The Neary Building Committee Communications Subcommittee on Jan. 17, 2025 agreed to move its public outreach into a regular cadence, scheduling open office hours every other week, updating the project website and producing a short “top 10” summary of the educational benefits of a proposed new school.

The measures are intended to make project information easier to find and to reach different community audiences ahead of spring events and parent‑teacher conferences in March. Subcommittee members said they will publish short videos to social media and ParentSquare, reorganize FAQs on the Neary Building website and hold targeted sessions (including a planned senior‑center meeting) to present updated financial and educational information.

Greg, a member of the central office leadership team, said the website will get more active management: “I am going to ask Kathy Carmignani to take more of a lead role in organizing, keeping it up to date,” he said, noting he would meet with the web coordinator to reorganize pages and priorities. Julie Marshall was identified in the meeting as the web coordinator who will be engaged on site updates.

Subcommittee members said they will publish small video segments on social media and include longer presentations with voiceover for other uses. The group discussed using ParentSquare and a weekly newsletter to raise subscriptions and make the materials easier to find by topic — for example, where to find cost information versus the educational plan.

The committee also directed staff to prepare a concise educational benefits packet. Roger, a school committee representative on the subcommittee, said he wanted materials suitable for a senior‑center session and other outreach: “I want to schedule another session at the senior center ... The 2 pieces of information I want to make sure I’m armed with are as current of [a] financial picture as I can have and also the kind of the top 10 educational benefits,” he said.

Denise, also a school committee member, urged balancing the educational case with the building condition: “I just wanna be careful ... I think we also really need to push the deteriorating condition of that building,” she said, adding that concerns such as asbestos and ADA compliance remain central to the project’s rationale.

The subcommittee reported it has completed its first set of open office hours and held two sessions with a parent group described in the meeting as parents of non‑school‑age children; members said they plan to publish the remaining seven scheduled office‑hour sessions once room reservations are confirmed and to try to ensure at least two building committee members and an education staff member attend each drop‑in session. The group also plans to continue the principals’ coffee‑hour approach used in November and to seek feedback from school committee members on the videos before broader posting.

On logistics, Greg said he would meet with Kathy and Julie and hoped to have the website organization changes in place within about a week. The subcommittee also confirmed its next full NBC meeting is scheduled for Feb. 10, 2025 and said a finance subcommittee meeting will likely be posted before that date. Members said brief, frequent check‑in meetings are preferred for ongoing outreach work.

Votes at a glance: At the end of the meeting the subcommittee took a procedural roll‑call to adjourn. A motion to adjourn was made and seconded; Roger and Denise recorded votes of “yes” during the roll call and the chair announced the motion carried.

The subcommittee said it will keep communications on the agenda for subsequent meetings and assigned homework to staff and members to draft the educational benefits one‑pager, reorganize FAQs and publish short video excerpts for outreach.