===PAGE 1=== 1025 Massachusetts Avenue, Lunenburg, Massachusetts 01462 978 582-4100 ~ fax 978 582-4103 MEETING MINUTES SCHOOL COMMITTEE MEETING Wednesday, August 7, 2024 6:30 – Hybrid - LMHS School Committee Superintendent Brian Lehtinen, Chair - Present Dr. Kate Burnham Anthony Sculimbrene, Vice Chair - Present Carol Archambault, Secretary - Present Peter Beardmore, Member - Present Laura Brzozoski, Member - Present Recording Secretary Courtney Fuller Guests: Andy Paquette-President and Chief Executive Officer-TMS Solution Inc., Paul Livingston-TMS Solution Inc., Dr. Susan Gilson-Director of Administration and Finance In accordance with the requirements of the Open Meeting Law, please be advised that this meeting is being recorded and br oadcast 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 C hair. 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 for discussion to the extent permitted by Open Meeting Law 1. Call to Order – By Mr. Lehtinen at 6:31 2. Public Comment Sybil Kaufman, 27 Oak Ave as a marketing and Communications professional I received Myriad performance metrics related to social media channels. I doubt it will surprise you that our data shows Facebook as a forum for paid advertisements and predominantly negative trending conversations. In addition I work closely with Public Health researchers who are at a breakneck pace uncovering the detrimental effects of social media on individual and societal health and well-being. The loudest ugliest Facebook voices do not speak for the majority of residents in Lunenburg. The cyber bullying that occurred targeting a recently departed hire would never be tolerated if it were directed at a minor or if the words were spoken in person. Concerns about curricular or pedagogical methods or content should have been directed respectfully to this leadership body which could have dealt with them appropriately. To support our override campaign efforts I was part of a group who engaged in the discussing Lunenburg Facebook group that was tough, I did not like it and I honestly think that the in-person campaign efforts, like talking to people at sporting events, did more to advance our cause, and public understanding of the issues that hand in the end voter turnout in Lunenburg was still pretty low though we did pass the override. As soon as it was over I once again happily uninstalled Facebook from my phone, so while people like me, may not be joining the dialogue on Facebook, we are here, we're paying attention to what happens in our town, we're ready to stand up for due process including appropriate Lunenburg Public Schools Dr. Kate Burnham, Superintendent of Schools ===PAGE 2=== 1025 Massachusetts Avenue, Lunenburg, Massachusetts 01462 978 582-4100 ~ fax 978 582-4103 governance as it pertains to our schools through this body. I recommend this or consider action that mirrors the work of the PTO and the Family Schools Partnership Compact and that you dig deep to enact creative ways to better connect this district with its community. If we have healthy alternatives to Facebook then the bullies’ outrage will seem less dominating and we'll be better for it. How about coffee with the superintendent or pizza night with the school committee? I'd be willing to buy a few pizzas if it meant we could actually have a dialogue as opposed to this very necessary but unengaged forum where the public may only comment and witness deliberations. There's no avenue for really asking questions in the moment. Thank you in advance for considering ways to build a collaborative connection to all Lunenburg residents not just parents. Lunenburg is better than its Facebook bullies and we need your help to drop them out. Dave Blatt I am coming to you both as a citizen of Lunenburg and also the chair of the Green Committee. I am going to ask you to help us as the Green Committee to use up state funds. I very much enjoyed your former facilities manager and the amount he was involved with the Green Committee, we did such things as multiple lighting upgrades, probably over $100,000 in lighting upgrades, the mechanical systems, variable speed drives, new water heater boiler, controls pipe installation, appliances, ie. the nice new oven, the cooler, the refrigerator, weatherization, and training on how to use these systems were all done by funds through the Green Grant, with virtually no money having to be paid out by the school committee or the town. We ask that you guys help us help you. We need your help in putting together the projects or getting something done so that we can be ready for our fall Grant. One of the things that I've talked about is the mini split project, the state wants to fund these, and all we need to do is make sure it's done the correct way and the correct wording is the right way and we believe that that will go over with flying colors. We have up to $200,000 that we can ask from the state in this round alone that's available. We would like to be able to use all of that $200,000 because they'd like to give our little town of Lunenburg that money, so please help me help you, help the town and get things done around the facilities. We think a deadline of September 15th to have data together, and then in early October we have to be able to submit. Grants will be awarded around February and need to be used with the year. While Mr. Hevy does attend many of the meetings, we are looking for the school committee’s help in allowing or directing him in ways to get this money spent. Mr. Beardmore When I was appointed in the school committee two years ago, I outlined four things that I wanted to focus on as a School Committee Member. In summary, they were student achievement, budget, facilities, and community engagement. I think that we've made some progress in all those areas, but not enough in any of them. As the events of this past weekend unfolded I was packing up to go camping with my son, I started to think, what is this going to do relative to moving the ball on student achievement, facilities, budget, and community engagement. My honest assessment was: probably not going to help, although I can tell you that I didn't foresee what was actually going to occur. I've lived here for a long time and I can tell you point blank, that racism in general and intolerance in Lunenburg is not a new. One of my classmates commented on Facebook this weekend, and he was right, there were more people in my class that regularly used the “N” word than there were minorities in my class, so this isn't a new thing. But we've made progress in Lunenburg over the years, we've made extraordinary progress. When I landed on the school committee I was introduced to the term SEL (social and emotional learning) and I can tell you that when I joined I didn't know what SEL meant. I had no idea, but I sat back and listened, and I read the research that was presented to me, and the clear facts about the climate in our schools, and whether our students felt safe or not, and accepted or not, and I was convinced that there was an issue that needed to be addressed. There was a small group of parents that objected to it and they brought the issue multiple times to school committee meetings and there was an open and honest and respectful debate about it. At the time I disagreed with those who had a problem with the SEL curriculum, but I have great respect for those people. I regularly speak with them at Town ===PAGE 3=== 1025 Massachusetts Avenue, Lunenburg, Massachusetts 01462 978 582-4100 ~ fax 978 582-4103 Meetings and those kinds of things. What happened this weekend, was not that, and it reflected a lack of curiosity about the process, a lack of interest in the merits of the candidate who was selected, a lack of confidence in the members of the community that participated in that selection, a complete disregard for our actual curriculum that doesn't mention white privilege or CRT anywhere in the curriculum, or the role that the person was hired for. It did bring up sexual preference, religion, all kinds of innuendo relative to postings that have been made online about that individual. Surprise, surprise that individual decided not to come here. I've sat here for two years and boasted about Lunenburg and we've joked that I'm a townie and I know this place pretty well. I didn't know it as well as I thought I knew it. I am thoroughly disappointed, frankly, knowing what I know now, would not have made the hire simply because of the other priorities that are on my list. We need to build consensus, we need to build community, and we need to bring people together. I'm not going to convince anybody of my views when it comes to social justice, and frankly I don't have the time or energy to do it, but I do want to move the ball forward and I'm very worried about our ability to retain and attract qualified personnel I believe in concepts that says you need a diverse group to come to the best solutions, I believe that our students who are in minority groups need to have people around them in the faculty that empathize with who they are and act or look like them. I'm worried that we will not be able to do that as well as we have in the past. The upside of this is that I think I'm in the significant majority, but there is an un-silent minority who feels very empowered. This is my town and I'm not going to tolerate that, and if that means stepping beyond the bounds of my position on the school committee I will do that. What occurred this weekend, it was everybody's right to say whatever they wanted to say, but it was not in good taste, it was disrespectful of this committee, our leadership, and people need to be called out and be asked to defend their positions. They're welcome to do it right here and on the zoom or anywhere else for that matter, but get ready because I'm done with being silent and listening to that just because the rules say as a school committee member that I need to make my statements here. People of a like mind need to confront this anywhere and everywhere. Mr. Lehtinen had a short statement, I encourage those who have specific concerns about curriculum, new hires, or other matters to engage directly with our administration rather than sharing concerns on social media. Direct communication with the administration helps ensure the concerns are addressed more effectively and constructively. We can work together respectfully to ensure the best educational experience for all students in our community 3. Minutes Review and Approve a. Regular Session 5/22/24 revised, 6/12/24, and Special Session revised 3/11/24 – Minutes for 5/22/24 were tabled for revisions. Ms. Brzozoski makes a motion to approve minutes for 3/11/24 & 6/12/24, Mr. Beardmore seconds the motion all approve 4. Review, and Approve Warrants a. Warrant total 6/27/24 to 7/22/24 $452,515.55 – Warrants have been signed, no questions or comments 5. New Business Discussion a. Finance Best Practices Andy Paquette and Paul Livingston our contracted accounting professionals from TMS Solutions, share a PowerPoint presentation regarding best finance practices, including possible options to better use the systems we have in place. ===PAGE 4=== 1025 Massachusetts Avenue, Lunenburg, Massachusetts 01462 978 582-4100 ~ fax 978 582-4103 b. Draft FY26-FY35 Capital Plan Dr. Burnham shares a very early plan slide show of capital plan items for each school. The committee discusses each of the items listed and gives opinions and suggestions. This list will be distributed to the committee to be ranked. c. Review of Operating Protocols We have had no feedback regarding the protocols Action d. Chapter 70 Funding Update Mr. Lehtinen drafted a letter to the interim Town Manager, regarding allocation of some extra funds. Mr. Lehtinen reads it out loud. Mr. Beardmore makes a motion to approve the letter as written, Ms. Brzozoski seconds the motion, all approve 6. Public Comment Ms. Brzozoski This was a weird week as a member of the school committee, we can’t talk about certain things, we can’t share on Facebook where it can be seen by other committee members because, that is discussing outside of a posted meeting, we are bound by open meeting laws and we certainly cannot be discussing or commenting on employee matters. If you want to talk about an issue there are ways to do it, if you want to talk about curriculum or issues you are having, please come in and talk to or email Dr. Burnham, she responds to every email she gets, she responds to phone calls, she will call you back and talk to you. You can email us on the school committee, the district loves talking about their curriculum, they are proud of the curriculum. There is a process, and that is how we get it done. I saw how many comments there were on Facebook, and I only got two emails total from members of the public. Only two people cared enough to actually write out an email to members of the school committee. Tonight I expected someone to come and speak to us about the curriculum, based on the amount of anger and the wave of activity, but there was one public speaker tonight who came, and spoke on the topic. I would like to think we have learned as a community to maybe calm down and not lean into a mob mentality, to maybe next time stop and think, is this the same person on Facebook that is making this a bigger issue, and claim to be speaking for the silent majority. Our kids are watching and we need to show them how we want them to act in Lunenburg. Our strength is our sense of community, we are a small town, it makes it a little harder sometimes in a small district, our money doesn’t go as far, and we need to focus on our strengths, which is our community, our bonds, our connections, and our interpersonal relationships. This weekend there was hurt done, people were hurt, it is not a great reflection of our community. If a potential candidate for positions in our school were to come across the discussion that happened I am worried it would make them unlikely to want to apply. We are already having difficulty with getting qualified candidates for jobs, and I don’t think this helped. I want us to do better. Mr. Beardmore I do think there is a learning opportunity here, I discussed some of those briefly with the superintendent yesterday. The first is I think we need to think about our communications policy again. We need to think about how we are operating in a world of social media, because it is a real phenomenon and our protocols that we just passed really do not account for that phenomenon, I think I broke the protocol three of four months ago when misinformation was coming out in a way that the budget was being applied. Number one because I knew the facts and number two because I thought I saw something spinning out of control and nobody was doing anything. That was not my job and I should not be doing it, we need to be thoughtful about how we deal with it, because there is a trend, no doubt about it. Second thing is as this was going down this weekend I was thinking about how I want to be able to refer to our curriculum, our hiring practice, and the process, those kinds of things, and we have a well stated hiring policy, but our hiring policy in practice is not enshrined into school committee policy. If we are pointing people to anything, it should be the school committee ===PAGE 5=== 1025 Massachusetts Avenue, Lunenburg, Massachusetts 01462 978 582-4100 ~ fax 978 582-4103 policy, I think that is something that has been overlooked, but I think we need to put that into our agenda for a future topic. Mr. Sculimbrene I purposely abstain from Facebook because it is not productive but the bigger point is in 1968 after Martin Luther king was assassinated a woman named Jane Elliot had a school project with third graders and in that third grade class she taught them about what discrimination was. She segregated the class and children based on their eye color and she told her students that the students with blue eyes were better than the students with brown eyes and gave them all sorts of different privileges based solely on their eye color. At the end of a period of a few weeks she told the children that all of this was garbage and it was just stuff she made up in a way to teach them about discrimination. Jane Elliot appeared on the Tonight Show at the invitation of Johnny Carson, when she came on the show she got a standing ovation from the crowd, because people in 1970 understood that racism was real and that discrimination was real. We needed to teach children about it and I am afraid that we live in a society in which people can no longer do that and if do not allow our schools to operate as a market place of ideas where people can hear different perspectives, then we are doing a disservice to our children. Our children are going to go out in a world that is multicultural and equipping them with the ability to deal with different and diverse views and making them aware of discrimination is core to student achievement. 7. Adjournment Ms. Brzozoski makes a motion to adjourn at 9:34, Mr. Beardmore seconds the motion all approve Respectfully Submitted Courtney Fuller