good. You're recording. So Margaret's in the audience if you want to bring her in. Okay so Margaret is Sean will have to do that because I no longer I don't have control which is quite wonderful. I made you a co-host Kathy too. Okay good morning everyone and happy new year this is the January meeting of the elementary school building committee and I want to go around the room to make sure that everyone can hear and be heard but as I do that I also want to introduce a new elementary school building committee member and that's Alicia Walker who is joining us today. She's newly elected to the town council and she eagerly raised her hand to come on to our committee. So maybe Alicia when when you want me you can say a word or two about yourself to introduce yourself. So I'm just going to go around in the order I see people on the screen and I will you're on my second row. So just to make sure everyone can hear and be heard and I'll also introduce the panelists so everyone can remember who's here. Mike. President. Paul. Paul Bacham in town manager present. Ben. Ben Harrington school committee present. Sean. Sean Mengano town finance director present. Rupert. Rupert Roy Clark school facilities director present. Jonathan. Jonathan Salvon parents of a Fort River couple of Fort River students and local architects that can be here here and be heard. Allison. This is great. Thank you everyone. Hi I'm Alice Nasty assistant principal at Wildwood elementary present. And Alicia. Hi I'm Alicia Walker new incoming town counselor at large. I also have two children who attend Fort River and I am a lifelong Amherst resident. Tamara or though Mike said everyone calls you Tammy so you can tell us how you what you want to be called. Tammy Sullivan daily in from principal at Fort River elementary school present. And then I want to just quickly introduce the panelists particularly because Alicia is new. So maybe the Denisco team could each introduce themselves and just the order I see it is Rick Vivian Tim Donna and then also Margaret Wood that everyone go around and just say who you are. Hi Rick Rice with Denisco. Hi I'm Vivian Lowe with Denisco. Hey Tim Cooper. Donna. Yep nice to meet you. Donna Denisco. Welcome to the team. Donna you're muted. No no we actually matter. Yeah we heard it. Okay okay thank you. I'll introduce myself. Margaret. I'm Margaret Wood. I'm the owner's project manager. So so thank you everyone for getting up early on this new year's we have a fairly full agenda and I'm going to be turning it over to the Denisco team and Margaret Wood. I think the first item when we sent it out is we've been sent a list of evaluation a combination of priorities and criteria that the team is proposing to use oh I see Phoebe has just joined us Phoebe. Welcome. I'm sorry about that. That's okay so this is Phoebe Miriam is on the committee Alicia. So and Alicia is our new committee member. So the the I think the order that I sent the agenda is first we're going to be looking at the evaluation criteria priorities that will be used as we look at all possible options and bring in the information about the education program and second will be the proposed work schedule and and it's it's organized in a way we can also see what's happening over at the school committee where the school committee is going to be doing some meetings and then the third part is work groups both net zero energy and an outreach to talk about doing that I mean in the scheduling we still don't have a date and time that works for everyone we set out three options and the most any option got was six and we're 12 people so we still have to figure out the date and time that we will regularly meet as a school building committee it has been Thursdays at eight so I'm going to leave that to the very end to not take time with trying to find a meeting time so I think with that maybe two rushed introduction I'm going to turn it over to Donna or whoever is leading on the first item is the evaluation criteria and priorities and you've presented us with a draft list that you've been using in other places so maybe we can all take a look at that and I think the idea is we could discuss is something missing why is something on the list um and how you're going to go about doing all of this so Donna would you yeah would you like to put it up on the screen uh let me you you start let me know I have it I can share these sure why not Margaret why don't you go ahead because I think contextually there's um we we want to talk about it but time out time out time out please yeah um Kathy we have two hands up and so okay Alicia and I but one thing I want to we should just who's going to be taking minutes is that Margaret going to be taking minutes just to be confirmed that we have someone taking minutes yes Margaret Margaret's been doing minutes for all of these meetings Paul so she'll continue to be doing that and Alicia is there somewhere where I can have access to the agenda uh yes it is um I can try sending it to you it's on if you go to the school our town website for the elementary school building committee meet page the agenda is posted there okay thank you and and the materials that you're about to see are also posted there um and and we will keep posting there as well so you can go back and see materials we've looked at before Alicia if you want to listen to the conversation I'll I will download the agenda and email it to you I think I have your email okay thank you you're welcome okay share screen sure that'd be great thank you so I just want to say this document this is Dennis goes document so Donna's going to talk about this let me work on getting Alicia the great thank you um so I think before we get into the document itself and there are two components to this and and this document is really intended to help objectively evaluate all of the options and or or concepts I guess we should say whether you know it's something that's real or MSBA is asking us to just just look at something so it really is just an objective way for us to look at all of the options and and but we've developed this in other communities we would ask of course that this gets um developed as as what's important to Amherst we have identified priorities and then below would be the evaluation criteria so the priorities are what's most important to you and then you take the criteria that way against the priorities as you start looking at the individual options um these are what we've put together we believe I'm sure there are other ideas and thoughts and priorities and criteria that you would like to use to weigh the options but what we would like to talk about and maybe this could be a homework piece or or how we how how it makes the most sense some people probably haven't had a whole lot of time to even really look at this was a couple of things one is how best do we want to make sure that the we're hearing what the community feels is important and way of prior priorities and then criteria and then how do we engage them do we ask them to weigh in on do we get their input and then we put the priorities and evaluation criteria together from what we've gleaned from the community forums do we have a working group that might really focus on this because there's a little bit of lifting on this trying to make sure that we understand how we're going to weigh each of the criteria against the priorities so this isn't something like we can do in an hour and have a quick conversation with 15 people sitting around the room I think there needs to be a little more thought um on how we best want to do it so instead of going through each of the items I think maybe holistically would be a better way to start the conversation today if that makes sense so I guess I would I would like to say maybe Kathy or Mike you both seem to pulses and of the community does it make sense that we have a established a working group that can help us reach out to the community understand what the priorities are and what the evaluation criteria will be and then we can talk about how we want to weigh the criteria against the priorities I'm looking for I see Mike's hand is up thank you Mike yeah I think that makes a lot of sense I think it's hard to do in the large group I think I want to thank Phoebe I believe Phoebe brought up this idea multiple times in multiple meetings so I fully endorse that concept because I think you know there's a lot of business of things that we need to do and I think that if we have a smaller leaner group that can facilitate some of that work I think it'd be really critical so I just I like that idea I want to thank Phoebe for raising it and Mike just let me ask on on the concept that would you make it a subgroup um a subcommittee of the building committee would you want to do a crossover with the school committee you know and it's and I'm asking because the more we do an official we will be having to post zoom and figure out who the participants are um so that's it's a question yeah so I'd be curious what Phoebe and others think I think to be quite candid on the school side we are at or beyond capacity at the moment given our efforts to retain high quality in-person learning during a surge that we haven't experienced before while schools have been open so I want to be really cautious particularly about the two school leaders on the call and in normal times I'd be completely hitting up Allison and Tammy for work like this I don't feel like I can do that right now uh given the needs in their building so I do think I tend to be glass half full so I think there's an opportunity maybe for for folks in the community to take on perhaps larger roles uh in this engagement then you know often happen when you have people in kind of formal leadership roles um so so I look at as an opportunity but I you know I just want to be really cautious about what I ask folks to do who are already doing jobs that are gargantuan so um Paul Paul maybe you can weigh in on the notion of you know if it if the working group is broader than a subgroup of our committee um we we need to if it's a subgroup of our committee we'd always post any meeting and and that group could go out more and go to the other meetings that are being set up to get feedback on these criteria if we want to have a working group that has different people in some of us and more people I think we have to go through a posting for membership Paul so maybe you could just go through what are what what the constraints or the guidelines are on this so if this body i.e the elementary school building committee creates a new body that body is subject to the open meeting law so whatever even if it's a subset of people in this space it does has to comply with this open meeting law but we can this group can just create it um in terms of you know whether we can just pull people in I think um I can check on that I would be nice if we didn't have to post it and and have go through the council appointment process and everything um it'd be nice if this body could just say we've invited you know these three other people to participate in that committee let me just double check on the how that really works I can get an answer for you that on that today okay that would be great and and then I guess I just would like to see of the committee members I mean Phoebe has regularly um said that she wants to be part of the outreach group I'm totally willing to serve on a subgroup looking at the criteria and priorities and I'm available to come to the meetings mic that you'll be organizing at the school so you know to the extent we want to get community input and put it up on a screen I'm available to do that so I I'm just looking for if we make it a subcommittee who would want to be on the subcommittee um for this and let me just say on subcommittee and a working group the two others we've talked about one would be called outreach so we could combine this with the outreach um and then and then one is on net zero energy the actual building of the building to achieve net zero goals so I'm I'm looking around you can raise hands you can do anything you want yeah Phoebe so Phoebe I think is saying she would she would want to serve on the subgroup so if if Phoebe and I are both willing to do that and then Paul you can check on whether we can get you know a couple more people um you know and and Mike I know you've said the school committee itself is is spread out but if there's any school committee member who's beyond Ben who wanted to be part of that that would be another way we could think about this you know Paul yeah so I think it'd be helpful if we sort of it doesn't have to happen right now but write down a paragraph about what this group's charge is what we're asking them to do and if it's the group that's going to expand into the outreach group which sort of there's some logic to that like you said Kathy that this might morph and also be taken on the outreach efforts um so I think that just if we sort of can really define if we are going to reach out to the public to say we need people serve on this group whoever is able to appoint we should be able to say what is this group all about okay great and I see Phoebe's got her hand up Phoebe and then I see Rupert say on this well um I was just going to say I think that um I'm very interested Paul in what what you have to say as you sort of look up what we need to do in terms of the logistics of it because I think if we can ask people from the general community I think it helps sort of show that we do want this to be a committee community sort of hand-in-hand project and I think that that's important so if we whatever we need to do to kind of lean that way to really bring the community into these conversations in a in a you know sort of on a ground level I think would be a really positive step forward for us Rupert thank you uh yeah I have a question probably for Margaret and or Denisco I'm wondering if you would recommend trying to separate out components of option evaluation like just the site evaluation as a as a separate component to try to chunk it down to smaller decisions so I want to clarify something um and Donna maybe I'm not I'm stating this because I want to make sure that I and you all are on the same page about this and I'm just going to share this document again um I took it down so we could talk but um so there's there's two components yeah sorry Margaret just could you make it smaller so people could see more of the document that would be great make it smaller yeah all I'm seeing is the priorities it doesn't go beyond that just we're not seeing the bottom next part yeah I was I'm gonna scroll up and down I'm gonna explain there's two pieces so the top of the document is a list of priority possible priorities which are are not in order right so I think what Donna is asking is to that the committee would be focused on and and I will also say not everyone's if as individuals I don't think we would necessarily put these in the the same order right but I think the committee needs to have an order and they need to take input from the community to develop that then the other piece of this which I think is what Rupert is commenting about then there's a long list of evaluation criteria the evaluation is in some pieces of it are factual some pieces of it are more qualitative and so this evaluation and the list of what's on here I think the Dinesco team is also looking for input on whether there's anything missing but the evaluation criteria are more criteria and not priorities does that make sense there's really two pieces to this so so yeah thank you Margaret and to answer your question Rupert the criteria are just criteria that we've put together that have been important to other communities so there could be more or less and then the other component to it really is how we're even going to weigh the criteria against the priorities so some of it like Margaret said if you even just look at the site the site's going to be what it is going to be right the question is what are the priorities of the site you know for example outdoor learning maybe that maybe that takes the top priority or something or that has that that has you weigh that the most or something as opposed to it improves off site traffic right so that that's a qualitative you don't even have to think about that one that one's just a given so there are going to be some things that are just going to be it is what it is and and then the other ones are going to be what's what's important to the community but I think once we establish the priorities and make sure we have those right and then you're going to base each criteria against that set of priorities for example site right the site is going to influence traffic it's going to influence some of it will be the educational program and then even to a certain extent the equity once we define what the equity is and then we even have on here future use of a building or site not selected so that that we can have that conversation separately but once once we define the priorities and the criteria and we present the options to the working group and then ultimately the working group to the committee it should really all just fall into place if that helps I'm just I'm I'm just I don't see other hands up right now but I just want to react to what I think group was also asking that you know in in terms of getting input on these some of the input is we are course going to look at the cost of construction and the site and traffic that's not a is that on the list or it's not on the the list and those will be major points of comparison as we look through the options others some of the others I think what you're asking is are we missing anything that should be a priority how high a priority is is it so that if if outdoor learning space is a very high priority or the design of the building has a lot of flexibility internally so spaces can be used for small groups and large groups then that will also it will have an impact on the construction costs so I'm you know some of these things are interactive because the content of the building would make it bigger or smaller or organized in different ways so we may have to do in a working group just make sure there's nothing missing from the list and then people do the very very important and you know for one you know our group may not feel that the future use of the building that we're not selecting is is of an order of magnitude in in trying to figure out what we're doing with the school as the others so I think they're just they're different things on this list in terms of the information you'll be gathering and will you on all of these be getting populating it with if you want this this is the implication in terms of space or design yeah it's um thanks Kathy I think what you'll find sometimes is that your priorities might be mutually exclusive so so then so then what we're going to have to do and that's why the criteria is going to hopefully inform in a very objective way what what option really ends up being the best option without without emotion without bias or anything it's it's going it's just one is going to hopefully rise to the top so I think going through this I our goal for this working group and and thank you all for participating because it really is important is to make sure that the priorities are right and then that the evaluation criteria is what is also important to the community and and then again the rest will shake out so we would imagine the first working group as soon as we can set it up would be great is for you to kind of comb through this and make sure that it matches amorous goals and objectives and then we can then start having the conversation about how do we weigh the the criteria against the priorities so I see this as a multiple step I there's no way we're going to get through all of this in one working session like this this is probably going to take some time but once we have this established we can then the working group and then through ultimately the full building committee seeing the work of the working group we'll see how it all kind of shakes out as the options are developed okay if that makes sense john so quick question so who will be leading the is there going to be a public engagement process for developing these or is the working group just doing that themselves and if there and if there is a public engagement process is that the working group that's going to be holding some sort of forum or doing the however they reach out to the public or will be the full committee that does that but I'll look I look to the committee to react because I think we could do it either way Sean I mean if I think it would to me it would be important that everyone in our larger group take a look at the list and I'll resend it to people to to weigh in on it and then if it's the smaller group then goes and presents it at a community forum and goes and presents and gathers information and brings it back so not the full committee doesn't have to meet each time we do that it's a more efficient use probably of people's time so the the working group is then gathering information to come back and guide decisions rather than I think there are 12 of us that maybe there'll be 13 once we there's still a couple of vacancies on the committee so should this should committee members get their input to the working group and then the working group will digest that put together a list and then they'll present that list and get feedback I just want to make sure there's a little confuse about what the flow of steps are well I'm I'm volunteering to be on it um and so what we can we can do starting right now is just say that you most almost everyone has had it since the middle of December but I'll resend it and get any feedback on it to me um and then Phoebe has raised her hand as being interested in it so you could get it to the two of us and just basically marked up something's missing um comments and if we want to just do it to one person and we'll gather that um to try to figure out how to do the next step once Paul tells us can we expand beyond our committee um and how quickly can we do that to get some input to then create a way of going out and getting input beyond the the group that's on today's this morning's meeting does does that work for people as a way of proceeding so I'm looking for when we see the timeline we we do not have lots of time so we have to also do everything we're doing in a very open and outreach way gathering information but not be slowed down by trying to figure out how to set up a committee um and we need to be able to do that quickly um yeah so Kathy yeah just to add to that thank you and and talking about the timing which is where I was about to go um we and we'll share the schedule um and kind of review the schedule with everyone in a minute but um we would love to have this in place when we start evaluating the options uh for the preferred um the PDP the preliminary design program which will be submitted to MSBA so we can use this as one of the components of our submission to MSBA which would also support why some options work better than others um this and and we can get into um having to look at just the case 6 325 solution but this will so we would like this in place probably where our goal is to submit to MSBA March 15th so so we're looking to hopefully have this done maybe by um our second visioning or our second community outreach would be great to have all input show it to everyone at at the second community um forum and then you know we can make sure that we we understood and heard everyone and then we can evaluate it the heavy lifting right now is going to be making sure the priorities and the criteria are correct so don't don't it just this is a little interactive with um the dates that have been proposed where the we we had a conversation with the Dinesco team and with Margaret um before uh the holidays just well right at the Cuspill holidays and we tentatively said uh doing a community-wide forum on February 3rd which is a Thursday in the evening early evening the 6 30 is 7 we haven't posted it so we could feature this criteria um and we were going to post it as uh build school building committee meeting um and is that a point Donna that you would want the working group to have met gathered some information feature this so that's the first one that I know that's on the schedule February 3rd date yeah you're muted Donna you're muted yeah sorry um we can uh I would love to roll it out at the February 3rd right we can have done a lot of our homework okay clean this up let's present it we would have had a couple of visioning meetings so um that those those might help inform some of the conversation as well and then roll it out on the third try to get some feedback I think we were looking at um I have one single screen this morning so I'm a little bit at a disadvantage here we were looking at another community forum around the week of the 22nd or something like that so um then we can roll it out roll it out get their input on on February 3rd get additional feedback um at the next forum and then that will almost tee us up for where we want to submit to m to msba okay Margaret does that make sense or even yeah dinesco team no I think that's I think that's exactly right and Sean did that answer your question my response as a way of getting reaction from our committee um yeah yeah I think so so I mean the main thing I wanted to make sure is how do we get input into the priorities and then what's going to happen and then I assume it will come back to us at some point to um say yes this is what we want to use so so we we we are scheduled to meet every two weeks we don't have the day of the week that we're talking about yet um but two weeks from now we would be meeting together as a full committee so if Phoebe and I if we can work in between and if there's someone else we could just save the someone else wants to join we can collect what we get from the group and then there are some school meetings that are being set up and we can make sure this gets in front of that group as well so when we if there's anything that's happening between now and when we meet together we can bring that back to the full committee Sean you know in terms of input and that will bring us just before the February 3rd um evening meeting and and do you want input on like what stakeholder groups we think you should reach out to um and I mean there's a lot of obvious ones that we know about but there's probably some um other groups that we may want to say you should at least get input from from this group as well would that be helpful for people to send um the stakeholder groups they think should be um this should be presented to I think yes yeah I think and I'm looking for Phoebe's face I can't see everyone's face on my screen right now so Phoebe yes I think that would be helpful okay the one caveat um I would like anything that goes to Kathy about this that you could see see me yeah many members would be super helpful and obviously also to Phoebe at the same time so yeah no no be great particularly so no nothing gets lost in this process so I have I have a question um in terms of uh operating costs um and and my question about operating costs Donna and Dinesco team is what people aren't seeing right now is we have because um we we we we proposed and MSBA accepted two study populations one is K through five in a consolidated school and one is K through six the operating costs I'm assuming it's of the school that we're renovating building new or um ad reno but if we as a town were to operate three schools so the the small school option the 320 there's an operating cost impact on the town because we're operating three schools um would would that or could that be um help develop so that people could see that um or should that be off the table so I'm just on under operating costs I completely understand if we're talking about this building um you know and what we're doing with construction and ease of operating and costs but operating three versus operating two has an operating cost impact I'm seeing Mike's hand is up yeah yeah and I think it has an operate it has uh operating cost impact on the staffing side as well yeah and that's what I meant I'm okay I just I didn't know if you're talking about more of the utility yeah no I meant the big picture operating costs that that everything that's in the operating budget that we're operating more teachers more staff more overhead and we're continuing to operate another school we're not taking it offline so in utility costs those kinds of operating costs yeah very good thank you I just wanted to clarify yeah and yeah Kathy again this is um this is what the working group we would like to we we can you know we we've sort of attempted to put what the priorities are and and Margaret is so agile here putting everything as as we talk um but this is what we want to vet out with the working group um and and it would be great to have an initial conversation with the working group to make sure everyone understands I mean we sort of know what we put down here on paper it might not be clear so it would be great to vet this all out with the working group make sure that the description of the priority is clear and then and then we can move forward and and we could be missing something yeah so Paul thank you um so just be clear what we're saying is that we're taking this list of priorities we want a subgroup of our group I mean just in terms of our time efficiency here today and for the future we want a subgroup which right now is is just Phoebe and Kathy and anybody else can jump in as well and you're going to meet say next week with Margaret and sort of clean this up or high prioritize it make some decisions bring that back to us in two weeks to this group and say here's what we did do you like do you approve it or not is that the sort of game plan for this I think so Paul and then I just have to look at the schedule that and Mike will know better there are some meetings that are being set up as the schools are doing um education program if there's an opportunity to take this list out to a broader group than just us we would bring that back in two weeks also you know just on uh if there's something that's missing from the list um something uh so we would see whether we can I mean we're talking about two weeks from now so it's clearly we're not that it we're not going to be doing a lot of that Donna thank you um yes Paul I think that would be the initial goal so that we can then roll it out to the community yeah so that it's clear in your mind and then we'll add to it or subtract from it um based upon the input okay so our subgroup goes massages massages this brings it back in two weeks we as a committee say looks good or changes a few things and then as a committee we say public here's what we've come up with what are we missing and then so we've got sort of a process going forward and that by the end of January perhaps we've got this list pretty congealed right perfect yes all right yep our first community forum I think is February 3rd so that's perfect yep okay so so while we while we have the full group and then we can look at the schedule next but I have that my question first question was on operating costs my second on the people who know how the programs run the dual language program that's currently running in Fort Fort River um I does it have space implications beyond so you've got educational program fit but should it be broken out later on Mike in terms of how well does it run if you run it across again I'm looking at across the study populations a school with just 320 in it versus a 575 so should something like that be specifically put on that we we know we're going to want operating in the new or ad reno school yeah I think that makes sense I agree with what you said okay so so those are those are questions I had when I was looking at it and and if people can send anything else um my initial reaction on the line which is on line 26 right now on the future use of the building not selected I thought that is not as higher priority for the school for our school building committee it may be a high priority for the town but I'd like people's reactions to that you know on a a site evaluation if the empty school can the the choice of which school will be empty and if that's the 575 it's it's something to consider but I don't think of it as a top level consideration so if people can get me get us their thoughts on that that would be useful is there anything else Donna and team I know you've started looking at the sites um you know you've been physically out so when that information that you're gathering on um water tables depths other kinds of things that you've started doing when will will that information be available and I'm assuming that goes into this evaluation grid yeah Tim Tim you want to just give an update on what we've accomplished already sure thanks so yeah we've been out there digging test pits walking through the buildings with our mechanical electrical structural engineers a full report of the existing conditions buildings will be produced in the coming weeks and will be part of the PDP submission and that background information that we have on the buildings and the sites we will then use to weigh against all of the options and the criteria that we're setting forth and it just gives us the background information that we're going to need to say that Wildwood for River is better in this way when it comes to this certain aspect of the site or whatever I mean at this point we're not making any decisions or judgments we're just gathering information so that when we do have our priorities defined we can use them to evaluate um potential challenges or benefits of each of the options but in terms of schedule we'll have reports developed and written this month and then it will all be wrapped up and submitted with the PDP okay so um I'm looking are there any other questions on how we're going to work with the criteria um right now and if they're not maybe we could look at the the schedule and and in the context of the schedule we talked about setting up another working group that would be a subcommittee of our committee that would focus on the net zero side of the building um so I I just and I think Dinesco in your schedule you wanted to have some meetings potential meetings on that in January so maybe we could have the schedule up and also talk about a potential subcommittee of our committee that would be meeting with Dinesco to talk about what we see in net zero what they're planning on looking at um and initial discussions you done it right you were trying to right no no that's okay I just I just I guess I just want to make sure um that um everyone knows that we're not handing you a homework assignment and asking everyone to go do it Dinesco and I'm and I'm assuming Margaret would are going to be involved in all of these working groups and that's really important that we will facilitate them we're not expecting you all to just go off and come back with with your homework so Dinesco will will be there every step of the way guiding you through this but but going yeah but going back to the net zero yes we would love to get that conversation going sooner rather than later I think we threw out some dates for the week of the 17th I think Tim is that those were the dates I think it was next week next week yeah so so our goal you know recognizing the importance of net zero and how we're going to achieve net zero depending on the options that's going to greatly inform the size the cost the location it's going to really greatly inform the solution so we we don't want this to be how does how does net zero fit in we want to make sure we understand what is important to the town and how we're going to achieve net zero so that we make sure we incorporate those into each of the options and how how well each option meets those goals so really this we we want this not it's almost as important as your educational program like we just want to make sure we get this right and you had when we talked before Christmas you had talked about trying to have a meeting next week but you were going to check with your team side on what times were available and I had an initial discussion well Jonathan you can speak for yourself I have a potential subcommittee of our our team and I thought maybe Jonathan Rupert and Ben because two of them know the facility and that Jonathan is an architect and a builder would be a starting point so we we wouldn't have to immediately create a larger group we could create a larger group later but that group could be interacting so I didn't know whether you were going to think of next week and also what people think of a subcommittee of those of the two people who know the facilities and Jonathan and I would join that group too because I'm I'm interested in it you know and I want to keep following it so Kathy you may not see I sent in forwarded an email from Tim late yesterday they Tim was able to confirm that the original times that they had set up with their consultants which were Thursday the 13th from two to three thirty and Friday the 14th from 11 to one are times that the consultant team is available this meeting would be on zoom and so that's I think the time we would look we would pin down one of those meetings today based on the availability of the building committee members who are interested so say the can you say those states again sure it's Thursday the 13th which is you know week from tomorrow from two to three thirty and Friday the 14th from 11 to one are the times that the dinasco team will offer okay so then then I have two questions of the larger group one the idea of a subgroup and I named three names just because I thought they were a logical fit and and I did have a chance to talk to Jonathan before to see if he's willing to do this because he because I know oh everyone has a full-time job I'm retired but and then those do those either of those two dates work and would anyone else want to be we can we can post this as a subcommittee meeting and it will be open it will be on zoom and the public can be part of it in terms of comments we will capture all of the information and all of the discussion so it won't be happening often in other realm so any reactions to the idea of a subgroup meeting with the dinasco team and Margaret also has a net zero person that's been working with us um meeting next week at one of those two times so maybe Jonathan if you could tell me first do the times work do the idea does this idea work as a way of working on this issue well it certainly works from my perspective uh I hope it would work for dinasco as well and Margaret I can do both those times I don't know about Ben or Rupert I mean if either Ben or Rupert are talking you're muted so I can't hear and I see Paul's hand up yeah all on mute yes I was thinking that it would be good for me to learn more about what's being proposed for the new building for net zero so I'm interested and I could make either meeting a slight preference for 11 to 1 because it's slightly less chaotic for our department for the Friday time I see Ben is unmuted but Paul also has his hand up so I'm just I'm I'm trying to look at all the screens at the same time yeah so I was just gonna say I think this is a great approach I think if the those three people I think we should settle on a date and time today and so the public can know that this is going forward and and get moving so it's great I appreciate this plan Kathy so January 14th sounds like a date that works for both Rupert and Jonathan it works for me um and then and it works for Ben okay so we will post it as a subcommittee again focused on net zero um with the public generally invited um in terms of participation we'll take public comments the agenda will clearly say public comments and and then I then the the Paul's got his hand up to I think we actually should take as a committee we should take a motion to create this committee um so I'll move that we create a committee um on net zero um that wouldn't that appointed by the the chair of the committee and my understanding is that it would be uh Rupert and Jonathan and Ben and in the chair okay I second the motion and since it's as a motion we need to take a vote so uh no that's okay I mean it's uh Zoom mate has always made this a little bit harder but we need to do it um I need to do it as a roll call vote so I'll just call out names um as I see it on a vote of creating the subcommittee Paul yes Kathy's a yes Mike yes uh Ben yes Sean yes Rupert Roy clerk I Jonathan yes Alicia yes Tammy yeah Phoebe yes Allison yes and Jonathan well sorry I'm I exist in two places but I only get one oh you only get one all right you do you're the second Jonathan so it's unanimous plus one so we we have created a subcommittee I will get it I'll work with Angela to get this posted with an agenda that will be broadly to initial discussion on net zero um what the town expects what's in our boy law and and with your technical people talking about your approach so um it will be posted and there is a lot of there is a lot of interest in the town on this so I'm glad we're starting this sooner rather than later yeah I expect we're going to have public in the in the meeting and so the date the date just the date is January 14th from 11 to 1 so we're confirming that date um because that's the date that works better for Rupert do we want to it so that's a two hour two hour meeting and agreed that it could be a long meeting do we want to set it up for that whole period of time well if we if we if we set it up Margaret as a two-hour slot we use this our zoom capacity to do it because the town orchestrates them and we can always end it early yeah okay that's good it's it's harder to add the half an hour because of the way we use our zoom accounts I would envision um nothing can be accomplished in one hour especially the initial meeting so I would wholeheartedly um expect that that will utilize at least the first round for the two hours but Margaret I just want to go put this on the calendar and I think we have a tentative hold for MSBA from um that morning so I just want to make sure that's the 14th and I was showing that we have a tentative hold from 10 to 1 with MSBA I just want to make sure that we don't have a conflict there well that would be a conflict for me but it wouldn't be a conflict oh it would be a conflict for you all too then yeah well we we can team we can team we can divide and conquer um I I can just go sit with our friends at MSBA that that's not a problem um why don't we just leave it alone and let's see what how how MSBA plays out okay there two other hands Mike's hand and then Rupert yeah so I just want to know that it's nine o'clock I know Tammy Allison and I are probably going to have to scoot in a little bit and I didn't know if there were any specific items that you wanted to make sure that um sort of the educational side of our committee is here to talk about um I think the answer is definitely yes to that so let me just get Rupert's hand if we can move to the next topic Rupert I'm able to make the Thursday meeting if that gets us a better chance to deal with the uh with all the stuff that's on everybody's place that's fine with me so Donna does that work we'll just ship the net zero meeting to the 13th you're muted Donna yeah I was checking the calendar um what what time did we say that time was two to three thirty on the 13th Tim that works for you are you TC on the calendar Tim you're muted yep I have a booster appointment that at that time but uh we can make that work yeah that was one of the times that Tim had offered I think that that's a good idea if we could do that because we don't have a lot of control of where the MSBA meeting is going to land and I think we want to come out of this meeting with both of these with that meeting that okay so that's that's the date we'll post so if people don't mind let's can we shift quickly to the development that's underway on the educational program um Mike Mike um so that we don't lose you and you'll have to unmute I didn't okay I wasn't going to speak until you know till there was something to say but um I didn't know if Donna or Margaret wanted to talk a little bit about kind of more schedule and timeline things for that I can certainly jump in but I think they have all the information yeah sure I'm happy to just jump in thanks Mike um we have organized an initial kickoff meeting with the leadership team for this Friday and it will be Mike and the assistant superintendent three principals bed director IT director curriculum coordinator family outreach Ben Harrington and Denisco of course Margaret and David Steven will all I'll be in attendance and our goal there is just to make sure that we understand the work that's been completed to date since David was involved till present and then just make sure that we have everything teed up for the visioning meetings that we have organized for January 13th and at the 26th Margaret do you have those times do you want to bring that schedule up that we said we were going to do one in the morning one in the evening yeah sure um let me um so this is the document that I sent out last night and it's not necessarily easy to view so everybody see that um I just want to sort of back up and say this is this schedule is actually if you look at the whole thing it takes us through the end of feasibility um but I'm gonna we're gonna focus right now um if you can see the gray bars this is February vacation April vacation and summer vacation what you're gonna see is that the content right now is really in the sort of between now and summer vacation so let me blow this back up trying not to screw it up completely direction here there we go so um you know this is on its way to creating what you all have you know clearly been talking about us needing which is on the website for people to have a kind of overview of the process um and there's a lot of caveats on here but in a nutshell um what's up at the top are what I would call milestones um that are really dictated to us by the process and in that case it's the submissions to the MSBA cost estimates that are related to those submissions and MSBA board votes then there's a chunk here that's about meetings but what I want what I want to focus on right now is this piece which is what we've been talking about this morning so as Donna was saying um we we've identified two dates for public and visioning meetings Mike has suggested that one be in the morning and one be in the evening so there's one on January 13th one on January 26th um it would be actually great um to get uh from this committee if it makes sense to do the morning one first in the evening one because we do these are two things we should set the dates and the times for today and then um we've also identified dates for community forums so but let's stick with the public and vision because that's the piece we wanted to talk about while Mike was still Mike and the principles were still available so Donna did you want to say anything else about this did we lose Donna yep yep no no yep yep um no I I think this is great so um this is where we are we look forward to really um delving diving into this this is a really important component of the project and we want to make sure that um it's fully vetted and and uh we're right on track to submit to MSBA so um Mike has his hand up I think sorry Mike thank you yeah so I just you know if the community decides this we just need to get this information out soon um so I think I'm glad you Kathy thanks for pushing this to the agenda at this time but I think you know we do have a Friday newsletter that's updated uh that that's widely read it goes to all staff and all families um sorry I'm gonna meet myself because of that so so Mike I think that this has been discussed back and forth now so these dates are good for the community forums and your school meeting and the the third the February third evening slot seemed to work on everybody's calendars and I just need from Dinesca we can post it um I need a sentence or two describing what that is um and we had tentatively said seven at night it could be six thirty at night if someone tells me that's a better start time but we we'd host it as a building committee meeting um but it's a community forum um and and we're going to be inviting the council to it so any number of counselors who want to come school committee so it would be a broad outreach to the community on the that February third date and then the others are your public ed visioning pieces so I think working with Margaret you should get the information you need to go out in the flyer so Mike's hand is up and Rupert's hand is up yeah I was just gonna offer a few if you like our assistance in developing a flyer we're happy to do that yeah I think the thing that so if we think of multiple meetings right to public ed visioning to community forums as well as a number of building community meetings which are open to the public I do think communicating in relatively short order not just that those meetings are happening both the goals of the meeting and what the public participation will be like because we want to be really clear I think with members of the community who want to get involved that um what you know some people might be interested in going to all they're really invested in have capacity and have the kind of privilege of time other folks may really want to be involved and and you know but only on one level and then I think something that I know I heard uh what last time I spoke to Donna was also for people who aren't involved making sure they're videotaped and emailed out to the community members who want to participate but the time and uh you know they have different ways of participating so you know I think there may be other ways people want to participate but I think just the timeliness of getting communication out on here's the meeting times here here's how you access them and here's the goals of the meeting would be really really important in in the near future okay so you'll work with Donna's team to to do to draft that and then we will I mean not just draft it create it and we can post it on our project website on our website you can post it on your school committee and I'm I'm seeing two hands up too I think that's a good way of going Rupert and then Alicia just a question do we need to make sure we have a quorum for these public ed and community forums we the public ed we don't have to be there correct this is school committee is conducting these is that correct Mike I don't think it necessarily has to be a school committee it's that you know working with the architects and David Stephen who's the critical piece he's the educational planner on the tinnisco team would be mostly facilitating them I can be corrected but on the community forums I agree with you they should be posted but I think if we're truly doing a forum and hearing from the community and not participating and sharing our thoughts if there's not a quorum the meeting could still happen right because it's not it's not there's no deliberation by committee members and and my personal recommendation is that's the way to go is that it's not an opportunity for us to wax on what we think should happen it's quite the opposite it's it's an opportunity to listen and if we really held to that I think it's a good idea if we can if people can show up to hear it directly instead of hear a summary that someone will give but that's my two cents but someone can tell me I'm wrong and I'm happy to be wrong and corrected so okay so I think Rupert was also asking on the public ed visioning that those aren't the school committee is members are not expected to come to those but we can is is that correct yes okay alisha I just quickly want to go back to outreach to families and I think like a newsletter is great but I also want to make sure we're thinking about things like translation and communicating with families who aren't just English Spanish speakers um because the newsletter does go out I don't know if it goes out in other languages besides English Spanish but making sure that we're communicating in other ways and we're getting to the families who don't regularly read the newsletter as well alisha alisha can I ask would you be willing do you have thoughts on ways of doing that and if so I mean you could be speaking directly with Mike and or Margaret on on doing it you know we don't have to do it right now but but I think PB is also interested broadening the how do you know something is happening um very much so so yeah I would be um definitely willing to offer suggestions and to work collaboratively with them but I don't know if I have capacity to be on the outreach committee although I do have a lot of ideas in regards to outreach so I'd be happy to find some other times where I could send in some suggestions and I think that some of it if we really want people to be in the know um is going to be going to the people with the information um and not just sending it out electronically which I think is going to be challenging because of COVID and because of the times but not every family communicates the best through electronics and so we have to be a little bit innovative there okay thank you uh Jonathan there we go can you hear me or did I just mute myself we can hear you good I just want to kind of um agree with Mike on you know when when we're at these things as I would encourage uh you know those of us on the committee to sit back and listen um and and not and not feel that we have to uh you know participate uh in any deep way I mean I I've always found them when I when I've sat back and participated and listened at these events I've always found them really helpful in understanding what what folks think of as important um but I do want to just kind of ask uh Paul I I do feel like if if it's something that we're not we as a group are not scheduling if a lot of us show up there um you know are we could we accidentally even though we're we're going to sit back and listen could we accidentally be triggering a public meeting issue yeah so I can that's a quick answer so we typically would post it as a public forum post it as a meeting of the school building committee if we get a quorum we're covered if we don't it's not an issue okay so uh I'll work with Angela to make sure we post it the right way Paul um Mike thank you yeah so I think to Alicia's point um I am starting to feel like the 13th may be too soon um and perhaps we should look at the week after just because and you know if we get a newsletter out on Friday that's the seventh you know our rule of thumb for big events is try to let people know at least a week in advance I know I was part of the folks that came up with the 13th but just I'm starting to feel anxious about that uh in terms of outreach um and then to answer Alicia's question we do our newsletter does go out in three languages um it's English Spanish and Portuguese I'm not suggesting that takes away the larger point that I heard about uh newsletters not getting to um the full community but I think it's a valid one um to have I think in the warmer weather we have done things where we've gone into the community into um high density housing you know Tammy's done that a bunch of Fort River of late uh this fall but even when we were talking about back to school Ben I think you were at least at a couple of those um events from a school committee perspective it's hard in winter right um it it's hard in COVID but it's also hard in winter and so I'm uh any suggestions would be and I'm not putting Alicia or anyone else on the spot but I think uh if it was 70 degrees and sunny it's really you know we can do lots of neat things uh in person I think when it's sleeting and and I've been texting throughout because of icy roads and things like that it makes it it brings about some challenges of doing some in person types of things and so uh you know any suggestions people have would would be great and I think you know much to Alicia's point I think the capacity question and I mentioned this to Margaret and Donna yesterday the capacity question is very real for us in the schools at the moment and I think you know I want to be really uh I don't want to shy away from doing what needs to get done but I also want to be very realistic about our primary and exclusive focus right now is keeping in person learning high quality in person learning happening for kids uh that's different than two months ago yes we were doing that but we were focusing on that plus other things and uh at the current time that is uh dominating our attention as it just Omicron has forced us to do so I want to be really candid about the balancing act of not just myself but Allison, Tammy and other school staff and I think I mentioned to Margaret and Donna recently that uh we may not get the same level of turnout as we might get in typical times uh no matter what our outreach is because many many people are suffering from COVID or they're taking care of family members who are suffering from COVID uh people are also struggling to manage themselves even if they're not directly affected by COVID just because it's it's a hard time to be here right and so so I you know I I guess my caution is I don't want to have a new building or an ad renovate I say new I don't mean literally new or ad renovated an improved building pushed back a year because of the moment we're trying to engage people so I want to write set our expectations that if people don't come it may not mean and I don't think it does mean that they're not engaged they don't want to be involved it really may be that this is a tough moment for people to stay engaged in projects even though they're really really important because you know if you think of Maslow's hierarchy of need we're in a different place than we typically are we're a different place and we worked two months ago and so I just want to kind of write set our expectations for what we can reasonably ask folks to do at the current time um you know and not have a I think sometimes when we don't get as many people to a meeting there's a there's a sense of disappointment that's reasonable but but I really want to stay away from any like why didn't more people come and any blame kind of language um just because I think it's sorry for this long-winded monologue but I just think about the stuff a lot uh in everything that we do not just the school building project is how do we get the work that needs to get done done how do we have open outreach but how do we also understand that this is a difficult time for folks so sorry I'll I'll mute myself literally and figuratively so Mike um you know there's no nothing special just so you know about you know these dates I think you know you you had offered them as times that looked good for you and your staff um but you know we could totally bump the one that was for the week well we had said the 13th to the next week yeah sorry yeah we so sorry I had my hand up I'm sorry so so the reason why um so it's twofold so Mike I 100 percent we're all going through this and and we truly understand um everyone's priorities right now and and what what and capacity right it's more of a capacity issue the the reason why we set up the ed visioning meetings first I just want to make sure that everyone knows the visioning meetings are going to be held virtually those are not public it was the community forums our goal was to have public uh in person so and if we need to shift those to virtual that's fine too um but the visioning meetings uh David Stephen really feels that he's able to get a lot more out of when when we're virtual so so hopefully that takes a little bit of the ed job um but the whole goal and the reason why we ended up with these dates really was so that we could submit the PDP as soon as possible in March um we have to go before school committee for with the draft we get their input um that they were kind enough to give us a um special meeting I believe on 222 and then we're going to come back on the 8th so so when you back it all up we're really up against it so shifting these dates right now probably could be a little problematic um we have one third one that has yet to be put on the schedule but I think we were looking at two February um around February 7th to wrap up the visioning to share what we've learned and incorporate it so so there there's one more visioning meeting just kind of a culmination of so we get um everyone's capacities right now I anyone that has any time just to pop in for a few minutes would be great I I just I don't think anyone would um try to shame anyone I and I understand what you're saying I just in order us for us to stay on schedule I don't think we have much capacity here to be shifting these that said I think you've done an amazing job without reach to date you understand your community I don't we're not starting from ground zero so I don't think there'll be any um really radical changes to the work that's been done to date so I feel really good about that and then it we can continue to involve folks um once once we get to a final solution and what the building may look and feel like so I this this is not that component so there'll be um hopefully opportunities when all of this calms down to to engage other people Mike is your hand back up and I think Jonathan just got left up yeah yeah just briefly that makes sense to me and I like that we're having two sessions so I feel a little better thinking it through that we do have the you know morning and evening one that's two weeks later so I would just ask that if if you are able to put together a flyer with the language about different sessions um if it's an if you if you wouldn't mind sending it to me an editable format because what we'll do is we'll translate that into multiple languages um we're able to do that very well and if that could be done by Friday at noon start to do this like business kind of stuff on the call but we're not going to see each other no it's fine um then we can get that out and really featured in our newsletter so not that that's perfect but at least we can get out there and put on social media and other things as well and multi in multiple languages Alicia um I want to say this respectfully but also honestly in that I don't think that we have been doing a sufficient job without reach just because in my capacity as a parent I have not been reached out to in regards to any of this I also don't always read the full newsletters all the way through because we get so many communications from the school on a daily basis that are quite lengthy and I never know some of them are repetitive we get the same messages about COVID every single day and I don't know where to look for the information and where to find it and sometimes important information is sandwiched in the middle of the newsletter emails and I know a lot of parents don't even read them at all or have the ability to be communicating regularly electronically and so that sorry is also an issue when we're only holding things virtually or in which people can only submit feedback if they're physically available to be somewhere whether that be in person or online and so even if we don't move the dates which I understand um is sort of limiting because we have a timeline I think there needs to be other means to participate whether that be in writing in a survey and and things that are not primarily or only electronic is what I am trying to say so I think if we can figure out other ways that families can submit to us their feedback and not change the dates I think that that will be sufficient but I think that there needs to be other means Allison I want to thank Alicia for being clear about her perspective because I think that this is a really difficult time to create conversations that have to happen and I'm wondering if it's something that sometimes we're looking for volume of of a feedback like how many people how many families can we reach but I'm wondering if we can think of it more as like a focus group if like I was able to say to myself okay any any communication that goes out from Mike or from this team that I commit to having discussions with three families who are I know will have children who are affected by this school and I know that they are representing parts parts of the population that might not have a voice and I commit myself to having conversations with those three families anytime a big conversation comes out and I can't say I could talk to 20 or 30 because I just can't do that but at least we would have some feedback from people and I would be able to say I can have that conversation I can promise you I could do a conversation of a handful of people so that we have some information going out to people in a real way that feels connected and I know that they would be impacted by our decisions it's just a thought so I think Alicia's hand is is up again yeah thank you Allison I think that was helpful um and I agree in terms of like not thinking about success in terms of the volume of of feedback that we get but I also want to make sure that we're not just receiving receiving feedback from the same people every time which is what usually happens and so reaching out and getting the perspectives that we don't usually get and in order to do that we're going to need to do something different and so even I think it could be helpful someone earlier mentioned identifying stakeholders so like identifying different groups of people that we say we want to hear back from at least one person that belongs to this group of people or to this population so that we can make sure we're getting a bunch of different ideas and perspectives and that we're not just relying on the same feedback from the same people thank you um so I'm I'm assuming that where we take this from here is that Dinesca will be working on writing up what each of these events are in terms of a goal and a timing and one thought I had Mike I don't know whether you can do a flyer as opposed to you know if not just embedded in a newsletter but there may be ways of taking flyers physically out as pieces of paper um and if it isn't for the 13th if it's you know as we think of we're going forward there may be a way of getting information directly to where people are living and I don't want to even have a long discussion I don't know what is possible so it's it's a thought of a different way of getting you all come here's the meet here's this meeting if that meeting doesn't appeal to you here's another meeting um and here's where to find the information if you can't come to any of them um Mike so I'm sorry my internet cut out so I missed the second half of what Ms. Walker said so I apologize but I think I got most of it um and I think Alicia's right that we do send a lot of emails as a school system um and um I wonder if the email could come from the building committee if it would stand out a bit more even if it is electronic communication you know we can send it if we have an email to send out we can make an school building committee you know we we can figure out how to do that on our end because we have access to the parent listserv but I think it would distinguish from the many other emails that families get and it might be a way to um it's not it's not a perfect solution doesn't not trying to say it addresses everything that that I and I didn't hear everything but the the parts that I heard of what Alicia said but it might distinguish it as opposed to yet another email from me or W. S. Moreland um and hopefully people would you know could could track it a little bit better than they track uh emails you know just this this time with COVID it's just they're getting there's a lot of emails right and I'm trying to keep them as short as I can and I'm failing miserably right and a lots of things in bold but it's better than the alternative of not communicating about COVID but you know this is not COVID but I think people get another email with my email address or wasmorelanddatarps.org and and it is overwhelming right and and I it's a it's a constant struggle but it might distinguish it in a way that more people may pay attention to it and be able to track it a little bit better over time. So I'm I'm conscious of the time um so I want to make sure if there are any other comments that I take them but I I do want to open it up for public comments as well and just one note on this date we don't yet have a date for the next building committee meeting but I think Mike is going to work with Allison and Tammy to see whether some of the dates tentatively it will be it will be Thursdays at eight our normal time when you see building committee going across there until we find another date and time um and whether it's if we started earlier so Mike I'll just work with you to see if we can get a date that works for more people um so is there anything else on this we will Paul yeah yeah so I think I think Mike's idea is really that's that's one way one step we can take to I think if it came from and we listed all the committee members on the notice I mean it should come from your email address maybe Kathy but if we so people might start to we need them folks to have as many sort of ways to connect as possible if they recognize a name on the committee they say oh I know someone so I think that's a really good way to start this and we can I'll talk with our community participation officers to talk about how else we can get the word out this is I think we have to make a super effort on it but recognizing everything everybody said is those are all true things so thank you Paul I didn't mean to I wrote down we'll do this but I'm glad you said we'll figure out how to do it as well uh Vivian and then Jonathan yeah just a couple of comments or and questions um are there a lot of parents who drop off in person at the schools does it make sense to do a poster or something a board that's on an easel that you know has just general information about the building project and here's what's coming up and you could translate it it's just one more way to reach out to folks if if people show up in person um it's something we do as we continue into design because we'll share images of the progress um and design to get people excited so it might be something to consider and we're happy to again print large format boards for you if that would help so that's one uh item the second is Margaret I think we should add um below the net zero meeting the priorities and criteria meeting because I don't want to lose sight of that because we need to get that on the calendar and um you know again as Donna said Dinesco will participate in all these meetings and kind of help kind of guide the discussion so that um we'll give you our background information to help kind of make decisions on your end thank you um definitely good ideas okay Jonathan and then Tammy and Allison my my comment is only unfortunate that at this point I have to to leave I didn't want to drop off without saying that I was leaving thank you no Phoebe texted me she I think she has dropped off too so um this is the pace of our meetings is going to also be the density of our meetings I think thank you very much Tammy um actually Allison had her hand raised first so Allison I don't know if you want to go no is that all right okay um let me go on my hand okay so I love the idea visuals I think that that appeals to a lot of people learning styles um I do worry uh given how well it seems like 20 percent of my family come and pick up but I also worry about the safety of having some type of poster because we have two lanes I don't know I just worry about the safety so I'd have to like think about it more but I do love the idea of trying to provide or create some type of visual but I'm not sure about a pickup and drop off um I love the idea and I thought of the safety issue and I thought maybe it's a sign that is at pickup that says check for building committee email so it's very clear because you can't have people walking up to the sign and looking at it but if they're driving by and they know important email from building committee and if we were able to do it a big sign that goes on the buses and that would catch all of those kindergarten parents who are forced to go to the pickup to pick up their student and they would see a big magnet that says check for building committee email and it's not going to get lost in mike morris emails it won't get lost in debbie what's going on it's a different thing I think that has a lot of potential for just letting people know that this is something important we put it out just on that two days that it comes out and we remove it so it's not you know we just we they have a visual that this is something that you have but it doesn't stay up all the time because that's when people stop looking at it but um I think that's a great idea it's a really interesting idea alison put something on the buses because they're essentially moving signs that are not just people at the schools are seeing alisha and then shawnd um yeah I think that those are all really great suggestions um and very creative I think the bus is a good idea because they drive through communities so even families whose kids aren't on the bus might see them because they will be out in the communities where the children live so I think that that's a great idea um I also actually have to leave at this time so I just wanted to say one more thing because I know you all will be picking meeting times um at the end of this meeting and so I will rearrange to the best of my ability to make it to any meeting that I can however I think we should think about having them at different times um because I am a parent of children who go to the elementary schools and my drop-off time is eight o'clock so my mom brought my kids to school for me today but if I had to bring my kids to school which many parents who have a stake in this meeting would have to do they cannot be here at eight o'clock because they will be bringing their children to school um and so I think that that's just something very important to think about when thinking about when to schedule the next meeting for this group thank you um we will we'll we're going to search for a time that works but thank you very much that's great and if you just um can let me know what time you outside I will make it happen but just to think about that in regards to um families who would want to be involved Sean um I just want to let you know we do have one invoice to approve before um before we go to public comment that we do have one so is it um are there any other committee comments discussion at this point um we can do the invoice of which I of course forgot to put on the agenda I'll start making it a placeholder um I put it I put it on there so it was on it's on that Kathy Sean put it on good for you Sean so um so Sean will you show the invoice and then um we'll entertain a motion I think we still have a quorum so Kathy I move to approve the invoice as presented by second are there um any discussion or are we ready for a vote okay if you take it down Sean then I can see who we've got in the committee so I'll just go through Sean hi yes Kathy see yes Paul yes uh Ben yes Rupert yes Tammy yeah Allison yes and Mike yes okay one two okay the invoice is approved um is it is it all right for everyone if we now open it up for public comments okay yes okay so Sean if you'll help me um with the screen to see if there if we have any public that would like to make a comment do you want me just to bring them into the room yeah okay so Sarah Ross I'm bringing them to the room hi Sarah if you unmute your mic and tell us who you are and then who you are where you live and then your comment you are yeah hi all thanks for this meeting today my name is Sarah Ross I live in Amherst lifetime residence and graduate of the schools I'm really excited about this project so thanks for all the work that you all are are putting into it and appreciate the vibrant discussion around outreach um to folks like me and other and other parents um I want to throw what may be a horribly naive idea uh as someone who's not an educator and currently in the thick of it and I appreciate all of Mike's comments about how overtaxed you know educators are in this moment but I wonder if there's an opportunity to actually you know use kids and their parents in the classroom um to get some initial feedback uh so as a way to kind of get the word out that this project is happening so some simple exercise a flyer where kids you know say three things they're excited about from a new building three things they're concerned about and you know kind of structured as a way for kids to go home to their parents and and talk with their parents about that and come back and turn it into a little mini assignment that you know could be really light touch but really as a way just to like engage kids and their parents uh and in that way kind of get folks aware that this process is being kicked off and that and that it would be a way to also get contact information out so that parents know who they can reach out to um on this so just one thought about outreach and then I also wonder whether a letter to the Amherst Bulletin uh too sweet about you know these these new dates maybe from you know from Kathy talking about this process uh would also be a way to to get more public engagement input um and then you know going more towards the electronic side and certainly appreciate that we need to um have a balanced means of communication I wonder whether whether there isn't a simple kind of survey monkey that we could put together that would collect some public input again really really like touch something that's too difficult to create or too difficult to move through but that whether that wouldn't be another create another channel for for public input around um the building thanks thank you for your comments Sarah so Sean um for some reason I'm not able to open that the page or do we have anyone else yeah nobody else has their hand up yet okay um wait a minute to see if any other public comments and people should know who are in the audience you can also send comments directly to me and um if you have written comments and I'll make sure I share them with a committee um so if things occur to you later so I think we do have one we have one more Maria Kopicki I'm going to promote to a panelist okay welcome Maria if you unmute you or you have joined us thank you um in terms of outreach there's uh several important populations that I don't want us to forget this building project is not only going to impact families who currently attend Wildwood and Fort River but it will also deeply impact families that are at Crocker Farm and it's also really going to be important to remember to let people know that if this does go to consolidation that families who are currently restricted to Wildwood and Fort River some of them will be going to Crocker Farm so Crocker Farm needs to be included in this communication it's also important to include families of middle and high school students who may have upcoming kids who might be at this school but also have the experience and will have input and then uh finally um it's not just uh families with students it's community members it's town members who will benefit from this project as well as as the the building will be a resource um for them as well in many ways so uh just want to make sure we keep our eye on that I think the idea of a flyer going home to all families is is a great idea we also can I think look at texting to town's people to uh school committee uh sorry school community members as a way of outreach so some thoughts keep in mind thank you Maria I think if we have no other public comments I think uh we have completed today's agenda and then some this was a to me a very rich discussion I thank everyone for staying with us I know it's really hard for both Allison and Tammy because you've you've got a class is starting at eight in the morning as we heard um but I really appreciate you making it and we're going to try to find times that work for everyone so you can continue uh to be involved and then take it not just at the building committee as Paul said we will be working with the council and other means um we have something called Engage Amherst and after this we can talk Sean is in charge of that it's a way of getting in from getting information out but also getting comments in and we just going to have to figure out how to put the school project up you know at the right timing for so I I think I'm going to say unless I see any more hands up um yes Sean is raising his hand were we going to talk calendar and days or is that going to be um through email I think we're going to have to do it through email because we we sent out three days to ask people whether they work for them and the most we got on any of the dates in time were six um so we're in and uh Allison and Tammy both picked different days um in different times so we're going to try to do it again um but we will have a meeting in two weeks and assume for right now it's eight in the morning on Thursday until we change it so just hold that as the placeholder that's 20th yeah thank you Margaret so so two weeks from now at eight in the morning unless you get an email that we found a day that worked for and we each time we're checking we're checking with the Dinesco team and Margaret as well so we're trying to make this work for everyone so we unfortunately don't currently have it actually eight in the morning and Thursday got the most votes it did get the six but it it didn't we'd like to get to a fuller group so I want to thank everyone and I I particularly thank the team that I think was working right through Christmas um on and over here in Amherst walking our soils and going into our buildings so we look forward to of what looks like a pretty active and a condensed schedule thank you very much and we're we are adjourned I think we are adjourned


Wallops Island, the Delmarva Peninsula, on the eastern shore of Virginia. Here, intertwined with chinketeague ponies and wildlife reserves, you'll find the world of tomorrow. A world where almost every day is the 4th of July. This is Wallops Station, Wallops Island, Virginia. Here, 24 hours a day, monstrous antenna probe out her space, and giant saucer-shaped ears tune in on high-flying satellites and rocket-borne experiments, poised and waiting to be used in scientific experiments for the peaceful uses of all mankind. Yet, strangely enough, few people outside those directly connected with Wallops know much about it or what goes on here. Even fewer realize that a good deal of the success of what goes on at Cape Kennedy may depend on the seldom publicized exploits of the men and facilities here at Wallops. Here at the University of Michigan, Dr. Fortin for one didn't know about Wallops. He thought the island called Wallops was a missile range used in testing and developing military rockets. However, it wasn't until he needed assistance to launch his experiment into outer space that he learned differently. A reply to his inquiry for launching assistance explained that the specific function of Wallops is to offer assistance in scientific experiments like the one he planned to conduct. And that Wallops is the only launch facility in the country under civilian control and completely owned and operated by NASA. Upon arrival at Wallops, Dr. Fortin was even more surprised to learn that Wallops is more than an island. He discovered that Wallops' station comprised three separate areas. This is the main base. Located on the main line, it was formerly used by the Navy as an air station. It contains the administration buildings, shops and facilities such as this range control center. Here, Dr. Fortin was briefed on the role the control center will play in his experiment. His tour of the main base revealed extensive support of the facility. The second area, the island called Wallops, was named after John Wallop, a 17th century surveyor. Five miles long, the island lies off the coast of Virginia, approximately seven miles southeast of the main base. Here, Dr. Fortin found launch sites, assembly shops, storage facilities. Tracking sites, lock houses and test facilities. The third area making up the station is this half-mile strip of mainland behind the island. It contains the long-range radar and optical tracking sites. From the initial conference with Wallops engineers, Dr. Fortin discovered the product turned out at Wallops' service. From that moment on, the station's specialized engineering skills and rocket launch know-how were placed at his disposal, while some worked with his staff on the assembly of the scientific payload. Others worked with Dr. Fortin to assemble the launch vehicle and coordinate facility use necessary to accomplish the job. Wallops was set up to do just about anything, regardless of scope, type or size of an experiment. Here, others arranged for the necessary data processing and reduction necessary for the final analysis of his experiment. At the Atomic Energy Commission Headquarters, Germantown, Maryland, Dr. Eggers was another who had never heard of Wallops. It wasn't until his agency requested NASA assistance on an experimental research project that he became acquainted with Wallops. Wallops, well, good. Now where is it? Dr. Eggers learned the station was established as early as 1945. And that Wallops is the oldest range from which test firings were originally conducted by the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics. He discovered as many as seven rocket stages had been used to launch research payloads at Wallops. The number of stages varying with the experiment. More than 4,000 research rockets had been launched, with over 300 research vehicles being launched each year. Once Dr. Eggers' requirements as a range user were known, the Wallops project engineer fed his requirements to all range departments, range instrumentation, engineering, vehicle preparation, and range safety. Downrange support was scheduled. This he learned sometimes involved a worldwide tracking method. Dr. Eggers learned most tests are supported with photographic coverage and optical tracking facilities. With devices like this one, measurements of the atmosphere are taken to determine the characteristics of the media the rocket will fly in. The weather sacked in on the day that ACTI's experiment was to be launched. After consulting with the test director, his project was scrubbed and scheduled for the next available day. Successfully launched the next day. The information and data were collected, and the Atomic Energy Commission was able to get the necessary information they sought. In general, the rocket-borne experiments flown here at the Wallops Island range are conceived and for the most part designed and built by scientists and engineers in laboratories and research centers all over the country. John Blake has such a project in process in his laboratory at the Langley Research Center. Recently, his experiment was transported and hand carried into an assigned laboratory on the station. From the minute his experiment arrived, a signed Wallops personnel assisted him in every way. Here, his payload was checked out and preparations for final assembly and flight made. On occasion, Wallops personnel will build special types of instrumentation and equipment needed to complement a payload. Instrumentation and equipment not readily available by other means. Keep in mind the basic mission of Wallops Station is to prepare, assemble, launch, track and record data in the process. Reduced to meaningful form, this data is turned over to each range used to be analyzed and used as appropriate. Occasionally, research is conducted with free-fall instrumented payloads on models dropped from aircraft. Wallops also performs recovery operations when necessary to recover vehicles launched from Wallops Station. In addition, Wallops works closely with other countries interested in the scientific exploration of space. More than 40 countries have sent representatives to observe its operation. Many have sought assistance in establishing a sounding rocket launch facility of their own. And Wallops personnel have been assigned overseas to help with their initial launches. A number of countries have brought experiments to Wallops in recent years for launching. Others have sent technical personnel here for training in methods and techniques of launching sounding rockets. Senor Fausti of the Italian Space Commission. While here, Senor Fausti will receive on-the-job training in every phase of Wallops operations, vehicle preparation and launch procedure. Before he is finished, Senor Fausti will qualify in range operations on his country's space experiments. And like this range safety officer, he is now assisting, he will someday sit in a range control center and have similar responsibilities. This is the scout rocket. Tons of metal, rubber, plastic and highly inflammable fuel. With hands poised on switches that could blow the rocket's casing open and send it burning into the sea, the range safety officer and Senor Fausti watch scout soar skyward. In the event of trouble, it will be this range officer's decision to destroy or not destroy the vehicle. A decision that could send a $2 million research project to the junkyard. Pouring into the control center via radio and intercom come reports from range safety units. From radar stations. And from range telemetry. Information that tells whether the rocket is performing properly. Whether it is headed in the right direction. This mission is successful. And Senor Fausti and the range safety officer at last can rest easy. As the data from the experiment is recorded and sorted in banks of recorders. Launches are conducted at Wallops night and day. And the public is invited to view launches when they occur. Tours are even arranged. The experiment now about to be launched is Mr. Blake's. He and his staff have worked on this project at Wallops for the past 30 days. The culmination of their efforts is about to take place. And as the sound of its rocket rolls across the marshes toward the mainland. Radar. Telemetry. And the glassy eyes of grinding cameras follow the rocket. Each mark made by a plot board pen tells trained eyes everything is going according to plan. Recorders here at the telemetry center are already storing away the data. Back at the photo lab, films of the flight are processed immediately. All over Wallops reports must still be written and studies made of the findings. Completed, John Blake and his staff will take this data. They will study it, analyze it, and publish their findings. For the men at Wallops, what is transpired is all in a day's work. They must now prepare for tomorrow's schedule. And while they do, other engineers at Wallops are meeting with government agencies, universities and contractors on future long-range projects. They are planning now to be sure Wallops will have the facilities to handle the needs of scientists for four to five years in the future so that Wallops main product then as now can be serviced.