Next Up Natick

The State Ethics Commission was unable to give me a ruling on Monday because the lawyer who made the ruling had an unforeseen family circumstance that kept him from the office. When I learned of that, I asked our committee to delay.   Please note, that I am still expecting a clarification ruling from the State Ethics Commission. I will admit, at one point in this process I didn’t want the clarification because I was tired. I do have big girl pants and I have put them on for the last 7 months every time someone has tried to make this experience personal instead about ideas. Still, as anyone would, I have my limits on what I can take and this recusal put me there. Mentors and people I deeply respect then asked me to pursue a clarification because it had ramifications - perhaps even statewide - that could be really damaging to our political process. I agreed if I could do it with SUPPORT from the town instead of the POLITICS of those who wanted the ruling reversed, I would pursue it.  (Po

Here's what I am hearing as a parent and community member:   Memorial rebuild is separate from the cost containment issue that we are trying to resolve by closing Johnson. Julie:  Do you feel confident that we can keep class sizes where we have worked to get them? Dr. Nolin: There is no way any superintendent can tell you that for the next 10 years. I can tell you that I am confident in recommending this.  The modulars are a possibility of a swing space - and the TA felt uncomfortable issuing another enrollment report The floor is opened to the community members to speak: Interested in the savings for the coming years:  tinyurl.com/johnsonfinances 50K first year subsequent years - $500K Save on principal, nurse and admin assistants.  Teachers, Paras, specialists typically go with students. Close Johnson there is no wiggle room in the other schools.   Reasonable people often can and do disagree but the administration was willing to do the work and meet the needs of our students. Eve

  Date: Mon, Nov 1, 2021 at 11:30 AM Subject: Your Inquiry To: Brunell, Catherine < cbrunell@natickps.org >   Ms. Brunell,   Per your request, I am writing to confirm the advice that I provided you over the phone regarding the conflict of interest law, G.L. c. 268A.     You are a member of the Natick School Committee.  You advised that the School Committee is engaged in a comprehensive open space discussion.  One of the items coming before the School Committee in this regard involves the potential closure of the Johnson Elementary School.  The Johnson Elementary School is 0.3 miles from your house, and you have two children who are currently enrolled in the school.  The matter of the Johnson Elementary School appears to be intertwined for purposes of discussion and vote with the matter of the Memorial Elementary School.  For clarity, I will refer to these jointly as the Elementary School matters.  The School Committee is having a separate discussion and vote on High School matter

Here are the remarks I gave last night when letting my committee know my decision to recuse:  After the School Committee meeting on October 15th, several individuals wrote into the SpeakUp Natick portal requesting that I recuse myself from voting on the possible closure of Johnson.  The substance of these messages, sent to the full committee, carried a familiar refrain. The messages - often using the same language – said some version of the following:  Catherine Brunell should recuse herself from deliberating and voting on the closure of Johnson because she lacks objectivity, as her children go to school there and she is from that neighborhood. I asked myself the question if there was any merit to the request for me to recuse myself and started to do some research about why people recuse  From what I can tell from the minutes, in Natick, It’s never happened before - not with the Kennedy, Wilson or the High School - not even for members whose children were to attend the future rebuilt s

source of picture listed below Key action item of the meeting:   The decision about the High School space.  The agenda for the School Committee meeting is  here . Mr, Harrigan's presentation about why there is a need for more space at the High School is  here . To create the space, the recommendation of the administration is to move 5 pre-school classes from the High School to the East School location at 90 Oak Street  at the start of the 2022-23 school year. The recommendation is also to move the preschools from Lilja (2) and Memorial (1) in the next 2-3 years to the East School depending on a need for space at both of those elementary schools. What is the East School? Not just a place for Pickle Ball!   Read the  East School Building Report 5/2021   screen shot from the report linked above In a walk through of the space, Dr. Nolin noted to School Committee members that the gym was not ADA accessible. Given that PE is not part of the preschool curriculum, however, the cost of add