Good evening and welcome to the February 26, 2025 meeting of the school committee.

This meeting will be conducted remotely over Zoom.

Attendance by the committee members will be remote.

Remote attendance shall count toward 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.

I would like to make a request before we start public comments.

There's been some Zoom bombing around the other meetings this week, so I would very much appreciate it. If you are going to comment, please put your full name. And if you could please turn on your camera or at least turn on your camera when you raise your hand so I can see that you're, you know, who you say you are.

And then you can turn it off during while you make your comment.

I would very much appreciate that.

Is there anything to add on that note, Brian?

Jane?

No? Okay.

All right. So we will now go to public comments.

Okay.

Okay.

Katie Conroy. Hello.

My name is Katie Conroy.

Two years ago, our town offered free full-day kindergarten to all students entering kindergarten.

It was supposed to be free full-day kindergarten going forward, funded by our school budget.

As we know, this was rescinded for the current academic year.

I reached out to the school committee and Dr. Botello on Monday to request a breakdown of the $600,000 that residents are currently paying for full-day kindergarten per year at $3,635 per student.

I am wondering why the cost for full-day kindergarten is so high, considering that the buildings are paid for, each grade has classrooms allocated, so the classrooms that are used are already accounted for, and all utilities, electric, heat, and water are paid for in the building.

I still have not received a response with the budget breakdown.

I did, however, have the opportunity to speak with Avi on the phone about free full-day kindergarten.

During our conversation, I learned that the school committee requested $600,000 from the finance committee per year to fund free full-day kindergarten, which was granted.

This money was given by the finance committee with the understanding and expectation that it would be specifically used to fund free full-day kindergarten each year.

This means that full-day kindergarten is fully funded in the school budget through our taxes, and the parents of kindergartners are essentially being double-charged when they enroll their child in full-day kindergarten.

The school committee is taking the funds specifically earmarked to completely fund full-day kindergarten and using it for other items in the budget.

This is unacceptable.

It is a travesty that our school committee members, who are supposed to have the best interest of our students at heart, have chosen to take away a level playing field for our youngest learners when they should be providing the best foundation possible.

This is when all students should be provided with the same opportunity to learn instead of using the required fee as a deterrent and obstacle for young families in town. I also sent an email to the school committee and Dr. Batella on Monday, formally requesting an agenda item be added to tonight's meeting to publicly discuss free full-day kindergarten.

I was unaware that the funds required for full-day kindergarten are already included in the school budget until I spoke with Avi, so I believe that our community has the right to know and publicly discuss why this money is not being used as it was intended.

I have not received a response for my request of an agenda item for a public discussion to be added to this meeting from any of the eight people my email was sent to. It's very disappointing to me as a shareholder. Thank you. Thank you. Okay.

Next up is Ms. Fuller.

Julie, can I – I'm sorry.

I don't want to – Oh, go ahead.

Go. Sorry.

Sorry, Ms. Fuller.

I just wanted to state for clarity's sake that I did ask for that to be agended, and we agreed that there's already an agenda item regarding fees, so it just – it was redundant, but that request was heard, and that discussion is going to happen.

Thanks, Avi.

Okay, Ms. Fuller.

Thank you. Good evening. I'm speaking tonight on behalf of the Sharon Teachers Association.

We have concern over the lack of transparency in the budgeting process.

We deserve clear and accurate information about how funding is being allocated.

This is especially true when it comes to positions and their salaries, as well as accurately depicting the structure of the schedule and program offerings.

Our schools are the reasons why many families choose Sharon.

Our education budget should reflect that priority.

We must also address the narrative that teacher compensation is the sole cause of our budget issues.

Teachers deserve fair compensation for the work we do, and the contract we settled has been categorized as a fair contract by the school committee members.

Meanwhile, we've seen raises for administration while teachers face this year's financial strain. This only undermines the value of the educators who make the district what it is.

Additionally, we must highlight the crucial need for fair compensation of our IAs, who play a critical role in supporting our students.

Their work is invaluable, and they too deserve wages that reflect their contributions to the classroom.

This constant threat of cuts creates an unstable work environment and significantly impacts morale.

When talented educators are faced with uncertainty year after year, they begin to seek employment elsewhere.

Losing experienced, dedicated teachers only hurts our students in the long run. Instead of focusing solely on cuts, we need to be asking, how do we fund a budget that meets the needs of every student?

Prioritizing the well-being of our educators ensures we continue to provide the high-quality education our students deserve.

This is done through maintaining smaller class sizes, continuing to offer robust course offerings at the high school, and supporting opportunities for enrichment and diversity in instruction at all levels.

Thank you very much for your time this evening.

Thank you, Ms. Fuller and Matt Fenlon.

Thanks, Madam Chair. Before the school committee submits its final budget, I wanted to once again highlight the fact that nearly 95% of school districts in Massachusetts offer free-folded kindergarten, and Sharon is an extreme outlier as one of only 5% that currently does not.

The school committee has an opportunity to begin lowering the kindergarten fee with the next budget proposal, which is the stated goal of the majority of members to do so.

Kindergarten is essential for a child's education and should not be treated as a user fee for four- and five-year-olds.

Thank you so much.

Okay, thank you. I see Liz Krasowski.

Hi, thank you.

My name is Liz Krasowski.

I'm a kindergarten teacher at Cottage Street School in a classroom that would not function without our full-time kindergarten instructional assistant.

We have a tradition at Cottage of compiling shout-outs to staff members on Friday afternoons at Cottage. Tonight, I just want to highlight just a few of more than 65 that have been submitted specifically about our IAs. The most used adjectives throughout include dedication, flexibility, being team players, compassion, kindness, and professionalism.

Here are some actual submissions from teachers at Cottage.

Thank you for being so helpful in supporting our kids during writing time.

I don't know how I would manage all of the students' needs without you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

students that need it and your kind and supportive approach makes the kids feel at ease when working with you. You are great organizers and leaders and you teach with such grace and patience.

For loving the kids the way you do and supporting whatever they need, whenever they need it, we love working with you. You are the heart of the school.

To every single IA in the building, I'm floored on a daily basis by what I witnessed.

The love, compassion, patience, flexibility, and professionalism that you all bring to cottage every single day is astounding.

I, for one, need to take a page from this playbook and start implementing it into my own practice. Way to go, friends.

I'm proud to call you my friends and colleagues.

And lastly, I don't know what we did to deserve you. So thank you, thank you, thank you for being amazing, present, helpful, honest, and caring. I know I'm just speaking about specifically about cottage IAs, but I'm certain that this sentiment is echoed across the district.

Thank you for your time. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Krasovsky.

Lisa Gilman.

Oh, sorry. Okay. Got it. That's okay. Thank you. I'm a music teacher primarily at Cottage Street School, but I do teach instrumental music at all the elementary schools.

I am, I've been here for many, many years, completing year 28. And I have seen many, many changes within the instrumental program in my time from the amount of time we meet with the kids to what instruments we offer.

The one thing that has not changed, however, has been the number of enrollments of our students.

We see a huge number of kiddos starting every year, can't wait to start in on our instrumental program, and nobody is left out.

Fame has been incredible.

Our teachers have been incredible with encouraging students to take part in this. I'm not going to take your time to talk about the benefits of instrumental music because I know you already know that. What I would like to do is invite you, the school committee, to Cottage Street School, to my music room. Every Thursday at 8 a.m., I open my doors to students who want to come in for extra playing, extra help, just to play with others.

It's incredible.

Any teacher who walks through Cottage Thursday mornings, they see that joy and camaraderie from the students as they come in and help each other out. And I would love for you to take part and to see what it is that they get out of that.

To put it after school, that we've tried that before, it hasn't worked.

And I implore you to please reconsider and keep our instrumental program during the school day. Thank you. Thank you very much.

Zianette Frost.

Thank you for hearing me. I would first like to ask the community to please continue to carry number 17, Rohan, in your thoughts and prayers.

I would also like to ask the school administration to keep our real customers in mind, the parents and students.

Students need quality education, diverse programs and services, and safe and reasonably sized classrooms.

Teachers are continuously asked to do more with less.

Taxpayers are continuously asked to pay higher taxes while considering additional layoffs.

I would like to ask the school administration to take steps towards running leanly instead.

Where can the school administration minimize costs from within so that our final customers benefit?

Please do not ask taxpayers to continue paying more for less. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Frost.

Adrienne DeMarco.

Thank you.

I wanted to speak on behalf of the proposed removal of the DEI director position.

Many people in town fought very hard for the creation of that position.

And I have spent a lot of time advocating for DEI initiatives.

But it wasn't until my son was diagnosed with a rare genetic muscle condition that I truly saw the benefits of DEI for people and children with special needs. We knew after the recent school committee elections that regardless of our budget, this position was going to be eliminated.

So it's really not a surprise, but it's still really disappointing.

Given the national cuts to the Department of Education and the possible cuts to Medicaid, many students are going to be losing their services or funding for their services.

I am hopeful that Massachusetts will continue to support our special needs students.

But what at a town level are we doing to support all students when you won't pay IAs a living wage, leaving some students without aides, and you're removing the DEI director position?

When my son started early intervention, we heard time and time again how lucky we were to live in Sharon because they have some of the best resources for special needs kids. We personally know people that moved to Sharon from surrounding towns specifically to get better services for their special needs children.

It is infuriating to see blame being put on DEI for our declining school ranking and test scores while ignoring what benefits DEI initiatives provide to our students.

I'm concerned that my son can't safely access the classroom and school building.

I'm concerned that he doesn't have anyone in the school that walks like him or has to wear braces like him. I'm concerned that he might get bullied or picked on for his limitations.

I want him to feel seen and I want him to be represented.

I appreciate that we're able to live in a town with the great school system, but what makes it great should not be rankings, but how we treat and care for our most vulnerable students.

When this school committee ultimately decides to remove the DEI director position, proving that diversity, equity, and inclusion are not values you prioritize, I hope the superintendent follows that up with, um, follows up that decision with at least a public statement on how you will make up for the amazing work Hina has been doing and then action it because words are hollow if there's no follow through and our students deserve better.

Thank you. Thanks, Mr. Marco. Uh, Ms. Silver.

Good evening. Thank you for allowing me to speak tonight. Uh, my name is Erin Silver and I'm speaking as a co-president of the Sharon Teachers Association.

Our educators in this district have been very invested in the past couple of weeks, understanding the budget spreadsheet that was released. That paired with the information shared at the last school committee meeting often left educators confused and eager for clarification.

Some areas we found confusing at the middle school level was a special educator on the split team. Currently, we do not have the staff for this as we rely on special education liaisons to oversee multiple teams due to high numbers.

Educators were also confused as the most recent MOA specified that class sizes would start at 22. With this current student numbers at the sixth grade, there would be more than 22 students per class to start at. At the elementary level, educators were perplexed to hear that foreign language in the elementary schools is a contractual obligation.

However, that portion of time is spent in data meetings, which is not a contractual obligation.

Educators at all levels are worried about how these cuts will affect classroom numbers.

At the middle school level, class sections could exceed 26 students, which cannot be only difficult to manage physically, but also make individualized attention with students more difficult.

Plus, many students at the middle school level are not physically equipped for exceeding 24 students.

The seventh and eighth grade model at the middle school is a split model at the middle school is a difficult model to carry out. Because the team is not a seventh grade or eighth grade team fully, the schedule it runs is different for both grades.

In a profession where collaboration and consistency can be important, the split team model makes it difficult for teachers to find a common time to collaborate across grades, as well as disciplines.

In a year where eighth grade students now have four different MCAS tests, as well as a state mandated project, collaboration is key within each subject and very difficult to do with a split team schedule.

At the high school, these cuts would drastically affect the selection of classes that students currently have. With many of these cuts, priorities would be standard core classes and interesting election electives that enrich students' academic experiences with discipline.

Classes that include AP Psych, AP Bio and Biotechnology, and Anatomy and Physiology.

While we understand the budget is a difficult process to come up with, we do feel everyone should understand the difficulties with the cuts being proposed.

Thank you. Thank you, Ms. Silver.

Judy Crosby.

Thank you, Julie.

So I have other things to talk about, but before I do, I need to correct a misconception that was stated here. It was claimed that the vice chair told a citizen that FinCom agreed to fund full day K forever moving forward.

That's not a thing.

Priorities and FinCom agreed to give exactly one year of $590,000 during the FY23, FY24, during FY24, which is 23-24 school year, to fund what was presented as a gap year for full day K, after which allegedly state aid would fully cover the cost. They didn't understand how state aid worked.

They didn't understand that the district had been a minimum aid district for 11 of 13 of the prior years. They didn't understand that state aid would have had to go up by twice as much as the maximum state aid increase that had ever been received by the district in order to fund all that. In short, your school committee are the ones who screwed up, not FinCom, not priorities.

The other things I wanted to talk about, some have already been discussed, specifically the IAs. These make students' lives possible in the building for certain of our students.

I have now received at least 10 different parents reaching out to me to find out what their legal rights are because the district is not providing their students what's listed in their IEPs. I very happily explained to all of them how they should go up the chain within the district and then how they should file with DESE and sue because you are not providing the legally mandated requirements under their IEPs. Lastly, your budget keeps assuming that level services is appropriate and that every dollar you spend is a good spend. Meanwhile, our student population has dropped by about 145 to 150 students from fiscal year 23 per DESE data, and that has not been discussed.

You also assume every minute in the day is well spent and FLESS proves otherwise.

Be a little creative.

You have options.

Thank you, Ms. Crosby.

Ms. Hogan.

Thank you for hearing me out.

I've attended budget meetings for over the past 10 years, and the past two years have felt to me like the budget was presented as a scare tactic, not a creative, thoughtful approach to solving the problems that we're encountering in our town with clear data and explanations.

According to the slides from two weeks ago, no other AP classes were put in quote-unquote danger except for science classes, and what I'd really like to know is the logic and reasoning behind cutting only science APs. This time careers and sciences are the fastest growing career paths in our country, and these classes are very popular with our students, so I really want an explanation or reasoning as to why science APs are being cut over any other subjects like math and English.

Sharon High School is recognized as an excellent school by many of the colleges and universities that our students apply to. I personally have toured about 30 with my kids. We've heard many times how admissions love to get SHS kids because they're aware of the academic rigor, strong and well-prepared students, but if you're going to eliminate AP classes and sections of math and English at the high school, how is that going to maintain the high standards that Sharon High has come to have for future students?

And I think parents are rightly focused on protecting the schools where their children are currently enrolled, but I want to point out that cuts to the high school are definitely going to impact younger students and vice versa. Elementary and middle school teachers, cutting those teachers is just as detrimental to the students.

Smaller elementary and middle school classes allow teachers to spend more time with students, notice and cultivate a spark of interest, give a student that little bit of extra time that they may need. My kids certainly benefited from these small classes when they were at East and Middle School, and it resulted in strong students who took high-level classes at Sharon High. I think our schools are like a ladder, not like the silos that were presented in the budget, and if you're going to cut the runs at the bottom or the top, it's going to affect everybody, and I really hope that all the parents who are listening tonight are going to recognize that.

Thanks Charlotte.

Okay, and batting cleanup is Mr. O'Brien.

Thank you. With it still being Black History Month, I will remind everyone that Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X both said that the biggest threat to America and to black people are white liberals.

I will add on to that to say that white liberals are single-handedly a threat to the education system. You use the word inclusive.

That is one of your woke cult words. It means exclusive of anyone who isn't supportive of the woke cult. The all-gender bathroom sign at Cottage that I keep beating the drum against is a sign is woke cult language in pursuit of controlling the way elementary school children think and thereby controlling them. It is ideological brainwashing through language and control, also known as indoctrination.

This violates one of President Trump's executive orders.

I continue to write letters to the White House letting them know that this state and school districts like Sharon are disobeying an executive order. Federal funding should be stopped.

I have reached out to the United States Attorney's Office for the District of Massachusetts as well as Attorney General Pam Bondi to draw attention to this.

Administrators have told me face to face at various levels that they have never seen an all-gender bathroom sign anywhere except for the one I brought to the school committee's attention, but that they can't do anything about it unless there is a law. I will remind them an executive order is a law and it should be obeyed.

The Department of Education has terminated 226 million dollars in grants to its comprehensive center which has been pushing schools to reject the gender binary fact of life. Teachers unions, critical race theorists, radical gender activists, and other left-wing groups have destroyed public education.

I look forward to the complete destruction of the Department of Education.

Sharon needs its own version of DOGE. It needs a DOES department of Sharon efficiency so we can get rid of any remaining DEI positions.

Again, DEI stands for didn't earn it and these positions that remain also go against President Trump's a different executive order from President Trump. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. O'Brien.

And batting clean up is Ms. Weider.

Thank you for allowing me to speak.

So first of all, I'd like to quote from Jane Fonda who just recently said, woke just means you give a damn about other people.

It means that you're aware of what other people are going through and you have empathy.

So let's start from there. I'm actually going to read just a portion of the email that I sent to the school committee just the other day because I think it's probably worth repeating.

My request was to please not make any changes to any gender neutral bathroom access or the ability of teachers to use students' preferred pronouns.

I understand there's a small but vocal group within the community that's trying to enforce restrictions on SPS, but there are three reasons why that idea, those ideas are terrible.

First, let's be logical about this. Every human being needs access to a bathroom at some point during the day. It's unhealthy to go too long without using a bathroom, particularly for students who are menstruating or who have chronic illnesses.

Taking actions that will make students less comfortable managing basic required bodily functions borders on cruel. It's a bathroom for Pete's sake. A gender neutral bathroom can be used by any gender, just as on an airplane or on a train or in a person's home. The only reason to shut these bathrooms down is to be mean and that's not who we should want to be. Second, both of these restrictions run counter to our own policy which states, I quote, Sharon Public Schools does not discriminate on the basis of age, color, disability, gender identity, homelessness, national origin, race, religion, sex or sexual orientation.

This policy is so important.

It's on every SPS webpage and the school committee agendas.

As I've written to the school committee previously, I think it's worth having this said at the beginning of every school committee meeting so there's no confusion as to where we stand on discrimination.

And finally, adopting the minorities' proposals would have us operating counter to those who are higher up on the food chain know an EO is not law, so let's not pretend.

Very important, just to finish this off super, super quickly, a recent federal appeals court decision and DESE's own guidance say that diversity, equity and inclusion are values we honor and cherish in the commonwealth.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Ms.

Davis.

Yes, hi.

I just, I can't be very quiet after hearing that.

I, executive orders are not laws. They have no power over anything other than federal organizations and states make up their own laws. Let's be real about this. We need to remember who we are here for and that is for all students.

We need to remember what our job is. Our job is to represent every student at every level and meet them where they're at. Our job is to make sure that we support and defend our students regardless of how they identify.

I am done hearing people tell me that my job is indoctrinating kids. If I could indoctrinate a kid, it would be to get off their phone.

It has nothing to do with that.

And we need to stop the ideological brainwashing that is happening on the right and not just on the left. Enough.

I don't want to have my students cry anymore over what they hear on these meetings.

Remember who is listening to your words.

Thank you.

Thank you, Ms.

Davis and Wendy MacArthur.

Oh, sorry.

Did you get it? Got it? Good. I just want to again thank Shauna for the school committee meeting where she stated the school committee's position on some of the things that were said here tonight and how all students mean all students.

So thank you again Shauna for doing that. I also want to mention that or remind the school committee meeting that when you are looking at the superintendent's evaluation, remember all of the stuff you are hearing on these meetings and his lack of communication to parents, to teachers and to students that he believes every student matters, even though half of them are freaked out by what they're hearing at the school committees and in the classrooms from other students and from their leadership.

I thank you all the teachers for doing what we are dealing with. And I also want to say I think the threatening nature that Mr. Patello has done to teachers threatening to take away part of their jobs, making their living below a living wage is unacceptable.

And please consider this when you're writing his review.

Thank you. Okay.

Thank you, Ms. McArthur.

And we will now move to our next item on the agenda, which is correspondence.

Shauna, you ready?

Yep. Hold on one second.

Can you hear me? Yes. All right.

So correspondence for today, February 26, 2025.

The school committee has received 36 pieces of correspondence between February 12th and February 12th at 9am and February 26th at 9am. We received feedback from a variety of stakeholders in the community regarding the FY26 operating budget development.

The themes of feedback included concerns regarding the proposed budget reduction at East Elementary School, concerns regarding proposed cuts to East Elementary, particularly grades one and two, and across the district, support for the instrumental music program at the elementary schools, concerns regarding the impact of staff reductions on class sizes, student teacher relationships, and the overall quality of education in the district, concerns about the possibility of increased athletic fees for our students and families, suggestions to explore alternative funding sources, let it be naming rights, higher fees for facility rentals, etc., concerns regarding the impact of layoffs and non-renewals of staff, particularly at SHS, suggestions to prioritize science and AP offerings at Sharon High School, suggestions to reduce more at the administrative level, curriculum coordinators reduce the superintendent's salary, suggestion to allow students to bring their own laptops, suggestion to appoint a volunteer community committee committee to develop a zero-based budget for the school district next year, support to retain the DEI director position in the budget, support for the dean of academic affairs, requests to ensure that the budget development process focuses on transparency and be collaborative, concerns about the impact of a split team at Sharon Middle School. Next, a parent wrote in to request that the district remain all, uh, retain all signage related to gender neutral bathrooms and continue to recognize student preferred pronoun use. We have received a request to include a discussion of kindergarten fees on the February 26, 2025 agenda.

We received a reminder regarding the Sharon Pluralism Network Community Leader meeting. A community member wrote to provide feedback on a school committee member's engagement on social media.

Several community members wrote to express their policy of JIH, student searches, as presented in the school committee during a previous meeting. In particular, this support highlighted the need for investigations by law enforcement to be allowed and to happen as soon as possible to support student safety.

We received an invitation to the Black Student Union's Black History Month Assembly, scheduled for February 27, 2025. We received Millie's Metco newsletter that highlighted Metco Headquarter Teen Ambassadors, MDPE Educator Diversity Career Fair, and the launch of Everyone 250, a celebration of justice, anti-racism, and belonging.

We received notifications of several events with congressmen, and I apologize, I'm gonna, I do it every time, Jake Oshenslaus.

Oshenslaus.

That, him, yes. Good day Metro South and a virtual Q&A session.

Fred Turkington, town administrator, provided the school committee with information in preparation for the priorities committee meeting.

We received information on the healthy kids before and after school program. Thank you.

Thank you, Shana.

And now it is time for our student representative report.

So I'm going to unmute Isha Agarwal, wherever you are. Yes, thank you so much.

My name is Isha Agarwal, and I will be presenting today from the Student Advisory Committee.

To begin, the senior class organized giant cards for each counselor to help Miss Phelps to show their appreciation for the National Counseling Appreciation Week. Seniors are so grateful for their hard work, compassion, and unwavering dedication to help every student thrive. Thank you to the senior class planning board and for many other students who made and signed cards for our counselors.

Sponsored by FAME, the Tri-M Music Honor Society, the music department had an exciting field trip to see Boston Symphony Orchestra just before break. A treat to those who auditioned at the National Music Competition Festival, where many successfully passed. This was an amazing opportunity for us. Tri-M hosted a community concert right before break, with many musicians showcasing their talents and skills with wonderful pieces of music. Thank you to everyone who came out to watch. Student Council had a winter sports rally right before break. There was a lot of engagement and attendees while we showcased our varsity sports winter sports teams. We also had an intense teachers versus students basketball game. Our athletes had an amazing season, including athletes like Leo Tran, who is the D2 swim state champion in the 100 meter.

Cyrus Jones is the D2 wrestling state champ, and Nina is the track state champion in the 55 meter and took second in the 300 meter.

Nina, Linda Jenner, Imani Vaughn, and Callie Weider took second in the four times 200 meter. Josie Brown-Wright finished sixth in the state meet in the 300 meter. Our cheer team took fifth ad hoc and made it to the all-state finals, which will occur next weekend.

Our co-op hockey players had a MIAA tournament game on Wednesday.

And our student council is hosting their second blood drive of the year on February 28th. We are so grateful to our school committee members who have donated in the past, and we will reserve spots for any who are interested.

Thank you especially to Julie Rowe, who will again support us this Friday, as well as many other teachers and staff.

The goal is to introduce this life-saving endeavor, but we'll always have extra slots for teachers and parents that might want to donate with their child. Many of our athletes step up to donate when it's between us, so kudos to all of them who embrace the opportunity when they can, and to all of the adults who model this life-saving act of service.

From our speech and debate team, Marcus Myers won first at the NSDA qualifiers last month, which qualified him to enter in the national tournament for the second year in a row. The debate team competed in four separate tournaments over break with many exciting moments.

Junior Andrew Zinn and his brother, sophomore Anthony Zinn, won the Evergreen Debate tournament this past weekend after nine grueling rounds over two days of virtual competition with competitors from around the country.

The team heads to Shoesbury this weekend.

Web Development Club and Girls Who Code are planning for the March 25th hackathon, during which middle school students will be invited to participate with high school students on teams to solve a challenge using innovative technology and to produce their solutions with to a panel of judges. Club leaders will recruit leaders, will recruit adults who would like to share their expertise or knowledge with these inquisitive young adults. Ms. Jolliker and Ms. Newman are the adult advisors for this event, so if anyone wants to learn more or get involved, please contact one of them. We would love to have some volunteer judges who can help our students gain knowledge from people who have expertise to share.

Over 50 students will head to Boston this weekend for the DECA States competition.

Good luck to all of our DECA Eagles.

Our amazing theatre company will compete in the Massachusetts Theatre Guild Festival with an amazing performance on this little woman. Prelims start this weekend.

Our Science Olympiad team will be sending 15 members to compete in the Wentworth State Tournament this Saturday as well. And student mentors from the high school spent time with middle school students helping them to prepare for the transition to high school. Our beloved counselor Ms. Fuguzat oversees this program.

Tickets are on sale for the freshman sophomore dance for March 7th and tickets for both the junior and senior proms go on sale this week. It is indeed a very exciting time at Sharon High School. This past week the Student Advisory Committee met with Ms. Keenan to discuss a range of topics that impact students and how we can lend our voices to make decisions that have impact.

For example, we discussed how the budget process occurs and how challenging it is to balance the needs of various schools, students and salaries. We look forward to discussing meetings with members of the School Committee and Ms. Keenan to continue our discussions about topics that impact students and are grateful for these opportunities.

Once again, I'm Isha Agarwal from the Student Advisory Committee and thank you so much for letting me come on today.

Eesha, it's always a pleasure and that was a fantastic update.

Congratulations to everyone who's participating and all the people who are succeeding so well and we will see you soon. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Okay.

The next item on the agenda are general updates.

So Dr. Patelow, take it away.

Julie, can I just ask for something before we go into the conversation?

Yes. All right. By the way, yes, Isha, that was an amazing update. Dr. Patelow, before you start your updates, would you mind speaking to or are you willing to speak to the district's stance on some of the things we've heard here tonight? To the best of my knowledge, there have been no policy, well, I'm well aware there have been no policy changes at this table. So the policies that were read from our district still very much stand. I, the only reason I ask is that after the last two meetings, I've, I don't know if other school community members have experienced this also, but I've been approached by people who truly misunderstand how our meetings work. And sometimes folks in public comments statements can be taken as, as though they are also being sort of mirrored back by our committee or our administration.

So I think in the interest of, of clearing up confusion, even just a simple statement about where the district stands would go a long way as to eliminating any confusion. Absolutely.

So, you know, I'm in a hundred percent in unified with our entire administration and staff that we continue to do everything in our power to support all students, whether they be of different races, cultures, cultures, our LGBTQ plus community.

They, they all are, you know, every student is important to us. Every student comes with their unique differences and we do everything in our power to make sure that they feel included and have an opportunity to thrive.

And every individual, you know, parent and student that we work with, we will continue to emphasize that knowing them individually, but also knowing their particular circumstances.

And I know that again, our, our, our, our administration and our teachers are a hundred percent.

We look at kids as individuals and they all come with unique experiences and backgrounds.

And especially for folks that are feeling left out or feeling disenfranchised, whether it's by something that's going on in the school or by the outside of community, we'll do everything in our power to support them and make sure that they feel comfortable.

Okay.

Shana, did you want to add something?

Oh, sorry.

Shana, can you unmute?

Yeah.

Can you hear me? So we have 131 participants on this right now. I would like Dr. Patel to respectfully ask, and I've asked this of you before.

Um, I would like to see a memorandum go out to the entire district stating exactly that your stance that all means all and students, regardless of any protected class, um, are welcome, are going to be safe and will be loved and nurtured, um, as they progress through our schools.

It is imperative.

We have, we have students who are really scared.

We have parents who are scared and rightly so. Some of the things that they overhear on these meetings are horrible, quite frankly, and we can't do anything about it, but listen, but we need our leader to stand up. And right now, and we need you to please, please send out a memo so that parents can read to their kids, kids can read for themselves that know that they have, you have their back. Thank you. All right.

Uh, thank you, Shauna.

Um, Peter is your go.

A time for the student updates.

Okay.

Jane's gonna throw that up there.

Um, part of it is, uh, um, um, Isha has already stole my thunder, so I'm not gonna repeat, um, one of the slides.

Um, but first of all, um, the calendar, um, has been published and shared for next year. Um, it's linked on the district website, uh, begins the week before Labor Day and ends on June 16th of the day 180, assuming no snow days. Um, so everyone can start making their plans, um, with a more normal calendar this year. Uh, we have some great events coming up. The middle school, um, production of Cinderella opens March 13th. We also read across America with our Black Student Union and Muslim Student Association.

We'll read at the elementary schools, um, in the upcoming week, and then a series of events at the middle school and high school, uh, celebrating Black History Month and, uh, educating our students.

And again, I'm not gonna repeat the second slide because Isha did such a wonderful job, not only, uh, talking about our awesome athletes and their performance, but also, uh, many other folks that are, um, are doing great things at the high school. So congratulations to our athletes and, uh, for their, their great successes and good luck in their, uh, continued, uh, events.

Okay.

Thank you very much.

And now, um, for the moment everyone's been waiting for the, um, we would like to see the fiscal 26 proposed operating budget.

And so after Dr. Patel presents it, then I will open it up to the committee for discussion.

We're not voting at this time.

Um, we're merely going to be discussing elements of the budget.

So, okay.

Thank you. And Julie wanted to confirm that we, so we also have added an additional meeting on next Monday and next Wednesday to give additional time. Um, I do recognize and apologize for, um, folks getting this in their packet just an hour before.

I know that's not ideal. Um, the work going into this, as we're trying to project, um, what the most, the least painful cuts are, uh, kind of are going up to the very minute as we're, um, looking at changes in enrollment and trying to predict, uh, enrollment in classes, especially at the high school next year. So, um, I apologize for the lateness in that. Um, but tonight we're going to review the, uh, development budget, development context and process including budget priorities drivers and process to date highlight mandatory required components review critical and additional components.

I'm going to present a budget recommended based on the revised 4.4% priorities allocation.

Uh, we'll have time to collect feedback from the school committee continue that on, um, next, uh, Monday and then clarify next steps going in. Okay. Uh, first of all, it's just important to recognize that the budget development takes into account a range of consideration.

Um, I, you know, there was tons of work over the last several months consulting with school and district leaders, uh, as well as, uh, teacher leaders to identify needs and priorities.

Uh, calculating costs, uh, uh, to comply with contractual obligations and legal mandates.

Also looking at enrollment and class size, looking to maximize resources by restructuring, shifting and reducing as possible.

Um, some of the creative work and looking at how we are might reconfigure things working collaboratively with the town, managing risk, um, while identifying areas for reduction.

Uh, it first of all starts with our district plan and our district goals.

So in all of the work and all the decisions that we make, we're looking to, um, maintain educational excellence in, in Sharon.

And in doing so, that means meeting the needs of all students.

Uh, that's partly by supporting our, uh, ever evolving MTSS multi-tiered system of support process, which is a, a state expected, um, system in all schools.

Um, and in doing so, that means, um, and in doing so, that means, um, and in doing so, making sure we have equitable, uh, and inclusive learning for our kids in our continuing to promote a culture that, um, that really promotes, um, growth among students, but also among, um, our capacity as adults.

Um, we also considered the, uh, school committees budget priorities that were, um, were identified and presented early, uh, last fall. Um, so part of it is using the town priorities by a budget allocation as a bus line baseline, uh, supporting the new ELA rollout, strengthening our special education, especially coming back from some cuts we made last year, maintaining small class sizes, especially at the elementary, um, reinstating a high school assistant principal was one thing that was, um, favored, um, not necessarily dictated, but favored.