Concord Carlisle Joint School Committee, December 10, 2024

6 PM I'm calling the conquered car Regional School District uh committee meeting to order I'll call the conquered school committee to order all right all right so we've had a longer break than usual um between meetings but I think this is makes a lot of sense um and yeah so uh just to to kick us off um both Cynthia and Aisha are not going to be present tonight um they had different Things happening so they are not going to be able to make it um trying to think sorry I lost my we can move into

the student update and then we can get going great I see Felicity and zarya can they hear us I don't think they can hear us again Ask yes please sounds like you just oh good should good all right so Zary and Felicity we ready for your update if you're ready for us there they are hi hello Maddie um I think Maddie is on her way to student sent so she should in just a minute or two um can everyone see my screen because there was like a weird popup yeah okay I like your point okay

Sor do you want to start yeah Uh uh Thanksgiving week which which which was two weeks ago I think wait can I interrupt you for a second MADD Clancy has her hand up I'm I'm promoting okay sorry just saw it hi sorry I just got you okay sorry Maddie did you want to do the Thanksgiving Thanksgiving week stff okay so for Thanksgiving week class government ran the annual Thanksgiving senior luncheon which was really great And I think about 50 student volunteers came and they serveed food to I think over 130 senior citizens um it was

in the CCS cafeteria and it heard it was a really great event that was a couple weeks ago on the weekend and then South Asian student Society had their Dali celebration um and I think that was around the same time as um students and its spirit week so that kind of coincided nicely with it and in the spirit week we had a lot of great events Um including there was um every day there was kind of a theme for students to come and dress up so there was school colors um and I think some CC

merch which is cute and then on the actual day the last day before Thanksgiving we had our spirit assembly which is such a fun event and um student Senate runs it and there was um I think there's a teacher versus student um tgof which is really entertaining and then the fall and winter sports Captain Have this competition where they're running and popping balloons and there was a Bubble Soccer event which is where a couple students volunteered and there were these big blowup Bubbles and they go in and play soccer in the school gym that was

really funny and then also cheerleaders and bu players had a little dance together and the Band came and they performed the whole time that was really fun yeah it was defin def itely um a Very like popular assembly and um yeah for Performing Arts related stuff which I always have Performing Arts updates but um for December there's a lot going on and last weekend on December 1st or I guess two weekends ago um we the CC chorus come performed at the conquered tree lighting in Monument Square which was really fun um with Bean with the

Beantown Swing Orchestra so it was really fun for us to have that opportunity there were like thousands of Um people there and to be part of that bigger like conquered event and celebration um was just really really nice especially since it was canceled last year um prism 2024 is this Friday and Saturday night you've probably already heard a lot about it but it's definitely one of the most fun um Performing Arts Traditions every year since people since all of the um ensembles are entirely student L this is a very like student run event so um

some Of the highlights I can't I'm not supposed to give away too much but some of the highlights include um students will be barking like dogs um there maybe Kazo um and there will be the return of the infamous bubble machine and also um the the fan favorite Sleigh Ride um which will there's always going there's since last year there 's a raffle for a guest conductor for sleigh ride so you should definitely go and you should definitely enter the raffle to conduct Slay ride because it will be very entertaining um and also chorus is

doing the annual pop-up concerts that we do on the half day before winter break which is super fun we go around um the different breakout spaces and people are all in like the holiday spirit and they also like being able to skip class to watch us perform and be part of that like Christmas and and winter winter and New Year pukah Spirit yeah um for winter activities uh we have Our winter sports that are starting um I know a lot of my friends are now staying after school again and getting into that that preseason you

know thing but I also think that they might have started this week I'm unsure but I know that a lot of the bus schedules have changed because of it so I'm assuming they they either started this week or are going to start in the upcoming weeks yeah they did start this week yep you're right a poetry out loud is um happening Next week on Wednesday um it's it's a slam poetry uh reading competition and I usually I usually hear that it's really interesting and really fun um and yeah uh we have a lot of bake

sales and holiday drives I know we have the the Boston backpack project project and the there was a cat project for kids um but there's I there's like so many um and that's I just feel really feel like that it's needed and it's a really good way to build community around School and on Friday we have our fun Friday and it's ugly wear your ugly sweater fun Friday which is very interesting and I'm very excited to see all the sweaters so fun um we have we have we've had a lot of half days this past

three weeks um I think um the the day before we left for Thanksgiving break we had we had a half day which was the spirit assembly day um we also have a half day tomorrow and we Have a half day coming up on December 20th which is our last day before winter break yeah so we're very excited also we noticed that this would be the last meeting of 2024 so we're excited to continue um presenting for school committee in I guess next year we're excited for the break too it's great I know the swim and

dive team did a babysitting fundraiser which we participated in I'm very thankful for That it seems like a really busy time of year which is great keeps it moving any questions for the students feed back very thorough update yeah thank you good luck with the close of the Year enjoy the thank you all thank you okay um we always want to be mindful of the students time it's a school night it's a busy time of year so we can move into our portion of the meeting um I just want to make sure uh everyone noted

One change we did move the cmlp conversation to the end of the meeting so the region will adjourn and then car will take over and Lead uh the CPS only discussion on that as it pertains pretty much just to conquer um I also wanted to uh give a quick update like I mentioned Aisha is not going to be here she had a last minute um work commitment come up um but Domingos I do see you're here we wanted to say thank you for your service um and also just give an update on the Backfill process

so Aisha will be leading uh the election we're going to get into the policy in a little bit um um the one thing that we should talk about either during discussion um or during the policy is Aisha had mentioned in some of the conversations that she's had uh with me and Carrie and others um that she might want to move to the high school representation and then we'll backfill the k through eight um so that's something that we should discuss Uh for sure um and again Aisha has been in touch with maleny and some others

um around know starting to socialize the process uh and getting that going and just getting some interest from Meco Representatives um so anyway so that we'll be going through that a bit more later in the meeting um to think oh so yeah so let's go into the goals Dr H you don't mind sharing that so I want to just kind of recap on A few things um it's a good time of year with the close of the the calendar year to just take a look in addition to just closing out both November and December um

so we have a couple things most everything that we've gone through one through six is on track um so we like we said at the beginning of the year we won't SP spend a lot of time on the things that are green but there were a few things that Came up in discussion um and I will go through it during correspondence but Kristen I we did get your message about back to things that are um discussed um so we want to make sure that a few things that have come up uh we do cover so

we'll spend a little extra time on some of the green ones but um also want to be expeditious with the time um so for example on one we have the yrbs report um some questions came up during that initial discussion and it was Covered publicly in the in the bridge this week um we're going to continue to go through that like I said the goal was to share the results and identify opportun unties I think we had a really good discussion um my gosh that was back in October um and you know there's different things

that came up um some of the conversations that that came up I know to me directly either on oneon-one conversations um but also here publicly when we had the folks from the high School here as well as the Middle School um so we have sent feedback to Emerson uh for some more statistics I talked to them earlier this week and again uh actually earlier than the week prior as well um so we have some offers to Deep dive into some of the statistics that we want to but we also want to be mindful of including

the um the guidance counselors and the uh psychologists at both schools to make sure that they're a part of it and we're not doing that Directly as uh a school committee being mindful of chain of command but um but we have taken that feedback and shared it with Emerson so that we have the right people involved as well as uh like I said the the staff at the schools um the second one that I wanted to make sure that we covered was the achievement Gap shelle went through that uh again two meetings ago um as

we have it in our goals here um we're going to look at that again so we've done the Benchmark Process um and we're going to go through that again so I think we all had some feedback that we wanted to cover so we'll look at February or March to revisit some of that um the other one was the deib we'll review that we're going to Target I think the second meeting in Jan January or early February to go through that um the coffees that we have we're going finalizing the dates on those um but those

will be promoted via probably Instagram through the Superintendent um but also work with the ptgs to make sure that those are um uh you know well well circulated to parents and again those will be in Boston Carlile and Conquer um and then as far as the amenities building and the campus completion um uh project we're going to go through some of that I believe during our discussion but I think in the interest of time if you guys don't mind giving an update now Because there's been a lot around the campus completion and we did cover

that uh at the last meeting on the 19th of November so maybe you can start sure um okay so we do actually have quite a few updates the first update that is will go from from bad to good um it see like it is becoming increasingly clear to us that the municipal grants around Ada are probably not likely going to be something that we're going to be able to qualify for mainly because they are Predominantly to ensure that existing structures are updated and modified to become ADA Compliant uh new structures generally are just not included

in these grants so and that Grant also doesn't open until June yes but there was something about Alcott signage like that would be part of the grant like I was like oh you could apply for that when I was looking at the packet so so that looks like you know increasingly um but we still have Mike Barrett's office that Is gonna try and work with us as well um Tracy and I also had a meeting with Lori trahan's Aid um who mentioned that in our district she generally will look at at a few dozen it's

not like a big long list but it is a list of projects that she will put in for earmarks and he thought given that this was about um mobility and um ADA compliance and that it's been 10 years since um the facility has been open that this would be a promising um project so we vowed to keep In touch with him I think in March April Mar April um so we I don't know when those those budgets don't get finalized so we might miss town meeting but it might be one of those things where after

um something gets approved we get um some offset so it might not align with exactly how we want it um but it is again promising and now that conversation is open and he was lovely thank you for that up uh next um CPC funds we have learned um we took a Little bit of a dive into Mass General law and um to the extent that structures can support um a recreational facility they are totally um appropriate for uh CPC funds um we also learned that um there there are no um conquered typically Grant CPC funds

once a year but they don't have an explicit bylaw that says says it's only once a year um it's just sort of their typical practice and Mass General law says that Applications um can be accepted and looked at on a rolling basis so um there might be some opportunity for us to talk to uh the CPC at least in conquered Brian has a different update in carel because your schedules and our schedules are not in alignment but that is um I think something that we should uh pursue because they mentioned at like a meeting that

they have like a big they have three3 billion dollars around yeah right so I think that I think that their Grants their Grant applications were down this year so there might be some Ser serendipitous opportunity to um talk to them and see if that might be possible um because you know I think our Collective goal is we would love to be able to go to town meeting with some offset um and then the final thing we're just waiting to hear back from the town manager we had had a meeting about the potential allocation of some

of their unused arpa funds and or um money from Conquered Recreation that also might be used to offset given that um the field usage interestingly I don't remember if we've talked about this in our open meeting um seems to be about 70% to the community at large and really only is used about 30% by the um student athletes at the high school School themselves so um those are our big updates yeah that includes the a of to yeah so um and then Brian has some carile specific updates as well yeah I Think the only sort

of Carlile specific ones is just originally Carlile CPC had said no CPC funds could not be used for structures um but over the weekend um I got an email saying actually bathrooms that are supporting Fields is sort of a a Nuance um and so you know I think CPC needs to be a coordinated effort between the two towns so the three of us um will work on that piece and then you know as we said um we do need to Circle back with Senator Barrett's office but what's Going I think I've said this before we

have to have an approach um before we Circle back we have to be more dialed in in terms of which option we're doing and what that price range is I you know I'm hoping that we can come to that consensus today and I would like to take it to some other third party Foundation but again we' got to have a vis a more concrete Vision before we do so yeah and I think the design piece is really important to know What design because last year the two things that fincom and selectboard were looking for was

where's the design what does it look like what's it really going to cost not the ballpark figures and now I think that we're honing in on that and even you know as Brian said to go to foundations or there might be donors out there that might be willing to do a directed donation we would have to go through the same process except as a the school committee but certainly we're Trying as hard as we can to really offset the cost to the taxpayer um because we heard that loud and clear last year but it really

is something I mean I have a few articles that I can share with um the chairs and you can send them out to the committee if you read the article on Westford I mean you could really just insert the name conquered carel in there it's exactly the same situation and there CPC actually funded 100% of their project it Did fail at town meeting the first time they tried to do it with CPC funds and then they had a special town meeting where it passed so it's just interesting to look at that history um because there

is history that says you know this is something that could be applicable that's great um that's a lot thank you guys Sor it in a great way thank you I think that's amazing I think the subcommittee like I mean we've actually really enjoyed our subcommittee Work but it's it's good to really you know focus in on something so we've we've had the time to do that which has been great perfect and then I know that there's there's always a little bit of confusion um on the amenities building and then just the whole topic of fields

so we did want I did we do get questions from time to time and I'll I can talk cover it during correspondence but it makes sense now we do get questions on the Doug white Fields um and I think that it is going to be discussed during the capital discussion on next week during the 16th so if anyone is interested in that that is obviously a town project even though it lives at the high school um so just something to if anyone is interested in that just wanted to call that out while we're on the

topic of that um but no that was great it's a great update um the only thing that we had that I had called out um kind of ahead of this Meeting and Cynthia is not here but she' brought it up just Title Nine if we really wanted discuss that it's on our goals actually under number two um just because it's likely going to get pushed so we'll make a recommendation dur later in the meeting if we want to have a conversation or if we just want to accept it as is and put it in the

consent agenda for next time there's no urgency to it but just in the interest of transparency of covering Things that was the only one that was um raised um and then story of the school you're you're good right on track yeah we had delayed it until um January I think Tracy and I are trying to find a time next next week to sit down and just sort of create a list of things to talk about and then um we'll meet with Dr Hunter on in the New Year okay after the budget has been presented yeah

not that that's where it ends but yeah no but I think so I think For the goals I mean a lot of the goals obviously Drive the agenda it's not the only thing that drives the agenda but a lot of what is on here is so I think this has been at least helpful for me coming in fairly new um just to keep things on track um and then to your point about the story of the school well January is going to be uh obviously a big part of it's going to be the budget so

more than likely we'll focus the first meeting on the budget and the Second one we can cover things like story of the school and other topics that we have um any other questions concerns comments on the goals before we move on okay that's great um correspondence not into CPS okay yeah like I said we had um a couple come through um one of them was actually a really nice one um and maybe Dr Hunter you can give it up during your update But um Mrs Hammer at the front desk at the high school is retiring

and we have got a really really wonderful note just somebody listing out every single accomplishment and thing that she's done over her tenure um really really great um again just feedback on during public comment we get feedback just being a bit better about circling back on some of those topics so um we hear it it we definitely be um you know take note to take note of that and if we have to Build it into our agenda uh moving forward we can certainly look into into that and and do it um and then just some

basic questions on the amenities building think we've covered it all right let's move into the superintendent update oh great thank you and many of my updates will um be things Shel and Boba are working on as well so it's a team update tonight no doubt um tomorrow afternoon is our second of three professional development Afternoons that's why it's early release as the kids mentioned um so these are days that we've structured I think I shared with you the list of offerings back in the earlier part of the Fall so this will be part two people

will follow up on whatever topic they elected to do everything from the new IEP that we're running for special Educators to um literacy work for the um elementary schools to some of the equity work we're doing at the high school and Trauma Everything in between so it's a really rich afternoon and we're excited for round two we try to space them so there's room to learn execute some things and then come back for parts two and then a little Gap and then part three so um budget budget budget Bob and I are not doing much

else right now uh we met with all of the members of the leadership team as they came through last week and brought their zerob based offerings which I have to Say I'm really impressed with the level of depth they went to it happens every year but I don't know this year it's really striking me as really media and substantial um and you're going to be able to hear a lot of alignment with the Strategic plan and the goals that you referenced and I think that's going to be really exciting so um where we are with

numbers we don't know yet Bob's pushing it all into one thing as we speak so more to come but um we will be Ready for the 7th of January and probably posting it the week before um and let's see uh CMS the race to the Finish Line to open a new school on time is Real uh I was in the construction trailer this afternoon the the GC I mean we're all a little little giddy almost you know like just get a little silly at points and um I don't know who's more stressed him or me

or who but we're we're we're gonna make it I think but that's amazing it's close it's super Close um the goal is that we have some access the 14th of febru furniture starts to arrive January mid January yeah so they have to be done so they're trying to get out of the classroom Wing which they're just finishing floors and then they can move on and then B is where the um some of the common areas are and then the art and World Language rooms and then they'll move over to the gym and Auditorium and um

you know it's a race to get out of the way before the Furniture starts to show up so uh the goal is we have a PD Day from the Middle School on February 14th that's intentional to give teachers a day to in our perfect world get into their classrooms and sort of feel like they got some time they're obviously getting a lot of other time for packing and moving too we have movers on board now we just did the RFP for that and have awarded or about to award the bid at the building committee meeting

um so a lot Of the details are starting to come together and the goal in perfect everything goes the way it should we're going to be able to open the building up to the Middle School families and kids knowing some people are away but it's the best option we have um during the February break so it's at least a place they've walked through but obviously we're going to treat it very much like the first day of school when we first go in um because No One's Gonna really know Where they're going but it's getting really

exciting so more to come on that and I have met with I met last week I met with AIA and I met with a couple of Meco parents today I met with the Meco professional leaders doing some check-ins on where things are and some wish lists and the energy of how things are going so there's a lot of positive things happening and some goals we've set um mainly around community and engagement um for the rest the rest of The year and of course all the things you've talked about achievement Gap and other things as well

but um some good conversations there uh Shel is doing a great job leading work on an Ela curriculum for K5 which is the first time in eight years I've been able to say that so it's really really exciting we've done a lot of Phonics work and you know evidence-based work at the early grades so that's well established but the overall program that now especially Grades three through five takes it to the level of knowledge base and comprehension and um evidence the evidence and research in those areas is newer than the phonic so that's this is

these are programs that are like hot off the press and um it's hard to find a district that's used them for more than a year because they're that new so we're right in the thick of it right now with the other communities that are looking at programs it's it's Really exciting that will be in your budget so you'll is that something you're looking at implementing in the next like year two um we're still working out the details of the plan um yes but the how we get from here to there is still evolving yes uh

let's see uh Stu lots and lots of student events going on as the high school students mentioned um I'm getting a chance to get out there's all School assemblies at all the elementary schools This weekend next week concerts to go to um a lot of just great energy as the um vacation comes upon us so I think we're all ready for the break but we're kind of going out with a lot of fun intact so I think that's exciting and uh yeah things are things are busy but a lot of good busy so that's a

good thing thank you great all right um so let's move into discussions we have we'll start with the policies we want to bring these up yeah I'm gonna do the best I can to Keep up with yeah yeah take your time I think the question is with do we want to table the Title Nine ones the first three we we can I mean we I think the benefit of the subcommittee Oh you mean just in general yeah we could do that I think just in general and then also because Cynthia's out she was the one

who had like questions on this so since it's not like we have to do this today we might as well just wait until we get her perspective is my opinion I don't Know if other people no I I I appreciate her feedback on policy so I'm happy to wait is everyone else that can you just remind me why these three in particular we were bringing to this little background may I yes um so what we had done we had got so title nines evolv and it often depends who's in the white house so there's probably

another change coming which is another thing for us to talk about um so we were aligning with the most recent changes to the Legislation in Title 9 masc had put out a version um that I in in all the other title n work we' done this summer to prepare to make sure she did we did trainings with the lawyers as as an admin team and so we've been doing it from a different angles I asked our legal council to look at the masc versions to make sure they aligned with what they had trained us on

and they actually thought there were some things they would prefer to tweak so what You've got here is the masc version and then next to it you've got our legal council's version and then um we did a comparison of the two so I personally believe you should would and did recommend to the policy subcommittee that you adopt legal council's version because it's a little bit more honed in on a few things I don't think it's necessarily bad to have the masc version but ours is just a little tighter um and Cynthia had some questions I

think just On that process and some of the differences if I remember correctly but these are all based on our legal council's opinion right the ones that say District are all legal counsel hand writing them for us yes so why wouldn't we just adopt that and I don't want to speak for Cynthia but I think her feedback was these are going to change again but which we is likely to happen but also we have good policies for what is currently happening and when was the Last time we revise them before now I just don't have

that inform it wasn't that long ago but we knew there had been updates to the legislation that we knew we needed to adjust for so this is one of the ones that they get these get revised the most often probably of do you feel like it's pressing for us to revise it right now not tonight I would like to align with current legislation even if there are changes to come I think it's just good practice to stay Aligned and edit when needed but so maybe in the January meeting yeah I mean the other thing we

could just vote too we could vote for it because I don't think had any opposition during our policy subc committing of of what the district as the district policy is written in in this here I think herb comment was it's going to it's definitely going to change so do we do we really want to spend the time off kind of yeah so we can I mean I Think it's fine to table until January what we've experienced with the federal changes there's usually a year to two lag time before the legislators meet again and talk on

it and then the actual policy changes so I think it's good practice St I mean we can we can review it why don't we take a look at it it's on the agenda I we might as wellan well it's here we might as well and if we feel as so we're ready to vote on it I think we should Vote great I don't know if anyone can share the so everyone else can see it no I can share which version do you want me to share the dist I think the district the district went to

look at so this is a my oops hold on screen have a work thing later on tonight that I cannot mix two worlds myage so this is aa- r non-discrimination on the basis of Sex including sex- based harassment if you want to Lori if you click on the yeah compare one comp one I like the that's what I went through too this is the compare one just remember it's a it's probably reverse of how your mind set would have been it's a little back it's not backwards it's so the edits are what MC head the

red is masc the red is masc yeah okay so you can see there were some things removed there were some edits to small language Changes I mean something I felt in reading the versions we receive from legal accounts they're just really tight clean and easy to follow I mean I always kind of think if our legal council's recommending it why wouldn't we just adopt that Y and I'm not being passive we just as a subcommittee we've already I've already looked at this it's pretty exhausted so really looking at everyone else because um no I mean

I went through these like Yeah yeah so that's the first three AC a r acab and AG correct they're all Title 9 based right and I think the doctor point it's I mean the new Administration will change it there just will be a lag it's not correct right yeah yeah we wouldn't want to be behind out of compliance for that long right and having now done this long enough with these laws under both parties being in the White House the Base of the process is the same there's nuances that change philosophically and makes this adjust

process a little bit there's still a lot that's the same MH thank you guys for doing this work yeah thank you for legal counsel for looking at it yeah but it is good to call it out I think it was good Cynthia did that just so we can have the discussion but yeah I think I think we recomendation do we want to vote on these three why don't we Wait till we go through the fourth one yeah and then we'll go through and we can just vote on all the policies at large large great all

right and then do we have the redline version of BBC okay it's there's just one sentence to add additional as a recommendation you can decide what you want to do I was asked to provide a recommendation yeah so we have the um yeah so bdbc um this is a policy around Mecca Representative to the conquered and Conquer Carlile school committee um so we don't want to have Domingo's seat vacant we want to backfill it um as I mentioned Aisha would like to move to the high school School given her experience um and honestly we just

think that there's just like any other school district um there's just a lot more parent involvement in in k through eight um to backfill um and more parents there are more kids yes more kids more parents So um yeah so that's that's one piece of it there's nothing um that prevents us from moving the representatives from one cohort to another um we've read the policy and and run it by legal council so I guess the question would be with uh there not being leadership in the Meco ptg we don't want to have a b salate

so the recommendation is to defer to the earlier part of the policy and Carrie correct me if I'm wrong if I'm misstating this um and so we we're Recommending adding the bottom sentence that you can see here should the Meco ptg not be active the school committee will run an interim election and again as I said in the beginning Aisha would lead that great um and then we can support her as as needed but it would if you look at the beginning part of the um policy you can see we would follow the process um

that's there on the election so it's not any new new process it's Just deferring to the previous one in the absence of leadership in the ptg and you got and I I know the answer to this but just what's public on the record you guys have talked about this with Aisha she's on board and ready to move yeah and she correct me if I'm wrong but she has my conversation with her she has spoken with some of the other Meco families about it as well correct correct and we and we' be working with it and

again I'm sure everyone knows This but she's a blon police officer and she had an engagement could not move it so um and I would normally defer but I I don't want the seat to remain empty I want to fill it so um I think we should try to move so that we can pass this off to her and then support her as needed to to run the election um I think more time is is important um so we can vote on all four is I don't know if we want to have a motion to

do that if we want to have a discussion I Know typically the discussion goes first but are there any questions before we even move to a vote just have one question I feel like there's a typo okay un this it's the school committee will run an interm election in an interm election I don't think in belongs there yep thanks for the edit nice catch yep catch the the base for this policy was that from masc no they don't have one they don't have one wrot it only a couple districts In the state that have Mecha

representation so we're an early adopter so we did do it in look at everyone else we did it in consult with masc and Dorothy who was our former um masc person now it's Alicia even in terms of giving us the right letters so some of the other medical policies in other districts there they were kind of randomly signed letter she's like no no no we need advisement as to where we put it and so she we have the proper format For it and then we wrote this as a committee like literally it was on the

screen that was like one of our first things we really did live in the meeting as a committee and we were editing as we went got it okay all right I'm good okay yeah great um I'll make a motion I think we should if um if there is such a lag time I think we should move the three Title Nine ones Why not yeah um so I would like to make a motion to approve policy ac- R policy AA B policy a c g a and policy BD CB as amended in verbally in our meeting

second all in favor I I discussion we shouldn't do discussion but I'm sorry all right we're we did the discussion previous okay great thank you and we'll make sure that on the January uh I can't think of the date I'm sorry I don't see it seven um that Aisha gives an update when she's here I think the other piece that we'll get into in terms of a scheduling is um just making sure that yeah anyway topic just just a quick comment like this feels similar to like running a school advisory Council election that happens at

all of our schools where people put their name forward and then you know the bio goes out to the Membership really usually because I think the ptgs and the PA they do run it but it's with the district's help and so the bio goes out to everyone so I would assume that if if it were an election whoever puts their name in the Hat that's going to go out to the entire um medical population I think we can we can make that recommendation T I think it's a good one um so I think we can

we can certainly do that okay great Okay um all right so then we have our next is capital updates and amenities buildings options we start with the capital updates which District CPS yeah we'll start with CPS um just while Bob's queuing up so the CPS Capital plan which you've seen I'm talking to the longer committee um uh we made some revisions after the zerob based budgeting process and a meeting with Carrie lefl some other needs have emerged that weren't Surprises but needed a plan needed to be made so those are part of the recommendations and

then in talking with Carrie was a really productive meeting we had Friday where um we've seen sort of what they're thinking and they've seen ours and um Carrie was actually supportive to suggest given where we're at and this will obviously be Monday's discussion um that we leave everything in and not make edits prior to that but have it be part of Monday night's Discussion but we wanted you to see all of it and just for clarity the one that's linked to um the agenda that's the most the revised r one okay I just it has

this last page that shows the differences and Bob's goingon to go through that now thank you so I'm just going to run through the differences before I Circle back to the plan um since we've uh last met um these are the changes we've identified uh that we're recommending um Be made um we took out the Ada accessibility signage uh thinking that we might be able to obtain grant funding for this um and that's something we'll pursue separately the repairs to the alcot building exterior um we small enough that we were going to see if we

could try to find those through the the operating budget um the CMS exterior site improvements is specifically the irrigation which um we were you know guided who's guided to not be included In the building project um so we're including in our Capital plan our previous estimate was 350,000 uh we have a revised estimate of 350 plus $50,000 in design cost so a total of 400,000 um office equipment is copers we um anticipated that we'd be able to acquire uh copers but uh due to some um quirks and how um you need to pay for these

through Capital funds we can't use the prior Capital funds we had and so We're going to be adding these to our FY 26 request um we have you've probably heard us talk about we're struggle a little bit to um invest in the building that we're in right here um in Ripley and feel like we want to um prioritize items that are where our students are so um we've we've deferred some items there um to FY 27 um the one one item we do have in here is 15,000 um our servers are um I'm Not going

to say where they are actually no need to but our servers are in this building and um they're over half a million dollars worth of equipment and um we have an HVAC unit that doesn't adequately heat the room and we've had issues uh during the summer where we're like opening Windows we're putting fans in and it's it's not um ideal yeah it's worse than not ideal worse than not ideal it's got the the equipment's at risk for sure totally I mean it needs Heating and cooling it needs both so the the existing equipment in there

isn't sufficient to to support what's in there um the Willard building exterior we've deferred that as well um a year to FY 27 didn't feel like it was something that had to happen this year uh the thorough roof um this was one where we had a suggestion from the the town manager uh M leur and um this increase we don't know exactly how much it's going to cost to repair The thorough roof we're getting um a survey done a more detailed survey uh to assess um the condition and um the options of repairing it and

to the extent to which it needs to be repaired you know if it's if it's it it could be something from you know Patchwork repairs it could be um there's a fluid application you can put on top of the existing uh roof um and then there's different sections of the roof that might not be in the same condition um There's two flat sections and then there's a slope section the slope section like the shingle roof actually seems to be in decent condition um so what we've done here is we've increased the total to 250,000 um

you know knowing that there's some uncertainty on on what the cost will be but this also moves it to tier two um and that was the suggestion from the time managers it's close enough to the tier 2 threshold why not move it There where we don't have a lot of uh items in the budget right now um and then the last item is technology we did a um Deep dive into our technology what are um what our needs are what our budget can support and this cost reflects additional cost above our budget to bring our

devices current um both student staff devices and um um also if we have funds to replace interactive boards so we wrote it flexibly in the event we have money To to start moving on the interactive boards um we do have you know a budget set up and you know when we review our budget in January you'll see we've we've built our budget to be what we think we need on an ongoing basis but there's a little bit of catchup and so this is to address some of that catchup and we probably would carry this at

least one more year and then be in a better position so yeah the focus here is K5 um we had a some of you were here we had A four-year relase in Co to go one to one overnight and during those four years we didn't do anything else so now we're behind a bit um we've set parameters here we're not aiming to be oneto one in K5 we're aiming to be one to one in grade five and two to one in k f K4 we believe that's smart and also viable and also indicates we don't

want kids on screens all day um but to get there we've got some catchup to do so this is as Bob said additional to what's Going to come to you in the operating budget at the elementary schools um we we don't think again all that total probably isn't enough to do everything because we also have 15-year-old projectors in every room so it's those two big Pockets the individual devices the kids are on and then getting a plan for the projectors so I think we've got a pretty decent start if the budget lines hold and this

hold and then we could look at what we need to do in the Next year or two to round it out and get ourselves back in level footing um not to preview or anything but you're going to see hear the same thing about the projectors at the high school when that budget comes up through two those are those are only 10 years old so so just I'm not going to recap everything here but I will just tell you the the green items are sustainability which we did not include in our plan that we're requesting um

aside from that $155,000 that shifted out of sustainability because we need to do the server room this year or FY 26 so our totals at the bottom um you know we've been um asked to separate tier one and tier two this year um our projects have been debt financed in the past and for some of the small dollar things we do it doesn't make sense so tier wine items will be funded by free cash or by taxation um or through the budget uh tier two will be uh debt finan so you Can see the the

breakout of much we're asking for in tier one versus tier two tier two is the CMS irrigation for the fields and the 250,000 for the thorow roof and that's uh the CPS Capital plan again it was a great meeting with Carrie that's awesome we're collaborating really well so what I think you're going to see on Monday night is a plan that puts all of it on the same page and um a bigger picture Conversation over whether that those numbers are where the three committees want to be is it going to be one article at town

meeting one Capital article that is my understanding I'm I'm not sure yeah I don't know that we've gotten that far but I believe it I believe it will be could be last year they have to make it when we get the funds they have to separate it so that we can spend versus the so I'm not quite sure how if they can do that with One article a good question for Monday night presentation though would be helpful to see like you know here are the needs of the whole town yeah so that's your first update

that's great and then the second is to look at the talk on the amenities spill yeah I think that would be great I can pull up the thank you options here thank you and I read read before I know I missed the the previous meeting but um Thank you to Alexa for leading that discussion um and then also just again the subcommittee the great work you guys have done and just making it really easy to take a look at everything so thank you we really enjoy our subcommittee meetings it's good it's great I mean I

think we've exhausted the conversation it's just a yeah it's a needed project that's for sure all Right I might defer to the subcommittee if you guys want to lead the discussion wow right I love that I mean it is the budget and I know you've talked about the feedback that came out of town meetings last year um also just the feedback you've gotten from the grants I mean looking at this I know I'm putting you on the spot but I mean is do you have a recommendation based on the feedback you've been getting um obviously

I want to hear from Everyone but just to start with the three of you we haven't discussed we actually haven't discussed this at all no so I I think this is you're going to get real l individual feedback in this meeting of what we all think because we literally haven't discussed this we've discussed how to get it fun how to get Mone not what it is not actually what it is I mean I have I definitely have um I'm wondering If collectively all of us could start by are there is there any option of the

five that we know we might want to rule out for example um so we did didn't we at the last meeting rule out mod mod we actually I'm not sure did we actually vote to well we didn't vote we chch but we we discussed ruling out option two because it was the most expensive and yes which is not worth exploring and then We opted to look a little bit further into options 1 a and 1B and then 3 and 3B I think we had all the information we needed yep and I know we're still soliciting

I know some that there was um options on questions the questions can still come through I think from a um to your point car like the Modular One we know we can omit um but the questions will still we have not I think we only had one came from Brian so far um but if anyone has any other questions that need To go back to the Architects we can we can submit them and just for everyone's benefit what my question was and it was the same question I had in the meeting last time which is

if we were to have the kitchen for lack of a better term like what percentage of the overall cost is that um and they said it was less like less than 15% it was negligible he didn't have a dollar amount but he said less than 15 I think he was hesitant though so I felt Like he needed to validate that but that was just my only open question and then Bob I think one of the other questions was did we get a quote from them or an idea of what it would cost to add athletic

not like a locker room but um a trainer's room uh add it or um I think we had talked about potentially subdividing well yeah like reallocating some of the space yeah yeah I didn't I mean to to we had talked about potentially not having Um concessions and using it for like a trainer space or you could do a small add-on room yeah um I don't have a cost for a small add-on room you could repurpose the space for that my feeling is given the concessions would only be like during an active game and given that

that concessions room as described here and as we saw as we saw um in our tours it really isn't there isn't any significant buildout to speak up so my sort of guess A you know might not be it might be an imperfect solution but when when you're not in a game you could probably use that space so wh does do that so the the wh amenities building it's like kind of this and and by concessions it is literally plugs in a sink correct there's nothing else there's no build out it's square footage no build out

it's just square footage yeah it's literally just an empty room kitchen was the wrong Term it's not luxurious like we're going to be you know making like brick oven piece or anything like that that's not happening well they had one they had like a grease trap included right that was it I believe oh on the floor yeah yeah on the floor that was it yeah um and I can just you know I can kind of speak to what some teams do for concessions I mean it's prepackaged food maybe sentos pizza maybe you know I have

to give a shout out to sentos who always Supports the schools and so is Dunkin Donuts and then like maybe a hot dog machine that just rolls hot dogs it's just electricity so it's not actually cooking anything um but what whan did was they use it every day for their football especially during football and track because they have the track around their football um field so the trainer has you know like a cabinet with everything that they might need in there and I think They also have like one of those benches you know for taping

and things like that so it could definitely be like a multi purpose purpose room without actually calling it out and I guess when I looked at this I was concerned about the um the prefab units that would need to be replaced in 10 years because it's going to put you back into now we have to redo it again um so I think that could be more costly in the long term and I guess what I heard from when they presented Was this is a 50-year building so when you look at it in terms of a

50-year building my preference would go to 3A or 3B um and I'll just you know put it out there if we're we're saying no to two I think the prefabs we're going to just be on a replacement schedule and when you hear about replacement schedules it makes me a little concerned it's just over time it's going to cost a lot more money yeah I'm with you on that one Tracy I mean we go option one or two my Youngest child won't even have graduated CC before we're replacing again it seems like we'll be coming up

very quickly on that so I would prefer to look at 3A and 3B for that reason well I can tell you I think bullish on these grants too yeah I think for for 1 a and 1B I think given the sustainability goals as well in all the communities that we serve um even though the the price is attractive and the concept is attractive from a of installation um I don't think it's the The right move from a sustainability standpoint either and I think that's come up in some of the other conversations um Andrew any thoughts

from you from you no no I agree yeah he did say one a 1 B will end up in a landfill basically after 10 years yeah there's no I think the other the other piece with 1 a and 1B is it doesn't even fix the problem that we are currently not no to code like we it would not be at the plumbing code and so we're just Kicking the can down the road um at the price of $650,000 so we um so it sounds like everyone's in in we're like a pretty uniform on 3A or

3B do we need to whittle it down or we can you scroll up or uh you have it Lor can you scroll I forget what the disadvantages are is the CMU even though it's ugly more rugged is that the idea the um CMU the description they have is can feel utilitarian for the CMU and less durable for the wood There also may be some requirements for inul in uh insulation on the wood one oh yeah which I um my my take away from the conversation with them I had separate from this meeting was that um

unless we really love the athe Aesthetics of the wood more I'm just saying it's less money yes wood is less money wood is less the um other one will be warmer I think and it's you know it's metal block blocks versus versus wood yeah um and then there I can get additional Feedback from them but I I think that there is um Can we is there any more in the report I mean I would I guess I would want to ask them you know what do they recommend I mean the the cost is very similar

what's the most durable obviously the CM C is the most I think their recommendation is um you know to me you know Carlile is sort of where I lean in on the money piece that every $100,000 Is more impactful for for you all than it is for conquered so this probably how we're supposed to do this but I would almost defer to the two of you like um on this that's my biggest concern I mean that's yeah like so if that money is impactful I'm okay with going with 3B if you know again I'm somebody

that I'm I'm I'm feeling bullish on these grants we have a nice conversation with Tran's office Mike Barrett's office is still in play Um you know art you know we have we have we have a lot of balls in the air um and I think we're going to get some Offset you know whether it's exactly what we want yeah would 3A have less maintenance over the course of the 50 years compared to 3B in my mind it would would you're going to have to attend to exactly and so you may be paying more up front

yeah painting L maintenance main or maybe a wash over the course I also I mean I think the CMU just makes sense in a Million different ways my concern from a car is was I think I probably gave a little bit more of an obsessive look at one a and one b um because I think that's the kind of difference that we're we need even though I do appreciate that the the change just because there's just no tax base to spread that out um I think ultimately to Brian's Point like we're looking at total cost

of ownership like 3A to me is a kind of a no-brainer um especially given where we Live I mean there's going to be pests that are going to get in and cold staining and cold and all that yeah storms storms yeah um so it sounds like 3A seems I'm happy to make a motion yeah well I think is the motion that we support 3A or that we like give consultant to the authority to design it design it yeah okay yeah I think what we'd like to leave with is you selecting design and giving us the

authority to tell the Consultants to Move forward that design part of the reason they they offered 3B too was in case we wanted to offer a heated building which is something that's difficult to do with 3A so 3B you could do if you decided you wanted to do heating which I don't recommend for the fact that it's not used during the winter um but that's another part of the reason why they put three bit in the majority of these buildings they have these you know for lack of better terms Of space heater with a cage

over it I mean that's totally fine yeah there's nothing there now so so is the deliverable the next phase will be a design but it will also there's still a $300,000 kind of range so that will hone that in uh well when we go out to bid like there's there's variability and we don't you know we don't what the market will be we don't know so there could be some variability and then when we design you you might like maybe you say you Want the training room like there might be a couple little nuances that

we get feedback like they'll do a they'll go through the design process and they'll probably pause somewhere in there and was asked for some feedback so you maybe there's something small than we want that affects the price a little bit so um so we will have the opportunity to check in one more time um they won't go right to final design here it is we're done right the more you tell us now Though the better and I think you know we'd love to have it all we'd love the training room slash concessions area and if

they could be a shared SP like whatever the cheapest way to do it is to give the most flexibility and give the athletic programs what they need in terms of um wrapping and taping and all of that but also the boosters programs what they need when they need to fundraise for their teams y okay what is the timeline Then for being able to actually see a design three months three months so yeah so we need to Greenlight this sooner rather than later yeah and I think just the final comment just just for everyone in the

public because this is a little bit different than usual the carile town meeting is first and then second so we need this to pass in carile first first um and I think that's why I've kind of underscored the work that you all are doing in your subcommittee How important it is to get all these um I'll say complimentary funding sources uh squared away so that when we go to no I know we really and even we might have said you know just for the general public it is the end of the year and sometimes people

like to do some giving towards the end of the year so you know we would happy to entertain any type of donations towards the building appreciate that I also I think to Alexa Point earlier the the usage we have Raised that and we will cover some of this at the capital meeting next week as well um we've engaged with Mary and Carrie no promises have been made but we have talked to them about that and I think that's something um that we should continue to talk about because it is a community space that I would

say that the high school stewards and we certainly use it um but it plays host to so many events that happen in the in the community um so you know I think there's Some shared responsibility to that yeah I think I think you know when I first joined the committee um the sort of narrative out there was oh this is a facility that will be in use 15 times a year um the you know the that was sort of The Stance of some members on the school committee thinking you know what it aligns as it

aligns with the football schedule and you know as as my kids even have AE not to the high school even but as older Children participating in Youth Sports and that we're just even more in the community because they're not going to bed at five and that type of thing um this the the high school to Julie's point I just I can't um UND like overstate it is really the largest community space in town um and uh and it really has hit home to me that this is not a facility for 15 times a year this

is a facility for hundreds of days a year right um so I think it is A really responsible use of funds because it's you know severely lacking yeah absolutely so yes I will entertain a motion if you want okay um I move that the conquered Carlile Regional school committee vote to authorize a design for the amenities building using option 3A the CMU design bid build second discussion good all in favor I great all right uh conquered finance Committee guideline I can do this let me do this yeah' be great okay so on November 21st the

fincom the conquered fincom met to discuss their preliminary guidelines or to set their preliminary guidelines um I just want to give a nod to Lindsay list and the entire committee it was an incredibly thoughtful conversation um they we had multiple conversations them with with them beforehand they took our feedback um they discussed it and they Came up with what um they said was um I think they were putting their stake in the ground that the town has a lot of work to do on finances so um on budgeting and finances so I um it was

an incredibly productive conversation and we were very grateful for the entire process um where they landed on the 21st was um a an overall increase of I have it right here an overall increase of 2.44% and how that gets broken down is a 1.81% increase at CPS and the reason it's so low at CPS is because of the Middle School consolidation savings so we had promised a $500,000 savings for this first year um a 3.48% % um increase at cchs and that means a 2.6% to the town just for reference not that that's our perview

um so the guidelin so that was their discussion if anyone here hasn't watched the discussion it is it is really worth it um they did an Incredible job they looked at lots of different models and um ways of thinking about it and um it just it was very very good um and then the final guideline is being set next Thursday on November 19th the trick with that is we will obviously not have seen our preliminary budget so it's hard to weigh in on the impact their budget their their guideline would have on our budgets without

we even seeing our proposed budget um however we are going to try to get them some Information on what this particular budget the 1.8% for CPS and 3.48% um would mean for um our schools and how hard it would be for us to meet just given what we had provided to them in advance of their guidelines discussion so that is the update we'll know you know more I think what in my conversations with Eric and Lindsay and others and with Julie and Dr Hunter as well um and Alexa as a liais on too is that

this is a um while these Guidelines are really um really important for the town and we are going to do everything we can to meet them there it's also a conversation and we have between town meeting to continue the conversation so we are um we're here for the conversation is what I want to say so that's it for me did anyone did I leave anything out or I just want to Echo your opening sentiment regarding how this process was undertaken this year by the finance committee um I Really can't say enough about Eric's leadership and

um Lindsay's extraordinary ability with a spreadsheet and a PowerPoint um and just her ability to really distill complicated information into terms that like Financial neophytes can really access um I thought that was like a particularly so it mean that being said anyone can watch this presentation and have a really um strong ability to to participate and and be active and Understand understand what everyone's talking about so um I really hope they codify this process um I hope they establish a Google Drive like we have so that this um knowledge base can be passed down because

it it really was nothing short of exceptional yeah yeah really down the complexities in such a simple fantastic explanation yeah no no I think to to car's point I mean I think the meetings that that led up to it as well um I think there's a lot of what I've learned you know not only coming here but even just in car like what's really I think complicated around a lot of the schools is there's a lot of privacy with students um and there's a lot of privacy around cost and different things and um I just

appreciate not only the like what you mentioned about the I'll say the financial literacy and and capability to do that but uh I'll say the empathy um because we talk about a lot of things that we have to do given Mass General law um also just the right things to do um and so so instead of having to have that fight constantly in public um we could do it at an aggregate so it's still out in the public but not have to go through it every year on things that we really can't control um in

the best interest of our community members which is which is great um so I would Echo everything that Carrie mentioned um any other comments questions on That okay um so the next thing we're going to do is we're going to move into the um the superintendent contract renewal um one thing I did go through the public comment forms uh we have one form that is um making a comment on the agenda item and the agenda item is the contract so we'll go through the discussion and we'll vote for it after public comment okay just move

the vote have the have the discussion Yep okay K why don't you kick off you've been you want to kick off on the contract just to summarize it um sure yeah was prepared for that sorry oh I'm sorry I me no so we have over the last um fall I guess throughout the fall we've been in conversation with Dr Hunter on her contract which is set to expire on June 30th of 2025 and um she um has exess expressed an interest in remaining um on and so we Um as a committee have all discussed um

what this contract might look like and Julie and I had multiple conversations with Dr Hunter with the committee and um we've come to an agreement on a contract that will um keep Dr Hunter here for the next five years or up to the next five years we hope the next five years um so that is the the overview the what I just want to say about the contract is um over the over the last three years that I've been a member of this committee um I've seen firsthand just how hard of a job being a

superintendent is it is demanding oftentimes thankless and it requires endless hours crisis management and constant scrutiny so at a time when superintendents are leaving at at record rates um we are fortunate to have Dr Hunter steady and thoughtful leadership um her leadership has guided the district through challenges like the global pandemic AG growing Mental Health crisis and tough budget realities she is Deeply collaborative and builds trust with staff and teachers and the Cornerstone of her leadership is prioritizing what is best for children and kids so I'd be remiss also if I did not mention that

in um a couple short months we'll be opening a new Middle School that she envisioned and championed so Lori thank you for all that you've done and continue to do for this district there is still a lot of work ahead and we are grateful for your Leadership as we face um this work together thank you yeah and I'll just I'll just I did think about that part one of the things I think it's really important is car's done a great job of um we've all been a part of it and we were both um put

forth but car's done a lot of the heavy lifting in terms of redlining the contract and working with everyone um so I wanted to make sure you got to share some the good news so my apologies for putting on this no No no you didn't at all um but yeah and I think um I would just Echo that I think like I said in the last section I think what's what's really hard when you're managing leading um handling parents kids there's a lot of sensitive information that we can't talk about um and really give you

the accolades that you deserve but we see it um through the number of communications that we get every weekend about what's happening so we're incredibly thankful So um with that we will um any discussion obviously that's what we're here and then like I said we will vote after public comment there any other thoughts well Lori joined us in 2017 because I feel like I'm the old lady of the committee and I have to say that um no she's with us for so long and really like Carrie mentioned really through crisis and pretty much anything that's

been thrown at you you have the ability to really go full force at it and really Just take care of everything that happens and be an a very thoughtful instructional leader and I think that you know I'd be remissed to say like we probably have the best leadership team of anyone in the state and that is certainly you're doing and that was part of um building that leadership team um because it needed to be built and and it and it's grown since you've gotten here so I just look forward to what is to come in

the district it's really Exciting yeah I'll piggyback a smidge on that and I say this to Lori behind closed doors all the time I say you know I believe one of your core strengths is exactly what Tracy said which is your ability to create an infrastructure of leadership um we're sitting uh with two of them I agree with Tracy that the leadership team that we have in conquer is also like Lindsay List's presentation exceptional um you and and what is Fascinating you know when all of us read daily our masc briefings um when you look

at what's happening elsewhere in the state um that isn't particularly common in 2024 um the stability that you've brought in these challenging specifically last four years when the world seems to have been upended by so many different things I think is truly exceptional I you know when you think of like I believe that you've just built This tremendously competent and you know Exceptional Foundation the leadership team is really the foundation and there's nothing sexy about a foundation um it's brick it's cement sometimes everybody's looking at the pretty windows or the paint colors of your home

but really without the foundation it nothing Else Matters and um again it's not always the most exciting story to tell but to me that um Is something where I've seen you really shine and I'm grateful for it and you know as we all get out into the school communities um your leadership team speaks so highly of you and they're happy to work under your leadership because it's a it's a thriving environment to be in so um congratulations and we're happy that you're staying I second everything that was said I I can't say it as eloquently

as my uh Colleagues but antidotal we did a road trip on Friday and the amount of highy fives and hugs you're like Celebrity Status all the all the schools really we we had like six schools right did that was a lot of fun by and then uh personally a big reason why I wanted to run for school to me is to work with you and learn from you and just appreciative the support I get from my kids and I know that starts at the top so um again I I can't say as as these guys

but um Thank you thank you and I'll just I have not been around as long as Tracy has but you know um no one been around for a few right few months but you know just excited about the opportunity to continue to collaborate and same right um yeah continue to just see how things grow and go from here thanks just to add as part of the contract or negotiation we will be um offering Dr Hunter a 5% um increase in her first Um in her first year plus a cost of living increase of 3% that

year um and then other colas um will be decided by Future committees but you've earned a you've earned your spot here we really are grateful for you thank you thank you I mean this committee is the the other team that keeps me afloat and thriving and the district thriving so um you know people have asked if I choose the job again and I I find myself hesitating sometimes but then I walk schools for Two hours with all of you and you know we talk a lot about our why as a leadership team and start every

meeting with that and you've heard me talk about that in public it grounds us and reminds us all the Mucky stuff is worth it when we see what's happening for kids and um I think you know we are a team districtwide across every direction right now which is really rare and I think you know to be able to continue to see that forward just is really exciting For me yes the Middle School opening that's really tangible but there's a lot of other things on the gold posts here that I think we're making some great momentum

on even this year achievement gaps and um inclusion at a whole new level um now that these programs are thriving um my one only one other thing you've mentioned so many things that make me feel uncomfort comtable in public but I mean we've bargained I don't know how many contracts now in my Tenure including both teacher unions twice really successfully no attorneys maybe a little MTA support often none and it's this this group the teachers and some of the admin and that's pretty unusual right now too so just one last shout out the union and

bargaining units are as much part of the Partnerships as anyone else so so thank you you I'm honored to stay and uh bring us to whatever the next five years bring if you had told me pandemic and a whole Bunch of other things I don't know when I signed on probably better I didn't know agreed agreed good things to come thank you wonderful that was a great discussion we will um like I said we'll vote after public comment um so but thank you um all right so moving to to public comment um buses buses oh

did I miss buses bues right I did miss buses yes sorry about that all right buses uh let's start with CPS yes sure So there's a 42 Page document you don't need to read it all but um I actually didn't intend to put all 42 Pages there um but the um we we lease our buses that's our Arrangement right now for budgetary purposes um in order to move forward with this we need the school committee to and so the terms are in there there the interest rate is 4.5% uh the acquisition price is um is

in the document it's approximately 320,000 um net of trade inss um and in Order to move forward we need the school committee to vote to adopt and approve the lesie resolution uh exhibit a for conquered Public Schools as written and I'm happy to answer any questions about it but um it's we this is typically how we acquire buses via a lease fiveyear term um and then we go to the market and we request quotes for interest rates um so we reached out to three Banks and one with the lowest rate um gets the business any

questions questions no it's A lot of legal jargon all of it for a lot we'd really like to lease a couple of buses in each district okay do you want to vote right now okay so I move to approve the lesie resolution exhibit a as written does that do it public con Public Schools I will second that any discussion all those in favor that was a lot more work than the two minutes we need to do the same for the Region Tracy do you want to do it okay so I I move to approve the

lesie resolution exhibit a as written for conquer Carell Regional School District second second all in favor I we do know it's more work than just that box when you see the whole spent like four days on that to get it to be that smooth so thank you specific things that were needed yeah I can't tell you the backlogs this was we ordered these At the end of we order these in June 2023 y so this the backlog in the supply chain um so we're finally getting it the next slate that we ordered at the end

of June of 2024 actually will probably be here in January February like not too far behind so we have a lot of old buses we'll be replacing um so the bus fleet will be a little bit more reliable and yep it's good especially going into the winter into the Winter thank You okay public comments moving to public comment um so let's start uh with I think everyone everyone's used to this but um our public comment period will be a period of 20 minutes as a reminder this is a meeting in the public and not with

the public so the school committee will not be responding to any comments if you are in the room and you would like to speak you can submit a blue form to me uh and you will be called to speak if you are on Zoom you can use the Raised hand feature when called to speak please state your name and address before you speak we will go every other starting with a comment in the room and then taking comment on on Zoom you will have a time limit of three minutes um so first Michael Williams Michael

Williams 1284 Sudbury Road I wish you all a happy holidays I received the commission's uh response to my one me complaint and I'll discuss that with my attorney and move Forward with it and move forward with it subsequently however I wish to return the committee's attention to the Manifest failures that were the grounds for my October 22nd public comments it seems that recent events however have only further highlighted them this superintendent and this committee repeatedly failed to recognize or address the needs of our Medco families I personally heard our superintendent refused to meet with the

Parents who entrust their children to our schools in the words of the now defunct conquer conquered Medco PDG chair because of significant challenges in fostering a collaborative relationship with Dr Hunter and Andrew namiki despite our repeated attempts to engage and build partnership it has become clear that our pression concerns as parents are not being prioritized as we all now know on November 18th the conquered medical pggg disbanded interestingly I would add that policy BDS CB that you've just just discussed and approved uh positions you to have a select body of parents become part of the

new body to uh advise and advocate for the medical families here it strikes me that that be considered in some ways anti anti-democratic rather than canvasing the entire family population that sends their children here let me go on in your October 8th Meeting you presented the 2024 youth risk behavior survey in an over 45 minute presentation the assembled Educators and counselors highlighted several topics and spent significant time discussing students your own data highlighted as higher risk groups only two cohorts were identified as higher risk and you failed to even mention the black brown Asian and

Indigenous cohort in your November 6th meeting you presented the fall 2020 4 Academic assessment even a cursory review of your data demonstrates damning results stratified along racial ethnic and socioeconomic lines out of 376 students taking 839 AP exams 28 were taken by low-income students 35 by Hispanic students and seven by black students what should be front and center here is this committee's not this committee's pod posture on school naming for it's never been just about a name but it's been about all the things I've Mentioned previously it's been about this committee's failure to honestly and

effectively address issues of race gender and class and how they affect performance in our schools you're charged with framing the hearts and minds of our future thus far you have failed I challenge you to do better I demand that you do better thank you all right I apologize I cannot rraw his name but it's Craig can you Up uh Craig AER uh 27 Lang Street three minut I ran out my last time so I'm now here with my another for three three minutes um I just want to and I want to pick up where I

left off I'm I'm new to conquer I've lived here two years I came into this town with great admiration for public School administrators and I voted for your budget and yay and now through a variety of in inces usually involving racial issues I Don't trust you anymore and so when I saw that the Meco resignations had happened I thought oh God what a loss that's terrible much like when I saw that Ellen Garrison was going to be the name of the school I thought well how how great that is how can anybody be against against

that and how can anybody be sad or or how you know obviously this is a loss with the Medco ptg gone but my cynical thought Was you might see this as an opportunity you might see this as an opportunity to get people who aren't critical of you and that's a cynical thought I realize but I want you to please I understand you're in your bubble you're in your bunker it's not translating out to the community you're not making trustworthy Maneuvers with the community at large and I wish that you Would thank you is there anyone

on Zoom I just realize that no thank you Dominguez good evening Domingos the Roosa 1569 River Street Boston um I submitted a letter of resignation a few days ago um that letter took a while to write right there was a lot that I wanted to say in that letter but I'd rather come in person and say it I'm just going to beat the horse this Table is not a table of equal quality it's not designed for folks who are not from concrete or carile to feel welcomed I sat here for three years and was overlooked

pushed aside and placed in a position as a parent to be silenced on a lot of the issues that I see dayto day for students who travel from Boston to conquer for a better future and these kids are not being served effectively the track that they're being put on as was told to us by the superintendent Kindergarten coming in and making sure that they stay on track that doesn't reflect leadership I sat here for a few minutes listening to you guys praise Dr Hunter great but let's look at the track record let's look at the

data let's look at the folks who have really being impacted on the lack of leadership we created a great parenting group with 50 plus parents who came together three years ago to speak on issues that they felt have been silenced for years for my Family since my son started kindergarten graduated in 24 to have families feel the same way they felt 40 50 years ago as Dr Williams have said to me many times for it to continue to exist in the town we just had an incident the other day that wasn't brought up on the

superintendent's uh report report people still writing racist remarks in a town like conquered in the in the bathrooms the boys bathroom to be specific and Then to go back and look at the black boys and brown boys who come here and have to deal with this day in day out but then it's pushed aside and then folks want to give each other Kudos on on policies that really don't make changes a non-voting seat it's a it's a performative seat it's to have someone come in here sit and just listen that's that's not change that's not

progress that's the same old oky do pull the wool over your eyes to make it Seem like we're moving forward and in reality we're not we're still waiting for numbers in the AP courses in the honor courses how many kids from last year actually made it to college instead of being in rivers going to museums keep that for the for the preschoolers not the not the seniors who are who are getting ready to go into the world like my son Jason who was basically taken from what he loves the sports that he used to do

that he wouldn't do because Of a of a white Coach the comments that was said to him because of where he comes from and how he comes to school so again if you guys are really looking to make change you guys need to take a real real real real real look into how you really Foster these students thank you I think going back to um before we move on um I think be you know as I mentioned at the beginning I know we still have more public comment um but I think we we Will take

into consideration everyone's feedback and we will Circle back for sure um so I didn't I didn't want to do it because the next one does change the topic so I don't want to dismiss anyone that's been speaking um the next one unless there's one on Zoom uh Wilson Wilson cerr uh 20 Damon Street um first of all I want to just be clear that I'm not speaking to every issue there's obviously a lot of emotion in The room right now but I did want to speak to a couple issues that I've been privy to that

I've seen in support of Dr Hunter um I've seen this room packed with teachers at a very very tough moment for Dr Hunter and I saw her enter this room and receive a a multi-e standing ovation from those teachers all wearing their t-shirts in silence and she has the support of the teachers in in in this school district and that should be noted I've seen Town meetings Where we've passed very difficult budget issues um passed overwhelmingly over and over and over in support of the schools and by extension Dr Hunter and this school committee but

I wanted to talk about one experience that I had that involved me in coming to these meetings and understanding how the school committee worked and that was the co pandemic and after uh when it was happening I have little kids and friends of mine started saying wow your kids are In school our kids aren't in all these other towns they weren't in school and what happened is people realized Dr Hunter had done the hard work she'd put the kids back in school and mo it would have been the safer bet to not do that so

I started an effort and I said hey who wants to thank Dr Hunter and the emails just started pouring in from parents and compiled them and it took 37 pages to get them all in they just kept coming um and that's just one example of Of the leadership of Dr Hunter um obviously there's work to be done not everything is perfect we can all improve this group can improve I can improve um but I wanted to be sure to mention that positive moment um we presented a a a sort of a little plaque to her

a group of families got together because we realized she's so quiet she's so unassuming she never seeks out the praise but in that moment it deserved to happen um and at the top of the plaque It says true leadership lies in guiding others to success so I just want to make sure that we recognize that I'm a parent here in this room there's thousands of other ones out there we appreciate Dr Hunter's leadership we appreciate this school committies leadership um and we thank her and we thank you guys for all the hard work that you've

done and clearly there's there's more work for us all to do so thank you Dr Hunter thank You again assuming nothing new on Zoom um Pat brener I get that right sorry Brewer Brewer sorry my apologies okay thank you thank you Pat Brewer one 32 right Road three or four years ago I stood before this committee and actually requested that we have met Corps and I was very hopeful and thought it would go in a very positive direction Dominguez thank You for your service and I'm really sorry that it hasn't gone that way you did

listen and I thank you for listening but I think it's important that we listen now because we're at a different point in this road I'm I'm very curious we've lost one of two reps our Meco ptg has been dissolved and we've had a turnover of three Meco directors in three years and if I can share a Little anecdote November 16th I was at an event with the uyu urban Ministry in Roxbury and when they heard I was from from conquered people came up to me and said what are you doing to Meco out in conquered

I had no words the ptg cites several concerns challenges fostering collaboration feeling their needs aren't priorities feeling they aren't being SE seen or heard what is happened that caused this Caused us to lose this vibrant and valuable piece of our community and more importantly what can we learn from this thank you P can I ask a quick question just to clarify can you can you say what the name of that event is and the timing of that when that happened it was November 16th thank you and it was it was actually a it was an

urban Ministry it had nothing to do with schools it just when they heard Where I was from y okay um Margaret Schumacher all right Margaret Schumacher 25 Highland Street I just have a few questions thank you um has there been any official explanation for why several months ago public comment was suddenly pushed to the near end of each subsequent school committee meeting as all of you know public comment now occurs later in the evening After all significant issues have been discussed and acted upon so really what's the point now of this useless exercise known as

public comment how can one not assume the obvious that this is a deliberate attempt to reduce or essentially eliminate all questions concerns and frankly public scrutiny by the Greater Community for many of us this little change in the regular school committee Agenda is clearly representative of a larger pattern of obfuscation and non-transparency by those people entrusted with the education and well-being of our young people I realize no one is going to respond to these questions here tonight I wonder if Lori Hunter and her school committee could simply tell us why public comment has been changed

a simple question I would be happy to so I'm I'm happy and I will take full Responsibility for it um I moved it um I did it based on earlier feedback that people wanted to have a have discussion on things that we talked about it was a mistake I will move it thank you um I I think one followup question is and the biggest reason honestly and this is not defending myself this is just to give you some logic when we have this there's two boxes I wish to comment on an agenda item and I

wish to make a general comment I'd say since coming here 95% Have been I'd like to make a general comment my thinking as the chair was that people would want to comment on things we discuss and it would make more sense to have it at the end versus the beginning honestly that's that's the the rationale behind it um as I did tonight when I saw the message come in about the superintendent contract I moved the vote um I know Brian had a good idea we've brought up in Carlile that we split it 10 minutes To

do I want to have a comment on an agenda item and 10 minutes on a wish a general comment and we would have to we can discuss that for sure I'm open to it but I don't want anyone else to be blamed for that it is solely my responsibility thank you we'll carry on yep um okay um good good feedback thank you very much for everyone making the time especially given Margaret's feedback I Appreciate you sticking around to to make your comments known thank you um so we can certainly talk about that with a 10

minutes and 10 minutes um we can do that before the next before the next meeting for for sure um any feedback on that before I move on okay um all right so moving on to the chairs and Le On's update yeah sorry oh yes thank you yes so now that We've had this um let's move actually before we move into the leas that's update I was thinking I would do it in consent agenda but to your point let's do it let's do it now um so I will hear a motion on the approval of the

superintendent contract renewal make a motion to approve the super superintendent contract renewal second discussion all in favor D it I for both For both the region for both yes thank you um all right let's move on to the chair and Le On's update um I can start or you do you want to start uh I just have a couple um uh do you want to talk about MCI do you want me to talk about MCI sure you can do it you were there for the whole meeting I couldn't um yeah so yesterday Julie and Tracy

Dr Hunter and I met with um John Boon from the MCI advisory commission and we were just getting an Update on the parcel of land and what the committee's doing um and how they're thinking about developing it or what they're going to do with it for the town um he basically said this is a very long-term project it's 51 Acres um with a hope for meeting a lot of different needs throughout the town um we expressed that what however the land is developed how whatever happens with that property it has big implications um for the

schools And on enrollment in particular um so we ask that they please keep that in mind and keep us um apprised we also have expressed interest um to the select board and then also in this meeting for having school school committee representative on The Advisory board so um we're hopeful at some point there will we will do that in the meantime um we'd love to assign a liaison Alexa I think you did I talk to you about this y are you do you want to Do that yes okay I will do it okay so um

I think we're and John is in charge of Outreach so he he did say like as one of like the hundred stakeholders of possibilities for MCI conquered he would continue to keep us in the loop and do the Outreach so it does seem like a leaz on would make sense yeah yeah um at this point yeah yeah um he said that as far as the timeline just a quick he said they're doing site planning into 202 and then zoning and Regulatory updates 25 and 26 and then it'll like at the best case scenario de construction

will begin in 2028 so long-term project um and we will stay on top of it great and then the other thing I I wanted to note is that um the thorough playground has had 41 donors they've raised $27,000 um which means they have 339,000 left to raise um so they're hoping to to end the year strong um and but they're doing they're off to a really good start great and then one other note just Logistical note we have um this is our last school committee meeting of the year but we have a joint select board

meeting on Capital with fincom on Monday and then the fincom will be um issuing their final guideline on Thursday and then our next school committee is January 7th that's it great for me awesome um yeah I think um I have a few updates um as Carrie mentioned pushed to the end of the year um so there was a group of us um that toured um the few of The schools across uh conquered uh for Brian and I was actually I don't want to speak for for you I'll just give a quick update and then you

can chime in I think coming from carile seeing how um each Elementary School and arguably the middle school has different programming was really helpful um as we start to look at what we can do from a CPAC standpoint special education standpoint and really trying to um I'll say align goals um and manage um kids that are in District um and really starting to look at the district as a in a holistic way um so it was really great to see the programs I was really impressed um just throughout the whole morning uh it was wonderful

the engagement was was High um I think not only Dr Hunter but Angel got a really warm welcome from all the celebrity how engaged she was was just incredible and it was so organic um it was really incredible um and again just really helpful I think one of the things That we've done is spent a lot spend a lot of time on out of District um placements and some of the things that was where we had an extension extensive conversation with Eric and Lindsay and Lois from from fincom earlier really just talking about the headwinds

and Tailwinds um for this population it's really really important uh for us to understand it have a handle on it and advocate so um it was great to do that um I think the second piece that we didn't talk about was we went and we saw the launch space um and we were there for all of 15 minutes and we could very quickly see the opportunities um in that space Not only to support these kids but also just to keep the budget neutral because I know that was a concern that brought was brought up uh

maybe even make make some money um I think the other piece is that I don't again I said at the beginning I don't want to touch On toes but just because of the discussion we've had both in the formal discussion and then during public comment um I will tell you that I've been pouring myself over the yrbs results I think the hardest thing coming from somebody who works in healthcare is um even if there is one child on any of these statistics it's heartbreaking um I've been doing it for 20 years and it doesn't get

any easier um and so I think there's a lot of information um I have My own thoughts that I will share at the next meeting on on how I interpreted things but um it it that's the whole thing is that there's a lot of ways to look at it there's a lot of data points uh there's a lot of work to be done um I think anytime you're dealing with young people um there's always going to be challenges um so definitely been spending a lot of time with that and meeting with um some folks on

that um and then I think just the last piece um Just strictly from a cchs standpoint is uh I've participated in a couple of the PA meetings um it's been great to meet a lot of the parents and just hear some of the concerns and ideas and honestly just the the energy um this is just taking the time in a public forum um we would love to have more parents participating in the pa um so if you have any questions obviously reach out we can put you in contact with anyone um but just wanted to

make that public comment um to Advocate for that so that was my up probably you're still looking for help on the ugly sweater um fun Friday so you know anyone wants to join in on that yeah that sounds great this Friday I will be in Washington DC but you will not be there wish you the best of luck as a lot of them um any other leison updates from around the table um I had a couple so I went to the open meeting law training and I think a few of us were there I was

in person some people were In Zoom IID asked a couple of questions it was actually great um Town Council was there and really gave an education on open meeting law which I think was really helpful um I and I think that you know we all have things to learn and things to improve and all of that but I think you know we're in good shape in the up meeting law and I encourage you to rewatch the meeting because if you have any questions on anything you know what Do you do if you know a zoom

link doesn't work or what do you do if you know they they had some scenarios in there so I think that was actually helpful to hear um so I also have the select board so I went to the select board meeting on December 2nd I feel like I have to keep updating the cell tower just because I I love to talk about cell service um so the RFP for the landfill has been extended to Janu AR 17th the umbrella has hasn't gone out Yet but once they deal with the landfill then the RP for the

um erson umbrella will go out uh carola Flur summarized the capital slides so she did that and she said she was working with the town and school so I know you guys have had that meeting so I won't talk about that umy on the cell tower are all of them like 18 to 24 months out oh yeah at least okay I mean from my very simple knowledge with when we met with On I think it is going to be 18 to 24 months it could be a little bit sooner but it's certainly not going to

be in place for the 250th right I think that's probably top of Mind on a lot of people um let's see what else [Music] um I don't think there was anything else pertinent to the schools um except for the town meeting study committee did present too and there's you know possibility that I Think there might be clickers at town meeting remote participation is not going to happen because you have to petition the state for that because some things are just home rule petition that you have to deal with so that was pretty much on the

select but the only other thing was the CPC funding there was a discussion about there is that leftover not leftover but unspent funds of the CPC so that might be something we could consider for the amenities building um I Also Le with the Dei commission so we and I I think a lot some of us were at that meeting it was challenging getting into that meeting because the the password wasn't working accurately so I know that um some people missed it Aisha joined us for that meeting which was great and there was a lot about

CPAC in that meeting also I'm just like running through my notes because it feels like it was a long time ago and then tomorrow there is the Dei commission is having a Coffee at the library that I just came across this week so it's at 1:00 in the goodwi Forum um and I saw it on the visit conquered website but that was the first time I've I've heard it so I don't know if you had heard it at the chair's breakfast no so if anyone can attend it's tomorrow at one o'clock I cannot attend Andrew

and I were invited and we just were invited yesterday so it was too soon for us too unfortunately you guys have your big PD day yeah we have The big PD tomorrow so so that was the only I think that was all I had and I think that they don't have their January schedule out yet um so more to come okay U just a couple quick updates on the Carlile side um presently actually there's a joint select board and fincom meeting to talk about the FY 26 budget um later in the select board meeting they

are going to vote on the date for the town meeting I think it's Sunday May the 4th that's sort of what was being Leaned towards but we'll know more tonight once the group split then at 8:30 tonight fincom will be discussing the um conquer car Regional guidance from the car side so um I am planning to join that this evening just to get the latest there and then Carl fincom is planning to do their what they call their Marathon meetings early January Lori I think you were probably given that date and I don't know how

that sort of all fits in just in terms of timing I Think it's the 8th and the 9th it's right after so we present to you on Tuesday and then we're in carile Thursday I think timing actually works okay so um that's the news there great yeah and I think that you know moving forward there's a we have our car we have our carile school committee meeting tomorrow night um so Brian and I are doing double duty this week but um you know I think one of the things that we're we can start doing is

there's Usually not anything that filters from carel to hear from our school committee but I think some of the things that we're starting to look at with special education we can start sharing um we're also there's a group of us looking at the Highland building um that is intriguing that will keep you posted it also will help have us probably competing for CPC funds um as well um which is important to note just because it's a we're a small town um so anything Else before I just want to say if you could just pass along

and I'll send her note to Angel just the tour of all the Intensive programming was really exceptional and um you know we really saw from preschool all the way up to 22 and really what she's built so you know I want to thank her publicly because that did not exist you know 10 years ago even 5 years ago so and really to see the programs from preschool flow into the elementary school and then the Middle school and now up through the high school I mean the high school always said Pathways but we're definitely having we

have other programs that are available and I did mention to anyone that was on the tour with me that there's a great um just it's a slide that's on the website of all the program that we do do and really to see it go you know pre- 22 up and down and all sorts of programs that we have we're very fortunate to have that here so I Just wanted to thank her publicly for that was a great opportunity for us I agree very impressive I don't think we've ever done that many buildings in two hours

it was a little bit of a trial but it worked it worked it worked and I mean as a school get the rehearsed run on Thursday really great if anyone wants to go again yeah yeah we're doing again Thursday at one anybody else who wants to great great all right let's move to The consent agenda we have minutes donations staff enrollment requests warrants y accounts payable payroll and for both [Applause] districts make a motion to approve the consent agenda oh sorry discussion all in favor both great um can I have a motion to adjourn the

conquer Carlo Regional yeah you can Justj okay staying in hi thank you thank you everyone thank you all don't drive too fast to car like go on to another meeting sht Ryan you're off to another meeting right yes I'll take it from from home oh okay that's okay oh that's good Jason you can come on up you're the only topic left on the agenda for the conquered committee at the table we'll just make Sure you get a microphone will you send a copy to Michelle yeah okay good night by Brian bye Julie I'm I'm right

behind you but okay I might take a minutes because I'm bye thanks thank you see you next year Brian I had to say it I do that to my kids all the time and they're like yeah um it's a mom joke Jason thank you so much for coming tonight I know it's really late so appreciate you Sticking around to to have a conversation with us um we are uh Dr hter do you want to lead it sure I'll cue you up Jason you can take it from there so in the middle school project uh you're

all aware I think that all along it's been voted to be a net zero building uh that requires solar to be part of the discussion so cmlp is the provider of the solar and you know the executor of that so we've been in really discussions on what that's going to look Like so we thought Jason should come give you an update um we take occupancy on February 24th and so we're you us are going to be the ones collaborating with cmlp which is the first shift um where the building committee isn't in oversight and it's

not a town building you will actually be fully responsible so seemed like it was a good time to get Jason engaged with you all get get an update on where the project is at um there's some decisions probably to be Made at different points so seems like more knowledge you have the better and he was willing to come tonight and start that conversation with you so Jason's here as the new director of really new director of cmlp after doing quite a little interim stint so welcome Jason thank you so yes I'm Jason Baler I am

the director of the light plant and conquered I was previously for three years the chief technology officer of the town and so I was in this role in an Interim capacity since January of this year and hired as a permanent director in September um conquer as a community really prioritizes as clean energy and just to provide for some background because I know some people are maybe newer to the project but um in 2019 when there was a desire for feasibility funding for this new Middle School there was a an um Amendment attached to it to

say please consider making it Net Zero ready and also fully electrified so that That is possible down the road that did pass um the funding for the school passed and again and then in 2023 the light board moved an article to request $7.5 million in borrowing authorization from the town to finance the solar and Battery project at the middle school and I will say that when they design when they came up with that figure they didn't know what the actual load for the school was going to be they had to estimate that that and they

estimated it Based on the square footage that was kind of being talked about and the number of boilers and equipment that it would have and then added maybe 10 or 15% and then came up with the figure of the number of panels that would have to generate that much energy in a year to make it at zero um so then the light plant hired solar Design Associates a design firm to create something that would provide that much capacity um I have to kind of go into a little bit of Background here and conquered it to

that we have a tremendous amount of solar relative to the amount of demand that we have in our town much more than almost every other municipality in the state so our concern from a light plant providing a reliable electricity perspective is making sure that our demand is always higher than the amount of solar we generate in the town if it's not we can't push back either physically or legally past our substation onto ever Source's territory so um if you've heard us talking about this if you went to the last town meeting you know that cmlp

is looking to invest in energy storage to take this excess solar to continue to allow the town to expand its solar um that's where the battery discussion really came into the CMS project is making sure that whatever this large amount of solar we add to this building is never going to create a problem on the distribution Network where excess Solar will push back and then cause a problem um the other reason that the battery exists is also to to make the the program more financially palatable because solar um is cheapest when it's ground mounted the

next cheapest is rooftop and then the most expensive is canopy solar the reason that the canopies exist at the CMS site is because the rooftop just isn't enough solar to really provide all the energy needed for to make the building Net Zero And canopies are very expensive as I mentioned the battery is expected to take that excess solar when it's generated but also be able to be dis patched when electricity is very expensive which saves rate payers money which is why the battery helps financially the current design and the design that kind of existed from

the beginning was about 400 kilow of um solar on the rooftop and about 700 on the canopies um I will mention that the 400 is estimated to be completely absorbed at all times of the year by the building itself it's when you start talking about the canopies that you you absolutely need a battery to absorb that or we'll have a problem pushing it back can you say that one more time so the rooftop Ro require a battery but the canopy does correct and are those S you finish yeah well I was just going to say

you know there might be like one tiny canopy in one spot that might right but Like um and also once we see the school's load once it becomes occupied we'll know a lot more about what that really is maybe it's a little bit more maybe it's a little bit less but our engineering team looking at the estimated size of the building and knowing what its demands are um has said that the rooftop you know would probably be fine without a battery um and also I will mention that the town um has power purchase agreements for

two very large Solar arrays in town one at the landfill and one at the WR former WR gray site the town does not own those solar arrays the town cannot just flip a switch and turn them off when things are problematic but the but cmlp will own this array and there there are options whereby you know we can be creative with the power coming out now anything you do to dramatically increase or decrease the power coming out of a solar panel that's being absorbed by a building could cause Problems so we want to be careful

about you know promises on that but at least we know from the beginning we will own and control this solar so that hopefully it doesn't get out of control and create other problems and prevent future solar um expansion that the town wants to do so um you know we also have talked to a lot of other schools and also other utilities who've done school projects and one lesson learned on a new construction was that the building is Typically warranteed for a period of time maybe a year the rooftop and the membrane as well and that

intrusions by screwing or bolting you know solar racks uh racking devices to a roof can void a warranty or transfer the liability from the people who installed it over to the people who've then done the racking and so we have heard several other utilities who have had a waiting period just to make sure that they went through a rainy season or a winter and that they didn't Have intrusion through the membrane because then there's finger pointing as to who owns that or who did this or um from the beginning the racking on the roof was

anticipated to not penetrate through the membrane and to either be sort of chemically welded to the membrane itself basically glued to it or to be ballasted meaning weigh it down that's how the landfill is currently uh racked so that red reduces the risk of of penetration but it doesn't eliminate It and even sometimes installing any equipment on there Will void the manufacturer's warranty our our thinking is that early on we recognized that um cmlp and our contractors are not the same as the contractors doing the construction that we want to be very mindful of the

work that was being done on the site and that we were not going to increase any of the timelines or costs associated with it and so for those reasons we feel like it would Probably work best for us to do this work during the summertime the building will be occupied the roof will be up and go through a winter and a rainy spring hopefully we get some more rain um and then we will have less of an impact on the operations of the school when it's not hopefully as in session or as busy and get

those panels installed at that time um so I talked would that be 20 summer of 25 yeah okay um so before that warranty like like if you have that One-year warranty you would actually be doing it before well it depends I guess I guess the question is when is the when was the roof installed when is the warranty take effect right so we're open to you know figuring it out but at the earliest that was what we were thinking um so when we get to the battery I want to bring up a few topics here

so the the battery and we we coordinate a lot with smma the architect for the project to help us identify locations of where our Switchboard our Transformer the batteries and all the other utility connections would be and in those Current Designs that site for the battery storage is adjacent to the generator uh near the utility area is that near the gymnasium Lori um off on that side yeah um so all the way at the end of the school yeah over by the loading dock and I don't have it exactly but it's in that kind of

utilitarian wall section behind the wall behind the Wall okay right and so you know I will say say Battery Technology like this grid scale battery is an evolving technology it's been deployed for years and in thousands of deployments but it is evolving very fast the chemistry that's being used the technology for fire suppression or for venting or for fire safety the code has not had not originally caught up to where the technology was and we are in a much better place today than we were even a Couple of years ago with the National Electric Safety

Code making sure that there are um you know sections dealing with um utility scale storage and you know there's many many folks in conquered who have these systems in their basements Outside the Fire Chief does not like them in the basements I'll tell you but at their homes um businesses are putting them in they are used in schools in Massachusetts my kids go to a school in Gren where they have Uh you know a 2 megawatt 4 megawatt Hour battery storage um located on the site so these things are happening but we are mindful of

the safety aspects and and just even if it's not a a life safety issue just the impact on the school operations of the maintenance and any issues that come as a result of work that needs to be done on the battery we don't want to impact the school um at all right by this thing we want it to be a passive utility so we have um reached Out to our excess liability insurer uh they're named egis they have uh loss prevention experts and Engineers that help assist with projects like this to say like okay let

me see your plans let me see what the site looks like let me see what you're trying to do and we can help you design something to mitigate as many of the risks as possible so we've had conversations with those individuals we've had them do presentations we've invited stakeholders from the schools to The fire department and Public Safety can I interrupt you for one second I'm sorry can you just explain what exact risks you're talking about sure you say risk mitigation what are we mitigating yep so um batteries as you probably have seen in the

news when they heat up they can catch on fire right so if you have a battery that's a cell phone and it's small you might say oh this is hot and you throw it out of your pocket if it's a very large battery the concern is that If a cell catches on fire that it spreads to the entire unit um batteries like that that catch on fire cannot really be extinguished they are a controlled burn for a long period of time there are concerns does that mean what's a long period of time hours days yeah

which one hours or days that was a comma so it could be either right so it depends on what the system is what the chemistry is what the suppression systems are but 48 Hours on the long end A few hours on the short end um the so they can be exting will they go out they will go out yeah they are not perpetually like Eternal Flames at the Olympics no like they tend to spread no so well so you know early on when these units were deployed they were like how many can we fit on

a particular site let's put 20 of them all 3 in apart from each other um they've learned that that's not an ideal situation because they they catch On fire and then they spread so there are recommendations for safe distances to put these things from buildings from each other um and that's generally 15 to 20 feet between each other and then you know um early on these units were meant to be completely weather tight let's keep all the rain and water out because water is an enemy the problem is that if you have a cell that

goes bad and it heats up normally those gases would just dissipate and you'd have no problem but If those gases are contained then water is you know intrudes into that area and then there's like an electrical fire and then it explodes right so the batteries that are used today are designed to not explode they eliminate gases they have passive and active do they not explode they're designed to not exp they're designed to not explode right so just like the boiler in this building or any other building can explode right anything can explode so you design

it to Not explode or if it explodes not hopefully not explode or do they actually not explode um so hopefully nothing explodes right hopefully right and can I just ask um if if it were to go on fire what does it emit into the air um so there are studies that talk about that I don't want to get into the full details but I'm happy to send you like reports that talk about the chemicals it's not a toxic plume that kills people when they breathe it but um Obviously they their chemicals inside the batteries and

um and so there are a lot of studies and of of this now so basically what happens today is there are codes and UL standards and other standards that say if you're going to put in a battery this is what it needs to do the cell if it has a problem it needs to stick to that cell if for whatever reason the cell doesn't stick to that cell the tray of cells need to stick to that tray if the tray doesn't You know isn't contained then it needs to stay to that module and if not

that module then that rack and if not that rack that unit so that every level there's a kind of controls in place to prevent something bad from happening but just like the cell phone in your pocket could explode batteries can explode they can heat up so when I talk about an explosion is not a nuclear blast is not going to blow up the school but they so They are vented and and intended to prevent these chemicals from building up so that there isn't an explosion if there's an explosion there are walls there are barriers there

are other units so for example there's going to be a unit with HVAC and an inverter and there's going to be a unit with batteries if you put the unit with the batteries further away and it has a problem the other unit is going to take that not it's not ever going to go Toward the school for example these are all concerns and conversations that we're having with the fire department um the fire department is leaning on the State Fire Marshall's office to find out about their resources and and designing this as safe as possible

we've talked to other utilities we've talked to other schools and ask them about their process like what did you go through before saying that this was okay um and you know we've learned a lot we're also Coming up with contingencies I mentioned that for example that the rooftop alone doesn't require a battery um can we locate the battery somewhere else on the property no right like it if it has to be on the property it has to be near the utilities and right now with the wetlands with the wells with all the other things on

the property there isn't a great location but what are the other options that we have to keep this as safe as possible because again like your Boiler could blow up you don't put it in a class classroom you put it in utility area right so that if it blows up it doesn't hurt anybody and if the leaks are there there's a drain right so they take I know that your RFP hasn't gone through with the landfill but would the landfill be a viable alternative source for a battery I just think of the fact that there

are no like real humans there or significant infrastructure yeah like um you know that could be damaged is That an option so we are looking at expanding the solar at the landfill and put a battery there as well the the problem with putting the battery at the landfill there are times where the solar from the school will charge the battery at a landfill far you know further away from the school but there are also other times where that might not happen and then it eliminates all the benefits that you get from having a battery on

the site so the batteries need to be as Close to the power source as possible because of how electricity works it it doesn't know where you want it to go it's it works on voltage right so the further away there's sort of loss of that voltage and so it's going to go wherever the demand is if there's a demand in this direction and then there's a car hits a pole the power is going to go out for a long long long time so so it's not optimal but is it but it could be possible to

place a Battery there that might not be as perfect as if it was at the school but it could still generate some benefit I hearing I don't think we're as worried about the benefit in like the reduction benefit we're more worried about maintaining the resilience of the distribution system so if if it's just a simple matter of like oh we might not get as much of a benefit here than we would never have even thought about Putting on the school in the first place it's because for for to prevent the pushback that we're concerned about

why the battery exists at all it needs to be close to the power source so that you you're you have a switchboard at this location the switchboard will tie in the canopies the rooftop the school the line power and the battery and be able to manage all those things if the battery leaves we can't do that we can't run new power lines you know miles away and and Have it be on like a separate what the excess liability people say you said you were meeting with them and then we sidetracked so again I think when

you think about what an engineer does engineers never say we can't do something they say well here's how you can do it safely or here's how you can do it as safely as possible right so I think there that we definitely got some guidance on that it's about spacing it's about barriers it's about um making sure That the the system you select has all of the mitigations that we see today right like the ones that were installed um in groden for example right like Cutting Edge technology best fire suppression and detection if a cell goes

bad they get an alert and they monitor it cuts off power nobody has to do anything five years ago um that didn't happen right there were problems people weren't monitoring there was no warning there was no passive venting so that Gases could build up so all of these things have meant that the rate of battery issues um is going down the number is about the same there's like one a month in the world and there are hundreds of deployments every month and so the total number continues to rise astronomically there are gigawatts of battery storage

added year-over year in the last year we've like doubled what the the planet had basically before that and so these are these are being Deployed a lot and just like the batteries that you saw and like scooters and things oh they're catching on fire they're blowing up right so like um over time things get safer because people don't want dangerous things right so um we are also looking at alternative chemistries so all the issues that I just talked about are more associated with lithium ion technology whether it's the older nmc or the new lfp models

um the the the batteries we looking here Are even safer than what are in most electric cars because they're um they're just less likely to heat up but there are other chemistries like zinc that have a much lower energy density so in other words we wouldn't be able to get as much power in at that location so maybe it wouldn't take all the power of the canopies but it also may have a much much lower risk of ever having a problem right so we can then look at that I think ultimately there are going to

be Conversations that need to be had about the total amount of capacity that we can take and then the risks that we're as a community willing to accept or the trade-offs right so there are expectations from rate payers on what they're getting for the money that they in they they invest in this project and there are expectations that the school has for you know safety of the students and of the and of the building um and so I think that there are always trade-offs With anything that we do right with any decision that's made and

so we just need to understand what everybody's who's going to make the recommendation of what of where we strike that balance in the tradeoffs what technology we use where it's placed that kind of thing when and yeah when yeah so a little bit further in my conversation when I was talking about where we are and what maybe I should talk about that first and then I'll I'll Get there I clearly have some questions yes um which is good I mean these are important things to talk about yeah can I ask a couple more questions about

the battery sure before we move on to process and I have a couple too sorry this may be really stupid I apologize can you bury them or do they have to be above ground um so yes and no um in the area that we're talking about there's a natural gas line there are utilities there are things Buried already so so no here but there are utilities that are looking at kind of keeping them in Earth a little bit to mitigate all the risks that I mentioned and also just make them look more attractive as people

drive by so I've seen utilities putting them kind of in the side of a of a hill so that from the other side you don't see it so I guess technically yes you can kind of Nest them but in this case we could not put the battery under ground and um in in Terms of lithium ion I just sat it on a presentation um two weeks ago they're talking about flow batteries and iron air and kind of the other chemistries we're talking about but seems to me they're like one to two years away from being

like safe in production but that might align so it's good to know that you're evaluating I don't know much about them right we are looking at alternative chemistries again the the downside of course is the size that that Is needed we're very limited in what we have here and that's why kind of a higher energy density is required and why we've traditionally been looking at a lithium sort of technology and then and then lastly as part of this presentation they're talking about like all the all these like um State municipalities are have these grid storage

goals and they're all behind because of lithium ioms getting harder to get so I don't know if you looked Into supply chain of lithium ion for grid scale but seems to me that might be an issue but maybe not on our timeline no yeah we're not hearing that from our suppliers so no issues with that and roughly how many schools of M Massachusetts have batteries on site I'll get you that number I don't have it like right now but several at least um and more because this project is not unique and other schools are looking

to do the same thing and new schools are Looking to do this and our problem of solar saturation was unique a few years ago when we started talking about it but we're hearing more and more MLPs and other territories that are having this problem and are having to say no to solar expansion because they're getting dicey and um so anyway where we are today so we hired a part-time project manager to help us tie together all the different vendors the school building committee the project um you know Meetings and the construction meetings that the school

is having um and we have also hired U somebody to help us with the direct pay or elective pay which is basically cmlp or the town being able to make use of the inflation reduction act money um which normally is only eligible for you know corporations or people who file tax returns and we don't so there is a way for us to recoup some of those costs in in both the solar and the and the battery storage project and so that Took some time but we have all of their recommendations we have consult other Consultants

other than SDA working on the switchboard design and they've completed that and so now we have kind of a bid package from Council and the next step is we're going to put this equipment on a on a school like I'm talking about the solar panels right now we're going to put panels on a school and on canopies in the parking lot there needs to be some understanding of of you Know who can access that area and can cmlp and and their people who supporting the panels getting onto the roof with the school can they get

into a Supply Closet is there space where you know if there needs to be a communication board for talking over you know reporting data or something um and so that is kind of encapsulated in the site license and um I provided a draft to Lori U that was provided by our Council that has drawn drawn these up and and other communities And it's basically an agreement between either the town or the school committee and another entity saying like yes okay we understand you are putting equipment on our building or on our property and that is

to be used for this reason and you'll have access to do this and we'll have access to do that and it's just an understanding and so um you know the the site license is really only for the solar it's not for the um for the battery and you know I think that our Our thought process here is that we have currently some contingencies how we're going to bid this we have the rooftop is the primary bid and then we have the canopies as an alternate because we need to see those prices early on we got

CTA to quote us what they would Co charge for the installation of the um foundations for the canopies and it was so astronomical it would have made that part of the project unfeasible we've gotten some other pricing that is much More favorable and suggests that it's still very feasible but because of that variability and knowing how expensive canopies are we need to see the differential for the rate payers because if the rate payers say well we can go contract solar outside of town for X cents per per you know kilowatt and this is going to

cost 50 times that is that an investment that the rays are going to want to make and so the lightboard would need to kind of weigh in on that but if It fits within the scope of the original borrowing authorization and we can afford that then we'll absolutely move forward and try to do as much as possible so I feel like and maybe I'm interpreting your sort of tone and whatnot it seems like there could be a path forward that you might even be leaning towards it suggests like a phased approach where um we would

or you that cmlp would in fact move forward in like a first phase with the roof which Seems very safe very straightforward something that your utility could could manage well um while there might be some time bought so to speak to investigate more into the safety of the battery the type of battery that would be recommended and maybe even to some extent waiting for the technology to further improve and evolve you know early on you said this was an evolving technology not like in love with that phrase um I don't know if That was um

intentional on your part to sort of get us to perk up um but that's sort of how I've kind of interpreted this is am I sort of can I add on to that question because I had the same that was exactly what I was just writing down and on top of that I'm I'm curious if I'm interpreting what you said earlier about the um rooftop if that meets the need of the building being Net Zero ready does it not no it doesn't so that'll I thought if you were saying That initially that would meet the

need it it just no okay so how would we just do the rooftop and need a battery uh we so if we so okay so the the canopy panels are needed to make the school Net Zero in other words generate as much electricity in a year that the school uses um if we don't do the canopies we don't need the battery so you will not have a net zero building we'll have a net zero ready building which is we are yeah without anything you have an zero Ready but now back to Alexa's question because that

that well and then so yeah so I am C answer yeah I guess answer the person first and all the followups um so I think that a phase approach is a possibility I think that when we bid it out and we see the figures I mean it really does depend on the school the fire department the electrical inspector a lot of different stakeholders if anybody says no like we're obviously not going to push to do Something that people don't want to be done our pressure here is the community and the the folks who want to

see this a net zero building and so to make that happen we need to have that level of solar now there are other ways to do that and we're investigating all of those I mentioned different chemistries can we put the panels for the school not on the school but offset them somewhere else right cmlp has non-emitting power 100% of its power is nonemitting how do We do that well we buy a lot of it nonemitting but for the remainder we buy renewable energy credits right so is there a way to make the school Net Zero

without putting all the panels on the school property right so there are other conversations we can have but I think number one the community wants as much solar as we can have we want to provide a reliable and safe distribution system and you all want a safe school right so we all have I think very similar Interests but there are I think there is a pressure to get as much solar as we can on the site the cost to install the canopies is only going to get more expensive over time the modules themselves the solar

panels will continue to fall in price but the the work the labor the concrete the materials will get more expensive so the project in two more years will be more expensive than it would probably be today there were also some temporary Things set up um once we didn't do the canopies early on that had to happen and you know are those meant to last a couple years I don't know right they were meant to be temporary until we had the canopies up so there are other conversations I think but in my mind we would want

to see what the pricing looks like because that will also completely change the conversation right if the if the canopies are not financially feasible or require us to go back to Town meeting to get more borrowing authorization then the battery may not become an issue at this time if they are very feasible and we can do the canopies then maybe there are alternatives that we can do sorry I just have two other questions um in your in talking about the memo of understanding between cmlp and the schools you mentioned that um the the memo of

understanding includes everything but the batteries so who is responsible for the battery do we own The battery do you no no no there would be a very similar site license for the battery too it would just have its own it would have its own thing yeah because the two projects are kind of being handled separately by SE solar on the roof canopy and Battery are like three different memos yeah there are three different projects well so the solar is one thing and and also the method of procurement is different so cmlp as a utility under

chapter 164 can go buy a Battery they can go buy any battery they want for 10 million $100 million right like we have that procurement Authority but we can't just buy a solar panel and put it on a public building that requires a different path so the battery is following a different procurement method which is why it's kind of a separate piece and the site license is not connected to it so when we go out to bid we're using a different RFP stream we've hired a consultant to write the RFP for the battery it's kind

of a separate beast and so in my mind we would see how this goes and see what the pricing looks like and if it's not feasible then it changes the conversation if it is feasible then we would probably come for another site license and we'd have a lot more details about where it's going to go how big it's going to be what are the safety we can have all of those detailed conversations so that the school Committee knows that like okay this is what we're agreeing to we've been able to move it here or it's

vertical instead of you know closer to the bill whatever it is right so this is not that conversation if you had to you know you you keep saying um you know the the the pressure and the expectations of the community if you removed that from the equation you know none of us have solar engineering expertise what would your recommendation be if you took Out um you know sort of the for lack of a better word peer pressure what do you think the best practice would be um so I guess it depends on how you look

at it if you're looking at it from a a distribution system you know I think you you it's impossible I really is because a safety and a protection of children and the hund million asset right so I think that a battery could go on that property and protect the safety of the children and the $100 million Asset um so I don't think it's a non-starter like if it were me and if it were my children if it were my decision I think it's possible but I don't think we should bring something forward that has any

of those those risks that you guys would have to make a decision to say like well the community wants this but it can harm our children when are you expecting a recommendation back from the fire depart like those other people who again I think you know in terms of In terms of involved boards with expertise right um I I feel like and I and I don't mean to denigrate anyone's expertise I'm I guess I'm really only speaking of my own I feel like we're the bottom of that totem pole I mean I would defer to

the fired the fire department's recommendation I would defer to the insurance agency's recommendation your recommendation yeah you know I I get nervous with our lack of expertise I Don't I want to be the absolute last person or last board to weigh in on this because I just don't think I don't know maybe you have expertise Andrew I don't know what you know what these two do that's why we're not talking about a site license for the battery right now is because we do need more information okay in my so it's a bit of the chicken

or egg thing the the expertise in conquered is higher than it maybe is for the average person but there are even More resources like at the state level and what they want is they want to see the drawings the specifications the chemistry the configuration and then say yes that's as safe as it can possibly be but you can't get that until you find a manufacturer and you go out to bid and you get all the details and you know what the orientation would be every manufacturer requires their battery to be installed in a particular way

so we can't ask The Regulators to dictate that We have to figure out from the manufacturers like what is the bid come back and what do they say it has to be installed and then we take that to these people and they they say yes here's how you can M how here's how you can follow their recommendations and mitigate all these risks in these ways or we're very concerned about this this doesn't seem like a good idea right so that's why it's a bit of a chicken or egg thing where they say to us give

us the Detailed specs and we'll tell you if that's a smart project or not um they can't just say you know well put a battery in the desert like they they know that right so yeah so good luck question for Alexa and Andrew you guys have been in the Weeds on the building obviously for a lot longer and Dr Hunter than we than we have we've gotten updates from you all paid attention to some of the meetings but like you guys have been in the weeds I'm just curious What the building committee what the discussions

in the building committee have been around CM cmlp solar these arrangements and what think I think that our purview on the building committee has been quite narrow it's been the building um executing the construction of the building um and I think these projects are very intentionally separate because you I'm making like gross assumptions you know there you guys have the requisite expertise whereas we do Not so um we there really have been limited to no conversations I guess my question is like I'm I'm just surprised that we're hearing about this now like two months before

we open a building I asked when I was in the construction trailer this afternoon I asked the that's the whole team fire department's usually there they weren't unfortunately um but immediately smma said oh this was definitely talked about so they're going to reach out to the fire department and Remember those conversations that would have been way back four years five years ago during design um and recall those conversations that were had when the pad got put where it is from the building and all that she immediately went oh we had a lot of talk about

thaten Jen's our lead architect and she's gonna do some homework on that too yeah the smma plans have had the battery location on them from for a very very Long time like and have you felt confident in those plans for a very long time again not knowing what's going on the pad right like it if I see something then then I'll be able to answer that question but right now there is a way to design something that's not safe that goes in that location and there's a way to design something that is safe right so

we're not going to bring something forward that is that anybody feels is unsafe and could the location change Based on whatever the battery is that gets chosen could you change the location of where it goes to make it work that might be more of a question for you guys it really it's a very tight site I don't know the answer to that other than things are really tight this point it could if we if we did it in like what Alexa was saying in this phased approach if we did it on the roof and kind

of got a sense for the usage and then either Purch seems like it's going to be phased anyway whether we like it or not because it doesn't seem like the batter is kind of ready to rock anyway you said you don't even know batteries have like a year lead time for installation anyway so even if we awarded it now it would it's a year away okay I have another question I remember I remember when we were contemplating installing something as simple as lights on the Ripley baseball fields Cynthia brought up um Discussions with abutters um

with respect to light pollution have the abutters on Captain miles Lane been apprised of this project and are they aware of the risks as they're you know when the the way that the school is cited is so close to those residential homes I just has cmlp done Outreach to those abutters to keep them apprised of what this looks like as well I mean like we you know we did Outreach for some lights right yeah so typically You design a plan and then you do the Outreach to tell people what the plan this is still kind

of early yes okay but there has been conversations and concerns and questions about what what will this look like what are the environmental concerns you know um there are places where you know P containing foam was used to put out a fire and then it created contamination right so like there are a lot of implications for fire safety for you know pollution like that You need to think about and communicate and and have that Outreach so it's absolutely an important component can I can I ask one more summ basic summary question so we know we

don't know the full load of the school until we're in it for a little while right but we think it's going to be more than 400 kilowatt I mean hopefully going to be less than 1100 Kil well and so when I say that so that is BAS basically you project how much uh say 1100 or 1.1 megaw of solar Panels would yield in a year that's supposed to match the school's electricity usage in a year so there are times where the panels have to generate a lot more electricity than the school uses because in the

winter months the panels will not be generating much at all and the school that's fully electric and for heat for hot water will be using a lot of electricity so there are times where the solar is not making a dent in the school's electricity amount and There are times where it's far exceeding it's right so in in a phased approach you could do the roof and then you could even do the canopies without a battery right you could just do those knowing that you wouldn't use it all all right um knowing that you couldn't all

so when the canopies if all the canopies get installed um or just a couple of them right okay you know you're going to use more than 400 kilowatts you could do a couple canopies without a battery just Put them right into link them to the school it's possible that the school being an operation would yield more data that would help us better calculate that as I mentioned with the Net Zero calculation it was 10 to 15% more than was estimated if the school's usage is less than they thought and there was already a contingency it's

possible that we could remove some of the canopies and still have the school be Net Zero I will say there's probably still people who Think we should maximize the solar anyway they're looking to put as much solar as possible but like and that's certainly possible but maybe that's over a threeyear period and not a one-ear period right anyway I just thank you for taking this um you know considering the safety and taking time like we want to get it right so thank you y so I guess for me for next steps you know it would

really be to think about The site license and for the panels just the solar panels to determine like you know what what parties would you like to see talk about this would you like to have the schools Council review it would you like to have Lori and I meet talk about like how do we move forward on that conversation because again I do feel like that will help us get more information on the project at large and then you know be able to come back with more definitive answers on things Because again I do feel

like there was an initial project that was specked and scoped and it was intended to have to do a lot of different things but at the end of the day the most important thing is life safety and the cost of this investment right we don't want to do anything that's going to jeopardize that and so we need to just make sure that we proceed carefully and so I think that if we can get the site license we can understand the cost of the canopies we Can understand a little bit as the school comes online what

the usage is looking like that will better allow us to Peg what Net Zero is what the requirements are and can we achieve that without a battery this battery this location all these other things right so that then we can definitively say this is the safest option the best option and the necessary option so the last time we did just to give you an example um when we negotiated the Access to the TV studio at the high school in the town took over feels very similar because Minute Man used it made an agreement with us

it was SL it took a long it took a while um we brought a draft I would meet with the at the time the town manager brought a draft to you they would meet with PEG access the committee and we'd bounce back and forth between the boards the professional leaders and the councils legal councils and it it took six months just so we're All I don't know if this will be that complicated but that the committee at the time was really at the time we had certain high priority areas of security and all I think

there's going to be some really high priority areas for the schools and for cmlp on this not just safety but access and yeah funding and who's taking care of what and any of that you know maintenance of the panels than all we have a smaller agreement at Willard yeah Um which frankly surprised me what that had us owning some responsibility for so I think there are some things to talk through and so the next would you then work out work with cmlp to begin a contract so he's given us the draft is that that's your

starting point so that was my other question okay so like someone said before like this doesn't contain the word battery so this is truly limited to the photov voltaics on the roof correct period and the canopies And the canopies and the right be but with no but no batteries right correct and if you wanted and this is the stuff we're going to talk through since the canopies are way out and hypo separate just focus on the the roof and keep it contained maybe that okay I mean my preference would definitely have counil review any of

this of course obious you have to have this it's going to take six months I know maybe it won't say I thought that I I I really say the other One was 6 months cuz I thought that was a simple one and it turned out not to be that simple this feels already a little more we can't legally issue an RFP for the canopies to get pricing if we don't have a site license to be able to install the canopies so that's why I totally agree and maybe they can be split into two separate documents

with an expiration if it doesn't happen or whatever like there are ways to deal with that but I think just to get the Information to answer the questions like we we won't be able to go out to bid right so that's why it's those two but I agree but there is probably a way to address that and have two separate documents one that's intended to happen now and go right away and one maybe is worded differently so we can we can look at that okay that would be great thanks some questions you scared the out

of us yeah I know thank you I learned a lot about [Applause] batteries um great anything else or I think we'll adjourn yeah all right have a good night everybody happy New Year Happy New Year