uh 701 welcome to the may 22nd meeting of the sharon school committee uh this meeting will be conducted remotely over zoom attendance by board members and remote remote attendance shall count towards a quorum the meeting will be broadcast live and recorded by sharon tv if you elect to enable your webcam your image and background may be broadcast with or without sound um sorry there i was saying that at 701 i would get to open forum i had not remembered of course this is a special meeting once a year here we meet right after an election and the first agenda item rather than open forum is the reorganization of the school committee so in according to the policy bda we will be uh reorganizing for folks who may or may not be familiar with the policy uh a quick overview of the policy if is there anybody who is set up to share their screen i know jane isn't um with us for the meeting tonight so anybody who could quickly share that or otherwise i can sort of review it i i can give me which one is it the b bda bda yeah i can i can share it awesome wait a second okay can you see we can yeah so so this is the policy in our for anybody unfamiliar the school committee policies are available on the school committee website policy bda is the school committee organization uh so basically what it states is uh after the election at the first regular meeting following the town's annual election or anytime at the request of a committee member there is a uh a reorganization that can be made of the committee uh it generally starts with chair vice chair secretary secretary positions there are a lot of other positions we need to fill we need to fill all our subcommittees uh we fill our town committee appointments as well um is there anybody that has any questions on that policy or anything they want to discuss read that policy before we go ahead and start discussing reorganization adam i see your hand yeah i just wanted to call it that um in the meeting following uh we discuss and we can vote if we're ready but there's also no pressure if we want to vote in the next meeting if people need time to think about things that's okay and per our agenda for tonight we are not set to vote uh per our agenda for tonight it is only on as a discussion uh i guess that's a little bit vague but i think i think you're right adam i think generally we have had a discussion one meeting and a vote the next so julie you can go ahead and take that down i think all right who wants to open this discussion is there any um let's start with chair thoughts feelings ideas on chair go ahead julie first i want to congratulate all of our new members um and uh it's it's welcome and it's going to be hopefully a very productive and good year and i'm looking forward to working with everybody um i i would actually i have two things to say so i would actually like to be chair but what i would like right now is to be vice chair and to kind of and to nominate you as chair so then i can kind of get up to speed on all the things that i know are going on that that happen kind of out of the view of the public and i obviously know some of that stuff but i know there's also a lot more stuff so can i propose that like obvious chair and me as vice chair all right that's a starting point for sure okay your proposal is heard shauna um i would um second that um i like that idea for certain and then i would also like to nominate myself for secretary um i think that yeah i think i'd like to step in um and try that out i second that so not to confuse anybody at home or our new members there's no motion on the floor but yeah i understand what you mean by second that don't want to confuse anybody um you got to take it easy on all the new folks uh julian shauna but um adam and again you know what just julie that i skipped a step here welcome jeremy allen dan uh congratulations on your elections yesterday uh and welcome to the school committee uh honored to be here and serving with you um and obviously participate participation in this conversation is we are committee of seven equals um and there is no longevity hierarchy so feel free to chime in um i know it's it's always my first my first meeting i was in a a good situation where i was coming in with five people who had just been elected and so everyone felt pretty new the other two members were only a year old i i understand it's probably slightly different coming in um but you know there are three new people four people who were here last meeting and again this thing only works if it's a seven person committee of equals so just chime in with your hand raised with any thoughts uh no thought here is a bad thought if it's a an authentic thought so go ahead and share it adam yeah thanks abhi uh so i think i'd be supportive of the slate proposed um and i know there is a tremendous amount of work that goes on uh behind the scenes and um i'm very appreciative of uh of you and of everyone else who uh is is stepping up to volunteer for uh for those positions i appreciate that jeremy uh i was just curious if you were discussing chair first and then going in order or if we're discussing all three at once um i think yeah i think the idea was to start with chair and go but certainly any view shared i mean i guess julie's share julie's thought obviously affected multiple positions um if you have a thought on any of those three positions feel free to share it if you want to keep it to chair uh it's a free flowing conversation so i'll come back to you all as long as hands are raised all right dan thanks avi um i have followed this committee for many years because i respect the role and the job that you all do so i'm just so honored to be here and i want to support our administrators and our great teachers um and our parents in the district any way i can um this was the big year with three new members i'm one of those members you mentioned there's no hierarchy um that's wonderful thank you for the warm welcome um there are however practical concerns and three new members is a lot so um i understand we are in several processes right now that might benefit from some stability um in leadership and uh the proposed order makes sense to me and i would be supportive of it i appreciate you alan i co-sign everything dan said including the thank you for the welcome and uh look forward to working with everybody jeremy i agree awesome thank you um i'll share a thought in line i think with julie's and just to reiterate what i think to reiterate support back to julie for her point so obviously i've served as chair for the last two years um i think dan hit the nail on the head that with three new members stability in leadership is important it also to adam's point is a big lift being the chair uh and so for me personally um you know i'll say this with no slight to any members here or former members um julie is a workhorse and has done a tremendous amount of work every year that i've certainly that i've been chair or been on this committee period so i used to joke sometimes with when who did a lot of work and was my vice chair last year and the year before and julie that really anybody can be vice chair in the sense that like whoever's willing to take something off the plate is appreciated uh with that said i do think i was fortunate to learn some things from tanya lewis who was the chair before me um before i sort of jumped into the seat and i would welcome the opportunity for julie uh to join as vice chair work as close as as close as possible to co-chairs with me until you know even within this year there was a an opportunity where this committee felt like uh a change in leadership was comfortable because you know i will be frank that it is a big lift and um there are days that i mean listen i enjoy the job of chair and i i really am honored to be able to carry the weight that i do for this district but with that said i think shared leadership is important i think there are people on this committee adam shane julie roe who've been here longer than i have um up until this very meeting i've been really fortunate to have veronica wiseman on a committee that on every committee i've served and so there's always been somebody who even though she wasn't my vice chair again sometimes filled that role as well um as someone who i could lean on for historical information um you know now it's adam and julie that are really the only people with more historical data than i have but i would certainly honestly welcome the opportunity to be a little bit more of a free-floating uh non non-officer member and and if it helped at all any of the three new members be an be an ear for ideas or things that they're seeing um because i've learned i've seen a lot in my two years as chair so certainly if this committee's will was to allow because i i personally do think that staying chair at least for the time being it's probably the best way to make this smooth but but again i want to indicate that i do believe in julie and i would like to see that transition happen um you know sooner than the than the next time we have this official organization meeting so um all right are there thoughts on committees on um like on town committees and uh like actual subcommittees i'll start by saying obviously jeremy i know budget is important to you certainly the people of this town uh made their voices heard loudly on that yesterday so i think the obvious ones for me are jeremy k on budget subcommittee um i've asked adam shane if he would consider being the budget subcommittee chair um and at least offline he's indicated he would entertain that idea um so i would ask him here if that was something that he was willing to sort of take on um i don't know if there was any who's interested in being a third on that subcommittee adam first let's start here are you have you decided are you willing to be budget subcommittee chair i don't know why i can't hear you sorry that now you should be able to uh yeah i'm happy happy to take that on for next year okay is there any third person who will be interested in sitting on that subcommittee dan the two subcommittees i was interested in and had mentioned uh during my previous interviews were budget subcommittee and policy subcommittee and i understand that the budget subcommittee in particular is a very useful committee to be on for new members to get oriented with the budget of the district i do have some budgeting experience from my work it's interesting to me and if everyone else is amenable i would be glad to be the third seat on that subcommittee awesome excellent um alan uh amenable to that in terms of dan's question but i my professional background interest would be uh negotiations and policy okay that's two people i've heard mentioned policy now dan and alan um is there i think it's really important for me and not to put you on the spot here shauna but if you were willing to chair a subcommittee i think that would be good for this committee and i don't know if policy maybe fits that i know it's a heavy lift but it's an important lift um i don't know shauna you're muted sorry i'm on a phone um yes i would absolutely um do that and uh thankfully i still have adam here so that adam can um help me learn the ropes as all edit oh i think you're cutting out but yes adam is here and i served with adam on policy my first year adam is good at policy and he i think he loves it on some level is that right is that true adam it it is i'm happy to uh to to be a mentor in in that regard thank you sorry i'm i'm live from the canton high school senior prom so i apologize for the glitchiness that's all right we appreciate that you're here um all right so that leaves the negotiation subcommittee which again alan had mentioned interest um i think that makes sense julie go ahead um i i'm interested in negotiations chair um because we are currently in the middle of a negotiation and um i actually this can require a quite a bit of time and i i think i have the capacity for that so i i'd be interested in negotiations chair and i was chair a couple of years ago too yep no i i think that's that's you think that's your forte any other interest for a third member of negotiations um i see i mean i know dan's offered to be on to um jeremy any interest on negotiations oh sean i see your hand but then i saw jeremy's hand afterwards yeah i'm interested in negotiations and priorities as well okay so i hear you on negotiations traditionally we've had the priorities committee be the budget chair and myself as chair um but your interest there is heard loud and clear uh i think if you're willing to sit on negotiations that's an important one as julie mentioned we're in the middle of a negotiation i sorry go ahead um i just wanted to say i don't um i know that there are several committees that due to my role as a teacher um can be seen as a conflict of interest i know that we've talked to council before and it's not a conflict of interest it just it just doesn't sit right with me ish professionally i don't i don't want to muddy waters um so i i would like to just like recuse myself of that um just so people kind of know why i i don't go for that yep understood fully all right to town committees um as they mentioned priorities i think it's been a good practice to have the budget chair and the chair sit on priorities um rec advisory shauna was your hand back up julian shauna your hands are showing is up for me i don't know if you just didn't put him down shauna is your hand up john i think you're muted again okay shauna says move on alan if shauna wasn't raising her hand for rec advisory i was going to uh volunteer to serve on that but if shauna wants it she's uh she's gonna shauna had let me know that actually she had a conflict i can't yeah sorry i think i'm unmuted i can't serve on rec advisory because i work for the department i teach classes there so it's a conflict of interest and i really need that to supplement my day job so understood um so alan your interest is heard lighting clear i do see jeremy's hand up jeremy yeah i'd be interested alan that's all of you uh i'd be interested as well okay um so i'll just ask youtube touch base between now and next meeting and i think either one of you would be fine on that or better than fine um adam i see your hand yeah i just want to call out that uh oftentimes for these committees in addition to the primary designate we have an alternate so there can be kind of good opportunity for uh folks sit in and uh uh both participate yeah absolutely i will say though keep in mind um that's why i ask you guys anybody anytime there's two people asking for the same spot to sort of have a conversation is just um oftentimes especially if you're backing up julie rowe the alternate isn't going to see any action uh julie rowe is a an attendance uh it's an ex excelling at attendance type of member and i can tell you you that as the alternate on standing building, I have attended zero meetings in her place.

That gets me to standing building.

Anybody have interest on standing building?

Julie, I see your hand.

Well, it's actually the building project is wound down.

I just ran into the chair of standing building yesterday.

We were talking about it. And I mean, I'm happy to continue serving.

But there's not a lot going on right now because the focus is on the library project.

And since the high school, it's just sort of odds and ends. So I'm happy to continue serving in that way until it's all done.

I mean, that's up to you. I was going to... Yeah, I was going to see if anybody else was interested in that, but that's okay.

I mean, I don't see anybody else with their hand up, particularly interested in standing building, which brings us to the other really heavy hitting committee, town committee, which Adam has served on and done really well for us the last few years. But as budget chair, Adam, I'd be asking you to go to priorities.

So I don't know that priorities and capital outlay make sense.

But I know you've been on capital outlay the last few years.

It's an important committee.

Are there folks on the committee with interest on capital outlay? I see your hand, Jeremy. I see your hand, Julie. Go ahead, Jeremy. I'd be happy to be on the capital outlay committee.

Heard. All right. Julie? I'm happy to serve there too, especially if it would give Adam a break.

All right.

Yeah. Why don't you two also sort of speak offline, come back next week or two weeks from now.

We'll see what we can come up with there, Adam. Yeah. Just noting, we actually have two appointees to the capital outlay committee.

Oh, right.

So that works well. And I'm happy to serve as the alternate if someone can't show because I am familiar with there.

Excellent.

That seems like an easy solution then. Very cool. All right.

Is there anything else anybody really wants to touch base on before we move to the previously announced open forum?

Seeing no hands from the table here. Julie, is your hand still up? Okay, cool. Seeing no other hands from the table here.

Oh, go ahead, Julie.

There's an audit committee.

Is that?

Yeah. There's a couple other lesser. I mean, again, let me ask this. Are there other, there's other committees, which I don't know if folks have had an opportunity to take a look at. There's the standing building.

Why am I blanking on the word?

Appointment committee or whatnot.

There's a couple other town committees, which are also important, but weren't on the list to cover here tonight.

Still important town committees.

So if anybody has any interest or see stuff they really want, just hit touch base with me and let me know that you're interested in that. And I will certainly come prepared to with some recommendations.

We can make some votes next meeting.

All right. Seeing no more hands up. I'm going to move us to public comment.

As always, public comment.

We're going to ask everyone to limit their time to two minutes.

It is open forum.

And so everyone is welcome to talk about any topic that they'd like. So without any further ado, Adam, you said you would keep time.

Yep. You should see, I think, a timer either on my screen or I think also at the top of the of the zoom window.

Excellent.

All right. Without any further ado, I see Ahmed Mohammed up first.

Thanks, Avi. First, I want to congratulate the new members, Dan, Jeremy and Alan.

Congratulations and good luck.

Second, I want to actually, I hope in the future to have school committee meeting in person.

So I hope to see a motion on the agenda in the future about that for the members.

Third is about the updated 2024-2025 calendar for actually like they have half a day to observe aid for Muslim community.

I'm not sure, actually, this decision.

Tell me that the school committee just made a decision that affected the community without really understanding the community needs.

And I really, I just want to know, did they even talk to the Muslim community before making this decision?

If yes, who did they talk to?

If no, why was it affecting them?

That's it. Thank you.

Thank you. I do just want to say, thank you, Ahmed, that this was a concern that was raised to me offline by a member of the community.

We had a really productive conversation where they explained to me actually where, in particular, a half day is of no use at all relative to the holiday.

And in that way, albeit unintentional, it certainly served as a further disrespectful, again, unintentionally, but no less disrespectful decision.

It reminded me a lot, Adam, you'll remember, of when graduation was on a particularly observant Jewish holiday a few years ago.

And I know at the time the committee had talked about trying to sort of form like a little working group of some of our clergy here in town and be a little bit more culturally sensitive around our calendar.

I do just want to tell you, Ahmed, that I did have a conversation with Dr. Botello about possibly adjusting at half day, figuring out whether even logistically or within the rules it was possible to move to a late start, maybe, rather than an early release.

And Dr. Botello indicated to me that he was, that was something he was open to looking into. So full disclosure, no, I don't, it feels as though we did not consult with folks, which we should have, admittedly.

I'll own my role in that as well.

And we are certainly, I think that is, that should be a priority for us to try to correct speaking for myself here. But I do want the group here to be aware of that.

So I just didn't want to let that hang in the air without addressing it.

Gamal?

SPEAKER_UNKNOWN: Gamal?

Thanks, Albie, for giving me the floor to talk.

And I appreciate everything you guys do for our kids.

And I congratulate the new members.

And I wish them all the best to support the school and our kids.

Actually, I have the same concern, and I'm glad you addressed it.

Just if you talk to some community member, you know that we have the prayer in the morning. So once that's done, that's the aid.

So having, you know, so I'm glad you guys have it under radar, and I hope we reach resolution on that.

Thanks.

Thank you. Ikra, Javeed.

Hi.

Thank you for letting me speak.

First, I just wanted to congratulate all the new members on the school committee, and I wish you the best in this new adventure.

And I'm also speaking today in regards to the changes in the school calendar.

And we were, you know, as Muslims who celebrate Eid, we were all very disappointed with these changes because, as you mentioned, having a half day doesn't serve us any purpose.

Even having a late start, I don't think would be beneficial because we have our Eid prayer, but then it's a whole long day of celebrations.

And, you know, if I'm a kid and I have my Eid prayer, but then I'm told I have to go back to school, like that would be the worst day. So either, you know, you give us the whole day, but having a half day or late start is honestly very disrespectful.

And then, you know, the other thing is, you know, moving forward, I think it's essential for the school committee to be inclusive and considerate of the needs and perspectives of all members of the community, not just some groups.

So I hope these holidays can be added to the school calendar in the future.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Alla Aldermosey.

Hi, sorry.

Thank you, everybody.

I would like to appreciate giving myself a chance to speak as well and would like to congratulate the new members of the school committee.

You know, good luck with, you know, your work and your hard work. And it's greatly appreciated for what you do for the school. I myself also just wanted to express the dissatisfaction regarding how the Muslim community calendar days were addressed as well, because as the others have spoke, despite the significance of Eid, no one actually had reached out from the school community before finalizing the school calendar.

So it's not just a lack of consideration.

It reflects inadequate respect for the substantial part of the sharing community.

So the decision making process, you know, we had felt was less than professional, lack of care that we expect from our educational leaders.

So while some religious holidays were added, the Muslim community holidays were completely overlooked when we had felt marginalized.

So we really want to strive for a community that values diversity and inclusivity.

So sharing that all voices are heard, right? And respect is essential.

So I urge the community to reconsider the calendar, engage with, you know, all the communities in the future so that we can have a more equitable and respectful environment for everybody.

And thank you so much for your time. And I really appreciate everybody's work. Thank you. Mohamed Chahari.

Hey, good evening, everyone.

Avi, it's nice talking to you again.

And congratulations to Dan, Alan and Jeremy.

Good luck.

Thank you, Abby. Again, Avi, you and I spoke the other day, multiple times regarding, again I echoed the same sentiment about the calendar.

How, you know, some of the. Groups, especially the Muslims and the half a days that Oh, I spoke to you clearly about it, that half today doesn't make sense for us because the prayers in the morning. morning.

We have to, if you guys can reconsider and possibly next time, give us, or reach out to the community and see if you guys can include us in this conversation before making a decision, it would be very appreciative, you know.

That's it. Appreciate it. Thank you. Judy Crosby.

Thank you, Avi.

So I also want to congratulate Jeremy, Dan, and Alan on their races.

I think you have an opportunity here with three new members that unfortunately this meeting has already squandered, which is you should be meeting in person.

Literally every other board in Sharon at this point, with the exception of maybe standing building, meets at least sometimes in person. And you have, you wasted an opportunity tonight to get together with your three new members in person.

I really sincerely hope that you all will get off of Zoom and start meeting in person.

I also think that the commenters who came before have given an apt example of why the way you run your meetings doesn't work. You took a vote on that revised calendar at the same meeting that it was presented.

You gave zero opportunity before you voted while congratulating yourselves on being so sensitive and aware that you were giving half days to these other communities.

You created a tremendous amount of disrespect and hurt feelings within the three communities that you gave the half days to.

And now you're kind of like, oh, oops, I guess we should have talked to clergy. You should also let your public speak occasionally, you might learn something.

The seven of you are not almighty gods. You don't know everything.

You even said yourself, Avi, that you have not a lot of institutional memory sitting there. It's, it's really sad. And if you had allowed anyone to speak before you took that vote, I certainly would have shared that a half day on Eid is performative at best and obnoxious at worst.

So you really need to rethink how you do this. The public is not your enemy, but you have shut them out left and right.

I am counting on the three new members to force a change on that. Thank you. Thank you.

Muhammad Masoud.

Muhammad Masoud.

Can you hear me? Sorry. We can't.

Oh, sorry. My kind of, my video is not working. I'm outside.

So thank you.

Congratulations to Dan, Alan and Jeremy for your win.

Actually last few months, Sharon was in kind of festive mood. It's actually a good one. I saw like, you know, you know, I actually also participated with Ahmed's campaign and met many people, many community members. And I found like, you know, everyone is very interested to see more diversity in, in the conversation.

And this is a good thing.

But I would say the reflection coming back to the Eid, it shows that why diversity of participation is very important.

The committee didn't have any knowledge, like how it worked, even like I spoke with one committee member, but it still didn't work out. So, yes, I, whatever all the, you know, speakers said, I, I echo with them, but also like to just add one more small comment.

I spoke about this a few months back. My son actually did this Eid. He had to go to school because there's an, there's an exam. I was told there will not be any exam. Like, I don't know what I'm going to do. Sharon should do much better.

Please, you know, do something.

This is a diverse community is getting more diverse.

It will be more and more diverse.

Please, you know, consider that, you know, the reality.

We should not be blind and the community should not be blind. So it is so hurtful that when my son went to school or exam, he could change it. But he said, I don't want to go alone sitting alone, giving exam separately because it harshes performance, you know, an exam. So just sharing my personal story, but just congratulations once again, everyone would like to see definitely a diverse comedy and in terms of discussion ideas and decisions and taking care of the entire community.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Khaled Aissa.

Oh, hi.

This is Khaled.

Khaled.

And I think you have to pronounce my name the right way. Congratulations, Dan, Alan and Jeremy.

Again, I'm addressing the Eid issue as well and the calendar in general. I would just ask the community members to put yourself in our position.

When there is initially a calendar that was announced with only the federal holidays and then voted on in another calendar and now is the addition of other holidays.

Consider the other community groups in Sharon.

We are a diverse community and I hope we become more inclusive.

I would also put my I would ask committee members to consider the kids from these communities in the school when every single year in the school, their holidays that they celebrate with their families and their communities are not recognized in the school. It definitely would leave a feeling of being marginalized by their own town and their own school.

We all live here. We're all part of the community. I know it's difficult to address everyone and every community group, but definitely we can do better than what we currently have. Thank you so much. Thank you. All right.

Seeing no further comments from the public, I will turn it over to for now. Our oh, oh, see Casey McLaughlin got in just under the just under the clock there.

Go ahead, Casey McLaughlin.

SPEAKER_UNKNOWN: All right. I thought I had my hand raised.

I think I missed it. That was my fault. That's fine. I want to say congratulations to our three new members.

I think that the community has spoken loud and clear.

The two highest scoring members were against DEI. And I think that that really needs to be a priority with this next administration.

I think that Sharon has tested it and is done with it, especially considering how rootedly anti-Semitic it is. And and I think that Alan, especially Jeremy and Dan are have been vocally opponents of DEI. Alan is crucial because he is in this as his profession.

And so he'll be able to help us navigate kind of how do we, you know, perform in compliance with the law as it's written in DESE standards as it pertains to some of these issues that DEI commands.

And he'll be able to help us get through how to go back to being rigorous, being meritorious and and pushing kids for equality rather than equity.

We want to go back to that. So I'm hoping that with this new group that I'm looking for the not the fight, but I'm looking for a really robust disagreement and a way to get to a better outcome that honors all of the community, as has been echoed tonight.

So, again, I'm really optimistic.

I think it's a good group.

And I I'm looking forward to seeing what you guys can come up with for us. Thank you. Thank you. All right.

Now I'll kick it over to Julie Rowe for correspondence.

Sorry, my laptop crashed and sorry.

The school committee has received 16 pieces of correspondence between May 7th, 2024 at 5 p.m. and May 22nd, 2024 at 9 a.m.

We received several letters related to the proposed dedication of the high school football outdoor athletic facility to Gary Hall. Several letters supported this proposal.

One letter asked to understand the criteria used to evaluate and approve a proposal.

A letter was received to thank the school committee for approving this proposal.

The school committee was invited to attend the Heights Elementary School Mosaic unveiling scheduled for today at 4 30 p.m. And some of us were able to go and it was it was great.

So thank you for the invitation. The school committee was invited to attend the Sharon High School Legacy Project Fair, which showcases the work of SHS senior humanities students.

The fair was also held this afternoon from 3 to 4 at the high school library.

And some of us were also able to attend that event. And that was also great. And so thank you for inviting us for that. Thank you for the opportunity for the opportunity for students who are 8 to 12 years old to participate in a research study through the cognitive neuroscience group.

A parent wrote to volunteer to participate in the screening committee for the Sharon High School athletic director slash assistant principal position.

We also received a letter that provided the school committee with some suggestions and feedback on the ideal qualities for a new athletic director.

We received a few letters related to the changes in the 24-25 school calendar.

These letters expressed disappointment with the vote taking on May 8th and also requested that the school committee considering adding the holidays of Eid al-Fatir and Eid al-Adha.

I apologize for mispronouncing it to the calendar.

SPEAKER_UNKNOWN: I apologize for my thanks for your support for the summer. I will be happy to see you. I will be happy to see you. I will be happy to see you in the next one. Okay, thank you. A parent wrote to inquire about the scheduling and plans for fall sports tryouts. And to inquire about the plans for an 8th grade informational meeting. We received several editions of Millie's METCO newsletter, which included highlights from the Living the Legacy event.

regarding the MECO fiscal year 25 funding proposals and to advocate for the full funding of the MECO program.

A staff member wrote to express their gratitude for the email sent to district staff by the school committee, which acknowledged teacher appreciation week.

Thanks.

Thanks, Julie.

All right.

Do we have a student rep update?

If we have a student rep here, please raise your hand. I do not see a student rep with an update.

And so we will move on to the superintendent with his general and end of year updates.

Dr. Botello, it's on you.

All right. I'm going to share my screen.

One second.

One second.

All right.

This will be a little bit short. I thought our reorganization was going to be a little bit discussion a little bit longer.

But we have just a bunch of end of the year updates.

First of all, 17 days left in school.

Memorial Day will be observed on May 27th.

And the last day of school is just around the corner, June 17th.

And that's a scheduled half day.

MCAS testing is complete at the elementary and middle school level. High school is still in process, but coming close to wrapping up.

We also have enrollments and registrations are ongoing for next year as far as kindergarten, as well as other kids moving into town. We're also last meeting shared our quarter three fiscal picture.

And then we'll be wrapping up the FY24 year and preparing for FY25 in the upcoming weeks and months.

We also have some high-level open positions, including the Heights principal that we're having another slate of candidates tomorrow and looking to bring in a couple of finalists.

At the beginning of June, we also have a finalist that we're exploring for the AD assistant principal, as well as continuing to screen additional resumes.

And where screening resumes will start to be screened for the assistant superintendent with interviews beginning by the screening committee in early June as well.

We also have various positions across all schools, including the high school football position that we've talked about. There's a screening committee that's been formed with that, and they're starting to schedule interviews for that position as well.

We had the, on Sunday, May 19th, unfortunately, I had family obligations and wasn't able to attend, but I heard it was awesome, the Peckham Park dedication ceremony.

And then there was a great ceremony on Monday, just recognizing the seniors with their families.

We also had a summer reading kickoff at Crescent Ridge on the 20th.

Sharon Pride Festival Incorporated will be on June 19th.

And we also have a commemorating Juneteenth, a Juneteenth art show between June 15th and June 30th. Last night, there was an awesome senior banquet for our seniors who have graduated from the MECO program and are looking forward to their Sharon High School graduation on May 21st.

It was at Franklin Park in Boston with families and staff members and the students, and it was an awesome event. We also had the Heights Mosaic mural unveiling today.

Incoming middle school grade six students will have an event today as well.

And then the grade eight trip to Washington, D.C. will be June 4th to June 7th.

And then there's a ton of other field days, socials, you know, special events for the end of the year. So please check out your school's newsletter.

As far as the high school, again, we had our MECO dinner last night on the 23rd.

We have class night.

We have the last day for seniors on the 24th.

Their trip to Boston on the 28th. Senior prom on the 29th. Awards night on the 30th.

Graduation rehearsal on the 31st. And as well as the graduation walk to the various schools.

Celebration barbecue on the 31st as well. And then graduation on the 2nd.

And if any of our senior families or anyone else has questions, please reach out to the high school administration.

But it's a very festive time around the high school, especially for our seniors.

And we're looking forward to congratulating them on their four years of the high school, but also their many years in Sharon as they go off to do many great things after their high school experience.

And that is it.

All right.

I know it said June 9th for the Pride parade on there.

It sounded like it might have just been the sound on it, but it sounded like accidentally you might have said June 19th. So I just want to make sure people know that it's June 9th.

Dr. Patel, before we go to the...

Okay, cool. I was going to say we'll take questions from the table. I see Jeremy has his hand up. Yeah, I was curious how we're evaluating candidates for the ADAP position.

I'm new, so trying to understand how the AP component of that role would work. We're putting high priority on the athletic director portion of the role because that really is, you know, something we have no one else within the school that can do. And so that part is high, high priority, just like it was a couple of years ago when we had this. So we have a committee together that has been interviewed several candidates, and we're mostly really digging into the capacity to AD to be an athletic director.

And then we're just, you know, going over some of the other additional responsibilities that they would take on. Things like, you know, helping with supervision of, you know, lunches and during the beginning of the day, end of the day, helping with kind of, you know, low-level discipline, as well as just also helping with leadership beyond athletics, because that's a kind of a natural connection, as well as helping to lead some of the organization of activities and clubs. So those are some of the major things that they're discussing with candidates and reviewing their ability to handle beyond the athletic director role.

And it's not an ideal situation, but it is a situation we've had experience with, so we do have, you know, some sense of how when Dr. Schlaff was here, it would work.

All right. Thank you.

Any other questions from the table?

All right.

Seeing no more questions.

I will move us to our first discussion item, which is the Peckham Park banner review.

I believe that I might, that might be something I'll table.

Dr. Patel, I think there's still some ongoing discussion between some parties, as far as administration goes, around placement or whatnot.

Is that something we should table an agenda for the next meeting?

Yeah, I think, yeah. Yes, I just did hear that there's some discussion about placement.

So let's hold off on that one to make sure we have it clear.

All right. Thank you.

All right. On to decision items we go.

The first decision item, we might actually, we might have a problem here.

Here's a question that I have. I'm going to put the new members on the spot.

Do I have any new members who were either watching, whether that was live or recorded, the last meeting, and then have been able to review the minutes of the last meeting?

Keeping in mind, obviously, you could vote to approve the minutes so long as you felt like they accurately reflected the last meeting.

The, because I could take a vote.

Julie, you don't have to, Julie, Julie.

Watch that. See, like, we'll do this whole, I know what this means when I see it on screen.

Never mind. Julie Rowe would like to vote. Julie Rowe, go ahead.

They weren't present and participating in the meeting, so they should abstain.

That's fair. So then we will then table both, we will table both of those votes because I saw that Shauna had dropped off.

And so we'll have to skip our minutes vote and then go to the decision item on vote to authorize the superintendent to proceed and pursue the TEC membership, the educational collaborative membership.