===PAGE 1=== 1025 Massachusetts Avenue, Lunenburg, Massachusetts 01462 978 582-4100 ~ fax 978 582-4103 MEETING MINUTES SCHOOL COMMITTEE MEETING Wednesday, March 27, 2024 Special Meeting 6:30 p.m. -Hybrid School Committee Superintendent Carol Archambault, Chair – Present Dr. Kate Burnham Brian Lehtinen, Vice Chair - Present Business Manager/ HR Director Anthony Sculimbrene, Secretary - Absent Peter Beardmore, Member - Present Laura Brzozoski, Member - Present Recording Secretary Courtney Fuller Guests: In accordance with the requirements of the Open Meeting Law, please be advised that this meeting is being recorded and broadc ast live over the Lunenburg Public Access channel, on Facebook Live on the Public Access Facebook page. (http://www.facebook.com/Lunenburg-Public-Access-Cable-157427270975305/) and will be uploaded to the Lunenburg Access YouTube after the meeting. The agenda lists all the topics which may be discussed at the meeting and those reasonably anticipated by the Chair. Votes may be taken as a result of these discussions. Not all items listed may in fact be discussed and other items not listed may be brought up f or discussion to the extent permitted by Open Meeting Law 1. Call to Order by Carol Archambault at 6:31 2. Pledge of Allegiance 3. Public Comment Sarah Comer, 304 Lancaster Ave I have watched a lot of meetings, and it compelled me to come out and say thank you. For the first time in 6 or 7 years I have the felt value I place in education has been recognized here amongst the committee and represented to our town government. I am very grateful to every single person on this board and this room who addressed the gross inadequacies in the funding for the schools. This year was particularly brutal and the things that were said, some people have commented on those and some people took them personally, and I have to say as a member of the public when my voice is not represented, I feel the same way, so I wanted to say thank you. I think it's ridiculous that every single year you have to justify why the schools need more than a 2 ½% raise when they employ so many more people in the town than the rest of the town. Thank you for the rainbow budgets, I think there are now nine versions of a school budgets. Our Board of Selectmen was lamenting that the town manager would have to redo one, that's not fair. I truly thank all of you and also the parents who stood up for the budget. Mr. Beardmore – read an email directed to the Town Manager, members of the Board of Selectmen, members of the Finance Committee, the superintendent and the Chair of this committee, apologizing for losing his cool at the meeting last Thursday. Ms. Archambault There was a tweet that came through MASC, representative, Tracey O’Connell Novak, she was also a former Chair of Worcester School Committee. This comment was regarding small town balance budgets, and we are not alone in this crisis. Ms. Archambault shares we are here because there was confusion from the last meeting. We clearly voted for the “pink” budget, which is the needs based budget. The concern came from whether AARPA funds were included and also chrome books being included in the AARPA funds even though that is a reoccurring expense. Lunenburg Public Schools Dr. Kate Burnham, Superintendent of Schools ===PAGE 2=== 1025 Massachusetts Avenue, Lunenburg, Massachusetts 01462 978 582-4100 ~ fax 978 582-4103 Ms. Brzozoski I voted for the budget, not caring where the money came from, but I believe we are going to vote with AARPA, knowing we need to make that money up next year, but with the messaging that next year we are going to have to make that difference up somehow. It was the amount of money and percentage, regardless of how it was funded . Mr. Beardmore I did not believe AARPA funds were in it. AARPA money does not go into my budget, based on the information we have received from the town. Mr. Lehtinen I voted on a number and percentage, with or without AARPA, it did not matter to me Ms. Archambault I voted with the assumption that the AARPA funds were included in the numbers Mr. Lehtinen makes a motion to clarify our budget vote is the 4.37% budget with the AARPA funds of $221,600 included. Ms. Brzozoski seconds the motion. Roll Call vote Ms. Brzozoski – yes, Mr. Lehtinen – yes, Ms. Archambault – yes, Mr. Beardmore - No 4. Old Business Action a. FY25 Budget Update Dr. Burnham shares an update to adjust the numbers that had been previously discussed. Also a slide sharing projects that would be done using AARPA money, if the override passes. b. Override Mr. Lehtinen makes a motion to accept the list of repairs to be done with the AARPA funds if the override is approved and to make the override amount official of $948,138, Ms. Brzozoski seconds the motion. All approve. 5. Public Comment Mary Foyle, 985 Flat Hill Road I am actually speaking more as myself and a parent on this one, myself includes an employee in the Lunenburg Public Schools, as an English teacher. Words matter. I do appreciate that from a fiscal system standpoint why we've called it a “needs-based” budget, sitting as a high school teacher and a high school parent sitting here as a person who moved into this town because, I worked here and fully believed that the education system was some of the best there was to offer. I’ve said this before I'm getting a little more dubious of that as time has rolled on and you're not the first school committee to have dealt with budgets like this. In my 20 plus year career here we've been through some tough years. Covid unfortunately fortunately I don't know which one it is, was a Band-Aid for what was some pretty significant writing on the wall so I do appreciate that you're being a school committee, who's saying, well hey this isn't good enough. With the words matter I think maybe as part of your people talking about the budget we also have a different word than needs based because, when I get what I need I feel like that's enough to what I'm supposed to do. As a high school teacher and as a parent of a high school child, at best it's a limping budget. It's a budget that is actually not enough to be considered sustainable. So I get fiscally how it has to be called “need-based”, then that makes sense to people who are in the know of money management, but if you're not understanding how municipal systems work and what those words mean - “needs based” actually says something very different than what that budget actually is. Ms. Brzozoski I wanted to talk about the silver linings of this process that has been absolutely wonderful. It has opened up a conversations towards a better cooperation. This entire process has brought attention to a very detailed breakdown of the budget in a way that I am not sure the public has ever been so engaged in. We have she a lot of light on just how very little we have been working with over the years and how thin the margins are. I have watched a lot parents come in and want to look at the budget, with intentions to cut the waste, only to find out that that has already been eliminated. The most surprising things I have learned since joining the school committee is to learn at just how lean we have been running. I can’t believe we have been getting by on so little. We need to do a better job at conveying how rough things are and how it directly affects student achievement. We need to hammer home the message that making kids wait a year for these vital services affect their development. There are only 17 districts in the entire state that spend less per pupil then we do. The kids of Lunenburg deserve a good education. I also wanted to correct something…a phrase I have been hearing is that 30% of Lunenburg are below the poverty line, it is actually 7.2% of Lunenburg residents are below that poverty line as of the 2022 Census. You know what lifts children out of poverty. A quality education. Every kid in Lunenburg deserves and needs a quality education. The override isn’t perfect, and the timing is no ideal, but perfection doesn’t happen in government, we need to move forward and do what we can to make sure this next year for students matter, and get the job done we know we can. ===PAGE 3=== 1025 Massachusetts Avenue, Lunenburg, Massachusetts 01462 978 582-4100 ~ fax 978 582-4103 Laura Barooshian, 389 Mulpus Road I also just want to say thank you for all the work. This has been certainly an enlightening process for myself, with a child going into high school and another one that's home schooled I completely agree with the comments that were made. I think this is our bare bones, this is what the immediate need is at the moment. There's still work to be done and I am encouraged by how many people have stayed on, so many of the calls whether through zoom or in person. I've also been just appreciative of the kid's involvement in this whole process. I am also just looking for the school board in this next phase, once we're past this, to be really looking at the long-term needs. We need to focus on the teachers and the work they're doing, and the extra that they're giving, and really making that part of a longer term budget plan. Thank you for all your work, but we still have a ways to go. Mr. Beardmore reiterates first we need to make an invitation to our legislators to visit us at the earliest possible convenience and to reassert our position as the representatives of the children in Lunenburg. Also I would like to see a break out of funding in Athletics. I would like to see an explanation of the ins and outs of the athletic budget, what taxpayer dollars pay for and what user fees pay for, what the boosters pay for. 6. Adjournment –Ms. Brzozoski makes a motion to adjourn at 7:45, Mr. Beardmore seconds the motion, all approve Respectfully Submitted Courtney Fuller