Appointment of Kate Hartke, 52 Mooreland Road, Melrose to the Melrose Education Fund Committee for a term of three years, said term to expire the last day of February 2028.

Transcript (~4 min @ 12:21)

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▶ 12:06 Kimberly Vandiver: uh, uh, by Counselor Stewart and, uh, second by Councillor Occhio. Um, all in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Uh, that will go back to the full council, um, with a motion to recommend. Thank you.

▶ 12:21 Speaker 3: Thank you very much. Appreciate it.

▶ 12:27 Kimberly Vandiver: And the next order of business we have is, um, ID number 1, 2 4 2 7. The appointment of Kate Hartke, um, 52 Mooreland Road, Melrose to the Melrose Education Fund Committee for a term of three years, said termed expired the last day of February, 2028.

▶ 12:41 Jen Grigoraitis: Uh, thank you, Madam Chair. I'm really pleased to have Kate up here tonight for Cons, your consideration. Um, she, as you know, you'll see there's a little intentionality as we build this committee, a former school committee member who really understands the needs and finances of the district. Um, Kate brings both the parent perspective as the parent of a current elementary school students soon to be middle schooler, um, as well as a substantive background in municipal finance. She works for a neighboring municipality. And the understanding of not just what are the needs, but how we can fund those needs, which is, you know, often more complicated than the general public is aware. She understands collective bargaining agreements, um, multi-year contracts, what we can and can't fund with different sources of funding. To, to have that level of knowledge, um, assist this committee, I think will put a, at a huge advantage. So I'm really thrilled that her willingness to serve.

▶ 13:29 Kimberly Vandiver: Any questions from the committee? Yes, Councillor Stewart. Thank

▶ 13:33 Robb Stewart: You, Madam Chair. I'll ask you the same question. Where would you like to see the funding go?

▶ 13:38 Speaker 2: Um, thank you for the question. That's a great question. Um, one of the things that I've been thinking about for this committee is that we really do need to weigh the merits of each of the requests that we'll have and whether or not that's from the school committee or, um, we simply discuss further with the superintendent's efficient, um, or ex, uh, person that they appoint. I think we'll have to look at what the requests are. And my current line of work, I work in grants development. And so one thing is really looking at the funding and seeing how far it will go. So we'll wanna see where this sort of like one, uh, not insubstantial small pot of funding can really, we can stretch it, especially going into the next, um, fiscal year for the schools. I think technology is a great idea. If we had any, like one time single non-recurring expenses of upgrading a smaller batch of Chromebooks or an unexpected warranty cost comes up, I think those would be really good, good places. But again, it will be up to the school, um, what their different, um, proposals are. And then it will be up to us as a committee to identify what the criteria are and make a determination on what we think would be the best use of the funds for the community.

▶ 14:49 Robb Stewart: Uh, yes, I appreciate your input and your, your ideas. Thank you. Um, just one, one side question. Is the school committee gonna have any impact or influence on any of these decisions?

▶ 15:01 Jen Grigoraitis: No. Under state law, the way the fund is set up is it's managed by the city. Um, obviously the, the school business manager will be involved, but there is not a direct line to the school committee. Okay,

▶ 15:12 Speaker 2: Great. And apologies, I misspoke with that.

▶ 15:13 Robb Stewart: Thank you. Thank you, Madam Chair.

▶ 15:16 Kimberly Vandiver: Any other questions? Councilor Kyra? Um,

▶ 15:18 Cal Finocchiaro: Excuse me. I just wanna say thank you for stepping up and volunteering to be on this board. It's nice that we're have it, um, you know, organized and we have a committee that's gonna be overseeing the funds. Um, and I just wanna make a motion to recommend.

▶ 15:32 Kimberly Vandiver: Thank you. Second, We have a motion to recommend from Councilor Occhio and a second from, uh, by President merely ex-officio. Um, and I'll just take a moment to say as well. Thank you, um, for, to this nominee and all of the, the nominees, I appreciate the mayor, um, bringing them forward. Um, at this time, we'll take a voice vote. All in favor? Aye. Aye. Any opposed? Um, that will also go back to the full council with a motion to recommend. Um, I also should have said previously, um, for, for anybody with a motion to recommend that you're welcome to come to the full council meeting, but you're not required to attend at that time. Um, thank you so much for coming. Thank you. Appreciate it. Um, I would, uh, we have several other appointments tonight. Um, and two more for this, um, education fund that are not in order on the agenda. I would entertain any motion to take those appointments next so that we can keep them grouped.