Next Up Natick

With the start of the school year comes a re-starting of the School Committee as well. This year I will continue to detail the public process in which you have elected the 7 members of our committee to serve.  Subscribe to my blog here . What’s next in Natick for the School Committee?  The Natick School Committee will meet on Wednesday evening, 8/31 at 6:30 p.m. to tie up some of the business from the 2021-2022 school year.  Our first official business meeting for the 2022-2023 school year is Monday, September 12th . We will meet again for a business meeting on Monday, September 19th. (Typically our business meetings are the first and third Mondays of the month.) *Our agendas and links to the materials are posted at least 48 hours before the meeting on the Town Website.    *To subscribe to notifications about our public meet calendar, and any others in Natick, click on this link to enter your email and choose the meetings you would like to be alerted about....

ALMOST :) The Natick School Committee meets tonight, Tuesday June 7th and again next Monday, June 13th in preparation for the Evaluation Retreat meetings that we hold in person on June 22nd, 27th and 29th.   As always , you can join us in person on the 3rd floor of Town Hall and to most of our meetings, virtually. (Retreat style meetings are not on zoom or pegasus.)  The Zoom Link, Agenda and materials are here . We have the aim of starting the public session at 7:00 p.m. tonight (Executive session first.)   School Committee Items On Tap: Discussion of the Vaccination Policy for Staff, Vendors, Contractors and Volunteers Anti-Discrimination Policy recommendation from the Policy Sub Committee to the full Committee.  Strategic Plan Update & End of Year Superintendent Evaluation Dyslexia Update  3rd Quarter and End of Year Financials Update Enrollment Update   Strategic Plan of the district . On the Anti Discrimination Policy, we worked for nearl...

 In what I believe is an unprecedented amount of time, Spring Town Meeting finished on Tuesday night!   Thank you to Dani Newland, Town Meeting Member Precinct 8, for taking these notes for those who would like to read about what happened.  Link to the warrant (agenda) of the meeting.  For those who want to watch the meetings. Watch it on Pegasus  here !  (THANK YOU PEGASUS!)  Articles Of Note: Money was appropriated for the collective bargaining units on the town side. The sale of Town owned land near Scrub A Dub passed A series of zoning changes  time to rewrite a by law on cluster developments - accepted changes in the Golden Triangle region to bring consistency - accepted changes to language when calculating open space - referred back to the planning board reappropriate money to do trail improvements at Pickerel Pond - accepted Town Meeting Rules committee - handbook created and accepted Article 29 was recommended indefinite postpon...

Monday, May 2nd - School Committee Meeting   Find all of the materials  here There was a theme that ran through 3 aspects of our meeting last night... (and maybe all over our meetings)  How do we get the job done well?  In the Facilities presentation, we learned that we are severely under staffed in custodial and maintenance based on industry standards. Mr. Spratt, our facilities director, advised that we take a long term approach to the remedy: First operationalize efficiencies, then add staff once the systems are improved. The additional staff will eventually come out of the Natick Town budget in Shared Expenses by the Schools and the Town. As one member noted last night, the need for staff begins to demonstrate the need to increase the our Town Budgets in the coming years. As you know, as a whole, our Town and School budgets are running a deficit every year. We can't go into the red by state law so we continue paying bills with savings and other one time fund...

The Community Preservation Act Article 21 passed Town Meeting by a 104 to 16 vote.  This means the town will VOTE on it at the Fall election in November, 2022. For the details of the debate from tonight on the CPA  and some of the other topics, please see these notes. This is not official nor is it complete. This is simply a best effort to capture what was said.  The Morse Institute, Bacon Free Library passed easily. " The library is the essence of democracy in that people can educate themselves freely."   - heard in debate tonight.  Capital Plan, passed after questions about:  Changing our police vehicles to hybrid and/or electric when available Why we change 20% of our cruiser fleet every year (hard use of vehicles)  The Stand Up Gas powered Blower had a few moments in the spot light - it was identified that while it is noisy, Natick has no Noise ordinance and while electric models are available, the batteries do not last enough.  Ladder truck...

Spring Town Meeting - a series of evenings - begins tonight! Swearing in of the New Town Meeting Members  Review of the procedures of the meeting Warrant (agenda) of the meeting Several motions moved to future nights for various reasons Full  Natick Net Zero Update was given Transportation Advisory Committee  (Note there is a vacancy)  Full Report here . Related item to the schools:  Mr. Errickson gave a State of the Town  Naming this body as immensely productive by investing in: the first Town Master plan  Updated Cannabis requirements  Invested in major roadway projects - for example Rt. 27 from Sherborn to Wayland Rail Trail 2 parks Kennedy Middle School Absorbed enrollment  Sustainability model  PFAS  & have mitigated a global pandemic with an excellent staff This town comes together with action when there is a need.  In FY23, we are still relying on one time funds - a trend we need to address  - free cash and st...