Marblehead — The school committee unanimously approved several governance and procurement policy revisions recommended by the Massachusetts Association of School Committees (MASC), accepted two community donations, and discussed next steps in the district's planned roof procurement.

Consent votes and policy changes
The committee approved the consent agenda, which included minutes (with edits), a schedule of bills and multiple policy actions. The minutes note the committee approved a schedule of bills and several policy rescissions and revisions.

Policy actions included rescinding CHCA-E (approval of handbooks and directives) and CL (administrative reports), and updating the purchasing policy (DJ), purchasing authority (DJA), and procurement thresholds (DJE). The committee accepted MASC-recommended language that raises the district procurement threshold per recent statute changes and aligns procurement language with model policy. Votes on the policies were unanimous.

Donations
The committee accepted a donor-funded installation of a pre-K sandbox at Brown School provided by James Watson Company; Brown School Principal Mary Maxfield and preschool teachers led the project proposal. The committee also accepted a $500 donation from the Making Ends Meet Foundation to support snacks for METCO students. Both donations were approved by roll call (donation votes recorded as 4–0 in the minutes).

Minutes and transcription tooling
Committee members discussed the accuracy and consistency of meeting minutes and asked administration to standardize tools and templates. Members described a vendor-assisted draft-minutes approach (AI-assisted transcription / drafting tool) used for subcommittees and recommended the full committee consider similar tooling with administrative review to ensure motions and votes are clearly captured.

Roof procurement timeline
Facilities subcommittee chairs reported that roofing bids were rescheduled so the subcommittee could review a more complete bid package; bids are due November 13 under the revised schedule, with a recommendation targeted to the full committee in late November or early December. Committee members discussed alternatives (liquid-applied recover vs. membrane replacement) and noted HVAC lead times for units could affect overall scheduling if decisions are delayed; the facilities subcommittee expects to present a recommendation to the full committee once bids are evaluated.

Open meeting complaint remedy
A committee member reported she had filed an Open Meeting Law complaint with the state and proposed corrective actions: all school committee members should complete mandatory Open Meeting Law training and commit to refrain from future violations. The committee voted to accept the recommended corrective action.

Provenance: Minutes and votes recorded in the meeting consent agenda (transcript segment beginning ~96:20) and the subsequent policy votes and facilities discussion (transcript segments ~146:00–162:00 and 120:00–137:00).