001e e then you don't mind giving me a mic check real [Music] quick I think I got you you got me I got you thank you okay thank you call this session to order um good evening everyone in the room good evening everyone at home this is a b school committee regular meeting today's Wednesday August 21st it's right at 7 um so please join me for the first are there any adjustments to the agenda Dr Robinson yes we do have three adjustments this evening um D2 uh we are adding C covid Grant report d report of resignations and E report of reassignments okay thank you can I get a motion please sen second any questions or comments all in favor moving on to public comments just as a regular reminder members of the public May
002address the school committee for up to three minutes on school and education matters public comments shall be directed to the school committee and be brief and not repetitive the school committee's practice is not to respond or debate with speakers during the public comment period we are here to listen the superintendent or uh her staff will follow up on comments outside of the meeting as appropriate the committee will not permit profanity or shouting and request that speakers be civil discussion of specific Personnel or student matters and complaints concerning specific employees or students will not be allowed but will be addressed through established policies and procedures before speaking we encourage speakers to review school committee policy AC which provides that the committee does not and will not discriminate nor tolerate discrimination against students or employees on the
003basis of membership in a protected class speakers who share comments contrary to this policy will not be allowed to continue before starting please state your name and place of residence and do we have any public comments tonight yes is this the thanks hello everyone I'm Doug Dunbar I live actually in Herman just uh outside of Bangor I went to John bapst and the library at John bapst is a lot easier to find than here at Banger High School uh but but uh anyway I got good exercise and now I know where the library is I'm not sure I've ever been in the library before but I just wanted to uh come back I was here last summer and fall as some of you will remember and I brought my Nar can each time and talk
004about the importance of of training uh all staff it can be done in a matter of minutes the New York Times has an excellent video it's 90 seconds uh I don't recommend a 90c training but there are plenty of organizations including Bangor Public Health and Community Services uh that can train all staff in the amount of time it takes for just one of the five to 10 um fire drills that you have in schools I don't remember how many are required each year but it's it's several and in the time it takes for one fire drill you can train all employees in overdose awareness and the administration of nooo and uh so thank you I'm here to thank you because you agreed to that last fall Dr Robinson I'm Doug we've exchanged a couple of
005email messages and so look forward to not only to what you'll be doing in requiring the training um and offering optional training to students but because you're doing that other schools other school districts in pamar County elsewhere are much more likely to uh agree to that kind of of an approach to those kinds of actions and there's a letter that's going out to the other superintendent thanking you all for your leadership uh and indicating that there are a number of organizations uh the barn and Brewer Bangor Area recovery Network Health Equity Alliance heel uh Fresh Starts over living uh welcome to housing Save a Life Recovery Center in Lincoln they're all supporting this effort and want to see that all schools maintain an ample supply of noock Zone and Bangor and I know probably up
006to minute but Bangor you were in the lead in making sure schools had a supply however what you didn't know and I didn't know is that just a couple of boxes of Naran in a school could be very much inadequate to save one life um I've worked previously at Wellspring and at our detox center in hamon New Horizons uh someone not long ago needed seven doses that's four boxes one person if you had two people found in a li in the the library or in a restroom uh and they each needed seven doses uh that's why we need an ample Supply throughout every school building it's free I'll get it for you I'll deliver it um and uh and you have plenty of organizations that are ready to help so please thank you for already
007agreeing to this but please let us know how we can help you to get this done uh thoroughly and uh soon thank you thank you so much thank you thank you and I have an --y oldold father I got to go back home he doesn't like to be alone when he P it's getting dark thank you all thank you any other public comments okay seeing none we'll move on to superintendent's proposals and updates uh we have a couple of action items first is approval of the Griffin Road Project Dr Robinson uh I am recommending committee approval of the Griffin Road Project okay can I get a motion please so move okay any comments or discuss uh member spray I see your hand up thank you for providing me with the opportunity to be remote tonight
008we're away on vacation and I appreciate the chance to chime in and see everybody so thank you Lori and Matt and everybody uh I'm not going to dwell super long on my comments on this topic because I've shared them uh with people in the room and with the school committee and honestly I don't want to undermine the project by being too negative on it uh I know have a voice in this community and I don't want it project to get off to a bad start by being too negative on it but I will just say I think I need to say publicly that I'm not supportive of this being the site of the Parks and Rec site and I wish I could speak more as a community member a citizen than a school Committee Member
009because I think some of my concerns are not directly School related I don't think it's a walkable site for example I don't think it's centrally located but with my school committee hat on I do think that we as a body should be really encouraging the city council to to loc at The Parks and Rec site close to the schools and it's not very close to any of the schools it's it's closer to a couple but it's significantly further away from a number of schools uh and I would have liked a little bit more discussion among the school committee about that the use of that land uh more background on why it was obtained and also what we could do with it I would like to hear from some of the administrators I've caught comments here
010and there that you know the school committee the school department could have some value in that site as storage space or you know more aspirationally possibly the site of a future school I had floated in May or June the thought that if it's not big enough for a future school there's a lot of a budding land there that we could look into and I didn't want to say that publicly because that's like selling against yourself a little bit once those land owners know were interested but that idea didn't go anywhere it was like pushing the Rope kind of so I'm saying it publicly now I think that there is a budding land that we could do some creative things and I would have liked to just hear from my fellow committee members of what ideas
011they have as well as the administrators uh but Bangor definitely needs a new parks and recck facility and wherever it ends up being I'm G to be a big supporter my thought would be to do something either School related what I mentioned or like housing on the the Griffin Road site and locate the parks and wreck facility I floated Hayford park I think there's probably lots of reasons why the city is not going that direction uh but you could build around a lot of assets the Sawyer Arena Mansfield Skate Park tennis courts Penco pool sliding Hill playground there's a path through there there's the Westside Little League fields across the street that's a great spot to me because there's it's also walking distance to three schools and we do have a role we do have
012a voice as school as a school committee here trying to encourage that site to be as friendly and accessible to our school children and their families as possible and I just think Griffin Road is not super accessible I don't think it's a a very Equitable uh location so uh I'm gonna respect the will of the group and if it's on Griffin Road I'm G to be the first one there to support it uh but I I would I wish the city would pull this back modify the plans bring the budget down because i' I've also been doing this a while and I think I have a a thumb on the pulse of people to a certain degree in Bangor and I just don't think the city's going to the people are going to support a
013$55 million parks and wck facility so I think it should be scaled down and if the the knock on the Hayford site is that it's too small well I'd rather see a more modest facility uh located somewhere in a neighborhood I think from an economic development standpoint cities that build around their neighborhoods really do do well uh as a opposed to putting it kind of on this non-pedestrian friendly site out there so I've said my peace I respect that other people in the room have different opinions and uh I'll stop there but thank you for the opportunity to share my thoughts thank you member spray um any comments member Bren I will um spontaneously speak because I wasn't planning on speak never be as eloquent as Ben but I do think that it is this
014is an important dialogue to have and I'm really excited about the opportunities that we as a city have to look at the pockets around this community that we can give more attention and energy to and while I fully agree with member spr's um sentiments about you know the Griffin Road seeming very um ancillary right now I also truly the more dreaming that I do think that at one point in time that will not be the case as Bangor continues to grow as a metropolis and we continue to pour our resources into providing Equitable space across our community I think that for me it's more important that our parks in W knowing where it is now considering where it will be moved to be a space that has more EAS of access more parking that we
015don't spend another few years ruminating on what could be when there's a solution now and instead for our efforts into being creative about what the next step is once that starts and like I said I wasn't planning on speaking because I I almost always agree with memb break and what he has to say and I I do agree with what you have to say now I just think it's also important to keep in mind that um as a school committee I love the idea of thinking about what the Parks and Rec Space could look like on Griffin Road and how we could potentially grow around it and what that could look like in terms of getting our school children out and about and more connected outside of the silos of this East Side West Side
016conversation that is real but comes up often um I would rather see some fantastic things happening with the parks and wreck and also pouring you know our energy and resources into the ha bir Park area I think that there's room for both I hope that there's room for both I support room for both and so I just thought it would be important to also add that piece of the conversation and just say what I was thinking when I raised my hand to vote because I do agree with you members right but this is why I'll be voting yes I'm member s yeah I I only have a few points to make because member Bri made a lot of great points that that i' I've been thinking about and some I haven't been thinking about so
017thank you for that um I think the city has done its due diligence I think they've looked at sites throughout the city I I think the Hayford Park is is going to be too small for what they want to do um and the Griffin Road has the has the size uh to to be able to put the type of parks and wreck facility that that Bango deserves and we want and I'm I'm very excited to vote Yes for this I think a parks and W program aligns very well with the school systems Mission serve kids um I also like that it's very close the Griffin Road location is very close or relatively close as compared to other youth serving facilities to the Down East school and the Down East neighborhoods so I think I think
018that's also important as well so um thank you member spread for all your points and thank you do any of the other members have anything to add now I don't know I saw Tracy here do you want to address anything that M St said you're good okay thank you for consideration absolutely um so with that I'm similar to um member brighten and member S I am excited to vote as well and I do think the city um has done its due diligence they presented twice already to us and we had ample time to ask questions and so I'm ready to to vote so oh member o car I'll just say briefly because I'm trying to be more um vocal about my opinions um but I I'm I completely agree with all the points that were
019raised and I also think it's useful for me to um uh Express that I'm excited to vote for it as well I I completely understand and agree with some of the points that um memb spread brought up however I do remember the several presentations that the city did and it seemed to me at the time you know I'm not a um a site planner I can't do the newms on my own um so I'm taking them at their word that they explored all the options and that was the the best place for the the needs of our community um so I'm excited just like um member spread said where it is I'm going to be one of the first people there excited about it um my kids have used the parks and rep facility for
020years at its current location and and they probably won't be finished by the time they they need it um uh but I'm excited for the future generations and other children to um explore and use that facility wherever it may be and and this seems to be the best place for it perfect and and I do thank you member spray because you always give us a lot food for thought so I appreciate it absolutely um with that um all in favor and and one of POS thank you thank you members moving on to Capital Construction Grant Dr Robinson um the bank for school department is responding to the 2024 2025 rating cycle application for major SC uh Capital School construction program um after careful study of our facilities need needs um I am recommending committee approval
021to proceed with with the application process for three of our schools um the first school is the Fairmount school and um we will take a motion separately so can I get a motion on fairou school please second all in favor and I would I can we ask questions yes um so I apologize I didn't get a chance to read through all I did the math wrate 150 Pages um in the last few hours what is this and uh Jerry can speak a little bit more to all the uh the creating cycle application unfortunately does not provide a lot of clarity yeah sure and while Jerry walking up I just want to take you back on what said I wasn't able to read it as well and um depending on how much information Jerry provides we
022might be I might be able to vote on it um but at this time I would have to abstain because I literally didn't look at one and and just for reference we we did receive it at 4M so I I do understand that um and we have until uh what I want to add is um until Tuesday to offer any additional feedback so before submitting so before the school committee we have discussed um several times the 2019 O Point study and the um findings that were um from that study we as an Administration took bits and pieces of some of their suggestions and came up with the thought that we should really um from a practical standpoint probably mop all our two oldest facilities Which is far Mount and Mary snow we were hoping to
023add a wing on Cohen and dowy to accommodate the four and five grade children and every one of the options listed in the O Point study talked about doing a new Downey school that was it was just unanimous and every one of the options to do that there's enough land at the the Down East location to actually build a school and behind while you're still using the facility so we came before you and um said there's a new opportunity for the state these applications it was one of those um here's the application it's now open you have till August 30th to get your applications in if you miss that deadline um it'll probably be closed for another seven years so we chose um as a group to move forward so what you're seeing is a
024um collaborative effort from um our rant Ryder Kathleen and um our engineering firm carer associates they pulled together a lot of data they visited the austa um office looked at um applications that scored well applications that did not got a lot of feedback from staff on what they were looking for and they're really looking for um not a focus on the building 100% but how is it impacting the learning of the children and obviously the the building has some effect on that so the applications were put together with the all the attachments we apologize we we hustled um page one of each of the applications uh require a a vote of this body to move forward with the applications we are considering these still in draft form so we are encouraging you over the next
025several days to read them um give feedback critique give suggestions find maybe errors whatever you would like to do we're hoping to get the information by Tuesday so we have a a few days to compile it we're actually going to probably drive it to Augusta to make sure it gets to the proper office and date stamps there's going to be three applications each school has to be focused it on if we score well the state will visit us they'll tour the schools they really need to they point out they need to come up with their plan we can suggest the way we want to go but whether they agree with us or not um it's totally up to them so we'll make sure we give our thoughts um but the first step is this application
026thank you very much um that what you just said was actually my question so I just want to expand on it a little bit further to be clear um because I in my reading to the best of my ability of the capital construction project there is only that one line that says that all of these reasons for why the school needs to be fixed which I fully agree with there is a lot of res and a lot of information in there that is so critical as to what needs to be fixed right there's no doubt about that um there's just that one line that says you know the goal is to add a wing onto specifically excuse me speaking about um the Mary snow project and the Fairmount project add the wing to Daddy middle
027school or Co Middle School my question to you and I think you just answered it but I want to be clear is if we approve this application to go to the state does that lock us into one of those three Oak Point associate um uh sort of answers or can we once we get the money and they give us out their best interest that's what we follow they'll give us their opinion and that's what we would follow um we we we can give our suggestions um politely I suppose and we did that in that one line right but from there they'll consider and look at our current situation and see if they agree okay um again sorry to be to to be so pantic about this but I want to be sure that we're not
028locking ourselves into doing one thing if this is approved no this is well this is the vision of the administration and the stars align and the state agreed with us then we would go forward with the plans as we've outlined them but there are so many steps to go before okay we could ever get there one of is um you need to score well so I the scores last time they had enough funding at the state level for nine projects number 10 missed it by um one1 of one point and they got no money so it's very competitive um they were they spent six years bumming basically yeah um and I'm sure they basically had to try again so um there's no promise we'll we've never done this Banger has never done this before so
029this is our first attempt to submit an applications to the state so we have no idea whether they'll like our application or not we did our best to understand what they were looking for to talk to them we think we followed through on that um I will I will just add that it it's clear that there was a lot of thorough I mean into this room has chips of paint falling off of it that it's a it's a it's a huge amount of data collection research walkthroughs and work and I commend everyone that worked on it it's a it's a big job you even reading it's hard we can guarantee that it was a lot of work to put together so so so please um even if you vote tonight um please read it um
030make suggestions over the next few days send it to to me or the uh Kathleen the grant writer who is doing our she's our chief writer and word Smith if you will she's doing great I'm yeah I just I want to just understand this clearly so we can approve if we approve it tonight we can continue to give feedback and possible changes could happen we wouldn't have to approve it again if those changes are made correct because we have a deadline of next week so what we've done with these three applications we focused on the three schools we want impact down by itself we want to do a new school and the other two we are choosing ones what 110 years old ones about to have a 100th year anniversary we want to sort of
031move on we've done the best we could with all the improvements and that actually will hurt us um you know the if you you they go in and you show them everything you've done and millions you spent through Co to to make it safe and in a great learning environment right as best we can it will hurt our score but we the best we can we'll do it the best we can okay thank you and this vote is to allow the application process to occur yes so any other questions um I was I was gonna ask that so thank you for raising that is it simply that we're just approving that we can submit it but um just some more information about for my and others um is it um does it work with that
032you submit the application and then they do their secret calculations and then say we're going to do X or is there a dialogue that happens that's not a dialogue they um have a group of people that will do the scoring we actually met one that did that last round she came out for a different purpose and she um said that and if she was a former superintendent I believe believe and she's retired and now she rates applications like this and you um have approved my um evolving loan funds going to have a memo tonight about it she rased those applications so there's a group of people that works for the state to specifically um score [Music] them and then they publish the data so we'll we'll know exactly how we did okay but they wouldn't
033have maybe they had additional question questions or they sure about something where they reach out or is it they may do that um I I I'm not sure about that you were supposed to be as clear as possible and answer the questions accordingly with you know they did things like they want some attachments but they want a modest amount of attachments and not attaching your 10-year plan or your strategic plan they want get bite-sized pieces so we make sure we did that thank you so we're allowing everyone um up until Tuesday to absolutely email what time sorry I'm a night person what time would you like three four if we wake up Wednesday and your ideas were're in Midnight Tuesday that's it's fine thank you app it the applications because the schools are in similar
034States or um you when you read They're going to be very similar you go which one am I on again because they're yeah they're very similar in a lot of regards um maybe one last question so if we don't get this hopefully that's not what's gonna happen but if we don't score correctly it would be seven years or six years until we could do it again it again and would be able to use hard work that has clearly been put into this to re you know resubmit it or would it have to be a whole new application process I would imagine there's probably some things would change in those six or seven years I think we're in the very outside of the usual data from our strategic plan from Oak Point so one of the
035things I think we would have to do going forward is to refresh that whole study um and see where we are as a district and whether we have the same expectations moving forward and then we would obviously have to put all the data together again yeah thank you okay all in favor oh for um again a fair amount sure and then we need a motion for the Mary snow school so than second any questions or comments all in favor and a motion for the Down East school so second all in favor excellent thank you all um moving on to informational items um the first item is a restructure of the graduation Coach position principal uh Paul Butler will would uh be sharing an update on the plans for the restructuring of the graduation Coach position
036thank you uh so we uh so we're a couple years in to uh the exploration implementation of the graduation coach model and we've had a lot of really good success measurable and ones that aren't as easy to measure so I'll share where we are um the things that we've seen and after a couple strong years in the direction we're going to be taking into the new year so uh start with just a thumbnail sketch two-year history originally the grad coaches were solely at bangar high school but in the second year uh we made a um push down or expanded down into the middle schools to cover e8th grade and the focus is on the uh you know building the skills and mindsets that enable a good transition of students from 88th grade to high school
037and the idea is and will continue to be that the that gr coach Loops up and that this will actually be the first upcoming school year be the first year that will we will have seen that uh loop sort of close after a year with 8th grade ninth grade um following the students up and uh having various kinds of direct contact with students in classrooms and indirect extended conversations with students families teachers counselors and others in the way that we do to inform good intervention and personalized intervention and really ready students for the move on in those ways so at the high school the other grad coach has been dedicated solely to the high school and that position is a blend of uh a person in this case the grad coaches direct teaching assignment and
038Ela in balance with the responsibilities of grad coach that uh you so breaks down on FTE basis 6 grad coach point4 others and I'm actually not precisely sure what the breakdown is in that position but in any event uh it's a combination of those direct instructional assignments uh some classroom content contact with students but very much on the ground the personalized reach out with kids families interventionists counselors administrators being a person that personalizes the contact rallies the student identifies knows and identifies or creates new Pathways for students to overcome whatever barriers are in the way of their solid diploma pathway particularly as they uh progress into the upper grades and with a really tight focus of course on on the senior year so that's sort of how it's uh launched how it's materialized and that
039brings us to some of the outcomes first of all been pleased with a lot of as I said a lot of the the measurable and the not so easy to measure outcomes I would say one of those ones that you don't uh you know put a put an Inger to is the degree to which having that grad coach in combination with someone I'll referen later the jmg high school completion Specialists the counselors are monitoring intervention systems the specific routines and the ways that we look at information the way that we get around the table as big groups and smaller groups all of the things have really grown and mature in ways that U you know I anticipated but uh having the the grad coach and having the various pieces in place U really sharpened us
040I guess I'd say over the last couple of years so it's the time at a time when I think um the needs are very present we're sharper than ever in those ways and that's a portion of the impact that I've seen uh with with the uh Advent of the grad coach I I would say it's important to share that the the grad coach's work is as we said and youve heard at this committee for a long time it's really a a combination of things it's not any one person it's not even just bangar high school it's a collective and it's a end of end run of a great line or a great uh great um you know run through the school system that uh it might be embodied in the work of the gr coach
041but it's reflective of a system approach and in in in the ways that I've mentioned our system sharpening I guess from an intervention and support standpoint uh the year ahead we'll continue with the 89 grad coach loop again this will be the first year that that Loop will close and the students that were of focus the middle schools comeing up the high school this year will have renewed contact with a familiar face some direct there'll be some direct contact with that person classroom based but all the extended things the interpersonal things the affective things are as much part of the grad coaching the intention of the loop as as anything else the former High School graduation coaches moving back to full-time Ela teaching and uh it'll allow what that allows us to do is even
042though it won't be grad coaching assigned specific it allows us to do to add three critical sections to Credit Recovery sections which are uh some short-term medium-term sometimes long-term opportunities for students to revisit uh skills or credits or courses as a collection point and it allows it uh give opportunity for students of multiple grades to be in one classroom at a time a really skilled talented teacher it also allows us to add a section of uh Senior English which of course as you're heading toward graduation coach uh graduation time Senior English is one that's a a priority emphasis in all kinds of ways so I'm confident that that will add to the effort um in the coming year with the uh switch up in grad coach as teachers return We launch the year uh I'll
043be um we'll look to fill the grad Coach position with teachers staff members who have skill and interest in connecting with students in those extended ways I've had some preliminary conversations I put some feelers out uh the nature of things is that's kind of the conversation I want to have have with with people and teachers as they return to flesh out what it means to give people an opportunity to discuss and I'm confident that sooner than later we'll be in a position where we've got one or two additional people perhaps my vision is to have uh uh in that case somebody from what I call the left half of the brain the right half of the brain math science Ela Humanities someone who we can back off one of their some other substantial part of
044their professional responsibility would be a course or a supervision responsibility and sign them up for the more affective side and it's about knowing students it's about having the ability to communicate and out Outreach it's about knowing the school and being able to navigate uh conversations across departments with admin with uh the school counselors and others it's not for everybody it wouldn't be everybody's dream job but there are a whole bunch of people for whom they might have never imagined that's the nature of their work and the possibilities that that might come out of I'm confident we fill it I'm not in position to fill it right now but we have it framed up and had some conversation so one thing I'd like to mention too is uh uh you may not be deeply familiar with
045our partnership with jmg uh I guess it's four or five years ago now we have a classroom specialist who works so classroom teaching assignments actually J G uh employee who works as one of our teachers teach SE they added uh a graduation a high school completion specialist and the person we have in that role is Kelsey wden she had an excellent first year learned the ropes but she was very familiar with the ropes when she walked in the door she's a trained high school counselor she's very good interpersonally very good with kids very smart and it wouldn't be fair to keep everything on Kelsey but she she's got great SE legs and tough person and smart person and I'm just confident that she'll be able to uh be that critical Hub as we move forward
046so uh that's where we are and where we're going thank you any question um I do have a quick um question myself so I know that um you know in the past we had one teacher one graduation coach um that really built Rapport and trust with the students and so you know my only concern and not not really concern but my the question I have in my head is you know will it be detrimental to students that they don't have that one individual that they go to kind of you know we have it for um the younger grades um with having several I love the collective approach but I just think about students having several people to go to I can see both way it's sort of like the department CH thing sometimes it's a
047single person sometimes but it got makes sense not fully committed to two uh sometimes taking something on that's relatively new it's helpful when you have a a partner but it's a little premature to settle on one or or two I'm open to two I'm open to one so it'll be a matter of explaining it making the opportunity known and giving a time for it to percolate in my experience those things are uh are really beneficial to finding the right people in the right F excellent thank you appreciate it thank you um next we have a summer update from our superintendent so I I just want to update everyone on what's been happening this summer um as I've spoken to many of you um it's continues to be a pleasure um to get to know everyone
048um I've been meeting regularly with District staff uh participating in contract negotiations um and meeting with the new staff um and I really just want to express um the fact that we are very fortunate to currently employee and also to be bringing in so many dedicated um and talented staff to work with our students uh last week we held the annual administrative Academy um administrators and the school Court competency teams engaged in collaborative activities um and it really led to some rich discussion about school and District goals for the upcoming year uh we looked back at what went well and uh we things that we may consider modifying moving forward uh the district goals that we centered uh that we decided on uh center around attendance and achievement um and looking at that 95% um
049average daily attendance um and then in terms of achievement um really looking at um all of the things under that umbrella of achievement growth proficiency um inclusivity U mental health and how all of those pieces will contribute to that success so um we'll have um will have further information um following in September for specific goals um and I'd also like to highlight uh the focus was really around creative ideas uh that focused on Stu on increased engagement for students and families which I really like that idea knowing um how important it is to partner with our families uh the construction projects are progressing well um and we do anticipate uh starting school on time there may be a few you know nails to hammer in and finish finishing touches um but um for the most
050part I would say um there's been there's been amazing progress just in the past seven weeks that I've been here so um that's wonderful uh following the Dei committee presentation uh we are moving forward um and we are in the process of identifying um a consultant that can support us through an equity audit of our hiring practices so we are going to be looking closely at those um um there are discussions underway to create more support groups and opportunities for underrepresented populations um and right now I'm working with Mara and Dana on how we will move forward with the committee um to really make sure that there is that follow through and action um so that it doesn't um stagnate in any way and that we continue to see the progress and and uh the
051fruition of all the hard work that the committee is doing so uh and further information on that will follow any questions okay moving on to our Co Grant report assistant superintendent Dr Harris mberg will um offer an update on uh the covid grant funds but this was the question that you had asked for last time um it's kind of an update I've tried to give you an overview of what the co grants were um and then I've given you some financials so that you can see where you are Jerry gave me numbers so um you can also step in and help if if you have like more detailed questions you [Music] have thought you were going to get away um so really the co grants were to safely um safely open reopen and sustain safe
052operations of school and address the impact of the Corona virus uh pandemic um part of this though really was to um address the effects that covid had on education so everything that we had funding for had to really address the impact covid had on learning so there had lots of good ideas but if I couldn't tie it to covid then it wasn't allowable um there were some things I always say there's like Golden Hand HS here so they give you a lot of money but there are a lot of requirements that you have to follow so we had to develop a plan for a safe return to school we had to allocate at least 20% of the funds that we received to uh that would address the loss of learning um and we are not
053um we had to provide we were not required to provide Equitable Services to non-public schools so some of the grants that we get we have to share some of the funding with private schools in the Bangor area and this grant was not one of those also the superintendent had to provide this whole list of service I mean assurances um it was part of the agreement in accepting the money that the superintendent said they ask we would follow these guidelines not guidelines requirements um and there is a link on there um we had to part of it was posted onto our website and it is there um so those 20% funding that we had to use these are some of the things that we've used the funds for to address loss of learning I will say
054that our uh programming has been so enriched by this it's amazing some of the things that people have had um but these are where the graduation coaches first came from uh we had Mentor coaches we had after school coordinators um tutors the full-time substitutes the multilingual teachers we've had a big increase in multilingual students and this allowed us to have that Staffing um to blend into that um book vending machines if you haven't been in the elementary schools these book vending machines are pretty cool um we also got quite a bit of multilingual books for all libraries so that there are books in students native languages so and I use this as an example Captain Underpants is being read in multiple languages and so children can read the story get the same idea but they
055can read it in their own language so they can really understand it and they can have those conversations with their peers and it's just been kind of exciting to watch I me then obviously the supplies and materials to support this um the big money actually though went into improved Air Quality Systems repairing in uh so you see a lot of the missing walls and the air ducts and all these nonivasive things where the ceiling tiles are all torn down this is all part of some of the covid money um we did use a lot of the money too for cleaning services and supplies and as best as abatement um these are some of the other things that we have used the funding for um I think part of what we were trying to do is
056trying to build a level of sustainability so um we did put things in in positions but we didn't try to put a large amount in positions we try to put things in the stuff that um like air quality things that we wouldn't necessarily be able to afford at a later time um these are Big Ticket items and this allowed us to be able to do some projects that we might not have been able to do um so our total allocation was almost $13 million um and we have different Pockets or um Pathways of funding and so I broke it out by the um each section so extended school day high quality tutoring mentoring Credit Recovery tutors and coaches and English learner Services you can see the expenditures on the bar left column that tells you
057how much we've actually spent the middle has some things that are either encumbered or they are not build yet and then um the total that we have actually spent in those areas um so we have about $220,000 left um but we also have some other things so air quality repair and Improvement of facilities um we've spent over $9 million on that um here are some further expenses that we've used um the recruitment I know this was a big thing that you brought up last time was the recruitment of diverse employees um we have only spent $11 um dollars on that um but Dr Robinson had talked about um getting an equity audit and so I think the money that you have aark for that will be sent with that information um okay um so here
058are our totals um as of um 718 um had any questions or remember Bren does thank you thank you very much thanks for this um very very clear run through of the numbers I really appreciate it my my question is back to that um recruitment of divver or diverse employees right um when you said earmark is that what Dr Robinson just shared in terms okay yes of actually moving through the Consulting that was the dib team identified yep um The Challenge was we have a deadline on these funds that's coming up at the end of September so um okay and it was what Ray and Kelsey NOA presented to us and so it was excellent and wish to proceed thank you yeah Echo thank you for the report and a lot of good information can
059you go back to the slide that says fund use building and Facilities just like right right before oh one more y that one okay so the $6.2 million outstanding expenses these are these are ongoing projects that will be build and and completed by the end of September that is the Hope wow thank you just I'm just a bigback on that so is there and you might not know this but is there any um are you confident or um word less than confident but still hopeful um that that the money will be expended in the time the deadline um time lot is there any any [Music] issues any particular areas that you think you won't be able to spend in time and what those numbers are I thought you'd look right over Z actually had a
060meeting to confirm everything today the um the only time we can do anything is between the bells as I call it it's about 77 days between one bill and the other and I have successfully ripped apart most of the schools this summer we putting them together so um I can easily spend that $6 million in more um projects that will be completed by the end of September we're using part of the funds for the two healthcare clinics and Dy and Cohen we're doing the air quality part with our Co and then with the city's half million we're building the clinic those two downstairs and be um a two-year project for um the air quality improvements with the and the science area it was a terrible learning environment I heard about it on day one and
061it's come a long ways and they're actually putting ceiling tiles back up which is encouraging today and you know that $600,000 um there's a pending request for payment of $568,000 so it's coming they're all coming we're finishing the Bangor boiler downstairs 167,000 of the U Downey school is finishing their indoor air quality we actually just U the cleaner um um helped um kind of put the school back together with the custodian staff and we um have 1.1 million we'll owe the vendor to after we do the punch list for that project uh we're finishing up this years um a batement for Bangor High had so many um ases tiles everywhere and um after um this summer we'll have everything but the classrooms in awing done so we've methodically done more and more we pull up
062the tile and we put um new newer tile now um the middle schools Dy and Cohen we're starting a two-year indoor quality for both of them um we didn't RI our schools apart but we have them purchased as much as possible by the start of school this year and next summer God help them because they're going to have to pack up and cover everything but we're going to spend 1.8 million by the end of September and 1.1 million on the other school we're do also doing work on MAR boilers 14th Street boilers Paramount boilers and we're finishing the punch list for Abraham Lincoln so Al together um I'm going to spend all of that and probably I have another 2 million in reserve for the revolving loan funds for Cohen and dowy indor equality I'll
063probably have to dip into that as well before the end of September so everybody's even state is really worried about that they're going to get the bills good okay thank you thank you okay moving on to report of resignations I'm reporting the following resignations for the 20 24 2025 school year Jameson FL special education teacher Bangor High School Pope wette halftime fall cheering coach Bangalore high school thank you next is report of reassignments I have the following reassignments for the 2024 2025 school year philan Grant from special education teacher project transition at Bangor High School to halftime special education teacher for multi-handicapped and halftime special education teacher for project transition at Bangor High School Tracy Rearden from special education teacher multiple handicap at Bangalore High School to 05 special education teacher multiple handicap and 05
064special education teacher at Mary snow School perfect thank you moving on to action items we have several action items first um are the minutes of the regular meeting of July 17th 2024 and the special meeting of August 7th 2024 I'm wondering if we can take them together please yes I'm recommending approval of the draft minutes of the July 17th 2024 regular school committee meeting and the August 7th 2024 special school committee meeting can I get a motion second comments all in favor next we have financial report uh for the revised bonding request I'm recommending committee approval of the revised bonding request um this amount is above the srrf funding um in order to complete projects at the William S Cohen School and James F dowy school for the indoor air quality improvement projects Bangor High
065School for the curtain wall rep replacement project and Mary snow school for the roof structure Improvement project I'm recommending authorization from the school committee to assume the required Debt Service for each project which totals uh 10,115 $731 motion so move second any questions all in favor next we have nomination of a teacher I'm recommending the following teacher nominations um when we've had some last minute editions uh with the uh excellent work of our administrators Alexander Rand special education teacher at Fairmount school Alexa hir school nurse at James F dowy School Lori hatch special education teacher Vine Street School Karen daart grade four teacher at the fair Mount School motion please second any questions or comments all in favor next extra Duty assignments I'm recommending a approval of the following extra Duty assignments for 2024 2025
066Justin marks enrichment coordinator William S Cohen School Eric Stedman math department head Bangalore High School Brianna Shaka special department head at Bangor High School oh in favor first second um next we have second reading of revised policies and may we take them all together please Revis policy AC non-discrimination equal opportunity and affirmative action new policy ACA Equity revised policy IMB teaching about controversial sensitive issues revised policy imba patriotic exercises can I get a motion so second um member bright you have a question just a quick comment about um policy ACA I I recognize the equity policy is very important and I would like to approve it that said there is a section in which the world word Community or words Community member was changed to stakeholders to be more Encompass be more encompassing obviously the
067individuals outside the city of Bangor that said the word stakeholder does have its roots in colonialism and it just feels um not appropriate to have that word in our Equity policy so I'm hoping that we could send this back to the policy committee to discuss what would be a more appropriate word to replace community members with um and that is my only um for that I agree I think that that word we are scratching it out of many of our policies um so um I mean the um the word Partners was suggested I don't know if if we could if Tim and I and um the assistant superintendent would agree on that then we wouldn't have to even revisit we can just change it to Partners instead of stakeholders if not then we can discuss
068it other Amendment friendly Amendment you want to make that friendly Amendment sure sure I'll second it okay so I'll do we because we made a motion first yeah so okay so you so you made a motion to accept from she's making making a friendly Amendment to the policy I'm seconding it okay y uh any any um discussion around that no all in favor now we got to do it again sure all um so um so now um all in favor or did did we make a motion no I'm confused we made a motion right in a second we did a motion in a second any questions about any of the other ones thank you member Bren all in favor um next we have introduction of items and we have first reading of revice policies I'm
069recommending first reading of new and revised policies revised policy acab harassment discrimination and sexual harassment of school department employees policy ABA school system goals new policy AA school system commitment to standards for ethical and responsible behavior revised policy ADF mean learning results can I get a motion please any questions or comments on any of them no all in favor okay moving on to committee updates any comments and or questions from the committee seeing none oh I just wanted to thank um was his name Douglas um on his presentation earlier today on on Naran I learned something new up been several um um Naran trainings and I didn't know that someone could require up to seven possibly even more um doses of Naran to revive them so that learn something I appreciate that PE information thank
070you um do we have any Representatives reports I don't I think it's a little too early for that and uh right after the election um we will have um either new school committee members or um you know um whoever it is we will assign um represent for each subcommittee um and we don't have any student committee at member updates obviously so we will move on to information items we have several important dates Wednesday August 28th 20 uh 2024 is opening of schools 8: am speaks Auditorium and I believe that is the the welcome in the morning yes it is yes and all all are invited and encouraged to attend yes so please come if you can um Wednesday September 11th 2024 regular meeting 7 PM Bangor High School uh Library uh Wednesday September 25th 2024
071another regular meeting right here in the library um Wednesday October 9th 2024 regular meeting 7 PM Bangor High library and um thank you I lost [Music] my um and and then finally last call for any other questions comments thoughts memb thre thank you I want to take an opportunity to wish all of our faculty and staff a great start to the school year but I want to particularly wish our administrative team a successful start they were treated poorly and unfairly this past Spring by our former superintendent and I want to say just a few words about that tonight employees have rights and one of them is to be evaluated by their supervisor in a fair professional and confidential manner when our former superintendent went to the bangler Daily newspaper and made very negative evaluative remarks
072about six or seven of our administrators I believe he violated that right and by anonymously criticizing these administrators he called into question the Integrity of all of our administrators which I believe is unacceptable it's that there is mistrust between our administrative team and the office of the superintendent and I want to be crystal clear I'm talking about the office not the person who currently sits in that office It's My Hope and based on every interaction I've had with our new superintendent I'm very hopeful that she'll make it a high priority to rebuild that trust thank you thank you um any other comments question okay well said thank you um adjournment can I get a motion please so second all in favor Mee [Music] good e e e