School Committee, February 1, 2023

The town has published neither minutes nor an agenda for this meeting. The recording is the only record, and what follows is a guide to it.

budgetbudget fy27capitalcurriculumesserexecutive sessionfacilitiesfeesgrantshiringpolicyprimary schoolpublic commentschool choicestate aidtransferstransportationturkey hill

Present: Chair (Ashiambo/Archim ball) (chair); Dr Burnham (superintendent); Mike Cassidy (business manager); Mr Leighton (member); Mr Scumbrini (member); Mr Jeffries (member); Mrs Scott (director of teaching and learning); Deirdre McLean (Title One coordinator); Mrs Lorenzen (food service director); Mr Santry (high school principal, remote); Miss Peterson (transportation/school choice coordinator, remote); Sean (student representative); Mr Pusateri (facilities). Names are the caption model’s hearing and may be wrong.

Votes

1. ▶ 37:08Approve line item transfer from Turkey Hill presented by Mr Cassidypassed
2. ▶ 2:37:48Approve the concession stand monitor position (permission to post)passed
3. ▶ 2:56:39Open five school choice seats for grade nine class of 2027, carry forward one unfilled seat, and allow grade 11-12 students who move to remainpassed
4. ▶ 3:47:44Accept first readings of policies 3701-01, 3701-02 and 3701-03passed

And 4 procedural: revise agenda to include the november 16th minutes (▶ 33:53); approve the november 16th minutes (▶ 35:17); approve the january 18th minutes (deferred, members absent) (▶ 35:39); go to executive session at 10:28 pm and adjourn following (▶ 3:57:27).

Transfers

The money

1. ▶ 46:38FY23 quarterly budget update

   Budget is on target; some negative balances will be zeroed by transfers already voted, a nursing line to be covered by a DPH grant, and a technology deficit tied to an e-rate billing error.

   as heard:seventeen thousand

2. ▶ 51:16Electricity account

   Encumbrances explain why the visible balance looks small; about a hundred thousand remains to get through the year.

   as heard:thirty seven hundred dollars98 mposhundred thousand

3. ▶ 54:06ESSER SR2/SR3 grants

   Projected spending leaves a surplus, due to unused insurance budgeting, salary savings and moves to local budget; a reallocation to i-Ready, Chromebooks and moving two positions to ESSER 3 is proposed and tabled for public comment.

   as heard:522 72966 106 dollars3 700

4. ▶ 1:04:43Snack shack upgrades

   Completed plumbing and equipment work cost just under a stated amount; pending upgrades cost a further amount, with a donation expected to cover them.

   as heard:just under eight thousand dollarsjust under five thousand

5. ▶ 2:37:26Concession stand monitor funding

   Hourly position funded from the facility revolving account; groups charged at a set hourly rate when spot checks occur.

   as heard:fifty dollars per hour

6. ▶ 2:47:10School choice funding

   School choice students count in Chapter 70 headcount; tuition is reconciled at state level; the school choice account pays for course reimbursements and food service health insurance.

   as heard:five thousand dollars

7. ▶ 16:48Budget support of achievement

   Superintendent said reading intervention, tutors and i-Ready are grant funded and may have to move into the local budget when ESSER ends.

8. ▶ 3:51:08Capital plan

   Town manager proposed funding the first six items including Turkey Hill doors and security upgrades; fire alarm item unfunded pending tax abatement holdback.

Settled without a vote

• ▶ 16:17Business manager to report equity audit cost at the next meeting.
• ▶ 32:28Another budget question and answer period set for the first meeting in March.
• ▶ 59:06ESSER amendment to be posted for public comment and brought back February 15th or March 1st.
• ▶ 1:15:37Superintendent's assistant may update the acronym list as new acronyms arise.
• ▶ 2:31:30Calendar to be revisited and brought back next meeting: Nature's Classroom dates, April 12 coding, religious holiday conflicts.
• ▶ 3:35:16Bus policy to return for another first read with revisions: grade language, waiver wording for K-6 who miss May 1 deadline, emergency application as the appeal route.
• ▶ 3:45:20Food policies and concessions policy return as second reads next meeting.
• ▶ 3:55:22Possible workshop or legal update on bullying considered for a future meeting.

Public comment

1. ▶ 2:25Busing for every parent, opposition to mandatory SEL, questions on equity audit report, cost and contract, and a list of demands including seeking a new superintendent. — Daryl plant, as heard, resident
2. ▶ 7:20Asked that the school calendar and events consider Jewish and other religious observances and support students. — Rabbi Eve eichenholtz, as heard, rabbi from Leominster
3. ▶ 3:53:15A member praised the PTO over a dance ticket dispute and rejected claims the schools tolerate bullying (member speaking during the last public comment period).

Where the time went

Minutes of recording by subject, from the topic spans below. A topic with two subjects counts toward both.

• grants84 min · 35%
• policy71 min · 30%
• curriculum55 min · 23%
• transportation40 min · 17%
• esser29 min · 12%
• facilities23 min · 10%
• budget fy2722 min · 9%
• school choice19 min · 8%
• chapter 7019 min · 8%
• transfers18 min · 7%

The whole meeting, in order

1. ▶ 0:00Call to order and pledgeprocedural · 2:01 long
2. ▶ 2:01Public commentinformational · 8:47 long · public comment
3. ▶ 10:48Chair's report, legislators, late governor's budgetinformational · 2:26 long · state aid, budget fy27
4. ▶ 13:14Budget Q&A and achievement/ESSER planninginformational · 19:14 long · budget fy27, esser, grants
5. ▶ 32:28Minutesvoted · 3:58 long
6. ▶ 36:26Line item transfervoted · 1:02 long · transfers, turkey hill
7. ▶ 37:28Superintendent's report and boiler issueinformational · 8:32 long · superintendent report, facilities, turkey hill
8. ▶ 46:00Student rep and FY23 quarterly budgetinformational · 6:44 long · budget, transfers
9. ▶ 52:44SR2/SR3 ESSER grantstabled · 9:46 long · esser, grants, transfers
10. ▶ 1:02:30Concession stand upgradesinformational · 9:58 long · facilities, capital
11. ▶ 1:12:28Acronym listinformational · 3:50 long · policy
12. ▶ 1:16:18Strategy and goals progressinformational · 4:52 long · superintendent report
13. ▶ 1:21:10Assessment report and curriculuminformational · 55:00 long · curriculum, grants
14. ▶ 2:16:10Draft school calendarreferred · 16:03 long · policy
15. ▶ 2:32:13Concession stand monitor permission to postvoted · 5:56 long · hiring, fees
16. ▶ 2:38:09School choice openingsvoted · 19:11 long · school choice, chapter 70
17. ▶ 2:57:20Transportation bus policy first readrevised, returns for another first read · 40:24 long · transportation, policy
18. ▶ 3:37:44Food service and concession policies first readvoted · 10:36 long · policy
19. ▶ 3:48:20Committee reports and capital planinformational · 4:55 long · capital, facilities
20. ▶ 3:53:15Final comment on bullying and executive sessionvoted · 4:32 long · executive session, public comment

What the captions could not carry

• Voice votes were not counted; outcomes for minutes motions unclear (January 18th minutes deferred).
• Executive session purpose not stated in captions.
• Some speakers were not identified.

Written 2026-10-14 by scripts/write_recording_minutes.py (sonnet) from sources/data/youtube-transcripts/school-committee/2023-02-01-XbNndKEfgho.json — 5,452 caption segments, sha256 88704c585a97…. All recorded meetings.