Amesbury School Committee Meeting

The School Committee meeting opened with recognitions for staff, retirees, and student spotlights across elementary, middle and high school programs. Public comment focused on special-education concerns and state regulatory changes governing timeout, seclusion, and restraint practices—parents urged strong protections, documentation, trauma-informed staff training, and to limit exclusionary practices. The committee noted those comments and scheduled a first reading of a revised district policy to reflect DESE changes (JKAA / JKAA-R) and discussed next steps for legal and stakeholder review.

During new business the committee held a substantive discussion of the JKAA/JKAA-R draft policy (physical restraint and timeout). Staff and the policy subcommittee described the evolving DESE definitions, an identified regulatory “gap” around certain timeout scenarios, and the trade-offs between including statutory definitions in policy versus in procedures. The committee requested further briefings, legal counsel availability, and a comparative review with MASC guidance before final action. The meeting also reviewed an RFP process for on-site daycare services at the middle school: only one bid (YMCA of the North Shore) was received, and committee members discussed licensing, facility build-out (toilets/sinks, fenced outdoor play area), insurance/liability, student internship/training pathways, staffing ratios by age, parking/traffic, and timeline concerns given late-season timing for families. Finally, the committee approved end-of-year budget transfers totaling $999,952 to realign salary/benefit accounts (noting long-term substitute allocations and health-insurance offsets); additional follow-up on capital/facility costs and procedures was assigned.