Next Up Natick

 If you voted yesterday in the State primaries... you might have been surprised like me - I thought I would also be casting a vote for the Natick Select Board seat that sits open...  But, because of laws beyond anyone's control - Natick has to hold another election next week for an uncontested race on Tuesday September 13th.  Voting information here. I'm told that years ago Natick had to hold PRIMARIES because there were often so many people who wanted to run in the elections.  Sigh. I'm always grateful to anyone who will run and am happy to cast a vote next Tuesday - but I'd like to hope we have some contested races in March.  Correction: After publishing the blog, thanks to my readers, I learned that the above is incorrect:   The Select Board, by town charter,  can have a vacancy until the next election (March 2023), they may call for a special election themselves or be required to call for a special election if 200 people sign a petition call...

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...

  School Committee Meeting tonight.  Link to the agenda and zoom link are here .  Key Topics: Preview of the Operational Override by the Town Administrator (the CEO of our Town)   Update on the Social/Emotional health of students & staff via internal and external surveys. Grant updates on FY22 and positions for FY23 School Committee re-organization continues for subcommittees assignments Approval of the last day of school -  SPOILER Alert Tuesday, June 21st for most students,  Wednesday, June 22nd for Lilja b/c of COVID shutdown in January Approval of the calendar of the 2022-2023 School Year.  SPOILER alert - proposal is to accept feedback from the teachers and begin school on Wednesday, August 31st.   Labor day weekend will NOT be a 4 day weekend as originally proposed. Update on Kennedy Middle School Project Completion A picture from our Strategic Plan on what we are aiming for with Social Emotional Health In order to save debate for o...

Slide Deck here Pegasus Link here Committee Reorganization: Ms. Cathi Collins - Chair  (vote 6-0-1)  Ms. Hayley Sonneborn - Vice Chair ( vote 6-0-1) Dr. Donna McKenzie - Clerk ( vote 7-0-0)  Ms. Catherine Brunell - Paraprofessional negotiations (appointed) Mr. Shai Fuxman - Administrative Assistants negotiations (appointed)  Our Re-organization will continue on 4/25 for subcommittees, advisory committees and liaison positions.   Teaching and Learning Update     Middle School Mid Year State of the Union Slides  What is a Student Growth Percentile  (SGP) in lay persons terms?   Watch a video tutorial here .   SGP is measurement of how much the student "grew" or learned between two points in time. Much like the height charts you might see when you go to the pediatricians office. Instead of just learning how tall your child is, the doctor also looks to see if the child is growing at a consistent rate.   The m...

 As we begin a new School Committee year, a friend sent me a poem published on "Very Kate," a blog subtitled: Relentless Practice in Local Government.  "We long for a city where people go hard on the issues and not on people."  The poem's first line: We long for civility...   Screen shot of one section of the poem.  And spot on for what I am thinking as our seven member board re-organizes our roles on the committee.   What does Re-Organization mean?  /Vote for the Chair, Vice-Chair and Clerk of the committee  /Reassign roles on committees after the election Tonight's agenda also includes a wholistic look at test scores, MCAS and Renaissance and SEL data that has been collected this year.   Tomorrow night!  Please join us for a listening session on the School Calendar! Presentation here .    Tuesday, April 5th 7-8:30 p.m.  Zoom Link here .  

Last night the School Committee hosted the Public Hearing on the budget. For those who were not able to attend, it will be up on Pegasus’ Video on Demand page sometime soon.   Big Picture Summary of the Superintendent’s Recommendation The Superintendent has put forth an approx $80.5M budget. The Town has suggested a $79M appropriation. The schools are confident the difference can be made up using “cost saving measures, grants and revolving accounts.”   After a few special education add ons that NPS will make to ensure students receive the services they need…  The major place of emphasis in this budget is retaining our teachers and staff in a negotiation year with our unions. (slide 8)   Secondary to that, the Superintendent is suggesting positions to add support into the middle schools and 2 of the elementary schools “What I need” (WIN) time periods . These WIN periods (or blocks) are meant to provide students with the kind of personalized learning, exten...