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HomeMy WebLinkAboutFINAL SC Minutes 2022.05.17.pdf FINAL MINUTES MINUTEMAN REGIONAL VOCATIONAL TECHNICAL SCHOOL DISTRICT SCHOOL COMMITTEE MEETING MAY 17, 2022, 6 30 PM Present. Pam Nourse, Chair(Acton) Jeff Stulm,Vice-Chair(Needham) Alice DeLuca, Secretary(Stow) Michael Ruderman(Arlington) Steve LeDoux(Concord) Ford Spalding(Dover) Judith Crocker(Lexington) Jennifer Leone (Lancaster) Absent: Dave O'Connor(Bolton) Quorum 5 members Weighted Vote. Weighted Vote present at start of meeting 92 85% Others Present. Dr Bouquillon,Dr Perreault, George Clement,Rich Ikonen,Nikki Andrade, and Julia Pisegna Note These minutes include references to the impact of the ongoing worldwide Covid-19 pandemic on the operations of the school 1 CALL TO ORDER OPEN SESSION The Chair called the meeting to order at 6 32 p m 2 ADOPTION OF REMOTE PARTICIPATION VOTE To adopt remote participation by all members of the Minuteman School Committee pursuant to and in accordance with Sections(2)and(3)of the Executive Order Suspending Certain Provisions of the Open Meeting Law made by the Governor of Massachusetts on March 12,2020, such adoption to be effective until said Executive Order is rescinded or the Commonwealth's State of Emergency as referenced in said Executive Order,is terminated,whichever happens first ACTION 2022#51 Moved(DeLuca)and seconded(Leone) To approve remote participation VOTE 8 members in room at time of Weighted Vote present 92 85% Weight needed >46 42% Final percentage results of vote 92 85% Acton,Pam Nourse Yes Lancaster,Jennifer Leone Yes Arlington,Michael Ruderman Yes Lexington,Judy Crocker Yes Bolton,Dave O'Connor ABSENT Needham,Jeff Stulm Yes Concord, Steve Ledoux Yes Stow,Alice DeLuca Yes Dover,Ford Spalding Yes Final status of the vote• Approved unanimously 3 PUBLIC COMMENT 1 Dr Bouquillon stated that no public comments have been received 4 CHAIR'S REPORT—Pam Nourse a For the Good of the Organization b Proposed School Committee Meeting Dates for 2022-2023 VOTE• To approve the School Committee meeting dates for 2022-2023,as presented ACTION 2022#52 Moved(Stulin)and seconded(DeLuca) To approve the School Committee meeting dates for 2022-2023, as presented VOTE 8 members in room at time of vote Weighted Vote present 92 85% Weight needed >46 42% Final percentage results of vote 92 85% Acton,Pam Nourse Yes I Lancaster,Jennifer Leone Yes Arlington,Michael Ruderman Yes I Lexington,Judy Crocker Yes Bolton,Dave O'Connor ABSENT I Needham,Jeff Stulm Yes Concord, Steve Ledoux Yes I Stow,Alice DeLuca Yes Dover,Ford Spalding Yes Final status of the vote Approved unanimously Ms Nourse requested that due to the number of guest speakers presenting,the agenda will be taken out of order beginning with the east campus partnership project followed by the budget audit presentation There were no objections 5 E SUPERINTENDENT'S REPORT-Dr Edward Bouquillon o East Campus Partnership/Project VOTE. To approve the Memorandum of Understanding with Boston Vetennary Clime Dr Bouquillon opened the discussion on the Memorandum of Understanding between Minuteman and the Boston Veterinary Clinic and introduced Paul Mataras, Principal of Boston Veterinary Clime He shared that he previously presented to the Officers in Executive Session on some of the aspects of his business and their plans for Minuteman Dr Bouquillon reminded members that this is the process we went through with a Request for Information (RFI),and we have been working with Goulston& Storrs on how the special legislation can help support the partnership relative to the renovations of the east campus building into an operating vetennary clinic, as well as academic space, offices, and shared conference room space The District's attorney Peter Kochansky, of Goulston & Storrs, will be joining us to answer any questions relative to subsequent agreements Mr Mataras thanked Dr Bouquillon for the introduction He shared that he is the Chief Executive Officer of the Boston Veterinary Clinic, along with his partner, Dr Brian Bourquin Dr Bourquin is a veterinarian and founded the Boston Veterinary Clinic He summed up how they approach the veterinary medical landscape and the experience of having a pet and needing medical care in Boston. They believe that animals make us more human. He believes that captures the essence of how they approach veterinary medicine and the experience that they want parents 2 to have He explained that it is the same feeling which can be felt with companions, such as dogs, cats, parrots, lizards as they are part of your family and integrated in your life and share the same experiences as you,they heal,they bring joy and sometimes they bring temble pain when they leave us,but in all of that,there is a relationship and inside that relationship is something called the human animal bond. Mr Mataras detailed the human-animal bond extends to such things as PTSD, autism, cardiovascular disease He said that companionship with pets enhance the human condition They believe pets are your family and they want to be the other family doctor He added that over the past several years, during the pandemic, there has been an explosion of pet companionships in the country and across the world and they see a lot of people who found the ability to bring pets into their home where they weren't able to before, and there was an explosion in the way pets were brought out of shelters and into homes Today, 25% of dinner conversations are about their pets and they have moved way beyond"pets are our best friends" They are our family and have become the social glue in our communities There are now dog parks which bring people together He believes that if the community treats their pets better,then that's a better community to be a part of The organization was started in 2012 as a mobile vet that went to people's homes, and while that was great to get started,they were not able to provide a full range of broad services and care that was needed In 2014,they opened their in Bay Village, Boston In 2015, they became certified with AHHA accreditation meaning that they exceed over 900 industry standards of care,operating processes,and performance—=only 15%of the hospitals in the United States meet that standard In 2018,an additional clinic was purchased,and they have expanded that clinic which will open in August of 2022 to a full-service clinic that has approximately 3,800 square feet in Brookline In 2018,they also became the first fear-free certified clinic in Boston,and the second in Massachusetts He added that being a fear-free clinic is at the very heart of their operating philosophy The way that they treat their clients reduces the fear, anxiety, and stress in pet visits with us It is the very heart of their philosophy for the way they treat patients Mr Mataras shared that during a pet's visit,their interactions with the doctors,technicians,and the front desk staff, and anyone else they come into contact with, is trained in these fear-free principles All staff are trained in the same way and have reached at least levels 3 or 4 of our fear-free clinic training They have been recertified as of 2021 He noted that this brings to their clients a much different expenence for not only the pet,but for the pet owner The ability to bring a pet without fear or stress, means they will live a longer and healthier life There is no roadmap for fear-free,these are the principles, and how they act on them in their everyday practice is proprietary information This is the same philosophy that they teach students They are very proud of this,and he believes it is a great reason to have this partnership In 2021 they opened their 3rd or 4th clinic-the Boston Seaport Clinic and in 2022 they continued to expand their Brookline office Last week they announced a partnership with Denali Growth Partners, a private equity firm in Boston that invests in healthcare services and product companies They made a minority investment in Boston Veterinary Clinic to help expand the footprint across the greater Boston area This enables them to add clinics, and provides a way of adding infrastructure, management, and technology, as well as helping them to support their employees They need their technicians and assistant technicians to make more money and they have been proactive in providing more support for their total compensation, including an increase of$2 00 across the board last month They continue to look for ways to improve the career and that is very much related to what they are talking about with the relationship with Minuteman Dr Bourquin and Mr Mataras are part of an organization and sit on the Board of NOMV(Not One More Vet)which deals with death by suicide in the veterinary profession In the veterinarian profession, there 3 is a much higher rate of suicide than other medical professions They provide peer support, monetary support,and are moving towards providing a"path towards wellness"and creating a program that allows clinics and those that work there to start to move towards a better way of doing things They have recently launched something called Clear Bluepnnt which is a voluntary program in national climes and an accreditation which allows them to look at their organizations and see the opportunities they have both in raising pay, dealing with inter-personnel and client issues, and giving them a better pathway towards a better environment It is an extension of the relationship they envision with Minuteman, by working with young people and moving this industry towards a better place Mr Mataras introduced Dr Brian Bourquin,his husband and the Chief Medical Officer He presented a slideshow with pictures of their locations,including Bay Village,the new location in Brookline, Seaport, as well as the two new clinics in Charlestown and Wellesley which are slated to open at the end of 2022 and beginning of 2023 They are very excited to announce their relationship with Minuteman and the opening soon of Boston Vetennary Clinic Lexington He added that another key value of Boston Veterinary Clinic is community service and bringing not only money but resources and time to the communities where they are located All of their events are attached to charitable donations, such as pet photos with Santa in a snow globe (distancing event due to the pandemic), an event which gets bigger and bigger each year. They go out into the community, answer questions, educate their clients on better ways of living with pets They have worked with the Rotary Club of Brookline Mr Mataras did not included financials in his presentation as it is a public document He highlighted that they ended 2021 with approximately$9M of revenue He anticipates next year to be closer to$10M and the 5-year plan brings them to approximately$36M in revenue They plan to add 7 more clinics,to have a group of approximately 10 clinics in the next five years, including the Boston Veterinary Clinic Lexington Dr Bnan Bourquin, Chief Medical Officer,wanted to be a vetennanan since he was a child growing up in upstate New York and is a graduate of Cornell University His area of focus has always been in pain management, geriatric management, and genatnc care with a passion for dentistry Mr Mataras stated that his career was m Wall Street, and then he ran his own firm for a while The impetus behind starting Boston Veterinary Clinic were that Dr Bourquin did not find corporate medicine policy work very satisfying It did not meet the standard of his care and client service, and that is what they set out to do Mr Mataras added that he was very excited about the relationship with Minuteman and when invited to campus by Dr Bouquillon, he was blown away by the design of the school and the faithfulness behind the details of the way it was put together They got a lot of energy out of Dr Bouquillon's passion and they look forward to working with Minuteman They look forward to building out the campus and are excited about the opportunity When they started their clinic,they were the"new kids on the block"and had difficulty attracting talent They went to the Northeastern University co-op where they train their students to be technicians Today there are approximately 16 students in the veterinary school that have gone through the program of training They stayed with BVC for about a year or a year and a half They provided their college admission letters and helped get them into the veterinary school He shared that they recently had one of their students come back after starting with them as a receptionist, moved onto technician, and she has now graduated from veterinary school and is working in their support clinic and doing a fantastic fob He hopes that will provide an example of their commitment to education, as it is one of things they are most proud of Mr Mataras invited questions Dr Bouquillon thanked Mr Mataras for his presentation and introduced Attorney Peter Kochansky who assisted on behalf of the District with the language of the Memorandum of Understanding 4 Ms Leone asked how Boston Veterinary Clinic as a full-fledged veterinary clinic envisions integrating Minuteman students into the process Mr Mataras said their first focus will be on the design of the clinic,with fear-free aspect being the central part of their philosophy,the design of the clinics,separate areas for dogs and cats,waiting areas,treatment rooms,and they expect to do the same at Minuteman They will work with Dr Bouquillon's group to see how the students will interact in their environment He imagines bigger rooms with observation areas He added that the design will include industry opinions They give students goals for increasing their proficiency, so they move up in the skill level At the beginning students might be note-takers and pull vaccinations He added that he is often asked if they like to teach, and the answer is they love to teach, because it only makes improves their organization Dr Bouquillon added that this relationship mirrors the relationships Minuteman has had in place for decades in terms of clinical site agreements - our health students interact with patients in assisted living facilities or nursing homes We have clinical site agreements, similar to the Memorandum of Understanding Once we have the MOU, that codifies the commitment to work on two agreements, one is a lease agreement and the third one is the clinical site agreement which we have a lot of expenence with Dr Bourquin commented that they will be mindful to have safety first with animal handling,and students will learn a lot in that non-clinical part of their academics, and in the clinic, that will be one of the first things they learn and where they start He does not know how this will look in end,but the philosophies are there Mr Mataras remarked that they will always be operating in a safe and fear-free environment Ms Leone added that fear-free is fabulous As it is proprietary, will they ask if students will sign a nondisclosure form Mr Mataras replied no He noted that the fear-free concept was not his idea, but rather came from a woman named Sophia Lynn who saw a need to create a gentle handling environment and it morphed into fear-free which has been populanzed by Marty Bett BVC is the second clinic in Massachusetts,and the first in Boston The fear-free is for the animals as well as the employees and students There will be no yelling and throwing of tools He explained that the assistant, technician, and the students go into the room as a unit There will be a lot of windows so they can actually have other students observing, and they will probably use cameras Dr Bourquin noted that dogs are very social compared to cats, so they tend to do "all in—all out"with cats He is not sure if they will treat exotic animals m Lexington Mr Mataras says there are no proprietary secrets,just a way of working that they want to share Mr Stulin commented that if any of his questions are not appropriate for an Open Session meeting, let him know. He commented about the ambitious rate of growth and from the point of view of demand,he noted that the growth will require two things that are not always easy to get—cash flow or investment,as well as getting enough qualified veterinarians.How will they open all these clinics in a fairly short period of time and get enough qualified veterinarians at the same time,and have enough cash? Staffing Mr Mataras stated that was a great question Dr Bourquin will handle the vetermanans, and they are starting to spread the word around, and with being an urban practice with fear-free,technology and all, they have more applicants for veterinarians than they have spots, which is unheard of because currently there is a national veterinarian crisis He is aware of veterinarians who have been looking for two to three years He noted that he has held an interview every week this month He added that they embrace the fear-free environment, shorter days,lunch breaks,compensation—all of which has led them to be very fortunate in attracting the best They have the veterinarians and there is a need for expansion, in addition to the next two clinics There is such a shortage and these are good paying jobs Technicians are not a licensed profession in Massachusetts, so it is harder to find technicians 5 Cash flow He added that as far as cash flow goes, the primary driver behind the minority investment was to pre-fund the expansion Their expansion being projected to be fully funded,including Lexington, was an important part to put into place Prior to that, they were relying on SBA debt bank to expand The SBA was a great organization with the ability to get them from point A to point B. Now they have moved into a much better financial picture,and they do not have the burden of debt repayment They are cash flow positive across the existing three clinics so there is both internal cash flow and the investment to fund future growth Ms DeLuca commented that we are not familiar with public-private partnerships, as this is the first one to be done in Massachusetts for a public vocational school, as far as she understands it She asked Attorney Kochansky whether there is anything that we should be aware of in this contract in terms of what we are committing to,and in terms of the building out of the property,in terms of the length of the agreement,is there anything in there that we should be aware of that we might not notice Attorney Kochansky noted that is a good question He added that the fact that this is a public pnvate partnership with a public entity on one side and a private entity on the other,the business deal itself,will not be super complicated It is somewhat unusual in Massachusetts, though he mentioned that they are seeing more and more of these in different industry sectors He explained that the proposed Memorandum of Understanding lays out a sort of path towards finalizing and detailing the other documents that we think will document the relationship He said that we think, although they have not engaged in great detail with Boston Veterinary Clinic, he believes that the best way to do it is a lease agreement which would govern both the build out and the cost sharing of the build out The next steps would be to arrive in business terms on those things, and then Minuteman would be committing to offer up under the lease portions of the building to Boston Vetennary Clinic with a sort of cooperative relationship between the school,the school space,and the programming. He added that some of those details have not been worked out as this is just the first step Ms Crocker commented that this is all quite interesting and a new territory for all She asked about the market share and if there are already some established like-minded facilities, maybe not fear-free, but asked without giving away trade secrets, how do they expect to get their foot in the door on the Route 128 belt? Mr.Mataras replied that is a great question,and that one of the things that is special or unique about them and which they have done in the past comes from starting clinics from scratch,such as Boston Vetennary Clinic in Brookline That didn't come with a lot of revenue, so they are used to doing that and he thinks about the market way in advance of opening the doors so when they start this relationship, even before they swing a hammer, they will be out in the community meeting people and start sponsoring events, getting to know the organizations inside of Lexington and the surrounding communities they are going to start to become part of the community well in advance of providing a service and education to that community That way,people start to get to know us and find us, in addition to advertising and our fair share of social media and websites They have great reviews from clients and good ratings and those are the important pieces,but they found that word of mouth is our primary way that they build ourselves and they do that by getting to know people,you can't really"short cut"that They have been at this for many years and that is a special part for us to get out there and get to know people and they get to know us, so it is a little bit of block and tackle He added that he expects this to be no different Dr Bourquin added that the Lexington area is not new to him After he graduated from Cornell University, he was in Boston for five years and worked in Belmont and at Fresh Pond for six years During that time, he decided that he wanted to redo his kitchen and bathroom, so he did a lot of relief work in the Concord/Carlisle area which was severely underserved A company called Healthy Pets was there for a while and did not do a great job with their clinics and a number of them closed They have yet to reopen The other competition is Lexington-Bedford, a VetCor clinic, which is his nemesis, and 6 he takes pride in not competing with them,but that nationwide,there are not enough veterinarians for the number of animals As the number of animals increase,that is job security,and he is not super concerned He added that the big thing isn't going to be where it is located, which is not a flashy street corner, but rather where the students are coming from. Students are great walking billboards, and he believes that once the word gets out,people like teaching hospitals so it feels like they're giving back to do something like this Mr Mataras added that they try to think outside the box Ms DeLuca asked if they were trying to expand the fear-free to the human-doctor relationships Mr Mataras shared that he had a conversation the other day on the phone with someone trying to tell him that they do not do fear-free with children because that is the closest comparison of pediatrics and geriatrics,and he said that was not true as they use Telazol suckers and clowns,but it has not gone as far as it has with animals,but that it is definitely there For adults,that is a whole other story Geriatrics has not moved very far at all Often a child cannot articulate what is going on, so the pediatrician must discover the same thing as in geriatrics and veterinary medicine as they are always taking care of a family member who is taking care of another family member and inside of that can be a lot of fear and uncertainty Successor lease Mr Ruderman asked Attorney Kochansky if our agreement with Boston Veterinary Clinic survives and extends to a successor corporation if Boston Veterinary Clinic decides to sell to another entity Attorney Kochansky replied that will be up to us to try to decide as we can write that up all sorts of different ways We can limit it to this entity and have some approval rights over changes of control and what that would mean under the lease, and it is something that he looks forward to the team thinking about that Mr Ruderman shared that as a pet owner of many years whose longtime family veterinarian retired and the sign on the front lawn of the office says `Thnve' Mr Mataras added that is a corporate pathway,and the largest being the Veteran Corporation of America, and Pathways is right behind them having purchased a lot of independent clinics Ms Nourse asked about the copy of the Memorandum of Understanding which was included in the packet which included some blank areas,particularly in 3A, 3B, and asked if it was intended that we would be signing the Memorandum of Understanding with those blanks with the intention that would be discussed in the lease agreement Attorney Kochansky noted that the preference would be that this was a near final draft,but his preference would be to try to fill those items in before we sign it and because this is a preliminary agreement,it could be a range if we are not ready yet to decide on the terms of the lease, for instance,we could put a range in there as a placeholder in this preliminary document and then pin it down in the lease itself, with the intention to bnng the final lease back to Committee members for approval once that has been negotiated Dr Bouquillon agreed that the lease agreement absolutely would come back to the School Committee in draft form and the mortgage discussion and then vote on it He added that he trusts Peter's assessment that is not overly complicated He explained that in his mind, it is sort of like the Memorandum of Understanding with building the new school We didn't fill in some of the blanks because we didn't want to until it was run by and endorsed by the School Committee and suggested that the vote be to authorize the Superintendent to enter into the Memorandum of Understanding once those things are reviewed with the Chair,and after this step,we start to get"more intentional". Ms DeLuca shared that was related to one of her questions which is why is there only one signature line —is the School Committee not signing this and what is that line for,who is signing this? 7 Dr Bouquillon replied that the vote would be to authorize the Superintendent to sign and then Mr Mataras and Dr Bourquin would sign on behalf of Boston Veterinary Clinic Attorney Kochansky responded that while he does not know much about how the authority works, that certainly sounds correct to him Ms DeLuca asked the tough question—there is a building that has to be dealt with because it is not a veterinary clinic yet and needs some renovations and so forth, are you able to share with us any sense of the kind of scope of such a project in your mind without making any commitments to the scope,but just to give us some concept because we are pretty strongly committed to our communities that we not going to incur debt, since we just incurred a ton of debt, so we have to be very careful and mindful of our communities whose full faith and credit is involved in our activities Cost Mr Mataras replied that he can give a sense of what an existing clinic like what they just built cost to give some sense of the kind of scope of what that is He shared that their clinic has seven exam rooms, in an urban environment,with approximately 3,800 square feet, separate dog and cat areas,big treatment areas, separate cat and dog surgical areas, diagnostic X-rays, surgical operating rooms and dental areas which they started from scratch That building was not what they call the white box which means starting from the walls like you see them with the electrical outlets They had to put all of that in They got a healthy donation from the building itself, so together with the building was roughly $2M He noted that in this case, they have sort of a white box There are walls, there are electrical services, they can move things around and they are not starting from bringing the electrical all the way into the building and bringing the plumbing to where it needs to be So there are some pieces in place and the design that they come up with,which they will talk about once they get a better idea of what the cost will be,but roughly in our most expensive clinic in which they were required to use union labor, they were close to $400 a square foot. So that will give you a kind of an idea of what the overall costs, including some of what the equipment would be for the clinic He added that prevailing wage is not an issue here,so he is estimating that they are going to be in the mid to upper$300's in terms of cost per square foot and they are dealing with approximately 6,000 square feet of space, a lot of large exam rooms, all in all,the footpnnt will be a bit bigger to accommodate students,both in observation and in work He noted that when it comes to equipment,they are part of a purchasing group which is the largest purchasing group in the country and by virtue of that,they are extended some of the best discounts across both supplies,pharmaceuticals,and equipment, and they have relationships and discounts that will extend to this project as well He will expect that in his conversations with his vendors and it will help them make decisions when building this clinic and possibly some donations or lower prices, so they can provide a better experience for every techmcian in Massachusetts, both as a for-profit entity but also there is a great cause here so they will work with their vendors also Ms DeLuca thanked Mr Mataras for his candor and willingness to discuss the difficult topic VOTE: To enter into a Memorandum of Understanding with the Boston Veterinary Clinic, and authorize the Superintendent to execute,as presented As this was different than what is pnnted in the packet, and there were blanks in the MOU, this was amended to"to enter into a Memorandum of Understanding with the Boston Veterinary Clinic,and authorize the Supenntendent to execute,as presented ACTION 2022#53 Moved(Spalding) and seconded(Leone) To enter into a Memorandum of Understanding with the Boston Vetennary Clinic, and authorize the Supenntendent to execute, as presented 8 VOTE 8 members in room at time of vote Weighted Vote present 92 85% Weight needed. >46 42% Final percentage results of vote 92 85% Acton,Pam Nourse Yes Lancaster,Jennifer Leone Yes Arlington,Michael Ruderman Yes Lexington,Judy Crocker Yes Bolton,Dave O'Connor ABSENT Needham,Jeff Stuhn Yes Concord, Steve Ledoux Yes Stow,Alice DeLuca Yes Dover,Ford Spalding Yes Final status of the vote: Approved unanimously Ms Nourse thanked Mr Mataras and Dr Bourquin for their presentation and joining the meeting,as well as Attorney Kochansky. 7.FINANCE REPORT—Rich Ikonen b FY21 Budget Audit Presentation—Scott McIntire,Melanson Heath Mr Ikonen introduced Scott McIntire,Principal with Melanson Heath who will present the FY21 report and the results of the June 31,2021,report Mr McIntire thanked members for the invitation to the meeting His video was off He apologized and said it had been working moments ago Ms DeLuca requested that Mr McIntire turn on his video camera so the committee can see him Mr.McIntire then appeared on screen and reviewed the audit of the financial statements of the district. In accordance with generally accepted accounting principles He stated that it is important for him to communicate to those charged with the governance of the district that the audit of District financial statements went very well,meaning that when they came to audit the books and records,they found things to be in good working order and as a result of that,they did not need to propose any significant audit entries,and they found all financial statements to be in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles He noted the auditing standards require some things to be communicated with the members of the School Committee They did not have any disagreements on how to apply generally accepted accounting principles between the district and the firm The third of the three major categories to communicate involves accounting estimates There are several estimates in the District financial statements The largest will deal with net OPEB liability and the net pension asset from an accounting standpoint There are also some estimates in there when it comes to allowance for collections of receivables and estimated useful lives He then shared his screen for the next part of the discussion The committee had a draft copy of the report in their packet A "clean", or"unmodified" opinion He continued the independent auditor's report is probably the most important communication that we can make This tells you that based on the auditing standards that we have followed, in our opinion, your financial statements are totally in accordance with generally accepted accountmg prmciples for Governments here in the United States of America,sometimes referred to as a clean opinion Technically, in the audit world, we call it an unmodified opinion, meaning there were no modification, and it is completely in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles. 9 Following that is your management discussion and analysis which is a great resource to go back to at a later point in time to understand why certain key account balances may have changed during the year Following that is your long-term perspective balance sheet It is important for the Committee to remember that there's both a long-term perspective view in this financial statement and a short term For the asset side of the District's long-term perspective financial statements, he scrolled down to the liability side and net position or equity side of the long-term perspective, he focused on the net OPEB liability,with an account balance as of June 30,2021,of just under$25 million As a point of reference,a year ago that account balance had a liability of about$32 million so there is about a$7 million drop in that key liability,really driven mostly by experience gains and plan design changes It is important to know that although the district has a trust fund established for OPEB benefits with a balance of about$400,000 in it, given the size of the liability,the standards are requiring you to utilize a very,very low discount rate You have a discount rate,which is the expected future earnings of your OPEB Trust Fund of about 2 2% With a larger trust, you might be permitted to use a higher discount rate which could otherwise reduce that liability We think any communication about the government's financial statement should include the long-term perspective and, in particular, key liabilities, like the Net OPEB liability But, the place that most readers are going to turn to with your financial statements is your governmental funds balance sheet and the focus is going to be in the general fund that first column of numbers The real focus is going to be in the bottom third the fund balance section, which is of course the difference between your assets and liabilities, and as of June 30, 2021, you had a total fund balance of about $6 3 million It's important to understand the components of that total fund balance About $1 2 million of that is unassigned, meaning there are no constraints on those dollars and that becomes the starting point for your certification of E&D Above that is your assigned fund balance with an account balance as of June 30, 2021, about$3 8 million Assigned fund balance components There are three major components to that-the first one is about$2 7 million in pnor year tuition revenue that is going to be used to its fiscal year 2023 The second major component is approximately$540,000 in use of certified E&D that's going towards the operating budget in fiscal year 2022. And the third piece that's included in that$3.8 million dollars is $550,000 in monies that were voted by the Committee back in June of 2021 to go towards your building stabilization fund As is disclosed in this report, the appropnateness of that transfer needs to be discussed, and I think it is being discussed with the State Department of Revenue and the Department of Education He highlighted that above that is the committed fund balance of about$1 3 million,that is your building stabilization fund Building stabihzation Now, in discussions between our firm and the district, we think it is best that the $550,000 in question(the details of which you need to iron out with the State Department of Revenue), is best presented as an assigned fund balance because it's pending resolution of some component of that $550,000 may have to reduce future revenues for the district It still needs to be worked out,so we thought the lower-level classification of assigned fund balance for that$550,000 was more appropriate than to show it as a committed fund balance and part of that building stabilization fund Right now, we hope to get it into that building stabilization fund and that's really what is meant by a fund balance assignment Management here is designating those dollars to go in there,and if you can get approval from the State Department of Revenue, it will just go up from assigned fund balance to committed fund balance Unassigned fund balance The unassigned fund balance of$1 201 million is a point of interest A year ago, June 30, 2020, we had a balance of about $500,000 in it, so there is almost a $700,000 increase as a result of your favorable budget versus actual results of operation for fiscal year 2021 That $1 2 million represents just a hair under the 5% of your budget which he noted that he is sure the Committee is well aware, statutorily that account balance cannot exceed 5% of your budget 10 Getting back to the $550,000 that's included in this assigned, which was subject to the Committee vote in June of 2021 If the Department of Revenue can't find a way to favorably resolve this where everybody wants to be,which is to get this into your building stabilization fund,and they require that we move it down to your unassigned fund balance, what that is going to do is cause you to exceed that 5% threshold He emphasized it is a "might" because there are still some things that can be worked out here But it might mean that a portion of that$550,000 may need to be returned to the member towns in accordance with the statutes, but based on his experience over many years, he believes that a very favorable outcome here is certainly possible Mr McIntire shared that was a super quick walkthrough of his audit of the financial statements of the District and again on the net OPEB liability, but the focus really should be on the fund balances in the general fund with an understanding of the $550,000 may need to go come down here or quite possibly if there is some favorable results that can be achieved with the Department of Revenue,it moves up the ladder to a committed fund balance. He concluded by pointing out again that in their opinion, their audit of our financial statements went very well,and,as a result of finding the books and records to be in good working order,we did not need to propose any significant audit entries for your financial statements to be materially fairly presented in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles Mr McIntire welcomed questions from Committee members Mr Stulin had a few questions, and asked other than the $550,000, are there any issues about the financial status of the school that we should be discussing now or are those the main topics Mr McIntire replied that Mr Stulin's summary of the main topics was well done Mr Stulm added that the section on OPEB trust fund,the pension Trust Fund,and the MTRS is longer than they have been in some of the previous audits Mr McIntire replied that the joke in the audit profession is that the GASB never met a disclosure it didn't like,and what he means by that is yes,the disclosures of all three of those plans and OPEB,your retirement system plan,MTRS,is no problem as those disclosures seem to expand every year,so it's as GASB continues to evolve,they generally add disclosure requirements He added that there is a proposed standard that would limit or attempt to reduce some of these disclosures because he believes some of the disclosures are very excessive Disclosures. Mr Stulm asked if disclosures mean the type of reporting that is required for the length of those sections? Mr McIntire replied yes Vanguard portfolio Mr Stulin added that he noticed that there was some discussion as the entire Vanguard portfolio of the OPEB was included in their packet and asked if that was because of something in the audit or is there was some other reason that was included Mr Ledoux shared that he might be able to answer that The Finance Committee asked to have an update on that from time to the Finance Committee meetings, so it was just more informational purposes than anything else Risk factors Mr Stulin responded that as you talked a little bit in the audit about risk factors, if that was boilerplate, are you trying to subtly say that maybe there are more risk factors than necessary in the OPEB Mr McIntire stated that the GASB really has never met a disclosure it doesn't like There are interest rate risk factors in all those types of things are very standard disclosures in a governmental set of financial statements 11 Mr Stulin noted that is no reflection on any issues we may have, but rather increasing requirements of disclosure that caught his attention He thanked Mr McIntire for his presentation and commented that the presentation really clanfied what he was mostly interested in No management letter Ms DeLuca asked if the reason there no management letter was because they did not see a need to have a management letter Mr McIntire confirmed that auditing standards requires them to communicate things like matenal weaknesses and significant deficiencies and based on the standards,we did not identify any material weaknesses Bound copies Ms DeLuca mentioned that in the past, members would receive bound copies of the audit which included your letterhead and your company marks all over the documents and the ones we were looking at in our draft, there are never any remarks that it is from Melanson Health anywhere on it and she was wondering if they were going to receive a copy of the document that is an official Melanson Heath document that would make the people, like herself,more comfortable Mr McIntire shared that he had a recent meeting with the Finance Subcommittee and then they await the administration to give the go ahead to finalize the audit, and following that, he will produce reports for distribution Ms DeLuca thanked Mr McIntire Mr Stulin shared that it was a delight that for two years in a row to have no management letter and thanked the Finance Committee and the administration In response to a question from Dr Bouquillon, Mr Stulin agreed to look back and see how many years there had been no management letter, and report back to the Committee. Ms Nourse thanked Mr McIntire for his presentation Dr Bouquillon stated that he did not the think the Committee had to take action to accept the audit, that it was just a report 7 e Approval of a$2 8M, 11-months Bond Anticipation Note for the School Building Project VOTE To approve a $2 8M, 11-months Bond Anticipation Note for the School Building Project,as presented No vote was taken, as described below Ms Lynn Foster Welch of UmBank explained the final borrowing that is needed to bridge us to the close out with MSBA She added that we are finally at the tail end of what has been almost 10 years of trying to get this project done but shared that she has been inside the building, and it is beautiful She added that unlike what you have seen in prior financing,there is no official vote required for you to take because we are financing this note through the Department of Revenue for certification,and itis small enough that we don't have to go through that whole prospectus and rating process so there is no vote She is simply here to explain that this is the last piece that we envision that we will have to borrow This portion is the MSBA withholding 5% of the funding until the final audit is completed, so this is going to get the cash flow needed for those little dot the `i's' and cross the `t's' things that we need to do in order to get this final through the MSBA and we do envision that most of this $2 8M on this note will be grant- funded and that is the expectation, and as we stand here today She reiterated that there was no formal vote on here and that is why she is explaining to you why it's a little different than what the School Committee has seen in the past and to answer any questions you may have 12 Mr Spalding shared that it will finally wind down m the close-out in December so we are applying now to be on the December meeting agenda, and then we expect that we will get money back Ms Foster Welch added that they took a more conservative approach and after consultation with Ms Andrade and Mr Mahoney,we really wanted this to mature,and we don't want to have to roll it again and wait for the MSBA audit for another couple of months,so we decided to be a little conservative and that is why it matures in April He shared that in his experience with MSBA, there's a lot of projects and a lot of audits and they take a long time, even though they are auditing your project as it goes along For that final tie out, it may not come in at the end of the year as we are expecting, so we brought it into Apnl,just to give us a little extra time, so we wouldn't have to go back through the process of getting bids again, and that she believes the maturity of this note in April will be ready to just tie everything up at that point Mr Spalding stated that he hopes to have all the information to the MSBA by mid-September to meet that December deadline because they need a couple of months to review Dr Bouquillon pointed out the good interest rate of 1 95% Ms Foster Welch commented that for what we are seeing these days and in her 30-plus year career, she has never seen the rates increase so fast as they have done in the past six months. The bond market is a little crazy,particularly on the short-term side and we have a lot of banks standing on the sidelines and not wanting to jump into anything long-term because they anticipate rates will be going to go up She noted that it is a very interesting time in the bond market and note market these days Ms Nourse noted that while there was a vote on this item in the agenda,the item does not need to be voted Dr Bouquillon thanked members for taking the agenda items of order to allow for these guest presentations 5 SUPERINTENDENT'S REPORT(continued) a Annual Town Meetings Dr Bouquillon reported that all Town meetings have been completed and we have a budget with nine votes, most of them unanimous He added that he has a meeting this Friday with the town managers to introduce them to the new Superintendent and to discuss the $550,000 and he has a meeting with DOR Director of Accounts tomorrow b 2022-2023 School Calendar Dr Bouquillon noted that the only change in the calendar, which is in agreement with the union, is to reincorporate 28 sessions of common planning time of one hour and 10 minutes and maintain six 2-hour professional developments, as well the work contracted for early release days before vacations The school will be 6 hours over of the required 990 This was presented to the Academy Development Team which has been keeping our feet to the fire to get common planning time back In response to a question from Ms Leone,he clarified that the early releases on Wednesdays are for planning time Ms Leone noted that some of the dates listed at the bottom of the calendar were out of chronological order and would be easy for one to miss She also requested they be bolded as they used to be Ms Crocker suggested using a different color Dr Bouquillon thanked Ms Leone and will make those edits to the narrative below calendar VOTE: To approve the 2022-2023 School Calendar(revised), as presented 13 ACTION 2022#54 Moved(Leone) and seconded(Crocker) To approve the 2022-2023 School Calendar(revised),as presented VOTE 8 members in room at time of vote Weighted Vote present 92 85% Weight needed >46 42% Final percentage results of vote 69 18% Acton,Pam Nourse Yes I Lancaster,Jennifer Leone Yes I Arlington,Michael Ruderman Yes I Lexington,Judy Crocker Yes I Bolton,Dave O'Connor ABSENT I Needham,Jeff Stulm Yes I Concord, Steve Ledoux Yes I Stow,Alice DeLuca Yes Dover,Ford Spalding Yes Final status of the vote: Approved unanimously c School Choice VOTE. Not to participate in the School Choice Program for 2022-2023 and to inform the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education of this decision by the June Pt deadline Dr Bouquillon noted that this is the annual vote to not participate in School Choice He noted that we still have a column in our assessment formula for choice students which is based on a long-standing agreement between vocational schools from 1993 if a student was going to ask about a program we didn't have, the agreement between the schools is that they would pay$5,000 Ms DeLuca noted that while she is not clear on the 1993 agreement,the vote is to not participate in school choice Dr Bouquillon stated that that was an agreement between vocational schools when a student from one of our member towns wanted a vocational program that we did not offer, and then the student would attend another vocational school,we manage a school choice payment of$5,000 through our assessment process,not through the district itself, and that this has been a practice since 1993 Ms Nourse asked for and received clarification that the motion is worded correctly Ms DeLuca noted that we frequently have on our town meeting warrant odd little bills from a student who has gone to another vocational district, for that reason,but they're never school choice type numbers they're always much more Dr Bouquillon stated that means they would have originated from an eight-grade perspective Mr Stulin noted that while we must do this vote every year,we need to make sure that a new Superintendent will need this on her calendar nght away because it is so counterintuitive,and it is important that it is done at the right time Dr Bouquillon shared that it is on the Supenntendent's Checklist which is published by the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education each year He and Julia are reviewing that with Dr Dawson on Thursday morning ACTION 2022#55 Moved(Leone)and seconded(Stulin) To not participate in the School Choice Program for 2022-2023 and to inform the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education of this decision by the June 15t deadline 14 VOTE 8 members in room at time of vote Weighted Vote present 92 85% Weight needed >46 42% Final percentage results of vote 69 18% Acton,Pam Nourse Yes Lancaster,Jennifer Leone Yes Arlington,Michael Ruderman Yes Lexington,Judy Crocker Yes Bolton,Dave O'Connor ABSENT Needham,Jeff Stuhn Yes Concord, Steve Ledoux Yes Stow,Alice DeLuca Yes Dover,Ford Spalding Yes Final status of the vote: Approved unanimously d Discussion of the General Funds Supporting the Out-of-State Trip for the SkillsUSA to the National Competition in Atlanta,Georgia on June 20-25th Dr Bouquillon said that the money for this is budgeted,but we have traditionally held a vote to it Ms Bouchard provided additional information on this trip which includes seven students moving on to nationals which will be held in Atlanta, Georgia Three of the students will be competing in the career path showcase for industry in engmeenng technology and another team will be competing in the career path showcase for natural resources agricultural and food We also have another student who is going as a delegate who won the gold for the freshman competition exploratory project demonstration There will also be three chaperones attending, including one of our Skills USA advisors, a male staff member and a female staff member The event is scheduled to be held the last week in June-June 20th through the 25th Dr Bouquillon confirmed that the estimate cost is $19,000 and there are funds budgeted for this This item has already been approved by the School Committee This update was for informational purposes Ms Nourse requested and received confirmation that no vote is needed e School Building Committee Report—Ford Spalding o MSBA Proiect Update Mr Spalding reported that the MSBA project will be done mid-December and there is a lot of paperwork that must be done in the meantime and that's all being taken care of o Athletic Fields Update For the athletic field update, Mr Spalding reported that the most important thing is that within a week, we will be closing out on that process He strongly urged all members, if they have the opportunity,to go and drive by to see the fields,walk around, it's sensational The fields are being used by the school on a regular basis with all types of athletic events going on, including baseball, softball, and lacrosse He added that there was a wonderful event put on by the students to honor and say goodbye to Superintendent Dr Bouquillon where all the students and staff were out on the fields o North Outbuilding Proiect Update North building is progressing satisfactorily,in the planning stage now 15 6 SCHOOL REPORT—Katie Bouchard a Annual Outstanding Vocational Technical Students Ms Bouchard shared that our outstanding vocational student, Trevor Simon, was honored, along with 53 other students from across the state at Mechanics Hall in Worcester It was a great evening Trevor Simon is a senior in plumbing He is also the co-captain of the football team He is a student who is out on a co-op education for work experience After high school,Trevor plans to continue on to receive some of his licenses and continue in the plumbing fields It was a great event that showcased one of our Minuteman students b World of Work(WOW)Event Ms Bouchard shared that the WOW program was run again over April break There were 112 middle school students enrolled in the program, as well as approximately 20 staff members It was fun to be with middle school kids After working with high school kids all the time,it was fun to get a little glimpse into the middle school scene She added that one of my favonte quotes from them was a kid was wondenng if the Paul Revere conference room was named after Paul Revere because he visited the school It was a fun week with the kids, and they were very excited about all of our program offerings They are so impressed with our offerings and our staff They couldn't believe it was a school and that they had the opportunity to come here if they wanted to and study their career, so it is a very cool promotional event for Minuteman, as well as for the students to learn more about themselves and their passions It was a great success,and we plan on running it again next year Dr Bouquillon noted that the agenda also lists a number of upcoming events taking place at Minuteman c Upcoming Events o Senior Prom—May 13th o Orientation for New Families—May 15th o MCAS Math Testing—May 17-18th o National Honor Society Induction—May 23rd o Anticipated Publication of Art&Literary Magazine -May 23' o Sports Awards Night—May 26th o Junior Prom—May 27th o Senior Awards Night—June 2' • Graduation—June 3rd Dr Bouquillon asked is any School Committee members are interested in attending graduation ceremonies, please confirm with Ms Pisegna He noted that there will be 122 graduates this year Mr Spalding encouraged all to attend the graduation 7 FINANCE COMMITTEE REPORT—Rich Ikonen a Finance Subcommittee Update—Steve Ledoux Mr Ledoux noted the Finance Committee had recently met and reviewed the items previously presented during this meeting, such as the audit report, the report on short-term borrowing and the review of the 3rd quarter financials and that they are in good shape moving forward a 3rd Quarter Financial Statements Report Mr Ikonen presented the 3rd quarter financial statement reports in the packet noting that most of the items in the red or in the negative have been previously addressed. d OPEB Vanguard Statement as of 3/31/2022 16 Mr Ikonen shared that the Vanguard statement was pursuant to a request by the Finance Committee Moving forward, this report will be presented on a quarterly basis He noted that this report indicates some decline which reflects the chaotic market conditions This report is for informational purposes f List of Monthly Donations Mr Ikonen presented the list of monthly donations ACTION 2022#56 Moved(Leone)and seconded(DeLuca) To approve the list of monthly donations, as presented VOTE• 8 members in room at time of vote Weighted Vote present 92 85% Weight needed. >46 42% Final percentage results of vote 69 18% Acton,Pam Nourse Yes I Lancaster,Jennifer Leone Yes Arlington,Michael Ruderman Yes I Lexington,Judy Crocker Yes Bolton,Dave O'Connor ABSENT 1 Needham,Jeff Stulin Yes 1 Concord, Steve Ledoux Yes I Stow,Alice DeLuca Yes 1 Dover,Ford Spalding Yes Final status of the vote Approved unanimously g Approval for the Request for the Disposal of Surplus Property Mr Ikonen included a list of the surplus property in the packet VOTE To approve the request for the disposal of surplus property,as presented ACTION 2022#57 Moved(Leone)and seconded(Ledoux) To approve the request for the disposal of surplus property, as presented VOTE 8 members in room at time of vote Weighted Vote present 92 85% Weight needed >46 42% Final percentage results of vote 69 18% Acton,Pam Nourse Yes I Lancaster,Jennifer Leone Yes Arlington,Michael Ruderman Yes I Lexington,Judy Crocker Yes Bolton,Dave O'Connor ABSENT 1 Needham,Jeff Stulin Yes 1 Concord, Steve Ledoux Yes I Stow,Alice DeLuca Yes 1 Dover,Ford Spalding Yes Final status of the vote: Approved unanimously 7. COMMITTEE REPORT a Supenntendent's Negotiations and Evaluation Subcommittee—Jennifer Leone Ms Leone noted that we await the Executive Summary and the supporting documents She hopes to send this out to members in the next two weeks for the June meeting, followed by a survey Dan O'Brien said he would have the summary early next week b Transition Taskforce—Ford Spaldinz 17 Mr Spalding shared that the Transition Taskforce have held two meetings with Dr Dawson We have told her that these are her meetings, she will be setting the agenda moving forward, and that we are here to assist her He added that good progress is being made He noted that Dr Bouquillon has made arrangements for her to move into 10 Mill Street Dr Dawson is also busy scheduling meetings with the administration and leadership team c Policy Subcommittee—Alice DeLuca Policies for Review o Consent Agenda Policy BEDB-C VOTE: To approve the Consent Agenda Policy BEDB-C for first reading, as presented Ms DeLuca included in the packet a policy for the School Committee to allow itself to have consent agendas on its regular agenda The reason for this is that after reviewing the last meeting minutes from March, she made a quick calculation that we were spending 13%of the time stating the motion and then voting on motions This type of policy is used in other school districts She has a collection of policies from other districts, and town meetings do it,as well as town boards Consent agendas includes things like lists of donations,minutes, anything that is considered to be a non-controversial item becomes one motion and we can approve them together If anybody on the School Committee wants a discussion about the minutes,then it Just gets pulled out of the consent calendar and considered separately To do that, we must vote on this at two meetings and then we could start after that We then have two different ways for the School Committee members to remove something from the consent calendar 1)the Chair will ask the Members if they want to do that and the other would be to allow people to contact the Chair, outside of the meeting to say they want to take that out of the consent calendar Dr Perreault suggested the second method so that members who are not comfortable making the request in the meeting can still have their say This would be an annual vote, so any future school committee could discontinue if they wish Mr Spalding shared that he strongly endorses this He has seen a lot of town governments using this process and that it would be a great way to move the meetings along to allow us to spend more time on substantive issues VOTE: To approve the Consent Agenda Policy BEDB-C for first reading, as presented ACTION 2022#58 Moved(Leone)and seconded(Ledoux) To approve the Consent Agenda Policy BEDB-C for first reading, as presented VOTE• 8 members in room at time of vote Weighted Vote present 92 85% Weight needed. >46 42% Final percentage results of vote 69 18% Acton,Pam Nourse Yes I Lancaster,Jennifer Leone Yes Arlington,Michael Ruderman Yes I Lexington,Judy Crocker Yes Bolton,Dave O'Connor ABSENT 1 Needham,Jeff Stulin Yes 1 Concord,Steve Ledoux Yes I Stow,Alice DeLuca Yes 1 Dover,Ford Spalding Yes Final status of the vote• Approved unanimously 8 SECRETARY'S RPORT—Alice DeLuca 18 Ms DeLuca shared that there were no comments received on the minutes presented for approval VOTE: to approve the mmutes of February 8,2022,as presented ACTION 2022#59 Moved(Leone)and seconded(Stulin) To approve the minutes of February 8,2022,as presented VOTE• 8 members in room at time of vote Weighted Vote present. 92 85% Weight needed >46 42% Final percentage results of vote 69 18% Acton,Pam Nourse Yes Lancaster,Jennifer Leone Yes Arlington,Michael Ruderman Yes Lexington,Judy Crocker Yes Bolton,Dave O'Connor ABSENT Needham,Jeff Stulin Yes Concord, Steve Ledoux Yes Stow,Alice DeLuca Yes Dover,Ford Spalding Yes Final status of the vote Approved unanimously VOTE* To approve the minutes of March 15,2022,as presented ACTION 2022#60 Moved(Leone)and seconded(Crocker) To approve the minutes of March 15, 2022, as presented VOTE: 8 members in room at time of vote Weighted Vote present 92 85% Weight needed >46 42% Final percentage results of vote• 69 18% Acton,Pam Nourse Yes Lancaster,Jennifer Leone Yes Arlington,Michael Ruderman Yes Lexington,Judy Crocker Yes Bolton,Dave O'Connor ABSENT Needham,Jeff Stulin Yes Concord, Steve Ledoux Yes Stow,Alice DeLuca Yes Dover,Ford Spalding Yes Final status of the vote: Approved unanimously Ms DeLuca pointed out that in the second set of minutes, there was a different format for the votes which was reflected m a table so now it is just a cut and paste that and we do not have to worry about the long list of votes It shortens the minutes,and it also makes it less troublesome to do these ridiculous votes Dr Bouquillon noted that there was no need for Executive Session 9 Adjournment ACTION 2022#61 Moved(Leone)and seconded(Crocker) To adjourn VOTE. 8 members in room at time of vote Weighted Vote present 92 85% Weight needed >46 42% Final percentage results of vote• 69 18% 19 There was no business for an executive session Acton,Pam Nourse Yes I Lancaster,Jennifer Leone Yes Arlington,Michael Ruderman Yes I Lexington,Judy Crocker Yes Bolton,Dave O'Connor ABSENT I Needham,Jeff Stulm Yes Concord, Steve Ledoux Yes I Stow,Alice DeLuca Yes 1 Dover,Ford Spalding Yes Final status of the vote. Approved unanimously Respectfully submitted, Julia Pisegna Alice Deluca District Assistant Secretary 20