School Committee, April 2, 2025

The town published an agenda for this meeting. No minutes have been published; the recording is the only record, and what follows is a guide to it.

athleticsbudgetbudget fy26capitalchapter 70contracts and unionsenrollmentfacilitiesfeesfree cashgrantshigh schoolhiringoverridepersonnelpolicyprimary schoolpublic commentrecreationschool choicestaffingstate aidsuperintendent reporttown meetingtransportationturkey hillwarrant article

Present: Brian Leighton (chair); Peter Beardmore (member); Tony Sculley (also heard 'Skully') (member); Cullen Brady (also heard 'Scullen Brady', 'Solen Brady') (member); Laura Bazowski (also heard 'Bzowski', 'Bzoski', 'Pazowski') (member); Dr. Burnham (also heard 'Bernham', 'Barnum') (superintendent); Mr. Santry (high school principal); Principal Squire (principal); Dr. Gillson (administrator (facilities/business)); Susan (presenter (grant/finance detail)); Chris Stevens (introduced as 'Chris Evans') (facilities director); Mr. Bigalow (also called 'Kevin') (athletic director); the secretary for the athletic department (presenter); Alicia (MASC field director / search consultant, remote); not stated by name (student representative). Names are the caption model’s hearing and may be wrong.

Votes

1. ▶ 21:03Move to take the student representative's report out of agenda order.not audible
2. ▶ 23:58Release the class of 2015 class funds to the class for their reunion.passed
3. ▶ 26:23Reclassify remaining funds from the classes of 2003 and 2010 into a designated donations line in the student activity account.not audible
4. ▶ 28:29Reclassify the inactive class of 2007 funds into the donations line in the student activity account.passed
5. ▶ 29:12Reopen public comment as if the meeting had started at its originally scheduled 6:30 time.passed
6. ▶ 47:22Approve the co-op ski team plan as discussed.passed
7. ▶ 57:29Accept the facilities and grounds report.passed
8. ▶ 1:17:10Approve the corrected 2025-2026 school calendar (adding a day to reach 180).passed
9. ▶ 2:04:15Draft a memo to the finance committee describing what would be lost and what would be restored, with an impact statement, if the override passes.passed
10. ▶ 2:12:14Accept the slate of four superintendent finalist candidates recommended by the screening committee.passed
11. ▶ 2:12:34Notify the screening committee that their duties are discharged.not audible
12. ▶ 3:40:24Approve the town meeting bag-lunch options and allow food and drink in the auditorium one time only during town meeting on May 3rd.passed
13. ▶ 3:52:41Waive the first reading of policies 1303.1 (advertising in schools) and 3601.1 (proposed bus fee policy).passed
14. ▶ 3:57:13Table the reports agenda item to the next meeting.passed

And 2 procedural: accept the minutes of the february 5, 2025 school committee meeting. (▶ 12:30); adjourn the meeting. (▶ 4:03:55).

Transfers

The money

1. ▶ 13:12March 2025 warrants

   Warrants from March 17 to March 26, 2025 were presented totaling this amount, with no line item transfers reported this cycle.

   as heard:$345,886.14

2. ▶ 24:38Class of 2010 and 2003 remaining funds

   The remaining balances in these two closed class accounts were identified for transfer into a new donations line.

   as heard:$5,13516$19.33

3. ▶ 27:05Class of 2007 remaining funds

   After more than two years of no contact with the class, the account was closed and its balance moved to the donations line.

   as heard:$74066

4. ▶ 35:07Middle school vs. high school athletic fee

   The athletic secretary explained the participation-count discrepancy for softball was due to middle schoolers paying one fee tier and high schoolers another.

   as heard:200250

5. ▶ 42:26Ski team program cost and per-student fee

   The AD reported this year's total ski program cost and per-athlete cost, and discussed billing co-op member schools per student after subtracting the current or a possible new athletic fee.

   as heard:$12,984$683250325358

6. ▶ 37:32Middle school track and field

   A member cited the program's enrollment and low net cost to argue for keeping it and expanding similar offerings.

   as heard:48less than $7,000

7. ▶ 48:47Primary School air conditioning grant (phase two)

   A state grant and utility incentive would cover most of the second phase of mini-split installation, leaving a town share that must be secured through the FY27 capital plan by September 2027.

   as heard:$480 some odd thousand200k113,000113,2500170,000

8. ▶ 54:20Primary School AC project, capital plan listing

   The 10-year capital plan currently lists the pre-grant project cost; with the grant applied the town's share would be much smaller.

   as heard:$483,000

9. ▶ 1:05:38School choice and Chapter 70 census

   Members discussed that school choice students bring a cherry-sheet payment of roughly this amount per student and also affect the district's Chapter 70 census, though the added Chapter 70 amount itself was not quantified at the meeting.

   as heard:5,0005,000 per student

10. ▶ 2:43:17FY26 free cash spending options

    The superintendent presented three categories for using free cash -- restoring positions, restoring expense cuts, and one-time investments -- to be weighed against this amount available.

    as heard:$500,000

11. ▶ 2:46:49Business manager/finance position salary

    The position was budgeted at a level the town manager fears will not attract qualified applicants; free cash could be used to raise the salary line.

    as heard:90,00020,000

12. ▶ 2:51:30Athletic transport vans

    The committee discussed leasing or buying vans to cut bus costs for athletic transport but held off pending research into federal safety rules and what neighboring districts use.

    as heard:15 passenger11 passenger$30,000

13. ▶ 3:06:48Free cash restoration list total

    A member totaled the proposed free-cash-funded position restorations against a much smaller bus cost figure, questioning the priority order.

    as heard:$310,33365

14. ▶ 3:39:02Town meeting bag lunches

    Food services will again sell pre-bagged lunches during town meeting at this price, contingent on the food-and-drink vote.

    as heard:$8

15. ▶ 3:56:11Warrant article to supplement FY26 school operating budget

    One warrant article reviewed would supplement the FY26 school operating budget by this amount; no vote was taken on it this meeting.

    as heard:500,000

16. ▶ 3:53:43Track and field capital article

    The chair reported no funding source exists for this article and that the town was not including it on the warrant, recommending the committee pass over it.

Settled without a vote

• ▶ 1:14:23School choice proposals (10 seats at grade 9, and possibly seats at other grade levels) will come back for a vote at the next meeting rather than tonight.
• ▶ 2:07:23The chair will reach out directly to the finance committee chair to try to reach agreement on the budget/override memo before the next meeting.
• ▶ 2:41:53Superintendent search interviews will be consolidated into as few days as possible, likely including a Saturday after town meeting, rather than four separate weeknights.
• ▶ 3:29:38Any proposed athletic summer camp will have an early registration deadline so an under-enrolled camp can be cancelled with about a month's notice to families.
• ▶ 3:38:00The school committee goals item was deferred; members will review the document on their own and raise items later.
• ▶ 3:55:09The committee will pass over the track and field capital article since the town is not putting it on the warrant and no funding source exists.

Public comment

1. ▶ 29:52Asked whether there were meeting notes on the ski team item since it was on the agenda. — Jim Broden, as heard
2. ▶ 3:57:33Praised the committee's superintendent screening work and urged members to set aside disagreements going into finalist interviews. — Jane Hall, as heard
3. ▶ 3:59:36Thanked the superintendent for publicly explaining the math behind the level-services and town-manager budgets. — TJ Laughlin, as heard

Where the time went

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

• hiring80 min · 33%
• town meeting57 min · 23%
• override56 min · 23%
• budget fy2650 min · 21%
• fees46 min · 19%
• free cash38 min · 16%
• staffing38 min · 16%
• athletics38 min · 16%
• personnel35 min · 14%
• facilities22 min · 9%

The whole meeting, in order

1. ▶ 0:00Call to order and pledge of allegianceprocedural · 1:04 long
2. ▶ 1:05Public comment: a member's remarks on school committee/finance committee roles and communicationinformational · 5:05 long · budget, policy
3. ▶ 6:11Chair's report: new facilities director introduced, STEM night, select board declines override ballot, state funding testimony infoinformational · 5:39 long · facilities, override, state aid
4. ▶ 11:50Student representative report attempted, deferred; minutes review setupinformational · 0:40 long
5. ▶ 12:30Approval of February 5, 2025 minutesvoted · 0:42 long
6. ▶ 13:12Review of March warrants and line item transfersinformational · 0:20 long · budget, transfers
7. ▶ 13:32Superintendent's report: registration windows, transportation forms, central office move to Turkey Hill, student activity fee input, upcoming datesinformational · 6:04 long · turkey hill, facilities, fees
8. ▶ 19:36Committee comments on STEM night; student representative's reportinformational · 2:49 long · athletics
9. ▶ 22:47Class of 2015 fund release requestvoted · 1:31 long · budget
10. ▶ 24:18Closing out class of 2003, 2010, and 2007 fund accounts into a donations linevoted · 4:31 long · budget, transfers
11. ▶ 28:49Reopening public comment; resident question on ski teamvoted · 2:26 long · public comment, athletics
12. ▶ 31:15Spring athletics participation report and a data discrepancy in softball numbersno resolution · 7:37 long · athletics, budget
13. ▶ 38:52LHS ski team co-op plan, cost per athlete, and booster self-fundingvoted · 8:30 long · athletics, fees
14. ▶ 47:22Facilities and grounds report; Primary School AC grant funding and FY27 capital plan needvoted · 10:27 long · facilities, capital, grants
15. ▶ 57:49School choice: opening grade 9 seats and considering other grades; Chapter 70 and Monty Tech enrollment implicationstabled · 18:18 long · school choice, enrollment, chapter 70
16. ▶ 1:16:07Correction to the 2025-26 school calendarvoted · 1:23 long · policy
17. ▶ 1:17:30FY26 level-service budget and override: whether to rebuild the budget, and what to tell the finance committeevoted (memo directed, not a full budget) · 50:14 long · override, budget fy26, town meeting
18. ▶ 2:07:44Superintendent search: accepting the four finalists, discharging the screening committee, interview date schedulingvoted · 8:44 long · hiring, personnel
19. ▶ 2:16:28Dispute over MASC's required process for developing finalist interview questionsno resolution · 26:28 long · hiring, personnel
20. ▶ 2:42:56FY26 free cash: prioritizing which positions, cuts, and one-time items to restore or funddiscussed only · 38:07 long · free cash, staffing, hiring
21. ▶ 3:21:03Athletic summer camps update and coordination with the parks and recreation departmentdiscussed only · 16:37 long · athletics, recreation, fees
22. ▶ 3:37:40School committee goals check-intabled · 0:20 long · policy
23. ▶ 3:38:00Town meeting bag lunches and allowing food/drink in the auditoriumvoted · 2:46 long · town meeting, fees
24. ▶ 3:40:46First read of advertising-in-schools and proposed bus fee policiesvoted (first reading waived) · 12:16 long · policy, fees, transportation
25. ▶ 3:53:02Review of upcoming town meeting warrant articles affecting the schoolstabled · 4:11 long · warrant article, town meeting, capital
26. ▶ 3:57:13Committee reports itemvoted (tabled) · 0:20 long
27. ▶ 3:57:33Public comment on the superintendent search and budget communication; closing committee remarksinformational · 6:22 long · public comment, hiring
28. ▶ 4:03:55Adjournmentvoted · 0:11 long

What the captions could not carry

• Exact name/spelling of the member heard variously as 'Bazowski'/'Bzowski'/'Bzoski'/'Pazowski' (also called 'Laura')
• Exact name/spelling of the member heard variously as 'Cullen Brady'/'Scullen Brady'/'Solen Brady'
• Superintendent's name, heard variously as 'Dr. Burnham'/'Dr. Bernham'/'Dr. Barnum'
• Explicit pass/fail confirmation for several voice votes where 'motion passes' was not stated (student rep report order, class of 2003/2010 fund transfer, discharging the screening committee)
• The exact dollar total of the FY26 level-services/override budget itself -- only a comparison spreadsheet and prior board-approved figures were referenced, not read into the record
• Whether school choice students add anything to Chapter 70 aid beyond the roughly $5,000 cherry-sheet payment per student -- a citation was read but the additional amount was not quantified
• Several stretches during the cross-talk over MASC's superintendent-interview question process were hard to attribute to a single speaker

Written 2026-09-14 by scripts/write_recording_minutes.py (sonnet) from sources/data/youtube-transcripts/school-committee/2025-04-02-GGygM64BwqE.json — 5,623 caption segments, sha256 8b50c3a7f423…. All recorded meetings.