Regular Business Meeting Minutes 3/19/25

Minutes of the 

Monson School Committee

Regular Meeting

March 19, 2025

Present: Chair Alison Morgan; Vice-Chair Jamie Murphy; Secretary Karen Nothe-Valley; Committee Member Peter Wiggins; Director of Business and Operations Leah Zippin; Interim Superintendent Roland Joyal and Recording Secretary Haley Ketterman (Committee Member Colleen Flynn - absent) 

Note: This meeting was video recorded.

Mrs. Morgan called the meeting to order at 7:00 PM.

Mrs. Murphy read off the MPS mission statement.

Superintendent announcements and updates : 

-Mr. Joyal highlighted Monson's Night Out that will be taking place on Thursday, April 3rd from 4:00-8:00, a percentage of sales will go towards the Special Olympics that will be on May 2nd. This year there are four restaurants within the community participating. 

Student Representative report: 

Sophia Galarneau - ECC

-On Monday March 17th, 8 more ECC superstars were rewarded with their certificates and lawn signs.

-Next week on March 23rd - 28th there will be PreK screenings. This year we have just under 40 students signed up to participate in screenings.

-The Scholastic book fair will be open for shopping on March 31st, April 2nd & 3rd. The book fair will also be open for family night on April 2nd. For this year's Spring family night, it will consist of; classroom visits, a live reptile show, the final vote for the March madness book competition, creating birdhouses and checking out your student’s classroom. 

Mya Bridges - GV

-Staff and students celebrated one of their favorite days of the year, March 14th -Pi Day! With the help of PBIS, students were able to pie teachers and staff, this year over 23 staff members participated.

-Guest readers came to GV on March 4th and read some Irish folktales to the students. 

-Mrs. Meserve hosted an amazing book fair and with those sales the proceeds will be put back into the GV library. 

-5th grade students attended a field trip to the Story Barn in CT and continued their work on the Frieda B. book series.

-Grades 3-6 are preparing for MCAS.

-GV staff is preparing for end of the year celebrations such as, field day, award ceremony, etc. 

Sophia Galarneau - MHS 

-Student Council hosted Pi day events at MHS and it was a very successful fundraiser for Student Council.

-Spring sports have begun, good luck to all who try out this week.

-April break is quickly approaching and with that the Travel Club will soon be departing to Galapagos Island for their trip. 

-The Dakin animal shelter drive is in full swing - thanks to the Community Service Club.

-The Sophomore class is doing a calendar fundraiser for the month of April. 

-The Freshmen class is hosting a pancake breakfast fundraiser on Saturday April 12th, that will also have a guest appearance from the Easter bunny. 

-The crochet club and fish club will be starting next week - please reach out to Mrs. Walker or Mr. Roebuck should you have any questions. 

-Thank you to Mrs. Sorel for taking the Junior class to the college fair.

Minutes approval

-There are no minutes to approve for this regular business meeting. 

Public session opened @ 7:13 PM

Caitlin Walker - Town resident / MPS employee & parent/guardian of a MPS child read off a personal statement. 

Jaqui Kowalik  - Town resident / MPS employee & parent/guardian of a MPS child read off a personal statement. 

Nicholas Bates  - Town resident / parent/guardian of a MPS child read off a personal statement. 

Bob Lamb - Town resident read off personal statement. 

Jayme Barrett - Town resident / parent/guardian of a MPS child read off a personal statement.  

Rachel Jagadowski - Town resident / parent/guardian of a MPS child read off a personal statement.  

Pat Oney - Town resident read off personal statement. 

Jesse Davis  - Town resident / parent/guardian of a MPS child read off a personal statement.

Adam Moreau - Town resident / parent/guardian of a MPS child read off a personal statement. 

Closed public session @ 7:51PM

Subcommittee and Liaison reports

Curriculum Subcommittee

-Technology update: The amount of loaner chromebooks have increased for both GV (12) and MHS (16). On average, the tech department repairs 5-10 chromebooks per day. The tech department has also set up loaner chromebooks strictly for MCAS testing, so in the event that a student needs a loaner during testing they will be good to go. 

-Curriculum adoption update: Continuing with reveal math and open sciED grades K-8 will have full access to those materials. 

-Mr. Fontaine has secured a $10,000 grant from PLTW (Project Lead The Way.)

-Mrs. Watts and Mr. Fontaine worked together to secure a grant from the One8 foundation in the amount of $40,000. With this, it allows MHS to move forward with the Engineering Pathway program to be offered in course selection.

-Monson High School was also awarded a $6,500 grant in order to implement a new Civics curriculum for grade 8, that has been created through DESE. Mrs. Morgan stated once the curriculum subcommittee minutes have been approved, you’ll see the link for this new curriculum so people can look at the materials on the website. 

-The Appleseeds grant is coming to an end. It was for 3 years and in grades Kindergarten-grade 2. Staff has noticed an increase in the development of reading within our little learners. 

-Curriculum Mapping Update: The high school is working on adding curriculum mapping to the website for grades 9-12 that offer an insight into what they will be learning, course selection, etc. They are hoping to have this completed June 27, 2025. 

-Comprehensive Health and Physical Education update: focusing on the standards on the new Health and Physical Education framework. Teachers have been reviewing the grades 9-12 curriculum frameworks, and have been offering recommendations to the subcommittee. They have gone back and forth for discussion between the Health, Physical Education teacher and the subcommittee. Once the committee approves the grades 9-12, they will then proceed to move down on grades 6-8 to see what’s appropriate, realistic, etc. 

-Programming updates: Title 1 is now at GV. Title 1 is a federal program that provides financial assistance to schools with high numbers of economically disadvantaged students. With this, we will be able to implement services to everyone in the school that may need it such as; reading or math development, or if a student is struggling in a certain area they can receive those services as well. With this extra support we will be able to keep these support staff members due to this grant funding. 

-ELL (English Language Learners) Mrs. Watts updated the subcommittee regarding the English language learners program, and that those students may be those whose native language might not be English. With this, the state provides a specific curriculum to help ensure that students move from that curriculum to ours. Once they have proceeded to move forward from the specific curriculum that the state provides to ours, the ELL teacher oversees that student for four years to ensure that the student continues to progress.  

-Upcoming professional development on Friday staff will be working on the following: teachers are working on AI, there will be some training on reveal math, and fading support for ESP’s. 

-Mrs. Morgan touched base on the mentoring status of teachers and how the process is implemented. 

Policy Subcommittee

-IMGB - Therapy/comfort dog policy first read on updated policy this will include the waiver form for parent/guardian and student, and also a staff waiver form. Mrs. Murphy asked the committee to please review the policy and waiver forms to be voted on at the next meeting. 

-Mrs. Morgan makes a motion to move Policy IMGB to second read. 

-Ms. Nothe-Valley seconds

-Roll call was placed 

-all in favor 4-0

-GBEBD - Crowdfunding policy is still in the works. Mrs. Murphy is waiting to hear from our attorney regarding documents, but this policy will be ready for the next meeting.

New Business

-Athletic fees and determination: Mr. Joyal followed up with the breakdown of the athletic fees. Baseball is 25$ more than softball due to the boys wearing hats. 

Mrs. Murphy is questioning where the breakdown happens and looked at all of the different fees for each specific sport? Mr. Fontaine followed up with that depending on the specific sport and what each sport entails; how much officials cost / how many games that are scheduled for the season / uniforms (are on a cycle every 7 years) / sport supplies (balls, softballs, etc). When it comes to a reduced rate, the athletic director works to see what students are on the direct certifications list and if that student is not on the list, but needs a reduced rate there is a document for them to fill out and submit that follows the federal guidelines.

-Mrs. Morgan asked if we know what other schools are paying locally for athletic fees? Mr. Fontaine stated that we do have an ongoing list through the Pioneer Valley Interscholastic committee, but many schools do not have fees to participate in athletics. Mr. Fontaine believes that Monson is on the higher side for sport fees compared to districts around us.

-Mr. Joyal stated that from last Spring - Fall we brought in roughly $37,000 for athletics. 

-Mrs. Murphy asked if there are any new clubs or sports that will be in the works? Mr. Fontaine stated that we do have a high school teacher who is interested in starting a Ski club for next year - they are working out the logistics of it all but would like to plan for next year. This year we have 118 students participating in a spring sport. 

-Food Service update will be at an upcoming meeting from Tracy Blanchard.

Review of the FY 26 Budget

Finance Subcommittee update: 

Ms. Nothe-Valley gave a quick update on what has been happening within the finance subcommittee. The subcommittee has met three times since the last regular business meeting, to discuss the budget and has also approved multiple meeting minutes for the finance subcommittee. Mrs. Morgan briefly touched on how a budget is built for the school and that the school committee really oversees it and makes recommendations. That usually the superintendent and the administrators bring a request to the school committee, and that number is then shared with the town finance director and town administrator, from there they respond to the superintendent to let them know if the town is able to fund that number or if there is a target number they want the school to be at. The superintendent and administration will then go back to do some work, and then present to the school committee and that number is shared at the tri-board meeting. Ultimately the school committee, select board and finance committee talk about the budget and determine what the operating budget will be for the town omnibus to be voted on at town meeting. The meeting is held at Granite Valley and you go line by line approving the town’s budget, and the school’s budget is one of them. Mrs. Morgan stated the importance of being a part of the entire process and be sure to join us at town meeting. 

-Mrs. Zippin talked with the school committee on how the state determines our chapter 70 aid and how it’s based on our foundation enrollment. She also went over the town's contribution and the  required net school spending, as well as the operating budget. 

-Mrs. Morgan also touched base on Chapter 78 and the rural aid update and how the formula does not account for rural towns, that it’s the same for every city and town. It is more expensive to educate a child in a rural town as opposed to a city. 

-Mr. Joyal went over the operating budget numbers from 2021-present, and stated how they put together a line for everything within the budget to present to the committee, and roughly at $11,600,000 (this number includes 4 new positions). Last year's budget was $10,638,000.

-Mr. Joyal presented the school committee with the different scenarios that himself and administration have put together.

Scenario A cuts would add up to $302,000. Positions would include: Denied quarter increase to ECC counselor (included in one of the new positions) counselor would remain at part time, GV cut unit A position (teacher) that would mean grade 6 would move to 4 homerooms (they currently run in 5 homerooms and have about 14-15 students per classrooms, so it would increase class size to 18-19 students.) GV unit A teacher grade 4 would move to 3 homerooms. In addition, at GV they were asking for a part time health teacher (included in one of the new positions.) At Monson High School a unit A teacher somewhere in the 7th / 8th grade. -Ms. Nothe-Valley asked what would be the impact on that cut? Mr. Fontaine stated that it would mainly be an increase of class sizes. MHS full time ESP (educational support professional) would result in lack of staffing in the library. Another way of saving is with our special education department, we have a student returning from out of district placement and will be attending schools here in Monson - would result in a savings of $40,000 to that department. Mr. Joyal stated other ways of savings would be the mentor and mentee program, wonders curriculum, newsela, studies weekly. 

Scenario B cuts total savings of $170,000 (and would also include everything in A): GV unit A teacher - technology class and won't be able to staff any math intervention support at GV as well. MHS full time counselor - with this the dean/director of counseling would handle more adjustment counseling and the other full time counselor would handle grades 9-12, college application assistance, scholarships, etc. District level would be elimination of a cross country coach - there are currently two. Curriculum level would be elimination of team leaders - lose five team leaders which are stipend positions. 

With Scenario A & B we are at $472,000.

Mrs. Morgan has concerns about not having a math intervention staff support at GV and touched base on the scores and tiered support for the students. Mr. Trivisisonno stated that there would be a domino effect in losing the technology unit A teacher. It would also impact the ECC and their physical education special on Friday’s - as the physical education teacher would have to remain at GV Monday-Friday. 

Scenario C cuts would be a total savings of, $213,000 - and would also include Scenario A + B & C: Unit A counselor at the ECC is currently a half time position and would be fully cut - would result in no counselor at the ECC. Unit A full time PreK teacher at the ECC. There would also be a program change for the ECC PreK with the elimination of the half day PreK option (9AM-1PM). ESP elimination at the ECC and would result in reduction of reading intervention support. Elimination of a Unite E halftime building aide for GV/ECC (works at both locations). Unit D full time administrative assistant elimination, would leave one administration assistant in each building. Elimination of one full time unit E building aide position at MHS. Mr. Trivisonno touched base on what the cuts would look like at the ECC with foundational reading support, ESP’s cut, etc. Mr. Trivisonno stated that the needs in PreK and K deserve a full time leader as do the needs at GV, and that PreK, kindergarten and grade 5 are the hotspots for behaviors. 

-Mrs. Morgan states her concerns for not having the emotional support in the building aside from the one administrator for when anything goes wrong for those supports to come and assist, clear a classroom, etc. 

-Mrs. Morgan said that she has also spoken with Mrs. Bidus on potential early intervention students, and as of right now there are 19 students on the list to join us when they turn 3 years old, so we must reserve a slot for them within our classrooms. The school committee also discussed the larger classroom sizes that will take place at GV with the cuts of teachers, and with the larger classroom sizes it would reduce the number of school choice available slots. 

With Scenario A, B + C we are at $685,000

With all of these cuts implemented- we are still $295,000 away from the target number.

Scenario D would include Scenario A, B, C & D.

This scenario would include: loss of music at the high school, cutting sports - or increasing sport fees, charging for clubs, charging for buses (grades 7-12 level), increasing PreK tuition. With scenario D there would also be an administration restructure at the ECC meaning there would be no administrator or counselor in the building. 

-Mrs. Morgan stated that there is no way that can happen - there has to be someone in charge to call for help and could turn into a legal issue. 

-Ms. Nothe-Valley asked Mr. Fontaine that within the scenarios A-C she doesn’t see anything impacting electives or AP courses?  Mr. Fontaine confirmed that there are no impacts for electives or AP courses in scenarios A-C, and they are trying to keep that as solid as they can. Mrs. Morgan asked if we are able to keep those electives and AP courses as they are in those scenarios due to going to the 4x4 schedule? Mr. Fontaine confirmed that is the reason why, due to the schedule change. Mr. Fontaine stated that due to going to the 4x4 schedule they could also potentially offer more AP courses; such as AP Spanish, AP precalculus, etc. 

-Mrs. Morgan asked about staff cuts as she sees a Unit A, Unit C, etc - but what about the food service department? Mrs. Zippin said that the food service department is a separate budget, but they are staffed appropriately on their end. Mrs. Morgan asked in terms of custodians - as we have 7 staff in that department? Mrs. Zippin said that there are 3 ladies who clean at night, 2 during the day, and 2 craftsmen staffed. Mrs. Morgan confirmed with Mrs. Zippin that the 2 CNA’s staffed are for student services? Mrs. Zippin confirmed that they are. Mrs. Morgan asked about the part time CBO clerk as Stephanie Flowers has taken over HR for the district, and if we would be hiring for that position? And if we did not hire for that position what would be the savings? Mrs. Zippin stated that it would be around $21,000. Mr. Joyal and Mrs. Zippin said that they would like for her to see how she is doing within her position as she’s only been in it for two weeks. Ms. Nothe-Valley and Mrs. Morgan agree with giving her some time to get acclimated and to give her time to see if she can streamline any of the process. 

Mrs. Morgan asked what are the differences between the 2 craftsmen and the custodians? Mrs. Zippin stated that the craftsmen handle things that we would normally have to outsource or call someone in such as; HVAC, lighting, any maintenance request, snow removal, mowing, etc. 

Mrs. Morgan asked Mr. Trivisonno for the ESP’s at GV, are they working with students on an IEP or are they classroom support? Mr. Trivisonno said that they are grid based supports. 

-Ms. Nothe-Valley asked what grant writing would look like with all of the potential cuts? Mrs. Morgan stated that typically Mrs. Watts does but Mr. Fontaine and Mrs. Bidus have written grants as well. As of right now we have 20 competitive grants that we write and receive money for, and beyond that Mrs. Watts has created 7 more.  

Mrs. Morgan asked if they did potentially charge bus fees what would that number be like? Mrs. Zippin stated that she can get an estimate from Deb at McCarthy. 

Ms. Nothe-Valley asked that if we did raise PreK fees what would that number look like? Mrs. Zippin stated that they are currently working on that - there the problem is that at least 50% of students are either free/reduced due to early intervention services - but they are looking into it. 

Mrs. Morgan asked the committee how they felt to meet on Monday at 5PM for a working meeting before the Tri-Board meeting to discuss the scenarios further as it is getting late?

The school committee and administration all agreed to meet on Monday at 5PM for a working meeting. 

Old Business 

-Superintendent update: MASC 

Tracy from MASC reached out to all who applied for the search committee to let them know if they are on the committee. There was training for the search committee that took place on March 18th (open meeting laws, ethical standards, etc.) and their first meeting will be on March 31st. 

-Rural aide: We are working with Jessica who came to the last meeting to discuss contacting our state representatives because there is a bill on the table to request that rural aid would be fully funded, as of right now it is only quarter funded. 

-MHS Schedule options: Mr. Fontaine took a look at the option of a 4x4 back in November. He sat down with the union and discussed what works and what doesn’t, and right now it’s difficult to follow the 7th/8th grade contracts with the 6 block schedule. Mr. Fontaine stated that with the 4x4 schedule it allows students to take different courses throughout the year allowing for more in person learning. Mr. Fontatine has drafted a MOU (memorandum of understanding), the union is waiting for the school committee to agree on it and they’ll then take it to the union to do a vote on it. 

-Mrs. Morgan asked that in Mr. Fontaine’s previous presentation he stated that there would be strategic planning regarding the 7th/8th grade 4x4 schedule and what that would look like? Mr. Fontatine said that he sat down with staff and discussed the different times, pros and cons, the different options, splitting the block, etc. Staff stated that with splitting the block they would lose classroom time - and science was specifically worried regarding labs and the appropriate length of time. Mr. Fontaine stated that 7th/8th grade staff was pretty unanimous with an 85 min block schedule. 

-Mrs. Morgan said that for science she could see due to the lab and the movement but for ELA, Math, etc. that would be difficult for staying still for that length of time. Mr. Fontaine stated that they did discuss other options for brain breaks for those classes. Mrs. Morgan asked to have a copy of the MOU at the next regular business meeting and to have further details regarding brain breaks and what they would entail.  

Scheduled Meetings:

-March 24th Budget Working meeting @ 5PM 

-March 24th Tri Board meeting @ Town Offices @ 7PM

-April 16th Public Budget meeting @ 5PM

-April 16th Search Report with Tracy from MASC @ 6PM

-April 16th Regular business meeting @ 7pm

-May 7th Regular business meeting @ 7PM

-May 7th Policy Subcommittee meeting @ 6PM

• Mrs. Morgan makes a motion to adjourn the meeting at 9:59PM (Ms. Nothe-Valley seconds)

• Motion Carries 4-0 

Documentation for this meeting:

Agenda March 19, 2025 

Approved by Committee:

________________________________________

Ms. Nothe-Valley, Secretary

March 19 Regular business meeting mins.pdf

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