So I think that's information I think the CPC board should know about so they don't take any adverse action on us.

So I think just So I, I'm happy we're going to send a letter to them.

So maybe whatever your information you might have in terms of this is what the education law has for us and this is the timeline we're looking at, where we have a timeline of, um, fall of 2028 or 2027 or wherever, just still there, kept in the loop, and we just don't run into the situation again.

Thank you.

Yes, make sure we all add these ACs to these new windows.

So part of it is no ACs, right?

It was part of the agreement with CPA that we could not leave window air conditioners in the window.

So what would you do, put splits?

So we would put mini splits in.

So we, we want to get it done.

At the same time, we have budgets to look at all those things are just dollars and they just keep on rolling.

And we— I think we need a— one of the items here is like, what are we doing in the future?

But this isn't a project where we say, oh, we're getting the windows from there and that's it.

We're talking at least $600,000, $700,000 we got to come up with to, to finish these for this project.

So we have to know, like, so when, for instance, in 2024 we said we had budget money to do the other part of it, where did that budget money go?

I know, you know, it just moves on and we go to something else that, you know, money's going to dry up at some point.

But what I think, we're going to at least $700,000, $800,000 to finish this.

And when you start adding in mini splits all over this building, like the whole bit, uh, so it becomes part of the budget.

We need to— this is what we're going to have for this project, this X amount of dollars that we can manage it.

And, um, $60,000 for the front.

Another one that, that's been going on for a long time.

There's probably reasons why you couldn't— at least it's all manufactured, so it's clean now.

I would assume at the same time we get a notice to the full committee saying here's the anticipated, uh, other— so these 2 projects, we are in communication and we're not gonna— I mean, I, I can say that we're probably gonna be a little delayed with the installation just because Diamond just opened.

So that process of them building all of what they're building— they have all the components, putting it together and coming here to do the work may be a little trickier.

So, all right, at least we get something to say.

Absolutely.

Date certain, this is when it is.

And I mean, this is a theme that we're going to go through tonight about date certain and when things happen.

And, um, so as long as those 2 get done, we can move on.

The next one I see, just going on, uh, Topic here was the time, uh, the district access review.

Is that the time?

Yeah.

So we have 2 documents I put together, a quick little, uh, snippet.

Um, on the first page, we're expecting the document to arrive next year.

Sorry, quick question.

Can we move it on to 3-2?

There's still— I'm only going by what was in this big packet.

So the next thing that I saw was, uh, Access review item.

Because I had a question on the administration building.

I don't know if I should wait.

No, that building.

Yeah, if we want to do that building first, let's do it.

Mr. Dax.

Okay, so my question is, and, um, and I think it's no secret, you walk inside of here and you see, um, renovations, um, windows, um, doors.

Those obviously cost money.

I just don't recall ever seeing like, like something in the warrants or a contract coming from— it would be less than It was— the project was less than $25,000, so it wouldn't have went to formal contract.

Um, I'm gonna— I'm gonna venture to say that this small project here was about $12,000.

Right.

I haven't seen any warrants either, was my question.

So it's not billed yet, so it will be.

Okay.

When you— when you would see it, it would be already on a warrant, which would mean it was already an invoice was delivered.

So we haven't received it delivered.

But if my memory serves me right, it's close to $12,000.

Thank you.

Yeah, on that same issue, I emailed about just getting where these monies come from in the budget, like budgeted lines for a bunch of things, not only this, but that's the— whether it's over $25,000 or under $25,000, $19,000 a bunch of times starts to get to real money.

And where the money's coming from for some of the projects, we should know.

And I know we probably have money because it's the start of a school year.

So if we budget a certain amount in contracted services or something, we have money at the beginning of the year.

But if typically we spend money for the whole year, and we spend it all in the first month because we added 5 projects in the summer, I guess at the end of the day, that money's going to run out.

So I'm looking bigger picture, where is it coming from in the budget?

Anything else on this building?

One more question on the handicap accessible.

We got a notice about moving like something from over there to over here.

You know, I've been saying that for years that that thing doesn't work right for the handicap accessible.

But what is the long-term plan?

Are we just— what are we moving over there?

It came in a Friday memo.

There's a— we're going to move something over there.

And then I don't know.

If I could.

Yeah, so this entrance here will be the main entrance for the building.

That will be staff and accessible entrance.

It'll still remain with the buzzer.

So if someone needs to go to that entrance, if they're, you know, need the accessible entrance, then that buzzer will work at that desk.

This, the buzzer, will also work at that desk.

They'll know which one is which that's calling.

Both of the— that push pad will never work as a push pad on the outside until it's released on the inside.

When it's released on the inside, then the push pad is activated.

It works on the inside all the time, but on the outside it's got to be activated.

Yeah, so my concerns with that, and it's been for years now, is that even after you get access, like you hit the top buzzer, somebody in here says come on in, I stand outside and I hit the button, the handicap pad is not going to work that way.

The pad would work if they notice there's a handicapped person.

They would flip it to an access.

When, when somebody says come on in, they've already buzzed that unlock, so that door should be open.

It's not going to open with the push pad.

So if I'm out standing outside and the person who's on the other side says come on in, I said I'm hitting the pad right here and it's not opening.

The pad is not going to open the door except if there's someone in a wheelchair there, which we would flip the switch right on the control where the phone is, it would just put, uh, activate push pad.

So the door will open on its own when you, when you, when you press the activate push pad.

Somebody's sitting here, right?

The pad pushes and now is activated so that a person can open that door themselves.

On the inside, it's activated as long as we leave it on for that activation, but In every one of our buildings, that push pad on the outside is a security breach.

We could never leave it open.

So guys, I think my— the issue I would have with that, just the process you just described, is so you have 2 separate buttons.

One, someone that comes in, they see them, hit the button.

They hit— I'm assuming they hit a button, it releases the door.

And then you have a second button that will release the handicap button.

And the door at the same time.

And door at the same time.

My issue with that is it almost— and I'm not saying this is on you, you didn't make the system— but that almost seems discriminatory in a way.

So you could have someone that could come in to the door, they could be frail, they might need the extra help, they might not be in a wheelchair, and where we— it's up to the person who's watching the door to make that spot determination on okay, this person appears disabled, this person doesn't.

It should just be uniform.

If you go to the door, you hit the button, and that person has— you verify they're someone that can come in, and then that person has the ability to either, um, open it themselves or press the button.

It should be that— it should be that person's choice.

It shouldn't be the person on the inside making that determination.

I think that's just a liability.

So, so we can always take it So we can always, now that we're moving it and now that the mechanical piece, we will just adjust it to say when you push the button and we unlock, then it unlocks.

When we push the button, if you're asking us that every single time you want the door to open automatically, if that's what you're asking for, then we make that as an option.

No, I guess what I would— We can't let the people on the outside have the option.

Is what I'm saying to you.

Because if you want that, you're still asking the person on the inside to make the determination.

So the only way to respond to what you're saying is when we release the door, we automatically open it.

Because if I come in, it doesn't open for me.

It's going to open because I have a badge and I'm going to open it.

Just like any of you, if you use your badge and you hit it, it opens Oh, it automatically opens, right?

It doesn't open with the, with the opener.

So what's the point of having the opener?

Because you have to still have to call in for safety, right?

The person who has the time— if you're in a wheelchair, you need the time to get in the door.

You may not have the strength, as you just said.

You may not have the strength to open it.

Or if you're in a wheelchair, you need that door open fully in order for you to get the wheelchair to pass.

So what I'm asking you is, is if you feel in your line of questioning that when that— when someone calls from that door, right, someone will go up.

No one has to.

So that somebody's looking at a camera.

Yeah.

And they're saying this person is in a wheelchair.

Yes.

They're going to push the button and that door is going to open for them.

Yes.

If you're asking that if a person is standing there Do you want that door to open automatically once you know that they're supposed to be in the building?

They have an appointment.

I need to come in the building.

There's a reason why they would come in.

Other than that, no, I would say so.

That's exactly what you're saying.

So then we only need— we only— we don't need a second choice is what you're asking.

We don't need to just buzz the door open.

The only reason I'm asking this is the reason for having the option the mechanical piece after a while is going to give us a problem, right?

So if I don't open it using the mechanical arm, the life expectancy of the mechanical arm is going to be better than if I open it every single time using the mechanical arm.

So that's all I'm saying.

I guess the point I'm just not— I don't understand is why do we have the button?

By law, we do.

Right.

So I'm saying to you, in every one of our schools we have a button.

They have a button.

So that— I think that what my concern is, and I think it's similar to Mr.

Dice's, you hit the first button and the person looks at me and says, can I help you?

And I say, I have an appointment here.

Then she releases the door, so I have to push the door open, right?

If I then therefore say I would like to use the handicap pad, and I say that to the person who's already said I could come in, then the person can release— they tell me it doesn't work.

It does And it doesn't— I'm like, I put— I'm pushing the button, why doesn't it work?

So whoever's on the manning it, maybe it's the problem that they don't know.

If I ask you, can I use the— like, I might walk up and look like I could push the door open and I can't.

So if I said I need to use the handicap button, that person should be able to then just hit the button to release it and the door should open on its own.

And that's what I haven't found in 2 years, anybody to show me.

That this is how it goes.

So I think what I'm missing here— I think what you're saying is if they release the handicap button, the door is going to open on its own.

They don't need to push the pad if it's— if, if they're releasing the handicap button for it to open, right?

But if they're not, if they're not, if they're just coming in, they're standing there.

It could be one of us standing there because we don't have our badge.

They're going to buzz us in, and then that door is going to open not by itself, we're going to push it open, right?

So, so basically what you're saying is every time you hit the handicap button, the door's going to open automatically, right?

So even in the wintertime, it's freezing, it's going to open all— it's going to bring all that cold air in, which is— yeah, but again, I, I mean, I look at it that way, but I also look at the other one more.

The mechanical side of that opener is very expensive.

That's a $50,000— $5,000 $45,000 operation there.

So every time we go through those, it's a lot of money.

And you figure we have 1 to 2 at every building we have.

So I would just add that over the years in schools, we've added vestibules.

There was not vestibules prior to 9/11, maybe.

I don't know, maybe 15 years ago.

Vestibules cost about $200,000 with the glass doors, right, and all the doors and all the mechanisms.

We put— we're talking about doing that here.

I walked this building with— I agree with you, Mr. Aguiar, the aesthetics of this building is terrible.

I even talked to the superintendent about that.

If I want to come and work for Fall River Public Schools and I'm a teacher or I'm a paraprofessional or I'm a custodian or anybody and I come to this building, I'm like, what's going on here when we have Durfee at $280 million and we have these beautiful buildings all over the place?

That, that door is way too heavy for any— it's very difficult to open that heavy door.

I've asked for a new door on that and put in a vestibule so that when they come in, you'll be able to be seen and, you know, like, hi, I'm here for this meeting, because it's a safety.

Down here, you still have safety.

You know, we just, we moved everybody down here because that was a clerk for Human Resources.

Human Resources is down here.

It makes it easier for everybody to come.

They're using this office.

They use those tables where we're doing a lot of hiring right now.

The files got put behind that glass enclosure.

They have to be locked all day long, and there's only a couple people that have the keys to get in there.

I think it's Dr. Godino and one clerk.

You just can't go in and out of there, and they can't remain unlocked.

So that's a safety issue.

That's what I was looking at.

The handicap, if you go to any of our buildings, Colin, if you hit the handicap at Durfee, doors don't open.

You still have to go and say, hi, this is, you know, hi, I'm Liz, can I come into the building?

They look, I may be in a wheelchair.

Yes, please hit the button.

They hit a button inside, releases, and you hit the door and it opens up.

It doesn't open.

But I get what Mr.— what's the point of the— I'm just trying to tell— what's the point of the button?

It's to let someone in.

So if— because you're in a vestibule in a school at Durfee High School, all right, security, there's the best that there is, you know, 2 or 3 assistants and the security guards, right?

You can't get in that door without them looking at a monitor going, yeah, come on in.

You go to— a perfect example would be Spencer Borden.

They can see you through a window, but they also have a monitor right there.

And now they've moved somebody out in front into the vestibule.

There's one of the clerks in the vestibule now.

She sees you, she might not know you.

Can I help you?

Like to come in?

You're entered into those front doors, you're then locked into a vestibule, and then you have to show your ID and come into the building, and then she can head.

If you look at both places when you get into the building, there's 2 handicaps.

Okay, Mr. Goddard.

Mr. Morris?

Yes, so I, I understand all that safety and vestibule and everything else.

But no matter what, when a handicapped person strikes the handicap, it should automatically signal that this person's handicapped.

Let me get a visual, make sure, and let the person in due to the fact of the cold air getting in and everything else, and having to protect the protection as far as the door being open for so long so the handicapped person can get in.

Um, maybe we don't have that type of process with the strike button allow them to know, hey, I gotta really look at this person to make sure they're handicapped.

I don't know.

Um, I would imagine it'd be like that at the schools because we— you have to be compliant.

So the camera is the key.

Yeah, there isn't anybody that's buzzing in without being on camera at any of our schools, and this building included.

Yeah, right.

At the end of the day, like, like anything, the button's there, they have a way of using it.

And I guess we got it all out.

I think it works, but I think if it works as what we said, which I've just never been told for 3 years that it works, anybody I asked.

All right, we're gonna check it.

Kenny and I'll check it.

At the end of the day, I agree with safety.

You have to be able to like buzz yourself in.

Okay, but if I— if you let me in with the buzzer, you should be able to let me in with the, um, handicap pad if I ask you that, you know, almost as compliance.

I was doing like a compliance check to see And, you know, so if that can work out, I, I think safety is a thing.

I agree with the deputy that the vestibules make sense.

You, you're in a school, you let somebody in and they happen to be a bad actor, but you didn't know that.

They don't get in the school until you check their ID.

We run it through the system, so there's that double check in the school which is needed in the safety.

I'm not suggesting we don't have that safety.

Oh yeah, that they'll— in this building, it's more difficult.

We can't— we don't have the room for it over there.

But over here you could probably make a vestibule where you get in the front door and then you don't get through the next door.

That's right.

And, you know, somebody's mad as heck that they— the superintendent did something or didn't hire them or they got fired or whatever.

They can only get through one door.

So it's a safety issue, in my opinion.

My question, is that the only exit with a handicap ramp for this building?

Yes, yes, the only handicap exit and entrance.

Yes, still it's approved because it's not— building is pre-existing non-conforming.

I'm just saying, in case— you're absolutely right.

In case of a fire, that is the only exit.

Usually 2.

Is this supposed to be 2?

Technically, yes.

There is a, there is a back door right at the bottom of the stairs in the back here that you'll be at first level.

You would still have a step.

Right, but you could get out of— technically you're supposed to, whatever you provide for anyone.

Yeah, because this is an older building.

Yeah, it's pre-existing.

Yeah, you know, but if we did certain amount of reservations, had to be up to code.

Code would be we need a second, so we're legal.

Just, you know, that's what it's okay.

Did it come after Sandy Hook?

The vestibules?

Because it was a push for them.

And I'm just asking because I had the question.

I believe you're right.

It was one of those incidents where everyone said we need a vestibule.

Then, yeah, you know, it slows you down.

And I can remember, you know, it was in the film on the windows.

Yeah, but then they got rid of the film and then they went with the window at first, and then the window was too expensive, then we went to the film.

Yes, today we get— I mean, well, they wanted to go with the wire windows, but then the fire department said no.

To that, right?

To try to break in, right?

No power, the doors don't work, you gotta get in.

Yeah, yeah, right.

That's right.

Yeah.

All right, so that's the app building.

Uh, the next one is the, um, access thing.

Yeah, school access.

So the 2 documents that have been provided here, you already have one you got, um, earlier on that you approved as the proposal.

And then the second one is the document that they provided for summer break, that they visited all the schools.

They have taken in— I think they've been back to 2 schools already, and they did take our documents for Laterno and our traffic patterns that we use at the first part of school.

To see if that fits in with any of their documents.

They're saying that, that sometime next week we'll have the full report.

I included in here that we would like to obviously receive it, look at that, and then bring it to the committee.

If at that time, if you want, if you want this to come back here when we receive that report, so that the subcommittee look at it first, I would say goes to full.

I would say do that.

Make sense.

My concern was just timing.

I mean, it's not a secret.

I thought when we did this in April that we were going to do those 3 or 4 schools that were priority.

They ended up doing them all.

But yeah, I would have rather them take those 4 schools and make the recommendations before we started school because the other ones could wait all year.

Those were the pressure ones in my mind.

So whatever they're going to recommend, I'm hoping it's going to be a little different.

Maybe it won't, but Now we're just changing a month into school, the pattern would have been better in the summer, get the year started.

This is the way the, you know, the traffic patterns should go.

I call— all I can do is say I was, you know, upset about that.

But at the end of the day, as soon as they come in, I think we need to address it right away.

Sure.

And then make the determinations otherwise.

And the city, we went too many times without having an engineer actually study it.

Oh, we're gonna make this a 4-way stop, we're going to do this halfway, like all these crazy things without an engineer doing it.

They're dealing with Columbia Street right now, right?

One-way.

What I've heard is that the pickup and drop-off for Columbia Street with the two one-way up is much better.

Fantastic.

Everybody else is complaining to the city saying it's not because they— people want to go both ways.

But for the sake of the school, I would envision that this person is going to say we should make sure this is a one-way permanently because You got the drop-off and people can still drive through.

My point is, an engineer professional writes that down, gives it to us, gives it to the city, and then we have a different argument than the 6th floor doing polls on Facebook to see whether you'd like to see a one-way or not.

So that's what we're currently dealing with.

We paid $65,000 for an engineer to come in and make solid recommendations based on the facts that we see, and we got the 6th floor in Government Center doing Facebook polls.

To see what people would like.

That's so— you're always— that's the mayor's office.

So that's where I was like, this to me is the right way, whether I like a 2-way street or not.

It's all about— if the engineer said this is the safest way to get the kids in and out and the people in the businesses, whatever it is, that's why I was upset that I think we needed this sooner.

But it is what it is.

Hopefully they don't change the thing back without having— I think it's going to be a longer process anyway.

But as soon as we get something, now they can go to their traffic people and the city council and determine whether they're going to do it based on the facts.

So that was my only question on, uh, that.

Anybody else have anything on this?

Because we can move this along.

Yeah, just one thing, and I've asked the administration for this and I still haven't received it.

Just getting back to the individual procurement, because we've all raised the issue in prior meetings that the timeline of this, of getting this, um, up to speed, and we haven't received all the information as to why.

You mean the time bond procurement?

Yes.

So I read through what they just gave us here, uh, briefly.

I think what happens sometimes, and I'm guilty of the same thing, is sometimes I— what I think is happening and what's in the documents is what we're talking about, and then the facts are not.

They don't jive, you know, they don't go together.

So I was of the belief when we highlighted 4 schools instead of the rest, that those 4 schools were going to be done fully first and everyone else— the fine print within this contract says they're going to prevent— do them all and then come back to us in end of September or something like that.

So shame on me for not reading it.

But then, like I say, if I start reading through all this stuff, everybody rolls their eyes and says, you're reading through all this, you know.

So I think that was just an innocent, an innocent mistake, but we probably should write these things in the future to say, no, date certain, this is when it's got to be done for these 4 schools, and, um, everything else should follow.

Can I just add, I've been at every— I know the superintendent's been out.

Um, I, I have been at every school or at an arrival or dismissal since the beginning of school.

Every day I'm trying to get out there to watch.

Um, at the, the most, uh, at the 4 schools that have been the highlighted place.

I've been, I've been to all of them for arrival, and I think today was all of them for dismissal.

It is 10 times better than I saw when I first started in the spring.

I think there's been a lot of good changes that we've made, some one-ways, putting up some barriers or some cones.

We're waiting for a little bit more signage in some areas, But the discipline of our administration and working with the individual schools administration, making sure that people are outside and people are at their posts and making sure that people are where they should be, that's a big piece of this, is a big piece of pie to keep kids moving, to keep parents where they're supposed to be.

I know that some people like to get out of their cars and let their children off.

I was there this morning.

I was opening up doors for parents.

I was telling them, hold on, I got you, come on, come on, come on, let's go.

And we were moving 5 to 6 cars at a time with a lot of us out there at Fonseca.

And then at Green this afternoon, it moved very well and we had no hiccups down there.

So I think the discipline on us at central administration down to the building administration and making sure that people are doing what they're supposed to be doing at arrival and dismissal is huge, especially for the congested areas that we have in the city.

So it is working.

Okay.

Yeah, thank you to the parents for understanding that, again, we're trying to get the children in school as quickly as possible.

Say your goodbyes and— no, you know, before— safety's key, making sure everybody keeps moving and there's no pileups and there's no— and getting out.

I, I— that's, uh, if you've ever been in a parent lineup That parent opens the door and someone goes like this.

I've been there and saw that happen.

So no matter how you tell people, wait, wait, wait, that's why you do 5 or 3 cars at a time.

At what was it, 3 cars the other day at the turnip?

And then it's 5 cars at Fonseca.

They go 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and somebody's standing here.

You don't open your doors.

And somebody went to open their door today and I turned around and no, no, no, no, no, because someone could fly through.

Right.

And that would, you know, somebody get hurt.

And the other point that you make, Deputy, is we need staffing out there.

So, you know, there are things that can happen to certain staff.

Something happens, you have to address something, but you need staff out there, you know, in force really for those, what, 20 minutes, 20 minutes, if that.

If that.

I guess my last question is, so the communication with the traffic department and police department has been good?

Everyone's— I've been texting with Sergeant Pacheco.

I even texted Steph.

She— Stephanie, she gave me her number to call her.

I took some pictures the other day.

I said, could you look at this please?

We did.

We've talked to the mayor's office a few times about the work down on— I forget the name of the street down by Viveros— the gas— yeah, the gas company.

The gas company.

I mean, like, the opening day of school, like, can we just have you take a coffee break and move move to the side for a minute.

And the other big thing is weather will be changing.

Are we doing anything for staff as far as getting them what they need for the— well, they're definitely strong-arming businesses to try to find extra parking spaces and actually having some success.

Yeah, yeah, we met with that.

We met with someone today that is willing to work with us and give us some property for parking.

So Maternal area.

That was Market Basket, correct?

Yeah, yeah.

But yeah, it's a Market Basket we're working with.

We're waiting for— we're waiting for the document to be sent over.

We worked with, uh, somebody, an individual, um, from Fall River, um, who I spoke with.

Um, I think Mr. Modus was referring to Fall River.

Oh, Fall River.

Yeah, heavy-duty umbrellas, right?

You know, things.

Matter of fact, I said that the other day because it was pouring out and said we should buy 3 or 4 golf umbrellas for every— for— and I say golf umbrellas, I know that everybody's— I'm just trying to— they're just huge.

Yeah, they're big in there, and they are heavy duty.

Like, when I— the one I have in my bag is very heavy duty for wind and rain.

So, um, I said we should get 3 or 4, and you put them next to the door, and somebody grabs it, you just go.

It's not anybody's individual, it's a go.

We have— I had ponchos, okay, um, that you just hang up and say, grab a poncho.

You put them on and you go.

They could be orange or yellow.

That's a good point with even color.

Yeah, making sure.

The, um, I know the traffic, uh, the crossing guards had— they all have— they have our— yeah, yeah, they have the vests.

Yes.

So anything else on this?

All right, moving on.

Uh, next one is the early learning.

Is that— I'm just going by what was in this big stack.

The early learning playground?

Yep.

Yes.

So again, put together a quick little summary of where we're at and, and, and what's going on over there.

So a couple of things, the contractor had installed the curbing before, sometime about 2 weeks ago, and installed curbing, they did some rough grading, removing the soil.

So Around Conley, there's a lot of soil, not a lot of gravel.

It's wet, you know, and a lot needs to be removed on half of it.

So the island in the, in the rear of the building was dropped off, and that is a drop-off zone for the buses.

In the middle is where we're going to separate 2 separate pieces.

One is a grass area, and the second one is going to be a trike area.

Which is the one that we've— that the committee voted on early on this year, last year, school year.

So the process became a little messier.

We hit a valve, an unmarked water valve that was buried below the ground that we need— that needed to be repaired.

So Water Department has provided us with with some help with that, not doing the work, but actually providing the piece that was broken.

It was just a cover and an extension section.

So that work has been done.

We've had a fence contractor working there as part of the project to fence off both areas.

So the plan was, as soon as they put some gravel down, even before they pave, we're going to open up the grass side of it.

So that the students can play.

It's for the older students.

The young ones have— the 3s and young 4s have a place to play already, but this is for the older students, the 4s and young 5s.

So we're expecting that— we were hoping that it was going to be this week that we would be wrapped up and ready for pavement.

It looks like it's going to be more mid-next week for pavement.

In the meantime, if we can finish the one section of fence left, then we will be putting that to use and the students will start using it.

So the hope is, is by mid next week.

And to answer the questions on documents as far as timeframes, none of these have timeframes in them.

Contractors bid the project, get the project, fit it into their work schedule.

And when they're ready to go, they're ready to go.

They all know how much time it's going to take them to do the job.

As long as there are no glitches, we normally are able to work it in.

The contractor obviously was shooting to get it done before school started.

However, he didn't hit that mark.

And we understand the one glitch, but we're hoping to keep that project moving.

And get those students these 2 playgrounds very shortly.

My only comment on that is I believe firmly that on a project like this, it should be date certain in it.

If you can't do the job, don't bid the job, just because it— there's no reason why we open school without it.

We were told it was going to be, and, you know, I think we should put some dates in on certain projects.

Mr. Dyes.

Thank you.

I think just, um, I think from school committee to administration perspective, I think we need to, I think, improve in terms of communication with— like, like, we should have been told from the beginning, there's no date certain the contractor will get there.

We have an estimate, things are going to happen.

Because like, just for example, when we inquired about this just a few weeks ago, Deputy Superintendent said this is going to be— you're happy that'll be put in place prior to when students were going to arrive.

I did say that.

Yeah.

And I believed it.

And I believe that when I said it to the deputy.

Right.

So I think whenever, whatever changes, the community, the school committee, since we're inquiring about this, and we're on top of this, at least at the subcommittee level, we should get a follow-up notification saying it's going to be a delay, or we, we believe this is going to be the date, we're not certain, so we're not having expectations on certain things.

It's just a communication thing.

Sure.

And I think that I was taking— I, I'm pretty sure I took pictures, um, and was trying to take pictures and trying to keep people up to date.

Um, I even drove down there with Mr. Pacheco after it wasn't done on the opening day, and I said, where are we at?

And he explained to me what he just explained to you.

And so hopefully by next week, we'll have it in completion phase.

Thank you, Mr. Muniz.

Yes.

So from this photograph, with all due respect, at the end of the day, school started and everything else.

But the way we have this presentation right here on this picture, we just turned this into a construction site, and I don't believe that's safe enough for the kids.

I didn't take that picture.

I did.

I didn't take it.

Oh, okay.

Yeah, so that's my biggest concern, okay, is now we have a construction site with school open.

Um, so we got to make it safer.

Um, and if it's going to take a little longer than what it's supposed to, I would, I would wrap this whole area with fencing or whatever we need to do.

Well, there is fencing up now.

Yes, but that's not construction fencing.

So you, so you want temp fencing for— well, the problem is, is like anything else, you got the tar not done, curbing sticking up, and then we got kids all over the place coming in, right?

But they're not outside the gate.

None of our students are outside.

I can't take a chance like that.

Okay.

It's the safety of the kids, and I want to see something Sure, I'm sure.

Especially if it's going to take a little while.

Is that a regulation or something?

Would that be something that's like a regulation?

Uh, it's private property.

As far as— I don't know, I don't know if the diocese is gonna take responsibility if a kid gets hurt there, or if somebody from public is strolling through and goes in that area and gets hurt.

I'm not sure, uh, who owns the property.

Is it the diocese still.

The biggest thing is safety, and it's a construction site now, so we have, you know, we'll rent some temp fence.

And then it's— well, my question would be this.

I mean, we have school and it's, you know, more people are in and out, but if this is something we should do this for every— I mean, a project's a project.

If it would have been done before school started, that's one thing.

We could leave it that way, I guess.

I wouldn't if I was running a project.

But just to be honest, uh, school's in session and I can't take a chance, and I don't want to see anybody get hurt.

So that's my recommendation.

I don't know how anybody else feels.

I think it's fair enough, and I think it just— we've done that before.

I mean, how quickly can you— temporary fence, isn't it?

Uh, is it something I'll call a fencing contractor and have them surround it with temp fence?

Thank you.

My question, and this is the only update we have on— I don't have a— if I had a hard date, then I would let us know.

I can probably try and get a schedule from the contractor.

It's a moving target, right?

So mid-next week is when they put the pavement down, you say?

The hope is that mid-next week the the pavement's going down.

So I can get temp fence to take us through, um, you know, Monday, Tuesday, and then when he— under the contract, it shows up.

Do I— did I say that the fence poles are up?

Right.

Would it satisfy to have a fence on it?

The problem is, is if I put the fence on it, the curb is still outside the fence line, number one.

But I'm saying safety reasons why.

So like, if we're talking the fence contractor probably has old fence that they could just wrap around temporarily, except they would have to take it down every time they work there.

So no, I'm saying like if you, uh, when you're gonna do the tar, you just like wrap it.

Yeah, you know, like one of those deals.

Or you get the ones that are standing, because I know you're saying rent one, but if they have a little fence like to just wrap it, we can check.

Like I said, I think just making it safe is the biggest thing.

And yep, we'll do that.

Do we have any other updates?

I do have a question on Conley, not related to this project.

No, go ahead.

Um, so if I, I requested is, and we haven't received the purchase and sales agreement from Bishop Conley.

Who has the purchase— who has the purchase and sales agreement?

The city.

The mayor does.

Who has reviewed it?

I never reviewed it.

I was in a meeting that, um, we went down for to say that they were sending it forward, and then I, I can't remember who that guy was, the procurement guy, or the guy that puts the pay— puts the— you need to put it in the purchasing unit.

Yeah, put in the paper.

And the mayor asked if the check had been written to hold the property with the diocese.

And who would write the check?

Us?

No, it's not our building.

We don't buy anything.

We can't buy anything.

Have we signed anything?

Do we have any signatory on there?

It's a No, no, no.

Have we asked for the, for the purchase and sales?

I have not because we don't have it yet.

And Mr.— I do know that that was the first time I met Mr. Rumsey, and Mr. Rumsey was still looking at it, and they was— they were making changes.

They were going back and forth with the diocese.

We were told at one of the meetings that it's a— basically, I'll just say how we took it, that we don't have rights to it, so it's not done yet.

When the Vatican gets it done, we'll get it done.

My concern is that, and that's been all along, is if there's things in that, uh, that are binding this department and the school committee.

So the school committee is the one that issues permits for the facilities and everything else.

Park Board is who does permits, as Mr. Pacheco knows, for the city.

If there's things in there that are going to bind us, we should have a seat at the table saying no, we don't want to be binded to X, Y, and Z because we didn't even have any input in it, or at least notified.

So that's the pieces.

Our people, school department officials, should have had a seat at the table to say whether we give this or not, because we are going to be now taking over a building, which we appreciate, but why would we be bound by something that they put in there without telling you all?

Yeah, Mr.— I know that, Mr.— I was at the table.

The, the CFO of the city was there.

Aldo was there.

We went down and we sat there, but I— we never saw— I didn't get the document.

No, and Mr. Ramsey said he was working with the diocese on going back and forth with their attorney.

So when was it?

What's this timeline where— when you all met with the city?

In June.

Okay, it was June, and it was at the end of June.

I'm going to tell you, Mr. Diaz, I got called down.

It was at the end of June.

I went into a meeting room.

The CFO was there, and all 3 of her people that meet with her in the meetings that I have been to— the 2 gentlemen, Mr. Petronio, Mr. Pacheco, myself, Mr. Rumsey, the mayor.

The mayor asked, was the $50,000 check— is the $50,000 check ready to go?

That's— I know, I'm just telling you that.

I'm telling you what I, what I know in the meeting because I sat there and he said— and, and Emily said, yes, it is.

Then at that point, what does that guy say?

Um, Trevor?

Yeah, the picture manager said, well, I haven't put it in the paper yet.

Procurement.

Procurement.

He said, I haven't done it in the paper yet.

And that's when Mr. Pacheco said, that's why we gave it— that's why we had this meeting in May.

So it has to be advertised.

It's a parcel of property, it has to be advertised.

So there's a, there's a disclosure that you're trying to buy a piece of property, and the reason why you're trying the property, because it's uniqueness.

There's not a— if we were looking at the City of Fall River boundaries, we couldn't find another property that has everything that this one has, everything that we want.

So it becomes unique and it allows you to— I don't want to say skirt, but it allows you to bypass certain regulations for procurement.

It's, um, so I guess go— yeah, fast forwarding to end of May— I mean, um, end of August, early September, I put in a formal request through the, um, school committee email we're supposed to do for the purchasing sales.

So, Superintendent, from my— the day I made my request to the day you, you put in a snapshot, whoever put in the snapshot that we're not going to get the purchase and sales, what was that process like?

We're not going to get the purchase and sales?

My understanding was it's not signed.

It has to go— it does have to go to the diocese, even as far as the Vatican, I believe.

It goes to Holy See, yes.

Right, so this is going to be a school building that's going to— I'm assuming it's going to have stipulations in there that are going to bind us, as the vice chair just said, to certain things that we may or may not have disagreement with.

So you're talking about like letting CYO play basketball for the next 20 years?

Sure, that was the— I'm going to use that, Kevin, because that was, that was brought up at that meeting in April or May that we went to.

I don't know.

I didn't see that.

I guess so.

Just to cut to the chase.

Yeah, that's what I'm saying.

Here's the issue.

Yeah, please, in the administration, go to the city and say, can you show us the draft P&S?

Because it's not signed yet.

And in it, what are we binding ourselves to?

I love CYO.

I'm not suggesting I wouldn't always, but maybe that's not the building for CYO.

Maybe Spencer Borden is, or something else.

So would we cooperate with the CYO?

Absolutely.

Would we cooperate with a theater company?

Absolutely.

But what if they bind us to something and then something really bad happens to that theater company or some— something else, and we're bound to say that we have to do this?

And I mentioned it at the last meeting, are we paying custodians?

Are we this or that?

The point of it is, is that we probably should have had a better seat at the table.

Now, councilors want to pay the— they're going to pay the bill, so I understand and appreciate that.

But at the same time, they have to be educated on the fact that The school committee is the school board, like the park board, that gives— they don't get permission from Maplewood Little League to use Maplewood Park every— for the next 100 years because they're a great organization.

Every year they have to go back for a permit, like we should have.

So it's a city entity, we should follow those same rules, but they want to circumvent it.

I said to a city councilor one time, the, uh, Fall River Youth Soccer doesn't have permanent rights to Britlin Park, do they?

And they're like, well, no, they, they got to go back every year.

I said, well, they gave $100,000 to the city for that field and they can't get permanent, but you want to give permanent because— just because somebody said that CYO plays there?

That's a true story.

Yeah, the, the nonprofit gave $100,000 to the city to satisfy— in order to get a turf field, and they don't have a 100-year lease or automatic granting of it.

It's not a popular decision to just say we should push back.

But I'm asking you to push back because you want to be able to tell the committee, here's what we're buying to, you know, we'll find a place for the CYO in one of our buildings.

Like, more general.

If they put it in there, now we're bound by it.

We should know.

And Mr. Dias is asking to be told we're not going to get it, uh, when the Vatican does it.

You look, we have every right to see a draft P&S.

So doesn't the city council?

So the day that, the day that we were in that meeting, Mr. Mr. Diaz.

I'm— Mr. Rumsey said, I'm not— I saw it.

I don't even think he had it in front of him.

Albo, did he have in front of him?

I don't remember.

I understand, but now that it's over, yeah, I know we have a draft.

All I'm asking you guys is somebody go over there and say, school committee would like to see a draft and we want to see what we're being bound by, right?

And we— so if there's time to have a discussion, now is the time before it gets signed into official.

It's like buying a house.

You want to have some time to discuss something, you do it.

But if we just say, nope, it's a city project, it's You don't do that.

Just please go and ask them.

That's all my suggestion is.

So just going back to my question, so I put in the request and I get an answer that says— that basically says we're not providing it, we don't have it.

So my question is, how do we get that response?

Because it doesn't say who it's signed by, does it say what the process was?

It just gave me the answer.

So when I put in the request to the time I get the response, the snapshot what was done.

What you're asking is the purchase and sale.

When I asked about that, because when we get a request, I ask the purchase and sale, can we get the purchase and sale?

Yes.

I'm told— let me just finish— my team here, that's who I asked.

I did not call City Hall.

I said, do we have the purchase and sale for Conway, knowing a team had been actively involved in it?

And I was told exactly what I just told you.

It's not signed.

It has to go to the diocese.

It has to go to the Vatican.

So I took that for what it was.

If you want us to put a letter in, I want something in writing because to City Hall, I'm not sure who is there.

Is it the Corporation Council?

Who's overseeing it?

It could be Corporation Council.

So we'll put a letter together to Corporation Council saying our school committee through our subcommittee is requesting to see the draft of the purchase and sale.

I'd like to make a motion to refer this to the full committee for an update at the next meeting.

Second.

All in favor?

I'm not sure what you mean by an update.

An update to what?

An update for the purchase and sale?

Yeah.

Yes, that's all.

Just something to say you sent the letter, here it is, and we're waiting for a response.

If they don't— do you want somebody from the city to come to the school committee meeting?

Is that— it doesn't allow people from the city to come before us.

So I think that's fair enough.

And it also is fair enough to say, which I think separate from a letter is just trying to be a nice guy and ask somebody from the administration to have an interest in what is in that P&S.

You all should have the same concerns that I have, in my opinion.

So somebody, please, you, you've been part of this process.

Whoever's been part of that process, just make a call and say, what is it?

That's all.

Uh, last up is the pace modeling.

Is that— am I correct, Mr. Trico?

Yes.

So I, I, I, in the essence of time, I want to just jump right to the chase on this.

So I don't know about when we have improvements and like how we do things.

Like over the years we've done things and then redone things and, you know, things change.

So the next item is the plan that we have, and this kind of fits in with that conversation where we don't necessarily know what we're doing with that base building, what the Room 62 renovation was for, uh, different types of things.

So instead of it, like, what was the point of why we're renovating this first?

And then I'm trying to figure out what is the process for how do we get to moving forward to say what is the project, when it— like in the budget, for instance, how— which of the 3 projects?

Uh, I, I just cut into the chase, like what is 62?

Like what is that?

So room 62 is the last room in the corridor which is occupied by PACE, but it's outside of— like it's the last hallway.

So when you're going down the ramp If you were going down to the, to the, um, the CTE programs, the old carpentry shop and all of those, there's a ramp at the end of that hallway.

The upper part of that hallway was the different programs, some of the computer programs, and then opposite side where the special ed department was, was ceramics and on that side.

So when you're walking down from the main entrance of PACE, walk all the way down till you hit the double set of doors.

In front of the double doors is the ramp.

The last room on that row, which is technically inside the double door to the ramp, is room 62.

I'm using 62 as it— because it would be very difficult to explain it the way I just did, but 62 is a room number that was a little different.

So there's a space there we're trying to— so what is the plan for it?

So the, the, the empty room was storage for, um, all of the early child care supplies.

Some of the home stuff, some of the stuff that they actually provide to parents, backpacks, things like that.

But that belongs to early child, not to PACE.

The reason for this, and it was a last-minute decision, was to move the directors, all the directors, into one spot.

Put a conference table in the middle, put areas for all the directors to work out of.

Currently, they may be spread into different buildings.

There may be a couple in one building, a couple in another across the district.

Better have them in one place for a couple of reasons, but also it frees up rooms within the schools for people who are working in the schools.

The directors are mobile, are all transient.

So we needed to put a new floor down in that room.

Remember, it was a closet, so to speak.

This was just a storage room.

We put a new floor in.

We, uh, put a new ceiling in.

The one thing that's left is to drop, uh, fire suppression.

We put new lighting in, um, painted the room, and now we'll put these, um, uh, for lack of a better term, modules within the room so that the cubicles— so that they can work in.

Um, and that's the, um, the full renovation of 62.

It's at the end of the hallway.

How I merge this into my personal opinion into the plan is that this is the first we're hearing at school committee of we renovating a place to move the directors, that all of that, what you just told me is literally the first time I'm hearing of it.

So that tells me that it's not part of a school committee plan of, okay, we gotta move the directors for this and to open up.

I agree with you in premise, like the schools need some spots to deal with it, but we haven't been part of that process.

Then, so moving on to the next one is why I think we need to have a plan of exactly what we're gonna do.

Moving forward so we know here's the 3 projects that we need, here's the 5 projects that we need, so that when we do it and we vet it, we don't now change it 2 years later.

So I think that, that, that has been on my docket.

I think I talked to Mr. Moniz about it a long time ago.

We went and visited school one day, we were out talking on the sidewalk about having a facilities plan, like a yearly plan, a 3-year plan, 5-year plan, and 10-year plan of what you're looking to try to do and how we go around each building.

Because we're trying to pick and choose different things to do in a building, and then all of a sudden something arises and then you move to another building, then this one doesn't get done.

So when Aldo and I have started to talk about this, what I want Aldo to do is to look at what facilities has done over the last 5 years, and if it's been $600,000 worth of work or $800,000 worth, to have him come up with an average so that we can come to the budget subcommittee and say we'd like to put $800,000 in a facilities planning cost center, and we can start bringing to the committee doors at Laterno, windows at, you know, Henry Lord, HVAC systems upgrade to wherever, and you go around because you have 19 buildings.

How would, you know, we, we probably, you know, you don't want to chew off too much, you don't want to chew off more than we can do, but yet there needs to be a plan so that you have a rotate.

So, yeah, I understand, you know, what, what are the newest buildings to your, your worst?

I don't disagree with anything that you said.

I think that's where we need to go.

Mr. Dives?

Yes, so, um, I think to your point, um, Mr.

Chair, going back to having this in, um, It says in the document right here in the backup that this is part of the capital improvement program.

Is that the one that was approved by the school committee?

I know I didn't— I did not know that the chief academic officer had asked for that room.

So, and when they started that, so it must have, must have been, uh, in planning for doing something like that.

I did not see that.

The plan was to put them all in one place from day one.

There was never a spot that was, that was put aside for them in any of our buildings.

They were down at RPA, but to free up space at RPA, we're trying to move as many people out, our adults, to get into other buildings.

I support that.

That's not, that's not the issues.

But correct me if I'm wrong, we just recently approved a 5-year capital improvement plan for the schools.

Yes.

Was this in here?

The capital plan, we would have never put this in.

It's not capital.

This is not a item that would ever be in a capital improvement plan.

These are small repairs, so it would never make it to that, um, spot.

Capital improvement plan is, is major projects— roofs, um, windows.

I just think it says in the backup it's part of the 2027 capital improvement program.

So I— so I think that's an internal program.

I think that's like a loose, uh, what we're trying to clean up by what the deputy talked about and Mr. Mona's talked about before, like, is having an internal capital improvement program be more formalized, but we actually know what it is, we prove what it is.

So this is very loose language in my opinion.

It wasn't necessarily part of— like you said, Deputy, you didn't know that that was happening.

You know, we just got to get all everybody on the same page with it to say this is what we're going to do, we have these 5 rooms, this is what's going to happen.

You know, we just had it last year with the Evolve.

We moved Evolve from there to here, and they're saying they had something to do with it.

And I'm going to go to Durfee and find out what are they using those rooms for.

It just should be part of a systematically done program rather than just willy-nilly, or I don't even know how some things get decided.

But, um, and I definitely think though that that helps our organization piece if we know we have 650 3/4 of a million dollars that we need to spend on facilities.

And that then you plan backwards.

What is, what is a main, what needs to happen here to facilitate, to make it better?

I mean, you're not, you know, it's wonderful to see playgrounds, but it's also terrible to have, you know, they covered pipes at Talbot this year.

'Cause the kids pick at, you know, the coverings on the pipes.

I brought that up over the summer.

That was something that probably hadn't been planned, but they did cover the pipes in there because they looked terrible.

You know, the kids pick on them, we run into them, you know, chairs hit them and this and that, and those are exposed in, you know, rooms.

But if we knew that those were there, we would say, you know, how much is that going to cost?

Drop ceilings in.

That was on his plans and is to do.

I think if you— I think you're right.

If we put it down on paper and say they're going to do drop ceilings at Talbot, they're going to do drop ceilings at 32 rooms at Talbot, which is going to cost this much.

I think, I think everybody's on the same page with it for the most part.

Just what do you have more specifically?

I, you know, we jumped over the pay.

Anything else with the pay center?

Yes.

How much is this project?

Under 20, maybe 20, maybe 23 with the fire suppression.

My biggest thing with pace, like usual, um, especially when you're getting all the families to bring their kids to register them and everything else, there was never enough room even when I was back there working on that building.

So we definitely have to take into consideration on what we're going to do with that section of the building and how they're going to get more room.

Yeah.

And how we're going to make it safer for everybody else coming in with 100 families a day, or however, whatever the number is.

Um, it's just way too tight, and we definitely have to think of that.

I'm not saying that the directors don't need a home— they do— but at the end of the day, when you got all these families coming in to register and you're trying to line them all up inside a building And especially not having enough security and everything else.

Um, that's my biggest deal with Pace.

So I definitely— if we're going to be spending money, like I said, I don't disagree on giving the directors a home, but we definitely have to look at Pace.

Is there more space there for us to renovate?

Yes.

Well, we definitely have to look at if— how we're using the space before, because there were some classrooms.

So Kenny and I went down there and we did look.

There's classrooms on the left that was there for the pre-K, and we talked about that, about opening up a room for a family waiting area and then putting some of the computer docks in there.

And I'm just gonna, you know, when— so it's been super busy, plus they need a better vestibule, right?

They need a vestibule or a better time, like, but having a written plan would have avoided this, so To the point of if we have 5 rooms in a row and we renovate one and make that the new home for the directors, and then we have 4 rooms over here that are going to be connected to over here, but then we just renovated a room in the middle, it might make sense to say, wait a minute, why don't we hold off on that and give that extra room to combine this corridor and fix that room?

Like, you know, it's just like putting one foot before the other.

But sometimes we do things and just to try to help, and then inadvertently we're not.

Well, we take a library and cut it in half because we want to make offices, and then we need it for a classroom, we've got to cut the thing down that we just did.

Like, so those are the things I think we just need to avoid.

But is everyone good with the, uh, having the, you know, Aldo or Deputy Superintendent come back to us with some— but we want to be involved in the planning of this report.

And if you need assistance with it as the next couple months go by, bring it to the subcommittee so we can say, hey, we need a outside person to look at it because it's a heavier lift than what we can do.

But I think here at this point, you know the charges, right?

So maybe— I think getting the cost centers is key.

But a couple of— do you think a couple months we can have an update?

I— Aldo, for a cost center to go through what Ken spent for the last— or the COO spent for the last 5 years.

At the next meeting— I didn't say you, Kenny, I just say operations.

In the next meeting in a couple months, We can get an update on that.

And if at that time you feel like we need a consultant or somebody to do something, then I would bring it to us at that point.

Fair enough.

Any other issues?

No.

Anybody?

Would that be by November 1?

Yeah, the quarter.

November.

So yep, November subcommittee.

All right.

No new business.

Motion to adjourn.

Overtime use.

Oh, I got this on here.

I just— did we get a copy on that?

The overtime talk?

This should be a piece I didn't get a chance to see.

Looks like that.

Mr. Chico, could you summarize that?

So basically, we broke down, we broke down the overtime summer use from July 1 to current.

And it's broken down by discipline.

Explanation.

It's, it's 3 pages.

Got it, got it.

It's the next 2 explanation pages.

Spreadsheet.

Exactly.

And the last piece of the spreadsheet on the hours by unit.

So, um, I haven't looked at it, to be honest.

I'm just seeing it now.

Do you have any specific questions you want to ask now, or you want to— Yes, what's the, um, procedures for approval of overtime?

It's in the document there, like there's 2 other pages behind.

Yep.

My only question, or any— obviously it's not something we have here, but just the, um, overtime sheets, like the processes to fill out, like rationale, like there's a form that we have to fill out, that I'd look for the backup for that.

I think it'll explain some of the questions.

I'm going to tell you that the overtime is, is a verbal approval, 2 levels.

The ask for the overtime is done by either the director or the deputy director, depending if there is a deputy director.

The verification is, and it's listed here, the nature of the urgency of the work, the operational impact of delaying the work, whether the work can be completed during normal hours.

On a custodial side, it's, it's pretty cut and dry.

We run classes 6 weeks out of 10 for the summer, the extended school year, and another enrichment programs that we run.

It takes up time, it takes up space, and it doesn't allow the custodians to work in those areas during that stuff.

They can do regular cleanups, but they're not stripping floors floors and waxing it.

So overtime is generated with that.

It's also generated in construction, depending if things are going on in the school and they can't work in areas.

It's also generated by people's accruals.

So people have vacations in the summer, they take those vacations, that particular area has got to be covered.

So all of those items contribute to overtime, but that is a verbal request request from the director or the deputy director in each department to me with the verbal conversation of why you're offering the overtime, what's— why can't it be done, have we exhausted every effort that we have, have we used every part-timer we possibly can.

And then beyond that, then I give them the authorization.

When the overtime sheets come in, I match it with what the conversation is and they list the work on the overtime sheet, who they're covering for, or what this was required for.

3 signatures: the employee's signature, the director, and then my signature on every overtime sheet.

So I would just respectfully disagree that that's the process.

So we've had issues in the past with overtime.

Prior Superintendent Ponce issued a superintendent's protocol for all overtime, especially in custodial and maintenance.

And that process is not what was listed here.

So I would like to— that's what I was referring to when I said, is the process followed?

That process has been identified as part of, uh, the Collins Center.

And we, when we had issues with it, so-called audit, we were going to audit the department because of some inappropriate paperwork or just tightening up this thing.

So giving verbal permission is not what is listed.

And I'd like you to look into it and figure out why that happened.

Mr.

Dice, thank you.

This is the first time going through this as well.

I guess the first few questions I would have is under admin 724.

It looks like the overtime just went to 2 paras, paraprofessionals.

So paraprofessionals, the overtime was for Um, buses, out-of-district buses, waiting for out-of-district buses to come back.

Out-of-district buses where they're watching students who may or may not have been able to make the connection with their parents.

And, uh, and that admin piece is all of those that don't fill it, fit into a, a regular slot.

It may be couriers, it may be those paras, and it also may be the Distribution group.

Okay, so like if it's the courier, it's not accurate.

There's no admin overtime, right?

The admin you're thinking of, right, the admin you're thinking about is not that.

Wouldn't that come out of, um, transportation budget?

The power is waiting, like the couriers and things like that.

Or there are some things that we don't charge to transportation, um, that's apparent is not showing up.

Um, the bus was paid for out of transportation.

And then so I go from 8/21 to 8/28.

Um, for 8/21, looks like it was just, um, the 2 admin positions.

I'm assuming it was transportation.

Then I go to 8/28, looks like from that one, one week time frame, one of the clerks received, um, 18 hours in overtime.

It might have been for a longer period of time, but it could have been summer, uh, doing summer, um, payroll, right?

So I, I guess where I get confused— so this seems to be broken up by week and biweekly.

Biweekly, yes.

So if I go from 8/21 to 8/28, 8/21 it just has those, um, 2 admin— well, I know they're at quote-unquote admin positions Then 8/28, you have the admin, it has one clerk, and it seems like it has for that week, or it's under 9— I apologize, 8/28 to 9/4, right?

18.

So within that one week, the clerk received 18 hours of overtime.

I bet it's out of school, I would guess.

I would think so.

Like between— I think, and it could be when it was submitted.

So if I'm doing overtime and I submitted my sheet, it doesn't have to be submitted every week.

It would be biweekly, or you would still owe the money.

It just might be a— I'm guessing that's probably what it is.

But the start of school was that week, so I would imagine you trying to get bus routes done, this and that, having, uh, in my opinion, having 15 hours, 20 hours of overtime in a pay period is not that abnormal under that, under that time frame anyway.

Just my thought without looking at it.

For, um, where would the groundskeepers fall under?

Would that be under camp?

Camp.

So you have 30, and you have, um, 9 groundskeepers?

8.

8 groundskeepers.

There's 30, so that covers all of them, the $30?

Everything that's here is everything they have.

Summary, it's not individual?

Like, no, it's not individual, no.

Um, yeah, like, I think like you said, um, it's just going— I think we need to identify what those procedures were.

And if this is something that has to be a policy, that's something I'll be in favor of, or at least getting strong, um, procedures in place.

And I'd also like to see at some point as well where this is coming out of as well.

Like, we have— we approve on an individual basis the overtime for each department.

Like, each department has their own overtime, which school committee approves.

So just tying that back to the, um, to this amount here.

And I guess one of my concerns is— and it's no secret, I brought it up to the superintendent over the weekend— it's just usage again over weekends and such.

For example, this was brought to my attention.

We have a situation at Durfee where Um, I guess they're working on it over the weekend, come— which would use overtime.

And then come Monday, Tuesday, now in the Wednesday, Thursday, we have this, which I emailed the superintendent about, which the superintendent administration hasn't gotten back to me on fixing this issue, which I have a concern with.

So I'm hoping— I would enter this into the record and ask that these this situation— can we get back to Mommy?

Taken care of.

I can answer that.

I can answer that right now.

Like, we don't need to get back to anybody.

I can answer it now if you'd like to.

Sure, sure.

So the area was overgrown with weeds.

It was out of control.

Remember when Brightly was doing this work?

They were— they had just Durfee to do, and they were handling Durfee.

We also now have added Bishop Conley in some instances to some of their workload.

So this area was not able to be kept up the way it should have been kept up.

Some of the plantings there are not appropriate.

Some of them are made for— it's a wildflower mix that's used in areas that they want to overgrow.

That's the product of that particular area.

It is a sprinkled irrigated area, so that area gets a lot of water, and we ended up with a situation we couldn't manage.

It is all removed, or will be all removed.

The area will be covered with wood chips for now to make it through, and then we'll do a full planting there next year of something that can be managed with the amount of employees we have in grounds.

Tia, you are you done?

Are you, Mr. Morris?

Well, I happened to drive by that when they were doing that removal.

Yes, it was definitely overgrown, but the process that they used was definitely not safe.

They were using a backhoe, which was blocking the whole walkway, which we had events going on and practices going on.

I did not see a director there.

I just seen 2— there are no directors.

Well, at the end of the day, you guys are blocking a main sidewalk with a backhoe, weeding with a backhoe on top of that.

If you look at your camera footage, I'm pretty sure you'll have a laugh at that.

But at the end of the day, somebody's got to overlook them.

You know, as far as the director goes, or somebody's got to have control of how they do a cleanup because it didn't look safe to me.

So once it's done, now if it's cut down and the sidewalks and stuff would be like— I mean, it rained, so it probably is cleaner than what the photos show.

Uh, yes.

And yeah, there was limited amount of overtime that was offered, so there was more work to do than the overtime that allowed.

And we didn't have an overabundance of people wanting to take the overtime.

So if there were 2 people there, if they were both using machines, then yes, there was nobody there who was going to clean up after they left.

Whatever big stuff they could haul away, my assumption is they did, because I didn't find as much— I didn't find an equal amount of material there that they pulled out.

So some of the material was hauled away.

Understood.

Any other questions?

All right, I think just going— just going back to Durfee as well, I know Mr.

Moon has asked a question which— have you got an answer to in regards to the, um, the tennis court?

Uh, the tennis courts?

What, the wind?

Um, yes, the one you emailed about and I followed up with.

Yeah, I believe we answered that last Friday in the packet.

Okay.

I think it was 2 weeks we've answered it.

So that when things are done— well, they still got some more to do.

It looks like the tennis court thing.

So the scrim, probably they should go down every year.

You know, they go down, they go down after the summer programs finish up.

They don't go down after the tennis season.

So we can take care of that.

That'll be taken care of.

And the other one will obviously see the update with the wood chips.

Whatever you got to do to carry that through.

How about the swimming pool?

Did you get any answers on the swimming pool?

Is that going to start that program, or how are we— I would say that the deputy is going to give us some information relative to the swimming pool sooner than later.

Yeah, is that fair enough?

Yeah, I— the one of the athletic— the middle school athletic director has reached out.

We're going to try to— just saw that last week, and we're going to have a meeting and start talking about it.

So you're going to figure it out, but let it— just let us, uh, know what's happening with it.

Yeah, motion to adjourn by Mr.

Guy, seconded by Mr. Jonas.

All in favor?

Aye.

Thanks for voting.

Thank you all so much.

Have a great night.

Thank you.