4/16/25 - Regular Business Meeting Minutes

Minutes of the 

Monson School Committee

Regular Meeting

April 16, 2025

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

Note: This meeting was video recorded.

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

Ms. Flynn read off the MPS mission statement.

Superintendent announcements and updates : 

-Mr. Joyal congratulated Dr. Trivissiono for obtaining the Community Preservation Grant of $25,000 for the fence around the playground at Quarry Hill. 

-Reminder that there is no school next week due to April vacation.

Minutes approval

April 2, 2025 - regular business meeting minutes for approval

Mrs. Morgan makes a motion to approve the April 2, 2025 regular business meeting minutes.

Ms. Flynn seconds.

line #163 - asked to go back and check out the amount for the unemployment line. 

Signature line name correction for Ms. Nothe-Valley.

Mrs. Morgan amends her motion with the given edits.

No comments/discussion 

Roll call was placed 

All in favor 5-0

April 9, 2025 - regular business meeting minutes for approval.

Mrs. Morgan makes a motion to approve the April 9, 2025 regular business meeting minutes.

Ms. Nothe-Valley seconds.

Ms. Flynn asked about the public session portion of the meeting with the meeting minutes, and asked if a brief summary of each public comment could be added in moving forward with the public session? 

Moving forward, the M-Pact TV link will be added to the top for hassle-free access. 

Mrs. Morgan amends her motion with the given edits. 

Mrs. Morgan withdraws her motion and minutes are tabled until the next meeting to give each committee member more time to review. 

Public session opened @ 7:09 PM

-Jayme Barrett - parent of a MPS student. Ms. Barrett spoke about the graduation rate and the statistics of it based off of 4 years. She has concerns about the path to escalation within the schools, and that a parent/guardian should be able to speak with administration when requested. 

Closed public session @ 7:16PM

Subcommittee and Liaison reports

Policy Subcommittee

-IMGB - Therapy/comfort dog policy currently in third read.

Mrs. Murphy asked the committee if they had any comments or concerns? Ms. Flynn asked if there have been any changes since the last read? - Mrs. Murphy confirmed no changes had been made.

Mrs. Morgan had some questions regarding the waiver forms for students. It was confirmed with Principal Fontaine that should a student not return their waiver form, they will have no contact with the therapy/comfort dog.

Mrs. Morgan makes a motion to approve policy: IMGB therapy/comfort dog.

Ms. Nothe-Valley seconds.

Roll call was placed.

Motion carries 5-0

-JICA - Student dress code policy currently in third read.

Mrs. Murphy confirmed no changes have been made to this policy. Ms. Nothe-Valley stated that with this policy there is more information in the handbook. 

Mrs. Morgan makes a motion to approve policy: JICA student dress code. 

Ms. Flynn seconds.

Roll call was placed.

Motion carries 5-0.

-IKF - Graduation requirements policy currently in third read.

Mrs. Murphy confirmed no changes have been made to this policy. 

Mrs. Morgan makes a motion to approve policy: IKF Graduation requirements. 

Ms. Nothe-Valley seconds.

Roll call was placed.

Motion carries 5-0.

-GBEBD - Crowdfunding: policy is in second read.

After meeting with the policy subcommittee this week they have decided to tweak this policy a little bit. There will be one request for crowdfunding, and another one for an educational wishlist. At this time the attorney has not reviewed the policy, so they will have to wait for her to review it as well. 

Mrs. Murphy read over the changes that have been made to the policy.

Mrs. Morgan followed up with questions about the request form that is to be submitted when staff would like to proceed with an educational wishlist. The School Committee discussed the educational wishlist request side of things, and collectively decided that it would be best to have a separate form as the crowdfunding form is very detailed. The teacher submitting the educational wishlist will have to fill out the form and share the wishlist link with the principal and superintendent to be reviewed at any point. 

Ms. Flynn would like for the policy to be reformatted to show a little more streamlined process. 

Mrs. Morgan makes a motion to move policy GBEBD to third read with the revised corrections and approval from the attorney. 

Mrs. Murphy seconds.

Roll call was placed.

Motion carries 5-0.

New Business

Transportation Budget: Mr. Joyal presented the School Committee with the transportation budget, he stated that nothing has changed since they started this process in January. 

Ms. Flynn makes a motion to accept and approve the Monson Public Schools Transportation Department budget for FY26.

Mrs. Morgan seconds.

Roll call was placed. 

Motion carries 5-0. 

25/26 Monson Public Schools Calendar: The proposed 25/26 Monson Public Schools District Calendar was presented to the School Committee observing all of the Federal and State Holidays. 

The School Committee confirmed with Mr. Joyal that all PD days align with staff contracts.

The School Committee asked for the following changes: 

For Indigenous Peoples’ Day add / Columbus Day.

Add Jr to Martin Luther King Day.

Add June 12th as the last day of school - 180 days.

Add hyphen to the November 10th Teacher In-Service Day.

Highlight the key at the bottom with the appropriate colors for no school days and half days.

Mrs. Morgan makes a motion to approve the proposed 2025-2026 Monson Public Schools District calendar with the expectation of the changes discussed above.

Mrs. Murphy seconds.

Roll call was placed.

Motion carries 5-0.

Mr. Joyal discussed the possibility of bringing the 26/27 Monson Public Schools District Calendar to the table as well, if it’s something the School Committee would be interested in. Mr. Joyal finds that it could be helpful for not only parents/guardians but also staff to know the return date for the upcoming school year. Mr. Joyal has talked with Mrs. Walker - MEA Union President about proposing the 26/27 calendar, and that if dates should change the calendar would be amended and resubmitted with any necessary changes. The School Committee collectively believes that it’s a great idea for planning purposes. 

25/26 School Committee Regular Business Meeting Calendar: Mr. Joyal submitted a draft of scheduled regular business meetings for the 25/26 school year. Mr. Joyal touched base on how having them scheduled for the year might be beneficial for all members of the School Committee and public. Mr. Joyal checked into surrounding districts and how often their School Committee meetings take place - typically for districts the size of Monson are meeting once a month.

Ms. Flynn would be interested in pursuing the scheduled regular business meeting schedule for the year.

Mrs. Morgan agrees with Mr. Joyal that having the once a month meeting would be great and would open up more time for subcommittee meetings. 

Mrs. Morgan asked the committee to check out the proposed scheduled regular business meetings for the 25/26 year and the topic will be on the next agenda for the May meeting.

9-12 Health and Physical Education Curriculum: 

Mrs. Watts has met with the High School health teachers and they have gone over all of the 9-12 health standards and what is currently being taught at this time. Once they determined if the topic had been taught, they went through the process of if it should be taught and at what grade level. Mrs. Watts asked the School Committee if they could check out what the teachers proposed and if they are in agreement with the Health and Physical Education curriculum? If not, Mrs. Watts will meet with the teachers again to make any requested changes, and once completed they would work their way down to grade 6-8 standards. Mrs. Watts asked the School Committee for some feedback and what they would like for the next steps to be?

Ms. Flynn asked if this currently only affects grades 9 & 10? Mrs. Watts confirmed that is correct as grades 11 & 12 are electives. Mrs. Watts stated that at grades 9 & 10 they would have to push the content.

Mrs. Watts said this has been a wonderful process working with the high school teachers with this project, but has concerns on who will take this over once the end of this school year?

Ms. Flynn asked what some of the difficulties were with completing this process? Mrs. Watts stated that anything to do with gender expression.

Mrs. Morgan makes a motion to accept grades 9-12 Health Curriculum framework suggestions that Mrs. Watts and the High School health teachers created. 

Mrs. Murphy seconds. 

Ms. Flynn asked if the foods and nutrition class is an elective? Mrs. Watts confirmed that it is an elective.

Ms. Nothe-Valley asked Mrs. Watts if there was anything that we are losing from the curriculum? Mrs. Watts said that we aren’t really losing anything, that it’s a restructure of some material. 

Ms. Nothe-Valley had some questions about the gender expression portion and asked if Mrs. Watts has any discomfort by anything that is being left out of the curriculum? Mrs. Watts does not, but believes that the approach should be respect to all humans and upholding the dignity of everyone. 

Ms. Flynn asked if this will go into effect in September? Mrs. Watts confirmed that is correct.

Roll call was placed. 

motion carries 5-0.

Review of action items:  

Scheduled Meetings:

-April 30th Public Budget meeting @ 5PM

-April 30th Town Meeting @ 6PM

-May 7th Policy Subcommittee meeting @ 6PM

-May 7th Regular Business Meeting @ 7PM

-May 8th Superintendent Interviews @ 5PM - will be hybrid.

-May 12 Town Meeting @ 7pm @ GV

-May 13th @ 5pm Executive Session: To discuss contract negotiations regarding the Superintendent candidate.

-June 11th Regular Business Meeting @ 7PM

• Mrs. Morgan makes a motion to adjourn the meeting at 8:28PM (Mrs. Murphy seconds)

• Motion Carries 5-0 

Documentation for this meeting:

Agenda April 16, 2025 

Approved by Committee:

________________________________________

Ms. Nothe-Valley, Secretary

Regular Business Meeting Minutes 4.16.25.pdf

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