001I'm sorry. Thank you. Good evening. Today is July 24th, 2023. It is about 6:04. Um and we are uh the Grten Board of Education and it's our regular um meeting. Um and our first um order of business is the pledge of allegiance. And Mr. Dana, would you be willing to lead us? Thank you. I aliance >> to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Thank you. Um, let me just give the board a little bit of a lay of the land because I'm actually going to propose a motion um, at this moment which is Wow, my voice is really loud. >> Feedback. >> I'm getting a lot of feedback. No, I'm pretty good. All
002right. Thank you. Um um so we we're going to have the regular board meeting and then we are going to have a focus group. Um but we have people who are here um to present um if you all could look at our new um under new business number two. We have people who are here and my understanding is that they are very hungry and they would love to be able to talk about their trip and have us vote on it. Um, but I am actually just wondering if um, so the board I'm actually wondering one wondering two things. Can we just I I would ask I could get a motion to um, move number number two under new business to right now. Um or we could just ask for a um discussion and wait on
003it, but I think I would just prefer to do the whole thing. Um and so in order to move a schedule um or excuse me, a scheduled agenda, I just have to have a motion and a second and a vote. >> Motion. >> So I have a motion from um William to um move uh uh under new business number two. Can I have a second? >> Second. >> Okay. All those in favor please say I >> oppose. Abstain. That motion has carried. So I am wondering if you guys would love to come up to the podium and talk about this. Um but first what I am going to do is I'm going to read the motion and I just need to have it seconded. So it is to approve the hiking come on up. to
004approve the hiking club's field trip request to the White Mountains, New Hampshire, scheduled for May 22nd, 2024 through May 25th, 2024. Can I have a second? We're now up for discussion and that that's you. >> So, I I usually come and present. Um I've got different things, but I just put in our request this year. Thought I'd show up, be able to answer any questions. I brought along a guest. This is potentially our new chef for next year. The best thing that I heard today so far when you said you needed a vote to move it up, I heard him go, I so so he was helping you out. >> Thank you very much. I appreciate that. >> So, what we're we're really looking to request the same trip that we always do, go to
005New Hampshire and M. This the schedule is the same. We haven't planned most of the smaller trips yet. Um, we'll do that earlier in the fall. And then >> Could you do me a favor? Sure. Could you please though there are some of us who have voted on this hiking trip before, some of us have not. And if there's anyone who's going to be listening or watching um this um it would be really nice for you to give a little bit background on the hiking club. >> Sure. So, we've been doing this for about 15 years. Um and essentially what we do is we stay every Friday afternoon and we play some games and we talk about camping. We practice packing bags. We do all kinds of different things like that. Um do a bunch
006of team building. Do you have any team building that you like? >> No, apparently not. All right, we're just going to move right on. Uh we practice hikes about once a month uh throughout the course of the year, including the winter if we can go out and uh at the culminating trip at the end of the year is always to New Hampshire. Uh we've been doing that for probably I don't know 10 years or more, maybe more than that. Something like that. It's been quite a while, but that's the last trip. We're gone for three nights and four days. Uh we always stay in a cabin up there and um we hike around. That's essentially what we do. We hike and we play. That's what we do. It's good. It's a good learning experience. So,
007did you like that trip? >> What do you want to add? Do you want to present? I can go now. >> Okay. >> Do you want to say something that you liked? >> You guys talk about >> How many years have you been on the hiking >> trip? >> Him? >> How many years you've been in? >> One. >> What was your best experience that was on the hiking trip? >> Yes. >> The rock playground. You you rock climbed >> the rock playground. >> The rock a rock playground. Yes. So essentially it was a bunch of rocks that had come off the mountain back when the ice pulled it all off and they were able to go in and around and play in them and it was right beside our cabin. So we called it
008a rock playground. That's not actually a name. We just we named it. We named it. Doesn't that surprise you? It doesn't surprise you, does it? Yes. Many had fun on that. >> So you may be the chef for this coming trip. What's your favorite thing to cook over a camp fire? >> How about over the grill? >> Or the grill? >> Poppers. >> Speak you. Speak. >> Jalapeno poppers. >> Yeah. >> My goodness. >> Sounds good. >> That sounds really good to me. >> Perhaps when you report on the trip, you'll bring some jalapeno poppers for the board. Maybe we'll make it a three-month trip. So he made them for everybody. So cut the jalapeno in half, stuffed it with cream cheese, wrap it in bacon, and he grilled it. >> Wow. >> That is
009really cool. Very cool. That is really cool. >> So that's where we are. I don't know if anybody has any questions. >> I do. >> Andrea, I when I looked at this, it says that you're going to use this in all these classes, but in particular, I was interested in in language arts and how you're going to do writing from this. >> How we're going to do writing from it. Yeah. >> So, we have them do some writing when they apply. We we put out a little application. We changed it and made it online last year. So, we sent them out and had them respond to questions and things like that about websites that we sent them to. So, we had them go visit the hut that we were going to had a couple questions
010that they had to answer. Um, and then, you know, we do it that way. >> Do you do any composition after they've come back from the trip in the >> uh No, we usually we don't. We do a lot of verbal stuff, but we don't do any writing when we come back. >> Okay. Thanks. >> Any other questions from the board? >> Bev, I'm sorry. >> Oh, I see your hand. >> Okay, that's okay. Um, $100. That's pretty cheap. And uh, so that's good. I'm glad you kept the cost down. When do you start planning your when do you start fundraising for the trip? And what's the total price of the trip? Did I miss that somewhere? Uh, I think it's on the form and I don't remember what I don't remember what the total
011is off the top of my head. Um, the the $100 is actually um stuff that families buy and then they keep. So, they have to buy boots, they have to buy socks, they have to buy rain gear, certain things that fit the kids individually. Those are the things that um they purchase and then everything else we start with fundraising. Um, Jen Sim has helped us since I've been at Fitch Middle, uh, run volleyball tournaments and, um, that brings in a lot of the money to help offset other things. Uh, Miss Austin helps with transportation, which is a big piece of it. And, um, other than that, a lot of the stuff that we have, we've just um, replace as we go, as something gets broken. We did have um, we've paired with the Navy this
012year. The goats um is one of the um it's a gym and they raised a little over 2,000 for us and we got 10 new back no 10 new tents, six new backpacks >> um and some real nice equipment that they they helped us with cuz some of our stuff was falling apart. >> So try and keep it as cheap on the families as possible. >> Has this carried over to any of the other elementary schools? Because this started at Fitch Middle School from M. Is is that correct? Yes. You started at Fitch? >> Yep. It was >> Has it carried over? Right. >> Uh, it did it did at one point. Um, there were a couple people that did it at Westside and I think um I think Benm Moon does something at CK,
013not to this extent, but I think he does some hiking things over there. So, it it spreads. And actually Beverly, we have connected with GOSA, which is our community organization, and they will be um planning next year for every single school to have a Saturday hike with the families of those schools. So, we're really excited about getting the community interested in all the resources that are right here in Grten from the Thes River to the Mystic River. And I just spoke with one of our partners at Nest who's partnering with Mystic River using their pond area and some of the resources that are right on the land at the schools to take advantage of. So I'm very excited. >> Our club joined them for a hike a long time ago, one of the years. That
014was nice. It was a Saturday and it was all kinds of people showed up for it was a fun time. >> Yeah. See, I also like to thank you for typing all the information. it was easy to read and um have a great time. >> I'm not going to write it. I have to type it. >> Thank you. >> Well, thank you for doing that. >> William, did you have a question? >> Was answered. >> Any other questions? >> All right, let's go to a vote. All those in favor of the motion that's on the floor, which is to approve the hiking club's field trip request to the White Mountains, New Hampshire scheduled for May 22nd, 2024 through May 25th, 2024. All those in favor, please say I. >> I. >> All those opposed? Absentions?
015Motion is carried. You guys are off to >> Thank you. New Hampshire >> and then also off to dinner. Is that cool? >> Yes. Oh, we are. Thank you very much. >> All right. Byebye. >> Thank you. >> All right. Thank you board. If we can go back to the second. I take it we do not have um any visitors or delegations for tonight. >> No. >> Okay. So, we are now on the comments from citizens. This is the portion of the agenda where the board welcomes comments from citizens. Each presentation should be limited to 5 minutes or less and citizens should if possible submit written comments. Presentation should be related to matters pertinent to Grten. The board members will only ask questions in order to clarify the speaker's presentation and cannot respond during the
016committee of citizens um during the comments of citizens portion of the board meeting and citizens should make their presentation um from the podium or if they're on the zoom and state their names and addresses for the record. Miss Joan, do you know of anyone that has signed up or said something in the chat? >> Nobody's contacted me. >> Okay. All right. And there's no one here. All right. We will move on. We do not have a student representative report. And do we have a sense about who our senior and junior representatives are going to be? >> Yes. Um, I don't have their names, but I was reassured that we have two juniors who are waiting in the wings. >> I saw names over there. >> And we have Zoe, of course. >> Okay. >> As
017a senior. All right. We're moving on to the superintendent administrative reports. And I am going to send that off to Susan. Okay. So, we will start with um an update on communications. We have Dr. Clint Kennedy and Rebecca Beas here to help us with um some of the new initiatives that we're working on in communication um revitalizing our website and also revitalizing our parent communication parent and student communication system with parent square. So, I'm going to turn it over to you all to fill us in. >> Hi. Um, so we've been talking a lot about communications, I think the past couple of meetings, especially with the communications plan, um, coming up for a vote that we discussed at Cal last week. Um, and I know Clint did touch on the website and parent square a
018couple of weeks ago. Those projects are very much still in the works. Um the website redesign is ongoing and we do have a new template for our website. And the motivation behind that was really um to provide a better user experience um across all of our school district sites as well as the district site. Um so that when families, particularly families with multiple students, um when they go to our website, um either the district site or the school site, um have an easier time finding the information that they're looking for. Um and that it just is a bit more modern, a bit more sophisticated, allows us to better showcase all of the images and videos that we have as a district, lays out information so that it's easier to find um so they can get
019to what they're looking for. And that goes for the general community, parents, um students, so we can um you know, highlight things better um for new residents looking at our district in the community who want to move here, our military population. So, we're finalizing the design template is really finalized. We're moving forward with cleaning up content that has been cloned over uh from our existing site and then um adding new content and features. So, for example, um our new site shows a nice big header image and then there's icons beneath that that are callouts to some of the most frequently um looked for information. for example, board of ed, uh, food services, transportation, digital backpack. Um and then digital backpack leads into parent square which is really going to become sort of our digital backpack
020platform uh for um parents as well as uh students eventually um subgroups within the district um athletics extra extracurricular clubs and um it came up at our communications committee meeting about you know showing you all an example of how parent square works to the end user. Parent Square doesn't feel much different um than school messenger in terms of if you get a phone call or a text or an email. You're still going to get a phone call, a text or an email if that's what you desire. Um it's really in the features um that makes it a much more improved communications system for us. um translation capabilities which tells our families that are not English- speakaking that it's important to us that we get the information about our district to them in a way that
021they can understand it. Um and that is very much just built in to the platform so that if a parent has indicated on their registration with us um in P school that they speak a different language that that's going to pull over and the system is going to know to share uh the information with that family in that preferred language. Um what else? >> Yeah. Oh, I I think Rebecca did an excellent job of kind of giving us the the big picture overview. Uh, two things I'd like to call out. One, really these both these pieces kind of play across our spectrum from fully public to fully private conversations. you know, a website traditionally being that public-f facing uh piece for Grten Public Schools, whether you have children in the district, whether you're alumni, whether
022you're just a a member of the community or hopefully a member who wants to become a member of our community at some point, all the way through parent square, which really will come all the way down to those vital communications between uh a teacher and a parent or parents uh communications within a school and so forth. So, I'm I'm really excited. We've had a chance to really modernize and and and really bring up to speed this entire stack from public to private to enhance and make more efficient communication. And all of this is really keeping in mind kind of what we found from a lot of the surveys that was done in the communications uh subcommittee around mobile first being one of those key trends that we're seeing. So website is important and this new
023modernization of this allows it to to be automatically reconfigured regardless of what device you're on a desktop a laptop an iPad a phone what have you um all the way through parent square which has app native apps that you can use to monitor to get notifications to set how often and how frequently you want to be notified and in what format and so forth. So, we're we're really resetting the bar for all these things, doing them better, more modern, more efficiently, and we're again, we're touching everything from that full public view all the way to these critical conversations internally. So, I'm excited. I'm ready to light the candle on these things and get them going, but I know we have five or six more weeks before we uh we get back to school. >> Well,
024we have been field testing and piloting. So, I worked with Joyce and we put out our first parent square communication around the principal search >> and um that went pretty smoothly. We did do a backup school messenger just to make sure that everybody got their message. Um, but I'm excited about it. One of the things, Rebecca, you told me that I thought would be wonderful, um, is that if I have a child in elementary, middle school, high school, and I'm working and I don't want my messages until six o'clock at night, I can have them all come at the same time. So, I I make sure I get all of them in my email if that's what I prefer. Right? So parents have really control over how they want to receive the their information. And
025I think that's pretty powerful. >> It is. It is. And that's really important for us to understand how our audiences in the district want to receive information and for them to be able to self- select that a bit and and for us to have a smart system in in place that responds to that and feeds them the information in the way they need it and in the way they want it. Um, and also as Clint said, linking the website and um, Parent Square together. We talked a little bit internally today about how Parent Square actually doesn't encourage you to do too many attachments to emails and other documents. It encourages links to the website um, or other um, sources uh, or putting it in something that's called posts, which is kind of like a social
026media feed, which is just another place where parents can see the information and scroll through. Um, so it creates a really nice synergy between our website and directing people to our website as well as um the parent square platform. So we're working on content and settings and things like that both with the website and parent square making sure everybody's feeling really comfortable with both. Um once uh mid August comes we'll be diving really heavy into testing all of that and making sure we're good to go for the launch of the school year. And I think parents are really going to um appreciate and like some of these changes with our last communication survey, which was a bit ago, but we got a lot of feedback um about communications streamlining some things for parents. And when
027we did push out a first communication about parent square earlier this summer, we did share with them that a lot of this is in response to what they told us. And I think that's called out in our communications plan in one of our strategies that we want parents to understand that we're listening when they give us feedback in surveys and information that they share with us that we're listening to that information and we're using it to inform some of our decisions moving forward so that we can um improve upon things. Back to school communications is huge right now. um engaging our new families who are coming into the district with all of our resources and tools that we have. Um making sure our current families are up to speed um and have all of the
028information they want. You know, everything from the food service menus to transportation routes um that all happens um really the week leading up to school. Uh we're very busy um supporting HR uh with some of their um promoting some of their recruiting events coming up. There's going to be um an article u an ad in the upcoming education guide in the day um about um jobs with Graten Public Schools and encouraging folks to apply for some of our current openings. Um we'll be engaging our families with our social media and our Facebook. Um we've had great success with our Facebook page and just keep steadily increasing that. So especially um our new kindergarten families, new families into the district and other grades, we want to keep pulling them in. Um and then partnerships and being
029out in the community have um been going well and a focus area uh for the coming year. We established a great partnership with the team over at Brford Manor this past spring um and continue to work with them to do on-site events. Um, and literally that came to fruition uh just going into the building one day and sitting down and talking to them and forming a relationship and establishing a relationship with them. And then now we have a great dialogue back and forth about how we can be supporting and in touch with that community on a more grassroots level because Brford Manor of course has a huge um student population right there. Um, so like we stay in good contact with our military population and Miranda uh Chapman, our military liaison, you know, these other
030niche groups within our community, making sure that we're in touch with them. And then registration um support is huge throughout the summer. We continually have new families coming into the district throughout the summer. Um so supporting um those families um coming in and making sure they know how to register and get on boarded with our school district is important. Wow. >> Summers are busy around here. >> Summers are busy and I think I said last week, communications is part of everything. So, there's always a little layer to everything um that there's a little bit of a communications um happening to support it on top of our major communications initiatives. >> I'm sure that this is going out to like all the principles and like in their newsletters so that people can be more aware. I
031mean like we can't reach every single person. Um but we're we're doing that, right? Newsletters and stuff. >> Yep. Yep. The schools all a lot of them do their weekly updates, their newsletters. Um we did a district newsletter a couple of times this year and we're looking to increase that the school matters. Um, and we we talked a bit earlier about wanting to increase our outreach to the broader and general community as well as parents with some of those newsletters about the district happenings and things. Um, but yes, even though we have a big focus on digital, we don't we're not abandoning um some of those traditional methods as well of reaching our community. >> Can I I'm old and not really all that savvy. What is a digital backpack? >> A digital backpack is
032um when you share information digitally versus a paper hard copy going into the students backpack >> like a flyer. >> So flyers instead of flyers being sent home or permission slips being sent home in a physical hard copy in the backpack having it um all uh in a digital version and all in one place where people would find it. So they would know to go to the digital backpack to find any sort of recent things. So that's really what parent square is going to be for us. >> Consider it as a quiver in which a variety of digital tools are available for communications. >> A quiver in that we have all of our arrows to shoot out good messages. >> So you really are saying that I'm old since I would absolutely know what a
033quiver is. Is that what you're telling me? >> Well, you're younger than I. >> Okay. So, it's a term you probably would see on a lot of uh a lot of district websites. Um, and I know at one of the early fall board of ed meetings or once we return back to school, we want to come in and really walk you through the new website and show you some of that as well as walk you through um parent square and what that looks like. >> And and and parent square ensures that a teacher to a family can there's one mechanism for people to to be in contact. So if I have if I have seven children and they're all in different places with different teachers, >> it it does that it makes it much more
034efficient and searchable and parents can go back to things that they may have missed or if they're behind and they can go back and self-s serve that. That being said, it does not replace necessarily a phone call or other means of traditional outreach if and when that's appropriate. So we think this is better, more efficient for the larger communication tools we have, but that doesn't mean picking up a phone every once in a while as needed, judgment call by a principal, a teacher, what have you. That is certainly on the table as well. >> And we still have P school, which is really the engine behind the data gets fed from P school. And the other thing is we're not doing this blind. We just finished a year-long test using Parent Square with one of
035our elementary schools and it went swimmingly. uh most of the credit should go to the principal and the staff that really implemented it at Thames River. We learned a lot which we're now feeding into the larger district roll out for this. So, >> thank you to River. >> Yep. I'm going to recognize Beth. >> Thank you, Kim. Absolutely. >> On our web page, do we can uh do we have any like social services um information or health information? Yeah, we are in the process of updating that. We have a um a new uh list of tools and resources and information that's going to that's being updated as part of the overall content update. There is some on there now, but it will be easier to find, more accessible, and a more comprehensive list. >> What
036kind of information are you talking about? I'm talking about all of the things like food services, food lockers, other um support, general supports that the community members might be seeking or needing. >> Well, I I just I was watching a town council meeting last month and they had a referral about putting um information on their website about substance abuse. >> Yep. Gasp. >> Way to go for that. >> We have that also. >> Yes. Yes. And Gasp is currently very prominent on our website and we share things that they put out as well in um via email and um social media, our Facebook page. So we have a good collaboration with them. >> Thank you. Thank you for the information and thank you for your hard work. >> Thanks. >> You have a question? >>
037I have two questions. I'm excited about the multilingual capacity and I see that easily relatively easily done with email and text. Uh what about recorded messages? When the superintendent records a message, do we have a tool which allows for a interactive trans automatic translation? >> The anyone who creates a voice message because again there's there's four options. There's email, there's text, there's voice um and there's our posts that kind of it's a think of it as a Facebook post if you will. Um, the superintendent can go in rec record her own voice if she wants or she can paste text in to the voice box and a synthesized voice will actually read it in a voicemail message and based on how we have our settings in powers school is what the uh the the home
038language is for those parents then it will then do that. Now, it's not 130 some odd languages for the voice translation, although some of the textbased stuff will do that, but it I think it's the top 30 or 40 spoken languages in the world. So, and they build on that over time. So, >> that's that's exciting. >> Isn't that cool? >> And it's one of the reasons that Rebecca has been working very hard on the website updates, too, if I may. Sorry. um where in modernizing and cleaning some of the aspects of our site, we're make she's helping make it far more accessible for some of these screen readers that can translate text on the fly to a different language possible. Many websites, including our own, often have different objects kind of hidden in there
039as PDFs or images which can't aren't accessible to be translated. It's one of the reasons you've been pushing and why I'm really excited about this new version as well. we do have those translation textbased translation tools built into this new version of the website. >> I'm very excited and grateful. The second question was um do you think that we're going to need to offer training for parents to be able to use this system and if so will we be having multilingual training? Yes, I do think we'll need to support parents um who it may not come as easily or may not be perhaps as tech-savvy and we expect to have a presence at all of the back to school nights. Um and also have a help page on the website which again is a digital
040platform but making sure we push out information through the schools um and that the principles are pushing out in those weekly updates and other methods of communication how they can ask for support. Um perhaps having some help sessions up at central office for folks who need to come in. We've done that before for powers school help. Um last year we established a powers school help page on the website with a lot of resources as well as a form and a powers school help email and that's been very successful in terms of parents who were struggling as they got on boarded with that. Um, I think Parent Square is fairly intuitive and and simple to um begin using. And again, for parents who don't want to um use the app, they don't need to do anything
041differently. They're still going to get text, email, phone calls from us. Um they're not going to stop receiving any communications from us um if they choose not to use the app or not create an account. That's just another layer and option for the parents who want it. Um, but the parents who don't will continue to um, receive good communications from us and we'll be able to track and really monitor and see metrics on how parents are receiving. We'll be able to see if they open emails, if they're reading texts, if they're answering the phone calls. So, that will help us further improve our communications and our messaging moving forward. Yeah. I'm not sure how to operationally define cutting edge, but I think our families are going to experience something very very close to that. >>
042Yeah. And and again with the with the translation and accessibility, that has been very important to me. um that we improve upon some of that with um the tools we're using and our practices of how we're pushing out information because it really says to our community we value you when we're making sure that we share information in a way that everybody can access. >> Thank you. >> Who's maintaining the website? >> It's really been a joint. Um, so there's web masters at each district and in each department, I'm sorry, in each school and in each department. And then there's um a small team of us up at central office. But we're looking to streamline that and we're streamlining what elements uh all of our different web masters have access to. um we're going more to
043um a system where there's a module that people put information into and it pushes it out into a nice pretty format that's very standardized um versus uh having all of our web masters constantly redesigning or trying to um ad hoc make changes um to our design templates because that's where we get into trouble. I I only say that because the concern is is that we can create a really pretty website, but if we're not maintaining it on a regular basis, it doesn't mean anything. So, I'm glad to hear that you guys are doing that. And could you get that part of the program to make me more pretty? Because that would be really swell. >> You're just pretty as you are. >> All right. So, um is there any other questions? But thank you so
044much. You guys have done just amazing amazing amazing work for the um for our communication piece. There's not any more questions. I'm going to move us on. >> Thank you. >> So, I'm happy to report that our principal's search for the new principal at Fitch High School is absolutely underway. I've been in communication with Dr. Mary Brick from Cade and she had given us a timeline which I've shared with the board and we're really marching right along. Tomorrow is the first meeting of um a pretty comprehensive search committee that includes educators, secretary aer um we have administrators and teachers on board and we've really broken it down to kind of a threepart series. So everybody on the search committee will be looking at and vetting all of the applicants and determining who will come to
045the first round of interviews. Then there will be a second round that includes a performance task and then a third final round. So um August 7th is the final deadline for um applicants. So we are continuing to alert and that's part of CAB's job is to make sure that this gets out to all around the state all around the nation um even in the international baloria world so that we will hopefully have a really good talent pool there may be some people right from within our district and then beyond our district so that's what we're you know counting on so um very excited about this um she's also running focus groups next week as you know and that information has been sent out. I'll be sending a reminder probably on parent square to families to
046sign up this week right this week. Um and um she's also going to be taking the survey results. So, I'm hoping the community has really taken time to fill out the survey because all of that work will be put together so that we have a leadership profile for the new um principal of Fitch High School which will help the committee and guide our work. Um so that's where we are. The timeline, the real the real work is going to be hopefully to have someone in place by end of September, early October if all the stars are aligned and Dr. Phil Piaza will be stationed over at the high school. We have a tremendous admin team over there of assistant principles and they really are the boots on the ground and know how the school operates
047and how to get a year started. But having him there as a thought partner and being available to help guide anything and then of course me as his wing woman whenever need be you know I will be also paying a lot of attention to our high school and making sure things are running smoothly. >> So is this in lie of having an interim principal? This is to so that you will be >> so you'll be principal basically an interim principal and assistant superintendent and >> chief bottle washer and all the other things. Okay. Yeah, >> I think it made them feel really confident. You know, I'm confident in them, our assistant principles, um, as is still, but I think this is just having that extra arm, having that boots on the ground >> support, >>
048right? >> Jay, do you have your hand raised or is it just that the cursor is right on your square? >> My hand is not raised. >> Okay. All right. It just I that's what I thought but I didn't want to be the person that ignored you. >> Okay. >> All right. Thank you. >> The other question was the funding source and the funding source comes from the superintendent's budget 2312 under professional services. So we do have funds allocated for such work. Is there any questions about that? And to know that u once we conclude this meeting we'll be going into our own focus group with Mary online I assume. >> Okay. All right, we're going to move on to the business managers report. I believe that that is going to be Lori helping us
049out. Lori and I, we're going to work together here on this. >> Hello, friend. How are you? >> Hi, everybody. >> So, Susan, do you want me to start or you want to start? >> The first the first is the object code summary for FY24 now that we've done our first full month, so to speak, um, with our new budget. Look how much money we have left. >> So we actually looked at it together and we looked at last year at the same time and found that we were absolutely on trend with past history. So that was very good news and we looked at each of the buckets and I I think I'll just let Lori speak that you know you see that in every area there is um you know still the majority of
050the budget left. >> I hope so. >> Did you want to add to that? >> Yeah and I would just add that you know for the month's expenses there was nothing unusual that came up. the purchase orders all looked uh in line with prior year's expenses and um everything seemed to be, you know, on trend with a normal month of July. I know that our bid list was not able to go out until the beginning of July to be paid for and encumbered. So, um that was something. So, there was some supply cost because we were so close at the end of the year that we held off to pay for the beginning of this year. And then there were I think you saw some continued increases in fuel costs and that kind of thing
051for this month. >> That's correct. >> So we're watching we're monitoring that ever so closely as those prices have gone up. Any questions about this year's object object code? All right. Hearing none, let's move on. So then could you um there was a request to get information about we were so I think we were at zero >> for the end and so I think that there was a question about like how we got there and um what funds did we use? I Jay I don't know if you can help me with language because I as a social worker I don't do well with the money end of the wording. I understand money but >> yeah I was curious about you know the fourth quarter transfers where we were over and where we were short. Um
052so this this report kind of you know lays that out >> right and I had sent that to you. You can see that there were several areas where we were actually under budget, but there were several areas like purchase services, property services, um, and supplies where we were over. And I think I had explained that at the end. We were really monitoring that last month ever so carefully. We were coming in the last couple months with that $32,000 remaining. And so it was really tight. We knew it would be tight. Um we had Ken at that time so he was working right side by side to make sure that we were coming in um very carefully. So some were over some were under but it did um come out to a zero balance. Now sometimes
053the enumbered funds um aren't all spent and so there was the question of what happens then? Well, if there were additional funds left over after we had had our audit and gone through that time period, then those funds would be returned to the town of Grten. So, if there is any overage, that's what would happen. >> And I think you just said this, but we would not be giving anything to OPED because we had no money. Is that correct? >> Not at this point. I don't know if if there were those additional funds. If there's that opportunity, that's something I'd have to talk to John Bird about. Okay. >> Yeah, Susan, we can double check on that, but my understanding is once we close the year at a zero balance, we wouldn't be able to
054transfer funds to OPED because all that's left are the incumbrances, >> right? >> And those expenses have to pay any expenses. They'd have to align to the incumbrances. But we can double check on that, >> right? Thank you. Any any questions, Jay? Um yeah, actually I have quite a few. Um I'm just going to hit a couple of the highlights. Um so I noticed that uh we came in over budget on the tutoring and I'm just concerned because you know I know we're also using our ESER funds for the tutoring. Um obviously there's a great need there and I'm just wondering how that's going to impact uh next year's budget. And I have similar questions about, you know, along those same lines about transportation, electricity, diesel fuel. Um, I haven't been able to sit down
055with last year versus next year's budget to see whether those were were increased to take, but do you see any any issues there that we weren't aware of when when that budget was drafted? Well, as you know, these budgets are drafted like a full year and a half before we actually start to expend them sometimes. And so, we did notice the um impact of inflation on last year's budget. And we had actually thought about that in preparing this year's budget to make sure that we had increases in this year's budget to take care of that. But those those um prices continue to go up and we're just not so certain what's going to happen. Um that like electricity went way up and then it's come down a little bit. So, you know, we're just monitoring
056that and being really careful with those things that we have a little more control over. >> And I'm sorry. >> Oh, I was just going to mention Jay in your question related to the tutor expenses. We are monitoring some small grants um to assist us with some tutoring costs. So, we are currently evaluating uh a couple of smaller grants that would help with those expenses. >> Okay. Um now, in terms of I know the the electric um costs are are locked in under contract, but unfortunately uh it differs by school. The the contracts obviously started at different times. Um, but do we have a a good handle now on being able to project those costs or do we have contracts that are expiring in the upcoming year? Do do you know off hand or if
057not, you know, we can certainly go back to that. >> Um, >> I'd have to look into that. Um, >> okay. >> For you. >> Maybe we can discuss that at Yeah, maybe we could discuss that at finance. um because you know that's been very volatile. Um and I know we use multiple uh companies and they're all on different uh different expiration dates. The uh the other thing is were we able to lock in uh uh any contracts on uh diesel? >> I believe we did before Ken went. I know Sam is here. If you want to speak to that, Sam. a chance before he left with again look at that a little more closely report next >> thank you >> Jay any more questions >> no that's it thank you very much and maybe
058we can we can discuss this more at finance next week >> thank you >> I appreciate it thank Any other questions? If not, we are going to move on to the insurance report. Yeah, I will share there. There's no updated insurance report yet. We're waiting for a June claim report to arrive. Um, we're anticipating it to arrive next week. Takes a little bit longer at the end of the year. It'll be our wrap-up for the end of the plan year for June 30 planes. So, we should have that update for the next meeting. >> We have to say though, this year really was really in line with what we've been seeing that you typically see um us the actual costs coming below the budgeted cost for most of the first half of the year. And
059I think that has to do with the HSA and and people meeting their you know obligations. And then you see we saw a spike um in February and March where actual costs were above the budget and now they've kind of um evened out like with with the budgeted costs. So um it's it's been a benefit to us I think. Wouldn't you say Lori the way that it has showcased? >> Yes, I agree. Jay, >> and I know that uh Lori and Ken um really looked at this account very very carefully to make sure we came in for a so-called soft landing. Um but I do want to point out that um while um we have come in under budget that there's currently a a surplus uh there there are there's also additional funds in the
060reserve o over and above this is what is contributed during the current year but um there's still money in the reserve. I don't know, Lori, if you have that off the top of your head, but again, that's something we could look at next week, maybe. >> Yeah, we can certainly take a look at it. I know there there was a a point where um we had drawn it down a little bit. So, we can certainly uh re-evaluate that once we get our June 30 claims, then I think we'll have a better sense as to where the reserve stands. >> Okay. I just I know we were talking about um when we were going through the budget cycle, we were looking at you know um the reserve and how much that would be prudent to use
061toward the operating cycle. I don't want there to be any confusion that that's all that's left in the reserve. That's just the current year's contribution to the reserve. >> That's right. >> So, all right. Thank you very much. >> Any other questions? Uh I'm looking at I understand we're waiting for June, but just looking at the year to date, uh it shows that we are um $725,000 of variance. Um I'm understanding that to be that that's the amount of unexpended funds at this point. It is um but it is not that's not the that's not the budget number. That is Anthem's projected uh claim number. So just so that there's no confusion, it's not necessarily the budget number, but what Anthem projected for us. >> Okay, let's stipulate for a minute because I don't we
062don't have the real numbers. Let's stipulate for a minute that uh the June figure was identical to the May figure. It's not going to happen, but just stipulate that. Would that in terms of the math, would that mean that we've uh we would have $675,000 below Anthem's projection? >> That would be correct. And then we would certainly compare that to what we had budgeted >> and see where we land for the reserve. >> So, how I'm I'm trying to get myself up to speed to for future times. uh how are we to understand the difference between this variance which is an anthem projection and our budget for the year? I mean let let's say we came in the the same figure for June as as we had for May. Would that leave us theoretically 675,000
063which we would either return to the town or put into OPEB or I'm really as you can tell quite unclear. >> Yeah, I understand Matthew that the the difference is is that Anthem provides a projection for us in which we use in the budgeting process. So their report this report basically identifies our expenses by month and what Anthem projected we would spend. they do a a very complex actuarial calculation. Um this is then fed into the budget report and then there's a comparison comparison done actual to budget as part of the object code summary. So that is that is the place where we would see how we how how the claims performed against what we had budgeted as as a organization as the district as the board of education. Um so the numbers the surplus
064here you see may not um and and does not necessarily translate to a budget surplus because the budget number is not always what Anthem budgets for us because they tend to be ultraconservative and we do our own analysis and come up with uh a recommendation for the board. So if I'm understanding correctly, once we have the June figure here and we have both the variance which was the Anthem projection and we will have compared it to a budgetary figure, we'll at that point next month know whether we have a deficit, >> a wash or excess funds to be returned to the town or applied to >> OPED that uh correct other than they wouldn't necessarily be returned to the town. They would go into the reserve account. >> That's right. It goes into the reserve
065account. >> The town's reserve account. >> This is a healthcare corridor. >> Okay. So, this is Got it. Got it. Thank you very much for that distinction. >> No, I appreciate the conversation, Jay. >> Yeah. just I don't know if this helps or not, but so we've been fortunate that um there is typically a uh um e excess funds uh that continue to build in that reserve. And that's why I've said it's important to prudently use those reserve funds from previous periods toward other budget items. Um, so as you said, it doesn't go back to the town. Uh, it it we we prudently use it to fund uh items in the budget going forward once we know the reserve is adequate. >> Thank you very much. >> All right, I'm going to Any other questions?
066I will then move us to buildings and grounds. Thank you, Lori, for um for manning or excuse me, personing the ship between human resource and the business um manager. Um I really the district is really um very lucky to have you and your oversight, but thank you for your hard efforts. >> Oh, you're welcome. My pleasure. Thanks everybody. >> Okay, good evening. >> Good evening, sir. >> So, um sorry Dr. Kennedy left already, but uh he found out that we had a little bit extra time. So, we're assisting Dr. Kennedy with some of his projects regarding IT uh cameras and security projects that are going on presently. So, that's one item that we're working on. Um I did meet with the contractor this morning at Northeast Academy regarding the curtain drain that we're doing over
067there. Uh for those who um may not know, we had some humidity problems within the building uh many a few years ago and we've been mitigating that problem uh by using our uh heating system along with our air conditioning system. So um that has been uh taking care of the problem, but again uh doing our due diligence uh we were able to get a CIP project for drainage. So we're starting with one section of that. Uh and uh having met with the contractor, he's putting it in his schedule. He's going to let me know in the next couple of days when I'm going to start that. Also, uh at Northeast Academy, um had the HVAC duct work uh cleaned. Uh we did that about four years ago again in the cycle recommendations regarding the duct
068work at that school and also at Katherryn Coli. Uh so uh having completed it at Northeast, we will be moving on to Kathern Kolski in August to do those that duct work as well before the teachers and staff get back to the building. Also prepped some area for the principal, principal Cheny's storage unit that he's going to have over there at the building. Um also met with the um an architect uh with our architect at SLAM. Uh and uh we have a uh plan to reconfigure uh part of the uh office in the building to add an additional office space to give some privacy to somebody that's going to be working in the office there. And along with uh dividing the music room into two spaces so that they can have uh their uh keyboards
069in one section and the uh rest of the class on the opposite side of this uh wall that we'll be constructing there. So that plan's been done and we'll be uh hopefully getting that started very shortly. Uh we did select contractor for the Grten Middle School per project. Um I'm waiting waiting the schedule on that presently. So, uh that we uh we had come in on Friday afternoon. Uh we've been doing lots of moving. There's still lots of classrooms that are moving as well as other um departments maybe or some moving from one building to the next or uh from one floor to the next in these buildings. Uh that I did want to mention I I don't know if um it it was in a public meeting that we mentioned that uh our food
070service department was uh uh had a request from the state uh to assist the Norwich uh uh food service department that they I guess you would say eliminated. Um, so Ernie and his team, he got some um some of his staff to volunteer their time to uh come in uh well paid but volunteered to come in and assist uh with that project and uh they've been feeding the Norwich kids with the summer project, summer food project as well. Uh this is uh of no co it's at no cost to the graten taxpayer or or to the board. Um this is federal and state funding that will take care of these things. So, um I I believe he's also assisting New London a bit presently as well. >> Wow. >> So, other than that, if you
071have any questions, >> can I um I do have a question around the project at Fitch um with the sewer project. Has that been completed? >> Yeah. Uh yes, I'm sorry. Yes, the sewer project at Fitch High School was completed. Um it it took just a little over a week for them to complete that area. >> Wow. >> Right on budget. >> Actually, there's a little bit of money left, but I wouldn't count on I I don't count that little bit of money. It wasn't enough to >> Jay and Beverly, >> I'm sorry. I did have to step away for a quick minute, but I know I sound like a broken record. Uh is there any update on the uh solar panel project and the uh field lighting project? >> Yeah, the the the field
072lights have all been um submitted to the town. We have approvals on that and we're awaiting uh delivery of materials. Uh that looks like we would probably install um the post uh the light post um sometime late August, maybe early September if everything comes in on time. And we're pretty much at the same stage uh regarding the uh solar for the uh for the middle school. Uh in addition to that, I think we spoke at at your last meeting uh Jay about the potential for some other solar projects at uh both Mystic River and Fitch High School to do some parking lot um cart top um >> got it in the parking lots roofs over the some of the parking spaces. So that is uh we're looking at that closely to see whether that will
073uh will pan out. So >> Bev >> Sam, I didn't hear you. What did you say your project was at the GR Middle School that you're working on? Uh I I think the first project that I mentioned was the pergola project which is an outdoor classroom space that will go adjacent to the existing patio just outside the art room. So it will add some additional um space there and it'll actually be covered. won't be totally waterproof, but if it's raining, the kids could actually be out there if it >> was one of the last things we were able to purchase with our MSAP grant, which magnetized Cutler and Westside, and we were able to bring to the new Grten Middle School. So, the staff is very excited about that. >> Is that the one you
074were looking for? >> Yes. Thank you, Sam. >> You're welcome. >> Any other questions? Oh, Jay. >> Yes. So, I just wanted to say um thank you. I know this is a very busy time your department uh Sam um catching up on things o over the summer and uh a big shout out to to you and Ernie and his crew for not only operating all the sites in town uh for the summer meals, but but also reaching out to uh to Norwich. And uh I uh texted uh Sam one day and I said, "Uh, call me back unless you're at the beach." Well, he was at the beach, but he was working at uh Eastern Point Beach, so he's everywhere all summer. Thank you. >> That's right. And um while they are uh serving food
075to kids in Norwich, he is still running the concession at the beach, although he isn't there every day, he is there um delivering uh foods and stuff on weekends, etc. And the one weekend that he was away in um Colorado on on a uh food service convention, um I was the lucky one to get up at 5 on Saturday and Sunday mornings to get the stuff down to the beach so that um Miss Watson and the others uh could have their hot dogs and hamburgers down there at the beach. >> Any other questions for Sam? >> Sam, I I was positively startled. Startled in a positive way. Uh I understood you to have said that we're investigating a covering the using a solar array that would cover the part of the uh parking area at
076the two schools. Did I understand that? >> Yes. At both Mystic River and the high school. >> Rock on. >> If you've been to California lately, you see them in in all the schools and a lot of business as well. And um >> uh here it would serve two purposes. is it would uh um not only provide some electricity, but it might keep the snow off of some of their cars. So maybe maybe we can stay a little later when it starts snowing. >> Yeah, there you go. >> It's very wise using our air rights. >> All right, we are going to move on because we do have someone doing um meeting with us at 7:15. I will not stop the conversation. However, um the committee report policy >> we we didn't meet in July.
077Okay. >> But I'll have something to say later. >> And but you do have a policy that we are going to be looking at. Um and curriculum is also on hiatus. >> Finance and facilities. Jay, >> we uh we did not meet this month, but we do meet next week. >> Okay. Thank you. Communication. >> We did not have a quorum uh for most of the meeting. And so, uh, when we had the quorum, we just looked over some of our strategies, uh, to implement what we hope will be passed on communication plan. Um, Phil, would you like to talk about how you would see rolling out this information to the various schools? Uh we just talked we were talking about if if all goes well uh this evening, how we'd roll that out and
078and we just discussed getting the plan out to to the principles to get them familiar with it, begin to make plans as to what role they're going to play in helping achieve the goals that the committee has set out in the plan. Um and and making that part of the conversation as we start setting uh building goals and and principles, personal goals. So that those would be the logical next steps. We'll continue that conversation as to what to do after tonight again if all goes well. Um but we just started that conversation tonight. >> It goes in the same way with a PTO. It's rolling it out in the sense of >> this is what we imagine. What can we do for you? What would you like and then we will figure out what we
079can do? >> Right. >> Okay. I was just seeing if if we had sent me anything from learn sorry it looked like I was looking at my phone because I was um negotiations we are um continuing on in um tomorrow um we are currently in negotiations with um our parah educators um learn I don't see anything from Lita um uh to she was not able to make it she was still visiting family um town and city RTM board of said Lazison did not meet over the summer. Same with the AJSA GA. Um, Graten scholarship. Liz is not here to report. Athletic fields >> have not met. >> Trails, >> we meet in September. >> Library. >> I went to the library board meeting uh last week. Uh, two pieces. Uh, first of all, we' asked
080how one card was going. They explained that the rising seniors will be totally totally functional. As I understood it, we've had a technical glitch and Jennifer and the uh chair of the library board. Wanted to give a special thank you to Dr. Kennedy for allowing his staff for empowering his staff to actually help write the code. We've got two different uh systems and they don't want a handshake, but uh Clint's on it, so we're going to have that. The second was uh the public library has an list of books that they recommend to their readers and our school librarians have a list that we recommend to our various school leaders. So we discussed at the library meeting whether it would be useful to have the list of the public library recommendations appear in some of
081our schools and the list of the school recommendations appear in the public library. So I'm not sure how that goes into the system. balls in your court, Susan. >> Okay, we can do that. That's part of communications. >> I thought so. >> Okay, >> that's kind of cool. >> Um, and the permanent school building committee, is there anything new? >> Has not met in a while. >> Okay. Um, and then, uh, the educational opportunities for military children. That's a twice a year and you've already reported in on that. >> We usually we meet in October and April. >> Okay. So I look forward to hearing that then. Um and so action items is the consent agenda which is all matters listed under the consent agenda are considered to be routine and will be enacted by
082one motion. Points of clarification will be allowed. Um I will take a motion for the consent agenda. >> So so moved. >> Can I have a second? >> Second. >> All those um any discussion? The discussion that I would have um Susan is that we would love to have Seth's um all of his supplies that he has gotten so that we could actually um say thank you in a public way for the hiking club. >> Okay. >> I think that would be kind of cool. >> So any donations to the hiking club? >> Yeah, I mean they mentioned quite a bit of stuff that had happened. >> Okay. If there's no other further um discussion, all those in favor of the consent agenda, please say I. >> I. >> Opposed? I >> abstain. That motion
083has carried. We are now into old business. U Matthew, would you please read the motion um for number one, please? >> I'd be delighted. I move that we vote affirmatively on uh second reading of policy P 6146.1, examination, grading. >> Um can I have a second to that, please? >> Second. All right, discussion. Andrea. >> Yes. Um, it came to my attention um after we already had the motion to do this and what happened was I looked again at the um second paragraph which which talks about a smarter balance assessment, the uh the SAT and u the third the third pardon me state testing. And I I'm uh requesting that we amend this so that we change the wording from being specific in what test the students will take because they change and I don't
084think it's a good idea to have policy spend time on something that is is going to change. And this what I'm I'm proposing is going to say to say the same thing as as as the second paragraph, but it will take out the the specific testing and it will align itself with the spe special education to language that appears below. And here's here's my uh suggest my request. The board will comply with state law with regards to testing to te testing required by the state board of education that says exactly the same thing. It just doesn't specify which test. It says whatever test they want us to do, that's what we'll do. My recommendation was to put it in regulations and in the handbook so parents would know specifically what the state tests are each
085year so that that would be more current information that they would be the ones who'd need that information. >> And what about the since the regulations come under your jurisdiction although we have to approve those and we have to they have to align with our thinking. >> They have to align with policy. That's right. So uh when the tests change and the will will we have to spend time on that in policy or will that just be um profile >> regulations handbook that's all the staff work that we do that we you know make sure that we are aligned to the policy that has been approved by the board. >> Okay. >> And that that's the process that we go through. >> Okay. So what I would say is we don't vote on that. Is
086that correct? >> You don't have to vote on that. But what I would say is that you would bring that to the policy meeting just to apprise us. >> You could certain I could certainly do that. >> All right. Yeah. Very well. >> Any other question about um or discussion about her changes? >> So, are we voting on the changes now or are we going to continue this until Susan comes back to the policy committee? What's >> No, we're going to go ahead with it tonight. We just have to find out from Mrs. Johnson. What we what the >> So, you're we're voting the amendment now. >> Yeah. Voting the policy as she has amended it with her language. >> Do we need to have an amendment made seconded and then go through that process?
087Kim. >> Um, Mr. Jones, can you think about that? But I'm also going to answer Bev's um ask for Bev's question. >> Thank you. Now, when we talk about grades, do we give letter grades or all our grades um number grades? Or do we get both? >> Can you hear me? >> Yes. >> Yeah. >> Oh, okay. >> Is there something specific in the policy that you see that you're questioning? >> No, I just see I just see the word grade. So, I was wondering is it both letter grades and numerical grades that you're talking about? Well, grading can take on lots of different um ways. In the middle school and high school, it's pretty traditional where there are both numbers and letters. In the elementary, we have standard-based reporting for report cards that are
088aligned to the standards that we're measuring. Um, so the grades can look differently. This is really, I think, more about the examination and getting the data back from the state. and the various ways that we are able to assess our students per the state law. >> Okay. Thank you, >> Miss Jones. >> Yes. Um, is Andrea moving the motion with the amendment? Is that the idea? it. So the question is is that she would like to have a change in the policy >> and so that needs to go through an amendment process. Is that correct? >> Yes, she can move the motion if the amendment and what she said. >> Okay. So let's do that and then you can walk me through the rest because I never can remember that. Bev, do you still have
089more questions? >> Okay. >> No, I don't. Thank you. No, absolutely. Um, so if you could um offer an amendment to speak to what you are changing it to, that would be great. >> So in other words, you want me to read this? >> Yes. As an amendment. >> Okay. So >> I amend the policy P 6146.1 to to read in this way. The board will comply with state law with regard to testing required by the state board of education. >> Can I have a second to that amendment? >> I'll second that. >> I've got Matthew. Any more discussion on this? Um, would would you accept a modification on your amendment that you were referring to the final the to the paragraph under the subheader statewide and districtwide assessment? >> That's not it. It's this
090one. >> You're doing it. >> I'm sorry. It's this one. This has been changed to this. This is the one we're voting on. >> Okay. Then we're talking about paragraph three. >> I'm sorry. Yes. >> Okay. So then just to specify that this amendment is regarding paragraph 3, >> right? Okay. So Mr. Jones, then we can vote on this. >> Yes, ma'am. >> Okay. Thank you, my love. Okay. All those in favor of the amendment that's on the floor, please say I. >> I. >> Oppose. I >> abstain. Okay. That that motion has carried. Now, do I go back to the original? You didn't put a motion on the board for the original motion. >> Can you say that one more time, my friend? >> Original motion. >> Did not get a first or a
091second for the original motion. That's in the agenda. >> I didn't hear I didn't hear what you said, Mrs. Johnson. >> So, you want >> She said you did not get a first or a second on the original motion on the agenda. Um I M Matthew made the first you're right we didn't get a second. >> Um so can I have a second to the original motion on the floor? >> Second it. >> I've got Andrea with the second. So Miss Joan, are we are we good or do I need to vote? >> You need to vote that as amended. >> Okay, that's what I thought. I thank you for helping me out. All right. So, all those in favor of to approve the policy P 6146.1 examination/grading as a second reading as amended. All
092those in favor, please say I. I >> oppose. >> Abstain. That motion is carried. Thank you, Mr. Jones. I don't mean to be so clunky. >> That's all right. Um, William, would you be willing to read um uh under new business the motion number one? >> Motion to approve Broton Public Schools communication plan. >> Can I please have a second? >> Second. >> I have Andrea who seconded it. I did it, Miss Jones. Um, all right. So, this is something that we um actually spent a lot of time in our last meeting um in our committee of the whole um going through the communication plan. It was um an incredible document and once again um the board would like to thank um Rebecca for your efforts in making this um plan um run so smoothly.
093So, thank you very much. Are there any other questions about the communication plan? Once again, I'm not trying to rush us through. We have had a full meeting on on this. All right. Hearing no further discussion. All those in favor of the motion to approve the Graten public school communication plan, please say I. >> I. >> Opposed. >> Abstain. That motion has carried. Matthew to your committee. And to Rebecca, thank you so much for that work. >> Yeah, Phil. Phil, you can thank Phil, too. It's >> a little We'll do a little um All right. So, thank you. Um Bev, do you have anything for uh communication? No, I don't. >> Jay, >> no, I don't. >> William, >> um there's been uh communications in regards to um the principal and then, you know, potential
094candidates for new principal. Really, everybody that has contacted me says visibility is so important in that uh new principle. the previous principal wasn't very visible and they really appreciate the visibility. Um several of them mentioned one of the current vice principles um as their hope to get the new position. >> Okay. A communication. >> No, that's >> Matthew. >> I've got a communication about the channel 19 uh audibility problems with that and said I'd bring it to the board. Um, have you brought it to like Lint and also to Mark just to talk to him about that? >> No, but well, I've chatted with Mark several times informally. >> All right. Just making sure I want like if it needs to get fixed talking. >> I have noticed that too and shared that with them
095as well. >> Yeah, I have noticed it. Andrea, >> I had dinner with the former uh Cutler Middle School student and his wife and I just wanted the the uh former staff at the at Cutler Middle to know that he said that he and his classmates that he is in touch with talk about how fruitful an experience and wonderful it was at Cutler. And I thought that that staff would like to know that. >> That's kind of cool. >> All right. I have no um just the communications that you guys have been hearing from me um that's uh um about evaluations and stuff um and retreats and um so there is the the future meeting dates where that's kind of self-explanatory. What's not on here is like next um is August. Nope, that's all on.
096Um all right. And do we have anyone who has a suggested um agenda item? >> When are we completing the evaluation? Have we fixed the date yet? >> Um I proposed there was an email that went out this afternoon. >> I hadn't seen it. I'm sorry. >> Okay. Um and um Oh, yeah. All right. Um hearing no other agenda items. >> Motion to adjurnn. >> We have a motion to adjurnn. Can I have a second? >> Second. >> All those in favor, please say I. >> I. >> All those opposed. >> Meeting has adjourned. Jay and Bev, please stay on. We do have Mary with us.